Ch.57Gate (1)

# Chapter 57: Gate (1)

An AI that manages the planetary city, which had been sleeping in ancient ruins.

Quite some time had passed since recruiting the so-called Miss Alina.

“Time seems to flow by so quickly, doesn’t it, Riel?”

“Indeed it does.”

I was enjoying a leisurely afternoon, savoring the aroma of coffee that Riel had brought.

‘How peaceful.’

I was absolutely terrified when I nearly had my position changed to become Artraia’s pet due to the incident involving Alina…

But since then, it’s been a truly peaceful succession of days.

No more civil wars breaking out on the planet like before.

Even Prosnack, who would start border conflicts and attempt wars whenever bored, has been quiet.

Even the spy networks have been less active.

“Riel, what’s on the afternoon schedule today?”

“I told you just three minutes ago that there’s nothing.”

And with work finished as well, how could I be any happier?

“By the way, how is that… former vice-minister doing?”

“I heard he was appointed as an administrator for the Noble Council? When I went to congratulate him as you suggested, he looked at us quite wistfully.”

Plus, I’ve successfully managed to naturally send the troublesome Noble Council’s lackey back to his original position.

I was literally enjoying a leisurely afternoon, trying to further savor the aroma and taste of my coffee.

And then my peaceful time…

-CRASH!

“Minister! Return Miss Alina to us!!!”

“AAAAARGH!!!”

“Give Alina back to us! Blessings for office workers!”

Was shattered into pieces like the office door that was broken down by the office slaves who had come barging in to reclaim the missing Alina.

Seeing them even carrying strange breaching equipment, I stared blankly at the door debris that had splashed into my coffee cup.

“Come on, your workload should be less than usual, so what’s the problem that you’re barging in like this?”

And seeing this, Riel beside me showed an irritated reaction, but.

“Minister, why did you take Miss Alina away from us?”

Ignoring Riel’s words, the office slaves…

No, the newly recruited Diplomatic Enforcement Planet civil servants spoke, and I quietly organized my thoughts.

‘These guys, once they’ve tasted heaven, they find it hard to adapt without it.’

It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand their feelings.

In fact, there were clear records showing that after Alina came to our Diplomatic Enforcement Planet, office work efficiency increased by a whopping 370%.

In other words, it was literally heaven for those office slaves.

But now that Alina was gone, despite having less work than usual, they were causing this uproar.

Their behavior resembled drug addicts experiencing withdrawal symptoms, which was truly pitiful.

‘It’s sad, those elite office slaves of ours, starting a slave rebellion just because one person is missing.’

Of course, regardless of understanding their feelings, such rebellion could never be tolerated in the class-based society of the Empire.

“Riel.”

“Yes, Minister. You guys, come quickly and subdue these fellows.”

“Aaaagh!”

“Minister, this isn’t a rebellion, it’s a revolutiooooon!”

As they were being tied up and taken away by the purge squad members who appeared instantly at the entrance, I felt my temples throb at their statements filled with madness.

Of course, it wasn’t about the rebellion and revolution talk that some bald gentleman might mention.

“Riel.”

“What is it, Minister?”

“I thought Alina’s return date was tomorrow.”

“Yes.”

“Am I mistaken?”

“No.”

“Then why are they causing a commotion today?”

“I wonder too.”

If they had just waited one more day, the Alina they so desperately wanted would have returned on her own…

I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t wait and instead started a slave rebellion.

—————————–

Anyway, after suppressing the slave rebellion(?).

After the purge squad members repaired the shattered office door and cleaned the interior before leaving.

“Sigh.”

With the chaos gone and silence returning to the office.

Finally thinking I could take a quiet rest, I sat down on the sofa instead of the table and sighed, when at that moment.

-Ding!

“…Hmm?”

Hearing the notification sound from my personal terminal, I couldn’t hide my puzzlement.

‘Who would contact me at this hour…?’

And in response to my puzzlement, Riel naturally checked the terminal and said:

“Minister, it’s Minister Vermut from the Technology and Science Planet contacting you.”

