What Kind of Work Handling Is This?
What kind of work handling is this?
Chapter 11: What Kind of Work Handling Is This?
PAUSE
Time and space across the entire world, including the player's body, have been halted.
This was, for all practical purposes, the only cheat ability I possessed.
To be precise, it wasn't even an ability—just a simple "function" of the status window.
Anyway, the reason I used it…
Ugh, this is seriously not working out at all.
Well, of course. Because I only had the intelligence of an ordinary man.
Other people, whenever they asked me something, thought I was giving them instant answers by their standards and went ooh, sugoi over it. They called me the Minister of Super-Intelligence, claiming I could answer anything on the spot.
From my perspective, though, I was slamming the pause button like this and grinding through nights for days on end just to feed them those answers.
Anyway, first I need to hurry up and figure out a solution.
Still, I had a feeling this one wouldn't take that long, so it would probably work out.
Unfortunately, my intelligence had its limits.
PAUSE RELEASED
Only after a full three days had passed by my subjective sense of time did I finally find a workable solution and release the pause.
"Eureka…!"
But in reality not even a second had gone by, so whatever.
I quickly jotted down the solution I'd come up with on my own, then strode straight out of the room.
"Minister, so you're saying we're heading out on an inspection right away, yeah?"
"That's right."
Riel still couldn't wrap her head around what this Minister of hers was thinking this time.
Seriously—first thing in the morning, before the staff had even shaken off their travel fatigue, where the hell was he planning to drag them?
"But wouldn't it be better to rest a little first, yeah?"
"Hmm…?"
This damn superhuman who had transcended ordinary humanity.
Common sense said no normal Sevelian could bounce around this lively the very next day after a long voyage.
Sometimes the Minister acted more like an iron man than she did as a humanoid, and Riel rolled her eyes sideways as she continued.
"No… honestly, maybe a superhuman like you is fine, Minister, but everyone else still needs time to be all weak and miserable, yeah."
"Mmm."
His Grace the Duke simply did not understand the human heart.
Or he refused to try.
Riel ran that thought program through her central processor once more and prepared to explain again to the Minister, who was tilting his head in confusion.
That way she could at least enjoy one more day of pleasant playtime herself, right?
But…
"We heard you, Minister! We're perfectly fine—take us whenever you like!"
"We're already good to go! Hahahaha!"
To Riel's regret, Arto's staff were overflowing with zeal and loyalty.
Originally, most of them could never have become aides to a central government minister—commoners or people with all sorts of problematic backgrounds. Yet the Minister had recognized their talent, personally recommended them, and gathered them as his staff. And now that same Minister was going himself…
"The Minister is going?!"
"Medicine! I need medicine!"
How could they just sit still because they felt a little sick?
From their perspective, a being practically equivalent to a living sage-god had boldly declared he would go on an inspection himself. As subordinates, they simply could not allow themselves to lag behind.
"Everyone looks fine to me."
"…"
And thanks to the staff's behavior, Riel's scheme to use them as a shield so she could enjoy the abyss of the virtual world went up in smoke.
"Haaa… Guess there's no point thinking about it, yeah. So where are we headed?"
Having given up, Riel decided that if she couldn't avoid it she might as well enjoy it, and looked into the Minister's sparkling eyes as she spoke.
Maybe, just maybe, he had used that brilliant head of his in a surprisingly sensible direction this time.
More than anything, she was a little curious about how he planned to proceed.
"W-wait, who the hell do you people think you are?!"
"This is a violation of our business rights! We will file a formal protest with the government!"
"Barging in without a warrant—what is the meaning of this?!"
At the noisy barking of the officials and businessmen, I let out a single yawn and stepped forward.
"Everyone quiet. I am Duke Arto, commander of the Janus Expeditionary Force and concurrently Minister of the Executive Ministry."
The people who had been retching and shouting fell silent the moment they heard my title.
Well, not completely silent—more like reduced to low murmuring.
"A duke? Why is a duke here?"
"Dunno."
"Wait, if he's the Minister of the Executive Ministry… is he actually that guy?"
