Whenever Things Seem to Be Going Well, Problems Always Pop Up Somewhere Else.
Whenever things seemed to be going well, trouble always cropped up somewhere else.
About a week had passed since I'd been involuntarily outed as a femboy by the mayor of Heisenberg City.
What even was all that talk about pedos and such? Let's be real here.
"Ufufun! Everyone already knows this body's looks are top-tier, so there's no problem at all!"
"Is that so."
To begin with, rocking this beautiful girl skin had always been partly about watching others go "ooh" over my appearance.
Plus, my freakout over the whole thing was just knee-jerk rage because my trusted adjutant had stabbed me in the back.
"So, you weren't planning to hand me over to the mayor as some pillow sales pitch, right?"
"Of course not, ma'am."
"Good. Let's keep it that way."
With the culprit behind all that drama gone, our atmosphere was downright peaceful now—couldn't overstate it.
And the most important part was...
"Still, didn't expect the mayor to back off that date request so quick."
"The ritual circle only boosts favorability, and its duration is short anyway."
"Hnggg."
As the old-timers and Elena's reactions showed, our Gold Sun "I'm a pedo" mayor wasn't showing any creepy obsession anymore.
—"Doctor, we've received additional supplies from city hall."
"Yeah yeah, stash 'em in the warehouse and send thanks. Man, the mayor's sending gifts separately?"
"Even if the magic wore off, the original goodwill doesn't vanish."
"Oh, so that's how it rolls."
Instead of clingy obsession, he'd switched to gift spam, handing us free goodies.
—"Furthermore, Benya Tomiri, you have been awarded a seat on the Heisenberg City council."
"Eek! A council seat?"
"It's nominally just a council member spot, but really, you're the mayor's advisor and part of the city's ruling class now, Doctor."
"Ah, still fuzzy on details, but some legal mumbo-jumbo, right?"
"Yes. And with your council position, our downtown takeover plan is accelerating."
"Fufun, naturally! With my cute marimo wrigglers and nests from the Red Scourge wilds repurposed into a bio-nest smack in the city center."
"We're doing enhancement surgeries on volunteers from citizens and guards, so at this rate, we can add 200-300 more Chimera soldiers, plus 10+ officers."
"Ohohon, love it~"
With the council seat, I now had official rights to operate freely, access info, and requisition supplies.
This pioneer city was basically mine now—I was brimming with smug confidence inside.
But that lasted only a moment...
Once I started seriously managing this "city"-scale operation up close, I spotted major issues plaguing it.
Cutting to the chase, the biggest problem: bringing in over 5,000 settlers had boosted population by percentages, sure.
And stragglers fleeing Red Scourge swarms planet-wide kept trickling in, inching numbers up.
"Current monthly population growth rate is about minus 23%."
"Eeng? We added 5k last time, plus dozens since—why's it dropping?!"
"Not everyone stays; some leave for other cities."
"Eh."
"Plus, folks unhappy with our overt activities bailed, so total pop is even lower than pre-arrival."
"Eeeh."
The real kicker: even more people had peaced out thinking, "Eh, living with those Demonia folks? Pass lol."
"S-so, how many now?"
"Barely holding at 100,000, but a few hundred more losses and we drop below."
"Nooo, my test subjects!!!"
"The more you phrase it like that, the faster they'll flee, Doctor."
Turns out, Heisenberg City—once comfortably over 100k—was on track to become a pathetic village, losing city status.
If unsolved, it'd fizzle out like defunct backwater towns from my old world.
And this pop crisis snowballed: over time, production tanked, guard forces weakened against external threats, infrastructure crumbled, issues everywhere.
The pop problem was dire, so I posted on the gallery about it...
"We're screwed!"
This wasn't peaceful at all.
One slip, and our happy-happy city-builder empire crumbles.
I needed to rack my brain for solutions, stat.