NOVEL NEXT Chapter 185
The time when the whole city was asleep.
Irene stood alone on the World Tree, overlooking the city, where she could see the shining Zephia in the moonlight.
Her gaze was filled with countless emotions.
Loneliness, guilt, and expectation…
Gently stroking the World Tree, Irene spoke.
“It’s not long now. Soon… we will meet.”
Who was she speaking to?
Did she hope someone would hear her?
In the quiet secret place of the World Tree, Irene’s voice quietly echoed.
*
Before talking about the “Magic Response Agency,” I should discuss “Demons.”
The origin of demons is still unclear.
Some say they are a punishment from the gods to humanity, while others believe they were created to reduce the number of living beings for the sake of balance in the world.
One thing is certain: life on this earth cannot coexist with demons.
Living in the underground world known as the Demon Realm, they seek opportunities to rise to the surface.
Those who manage to come up begin to corrupt their surroundings with magic and annihilate life forms.
While they’ve become ferocious due to indulging in magic, unlike the monsters that coexist with life to some extent, demons harbor animosity towards all intelligent beings on the surface without exception.
They have invaded the surface three times and particularly the third invasion 500 years ago, known as the “Third Demon Lord War,” was extremely dangerous.
Unlike the two previous wars where sheer numbers were thrown into the fray, the demon lord leading the third invasion was cunning and had extensively studied humanity.
They began their surface invasion utilizing the empathy capabilities of intelligent life forms.
The demons that appeared from the Zers Empire’s demon gate initially claimed they were refugees escaping the Demon Realm and even sent diplomatic envoys to the Kingdom of Ra and the Yura Republic (which was not a republic at the time).
Feigning to settle on the surface, they provoked the Imperial Army to create casualties as a justification to start a war against the Zers Empire.
The Kingdom of Ra and the Yura Republic saw it as a war between nations rather than an invasion by demons and took a wait-and-see approach, while the demon lord was quick to create a one-on-one confrontation with the Zers Empire, targeting the World Tree.
As the demon lord’s strategy evolved, informed by analysis of surface life, the world grew dangerously close to disaster. Had the World Tree of the Zers Empire fallen into the hands of demons, the resulting devastation would have surpassed imagination.
But at that time, the hero who emerged was Karuga of the Zers Empire.
As the commander of the unit responsible for managing and monitoring the demon refugee camp, Karuga quickly noticed the demons’ plot.
He acted immediately, marking the beginning of the legend of the national hero Karuga.
Karuga achieved countless feats during that war.
Rallying units thrown into chaos due to the assassination of their commanders by demons, he defended against the demon advance, effectively putting on a one-man show with his insane efforts.
In the final battle, he took down the demon lord along with himself, saving humanity, and due to his heroic sacrifice, humanity was able to win the Third Demon Lord War.
Because of this, Karuga had a great reputation even in the Kingdom of Ra and the Yura Republic, which is why I often depicted him as the protagonist in my game.
Following that incident, the Three Kingdoms recognized the need for a permanent response to demons and created governmental agencies to deal with them.
However, since each nation was responding in a fragmented manner, the situation up to now was merely one of reporting issues arising from demons to the Imperial Army and managing related goods after recovery.
The unified national agency established to consolidate these responses was the “Magic Response Agency.”
The issue was that the head of this invaluable agency was none other than me!
I’m the minister!!!
What the hell!!! I’m!!! I’m the minister!!!
*
In the emperor’s office, after finishing important state affairs, the Chancellor asked the emperor.
“Your Majesty, is it alright to assign the Magic Response Agency to Yuren?”
“Is there a problem?”
“While I acknowledge Yuren’s capabilities, this will be his first time dealing with a governmental organization, so I think it would be good to pair him with someone.”
Chancellor Herness was worried.
No matter how capable Yuren was as the administrator of the Irene School, a government agency was a different matter.
He thought it would be best to appoint an experienced assistant like Mineva, but the emperor thought differently.
“Don’t worry too much. He’ll be just fine.”
The emperor thought of Yuren.
A unique individual—bold yet down-to-earth, capable yet lazy.
And the emperor had learned how to handle someone like him from his mother.
“People like Yuren, who are capable but lazy yet responsible, do best when you throw a task and a goal at them and stay out of their way, just as you’ve managed Yuren.”
“That’s certainly true.”
Chancellor Herness agreed.
Indeed, Yuren had exceeded expectations in his work.
“Let’s watch how Yuren sets up the unified agency of the Three Kingdoms.”
“Yes, your majesty.”
The troubling aspect of the “Magic Response Agency” was that it was the first institution ever operated jointly by the Three Kingdoms.
