Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 25: Those who are called leaders 1 of 3 (Part 02)

Walking inside the Mylta City Government Headquarters building, Odo was able to see some employees who were still working at the beginning of the year. In the concept of community service, such offices will always be filled by employees even though they are not in the condition of opening services and must be in an active condition to receive guests throughout the daily operational period.

Looking at the scan of the room, there are several decorative decorations such as shields, swords, armor, and some other decorations attached to the wooden walls of the building's lobby space. There are also several rows of benches to wait, the reception section near the entrance, as well as two stairs to the second floor which can be seen immediately through the main door made of mahogany and decorated with blue main glass.

As Odo watched the building, the people in the room looked back at him as if they had seen something strange. Its existence in that place seemed like a rare phenomenon, almost everyone who was in the lobby looked towards it and even the person who was on the second floor.

“By the beginning of the year but crowded, yes .... Are they not off?” ask Odo.

“The working system in this place uses Shift, Mr. Odo .... Because the head office should not be empty, then there must be a change of working hours so that even though holidays like this also there are still those who enter.”

Lisia turned to look at Odo, smiled lightly and again said, “Master must have been with such a Working Hour System, right?”

“Yes, that's one of the systems that King Gaiel has just implemented these past few years, isn't it? If you use that system, it means many employees here, yes?”

Getting the question, Lisia flinched and immediately turned her eyes away. Realizing the expression on his face, Odo immediately knew that the office he was standing in was now experiencing labor problems.

Not discussing more about it, Odo walked up to Lisia while saying, “By the way, where is Miss' room? Don't we want to talk four-eyes?”

“Yes ... Hmm, this way, Mr. Odo.”

The red-haired woman turned around, then walked to one of the stairs leading to the second floor. Looking at his figure from behind, Odo narrowed his eyes slightly. At first glance moving the eyeball to the right and left, the child looked sharply at some of the employees who had earlier looked at him.

“Hmm, it turns out that not only humans work here .... Is Demi-human really no problem getting into the realm of government? Well, in the Mansion is also a lot,” the mind of the boy. He stepped foot and followed Lisia to the second floor.

Not long after walking, they arrived at the door of the Mayor's room which was now worn by Lisia for a while because it replaced her ailing father. Opening the teak door with those beautiful carvings, Lisia said, “Please enter, Mr. Odo.”

In the room, Odo was surprised because what was inside was not what he expected. The mayor's room does look luxurious with magnificent decorations such as decorative lights, paintings, and some high-priced old wooden cabinets, he said, but in terms of neatness it is very far from the perfect word for an office space.

Some parchment paper that was piled up was placed irregularly on the floor near the table, empty ink bottles were left lying on the table, and some other things that were not neatly arranged could be seen very clearly.

“Please sit, Mr.”

Hearing that, Odo's eyebrows slightly raised. “Before that, may I clean this room first? At least until this space deserves to be called the office,” he said while staring flatly at Lisia who was about to sit on the sofa.

“Me-It's really that bad?”

“Yes .... Did miss never see any other office conditions?”

“Not most office head parts like this .., many papers and so on.”

“Many papers indeed, but not like this .... Let me clean it up.”

Odo walked to the front of the guest table in the middle of the room, then picked up the parchment paper splashed on it. Reading the contents, the boy's eyebrows twitched again. “Why is the Letter of Decision also put like this? This institution ...” Before finishing criticizing in the mind, the child found several other important letters that were indeed irregularly scattered.

“Nona .., give me two hours .... Can I borrow this room? If you don't believe me or there are some I shouldn't touch in this space, you can keep an eye on me...”

Odo began to move quickly to pick up important letters that were leveled, then arrange them based on the source and time of manufacture. Seeing that, Lisia was confused to see Odo move quickly with a serious expression.

“Is it okay, Mr Odo ...? This is not your job .... Not you datan—“

“No problem! After all, these are just letters from last year's period that did not have time to be recorded, right?”

“Eh ..., why you know ...”

“See also direct know ...”

