On vacation.
When I woke up in the morning, Ada was lying next to me.
Ah, thatโs right. I think I held her last night.
As soon as I woke up, Ada woke up too.
โFaaโฆ Good morning, Lord Exus โก,โ she greeted me and then gave me a gentle kiss.
Sheโs truly adorable.
Sheโs my precious little guinea pig and the culmination of all my experiments.
Thinking about it rationally, letting her, whoโs basically a collection of classified experimental data, stay by my side without disposing of or restraining her shows Iโm letting my personal feelings get in the way.
I was raised well, so I usually make sure to โclean upโ after using any โtools,โ you know?
Lately, Iโve been using bandits and assassins sent after me for my experiments, and I always clean up afterward. I mean, I wouldnโt want to deal with something like a revenge-seeking experiment subject getting away. Thatโd be like something out of Frankenstein, wouldnโt it?
But with Ada, Iโve kept her alive, let her stay by my side, and even continued modifying her. Thanks to that, sheโs become quite powerful.
At the very least, as a result of the experiments, Ada doesnโt age, heals quickly from injuries or sickness, and is almost entirely immune to poisons.
Oh, that time when she was drugged with a sleeping pill?
Apparently, she just naturally took a nap. Sheโs an idiot, but thatโs part of her charm!
Anyway, itโs the kidsโ break timeโฆ
What was I doing at that age in my past life?
I think I was playing around by building massive computers using only transistors instead of ICs or creating my own programming languages.
Of course, I did things like play games like everyone else, joined the Boy Scouts for outdoor activities, rode horses, read booksโฆ I did a lot, but those things stand out the most.
As an adult, I built industrial systems, operating systems, firewallsโฆ
โฆNow that I think about it, my hobbies are pretty much just the same things I do at work.
This makes it sound like I donโt have any hobbies at all.
People who are good at their jobs also know how to manage their private lives. That was especially true in America.
In Japan, salarymen who do inefficient overtime are useless. You have to streamline work as much as possible, use the free time for family, networking, and parties. Thatโs how itโs done abroad.
And well, at the company where I commuted, the workload and quality were insane. It wasnโt something you could deal with by just working overtime. You had to automate tasks and effectively utilize other team members to get things done. Time alone couldnโt fix it. If you couldnโt get the job done, there was no conversation.
You couldnโt just say โyesโ to everything you were told; you had to propose improvements yourself. Otherwise, the work would never get finished!
โฆThinking about all that, itโs about time I start training my kids seriously.
Iโve already secretly modified their bodies while they were sleeping, but now I need to update their software as well.
Theyโre still only thirteen? Fourteen? Theyโre not even in high school yet, so Iโll go easy on them for now. But if they canโt handle being project leaders by the time theyโre twenty, Iโll have to let them go.
โLord Exus? Breakfast is readyโฆโ
โHm? Ah, sorry. I was lost in thought.โ
โAbout everyone?โ
โYeah, Iโm thinking about the next project and want them to gain more experienceโฆโ
โEnough of work! Letโs enjoy breakfast and your vacation, okay?โ
โโฆYouโre right. A businessman who canโt take care of his family is third-rate.โ
With that, I took a bite of the cereal Ada had made.
โOh, this is good! The texture is better.โ
โEhehe, I changed the oil when I baked it! That made it crispier!โ
โNice. Itโd probably go well with ice cream.โ
โReally? Maybe I should try selling it at the shopping mall next time?โ
Meals are an important time for communication with my โfamily.โ
For Ada and the other girlsโ mental health, I engage in casual conversation with them.
Now that I think about it, these girls are still just kids.
Theyโve done well, being away from their parents. Good job, good job.
โฆMaintaining regular communication like this is the key to good relationships.
Itโs normal for competent people to make friends and lovers.
But truly capable people can maintain those relationships for a long time.
After breakfast, we washed and dried the dishes together, then fed the dogs.
Oh right, I have some dogs.
Theyโre cute ones, with dark skin or pale skinโlots of different kinds.
I got a female dog from Proxia a while back, and since then, Iโve been obsessed with training dogs and keeping them aroundโฆ
โWoof woof, Master, thank you for the food, woof. Marie is so happy to have been bought by such a kind Master, woof.โ
After petting the cute dog, I went outside.
Itโs time to check on the kids from the slums.
Looks like Ada is coming along, too.
โGood morning, Lord Exus,โ said Alan and Betty as they approached.
โHow are the new recruits?โ
Oh yeah, about the Proxia Republic we took down recentlyโฆ
The government collapsed, but the city itself still functions as a port town, like a free trade city.
The shopping mall, which had turned into an NGO, has been reverted to a paid service.
I only made everything free as a form of harassment against my enemies. Now that theyโre all gone, thereโs no reason to keep running the place for free.
Naturally, the locals, who had grown accustomed to free food and drink, resisted fiercely, but I told them, โThen die,โ and had the homunculi take care of about half of them.
I told them, โStop whining and start working!โ Working is a given, right?
Eventually, the remaining residents realized that resisting would only get them killed, so they reluctantly started working.
That said, the shopping mall still offers everything at low prices, so theyโre struggling to create jobs. But thatโs not my problem.
โThe new recruitsโฆ you mean the kids from Proxia, right?โ
โYes.โ
โTheyโre doing well. Theyโre not quite up to leadership level, thoughโฆโ
I see.
โAnd the ones who arenโt doing well?โ
โIf they show no promise, weโll cast them out.โ
Hmm, sounds about right.