I order Austin Reinhardt, the Director of the Ministry of Finance, to go to the Empire's Academy as an emergency Administrator…. As an emergency Administrator to the Empire's Academy.
… Empire's Academy…
"I wish I could die."
I returned to the office after experiencing paradise and hell in a fleeting moment thanks to being deceived by the Minister. I put the documents in the drawer.
I couldn't get myself to work. Woah, taking back something one has given away was the worst thing one could do. But he did it as if it was nothing.
Of course, the Minister had never said that he'd let me retire.
"I'll be going first."
"Yes? But it isn't time to leave yet."
"You guys all go back too."
"Well, it's indeed important to have flexible working hours."
After I told them that they could go home early, the Managers quickly stopped complaining. They didn't even dream about quitting work early. But to suddenly hear that they could go home early?
The 2nd Manager was especially happy. That guy has to get some sleep. But I saw him taking a weird route. I began wondering if I should call him back, but that would mean I'd also have to stay. So, I just let him go.
The next day after the historical early leave day.
"Congratulations."
"Congratulations."
"Congratulations."
As I entered the office, I saw the Managers clapping for me.
"What are you doing?"
"We've heard the news. Your dream became a reality, right?"
"What nonsense are you saying?"
Yesterday, that dream was burned down in lava.
As I looked at them disinterested, the Senior Manager walked toward me and tapped my shoulder. And then, pointed to the air with his finger. I followed the Senior Manager's finger.
Congratulations!
Director confirmed to go to the Academy!
Ah! How envious! An Academy life in your youthful twenties!
Two placards were hanging.
"You …jerk"
"Director, were you moved?"
"Hehe, we found out about this yesterday late at night and prepared it quickly."
"You should have told us sooner if something like this had happened."
In order, I looked at jerk 2, jerk 1, and jerk 3. As I turned my gaze towards the Senior Manager, I saw him avoid making eye contact. It was as if he was saying sorry for not being able to stop them. Yes, they probably dragged you in. You're the only one I can trust.
"Where's the 5th Manager…?"
"We told him yesterday to prepare for a celebration party for you. But after that, we couldn't get in contact with him."
"He hasn't come to work yet. To think he wouldn't come in on a good day like this."
Good, the 5th Manager is added to the list of trustworthy people. It seemed like he wasn't able to convince the other three, so he decided to go for the no-contact route. It was a reasonable choice.
I laughed. Then, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Managers also began laughing and clapping. The Senior Manager quietly walked out of the room.
* * * *
After the Senior Manager went outside, the sound of something being torn apart and the head of three people hitting the floor was heard.
"Are you done?"
The 5th Manager walked toward the Senior Manager, who was listening to the howls that were starting to sound similar to that of the Minister. Seeing how he came so quickly, he was probably looking at everything from a safe distance. It was truly a great attitude as a Manager from the Enforcement Department. Although it was too bad that he used it to survive from the Director.
"No. It has just begun."
"Hmm, did you eat?"
"No. I came running after hearing the news."
"Ah, then let's go grab something to eat. This is going to take at least an hour."
The Senior Manager nodded while looking at the closed door. It really seemed like this wasn't going to end quickly.
While the Senior Manager walked along with the 5th Manager, they could hear the screams from Hell coming from behind.
"YOU JERKS!, HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELVES HUMAN?!"
Maybe it was going to take two hours instead of one. While praying for the well-being of the Managers, the Senior Manager quickly walked away.
* * * *
The Enforcement Department's office members spent an intense day thanks to the shenanigans of the three Managers. I was massaging the back of my neck because of how I had expressed my feelings after feeling moved by their actions.
What was going to happen first? Would I retire? Or would I collapse because of an anger-related sickness? It truly was an intense race.
As I sighed, the communication device in front of me began shining while emitting blue light. Blue light… It was a direct call from the Minister. I heaved a sigh. There is a saying that every time you sigh, a bit of luck seeps out of your mouth. But I had probably already run out of it. I couldn't find another reason why my life would be so messed up. Should I go to a church to receive some blessing? Maybe then my life would get better.
