280 – Side Story – The Best Rule (3): Burning Stone
François Blanc, the inspector and deputy mayor of White River Castle, wants to escape from this place far from the center as quickly as possible.
The first few months after he was appointed here were truly happy and dream-like times for him.
Unlike Londimium or other large cities, there is no one higher than him except Baron White River.
The population living in the White River jurisdiction area was small, about 100,000 people, so there was less work compared to other big cities.
Thus, he was able to enjoy the sweet life of coming to work on time and leaving work on time.
Of course, if the attendance report rises to the top, your favorite work place will become known, and since you never know when you might be transferred to another place, you will voluntarily work overtime about 2 days a week to calm down your anger and make your work worthwhile. Lived
Two months ago, Bayleef Hans introduced his 23-year-old daughter, a girl named ‘Roxy’, and took her as his concubine.
Being from Brittany, I’m not very good at cooking, but other than that, I’m extremely good at other things, so I prayed that my life would continue like this, no more, no less.
Something happened that made him want to escape White River and go to the center.
“Damn you, Santos! As someone who became an administrator three years later than me, appoint a supervisor and scold me! f*ck! What are you saying to me? If you keep doing this, you will only get promoted in 5 years? “You son of a b*tch!!”
As he realized how sad it would be to be passed over for a promotion by his junior, from then on, he began to put his life on the line to get a promotion, and began to focus on improving the employees below him.
In the meantime, he makes sure to secure time to spend with Roxy, but no matter how much he thinks about it, he is impatient because he feels that if he does not get promoted quickly, the gap with Santos, whom he hates, will widen further.
First of all, even if we can’t beat Santos, we have to be at the same level.
He was thinking that he should work overtime until 8pm today and go to his lovely Roxy, but suddenly a 23-year-old secretary came up and said.
“A girl named Lily from Green River Village came to visit after seeing her notice. “I think the inspector should meet with her.”
“Ha~ Starting with the guy named Philip from Black Rose, none of the guys who came to me to judge him brought anything decent. This time? “I can’t ask you to come back tomorrow… Just let me in.”
Blanc waved his hand with the intention of reviewing and sending the documents he had brought with him as quickly but thoroughly as possible, and the secretary who understood this quickly ran out.
I was afraid that if I didn’t do that, I would be scolded by the inspector who forced me to extend my working hours.
**
Lily of Greenwood Village, because of her extremely urgent situation, made the bold choice to come all the way here to find her inspector, instead of just looking at the notice and considering everything.
In her own way, she was confident that what she thought would work if she put it out into the world.
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But will the idea presented by a mere 15-year-old serf girl work in front of a high-ranking inspector with a tremendous amount of study and over a dozen years of practical experience? Upon entering this building, I had to think about something that everyone has probably thought about before.
She was so full of energy that she came only after reading the notice. Could it be that she made a foolish choice?
I became conflicted about whether it would be better to just go back now and eat delicious food at the inn with the villagers.
After losing her confidence and falling into her troubles, all her troubles turned into futility when a 23-year-old young scribe, a semi-noble higher than Bayleaf, approached her.
“According to the order of His Majesty the Crown Prince, Inspector Blanc said he would personally look at it. “Please bring what you have prepared.”
Lily heard a cold voice that didn’t contain any emotion, but her entire body stiffened due to her nervousness, and she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to walk properly.
She had become accustomed to following the instructions of the High One, and before she knew it, she was walking to the inspector’s office, following her secretary.
“Inspector Blanc, I have brought you a girl named Lily from Greenwood Village.”
“Let me in.”
Then the secretary opened the door and pushed Lily into the room where her inspector was, and Inspector Blanc looked at her with a look of annoyance about everything, without a single trace of her anticipation.
Of course, as the inspector general of the empire, there was no way he would handle things sloppily just because it was inconvenient, but for a girl named Lily, the ‘annoyance’ of a high-ranking person who could not even dare to reach her came as an enormous pressure.
The girl was so nervous that she thought this out of desperation.
‘Anyway, since it’s like this, I have to say everything I have to say and end it so I don’t regret it.’
“According to what was stated in the notice, it is okay to not submit any documents, be it an idea or anything else. It’s easier to receive documents. “Have you summarized anything briefly?”
“It’s here…”
What Lily put together was a crude plan that only a child from a noble family could write.
When Blanc saw the plan written by Britanya’s girl, who had barely learned how to write through a village priest, she thought it was amazing.
Of course, I’m only saying it’s unique.
“What did you bring?”
“Fire, a stone that burns… In our village, we use this as firewood instead of wood. “I wonder if it might help.”
Inspector Blanc was very interested in the idea of stone as a substitute for firewood, but he hid all his emotions and spoke coldly, using his experience and skill so far.
