Chapter: 692
With the loud entrance of the drunken duo, everyone had finally gathered.
Based on where they had taken their seats, I could guess what their positions were.
‘I’m the Executive Manager.’
First off, it was the same in both reality and dreams that I was the Executive Manager. In this dream too, I was dunking the former Judicial Minister while the Judicial Minister had remarkably moved up two ranks in the empire’s history. Quite pitiful, really.
‘Hecate is the Senior Manager.’
Hecate, who greeted me first, was the Senior Manager of the Information Department.
It was the most fitting choice. Out of these six, she was the only one who could assist me effectively. If any of the others were to be the Senior Manager, that would be a problem in itself.
‘Drake is the First Second Manager, and Walter is the Second Second Manager.’
Now that was an unexpected appointment. The First and Second Second Managers were responsible for information within the Information Department, yet both Drake and Walter had personalities farthest from that.
But there were no individuals among us that were closely related to information. They had probably just taken on the vacant roles, so I wouldn’t dwell on it too much.
‘Oliver is the Third Second Manager.’
At that moment, I nearly burst out laughing. Oliver was originally the bulky Third Second Manager of the previous world—just like our Executive Manager now. I thought it amusing to view his position as Third simply because of our commonality in size.
‘Gerard is the Fourth Second Manager…’
This appointment, along with Hecate being the Senior Manager, was also a reasonable choice.
Gerard was the next strongest after me, a truly extraordinary individual who could use Sky Slash just like I could. It was only natural he led the strongest department, the Fourth.
‘Idirid automatically becomes the Fifth Second Manager.’
Finally, the archer Idirid was undertaking the assassination tasks as the Fifth Second Manager.
This too made sense. Excluding Drake and Walter, who had just filled the vacancies, everyone else seemed to be allocated perfectly.
‘Not bad.’
No, it was beyond just okay; it was excellent.
The ideal I had once envisioned alone seemed to have materialized perfectly. Perhaps, this was us, the way we were supposed to look seven years ago.
Maybe this situation was why it was a dream. The appearance I had always wanted was somehow made real within this dream.
“Just how much did you drink? Just smelling it is getting me tipsy.”
In the midst of it all, Idirid, sitting close to Gerard, wrinkled his nose.
To be fair, even I, who was sitting quite a distance away, could smell the alcohol. I couldn’t imagine what Idirid, who was sitting right next to Gerard, was going through. Was he fighting the urge to throw Gerard out the window?
“Not much. Can’t you guys finish three bottles together without any issues?”
“You’re saying that’s all you drunk?”
“Cough, actually, I had three bottles an hour, just in case.”
At that, Idirid let out a harsh sigh.
They had claimed they didn’t want to sleep through the day, so they drank until morning. That meant they were gulping down 1.5 bottles an hour throughout the night. Now that’s some unbelievable drinking capacity.
“I’m trying to avoid seeing this kind of sight; that’s why I wanted to change jobs.”
His genuine lament made me chuckle.
I could relate. The longer one stays in the Information Department, the stronger the urge becomes to escape elsewhere.
“Can we stop the chit-chat and get to the meeting? At this rate, we’ll end up having lunch together.”
Amidst the unending conversation, Hecate lightly tapped the desk.
It was the role of the Senior Manager to control the chaos caused by the Second Managers. In that sense, Hecate was indeed an excellent Senior Manager.
“Executive Manager.”
“Uh-huh.”
When Hecate turned her head towards me, the others’ gazes slowly began to focus on me too.
…
“By the way, why are we gathered here?”
“Pfft!”
My awkward question made Gerard burst into laughter.
Don’t laugh, you idiot. I just entered this dream; how am I supposed to know why the meeting was called?
“Our department is running smoothly~”
However, I couldn’t raise my head in response to Idirid’s pointed remark.
While I could ignore the jab from someone more foolish than me, I couldn’t brush off the remark from a relatively sane person.
“Hey! Why are you being like this to our Executive Manager? He’s not even twenty yet; he can make mistakes!”
What made it more painful was that Hecate fervently defended me.
I couldn’t tell if it was a genuine defense or a veiled insult.
‘…So, why are we gathered, anyway?’
I just wanted to know that first. Until the meeting was over, I couldn’t proceed with any other schedules.
The meeting topic was the cleanup of the remaining supporters of the Second Prince.
Hearing that task for the first time in a while felt quite odd. I had spent much of my early days as Head of the Information Department dealing with the Second Prince’s faction. Now, I was revisiting a task that had remained in my memories.
“All the opposing faction that resisted our rise to power within the Information Department has been dealt with. Since the internal situation has calmed, we can now focus on external threats.”
I nodded at Idirid’s addition.