"Yes… This is the Director of Enforcement Dept. speaking."
– Woah, how come you've answered the call at once?
As I put my hands on the communication device, the face of the Minister appeared on top of it. The Magic Tower had gone too far. Why did they create something that showed the users' faces? Even before this life, I almost didn't do video calls.
"Yes. I just completed doing a task, so I was taking a break."
Making sure the Managers knew who was the one incharge, was one of the most important tasks of the Director.
– Really? That's great. Come to my office right now. It's urgent.
"You threw me a huge one yesterday. Yet there's another urgent thing!? Did you leave your humanity in the northern territories?"
– It's related to what I told you yesterday. So shut up and come here.
And then he immediately cut off the communication. The Minister is a thug.
' I usually don't lose to others in terms of rank.'
Although I often suffered because of the Minister, an Director I was someone who was well-treated anywhere they went. Especially if they were the Director of one of the most important departments of the country. But sadly, the opponent this time was the Minister.
"I'll be right back."
After informing the Senior Manager, I walked toward the Minister's room. I felt like I was starting to get called into the Minister's room more frequently these days. It probably wasn't my imagination. I really didn't like being called into a room where there was only the muscular Minister.
"Oh, Director. Long time no see."
But that didn't mean I wanted to see more people in there.
"Minister of Foreign Affairs? No, what brings you here?"
A generous-looking middle-aged man was drinking tea with the Minister. I bowed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs greeted me. And then I glared at the Minister. He should've told me there was someone else.
The Minister put his cup of tea down while making an expression that seemed to be saying what do you want me to do about it.
"He came here because there's something important he has to tell you before you are dispatched. He's someone busy, yet he came all the way here for you. So be grateful."
"Haha. The Director is going a long distance for the well-being of the Empire, so there's nothing he should feel grateful for."
"Don't talk too highly of him. He's going to become too arrogant and try to act as if he were on par with us."
"Does that come from experience? I'll take it into consideration."
The Minister of Foreign Affairs said while smirking. Then he looked at me.
"So, Director, you were named as the emergency Administrator, right?"
"Yes."
"Up until now, sending a Manager to the Academy was good enough. There's a reason why we've decided to send an Director. I'm sure you've heard some details from the Finance Minister."
'No, I haven't heard anything.'
I naturally looked at the Finance Minister. Yesterday ended with that man shouting, and he didn't tell me any details.
It seemed like the Minister had nothing to say about it, so he silently sipped tea while avoiding my gaze. It seemed like the Foreign Affairs Minister didn't see our awkward exchange. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his forehead. Then, he kept talking.
"To tell you the truth, there are a lot of problems regarding the new students at the Academy this year."
"Problems? Did the number of normal students increase too much?"
"That can't be called a problem. Please, take a look."
After saying that, the Foreign Affairs Minister gave me a stack of papers.
"I've made a list of the new students we must be careful about."
"Just who are they for you to say that we must be careful of?"
I couldn't help but doubt the words of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Academy was the Empire's most important educational institution. So many people from important families came here to study. Even members of the Imperial Family have gone there to study. That was also the case for the five Duke families.
Except for special cases like his, most of the nobles of the Empire go to the Academy. Was there someone so important that even the Minister of Foreign Affairs asked us to be careful of…?
I quickly tried to go through the list, but my eyes immediately stopped. It was because the first name was already eye-catching.
1. Andrew Rodriguez
I looked at the Minister of Foreign Affairs in surprise. I was lost for words.
"It's… Not him, right?"
"He's the same Andrew you're thinking about."
I frowned upon hearing that.
"Why is the Prince of the Briarvale Kingdom going to the Academy?"
"Why would we be like this if we knew the reason? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been turned upside down. We've asked for an explanation from the Biarvale Kingdom. But they said that even they were surprised by the prince's determination."
