Ch.28Aftermath (2)

# Chapter 28: Post-War Processing (2)

Fortunately, during the peace negotiation process, no sporadic engagements occurred along the border.

Of course, that’s excluding the minor detail that the opposing side lacked the military strength to engage in sporadic combat with Prosnack.

“Surprisingly, Prosnack didn’t cause any trouble.”

In response to my muttering, Riel shook the antenna at the side of her head with confusion.

“Isn’t that obvious? If they engaged in combat against the negotiation team and the Federation’s peacekeeping forces dispatched to prevent conflict, they’d have to face the entire Galactic Federation.”

“That’s true.”

After answering Riel, I gazed at the antique clock hanging on the office wall.

An old-fashioned pendulum clock that clearly showed its age, completely out of place in an SF world where people navigate the sea of stars.

Watching the second hand tick around, I spoke again.

“So, should we be getting results soon?”

As if answering my question, a large hologram popped up from my terminal with a cheerful alarm sound.

“It’s the peace treaty document! That was quick, wasn’t it?!”

Riel’s tone was so cheerful that I was eager to see it myself.

[Event: End of the Campaign!]

[Thanks to your quick judgment, Prosnack succeeded in expanding their territory but failed to completely eliminate their opponent.]

[Nevertheless, Prosnack feels a certain admiration toward you for executing such a large-scale operation without violating the treaty with them!]

[And through that admiration, the peace agreement also reached a successful conclusion in a much more peaceful atmosphere than expected.]

But this damned event window blocked my view as soon as the hologram appeared.

I almost had curses rising to my throat, but…

[Reward: Greatly increased trust from the Kerzin Federation toward the Holy Sebelli Empire]

[Additional Reward: Increased goodwill toward the Holy Sebelli Empire within the Galactic Federation]

[Additional Reward 2: Reduced physical and mental fatigue for the player and acquisition of massive influence]

‘…I’ll let it slide just this once.’

Since the rewards were much sweeter than expected, I decided not to say anything more about it.

“Hmm, everything turned out just as you predicted, Minister.”

“Hmm.”

Moreover, the content of the treaty was exactly as Riel had said.

[Kerzin-Prosnack Peace Treaty]

[1. As of the current time when this treaty is proposed, all combat is prohibited.]

[2. The star systems occupied by both sides shall remain as they are and be incorporated into each country as status quo]

[3. …

Although it was a formal treaty with various legal grounds and miscellaneous details attached…

All the important content proceeded exactly as I had expected.

And at the end, the duration of the peace agreement was specified.

[20. The peace agreement between both parties shall last for 10 years from the current time, during which any acts of combat between the two sides are prohibited.]

‘Oh, in the game too, wars ended with a 10-year peace period.’

Finding something identical to the game in an unexpected place gave me a strange sense of familiarity.

And after seeing that, well…

‘I guess no more major problems will arise now.’

In my mind, I thought that a relatively smooth life would continue from now on.

————————-

One month later.

While doing my usual work and simultaneously watching the live transmission of the peace treaty signing ceremony…

I suddenly realized that I hadn’t checked the nation screen for quite some time.

‘This is the problem when it becomes reality.’

In the game, the third-person perspective and strategy game UI clearly showed what I had missed or skipped.

Unfortunately in reality, I couldn’t display all UIs and notifications in front of my eyes.

My field of vision is limited, and how could all those UIs fit in that narrow space?

Before that, if my vision gets completely blocked, I might crash into something strange while walking and cause a disaster.

Anyway, for that reason, I opened the nation screen that I had completely forgotten about due to being busy…

[Holy Sebelli Empire]

[Current Overall Ranking: 7th -> 4th]

[Population: 67.5 billion (declining compared to previous month)]

[Political System: Empire, Theocracy]

[Constituent Races: Sebellian (59%), Janiradian (14%), Kar-Du (7%), Ztrakian (6%), Itrellian (5%), Rixi (5%), Kerzin (5%), Others (4%)]

[Current Ruler: Emperor Artraia Belliard Penash Khan Sebelli]

Finally back to normal… no.

Seeing the Empire’s ranking that had risen by one level, I mentally repeated cheers of joy.

‘Ah, that’s nice.’

And it wouldn’t be right to just leave it at that.

Since I’d already opened it, I decided to check the reason for the rise as well.

[4th: Holy Sebelli Empire +3]

[Reason: Massive influence gained through peace treaty signing, improved relations with majority factions in the Space Federation, ^%@%@#]

But strangely, the reason window was quite different from usual.

How should I put it, the last part of the reason seemed censored, with garbled text.

‘What is this? This is the first time in 10 years.’

Thinking it might be a bug, I closed and reopened the reason window.

I even tried closing and reopening the entire status window.

I even tried sleeping well for a night and checking again the next day, but…

[4th: Holy Sebelli Empire +3]

[Reason: Massive influence gained through peace treaty signing, improved relations with majority factions in the Space Federation, ^%@%@#]

Seeing the reason window still broken, I could only sigh deeply.

‘What am I supposed to do with this?’

One fortunate thing was that only that part had text broken as if censored.

‘It’s suspicious, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now.’

The moment I realized there was nothing I could do no matter how much I pondered…

I felt a refreshing sensation as if all the worries that had been building up suddenly disappeared.

My past self might have criticized me for making such a fuss over something so trivial, but…

‘Wait a minute, have I finished all my work?’

I realized that if that strange concern disappeared, I would have nothing to worry about for the time being.

“…Freedom!”

No longer needing to suffer from overwork, I could now proceed leisurely and steadily toward game victory(?) like in the past.

“Excuse me?”

“No, not yet I suppose.”

“…???”

Of course, there were still things that I and the Executive Ministry had to handle, like processing diplomatic affairs on behalf of the Foreign Ministry or dealing with the aftermath of the Janus situation…

‘But that’s all there is.’

Only tasks that could be handled at the Executive Ministry ‘level’ remained, which was wonderful.

At least there wouldn’t be any big events like the ones I’d been dealing with for the past 1-2 years—squabbling with other departments and provincial ministers, traveling to distant foreign countries, getting involved with fleet commanders, or having the entire empire mobilized due to entanglements with alien nations.

Thinking about it that way, I felt a sense of energy regenerating from nowhere.

‘Tonight I’ll finally get a good night’s sleep.’

I had enough mental space to have such idle thoughts even while work was still in progress.

———————–

Another month later.

“Minister!!! Have you heard about it?!”

After a peaceful month without any particular incidents or accidents…

Perhaps as a reaction to being liberated from overwork like me, Riel, who had applied for extended leave to become an even freer spirit…

That Riel burst through the door wearing an extremely inappropriate and dangerous outfit for some reason.

Without even changing out of that dangerous outfit, she urgently addressed me.

In the face of such a bizarre sight, if it had been me a month ago, I would have immediately struck her head with the etiquette injection rod and told her to change clothes first…

“What’s wrong, Riel?”

But I too had become quite mellow after a month of recuperation(?).

Thanks to that, Riel was able to prevent a new decoration from appearing on her head.

“It’s a disaster, a real disaster!”

“…?”

But I still couldn’t understand what disaster she was talking about.

As far as I knew, there hadn’t been any major incidents externally in the past month.

However, Riel’s next words filled my relaxed mind with tension.

“In this organizational restructuring season, His Majesty is saying he’ll merge the Executive Ministry and the Foreign Ministry!”

At the mention of combining two departments already plagued by overwork, I dropped the pen I was holding.