Speaking of which, the reason why ministers in this level are basically all carbon-based lifeforms is actually to avoid suspicion. Besides the fact that one of the Three Great Empires is composed of carbon-based lifeforms, emotional lifeforms are also considered closer to the roots of existence. They are vast in number throughout the cosmos, with a solid foundation and close ties to various avatars of fundamental laws. It wouldn't look good for the electronic lifeforms to make things unpleasant. Without giving them enough seats, the Interstellar Council couldn't become the ruler of the entire cosmos, and that wouldn't win popular support.
Therefore, the Supreme Wisdom came up with this method of first elevating them, and then sidelining them. Because he knew that faced with these tedious tasks, carbon-based creatures simply aren't efficient enough to complete them, and must rely on electronic systems, and aren't those still controlled by electronic lifeforms?
As a result, now they have to return to the most primitive human computing. Supreme Wisdom is beyond disappointed in their computing abilities, one might say he is in despair. At their current pace, he wouldn't get this funding before the next big bang of the cosmos.
Supreme Wisdom thought about it and felt that this was indeed a trap set by the Kree Empire. Although there was suspicion of a behind-the-scenes manipulator deliberately framing them, they had no choice but to accept this setback due to lack of skill.
So he decided to pay up himself, directly from the Kree Empire's financial expenditure, to resolve this issue. The method was straightforwardly transferring funds to the Minister of Security Department, instructing them to arrange for someone to contact the other party for negotiations.
The money was transferred over, but the Minister of Security Department refused to accept it and even came over with a troubled expression to find Supreme Wisdom:
"Sorry, Secretary General. I noticed an unidentified remittance from the Kree Empire. May I ask what's going on? Did you make a mistake?"
"This is for resolving the strike issue."
The Minister of Security Department was shocked and said: "What? You mean you want to personally pay for government work expenses?"
"It's an expenditure by the Kree Empire."
"No, no, no, this won't do." The Minister of Security Department said.
"But previously, the department's funds were all covered by the Three Great Empires."
"Yes, that's my point, the process isn't right. If you think our financial expenditures have problems, you can increase next quarter's budget. After going through the process, this money would be included in the next quarter's budget..."
"But I need to use it now."
"Still, you can't directly send it to me like this; it's considered an unidentified personal remittance, I can't accept it! I don't want to end up like the Minister of Propaganda and end up in jail!" The Minister of Security Department shook his head vigorously like a rattle.
"Then what do you suggest? We need money now to resolve the strike issue, and the Financial Department isn't approving..."
"I see. Well, you might have to wait a bit longer; after all, the strike has only been ongoing for a day, they shouldn't be in such a hurry, right?"
As an electronic lifeform of Supreme Wisdom's level, he certainly understands the importance of urgency and waiting. But the problem is, this isn't something that requires waiting. All the work is straightforward, just needs to be completed step by step, so why wait?
"No, I need to resolve this now," said Supreme Wisdom.
"Well," said the Minister of Security Department, troubled, "why not make it a donation. Making it a donation might be better, but for donations, you'd still have to go through the Financial Department..."
"NO GOING THROUGH THE FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT!!!"
The Minister of Security Department furrowed his eyebrows and thought for a moment, "The Interstellar Council hasn't received social donations before, right? This might be the first time, but there might be similar situations in the future. Including this worker welfare issue, this time it's the workers of the Transportation Department, what if next time it's a different department not related to the Transportation Department? We should set up a dedicated department to handle such social events."
Supreme Wisdom actually thought so too. It's quite unbelievable that a council managing the cosmos only has seven departments; he feels it's because the power of each department is too big, leading to a lack of motivation to work, and whenever he wants to accomplish something, any department can stop him cold, which isn't good.
The current strategy is to subdivide their power, everyone is only responsible for a little bit, so they won't have any excuse of having too much work to handle, and no single department can stop him in his tracks.
Donations and worker welfare issues are actually two separate matters. Supreme Wisdom thought about it carefully and felt that he could use this opportunity to establish two departments: one specifically dealing with non-Three Great Empires' financial issues, and another specifically serving government ministers so they won't keep using welfare as an issue.
Supreme Wisdom shared his thoughts with the Minister of Security Department, who hesitantly said, "Actually, I'm not sure if the Supreme Magician would accept such an aggressive proposal, isn't setting up three departments in one day a bit too much?"
Supreme Wisdom did not listen to his advice. As mentioned, his perception of time is fundamentally different from that of carbon-based lifeforms; a day is a very long time unit for him.
So he went with a big pile of documents to find Strange, and to his surprise, Strange didn't stop him; he merely frowned slightly and signed off.