"No way, for real?"
Once the brief murmuring died down, a man who seemed to be their representative bravely stepped forward.
"A-ah, even if you are His Grace the Duke… this could easily be seen as interference in internal affairs, could it not…?"
The words themselves were a legitimate assertion of rights, so under normal circumstances they wouldn't have been a problem.
Under normal circumstances, that is.
I glanced at the terminal updating in real time and the event message on the status window as I spoke.
The Secret of the Ore Vein
Thanks to the efforts of the Black agents, one of the secrets hidden on Janus has been revealed.
Janus officially possesses natural veins of Thalianum, and the mining industry has flourished as a result.
However, due to the recent Thalianum depletion crisis across the entire Empire, excessive mining far beyond natural production levels has continued in an attempt to make up for the shortfall in supply.
In the process, countless casualties have occurred—yet the problem is that the Janus Cooperative Ore Vein Association Corporation, which currently manages Janus's Thalianum veins, has been covering up the damage.
"Interference in internal affairs?"
"Th-that's right…"
"You should start by properly handling the duties a state-owned enterprise is supposed to perform before you open your mouth, President of the Association Corporation."
At my words, the representative—no, the president—flinched, his shoulders trembling.
Unfortunately his expression was unreadable; of all things, he was one of those crustacean-type aliens.
"What do you mean… what are you talking about?"
Even after my warning, the president of a state-owned enterprise was casually trying to dodge. And he was doing it knowing full well I wasn't just some high-ranking noble but also a high-ranking public official of the Empire. I hadn't expected that.
I continued reading the event message and decided to deliver a sterner warning to the president in front of me.
But there was a far greater problem.
Namely, the excessive mining of the ore veins had caused the entire geological strata of Janus to enter a severe state of instability.
That is, until I saw the extremely serious issue of geological instability.
An expression that goes beyond mere earthquakes, and with the word "severe" attached… oh, holy shit.
Remembering what that message meant in the original game, I felt cold sweat trickle down my back.
These crazy bastards—are they trying to collapse the entire planetary surface?
If that message appeared and no action was taken, a catastrophe in which the entire surface of the planet caved in would occur within a few years at most.
So, looking at the cringing president of the state-owned enterprise in front of me, I let out a short sigh…
"Riel. That."
"Here you go, yeah."
—Bang!
"Gyaaah—!!"
"Y-Your Grace the Duke!"
"What is the meaning of this?!"
I took the unnecessarily ornate pistol Riel handed me and put a round straight into the president's body.
Naturally the surrounding businessmen and officials looked utterly shocked, but…
"Everyone shut your mouths. From this moment, every person connected to the Thalianum ore veins and the Janus Cooperative Ore Vein Association Corporation is subject to inspection under the authority of the Minister of the Executive Ministry."
"!!!!"
"Th-this is outrageous tyranny! I will protest directly to Kazan!"
"We cannot accept this kind of force!"
At my continued words, fierce resistance erupted as if they were beginning to experience the five stages of death.
Some of them even lost control of their temper and started picking up nearby tools…
> Hostile action detected. Process?
"…Just take the arms."
> Affirmative, Minister.
Those foolish enough to make that choice immediately became prime candidates for the Empire's disability support benefits.
But there was still the possibility that some of them would only pretend to submit here and then stab us in the back later…
"Ah, right, Riel? How many troops can we mobilize right now?"
"I just received word that the full strength of five legions is available for deployment."
"Then call two of those legions here."
"Understood."
Once I parked two freshly airlifted state-of-the-art armored legions from the capital as a little "blocking force," everyone suddenly became wonderfully cooperative.
"H-here are all the documents related to the slush funds!"
"This is the internal map of the ore vein mining operations."
Of course, even then they still tried to keep some last line of defense.
"No casualty-related documents?"
"Th-that is… we already disposed of them all…"
—Click.
"I'm curious what you'll say if I dig them up myself."
"I-I'm sorry! We'll look again right away!"
By providing those people with the appropriate means of conversation, a splendid negotiation was achieved.