Chapter 1089 – Beautiful home and bureaucracy
“We’re out the barrier for thirty minutes and we’re already back at work,” Momo said, as they walked through the hallways of the Fusion Administration.
“People in high government positions don’t get holidays – especially if an important event is planned for that holiday,” John responded. “We do get to play golf all year round though.”
“That sport is as boring as watching paint dry.”
“The sport itself is rather dull, yeah.” John pointed at a door not too far ahead of them. “It’s useful to get to know people though. You spend so much time walking over the landscape that you can test them. Plus, you would be surprised how many selfish rulebreakers you can find by feigning you look the other way.”
“Hmm, okay... I’m still not learning it.”
“We’ll see how you think about that in a month’s time, when all the invitations come in.” The Gamer stopped in front of his office and opened the door. “So, this is where I work. Also where the whole blowjob schedule takes place.”
Momo stepped inside and had a quick look around. She spotted the foldable bed in the single closet of the room immediately. “Of course,” was her only comment in that regard. The inside of the desk she seemed to avoid on principle. They both knew she would end up there soon enough. “At least you take sorting seriously.”
“I need to be able to find things in case anybody wants to tell me it wasn’t their job to get it done,” the Gamer said, half-jokingly. “Anyway, you’ll spend more time here later.”
“Oh, will I?” Momo crossed her arms.
“Yes,” the Gamer asserted with a soft smile, that disarmed any kind of verbal resistance she might have put up. Putting both hands on her shoulders, he turned her around and directed her back out the door. “Let’s get to your office.”
It was just one door over, far from a long walk. “Is this a strategic placement so I get horny when I hear you fucking while I work?” the sassy support asked.
“I made the walls too soundproof for that,” John denied the allegation outright and closed the door behind them. “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind joining the offices, but you will need your own storage space.”
As far as the layout was concerned, the chancellor’s office copied the president’s one in most aspects. A large desk was at the opposite end of the room, in front of the large window. The remaining three walls were all covered in wooden shelves. The floor was solid, smooth stone. What was missing were the numerous little and large adjustments to optimize the comfort of coitus in the environment and the secretary desk Beatrice often occupied.
The room was pretty barren. While Aclysia had left behind all of the documents and the computer, she had cleaned out any personal touches to the room. Consequently, it was an extremely ‘officey’ office. Momo didn’t seem to mind and scanned the folders on the shelves. “Anything there I haven’t read the past few days?”
“Provided that you have read everything...” John caught the patronising glance she gave him at that, as if there was any other possibility, “...then no.”
“That’s one thing I don’t have to inspect then.” Momo plopped her maid uniform clad butt down on the office chair and pressed the button. The soft buzzing of electronics announced the booting up of the computer. John circled around the desk to help her where she needed it. About thirty minutes of only minor advice and direction pointing later, Momo was about as worked in as she reasonably could be.
“Don’t forget, we have a meeting with the cabinet in an hour,” the Gamer said on the way out.
“Oh great, people,” Momo sarcastically remarked, while her fingers danced over the keyboard. “I love dealing with those. I’ll have notes ready.”
“Fantastic.” John smiled and returned to his own office. Despite her initial complaints, he knew that Momo was eager to get back to something productive. The girl was a workaholic. If she didn’t have something precise to achieve, she’d search until she did. During the entire tour of the Administration, starting at the offices of the basic bureaucrats and ending just now, her fingers had been twitching in anticipation.
The Gamer was also eager to get back to work, although his reason had little to do with a universal love for occupation itself. Until after the meeting, he was on his own in the office, which made it the perfect time to experiment with the new Interface Skill he had gotten.
As soon as the computer was running, he placed his fingers on the keyboard and cast the spell. It was a new but also familiar sensation when a spark of magic leapt from his fingers and proceeded to integrate itself in the electronics of the keyboard. ‘Let’s see how Scarlett’s powers work,’ he thought and tried opening the administration software with his mind.
Only to find that it wasn’t quite that simple.
“Thank you, ministers,” she spoke woodenly and cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” she said and looked around. That was a big mistake. John could practically feel the discomfort radiating from her, growing with each passing second of silence. She was only too aware that everyone was staring and waiting.
