Ch.1Possession? Reincarnation? Whatever it is, that’s how it is.

# Chapter 1. Possession? Reincarnation? Whatever It Is.

Just another ordinary day.

-Beep beep beep

[Report: Detailed Intelligence Report on Internal Operations in the New Karakorum Republic]

[Confidentiality Level: Top Secret]

[Content: …]

And just like any other day, after checking the title of the confidential document sent directly to me and skimming through it.

-Beep

-“Document saved to archive.”

-“Next document has been transmitted.”

[Report: Daily Financial Status Report of the Sebeli Empire]

[Credits: …]

An endless tsunami of all kinds of documents and data.

Wanting to block these evil sources that were burning my insides, I simply checked the title and tossed the document straight into the archive before planting my face on the table.

“Huuuuuuuuuh…”

The sound of a sigh rising from deep within my lungs and bursting out through my mouth.

As I made that sound, I tried once again to deny the reality of the current situation that was giving me a headache.

“Maybe I’m just doing nonsense in a dream right now?”

“…You’re saying strange things again, Minister.”

Hearing someone naturally responding to my muttering, I twisted my head slightly from where it was planted on the table to look.

“Would you not act like this if you were me, Riel?”

“How would I know such things? I’m not from a high enough family to perform ministerial duties.”

This one always has a retort for everything I say.

Watching my “advisor” Riel, who was smoothly responding while wiggling the two antenna on her head, I shook my head and leaned back in my chair.

“Huuuuh.”

As another long sigh escaped me, Riel, who had been twitching her antenna, carefully approached to try and encourage me.

“But who else could do this job besides you, Minister? Everything happens according to the talents heaven bestows on us.”

As she made a gesture mimicking a rainbow with her hands like some yellow sponge character—despite being a humanoid—I could only laugh bitterly inside.

“…Suuuuure.”

Of course, that was just my thought.

Seeing my unintentionally sarcastic attitude, Riel’s cheeks puffed up in a pout.

“You don’t seem to believe me at all, Minister!”

“I do.”

The words “believe it or not, it’s your freedom” rose to the tip of my tongue before sinking back down.

‘I almost got myself assassinated unconsciously again.’

You might think I’m overreacting to such simple words, but…

-Ding!

[The Holy Sebeli Empire has a firm class hierarchy.]

[Unless there is a revolution or change in government structure, statements challenging the imperial ruling system may incur the Emperor’s wrath, so please be careful!]

…With this kind of damned UI popping up frantically before my eyes, I couldn’t afford to speak so freely.

‘Damn thing.’

After somehow gathering my wits in this chaotic situation.

-Beep!

[Remaining approval items: 0]

“Urrrrrgh…”

Only after finishing the endless flood of administrative work could I finally sink into my plush, beloved chair.

Seeing me like this, Riel placed a pre-chilled drink on the table.

“Good work!”

“You’re certainly full of energy.”

She must have handled a similar workload as me, yet she still maintained such a lively attitude.

“Haah, sometimes I envy your humanoid body.”

“Being able to keep up with my abilities with your weak human body is something to be proud of!”

She said, patting my shoulder.

Looking at Riel, I sipped the mysterious drink she had brought and sank into thought.

‘…Hya, really, how did I end up like this?’

To be precise, it was just the usual self-pity replaying in my brain.

Of course, seeing me now, someone might ask if I’ve gone crazy.

Just take this fancy chair I’m casually leaning back in…

Soft leather made from premium livestock that are meticulously managed for 27 hours a day, 400 days a year on the Empire’s exclusive ranch.

Decorations carved with care by master craftsmen and finished with premium wood after being imported from Bergius, the Empire’s finest livestock planet.

Inside, the highest-grade filling material created by the Empire’s top engineering minds that prevents any mold from growing, and so on.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this single chair costs enough to buy an entire city on a decent planet.

Not to mention this unnecessarily feature-packed table I drool over when bored, which costs the same as a destroyer ship.

Even this pretty drinking cup I use regularly is some ultra-rare limited edition made by some galactic master craftsman.

If the friends who barely survived the space Nazi soap factories from all over the universe saw this, they’d immediately stab me with a beam-spear.

But that wasn’t the important part.

‘…I miss home.’

Yes.

As the familiar “UI”—the status window—that appeared before my eyes earlier showed:

The important thing was that this damned world was not the world I originally lived in.