“Is that so? “There’s a stove over there, so give it a try.”
After a while, the black stone in my luggage went into the stove, and although there was some smoke at first, I saw the real stone on fire.
I was surprised on the inside, but on the outside I just expressed that I was interested.
Now Blanc didn’t waste time meeting this girl. She even thought of giving a sizeable reward.
His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire consumes trees, which are often used as fuel, at a faster rate than they grow, so they will eventually be depleted. She said she needed to find a replacement, and the burning stone this girl brought was just what she needed.
However, in her name, this was a test to see whether or not she could be utilized as a talent, and even if the opponent was her serf girl, she had to stick to that principle.
He asked her as if he were putting pressure on her when she was interviewing as an administrator at the Imperial Academy, adjusting her word level just a little so he could understand her.
“It’s definitely unique. It’s a fire-burning stone, but it’s interesting. “How do you plan to use this?”
When Lily heard those words, she thought about what she had picked up while doing business over the past few days, and she answered.
“I heard it when I was doing business in this castle. Because people have cut down so many trees, people have to go farther and farther to get firewood. There are a lot of these stones in the mountains near the town of Green River where I live, and I thought that if we use these stones as firewood, it would be helpful to everyone because we would no longer have to cut down trees. So I brought it.”
Blanc was deeply impressed.
Although she is 15 years old, it would not be strange for her to be preparing to enter the academy if she were a noble daughter.
Considering that they were serfs, it would have been impossible to give such a logical answer if I hadn’t really observed and thought about it with interest.
Now he raised her expectations of her a little and asked again.
“It is common to go to distant places to cut down trees. “What does that matter?”
“Until we found this stone two years ago, our village also cut down trees to use as firewood, but as the trees gradually disappeared, the adults had to go far away. At first, I had to go to a hill 10 or 20 minutes away, but later I had to go farther and deeper into the mountains. “That’s because the trees are gradually disappearing, so I think other places will experience the same thing.”
I was able to answer this story comfortably because it took place in the current village where Lily had just settled after the civil war.
Although it is not a perfect answer to what Blanc was asking for, the logic itself is at a level that can be used on the Academy of Public Administration exam.
That’s because we guessed that trees, which are the core of the problem, are disappearing, and that this is a problem that can occur throughout the entire region.
So Blanc asked her her last question.
“Okay, then let’s say we dig up this stone and bring it here. So how do you plan on getting it?”
“Thanks to His Majesty the King, two carts were installed in our village, allowing us to carry heavy loads to distant places without difficulty. Wouldn’t it be possible to increase and transport more carts like that? “This stone also burns longer than wood of the same size, so if I can get a lot, I think it would be good to sell it.”
Lily was nervous about the continued questions of the higher-up, so she answered with a trembling voice.
That didn’t matter to Blanc at all.
No, I found a clue to solve the task given by His Majesty, who is called the incarnation of God in the Kreutel Empire.
I felt really good about securing a child who seemed like he would become an excellent administrator if he just completed the academy training.
And in her opinion, she has an idea and talent that will 100% pass the screening by the barons, who are as high as the sky.
To the inspector general who was the deputy mayor of her country, who was so desperate for her promotion, the girl named Lily was like a treasure trove that suddenly appeared in front of him.
So she became an inspector and, for the first time in her life, smiled kindly and patted her head as if she were treating her granddaughter.
“Really? I see Very good idea. Did you say Lily? “You are the best!”
Lily, who received such praise, was on the verge of fainting just because she was being favored by a nobleman.
“Secretary Heinz! Heinz!!”
When the inspector looked for the secretary, Heinz, a semi-nobleman, immediately entered the inspector’s office.
“Wait here for a moment.”
Heinz responded in astonishment upon seeing the inspector, who always maintained a solemn and serious tone except in front of his concubine named Roxy, treating the serf girl as if he were her beloved granddaughter.
“Yes, inspector.”
Blan then asked Lily, who was frozen.
“So, do you have a family? “If there are any people coming with you, please let me know where they are staying.”
When she first met Lily, the inspector showed a business-like attitude full of laziness, but then changed to a very friendly attitude. Lily was taken aback, but she quickly responded.
“I live with my mother, three younger sisters, and two younger brothers. Also, a group of people who came here from Green River Village to do business are staying at a place called Fish and Fry.”
“I see. Heinz, send someone to Green River Village and provide Lily’s family with two gold coins for living expenses. You should go to the fish and fry place right now and tell the group you came with that I will take Lily with you for a while. If it is misunderstood that I am taking her in as a concubine for no reason, I may have my head blown off by His Majesty, so tell her not to misunderstand as she is the subject of item 4 of the talent announcement and I am personally taking her in and helping her. “If you have any luggage to bring, please bring it with you when you return.”
