Population Control Chapter 15 Part2

This is a translation of a j.a.panese novel. You can read the 

This is a work of fiction, with depictions of violence such as death of many people at a time. It is not suitable for readers under 15.

Chapter 15 (part 2) is here!

Anyway, here's the Chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it!

Chapter 15: The false front and the real plan (Part 2)

“Still, I will seriously work on making it more easy to use. As for when that will be done, I cannot make any promises. I told you, didn't I? Even for us, your problems are very complex. It was very laborious to make it so the power would not put a strain on your body, despite it having all the flaws you mentioned.
However, taking into account the inconvenience of the ability, I shall be more patient with you. But do keep in mind that if earth's population reaches 10 billion people, I will send another agent. This one will be a coldblooded killer.
If you don't like that, then I want you to kill, at the very least, 10,000 people a year.”

Sounds like he's not going to improve my power any time soon… I expected that, but I still don't like it. Also, he said 10,000 people a year… That's a pretty heavy demand.

I don't think the time it takes for the earth to rotate around the sun means anything to this guy.

He probably made this condition mostly to mess with me.

“I will count those 40 people that died through your plan as amounting to 3200 people. That would be an increase of 80 times in 100 years. Actually, 8 times in 200 years would be a more accurate estimate, but take this as a bonus I'm gifting you.”

“Thank you.”

“On that subject; in regards to the use of your ability… Have you ever asked yourself why the very first parameter of any given object is its coordinates?”

“Not really.”

“Well, you should know there is still room for you to use that parameter more effectively.”

What a vague advice.

It's not like I can carelessly mess with the coordinates.

I don't know what he's going for, but I'm betting if I actually listen, it would end up being convenient for him and a whole lot of trouble for me.

“You do not intend to heed my advice, do you?”

“How do you know?”

“Your face says it all.”

Seems like the translation isn't limited to spoken words only.

“Can I ask something?”

“Please do.”

“Why are you speaking so theatrically? You didn't talk like that the first time around.”

“Ah, this? While I was watching you, I got hooked on those puppet shows that you humans came up with. I noticed that this way of talking was quite common among characters like old sages, wise hermits, and smart advisors working behind the scenes. So I tried to mimic them.”

“Puppet shows? …I see.”

In puppet shows, a character's nature is shown through small gestures. Other than that, the only way to portray their personality is through their speech pattern. That's why their way of talking stands out.

So that's what it was.

The translation function must have gotten the particular traits of that specific way of speaking.

“After all, the true pleasure of this game is to enjoy the creations of the simulated intelligent life forms.”

The real pleasure of the game, he says…

I don't like the idea of a peeping tom watching me, but I guess it can't be helped if he's G.o.d…

“Anyway, this should do. Time for me to go. I'll come to talk to you like this once in a while.”

“Hey, hold on-“

The white s.p.a.ce disappeared.

The first thing I saw upon waking was a clock pointing at 9:30.

“Charlooootte! I told you to wake me up at 8 in the morning, d.a.m.n it!!”

Getting the Mibu headquarters' approval for the construction of the buildings for the mega solar plant and the mining farm ended up being pretty easy.

We already had the full set of equipment needed to generate solar power, as well as the budget for the buildings, and the land to build upon.

What we wanted was to expand the scale of the project and to adjust the budget accordingly.

For a huge firm like the Mibu trading Corporation, the money we were asking for was a drop in the bucket.

Proving that there was no issue on the risk-management side of things was all we needed to get the OK of the energy division of Mibu's AfricOceania general headquarters.

Just like that, my department, along with the construction department, went ahead with the plan to build on a land we owned east of Ijebu Igbo, near the Osun river.

This was originally an abandoned agricultural land that some people had been using to illegally cut trees and gather wood for free before we bought it.

The area is surrounded by a tropical forest, which means we have to be careful to preserve the local biodiversity; a responsibility we wouldn't have had in j.a.pan.

Speaking of being careful, this land initially belonged to the Yoruba people, so the company apparently had to take many precautions to buy it.

I wasn't here yet when the negotiations took place, but I hear that the company did various things for the Yoruba people, like hiring them preferentially when looking for office staff, chauffeurs, or even maids in some cases.

This allowed the purchase to go smoothly.

Up the nearby river, there is a sacred grove wors.h.i.+ped by the Yoruba people, which also happens to be a Unesco site.

So, of couse, the company has to be mindful of many religious and environnemental factors in regards to that site.

They also have to do a lot of troublesome things like giving out presents and the like, but that's where the company's efficiency and ample experience truly s.h.i.+nes.

Anyway, things went so smoothly with headquarters that it felt a bit anticlimactic.

It didn't take long for people in technical fields like me to have to play their part.

While all this was going on, I asked Ichikawa to buy 40 machines from j.a.pan, such as j.a.panese excavators, power shovels, and bulldozers.

These were all second-hand, so they weren't all that expensive.

