Pierro said to Pulcinella, "By the way, you can provoke anyone in Snezhnaya, but you must not provoke the Second. Lord Dottore frequently researches some forbidden knowledge, and there's no telling when he might do something completely unexpected."
"Still, you don't need to worry too much. With the Cryo Archon watching over Snezhnaya, he wouldn't dare pull any drastic stunts."
Meanwhile, the three individuals who had just rushed back to Snezhnaya took in the sight of the currently stable nation.
Pulcinella: "Didn't Pierro say the situation in Snezhnaya was quite critical right now?"
Pierro: "How is the situation so much better than when we left? Was this Dottore's doing? That shouldn't be right—he's just a researcher; he shouldn't be good at handling state affairs."
Kugavina: "Where should we build the orphanage?"
Pierro led the two of them into his office, where they saw Dottore furiously scribbling away at official documents.
Dottore: "Just put the documents on the table. I'll deal with these things you brought over once I finish up here."
Pulcinella and Kugavina: "Who is he? Is he a secretary?"
Pierro: "Isn't he a researcher? How is he so practiced at this?"
Pulcinella and Kugavina: "You can leave now. What follows is a conversation between Harbingers, not something you're allowed to listen to."
Unaware that Dottore was a Harbinger—and the Second at that—Pulcinella and Kugavina mistook him for Pierro's secretary.
Pierro: "Dottore, you can go back to your own experiments now. Leave the remaining tasks to Pulcinella."
Hearing Pierro's words, the two of them instantly felt as though they were being targeted by a demon.
Dottore raised his head. "You finally decided to come back. Do you have any idea how I've survived these past fifteen days?" Despite saying this, he stepped aside from his seat. "Then I'll leave the rest to the two of you."
Pierro called out to Dottore, "Be there on time tomorrow. The Harbinger ceremony will be held in Snezhnaya Palace."
"Understood." With that, Dottore turned around and headed straight back to his laboratory without looking back.
Pierro: "Pulcinella. From here on out, the state affairs of Snezhnaya are in your hands."
"Rest assured, Pierro."
"Kugavina, choose a location to serve as the site for your orphanage."
With that, the two of them walked out toward the open grounds outside.
Back in his laboratory, Dottore muttered to himself, "So those two are the Fifth, Pulcinella, and the Fourth, Arlecchino. I have no idea what kind of character Pulcinella has, but as for Arlecchino... I should find a time to get rid of her early on; it probably won't have much of an impact."
He glanced at the research materials on his desk. "Next up, the main thing is figuring out how to deal with the problem of land degradation."
System, imagine a target — how to solve the problem of land degradation.
Understood. Beginning to imagine. Target — how to solve the problem of land degradation.
………………
After a night of research, Dottore headed to Snezhnaya Palace.
In the same ceremony style as when he first joined, the two were bestowed the ranks of the Fourth and Fifth by the Cryo Archon. Once it concluded, the Cryo Archon departed again, and just as Dottore was preparing to leave, he was stopped by Pulcinella.
Pulcinella: "Doctor, everything you did these past fifteen days has stabilized the current situation in Snezhnaya, but that is only temporary. Your policy reforms are not entirely suited for Snezhnaya."
"Then how would you like to do it?"
"There are two methods. First, completely repeal all your previous reforms. Second..."
Just as he was about to continue, Pulcinella sensed a bone-chilling murderous intent. He remembered Pierro's warning: Lord Dottore loves researching forbidden knowledge and might do unpredictable things at any moment—and right now, this was that unpredictability.
Pulcinella: "My life is over!"
Enduring the bone-chilling murderous intent, he forced himself to continue: "Second... is to continue using these reforms, but with a few tweaks. However, I've never used this type of system before, so I'm not very familiar with it. Therefore, I think we should choose the first—"
Feeling the murderous intent pressing down on him grow increasingly intense, Pulcinella broke out in a cold sweat. "We should adapt your devised system to local conditions, and then Snezhnaya will flourish."
Feeling the murderous intent locked onto him vanish instantly, Pulcinella let out a huge sigh of relief.
Pulcinella: "I survived."
Dottore: "If you had dared to utter one more word starting with 'no' just now, today next year would be your death anniversary."
Pierro walked between the two of them and said, "Dottore, your future research funding will be provided by Pulcinella. If you are missing any research materials, you can also hand those tasks over to him."
The moment Pierro finished speaking, Pulcinella instantly felt a gaze locking onto him.
"Pulcinella, my research funding and research materials..."
Pulcinella hurriedly handed a key to Dottore, chiming in, "The house is in the southwest corner of Snezhnaya City. Inside are my accumulated savings. That's all I can provide for now; the rest will have to wait until Snezhnaya's economy stabilizes further before I can earn more."
"In that case, I'll be leaving first." With that, Dottore turned around and walked away.
Pulcinella turned on his heel and immediately started running back to his office district.
………………
On his way back, Dottore ran into Capitano.
"Is there something you need, Capitano?"
"I came to thank you for those gadgets you provided earlier."
"Don't mention it. If there's nothing else, I'm heading back to the lab."
"During recent battles against the Abyss, many soldiers lost their lives. I need your help researching some portable first-aid supplies to save the soldiers' lives."
"Understood."
Seven days later, the military factory received a package sent by Dottore containing blueprints for emergency life-stabilization devices, disposable emergency teleportation devices, and new combat uniforms (7 variants). They fell into a prolonged silence, and then promptly forwarded the required funds to Pulcinella.
Reason: The blueprints sent by Lord Dottore require expedited production.
Pulcinella: "Dottore, I..."
And thus began his miserable life of mandatory overtime.
……………………
The culprit behind it all, Dottore, was currently lying in the hospital. After finishing the research on those blueprints, Dottore's recovery potions were almost completely exhausted, and his mental state had suffered immense strain. The moment he sent the blueprints off to the military factory, he collapsed on the spot and was rushed to the hospital by his subordinates.
Dottore: "The mental drain of an Ultraman nearly sent me to the afterlife to meet my ancestors."
Dottore's current equipment:
Spatial Jumping Device: Inputted images and text from the Snezhnaya library to teleport to corresponding locations.
Unfinished Blueprints: Elemental tanks, elemental combat aircraft, elemental bombers, medium-to-long-range elemental missiles.
Conceived Blueprint: The Mutual Annihilation Technique (Heaven and Earth Perish Together).
……………………………………………