PFC Chapter 4178 is about the Supreme Sorcerer (8)
Chapter 4178 is about the Supreme Sorcerer (8)
Chapter 4178 is, The Supreme Mage (18)
The three empires wanted to settle the accounts, meaning they wanted to forgo the money, treat it as part of the interstellar council's budget, and not repay the principal or interest, as if the matter had never happened.
As for why this is the case, it must be mentioned that although the Interstellar Council was established by the three great empires, these three empires are not a unified political entity. In fact, the relationship between the Skrull Empire and the Kree Empire was definitely modeled after England and France, only changing the Hundred Years' War to a Thousand Years' War. These two are mortal enemies, but at the same time, they both look down on the Shi'ar Empire.
The Kree and Skrull Empires didn't want to fight anymore and needed to recuperate; while the Shi'ar Empire didn't want to be targeted by these two, so the three of them agreed to establish a "United Nations".
But even on Earth, everyone tries to manipulate the United Nations to make the situation favorable to themselves, so how could the three great empires not do the same?
Therefore, when the Interstellar Council handles interstellar affairs, this situation will occur: even if something happens in the territory of the Kree Empire, the Supreme Intelligence should send troops to resolve it, but instead, it insists on letting the Interstellar Council handle it.
The Interstellar Council's solution costs money, and money requires a budget. This is the purpose of the Supreme Intelligence: I've already spent money to provide you with a budget, so I must use that money myself; even if I don't use it, I can't let my enemies use it, so I must use it first.
Each of the three great empires thought the same way: they had spent money, so of course they should get a return; the budget was just sitting there, and if they didn't use it, others would use it desperately, so wouldn't that mean other empires were taking advantage of them?
So everyone is desperately trying to get the interstellar council to handle even the smallest, most trivial matters, even if it costs ten times more. They just want to take advantage of it, and most importantly, they can't let others take advantage of it.
With this back and forth, no amount of budget could possibly cover it. Logically, if someone's budget isn't enough, they should just accept their bad luck. But there's no end to the desire to take advantage. Besides, there are indeed some matters that only the Interstellar Council can handle, and they also need to boost the Council's prestige. It wouldn't be appropriate for the Council to shut down before the quarter is even halfway over, so they have no choice but to provide more money.
However, in order to deter the other party from taking advantage of them, the two major empires besides the Kree Empire also had to convince their own internal personnel, so they covered up the matter by saying that the money provided later was borrowed.
However, if this continues too often, the other two great empires will inevitably face internal pressure: they don't want to provide endless funding to the Interstellar Council, and even if they don't get the borrowed money back, they don't want to borrow again. The Kree Empire also doesn't want to borrow, at least not before it goes to war with humanity.
They have indeed been at peace for quite some time, and have had enough time to recuperate. While it's unlikely they'll immediately wage a cosmic war, there's no need for them to rely on the Interstellar Council to maintain a semblance of peace. Therefore, stopping funding and rendering the Interstellar Council a mere shell might be a good option.
Unfortunately, they made the worst choice: to become enemies of the Nine Realms. Humanity first caused trouble in the Shi'ar Empire, indirectly affecting the Great Portal Trade District, leading to the decline of the Shi'ar Empire's most prosperous sector and trade district; then the other two empires attacked the Nine Realms again, causing further damage, and now all three are crippled.
The damage was no less than that of a space war between the three of them. After the war, wouldn't it be time to recuperate?
The interstellar council is needed for recuperation and development, and this model must be maintained, so funding cannot be stopped. However, the amount of the loan is indeed somewhat excessive, and there is too much opposition within the other two great empires. Even if it's just to suppress these voices, a way must be found to cover up this hole so that the interstellar council can continue to operate.
So it was quite awkward for the Supreme Intelligence to come to Schiller, since they needed the Interstellar Council to maintain a semblance of peace, all thanks to humanity, and now they had to ask humanity to settle the score.
It's not that the three great empires wouldn't falsify accounts, but the key issue is that their relationship with humanity is currently strained, and they need to use the position of Speaker to appease humanity. However, if they falsify accounts right under humanity's nose and get exposed, wouldn't humanity ridicule them mercilessly?
They might not have cared about interstellar views before, but if humanity cares, then they have to care too. It's like an arms race; you have to have what the other has, or you'll be at a disadvantage.
Therefore, the best solution is to involve humanity. Once everyone works together, no one can complain. Although this may seem to offer no benefit to humanity, the Supreme Intelligence approached Schiller precisely to await his terms.
Unexpectedly, Schiller didn't mention any conditions at all, and the Supreme Intelligence had no idea what he had done. Anyway, he just seemed very confident, which left the Supreme Intelligence completely baffled.
Later that evening, the Supreme Intelligence was even more bewildered, as the Finance Department's Executive Secretary hurriedly knocked on his office door.
“Mr. Secretary General,” he said somewhat hastily as he closed the door, “my minister has just approved the budget for the propaganda department.”
“Oh,” said the Supreme Intelligence, “isn’t this a good thing? Spreading the word ‘environmental protection’ all over the galaxy, shoving it right under the noses of every race, is bound to cause a backlash…”
"The problem is, he approved 20 trillion!"
"How many??!!!!"
A silver figure darted through the corridor, drawing everyone's attention.
What's going on? Has the sky fallen? Have those executive secretaries finally remembered they're flying robots?
Although the interstellar anti-discrimination work is done well, under normal circumstances, the robots in the executive agency do not exhibit robotic characteristics. They behave very much like carbon-based life forms: even if they can fly, they still need to take a spaceship; even for urgent matters, they still need to walk; and before entering space, they even put on a life support collar to make themselves look like humans.
