World Walker Park [Magical Amusement Park Base-Building]

"You want to open a banquet hall?" Luka asked, pen still and notes page empty. God Neb and Goddess Tippy sat on either side of him, and together they were conducting more interviews for World Walker Park's divine expansion.

The God of Groups and Hobbies, Wurn, sat across from them, looking rather stoic. "I do."

Luka squinted. "Alright. Since a banquet hall is something we were already planning to add to the park, do you want to sponsor, design, and have your followers operate it? If you agree, we can forgo the normal 'divine plot' of land we are offering each god in the park and co-own the larger area."

Wurn hesitated. "That may be acceptable. What do you have in mind?"

They went through the details. The banquet hall would be on property, but away from the rides and attractions. A walking path would connect the two, and World Tree Inn would be somewhere between or adjacent to them. Essentially, World Walker Park would be able to host various large gatherings during the day, then in the afternoon when the scheduled events were over, guests would have the opportunity to visit the park.

"I've already heard requests from various hobby groups," God Wurn explained.

"Hobby? Such as?" Luka asked.

"Storyline Hyper Selection Infinite Magical Draw."

Luka gasped. "You don't mean… 'cards?'"

Wurn blinked. "I'm not sure what you are asking."

Tippy rolled her eyes. "Yes, Luka, my divine brother is referring to the same card game you and your friends play."

"Oh?" Wurn asked. "You dabble in the game of champions?"

Luka's mouth gaped a little. "I do… I'm frankly terrible, and I don't understand the rules, but I think World Walker Park would love to host the… uh… cards hobby group."

"Splendid! I shall send a cluster of my followers and hopefully start construction on the hall soon." God Wurn started to fade from reality—a common departing gesture from the gods—but Luka held up his hand, stopping him.

"You're the God of Hobbies, right?" Luka hesitantly asked.

"I am."

"My friends and I play cards almost every night. I've never won."

"I see. Might I suggest noting your, and everyone else's, moves and studying the battle later? That is how most grow proficient in their skills and understanding of the game."

Luka considered that. Learn the game for real? He thought not. Instead, he asked, "Nah, I was thinking about a card so powerful, I just win the game. Can you help me out?"

Wurn stared incredulously at him. "Goodbye, World Walker." With that, he faded from reality.

Luka crossed his arms and noticed Tippy and Neb staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Tippy said, looking elsewhere.

"I didn't peg you for a cheater," Neb said.

Rolling his eyes, Luka exited the room, ate some lunch, then continued his daily walk through the park. There was always something to do, build, or check on. Bestial Grove was a smashing hit, the faithful were out in force, and eight realities sat stacked on top of each other.

The park was in maintenance-only mode for the next little while—at least until all the gods had their pitch meetings and most, if not all, of their plots of land were built upon. After that, the park would expand again, then again. Two more themed lands, Luka decided, that felt like a good fit, size, and scope for now.

Luka paused and searched his pockets for a calendar of notes. Scrunched napkins, folded slips of paper, half-finished blueprints. His pockets were lined with notes and embroidered with black ink stitching. He found an empty table and started organizing.

It took him an hour to go through everything, and once he was done, he had a nice, neat stack of notes, things to do, and stuff to remember. Luka scratched his head and stared longingly at his disorganized work system.

"I need an assistant," he decided. It was supposed to be Annie, but she was doing her own thing and well, never truly accepted the job. Maybe he could ask Eve? He quickly pushed the idea away. Their date was coming up, and it was already awkward enough. No point in making things worse by having the young orc run his calendar for him.

No, the answer was obvious: he needed to hire someone. Luka sighed and got up, venturing outside the park's illusionary walls, following employee-only signs to the back staging area. There he found a series of thin, sheet-metal style buildings he created a month or so ago.

Administration: where dreams went to die and paperwork ruled supreme.

He pushed the door open and was greeted with the stench of defeat. It was dark inside, the lighting glyph cluster turned off. Luka hesitated to enter, already feeling the burn of ink stains and paper cuts. Annie and Mayor Tram had practically built the park's admin system from the ground up, and for some reason adopted Earth's excessive need to document everything in triplicate.

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Long ago, on one of the first few days Luka was in this world, he and Franky ventured to Sneerhome to file some forms for Emberwood Village. Tram joked about the amount of paperwork the "human city" needed to function.

Luka stepped into the building and stared keenly at a stack of paper stretching almost to the ceiling. Ironic, he decided.

Employees who Luka had never seen stared at him, some in awe, some with who's this guy? expressions. "Hello," he said. "Is Tram in?"

"Do you have an appointment?" the closest employee asked.

Luka blinked. "Oh. Uh, no. I don't need one of those."

"Everyone does. During working hours, the mayor is by-appointment-only."

