9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 97 - War, Never War Again (5)

“Countries across the continent have simultaneously issued statements demanding a joint investigation team. In particular, Rubellia’s Prime Minister Silvia Bertrand has strongly argued for the necessity of a joint investigation team, saying she cannot trust Schufaben’s internal investigation results. This is clearly an attempt to seize an opportunity for interference in domestic affairs under the pretext of dispute resolution. Supreme Leader will convene a government meeting today to discuss response measures.”

It’s a refreshing morning.

The boarding house… no, my house now has me, Daniel, Oscar, and even Namir staying there.

However, today Oscar went to work at the factory, and Namir also had to go to the company building since he’s officially a Redan Company employee. Only Daniel and I were left in the kitchen.

I was spreading jam on bread while listening to the radio news and chuckling to myself.

“Things seem to be going well.”

“Yeah, going well.”

Daniel smiled and nodded, but honestly, anxiety was surging up inside me. I wonder how long things will keep going so smoothly.

Ever since the day I faced Kruger, I’ve felt like I’m walking on thin ice. My insides are rotting away with worry, really.

“Hmph! There won’t be much time left now. Kruger will definitely summon me. Let’s eat quickly and head out. It’s a company day, after all.”

“Right. Now that I’m back from the business trip, it would be strange to leave everything to Erika.”

I’m not the president of Redan Company.

I’m just a director, and Daniel is the president. Erika is my secretary and has been acting as president until now.

Of course, she’s supposedly been processing work after receiving instructions from the president, but that’s actually a lie. Erika handled everything herself.

So today’s visit to the company building is no different from going to learn work from Erika.

“Come on, come on, hurry up.”

“It seems like you’re the one who needs to hurry, Lucas.”

“Oh, that’s right!”

I threw away the bread and scooped up jam with a spoon. I downed the coffee in one gulp and gave a thumbs up.

“Meal finished!”

“I didn’t mean you should rush that much…”

Daniel smiled awkwardly.

***

The center of District 13 had changed to be much more wonderful than I had imagined. Erika had sent me photos, but black and white pictures had their limitations.

Building an entire street in just three months is something unimaginable in the world I used to live in, but this place is different.

There are no labor laws, but there is magic.

If you throw around money to employ tons of workers and buy construction machinery embedded with high-efficiency runes, it would have been possible in one month, never mind three.

I just didn’t have that much money rotting away to do it.

“Wow, it’s become really magnificent.”

Daniel expressed genuine admiration from beside me. He also hadn’t had a chance to see the center due to the Great Desert ‘business trip.’

The atmosphere of the main street and plaza crossing through the shopping district was lively.

Merchants calling out to customers, passersby, people looking around with blank expressions—whether they came up from the countryside or were tourists.

Seeing it much more bustling than before makes me feel proud.

“At this level, shouldn’t the office director give me a commendation?”

“Haha, Lucas, you really did work hard.”

All the buildings on this street belong to Redan Company. For every new shop that opened, our company collects rent, and District 13 collects taxes. This is mutual prosperity.

We headed toward the company building while looking around the cleaned-up street.

Ah, the commute to work.

It brings back memories of working at a company in Korea, making me feel strange. Still, that was my prime time.

People recognized me, and occasionally Daniel, greeting us from here and there.

My face has become even more well-known than before, so the number of people who recognize me has increased significantly.

I nodded calmly, and Daniel accepted the greetings while feeling a bit embarrassed.

“President Redan, no, sir!”

Among them were merchants who had reopened their shops.

The bakery owner who had been friendly neighbors when I ran the tavern awkwardly acknowledged me.

“Hello, Mr. Koch. How have you been? You can just call me casually.”

“Ah, haha, thanks. Thanks to you, we don’t have to end up on the streets, so everyone is grateful. Not just me, but all the people who had shops nearby and their families too. When I think about how desperate we were then, you’re no different from our savior.”

It wasn’t lip service but seemed sincere, as Koch grabbed both my hands and even shed a few tears.

“Please don’t say such things. It’s embarrassing.”

