Li dearly wished he could have flat out denied the offer of King Midas. But he couldn't... there truly was something that Midas could do for him that no one else could do. Li had been tiptoeing around it for the last year, wondering if he could ever make such a bold ask. 

Granny Gingee, though far too radial and maybe a little senile, had gotten her facts straight on the biggest problem's of Li's beloved city. Corrupt Politicians were everywhere, and while they were annoying, Li was not willing to instigate the blood bath that would be required to eliminate the few bad eggs in his nest.  Homelessness had tripled under The Slats, but that was more a result of harsh conditions in the outer cities and more immigrants coming in each day and trying to squat in Li's city on their tourist visa. Li didn't actually consider this to be much of problem since they caused little trouble and were easily removed.  But Gingee was right about one other thing...

No matter how small Li's city might appear, Kaipen Nung was the trading center of the modern world. Truly dangerous stuff changed hands everyday in Kaipen Nung's ports. Toxic drugs, stolen artifacts, exotic animals, and unfortunately... human beings.

Sometimes for sex, mostly for labor, sometimes they were doctors, nurses, convicts, or teachers who had been kidnapped and sold to desperate lords in poorer countries for their expertise. Since the internet's creation the market for human beings on the 3 seas had evolved. On one hand, kidnappings were harder to get away with, it was now easier for loved ones to be tracked down and returned to their families. But placing an order for certain kinds of individuals was easier than ever, demand had hugely increased. Suppliers could get very creative about how they delivered their goods, with a slight advantage since the Kaipen Nung Police had to maintain transparency. Criminals possessed such a keen awareness of how authorities moved. 

Kaipen Nung had 8 piers that extended from the city like the arms of a bejeweled octopus, and everyone knew that the easiest place to purchase a human being for any reason at all was the fingertips of the octopus. Named for the bones in the human fingers, these were called The Phalanges. The Kaipen Nung Noble Army or KNNA had never been large enough to police both the city and the outer edges of city waters. Not even at the city's inception. 

Long story short: Li Kong lost sleep over the terrors that were undoubtedly occurring at the edge of his reach. It was a trade that was enabled by the wealth and resources of his city, and... it directly contributed to the wealth and success of his city. And Li truly believed that the entire industry was evil... he had often dreamed and despaired of eradicating 'it' from his territory.

If he was to marry into the royal family of Almanakarë, he could request the resources needed to banish this modern slave trade from his land and his waters.

But the price of this ...would be his own power, his city, and it's soul. After all, both Li and Kaipen would be adopted into the Almanakarë empire. It might not happen in his lifetime but eventually, Almanakarë would have their hands in every aspect of city's infastructure. The city, his nephews, and his own descendants would lose any semblance of autonomy. They would be owned and used as a keystone to impose one family's power over the rest of the world. The city's current culture would be eradicated, replaced by something more corporate, international and the Kong family's legacy would be no more...

"Let me think about it."