Novel Bin Vol. 1 - Ch. 109 - Founding Festival (1)
As the oldest nation on this continent, and also because it was the most grandiose festival that would take place every year, the stream of people that came to take part in it was never few.
The inns and other similar establishments even got advanced bookings several years earlier. The festival has a lot of programs as its centerpiece and has a crowd of tourists coming from both the other regions and outside the kingdom. It was a huge event that was held for 5 days.
That said, it wasn\'t like this festival was an absolute as if it must be held even if it poured rain or hail, and there had been past precedent of the duration of the festival being shortened due to war or even terminated in the middle. The festival this year, however, was going to be held with great pomp as usual.
Well, the world had been quietly shimmering with an invisible tension but with the conflict happening only in the background, it was a weak reason to cancel the festival this year.
Unfortunately, while Yuglia\'s confrontation with the Rosemieur Empire and Justeria had almost become public news, canceling the festival over it would just hamper relations with both nations. Furthermore, there was also the potential economic loss with the other nations, so not going through with the festival this year was something they couldn\'t do.
On the other hand, the hectic vibe in the capital also meant the 3rd legion of Kingdom\'s Knight Order, who were in charge of the capital\'s safety, had no time to care about sleep.
Honestly, as much as I wanted to play around in my first ever youthful summer vacation, this was the only reason I was in the Royal Capital at this moment after being repeatedly told \'I don\'t care for other times BUT, you should be here to shoulder some responsibilities during festival season\' to the point that I almost got calluses on my ears.
An event of such a scale would never be missed by good-for-nothing fellas. This was almost a buffet-like situation for them to cause trouble after all.
Frankly, I myself don\'t know anything about the festival, so I wanted to experience it to my heart\'s content, but Master has helped me out in many things, so... I put my plan in the backseat this time.
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For the duration of the founding festival, it was decided I would be operating from the capital\'s central military post at all times.
Well, to be more specific, it\'s about helping Master with his desk work. After the request for additional backup for the city\'s police force from the nearby regions, the number of staff had been temporarily inflated. My task was to screen through their submitted reports and mention problematic ones to Master.
My days during the festival basically went into sorting out the reports while Master formulated the policies accordingly. Heck, today marked the third day of the festival.
A depressed sigh escaped my mouth.
"Haa... Please spare me from more of your absurdity, Master. You are once again hoarding so much work. I\'ll be clear here, you wouldn\'t have been able to finish all of them even after 100 years without my help, you know. How in the world were you planning to go through all of this?"
Master on the other replied without showing any bit of remorse--- his face was missing his usual bloodshot eyes with the huge black circles \'touch\'.
"Of course, you\'re here so that\'s why I\'m going through all of this. I would have done this along with my two aides originally, but with a gem like you helping with desk work, I changed the schedule.
Well, those two aides are now helping out in interrogating foreign criminals and writing the reports that should have been my task. And you know, I can now sleep for two whooping hours even in this busy season. No wait, with the current pace, I can sleep for... three hours at least? Hihihi."
Alright, this person is gone for good... It was the typical behavior of a workaholic to consider being swamped with work as natural. He had set his standard too low.
"If there\'s so much work, hire someone who can handle the desk work for god\'s sake. I don\'t really get why you never thought of improving your legion\'s work structure."
"You think I haven\'t thought of that?! The stuff here is something that can\'t be seen by just anyone. Hell, only a small fraction of personnel are even allowed to enter this post, alright? I\'ve been so busy every day that I never had the time to improve my work station here."
......Well, I did faintly expect that reason and sure enough that was the excuse he gave me, but this place definitely needed a reformation.
To be frank, this was what you get from hiring only graduates of Royal Academy, and when the power scale is tipped to one side with the presence of elite bureaucrats, such stubbornness was bound to occur.
As I used to say, responsibility was the other side of the coin in the face of power. Yet, the number of people capable of shouldering that responsibility in this kingdom compared to its size was abysmal.
Changes were inevitable, and for this kingdom that now boasted a history of almost 1200 years, it was really due to the lack of perspective that they had been keeping this outdated system as the base when the kingdom itself had been expanding all this time. Now, hindsight created this slave factory-like situation.
Civil war... was the inevitable end should the strain at any given time turn into literal bone-breaking work, and Earth had literally shown that in history.
A drastic revolution of the system, huh?...
Honestly, I think it was doable if it was grappled seriously, but...
As much as I wanted to reduce Master\'s workload for my own benefit as well, I would be digging my own grave by shouldering the stacked work... Can\'t put the cart before the horse, eh?
It reminded me of the pet phrase of my boss, \'Take the rope of command and change the system if you don\'t like certain things\'... It was always easier to speak from a high moral standpoint, after all. I didn\'t see why I must work like a horse in the Knight Order or the bureaucracy to advance in life, and I despise the thought of sacrificing myself for the kingdom for no reason even more.
Hmm-mm, at this point, my experience here has just been proving how right I was in my \'life plan\'. All this work could go to hell. I should look for a suitable time and follow my original plan to live an unfettered and amusing life.
Anyway, for now, I needed to do something about my current situation. I didn\'t know about the others, but I think I was going to recall even the memories of my past life if I continued to listen to faint voices of the festival\'s hustle and bustle while I was working my ass off here.
"Master! I might be receiving an hourly wage for working here, but don\'t you think this is going overboard for a student? I\'m saying now, once we reach a good point in our work to call a break, we\'re going to move to patrolling work at lunchtime, and you\'re going to buy me treats from the nearby stalls!"
"H-Hey, calm down brat! Look, there\'s a mountain of your favorite plain flavored portable rations right ther---"
Master tried to deflect the topic, but I ignored him and moved on to the next document. And this was about---
«Report about the spies of another nation who were beaten black and blue by the female students affiliated to the Advanced Magic Research Institute.
Outline of Incident -
The two female students of our nation were asked for guidance by some scoundrels of a foreign nation, who had arrived here to take a look at the founding festival, but it was apparently their ploy to bring the girls to an uninhabited alley. In light of what seemed to be a premeditated kidnapping scene, the two female students took a shot at them in self-defense and the skirmish ended with eight of those scoundrels bearing injuries.
After delving into the background of the said scoundrels and would-be abductors, it had come to light that they were spies who arrived here after receiving the request of the exploration association of the Rosemieur Empire to gather intelligence.
Their treatment has been decided via the diplomatic route alongside a strong objection from our side.
Furthermore, about the victims, when the police inquired one of the female students, who had both of her hands dyed in bright red, about herself, she instead appealed for a search request saying \'My little brother hasn\'t come home\' with a ghastly expression. After inquiring the other female student, it has been confirmed she has no past criminal record of---»
Umu, I closed the document, tossed it into the \'require no mediation\' box and got up from my seat.
"Oi, hold on! Geez, alright! We\'re going to have lunch outside! Huh, where are you going?! It\'s still 9 in the morning, smelly brat~!"
T/N - The last one cracked me up lol. It reminds me of those horror stories like \'searching for someone\' in the darkness of alleyway troupe.
E/N - I can relate to the MC here. Wanting to improve the system but not wanting to bother with the hassle. It\'s a lot easier to just quit and just go somewhere else. In fact, I also want to live an unfettered and amusing life, but unfortunately I have to eat