Mediator Oshiras Has a Stomachache

Arc 14, middle part 1, begins.

A particularly large, stately building with pale yellow walls and a triangular roof, in the center of the town of Serelirin.

It was a building the town's residents simply called “the government office.”

“Fuuuuuuuu............”

In a room on the third floor of that building was a man who, leaning his weight against the back of his office chair and gazing blankly at the ceiling, was letting out a deep, long breath, careful that it not be taken for a sigh.

In the prime of his working life, in his mid-thirties, the man had a calm, kind face, but the dark circles under his eyes and his gray hairs stood out.

To put it simply, he was a worn-out man.

His name was Oshiras.

“Ah, ugh, owowowowow............”

Oshiras curled forward from where he had been leaning back, and groaned, this time pressing both hands to where his stomach was.

While groaning, he stole a glance at the colleague sitting at the office desk to his right.

The colleague to his left had been absent since yesterday, having been struck by intense abdominal pain.

That's why he looked to the right.

“Muu-mumumu, I see, I see, muu-mumumu......”

The colleague to his right was frowning, desperately staring down some documents.

“Owowowowow............”

“Muu-mumumu, mumumumumumumu, muu-mumumu”

They weren't particularly difficult documents.

Nor were they documents written in such fine print that one couldn't read them without bringing their face so close.

Quite simply, the man to his right didn't want to make eye contact with Oshiras.

It was a defensive maneuver to avoid having a troublesome case dumped on him, just as Oshiras had been by the colleague to his left yesterday.

“............Fuuuuuuuu......”

Slumping his shoulders, Oshiras exhaled another long breath and reached toward the right edge of his office desk.

On top of that desk, where nothing unnecessary at all had been placed, as if reflecting his diligent personality.

Seated there in state, shoulder to shoulder with his writing tools, was his beloved stomach medicine.

Also containing ingredients from magical pharmacology, this stomach medicine was a high-end product that worked well at just one pill per dose.

He tipped about five pills from the bottle into his palm and chewed them up all at once, garigari.

He was clearly deviating from the recommended dosage.

Normally, it was the kind of folly a diligent man like him would never commit.

But he was so cornered mentally that he couldn't help doing it, and his stomach really did hurt.

“Migyaa, migyaa, migyaa......”

A cute, stylized Topopolock doll popped out of the Topopolock clock hanging on the wall to announce the time.

“......It's time, then.”

Oshiras crunched about three more stomach pills, then slowly, reluctantly got to his feet.

He stood, tugged his pale yellow, gown-like robe of office straight with a panpan, then walked slowly to the office entrance and put his hand on the doorknob.

......There, he looked back once.

The colleagues quickly averted their faces, shifting their gaze away from Oshiras.

“Fuuuuuuuu............”

After one last deep, long exhale, Oshiras left the office.

◇ ◇ ◇

As for who this man Oshiras, now trudging down the hallway with his back hunched, actually is: he is one of the officials known as “mediators” who work in this 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 are extremely broad and varied, ranging from trivial quarrels between residents to trade disputes between merchant guilds.

In other words, no one can fulfill a mediator's duties unless they are a capable person with deep knowledge, sound judgment and a trustworthy character, and for a civil servant, simply being appointed a mediator is a high honor.

But on the other hand, this post of mediator is still new in this territory.

Hence, several flaws in the system have been pointed out, and among them are even some truly fatal defects.

One of them is that a mediator's position is far too poorly protected.

What that means is this: after a certain mediator had stepped into a case, someone protested afterward that they couldn't accept the result of the mediation.

I'll omit the details, but the one who protested was a noble.

The mediator in charge of the case was a capable commoner.

The town's magistrate, who was the mediator's superior, received the protest from the noble and attempted to close the case by firing that mediator.

How could this be!?

The mediators were horrified by that outcome.

The mediation in question had been conducted legitimately, in accordance with the law, without any flaws whatsoever.

And yet, if things were like this, there was no way they could maintain fairness in mediation.

Naturally, the mediators appealed for the disciplinary action to be overturned, but unfortunately, it was not granted.

Moreover, several more mediators were disciplined for similar reasons after that.

