Clementine slipped through the door and found a large stack of official documents already piled on the desk.
Perhaps because she was delayed for a bit, the Tri-Commission had left the documents as she instructed, marked the key points, and returned to their respective duties.
It happened that she wasn’t good at dealing with people, and face-to-face reports would inevitably involve some back-and-forth, so this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Clementine flipped through the documents on the desk.
She belonged to the school of thought that preferred things to be as streamlined as possible, but the Tri-Commission’s style was completely at odds with hers, as they always submitted all sorts of messy reports.
Clearly, as the Archon, Makoto had a hands-on style before this.
The recently established Commission system was already the result of his efforts to change this situation, but people were still unable to break free from their reliance on the god for a time.
Matters large and small were still reported together regardless of their importance.
Reading such documents for the first time, Clementine finally understood why Makoto always seemed so busy, with the inner chamber of Tenshukaku forever piled with a vast number of files.
It was truly because of the Tri-Commission’s method of reporting everything that there was no end to the reviewing; it was simply impossible to finish.
Thus, on the third day of acting as the Raiden Shogun’s messenger, Clementine threw back the draft submitted by the Kanko Commission, telling them to discuss it with the Grand Narukami Shrine themselves.
How could it make sense for the god to step in and solve every hand-off issue in the middle of a process?
Once those botched drafts and useless daily reports were filtered out, the number of documents being delivered decreased significantly.
And because of the nature of the affairs they managed, the Kanko Commission couldn’t provide any significant reports at this stage.
Rather than listening to their nonsense, it was better to read the military reports from the Tenryou Commission.
Clementine simply told the Kanko Commission not to bother coming unless there was something major.
For these reasons, most of the documents piled in Tenshukaku today came from the Tenryou Commission and the Kanjou Commission.
Seeing the combination of these two, Clementine also thought of the Kanko Commission she had snubbed, feeling that their lack of important reports was mainly because they were quite idle.
Inazuma was short-staffed everywhere; how could they be idle?
She had to find a way to give them something to do.
Besides, turning away the Kanko Commission for too long might make people think the god was dissatisfied with them.
Regardless of what they themselves thought, if other ill-intentioned people developed untoward ideas because of it, the situation would become even more troublesome.
Picking up the documents marked as key points, Clementine navigated her way back to the inner chamber with practiced ease.
Makoto was there drinking tea, in a rare state of leisure.
“Morning.
Looks like there isn’t much to do today.” With her hands full of documents, Clementine wagged her tail as a greeting.
Makoto stood up with a smile and took the things from her hands, answering while flipping through them: “I suppose it’s thanks to you?
After all, a large portion of things are no longer being sent to me.
When did you secretly deal with all those?” “I just picked through the documents you’d already reviewed, selected some suitable ones, and tossed them by their bedsides in the middle of the night.
After two days of that, they didn’t dare submit things haphazardly anymore.” Makoto was almost amused by this method.
Not knowing what expression to make, she could only pull Clementine down to sit and have a cup of tea with her.
“Don’t scare them next time.
After all, as a god, it’s only right that I do a bit more.” “Mhm,” Clementine held her teacup, looking at the tea as she spoke.
“But you need to rest.
You may be a god, but you’re not a perpetual motion machine.” “Small sacrifices are acceptable.
More than that, I worry about the people of Inazuma receiving Damage because of a wrong decision I made, and I worry that I’m not competent as a god.” “You seem to feel guilty quite easily.
Why?
You’ve already done very well.
This land itself cannot do without a god; that’s not your fault, yet you always want to take all that responsibility upon yourself.” “Rather than worrying about you causing losses to Inazuma, the people should be more worried about losing you.
Whether it’s protection or inspiration, you’ve already done many great things.
Such achievements are something to be proud of.
You don’t need to always feel like your duty is unfinished and then compromise yourself.” Clementine turned her head to glance at the window.
It was a beautiful day outside; looking at such a scene, it was hard to imagine that before Narukami arrived, this place had been a winter that even wild winds could not disperse.
“I’m not very good at comforting people.
I hope you can be a bit happier.” Makoto was silent for a few breaths, seemingly thinking or perhaps calming her emotions before finally speaking.
“Since you’ve said so much, I’ll have to listen to you and make today a rest day.
How about accompanying me for a walk somewhere secluded?” Clementine nodded in agreement.
Makoto tilted his head to look at her, commenting with some emotion: “Clementine, you’re actually quite well-spoken and gentle with others.
It’s just that many people haven’t seen this side of you.” Clementine replied indifferently: “It sounds like the Tri-Commission slipped quite a few bad words about me into their documents.
But since you didn’t believe them, it doesn’t really matter.” “As for the reason, I’m not a god who loves humanity, nor do I have the virtue to inspire the masses.
I simply don’t care about them.
In folk legends, aren’t Evil Dragons supposed to harm people?” “Besides,” at this point, Clementine paused and turned toward Makoto.
Her gilded pupils swirled with a warm light.
“Though I don’t know how to explain it, you’re special.”