Chapter 28: Chapter 28: City Hall Debut
Vikir walked to the city hall in the middle of Longshot City.
He walked past the buildings where many workers were housed, and found his office at the far end.
"The new assistant officer is coming today, so make sure the place is clean."
"Who will he be?"
"It doesn't really matter to me who it is, I just hope they're a bit more energetic."
"Hey, what do you expect, I heard he's fifteen."
Employees sweep, mop, and clean throughout the building.
A flag welcoming Vikir van Baskerville, the new Delegate Archon and Acting Archon, hung on a high wall.
Vikir walked casually past the workers.
He was starting tomorrow, so they didn't pay much attention to him.
"Is this your son, did the staff bring him here?"
"Honey, you shouldn't be here."
"It's temporarily closed because the High Ruler is coming tomorrow."
"You can go out there and play, there's a playground outside for the staff kids."
A few workers blocked Vikir's path.
"Move over."
When Vikir saw the letter of appointment in his hand, he ducked his head in confusion.
"... ... , you're early for work, Mr. President."
The staff looked shocked, as if they'd seen a ghost.
Vikir walked into the office and sat down in the overstuffed chair.
His most important order, when he took his position as true ruler, was rule number one.
"Control the alcohol and the women."
* * *
Baskerville, Chihuahua.
For ten years now, he'd been the manager of the city center here, and he felt a bad feeling in his stomach.
"I can't believe I've been working here since day one.
And he's only 15 years old.
After his ancestors were all fired for corruption, it's hard not to feel sick to the stomach when a new kid comes in and starts misbehaving.
'What a mess, and in a sacred workplace, too!
Chihuahua Baskerville wiped his forehead with his hand.
He was from outside the family and had been given the family name Baskerville in recognition of his administrative ability.
Although he had to settle for the title of secretary since he didn't have a middle name like "Les" or "La" or "Van," he was really working hard.
"Man, I have a lot of work to do, and then some troublemaker comes in and says... ... . I had some hope that Baskerville was from here."
I hadn't expected when the 15-year-old kid said he was coming, but now they were here.
Even now, the sound of glasses clinking, laughing women, and singing clowns could be heard outside the window.
Baskerville, the Chihuahua, scratched his beard nervously and threw down his file cabinet.
"Yeah, damn it, it takes a damn good cigar to wake me up and just... ... !?"
But, he couldn't get his complaint out.
Squeak
The door to his office opened, revealing a boy.
Vikir Van Baskerville. The new Archon.
He was finally officially in the office.
"You're the head of the office."
The Chihuahua Baskerville gave Vikir a fake polite look.
"Yes, sir. I'm Chihuahua Baskerville."
"You don't have a middle name."
The Chihuahua's expression froze a bit at Vikir's words.
To not have a middle name for a child born out of wedlock was to be from outside the family.
Usually, those brought in from the outside were hired workers within the Baskervilles for years before being given the Baskerville last name and formally admitted into the family, which was exactly what Staffordshire and Chihuahua had done.
Strictly speaking, they were not close relatives, but employees.
The new employees would often use this as a way of discriminating against the newcomers.
So Chihuahua had to endure the bitterness of this environment.
But.
"Good."
Vikir's assessment came as a surprise.
As the Chihuahua's eyes widened, Vikir remembered a memory from the past.
"Chihuahua Baskerville, yes, I recognize the name.
He's a thin guy, and his beard makes him look like a modest old man, but he's surprisingly kind.
And since he was an outsider, he faced a lot of discrimination, and his achievements were often attributed to a ruler or deputy ruler.
This was the kind of thing that Vikir related to.
Vikir also has little faith in his own relatives, and outsiders with proven qualifications are much more trustworthy.
"I looked into your profile on the way in. You're from Longshot City, right?"
"Yes? Yes, indeed, I'm a local, raised here."
"Then you know the lay of the land better than I, a newcomer to the city."
"... ... Actually."
The Chihuahua hesitated to answer, then realized he shouldn't have.
