It's fair to say she personally clears a workload equivalent to every single Chaldea staff member combined, on top of her own duties. Every single day, without fail, she tackles a mountain of work that would send a normal person straight into a mental breakdown or stress collapse. Maintaining Chaldea, stabilizing SHEBA, tracking staff health, dealing with paperwork for external organizations, securing relocation destinations for our families, drafting petitions to the King of Heroes, and conducting her own training. The list is endless, yet she powers through it alone every single day.
Her Magecraft is at a level where even a crowd of Clock Tower mages couldn't stand against her, she could go toe-to-toe with an Enforcer, and over the past six months, she has acquired both the authority and strength fitting for a Lord.
There is no "figurehead Director" anywhere to be found. Standing here is the leader entrusted with full authority over Chaldea—our Director, Olga Marie.
...Though I talk big like this, the Chaldea staff all harbor varying degrees of guilt toward her.
We praise and honor her now, but six months ago, everyone looked down on her behind her back. Calling her an inexperienced amateur who constantly made mistakes, yelled, and lacked composure. Silvia, who came from a mage background, was particularly harsh, saying things like, "I can't for the life of me understand why Wodime didn't inherit the Animusphere name."
...Looking back now, that was unreasonable of us. No matter how grand her status was, she was just a young girl—far too young to carry such a massive responsibility. We were dumping a colossal project onto a girl who should have been attending high school, joining an after-school club, and getting a boyfriend.
Everyone treated it like someone else's problem, assuming it was natural, and the Doctor was pretty much the only one who truly tried to support her. In short, everyone turned a blind eye and drove the Director into a corner.
So while we're thrilled that she has gained strength and become a leader worthy of the title in both name and reality... in the back of our minds, there's an overwhelming sense of remorse.
We, the adults, should have supported her more. We should have put ourselves in her shoes. We should have lightened the heavy burden carried by that young girl. To some degree, every single person in Chaldea feels this way.
Director Olga Marie has become so thoroughly versed in Chaldea's operations that she could run the entire facility by herself now. It's no exaggeration to say that we get to enjoy our time off and normal working hours thanks to her. Why? Simple. Because even though she could handle things on her own, she chooses to delegate tasks to us. She deliberately distributes the workload to give us a role. To an average guy like me, that feels like proof of her trust, but people like Silvia saw it differently.
Silvia pessimistically thought, 'The Director is aiming to build an organization that can function even if we disappear. Just as we ignored her, she's building a system where it won't matter if we vanish at any moment.'
As if that's true! ...Though, worrying it might be, I gathered my courage and asked her straight up one day. I asked if she considered us useless. In moments like that, being an shameless geek really comes in handy.
And the Director... she just looked at me completely bewildered, asking back, "What are you talking about?"
"I'm simply eliminating unreasonable strain and burdens from all of you. I am merely fulfilling my duties as Director and taking on the liabilities that someone has to bear. I've never once thought about discarding any of you."
When I asked her, "Uh, but the way Chaldea is running right now..." she replied:
"Creating enough time for you all to visit your families is the bare minimum a Director should do. If I rely entirely on you and inflate your working hours, that's just poor organizational management."
...Turns out, it was nothing like that. She had been overworking herself purely because she was thinking endlessly about us. She was pushing her limits to protect the freedom and human rights of us regular staff members.
Upon learning this, the entire staff bowed their heads to the Director, apologizing for making her push herself so hard and asking her to let us support her.
...Do you know what kind of face the Director made back then?
"Don't be ridiculous. You've already been supporting me more than enough."
That expression on the Director's face became a prized treasure for all of us. Blushing bright red, eyes tearing up, that shy smile was just way too cute...
No matter how strong she gets, the Director is still a young girl. We need to properly support her! To make sure that smile never fades, us staff members will give it our all!
"Modifying the Black Barrel... We have the equipment, so altering the barrel into various forms... a Derringer, dual pistols? A rifle..."
...Mostly because if us staff teamed up, we still wouldn't stand a chance against how terrifying she is! Director!
As the Director mutters those alarming thoughts while working, two girls enter the command room and exchange greetings.
"Good work today, everyone. Senpai and I baked some cookies, so please have some if you'd like."
"Don't go thinking my cookies are inedible! There's no way that's true! (Shuzo-level passion) They were baked under Jeanne's supervision!"
Mash, quietly showing consideration for everyone, and our representative Master, Fujimaru Rikka, laughing energetically.
"Oh, thank you. Man, there's nothing like something sweet when you're exhausted."
"Duston, you haven't worked even a tenth as much as the Director, yet you're already asking for a break?"
"Quiet, Silvia! This is why I can't stand former Mages! So cynical!"
"Now, now, let's all take a piece and enjoy a break."
Everyone pauses their work, grabbing cookies brought by Mash and Rikka.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"