I annoyingly scratched my head after hearing a non-helpful answer. In this continent, the Biarvale Kingdom was the second most important after the Empire. He was the 4th Prince of that kingdom.
Although there were cases of foreign students coming to the Academy, there was no previous case of someone so important from another kingdom coming here.
There were good educational institutions in their own respective countries. So why come this far?
"I think I'm going to become crazy."
"It's too early to react like that. There's more to read."
The impact of the first name was so big that I forgot to read the rest of the list. I laughed in disbelief.
2. Damian Walpurgis
3. Harry Ellis
From order, they were the 2nd Prince of the United Kingdom of Vortexia and the most probable Saint candidate of the Harmonia Kingdom.
I couldn't believe what I was reading. The Foreign Affairs Minister kept talking in a careful voice.
"That's regarding people from foreign kingdoms. I'm sure you remember that the 4th Prince of the Empire is entering the Academy this year. Right?"
"Yes… I know."
That's why I was about to go crazy. A prince of the Empire, a prince of the 2nd most important Kingdom, a prince from the United Kingdom, and a saint candidate from the Harmonia Kingdom all gathered in one place. If a terror attack occurs in this place, the entire continent would be turned upside down.
"Ah."
Is that why I'm being dispatched?
The Finance Minister,who was silent for a while nodded. It was as if he were saying what I had suspected was correct.
"Although the Academy is theoretically neutral, it's in the middle of the Empire, and most students are from here. That's why the soldiers of the Empire are handling the security of the Academy. But things became complicated after these three decided to enroll in the Academy."
The three countries were questioning the neutrality of the Academy. It was impossible for the Academy to be floating in the sky, so they understood that it was inside the Empire, but they were questioning the fact that the security was entirely handled by the Empire. Of course, it was obvious that an Academy that was in the Empire was being protected by the Empire. But from their perspective and position, they couldn't help but question it.
Of course, each of the foreign ministries of these countries struggled to question that. But the princes and the saint candidate were adamant about attending the Empire's Academy. So from their perspective, the priority of their royal family was of the utmost importance.
At first, each country said they would send soldiers as reinforcements to increase the security of the Academy. But there's no way that there exists a country that would allow soldiers from other countries to enter their territory. But the foreign ministries of these countries were desperate to increase the security of their VIP.
There were a lot of negotiations. Each of the countries offered many things in exchange for the Empire to allow some security guards to escort the students, like submitting the list of personnel, and retiring some security personnel except for the absolutely necessary ones.
"There were already people complaining that there was too many security personnel in the Academy. We were thinking about what excuse we should use to do that. But the three countries said they would offer money in exchange. So we accepted."
"Of course, forcing so many personnel to retire suddenly would cause an uproar, and we were trying to think of a solution. But in this period, we usually send someone from the Enforcement Department's office to the Academy. Because this year's newcomers are too luxurious, the amount of money received as donations has increased significantly. So we got an excuse to send someone from the post of Director."
I couldn't say anything upon hearing the words of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance. It didn't matter which civil servant went. They couldn't negotiate with the royal families directly. Then that meant that one would have to deal with the security forces below that. And they wanted to pressure them with the rank of Executive Manager. I understood the necessity.
The problem was that I was the one who had to do that.
'Was this an Academy piece?'
Three important men were coming from a foreign country to join the Academy. All of them in the same year. It was as if the invisible hand of the creator was pushing the main characters into the Academy.
Heck. In the ten minutes i played the game, there was no mention of the Academy. I just saw the starting scene of the game that were about infancy. So I didn't know anything about the Academy arc.
As I cursed from the inside, the Minister walked toward me and patted me on the back.
"Every time you're struggling, think about this. If you make a mistake, a war might happen."
Woah, that really increases my motivation.
Anyway, I was forced to prepare to go to the Academy.
Since there was possession, was there no hope for regression? I would like to go back 3 years in the past.