Ranking
The information about the award for Nao and their team was delivered two days after they left headquarters.
The head of the General Affairs Department, upon receiving this information, promptly informed the Director-General.
Around the same time, the Director-General received similar information from another source.
However, the Director-General seemed to have a slightly more complex situation than the head of the General Affairs Department and appeared quite troubled by it.
The Director-General ordered the head of the General Affairs Department to immediately convene the relevant parties to address the situation.
In the designated meeting room, the Director-General gathered the stakeholders and began the meeting by addressing them.
“Gentlemen, I appreciate your prompt response to this urgent summons. While we thought we were finally nearing the end of the series of responses regarding the recent incident, a significant and deeply rooted problem has arisen at the last moment. The head of the General Affairs Department will provide detailed explanations. I apologize, but let me review the previous discussions once again here.”
” Yes, Director-General. Now, regarding the final issue you mentioned…”
With these words, the head of the General Affairs Department began explaining the award for the Second Inspection Squad.
The head of the General Affairs Department was surprised to find that some of the top brass present at the meeting seemed to already know about this matter.
All those who seemed to have prior knowledge were individuals seconded from the military, all belonging to the noble class, which led the secretaries to collectively sense something fishy in the background.
Once the majority of the explanation was concluded, the first to speak was the Director of Personnel.
“Director-General, regarding that medal, even in the case of the living, promotion becomes necessary. While I’ve heard that a promotion by two ranks is unheard of, what will happen in the case of Lieutenant Bruce? His promotion won’t happen solely on our end, will it?”
“Director of Personnel, what do you mean?”
“Well, in his case, he’s on secondment from the military. If he returns to the military now, he’ll surely be demoted by one rank to become a Second Lieutenant. In that case, will there also be a promotion in the military?”
“To be honest, I don’t know. Promotions in the military should be handled by the military personnel. For now, we should consider this solely as an issue here.”
“I see. My apologies. In that case, since he’s a Lieutenant, we’ll promote him to Captain simultaneously with the award.”
The head of the General Affairs Department questioned this proposal on the spot.
“While it was my suggestion, he’s currently attached to the General Affairs Department. What will be his assignment if he becomes a Captain? Surely, we won’t just let him languish here.”
“But where would we assign him? He already had a tough time when he first came here, and we struggled to assign him to the Second Inspection Squad.”
“But if we’re careless in personnel matters, the monarchy won’t stay silent. Even the military might have issues with this.”
Upon hearing this, the expressions of those who seemed to have heard about the promotion earlier clouded all at once.
It seemed there was trouble brewing.
The director of audits also hinted at a sense of crisis.
“In this case, we can’t just let it slide. It seems they don’t intend to report it to the public, but it’s not meant to be kept secret. Apparently, they won’t publish it in the official gazette right away, but they’ll do it properly at a later date. If it were to be revealed to the public later that the handling was inappropriate, it would be wise for everyone here to consider that they may be punished by His Majesty.”
“If there were proper departments in the first place, we wouldn’t have struggled from the beginning. Is he a jinx?”
“But we owe him for saving us.”
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The meeting ended without reaching a conclusion, going around in circles, that day.
In the end, it took two more days to finally reach a conclusion.
Above all, the intentions of the military personnel were very troublesome.
They wanted him to not stand out any further.
After all, he was a talent released by the military.
If he were to stand out, it would tarnish the military’s reputation.
Military personnel who had known about his promotion beforehand were under strong pressure from their close relatives belonging to influential families.
The issue was that Nao’s background as a graduate of the elite officer training school, which trains military elites, was being questioned.
These graduates are treated as elites, so their speed of promotion differs from other officers.
Among them, the staff course, which is called the main course, has been limited to the children of senior military officials or upper-class nobles.
Although Nao’s aptitude suggested that this course would be the most suitable for him to demonstrate his abilities, due to his background, he was offered assignments in operational departments, but none of them accepted him due to his extreme characteristics.
