The State of That Galaxy and Its Nations (1)

—Skree-skree, skweeeeeee!

An unidentified bird wheeled overhead as bright sunlight washed across a vast stretch of beach. Blue waves crashed and broke into white foam. The sand, bleached pure white under the sun, glittered for as far as the eye could see. Right in the middle of it all, I was enjoying a proper vacation in a folding chair complete with its own parasol.

"Man. Never thought I'd get to live it up like this in this world."

Saying that, I found myself replaying everything that had happened up through yesterday.

Somehow the mid-quest events always pay out sweeter than the actual quests…

Lost in that thought, I looked out over the imperial palace ballroom—still seething with yesterday's madness—shook my head, and muttered,

"Haa… Seriously. I barely did anything."

Wow. Handsome man lost in contemplation.

Pretty humble of me, right? That was the idea, anyway…

"Wow. If Your Excellency the Minister did nothing, then what—should the rest of us working stiffs, myself included, just go kill ourselves?"

"…"

"Where exactly did you pick up that useless cool-guy act, huh?"

Riel, standing right beside me, unloaded a fact-check so brutal it pulverized my bones on the spot.

"…I think I just took a critical hit to the skeleton."

"Maybe try thinking about how that nonsense sounds to other people before you say it."

"Mm. Fair point."

Still, that savage reality check was basically forging my mental fortitude in fire.

"So it's true… that which does not kill me only makes me stronger…"

"The fact that you're still spouting garbage tells me you're still not quite right in the head."

Hearing Riel mutter that, I shuddered as I recalled the days of pure chaos that had filled the conference rooms.

"I'm joking. Though yeah—the mental fatigue was definitely real."

As I said it, a memory I thought I'd buried tried to surface—

"Hero of the Empire! Arto! Arto!"

"That man… is far too charming."

"Take me!"

Those memories could not possibly exist, so I forced them out of my head.

I was certain of it. A pack of economic and diplomatic experts—bearded, burly, scrawny, every last one of them male—charging at me like they were about to propose marriage. Garbage like that? I refused to acknowledge it.

As my mood blackened at lightspeed, Riel's chirpy little voice stabbed into my ear.

"Still, hey—you actually got real vacation this time, didn't you?"

"…That's right! There was that!"

Only then did I remember why I was even walking this upper corridor, looking down on that madhouse of a ballroom.

Ah, vacation!

How could anyone not choke up with passion at that fiery, beautiful name?

"Everything packed and ready?"

"Of course. We never even unpacked the bags from last time we tried to take leave."

"…"

Hearing that, a brief gloom settled over me—but only briefly.

"Good. Then we leave immediately."

"Yes!"

This time we were walking out with an official order bearing the imperial seal. No one in the galaxy was going to stop us.

The long flashback ended. I lifted a juice glass from the folding table under the parasol.

Nice.

Sure, right before leave, certain people—Alimus, the Vice Minister of the Executive Ministry, some poor bastard currently being "educated" by the Purge Squad—had tried to grab me while screaming. But against my iron will that if I couldn't have my vacation, I would reduce every vacation in existence to ash, what power could such petty resistance possibly hold?

Oof. That last thought had a real villain vibe.

After that useless self-congratulation, I drained the glass and scanned the water for Riel, who should have been swimming nearby.

She even packed a swimsuit. Completely serious about this.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not just any swimsuit—she'd had the nerve to bring something erotic that only belonged on a glamorous figure. Of course, that would have been a ratings disaster, so I'd bought a kids' swimsuit from a nearby shop and made her wear that instead.

For a robot, she sure gets up to every kind of nonsense.

Before long I spotted her—except…

—Flap-flap-flap

"I am the mouthpiece of the gods and nature itself, so why do you insignificant creatures of nature torment and persecute meeeeeee!!"

"Pffft—!"

Maybe it was because she was a robot—more precisely a humanoid—and some kind of electromagnetic field was involved. Whatever the reason, Riel was currently being swarmed and tormented by a host of local wildlife.

"Nngh-gub-bub-gub-bub-blub!!"

I sprayed the juice I'd been drinking, but the sight was so hilarious I decided to let it slide just this once.

She'll wriggle free on her own. Not my problem.

Ignoring the ongoing screams, I suddenly found myself wondering how the Empire and the other nations were doing these days.

Haa… I really shouldn't be curious about this on vacation.

Feeling a twinge of pity for the workaholic I was slowly becoming, I opened the nation window anyway and started checking the situation.

And the very first thing I saw was our Empire's freefall. I couldn't even hide the tears.

Excuse me? What did we do wrong?

The great Holy Sevelian Empire, once sitting pretty at 5th, had plummeted all the way to 7th.

This—this injustice—I refuse to accept it!

I immediately tapped the nation window to find out what the hell had happened—

"Aig—son of a—!"

The reason was none other than the endless, onion-layer bullshit of the Predecessor Emperor. Profanity just rolled off my tongue on its own.

That much, at least, I already knew. Fine. But the rankings of the nations around the Empire had also shifted hard, so I decided to check them one by one, starting with the closest.

Kard-du—one of the few theocracies left in the galaxy, and our next-door neighbor. In imperial history they were the first alien species we ever encountered, and our friendship and trust levels with them were solid. Unfortunately, they had also been thoroughly stomped by the Rixi Republic down in the galactic south. At least now a Ztrak fleet was stationed there, and with support from both our Empire and Ztrak they were slowly healing the scars of war across what territory they still held.

Next… Ztrak, huh.

Our neighbors across the street, the ones who'd helped us during the last Thalianum crisis. Relations were good, and even if they weren't quite on our level, they were a solid, thriving power. I had reasonable expectations.

"…"

I had not expected these guys ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to take our old seat.

And the reason for the climb was that they'd helped us.

The universe is just trolling me at this point.

Looking at that status screen, I finally understood the old saying from my past life in Korea—when your neighbor buys a house, your stomach hurts. I felt it in my bones.

So, to get past this irritating situation, I checked the next nearest nation…

"Hmm?"

Fighting two nations inside twenty years. But a war with Loyrakan? That was news to me.

"Riel! Stop playing and get over here for a second!"

I called out to Riel—who was rapidly approaching tentacle-horror territory—and ordered her to come explain this.

"Ugh… I already briefed you on this last time."

"I forgor."

Turns out I had heard the explanation and simply forgotten it.

"Good work. Go finish your break."

"…"

With some unidentified seaweed-like strands draped over her head, Riel charged back toward the kraken that was once again crawling out of the surf.