“Hi, next is this.”
“Ah, thank you.”
The rescue operation took about a week.
My subjective experience of time was about two or, at most, three days.
However, that much time had actually passed while I was in the chaos.
It was true that the concept of time was distorted.
That’s why Valse-san, who governs time and space, was able to reach us even in a space where the concept of time was distorted.
Instructor Fushio also didn’t seem to know exactly how long he had been drifting in the chaos.
And what this discrepancy in time perception brought was an overwhelming amount of work.
I’m already accustomed to the task of typing on two separate keyboards with my left and right hands, while using floating magic with my gaze to review documents and apply seals.
Keiri-san and Muil-san had handled some of it, and Evia was also helping out.
But when it came to the main business of dungeon operation, many decisions required my input.
So, I was in the middle of processing documents that were waiting for instructions at high speed.
It helps a lot that they’re prioritizing the tasks and assigning them in order.
Keiri divides the documents into boxes, sorts the emails by priority, and then…
“Please review these too. Nobles waiting for appointments, diplomats from Earth, company presidents, and so on.”
The schedule for interpersonal negotiations.
“I wish I had a shadow clone jutsu.”
“That would be convenient, wouldn’t it?”
I physically don’t have enough hands.
Keiri-san agrees with my earnest mutterings with a wry smile.
Once this death march is over, I’ll be able to return to my usual busy schedule.
I left my duties, attended the instructor’s return celebration, and it took me a while to get back to my main work.
If you want to put it that way, it’s my own fault.
Instead of complaining, it’s better to express gratitude and discuss the business content.
I accelerated my typing speed, processed emails one after another, sent instructions to each department, reviewed the business reports and confirmation messages that came back, checked the dungeon’s progress, and verified the appointment schedule.
“Swap the order of this person and this person, then move up those European-related people a bit, and then cancel this person and that person, and that person over there.”
“Understood.”
Regarding the schedule, no one has any free time.
However, I have to make choices.
And then, I filter out those with dangerous ideologies, after asking Kirie-san to look into them.
I have no idea what kind of trouble could arise if Earth’s dangerous ideologies came into contact with the embattled nobles.
Currently, the route connecting Earth and the continent is controlled by the president, and Evia and I are monitoring the situation, but it’s impossible to prevent everything completely.
The Magic Bag also contains items specialized for concealment, like jackets.
And given the storage capacity of the Magic Bag, transporting a nuclear warhead or two would be easy.
The thought of such an item being brought to the continent, studied, and merged with magic sends shivers down my spine.
That’s why extreme caution is required when dealing with people who have war-mongering ideologies.
“With this, it looks like we’ll be able to secure time for ourselves too.”
The reason I’m finishing such difficult work at breakneck speed is exactly as Keiri just said.
Although it might seem like it was done relatively easily because we made thorough preparations for the chaos, after experiencing it firsthand, I’m confident that I would refuse if asked to do it again.
That’s why I felt so relieved when I was able to return to Suella and the others.
I kept hugging Suella, who greeted me, and ended up getting glares from Memoria, Himik, and Evia and Keiri, who rushed over from their workplaces. That was a bit of a mistake.
Thanks to that mistake, my post-return requests ended up being a bit more substantial.
Well, I ended up staying in the chaos longer than planned, and Valse-san, who was acting as a liaison, also couldn’t regularly report on my well-being due to the time discrepancy.
If I don’t make up for the worry I caused, they’ll get fed up with me.
“I’m working diligently because I want to achieve that. Here, this is the approval for the Testers’ schedule. Please give it to Kaido later.”
“I think men who follow through on their words are wonderful. Especially when it’s for our sake.”
“That’s great to hear. If you say so, it’s worth the effort.”
As I finished one document, I sent it to Keiri using floating magic.
“I hate to interrupt your efforts, but shouldn’t you hand over the First Division to someone soon? You’ll be starting the full-scale operation of the dungeon, and once that happens, you’ll be too busy managing the dungeon to do any more testing. You haven’t been able to do dungeon attacks lately because of your workload, have you?”
That was the policy I decided on, to set a schedule for how Kaido and the others would challenge the dungeon, not to overexert themselves but to increase the number of floors they could conquer as much as possible.
The reason I’m doing the final confirmation is that I’m still concurrently serving as the section chief of the First Division of Testers.
At the time, when I was on the verge of becoming a general or not, if I had lost, I would have spent my life as a Tester.
But after the dungeon’s full-scale activation, I changed my position from the one challenging to the one being challenged.
“That’s true, but… who should I leave the section chief position to…”
So, in all fairness, I should have resigned from my section chief position at that point and appointed a successor.
However, no successor has been found.
“The first person I considered was Kaido, who is the oldest.”
“In terms of personality, work ability, and experience, there are no problems, but in terms of room for growth, he’s not particularly ideal.”
