“What’s wrong, Jiro-. You have bags under your eyes. Well, I can guess why.”
“Hahaha, I just ended up staying up all night reconfirming the depth of our love. My physical condition is fine. I’m using magic for body reinforcement.”
“That’s true, if you have the leeway to brag like that, then there’s no problem.”
The next morning, or rather, the next day.
I really came to work without sleeping, hence the bags under my eyes, but my body’s sturdiness is proven to withstand the instructor’s fists.
Pulling an all-nighter for a day or two is nothing.
The result of fighting through a dreamlike space for a man, starting with Memoria, then Himik, and Evia, and then Evia, whose stamina had lasted against Memoria and Himik, who had revived after drinking potions – that’s what happened.
I showed Suella the sight of them displaying their lustrous skin, and myself a little thinner.
I was greeted by Kirie-san, who was already at work, when I headed to my office with my lunch box after eating the breakfast Himik had prepared for me last night, while thanking my body for enduring such a fierce battle without a single scream or even a hint of fatigue.
“What’s on the schedule for today?”
As I sat in my usual seat and typed my password into the PC, which was already powered on, I asked Kirie-san, who had come over to my side, about my schedule.
“Aside from a few meetings, it’s document organizing. Here’s the list.”
“Thanks. Secure the first conference room for the afternoon.”
“Is something happening?”
“I have a meeting scheduled with Amili-san. I’ll be done before the negotiation time, so please adjust the schedule.”
“Understood, I’ll secure it.”
It feels good when conversations flow rhythmically.
“What? Are there still other changes?”
“No, I just thought you were more serious than usual.”
Kirie-san had a different atmosphere than usual since we met this morning.
I knew she was getting serious after Suella told her, but I wondered if the atmosphere could change this much and decided to check in on her.
“Jiro-”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she sent a sharp, almost threatening aura my way.
“In war, preparation is everything. Challenging a battle with poor preparation is something only the reckless would do.”
“You’re serious.”
“I am.”
Her intensity was such that it made me feel like she was putting that much effort into the marriage hunting party. If I probed any further, it wouldn’t be as simple as stirring up trouble.
It was a topic that could easily be construed as stepping on a dragon’s tail, or even touching its reverse scale, so I chose my words carefully.
“I see. Well, I hope your work is going smoothly.”
“It’s not going smoothly.”
“Huh?”
Given how serious Kirie-san was, I had assumed her work was going well, but she stated with a serious face that it was not.
I involuntarily stopped checking emails on my PC and looked at her.
“I was careless. I didn’t expect an enemy in the censorship department. News about the marriage hunting has leaked.”
Then, with a face as if she had bitten into a bitter melon, she handed me a paper clamped in a clipboard.
On it was a list with names, ages, birth dates, and departments.
“This, could it be…?”
“Yes, it’s a list of those who want to participate in the marriage hunting party.”
“There are a lot of them, aren’t there?”
“Jiro-, it’s not all year round, but we are at war. Good men tend to die young. The good men who survive are already married long ago. Understand?”
Just casually counting the names on the list, which filled four pages, with about thirty people per page, totaled around a hundred people.
“By the way, that’s just a part of it. We’re currently printing more.”
“Oh, hold on. Why is our company so desperate for encounters?”
“Because there are no encounters.”
“There are !! To put it bluntly, our company has young men and handsome guys of marriageable age, right? Since they’re all elites, their income is more than sufficient, and their future is promising, right?”
Something’s wrong, this is really strange. If this were interference from another faction, as Evia mentioned, I could understand it, but Kirie-san would never allow such factions to be involved.
This means that this list is purely a list of women desperate for encounters.
“Look, Jiro-. You’re right that this company has many employees who are good-looking, highly paid, and of marriageable age.”
I tried to retort that this was a joke, but she snorted dismissively. Her eyes suddenly lost their emotion, and with mud-colored eyes, Kirie-san said realistically with a smile.
“But you see, those guys have high pride. Extremely high pride. They don’t even acknowledge women who aren’t worthy of them as women, and while they’re great colleagues, they have such high pride that marriage partners are out of the question. We also have a certain status and pride. Why should we give up our careers to be with men who look down on us and expect to be supported?!”
Ah, with a wry smile, I realized this was a personal experience and tried to comfort the explosive Kirie-san. Internally, I panicked about stepping on a landmine, thinking this must have happened after a company mixer or something, and looked at the list again.
“That’s why the men here are unpopular! What, do they think they’re special because they’re the chosen ones, damn it! Well, we’re chosen ones too! Don’t underestimate us! Damn it!!!! Why do good men get snatched up so quickly?!”
“Perhaps because they are good men?”
“I know that!!”
I thought this hidden emotion was contributing to her intense focus on the marriage hunting party. However, when I stated the most obvious opinion, she, on the verge of tears, handed me a stack of papers that had been copied by the magic copying machine, saying it was more.
In addition to the papers I had, three more were added.
In total, it came to about two hundred people.
