The Path of Technological Development Is Long and Arduous (2)
About a month had passed since that conversation.
It was one of those days when Kazan’s perfect Mediterranean climate and the year-round sunlight felt especially warm.
“Urrrgh… Let’s take a break and pick this up later.”
“Got it, Minister.”
With the morning’s work wrapping up earlier than usual, Riel and I decided to share a simple cup of coffee.
—Slurp.
I took a cup of ice-cold coffee to clear my head, then stood by the window of my office, gazing outside. Something about the view made me murmur,
“Man… it’s been a while since I’ve felt this kind of peace.”
“Tell me about it. Oh, these are cookies from Alicia.”
“Thanks.”
The atmosphere both inside and outside the office was so tranquil that it was hard to believe this was the same world that had been locked in a massive war only a few months ago.
Well… peace is good.
In a game it might have been different, but now that this was reality, watching everything grow steadily without fighting felt far better. Whatever.
With that thought, I raised the coffee for another sip—
—Weeeing! Weeeing! Weeeing! Weeeing!
An alarm blared without warning.
—……Wooooooom… KRA-BOOOOM!!
A massive explosion and shockwave followed immediately after.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
Something completely unexpected had just happened, and my beautiful morning break vanished without a trace—just like the coffee now soaking into the carpet.
The One Who Descended from the Sky
Minister Vermouth, one of the Empire’s officially recognized lunatics, has slammed her personal drop-pod straight into the garden fountain on the grounds of the Foreign Executive Ministry.
The sighting of such a rare and wondrous “comet” has applied a buff effect across the entire capital planet!
Comet Fluctuation Value added to Capital Planet Kazan
Additional Reward: Slight increase in favorability from the ministers who know the true identity of the “comet.”
“Duke Arto! I heard you needed my help?!!?!!”
And the very person who had just obliterated my coffee and precious slacking time strode into the office with the most shameless confidence imaginable.
“…Minister Vermouth. Isn’t it common sense—basic common sense—to at least contact someone before you show up?”
The culprit herself, Minister Vermouth.
The phrase “clear-eyed lunatic” fit her perfectly. She answered with a spotless, utterly unbothered expression.
“It’s a surprise!”
“…Ah. Is that so.”
If she had at least been intimidated by me the way the Minister of Industrial Technology was, it would have been awkward—but at least easier to handle.
“You just rammed an assault-force drop-pod right into the middle of the Foreign Executive Ministry grounds.”
“Of course I did?”
The pure, malice-free actions of a genuine lunatic had a way of leaving the other party completely speechless.
Of course, part of that might have been because I was simply too weak at verbal sparring…
—Kiri-ri-rik, kki-gi-gik!
But the bigger reason was the sub-arms. They looked exactly like the mechanical tentacles of Doctor Octopus from those gene-modded spider-man movies, and right now they were all rearing up in a distinctly threatening posture aimed straight at me.
“You lot, settle down!”
—Kki-gi-gik…
Vermouth scolded her self-aware sub-arms into obedience, then immediately launched into full mad-scientist mode.
“Anyway, so what were you curious about? Have you finally taken an interest in developing a hyper-lance system using tachyon particles, Minister Arto?”
She charged at me like a true engineering fanatic. I used Riel as a human shield and held her back.
“…Let’s calm down first and talk.”
“How am I supposed to calm down?! The near-saintly Minister Arto has finally decided to dedicate his life to science!”
I wasn’t talking to the Minister of Science and Technology. I was being interviewed by a professor who had just kidnapped a clueless college student.
Even the previously quiet sub-arms started thrashing around again, infected by their master’s clear-eyed madness. I let out a long sigh.
“Hold it. Even if I look like this, I am still a minister. Don’t cross the line.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
Vermouth tilted her head in genuine confusion—
“…Will this be all right, Your Grace Duke Arto?”
“If the Boss wants it, we have no choice.”
“O-eh?! Th-this is?!”
With a low murmur, my personal bodyguards—self-proclaimed members of the Purge Squad—dropped their stealth and leveled their weapons at Minister Vermouth. She looked thoroughly flustered.
“….”
First shock: they had actually drawn weapons on her.
Second shock: the way they looked at me with faces that screamed How’d we do, Boss? Praise us!
“…Let’s get this sorted out first.”
Feeling like I had aged several years in an instant, I collapsed onto my sofa and clutched my head.
I don’t know how long I sat there listening to the construction noise outside the office.
“Minister, they say it’s finished.”
“Haaaah… Fine. Tell her to come in.”
Minister Vermouth—an aristocrat and a cabinet minister—had just done hard labor side-by-side with frontline agents. A sight rarely seen in a class-based society.
“That was actually quite fun after so long! Oh, and while I was at it, I added water-pressure control and transformation functions to the fountain!”
“….”
She spoke as if she had merely fixed a child’s toy. I had to fight hard to keep my sanity from escaping through my ears.
“Minister Vermouth, let’s set aside everything that just happened for a moment… There is a reason I called for you.”
“Ah, right! That was a thing!”
Barely holding onto my mental thread, I began explaining why I had summoned the clear-eyed lunatic.
Despite my clumsy explanation, Minister Vermouth nodded diligently, kept her expression under control, and listened with surprising seriousness. Then she asked for the conclusion.
“Hmm.”
I took a breath and threw a straight pitch.
“What exactly is the direction of the Empire’s technological development? Is it even under any kind of control?”
“Ah, that?”
She blinked two or three times, then tilted her head and answered with complete confidence.
“We respect the will of our scientists and engineers, so as long as results come out, anything goes.”
“…Excuse me?”
Faced with a statement that shattered every shred of common sense, I poured every ounce of willpower into keeping my face from twisting.
What the actual fuck is she talking about.
I could control my expression, but my thoughts were free-falling.
So the Empire’s technological development is basically no different from a deranged AI doing random research?
It made zero sense, but I forced my face to stay neutral, took another breath, and continued.
“I’m no expert on weapons development, but to be frank…”
I made a show of glancing around the room before speaking again.
“…Compared to our next-door neighbor and potential enemy, the Prosnak, our fleet’s combat power is far too pathetic. What do you plan to do about that?”
At those words, Minister Vermouth gave a firm nod of agreement.
“Indeed. They said Minister Arto’s loyalty to the Empire was the real deal. The rumors were true.”
…?
She hit my already-shaken mental state with another blow, then continued as if she completely understood my feelings.
“No need to worry. We already anticipated receiving this kind of evaluation someday, so we successfully developed weapons that can be mounted on ships.”
“…Oh?”
“On top of that, we’ve finished designing the new-model ships that will form the backbone of our fleet.”
“Ooooh.”
It was the kind of bold claim only a true expert could make. A little of the trust that had evaporated earlier began to return.
Whether it was empty talk or not was impossible to verify right here—
“Of course, I figured Minister Arto might find it hard to believe, so I brought the design blueprints and photos of the new ships and weapons I mentioned.”
—but her preparedness in bringing the actual documents and images was impressive enough to earn genuine admiration.
“Remarkable. At this level, you could show them to Her Majesty right now without any problem.”
I was so impressed that I accidentally let my connection to Artraia show a little too clearly, but—
“No. Unfortunately, to present them to Her Majesty, the prototypes need to be at least first-production-run quality.”
“Hmm. Indeed… Minister Vermouth’s opinion is correct.”
This time she spoke with sudden cool-headed seriousness. I decided to put my faith in her bold claims—for now.