Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? 264

War work is hell?

264 – Main Body has gotten a job

On waking up after sleeping all night, I feel refreshed. I had worried about what to do if my physical condition was still bad today, but I’m glad that it turned out to be a needless anxiety.

For now, with regards to my idea about having an official position during the conference with the Divine Word Religion, let’s go coax one from the Demon King. Well, getting an official position in name only where I don’t actually have to do anything would be good, yeah.

「You want a job, Shiro-chan? Okay, I’ll give you the 10th Army, so manage them.」

Whoa!? When I casually asked “give me some kinda official position” I got an army corps forced onto me. Why did this happen? No seriously, why?

「Why?」
「Right now, Balto is focused on reorganising the army, but even though we have soldiers we don’t have the commanders to lead them. The 10th Army is in the midst of being formed so it doesn’t even have soldiers attached to it yet though. For that reason, our Demon King Army doesn’t have the luxury to let capable personnel be idle!」

Says the person who is eating sweets laid out on her desk. Regarding the matter of idling around, despite what she’s saying, the leading contender is the person at the top of the Demon King Army.

「By the way, Kuro-chan took control over the 9th Army.」

Each Administrator is the leader of an army corps huh. Surely it’s not absolutely necessary for us to have an army with us? War potential wise, surely it would be enough to be a commander without soldiers? Well, despite saying that perhaps I’ve also become like that.

「No really, we seriously are short on capable personnel. Although we tried dragging out the bunch who were laying low in the free regions, most of them can’t really even fight. They’re excellent as government officials though.」

The demon territory is a place based on the merit system. Well, more or less. Because it is a government based on brute strength, the living standards aren’t up those in the human territories though. Reality is a merit system () after all.

「So there you have it, I’ll get Balto to bring over the list of soldiers who aren’t yet attached later, so go ahead and organise a suitable army corps.」
「Even though I don’t have any experience with that?」
「It’s fine, it’s fine. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.」

The actual end result is that I’ve become an army commander. On top of that, the Demon King is totally intending to work me hard. I had only expected to take up an official position in name but not in deed, so how did it end up like this?

However, having taken over responsibility, or rather, forcibly had responsibility pushed on to me, there’s no way that I can’t do it. In the Demon King’s Castle an office room will be set aside for my personal use, so clearly the Demon King is quite serious about this.

I’ve so easily gotten a job without actually intending to. I more or less have the title to my name of being a candidate for D’s kin, so until now I’ve had the sense of being an employee in training though. Is this a bit like becoming a section manager at my training place perhaps? Not quite? I certainly don’t have any memories of being a working adult so I don’t understand anything about the corporate workplace and such.

Dear gentlemen who are struggling with poor employment prospects in Japan. The Demon King’s Army is seeking skilled personnel. Excellent wages, decent working hours, just no guarantees of survival. Please come for an interview. We will be waiting.

Ahh. It seems like I’ve agreed to the Demon King with a somewhat “I guess I’ll give it a go” type feeling huh. However, thinking about it seriously, it might actually be good to have an army that I can use however I like. Since I generally use my clones I hadn’t really thought about it one way or another before. When I use my clones, I’m doing it with the sense of it having to be behind the scenes after all. If I have an army, it means I can boldly take action center stage as well. For now though, I don’t know whether there’ll be any merit for that or not.

If I’m going to develop an army anyway, it’s reasonable that I’d want to have some acquaintances in it. Thus, I tried asking vampire girl and oni-kun if they want to enlist.

「I have my studies still.」
「Please let me think about it for a bit.」

They declined. Unbelieveable. I had thought that maybe one of them would have joined, but it seems it was just my one-sided feelings. Dammit.

For now, since Felmina-chan is in my care, I will compel her to participate. She’s originally an ojou-sama who received good education, so she should be able to handle operational management for an army. Thus, she is inaugurated as deputy commander. Once I decided that and went to inform the person herself, she acknowledged it while having a vague smile on her face. I’m sure she’s panicking on the inside, but to not show that in her expression her skills as a noble are amazing. I would like a certain vampire who readily shows her feelings on her face to follow her example a bit.

Later in the evening, Balto came bringing a huge amount of documents including a list of the soldiers, and I said that I’d like to headhunt Mera who is in his group. I was refused politely though. I’m told that Mera is already entrusted with an army corps, and before long he will replace Balto as the commander of the 4th Army. With Balto freed from that it seems he’ll then be managing all the armies directly under the Demon King, so he’ll probably be just as busy as ever. Balto is seriously suffering from overwork, but he’s not going to die, right? Mera looks as much like a corpse or even worse though. They seemed to have become rather pitiful so I performed some magic on them to restore their vigor. Do your best Balto. Stay alive Balto.

The next day my personal office in the Demon King’s Castle was prepared, and I became immersed in processing the documents handed to me by Balto. Completing the documents for establishing the new army corps within half a day, organising the office within a day, Balto’s ability with office work has reached the maximum limit. Maybe it’d be better to leave everything to him already? Ah, then Balto would totally die from overwork. However, please don’t bring me additional documents faster than I can process them though, okay? What a man you are, Balto-san.

In that kind of mood, it seems like I’ve been having a staring match with documents and already several days have passed in a flash. Since I’ve been sitting in a chair the whole damn time my bottom and back have gotten sore. Also, since I’ve been keeping my eyes closed and reading the documents with fluoroscopy my eyes have gotten worn out in a strange way. Rather than normal eye strain, it’s more like I should say that I’ve gotten eye strain in magic ability or something I guess. Also, I’ve written so much that my hands are sore. To turn the body of a god into such damaged goods, desk work sure is terrifying. I’ve gotten a glimpse of the suffering Balto endures. I’m glad that I appointed Felmina as deputy commander. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to win this battle by myself. I’ve really been saved by having my capable secretary Felmina-chan by my side.

Now then, although the documents aren’t yet completely finished, I have to proceed to another battlefield. Time to go to the battlefield known as the second conference with the Divine Word Religion.

Ｄ「Paperwork is painful.」
Meido「Work faster!」

Translation notes:

With regards to Shiro wanting an “official position”, see Informal Conference ②.

“Reality is a merit system () after all” – the () is in the raw, for some reason.