If you ever seen a real leader, you'll know that they have a lot of things going on. A real leader can't be everywhere at once, which means that he has to rely on his subordinates to inform him. And if they inform him of the wrong thing, then that might spiral out of control.
As the Mandarin and I walked down the cleared paths of Western Jewel, it became more and more apparent that he had been getting the wrong kind of reports.
It was strange, being next to someone with a veil that was better than my own. I'd learned early on to hide my cultivation level so I could have seemed more like a first realm or lower cultivator. It was this kind of hiding that? Let me be strong in plain sight. If I fully unveiled, then it would probably cause a panic. Fifth realm cultivators were exceedingly rare. There were probably only a handful in the city. There were less than five sixth realm cultivators and only one seventh realm cultivator. I walked with the only seventh realm cultivator as he surveyed the damage.
I wanted to ask him questions about his cultivation but instead, he paused every block as he gave notes to another Nathan's Soul cultivator. There were probably three or four dozen cultivators in the entirety of the city. One of them apparently had gotten tagged to be the personal assistant to the Mandarin. The poor guy probably needed a personal digital assistant to take down all his notes even though he was doing everything shorthand on a scroll.
We stopped at the corner.
"Send a team here to clean up this corner and make this road. Passable. This block over here on our left, that is going to be a temporary holding area for debris."
I could get people to show up. He could direct the resources of the government.
As we kept walking, it became very apparent which part of the city I had gotten under control and which part hadn't so much as been touched yet by my guys. The district closest to his residence was pristine. Course. That was where all the court appointed cultivators lived so if it wasn't pristine then what were they doing with all their money. The next spot? The bridges were out. They were temporary wooden bridges put in place that seemed very rickety. Indeed, the Mandarin chose to fly over the canal instead.
The water was tinged brown with the dust Even now, days later.
He followed me all the way to the soup kitchen at the former Red Fang compound. A long time ago, he had rescued me from a higher realm cultivator that had been the leader of the Red Fang sect. Since then, they had tried infiltrating in so many different ways that I was pretty sure if he had his way, I would be stationed at the docks looking straight into the faces of person that passed by.
"You set this all up yourself?"
"I had a fair amount of help. The soup is good but here, higher realm cultivators eat last. I would advise you to stick around for a bit and help us feed the displaced people."
He blinked. It never occurred to him to do such direct action. If I was trying to get him some sort of media play, that would be a great shot for them to use. Unfortunately there was no printing press here and there definitely wasn't photographs. But they were rumors that we could spread. If the governor of the City was seeing helping out even in a small fashion, it would reflect well back on him.
"I'm just saying that we can do this and feed some people and help out the guys that are doing it right now. Have you ever seen one of your leaders doing the right thing?"
"How do I do it?" he said.
"Sire," his personal assistant said. "This would play well for your image."
It was frustrating that you had to think about this. Every idea that I had to get him to help out had revolved around him figuring out a way to make things move into the city easier. But now, now that he could see what was actually happening out here and that he wasn't getting the sugar coated version by his own people? Maybe he might...
He walked over to where Lee was serving up food.
"Can I take over?" he said.
He was clearly wearing the purple trimmed robes that were reserved for court functionaries. Anybody with a half a brain would know who he was. He was veiling himself. Yes, but the color was immediately indicative of what was happening.
Lee looked at me. I gave her a hesitant nod.
I was sitting there watching him use this new ladle soup spoon as if he was a child using it for the first time.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Lee mimed what to do and he followed it. He got into it really fast which I'll credit him as doing the right thing. If it had just taken him less time to make a show of it. He got into the motion of it and I could see his adjutant sitting there. Just questioning his entire existence. And then, he stepped in and started serving as well. The two people that they took the place of stepped out and it was very easy to see that the court was here helping out as the buzz was growing. If you've ever seen the paparazzi just corn or a celebrity, you can imagine what it would be like except that these people knew that he could kill them without even breaking a sweat. Again, it was like getting your food from a tactical nuke Lear device with a gorgeous head of hair. Quite jarring if you think about it closely.
I didn't even suggested that they do this. They just kind of assumed a role and they took it on and his adjective began to do a fair bit of small talk even as the man himself was just utterly amused by the whole exchange. I can't imagine that he ever interact with anyone below 4th or 5th realm on a regular basis. Seeing this much destruction and this resolute people standing fast for him was probably a paradigm shift.
