Chapter 20: The Nameless Public Security Division Employee

It's been quite a few years since I was assigned to the Public Security Division.

I don't have any particular talent, nor did I stand out in the last war. The only reason someone like me gets to work near Director Heidegger is simply due to my high "landmine evasion" skills. Whenever I get yelled at—no matter what the reason is—I immediately apologize. I absolutely never talk back or make excuses. Surprisingly, there are guys who can't do this, and anyone who is even slightly rebellious leaves a bad impression on him.

Nowadays, I often act as a mediator between the Director and other employees, and Heidegger even entrusts me with passing down low-priority instructions to his subordinates. One trick to getting along with him is to talk to him when he's in a good mood and avoid him when he's in a bad mood. Even so, if I have to report something when he's cranky, I get screamed at unreasonably, so there's not much I can do...

"Gahaha! Did you see that, you SOLDIERs!?"

Thankfully, he's been in a good mood lately. The reason is the results of the mock battles that are now being held between the divisions. The war is over, and we have no clear enemies, but daily training still happens. That's when Vice President Rufus, Head of the SOLDIER Division, proposed holding mock battles as part of an exchange program with the other divisions.

Troops from SOLDIER and Public Security, biological weapons from the Science Division, and mechanical weapons from the Advanced Weaponry Division. Each division competed for pride, but everyone's morale was in the gutter before it even started, figuring there was no way we could beat SOLDIER anyway.

If we lost to the hero Sephiroth, we could just say it couldn't be helped. But rumors of a squad led by Zack, a newly promoted SOLDIER 1st Class, have reached our ears too. Word is it's a squad made up of the best even within the SOLDIER Division, and their strength is supposedly endorsed by Sephiroth himself. As if normal people in our Public Security Division could ever win a direct fight against the kind of guys who make it into SOLDIER, now we were up against the absolute elite.

The Public Security Division was terrified that we'd keep losing every mock battle and suffer Heidegger's daily tantrums, but a savior appeared from an unexpected place.

"Well done, Cloud! Your performance was truly magnificent!"

"Thank you, sir."

Director Heidegger heartily slapped Cloud on the back.

Cloud Strife, Captain of the Advanced Weaponry Division's Experimental Unit. A young captain who had an unprecedented rise through the ranks as Director Scarlet's right-hand man. He supposedly joined the company initially as a weapons tester, but with his talent, he is now Shinra's young ace, leading his own unit. He's a rare employee that Director Heidegger actually likes, and he became the driving force behind our mock battles against the SOLDIER Division.

Apparently, the Director himself approached the Advanced Weaponry Division about forming a joint force with Public Security to challenge SOLDIER, and Cloud was the one they sent over.

"To think that integrating my excellent Public Security troops into an experimental unit of purely unmanned weaponry would yield such incredible results!"

Figuring out how humans could efficiently coordinate with unmanned weapons was a challenge Cloud had been struggling with as a captain, and fighting alongside the Public Security Division turned out to be the perfect opportunity to put that into practice. Sure, we operate unmanned weapons in Public Security, but we've never really fought shoulder-to-shoulder with them before.

The Midgar Seventh Infantry Regiment is made up of relatively young personnel, probably out of consideration for Cloud's age. I sometimes run into the commander of the regiment; she's an excellent girl, entrusted with commanding a unit at such a young age despite being a woman.

"I am grateful to everyone in the Midgar Seventh Infantry Regiment whom Director Heidegger recommended."

"Gahaha! Don't be so modest. It's true that the unit I selected performed excellently, but it's all thanks to your hard work!"

When Heidegger is in a good mood, he's generous. The Midgar Seventh Infantry is apparently getting a special bonus, and I and the other aides will probably be invited out for drinks later. Getting to eat and drink expensive stuff for free is one of the few perks of being close to the Director.

"Here is my analytical report on the recent mock battle."

"Whoa, fast work as always. Once I confirm that all participants from our side have submitted their reports, I'll have them sent over to the Advanced Weaponry Division."

"Please do. I really want the feedback from the people who actually fought..."

Cloud is incredibly dedicated to his work. He constantly interacts with units from other divisions and feeds the information he gathers back to Public Security, so I have immense respect for him.

"By the way, have you looked over the new Shinra Academy textbooks I gave you the other day?"

"Yes, they were very clearly summarized."

"Of course they were! After all, I supervised those textbooks myself!"

Shinra also runs a school. It's to raise excellent Shinra employees from a young age, but the recent trend is for top graduates to go to the Turks or the SOLDIER Division. You rarely hear of anyone making Public Security their first choice. Even so, the majority who fail to pass the gates of the other two end up in Public Security. When I graduated, the SOLDIER Division didn't exist yet, and the top guys either joined the Turks or entered as executive trainees in other divisions. By the way, the Space and Aeronautics Division was already starting to decline back then; I remember it had the lowest competition rate.

I'm probably reminiscing about my academy days because of Cloud's age. I believe he's 19 this year—an age where he wouldn't look out of place attending school himself. For him to have worked his way up from the bottom, leaving behind such results and getting promoted, is truly impressive.

"Actually, at the Shinra Academy, we have students interact with Shinra employees as part of their classes. Long story short, we drill field experience into the rookies. Every year, I send a few guys from Public Security to snap their arrogant little noses, but what do you say? Care to participate this year?"

"M-Me, sir? With all due respect, I have no experience with academy life, and I'm not the kind of person who can teach others like you can, Director Heidegger..."

"Gahaha! I don't expect you to do it as perfectly as I would. There are always a few students every year with an unnecessary elite complex, you see. We need to teach them that school grades don't translate directly to the real world before they become fresh recruits."

