"Is this even a job for humans?"
When Rhodes saw the documents piled up filling an entire large tent, he wanted nothing more than to swear.
These old men are definitely trying to work me to death. They saw the youngest person at the table and decided to use him as a pack mule.
The junior clerk who had brought him over stood at the tent entrance, visibly nervous. "Rho... Rhodes, sir, this isn't even everything."
"Not everything?!"
Rhodes took a breath. Held it. Let it out slowly. Adjusted his expression into something that wouldn't terrify a subordinate on day one.
"Don't be nervous. I'm not angry at you." His voice was deliberately gentle. "Please explain the full situation."
"Yes, sir. These are only the most critical documents salvaged from the ruins. They've been roughly sorted by category."
The clerk swallowed. "There are also scattered, unclassified documents stored in the tent next door. Financial reports, case records, meeting minutes, task orders, and books from the library are all mixed together. Nobody's had time to separate them."
"Ah." Rhodes stared at the mountain of paper in front of him, then at the tent flap leading to the second mountain next door. "I understand."
He had taken on a colossal headache.
His current staff consisted of three people. Three. All temporarily transferred from other departments because they had vaguely relevant experience. That was his entire workforce.
Relying on four people, including himself, to process this volume of work would genuinely kill someone.
Logically, sorting the archives shouldn't have been a top priority. It could wait until the proper departments were rebuilt. The archive section. The library. The records office. All of that needed to be constructed before any real organizational system could be established.
But logic didn't account for the fact that all six of his colleagues had just taken office and immediately needed reference materials.
Warrod needed past financial reports and the salary and subsidy standards for every department.
Bryliens needed the files on every prisoner in the jail and the maintenance records for the prison facilities.
Wolfheim needed the personnel files of every soldier in the Enforcement Unit, pension plans for the fallen, and a half-dozen other documents Rhodes hadn't even heard of before today.
Jura needed diplomatic correspondence archives. Hyberion needed policy precedents. Makarov needed construction blueprints of the original building.
In short, on his very first day in office, not a single one of his six "esteemed colleagues," including the Chairman, failed to come knocking.
By evening, Rhodes was practically excavated from the document pile by Makarov.
His first words upon seeing the old man were: "Almost done. Almost done. Stop rushing me."
Makarov looked at him with a mixture of amusement and genuine concern. "It's dark outside. Time to go home."
Rhodes checked the time and blinked. "It's this late already?"
"Why push yourself this hard on the very first day?"
Rhodes gave him a flat look. "Whose fault do you think that is? All six of you dumped requests on me before lunch." He paused. "Besides, didn't you spend the whole day at the construction site yourself?"
Makarov smiled sheepishly.
He wasn't particularly skilled at administrative work. Never had been. His talents were simpler: brute strength and Giant magic that happened to be perfectly suited for hauling steel beams and shifting rubble.
He didn't know any sophisticated management techniques. When problems came up, his approach was to handle things personally and lead by example.
And surprisingly, those two tactics worked remarkably well on a construction site.
The workers watched this elderly Wizard Saint and newly appointed Council member walk onto the site and start doing the heaviest manual labor without complaint. After that, not a single one of them felt comfortable slacking off.
More importantly, if word got out that a crew of able-bodied laborers had been outworked by a man pushing a hundred years old, their company would never land another contract.
Construction efficiency skyrocketed.
Makarov rolled his shoulders happily. "It feels good to stretch the muscles now and then. But it's late. Let's go home."
Rhodes said his farewells to the remaining staff, opened a Flying Gate, and brought Makarov back to the already-closed guild hall in Magnolia. The two parted ways at the entrance.
It wasn't until Rhodes was walking down the quiet street toward his house that the realization hit him fully.
His job was essentially being a personal secretary to six people simultaneously.
He couldn't keep this up. He needed to find helpers. Soon.
He pushed open the front door, weary to the bone, and was greeted by warm lamplight. Rhodes forced himself to straighten up.
"I'm home."
"Brother-in-law! You're FINALLY back!"
Lisanna was unusually energetic. The moment the door opened, she launched herself at Rhodes and latched on.
Rhodes blinked. "What's going on?"
Lisanna's expression shifted to pure, desperate misery. "Mira-nee won't let us eat!"
Rhodes looked past her into the house. "Why not?"
Elfman answered honestly. "Sis said that since it's your first day working so far away, we all have to wait for you to come back before starting dinner."
Rhodes smiled. He was genuinely touched, but he still had to ask. "The sentiment is wonderful, but did everyone really need to starve?"
"A family should eat together." Mira walked over and tapped Lisanna lightly on the head. "Let go. Let your brother-in-law wash his hands first."
"Oh." Lisanna released him obediently. "Hurry up, brother-in-law!"
"Okay." Rhodes agreed, but before heading to the bathroom, he scooped Mira up and planted a loud kiss on her cheek. "I'll be right there."
Mira touched the spot where he'd kissed her and watched him disappear down the hallway with a sweet smile. Her little sister could be a bit much sometimes, but her husband was wonderfully considerate.
At the dinner table, Mira barely touched her own food. She spent most of the meal placing dishes into Rhodes's bowl.
She didn't need to worry about Elfman and Lisanna. In the time it took Rhodes to sit down and pick up his chopsticks, those two had already demolished two large bowls of rice each. They must have been genuinely starving.
Rhodes wasn't much better off. But after taking the worst edge off his hunger, he slowed his pace. He set down his chopsticks, peeled a shrimp, and placed it in Mira's bowl.
Only then did Mira ask. "Is there a lot of work piled up at the Council?"
"It's a mountain." Rhodes wasn't exaggerating. It was literally, physically, a mountain of paper. "I feel terrible for Mr. Org. I can't imagine how the old man managed on his own all this time."
After all, unlike the Chairman, who had essentially been a figurehead, every real decision over the past few days had fallen on Org alone.
Lisanna finally found a gap in her eating to ask, "So will brother-in-law have to come home this late every day?"
"No. Today was mainly because of the manpower shortage. I ended up working overtime without even realizing it." Rhodes waved his chopsticks with renewed determination. "Starting tomorrow, I'm sticking to regular hours. I'm forming a Secretarial Team."
"A Secretarial Team?" Mira tilted her head. "Are you going to recruit from the guild?"
"My wife understands me best." Rhodes grinned. "You can probably already guess who I'm thinking of."
Mira barely hesitated. "Levy is a must, right? Lucy could help too." She paused, then added with a smile. "Actually, I could as well."
Rhodes gave her a thumbs up. "Exactly. The candidates I want most are you three, plus Freed and Elfman's girlfriend."
"Evergreen?" Elfman looked startled. "Is she really suited for that kind of work?"
"Of course she is." Mira's tone left no room for debate. "Don't underestimate her."
Elfman frowned slightly. "But if even Sis is going, what about the guild?"
Rhodes turned to Lisanna. "Our good little sister takes over for a while."
Lisanna's eyes went wide. "Me?"
"You. You've watched what Mira and I do every day. You know how the guild runs. And Laki and Kinana have both managed the place before, so you'll have support."
In truth, Rhodes planned to use this as a test of Lisanna's actual capabilities. If she handled the pressure well, he'd pull either Laki or Kinana over to the Council in a few days to lighten the load further.
Mira considered the plan carefully, then raised a concern. "It sounds good, but Council documents involve a lot of classified information, don't they? Are outsiders even allowed to handle that?"