9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 219 - My World (1)

Winter left and spring came, and then spring left and summer arrived.

During this time, Schufaben remained in chaos throughout, and I had to move busily as if being punished for briefly idling around.

The fact that I had been a member of the White Raven Order was already widely known. It was only natural since I had exposed it myself at the scene, but the problem was that it had been somewhat distorted.

I had steeled myself for massive criticism when I stabbed Kruger to death and declared the White Raven Order before everyone.

The things I had done—playing the country for a fool with my double agent antics, inciting the people and stoking war, driving countless people to their deaths. Not just Kruger, but I too would never be able to escape history’s judgment or the people’s accusations.

However, when I actually came out into the world, I was upheld as the same hero as before—no, an even more noble hero than before.

It turned out someone had anonymously provided the media with detailed accounts of the White Raven Order’s activities. While it was good that they distinguished between the real White Raven Order’s accomplishments and the simple crimes of imposters, the problem was that they had tremendously glorified the history I had built up.

Every crime I had committed became a noble sacrifice, and I became a martyr who had shouldered evil deeds with tears for Schufaben’s future.

And the people went wild for me.

They made me the icon of a new era to erase the dark history of their guilt for following Kruger and shouting for a great Schufaben. Even those who were truly repentant pitied me, saying, ‘The methods may have been wrong, but the intent was pure.’

I can’t describe how absurd I felt when I finally read through the piles of newspapers. To erase my sins so simply.

‘Is this how the world works everywhere?’

The identity of the anonymous contributor was easy to guess.

“Johann, that bastard, what was he thinking?”

Johann had released the students and incited the demonstrations, then truly disappeared without a trace.

He’s probably living well somewhere after changing his identity. He’s sickeningly clever, after all.

I thought he might attach himself to power again, but that seems unlikely. If it comes out that he was the former head of Ossel, it would be quite tough to whitewash all those evil deeds, and since he already has plenty of money, he probably wouldn’t choose such a thorny path.

He’ll probably spend his whole life relaxing in some quiet resort, clutching the money he’s earned.

This glorified propaganda about me was probably also a ploy to divert people’s attention and erase Ossel’s presence. No doubt about it.

Anyway, the cleanup after Johann’s mess became my responsibility.

It was no wonder that people from all walks of life came looking for me every other day, asking me to become king. They had painted me as such a beautiful and brave young man. Stalker-level followers swarmed around me. Letter bombs poured in, and every morning people with picket signs set up camp in front of my house.

I drove them all away in a rage. I even went on the radio to declare that I would absolutely never become king. As time passed like that, the fervor cooled down a bit.

Originally, with all sorts of political systems being proposed and everyone making a fuss about the direction Schufaben should take going forward, probably less than half the citizens actually wanted to make me king. They were just loud, that’s all.

Finally, after people dispersed, I focused on my own work.

***

After the Schufaben military declared unconditional surrender, the continental nations were in a state of confusion over the anarchic Schufaben.

For now, the intentions of Queen Rubellia and her parliament, the main victors, would be most important, and they had started by lifting sanctions in the name of ‘moral considerations,’ opening trade routes one by one.

Even without a government, companies still existed, and entrepreneurs who had risen from the ashes were frantically buying essential goods like food first. Thanks to this, prices stabilized somewhat and restaurants and taverns came back to life.

I visited District 13’s entertainment district, ‘Heart of the Night,’ for the first time in a long while.

While people were confused, fighting with different ideologies and beliefs, wasn’t it better than the days when no one could voice any opinion other than the Supreme Leader’s?

Perhaps because this gave hope, the entertainment district’s atmosphere was warm. The Golden Fox Tavern was also running busily.

“Hello, Ameli.”

Ameli, who had been frantically doing the closing tasks, froze.

“Lucas?”

“Long time no see.”

I smiled slightly and greeted her.

“I came to give thanks. You helped me so much. I caused you trouble at a nuisance level. You helped us without receiving any compensation—”

“Wait.”

Ameli raised her hand to stop my words. Then she strode over and peered at my face.

“It really is you.”

“Of course it’s me, Lucas Redan.”

“You…”

Ameli’s cat-like, slightly upturned eyes were trembling.

“I heard the rumor that you woke up. Your friends came to bring gifts several times.”

“You rejected them all. Why?”

She let out a long sigh.

“Going forward, Lucas, you’re someone who will climb higher. If it becomes known that your ex-girlfriend is a tavern woman, it’ll obviously hold you back.”

“Hey, what are you talking about? Many people already know, don’t they? And I’m also a tavern owner.”

“They wrote articles. That it was all deception to hide your grand intentions.”

“That’s really not true!”

I’m going to go crazy, seriously.