‘Status window.’

The moment I mentally repeated those words, which now felt almost familiar:

-Ding♪

With a sound effect that somehow seemed cheap, a translucent window appeared before my eyes.

[Name: Arto Virtalius Sebeli]

[Age: 29]

[Gender: Male]

[Race: Sebelian]

[Position: Minister of Execution, Holy Sebeli Empire]

[Current Status: Overwhelmed with fatigue due to excessive work, recovering.]

A status window that felt so simple it seemed hastily made.

As its existence proved, the world I was in now…

Was none other than a game world, the kind people often get possessed into.

And not even one of those popular RPG genres everyone gets possessed into, but an obscure SF strategy simulation management game.

‘At least it’s fortunate that it wasn’t a game I’d never played before.’

How I ended up possessed into this game, there was no way to know.

‘At least in my memory… I didn’t have an accident or anything like that.’

But the problem didn’t end there.

“Haaah…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just thinking to myself for a moment.”

After quietly sending Riel out of the room in response to my sigh.

I just kept sighing deeply, venting the frustration building up inside.

‘Seriously, where did the empire I carefully set up and created go, and how did I end up in this random empire I’ve never heard of?’

Given the nature of the game I was possessed into, there were default nations set by the game company.

Beyond that, users could create and operate their own countries and conquer others.

So I too had created my own nation filled with patriotism(?) and was enjoying the game…

But when I actually got possessed into the game, my beloved empire was nowhere to be found, and I ended up in some random obscure empire instead.

The only small consolation was that the Sebelians, the main race of the empire, looked almost identical to humans, which reduced the sense of alienation.

But the problems didn’t end there.

“Status window, quest progress.”

At my quiet command, a new screen appeared on the status window that had been showing only basic information.

And seeing the status window that appeared, I felt irritation welling up again.

[Current Quests]

[Main Quest: Lead the Holy Sebeli Empire to victory!]

[Galactic Ranking: 5th]

[Warning! You will fail if factions opposing the empire’s ethics gain power or if the empire’s name is changed by another country!]

[Sub Quest: Resolve the conflict in the northern border region of the empire.]

[Current Progress: 65%]

[Sub Quest: Make up for the previous emperor’s failures.]

[Current Progress: 10%]

[Sub Quest: Deal with the legacy left by the previous emperor]

[Current Progress: 45%]

…

“Ah…”

The problem was that this damned empire had issues erupting from every direction.

And it wasn’t even the fault of me or the current emperor, or rather Empress Nimyu, but because of the previous emperor, that Seberian trash who’s now dead and gone.

“Huuuuh…”

‘That Prosnack shit-like damned previous emperor…’

Of course, no matter how trashy the previous emperor was, I wouldn’t dare say such things out loud in the imperial palace, the center of this empire, so I could only seethe internally.

‘Still, it’s fortunate that I’m able to tackle the problems one by one.’

Fortunately, while the mess he left behind was disgustingly vast, it wasn’t impossible to clean up, so I could eliminate it step by step.

Thanks to that, the empire was now gradually returning to normal, which was truly fortunate.

Thinking about it that way, my irritation subsided, and I felt a sense of peace.

‘Right, in a way, that bastard’s tantrums won’t happen anymore.’

According to my thinking, honestly, what more could a dead man do?

To be frank, the imperial succession had already been completed through proper procedures, so problems from that direction were blocked.

And all other issues I’d identified had been addressed, so now I just needed to clear what had accumulated…

The more I thought about it, the more I felt time was on my side, and my mood improved even further.

“Hmm, they say people should live positively, after all.”

-Slurp.

And with my improved mood as a backdrop.

It took less than a few minutes for my good mood to collapse as I sipped Riel’s drink.

Actually, it took less than a minute.

-Beep.

“Hmm? All approvals should have been finished already?”

A notification for an approval request that came out of nowhere.

-BANG!

“M-Minister! We have a big problem!!!”

As Riel burst in, flinging open the door to the ministerial office with an urgent cry, I naturally checked the notification.

-Beep! Beep! Beep!

[EMERGENCY: Imperial Talianium reserves completely depleted, remaining amount confirmed to last only 3 days.]

[Royal council meeting called regarding the Talianium issue, all ministry and department heads must attend.]

-Drip.

I was so shocked that I couldn’t even stop the drink from dribbling out of my mouth.