Lisia really did not understand the boy. As he knows, Odo is exactly the same as his father, Dart Luke, who is not very good at government affairs and hands it over to the Rein family. But at the sight of Odo's ability to compose the letters so quickly, Lisia could only fall silent on the sofa without being able to help.

In less than two hours, the letters that had been scattered had been neatly arranged and grouped in several stacks on the front desk of the sofa where Lisia was sitting. Checking the letters, the redhead woman was immediately amazed because the arrangement was very neat and the letters were grouped into several parts in great detail.

“Do Miss know where Folder is located?” asked Odo while looking over the closet in the corner of the room. The boy was still not satisfied until everything was completely finished.

“In the closet number two to the right, door to the left,” said Lisia.

“Oh, no. ..” The boy carried more than six folders with his small hands, some of which he carried with him by being bitten. Putting all the wooden folder boxes on the table, Odo began arranging the letters that had been grouped into them.

As it was all neat, the boy wrote the magic structure and runes on top of the folder box with his fingers to avoid any damage to the archives. When Odo applies a special magic to permanently repel termites on the folder box, Lisia is shocked.

“Tu-Tuan Odo, magic it .. instead of a special insecticide magic structure to repel termites? Why you ...”

“What can't, yes?”

“Not should it not ..., but that magic is not the secret of archiving the leader of the region? Did you teach Master Mavis?”

“Hmm, no. I copied the magic structure from the Main Archive at my house.”

The boy finished giving the termite-proof magic structure to all the folder boxes. Placing the boxes on the sofa opposite Lisia, the boy sat opposite the woman across the street. Raising his hand from the folder box he had placed, the boy slightly sighed lightly with a satisfied face.

“So, we start the talk .... Honestly I can not be convoluted if a matter like this, so just get to the point, yes.”

Odo sat up straight, put on a sharp look and looked serious. With no hesitation the boy said, “Please agree to my proposal on private business development in this city, I want to build a trading company.”

Lisia was speechless confused hearing that. He knew what Odo wanted, but he did not understand why the boy had suddenly proposed it. Taking the empty parchment paper from under the wooden table, Lisia put it onto the table.

“What are our advantages .... the government if you accept your offer? And also, before Mr. Odo said he wanted to build a private company, right? Then it means that the proposal is not from the central government, right? We cannot accept your offer directly ..”

Hearing what Lisia said with a affirming tone, Odo put on a smile that hid his regret. The boy knew that an agency had official procedures and strict rules, but he hoped to find a gap from it, which is why he came to Siska first. Finding the reaction of the Lisians now as the representative of the city leader, Odo could only take a resigned breath.

“Sorry, I understand that I did not follow the appropriate procedure. But ..., in addition to my request earlier, there is something I want to convey.”

Odo pressed the Rune on the Dimensional Bracelet, then took out a hunk of Best Quality magic crystal from the storage dimension. The crystal was burning red, the size of his palm. Putting it on the table, Odo said, “If say—“

“Sorry, Mr. Odo. We do not accept bribes,” cut Lisia.

Highlight Odo's eyes turned instantly flat. He looked straight at the woman, then said, “Who would bribe, I just want to sell this crystal directly to the city government. Miss Lisia knows that this kind of crystal is extremely rare, right?”

Lisia just stared flatly, she was not at all surprised from the beginning Odo took out the crystal and made the offer. Touching the magic crystal on the table with the tip of her index finger, Lisia instantly checked its authenticity. The level of sensitivity of female magic is very high, only with a finger he can do the assessment.

“No doubt this Best Quality Crystal .... Where did you get it?” asked Lisia with a suspicious look. “Do you take it from Mr Dart?” he continued with a pressing tone.

“For what do I take crystals from my own father? That's original mine ...”

“Hmm, so. If not, you are eight years old, right? It seems like not only is your body bongsoring and has great power, you are also smarter than I thought .... How do you know that we are struggling with funds now?”

Odo just smiled lightly getting the question. Lisia looked up at the boy more, fear and fear of Odo who was previously in him seemed to disappear easily because of the sense of responsibility in him.