“Anyway, people believe that. They’re eager to forget your dark past and cover it all up. In such circumstances, if I associate with you…”

“Sigh, really. That’s not even dark history, and I have no intention of hiding it. That article was written arbitrarily by someone else. More importantly, this isn’t about the past but the future.”

“What?”

I gave a mischievous smile.

“Today I came to give thanks, but also to make a business proposal. I’m going to rebuild Redan Tavern. How about it?”

“……”

Ameli, who had been staring at me blankly, suddenly turned fierce. She threw a wet rag at my shoulder and delivered a back-slapping smash.

“Grow up! Just grow up!”

“Ow! Owww! I’m serious!”

***

Thanks to me monopolizing all the attention, my friends were able to move around relatively freely. Of course, they had some attention following them, but they weren’t the type to be swayed by such things.

Daniel established a newspaper with Georg, Nina, and Georg’s siblings.

He spent all his remaining assets to buy a small building in District 5 and brought in a used but well-functioning printing press. When I went to congratulate him on the opening, Daniel’s office already smelled strongly of ink, and was full of half-written manuscripts.

“Brother, come look at this! This is the printing room!”

“Here’s the staff break room!”

“Look at the bathroom, isn’t it super clean? My siblings and I worked so hard cleaning it.”

“Geez, kid! Why are you showing him the bathroom?”

After being dragged around by the excited Georg and barely escaping with Nina’s help.

“You won’t run out of story material anytime soon.”

I said while placing a flower pot I’d brought as a gift on Daniel’s desk.

“For now, I plan to cover the events during the demonstrations and people’s various thoughts about Schufaben’s future direction.”

“Well, if you’re short on material, you can use my story. Why don’t you write a book about the White Raven Order’s history?”

“I’d feel bad toward the kids…”

“Come on, they’d all like it.”

“Thanks, Lucas.”

Daniel gave his characteristic warm smile.

“By the way, I like the newspaper’s name. It suits my taste.”

“That was Georg’s idea.”

‘Die Welt,’ meaning ‘the world.’

It had been the name of the newspaper Georg’s father used to run.

Richard returned to being an ordinary surgeon after the emergency ward was demolished, leisurely setting up a private practice.

Ah, maybe ‘leisurely’ isn’t quite right. He declared he wouldn’t charge money to veterans who had served in this war, so patients were flooding in but his income was about the same as before.

Still, seeing Richard smile happily with dark circles under his eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to stop him.

Oscar bought a large plot of land in the Lüdelheim suburbs with Ian.

He excitedly chattered about building a ranch where dragons could rest comfortably. Watching that abandoned forest and fields get renovated because transportation was inconvenient, I felt something like wonder.

“Ian, just how much money do you have?”

“I’m pretty rich. I’m an only child from three generations and inherited from relatives too.”

Ian laughed, and there wasn’t a shadow of gloom on his face.

“I’m going to establish a foundation and run related businesses too! Things like caring for dragons who developed physical and mental problems because of the war, or selling clean food and training equipment.”

Oscar’s plan honestly looked like nothing but a money-eating monster. How much demand could there be? No matter how much funding Ian provided, that had to have limits.

Erika must have thought the same, because she started personally reviewing their business plan.

Anyway, the ranch was built, and I watched the dragons rolling around and playing happily there.

For now, there were only three.

Sonya, Elizabeth, and Chryseus.

Chryseus, the gold dragon the Supreme Leader had raised, fortunately wasn’t hurt in the aerial fortress collapse. Oscar had found him hiding in a corner and quickly brought him over.

Unlike Sonya, who was gradually healing her emotional wounds and becoming able to fly again, this one couldn’t fly properly because one wing was deformed. His size was also small, as if he hadn’t outgrown his juvenile phase.

“What were you thinking?”

I muttered while looking at the small gold dragon napping beside Sonya.

Why had Kruger raised such a “defective” dragon? Could it have been sympathy or a sense of kinship?

Now I’ll never know.

***

In early summer, Redan Tavern opened.

After Redan Company went bankrupt, the building had passed to creditors, but I bought it back. I renovated the first floor cafe into a tavern like before, and rented the upper floors to various companies including Oscar and Ian’s foundation.

The world was buzzing with talk of presidential elections and such. It seemed a national consensus had been reached.

Redan Tavern was packed with people as soon as it opened.

“I expected this, but my body won’t hold up.”

Ameli complained with laughter in her voice.

Ameli handled the kitchen, my business partner Erika handled overall operations, Emma dealt with miscellaneous tasks, and I had the cushy job of serving customers.

The customers wanted to hear my stories. So I told them. Not the heavy stories about revolution and demonstrations, but things like joke competitions. Some people were disappointed, but many became regulars, saying the owner’s storytelling was entertaining.

I hoped to just be remembered as tavern owner Lucas Redan.

