Chapter 33

――Alkymira.

That is the name of the military superpower that dominated World No. 3 in the game [Tactics Chronicle].

However, one day, the country was suddenly transferred to another world without any warning.

Alkymira, which was transferred along with its capital, became involved in a racial conflict on the second day of its transfer to the other world and participated in the first war in that world.

Guided by the King of Demons, the invincible army completely annihilated the vanguard of the Elven nation of Noblewood, composed of elite forces, and achieved a complete victory. The victorious army returned in high spirits, and a two-day victory celebration was held in the capital.

There was no one with a worried expression.

Despite being hit by the unprecedented crisis of being transferred to another world, everyone was filled with hope for a bright future and celebrated the glorious days.

This was solely due to the absolute presence of the 'King of Demons' who led the people.

――In the midst of this, a man stood in a room of the royal castle in Alkymira's capital, creating a heavy atmosphere that stood in stark contrast to the others.

“Guh...”

The man, who was still young in appearance, was gasping in agony.

In the room called the office, the young man was struggling alone, almost about to collapse on the desk, and desperately shook his head to stay conscious.

If he let his guard down, he would lose consciousness. His breathing was erratic, and his organs were constantly complaining. Dizziness and headaches were getting worse, and the taste of death was creeping up his tongue. No matter how he thought about it, this was not good.

But still, he gritted his teeth.

He couldn't let it end here.

If he lost consciousness now, he wouldn't know why he had worked so hard to get this far.

“...Ah, right. I can't let it end here...!”

He deliberately spoke his thoughts aloud to encourage himself.

And he deepened his resolve, thinking, "Ah, that's right."

If he dismissed it as a pointless stubbornness, it would be the end, but that stubbornness and defiance were gradually turning into a belief. If that was the case, he couldn't abandon that belief. He had decided to work hard.

“...But”

Ah, but. Still.

Even if he let his guard down, such weak words would slip out.

He had decided to work hard. On that day, at that time, in that place, he had resolved to work hard. This world was so harsh to him, but he had sworn to the girl to work hard no matter what.

However, weakness was not something that could be easily discarded. People cannot change so easily. He would never forget the vow he made that day, but it was inevitable that he would be overwhelmed by weakness when he let his guard down.

And that weakness whispered to him.

Why did it come to this?

Why was he suffering so much?

“...Someone, tell me...”

A beam of light blocked his vision as he muttered.

Looking out the window, he saw the sun gradually rising. It was the third sunrise he had seen from this room since being transferred to the other world.

The people of the city, bathed in sunlight, began their activities.

A construction guild member headed to the site with a determined look.

A tavern cook started frying bacon and eggs while greeting early-rising customers.

A bar owner returned to the shop after dumping drunk customers outside.

And then—

“Why... did it come to this...!”

On the morning of the sixth day of his life in the other world, a certain king of a certain castle was on the verge of dying from overwork.

---

...No, there's nothing at all.

Heryan, surrounded by multiple <Virtual Windows>, confessed to himself.

Reflecting on the past few days, he couldn't shake off the feeling that it was all his own doing.

What he recalled was the afternoon of the third day after being transferred to the other world.

That day, after reviving Ririfa in the "Tavern of the Beginning" with the <Subordinate Revival> ability, Heryan managed to calm the situation and imposed a gag order.

While it might have been fine with the people of Alkymira, if the other countries learned about his revival ability, it could cause serious problems.

After calming Ririfa enough to communicate, he made only the necessary agreements and returned to the castle.

---So far, so good.

But when Heryan returned to the castle, the joy of reviving Ririfa had made him overly enthusiastic. "There's no time to rest!" "I've decided to work hard!" "Let's get to work!" Driven by boundless enthusiasm, he immediately started working. And the amount of work was quite overwhelming.

Being called the king's work sounded good, but the actual tasks were not that difficult. It was essentially an extension of the game.

Addressing the urgent internal affairs, he accurately grasped the resources of each military unit, considered their aptitudes, and allocated appropriate amounts of work.

In other words, he extracted information from the <Virtual Windows> displaying various data, used the system's support, and employed tools like flowcharts and Gantt charts to schedule the optimal actions of each personnel.

A certain king grumbled, "I don't want to make project management documents even in the game..." and used a simple tool, but Heryan's method, which allowed for detailed <Action Reservations>, was superior in terms of maximum efficiency.

Among top players, only a few performed such detailed <Action Reservations>, but Heryan belonged to that minority. He struggled for the first half-year but eventually mastered the use of various tools through years of play.