In terms of being able to trust and entrust the position, my junior, Kaido, comes to mind first.
He’s familiar with the work and we have a good rapport.
I don’t intend to control the Testers through the First Division, which is under my influence, but I want to maintain a connection so that I can protect them if something unexpected happens.
In broad terms, Testers are under Evia’s jurisdiction.
Therefore, it’s not ideal for me to cling to the section chief position indefinitely.
Holding the position of Section Chief of the First Division of Testers means that General, my rank, is below Evia.
Normally, I should have returned the section chief position upon becoming a General, but due to my high combat power needed for dungeon attacks and the lack of a successor, I have been allowed to manage it as an exceptional case.
However, with the full-scale launch of my dungeon and my appointment to handle diplomacy with Earth, I have had to focus on my main job, and I am becoming unable to perform my dungeon testing duties, which have become a side job.
I’m still handling section chief duties like this, but I’m starting to feel like I’m reaching my limit.
“Ideally, it would be someone you can trust as a subordinate, not a dungeon tester like Keiri.”
“If that were the case, you’d get interference and it would become troublesome. That First Division is currently the department with the best performance in data collection. If the dungeon’s performance improves, the evaluation of the person in charge of that department will be high. Didn’t Jiro-kun benefit from that too? Solidifying that benefit under your subordinates would only invite unnecessary jealousy.”
“That’s true.”
However, considering the balance of diplomatic protection for Testers that Evia and I are currently handling, I cannot hand over the section chief position to just anyone.
Conversely, if I recommend someone from my own circle, it will invite unnecessary backlash.
If someone from the First Division, like Kaido, were to be promoted, the backlash would be minimized, but forcing an unrelated person into that position would not be tolerated by those around us.
The meritocracy of the Demon Lord’s Army is strict about nepotism.
Even with Nord-kun, Evia’s status could have prepared him for a position like a candidate executive, but he was determined to rise through the ranks from a trainee.
Furthermore, even if someone is famous for their ability, if they only solved the problem in terms of skill, it leads to troublesome issues with connections.
“So, there’s no one convenient available…”
“Waiting for Kaido to gain more experience will take too long. I want to avoid assigning an incompetent person who could be taken in by other factions and wear down the Testers, or having our connections with Earth misused. It’s a real catch-22.”
The fact that I can’t immediately think of a solution is also a source of frustration.
“Can you think of any solution?”
“Hmm… Personally, I’d like to recommend Min-chan.”
“Min? To you?”
My thoughts, which had been focused on redistributing work while working, stopped for a moment at Keiri’s advice.
I involuntarily looked at Keiri, asking “Why?”
“Oh, surprised? From my perspective, I don’t think anyone else has the talent to bring an organization together like she does.”
“No, I think she has talent. But from my daily experience of hearing her words, well…”
It’s understandable why I’m surprised that Keiri recommends Min.
The thoughts that stopped me only lasted a few seconds before I resumed, but for a moment, they filled me with doubt.
Min, who always claims she doesn’t want to work, as section chief? I can’t help but tilt my head.
Certainly, she displayed considerable talent in terms of command ability as the brains of the party.
However, her inherent personality of disliking trouble makes me hesitant to entrust her with the responsibility of a section chief, who is a person in charge and a manager.
But perhaps Min is different from Keiri’s perspective?
Min as I see her and Min as Keiri sees her are different.
There might be something there.
“…”
I re-examine the doubts I just expressed. Perhaps, just maybe, I could take a chance.
“Rather than asking me, you should ask Suella. After all, lately, she’s been taking care of that party in your stead while you’re busy.”
“Suella?”
“Yes, she’s been training with Kaido-kun in mock battles using techniques she relearned from Evia-sama, and having magic battles with Karen-chan.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You wouldn’t, with the kind of husband who doesn’t come home, would you?”
“I deeply regret that.”
“Good.”
I had heard that Suella was undergoing retraining for her own safety, but I didn’t know she was sparring with Kaido and the others.
I tried to listen to Suella and the children as much as possible after returning home, but I simply didn’t have enough time.
“I’ll talk to Suella, and then I’ll schedule a meeting with Min.”
If I can hand over the section chief position to Min, that would be for the best.
“If you make Min the section chief, you should make Kaido the assistant section chief. Min is still a university student, so it would be better to have Kaido assist her with operational coordination until she graduates.”
“In Min’s case, I feel like we should first make her a full-time employee. But in this company, promotion from part-time to section chief is possible depending on ability.”
This is going to be something else.
I wonder if Min will be surprised, or laugh, or at least show an unpleasant expression. I can’t eliminate the possibility that she might react negatively.
“That’s our world. Now, let’s pick up the pace a bit to ensure our time off together?”
“Understood.”
I need to cherish my time with my wives even more than usual.
Today’s word: Process work accurately.
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