Averting Misfortune
There was just too much work.
Was it because I'd played so hard that it had all piled up?
If that were the case, at least I could feel wronged about it.
I'd meant to go have fun, but in the end I'd only worked even more and come back.
Aaaaaargh!
"Manager Kissinger."
"Yes! Guildmaster!"
"Why has so much work piled up like this?"
"Yes, sir! I will report on each item one by one! First—"
"No need."
"Pardon?"
"I said there's no need for a report."
I let out a sigh and stamped the documents.
Ah, this form's filled out wrong.
Set it aside for now.
This one doesn't have the environmental impact assessment attached?
Did it get left out when they submitted it?
And this is a public works project…
Ugh, suddenly the trauma from public works projects is hitting me…
Public works just keep ballooning no matter what.
I should add a note that if the country requests anything, we're to cooperate aggressively.
What about the cost issue?
The Kissinger Merchant Group makes money by digging holes in the ground anyway.
"Haa… I don't want to work…"
Why carefully check every single thing if I don't want to work?
Because if I half-ass it, the paperwork comes back doubled later.
Better to check properly when I stamp.
What starts as just stamping a seal can turn into having to appear before the Inspectorate.
I'm not working because I want to!
The problem is that Father transferred the entire merchant group into my name!
"Hooo… As expected, you are incredible."
"Huh?"
"To review so many documents at such speed. The Lothringen family truly is different."
"I'm just stamping seals."
Kissinger standing beside me and hyping me up was just a bonus.
Wait. Is stamping seals well the same as being good at your job?
Ah. I heard Japan even has robots that stamp seals for you.
Why don't we import something like that?
There are no robots in this world, so I guess not…
Why isn't there a dimensional gate?
I want to invade Japan right this second and bring back a seal-stamping robot.
In my past life I used to laugh at the idea of robots like that existing…
Now that I've become a seal-stamping machine myself, I realize just how badly we need one. For real.
If the seal doesn't stamp cleanly, you have to do it all over again.
If it tilts even a little to the side, it bothers you.
In any case, it was troublesome in more ways than one.
Ahh. Even stamping a seal turns out to require a craftsman's spirit.
"Manager Kissinger."
"Yes!"
"Is there any chance something like a golem that stamps seals exists?"
"Pardon? Well, uh, I've never heard of one."
"Let's look into whether any company is developing something similar."
"Th-that kind of golem… would there even be demand?"
"I'm going to buy one."
"Ah… Understood."
Well, whether such a golem exists or not, this is my job for now.
At least next time I'll be able to work a little more comfortably.
…Hup. Why am I already thinking about working next time?
Damn it. I've fallen for Father's gaslighting again.
Running the merchant group into the ground and just living as a free young man sponging off my older brother and sisters for allowance money—that is true happiness!
Cave Merchant Group.
Fortunately, there wasn't much I needed to check here.
Since Elise was running it as a professional manager, all I had to do was read the reports she prepared.
I didn't even need to stamp a seal.
"You've worked hard."
"Um, are you sure you don't need to hear the full report?"
"Yes, yes."
Elise had used a much softer way of speaking at the banquet hall.
Back at the workplace, her tone had turned stiff again.
She really keeps work and personal life strictly separate.
Well, this is more comfortable for me too.
Bosses who pretend to be buddy-buddy are the worst, after all.
"I trust you handled everything well, Elise. I'll just check the numbers."
"…Yes! Thank you for trusting me!"
"So, were there any particular issues?"
"Ah, yes. A few Culture Ministry officials tried to obstruct the ruins development work with absurd demands and asked for bribes…"
"Oh?"
Against the Third Princess?
They must be out of their minds.
"I handed them over to the Inspectorate immediately. They're probably drinking stew through their noses right about now."
"…You're joking, right?"
"Pardon? About which part?"
"Ah, never mind."
Ah. This insane caste-system country.
Picking a fight with a princess without even realizing it and ending up drinking stew through your nose.
Even if they're corrupt officials, I feel a little sorry for them.
Sigh.
Well, they brought it on themselves.
Can't be helped.
If they didn't like it, they should have lived as clean civil servants.
"Also, I mentioned a little about you to my parents…"
"Huh?"
Your parents are the Emperor and Empress.
She didn't report me for labor law violations, did she?
Did I make her work too hard?
Isn't that too petty a complaint to bring to the Emperor?
No, there's no way.
So what exactly did she say that she's bringing it up like this?
"Ah. I didn't say anything special. We're not in that kind of relationship yet either… I just, um, mentioned that there was a good person."
"Aha."
Thankfully it wasn't backstabbing.
