Chapter 93: Lower Realms 2
The sudden visit of Administrator Rilstia to the satellite city, Zain.
The reason why an administrator, known for rarely moving from their seat of power, personally traveled outside the Ark was naturally significant.
“Hu-hum~ Hum~ The scent of the sun is so pleasant!”
-Thump, thump, thump.
Rilstia, walking through the sky, appeared to be in an exceptionally good mood.
And rightly so, since Alice, as the successor of the First-Class Overseer, had received a “Blue Choker” from Rilstia just three months ago, and now this delightful news had arrived.
Excluding her achievements as a Hunter, Alice had accomplished significant feats: uncovering the treachery of Earnest Rail, facilitating the humanity-integration evaluation for the demon vouched for by Alice, eradicating a corrupt Overseer, and even subduing the humanoid calamity, Gaia.
With such accomplishments, Alice only needed to pass the formal paperwork to be immediately appointed as a First-Class Overseer.
“Blue-blue~ Bluer than blue~ Red-red~ Burn it all in red~”
The Blue Choker is a token gifted by an administrator to a talented Awakener, signifying, “You’re mine.”
Typically, even the fastest recipients of the Blue Choker take about five years to prove their qualifications for becoming a First-Class Overseer.
The record for the fastest was set by a Returnee who achieved it in two years through numerous accomplishments and contributions. However, accomplishing such significant results in just three months made it natural for Rilstia’s lips to twitch upward uncontrollably.
However, Rilstia’s good mood wasn’t solely because of Alice.
‘Hehe, Administrator Baden’s twisted expression was priceless!’
Administrator Baden.
Baden was a fellow administrator to whom Rilstia had “casually” shown Alice’s Returnee evaluation documents.
Administrators, burdened with endless responsibilities, are always eager to recruit new talents and Overseers.
Naturally, there’s fierce competition among them when it comes to recruiting promising talents.
To “complete” a First-Class Overseer typically involves taking the scion of a prestigious central Ark family through ten years of advanced education at the academy.
After completing education, the cadets undergo five years of field training to prove their qualifications as Overseers.
During this period, many fail and perish.
Even if they pass field training, those who fall short of expectations must repeat the training, and among thousands of candidates, only about 50, at best, successfully become First-Class Overseers each year.
In some years, there are no successful candidates at all. Even those who pass the field training usually start as Third-Class Overseers.
From there, it takes at least three years of proving their merits to finally have a chance at becoming a First-Class Overseer.
Simply calculating the time required reveals that it takes a minimum of 18 years to train a First-Class Overseer.
Hence, even geniuses typically begin their First-Class Overseer careers in their mid-to-late twenties. Some First-Class Overseers with the Blue Badge have yet to retire since the Ark’s inception.
Yet, with a massive metropolis like the Ark, fraught with dangers and problems, the importance of capable personnel grows each day.
As a result, every academy graduation and enrollment season sees administrators scrambling to foster or recruit new Blue Badge Overseers.
In this context, Alice, a Returnee of the ultimate “Ultima” class, aiming to become an Overseer and being under Rilstia’s jurisdiction, was an extraordinary stroke of luck—a jackpot greater than winning the lottery.
Rilstia’s decision to “accidentally” show Alice’s documents to Administrator Baden stemmed from Rilstia’s mischievous streak—a personality that matched her youthful appearance despite her position as an administrator.
It also served to subtly introduce Alice to her fellow administrators.
However, things didn’t go as expected.
Administrator Baden made several attempts to secretly approach Alice, something Rilstia had anticipated.
The problem, however, was that even Baden couldn’t overtly headhunt Alice, who was under Rilstia’s jurisdiction.
Administrators are generally on good terms with each other, barring special cases.
They share a sense of camaraderie as comrades who endure countless challenges to maintain the Ark’s order.
Given that only administrators truly understand each other’s burdens, it would be more surprising if they were at odds.
Thus, Baden issued indirect orders to observe Alice from a distance rather than directly recruiting her.
This led to the deployment of Third-Class Overseer Rosa Vintz to investigate the Green Factory destruction case as an excuse to hover around Alice.
“Investigate the Green Factory’s destruction as an Overseer. Do your job properly.”
“Understood!”
Unable to give direct orders, Baden used the Green Factory investigation as a pretext to send Rosa Vintz and her Overseer squad to observe and gradually approach Alice.
If lucky, Baden could have issued a pardon for the Green Factory incident, gaining Alice’s favor and building a relationship. Using gestures of goodwill or influence as bait, there was a possibility Alice might eventually align with Baden rather than Rilstia.
It would have been even better if Rosa Vintz, as an Overseer, left a good impression on Alice.
Dreaming of recruiting talents is natural for administrators and cannot be faulted.
However, the trouble started when Rosa Vintz, a reckless Third-Class Overseer, misunderstood Baden’s orders and took direct hostile action against Alice.
