Pov Ace

“We have expanded civil resources even more, and we are getting close to reaching this year’s budget.” My financial advisors continued to talk about this year’s budget and how well we were doing spending it.

It's still funny for me to think that our biggest problem isn’t not having enough coin but rather spending enough of it so we won’t have trouble storing it or risk causing an economic crash because we hold too much.

It would be easier if I relaxed the restrictions on using coin, but no matter how much we need to spend, I don’t want to waste it on useless things. Many call me crazy for it because every year, we also have cutbacks. With so much budget, many departments over-hire or, worst of all, start outsourcing their work, which in most cases lowers the quality of the work without even helping things go faster.

That’s why we have entire departments specially made to figure out what actions give an overall better result. I’ve also had to rein those departments in, as they seem to get a little overzealous and want to start doing things that, while they might save coin, would make the workers’ lives miserable. They call it ‘trimming the fat’; I call it unnecessary cruelty.

It’s a tough balance trying to keep things pleasant for the workers while still being as efficient as possible. Lately, all of the meetings and all of this work have been a breeze, and I never actually believed that to be possible. It’s all thanks to me now having proper skills, with all of the bad ones I was forced to take removed. I finally feel right again, and because of all this, my power has started to soar.

That has caused other problems, but fortunately, I have friends down below who seem to be getting pretty good at hiding power. That’s another problem to deal with later. Unfortunately, my wife and I haven’t been able to go to the dungeon lately so she could blow off some steam, but that’s because the world has turned crazy.

Not much of the craziness touches my nation—I make sure of that—but next year, I’m pretty sure that we are, for the first time in history, going to make less coin than the year before. During a lull in the report, I decided to ask a question about just that. "What are the prognoses for next year’s income? Is it still the same? Are we expected to make less than this year?"

I expected an answer immediately, but instead, almost all of them turned their heads towards the head of the financial department, who looked a bit nervous. “Lord, I wanted to bring this to you when I had confirmed my suspicions, but in the last few months, almost 90% of the high-end potions market has disappeared, which will indeed affect next year’s income quite a lot.”

“At first, I thought that perhaps we had some competition or that those shipments were not reported properly, but the current investigation shows that it might be a supply problem instead.” He paused, gathering himself, and when he spoke again, he did so more quietly.

“We looked further into our supplies and realized some high-end materials for armor making had disappeared in a similar way. Everything’s traced back to Dragon's Feast. It has been hard to get anyone information from there, as the place seems to be sealed off with only certain people allowed in. But I think there might be a problem there. Our intelligence department has yet to get any idea of what's going on exactly.”

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“I can understand your wish to bring me the full report, but I have other contacts that could help get information like that. So, while I like that all of my departments are corroborating—unlike what was happening before—you all should still bring such information to me directly, as while I am not a department, I have many contacts who could shed light on problems like this.”

Then I sensed someone approaching. It was my minder; he was still a bit away, but to my surprise, he was actually running. Fortunately, he was still keeping his speed in check so he wouldn't hurt my personnel. “In fact, one of the people who could shine a light on this problem is coming this way right now.”

Not a moment later, as I finished saying that, one of the doors to the meeting room opened up quite violently, which I must say, I didn’t like. I saw my minder, and it looked like he was panicking a bit.

“Ace, please tell me that the dungeon hasn’t started collecting mana for a breakthrough?” His words made no sense.

“I told you a month ago that the dungeon was close to finishing the floor, and you even said that everything was prepared. Are you saying it's not?” He had been pacing up and down in what seemed like nervousness.

“Answer the damn question! Can you stop that thing from advancing?”

“Clear the room,” I ordered with more force than I intended. When the room was clear, I looked at his nervous form. “No, I can’t stop it from advancing—not anymore. I suspect in a month or two it will enter its breakthrough.”

“Shit, this is bad. They have to give me an exception, but damn it, if I could just go and help, I should get enough contribution points to reach the fourth stage of diamond rank. Why is everything happening at once?” I then saw him calm down, like he had made a decision.

“I will at least get this done. Unfortunately, this is more important—I can’t leave this to anyone else, as you know. I must inform you that, most likely, for the coming years, I will be one of the only few diamond ranks in this nation, as a huge problem has emerged.”

Now I was getting quite curious, but also worried. “What if my friend tries to fight back? With so few diamond ranks, I am not certain of our success.”

“Don’t make me laugh. I am enough to handle everything. And I guess you are high enough to know the latest trouble that will probably get leaked somehow. Almost all of the dragons have disappeared—no one knows where.”

My train of thought was completely interrupted by that last sentence. “What do you mean all the dragons have disappeared? Don’t they make up like half of the useful potions for high-ranked platinums and diamond ranks.?”

He didn’t answer but gave me the look that said, why are you asking stupid questions. I guess now I know why so much of that market disappeared so fast. “Do you know anything more?” I asked, not expecting an answer, but to my surprise, he seemed to be giving one.

“I honestly don’t know much. It seems like almost all the dragons disappeared about six months ago. No one noticed it because there were still some dragons left who were reaching platinum rank, so the hunt continued, but over the course of a few months, fewer and fewer were detected reaching near platinum. Finally, proper missions were sent out to find out what was going on, and…well, they came back with horrific news. It seems that basically 95% of all the dragons in this world disappeared.”

He looked like he wanted to say more, but his communication crystal beeped ominously. He answered it, but I couldn’t hear, even with every skill I had to help me overhear; it simply wasn’t enough. All I could read was his facial expressions, and all of a sudden, his entire face went white, and his hands started to shake. The call ended soon after.

He sat down as if completely defeated, and I was worried. “What has happened?”

“The darkness covering the Black Ocean has disappeared. All our secrets are revealed. All the great powers used that darkness to hide their strength, but it’s all now revealed. For the first time in this age, a state of readiness for war has been declared by all four great powers.”

My own hands started to shake a bit. That meant diamond ranks were preparing for war. The thought of it scared me more than anything I’d felt before. “What does that mean for us in the coming months?”

“It doesn’t look good, but the state of readiness for war isn’t a breakdown of diplomacy—it’s just that things could escalate fast.” He seemed tired now, and I’d never seen him like that. This could complicate the plan. Hopefully, he won’t mess things up.