The Shifting Tides
After a glamorous weekend, Monday morning arrived once again.
And the once-peaceful Oz began to burn with a single topic.
'The Governor Finally Draws Her Sword! Royalist Figures Rounded Up in Droves!'
Morning newspapers plastered with provocative headlines were scattered throughout the royal capital.
"Oh, you really went all out. Kaldrasch."
Dorothea, who had claimed the newspaper first as usual, said this.
"It was just time to clean house, that's all."
I replied while forking up a bite of tomato spaghetti I'd twirled around my fork and popping it into my mouth.
Watching me, Ozma, seated across the table, asked,
"Need some cheese powder?"
"Wouldn't hurt."
When I pushed my bowl forward, Ozma sprinkled the cheese powder over it herself.
After mixing the spaghetti now generously topped with the yellow powder, I took a bite. The rich, slightly sticky texture of the cheese was quite pleasant.
After silently thanking Camilla and Barnet for their hard work again today, I turned to Dorothea, who was still reading the paper.
"Dorothea, got any free time this week?"
Dorothea flipped a page as she answered.
"I've got nothing but time. Why?"
"This week is the special audit period. I'll probably need bodyguards for the staff. I can't be everywhere at once with just one body."
"Hoo, you know my rates aren't cheap, right?"
"I'll buy you a month's worth of whatever booze you want."
"Starting today, I assume?"
True to her reputation as the Demon Army's most notorious drinker, Dorothea accepted my offer without a second thought.
"Just come to work with me later."
"Got it!"
I called out to Dorothea's retreating back as she headed off to get ready.
"Oh, and don't kill anyone. Leave the mana absorption mask at home."
Dorothea, who had been climbing the stairs, let out a strangled "Ugh—!"
"That thing blocks my vision. It's annoying."
"If you want to accidentally kill someone and get dragged to the police station, suit yourself."
"Fine, I get it…"
Dorothea answered sulkily and continued up to her room.
Twenty-eight years old and still not fully grown up.
I let out a deep sigh and was about to resume eating when Ozma, sitting in front of me, started giggling.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. You and Dorothea just look exactly like father and daughter."
"…If you say that to Dorothea, she'll definitely get mad."
"That's why I'm only saying it in front of you."
"I'm so moved I could cry."
After replying, I hurriedly finished the rest of my spaghetti. It was almost time to head to work.
***
When I arrived at the Governor's Office with Dorothea and Ozma, a protest group that had been absent recently had once again occupied the front of the building.
The apparent leader was shouting through a megaphone toward the office.
"Release the nobles who were unjustly arrested! Release them!"
"Release them! Release them!"
"Wicked demon Ozma, step down! Step down!"
"Step down! Step down!"
Impressed by the protest chants that were almost welcoming at this point, I stepped out of the carriage first.
The moment Dorothea and Ozma followed me out, the protesters threw something at us.
"Hm."
I snatched one out of the air and checked it. A raw egg.
My throat had been feeling a bit dry anyway, so I cracked the shell and drank it down in one gulp. When I looked up, both Dorothea and Ozma were staring at me in horror.
"Demons don't eat raw eggs?"
"No, it's not that we don't eat them at all, but we usually eat fresh ones."
"Ah."
Now that she mentioned it, that made sense.
Hoping my evolved stomach was sturdier than most, I casually tossed the empty shell onto the ground. The cleaning ladies would take care of it later.
Anyway, apparently enraged by how nonchalantly I had handled it, the protesters began throwing eggs and stones even more aggressively.
Of course, I wasn't the type to just stand there and take it, and what was happening right in front of me was clearly an illegal protest. So I decided to suppress it without mercy.
Snap!
When I flicked my fingers, the eggs flying toward us instantly reversed direction.
The protesters panicked and tried to dodge, but the eggs were much faster.
"Kyaaaaah!"
Screaming at the disaster they had brought upon themselves, the protesters scattered in panic.
The guy holding the megaphone tried to do something in his confusion, but Dorothea moved faster.
