Ch.80Ghost Ship (1)

# Chapter 80: Ghost Ship (1)

It’s been a year since the Warlord’s death.

[You have been playing this game for 16 years. Excessive gaming may interfere with normal daily life.]

“…”

As I reached the moment of having been in this world for 16 years, I grabbed the stress ball from the table, threw it, and shouted.

“Son of a bitch!”

“Why are you acting like that again?”

“Huff… no, it’s nothing.”

Riel, who had been busy with work, was startled by my outburst. I tried to manage my expression and calm my irritation, but—

“What is it? Did someone send another blood-written letter saying ‘O Prophet, lead us!’ to the Minister again?”

“…”

At Riel’s words, bringing up something I had finally forgotten, I used the extending function of my newly made etiquette injection rod to strike her on the head.

“Kyaah!”

“Lower your voice. Don’t raise your voice.”

As Riel clutched her head in apparent pain, I sat down feeling an inexplicable satisfaction.

“Stop pretending it hurts and get back to work.”

“It really hurts… geez.”

Of course, Riel’s eyes welled up with tears as she kept rubbing her head.

But since she had brought this calamity upon herself…

I focused on my work with a considerably lightened heart, without a shred of doubt in my mind.

However, not long after I started working…

“Siiiiigh…”

I kept letting out sighs.

“What’s wrong?”

“…It’s been a year since the Warlord’s forces collapsed, but the situation hasn’t really changed during that time.”

Hearing this, Riel tilted her head and asked with confusion.

“If nothing has changed in a year, wouldn’t that mean things have stabilized?”

“Can we call a continuously chaotic situation ‘stabilized’?”

“When you put it that way, I guess not.”

Watching Riel realize her mistake and apologize, I reflected on what had happened so far.

“Truly, for nearly a year, I’ve been trying to establish our empire’s hegemony somehow.”

“But realistically, except for the Nurbal Republic, it’s… well, you know?”

During the past year, taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the east…

While the ruling powers of each country were shaken, our operation to expand the empire’s territory by infiltrating our control was underway.

However, regrettably, the control we gained was limited to only a small portion of the eastern region.

I was quite disappointed with this situation.

But seeing my expression, Riel opened her mouth as if finding it strange.

“Still, isn’t this fortunate from your perspective, Minister?”

“Hmm?”

“Think about it. If it wasn’t just Nurbal but also Roirakan or Mek… no, Fuksoviet or whatever they’re called got involved, could you have handled it, Minister?”

Faced with this unexpected factual assault, I nodded in agreement.

“Indeed, that’s something I hadn’t considered.”

Of course, expanding our territory would be nice, but whether we could manage it is a different question altogether.

So I decided to end my thoughts on this matter and focus on the remaining work, hoping there wouldn’t be any further incidents.

And after continuing to process the work…

“Nothing unusual today either!”

“Hmm.”

Fortunately, apart from the chaos in the east caused by the Warlord, there really wasn’t anything significant happening.

After finishing the last task on my terminal…

I immediately stood up, preparing to enter the break room beyond my office, but…

-Ding!

-Ding-ding-ding-ding-diiiiing!

“Ah, damn it.”

Perhaps the heavenly gods didn’t want to see me happy.

Just as I finished my work and stood up, my terminal was flooded with new tasks.

“Pfft-hehehehehe.”

“…”

“I’m sorry.”

Seeing how pathetic I must have looked, even Riel, who had been laughing at me, lowered her head when our eyes met.

And so, finally accepting reality…

Feeling like I’d aged another decade, I sat back down to continue working.

But as soon as I sat down, the task that caught my eye was…

[Ghost Ship Confirmation]

“…???”

Surprisingly, it was a document with a title that didn’t fit the “Diplomatic Enforcement Ministry” at all.

‘Why on earth would a report about a ghost ship come to me?’

‘Have the office slaves become so overloaded that they can’t even do proper preliminary processing?’

‘Or are they just sending me anything to mess with me?’

All kinds of suspicious thoughts surged through my mind momentarily.

But since making assumptions based just on the title would only waste mental energy…

I cleared my mind and calmly began reading the report on the terminal.

And shortly after…

“…Riel.”

“What is it, Minister?”

I called Riel, showed her the report I was reading, and spoke in the calmest tone I could manage.

“Check the veracity of this report’s contents.”

“What’s this about? A ghost ship?”

Riel showed a reaction that suggested she couldn’t understand why I was taking such a tabloid-like report seriously.

“I don’t know why such a report was escalated to you, Minister… but do we really need to respond seriously to something that sounds like a tabloid?”

Of course, objectively speaking, Riel’s words were completely reasonable.

A ghost ship, of all things.

Why would anyone in this science fiction-like world seriously respond to something so unscientific and superstitious…

“…Riel, have you forgotten that we are a theocratic state?”

“Ah.”

“That kind of thinking only applies in materialist states.”

“…”

“In a place like ours, where we believe in the existence of souls and where psionic abilities are real, ghosts can certainly exist.”

…Of course, the reason why I suddenly changed my stance, when just moments ago I was internally complaining about why such a ghost ship report was sent to me…

Was obviously because…

The moment I read the entire report, a new event appeared before my eyes.

[Event: Ghost Ship?!]

[Recently, an unidentified warship was spotted drifting along the border between the Kerzin Federation and the Sir-Horde Alliance.]

[However, for some reason, no human presence could be confirmed on the ship’s bridge.]

[Moreover, there were no markings on the hull indicating its affiliation, with only faint welding marks on the bow suggesting that some specific emblem had once been attached, proving that this ship once belonged somewhere.]

[Option 1: Ignore this ominous presence (End Event)]

[Option 2: Check it out first, and if necessary, take possession of it (Continue to linked event)]

It was an event with selectable options, and I had a strong feeling that if handled well, we might get a free warship.

Seeing my sudden change in attitude, Riel narrowed her eyes and said coldly:

“Another event popped up, didn’t it? Otherwise, the self-proclaimed rational Minister wouldn’t react like this.”

“…”

How cowardly to attack me with facts.

But since there was no reason to deny Riel’s words, I nodded and said:

“Yes, yes, that’s all true.”

“…”

“So, send some personnel to investigate this properly.”

Hearing this, Riel asked again, expressing concern:

“But Minister, won’t the Kerzin Federation be extremely angry if we’re not careful?”

“What problems do you think there might be?”

“Well, considering the recent Warlord-related incidents… they might be a bit on edge.”

But I reassured Riel, patting her head:

“We’re not sending a separate fleet, just a research vessel to investigate.”

“That’s true.”

“Given that neither the Kerzin Federation nor our empire has closed its borders, there shouldn’t be any major issues.”

Hearing this, Riel seemed reassured and nodded in agreement.

“When you think about it, that makes sense. After all, ghost ships—I mean, ships drifting with no crew because they’ve either escaped or perished—happen from time to time.”

‘That’s not quite what I meant…’

Anyway, if all goes well, we might get a free warship.

I looked forward to the investigation results that would eventually come back and resumed my work.

————————

But about a week later…

“Minister, about that ghost ship you mentioned before.”

“Yes, what about it?”

“Actually, they’re saying it’s an ancient warship built during the Dark Age.”

I was forced to realize that what I thought was a simple warship acquisition event was actually something much more extraordinary.