“But you are a benefactor…”

I wanted to yell at him to stop.

What savior, what benefactor.

I rebuilt District 13’s shopping district purely out of greed. It was no different from a real estate investment.

Please take away those eyes like you’re looking at a saint.

If you knew how much blood is on my hands, on my face…

I could hear murmuring sounds in my ears.

Looking around suddenly, the passersby had stopped to watch.

I pulled up the corners of my mouth and shook Koch’s hands. Since image management was also part of the shopping district reconstruction purpose, I had to faithfully perform it.

“I’m the one who should be grateful. More than that, I’d like to taste Mr. Koch’s bread after such a long time.”

“Ah, wait just a moment. I’ll bring some right away.”

“No.”

I pointed to the display stand placed outside the bakery.

“The employees need to eat too. Please give me everything here.”

Koch’s eyes widened.

***

“So you bought all this bread?”

“Yeah. I did well, right?”

When I put down the huge bread bag and grinned, Erika briefly held her head.

“Well, I guess. At least we won’t need to go out for lunch.”

While the employees gathered in the break room to eat bread, Daniel, Erika, Namir, and I had our meal in the president’s office that had been empty for a long time.

“Mr. Koch actually wanted to give bread to our employees for free. It’s hard to refuse every time.”

“I see. But you didn’t just accept it, right?”

“We didn’t. Namir accepted it once, but the employees taught him that wasn’t right.”

“I thought it was a human custom!”

Namir’s face turned red as he got angry.

“You haven’t been in Schufaben that long. It could happen.”

Daniel laughed and comforted him. Erika also praised him, saying he was quick to adapt and had good work instincts. Namir’s face turned even redder.

I giggled and looked out the window.

As I felt earlier, the most beautiful building on the street is this company building.

It’s not comparable to modern glass buildings, but the clean white exterior walls are modern and neat, really giving the feeling of a ‘company.’

‘It wouldn’t be awkward to walk around here with a Star Café takeout cup. There’s even a cafe on the first floor.’

The front of the building facing the main street was spacious and clean. According to Erika, before I gave my speech, there were rallies praying for my recovery there, which was troublesome. It wasn’t just limited to District 1 plaza, it seems.

All those people, for me.

“…Mr. Koch called me a savior.”

I blurted out.

“I felt like I was deceiving someone who knows nothing. I don’t have any qualification to hear such words.”

Maybe I suddenly became sentimental. Such cringingly embarrassing words came out so easily.

“There must be many people who resent me too.”

Like those who lost family to the White Raven Order.

“Wow, how pathetic…”

Namir muttered from the side.

“Lucas.”

Erika called me firmly.

“You’re the one who whipped us. You said there’s no bloodless revolution, and you can’t remain a good person forever.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“You were right. We’re neither angels nor demons, just people. Ordinary people who can become benefactors to some and enemies to others.”

“Right. Even if someone calls you an angel or a demon, we know you’re neither of those things.”

Daniel added.

We are people.

Just, people.

I smiled weakly.

“Feel better now?”

“Yeah, thanks Erika.”

“Then could you clean up what’s left from eating? When are we going to work?”

“Yes, yes.”

Daniel and I spent the entire day getting exhausted learning things we needed to know as director and president.

And as soon as we returned home with tired bodies, I was dragged off to the floating castle as if kidnapped.

***

“Prime Minister Bertrand, that puppy-like woman is barking fearlessly. Who’s behind her? Who instigated her? Pontinell? Those cowardly pigs might have made a move. Major General Redan, what do you think?”

Kruger, leaning back in his armchair, asked in a languid tone.

Supreme Leader Department officials had burst into my house in the middle of the night to deliver a summons.

Kruger was sitting across the drinking table asking me this.

“It wouldn’t be Pontinell, Your Excellency.”

I answered while politely pushing a drink toward the Supreme Leader.

“Pontinell’s president has no power, and the military, which holds real power, is preoccupied with internal suppression. Rather than stepping forward directly, they’ll try to show appropriate support and scavenge scraps.”