A dozen steps away, Tram's office door sat. On it, one of the now-former-orphans had drawn a bunny in waxy colors. It was crude linework but endearing and a reminder of where the park came from. Right now, however, Luka stared at the bunny and felt it teasing him. Set-up an appointment, Luka, ha ha!

"Yeah, I'm just going to go see if she's up for a quick discussion," Luka said, striding past the employees to Tram's door. He knocked once—as an employee moved to intervene.

"What!?" snapped Tram from inside.

Both Luka and the employee paused. "It's me," Luka said.

"Luka? Finally come to visit me in my dungeon, eh? Come in."

Luka spared a moment to triumphantly smile at the employee before entering the office. The employee glared back.

Tram's office was filled to the absolute brim with drawing, stick figures, and macaroni necklaces—all gifts from the kids, all treasures she put on display. At the room's center, was a desk and Tram herself. Toys filled the corners, and easy-to-read books sat untouched on a shelf. It appeared the kids of Emberwood Village were not big readers.

"I like the new office," Luka said.

"New?" she asked. "I've had it for a month!"

He shrugged and sat down, brushing a ball from the seat. "First time I've seen it."

Tram, and all her tattoos, cackled. "Eh, always off building something, always off making more paperwork for me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Luka said. "I've heard it all before."

She pulled out a stack of paper. "See all this? This is all the paperwork I'm having to file with Sneerhome because you called the gods back to the park and they came!"

He leafed through the first few sheets of paper. "What does 'tenuous effect of presiding land sale prices' mean?"

"It means, Sneerhome is a bunch of penny pinchers and are looking to cash in on the park more than we are graciously allowing them already."

"What do they want? Don't tell me we have another Guilds situation on our hands."

Tram waved him off. "Nothing so serious. Sneerhome has a new mayor and is trying, and failing, to pass new laws, specifically targeting us. They're trying to take over the park."

Luka didn't like the sound of that one bit. "Failing?" he asked.

"That princess girlfriend of Franky's. I may have let slip what the new mayor is attempting, in passing conversation you understand, and now she's slowly dismantling Sneerhome's city council."

Luka's eyebrows went to the ceiling. "She's dismantling the city council?"

"It's all politics." Tram chuckled to herself. "Who would've thought a princess would be good at politics? Not me! I thought they were all fine dining this, not enough thread count that."

"Alex isn't like that."

"I know! Which is why I think Franky's going to mess things up with her and we are all going to suffer."

Luka gave her a look. "Come now. Franky's not going to ruin anything with her. He likes her, and she likes him. There's nothing to complicate."

"No? What happens when Princess Alexandra's family demands she return to the capital and she invites Franky?"

"Franky will go with her, they'll show a united force of love, and the king and queen will eventually get sick of dealing with them and send them back."

Tram considered. "It's possible. I was thinking more like the royals sending assassins after Franky."

Luka froze. "Really?" Were politics in this world really that dangerous?

Tram snorted and cackled. "Heavens above, no! Franky's a good boy. Any family he marries into should be glad to have him."

Luka set his jaw. "Really had me going there."

She laughed harder and eventually wiped away a tear. "Now, what can I do for you? Normally, people must make appointments to talk to me during the day."

"I know. Your friends outside tried to bar the way."

"Good! I don't need people trying to talk to me! I've got work to do. Now, what did you come see me for? Surely it wasn't to gossip about Franky."

"No—I need an assistant."

Tram's face turned predatory, and she fished under her desk for a short stack of papers. "I knew this day was coming and prepared." She slid the stack closer. "This is everyone I think would be a good fit."

Luka eyed the first page and read it aloud. "Sheridan Tipton, former chief of staff to the ambassador of Newhaven Empire." He smacked his lips and went to the next one. "Gramhold the Uncaring, currently employed as the minister of the Obsidian Circle."

"Both good options," Tram said nonchalantly.

"I don't understand. You want me to hire a former chief of staff or current minister to some organization?"

"The Obsidian Circle is a world-renowned institution that deals with the adventurers union and the counties they operate in."

Luka scratched his forehead and glanced at the next option—and yup, it was another high-ranking political person. "You want me, me, to hire someone like these people to be my assistant?" He paused and added, "Me?"

"I do. And I don't think it would be very hard." Tram tapped the stack of paper. "These are resumes of people applying to work for you."

Luka choked a little. "These are headshots of people you want to poach?"

"Nope! Everyone in this stack has already expressed interest in working here." Then, more seriously, she said, "I can't tell you how many letters the park gets a day asking to work under you. We started burning the bad ones to save space."

Luka might have tuned out that last remark. He stared at the stack of resumes and said, "Maybe I should've gotten an assistant earlier."

Tram looked at him like he was stupid. "You think?"