Chapter 18:Promotion, Promotion, Promotion!

I had been trying to come up with a new way to get fired since last night, but even after half a day had passed, nothing that made me think ‘This is it!’ came to mind.

‘I should go eat and then think again.’

Just as lunchtime approached and I was getting up to go eat.

“Dominic.”

Turning at the familiar voice, I saw the Director standing there with a wide, beaming smile.

This fellow, he’s been acting more and more friendly every time I succeed in an investment, and now he naturally calls me by my first name instead of my last.

Anyway, why does he look so happy?

All Amelia citizens are happy about the emergence of Mayu (more precisely, about Amelia becoming the center of the energy revolution), but even so, his grin is a bit too wide, isn’t it? Suspiciously so.

“Is something the matter?”

“My, my, I just can’t hide anything from you, can I? You figured out right away that something good happened to me…. Just a moment ago…”

It was clear that something personally very good had happened, as the Director, as if waiting for me to ask, started to boast.

But I didn’t have time to leisurely listen to it.

To be precise, I had plenty of time, but not the mental leeway for it.

So I cut him off sharply.

“No, that’s not it. I was asking what you called me for.”

The Director, whose boasting had been abruptly cut off, said with a deeply dejected expression.

“It’s a summons from His Majesty.”

At those words, I unknowingly squeezed my eyes shut.

Ah, it’s come. It’s come again.

That darn promotion time.

***

Guided by the chamberlain, I entered the King’s bedchamber to find him sitting at a table, eating.

“Ah, you’ve arrived? Come here and join me. I’ve had your portion prepared as well.”

I wanted to decline, thinking I might get indigestion, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I bowed my head, saying I was overwhelmed by His Majesty’s grace, and sat opposite the King.

‘He’s become a completely different person…’

The King, whom I was meeting alone after quite a long time, looked surprisingly gaunt.

The last time we had a private audience, he still had some flesh on him, but he had become much thinner.

Perhaps thinking there was no need to hide it since we were having a private audience anyway, according to what the King’s chief chamberlain told me before I entered.

He had been bedridden due to lack of energy, but after hearing the news about Mayu, he gradually regained his strength.

That’s why he was able to have this private audience today.

‘He’ll be gone soon.’

“Do I look that unwell to you?”

As if he had developed a superpower to hear other people’s thoughts now that he was dying, the King hit the nail on the head.

Because of that, I barely managed to stop what was in my mouth from spewing out.

“Ah, no, Your Majesty. You still look robust.”

“You’re not a perfect man, I see. Not very skilled at lying.”

The King chuckled, looking at me, then changed the subject.

“You probably guess why I’ve summoned you here, don’t you?”

“Isn’t it because of Mayu?”

“You’ve accomplished something truly great.

I heard from the Chief Secretary. That you persuaded your father to make a large investment in developing a new energy source.

Your father said something like that, didn’t he? That all of this started from a single word from you.”

The King took a sip of water and continued.

“Not only that, but when you saw significant progress in research and development, you went to Renly in advance and invested in the idea that the price of mana stones would fall? Thanks to that, the royal assets have greatly increased.

When I heard that story, I got goosebumps all over. How one person could design such a scheme…… “

I get goosebumps too.

At how much one can misunderstand.

“Ah! And even before that, you showed a miracle where the price of everything you invested in rose, didn’t you?

Especially, I heard that X Shipbuilding developing new ships and Amelia growing into a shipbuilding powerhouse was all thanks to you.”

‘No, that was because they worked hard……’

“What on earth is the secret to achieving such outstanding results every time?”

As always, I tried to tell the truth, that it was a misunderstanding, just a coincidence.

But this time too, the King asked the question and didn’t listen to the answer.

“Ah. I’ve acted like a child who, after eating a tomato and saying it tastes like a tomato, asks why it tastes like a tomato. That child would have simply said it tastes like a tomato because it tastes like a tomato.”

‘What is he talking about…??’

“The fact that you are Dominic Rosenfeld, that must be the secret. I asked a foolish question.”

‘No, what are you even talking about…’

It seemed the King’s hobby and specialty was asking himself questions and answering them himself.

Once both the King and I finished our meal, maids came in and cleared the table.

Then, they brought warm tea and freshly baked cookies.

Along with them, something else was placed on the table.

It was the King’s edict, which I had already become familiar with after seeing it several times.

The King glanced at the edict and said casually.

“As of tomorrow, you will be 4th Grade-Senior.”

A one-rank promotion….

It was less than I expected.

I was worried it might be several ranks.

The moment I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

“The day after tomorrow, you will be 3rd Grade-Junior.”

Hmm? What kind of nonsense is that?

“And the day after that, you will be 3rd Grade-Senior.”

Teacher, the pace is too fast.

“If it were up to me, I would have given you a special three-rank promotion at once, but they made such a fuss saying that promoting someone several ranks at once is unprecedented. So I decided to promote you one rank per day.”

The King’s bombshell announcement didn’t end there.

“The day you become 3rd Grade-Senior, the current Director of the Royal Assets Management Bureau will step down. And you will take over as the new Director.”