If he had had a little more authority here, he would have ordered the expansion of the road to Green River Village and the deployment of additional wagons.
Lily said that if she stepped forward before her proposal was passed, it could result in overstepping her authority, so she decided that she should first work overtime and create a plan to send to her superiors.
“Did you say Lily? I’ll give you a place to stay at the city hall, so you can stay here and then go to Minepool in a week. In the meantime, I just need to train myself to answer questions about this stone. The rest of the time, you can eat whatever you want and enjoy whatever you want. I’ll give you 3 silver coins, so if you need anything, you can buy it, excluding weapons. “I will come with you for a month and inform you of your plan regarding the Burning Stone, and then I will arrange for you to immediately begin studying to go to the academy.”
At those words, Lily felt her eyes turning white.
Because I felt the pressure of having to express my opinion in front of a high-ranking person, and then the inspector gave me an unimaginable amount of money.
The problem of living expenses for my mother and family was instantly resolved with a single word from the inspector, and even going to the academy, which was the path to becoming an aristocrat, as told by Lieutenant Chelsea.
Because the burden and joy were too great.
On the other hand, Supervisor Blanc was filled with a sense of accomplishment that he was able to come up with a solution to the serious problem presented by His Majesty the Emperor, and with expectations of promotion.
‘Not inspectors like us. If I solve a problem that Your Majesty, the Prime Minister and the best officials in the Prime Minister’s Ministry, have been pondering over for a long time, can solve in one night a problem that had been pondering for months. Being promoted to the second level and assigned to the Ministry of Finance is not a dream! Damn Santos, I’ll screw you.’
**
Two months later, Lily’s solution from Greenwood Village was paid for by Crown Prince William and delivered to Ciel.
Just as Blanc expected, Ciel smiled and said to the Prime Minister.
“I said that even if I build the academy in Britanya later, I have to give talented people a chance to develop, right? As a result, an inspector and a serf girl found exactly what I was looking for. “This is a plan to save coal that can be mined in mines and wood that utilizes it!”
Having said this, Ciel had already been sending prospectors throughout the mainland of the empire to test the possibility of mining coal for several years.
Although the plan for use was almost completely prepared, it is true that in the end, it was faster than the emperor’s solution.
She is the girl who discovered coal, the key fuel for steam engines, which would be of interest to Martin, who worked all night long to obtain a doctorate in technology at the age of 19, unless her professor forcibly stopped her.
Just call up Martin and let him know that if you teach this girl well, she will help you develop the steam engine. They could be together and see eye to eye.
In any case, since he is also a prince, it would be nice to have a daughter from a noble family, but who would be a good match for that guy who is crazy about research… He might be able to maintain an arranged marriage and somehow have a child, but a normal married life would be difficult.
“Did you say Inspector Blanc? I’d like to call him to the Prime Minister’s Office and have him test his abilities, but he’s someone William needs. Send them a letter of appointment as the No. 1 Supervisor, and ask them to entrust you with a big job and verify it. Also, her girl named Lily brought something to her that she needs for her research on Martin, so she should give it to the bastard and teach him well.”
Lauren, who knew well about 2nd Prince Martin, who became Prime Minister, responded to those words.
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“I will tell her subordinates to try to connect the two as naturally as possible.”
“…… I really hope so, because both Irina and Ella are worried. She says that just looking at her children, their abilities, and the papers they wrote, Viscount Scholar can give them a professorship right now. “She needs to be taught human love and emotions before she does that, otherwise…”
Of course, thanks to the good education of Irina and Ella, Martin is a child who truly loves her people and does not have any personality problems.
So, the servants who served the child rarely pointed out problems with her personality regarding Martin, and her people also liked her quite a bit.
However, instead of studying other things that nobles have to do, I only studied engineering and mathematics…
That’s because she doesn’t understand college students and graduate students who have to learn academics in a similar position to her.
So Ciel von Kreutel, who had memories of struggling in graduate school as Kim Do-yoon, spoke in a low voice.
“If that kid becomes a professor…”
‘Working for the empire is the duty of an engineer, and research is basic as a scholar. So, in the spirit of dedicating oneself to the empire, how about eating and sleeping in the lab for a few days, if not all six days of the week, to save commuting time?’
‘Is research difficult? Change your mind. ‘Isn’t it so fun?’
Ciel felt goosebumps on a level comparable to the first time he saw Count Schwein.
Then he spoke words that no one in this era could understand.
“Graduate students are people too. “It’s a person.”
Lauren, who didn’t know that, answered like this.
“Graduate students work a lot, but aren’t they all nobles?”