Ch.32I guess this wasn’t what I needed to worry about.

# Chapter 32: This Wasn’t What I Should Have Been Worried About

It’s been a week since the Diplomatic Enforcement Ministry was established.

Another week.

And as time flowed on, before I knew it, a month had passed.

“Vice Minister, don’t you think we could use a Deputy Minister by now?”

“Indeed, this workload is truly absurd.”

On one side, there was me, criticized as a parachute appointee.

On the other side, there was him, mocked with the strange derogatory nickname of “the Emperor’s pillar husband.”

Yet in the face of the overwhelming, murderous workload, we two had successfully become of one heart and mind.

So, after deciding to use our respective connections (!) to somehow secure the necessary personnel expansion:

“Then I’ll go ahead first, Minister.”

“I’m counting on the Vice Minister’s network.”

“Rest assured.”

After sending off the Vice Minister, whose social circle was far wider than mine, I turned off the work hologram I had kept on for appearances.

“You see, Riel, this is what dreams, friendship, and hope are all about.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure if we drift off course even a little more here, our world will collapse.”

And at Riel’s words, I suddenly realized one crucial fact.

‘World… realm… game world… wait a minute.’

After all, the world I had possessed into was none other than a “strategic management simulation.”

In other words, the most important thing in a strategy game.

I hadn’t opened the Empire’s resource window or species management window even once in the past few years.

‘My goodness, have I been wasting time on nonsense while neglecting the most important thing?’

[Pause]

Of course, I couldn’t just keep blaming myself, so I decided to check the resource window first.

‘Status window… hmm, resource window?’

The UI elements of the resource window began to open, stuttering as if experiencing lag.

And the resource window that appeared afterward evoked a strange sensation in me:

[Holy Sebelli Empire Total Resources and Trade Status]

[Basic Resources]

[Galactic Credits: Current Amount: 20819-11 (Monthly Income-Monthly Expenditure)]

[Basic Minerals (Detailed Types Not Available): 3700GT(Gigatons)-5]

[Food (Including Organic Materials): 28000GT+29]

[Advanced Resources]

[Primary Products (Detailed Types Not Available): 4314GT-6]

[Strategic Alloys: 7003GT+85]

[Strategic Resources]

[Tallianium: 2733MT(Megatons)+17]

[Crystal Powder: 510MT-20]

[Current Trade Status with Other Nations]

[Commercial Treaty with Ztrakfor – Receiving 20MT of Tallianium monthly in exchange for 15MT of Crystal Powder]

[…]

‘…’

How should I put this?

It felt like I had set the game to auto-play with the mindset that the AI would handle everything.

Then, after stepping away briefly, I returned to find the AI had ruined everything while seeming to say, “I did well, didn’t I?”

‘Why is the resource supply in such a mess?’

Had our empire gone to war with another nation while I wasn’t paying attention?

Otherwise, there’s no way such a terrible resource supply status would greet me during peacetime.

But this wasn’t something I could solve just by thinking hard about it.

[Unpause]

“Riel, are any of our imperial fleets currently in a state of war?”

“What? Why are you suddenly asking that?”

From Riel’s perspective, I had been rambling about friendship just moments ago, then suddenly paused.

And now I was asking for a fleet war status report, so her confusion was understandable…

“…Just a moment, I’ll check.”

Thanks to our more than ten years together, Riel immediately began assessing the situation through her connected computer after seeing the look in my eyes.

And after just about ten seconds:

“After checking, there have been no reports of combat or training exercises from any of the fleet divisions.”

“Is that so?”

With Riel quickly providing the information, I clicked on the monthly income-monthly expenditure column in the resource window, hoping for more details.

Unfortunately, whether because the system developers hadn’t done their job properly or for some other reason, the detailed information that would have appeared in the original game wasn’t showing up here.

‘…’

“Is there something strange in your status window?”

“Hmm… yeah, the resource status is a complete mess.”

The funny thing was that despite everything, our food resources and alloys remained abundant.

I felt a surge of admiration at the apparent determination to neither starve to death nor abandon the fleet, even in the worst circumstances.

But since that wasn’t the important issue right now, I massaged my throbbing temples with a groan.

‘I wish they’d manage the other resources that well too.’

“Hmm.”

