A woman came rushing in from outside the office.
Though in a hurry, she remained composed.
It was Gigi, a former maid who had served me ever since my days as the Thirteenth Imperial Prince.
She knelt before Oscar and me.
"Did you summon me, Your Majesty?"
"Yes. Bring me file eight-seven—no, bring me about ten of them starting from that number in ascending order."
"Eight-seven. Understood."
With that acknowledged, Gigi bowed once and hurried out of the office.
"If I recall correctly, is that woman Your Majesty's personal document management officer?"
"Yeah. I gave her the job because her memory is remarkable."
"Rumor has it she can't even read or write."
"Yeah."
I gave a clear nod.
"She told me herself that while she recognizes her name when it's written together as 'Gigi,' seeing a single character like 'Gi' on its own leaves her completely baffled."
"Is it truly wise to entrust such duties to someone like that?"
"The first digit represents the category; eight is for natural disasters. The second digit is the priority level; seven is the second highest. Once everything is sorted like that, she memorizes it all without a single mistake."
"I see. As expected of Your Majesty, you truly are incredible. While illiterate eunuchs have been used to carry documents before, no ordinary person would ever think to put them in charge of managing them."
"And it serves me well, ensuring my treasures remain untouched."
With that, Oscar and I shared a laugh.
Before long, Gigi returned, tottering under the weight of a massive stack of documents.
Her footing looked precarious, but she managed to make it to the table and set the papers down.
"Thank you for waiting."
"Mm. More importantly, Gigi, use the eunuchs whenever you have this many documents to carry."
"Y-Yes. But... well..."
"Mm?"
"I just... wasn't sure who I should ask..."
Gigi fidgeted, looking thoroughly apologetic.
Her response caught me slightly off guard.
Oscar and I exchanged glances, and before either of us could help it, we both burst out laughing.
"Y-Your Majesty?"
"Pay it no mind. But it's not a matter of asking anyone."
"Huh?"
"You just have to give orders. You report directly to me, so whenever there's heavy lifting to be done, grab any eunuch in sight and put him to work."
"I-Is that so...?"
"Your Majesty."
Seeing Gigi still looking timid despite my explanation, Oscar chimed in.
"She may be the type who needs things laid out a bit more plainly."
"Fair point. Luke!"
I raised my voice to call for Luke the eunuch.
Just like Gigi, he entered the office immediately upon being summoned.
"You called, Your Majesty?"
"Pick a couple of strong men and assign them to Gigi."
"Understood."
"Y-Your Majesty?"
Gigi looked startled. She seemed about to say something, but I raised a hand to stop her.
"It would be troublesome if you injured yourself doing heavy labor you aren't suited for."
"Y-Yes..."
Gigi wore an apologetic yet unmistakably happy expression.
Once Gigi and Luke had withdrawn, Oscar and I began combing through the documents she had brought.
After reading through about half of them, we both looked up, our eyes meeting.
"How does it look on your end?"
"As expected, the proportion of fires seems conspicuously high."
"Indeed."
"The likelihood of it being a man-made disaster seems exceptionally high."
"..."
After thinking it over for a moment, I gave Oscar an order.
"Send someone trustworthy to investigate. I'll leave the method entirely to your discretion."
"Understood."
Just as I was about to add a few more details—
"Your Majesty, pardon the intrusion."
"Hm?"
Hearing Luke's voice from the doorway, Oscar and I turned around at the same time.
"What is it?"
"A document has arrived from Lady Evelyn."
"Let me see it... Ah."
I took the document from Luke and skimmed through it.
"Did something happen?"
Noticing my reaction, Oscar asked curiously.
"It'll be faster if you see for yourself."
I handed the document over to Oscar.
He took it and read it over.
Meanwhile, having completed his delivery, Luke quietly slipped out of the room.
"Successful repeated color transitions using a new material... What might this be?"
"An interim report on the research I commissioned to develop a replacement for Humbaba thread."
"Humbaba thread... for the wired telegraphy?"
"Yeah."
"Why develop such a thing?"
Oscar looked bewildered.
His eyes widened in what was easily his most flabbergasted reaction of the day.
"It means exactly what it says. I'm having them create an artificial substitute for Humbaba thread."
