Ryuu fled.
Her face bright red, she hurried away in complete panic.
What she had meant was that she wanted Ritsuka to remain with the Astraea Familia instead of being stolen by Ganesha.
However, in her anxiety, she had spoken from the perspective of his senior.
To Ritsuka, there was a vast difference between concern from a senior and those same words coming from a rookie of another Familia.
Once Ritsuka teased her, Ryuu immediately panicked.
The more she tried to explain, the worse it became.
Eventually, she could only stammer incoherently before fleeing with a burning-red face.
Ritsuka did not mistakenly believe Ryuu had fallen for him.
He understood his hopeless elven senior far too well.
Ryuu was terrible at handling unexpected situations.
Whenever she lied or panicked, she said the wrong thing, became more flustered, and said even more ridiculous things.
The cycle continued until she could only babble helplessly and sink herself entirely.
Her concern had merely come from a senior worrying about her junior.
After all, no one cared more deeply about the Astraea Familia than Ryuu.
However, Ritsuka had no intention of remaining only her junior.
He had finally transmigrated into this world and met such an adorable senior.
How could he not cherish her properly?
They both wanted to become Allies of Justice.
The last senior who pursued that dream had already conquered Fuyuki.
Ritsuka would begin with a smaller goal: making Astraea-sama and Ryuu his closest family!
After Ryuu fled, Ritsuka wandered around the Tower of Babel alone for a while.
Niel eventually returned and escorted him to the upper floors to discuss reforming the military police with Ganesha.
Ganesha possessed a private floor high within the Tower of Babel.
It was not at the very top like Freya’s residence, but the Ganesha Familia remained one of Orario’s dominant powers.
As the city’s largest Familia, claiming an entire upper floor was effortless.
“I am Ganesha!” The moment Ritsuka arrived, he saw Ganesha raising both arms and loudly introducing himself.
The theatrical god was still enthusiastically performing his usual routine.
“Ganesha-sama, this is Fujimaru Ritsuka-san.” Niel was clearly accustomed to her god’s behavior and calmly introduced Ritsuka.
“Oh!
Young man!
Welcome to my residence!” Ganesha planted his hands on his hips and welcomed him enthusiastically.
Ritsuka answered with a polite nod.
“Thank you for inviting me, Ganesha-sama.” “Excellent!
Such spirit!” Ganesha grinned broadly.
“Niel should have explained my intentions before bringing you here.” “Yes.
Niel-san told me that you wished to reform the military police.” “Hahaha!
I must admit, your speech outside the Adventurers’ Guild yesterday greatly surprised me!” “It has been a long time since anyone openly expressed dissatisfaction with either the Guild or my military police.” No one criticized them openly, but how many secretly ignored the rules and caused trouble was impossible to know.
Ganesha returned to his seat.
“Young man, as a member of the Astraea Familia, you should know what happened in Orario several years ago.” “Yes, I know.” “To be honest, the past few years have been much better than those before them.” “Orario was far darker back then.
Evilus ran rampant without restraint.
Those were truly the city’s most difficult years.” That much was true.
Modern Orario was still dark, but it was far better than during Evilus’s reign.
Those years had been genuinely inhuman.
However, being less rotten than before did not mean the current situation was good.
“After Evilus collapsed, the Ganesha Familia completely assumed responsibility for Orario’s security under the Guild’s commission.” “However, our methods remained almost unchanged from those days.” “So, young man, you dared to publicly criticize us.
How do you believe the military police should be reformed?” “That depends on how far you’re willing to go, Ganesha-sama.” “What do you mean?” “Do you want the strongest possible reform to fundamentally change Orario, or do you merely want to reorganize the military police and improve its efficiency?” “Is there a difference?” “A major one.” “If you only want more efficient law enforcement, we merely need to restructure the military police.” “But changing Orario itself requires reforming the city’s underlying systems.
That would also require the Guild’s participation.” Ganesha clearly lacked experience in such matters and immediately asked for clarification.
“Could you explain both approaches?” “Let’s begin with internal reform.” Ritsuka casually plopped down on the floor.
“The military police are inefficient!
Extremely inefficient!” “You rarely patrol the alleys and focus almost entirely on major streets.
Your response times are also painfully slow.” “Yesterday, I dragged eight robbers all the way to the Adventurers’ Guild before a patrol finally arrived.” “The efficiency was appalling.” “Had I not been strong enough to defend myself, they could’ve injured me, stolen everything I owned, or killed me before your people arrived.” Ganesha’s expression stiffened beneath his mask.
“Hmm…
I admit that is true.” “To improve efficiency, introduce a system of rewards and penalties.” “Assign every patrol squad its own district and require it to cover every alley within that area.” “If an incident occurs without the squad noticing, or they take too long to respond, cut their pay!” “What?” Ganesha stared at Ritsuka in shock, but Ritsuka had not finished.
“Then rank every district at the end of each month.” “Reward the three best-performing districts with bonuses and cut the pay of the worst-performing ones.” “As for the squad in last place, remove its captain!” It was rank-and-yank!
Fujimaru Ritsuka had introduced rank-and-yank!
“That won’t work!” Niel, who had remained nearby, immediately objected.
“All our current patrol captains are Level Two Familia members.
Removing them would greatly reduce their squads’ combat strength.” “Then remove every Level Two and above from regular patrol duty and form an elite response unit.” “They won’t patrol under normal circumstances.
They’ll only handle serious cases and remain on standby inside the Tower of Babel when nothing happens.” “Regular patrol squads should consist entirely of Level Ones, with their captains selected from among them.” “Captains will earn twice the salary of ordinary members, and the entire squad will receive rewards whenever they stop a crime.” “That will motivate the Level Ones.” “Every captain should also carry a signal flare.
If a squad encounters something it cannot handle, it fires the flare, and the response unit immediately deploys from the Tower of Babel.” “Would they arrive quickly enough?” “I can build fast-response equipment for you, but your Familia will need to pay for it.” With magic stones providing nearly free energy, Ritsuka could handcraft magic-powered motorcycles or even flying vehicles.
He could transform the entire Familia into a mobile police force!
As long as they paid enough, he could build practically anything!
“Well…” Niel fell silent and carefully considered the proposal.
After a while, she turned toward Ganesha.
“Ganesha-sama, would this be acceptable?” Ganesha rubbed his chin in thought before nodding firmly.
“It would!” Ritsuka grinned.
He eagerly anticipated the Ganesha Familia’s introduction to the ruthless internal competition of twenty-first-century capitalism!