His Majesty the Emperor would naturally be curious about his daughter's work life. I'm glad she introduced me as a good boss.
Wait. Is this actually good news?
If the merchant group goes under, won't the Emperor come looking for me?
No.
With the Emperor's own daughter as CEO, how could it possibly fail?
If it looked like it might fail, wouldn't he secretly push through some national project for us?
…Nah, no way.
He's the Emperor of the Empire. Would he really do something that petty? The higher up people are, the more strictly they tend to separate public and private affairs.
Besides, having a princess work under some mere merchant probably doesn't sit well with him in the first place.
He's probably just having her gain life experience for now. Later he'll marry her off into some suitable ducal house or whatever.
"Thanks for speaking well of me."
"I have to prepare Father's heart in advance. He won't approve right away, after all…"
"Huh?"
"Just talking to myself."
"Ah, okay."
Anyway, after finishing the document review I headed out for a simple on-site inspection. I wondered if I really needed to look around myself, but people say that when an accident happens at a worksite, the owner is the one who gets cursed at.
Even if regulations and the law say you're not responsible, public reaction is a different story.
The Cave Merchant Group was fundamentally rooted in mining, so the chance of accidents was high. The ruins themselves had been built by digging tunnels into magic stone veins, after all.
Was I working too hard again?
No, look—when an accident happens at a construction site it's just unsettling. I don't want my name in the news getting cursed at either. I want to rest; I don't want to become a bastard.
"This is the mine where ruins excavation recently began."
"You're following the safety regulations properly, right?"
"Yes."
"Hold on. Let me check."
I snatched the safety inspector's survey magic tool and started fiddling with it this way and that.
Hmm. Hmmm. Hmmmmm.
Huh. These readings are weird.
"Was this an abandoned vein?"
"Ah, yes. The existence of the ruins was confirmed during re-exploration and the ruins survey process."
"Did you properly check the ground stability score?"
"Pardon? Yes. According to the safety standard chart…"
"You're not originally a Cave Merchant Group employee, are you?"
"Ah, no. I'm support personnel for the ruins excavation."
Ah. My head.
People almost died…
"Don't you know that once you mine past a certain amount in a magic stone mine, a massive mana cavity forms and the safety standards change completely?"
"Pardon?"
"This place is about to collapse."
The safety inspector made a dazed sound as he questioned me back.
No. Why would you inspect an abandoned mine using the standards for ordinary ruins excavation? Sure, on paper the purpose had been changed from mine to ruins site, so it was possible…
They'd created a time bomb. This was bad.
"Ha… Pull every single person currently working out of there immediately."
"Th-that, if we halt construction now the cost of restarting the equipment…"
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"Are you a fucking safety inspector? Or did I just discover you're actually from our finance team? People are about to die and you're talking about costs?"
"Ah, I-I'm sorry!"
Tsk.
This bastard probably skimmed some of the safety inspection fees and equipment costs. He's panicking because a re-inspection under abandoned-mine standards would expose him.
Playing games with people's lives. Unbelievable.
No. Why did those Culture Ministry bastards send a money-counter as a safety inspector in the first place? Was he a parachute appointment?
"Haa…"
"Guildmaster. Are you all right?"
"Elise."
"Yes."
"Can you make that self-proclaimed safety inspector drink stew through his nose? It's bothering me."
"Understood."
Sure. Unearned income can look tempting sometimes.
I hate working too.
Bribes and embezzlement are basically passive skills in this world, so I can turn a blind eye to people skimming a little.
I'm rich. Our merchant group is printing money too.
A little missing cash wouldn't even show.
But this bastard, for fuck's sake—
Playing games with people's lives?
"You there. What do you think you're doing?"
"Ah. Guildmaster. The specimen recovery isn't finished yet, so I was just doing preservation work…"
"Did you not hear me say to get the people out first?"
"Pardon? But these precious specimens…"
"I'll take full responsibility, so get out."
"Ah, understood."
Like that, I spent a long time walking around the mine and evacuating people. And finally, around the time everyone had finished evacuating outside—
—KWA-RUUUNG!
A terrible roar, as if a giant bolt of lightning were tearing through the rock, echoed from deep inside the mine.
Then the mine began to collapse inward with a sickening lurch.
The safety inspector stared blankly at the collapsing mine.
Ha. That was way too close.
Should I call this good luck or bad luck?
Good luck, probably. I've been lucky this whole time.
As long as a guy like that was the safety inspector, it was going to blow eventually.
The timing was just right.
"Ha. Properly averting misfortune before I even enlist."
"You've worked hard, Guildmaster."
It was the kind of luck I hadn't particularly wanted all this time…
But this time, I felt pretty damn proud.