Homesteading in a fantasy world

"So rich, can I call you, Rich?" Mr. Blue asked, and I gave him a nod. "Thank you, Rich. I understand that it's not very comfortable talking about your past. Many can’t handle it, but I hope you can explain to us a bit more about your experience that allowed you to be so proficient at, well, everything to do with bureaucracy."

To me, it was still a little bit weird that everyone seemed so unwilling to talk about their past. I guess I could understand it could be quite traumatic, especially if you were ripped away from your life, but I had already lived mine. The only reason I haven’t talked about it with anyone else is that no one has asked.

"The short story is actually quite easy to tell; the long version would be too long. When I was quite young, but a bit older than I currently am, a World War started, and I volunteered to fight for my nation.”

“It was a terrible war, and many died, but I seemed to be quite proficient at leading men. I was promoted quite fast and kept being promoted until I was one of the highest-ranked people. Without the help of many experts who were able to teach me to run and manage so many people, I would have never succeeded."

"I have always thought that a person can be an expert in anything he wants to be, as long as he has the drive. And no matter how much I didn’t like paperwork, it was needed to keep the people who needed me alive, so I learned. This is the reason why I was able to manage all of this so well." They once again talked amongst themselves, but I was kind of getting a good vibe from them. I wonder why.

"That is truly impressive. I am not aware of any of the more regular worlds having gone through a World War in the past 100 years, but time can be difficult," Mr. Blue said, and when he finished speaking, Mr. Yellow started. "We believe you, but I just know there will be trouble afterwards if we just leave it like that. Are you perhaps a genius at bureaucracy who just doesn’t like it?"

Once again, the way they acted was weird. It was like they were on my side, but why? “Hmm, I am definitely not a genius at bureaucracy, but perhaps I have reached that level, at least the level of an uninterested genius. Yes, I think I have reached that far, which is basically just an expert in any certain subject.”

I gave them a bright smile, but I was pretty sure that they were not satisfied with that, but I honestly didn’t know how to give them what they wanted.

"What's an uninterested genius?" Mr. Green asked, but it was hard to tell if he was truly interested or just going through the motions.

"Well, a genius is someone who is capable of being at the top of any field they are a genius in. They can achieve that by putting little effort into their studies. A person who is not a genius but is thoroughly passionate about it can reach that far and even perhaps surpass a genius, but only if that genius isn’t passionate about that subject.”

“It's very rare to find an individual who is genuinely passionate and a genius at something. Those kinds of people are the individuals who will bring that subject to a new golden age and will be remembered forever."

"This is truly interesting, and I think something we can work with," Mr. Yellow said. We talked about that and many other things. It took me a bit to understand, but I just had to remember what this meeting was about to put the pieces together.

They were not here just to make sure that I wasn’t a fraud; they wanted to make sure a person in charge of a high-rank organization could actually manage it. If I understood them correctly, they were quite impressed. I have had a lot of practical experience with this kind of stuff, which they especially liked.

There was only one thing I didn’t understand: why were they so willing to help me? They even admitted people used favors so they would make trouble for me. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and I had to ask, "Shouldn't you be trying to block me and not, well, help me?"

There was a moment of silence before I felt a more serious mood take over the room. "There are many different camps, as they call it in the political world, but you could still divide them all between two sides. One would be the people who want most of all to advance their own agenda, and the second side who actually cares if civilization survives or not."

"Rich, we are constantly fighting for our survival. If the high-rank people like you didn't protect and fight in the rings, there would barely be any civilization, and high-ranked individuals would rule with iron fists and do terrible things. It has happened before.”

“You specifically seem like a truly competent person and who seems to have a lot of experience in managing a lot of people. We will give you your organization; we will even support you to the best of our abilities.”

“You have, however, made some unfortunate enemies, and you will need to fight those fights on your own, but if you survive, we believe you could help stabilize a large section of the rings. Only people similar to you can be granted permission to make a high-rank organization at least if things worked like they should."

They stood up then and extended their hands for me to shake. One by one, I shook their hands, and they were strong. They then stamped my paperwork. "Congratulations, Rich Dirt, your organization United Freeholds Company has been approved. Tomorrow at 12:00 will be an orientation in this building, room 105. Don't be late," Mr. Yellow said in a serious business tone.

"I won’t be," was the answer I gave, and then I left. There was a lot of information there to unpack, and I kind of felt I needed a drink and some food.

When I got out, it was already dark, and it seemed that I was kind of correct; there were a lot more people out now than there were during the day. It didn't take me long to find a tavern. It was quite busy, but I sat down at an empty table, and even before I could start thinking about what I wanted, a server approached me.

Before she could say anything, I spoke, "Today’s special, two portions, and one shot of white liquor, around 80%, if you have it." She gave a bright smile, "Right away."

My mind was in a bit of turmoil. I knew that the inner parts of the continents were dangerous, but I never truly understood how many high-ranked people it took to keep the rest of the population safe.

This will be problematic, and with so many people dying off, there will be a lot fewer new high-ranked people to take the older ones' place when they die. It also explains why there are so few high-ranked people in the more regular world. This will be more difficult than I expected.

I don’t know how long I was out of it, but the shot was put on my table, and I downed all of it in one go. The burn was nice and helped me focus. It was sort of my ritual. Whenever I heard truly terrible news, I usually took a shot of something strong, but only one.

Then came the food, and I immersed myself in the feast in front of me. It seems that this place truly knows the value of large portions. When I was almost finished with the first, someone bumped into my table and spilled all my food. When I looked up, I saw the grinning face of the Queen's bodyguard. Finally, I needed to let off some steam.