Chapter 371: The Monastery Is Also an Institution

"Phew! May the Heavenly Father bless us, it's done."

Kraft rushed into the office, threw himself into the chair with his last strength, and collapsed like a skeleton into a puddle of a person.

"Rarely, you can still say a few good words to the Heavenly Father in private?"

Lei Mengde pushed the cooled breakfast forward, but the nominal abbot lacked even the strength to lift a finger, sinking helplessly into the softness of the cushions, looking as if he had no intention of rising before the next proper meal.

However, his main reason for pushing the plate forward was just to make a gesture and leave space for the documents; he didn't expect the other to bother eating a couple of bites, just as he hadn't expected someone to voluntarily get up to work.

Ever since those two unlucky children sent down the mountain returned, Kraft had been frequently shuttling between the operating room, the laboratory, and the ward, occasionally appearing in the dining hall or for morning prayers, but rarely showing up in the abbot's office.

Life is often like this: whatever you choose, you must lose something.

Only after losing do you realize how precious a superior like Green is, one whose work and life are regular and who can be found when trouble arises.

As for people like Kraft, you can't say he isn't doing proper work; you can only say that the proper work he understands might differ slightly from what others understand.

He would be attracted by sudden curiosity or responsibility, throwing himself wholeheartedly into new problems and solving them.

Next, either the problem is completely solved, or it proves to be a hopeless dead end. In fact, even if he encounters the latter, he will still strive to make some attempts.

As a colleague and collaborator, his quality is worthy of everyone's trust; as the leader of a loose organization, his ability is sufficient to drive the group's technical progress; as a mentor, his academic vision and scholarly attitude are worth learning from.

But if this guy is your direct supervisor, then it's truly damned.

"There have been quite a few things lately," Lei Mengde said, opening a new document and bringing up the recent situation of the monastery.

Unless one personally gets involved, no one would think that a mere monastery of a few dozen people could generate so much workload; almost every decision triggers a series of follow-up feedback.

"This year's autumn flooding has lasted longer than usual; grain procurement may encounter resistance next, so we need to prepare in advance.

"The villagers' perception of the monastery seems favorable; we must consider whether to resume regular masses and confessions. If so, we need to arrange personnel, venues, and funding in advance.

"The construction of the manor will involve some land with unclear boundaries; we must communicate individually with the owners of the surrounding land in advance to avoid unnecessary disputes.

"We have established letter contact with churches in two neighboring towns; they mentioned that they used to send people for advanced studies, but we currently lack the conditions, so..."

Some matters concern winter rations, some are unavoidable core duties of the monastery, and others are land and economic disputes; just listening to them is enough to give one a headache.

Kraft changed his posture, adopting a frowning, nodding expression of thought; clearly, he hadn't expected so many trivial matters, yet he had to handle them.

His eyes, surrounded by dark circles, were tightly closed; it was hard to say whether he was resting with his eyes closed or unwilling to face reality.

It wasn't that he lacked the ability to handle them; it's just that most of these matters are tedious and time-consuming, requiring relevant experience. Grain purchasing and land demarcation are manageable, but training fellow believers for advanced studies? Why on earth should he handle that?

If the training fails, it's a small matter; if it goes awry, it's a big one.

Moreover, if he puts his energy into these things, who will treat the patients? Who will perform the surgeries? Who will handle the pharmaceuticals? Who will deal with the anomalous issues?

One cannot do such a thing of abandoning the root to chase the branches!

Kraft became increasingly aware of the importance of talent; luring... recruiting Lei Mengde back then was truly the most correct decision, but unfortunately, one senior monk was still lacking.

"Lei Mengde, as the Holy Scripture states, our greatest King, when campaigning in all directions, often personally led the front lines to fight the enemy, and at night had to maintain his armor and sharpen his weapons, leaving no time to attend to anything else."

Lei Mengde had a bad feeling; he knew very well someone's attitude toward the theological scriptures. They rarely brought them up, and whenever the topic was steered toward the classics, there was always a purpose behind it.

"Does this mean our King is impious or negligent in state affairs? Of course not. With invaluable, unreserved trust, he handed his power over to Saint Yeger to act on his behalf, and the latter did not disappoint, bestowing the Lord's authority and mercy upon the people.

"This precisely shows that everyone has their own strengths and that one's energy cannot cover everything. You are well-versed in the scriptures and skilled in personnel matters; you are exactly the kind of figure like Saint Yeger and should be competent for the positions of Knight Commander and Monastery Steward.

"Handle these matters according to your own judgment; I will focus my energy on medicine."

Before he could react and stop that mouth from continuing, the promotion appointment had already landed on his head; in the blink of an eye, he became the second-in-command of the diocese.

It sounded wonderful, but Lei Mengde only felt like he had been struck by a bolt of lightning from a clear sky.

With the workload permanently doubled, he estimated he was not far from meeting the prerequisites for canonization.

However, Kraft's conscience and reason made him realize that one person couldn't bear all the work; there needed to be someone who managed everything to help share the burden.

Yes, facing the monastery's gradually increasing traffic, complex management, difficulties in training specialized personnel, and the need for duty shifts and handling emergencies, they urgently needed a new position to solve these problems.

The person in this position must possess sufficient learning and training background to be competent for the series of tasks they would face after taking office, including:

Allocating resources and grasping the general situation of the whole; managing administrative documents and compiling various data; cooperating and communicating with various departments to coordinate arrangements; guiding and teaching other monks and supervising them to complete necessary coursework; and finally, ensuring long-term presence to handle emergencies, summoning superiors when necessary.

So familiar. Such top-tier oxen... no, diversified talents—surely they must have a prestigious title?

"Steward Lei Mengde, do not worry; we will select two Chief Residents to share part of your workload."

"?"

"Ah, you probably haven't heard of it before. Chief Resident duty: a magical role on duty seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Everything you do can be taught to them to handle—of course, given our current workload, we are far from reaching this level of intensity."

The more Kraft spoke, the more reasonable it seemed to him: a hospital is an institution, and a monastery is also an institution.

After all, this was not the interior of the Dunling Church, where promotions had stagnated and officials waited year after year for a vacant post; it was a newly rising order of knights.

After all, this is not the internal Dunling Church where positions are stagnating and people wait year after year for a vacant post; it is a newly rising Knight Order.

【46】 It can both share the monastery's workload and quickly cultivate talents capable of handling various positions; after rotation, they are assigned posts to stand alone. It belongs to a three-win genius idea—the Chief Resident gains work experience and a new position, Lei Mengde reduces his workload, and Kraft gains freedom.

Perhaps this is the original intention of the Chief Resident duty physician system.

"I have already considered the candidates. Fortunately, there are no surgeries requiring assistants recently; I will assign Kup to you so he can learn to handle medical and logistics matters.

"As for the second, let it be Field. I see this young man has a strong sense of responsibility; let him learn from you to handle various internal church affairs. Save him from sighing and worrying all day long sitting next to Dominic."

"And you?" Lei Mengde stared at the instigator who was about to shed his responsibilities.

"Me? I'm going to find whatever killed the previous tenant and prevent it from sending us to see the Heavenly Father as well."