Despite having JARVIS's help, and although all Strange had to do was sign his name on the documents, the task still took him more than two hours.
At first, Strange planned to be diligent, at least glancing at the documents he could understand. But after less than 20 minutes, he began mechanically signing his name.
In the last half hour, he couldn't even be bothered to sign for himself, letting JARVIS mimic his handwriting to sign for him. He leaned back in his chair and took a nap.
Actually, Strange didn't need to sleep; meditation would suffice. But those documents were so hypnotic, they gave him a much-needed good sleep. When he awoke, it was already time for the routine meeting.
"We have a morning meeting and an evening meeting," JARVIS reminded, "The morning meeting is at 7:30 AM, and the evening meeting is before the end of the workday, with no fixed time. Additionally, as the newly appointed Councilman, you need to reorganize the cabinet. This process must be completed within a week."
"So that means I can reselect the department personnel?"
"That's right. Currently, the interstellar council has seven main departments, each with one Minister and one Deputy Minister. You will decide these roles, while other subordinates are chosen by the Ministers."
"I can't just pick humans, right?"
"Correct. You can't even choose all candidates from the Virgo cluster or the Milky Way; you need to consider the entire cosmos. Basically, you'll be selecting from among your defeated competitors. I've filtered the candidates list for you to review."
Strange looked at the screen; JARVIS displayed the candidates for each department. Each position had three candidates, and as JARVIS had said, they hailed from all over the universe, with diverse races, origins, and abilities, though they all had experience relevant to each department, not complete newbies.
"Not this one," said Strange, "this one's clearly a Kree; I don't want Supreme Wisdom managing finances. And this one won't work either; he's a Skrull, and letting such a stubborn mind handle commerce would be disastrous. This Ferocious Feather Tribe member looks good, having been the boss of a large trade association, with family investments too. But why did you recommend him to the Security Department? Why not have him manage commerce?"
"Because he actually understands commerce."
"What?"
"If someone who really understands commerce manages the commerce department, it will cause trouble."
"Did you hear what you just said?"
"They will introduce plenty of reliable theories and executable ideas, potentially changing the interstellar economic landscape and perhaps even revitalizing the Great Teleportation Gate Star Area. So, he can't manage the commerce department."
Strange was stunned: "What's wrong with that?"
"It's difficult for me to explain clearly," JARVIS said, "better wait until Doctor Schiller comes. This list was also provided by him."
At the mention of Schiller, Strange immediately sat up straight and said, "Where is he? Why isn't he here yet?"
"The private political advisor needs to pass security checks and fill out applications to enter the council building. Let me see... Oh, he's just about here."
Just as he finished speaking, 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 glanced around the office before his gaze settled on Strange.
"Good evening, Councilman. How does it feel to win?"
"Honestly, I didn't feel much at first, but hearing you call me Councilman suddenly makes it feel pretty good." Strange adjusted his collar and said, "I heard you needed an application to get in here?"
"Yes, they wanted to check my coat and suitcase and fill out two forms. I arrived about half an hour ago, and the security measures took quite some time."
"Well, you have to cooperate with their work," Strange shook his head helplessly and said, "After all, security work is indeed crucial."
Schiller smiled at him, then said, "Did you look over the recommended list I gave you?"
"Yes, but I don't think your list is very good." Strange looked at the list and said, "This one, named Pello, is clearly more suited for the commerce department. Why did you recommend him for the security department?"
"Are you talking about that Ferocious Feather Tribe member who's adept at business? He can't be placed in the commerce department because he really understands commerce."
"That's exactly what I want to ask, why can't someone who understands commerce be placed in the commerce department?"
Schiller walked over, placed his suitcase on the table, sat opposite Strange, and placed his hands on the table, then said, "To explain this, we first need to understand: where does power come from, and to whom is it accountable."
"I'm all ears."
"In electoral politics, power is granted by votes. People vote for you; that's how you become the Boss, and you need to be accountable to the voters. But generally speaking, the situation is quite the opposite: the more power you are given by votes, the less you can actually be accountable to the voters."
"Why?"
"Because if you actually fulfill the promises you made during your speech, voters will think their vote was well-cast and believe they have truly changed something through voting."
"That's right, what's wrong with that?"
"Of course, it's wrong!" Shiller raised his voice and said, "You can't let voters think they can really change anything just by casting a vote, you can't let them believe they have the ability to govern the country, otherwise it's all over!"
