The Path of Technological Development Is Long and Arduous (1)
It had already been a full month since I’d last checked my personal race-creation window—the one so embarrassing I wouldn’t dare show it to anyone.
As usual, I was deep in the process of adapting to the endless work of the Foreign Executive Ministry when a sudden thought struck me.
…Come to think of it, can I check the tech development progress on the status window too?
Digging through my hazy memories, I was pretty sure the original game had a separate window just for viewing the tech tree.
Not long after that, a regular holiday rolled around. Lounging on the bed in my private room right next to the office—yes, my room—I opened the status window with Riel nearby.
PAUSED
So… tech development window?
There was just one tiny problem.
Tech tree, tech window, development window… what the hell is it even called?
I had absolutely no idea what command would open that glorious tech tree screen. After wrestling with it in my head for a while, I finally hit on the right name.
Ah, right. Status window, tech tree status window!
Who in their right mind decided you had to tack “status window” onto “tech tree” just to make it open?
Gives me the creeps.
Grumbling about the malicious command, I settled in with a leisurely heart to survey the empire’s technological progress.
…And not long after that, absolute chaos crashed through my mind.
…Huh?
It called itself the tech tree status window, yet it refused to show the actual tech tree or even what technologies were currently being researched. Anyone would react the same way.
What the actual hell is this?
In the original game, at least opening the research window immediately told you what you were developing. Was the whole point of this thing to inflict maximum inconvenience and pure rage on the user?
I was so flabbergasted that I silently hurled every curse I knew at the system while begging it for a help menu…
…Wait. The tutorial bot is sitting right next to me.
The moment that thought flashed through my mind—
PAUSE RELEASED
—I released the pause, sat up, and called out.
“Riel, tell me the status window commands.”
“…You sure don’t waste any time, do you.”
In exchange for those words, I received a look of pure pity from Riel. Not just pity—the special brand of smirk that said she finally had the upper hand over me.
…I’ll let it slide this time.
That cocky expression made my hand twitch toward the etiquette-injection rod I kept on me, but the truth was I’d been the one who’d completely forgotten Riel’s entire reason for existing.
When I just sat there in silence, Riel—robot or not—let out a deep sigh.
“Just say ‘tech management window,’ yeah.”
“Mm…”
It felt way too simple. The moment I made a face that said I didn’t trust it—
“Then don’t, if you don’t wanna.”
—she openly huffed at me. All I could do was sigh back.
“Fine, got it… Tech management window.”
The moment I spoke the words, a proper tech tree—or something close enough—finally appeared before my eyes.
What kind of absolute garbage research was this?
“Riel, is the research I know completely different from how it works in this world?”
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”
And the one person who was supposed to explain it to me was wearing an expression of pure, genuine ignorance.
“I’m going insane.”
Realizing I would have to solve this problem myself made my head throb on its own. Still, I couldn’t just leave it alone.
“…Riel, last time I talked with Artraia, how big did she say the combat tech gap was between us and the Prosnak?”
“About double, yeah? But that was pre-war. By now the gap’s probably even wider.”
That was a nightmare scenario. If this were still the actual game, the Prosnak would already be cheerfully orbital-bombarding our capital planet’s skies.
After a few more rounds of questions with Riel and a quick skim through every scrap of data I could get my hands on, I reached one solid conclusion.
I really can’t leave this alone.
The fact that I’d ended up working on a holiday made me want to cry all over again… but this needed handling as soon as possible. So I prepared to contact the absolute peak of technological authority in the current Sevelian Empire—the Minister of Technology and Science herself.
—And froze.
“Huh? What’s wrong, Minister?”
“…Shit.”
The moment I confirmed the face and name of the current Minister of Technology and Science, pure instinct slammed the brakes on my rational decision-making. And for good reason.
Why the hell was this person appointed Minister of Technology and Science in the first place?
Following my gaze, the screen displayed the face of a Sevelian woman who looked… reasonably pretty in a perfectly ordinary way. At a glance, nothing seemed particularly wrong with her appearance.
The problem wasn’t her looks.
She ranked solidly in the top five most eccentric and downright deranged personalities among every civil servant in the Sevelian Empire—one of the great mysteries of imperial bureaucracy. She was the single most enthusiastic and thorough user of the “slavery system,” a policy that was effectively dead letter yet still technically existed. Despite a constant swirl of shady rumors, she never once tried to wield political influence. A pure hobby-obsessed maniac of the highest order.
…And despite every smear campaign thrown at her, she never once got caught by the Executive Ministry or the Inspection Bureau while I was in charge.
“Minister of Technology and Science… Vermouth, is it.”
When I muttered the name in a drained voice, Riel picked it up with a look of exaggerated surprise.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t even know Vermouth became a minister with you?”
“…”
“For real? You were at the same appointment ceremony and you still didn’t notice?”
“…”
“Isn’t that a little too low-level even for you?”
So she hadn’t been surprised at all. She’d just wanted to mess with me. But as Riel so helpfully pointed out, this was still my fault. No matter how many shocking incidents had been smashing my mental state to pieces one after another… I’d still had plenty of chances to look around, and I’d done nothing.
That said, this was still someone my hand really didn’t want to reach for.
“Haa… No. No choice.”
I wasn’t a child. I couldn’t waste time on something like this.
Artraia, just watch. I’m going to normalize your empire.
Filled with the same grim determination as a white-furred cancer patient staring down the end, I steeled myself and connected the direct line to the Minister of Technology and Science.
—Brrrrrr…
The ridiculously outdated ringtone that greeted me almost made me spit, but—
No. Keep it together, Arto!
—I barely managed to hold onto my composure and prepared to speak the moment the line connected…
—“The other party’s power is currently off. After the beep, please leave a message at the voice mailbox…”
“Here too?!”
The person herself simply wasn’t answering. Every ounce of agonizing and resolve I’d just gone through evaporated in an instant, and irritation burst out of my mouth before I could stop it.
Still, I had to reach her somehow. I worked Riel—who was also on holiday—to the bone hunting down every possible method. And when I finally got through to the Ministry of Technology and Science…
“…Sorry, could you say that one more time? I think I misheard.”
—“Yes. Minister Vermouth is currently touring the cosmos aboard the newly developed scientific research vessel.”
All they could tell me was that their minister was puttering around the galaxy on a science ship. It was enough to make anyone furious… but I couldn’t take it out on the poor, innocent graduate student on the other end (who, rumor had it, was being worked to the bone by the mad Vermouth without ever being allowed to graduate).
“Is that so? Understood. Please pass along a message asking Minister Vermouth to contact the Foreign Executive Ministry when she can.”
—“Understood, Minister Arto.”
With that temporary measure in place, I spent the rest of my holiday doing my absolute best to rest…
And then, starting the next day, as I was once again buried under work and just about to forget the whole incident, I was forced to remember exactly why Minister Vermouth’s particular brand of insanity was so famous.