Ultimately, if a mediator did not conduct a mediation in accordance with the will of those in power, they would lose their job.

To be honest, they couldn't stand it, so the mediators were demanding systemic improvements and a guarantee of status, but various conflicting interests were intricately entwined, and the current situation was that the discussions weren't progressing in the slightest.

“Haaaaaaaaa............”

Now that I've briefly touched upon the current situation surrounding mediators in this territory, let's return to Mediator Oshiras, who finally let out a massive sigh since there was no one else in the hallway.

As for why he was so disheartened, it was because the case he had been dumped with—the one he was about to handle—was exactly the kind of case I just explained: the kind where ‘one wrong call and you're fired.’

But the one filing the complaint this time was not a noble.

......It was a special-grade adventurer.

A special-grade adventurer was in a dispute with a special-grade adventurer.

Special-grade adventurers are not beings to be lumped in with the thuggish adventurers you find lying around anywhere.

After all, they are people who have earned international fame.

Depending on the situation, their single word carries far more weight than that of some country bumpkin noble from a place called Naganahate.

Furthermore, to make things even more of a headache for Oshiras, one of the special-grade adventurers who filed the complaint this time was none other than Lairine Rune, the Supreme Commander of the Adventurers' Guild.

She was a person rumored to be immortal, the strongest adventurer, and capable of destroying a single country on her own.

Oshiras had no way of knowing how true those rumors were, but no matter how he looked at it, it was certain that she was not someone a mere local official like him should be dealing with.

After all, she was the head of a colossal international organization.

After all, this was worse than one wrong call and you're fired: a country would be destroyed.

Why did Oshiras have to deal with such a dangerous person?

It was because those dangerous people had, of all places, filed a complaint in this town of Serelirin over the custody of a certain child.

Because requests for mediation can be made even by those who are not residents of the town.

Because the mediator originally assigned to this case had somehow managed to escape.

Because even though they desperately requested reinforcements from the provincial capital or the Royal Capital, those people were completely terrified and decided to ignore them.

Because the people Oshiras had previously looked up to as capable were surprisingly incompetent and irresponsible.

......And Oshiras.

In the end.

Was appallingly foolish.

Bad at playing it smart.

Diligent, with a strong sense of responsibility, the kind who shoulders everything and takes it all on.

And because, say what he might, he took pride in his own work as a mediator.

Now, Oshiras.

The time for lamenting is over.

Even if you move slowly, slowly, the hallways of the government office aren't that long.

Beyond the door in front of you...... inside the conference room.

Your work is waiting for you.

Now, place your hand on the doorknob.

Turn it carefully, and open the door quietly.

Waiting there are some troublesome people who could easily warp your future plans.

And yet, before that.

They are people who need your mediation, people who need your help.

You are the one to help them.

You don't need to worry about grand things like the future of the country.

The ones who truly should have worried about that have already fled.

To hell with all that.

You will put everything you have into doing your own job.

That is enough.

Fulfill your duty.

Justice...... see it through!

Having made up his mind, Oshiras opened the door to the conference room!

And what leaped into his field of vision......

Was!!

“Hey, you, old haaaaaag! Don't you go clinging all over Emi-chan like thaaaaat! Your lack of common sense'll rub off on her, won't iiiit!?”

“Haaah? Ordering me around, are you? You've gotten awfully important, haven't youuu? And what, ‘old hag’? Watch your mouth, brat. I'll kill you.”

A man clad in golden armor, making a gashagasha racket as he held a slender lady in a full nelson from behind!

And the lady, who, though pinned like that, paid it no mind at all as she stroked and stroked the head of the black-haired, black-eyed girl sitting in front of her!

“............”

And the black-haired, black-eyed girl clad in eerie, murky black, rock-like attire, who, showing no sign at all of caring about the commotion behind her, kept silently eating the mountain of “Mekena Sandwiches” that for some reason was piled in front of her!

And a married couple, so ordinary-looking they seemed out of place beside the three just described, watching the commotion fearfully from a distance!

“........................”

Faced with the noisy and chaotic state of the room that he had not anticipated, Oshiras took the door he had opened...... and softly closed it again.