"Lord Pennis, bad news! The review results we submitted have been rejected again!"
"That Bruno is just looking for trouble. He insists our punctuation doesn't meet the standards!"
Atrelin Mage Tower, Forbidden Spell Administration Office.
Inside Pennis's office.
Several subordinates, their faces clouded with worry, poured out their grievances to their superior.
"If it doesn't meet the standards, then so be it. Ask the administrative officers to put in some more work and follow his requirements."
Pennis's expression darkened as he forced down his anger.
"My lord, having the administrative officers redo it isn't a problem, but we can't keep going on like this."
"Exactly. We need to come up with a countermeasure."
"They're getting more and more unreasonable."
After the other subordinates left, several trusted confidants from his school stayed behind and voiced their concerns.
"I'll think of something," Pennis assured them.
In reality, his mind was a complete muddle. He had no idea what to do.
Only now did he truly understand how crushing a single rank's difference could be. Worse still, Roland was nothing like a newcomer to politics. He seemed more like a seasoned master of power games, cunning and ruthless.
Before long, another subordinate came in looking troubled.
"Something else went wrong?"
Pennis asked reflexively, then froze at his own words.
Why did I say "else"?
"My lord, the Development Department just issued a directive requiring every official document to include a Seris translation!"
Everyone was stunned. "He can do that?"
Fine, fine, fine. So he's done pretending to be decent?
Unable to restrain himself, Pennis slammed his desk and rose to his feet.
"I'm going to reason with Lord Roland."
But before Pennis could find Roland, Roland sent someone to summon the heads of several offices for a meeting.
"From now on, all Development