The woman sat up straight, held her chin and thought. He really needs time to decide, once turned away and seemed to look for the appropriate answer from the opportunity.

“Alright, I will accept the proposal you will submit later. If it only facilitates the formation of a business coming, I think it is not too risky,” said Lisia.

“Eh?” Odo was really surprised. He does know that there is a little problem with the city's finances, but that does not mean it can be a reason for Lisia to accept the offer. Looking closely at what the woman decided, Odo realized something.

“Do you want to use that crystal for personal reasons?”

Lisia was silent to the question. Lifting a finger from the crystal, he sat leaning his body on the sofa and slightly sighed. “Tuan ..., starting from this we can remove the formality first .... I promise I will approve your proposal, but instead you do not tell anyone this conversation ...”

Odo immediately smiled widely, himself getting a quick shortcut route in an immeasurable way. At first glance lifting both shoulders, the boy said, “Of course, that's what I've been looking for from this conversation .... So, what's that? It doesn't seem like a financial thing, huh?”

“Padal already understand, but you keep asking. Your nature is very bad .... You came because you know that problem, ‘kan?”

“Not really, I don't know.” The boy raised his shoulders as if he knew something and hid it. But in reality, he had absolutely no idea what Lisia meant.

Lisia put her hand to her forehead and put on a face full of mind burden. For him who is close to government affairs since childhood such problems are quite stressful, especially now when his father is sick.

Without going into more detail, Odo immediately understood what the woman in front of him wanted. As the leader of the city temporarily succeeding her father, Lisia wanted to settle the matter with the money earned from the magic crystals that Odo had offered.

“Hmm, does he want to buy equipment or weapons to fight bandits? If so, then the offer is ...”

Odo opened his eyes wide and performed internal calculations using Auto Senses. In his head quickly performed calculations of the data he had in his internal memory and processed it into several conclusions. From these calculations Odo came to a conclusion.

“Do you plan to use the combined forces between the city soldiers and the mercenaries to eradicate those bandits?”

Lisia was surprised to hear the child's guess, she immediately looked at Odo with her eyes wide open. Slightly inhaling heavily, he replied, “Ya, as you said ...” He looked limp and resigned, fear and anxiety clearly visible in the eyes of the red-haired woman.

Odo also felt guilty for what burdened Lisia. Basically it was Dart's fault for being too pushy to go on an expedition to burden his own people without careful preparation. To think about solving the problem, Odo again uses calculations from Auto Senses to find a solution using the components in his hands now.

Taking a deep breath after coming to a conclusion, the boy said, “How about I help you deal with that bandit problem?”

Lisia did not look happy to hear that. Staring flatly at Odo, he said, “No need, you will only aggravate the problem ...”

“Murking?”

“What you are not aware of, Mr. Odo .... You are more protected than you think .... What is it for Shieal–The Branch family gets higher authority than state officials? Of course it is because their task is more important ...”

Lisia again sighed. Sitting down and covering his face with both hands, he said in a tired tone, “Our country ..., this kingdom attaches great importance to the lineage of the Three Great Nobles as the founder of the Kingdom of Felixia .... Now the Luke family is also experiencing a hereditary crisis, if something happens to you .. this city could be blacklisted by the central government and taxes raised as a form of penalty.”

“What Miss doubts my ability?”

“Not that problem, Mr. Odo .... It's politics, if other nobles know ..., conspiracies can be created. Given the current condition of the city, I doubt I can press it.”

Odo crossed his left leg over the right, then slightly put on a proud face. With no doubt he said, “Then let me take care of all those bandits. Miss just stay here, without getting involved and I'll sort things out later.”

The boy's gaze looked like he wasn't bragging, he was actually capable of doing what was said. Lisia herself understood this, Odo's reputation as a Dragon Killer was not in doubt because she had already felt the terrible air that existed in the child.

Waking up from the seat, the woman looked at Odo sharply and said, “Have you ever killed anyone?”

The words were very clear, with little hesitation Odo replied, “Pernah ...” Getting such an answer from her, Lisia smiled lightly as she extended her hand to Odo.

