Chapter 44: 44 Interviewing the Administrator

With the addition of more than twenty servants, Shanlin Castle began to operate normally.

Luoning's daily life was also temporarily relieved from the previous rushing and anxiety, and he began to spend more time practicing swordsmanship and Magic.

Early the next morning, served by the maid Beila, Luoning put on the formal attire brought out from Wushan Castle.

The maid Beila appeared very reserved, not even daring to raise her head.

Although she had undergone training by Chahaer, this was her first time performing the actual task on the lord, so she could not help but feel a bit flustered.

Luoning did not show any abnormality on the surface, but having a woman serve him so closely while dressing still felt strange in his heart.

He actually wanted to do it himself, but unfortunately, he did not quite know how to handle this type of court collar.

"Don't be nervous, Beila, you can relax a bit."

Luoning reminded her: "We have plenty of time."

"Ye, yes, my lord!"

Beila responded in a low voice, her face bright red; her fingers were somewhat disobedient while handling the court collar, and her body seemed to become increasingly weak due to nervousness.

Fortunately, the clothes were already mostly on, and after smoothing out a few corners of the garment, the maid Beila could finally breathe.

She had successfully completed her first service.

Luoning looked down to examine his appearance; the gorgeous attire paired with his tall stature looked quite handsome.

"Well done, Beila!"

The maid lowered her head with a blushing face, "Thank you for the praise, my lord, Beila will do better next time!"

"I look forward to it."

Luoning said, walking out of the dressing room.

Outside, the manservant Jialun was waiting there: "My lord, Chahaer has already brought the people who came to apply for the position of Administrator to the Outer Castle hall."

"Then let's go over."

Luoning asked while walking, "How many people came in total?"

Jialun replied: "Three in total."

"Only three?"

Hearing this number, Luoning did not know what to say for a moment.

Jialun explained: "When the sky just brightened, more than a dozen people came outside the castle; they all wanted to become your Administrator. However, after the screening by Steward Chahaer, those with insufficient ability were excluded, and only three remained."

After exiting the Inner Castle, Luoning arrived at the Outer Castle hall, which was a relatively spacious wooden room usually used only by Chahaer or Maiken and the others.

For instance, the Steward teaching the new arrivals etiquette last night was in this place.

Luoning entered the room, and Chahaer came up to greet him, "My lord, these are the three people after my preliminary screening."

Seeing Luoning arrive, the three people immediately bowed and saluted to greet the lord.

Looking at their bowing movements, Luoning could judge that these three people were all Free Citizens and not Serfs, as the latter would have to kneel when seeing the lord.

"I am very glad that you could respond to the recruitment of Shanlin Castle."

Luoning walked to the front and sat down, getting straight to the point: "However, I only need one Administrator, so I need to select one from the three of you."

The three were all a bit nervous inside, but they were all prepared for the competition.

"Let's start with you."

Luoning pointed to the middle-aged man on the far left, "The remaining two go out first, one by one."

The man who was pointed out to stay became nervous; he knew the real test had begun.

"Now there are two commoners who had a dispute over a fat duck; they both said the duck was theirs, and both sides gathered a few friends, resulting in a small conflict involving more than a dozen people."

Luoning stated the question he had thought of, "If you were the Administrator of Shanlin Town, how would you handle this matter?"

"Uh..."

This person was stunned; he seemed not to have expected Luoning to ask such a question, and for a moment his brain was buzzing, not knowing what to think.

He kept shouting in his heart to wake up and answer the question, but he just did not know how to start.

And as the silence lengthened, his palms, forehead, and back were covered in sweat, and his breathing became rapid.

Luoning, having waited for dozens of seconds without receiving a response, could not help but ask again: "Tell me, how would you handle it?"

"I, I, I don't know..."

This person sat down on the ground with a thud, his voice trembling.

Luoning was speechless.

Even if this person could not answer, there was no need to be so scared that he sat on the ground; was his psychological resilience that poor?

"Next." He waved his hand.

Chahaer hurriedly ran over to pull up the applicant who was slumped on the ground and helped him walk out of the hall.

Facing the same question, the second person appeared relatively calm.

"My lord, you are the lord of Shanlin Town; every blade of grass and every tree here belongs to you, including the property of the commoners, and even the people themselves. So I think their dispute over the ownership of a duck is completely unreasonable, because this duck belongs to you!"

This person answered forcefully: "Therefore, I would seize the duck they were fighting over and send it to the castle; this way, their dispute could be resolved and the matter properly settled."

Luoning stroked his chin and thought for a moment, "What you said has some merit; go down and wait for notification first. Chahaer, let the third person in."

Facing the same question, the third person also appeared relatively calm.

