This didn't mean they couldn't elect a new mayor or even a local king—Bill had long since realized that he couldn't force his democratic values on people who weren't ready for it—the problem was mainly the sheer number of soldiers on the island.
The townspeople were unanimous that the sixty men who supported Wetton should leave the island. They were the main instigators of the unrest and the worst offenders when it came to arbitrary "tax collection," so they didn't even enjoy the support of their parents.
Opinions differed on the question of what to do with the remaining four hundred soldiers.
All of these people had families on the island. However, most of them were incapable of anything other than conducting fire drills and "showing off their toughness."
And now that Wetton was no longer in power, the residents were not going to pay for their upkeep.
Ruluka's population was approximately 4,000. With this number, 200 professional soldiers was already a large number, as the rest of the adult population could act as militia if necessary.
So two days later, when the city council met, it was no surprise that many people wanted the same thing.
They wanted half of the soldiers on Ruluka Island to enlist in the Marines under Bill's command.
One older man suggested signing a six-year contract with the Marine Corps so that the young men—and they were almost all men—could gain skills that would be useful to them after they left the service.
When the proposal was made, there were fewer supporters than opponents, but since the supporters were more active, Bill easily realized that in the end they would all agree.
He saw advantages in taking a couple hundred soldiers under his command. After all, even if the recruits from Mechanism Island were trained in marksmanship, most of them were more comfortable doing skilled labor. But these advantages were outweighed by one big "but."
His department was cash-strapped. Given their current expenses, they had only five months left before they would have to borrow.
Since these ordinary Ruluka soldiers weren't criminals, Bill couldn't use the same trick he'd seen Captain Hina use on Little Eastern Blue Island. These men would have had to start at least as third-class sailors, which meant a minimum salary of 10,000 Beli per month.
Sitting at his desk, Bill calculated his expenses:
Junior Seaman – 2 (2000 Beli per month) Third-class Seaman – 107 (1.07 million Beli per month) Second-class Seaman – 58 (870 thousand Beli per month) First-class Seaman – 20 (400 thousand Beli per month) Warrant Officer – 5 (125 thousand Beli per month) Midshipman – 2 (70 thousand Beli per month) Lieutenant – 3 (200 thousand Beli per month)
And while that totaled just over $2.7 million a month, Bill's biggest expense was the workers at the New Haven plant.
Although materials were currently in short supply and the workers were paid less than their skills were worth, he had just over 800 workers and was spending over 4 million Beli a month on them.
Furthermore, Bill held off on promotions for a long time, citing the fact that they were not in danger while in New Haven.
The only promotions to "senior petty officer" were made to a few special operators who became "Zhukobors," each of whom signed an extended twenty-year contract to serve and was required to carry out the most dangerous missions in combat conditions.
Given all this, even if Bill wanted to add people to his department, it was difficult to see how it could be done.
He had made incredible progress in recent years, but for some reason his expansion was going too fast to do what he had planned.
As he closed his ledger and prepared to meet the bounty hunter Baskud, it dawned on him that he was on the brink of another difficult choice. It seemed as if the universe itself was trying to make it more difficult for him to achieve his original goals.
Leaving his office, he saw that it was already midday, and the sun was high in the sky. With not a cloud on the horizon, Bill surveyed the deck of the MSS Victory and noticed the Border anchored a short distance away.
Bill released Bascud on the day of the mayor's arrest, but several days have passed since then.
The bounty hunter literally hounded his lieutenants, trying to get a meeting, but due to constant city council meetings and reorganization of soldiers, Bill simply did not have time to listen to all his proposals.
While pondering what Baskud really wanted, Bill was interrupted by the hum of a huge flying insect as he approached the ship's railing.
"Where are you going?"
It was the first time Yoko had spoken to him in several days. She was unhappy about being left behind on the Victory, along with Boss and Akisu, during the operation. Hearing her voice, Bill looked up and saw the children riding on Boss's back.
Raising his voice slightly to be heard over the buzzing, he replied, "This bounty hunter is trying to enlist our help, so I'm going to hear what he has to offer."