Ch.103Situation Assessment

# Chapter 103: Assessing the Situation

First, understanding the situation was the most important thing…

[Option 2: Check what’s happening first! (Increased chaos within the Holy Sebelli Empire, additional linked events related to gate malfunction)]<Selected>

I immediately chose option 2, then disabled the pause.

Right after that, notifications sounded simultaneously on both my and Riel’s terminals.

“…”

“Why are both the Minister and I getting the same alert…whoa.”

The content was almost identical to the event message I had seen.

“This is serious. Could the gate actually be broken?”

Hearing Riel’s casually uttered words, I realized that worrying about the Gray Nightmare wasn’t my immediate concern.

‘Right, as Riel says, it might just be an actual malfunction.’

Of course, in the game, these structures never broke down even after hundreds of years once built.

But this wasn’t a game—it was reality. Who could predict when and where problems might occur?

Even flagship vessels and battleships, which were much smaller than gates, frequently suffered accidents that rendered them inoperable.

Stories about fleet flagships nearly crashing into stars due to generator malfunctions during maneuvers were common jokes in fleet command headquarters.

So how much worse could it be for something as massive and complex as a gate?

‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!’

‘Why is that person acting like that?’

‘He’s a gate administrator. The gate’s integrated circuits got tangled and connected to some strange gate.’

Just from my memory alone, I recalled bureaucrats from the Ministry of Technology and Science writing reports after incorrectly installing circuits that connected to strange places.

I suddenly realized how different things looked from my current perspective as a bureaucrat compared to when I played the game with an omniscient viewpoint.

Anyway, after selecting option 2, I casually dismissed the notification that essentially contained the same information as the event message.

“Minister, how should we respond to this situation?”

When Riel asked me about our future course of action, I nodded and answered.

“Situation assessment takes priority. Media control can wait!”

“Understood, Minister.”

————————————-

About a week later…

“Minister, I’ve brought the investigation results!”

As soon as I received the report Riel brought, my vision was obscured by a new event message.

[Pause]

Thankfully, the game automatically paused whenever an event message appeared.

What disaster might occur if my vision suddenly became blocked by an event message without pausing?

‘Oh geez.’

With that thought in mind, I pulled the event message that had appeared too close to my face a bit further away.

After positioning it at a comfortable distance, I began reading its contents.

[Event: Deactivated Gate]

[When one of the Holy Sebelli Empire’s prized warp gate networks went dead, the Empire’s finest minds and workforce gathered to determine the cause of the problem.]

[As a result, they discovered that the gate’s structure and materials had somehow transformed into an unfamiliar form.]

[More time and resources will be needed to understand this problem.]

[Option 1: Why are you telling me this? Still, I should provide support (Continue linked event)]

[Option 2: End the situation assessment there and focus on addressing domestic unrest first (Continue linked event)]

After reading everything, I came to one conclusion in my mind.

‘This seems a bit different from the Gray Nightmare event I know.’

I thought it must be because of the mod, and I pondered the two additional options.

‘But it says the event will continue regardless of which option I choose… what’s going on?’

Usually in these cases, one option would typically end the event.

Yet for some reason, both options here essentially said “The event will continue anyway.”

‘Interesting…’

But in such cases, the direction of the linked events would typically differ.

I took more time to carefully consider which option would be more beneficial.

And after what felt like about 5 hours…

‘Alright, I’ve decided.’

After suffering from decision paralysis, I finally reached a conclusion and successfully chose an option.

[Option 1: Why are you telling me this? Still, I should provide support (Continue linked event)]<Selected>

‘Imperial unrest will naturally subside with time anyway!’

Of course, that’s not really what the Minister of the Secret Police responsible for controlling such unrest should be thinking…

But both in the game and in reality, public opinion in the Sebelli Empire was as volatile as a boiling pot.

Later, I could just throw out some other bait and quietly take those who crossed the line to secret facilities to deal with them.

[Pause Disabled]

With a rough plan in mind, I disabled the pause and decided to put my chosen option into action.

“I understand, but the investigation will take about a week. Are you planning to wait until then?”

“I don’t think I’m so unbusy that I can do nothing during that week.”

Even as I said this, I secretly thought nothing would happen.

In fact, since I had voiced such concerns aloud, the opposite would likely occur—everything would remain peaceful.

——————————–

However, not long after I gave my orders…

“Riel, why didn’t you stop me?”

“…Are you trying to shift the blame to me?”

Currently, I was dealing with unexpectedly chaotic public opinion regarding the warp gate, which was worse than anticipated.

[Breaking News! Accident Due to Warp Gate Network Error: Are Gates Really Safe?]

[The accident in the Holy Sebelli Empire’s prized warp gate network could lead to dangerous and terrible consequences…]

To be precise, the problem wasn’t domestic public opinion within the Empire, but the miserable public relations battle with surrounding nations.

“They’re all taking advantage of this opportunity to attack us.”

“Who cares? They’re just commoners without gates spouting nonsense.”

“…”

From the Empire’s citizens’ perspective, the warp gate network was too impressive to be criticized for minor accidents.

“How dare they insult our nation’s supreme wa-rp gate, the finest in the galaxy?”

Trying to convince such people that “warp gates are dangerous and terrible junk” would only earn scoffs.

The Sebellians, the Empire’s main species, went so far as to dismiss such foreign media campaigns as stemming from jealousy toward the magnificent Empire.

Their pride was so strong…

It was said that sometimes even the propaganda officials from the Ministry of Propaganda and the Ministry of Defense would turn away in embarrassment—that’s how extreme it was.

But the problem lay with the other species that formed the foundation of the Empire, not the main Sebellian species.

Especially species whose “countries” remained intact.

Recently incorporated species like the Zeltech were particularly susceptible to such bittersweet propaganda.

As a result, I and others from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Enforcement were busy with “public opinion control” in cooperation with the security forces from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Well, one good thing was…

Because we were so incredibly busy, a week flew by in an instant.

Thanks to that, I suppose…

Despite it clearly taking a week, I received what felt like a report that had arrived after just one day.

-Ding♪

[Event: Dangerous Situation]

[The investigation team, using continued support and personnel, finally confirmed the detection of spatial energy fields inside the gate.]

[Additionally, flows of unknown particles and energy were detected in the space within the gate.]

[In this situation, the investigation team entered the gate facility where no signs of life were detected.]

[They discovered that no life forms were detected inside the gate facility, including the central control center.]

[So who, and how, sealed and used the gate?]

[And where did all the original gate administrators disappear to?]

[The investigation team wants to create a small hole in the spatial containment field of the sealed gate to find the cause.]

[Option 1: Make the hole and check what’s happening beyond the gate! (Continue linked event)]

[Option 2: There must be a reason it was sealed. (End event, gate permanently unusable)]

After sighing deeply at the unnecessarily mysterious event message and options…

‘There’s no reason not to choose option 1 here.’

Even while feeling annoyed at this obvious-answer event, I naturally decided to select option 1.