“Then I agree. But ..., I added one condition?”

“What is it?”

“I will come with you .... Not with the team, but myself.”

Odo understood what he meant. With Lisia's own participation in the slaughter of the bandits later, it would eliminate the issue of unreliable city administration and also prevent the conspiracy that brought down the Mylta family's good name.

Using that way and not using the troops that included Odo in the pot, it was likely that the reputation of the Mylta Family would increase as rumors of his proximity to the Luke Family heir would spread.

Although Odo and Lisia themselves were aware that the risk of slaughtering bandits without troops was very dangerous, but they did not hesitate to decide this because of the high confidence in the abilities of each of them.

After that, the two of them decided on some other things in the cooperation that was woven. In addition to the security concerns threatened by bandits, Odo and Lisia also discussed the economic problems of the city that has declined in the last decade. They therefore decided to use a private company that would be Odo as a third party to support the economic revolution of the city.

The cause of existing economic problems is Odo is known because of the termination of the trade route by other lines. But, on the fact that the problem of breaking the sea lane is not the only reason that makes the coastal city slumped. The first problem they discussed re-emerged as the main problem, the unemployed after the war ended who became bandits is the main problem.

Indeed there were Guilds to accommodate the unemployed by providing services for job seekers and employers, but their application was not as much as what was in the Empire. Guilds in the Kingdom of Felixia tended to be the kind of merchant guilds that existed in every city, only encompassing people who were willing to move in the field of trade economy.

Things like protection, extermination of monsters, protection of the village from monster attacks, and, or something like that is not seen very often in Guilds because basically the Luke Family stipulates that the extermination of monsters is in their hands in order to maintain a reputation as the Royal Sword.

The problem returns to the Luke family and makes Odo feel more responsible for it. Traditions that have become official regulations are not in accordance with actual conditions. This resulted in a faltering social system and resulted in an increased crime rate. From that, Odo and Lisia decided to justify the mistake.

««»»

Inside the Inkara Orphanage, the atmosphere between Siska and Julia still feels tense and quiet. The wind coming in through the sidelines of the wall was heard clearly, and a chill filled the place. The work that Odo had entrusted to them was still unfinished, the pile of letters on the table was still not entirely put in an envelope and was given a wax seal stamp without a symbol.

By simply moving their hands and without communication, they only move their hands in the company of the cold. The children of the orphanage had woken up a while ago, they began to do daily routines such as adding firewood in the fireplace for heating and cooking, preparing wheat to make bread, and making bread, and tidied up the bed they used last night. Since now the main table that is usually used for breakfast is used by Julia and Siska, the children have breakfast in the kitchen.

Feeling the warm air from the direction of the kitchen getting stronger, Julia stopped her hand and turned to look at the children who looked crowded doing something behind. In the cat girl's mind felt something that seemed to sting her chest, throbbing and making her slightly teary. Feeling guilty to her own employers when she saw them, Julia blamed herself because Odo did not have the opportunity to gather like normal children and get a moment of togetherness like them.

“Why are you staring at them like that? Iba?” siska asked while staring intently. The woman who had not changed her pajamas again showed dislike for Julia.

“Not pity, I guess .. only guilt. If only Mr. Odo were like a child in general, would he have such a togetherness .... I ... can't give her that kind of thing.”

Julia stopped looking at the independent children in the kitchen, looked back at the pile of parchment paper on the wooden table and moved her hands to do the work. Seeing what was on Julia's face, Siska felt that there was also a problem she did not know about the cat girl in front of her as a Shieal.

“Mr Odo from a noble family, even more so from the Three Great Families. Childhood .. it may be impossible for him to be able to. When she first came here too ..., honestly I had time to wonder ... was she really still a child? You know ..., the aura is ...”

Julia was silent. He knew when Odo had not restrained his abnormal nature on that day, showing his distorted nature very clearly in front of Mavis and Dart. Julia had realized that before Odo blatantly showed that he was different in front of his parents, because Julia herself is the person closest to Odo and is aware of it even though it is not in full.