“…”

That name I hadn’t heard in quite a while.

Hearing that Minister Vermut, one of the Empire’s acknowledged madmen, had contacted me, I felt my puzzlement amplify even more.

“Minister Vermut? What for?”

“I don’t know either, but if I had to guess, it might be related to Alina?”

Thinking Riel’s words made sense, I decided to take the terminal Riel brought and connect the communication.

-Beep!

“…What is it, Minister Vermut?”

And in the communication screen that turned on, Minister Vermut, whom I hadn’t seen in almost a year, was…

-“Yay~! Are you watching, Minister Arto?”

“…???”

For some reason, he was greeting me with an extremely cheerful yet subtly strange smile.

-“I’m about to play a fun ‘prank’ on your precious Miss Alina~!”

“…”

Of course, when I didn’t show much reaction, Minister Vermut pouted and grumbled.

-“If you show such a lack of response, it only makes me embarrassed.”

“Stop with the nonsense and tell me why you contacted me.”

And to my repeated question, Minister Vermut showed his characteristic exaggerated gesture and shouted at me.

-“We’ve developed an incredibly amazing thing this time, would you like to come see it?!”

Seeing him pointing at me through the communication screen, I wondered what on earth they had created to cause such a reaction.

But in response to my curiosity, Minister Vermut’s reaction was…

-“Hehehe, it wouldn’t be fun if I told you in advance!”

And with that, he abruptly cut off the communication.

“…”

“Minister, what are you going to do?”

Riel, who had been watching all this, asked me about my intentions.

“What do you mean?”

“Whatever it is, if you’re planning to go see it, I want to prepare for departure now.”

And to Riel’s words, I shrugged and answered.

“He didn’t even invite me properly, so there’s no need for me to go.”

“Well… that’s true.”

At my words, Riel showed a somewhat bewildered reaction…

Honestly, I didn’t feel like going to Minister Vermut’s place of appearance(?).

“I don’t feel like witnessing all the madness that Minister Vermut causes with my own eyes again.”

“Hmm.”

Considering that using slaves for biological experiments was just child’s play in most cases.

For the sake of my mental health, I decided not to get involved this time.

I planned to find some work that would take a decent amount of time as an excuse that I was too busy to go.

But about an hour later.

-Ding♪

-Ding♪

-Ding♪

-Ding♪

-Ding♪

-Ding♪Ding♪Ding♪Ding♪Ding♪Ding♪Ding♪Ding♪Ding♪Ding♪

“Riel, why aren’t you pressing the mute button?”

“Minister, the mute button on the terminal has disappeared.”

“…”

The madness of hacking someone else’s perfectly fine terminal to remove the mute button and sending notifications like spam made me finally surrender.

“Haah… fine, connect it.”

“Yes.”

As soon as the communication screen reconnected.

Minister Vermut, with a tearful face, started whining as soon as he saw me.

-“Minister Arto! Why aren’t you contacting me?!!”

And to such whining, I openly expressed my irritation, but…

“It seems it was you, Minister Vermut, who ended the communication without explaining properly.”

-“Hmph.”

“…”

At his childlike sound, I felt my patience ascending to heaven.

‘Even ordinary council members and ministers usually get scared when I show irritation.’

I couldn’t understand what kind of nerve Minister Vermut had.

-“Don’t be like that and please come see it just once.”

“I’m busy with work right now.”

-“Oh come on, I know you’re not particularly busy at this time… if nothing else, at least take a look!”

And as he kept whining without pause, I felt the desire to just smash the terminal right there, but…

-“Please please please please”

“Haah… alright, just please stop now, please.”

Due to his incessant whining, I finally sighed and decided to listen to Minister Vermut’s opinion just this once.

-“Great! You really won’t be disappointed this time, Minister Arto!”

With such self-praise, even my non-existent expectations began to rise…

-“Get ready… ta-da! Let me introduce the tentatively named, Warp Gate!!!”

Seeing something completely unexpected pop up, I immediately sprang up from the sofa where I was sitting.