After hearing that bullshit along the lines of 'If there's a problem and diplomatic channels go up in flames, it's your responsibility, so hang in there!' I couldn't just sit still. I hastily handed over my duties to the Deputy Director, distributed urgent tasks among the Section Chiefs, and threw myself into preparing for my Academy assignment. Four years into my civil service career, and this was my first time facing such a nightmarish dispatch.
"Come to think of it, the Academy security forces are also being withdrawn. Will there be anyone left to assist me?"
"None."
"Hmm, then how much financial support will I receive?"
"None."
"...What about a source for operational expenses?"
"None."
"Then what is there?"
"None."
This was truly appalling beyond measure. I don't know who said you can't spit in a smiling face, but while I might not be able to spit at the Foreign Affairs Minister chuckling away, I felt like I could definitely plant a fist there.
"I'm sorry. Officially, you're just a regularly dispatched Inspector. In that situation, if we provide more personnel and budget than usual, wouldn't it be too obvious?"
"No, but how am I supposed to operate with nothing in hand? Even Northern Region dispatches get plenty of supplies!"
"Still, don't worry too much. It's just that we can't give it to you officially. If something truly necessary comes up, we'll support you somehow."
I let out an increasingly heavy sigh as I recalled my final conversation with the Foreign Affairs Minister. What kind of mindset tells someone not to worry when they're being thrown into a situation where they can't help but worry, no matter what they're told?
It was already miserable enough being sent on an indefinite dispatch at Director rank, and the fact that the location was the Academy was driving me insane—yet there was no support for a Director heading off on this long journey. "All alone" wasn't just a figure of speech. I really had to slip into the Academy by myself and dig in for the long haul.
Of course, since the Foreign Affairs Minister said he'd "give it somehow," he'd probably funnel support through twisted, convoluted channels, but until then, I'd have to survive on my own money.
"Still, you can come back and rest during vacations. This is basically like being an Academy student."
"P-please, just shut up."
I ground my teeth at the Minister's words, clearly meant to provoke. Talking about vacations. What does vacation even mean to a civil servant? It's just a change of workplace. My fierce reaction only made the Minister smirk as if to say, 'What are you going to do about getting angry?' That expression stabbed right through my chest.
My life was legendary for having someone like that as my direct superior. What a bastard.
"I'll be going now. Just give me the dispatch order."
If I couldn't change the future of being stuck at the Academy anyway, I might as well escape from this detestable face as quickly as possible. Every time I looked at the Minister's face, I felt my mental fortitude being ground down in real time.
"You don't have any parents to cover for you if you screw up, so be careful."
"Ah, Your Excellency!"
I ended up shouting at the Minister as he delivered one final jab while handing over the dispatch order.
Please, let karma catch up with this man someday.
***
"Section One, focus your investigation on what I told you about."
"Yes~"
"Section Two, sort out the Level 2 documents separately. You know this needs to be finished quickly, right?"
"Yes, yes, of course."
"Sections Three and Five don't have much major work, so handle things as they come up."
"Understood."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Haah... Deputy Director, hang in there."
"Yes, thank you."
Standing in front of the Ministry of Finance building, I gave my final instructions to the executives, then scanned them with an uneasy heart. The Deputy Director, who'd gotten stuck with extra work because of my dispatch, was someone who deserved consolation instead. The Fifth Section Chief was at least perceptive enough to get by. But would the other section chiefs really stay quiet in an Inspection Department without its Director...?
'Should I take the Second Section Chief with me after all?'
If the three section chiefs banded together to form an unholy trinity, there was no telling what disaster might strike. Even when I'd lived in my office monitoring them in real time, hadn't these lunatics still managed to slip through my surveillance and draw the Golden Duke's wrath?
Who would be next after the Golden Duke? The Victory Duke or the Iron-Blooded Duke? When that happened, I might really have to run to their ducal palace, bash my head on the ground, and offer up the section chiefs as sacrifices. This Director knew nothing, please just spare my life!
"...Why are you looking at us like that? It's scary."
The Second Section Chief shivered briefly under my gaze, as if sensing a chill, then asked with a dubious expression. Perhaps he'd caught a glimpse of a parallel world where he was offered up as a sacrifice.
"No, it's nothing."
Until the very end, I debated whether to employ the drowning ghost meta on the Second Section Chief, but ultimately shook my head and gave up. Wasn't this a situation where Karl had to go alone, armed only with his inspector's credentials, to avoid provoking the Three Kingdoms?
At this point, there was neither opportunity nor reason to suddenly bring the Second Section Chief along. Honestly, reasons seemed to overflow, but the fact remained that I couldn't take him.
'Do I really have to trust them? Trust these bastards?'
I took in the sight of the section chiefs giggling amongst themselves. My vision went dark for a moment.
"We'll get by without any problems. We can't burden you with additional troubles when you'll already be suffering in a foreign land, Director."
When my expression twisted slightly, the Deputy Director finally spoke up, and only then could I nod. Right, if I couldn't trust the section chiefs, I'd trust the Deputy Director.
"Still, contact me immediately if anything happens."
"Yes. I definitely will."
"...Right."