But this time, something terrible happened; the executive secretary robot suddenly flew by. Were humans attacking? Or were they mutants?
Even the Supreme Intelligence didn't want to fly, but because he was a robot, he checked the database and found that the Executive Secretary of the Finance Department wasn't lying. This Finance Minister had approved a whopping 20 trillion in propaganda funds!
Logically, this should be a good thing for the three empires, because the goal is to promote environmental protection, and this is something that the Sorcerer Supreme created, which means he has essentially taken on the burden of this problem himself.
But that's not actually the case at all. The key lies in what Strange said at the meeting: "As long as it works, it's all worth it. The Minister of Public Relations won't let me down."
If you approve a few million or even tens of millions, you can get some headlines on news websites and ads from video bloggers, and that's about it; but if you approve two hundred trillion, then Mephisto and Vishanti must be singing environmental protection songs hand in hand, there must be big signs at the entrance of the Temple of Eternity, and the Living Tribunal must be dragged over to listen to lectures. If there is a single-celled organism that has never heard of environmental protection slogans, then it is considered dereliction of duty.
It seems like the blame is being pinned on His Holiness the Venerable Master, but actually, it's being pinned on the Minister of Publicity, who is one of their people. Tomorrow morning, His Holiness the Venerable Master can fire the minister directly for poor publicity results, or conveniently hand over the work to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose staff have already sided with His Holiness the Venerable Master.
"Damn Schiller! I knew he was up to no good!" the Supreme Intelligence cursed inwardly. Although his name was "Supreme Intelligence," it was a name he chose himself; he wasn't the most intelligent being in the universe, not even among the very bright. While he had sensed Schiller's strange attitude, he hadn't expected him to pull off something this big!
Upon entering the Finance Minister's office, the Supreme Intelligence saw Schiller sitting there, and was furious. The mainframe kept reporting errors, and the only solution was to keep the cooling system running at full speed.
“Good evening, Mr. Secretary General,” Schiller greeted him with a smile. “What brings you here so late?”
"Minister, I heard you approved a budget of 20 trillion for the Minister of Propaganda?"
“Oh, yes,” the Finance Minister nodded and said, “A headline on a news website costs 6 million, and it can only be displayed for one day; those video anchors are even more expensive. If you want to find a top anchor to promote a video, it will cost several million. Not to mention if you want to find celebrities, famous people, singers and the like to promote, this 20 trillion may not be enough.”
Only then did the Supreme Wisdom realize: the Minister of Propaganda is one of their own, how dare he ask for so much?
"Where's the funding application? Let me see it."
The Minister of Finance handed over the tablet. The Supreme Intelligence glanced at it and saw that the application amount was 40 million. He slammed the tablet down and said, "Doesn't this say 40 million? How did it become 20 trillion?"
The Minister of Finance raised an eyebrow and said, "So you didn't know? Oh, right, you haven't attended the regular meetings for several days, of course you wouldn't know His Holiness the Venerable Master's instructions. His Holiness the Venerable Master means that environmental protection is a long-term, continuous task, and our plan is a 'ten-thousand-year plan,' meaning that we will continue to promote environmental protection for ten thousand years. The Minister of Environmental Protection only applied for funding for one quarter. There are three quarters a year, so ten thousand years is thirty thousand quarters..."
"But that's only a little over one trillion!"
The Minister of Finance seemed to realize something at first, paused for a moment, and then said, "Oh dear, I think I miscalculated... but the approval has already been given, and the money has already been transferred..."
"Where did you get the money to transfer it?!"
“I don’t know. I’ve transferred all the money. Let me see… Look, this account record shows that after the money was transferred, there was a deficit of exactly 20 trillion. It should all be in the propaganda department’s account by now. If there’s no money in his account, then I don’t know what happened.”
The Supreme Wisdom was about to say, "There isn't that much money in the account, so it's impossible to give out this money," but if that's the case, then why is there such a large deficit in the account?
In reality, the money borrowed from the three great empires, the cash, and the budget expenditures are not the same thing at all. But Schiller was making false accounts. The former finance minister had already left, and the new finance minister was a fool, so naturally whatever he said went.
Moreover, since these websites and streamers do charge very high prices, and considering the long-term plan, a budget of trillions is quite normal. Although the figures are slightly outrageous, they are not unreasonable and are superficially justifiable.
Even the Supreme Intelligence can't investigate. The current goal is to wipe this matter clean and pretend that nothing happened. Naturally, they won't dig up this old account for a thorough investigation, so they can't bring up the issue of the deficit and can only accept it.
“Speaking of which, it was thanks to the hard work of the former finance minister that so much money was saved up for the Interstellar Council,” Schiller continued. “Never mind that, I’ll go inform the Sorcerer Supreme and get the money back first.”
He finished speaking and went out, just as Strange came out of his office. Schiller said, "It's done."
Strange gave a cold laugh: "If there's no money in the account, then the Minister of Propaganda has embezzled it. It all depends on whether the Supreme Intelligence is willing to spend so much money to cover the hole and protect his subordinates. If he is, we'll have money to spend; if he isn't, let's see who dares to work for him."
“He can’t make up for it,” Schiller said calmly. “The reason I’d rather have the Finance Minister admit his mistake and have the amount reach 20 trillion instead of the 1 trillion or so planned in the budget is because he can’t come up with that much money. He has no chance to make amends.”
“Let’s go, let’s catch them,” Strange said, flicking his cloak.
"Yes, Your Holiness."