Chapter 45: Chapter 44: The Interview for a Civil Servant

With the addition of over twenty servants, Mountain Forest Castle began to operate normally.

Ronin’s daily life was temporarily freed from its previous hustle and anxiety, and he began to spend more time cultivating his Swordsmanship and practicing Magic.

The next morning, with the help of his maid, Bella, Ronin put on the formal attire he had brought from Wushan Castle.

The maid, Bella, was extremely reserved, not even daring to lift her head.

Although she had been trained by Chahar, this was her first time putting her skills into practice on the Lord himself, so it was inevitable she would be a little flustered.

On the surface, Ronin showed no sign of anything unusual, but ’having a woman attend to him so intimately while dressing still felt a bit strange’.

He wanted to do it himself, but unfortunately, he didn’t quite know how to handle this type of court-collared clothing.

“Don’t worry, Bella. You can relax a little.”

Ronin reminded her, “We have plenty of time.”

“Y-Yes, My Lord!”

Bella responded in a small voice, her face bright red. Her fingers fumbled with the court collar, refusing to obey her commands, and her body seemed to grow weaker from nervousness.

Fortunately, he was almost dressed. After smoothing out a few corners of his clothes, the maid Bella could finally breathe again.

She had successfully completed her first time attending to him.

Ronin looked down at his outfit. The magnificent attire, combined with his tall stature, made him look quite dashing.

“You did a good job, Bella!”

The maid blushed and lowered her head. “Thank you for your praise, My Lord. I will do even better next time!”

“I look forward to it.”

Ronin said, walking out of the dressing room.

Outside, the male servant Gallon was waiting. “My Lord, Chahar has brought the candidates for the Civil Servant position to the Outer Fortress hall.”

“Then let’s go.”

Ronin asked as he walked, “How many people came in total?”

Gallon replied, “Three in total.”

“Only three?”

Hearing that number, Ronin was at a loss for words for a moment.

Gallon explained, “Just after dawn, more than ten people came to the castle, all wanting to become your Civil Servant. However, after Steward Chahar screened them, those with insufficient abilities were eliminated, leaving only three.”

Leaving the Inner Castle, Ronin arrived at the hall in the Outer Fortress. It was a relatively spacious wooden building, typically used only by Chahar or Macken.

For example, this was where the steward had taught the new servants etiquette the previous evening.

As Ronin entered the room, Chahar came forward to greet him. “My Lord, these are the three who passed my initial screening.”

When the three men saw Ronin approaching, they immediately bowed in greeting to the Lord.

From the way they bowed, Ronin could tell that all three were Free People, not Peasant Slaves. After all, the latter were required to kneel before a Lord.

“I am pleased you have answered Mountain Forest Castle’s recruitment.”

Ronin walked to the head of the room and sat down, getting straight to the point. “However, I only require one Civil Servant, so I will need to choose one from the three of you.”

The three men were all a little nervous, but they had come prepared to compete for the position.

“Let’s start with you.”

Ronin pointed to the middle-aged man on the far left. “The other two can go outside for now. We’ll do this one by one.”

The man chosen to stay grew tense. He knew the real test was about to begin.

“Two of my subjects are arguing over a fat duck. They both claim the duck is theirs. Both sides have gathered a few friends, and a small conflict involving more than a dozen people has broken out.”

Ronin posed the question he had prepared. “If you were the Civil Servant of Mountain Forest Town, how would you handle this situation?”

“Er…”

The man froze. He clearly hadn’t expected Ronin to ask such a question. His mind went blank, buzzing with nothing.

’Snap out of it and answer the question!’ he screamed internally, but he just didn’t know how to begin.

As the silence stretched on, his palms, forehead, and back became drenched in sweat, and his breathing grew rapid.

After waiting for several dozen seconds without a response, Ronin couldn’t help but ask again, “Tell me, how would you handle it?”

“I… I… I don’t know…”

The man plopped onto the floor, his voice trembling.

Ronin was speechless.

’Even if he couldn’t answer, he didn’t need to be so scared he’d fall to the floor. Does he have such weak mental fortitude?’

“Next,” he said with a wave of his hand.

Chahar quickly ran over, pulled the candidate up from where he had collapsed on the floor, and helped him out of the hall.

Faced with the same question, the second man appeared much calmer.

“My Lord, you are the Lord of Mountain Forest Town. Every blade of grass and every tree here belongs to you, including the property of your subjects, and even the subjects themselves. Therefore, I believe it is completely senseless for them to fight over the ownership of a duck, because that duck belongs to you!”

The man answered forcefully, “So, I would seize the duck they are fighting over and deliver it to the castle. This would resolve their dispute and properly settle the matter.”

Ronin stroked his chin thoughtfully. “What you say has some merit. Go and wait for my decision. Chahar, bring in the third man.”

Faced with the same question, the third man also appeared quite composed.

