Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Chapter 328: Raiden Mei: His Majesty the Emperor Needs a Larger Population



Theresa's work was far from simple. Even just maintaining a state of peace and order within St. Freya High School amidst the turmoil of Academy City was an incredibly demanding job. Of course, she had the invaluable help of Fu Hua and Murata Himeko to keep things stable.

Lately, Yukinoshita Yukino was at her wit's end. She never expected the strange dream phenomenon to occur at such a critical time. While it didn't seem to affect the Herrschers' happy-go-lucky lives, it was causing her no small amount of trouble.

People's opinions were split. Some wanted to oppose the Herrschers within Academy City, while others naturally didn't. As a result, the matter with the Kengan Association stalled out, and she couldn't get Judgement to do the work that needed to be done.

The rest of the issues were simply left unresolved and fizzled out.

Yukinoshita Yukino could only lament her bad luck, wondering what mysterious force had helped the members of the Kengan Association.

"Mei, doesn't your father have any thoughts on the current state of Academy City?"

Yukino hoped to get some insight from the young lady of the Raiden family, but Raiden Mei couldn't care less about these matters. She had only heard bits and pieces of information. At home, just taking care of the little ponies was already a handful for her.

"Even if you ask me, I can't give you an answer right now," Mei said, shaking her head helplessly. "My father is mainly focused on external affairs these days. Besides, public opinion about Academy City hasn't been great recently, which you can easily see on social forums. Haven't a lot of business dealings been suspended?"

"Many people are just waiting to see what happens," Mei continued. "They want to know what that existence's attitude toward the Herrschers really is."

'What attitude could there be? My own father told me Noldrei was the one who did it...' Raiden Mei thought, pitying the people of the outside world. They had been struck by Noldrei out of nowhere, and casually at that.

She wondered how they would feel if they knew there was no mysterious "unknown existence," or that this existence was, in fact, one of Academy City's own.

Yukinoshita Yukino held a great deal of admiration for Raiden Mei. As expected of a young lady from the board of directors. Look at her calm and composed expression, her unflappable demeanor—it was obvious she was acting from a position of confidence.

She was far more impressive than that boisterous Kaguya Shinomiya from the Shinomiya Zaibatsu. Yukino had heard she was the child of a concubine and had even turned into a man to fight for her place in the family.

What kind of holdover from a feudal dynasty was that? And rumor had it she was sent packing by her family again. What was the point of changing your gender then?

"I wonder what the future holds for Academy City," Yukino worried aloud. She was genuinely afraid her life might revert to how it was before. If that happened, how would she be able to fight in the arena?

"It won't be affected. These are all minor issues," Raiden Mei said confidently. "With Dr. Tesla here, none of the storms brewing outside can touch us. Or rather, maybe they have to be invited in through an open door?"

Raiden Mei felt that was exactly the sort of thing Noldrei would do. He had never considered modern humanity to be on a level where they could even have a conversation with him. This kind of public declaration that everyone else was useless was something only he was capable of.

Ana, who didn't know the full story, thought Noldrei was just warning the Herrschers at home not to cause trouble while he was away. In reality, that wasn't it at all.

"By the way, Yukino, have you heard about something else?" Mei seemed more interested in matters closer to home. She changed the subject so abruptly it left Yukino momentarily stunned. "There seems to be a major problem with Academy City's Phase Three Urban Redevelopment Plan."

"I've heard about it. It seems to be related to unreasonable compensation under the plan," Yukino replied, having some knowledge of the matter.

Her family had gotten into local politics through real estate development; where else would the money have come from to support them?

"Because Academy City has developed so rapidly this past year, the compensation offered in the first phase of redevelopment is now worlds apart from what's being offered in the third. People are no longer satisfied with the old rates."

Yukino knew situations like this were common and felt that the resulting conflict was actually quite normal.

But Raiden Mei didn't see it that way. In a surprising turn, she said, "I don't think it's that simple. There was already a major internal cleanup in Academy City because of what happened last year. This time is different. The third phase was planned long in advance. The goal is to vertically integrate the city's infrastructure to expand its population capacity."

"If we don't do this, there's no way we can absorb the influx of outsiders Academy City is attracting."

Yukino was very confused. "But as far as I know, hasn't Academy City's population remained stable, without any growth?" she asked blankly. "In fact, the birth rate has dropped to an absurdly low level. And besides..."

Yukino found those "shops" to be a bit surreal. The thought of casually replacing her own organs with upgraded versions made her skin crawl. To this day, she had kept all her original parts intact.

"Academy City doesn't seem to have any intention of changing its policies on these matters."

Raiden Mei disagreed with Yukino's assessment. She sighed and said, "In the future, the population won't shrink. On the contrary, it will grow... In other words, it will grow in a way you can't even comprehend."

"What do you mean?"

Yukino couldn't grasp the implications.

But if Hikigaya Hachiman had been there, he probably would have guessed what Academy City was planning.

"Because the lifespan and power of individual humans have increased so dramatically, the inherent need for self-propagation has begun to decline," Mei explained. "But that doesn't mean human reproduction will slow down. Quite the opposite... the relative cost of raising a person will become much lower."

Raiden Mei did some simple math for Yukino. If you extend a person's life to 500 years, how long does it take to raise them to be a productive member of society? About 20 years. Even if the cost is a bit higher, it might stretch that period to around 50 years.

What did this mean? It meant the relative cost of raising a child would drop from what was once one-third of a person's life to a mere one-tenth.

This new calculus would inevitably, at some point in the future, pay dividends in a way humanity had never seen before.


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