“This in one night?”
“Don’t underestimate women’s information networks. Haa, I went to tell them to keep quiet yesterday to avoid this, but it was a complete waste of time. Honestly, who leaked it?”
“Probably, spurred by a word accidentally let slip due to a moment of carelessness, they gathered information. These employees are so capable… This person isn’t even a receptionist. Huh, this girl looks like she must be very popular.”
I thought leaking information about packages intended for a general might be quite problematic, but fortunately, lately, we’ve had so many such people around us that it didn’t cause immediate alarm. Besides, this issue wasn’t under my jurisdiction, but rather Evia’s.
Kirie-san was not responsible.
I suspected that our overly capable employees had pieced together fragmented information to uncover this story.
“Tsk, they’re unnecessarily competent. By the way, I drank with that girl before, and she downed a large beer mug in one go.”
“She seemed so demure… Is she a heavy drinker, or is it stress… Either way, you can’t judge a book by its cover.” Haa, I was trying to enlist Amili-san as an ally to avoid this, but a considerable uproar occurred before that.
Flipping through the list, I was surprised at the unexpected people who had stepped forward and pondered what to do.
“Do something about it.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Increase the number of slots.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Otherwise, there will be a riot. Or an assassination incident.”
“…My sense of normalcy is too sad that I can’t say ‘you’re lying’.”
“Don’t worry, it’s normal.”
“I don’t want that kind of normal.”
I understood that I had to do something, but it was an unreasonable demand out of the blue. If it were a matter of possibility, I think it would be possible.
“Haa, first, it’s a matter of how many we can increase. Increasing from the current situation is a given, but accommodating everyone is impossible.”
“We’ll select them.”
It seemed troublesome to be faced with the task of dangling bait to prevent something certainly unpleasant from happening.
With a wry smile, I wondered why the women in our company could be so aggressive. I tossed the list onto the desk and started composing an email.
“Evia should be first. I can’t afford any more information leaks.”
“That’s true. I’ll email Lord Muil.”
“Please do.”
If word leaked from the censorship department, it would be a major problem. Even the slightest bit of information had led to this commotion, so it couldn’t be ignored.
I sent an email to Evia via the emergency message system, detailing the simple circumstances and situation.
“This should be fine for now, but the problem is from here on.”
“Yes, the question is how to select them.”
“The initial members are fixed. Changing them would be a major problem.”
“Indeed. We’ll have them accept them as a special consideration. May I use your name for now?”
“I suppose I have no choice. But, try to keep it reasonable.”
“I understand.”
While thinking that she was too serious about the marriage hunting party, I suddenly felt a bad premonition.
Intuition in times like these cannot be underestimated.
“…Kirie-san. Please send a mass email to the women on this list.”
“Sure, but what should it say?”
“If they send any gifts that could be considered bribes, they will be immediately disqualified.”
“…I see. I’ll deal with it promptly.”
“Please do.”
A creeping feeling ran down my spine. A premonition that something would definitely happen.
Sensing it, I said it seriously to Kirie-san, and she, thinking it was plausible, quickly created and sent the email with her high-speed typing and mouse operations.
Meanwhile, I sent an email to Kirie-san. I hesitated for a moment about what to write, but in the end, I had no choice but to ask if it would be possible to accommodate the increased number of applicants. I figured if the other party refused, we would have to accept it.
“I just hope we can limit the number of people. If we could accept everyone, Mimamori-sama might be able to do it.”
However, the initiator? Initiating god? this time is quite a reckless and daring god. I have to be prepared for anything.
“Sent! This way, no strange gifts will be sent.”
“Understood. I’ve asked about increasing the number of participants for the marriage hunting party. Kirie-san, please go ahead and draft the selection criteria.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll be doing paperwork, and then I’m meeting Amili-san in the afternoon.”
For now, this matter is settled, and I’ll get back to work. As I turned to my desk and was about to start typing, the start-of-work chime rang, and I thought, “This is where the real work begins.”
“Um, Human King, a letter has arrived for Chief Kirie.”
The person in charge of administrative work hesitantly brought a box of letters.
“Letters? All of them?”
“Yes, they’ve passed through the censorship department, but what should we do?”
A quantity of letters at this timing, and they were rather larger than typical letters.
” ‘No way’ ”
A bad feeling struck between Kirie-san and me. I instructed the administrative staff to leave them there, and after she left:
“Jiro-”
“Kirie-san”
” “Can we pretend we didn’t see it (can we not)?” ”
Seeing the coat of arms on the seal of the letters, I realized the bad omen was mine, and we both let out a big sigh.
“Baron, Viscount, Count. And here, a tribal chief. Ah, this one is a Knightly order, but from a very reputable family with many military achievements.”
Listening to Kirie-san’s voice, who could identify the origin of each letter just by looking at the crest, I thought, “Where did it leak from?” and looked up at the ceiling, faced with the task of replying to the letters.
Today’s word: All work requires a healthy body.
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