Chapter 248: Mediator Oshiras Has a Stomachache
* * *
The first part of the middle section of Arc 14 begins.
In a room on the third floor of the particularly large and grand building with light yellow walls and a triangular roof in the center of the town of Serelirin.
It's a building simply called the "government office" by the town's residents.
"Phew..."
In that room, there was a man leaning his weight on the back of his office chair, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling while exhaling deeply and carefully so as not to be perceived as a sigh.
The man, in his mid-thirties and in his prime, had a gentle and kind face, but his dark circles under his eyes and white hair were noticeable.
In a word, he was a haggard man.
His name was Oshiras.
"Ah, ow, ow, ow, ow..."
Oshiras hunched his back and this time groaned while holding his stomach with both hands where his intestines were.
While groaning, he glanced at his colleague sitting at the desk to his right.
His colleague on the left was off since yesterday, apparently suffering from severe abdominal pain.
So it was the one on the right.
"Hmm, hmm, I see, I see, hmm, hmm..."
The colleague on his right was frowning and desperately staring at documents.
"Ow, ow, ow..."
"Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm."
It wasn't a difficult document at all.
It wasn't a document with such small letters that he had to bring his face so close to read it.
Simply put, his colleague on the right didn't want to make eye contact with Oshiras.
It was a defensive action to avoid being dumped with a troublesome case, as Oshiras had been by his colleague on the left yesterday.
"...Phew..."
Dropping his shoulders dejectedly and exhaling deeply again, Oshiras reached for the right edge of his desk.
As if reflecting his serious personality, there was nothing unnecessary on his desk.
There, lined up with his writing utensils, was his favorite stomach medicine, sitting majestically.
The stomach medicine, which also contained magical pharmacological ingredients, was a high-grade product that worked well with just one tablet per dose.
He rolled about five tablets of it into his palm from the bottle and crunched them all at once.
He was clearly deviating from the proper usage and dosage.
Normally, it was a foolish act that he, a serious person, would never do.
However, he was so mentally cornered that he couldn't help but do so, and his stomach was actually hurting.
"Migyaaa, migyaaa, migyaaa..."
From the Topopolock clock on the wall, a cute, deformed Topopolock doll popped out to tell the time.
"...It's time."
Oshiras crunched a few more stomach medicine tablets and slowly raised his heavy hips.
He stood up, straightened his light yellow robe-like official uniform by patting it, slowly walked to the entrance of the office, and put his hand on the doorknob.
...There, he glanced back once.
His colleagues quickly turned their faces away and averted their gaze from Oshiras.
"Pheeeeeew..."
After exhaling deeply and long one last time, Oshiras left the office.
* * *
Now, what kind of person is this Oshiras, who is currently walking down the hallway with his back hunched?
He is one of the "mediators," a government official working in the town of Serelirin.
As the name suggests, a mediator's job is to intervene in civil disputes based on complaints and mediate those cases.
The cases they mediate range widely and diversely, such as minor quarrels between residents or trade disputes between merchant associations.
In other words, one cannot fulfill the duties of a mediator without deep knowledge, accurate judgment, and a trustworthy personality, and being appointed as a mediator is in itself an honor for civil servants.
However, on the other hand, this position of mediator is newly established in this territory and has not been around for long.
Therefore, several institutional deficiencies have been pointed out, and among those deficiencies, there are even terribly fatal flaws.
One of them is that the protection of the mediators' status is too weak.
What does that mean? Well, there was a protest that someone was unsatisfied with the mediation result of a case that a certain mediator had intervened in.
Skipping the details, the one who protested was a nobleman.
The mediator in charge of the case was a talented commoner.
The governor of the town, who was the superior of the mediators, received the protest from the nobleman and tried to wrap up the case by firing that mediator.
What nonsense!?
The mediators were horrified by that outcome.
The mediation in question was conducted properly in accordance with the law, without any flaws.
Despite that, there was no way to maintain fairness in mediation like this.