Ah, right, that tradition: the special training by alumni. Naturally, no matter how good their combat training grades are, they can't beat warriors who actually fight on the front lines, so reality gets drilled into them. I remember getting put through the wringer during my time too.

"The ones with top marks inevitably get treated as officer candidates, which is fine, but there are always a few idiots who create unnecessary friction with the regular hires. Having someone close to their age like you teach them reality would be extremely effective. If I do say so myself, it's a brilliant idea, Gahaha!"

Even though Shinra is a meritocracy, academy graduates are often more capable than regular hires, and it's usually the academy grads who get promoted faster in clerical or research roles too. Because of that, every year you get idiots who look down on everyone else and fail to read the room.

By the way, the ones who stay delusional usually disappear quickly. Relegated to dead-end posts in Public Security, or turned into test subjects in the Science or Advanced Weaponry Divisions. A little bit of capability and elite pride is nothing but a house of straw in front of our highly eccentric Directors—it blows away instantly.

"I'll set up the schedule, so go teach them a lesson. Besides, as I'm sure you realized during this mock battle, leading people and giving orders isn't always straightforward. The Midgar Seventh Infantry Regiment strictly followed your orders because they had my backing. You'll likely have subordinates of your own in the Advanced Weaponry Division soon enough, so get some experience educating those below you while you can."

Heidegger grabbed Cloud's shoulder and let out a boisterous laugh. He surprisingly thinks things through, but his attitude and occasional tantrums give our Director a bad image. Despite how he looks, he's the best at paperwork, which is why we rarely suffered supply shortages during the war. As a behind-the-scenes guy, he's undeniably excellent, but since he loves power and always pushes himself to the front, people find him annoying...

"So that's the plan! I'll let Scarlet know, so consider it a learning experience and go!"

He also has a habit of forcefully pushing things forward without listening to anyone. If you even show a hint of complaint on your face, he'll intimidate you with a terrifying voice and harp on it forever, so the veterans in Public Security absolutely never voice their opinions.

"Thank you very much! I'll make sure to learn a lot so I can meet your expectations, Director Heidegger!"

Combat skills aside, Cloud is really good at pleasing his elders. I'm amazed he can give such energetic, pleasant replies to someone like Heidegger. When he wants to push his own ideas, his approach is incredible too—saying things like, "I'd like to test this plan, so I would appreciate your assistance." He's really good at letting his superiors save face while getting his own way.

I often hear that he's completely won over Director Scarlet, but she seems to have a harsh personality in a completely different way from Heidegger, so I think he's doing a great job. I could never do it; just dealing with Heidegger gives me a stomachache...

"There's a request from Heidegger for you to conduct training for the Shinra Academy students."

"Yes, actually, when I delivered the mock battle report to Director Heidegger earlier..."

Wow. He brought that up with Cloud, and before Cloud even got back to the Advanced Weaponry Division office, Heidegger summarized the request and sent it to me. His communication is way too fast. No, despite his appearance, he's surprisingly meticulous.

"Well, it's a good opportunity. According to the staff we dispatched, the Corel Mako Reactor project is progressing smoothly, so there's no point in you going on an inspection tour for a while."

"I've never been to an academy, so I'm nervous."

"I've personally drilled academics into you, so you won't lose out to some random students in book smarts."

If you want to work for Shinra in Midgar, the standard path is to enter the academy while you're young and ride the escalator straight into the company. You become part of the so-called "career group."

However, Shinra is also heavily meritocratic, and the Directors of each division are eccentric, so it's not a guaranteed safe path—though it is relatively easier to get promoted. Students who wish to be assigned to active combat roles like SOLDIER, the Turks, or the Public Security Division undergo rigorous training, and emblems are awarded to those who excel in practical skills. Unlike SOLDIERs, who are selected based on their physical aptitude for Mako, the number of emblems a student earns is apparently an evaluation metric for Turk scouts.

"If you had enrolled, you would have swept all the emblems for your year."

"Well, you trained me in academics, Lady Scarlet, and Zack and Vincent trained my practical skills."

Cloud answered with a slight, bashful smile. Maybe it's because Vincent arrived, but it feels like he's relaxed a bit. He doesn't get overly stiff even when it's just the two of us anymore. Yes, it's an issue when others are around, but personally, this level of distance is much more comfortable for me too.

Occasionally, when Vincent comes back, they do endless mock battles, and Cloud has finally gotten to the point where he can cut bullets with the Buster Sword. I understand blocking them, but cutting them? What even is that...

Speaking of Cloud, there's the Buster Sword. As he tested various weapons, he decided to make the design identical to Zack's, but honestly, it's a miracle he can perform a delicate trick like cutting bullets with a weapon that massive.

"Have you softened up a bit? Is that your junior's influence too?"

"Should I really treat Vincent like a junior? He feels more like a senior, it's a strange feeling."

Anyway, it seems they're getting along well, which is good.

But I can't just have him train all the time. Even though he won the mock battle against Zack's SOLDIER unit, issues with human troop deployment also came to light. The fact that the Midgar Seventh Infantry Regiment we borrowed this time functioned so well was largely due to Cloud uniting them with his combat prowess and charisma, alongside Heidegger's orders. But we can't borrow troops every time, and a unit made entirely of unmanned weapons just can't quite scratch every itch; human hands are definitely still needed.

I have Vincent doing solo work that borders on what the Turks do, so maybe I should put someone else in Cloud's unit. In that sense, going to the academy this time might be a good experience. If there's good talent there, he can scout them.

"If you find someone you want for your unit, tell me. Your squad needs people too, and raising subordinates is part of a captain's duty."

It would be a problem if he brought back too many, but from the experimental unit's perspective, it would be reassuring to have an adjutant or someone who could support Cloud by now.