John put a hand on her butt, for once only because it was the part of her closest to him. Uncertain, she looked at him. Silently, he formed the words, ‘You got this’. He could have said it more definitively, mentally or verbally, but deemed this amount of encouragement enough.
And it was. Momo took another deep breath and exhaled slowly, casting out her doubts. She had trained for this. Not only with the big Charisma boost he had given her, but through actual addresses directed at the harem as well. It was a poor substitute for public speaking lessons, to speak to a crowd made up of those you love. Regardless, she knew she could speak well. All she needed was to lean on that knowledge and ignore the rest.
“I am certain you’re all rather sick of seeing John’s Artificial Spirits occupy the high government positions,” she joked, getting a few chuckles out of the room. “I assure all of you that I bring the necessary elan and competence to fulfil the demands of my office. For now, I will concentrate on continuing where my predecessor left off. Only once I’m more experienced will I start rocking the boat, so to speak. Without further ado, let’s check on the current points of order.”
Everyone repositioned their chairs as they turned away from Momo and to the sheets of paper on the table. John could feel the remaining tenseness fall off the fairy maid the moment the eyes were off her. Reading down the list, she was clearly more comfortable.
“The current news cycle leaves us without urgent matters, although we are still dealing with the aftermath of the Death Zone. How are the interior affairs handling things?”
“No change from the usual. The people appear to be widely happy with the handling of the situation. Resettling of the people in the evacuated areas has mostly concluded. As for the demons we took in, they seem to be doing well in their assigned occupations. We moved one of them around, but otherwise have received no complaints.”
“Good. Foreign office, any changes to the responses of other nations?”
“The section of foreign guilds that doubt our claims that the president has routed out a Lorylim infestation that large has consolidated into a small network. Majorly, we enjoy foreign support in the way we reported the events. The Order of the Golden Rose continues to bother us every six hours, however, and I would like to formally complain about that.”
Momo looked at John. “Anything you have to say about that?” she asked, a hint of her bite coming through.
With a hand still on her ass, now a squeezing rather than reassuring presence, and a smile on his face, he shrugged. “The problem will be dealt with next year. If you feel bothered, you can put the calls through to Beatrice.”
“With all due respect,” the foreign minister said, “that is more likely to create more issues than solve them.”
John sighed and made his thoughts very clear. “The Order as an organization is rigid in its mission, but they are militarists over diplomats – they will not be gravely offended if our communications consist of back-and-forth jokes and demands.” The minister did not seem entirely convinced. “If you don’t trust me, will you at least trust my track record?”
“I do trust you, Mister President,” the minister was quick to assure.
“Assertion: then put them through to me,” Beatrice chimed in. “The problem will be dealt with.”
Resigned, the minister said, “Alright...”
“Since you’re already talking, John, as head of the armed forces, how are things going in the clean-up?”
“Slow, steady, nothing of value to report in either this or the Gestalt affair,” the Gamer said. It was the truth, but even if something had happened, he wouldn’t have shared it with the cabinet unless they had to know. Once the cabinet knew it, there was a timer on how long until things reached the public.
“Unless anybody has remarks on this, I would deem this point of order concluded.” Momo looked around the room and, since nobody spoke up, turned her page. Everyone else followed suit and the fairy maid continued, “Then we move onto the simple points of next week.”
What followed was about two hours of basic governance. Reports of projects that were getting started or moved from the jurisdiction of one ministry to another, requests for additional funds, questions of certain new laws and how they impacted future plans, requests for additional funds, obstruction of federal efforts by local government, requests for additional funds, the commissioning of reports/independent investigations into certain matters, and requests for additional funds.
Luckily, Beatrice was in the seat of the finance minister and she had absolutely no qualms about slapping anything down that looked even remotely like wasteful spending.
“Now, for the final and biggest point of order,” Momo said and the room got quiet again, “the upcoming New Year’s festivities and the consequent addition of the Lake Alliance to the Fusion Federation.”
A topic to which the ministers only had to nod to.