Normally, Third-Class Overseers report incidents to their administrators hourly, with all actions subject to administrative approval.
While trivial matters may not require reporting, any “combat action” must be approved by the administrator.
Yet Rosa Vintz, without informing Baden, approached Alice, threatening to kill her or sell her off to a human auction she was allegedly infiltrating, and even recklessly unlocked her Overseer Code.
This amounted to direct combat against Alice, the noble recipient of the Blue Choker and a future Overseer, giving Rilstia all the justification needed to act immediately.
From this point, Baden’s plans to recruit Alice were thoroughly derailed.
Upon later learning of the incident, Baden discharged Rosa Vintz and her Overseer squad, relegating them to monitor Earnest Rail in an outer city.
Though unknown to Alice or Oriana, Baden was the one who granted Earnest Rail permission to expand into the satellite city, effectively demoting Rosa and her squad to a near-exile.
What is this situation?
I was about to receive a regular report when Rosa Vintz suddenly died, and her Overseer division was reported to have been completely annihilated.
“Sigh, still, considering the hardships they’ve endured, they deserve a proper funeral, or at least a chance at regeneration…”
But as I slowly listened to the details, Baden found it hard to believe.
No, it was beyond disbelief—disgust surged up to the bottom of his throat.
What?
The Overseer took bribes from Earnest Rail and turned a blind eye to this and that?
Fine, that’s possible.
Overseers struggling with activity and living expenses sometimes receive “sponsorship” or “private support” from Mega Corp.
Though illegal, it happens.
Violations of the Ark Safety Completion Regulations, breaches of order, taboo preservation clauses, misappropriation, and various embezzlement behaviors—these could be overlooked.
But abusing the Humanity Integration Test on demons, torturing and experimenting on a demon of baron rank for two years while acting as an accomplice?
This was infuriating, but Baden could still understand.
From an administrator’s perspective, it was a severe legal violation that warranted outrage, but demons are, by nature, the mortal enemies of humanity.
If Baroness Sabrina was not trusted and the danger posed by demons was deemed unacceptable, then making such arbitrary decisions on-site might have been forgivable.
However, the issue was that all these illegal acts were exposed because the perpetrators failed to clean up after themselves or maintain secrecy.
To make matters worse, Earnest Rail, who collaborated with them, was caught committing treason against Ark.
Alice played a decisive role in exposing the treason, and Baden learned that Rosa Vintz’s Overseer division knowingly turned a blind eye to this.
Baden’s rage was a natural progression.
“Resurrect every member of the Hush Overseer Division, including Rosa Vintz, and re-execute them according to Ark’s laws!”
In the end, an infuriated Baden gathered the corpses of Rosa Vintz and all Overseer divisions allied with Earnest Rail, resurrected and regenerated them, and had them sentenced to execution by the Taboo Adjudicators.
For reference, execution in Ark is not merely about taking one’s life.
A Void Generator endlessly drains mana and life force until nothing remains, converting the energy into electricity for Ark.
When there’s nothing left to drain, the condemned are regenerated, and the process is repeated.
Execution essentially meant being turned into a semi-permanent battery.
“Fufufu, it seems we don’t need to worry about Administrator Baden for the time being!”
In any case, Baden, his face contorted in anger, forfeited all his accumulated vacation days and leave to work day and night resolving the massive incident caused by his subordinates.
Because Baden was so preoccupied, Rilstia found herself with relatively more freedom, allowing her to go out for outings like today.
“Administrator.”
“Oh, Oriana! It’s good to see you! It’s been six months since I saw you in person!”
Sensing Rilstia’s presence, Oriana, who had been reviewing reports at the Saya Guild mansion, promptly came to stand before Rilstia.
“Your Excellency, what brings you here?”
“Ahaha! Oh, Oriana, I told you to call me Rilstia—or just Riri—didn’t I? You’re still so stiff!”
“Your Excellency, I have advised you to always bring an escort when venturing outside Ark. Especially since I’m the only First-Class Overseer under your command, you should’ve at least informed me, so I could have accompanied you.”
“Oriana, you’re no fun! This is a rare outing; I don’t want to be lectured like I’m a child!”
Saying so, Rilstia firmly grasped Alice’s hand, who was standing beside her, looking bewildered.
“And isn’t there a First-Class Overseer right here with me? Isn’t that right, Alice?”
“Huh? Me? Uh, um…”
“Yes, you! Thanks to you, I’ve recently experienced immense happiness!”
“But I really didn’t do much…”
“There’s no such thing as free happiness! Alice, you’ve repaid the value of the blue choker a hundredfold! In fact, you’ve given me an extraordinary present!”
Alice, unaware of what had transpired among the administrators, couldn’t understand why Rilstia was treating her like a childhood friend—so warm and approachable.
Although, something about her tone seemed odd.
It seemed the position of administrator wasn’t one for the sane.