Ch.2Talianium Depletion Crisis (1)

# Chapter 2: The Thalianium Depletion Crisis

After the emergency imperial council meeting.

“Fuck, fuck, fucking hell.”

“Minister, please calm down.”

I was having a meltdown in my private bedroom within the imperial palace.

*Swoosh! Swoosh!*

Riel was holding me back to keep me from crossing the line, but that didn’t make my anger disappear.

[Emergency Quest: Thalianium Depletion Crisis]

[Depletion Status: 0.5%]

[When completely depleted, the Empire will automatically receive the Thalianium Default Debuff.]

“This fucking piece of shit, this goddamn onion-like turd that keeps coming out no matter how much you peel it!”

How is it possible that even though he’s been dead for 10 years already, problems caused by that bastard keep popping up?!

“Riel, does this make any sense to you?!”

“Umm… perhaps you should calm down first?”

Seeing Riel looking at me with worried eyes, I managed to suppress my excitement and decided to exercise superhuman patience.

“Haaah…”

“Here, some water.”

“Ah, thanks.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I gulped down the water Riel brought me.

I clutched my head, feeling the roughness of my short hair, as I recalled what happened at today’s emergency imperial council meeting.

—————-

“Do you think this is acceptable, Executive Minister?”

“…”

These people who normally wouldn’t properly listen to anything I say were now rushing at me like hounds because they’d caught something…

It was truly one of those things that could make a person furious.

But I couldn’t just lash out at them either.

“Regarding this Thalianium depletion crisis, the Executive Ministry is currently making maximum efforts to…”

“I am reminding you of the heavy responsibility that comes with being the Executive Minister, Minister!”

“Your Majesty, the Minister is avoiding his responsibility and failing to provide solutions in this critical situation!”

Watching the brilliant teamwork of our distinguished officials and council members, I could only observe for now.

Besides, I didn’t need to step in personally.

“Listen here, Councilor Taleman! In this case, the news itself was only delivered the day before yesterday!”

“Hmph, even if it was the day before yesterday, that should have been plenty of time to prepare countermeasures!”

“That’s absurd!”

The councilor trying to target me, and the opposing faction, naturally provided their full defense on my behalf.

“What outrageous words in this sacred imperial council!”

“You spoke outrageous words first!”

“What did you say?!”

“Are you done talking?!”

But what I thought was defense turned out to be them trying to beat each other with their shields.

*Crash! Bang!*

Eventually, the councilors nearly broke into a brawl, and I had to step in to separate and calm them down.

I had actually planned to just watch and enjoy the show with some popcorn, but…

[Quest: Stop the brawl at the imperial council meeting.]

[Current progress: 0%]

‘Damn it.’

Unfortunately, because of the quest, I had to kick away a wonderful spectacle myself.

Anyway, that wasn’t the important part.

Since my role at the imperial council wasn’t to be a wrestling referee but to provide solutions.

I tried to present my own solution to the current situation and naturally lead the meeting’s atmosphere.

“First, we haven’t yet identified the cause of the depletion crisis.”

“Do you think that makes sense?!”

“Minister, that sounds like the Executive Ministry is refusing to take responsibility for this matter.”

But the councilors kept tackling me at every turn.

“Your Majesty, isn’t this problem caused by too much power being concentrated in the Executive Ministry?”

“Indeed, it’s nonsensical that the Executive Ministry handles resource issues within the Empire in the first place!”

Along with the councilors’ tackles came the offensive from other ministry heads and vice ministers.

“Hehehe.”

“How dare you laugh during an imperial council meeting? Mind your manners!”

The fact that I couldn’t even laugh freely made me feel a surge of sadness.

“In that case, I believe we should remove the Executive Minister from his position to hold him accountable for this incident.”

“H-hey.”

“Isn’t that right? Isn’t he in that position to prevent such incidents from happening?”

But it seems not everyone here is a bad person.

‘Oh my, what a wonderful person.’

To work so hard for me, who’s being overworked as a forced employee of this black company… no, black imperial palace.