Naturally, the mediators appealed for the cancellation of the disposition, but unfortunately, it was not accepted.
Far from that, even after that, many mediators ended up being disciplined for similar reasons.
In the end, if mediators don't conduct mediation in line with the wishes of those in power, they lose their jobs.
Honestly, it's unbearable, so the mediators are seeking improvement of the system and protection of their status, but various interests are intricately intertwined, and the discussion is not progressing at all, which is the current situation.
"Haaaaah..."
Now, after briefly touching upon the current situation surrounding mediators in this territory, let's return to Mediator Oshiras, who finally let out a big sigh since there was no one in the hallway.
Why is he so dejected? It's because the case he was dumped with and is about to handle is the kind of case where "if you make the wrong judgment, you'll be fired," as explained earlier.
However, the one filing the complaint this time is not a nobleman.
...It's a top-class adventurer.
Top-class adventurers are in dispute with each other.
Top-class adventurers cannot be considered on the same level as the riffraff adventurers rolling around out there.
After all, they are people who have gained international reputation.
Depending on the case, their single word carries much more weight than some country nobleman from Naganahate or whatever.
Moreover, what's even more of a headache for Oshiras is that one of the top-class adventurers who filed the complaint this time is none other than Lairine Rune, the Supreme Commander of the Adventurer's Guild.
She is said to be immortal, the strongest adventurer, and capable of destroying a country single-handedly.
Oshiras has no way of knowing how much of those rumors are true, but it's certain that she is not someone a mere local government official like him should be dealing with.
After all, she is the head of a huge international organization.
It's not just about losing your job if you make the wrong judgment, but the country could be destroyed.
Why does Oshiras have to deal with such a dangerous person?
It's because those dangerous people filed a complaint about the custody of a certain child in this town of Serelirin, of all places.
Mediation requests to mediators can be made even by non-residents of the town.
It's because the mediator who was originally assigned to this case somehow managed to escape.
It's because even though they desperately requested support from the capital of the territory and the royal capital, they were completely scared and decided to ignore it.
It's because the people Oshiras had considered excellent until now were surprisingly incompetent and irresponsible.
...And Oshiras.
In the end.
He was ridiculously foolish.
He was not good at getting things done.
He was serious, had a strong sense of responsibility, took on too much, and accepted it.
Despite complaining, he took pride in his job as a mediator.
Now, Oshiras.
The time for lamenting is over.
Even if you proceed slowly, slowly, the hallway in the government building is not that long.
Beyond the door in front of you... in the conference room.
Your job is waiting for you.
Come on, put your hand on the doorknob.
Turn it carefully and open the door quietly.
Waiting there are troublesome people who can easily twist your future plans.
However, before that.
They are people who need your mediation, who need your help.
You will help them.
You don't need to worry about grandiose things like the future of the country.
Those who should truly worry about that have run away.
To hell with such things.
You will do your best to fulfill your duties.
That's good enough.
Fulfill your duties.
Uphold... justice!
With determination, Oshiras opened the door to the conference room!
What jumped into his sight...
It was!!
"Hey, you old hag! Don't cling to Emi like that! You'll pass on your lack of common sense to her!"
A man in golden armor making a racket with clattering sounds, pinning a slender woman's arms behind her back!
"Huh? You've gotten so high and mighty to order me around? And 'old hag'? Watch your mouth, boy. I'll kill you."
And the woman, despite being restrained, completely ignoring it and patting the head of the black-haired, black-eyed girl sitting in front of her!
"............"
And the black-haired, black-eyed girl wearing an ominous rocky black outfit, silently continuing to eat the mountain of "Mekena Sandwiches" piled up in front of her for some reason, without showing any sign of minding the commotion behind her!
It was the sight of a couple, who seemed out of place compared to the three aforementioned people, looking at the commotion from a distance with fear!
"........................"
Faced with the noisy and chaotic state of the room that he had never anticipated, Oshiras... quietly closed the door he had opened once again.