Working as a temporary street cleaning supervisor, I unexpectedly discovered that I actually liked having people work under me. Managing people was very difficult at the office, but here it was too easy. Probably because I was in a definite position as a noble.
Neumann, the administrative official I first connected with, was sensitive to profit but also tried to provide me with convenience and benefits. He cooperated because it benefited him, but connections with nobles were attractive.
After the executioner returned, I handed over the temporary supervisor position, and Neumann started giving me work in other areas. It was catching beggars who didn't have beggar's certificates. At first, I didn't know what this was about.
"You need a beggar's certificate even to beg?"
"Ah, you didn't know, sir knight. These days there are so many beggars that we're issuing certificates, but there are still many illegal beggars begging without certificates, so we're cracking down regularly."
Well, I didn't know there were certificates for beggars too. The administrative official received support from the Ministry of Justice's guards for this crackdown. If beggars resisted, the guards would step in and handle it. Neumann asked me to take the guards and crack down on beggars in the Linz Avenue area, which was my assigned district.
Naturally, there was an occupation repeated quest.
[Repeated Quest: Occupation]
[Beggar Permit Inspector]
[Crack down on beggars without permits]
[Manager Scouter temporarily provided]
[Reward - 200 points, 200 copper coins]
I thought I was getting used to this world, but I didn't expect this.
Anyway, I led 5 guards and intensively cracked down on the southern alleys branching off like stems from Linz Avenue. I could determine whether they had certificates through the Manager Scouter.
[Boerd Lindemann's History]
[Age 25][No affiliation][Address: Alley 8 resident]
[Quest: No beggar's certificate]
"Oh my, sir! What's this about beggars needing certificates!"
"If you want to beg, go through the proper procedure and get a certificate."
"They don't issue certificates easily!"
After being harassed by beggars, I no longer looked at them favorably. Because rich people believed they could climb the stairway to heaven by giving to beggars, beggars actually earned more income from begging than commoners. Seeing that, everyone became beggars.
When there were too many beggars, the duchy government tried to control beggars by issuing certificates. Naturally, it wouldn't work properly, so they conduct regular crackdown activities. So I easily determined whether they had certificates through the Manager Scouter.
"Wait, what exactly is that knight's identity?"
"How does he catch them just by looking once?"
The guards seemed quite surprised when I cracked down on beggars without hesitation. So I made up an excuse that I deduced it by watching the beggars' behavior. Then I became known as a knight with amazing perception. I cracked down on all the beggars in every alley touching Linz Avenue.
About 30 beggars were caught and fined.
Naturally, I wrote their names and ages on linen paper and handed it to Neumann. Neumann blinked and looked back and forth between me and the paper. And when he turned his gaze to the guards, they praised me as a knight with tremendous ability.
"Ahem, sir knight. May I continue to ask for your help?"
"It's good to have guaranteed work. Leave it to me anytime."
So for the time being, I worked as a beggar permit inspector, and my notoriety spread among beggars not only on Linz Avenue (west) but also on other avenues. Beggars ran away as soon as they saw me. So the beggars who annoyed me during morning training didn't come near me anymore, which was satisfying and rewarding.
[F-rank Management Title Achieved]
[Hall of Fame has been opened.]
Besides the shop, something called Hall of Fame was newly opened. When I accessed it, there was a category called F-rank Management, and the benefit was a 20% increase in management ability. But this was too vague a number, so I couldn't really feel it. Does it mean my work ability improves by 20% more when I perform occupation quests?
It was a bit ambiguous to judge without experiencing it.
Doesn't F-rank mean the grade will go up in the future?
But I spotted a big guy sitting weakly in one corner of the plaza.
That guy remained in my memory. Was his name Hans?
He was a sincere guy who followed my words particularly well when I worked as street cleaning supervisor.
I don't know why, but he looked down.
Thinking this was also fate, I took Hans to a restaurant.
It's a restaurant called Rosemary that I occasionally visited.
"I, I don't know if I should be treated like this."
"Don't be shy and eat a lot. When you eat until you're full, you have room to spare."
"Th, then I'll gratefully eat."
When I worked as street cleaning supervisor for a week, Hans consistently came out to street cleaning and not only actively acted without complaints but worked very faithfully and sincerely. That's why he remained in my memory. When I put down the supervisor job, I thought our connection ended there.