“Minister, um, I have a question.”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“If it’s about resource problems, wouldn’t it be better to contact the newly established Industry and Resources Ministry rather than investigating ourselves?”

At Riel’s words, I removed my fingers from my temples.

*Snap!*

“That’s exactly right, Riel!”

I patted Riel’s head, who seemed particularly clever today, and immediately tried to contact the Minister of Industry and Resources, but…

*Click*

“The recipient’s device is powered off. After the beep, you will be connected to voicemail…”

“…Can’t connect.”

As the all-too-familiar automated voice cut off the call, my head filled with confusion…

“Did it say the device was powered off?”

“Just a moment.”

Riel, who had been watching me, closed her eyes and told me to wait, then opened them again after a moment.

“Since the Industry Ministry and Resources Ministry merged, their old building wasn’t sufficient, so they’ve just moved to an entirely new building.”

“Ah, they’re in the middle of moving.”

“Yes, according to what I’ve found out… construction is still ongoing, so Industry and Resources Ministry business is only being handled offline.”

Creating an offline administrative center in an era where interstellar travel is commonplace.

I don’t know who came up with that idea, but it seemed quite mad. With that thought, I tried calling the Industry and Resources Minister’s direct number.

*Beeeep…*

“Isn’t this the Diplomatic Enforcement Minister? W-what brings you to call me like this…?”

“I hope you’ve been well, Minister of Industry and Resources.”

Seeing his nervous reaction as he answered before the first ring had even finished, I decided to continue the conversation with a calm but clearly friendly attitude.

Given that he seemed somewhat burdened by my strange reputation, I should try to ease that burden.

——————

After spending quite some time telling a story I made up based on the status window I had seen:

“Hmm… so that was Your Grace’s concern.”

“Yes, though it’s merely my personal worry.”

“…No, rather, Your Grace’s perspective might serve as a standard for us in our confused situation.”

‘No, that’s too much pressure.’

The Industry and Resources Minister’s unexpectedly serious response was now making me uncomfortable.

He even replaced the mutual honorific “Minister” with the clearly more deferential “Your Grace.”

“Moreover, as Your Grace pointed out, if resource consumption rates are abnormally high without any reports to us, there’s a high possibility of smuggling.”

“It’s just my personal thought, so please don’t take it too seriously.”

“Not at all. If Your Grace personally took the time to worry about this, I can’t even imagine how much damage you must have suffered.”

‘Stop, that’s not what I meant.’

My attempts to ease his burden seemed to have created some strange misunderstanding, making my stomach churn.

“Well, whatever you do, I wish you… success.”

“With Your Grace’s blessing, I will keep it firmly in mind.”

By the end of this overwhelmingly burdensome conversation, I felt completely drained.

‘It feels like I’ve had my energy sucked out… being energy-drained over the phone by an alien who isn’t even humanoid…’

While this useless thought struck me as somewhat funny:

“Wow… really…”

At Riel’s astonished voice, I snapped back to attention and looked up.

There was our Riel, looking at me with an expression as astonished as her voice.

“What, why?”

“Nothing, it’s just strange seeing someone who doesn’t realize how much pressure and gaslighting they just applied.”

“No, I’m the one who’s been wronged here.”

“All perpetrators claim innocence.”

Despite this ridiculous false accusation, I had no way to resolve this injustice.

With that thought, I tried to at least suppress my sadness:

‘…Species window.’

[Holy Sebelli Empire Resident Species Collection]

[Sebellian]

[Sebellian Subspecies]

[Sebellian-Janiradian Mixed Subspecies]

[Janiradian]

[Janiradian Subspecies]

[Kar-Du]

[Ztrakian]

[Itrellian]

[Rixi]

[Kerzin]

[Uko’Praknar]

[Ik Tribe]

[Nur Tribe]

[Val Tribe]

[Roirak]

[Gorotian]

[Mekt]

[Fuks]

[Dis]

[Zeltek]

[Subspecies…

‘Now this is sci-fi, this is space opera!’

An extreme multi-species coalition that couldn’t be realized in the original game due to cursed computational processing limitations.

Seeing one of my fantasies actually realized, I felt some of my accumulated stress dissipate.

Of course, if the original game’s players saw this, they would have been spitting blood.