Intervention

"I heard the Minister of Finance has been rather troubled lately. A lot of citizens have gone to protest and demonstrate outside his office?"

In the office, the Prime Minister's sudden question left the assistant, who was organizing documents, momentarily stunned.

The Prime Minister had rarely concerned himself with affairs before (and had appeared only a few times in the earlier text). Most of the time, he simply read the newspapers, drank coffee or flower tea, and represented the Emperor at events held outside the capital when necessary.

He would sit or stand at the scene, then read aloud the speech the Emperor had entrusted him to deliver.

That was also where his nickname, "mascot," had come from. He rarely expressed his own opinions. Most of the time, he was merely a decoration, a symbol.

The assistant was somewhat unaccustomed to him suddenly asking such a question, but he quickly recovered and said, "Yes. I heard that someone even smashed the windows of the Minister of Finance's residence with stones."

"That's absolutely horrifying!" An emotion resembling... anger? appeared on the Prime Minister's face. The assistant wasn't sure what he had seen as anger, because he vaguely noticed the Prime Minister smile when he first lowered his head. It vanished quickly, and by the time he looked carefully, it was gone. He didn't know whether it had been his own illusion.

The Prime Minister frowned slightly and pondered for a moment. "Demonstrations and protests are normal, but such violent acts should not be allowed. Notify the Police Station, disperse these crowds, and tell them why."

The assistant took a few seconds too long to answer. His thoughts clearly couldn't keep up with the Prime Minister's. He needed several seconds of serious consideration before he could discover the problems hidden in the