Only after quietly whispering one last thing to the Deputy Director did the carriage set off southward with me aboard.
"Damn it, the road conditions are absolute garbage."
The carriage that had departed so majestically, leaving my anxiety behind, began bouncing enthusiastically as we approached the Academy, as if surrendering its body to the lively rhythm of a club. Coachman, coachman, pump this party...
I distinctly remembered budget being allocated for road construction in this area back in the day, but judging by this sorry state, it seemed the funds had gone toward expanding some regional administrator's mansion instead of road construction. You son of a bitch, once I arrive, you're the first one I'm shaking down.
The moment I recorded the nameless regional administrator at the top of my death list, the carriage bounced again as if welcoming that decision. You must be having a hard time traveling these roads too. Dispatched alone without anyone, I'd already built a small friendship with the carriage long ago.
There was a coachman outside, but given the overwhelming gap in our social status, he'd be horrified if I tried to talk to him, so the carriage was my only friend. Still, this kind of bumpy expression of friendship wasn't particularly welcome.
"Damn. If only I could use teleport."
While teleport wasn't common magic, teleport magic circles were installed in major cities throughout the Empire for smooth travel. Naturally, considering the Academy's importance, there should be a magic circle there as well, but due to the peculiarity of the region where the Academy was located, magic circle installation had been thoroughly excluded.
Back when the Kfellophen Empire was still called a kingdom in its low-level days, there was the Apels Empire—the continent's strongest nation at the time. The place that flourished as the capital of that Apels Empire is where the Academy stands today.
What was it again? The Apels Empire encouraged education and built the current Academy magnificently, and even Kfellophen, which had severed the Apels Empire's neck, couldn't bring itself to demolish the Academy or build a new one elsewhere, so they decided to use it as is. In the first place, they were so short on funds back then that they weren't in a position to be picky.
However, the story goes that they deliberately didn't install magic circles because if a city that had been an enemy nation's capital became too active and accessible, it could give the Apels Restoration Army room to gather. For roughly those reasons, the Academy has been a place unable to benefit from teleportation until now, and thanks to that, it's somewhere you can only reach by working a carriage to death. Or by hiring a mage capable of casting teleport.
Of course, while that might have been a plausible reason at the time, now that three hundred years have passed since crushing Apels, it's a story that doesn't need any concern. The Apels Restoration Army had long since been annihilated in a brilliant flash of light due to Kfellophen's persistent pursuit.
In truth, the reason they've held out without installing one until now is simply because it's expensive. It's not like teleport magic circles are something just anyone can create, and the maintenance costs are no joke either. Near the Academy there's really nothing but the Academy, so there's no reason for anyone to go there, and since the Academy has most facilities available within it, there's no reason to leave...
'That fucking Minister.'
I'm certain of it, since a few months ago I saw the Minister reject a proposal to install a magic circle at the Academy for exactly that reason. If I'd known I'd be dispatched to the Academy like this, I would have somehow gotten it passed back then. In the end, going round and round, the Minister was the problem. I really wish he'd suddenly drop dead somewhere.
"Director, the Academy is starting to come into view."
"Oh."
Having let my mind wander with the flow of consciousness since I had no one to talk to, I brightened at the coachman's words and took in the massive walls faintly visible beyond the window. Wow, that's tall...
"Impressive. To be that size from this distance."
"As you must know, Director, merchants targeting faculty and students gradually gathered, and the scale grew quite large. And as merchants' families gathered, and then merchants targeting those families, the Academy transformed from a simple educational institution into a city in its own right."
'Academy City...'
It feels like there should be a student who's good at shooting railguns.
After that, the coachman and I fell silent again, with only the rattling sound of the carriage echoing. The sight of the Academy after the harsh and lengthy journey had opened our mouths, but we were still in an awkward relationship to have an open conversation. The suffocating silence only broke after we passed through the gates.
"The security personnel have decreased quite a bit."
As I tucked away the dispatch certificate I'd shown the guard to pass through the gates, I checked the streets beyond the window. Numerous crowds, quite a few shops. But no guards in sight. All of them civilians residing in the Academy City—no, the Academy.
"Hmm, is that so? This is my first time at the Academy, so I wouldn't know."
"Normally there would have been four people guarding just that gate earlier."
At those words, I recalled the memory of passing through the gates. Aside from offering words of encouragement to the peculiar sight of him trembling like a phone on vibrate the moment I showed the dispatch certificate, there had only been two soldiers guarding the gates, not four.
'So they really are in the middle of redeployment.'
"You have no allies within the Academy."
"I can't give you any money either, so use your own funds and act accordingly."
"What can you do if it bothers you? If it bothered you that much, you should have become Minister yourself."
The Foreign Affairs Minister's words (from memories extremely subjectively distorted) came flooding back. Hearing it spoken and understanding it intellectually was one thing, but seeing it with my own eyes made it truly sink in. In the Academy, an unknown space I'd never had any connection with in my entire life, I would have to endure alone, wielding only the title of Inspector.
'When is... vacation...?'
Universities usually break in June—is it the same here?
Finding myself once again experiencing the feelings of a college student who looked forward to the end of the semester the moment it began, I finally ended my long carriage journey when we stopped at the Academy's main building.