The tavern work was enjoyable but also tough. With both the cafe and tavern running, it was incredibly busy, and I’d often collapse as soon as I got home after work.

Still, on occasional nights when I couldn’t sleep, I’d watch the joint funeral footage with the projector I’d set up at home.

During the week I was unconscious, a massive funeral was held to honor those who died in the demonstrations. Christian and the students had led it and even had it recorded on film.

“We will never forget them.”

I stared blankly at Christian’s face as he spoke firmly. It was a silent film with poor post-recording, so it was quite crude.

Oliver would be among those countless coffins the camera showed.

Oliver was buried in the national cemetery.

I visited there recently, but unlike when I had so much to say to Mrs. Schmidt, no words came out at all. In the end, I just left flowers and returned.

When I watched that footage, Erika would wake up and come hug me. Only then could I fall asleep.

Many unexpected visitors came to the tavern. Like First Lieutenant Dominik Schuster, who said he’d taken off his uniform, or students from Lüdelheim Comprehensive University. And…

“Commander.”

One day, someone entered with a somewhat awkward greeting. Someone with slightly dark skin, tall height, and a solid build. That familiar appearance was…

“Captain Himmel!”

I was startled for a moment, then grinned.

“You finally came!”

I dragged her to the VIP room to talk.

“How did you get here? Did you decide to settle down here now?”

“No.”

Captain Himmel’s story was fascinating. Her husband and daughter had adapted to the Great Desert and decided to live there permanently. It was also surprising that her daughter had awakened magical abilities.

“And Commander—”

“I’m not a commander or anything anymore, Captain.”

“I’m not a captain anymore either.”

“That’s true too. Then let’s call each other by name. How about it, Alina? Don’t make that disgusted expression…”

That day, I stayed up all night drinking with Captain Himmel. We didn’t seem to talk much, but time passed well.

“Commander, thank you.”

Around dawn, Alina said in a completely sober voice.

“Thanks to you, Commander, I was able to live.”

“Hey now, what’s with being sentimental all of a sudden…”

I had drunk very little of very weak alcohol, but my tongue was getting twisted.

“I mean it.”

“I know, I know, I understand your feelings. But you’re also my lifesaver! You saved me so many times, so let’s call it even since we saved each other…”

In the end, I passed out and got severely scolded by Erika and Ameli.

Captain Himmel said she’d stay in Lüdelheim for a few days. She must have had business to take care of.

I received letters from Fael and Namir through her. They contained various personal stories about the Great Desert situation, and a request to visit since their nation’s system was now established.

On Captain Himmel’s last day in the city, I called her to the tavern again to spend time together, when another guest burst in.

“Hello!”

I turned at the cheerful voice to see a young woman standing there, grinning but somehow slightly more mature than before.

It was Sophia Kohl.

“Long time no see.”

She approached and held out her hand, so I shook it reflexively.

“Oh my, Sister Alina is here too!”

“Ah, long time no see.”

She was as bright and sociable as ever. The cheerful energy that had withered during the war seemed to have revived after it ended.

“Actually, I received an offer to continue working at the national broadcasting station. That’s why I came back. Her Majesty the Queen was quite sorry to see me go.”

Right. Among the journalists who were active in this war, Sophia would definitely rank first. She was amazing enough to change Schufaben’s fate with that broadcast.

“I’m grateful that you gave me the opportunity, Commander, I mean Mr. Redan.”

“I told you then, but it was a deal. A mutually beneficial deal. I don’t do good deeds without reason. I’m a merchant by nature.”

“There’s no need to be modest.”

Sophia giggled.

“No, I’m serious…”

“I understand. Anyway, since I’ll be working in Lüdelheim now, I’ll visit here often. Mom and my sister are staying put in Rubellia. They’ve become friendly enough with Her Majesty the Queen to have tea sometimes. Oh, Her Majesty said she’d like to meet with you when you have time. She said there’s a lot to discuss.”

“Of course we should.”

After seeing Sophia off and parting with Captain Himmel the next day, I felt completely drained.

“Geez, it looks like I’ll be traveling around the world to visit friends.”

I’d recently gotten a letter from Edvart too.

He said he’d finally successfully abdicated and now worked as a librarian at the national library, asking me to visit. Well, he probably didn’t take an exam to become a librarian—it was likely a courtesy position. As long as he’s happy.

How many days had passed since then?

It was a day when I’d woken up early for once and was doing a thorough cleaning. I was in the middle of wrestling with grease in the kitchen when Erika tapped me.

“Lucas, what’s this? I found it in your room.”

The “Pact Seal” I’d completely forgotten about.

The geometrically intertwined crystal branches were emitting a gentle light. I closed my eyes for a moment at the flood of memories, then smiled and said,

“You know, it’s hot and all, so how about we go on a vacation? All of us together.”