"Chairman, please mind your words. Fiore may only be a small country, but its magic is flourishing.
The Fiore royal family has always held considerable influence among the nations and within the Council.
Given your current situation, if anyone overhears something and seizes on it, that would be very bad."
Hearing that, Crawford almost laughed from sheer anger.
He was the dignified chairman of the Council, and now he had to watch every word even inside his own office?
If he had to live this pathetically, then what was the point of being chairman at all?!
Of course, all of that he only dared scream inside his own head.
No one understood better than he did just how miserable his days had become lately. If he stirred up even more trouble now, then his position as chairman really might be finished.
Taking a deep breath, he decided that what he could not see would not annoy him. He tossed the recommendation letter straight into the trash and said sullenly,
"We reject it. Go refuse Fiore's envoy for me."
The assistant sighed inwardly. He stepped forward, picked the recommendation letter back out of the trash, and placed it neatly back on the desk.
The moment Crawford saw that, his brows knotted together, and he glared at his assistant in anger.
He had only run into some trouble. He had not actually stepped down as chairman yet.
Since when had his words become so ineffective that even the trusted assistant closest to him no longer listened to his orders?!
Judging from the expression on Crawford's face alone, the assistant could more or less guess what the man was thinking.
But out of professional duty, he still forcibly suppressed the urge to throw down everything and quit on the spot. Patiently, he began persuading him instead.
"Chairman, this recommendation from Fiore has arrived at exactly the right time."
"...Explain."
Crawford still frowned, but now there was at least a trace of willingness to hear him out.
"You see, the thing giving you a headache right now is the bad public opinion surrounding you.
And what kind of news could be more eye-catching than an eighteen-year-old mage being selected as one of the Ten Wizard Saints?"
Crawford slowly began to catch on.
"You want to shift the focus?"
"Exactly. Right now, you should immediately convene an emergency meeting and bring this matter before all the councillors for discussion.
At the same time, you should spread the news as widely as possible. Let everyone hear about it. Let the entire continent talk about it.
If you handle it this way, then after less than a month, who would still remember that little stain on your name?"
Crawford stroked his great beard, and the more he thought about it, the more viable the method seemed.
At once, he slapped the desk excitedly and stood up, praising his assistant.
"Good. This is a good plan.
We'll do exactly as you said. I'll inform the councillors, and you go contact the reporters.
If this is handled well, then after I retire, I'll recommend you to become the next councillor."
After tossing out that giant empty promise, Crawford did not care in the slightest that the recommendation letter still had suspicious smudges from the trash on it. Beaming with delight, he grabbed the letter and strode quickly out of the office.
The assistant respectfully saw him all the way to the door. Only after Crawford had gone some distance did he push up his glasses and mutter with disdain under his breath,
"Idiot. Let's see whether you can even retire peacefully before saying something that laughable."
After saying that, he straightened his clothes and also left the office.
But instead of rushing off to contact the press, he first went to the guest reception room and met with the envoy from the Fiore royal family.