“I know .... Mr. Odo, he's no ordinary boy. His mindset was really strange, he seemed to be looking at a place that no one knew about .... But, I guess he's still a kid. No matter how strong he is, Mr. Odo is still a child. He wants to be pampered, loved, and cared for, which is why he does all that...”

Siska was silent at Julia's opinion, she kept moving her hand and stuffed the letter into the envelope, then poured the melted candle in a small cup over the letter and pressed it with the seal of the circle plate.

Done working on all that and all the existing suat was finished stuffed into a candle-sealed envelope, he got up from his seat and walked towards the kitchen to check on the children who were having breakfast there.

When they arrived, the children sat on the floor and ate bread with a side dish of bacon. Whether it's the twins Mila and Erial, or Nesta, Daniel, and Firkaf, they look voraciously enjoying the breakfast that exists even in limitations. Their hair was still messy, none of them had taken a bath or simply washed their faces.

“Hmm, for which sister? How do you eat by yourself?” siska said with a smile.

They were all jolted and only realized that they did not make the figure that they thought the mother had breakfast. The twins Mila and Erial got up from the floor, then handed a piece of bread that had been partially eaten to Siska with a slightly reluctant face. The two children were still hungry, their facial expressions clearly telling that.

“Handering, coke. Sister had eaten before you woke up,” said Siska while stroking the heads of the two children.

Hearing those words, Nesta and Daniel reacted. They knew that if it was a lie, those who prepared the fire to bake bread knew that the kitchen had not been used before their use. Not expressing what was felt in the mind, the two children were cravings and went back to eating a simple breakfast at hand.

Unlike Nesta and Daniel, Firkaf had eaten his breakfast faster than the others and was busy reading a book he got from the city library. The brunette whose gaze looked limp read the book on the types of iron ore and how to smelting it.

Seeing that the boy was seriously pursuing his dream of becoming a blacksmith, Siska smiled in relief because now she had a budget unlike before Odo came to their place. Upon returning to see all the children living in the orphanage, he only realized there was someone who was lacking.

“Nanra where is it? Is he still sleeping?”

“He's up from earlier, Sister Siska. Maybe he ran away again or found mushrooms in the woods. Well, that's the habit,” said Nesta.

“It looks like Nanra did go to the forest again,” Daniel said.

“Not, Nanra went to where those people were again,” Firkaf said without a single glance at them.

Hearing that, the boy's answer bothered Siska the most. “You mean the people who before the end of the year were anchored in the dock?” ask the young nun.

“Hmm, he's carrying a paper or something. Last night also he seemed to have stopped by their place,” replied Firkaf.

Siska started to feel anxious. The people in question docked at the dock were ships that officially stopped as merchants from the Moloia Kingdom. The city of Mylta, which is no longer traversed by effective sea trade routes, should not be chosen by traders and conglomerates, the landing of the people of the Moloia Kingdom was indeed very suspicious and many residents of the city were aware of it.

But because of the opening of the free trade system, the city government could not refuse ships from other countries to enter and dock as long as they paid the appropriate excise and visa. The result of that was the beginning of the spread of the people from the kingdom of Moloia in the city community by bringing other things besides merchandise.

“If it is not wrong that these people not only sell food, there are also rumors that they spread other ideas that are contrary to the government system. Though not yet a month they come, but the news has ..”.

Siska grew increasingly anxious considering that one of the children she cared for was close to people like them. The idea brought by the people of the Kingdom of Moloia is a meritocracy system that prioritizes the ranking of leaders based on speed and feasibility, in other words the system is contrary to the Kingdom of Felixia which tends to prioritize offspring.

When Siska considering the condition of the city which is indeed less conducive because the economy is getting down, the potential for understanding will spread even greater because with only one sentence such as “Leaders do not deserve” only, many people will be incited and become radicalized quickly.

Soon the blonde woman came to Julia who was still sitting in the living room, and explained the worst possible situation. His instincts as a guardian parent figure could not calm down and bad thoughts continued to fill him after knowing that Nanra was not in the orphanage.