Consequences

"I heard a great deal about your activities today from various people."

That was the first thing Brandial said to him when she came home. It turned out that acting like a snob had its consequences. Poltas lamented taking up the job.

His quest had been marked as completed once he left the warehouse, motivated by this he tried to complete his self designed punishment, only to end up with sore muscles and regret. This regret intensified when Brandial returned.

Lorun had gone around to complain about him to various people, some of them were fed up with her and considered Poltas their hero, but others shared her thinking and found Poltas to be disrespectful. Aren had turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing and straightened out the staff at the warehouse instead of giving anyone food.

Lorun, who had been running around town instead of doing work, got fired from the job in her absence, but she was not alone, all the other managers were fired too. The remaining workers had received an ultimatum to improve their work efficiency otherwise similar fates awaited them.

The warehouse owner was helpless against all these changes, because the warehouse actually belonged to Aren's mother and was given to him in her will. The owner-in-name who had married into the family could only help his son supervise it until he was of age to legally inherit it.

Not only regretful, Poltas also felt stupid.

Being an MC was a curse. Why did this happen to him?

'I let the situation get to my head. Management positions are scary.'

Unlike him Brandial seemed very happy as she went on.

"I was pleasantly surprised to hear of all the things you did today, Poltas. Within just one day you did more work than I do in a week."

"???"

"Hahaha. Don't look so constipated, I know you did all this to help Pamsteria, I'm touched."

Cough cough.

That was the reasoning he gave Aren while acting like a snob.

'I'll never act like this again, please stop bringing my words up like this is a cringe compilation.'

"Tomorrow I'm sending you to the treasury to sort them out hehehe."

"Please don't joke like this with me, my heart can't take it."

"Strengthen your heart young lady, the road to being a Hero is tough."

"It wasn't my intention to cause all this, I just said a few words to Aren for future reference because he was troubled."

Brandial's joy turned into shock upon hearing such an inaccurate evaluation of the town's little gangster.

"Aren was troubled?! Usually he is the one causing trouble, who'd trouble that kid?!"

"What?"

"You met Aren, a guy referring to himself as the owner's son?"

"Yea, that's the person I talked to."

"Then we're talking about the same person but why is your impression of him so off."

"Is he not a quiet guy, seemingly bad at socialising?"

"Not at all! He has always been an assertive person. He had a lot of friction with other managers, so his father told him to work alone and use his work ethics to appeal to the workers."

Poltas felt that even his heart muscles were sore at hearing this revelation.

"So when I told him the managers were useless and staff was inefficient…."

"He used it as a reason to follow through with his plan. Since you're my person, your words have a lot of weight. Aren told his father the Keeper's assistant gave a poor evaluation of the staff and he will change it."

"That was not how I intended this to go."

"I thought you were embarrassed at hearing your accomplishments and didn't realise you were genuinely unaware."

"Is it too late to correct the misunderstanding?"

"Late! Very Late! I won't let you stop such a major change from taking place."

"If this is such a necessary change why didn't you do it before?"

"Because the Guardian told me to avoid confrontations, she said I have to be agreeable and understanding."

What kind of brain dead flawed logic was this? The same guardian had been so desperate to get help in managing her lands, she even summoned a dead person.

"I don't think that's a good suggestion from her."

"Maybe not, but I felt that the town needed someone to support them and their choices back then. This might need to change now because the Guardian's future is under threat due to our complacency."

"Well I hope you will make some of these changes yourself, because I don't plan on repeating today's performance."

"I should not have told you anything hmph."

"..."

"Alright, I will do my own part, but I hope you will continue to assist me in this movement."

"I will try to contribute."

The conversation ended on a hopeful note and the earlier discussion was forgotten until Darshel came to hear of the gossip. Brandial, who found the situation hilarious, invited him for dinner.

Meanwhile, Poltas set hourly reminders, on his weblet, to stay human. Being a manager in a video game was not easy at all.