He knew from experience that this would be followed by questions like "If you know so much, why don't you do it?", "If you're so good, why are you working for me?", "How dare you try to boss me around?", "Why don't you do it all yourself?", and so on.
But once again, Vikir's response was unexpected.
"I know the hard work of people who actually work in the field, and I have no desire to interfere with their rules, traditions, or styles."
The Chihuahua went blank at that.
He hadn't expected to hear these words from someone from inside the family.
Usually, he was expecting a sense of superiority and to abolish all the old traditions as bad.
"Well, at least you don't seem like a troublemaker.
If it does no good, at least it wouldn't cause any harm.
While the Chihuahua breathed a sigh of relief, Vikir flipped through the papers in front of him.
Parallax.
The papers being flipped, and the Chihuahua didn't expect Vikir to be looking at them.
But surprisingly, Vikir was looking at all of them carefully.
And then. Closing the papers, Vikir said.
"I see nothing wrong with the regulatory system, but there are a lot of problems in the legal system."
"What? You've seen all that, the bird?"
Chihuahua asked in surprise. The papers here are many pages long.
But Vikir clearly knew a lot about Longshot City.
It was one of the more prominent cities in the pre-Inversion spy and founding activities.
"There are illegal gambling houses, brothels, slave auctions, and all kinds of private banking happening in the area. The underground economy of Longshot City is probably very significant."
The Chihuahua's eyes narrowed.
Vikir continued.
"Maybe these are the reasons that led to the departure of the previous deputy justices. It won't be easy to break the cycle without a compromise of some kind."
"...."
"Aye. What is your take, you local underdog?"
Vikir asks casually, and the Chihuahua can twitch his lips.
Not only has Vikir grasped all these documents and gotten to the heart of Longshot City's core issues, but he's also discussed them without looking down on her as a subordinate from
the outside.
And he came to me on his very first day, even a day early!
At this unexpected turn of events, which defied common sense, the Chihuahua could only stammer, unable to reply.
Vikir smiled.
"It's quite simple to bring down an underground economy, you need to focus on the root issues, hidden among the debris of the city."
In a past life, Vikir had a long history of fighting illegal organizations in the city.
So he knew almost everything about who was committing what crimes and where they were hiding.
He even knew the locations and identities of the civil servants who were taking bribes.
'It's worth it,' I remembered, 'to look through the secret books left over from the pre-Relapse crackdown on the illegal organizations.
It's the job of a deputy justice to create and enforce laws.
Vikir got right to work.
"I respect all the laws that have come before. I'm just adding one new law to them."
"Another law?"
"Yes. It won't be very long, just a few lines at most."
Vikir's eyes lit up.
"In no more than a week, we will have eradicated the seeds of Longshot City's underground economy."
Short and bold, he finished and headed off to the Institute.
There was a battle on crime to come, and some laws that sounded necessary.
"What's more, to create and enforce these laws, we need a strategy."
Hearing Vikir murmur, the Chihuahua felt herself slowly being drawn into the strange charisma the boy exuded.
She had to ask.
"Why bother? Why do you want to fight rebellion... ... ?"
"I'm still young, and above all, am I not a beginner who will join the force tomorrow?"
Vikir glanced back at the Chihuahua and smiled.
"Isn't the least you could do is give me a 'warning'?"
"...?"
The Chihuahua shook his head, unable to understand Vikir's words.
But Vikir didn't wait to figure out further.
Instead, he stroked his chin as he looked out the window of the ruler's office and down at the bar.
Pour, drink. The gathering to welcome the new Deputy Archon, Vikir, was already big.
The party was not his area of expertise, indeed.
And Vikir, who should be the center of attention, is sitting in the high council chambers right now, planning the upcoming events.
"...Yes. You need to act to get results."
Vikir's voice, murmuring in a soft tone, had an edge to it that didn't belong to a 15-year-old.
And the Chihuahua thought.
Perhaps this encounter with the boy before him would change his whole life.
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