Tour of the camp
Every person who lives in the camp will have to regularly go out for Scouting and Foraging Missions. Those who are incapable of going out or don't want to go out for such missions need to pay a certain amount of concession to live inside the safety of the camp.
Or so I was told by old man Gaurav when he came to wake me up the next morning.
"Come kid. Let me give you a tour of the camp." He said with a disgruntled tone which made me realize that he wanted to do anything but this.
"I would rather have my sister do it for me instead of you." I said "Speaking of which. Where is my sister anyway. I have not seen her since I came back. Don't tell me she is still out there."
"She's in the camp." Gaurav said "We came late last night and she didn't want to wake you up. She must be sleeping right now. You can talk with her later."
"Hmm…" I said as we walked around in the streets. Most of the houses in the area were partially destroyed. But I was able to see people living in those houses as well.
It seems that the single room I got was a luxury.
The whole group of 150 people was living withing a group of twelve or so three storey buildings.
It was not the most comfortable place to live and some people might feel cramped in such tight places but the lesser space they occupy, the easier it will be for them to protect against any outside interference.
"This is the cooking area." Gaurav said as he showed me a rather large hall which was in some kind of commotion as eight women ran from one place to another inside the room to search for the proper ingredients and handled their own dishes.
"That's looks rather unorganized." I said as we came out of the room which was a little too hot for my comfortable.
Were kitchens supposed to be that hot?
"Hmph…" Gaurav snorted at my words and said "They were preparing breakfast back there. If you want to eat, then you need to pay 1 1st tier for the breakfast. 2 1st tier crystals for the lunch and 2 1st tier crystals for the dinner."
"Really?" I looked at him with surprise. "How does the civilians pay for the food. What about the people who don't go out to hunt? In fact, how does the cooks pay for the food they made. Is it free for them?"
"They get paid 10 1st tier crystals for their service every day." Gaurav said "6 of them get 10 1st tier crystals while the leader and the manager among them gets 20 crystals each. It's a rather ingenious method really."
"What about the other people who are not cooks?" I asked but I already knew the answer.
"They are either Doctors, electricians, guards, errand boys, do laundry or such things. Three of them are prostitutes as well. In fact, those three might earn even more than the two doctors who earn 30 1st tier crystals each day." He said with a chuckle. "What do you say boy. You wanna have a go at them? Seeing that you're the brother of the leader himself and have such a pretty face, they might even do you for free."
"I… no thank you." I said as I looked at the ground. Prostitution might not be the most dignified of carriers, but in this place, it was a rather smart thing to do. The most crystals they earn, the powerful they would become. And when they become powerful enough, they can just join the foraging team.
I didn't need to know about people who don't do such things. It was pretty simple actually.
If you don't contribute to the camp then you don't last long in here. It was a rather ingenious system. You either contribute to the camp. Or you go home.
"You also need to pay 2 1st tier crystals each day to live in the camp." Gaurav's words pulled me out of my thoughts.
"You mean like a rant?" I asked.
"Yes. Your brother makes about 300 1st tier crystals every day just from that." He said as we came upon an area where about twenty people ranging from a young boy to a middle aged woman were swinging wooden swords at a dummy as a instructor from the side guided them.
"They're the new recruits. Or people who want to fight out there but who are not yet skilled enough to do so." Gaurav explained. "Say what you will about Rahul. He doesn't want these people to die for nothing. Not that everyone appreciates it." He said before we moved on.
After that, we visited the infirmary where one of the doctor was checking up on one of the three people laying on the bed.
One of them had a particularly deep gash on his right thigh which the doctor was working on. I came to know that the guy was one of Gaurav's subordinate who got injured in the last foraging mission.
"Will he be alright?" I asked.
"Ah! He'll be all daisy and sunshine come tomorrow. He's a tough bastard and the miracle medicines bought from the Black Watch makes him all the more reckless."
"I see." I said and then remembered the spray and tablets sold in the black watch interface. They can indeed be called 'Miracle Medicines.'
After that we went to electrician was was sitting in a temporary shop and working on some kind of generator while a middle aged man sat beside him with a bored expression while charging his mobile.
"Let me guess. You can charge your electronics in here."
"For 1 1st tier crystal." He said in an almost gleeful tone.
"But there's no Internet. Or any signals."
Gaurav shrugged and said "There's games. And songs. And movies. Even porn. You can buy it all from him. A good way to waste your time if you ask me."
"But people would buy his services anyway. Isn't that true." I said as I looked at him and he just shrugged.
By the time we finished with the tour, I had come to realize that the whole system created by Rahul was really a piece of art. It forced people to contribute to the camp. And those who wanted more luxury had to pay more.
And he created such a workable system within 7 days.
He was really a genius.