That means this is the perfect opportunity to resign—no, retire—and live a happy, leisurely life.

“I see, so that’s what you thought.”

So I deliberately took the bait that councilor threw.

The quest was bothering me, but I was too exhausted to experience the overwork of the past few years again.

Anyway, for that reason, I was filled with thoughts of naturally submitting my retirement to His Majesty the Emperor behind the curtain, but…

“Uh, uh…”

“…?”

For some reason, the blood drained from the face of that previously bold young councilor.

He was even stuttering, which made me wonder what was wrong with him suddenly.

Or rather, I was about to ask.

“That’s enough, everyone.”

“Ah! Y-Your Majesty!”

If only His Majesty the Emperor, who had been listening to the meeting from behind the curtain, hadn’t spoken up.

In this empire with a strict class system (according to the setting), who would dare to object when the Emperor speaks directly?

No, before objecting, who would dare to even speak?

After all, the Empire is the Emperor, and the Emperor is the Empire.

‘As expected of Your Majesty, completely different from that idiot former Emperor.’

Perhaps it’s because she’s fundamentally different from the naturally born fool that was the former Emperor.

I couldn’t help but nod inwardly at how she took control of the chaotic imperial council meeting with just one word.

‘Our super-intelligent Majesty will surely understand my feelings.’

This must be a strong expression of her will for me to take responsibility by resigning and enjoy the sweet pension.

Thinking this way, I felt energy returning to my body that had been exhausted and irritated until just now.

[Quest: Stop the brawl at the imperial council meeting.]

[Current progress: 100%]

[Quest successful!]

[Your physical fatigue has been relieved as a reward!]

…It seems it was due to the quest rather than my thoughts, but whatever.

‘As expected of Your Majesty, I believed in you!’

How could I, as a subject, not follow the opinion of Her Majesty, the Supreme Dignity?

Therefore, I decided to follow Her Majesty’s opinion and become a runaway ninja as soon as I received my pension after retiring from this hellish empire.

Or rather, I was about to.

“This matter is not the fault of the Executive Minister, so I ask everyone to refrain from such comments.”

“W-we will keep that in mind, Your Majesty!”

‘…Huh?’

Your Majesty, are you backstabbing me in a place like this?

I was so taken aback that I almost regressed to infantile thinking.

“Now then, Executive Minister, please first present your solution to this crisis.”

“…Yes, understood.”

If I hadn’t instinctively pulled myself together after hearing the Emperor’s words.

“Ahem, first, to put out the immediate fire, we’ve arranged to urgently secure some supply from Thalianium-related companies within the Empire and from neighboring countries.”

“I see, how much of a buffer will that provide?”

“The details will depend on subsequent negotiations, but it should amount to about 1-2 months’ worth of the Empire’s total usage.”

After finishing my briefing while maintaining my composure as best I could, there was a brief silence from Her Majesty behind the curtain.

Then, after a moment.

“…Very well, coordinate with the Treasury Ministry afterward and secure as much supply as possible.”

“I will keep that in mind, Your Majesty.”

At the mention that we could at least put out the immediate fire, I felt some lightness in Her Majesty’s voice.

But the problem didn’t end there.

As the conversation shifted from political talk to proper practical discussion…

“Well… this is…”

“This is…”

The atmosphere in the room rapidly deteriorated as we delved deeper into identifying the cause of the current crisis.

“…For these reasons, to summarize, the cause appears to be that the New Thalianium Deposit Exploration and Development Project by the Resource Ministry, which was initiated in response to the Thalianium depletion warning issued 13 years ago, was changed midway for some reason to a rare earth and crystal powder project.”

“13 years ago… surely…”

“Shh, be quiet.”

“Could it be…”

“…”

Something the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Resource Ministry couldn’t bring himself to say as the one summarizing.

But something all of us in this room, including Her Majesty the Emperor, couldn’t help but realize.

‘…That former Emperor, that son of a bitch.’

The root of all evil in the current Empire.

It was the story of another turd left behind by the former Emperor flowing back into the Empire.