The face of the Director, who had been beaming without knowing anything, flickered before my eyes.

Poor man.

To be pushed out not even by his immediate junior, but by someone so far below him in seniority….

He should have retired after marrying off his youngest daughter, as he mentioned last time….

Feeling a sense of pity for the Director, I said forcefully.

“Your Majesty, I am truly sorry to say this, but the reason I was able to achieve such results was largely due to the guidance and teachings of senior officials, especially the current Director.

How can you push aside the current Director and appoint someone as lacking as me…”

“Hmm? That man will be promoted to Vice Minister of Finance.”

Ah. So that’s why he was beaming like that?

My enthusiasm deflated for a moment, but I soon raised my voice again.

The important thing wasn’t that, but that I didn’t receive an excessive promotion.

“Your Majesty, I am grateful for your sentiment, but a special three-rank promotion and promotion to Director is…!”

However with a single gesture from the King, my words were powerlessly cut off.

The King, who had raised his hand to silence me, showed his arm, which had become emaciated, and said.

“As you can see, I am not in good health right now. I don’t know when my mind will become clouded, or when I will draw my last breath.

This is a decision I made after much deliberation in such a physical state. It is an edict written after overcoming much opposition, so do not oppose it yourself.”

What more could I say beyond that?

I simply bowed my head.

“I am overwhelmed by Your Majesty’s grace.”

At those words, the King nodded as if satisfied.

“By the way.”

The King began like that and took a sip of tea.

I followed suit and took a sip.

This time too, the tea was peppermint.

Suddenly, I remembered hearing that peppermint has pain-relieving effects.

Is that why he always drinks peppermint tea?

“How long do you intend to stay at the Royal Assets Management Bureau?”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t you have many things to do?”

The things I had written about in the second exam, things this country needed, flashed through my mind.

“I was waiting for you to bring it up first, but as I said, I don’t have much time. It seems you have more than accomplished the task of strengthening the royal finances, so isn’t it time to move on to the next task?”

The King took another sip of tea in quick succession and continued his questions.

“Where do you plan to go next? Where will you go and what will you do?”

I couldn’t say anything.

Because I hadn’t found a new method yet.

Once a new plan was established, I would choose a suitable place to execute it and speak of it.

“I cannot say.”

In the end, that was all I could say.

And just as I was about to add, ‘It’s because I’m still considering and haven’t made a decision yet,’ the King beat me to it.

“Ho-oh, you don’t see the need to tell a king who has already received his death sentence? You’ll tell the next king after I die and he ascends the throne?”

“No, what are you… Absolutely not, Your Majesty. That’s not it. I meant I cannot say because I haven’t made a decision yet…!”

“Hahaha! A jest, a jest.”

The King slapped the armrest of his chair and laughed heartily.

What a truly awful sense of humor.

The King, who had been chuckling for a long time as if something was so funny, suddenly stopped laughing and leaned his body as far towards me as possible.

Then, in a low, hushed voice, he asked out of the blue.

“Who do you think should be the next King…?”

“Pardon?”

“Speak frankly. I wish to hear your esteemed opinion.”

The fact that speaking carelessly here could lead to R-rated consequences was something even Rachel, whom I met at the orphanage yesterday, would probably know.

I hastily rose from my chair and knelt on the floor.

“Your Majesty! How could I dare to think such thoughts, or utter such words! Your humble servant merely…”

“Enough. Rise.”

“Your Majesty…!”

“I said rise.”

When I stood up, the King made a ‘Tsk, tsk’ sound as if bored and grumbled, then rose to his feet as well.

“I am very weary, so let’s stop here for today. I will summon you again soon, so prepare your answers by then. Where you will go next and what you will do, and whom you support as the next king.”

“Your Majesty!”

“A jest, a jest.”

The King waved his arm dismissively, as if telling me to leave.

I picked up the edict, bowed to the King, and left the bedchamber.

Just as I grabbed the handle to open the door.

Thump!

A dull sound came from behind me.

Like something falling or collapsing…

“Your Majesty!”

The King, who had been heading towards the bed, had collapsed on the floor, as if momentarily dizzy.

I immediately rushed to the King and helped him up.

“Ugh……”

Fortunately, he hadn’t lost consciousness.

Hearing my shout, chamberlains and medical staff rushed in from outside.

“Move His Majesty to the bed!”

As I was about to move the King to the bed according to the chief chamberlain’s order, the King reached out a trembling hand towards the chief chamberlain and said with difficulty.

“The… Queen… and… the Prince… summon… them… at once…”

Then, thud.

The King’s hand fell limply.

“Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty!!”

At that moment, everyone thought the King had stopped breathing, but that wasn’t the case.

The King was still alive.

However, he had lost consciousness.

The medical staff moved busily, trying everything they could.

The King’s chamberlains, including the chief chamberlain, also moved busily.

Not their bodies, but their eyes.

They exchanged glances with a speed that would be unnoticeable unless one looked closely.

Some exchanged glances filled with unconcealable bewilderment.

Others exchanged glances that, irreverently, seemed to hold a strange joy.

And in between them, I realized.

That I had been missing something very important.