第６５９堀：新部署と人材 (Part1)
**Chapter 659: New Department and Personnel**
**Side: Yuki**
Today, as with every other day, I am wrestling with the scraps of paper on my desk.
I call them "scraps," but if I neglect them, I’ll be hit with a painful backlash.
Good grief, staring at these documents is making my eyes ache.
Just yesterday, I finished confirming the situation in the If Continent and completed the report, and now, I’m faced with petitions from the various nations of that same continent.
Well, since petitions are a right of the people, perhaps it’s more accurate to call them requests or solicitations from other countries.
The content is primarily a chorus of voices hoping for Weed to dispatch diplomats.
I want to tell them how foolish they are, considering we don't even share a common language, let alone established diplomatic relations. But I suppose the folks on the If Continent are just desperate to get a foothold on the Rogari Continent as quickly as possible.
Well, whether it’s Weed or Rogari, wanting to build a connection isn't a bad thing.
Incidentally, while I have been training personnel for deployment, there is no diplomatic agency to oversee them.
That is precisely why all these diplomacy-related documents end up on my desk.
"Why is this all ending up with me..."
"Well, Yuki, there is no one else who can serve as a diplomat to the If Continent, is there?"
Jessica’s blunt words leave me with nothing to say.
There’s no doubt that this is the result of me running wild all over the If Continent...
"I understand Jessica’s point, but it is a concern that you, Yuki-sama—my husband and the Prince Consort—are appearing everywhere as a diplomat. It makes us look a bit... low-ranking."
"...Hmm. Besides, if we don't create a diplomatic agency for Weed, we’ll eventually be unable to move at all."
As Samantha and Cleena say, there are issues with me going out of my way to handle everything personally, and the workload is becoming so overwhelming that I’m starting to feel paralyzed.
"I understand that it's going to be tough, but if that's the case, why haven't you created a department specializing in diplomacy in Weed until now, Yuki-san?"
Ria asks us a very straightforward question.
"Because until now, the necessity wasn't recognized."
"The necessity wasn't recognized? For diplomats? But you’ve been doing all sorts of things with many countries on Rogari, haven't you?"
"That's..."
I take a deep breath, and once I confirm that all eyes are on me, I open my mouth.
"The reason is that we just let it slide because things were somehow working out until now."
"““Huh?””"
My wives’ eyes go wide.
Well, I suppose that’s to be expected.
I’d call it an uncharacteristic failure on my part.
However, there is a proper reason for it.
"Well, to put it simply, in the case of Rogari, diplomatic routes with various countries were already established, led by Seraria, Rurua, Shera, Taiki-kun, and others. There was no need to create a new diplomatic agency and cause confusion."
"Ah, come to think of it, Rurua and the others were handling the diplomacy within Rogari."
That’s right. The countries of Rogari sent their daughters to me as wives, and through those connections, they advanced their diplomacy.
There was also the fact that creating strange new rules and complicating things might have stalled the distribution of goods in Weed.
"But the If Continent was different. Jessica, Cleena, and Samantha might be in the same position as Rurua and the others in a sense, but that only applies to those three countries."
"““Ah.””"
It seems everyone realizes it as I say that.
"In other words, Jessica is from Zilba, Cleena from August, and Samantha from Roday. The question becomes: what about the remaining three countries? They don't have a route to appeal directly to me or Seraria."
"Ah, so that’s why Agil-san was asking to be made your wife?"
"Exactly. There’s no route to easily communicate. It’s not like they can just casually come to this office to meet me for diplomatic matters. In a sense, this situation could be seen as unfair."
"...That is what it comes down to, isn't it? Well, by the logic we’ve used until now, one could say it’s their own fault for not catching your fancy, Yuki-sama."
"...Hmm. If we say that openly, it will create disparity and discord on the If Continent. I don't think Yuki would intentionally treat them differently, but the fact remains that we are his wives, and that is how it will be perceived."
"Furthermore, the perception on the If Continent is that going through Yuki is an absolute condition. Well, that’s natural. They believe that if they try to proceed while ignoring Yuki, they’ll suffer a terrible fate. It’s not like Rurua and the others, who listen to their homeland's wishes, take them to the person in charge, and then a completed trade agreement appears on Seraria's desk."
At the explanation from the three of them, I hold my head in my hands.
This is the aftermath of me going too far with the mercenary corps.
Noble and the folks from White Forest are like family, so they don't hold back, but the other countries, because of how much our mercenary corps rampaged, feel they must consult me first.
That is the mountain of documents in front of me.
"...Well, it’s the downside of relying on the system we’ve had so far. In the first place, for a normal country, you just finish conversations with neighboring countries and the occasional few from far away, and that’s that."
"That would be for a normal country. But we have the Gates."
"...Hmm. It means that even if something is too convenient, it creates various difficulties."
Exactly. The method of "my wife or acquaintance is in a friendly country, so they can be the diplomat" only worked because there were few partners to begin with.
As the number of partners increases, a proper, unified agency becomes necessary.
In Japanese terms, it means creating a Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
...I feel like vomiting blood.
We are overwhelmingly short on people...
No, wait. Perhaps among my wives' friends, there are people who want to be active globally.
"...A unified diplomatic agency. Let's call it the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, taking the name from Japan. Is there anyone we can poach to secure personnel? Anyone among your friends in Weed?"
"...I don't think there are any friends who would want to abandon their life in Weed to go to another country where it's hard to live and the public safety is poor."
"...I don't intend to speak as poorly of my own country as Jessica does, but if there's no common language and no acquaintances there, I think it would be quite difficult."
"...Hmm. Being posted to a place like that... if it were me, I’d cry and refuse."
The wives from the If Continent see being posted overseas as nothing more than a demotion or bullying.
Well, I honestly feel the same way.
I’ve heard that the same complaints are frequently raised to Seraria by the teams setting up Gates from Weed to other countries.
Mainly, there are no toilets, no baths, and the food tastes bad. Yeah, there’s no helping that.
It’s the downside of raising the standard of living in Weed too high.
As I’m thinking about this, Ria seems to have come up with an idea and speaks up.
"But for adventurers, wouldn't going to an unknown land be exciting?"
"Adventurers have the job of adventuring, after all. Going to another country to negotiate on behalf of Weed is a different matter. Well, they probably wouldn't hate living in another country as much as the average Weed citizen, but..."
"I see. I thought it was a good idea, though."
"In the first place, many adventurers are not Weed citizens. And if we have to drill manners and paperwork into them from scratch..."
"First, we'd have to arrange for them to become Weed citizens, then teach them reading, writing, etiquette, and the work of a diplomat... it would be an enormous task."
"...Hmm. That said, we should be training such personnel for deployment. We are planning for intercontinental exchange to begin soon. We could just move them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
"No, as Cleena says, we have personnel for the upcoming intercontinental exchange, but we lack the talent to oversee the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the unified agency for diplomats."