President Mahariku's Management

Mahariku, known by the Wiki name Aruru, was a president.

Her real-life position was of course much lower, but in this world, she was the president of a small company and could decide all business policies herself.

And so, in this otherworldly fantasy setting, she'd established the adventuring company "Odd Jobs." Any job accepted. Restaurant consulting, moving assistance, and even Adventurer Guild quests.

… From the Adventurer Guild's perspective, they were merely one clan—the common term for mutual cooperation organizations among adventurers—but "Odd Jobs" under Mahariku's leadership commanded a certain degree of respect.

One reason for that was the ring floating above their heads.

Apparently in this world, and particularly in adventurer circles, a ring floating above one's head was "proof of being Spirit-Possessed," and such individuals were treated as untouchable.

She'd direct her subordinates to complete quests and level them up. Then, using the SP earned alongside those levels, she'd "Scout" the next subordinate. And so "Odd Jobs" had grown from two members including Mahariku to three, to four, and now five.

Surrounded by her cute yet capable subordinates, Mahariku had steadily solidified her standing within both the Adventurer Guild and the town.

"Hmm, things are going smoothly. Almost too smoothly… it's scary."

"Ahaha, oh President, saying things like that～"

"…"

In response to her first subordinate Ichi's remark, a set of choices suddenly appeared.

1. 'I wish things could stay this peaceful.'
2. 'Stay vigilant. The worst is always lurking right beside smooth sailing.'
3. 'Forget all that, I want udon.'

… She did want udon, but this wasn't the right time for that. Naturally, Mahariku chose option two.

"Stay vigilant. The worst is always lurking right beside smooth sailing."

"! You're right, sorry! I might've been letting my guard down."

The affection-up jingle chimed.

Yep, picking the cool-sounding option is the way to go, she thought, gazing out the window with satisfaction.

The upper floor of the two-story building she'd finally saved up enough to buy the other day. This was the office and base of operations for "Odd Jobs."

"Still, this game… it really is something else…"

Mahariku let out a sigh. The reason was VR Mode.

She'd learned about VR Mode from the Wiki and decided to give it a try… only to discover that an ultra-high-precision sensory emulator was at work.

It was clearly military-grade, with calibration values inconceivable for consumer products. Settings this realistic would be pointless on the kind of equipment ordinary players had, yet the level of detail was absurd.

That alone… no, even just that was alarming enough… but on top of it all, "no logs were being recorded."

From the moment VR Mode started until it ended, not a single log was left on the VR device.

Mahariku's real body had been treated as "simply sleeping."

Clearly suspicious. Way too suspicious.

Normally, you'd quit a game like this immediately and report it… But. Mahariku had grown attached to her subordinates.

In this absurdly realistic VR, her subordinates moved and laughed so realistically.

When was the last time Mahariku had seen one of her subordinates smile in real life? Had it ever even happened…?

Actually, maybe it never had… After all, she mostly communicated with her real subordinates through chat… Even voice calls were strictly for sharing information during work… And everything got AI-corrected for easier information processing…

She was getting sidetracked. The point was, Mahariku had become completely hooked on this game.

So she decided to pretend she hadn't seen it. No, decided to let it slide. She couldn't exactly pretend she hadn't seen it, after all.

… If discovered, she'd undoubtedly get sacked for misconduct. But since no logs were left… it probably wouldn't come to light…

"Big organizations are all friction and headaches, but a small elite team means peaceful relationships… it's so nice…"

At most, the only competition was over who performed best and earned the president's praise.

It was heartwarming, and when she actually praised them and patted their heads, the way they'd blush happily was truly adorable.

She wished her real subordinates would take notes.

They don't go retaliating on their own when competitors interfere, for one. Well, sure, the other side had been in the wrong. But cleaning up messes was always the boss's job.

… Her subordinates here retaliated too, but at least they had the decency to check with her first.

Of course, when choices came up about it, picking the cool-sounding one naturally led to retaliation. But cool is cool.

She still ended up wiping their behinds either way, but when the behinds in question belonged to those adorable girls? She'd happily wipe away.

"President! Trouble, big trouble!"

Oh? Her second subordinate came rushing in. What could it be?

"My, what a commotion, Nii. What happened?"

"San-chan got captured!"

"San was handling the bandit gang infiltration investigation, right? Did they blow her cover?"

"She tried to take them on but got counterattacked, arrested as a bandit, and now she's at a guard station!"

In other words, the quest had failed.

Even "Odd Jobs" wasn't infallible. These things happened from time to time.

"Then we'll need to go pick her up."

"And the ones she clashed with are apparently Spirit-Possessed too!"

"… Oh? Spirit-Possessed other than us? I wonder if they're the real deal?"

If they were genuine, she'd love nothing more than to talk with them, but first she'd need to apologize for the attack. Should probably prepare a gift box of sweets as a peace offering, Mahariku mused.

"Ah! So the enemy must be fakes who used underhanded tricks on San-chan…!?"

"Impersonating Spirit-sama is unforgivable! Got it, war preparations it is! We need to call in Yon-chan too!"

"…"

She was about to tell them to wait, but then choices appeared.

1. 'Prepare for the worst. That's the secret to victory.'
2. 'Where do they sell gift boxes of sweets around here? Should we grab some street food instead?'
3. 'Mamimumemo! Mamimumemo!'

"Prepare for the worst. That's the secret to victory."

""Roger!""

The affection-up jingle played, a longer melody this time.

Well, that was the only real choice. And so it went.