Strange opened his mouth, as if he hadn't quite wrapped his head around it. Shiller gently tapped the table and said, "The essence of American democracy is that we have a series of systems to ensure that the person who gets voted in will never stand on the side of the majority who elected him. Only with this can the system continue to function.
"In fact, once the person elected by the majority comes to power, they must eradicate their own voters. Because only in that way will everyone understand that their vote is insignificant and cannot change the country no matter what they do. This is the only way they will treat it all with a dismissive attitude, become disillusioned with politics, give up on changing the country, and become compliant.
"We are committed to creating a scenario where choices are between the bad and the worse, just to make everyone give up hope and vote randomly. In this case, the real choice is not in the hands of ordinary people. After all, we can't really let them choose, can we?"
Strange wanted to argue or question further, but a series of memories of Earth's past elections suddenly appeared in his mind, and he had to admit Shiller was right—the system indeed operates that way.
"But you're talking about Earth," Strange said, "It's a different game in the cosmos."
"In essence, it's the same," Shiller said, "The election of the councilman is manipulated; the decision of who becomes the councilman lies with the Three Great Empires, so your power originates from the Three Great Empires, and thus, you are only accountable to them. After all, we can't let them believe that electing you will genuinely improve the current situation."
Strange suddenly understood.
He grasped the essence of the analogy at once:
In American democracy, power comes from the voters but must never be responsible to them. Only this way will the voters not hold onto the hope of improving the country.
In the cosmic election, power comes from the Three Great Empires, so he must not be responsible to them. That way, the Three Great Empires will not hold any hope for him and won't try to influence him to improve the situation.
Therefore, one must assign those who understand business to the Security Department, move those who understand security to the Finance Department, place those familiar with interstellar relations into the Administration Department, and assign bumpkins to the Interstellar Relations Department.
Thus, everyone is unable to do their job well, and everything becomes chaotic. The Three Great Empires will be too busy dealing with the mess and won't feel that by influencing Strange, they can impact these departments—because no matter how much they influence Strange, they can't immediately make a businessman understand how to maintain interstellar security. The upper limit is locked in place, and no amount of effort will change it.
"Alright, I wasn't planning on making it easy for them anyway," Strange said, "Let's do it this way, you go ahead and choose."
Shiller nodded, then said, "Given that the initial days might be quite chaotic, I need to have an independent office, preferably close to yours and with a view of the other offices."
"JARVIS," Strange called out, "Is there an office like that?"
"Yes, it's right next door. On the left is the councilman's office, the right is the executive secretary's office, directly opposite is the restroom, and ahead on the right is the staircase, with the elevator lobby to the left front."
"Perfect," Shiller snapped his fingers and said, "I'll head over there now."
Watching Shiller's departing figure, Strange was a bit puzzled, saying, "Right opposite the restroom? That's not very good, right? And facing both the staircase and the elevator lobby should be quite noisy, shouldn't it? How about we find him a room at the end of the corridor instead..."
"'Give' is not exactly the right word," JARVIS reminded, "if it's Doctor Shiller, he might be inclined to call it 'exile'."
"What do you mean?"
"The only difference between having him at the end of the hall and having him on Earth is that the news from Earth might be a bit more well-informed."
Strange was completely baffled, he waved his hand, then said, "Prepare for tonight's regular meeting, I haven't met the secretaries yet."
After the meeting notifications were distributed, everyone gathered in the conference room on this floor. Then Strange discovered that all the staff in the executive bodies were from the Three Great Empires. Among them, the executive secretary to the councilman was a Kree form—Supreme Wisdom, to be precise.
Supreme Wisdom didn't even bother to pretend, he didn't even make a body that looked human but just used a robot, as if telling everyone that this is directly controlled by Supreme Wisdom.
It must be said, this was quite a good deterrent. When that robot walked in, everyone went silent. When Strange entered, he assumed it was just a minor role serving tea and water, didn't even look at it, and sat straight at the front.
"Alright, although you all have likely heard my name before, I have to introduce myself: Supreme Mage Stephen Strange, race: Human, from Earth.
"While it's more convenient to refer by titles in the course of work, no country on Earth has a head called a 'councilman', it doesn't sound quite right to me. So you can just call me Supreme Mage."
"Yes, Supreme Mage."