I also asked her to buy hydraulic power-shovels for surface mining, but seing as they cost 1.3 billion yen each, which is 12 million dollars, Ichikawa didn't have enough money to buy them on the spot.

This wasn't quite expected, but when Ichikawa contacted about it, I was surprisingly unfazed.

When it comes to funding, I have a 100% winning-chance at lotteries.

I discussed the issue with Ichikawa and she confirmed that the payment could be delayed to the beginning of the year, which is all I needed to know before telling her to go ahead and buy the power shovels.

Even though we bought them in November, the payment date was fixed at the start of the new year, so there was nothing to worry about.

Come mid-December, Ichikawa finished all the procedures needed to send a s.h.i.+p with the 42 machines along with spare parts for maintenance, from
Minamihonmoku in Yokohama all the way to a container port in Apapa, Lagos.

Since it was troublesome for Ichikawa to transport that kind of merchandise under her own name, she created a company in j.a.pan called “Kageyama & Co.”, with my consent.

It seems she dealt with a lot of negotiations and procedures with the company's name.

When a newly-established company tries to make big transactions, the companies at the other side of the deal would usually take a wait-and-see approach, but we managed to make it through that phase by paying partly in advance and showing an official deposit certificate.

Naturally, that deposit came from my own account.

I didn't use much of that money anyway, save for the salaries of Lucas and his sister, so the deposit went through without a hitch.

Still, this was my first time moving hundreds of millions.

I have to admit my palms were sweaty when I moved my mouse to confirm the transfer.

I guess that goes to show I haven't quite lost my lower-middle cla.s.s ways yet.

Anyway, if everything goes as expected, the machines should arrive in Lagos by March.

Concerning the lottery, Ichikawa has confirmed that 3 of my end-of-year jumbo tickets were first-prize tickets, at 1 billion yen each, and 7 of them were second-prize tickets, at 10 million yen each.

She was able to tell that the money arrived properly just by looking at the cramped expression on the staff lady's face at my bank. She didn't even have to ask.

Of course, I sent Ichikawa a letter of procuration beforehand so she would be allowed to put the winnings on my account.

The full sum of 3 billion and 70 million yen was then distributed in three equal parts, to my account, to Ichikawa's account, and to Kageyama and Co's account.

This means I'll be able to take care of many of Kageyama and Co's payments without delay.

“Aah… I have enough money for a lifetime; I can basically resign from the company at this point. My parents have been pestering me about not going back to Nigeria, so maybe I should just-“

Seeing what Ichikawa was getting at, I put an immediate stop to that.

“Sure, sure. But I do wonder what you'll do about your skin from over there.”

It was an easy solve.

Well, it's not like I don't understand her parents' worries.

The daughter that they raised so carefully, that they're so proud of, went to Nigeria one day without discussing it with anyone. When she came back, she looked much younger and suddenly ‘won the lottery'.

Her parents must be completely lost, wondering if they should get involved.

“Hehe, I was joking. Once I'm done with my business here in j.a.pan, I'll go to the US and come back to Nigeria from there. By the way, how is it going on your end? Did everything go well?”

“For the most part. I've found a hauler that can move the heavy machinery, and I've already made plenty of pounded yams.”

“Ooh, so you finally got to that.”

“Yeah. I've already made 10 dozen. Charlotte looked a bit p.i.s.sed; she thought we were gonna eat them.”

The crunchy pounded yams I've been making are one of this country's national dishes. They're sort of like big rice cakes.

I asked Charlotte to teach me how to make them, and I made 10 whole dozens of them. It was anything but easy.

Charlotte did a.s.sist me at one point, but she stopped when she found out she wouldn't get to eat any.

I told her it was because I was going to sell them at the bazar, but she didn't seem to buy it.

Ah, yes, I forgot to mention. Charlotte returned to high school recently, and she's been studying as diligently as ever.

I think the fact she had once half given-up on this has made her even more dedicated to her studies than she would have been otherwise.

Maybe if I had been as diligent as her when I was young, my life would have been a little better.

She even gave me a very serious “I'll return the favor one day”, to which I answered “Don't worry about it”. “

The truth is that whatever kindness I showed her will be returned back to me a hundredfold through Lucas anyway.

“Ah, I see…I get why she'd be mad if she thought she'd get to eat them afterwards.”

“Anyway, I should have made enough now to get a small mountain of that dust.”

“Nice. You're almost there.”

Knowing that I won't really be able to change the structure of the population's growth with lottery money alone, I've been coming up with strategies to gain more money.

That's why I asked Ichikawa to buy me so many things from j.a.pan.

The thing is that even if these strategies end up being failures, I'm not going to go broke.

After all, if I lose my money, all I have to do is play the lottery again.

Translator's note: Thank you for everyone who offered to edit the novel, I'll get back to you on that very soon!

I'd also like to thank everyone for sharing your views on the NU page, loved your reviews.

Author saw them too by the way!

Thanks a lot, really, you guys are the best!