"No, I understand that much, but... why go out of your way to do so? Is there some sort of issue with Humbaba's thread?"
"...Do you know about Audrey's brother?"
"Pardon?"
Oscar's expression shifted from pure bewilderment to utter confusion, practically screaming, Where did that come from all of a sudden?
"The Empress's elder brother... you mean?"
"Yeah."
"If I recall... well..."
Oscar's face grew pensive as he struggled to find an answer.
I knew what that look meant. It wasn't that he didn't know Audrey's brother, the Empress's brother, but rather that he knew full well and had no idea how to phrase his answer tactfully.
"If it's difficult to answer, you don't have to."
"Ah..."
"There's an old saying: 'Wealth does not survive three generations.' Thunder Imperial Prince Indra is an extraordinary man, but his grandson seems to be utterly hopeless."
"..."
Oscar didn't utter so much as a single word of agreement.
He kept his eyes on me, listening intently, but remained entirely silent.
And understandably so; despite being an Imperial Prince Minister, he was, in the end, still a subject.
From Oscar's position, there was no way he could casually agree with the sentiment that the Empress's brother was incompetent.
Hence, his deliberate silence.
Knowing this full well, I continued without pressing him for a reply.
"The late Emperor was an even greater man than Indra—a wise ruler seen once in centuries."
"Most certainly."
Taking the safe opening, Oscar chimed in with immediate agreement.
"Now then, if the proverb holds true, what will become of my own children, I wonder? Well, there is no way of knowing just yet. But that isn't the core issue."
Oscar parted his lips, likely about to insist that the children of such an incredible Emperor would surely be fine, but I cut him off.
"The problem is that Humbaba's thread belongs to me. Humbaba made it explicitly clear that she only produces it for my sake."
"To bring a spirit into absolute subservience... Your Majesty is truly extraordinary."
"Now, the real issue is what happens after I die. Going by what she said, Humbaba's thread will become completely unusable."
"...Ah."
Realizing the weight of his own words, Oscar wore a textbook look of sudden realization.
"Exactly. If we rely solely on Humbaba's thread, our communications network will regress by several decades the moment I die. Let's say thirty years pass. What happens if, after thirty years of relying on Humbaba's thread, it suddenly ceases to exist overnight?"
"The Empire will fall into chaos—ah!"
Once again, the realization hit Oscar like a physical blow.
"You see it now. Yes, whether my heir turns out to be competent or incompetent, the next Emperor will be forced to regress back to the slow, inconvenient method of courier horses. If that happens, stagnation, confusion, and decline will be inevitable."
"..."
"That is why, while I am still alive—taking thirty years if necessary—we must create a human-made substitute for Humbaba's thread."
"Incredible... Your Majesty. To think you had looked that far ahead."
Oscar looked deeply moved from the bottom of his heart.
"The late Emperor chose me because of Shem—because he showed promise of becoming an exceptional third generation. That is why I must lay the groundwork to ensure the third generation succeeds."
"Ah..."
"Well, it's not something that will happen overnight."
I took the report back from Oscar's hands and looked over the details of the research that marked our first small step forward.
☆
After Oscar left, Gigi returned.
This time, she was accompanied by a pair of burly eunuchs to carry the documents away.
"..."
She looked at me, a hesitant expression on her face as if she wanted to say something.
"What is it?"
"Um... I overheard a little bit of the conversation earlier. Were there really that many fires?"
"Yeah. Did you notice something?"
"Well... I just remembered that back when Your Majesty—when Master was in Almeria, there were almost no fires."
"Ah, that was because I invested heavily in the waterworks."
"So I was wondering if the waterworks broke because of the earthquake."
"If that were the case, it wouldn't be an issue. If a natural disaster was severe enough to collapse buildings, one could accept the damage."
"Then that means...?"
"It means the local officials might have lined their own pockets and neglected the maintenance of the waterworks, which is why the fires spread so terribly."
Gigi let out a soft gasp.
That was the very conclusion Oscar and I had reached together, and why I had tasked him with a secret investigation.
"That's awful!"
"Indeed it is. Which is why—"
"Which is why?"
"I intend to go there in person."
Tasking Oscar was merely a diversion.
With that diversion serving as my cover, I planned to go down to the site and see the truth for myself.