amaotonovel Chapter 4166 is about the Supreme Sorcerer (6)
Chapter 4166 is about the Supreme Sorcerer (6)
Chapter 4166 is, The Supreme Mage (Part Six)
Despite Jarvis's help, and despite all Strange having to do was sign his name on the documents, the job still took him more than two hours.
At first, Strange intended to at least do his job properly, glancing at the documents he could understand. But less than 20 minutes later, he was mechanically signing them.
In the last half hour, he didn't even bother to sign his own name, and simply had Jarvis imitate his handwriting. He then leaned back in his chair and took a nap.
Actually, Strange didn't need to sleep; he could just meditate. But the documents he was writing were so hypnotic that they gave him a long-lost good night's sleep. When he woke up, it was already time for the routine meeting.
“We have morning meetings and evening meetings,” Jarvis reminded us. “The morning meeting is at 7:30 a.m., and the evening meeting is before the end of the workday, at an irregular time. Also, as the newly appointed speaker, you need to re-form the cabinet. This process needs to be completed within a week.”
"So, I can re-select personnel for my department?"
"Here's the thing, the Interstellar Council currently has seven major departments, each with a minister and a deputy minister. These are decisions you need to make, while the other subordinates are selected by the minister."
"I can't choose all humans, right?"
"No. You can't even choose all from Virgo or the Milky Way; you have to consider the entire universe. Basically, you have to choose from your defeated competitors. I've compiled a list of candidates; you can take a look."
Strange looked at the screen, where Jarvis showed him the candidates for each department. There were three candidates for each position, and just as Jarvis had said, they came from all over the universe, with different races, origins, and abilities, but they all had work experience in the department and were not complete novices.
“No, not this one,” Strange said. “This one’s obviously a Kree, and I don’t want the Supreme Intelligence managing finances. This one won’t do either; he’s a Skrull, and putting such a rigid person in charge of business would be disastrous. This Feathered one looks promising; he’s been the owner of a large merchant guild and his family owns an investment bank. But why did you recommend him to the Department of Security? Why didn’t you put him in charge of business?”
"Because he really understands business."
"what?"
"If you let someone who really understands business manage business, things will go wrong."
"Do you want to hear what you're saying?"
“They have many sound theories and many ideas that can be implemented, which will bring real changes to the interstellar economic situation and may even revive the Great Portal Sector. So we can’t let him manage the Ministry of Commerce.”
Strange was stunned: "What's wrong with that?"
“I really can’t explain this to you,” Jarvis said. “Let’s wait for Dr. Schiller to arrive. He provided this list as well.”
Upon hearing Schiller's name, Strange immediately sat up straight and said, "Where is he? Why isn't he here yet?"
"Private political advisors need to go through security and fill out applications before they can enter the parliament building. Let me see... Oh, he'll be here soon."
No sooner had he finished speaking than there was a knock on the office door. Strange immediately grinned and said, "Come in!"
Schiller walked in, wearing a trench coat and carrying a suitcase. He looked around as he entered the office before his gaze fell on Strange.
"Good evening, Mr. Speaker. How does it feel to win?"
“To be honest, I didn’t think much of it at first, but when I heard you call me Speaker, it suddenly felt quite nice.” Strange straightened his collar and said, “I heard you need an application to get in here?”
"Yes, they checked my coat and suitcase, and I had to fill out two forms. I arrived about half an hour ago, but the security check took me a long time."
“Then you have to cooperate,” Strange said, shaking his head as if in exasperation. “After all, safety is indeed of utmost importance.”
Schiller smiled at him and said, "Have you seen the list of suggestions I gave you?"
“Yes, but I don’t think your list is very good.” Strange looked at the list and said, “This guy named Pello is clearly more suitable for the Department of Commerce. Why did you recommend him for the Department of Security?”
"You mean that Fierce Feather Clan member who's really good at business? We can't assign him to the Ministry of Commerce, because he really knows his stuff."
"That's exactly what I want to ask: why can't people who understand business go to the Ministry of Commerce?"
Schiller walked over, placed the box on the table next to him, sat down opposite Strange, put his hands on the table, and said, "To explain this, we must first understand where power comes from and to whom it is accountable."
"All ears."
“In electoral politics, power is granted by the vote. You can only become the leader if someone elects you, and then you have to be responsible to the voters. But usually, the situation is completely the opposite: the more power the votes grant you, the less responsible you are to the voters.”
"why?"
"Because if you actually deliver on the promises you make in your speech, voters will feel that they made the right decision and know that they have indeed made a difference through their vote."