Cleaning up the internal mess was also a task I had been devoted to along with the eradication of the Second Prince’s faction. It seemed like the internal cleanup had wrapped up faster in this dream.
‘Didn’t needing to pick the new officers help speed things up?’
Unlike reality, in this dream, I and the Six Swords had all automatically become the officers of the Information Department. There was no need to select individuals to actively follow me; those who were willing to follow my lead naturally stood by me.
Besides, unlike the real officers who acted under my authority, the Six Swords were heroes who had captured Kagan and were veterans. They could take initiative easily without needing my support. It likely made the internal cleanup smoother and more comfortable.
“Since His Highness the First Prince has been declared the Crown Prince, the Second Prince’s faction has effectively collapsed. They were supporting that annoying Second Prince, believing he would become the next Emperor, but who would support a Second Prince who dropped out of the succession race?”
Idirid casually handed over a document to me.
“Yet, you know, there are always crazies around. Even now, there are still two lunatics supporting the Second Prince, albeit they should be punished for their treason due to their attempts to escape the Second Prince’s faction.”
Once I quickly scanned through the document, I grasped their identities.
‘Here we go.’
The two were Gallen Aesilon, the Patriarch of the Aesilon family from Housenze, and Heinrich Jenner, the Count of Sien.
They were the twin engines of the Second Prince’s faction, the most prestigious figures offering their strongest support and acting as the Second Prince’s hands and feet.
‘If it’s these two, they’ll have no choice but to continue supporting the Second Prince.’
Unlike other nobles who could simply withdraw, they had come too far. Keeping a facade of supporting the Second Prince and maintaining the faction, however small, was their best chance at survival.
Of course, in reality, the Second Prince’s faction had vanished without a trace from the empire. The former Head of the Information Department, Count Sien, was executed right after the war, while the Patriarch of Aesilon faced his end not long after.
After all, though they were traitors that consumed the empire together with the Second Prince, they couldn’t allow a marquis family to topple overnight, could they? Thanks to this sensibility, even while other factions crashed and burned, the Aesilon family held onto their marquis title for a year after the war.
“Whatever happened to our glorious Aesilon family? How did it end up like this!”
Yet, it was merely a reprieve to determine the perfect time for punishment, not a full pardon. The biggest reason the Second Prince could have such a wild tantrum was indeed the presence of the Aesilon family.
The heir of the Aesilon family had foolishly blurted that statement while drunkenly forgetting everything about it. He’d lamented about the glory the Aesilon family once had, boasting how they were the best amidst all marquis families in the empire.
How dare they remind everyone of the royal family’s influence within the capital while being merely a marquis family?
‘Thanks for making it so easy to eliminate you.’
Even now, I express my gratitude to that heir. Thanks to his foolish words, it was easy to accuse them of treason.
“Executive Manager?”
“Oh, I’m listening.”
Momentarily lost in those thoughts, I lifted my head in response to Idirid.
“What do you want to do? Should we eliminate the little fish first or go after the bigger fish right away?”
With Idirid’s follow-up, the others also silently looked at me, signaling their respect for my decision as the Executive Manager.
It wasn’t an easy question. If we aimed for the big fish right away, the little fish might scatter everywhere, but if we went after the little fish first, we would end up giving the big fish too much time to prepare. I had pondered similar priorities often before.
But now, I didn’t need to think too hard about it.
“Let’s go for the big fish first. The little fish are still just the little fish.”
From my past experiences, I knew targeting the big fish first would yield better results.
“But let’s not act immediately; let’s wait until about a week from now to make our move.”
I didn’t want to waste this precious time I had with all of you on chasing after some little vermin.
After all, both the Patriarch of Aesilon and the former Head of the Information Department were long gone in reality. There was no need to go crazy hunting them down, even in a dream.
I just want to share some calm moments with you all. I want to bask in this short, unpredictable miracle.
“A week, huh… That’s fine. It’ll take that long just to prepare.”
Fortunately, Idirid seemed satisfied with my answer, nodding his head.
“So, is the meeting over? I need to go ahead and clear my mind now.”
“Oh, I’ll go with you.”
“Where do you think you’re going, you lunatics? It’s still working hours.”
Just as I was about to formally dismiss the meeting, the chaos erupted again when Gerard and Drake stood up first.
Watching the scene, Oliver wore a wry smile, while Walter stared blankly at the empty air. It seemed such things were common occurrences in this dream.
“Oh right, Executive Manager.”
“Yeah?”
As I observed the three fools bickering, I turned my head at Hecate’s voice.
“Once the meeting ends, the Judicial Minister said he wants a report.”
“…In person?”
“Of course, it should be in person. He’s right next door!”
Hecate’s giggling face brought a reluctant smile to my lips.
How embarrassing it was that, in my position, I had to report to a fellow Judicial Minister. What a lamentable fate.
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