"Alright, I'll be honest, Secretary General, you've stirred up quite a bit of commotion. You must understand, in the end, this could all fall on my shoulders. So you better give me a good outcome, otherwise..."
No need for him to say it, the Supreme Wisdom knew that if he made such a grand display and still failed to resolve the strike issue, it would be the entire council office that would be embarrassed together.
However, the Supreme Wisdom had absolute confidence in himself. He first used the newly established social department to accept his donations, then set up a special project through the Ministry of Labor, directly bypassing the processes of the Financial Department and the Security Department to send someone for negotiations.
Originally, he thought things were finally progressing smoothly, but it turned out the rebellious robots were exceptionally fierce, and they directly attacked the robots sent by the Ministry of Labor. Yes, they assaulted the Supreme Wisdom.
The Supreme Wisdom was careless, sending government employee bodies, not expecting the other side to be so unprincipled, resorting to violence without much dialogue, rendering seven or eight bodies useless.
But he wasn't foolish; since they made the first move, they were undoubtedly at fault. So he went to the Security Department, demanding they immediately dispatch personnel for armed suppression.
However, the Security Department's minister again looked troubled as he said, "Sorry, Mr. Secretary General. Although they did strike first, assaulting the members of the Ministry of Labor, and even destroyed their bodies, since they're all mechanical bodies controlled by the Supreme Wisdom's main thread from the Kree Empire, we don't know how to measure their acts of aggression."
"What do you mean?"
"Logically speaking, this counts as an assassination attempt on the highest officials of the Three Great Empires and should be immediately arrested and executed..."
"No, no, no," the Supreme Wisdom hastily denied, "They only attacked mechanical bodies without harming the Supreme Wisdom."
"In that case, it can't be judged as assassination or murder because virtual threads can't be considered dead. As you said, the true body controlling these bodies wasn't harmed, so it amounts to damaging someone else's property, which might only be resolved through civil litigation..."
The Supreme Wisdom realized at this moment that he was experiencing an unprecedented event.
In the past, all the entities that harmed his bodies were those he was at war with, and in war, there's certainly no such thing as murder charges; as for certain thoughtless mercenaries or members of the human race damaging his bodies, there was no need for a lawsuit, since those bodies weren't valuable or expendable, there was no need to make a fuss over it.
The Skrull Empire's situation was quite similar. Therefore, interstellar law didn't clearly define this scenario; it had never been judged whether killing a remotely controlled robot constituted a crime before.
"Maybe you should ask the Interstellar Court," the minister of the Security Department sincerely suggested.
Of course, the Supreme Wisdom couldn't ask, being attacked is embarrassing in itself. The Interstellar Court was almost entirely composed of people from the Shi'ar Empire, and those fools would undeniably mock him. For the sake of the Kree Empire's reputation, he couldn't do that.
"Come to think of it, we should have our own legal department," the minister of the Security Department said, "Sometimes I'm unclear about the specifics of security regulations and don't know whether to contact the Armed Forces. After all, we don't have your outstanding memory, often unable to recall legal details, nor figure out the articulation, it's better to find professional personnel, right?"
The Supreme Wisdom thought about it and agreed. From this incident, it was evident that interstellar law was indeed imperfect. After all, electronic life forms don't need laws; these laws were essentially made for carbon-based life, which is why the Interstellar Court was filled with carbon-based organisms. However, if all the discourse power was given to carbon-based life, the Supreme Wisdom wouldn't be reconciled. He could imagine that if he pursues legal means, the Shi'ar Empire would never conduct a fair trial, lacking lawyers would put him at a great disadvantage.
Thus, less than a day after three new departments had been established, the Supreme Wisdom came to Strange's office with the documents once again.
"What department is it this time?" Strange already got used to it.
"The Legal Department," the Supreme Wisdom replied.
"Honestly, interstellar law really needs substantial improvement. Have you considered the candidate for the minister?"
"Do you have a recommendation?"
"How about Loki? Despite being a master at exploiting loopholes, precisely because of his profound understanding of interstellar law, he can exploit those loopholes. Rather than defending against him, why not appease him? Isn't Thanos a good example?"
"Still no," the Supreme Wisdom said, then left with the signed application.
Strange shook his head again. He knew the Supreme Wisdom wouldn't agree, even if Loki were competent enough; he was notoriously deceitful, and more importantly, he was an Asgardian. Strange understood that the latter was more significant than the former.
The Three Great Empires didn't want Asgardians stepping into their domains, even if it was just taking a position in the Interstellar Council. Over the years, the God Clan was almost the only threat to the Three Great Empires, and their sole disadvantage against the Three Great Empires was that they were merely warriors. If they were allowed into the political arena, the Three Great Empires might have nowhere to stand.