“I suppose…bring me the records on the residents here. Also, if you have anything that can help me understand the changes in finance, I’d like that even more.”
“Sure. I’m kinda surprised you need so much. Can I ask what you’ll be using it all for?”
A moment before, he’d been looking at industrial technologies, and after that, information on the forests and rivers in Hatter territory. They didn’t seem like anything directly related to the business of running a Mafia organization.
Blood drew a breath. “We already told you—there’s a Survey Meeting coming up. I’m trying to prepare.”
“Oh. The Survey Meeting…”
She started searching for the books while he continued to explain. She made the occasional noise to let him know she was still listening.
“I don’t know how much you’ve heard about it,” he murmured, “but there’s a rule in this world that says we have to gather for ‘entertainment’ at regular intervals. The Queen of Diamonds rules this country, so she’ll be presiding over the meeting…unfortunately.”
Alice headed for a different bookshelf to poke around for what he needed. It took him out of her line of sight.
“If it’s supposed to be ‘entertaining,’ what do you do in it? You’re not going to do a survey to see which lord of which territory is tallest or something, right?”
“We survey the power of each territory,” Blood said coolly.
Alice stopped at that. She peeked through the shelf; the back of his white suit jacket faced her, his eyes firmly fixed on the reference book in his hands.
“Power,” she repeated slowly. “So, like…the relative size of each territory?”
Blood didn’t turn. “Overall area is part of it, since we try to claim each other’s territory. But nothing is gained through size of territory alone. I wouldn’t call trying to survey something that can’t be surveyed entertaining,” he added dryly. “The entertainment comes from taking the size of the territory as a foundation, and building on it by converting other types of power into numbers.”
“Numbers?”
“Yes. This world overflows with numbers. You could say gathering numbers is this world’s best entertainment.” He let a breath out through his nose. “So the Survey Meeting takes those gathered numbers and compares them.”
Alice grunted her confusion. The one thing she did understand was this was very different from any friendly gatherings and masquerade parties. She kept scanning the book spines and humming affirmatives as he went on.
“This may be difficult to understand for a prim and proper girl like yourself,” he commented. “But to put it simply, it’s like a card game you would find in a casino. Each territory leader holds the five forces of his territory in his hand: natural resources, population, military, economics, and technology. Only the leaders can correctly interpret these powers and judge how powerful each individual force is in his territory.” He snapped his book shut. “And then he plays one force at a time against the other territories in hopes of dominating.”
Alice mulled over that. She could understand parameters like “natural resources” and “technology,” but “population” made her knit her eyebrows together.
She knew a lot about the…oddities of this world. She knew the people had clocks in their chests instead of hearts, and that that was how they were recognized by others in Wonderland—as being embodiments of time.
“So…you’re saying the leader controls the population, and they can be forced to work in cooperation with you?”
If it were a card game, the population would be nothing more than a hand of cards.
Alice heard a hint of her disgust leak into her voice. She grabbed the last needed book and carried the stack back to Blood. He looked up from his book at just that moment, and their eyes met.
She thought he’d return to reading once she handed him the books, but his arm just curled over the stack while he kept his gaze locked on her.
“Hm…”
“Wh-what?” she blurted. “If you have something to say to me, then don’t hold back.”
“I just thought you’d be more surprised or tell me you didn’t understand. You know this world a bit more than I expected you to. Why don’t you tell me where you learned all that, young lady?”
She paused. “Not from you,” she finally answered, tapping the books in his hands. “These the ones you needed?”
It wasn’t a lie. No one had put any information specifically into words. But as she’d interacted with the people of Wonderland, she’d naturally increased her knowledge of how their world worked. Her understanding advanced accordingly.
He finally drew a breath and shrugged.
“The Survey Meeting is just tedious,” he said. “Going out in a daytime period is already annoying, and gathering the necessary information makes it worse. It’s one giant pain.”
He looked exasperated by the whole affair. She nodded her response, then added, “Will you need any other reference books after this?”
“Probably. My main role in the Survey Meeting is to understand my nation’s power.”
“Okay. Just give me some advance warning next time and I’ll grab the books before you come. It’ll save you time.”
“……”
Alice just considered this a natural extension of her job (and thus earning her keep), but something twinkled in Blood’s eye.
“You’re a strange girl. You’re willing to take on headaches for a Mafia boss who won’t repay the kindness.”
“It’s not strange. You said I should organize and maintain the reference library. That’s my…well, for now, that’s my role.”
She knew that as an Outsider, she was always going to be treated a bit like an exotic zoo animal—but she got the feeling that Blood was treating her that way for his own reasons as well.
“I suppose you’re right. You’re our best librarian now. Personally, I’m so busy with work that I can’t spare a moment—I need to get these pain-in-the-ass projects off my desk as soon as possible.”
He nodded at Alice with a hint of amusement, but didn’t say anything more. He tightened his grip on the stack of books in his arm and headed for the exit.
Just as he was about to leave, the maid from earlier popped her face in the room. Alice blinked; she hadn’t seen the woman leave.
But I didn’t hear her while I was talking to Blood. Since she’d been ordered to help Alice, did that mean he’d ordered her to leave?
“Is your discussion all finished now~?”
“Ah, yes. Please continue your work here.”
“I suppose we have to, no matter how annoying it may be~.”
As the two of them spoke, the color of the light streaming through the door changed. The moonlight shifted into the golden light of day.
Alice let out a breath. She beckoned the maid over, ready to battle the clutter beast until the next time period.