If such a person, who was supposed to be for the military’s window dressing department known as the Coast Guard, achieved great success early on, it would not be pleasing to the higher-ups in the military or the nobility.
They feared that his advancement ahead of his peers would lead to the collapse of the customs cultivated in elite training.
It was obvious that such people would use acquaintances in the Coast Guard to exert pressure.
Even the director-general seemed to have pressure from those nobles to “do something about it.”
However, everyone attending this meeting was at a loss as to what to do, even when told from outside to “do something about it,” and time passed without any ideas coming to mind.
It was in the afternoon of the second day that someone present said the following.
“This may be irrelevant, but in the ancient aristocratic society, there was something called ‘bumping up in rank.’ It might be useful.”
“What’s that about?”
“Yes, apparently it’s a method of knocking down rivals by giving them a higher rank than their status warrants.”
“Wait a minute, wouldn’t that just create bigger problems?”
“That’s the essence of ‘bumping up in rank.’ Generally, those without ability who are given higher positions will inevitably self-destruct. Not only because of their lack of ability, but also because they’re given higher responsibilities without the experience they should have gained up to that point. So, they self-destruct. The insidious part of this ‘bumping up in rank’ is that the person being targeted is completely unaware of it.”
“Why is that?”
“Because they’re being encouraged to advance by the side that wants to push them down. Normally, they would happily accept the promotion without realizing they’ll soon self-destruct.”
“Is that applicable to the current case?”
“In his case, it’s even easier. He has no veto power over his transfer destination. He’s at our command. So, by transferring him to a more responsible department and giving him impossible tasks, I think he’ll self-destruct. Moreover, in this case, the biggest advantage is that we can proudly explain that it aligns with the wishes of the royal family.”
“That makes sense. Since we can’t just keep him on a leash, let’s think about pushing him towards self-destruction.”
“Let’s give him a ship. Fortunately, he’s already been given a ship by His Majesty, and if things stay as they are, we should have the leeway.”
“No, but that’s too much of a stretch. It would be impossible for a lieutenant to be appointed as a captain.”
While the policy was decided, selecting the actual position was even more challenging.
After heated discussions, the meeting was concluded with a word from the head of personnel.
“By the way, we need to consider what to do with the other ship. It’s a bit off-topic, but what do you think, Chief Inspector?”
“What about the other ship?”
“Yes, Lieutenant Bruce seized two ships. The other ship is a type that hasn’t been used by the kingdom for decades, called a ‘space destroyer.’ Disposing of this ship will also incur costs, and besides, we’re already spending money unnecessarily as it is, so I would like to order him to deal with it. This way, we’ll have a few months to spare.”
“Wait a moment, Chief Inspector. I haven’t heard about this. His Majesty bestowed only one ship, right?”
“Yes, there was only one ship that seemed usable. The other ship is a type that hasn’t been used by the kingdom for decades. Therefore, we were instructed by the palace’s stewardship to handle the department that seized it.”
“Can’t it be used?”
“What do you mean?”
“The ships not the military. Even if it’s a small ship no longer used by the military, it could be useful for patrols, for example.”
“So, you intend to assign that ship to some patrol fleet?”
“That wouldn’t be ‘bumping up in rank.’ We should make it independent. Let it act alone and wait for it to self-destruct, then we can use that as a reason for demotion. That way, even the nobles won’t complain.”
“Head of Personnel, is that possible?”
“Even though it’s a small ship, it’s still a captaincy. It would be possible if it were something like a utility boat or a lifeboat, but at least the rank of captain would be desired… Ah, I’ve come up with a good idea.”
“What is it?”
“Yes, if he can’t be a captain, how about appointing him as acting captain? Without formally appointing a captain, he’ll effectively be the captain. Moreover, as a lieutenant, giving him the position of captain would be quite tough.”
“That’s a brilliant idea. After all, he hasn’t even been out of school for a month yet. He lacks experience not only as a captain but also in any other job, so he’ll show his true colors soon.”
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These dudes are screwing nao over only so they get out of this faster and i hope they regret it
Thanks.