If you ever had somebody who's tried to quit smoking, you'll understand that. They've tried just about everything before they come to talk to you about it and then when you suggest something they'll tell you how it won't work. There are a couple times when this is not exactly the case. Women that become pregnant are way more likely to quit smoking. I don't know why but I feel it. And I feel like they could come back in full force after the pregnancy. But you know the damage has been done.
I could feel this lightning bolt behind his eyes thinking about this as he processed what he was actually doing. We had invited him to take a look. I told him that it would be good for him to show his face. He had responded by letting us make him the face of the rebuilding efforts. At least in this small portion of time, the people here could see him doing the right thing. It's true that he could probably pick up the entire building behind us and level it, but the act of kindness, that was the ultimate thing that put a good leader apart from one that was just there for whatever other reasons. He knew how I felt about him and to bureaucracy.
I was ready to rage to him about the emperor as well, but I didn't think he would take it so well. He was appointed directly by the emperor. I was beginning to think more and more that his appointment had more to do with his actual power level than his diplomatic for governance skills.
After all, he had an entire bevy of bureaucrats working underneath him. He paid them to wag the dog. I needed an effective,efficient government.
I took a minute to talk to my buddy from way back when.
"Is that really the Mandarin?" Lorenzo asked. He looked like he too was avoiding baths.
It really is. I just asked him to come and take a look and help me solve a problem I've been having with our food issues and he's here.
I felt him with my aura. He had finally advanced to the second round. When we found him underground, he had been near blind and on the verge of death. The fact that he'd rebound it so fast that he had helped me start training Xueyie to become a therapist meant the world to me.
"I know what I've say this enough but good job man," he said.
"Thanks," I said. "You know men don't receive no compliments with their adult age so keep them coming."
Lee walked up behind me and gave me a big hug. Have I expressed how much I enjoy feeling her pressed against my back? Because let's just say that I melted.
"You did a great thing honey. And now that you were telling me you need more compliments, I'll be sure to tell you how much of a good boy you've been."
"Excuse me?" I said.
"Oh you know men told me all about it. She told me that you liked being called. What is it? Father figure or something? Then Maxine told me the word was actually Daddy so..."
"Do you think we could talk about this at any other point in time," I said full on blushing.
"Oh we could do that at any other time, but I choose to do it right now to distract you from the greatness that you're achieving already."
My voice was soft. "Lee, I freaking love you but if you embarrass me for the Mandarin I can't undo that."
She bought her face really close to my ear and she whispered in a low sultry voice. "Good."
"I would love to know what your goal is here. I am escorting, a very important person on a mission to try to save and recover the city."
"And it's super fucking hot," She said "Do your civic responsibility, then come right back to me."
I squeaked. 'Yes ma'am."
I didn't need more encouragement than that to do the right thing and return home as soon as possible. It was as if she had set something off inside of me that I needed to well... release.
A clutch of blue coats passed by, inspecting the crowd and looking for a rowdy hungry civilians. They didn't find any but they did all stop and stare at the Mandarin for long enough that we took notice.
The first part of my inquiry to the Mandarin had worked exceedingly. The next part would be making sure that you fall through in his promises. As a fifth round cultivator of which he did not have that many, I'll remind you, he was probably going to listen to me. With the ability to come down here and show face and have a great PR coup without even lifting a finger? He would help.
I felt a presence. It was the adjectant, patiently waiting for me. I checked his station.
Xiran had somehow made her way into the spot that the adjutant had been serving food from surprising me and make me do a double dink.
"Cultivator Pidge, the Mandarin is hard at work. He understands the value of being seen. He will stay for a short while and then continue on. He asks if there is anything specific you wanted him to see beyond this setup. The soup kitchen?" He tested out his words as if he'd never said them before.
I'm sure the idea of a field feeding soup kitchen was foreign to him, but this efficient thing I'd seen many times at many protest movements. You have your first aid test tent and your food kitchen for all the protesters so that you could actually protest safely and make sure that if someone got pepper spray that you'd be able to drag them out and treat them.
It was one of those things that you just did when you cared about people for more than just their money or their votes.
Red Mist is back up. It's where I started and I want to at least finish book two. I'll have a chapter there Friday and hopefully every friday for a bit.
Nascent Soul Child as you can imagine will be ending soon. I'm probably going to do a full rewrite and developmental edit before I relaunch it but I'm looking at some new names.
What should I rename this series?
