Chapter 178: There is always a beneficiary |
"I still can't understand one thing," Kira muttered a long while after the two of them dropped the topic of the war.
Whether it was the complete silence that hung between her and Tom, simple curiosity, or complete lack of other topics that she could use to talk, Tom didn't know.
However, he could tell that talking to him was nothing more than Kira's attempts at improving her situation later on.
After all, just like it was hard to hate someone who one knew as a sympathetic guy or gal, she was likely aiming to have her punishment eased once she would be more than just a nameless enemy.
"What is it?" Tom asked after releasing a deep sigh.
The matter with Kira was just a problematic, hot-potato for him. He couldn't just kill her for no reason. The second she survived the clash between his family and the online hub forces, that chance was lost. He couldn't completely ignore her either. After helping her understand the truth about the war, it would make no sense to just randomly stalk talking to her.
"Why isn't the truth widely known?" Kira asked after a few moments.
'I shouldn't ask any more complicated questions. I guess I will try to derive the answers I want from the related topics instead,' she thought, raising her eyes at Tom's weak body.
While Tom's condition was improving and improving fast, he was still far from his prime.
"And why can't it be propaganda?" Tom asked, rolling his eyes.
There was a very simple reason why he wasn't happy to tackle this topic any deeper. And it was because the more he would talk about it, the closer the matter would get to what Kira could consider not only vital but also important if she ever got a chance to return to the online hub.
"For there to be propaganda, there has to be its beneficiary," Kira rolled her eyes. "What's the use of hiding the truth if not for some tangible benefit?" she asked before pouting and turning her face away.
"I wonder who is the beneficiary of destroying the authority of any centralized governments," Tom replied before releasing a deep sigh.
The answer was pretty obvious.
Ever since the peace was finally achieved, the world collapsed into a loose network of cooperating cities. Some, with bigger populations and internal industry, turned into local powerhouses. Others were nothing more but cover for powerful families that ruled them over from the shadows.
And some acted as nothing more but a protective screen for the power hiding underneath them, just like it was the case with Tom's family.
But the fact that there were no more overarching nations that could combine entire cultural groups into a single political entity gave rise to the extreme power of several selected corporations.
Initially, there were a total of seven of them, each controlling a chain of production vital to the survival and growth of humanity.
Mashiah household controlled the power production. Hubrin Corporation operated the greatest farms, supplying the world with food and drinks. Dagel Group produced arms. Ubrino Estate provided electrical applicancies of all sorts. Letar company provided security forces to all the parties included while Ostra Group brought forth entertainment.
Those seven forces turned into the unspoken rulers of the new world, holding a tight grasp over the population. Yet, despite having nearly the absolute monopoly over each of their respective aspects, they ultimately had no other choice but to cede a part of their market to each of the autonomous cities.
If one had an old type furnace, they could dig their own coal to power their house. Looking after some local lands allowed one to get their own food. Scouring the ruins allowed one to unearth weapons of a far greater grade than what Dagel Group could produce in this new world.
One could always find a local alternative for each family means of production or service. It would be either worse, more expensive, or more dangerous to use, but it was there.
This balance between cities' own power and the overwhelming might of the seven corporations allowed what was left of the world to prosper after the war.
Yet, this balance could be broken pretty easily the moment some of the more prosperous cities would unite their advantages and ditch away from the monopoly of the seven families.
And in order to deal with that risk, the truth about the war was hidden from the public view. It was too great of an opportunity to bash and kill any idea of uniting cities not to use it.
After all, if there was no entity powerful enough to stand independent from the seven families, there would be no one to call them on their unfair practices, massive profit margins, and generally bully-some approach.
'And then we need to add the cooperation of all the families with the dungeon project,' Tom thought, clenching his fists.
Only the Letar group was capable of blocking every single dungeon that appeared in the world. Only Ostra group could produce a game to cover up the existence of the dungeons in such a short time they did. Only the Ubrino Estate could craft the capsules necessary to enter the game, or rather, the avatar's skins.
No matter what aspect of the Dungeons Online industry one would look at, only the seven families were capable of organizing it. And with how every of their Online Hub turned into the beating heart of the local cities, it was clear just how profitable this business venture was to all seven of the families.
'Now that I think about it, they basically conquered the world with this project,' Tom realized. 'Maybe that's why they don't want the normal population to learn the truth about the dungeons. If we could use the stones to revitalize and repopulate the wastelands, they would be hard-pressed to maintain the control,' Tom thought, gritting his teeth.
His family never had the dream of recovering the lands that were lost to humanity. Tom personally would never see the vast green plains that his father would often reminiscence about. He would never see the land on which his ancestors built one of the greatest nations of antiquity.
The most he could see was a desert filled with radioactive ash. The most he could see would be the geography altered by the barrage of nuclear and convenient weapons that destroyed entire ecosystems and their niches.
"It seems like you are not willing to answer," Kira muttered, her face twisted in dissatisfaction.
"You have to be stupid to not realize it," Rufus suddenly said, only to receive a sharp glance from Tom. "What?!" he snapped, clearly not expecting Tom to react too hard to him speaking. "I noticed it before I turned twelve. For her to miss it, she had to intentionally keep her eyes closed," he added with scorn. "That only proves what I thought. She is all boobs and no brain," he added, shaking its tiny shoulders.
'For a kid that young...' Tom thought, holding it back only to release a small chuckle. "Not bad, kid, not bad," he ended up saying.
"That's sexual harassment," Kira protested, staring daggers at the two of them.
"You better get used to it," Tom sighed once he was done chuckling. "You don't appear to have any other redeeming qualities that could be of value on the other side," he added, straightening his back a little bit more.
Before the conversation could continue and allow Kira to once again ask for an explanation, the three of them finally reached the boss room on the forty-seventh floor.
A single glance at the situation inside revealed that Marvin and Cleo were still in the process of fighting with the local boss.
"Are you sure you don't want to help them?" Kira asked, pointing her hand inside. "They are bloodied all over," she pointed out.
"They need to go through a fair share of hardships," Tom shook his head. With his new sensitivity, he could tell that both of his friends were still brimming with mana. And with Marvin's healing spell, their blood was likely just a residue from the wounds long gone.
"Who are you trying to lie to?" Kira asked with scorn. "Do you really believe I didn't notice how scared you are now?" she asked, clearly angry at how he ignored her previous questions.
"You are free to believe in whatever you want," Tom replied, shaking his shoulders. "Just make sure to keep it to yourself, as I'm not interested in your faith," he added, watching how the events inside the boss room evolved.
And surely enough, it took only a few more moments before the boss of the floor finally fell to the ground with its life ripped away from it.
"Anyway, you pointed it out just at the right time," Tom said, making his way through the barrier.
For the last three floors, he held the back of the group, using this time to get used to the new state of his body.
He was still far from his prime, but he was no longer the weakly self from roughly an hour before. And what was even more important, once they would cross past the fiftieth floor, they were likely to start encountering other groups.
Even if he has yet to regain his full strength, it was now the perfect time for Tom to get back his active role in the conquest of the dungeon!