With overflowing enthusiasm, he tackled tasks based on the principle that "if it can be done, it should be done," leading to the current state of affairs.

“But if asked whether it was a job that could have been postponed, it wasn't that kind of job either...”

Ultimately, he might have ended up in this state sooner or later.

And the fact that the tasks were manageable might have been a problem.

For example, regarding the evaluation of military achievements, he dealt with it by receiving <Information Sharing> from the members of the Sixth Legion led by Camilla and obtaining the records of each soldier.

In reality, achieving "fair and equal evaluation of military achievements" is impossible, but Heryan had the king's exclusive ability <Information Sharing>. By using the filtering techniques he had developed during the game, he could make a relatively fair evaluation of military achievements.

If possible, it should be done. At least for the first battle, he should make the maximum effort to ensure a fair and equal evaluation. With this logic, Heryan enthusiastically started the evaluation of military achievements three days ago.

---And as a result, he spent an entire night on the evaluation of military achievements.

“...Well, it was definitely necessary work. Thanks to that, I found the Gobtaro lineage.”

Among the individuals who achieved military honors, there was an unnamed goblin soldier.

Although he only defeated four enemies, one of them was a commander-class enemy, a sergeant.

Upon investigation, it turned out that he was a direct descendant of Gobtaro. While there are a considerable number of goblins with the Gobtaro lineage, he had particularly strong blood. Additionally, being a nameless new goblin—children of prolific races sometimes don't get names—Heryan decided to reward him by giving him a name.

Incidentally, the name he gave was "Gobjiro."

“...This isn't a shortcut.”

Though he wasn't saying it to anyone, and he might be trying to convince himself, it definitely wasn't a shortcut.

He just couldn't think of any other name for the Gobtaro lineage besides "Gobjiro."

He was willing to admit that it was straightforward.

“Sir Heryan, I have brought the report from the Third Legion Commander.”

“---Ah, thank you.”

The report on internal affairs, which he had requested, arrived.

He thanked Rieve, who brought it, and started reading it.

He didn't need to read the report in detail.

Once he read it, the information would be saved in his <Records> and could be referenced through <Virtual Windows>. He could also analyze the information using <Virtual Windows>. The purpose of having the report submitted in this form was to delegate the task of summarizing the information to someone else.

As he flipped through the report and saved it in his <Records>, he noticed Rieve's gaze. She seemed to have something to say.

“...What is it? Is there an urgent report?”

“No, not that... With all due respect, shouldn't you get some sleep? We can handle the work in the meantime, Sir Heryan and I, and Eltina.”

“No, I can't rest yet. There are several tasks that can't be started without my approval.”

In other words, there were ongoing projects that had stalled due to the lack of upper-level decision-making. For example, the current project of creating a development plan was one of them.

He couldn't just develop without a plan, but he couldn't leave the enthusiastic workers idle either. Even now, people who could work were in a "waiting" status. He wanted them to start working as soon as possible.

However, since development was a major national project, it required a meticulous plan.

He had to assign the right personnel to the right tasks, distribute the workload appropriately, and make <Action Reservations> for maximum efficiency. And it had to be done quickly.

“But...”

“Don't worry. Besides, we've made significant progress on the urgent tasks. Just a little more patience.”

One example of the work he had tackled was creating a roadmap for supporting Lateswood, discussing the basic strategy for future virtual enemy countries, and preparing to start economic normalization by repairing facilities damaged in the rebellion.

Given the number of personnel to be moved, the various charts he created for <Action Reservations> were complex and intricate, but that was to be expected. He didn't become a superpower in [Tactics Chronicle] for nothing. Once he got the hang of it, he could create <Action Reservations> close to the optimal solution based on years of experience.

Now that it had become reality, some adjustments were needed to align the game with reality, and the pressure of being responsible for over 100,000 lives was immense, but so far, things were going well... he hoped.

Somehow, he had managed to get this far. He didn't want to let his guard down and ruin everything at the last moment. Otherwise, he wouldn't know why he had worked so hard to get this far.

“Then... at least, would you like some tea? It might not help much, but it could ease your mind a bit.”

“...That's a good idea. Then, please bring me a warm cup of tea.”

“Understood. I will bring it immediately.”

Rieve quietly left the room.

Watching her back, Heryan sighed, “I'm making her worry.”

In [Tactics Chronicle], he hadn't been that conscious of it, but as a king, he would have to consider how he interacted with his subordinates.

He also had to be