“Hmm, then Batalland?”

“Batalland has endless fighting between the king and prime minister. Moreover, it’s at the northernmost tip of the continent, so even if we start a war, there’s almost no possibility they’ll suffer damage or gain benefits.”

“What about those Etrastanian bastards?”

“East Etrastan and West Etrastan are divided and busy guarding each other’s borders.”

“No possibility those Kashan rat bastards are scheming?”

“It was originally just a small country that was barely a duchy. What power would they have to manipulate continental nations?”

“Ahahahahaha!”

Kruger burst into delighted laughter. After taking a sip of alcohol, he looked at me with interested eyes.

“Then who do you think the culprit is?”

I took a deep breath.

I hadn’t confidently deflected his questions because I was particularly knowledgeable about continental politics.

It was because I already knew the answer.

“The Queen, Your Excellency.”

Kruger held out his glass again, and I obediently poured alcohol.

“You mean that old woman who praised the young man named Lucas Redan as being quite brilliant, who couldn’t stop singing his praises to me? The Queen who cherished you so dearly?”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Kruger slowly swirled his glass.

Alcohol worth 1 million felts per bottle swirled in the glass. I quietly kept my head bowed.

“Are you stabbing the Queen in the back, or are you stabbing me in the back?”

“…!”

For a moment, I thought my heart would jump out through my throat. All the blood in my body turned ice cold, and cold sweat was about to break out on my forehead.

‘Kruger, that bastard…’

As expected, the Supreme Leader position wasn’t won by playing Go-Stop.

I licked my lips that had rapidly dried and become parched.

“Neither, Your Excellency.”

“Neither?”

I could hear Kruger getting up. He walked around me with his glass, making thumping sounds.

“Major General Redan, you established a company with the Queen’s investment. You received such open favoritism that there were rumors you were the government. But you said all of that was done to catch my eye!”

“That’s correct!”

“Then when the Queen and I clash, what will you do? Huh? Tell me!”

Clang!

The glass fell to the floor and shattered. Sparkling glass fragments flew and liquid wet my hand.

I got down from the chair and slammed my head down in front of his feet.

“Your Excellency! Please trust me!”

Kruger stopped.

“I merely yearned to reach where Your Excellency is. So I used the Queen and used those stupid nobles. Even if the company goes bankrupt right now, even if the Queen kicks me out of the company, I don’t care. No, I could offer the company to Your Excellency! Please trust me, Your Excellency!”

My throat started to sting.

A brief silence flowed.

“Raise your head.”

I quickly lifted my head.

Kruger was already sitting back in his armchair with a calm expression.

“Sir Redan, why would I covet your company? You’ll use it for me anyway.”

“That’s right!”

“So it would be better for me to help grow the company.”

“That’s right!”

“Then you’ll become not only Schufaben’s hero but also a high-ranking soldier and owner of a large company!”

“That’s right!”

“Ahahahahaha!”

Only Kruger’s laughter echoed madly throughout the spacious room. I looked at the cold moon outside the window and swallowed my saliva.

“Truly clever and truly greedy! That will be what strangles you! Do you know that?”

I sincerely agreed inwardly. If only I hadn’t had the greed to snap that bastard’s neck, I wouldn’t have suffered this hardship.

Kruger held out a new glass.

“We have to accept the investigation team.”

“I will testify as instructed.”

“Right, they won’t find evidence of fabrication, but their suspicions won’t be cleared either. Then they’ll make you the lead actor in a massive fraud and offer you as a sacrifice to condemn Schufaben.”

Huh, how did he know that.

That’s what I was planning to do. I even wrote in the letter to the Queen to use me as a scapegoat.

‘I can’t let my guard down.’

I moved my fingers, stiff with tension, to pour the alcohol.

“Then when spring comes, will our army be able to deploy?”

“No, Your Excellency.”

“Right. Everyone will be watching us. Then what should we do?”

“Your Excellency…”

I threw out an idea, and the Supreme Leader smiled as if his mouth would tear.

“You and I really are of one mind.”