After a brief thought, this person stated his answer: "My lord, if I were the Administrator, I would solve this matter in several steps."

Luoning signaled for the other party to continue.

"The first step, I would notify the castle guard to arrest all the people who caused the trouble."

"The second step, I would manage to judge them to determine who the duck actually belongs to."

"The third step, I would punish this group of people. The one who made a false claim should be judged for a serious crime, punished with whipping and a fine; for his accomplices, I would impose hard labor and fines."

"As for the other side, I would impose a warning, hard labor, or even a fine depending on the cause and severity of the conflict."

After this conversation, even Chahar, who was standing to the side, cast a look of admiration at the other party; if nothing went wrong, this would be the Administrator.

Luoning was clearly very satisfied with this answer.

"Tell me, how would you judge them and determine the ownership of this duck?"

The man pondered again and said, "The imposter is clearly a lowly commoner; we need no pity for such a person. I will use verbal warnings and whipping as warnings to force the other party to make an honest confession."

Luoning was not very satisfied with this answer, "In that case, there is a possibility of wrongly harming the duck's true owner."

"But I have cleared his name."

The man said very firmly, "I believe he will eventually be grateful to me."

Luoning shook his head, "I approve of your previous answer, but I do not quite agree with your method of judgment. If the duck's owner is afraid of your threats and is forced to admit it, that is equivalent to you indulging the imposter."

Hearing this evaluation, the applicant's face turned pale. Being denied by the Baron, there should be no chance left, right?

"Sorry, my lord, I have disappointed you."

He bowed slightly, "Perhaps there is a better way, but please forgive me for not having thought of it."

"Then take your time to think about it later when you have the time."

The corners of Luoning's mouth curled up slightly, and he slowly stood up, "Tell me your name."

The person below was stunned for a moment, then showed a look of surprise.

A second ago he thought he had been eliminated, but he did not expect that the next second he had actually passed.

"My lord, I am Wilson!"

"Congratulations, Wilson. From now on, you are the Administrator of Shanlin Town. I will give you a salary of 10 copper coins per day. I hope you will serve me well."

Although the other party's answer did not entirely match Luoning's thoughts, being able to answer the previous steps showed that he had a certain amount of logic and organization.

And the previous two people...

The first one goes without saying; his psychological quality was too poor. If he encountered any major event, he would probably have no opinion of his own.

The second one, the other party's answer seemed to have the suspicion of looking for loopholes. Furthermore, would Luoning go and snatch someone else's duck because of this matter? That would only weaken his positive image.

So, in a situation where only three people could be chosen, Luoning chose the third one.

"Many thanks for your recognition, my lord!"

Wilson knelt on one knee and said excitedly, "Wilson will definitely do his best to assist you, my lord, in governing Shanlin Town well!"

In this remote place, being able to get a salary of 10 copper coins per day was something Wilson dared not even imagine.

Coming to apply for the position of Administrator this time could be considered the most important choice he had made in his life.

Luoning raised his hand, signaling for the other party to stand up.

"Then, the first task I assign to you is to conduct a census of Shanlin Town."

Luoning began to arrange the first task, "I want you to take families as units and record the gender, age, occupation, and specialties of each person in a register."

"In addition, pay special attention to the craftsmen for me!"

Understanding the population structure of Shanlin Town could help Luoning carry out subsequent construction, and it 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 and be registered in the records.

Even if Shanlin Town did not have that many people now, the census was still imperative.

"My lord..."

Chahar was stammering on the side.

"If you have something to say, just say it, Chahar."

This new Steward revealed his worries, "My lord, there are only 83 sheets of parchment in the castle. Is it a bit wasteful to use them to register the information of the territory's people?"

Parchment was not cheap; a page of 40 lines of parchment sold for about 10 copper coins.

If this were purchased in large quantities, it would also be a not-insignificant expense.

That Chahar, as the new Steward, could think of the issue of parchment consumption at the first moment could be considered as having officially entered the role of Steward; this was very good.

"Your worry is reasonable."

Luoning nodded slightly, but he had to do this population registration matter.

"There are not many people in the town. Even if we count them all, it shouldn't consume much. Besides, I will go to Muma City in two days, and I will just purchase a little more then."

The matter of parchment actually reminded Luoning of a technology—Papermaking.

Only by producing cheap paper could information be spread more conveniently, and only then would it enrich the various "design" talents in the territory.

Besides white liquor, Papermaking also seemed to be something that could be brought out and applied to Shanlin Town.

"However, this matter cannot be rushed. We can first explore the production method and promote it after the time is ripe."

For things that are invented, one must also have the ability to protect them.

(End of this chapter)