After a moment of thought, the man gave his answer. “My Lord, if I were the Civil Servant, I would handle this matter in several steps.”

Ronin gestured for him to continue.

“First, I would notify the castle guard and have all the troublemakers arrested.”

“Second, I would arrange a trial to determine who the duck truly belongs to.”

“Third, I would punish the group. The false claimant should be convicted of a serious offense, sentenced to a whipping and a fine. I would sentence his accomplices to hard labor and a fine.”

“As for the other party, I would issue a warning or sentence them to hard labor or even a fine, depending on the cause and severity of the conflict.”

After this speech, even Chahar, who was standing to the side, gave the man an admiring look. ’If nothing unexpected happens, he’ll be the new Civil Servant.’

Ronin was clearly very satisfied with this answer.

“Tell me, how would you conduct the trial and determine the duck’s owner?”

The man fell into thought again before saying, “The false claimant is obviously a lowlife. We need not show such a person any mercy. I would use verbal warnings and the threat of whipping to extract an honest confession.”

Ronin was not very satisfied with this answer. “If you do that, you might end up harming the duck’s true owner.”

“But I would have cleared his name.”

The man said with great conviction, “I believe he would ultimately be grateful to me.”

Ronin shook his head. “I approve of your earlier answer, but I don’t agree with your method of trial. If the duck’s owner is frightened by your threats and forced to confess falsely, it means you’ve let the imposter get away with it.”

Hearing this critique, the candidate’s face paled. ’The Baron rejected my idea… I suppose I’m out of the running, then?’

“My apologies, My Lord. I have disappointed you.”

He gave a slight bow. “Perhaps there is a better way, but please forgive me for not thinking of it.”

“Then you’ll have plenty of time to think about it later.”

A slight smile touched Ronin’s lips as he slowly stood up. “Tell me your name.”

The man below was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with joyful surprise.

A second ago, he thought he had been eliminated, but he never expected to pass just a moment later.

“My Lord, my name is Wilson!”

“Congratulations, Wilson. From now on, you are the Civil Servant of Mountain Forest Town. I will pay you a salary of 10 Copper Coins per day. I hope you will serve me well.”

Although the man’s answer didn’t align perfectly with Ronin’s own ideas, his ability to lay out the initial steps showed he possessed a certain logic and methodical thinking.

And as for the other two…

’No need to even mention the first one. His mental fortitude is too weak. If he encountered even a minor crisis, he’d probably be completely indecisive.’

’The second one’s answer seemed like he was just looking for a loophole. Besides, would I really seize someone’s duck over this? That would only tarnish my public image.’

So, with only three people to choose from, Ronin chose the third.

“Thank you for your approval, My Lord!”

Wilson dropped to one knee, saying excitedly, “Wilson will do everything in his power to assist you, My Lord, in governing Mountain Forest Town well!”

In such a remote place, earning a salary of 10 Copper Coins per day was something Wilson had never even dared to dream of.

Applying for the Civil Servant position this time was truly the most important choice of his life.

Ronin raised a hand, gesturing for him to stand.

“Now then, your first task will be to conduct a population census of Mountain Forest Town.”

Ronin began to lay out the first assignment. “I want you to go family by family, recording each person’s gender, age, occupation, and special skills in a register.”

“Also, pay special attention to the artisans!”

Understanding the demographic structure of Mountain Forest Town would not only help Ronin with future development but was also a key step in completing the [Population Prosperity] achievement.

To complete this achievement, the territory’s population needed to reach three thousand people, all of whom had to be officially registered.

Even though Mountain Forest Town didn’t have that many people yet, the census was imperative.

“My Lord…”

Chahar hesitated beside him.

“If you have something to say, just say it, Chahar.”

The new steward voiced his concern. “My Lord, we only have 83 sheets of Sheepskin in the castle. Isn’t it a bit wasteful to use them to register the subjects’ information?”

Sheepskin wasn’t cheap. A single 40-line sheet sold for about 10 Copper Coins.

Buying it in large quantities would be a considerable expense.

’The fact that Chahar, as the new steward, immediately thought about the consumption of Sheepskin means he’s truly stepping into his role. That’s good.’

“Your concern is valid.”

Ronin nodded slightly, but the population register was something he had to do.

“There aren’t that many people in the town, so even if we register everyone, it shouldn’t consume too much. Besides, I’ll be making a trip to Pasture City in a couple of days. I’ll just procure some more then.”

The matter of Sheepskin, however, reminded Ronin of a certain technology—the Papermaking Skill.

Only by producing cheap paper could information be spread more easily, which in turn would enrich the territory with various kinds of “design” talent.

’Besides white liquor, it seems the Papermaking Skill could also be applied in Mountain Forest Town.’

’But I can’t rush this. I can work out the production method first and then promote it when the time is right.’

’You also need the ability to protect what you invent.’

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