Tap! Tap-tap!
When Dorothea stomped her heels against the ground, pillars of flame shot up and surrounded the protesters.
There was no exit. It was a wall of fire that completely trapped only the protesters.
It would take the police some time to arrive even if someone reported it, so it was perfect for keeping them from escaping.
The brown-haired guy who had been leading the protest trembled before shouting into his megaphone.
"You demon spawn! Locking up loyal patriots wasn't enough, so now you're oppressing ordinary citizens too!"
"That's right! That's right!"
I dug at my ear and used the same megaphone magic to reply.
"Sorry, but ordinary citizens don't do protests like this."
This was the best time to live in Oz's history. What possible complaint would make ordinary citizens come all the way here to protest?
"That's…!"
The agitator racked his brain but couldn't come up with a rebuttal. He simply bit his lip with a humiliated expression.
It seemed even he realized how pathetic his own words sounded.
"There they are! Get them!"
Just then, the police—apparently called by the Governor's Office staff—came rushing in. The protesters trapped inside the wall of fire tried desperately to escape, but unfortunately, the one who had cast the spell was a 6th-rank mage.
There was no way a bunch of nobodies could dispel magic cast by someone known as the top fire mage on the continent.
In the end, the protesters couldn't take a single step before the police arrived and were all arrested on the spot.
"Damn it! Just you wait! Once the Count is freed—!"
The guy who had been giving the speech glared at me with a furious expression, but I just shrugged.
"You know that line gets old if you hear it too many times, right?"
"Aaaaargh!"
At my signal, the police swarmed him and beat him down with their stun batons.
More importantly, the Count.
Since there weren't many counts among the people arrested yesterday, it wouldn't be hard to figure out which faction this guy belonged to.
I watched the protesters being dragged toward the building's jail before turning away with a small smirk.
Come to think of it, there was no need to find out who was behind him.
Starting today, I planned to shake every last speck of dust off the royalists' clothes. No point worrying about minor details.
When I made a throat-slitting gesture at the police dragging the guy away, the officer who seemed to be in charge nodded carefully.
"Alright. That's settled. Shall we head inside?"
"Woo! Booze! Women! Delicious food!"
Dorothea followed behind me, openly voicing her desires.
Who would ever guess this woman was a twenty-eight-year-old spinster?
Ozma gave me and Dorothea a slightly disgusted look before shaking her head.
"Sometimes I wonder if all mages are just a bunch of weirdos."
I could give her the correct answer to that question.
"Statistically, out of a hundred mages, seventy of them have strange tastes."
Unless you were completely obsessed with something, there was no way you'd keep doing magic research that didn't even pay well.
That was true even for people with overflowing talent.
Apparently convinced by my answer, Ozma muttered, "So that's how it is in this world," and walked into the building first.
Dorothea and I exchanged glances before hurrying after her.
"Wait for us!"
***
The expressions of the Finance Management Office staff were stiff from the very start of Monday morning.
Today was finally the day of reckoning I had warned them about in advance.
When I entered the office with Dorothea in tow, everyone from the lowest-ranking employees to the department head stood up and bowed their heads in unison.
Dorothea whistled at the sight.
"You've got pretty good control over them."
"Sometimes a fist is closer than the law."
I shrugged as I said this. Dorothea put her hands in her pockets, apparently deciding to observe a bit longer, and followed me.
After sweeping my gaze over the Finance Management Office staff as if conducting a morning assembly, I spoke.
"As I mentioned last week, we'll be collecting on long-term delinquent accounts starting this week. No one is completely clean, so don't hold back. That's all."
The members of the Finance Management Office began moving busily to prepare for their external assignments.
After watching them for a moment, I walked over to the Chief Financial Officer's seat and sat down.
Dorothea, who had followed right behind me, asked,
"So what am I supposed to do now?"
"You… just play chess with me for now."
When I pulled out the chessboard, Dorothea's red eyes sparkled as she sat down across from me.
"Just so you know, I'm pretty good."
That was a defeat flag if I'd ever heard one.