"That's right, what's wrong with that?"
“Of course not!” Schiller raised his voice. “You can’t let voters think they can really change anything just by casting a vote, you can’t let them think they can really govern the country, or you’re doomed!”
Strange opened his mouth, seemingly still a little confused. Schiller tapped the table lightly with his hand and said, "The essence of American democracy lies in the fact that we have a series of systems to ensure that the person elected will never side with the majority who voted for him. Only in this way can the system function."
"Even the person elected by the majority, once in power, will try to eliminate all their voters. Only in this way will everyone understand that their vote is insignificant and that nothing they do can change the country. Only then will they treat everything with indifference, lose faith in politics, give up on changing the country, and become complacent."
“We’re trying to create a situation where people have to choose between the bad and the worse, just so everyone will give up and just vote randomly. That way, the actual choice won’t be something ordinary people can decide. After all, you can’t really let them choose, can you?”
Strange wanted to refute or press further, but a series of memories of past elections on Earth suddenly flashed through his mind, and he had to admit that Schiller was right—that's how this system works.
“But you’re talking about the situation on Earth,” Strange said. “That doesn’t work in the universe.”
“It’s essentially the same,” Schiller said. “The election of the Speaker is manipulated. The three great empires decide who is the Speaker, so your power comes from the three great empires, and you are only responsible to the three great empires. After all, you can’t let them think that as long as you are elected, they can really improve the current situation.”
Strange suddenly realized.
He suddenly understood the essence of the metaphor:
American democracy derives power from the voters, but the system is absolutely not accountable to them. This means voters have no hope of improving the country.
Since the power of the cosmic election comes from the three great empires, he cannot be accountable to them. This way, the three great empires will not place any hope in him, nor will they attempt to do anything to improve the situation.
Therefore, those who understand business should be assigned to the security department, those who understand security should be moved to the finance department, those who understand interstellar relations should be placed in the administration department, and the country bumpkins should be assigned to the interstellar relations department.
In this scenario, everyone would be unable to perform their duties effectively, and everything would descend into chaos. The three empires would be busy cleaning up the mess, and they wouldn't believe that influencing Strange would affect these departments—because no matter how much they tried to influence Strange, they couldn't immediately make a businessman understand how to maintain interstellar security. The ceiling was locked there; no matter how hard they tried, it would be futile.
“Okay, I wasn’t planning on making things easy for them anyway,” Strange said. “Let’s do it this way, you choose.”
Schiller nodded and said, “Considering that the first few days may be very busy, I need a separate office, preferably close to your office, but with a view of the other offices.”
“Jarvis,” Strange called out, “do you even have an office like this?”
"Yes, it's right next door. The Speaker's office is on the left, the Permanent Secretary's office is on the right, the restroom is directly opposite, the stairwell is to the right front, and the elevator is to the left front."
“Perfect,” Schiller snapped his fingers. “I’m coming right now.”
Watching Schiller's departing figure, Strange looked puzzled. He said, "Right in front of the toilet? That's not a good idea, is it? And it'll probably be noisy facing the stairwell and elevator, right? Maybe we should find him a stall at the end of the corridor..."
“‘Give’ isn’t quite the right word,” Jarvis cautioned. “If it were Dr. Schiller, he would probably prefer to call it ‘exile.’”
"What do you mean?"
"The only difference between keeping him at the very end of the corridor and keeping him on Earth is that Earth might have better access to information."
Strange didn't understand at all. He waved his hand and said, "Get ready for tonight's meeting. I haven't met the secretaries yet."
After the meeting notice was issued, everyone gathered in the conference room on this floor. Strange then discovered that all the members of the standing committee were from the three great empires. Among them, the Speaker's permanent secretary was a Kree humanoid—the Supreme Intelligence.
The Supreme Intelligence didn't even bother with pretense. It didn't even create a human-looking body, but instead created a robot, as if to tell everyone that this was directly controlled by the Supreme Intelligence.
It has to be said, this was a very effective deterrent. Everyone fell silent when the robot walked in. When Strange came in, he assumed it was just a minor character serving tea and water, so he didn't even look at it and sat down directly in front.
"Alright, although this isn't the first time you've heard my name, I still want to introduce myself: Sorcerer Supreme Stephen Strange, human race, from Earth."
"Although it's more convenient to address someone by their title during work, no country on Earth has a head of state title like 'Speaker,' and it doesn't sound quite right to me. So you can just call me the Supreme Master."
"Yes, Your Holiness."