Ch.10Zaniradea Rebellion (4)

# Chapter 10: The Janiradian Rebellion

‘…This is going to get me kicked out.’

With the commander’s sudden coming out, the party atmosphere instantly froze.

“I, I’m truly sorry, Your Grace!!”

“To think my son would commit such a discourtesy!”

“It’s fine.”

To be precise, it was due to the desperate dogeza from a noble family who had suddenly committed a grave offense in Sebellian noble culture.

Of course, I’m influenced by my previous life.

In other words, I don’t particularly concern myself with matters of social hierarchy and such…

The problem was that from their perspective, it was quite a different story.

“Please forgive us! I will personally pay the price for this rudeness…!”

“No, really, it’s fine…”

“Eeeek!!”

The noble ranks in this planetary government were ridiculously low compared to those in the capital where I’m from.

To give you an idea… while counts are as common as dirt in the capital, here there are at most two or three?

Even the noble prostrating himself before me was merely a viscount.

Moreover, the current issue was that the person who committed the “offense” against me hadn’t yet received an official rank.

In other words, they were in a state of being both noble and not noble.

Even if the viscount himself had committed the offense, it would have carried significant political risk, but for his unranked child to do so?

If this incident were to become known to other nobles or… the social circles of the capital, the consequences they would face would be severe.

‘Well, that’s why they’re begging so desperately…’

Anyway, seeing this, I really don’t like how the nobility in this empire operates.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“…!”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

Combined with their characteristic roundabout euphemisms, this situation was unfolding.

Ah… of course, that wasn’t the only cause of the problem.

“I have no words to offer for my child’s failure to recognize Minister Arto!”

“…”

It seems my fame and power had created a synergistic effect that was fueling the poor viscount’s distress.

So even when I say it’s fine, don’t worry about it.

From the viscount’s perspective, “it’s fine” becomes (get lost), and “don’t worry about it” becomes (I’m going to crush you anyway), which is why he’s desperately clinging on like this.

“Pff, pfft…”

“Riel.”

“Yes, Minister.”

Seeing Riel trying desperately to hold back her laughter, I realized I truly needed to resolve this situation for anything to progress.

“Um… Viscount? Let’s discuss this matter separately later.”

“What? Then, does that mean…!”

“I believe you understand what I’m saying, but if this drags on any further…”

Only after firmly expressing my wish for him to stop did we finally end our viewing of the viscount’s desperate performance.

————————-

After the brief commotion ended.

“I would like to apologize once more.”

“Let’s really stop talking about that now.”

When he tried to subtly bring up that noble culture again, only after receiving my ultimatum could we finally proceed to discuss the actual business.

“First, I’ll brief Your Grace on the current situation.”

“Hmm.”

As I nodded, a well-dressed government official began the briefing, flipping through a well-prepared presentation.

“Currently, our Janus planetary government is dealing with simultaneous terrorist attacks and unauthorized demonstrations across the planet…”

After enduring an extremely long briefing that was 75% flowery language, I spoke without much thought.

“So, most of the infrastructure has been restored except for interplanetary communication facilities, spaceports, and stations?”

“That is correct, Your Grace.”

“And the public security is being maintained to some extent…”

“Yes, that’s right. Except for the rebel elements, the government has successfully controlled the situation.”

At my last remark, the official who was giving the briefing answered with a confident face.

“This hotel area and the city zone are under perfect control, led by our government forces.”

With that high confidence and the scenes I had witnessed since arriving, I almost started to feel trust in this planetary government.

No, I almost did.

-BOOM!

-RUMBLE!!!

A sudden massive explosion from somewhere, followed by the sound of a large collapse.

“Wh-what’s happening!”

Before the bewildered official, real-time reports began coming in through holographic communications.

-“It’s terrible! A building housing security forces has collapsed due to a terrorist attack in downtown Volgard!”

-“Riot has broken out at Power Plant 41!”

-“Large-scale strikes continue in Mining Zone 6!”

“Wow.”

I had just heard from the government that “we’re maintaining security tightly and keeping public sentiment stable!”

I didn’t expect to immediately hear a triple combo of riots, terrorism, and strikes.

“Damn it, deploy security forces to deal with those traitors immediately!”

-Beep!

“Um… this, this is just an occasional incident, not at all a regular situation…”

Look at the pitiful appearance of that government official.

He looked like an iron leader when giving orders, but now he’s acting like a sycophant in front of me.

-Ding

[Event: Janiradial Situation Assessment]

[The capital area of Janiradial, Janus, appears much more normal than expected.]

[The planetary government even boasts that they have the situation perfectly under control.]

[However, contrary to their boasts, the reality is quite precarious.]

And now the status window is even throwing shade at the government official.

“…”

“…”

“Well, I just arrived and I’m tired, so let’s continue the rest of the discussion tomorrow.”

“Ah, understood!”

For the sake of the official who was about to faint from excessive tension, I simply pretended not to notice.

———————

The next day.

Using the logic that outside the bed was dangerous, I was enthusiastically rolling around in bed in broad daylight.

That’s not to say I wasn’t doing anything.

While watching the planet’s news on an unnecessarily translucent and slim TV screen commonly seen in sci-fi.

-Beep beep beep.

“…Hmm.”

Our agents are deployed on every planet in the empire.

And at the sound of information reports from agents I had dispatched since arriving here being updated on my terminal, I immediately got up and picked up the device to check.

-Ding

“Oh, come on.”

But as I tried to view the contents of the terminal, the status window appeared, blocking the terminal.

[Event: The Strange Situation in Janus]

[According to your agents’ investigations, the situation in Janus was clearly abnormal.]

[There are no results on whether the riots have any direction or what their specific goals are.]

[Investigation into the planetary government’s riot response measures is ongoing.]

[Further investigation seems necessary regarding internal conflicts among the garrison forces.]

[And interesting results are expected regarding the ‘mines’.]

…If it weren’t for the fact that it neatly summarized the complex and numerous reports into a concise summary, I would have smashed it.

‘I’ll let it slide just this once!’

With such a petty thought, I read through the reports along with the status window, and well…

‘…This seems to be getting quite complicated.’

It clearly doesn’t look like a simple riot.

And both the status window and the reports were telling me that riots weren’t the only problem.

“What is this? We still don’t know the garrison situation, and what’s this about mines?”

With unexpected issues popping up, my head was getting complicated.

‘In the original game, this would be just a few lines of text and a few button clicks!’

Why do I, forcibly immersed in this game, have to rack my brains over something that should be so simple?

Finding myself lamenting my fate, I felt the depression I had suppressed starting to resurface.

‘Where should I start checking from…’

While thinking about this, I suddenly realized I was doing something very stupid.

‘Wait, what am I doing?’

I was so lost in thought.

For these complex and time-consuming thoughts and actions, I wasn’t using one very excellent function.

And that was…

“Pause!”

-Tick

[Game has been paused.]

The game pause function that existed in the original game as well.