Whether the Three Kingdoms could truly unite would hinge on how well this institution was run.
I hoped they would understand just how painful the process of attempting to unify the continent had been for me.
At that moment, in the office of the “Magic Response Agency,” Yuren was suffering just as the emperor desired.
“What the hell did those crazy predecessors do to this place!!!”
Complaining as he took on the responsibility, Yuren set about resolving the mess he found himself in.
As the newly appointed minister of the Magic Response Agency, he quickly reviewed the mountains of documents left behind by his predecessors, hoping to wrap everything up and retire.
The conclusion was that any government department without external oversight ended up similarly.
It was a complete trash heap.
Upon taking office, Yuren’s first order of business was to clean up the garbage.
He kicked out all the incompetent managerial staff who had merely been occupying positions.
There was some backlash, but he ignored it.
“If you’ve got a problem, challenge the emperor and have him fire me!”
Then, he searched for capable people among the middle management and reorganized the agency based on them.
He established three main departments: Information Gathering, Crisis Response, and Research.
He appointed heads from each of the Three Kingdoms equally to maintain balance.
The head of the Information Gathering Department was Hans, from the Kingdom of Ra, and recommended by Prince Lethers; the head of the Crisis Response Department was Kal Abolv, recommended by the Commander’s Department; and the head of the Research Department was Rizel, a magical tool analyst specializing in demons, recommended by Dean Howard.
Was this where it ended?
Of course not!
To ensure the processes were functioning correctly, Yuren made rounds, inspecting each department.
Starting with the Information Gathering Department, Hans had acted hastily, sending information to the Kingdom of Ra before sharing it with me.
“No matter how much you’re the minister, I’m still from the Kingdom of Ra!!!”
“…So Hans says, should I educate him a bit? Prince Lethers?”
“Just don’t kill him…”
Despite the high patriotism, Hans’s actions, which completely disregarded processes and could create diplomatic issues, shocked even Prince Lethers, and we began a mental training session.
“One…”
“Focus!”
“Two…”
“Unite!!”
“One…”
“Listen!”
“Two…”
“Pay attention!!”
After a marine-style boot camp, Hans had become a new person.
In this manner, one by one, the agency was being transformed into a proper organization, and eventually, it was time to focus on the Research Department.
“Welcome, Minister!”
“Please guide me through the Research Department, Rizel.”
Rizel Line, the head of the Research Department, was an adorable female dwarf.
Though she looked like a 9-year-old girl, she was actually 34 years old.
With her short orange hair and glasses, she greeted me and began showing me around the newly organized Research Department.
“This room is our analysis lab for magical tools. With the latest magical engineering devices from the Yura Republic, we can analyze any magical tool in about 12 hours. And over here…”
Despite her youthful appearance, Rizel was incredibly competent.
She transformed what had previously been a storage room into a fully functional department for proper demon research.
As expected from a talent recommended by Dean Howard.
As I was checking out the Research Department, we arrived at the last room.
“What’s in here?”
“This is the room where we keep the magical tools used by demons!”
Following Rizel into the room, I had actually been here before.
It was practically a warehouse.
Numerous magical tools used by demons had just been dumped in there, and I couldn’t even figure out where to start organizing, so I left.
But this time, the room had undergone a complete transformation.
It was organized like a tidy Costco, and the magical tools were arranged neatly according to their functions in alphabetical order.
I couldn’t hide my admiration.
“Wow… you turned that trash heap into this… Amazing, Head Rizel.”
“Hehe! It’s all thanks to you for trusting and delegating to us!”
Rizel cute as she smiled, began explaining the magical tools for demons to me one by one.
“Fifty-six percent of the magical tools used by demons were considered lethal tools. There were not only simple attack spells but also tools that turned water into poison, and tools that destroyed hearing using sound, among many other varieties.”
Listening to her explanations about the demons’ magical tools, I looked around the storage room.
Expecting something extraordinary from demon tools, I found many similar items compared to our own.
But then… I spotted a strange camberlain-like magical tool.
“Rizel, what’s this?”
“Oh! This is one of the transportation magical tools used by demons.”
Rizel activated the item, infusing it with mana.
She then explained, “Unlike our transportation magic, which moves objects, demons create gateways for transportation. Just like this.”
Bling-bling.
Orange and blue mana bullets shot from the magical tool in Rizel’s hand.
Immediately, a gateway appeared, and upon entering through the orange gateway, she walked out of the blue one.
I managed to calm my excitement and said, “Can I borrow this for a bit?”
“Y-Yes?!”
The next game was set.