He was big and strong too.
It seems he couldn't find proper work after the street cleaning job disappeared.
If I remember correctly, this guy's tendency was honest (good).
And his favorability toward me was particularly high too.
"Um, can I take the leftovers?"
"You want to wrap this up? Why?"
"I want to feed it to my younger sister."
He had a younger sister?
The Manager Scouter can't search family relationships. If you want to add functions beyond the basic two functions, you have to pay 5,000 points to purchase the function. Thinking of Hans's build, I ordered a lot of different types, but Hans ate only half and seemed to want to wrap up the rest. When I allowed it, he happily took off his clothes and wrapped up the rest.
I stared at that sight.
He's a good guy who cherishes and loves his younger sister.
He might be the type who won't last long in this brutal medieval era, but that's why I liked him.
"Hans. Would you like to work as my servant?"
"What? M, me? But all I can do is day labor?"
Hans was greatly flustered, as if it was an unexpected proposal.
Hans didn't jump at my proposal. He honestly said he was illiterate, couldn't even calculate, and was just a day laborer, so he wouldn't be helpful. He was an honest person according to his tendency. That's why I could trust him.
"I think it's about time I had a servant. I'll teach you the parts you're lacking."
"Th, thank you so much for giving me such an opportunity! Supervisor! Please work me like an ox!"
"Don't shout so loud in a restaurant."
Hans trembled with emotion.
And I could hear Hans's story.
Hans and his younger sister aren't from the capital. They were from the southern part of the Duchy of Beren, living in an area close to Switzerland, when unfortunately an epidemic (presumed to be measles) broke out in their hometown. As a result, Hans and his sister who fled from the village came to rely on their aunt living in the capital.
They were lucky because it was before the roads were blocked after the epidemic was known.
Their aunt married a textile merchant and was fairly wealthy, so she could take in these siblings.
She's no different from a benefactor to them. And whenever Hans talked about his sister, his eyes welled up with tears, saying he made her suffer too much.
"It's my wish for my younger sister to marry into a good place."
"Then I should hire your sister as a maid too."
"What?"
Since I'm earning not only points but also copper coins through repeated quests, I can pay enough for labor costs. If Hans mainly handles outdoor work requiring strength and his sister does housework, it seems like perfect balance. Plus, I'm employing a whole family. Is this the responsibility of a noble?
"Sob, thank you! I'll serve you with my life, supervisor!"
"Call me Wolfgang. When was I ever a supervisor?"
While nobles are in a position of ruler over commoners, they also provide quality jobs to commoners and take responsibility for their families and livelihoods. It could be called the ideal noble's attitude, but not all nobles in the world are that good. Still, I wanted to be a good noble.
"You hired this guy as a servant? A poor person?"
"Is there a problem with me hiring a servant?"
"N, no. It's just so unexpected."
Is hiring a poor person such a strange thing?
Neumann looked at Hans sourly but didn't interfere beyond that. If he interfered beyond his station, he'd incur my anger. He knows how to conduct himself. From an administrative official's standpoint, he didn't look favorably on poor people who were no different from vagrants, so it could look strange to hire such a poor person as a servant.
"Anyway, is it beggar crackdown today too?"
"No. We've cracked down enough, so it's fine. But we got a support request from Beyen (south)."
"What request?"
"The church requested building materials to expand the cathedral, but unfortunately the financial audit overlapped, so the administrative officials over there can't respond. So you can receive a lot of work allowance."
The allowance paid by the government office would be the basic allowance, but Neumann will extort back money from the administrative official in charge of Beyen. Neumann uses me in that way, and naturally I also receive half of the money Neumann extorts. It was mutual aid in its own way. But Hans seems very displeased.
"That official bastard. It seems like he only sees Wolfgang as someone to use?"
"I'm just going along for now. There's not much left, so bear with it a little."
"I'm fine, but I'm angry because he seems to think of Wolfgang like a subordinate."
It hasn't been long since I hired him, but Hans had become an excellent retainer.
I skillfully managed the workers with the Manager Scouter and safely moved the building materials to the church. The priest was very happy, saying we moved it faster than expected. But I didn't like that he too obviously demanded offerings. The workers too naturally offered half their earnings.
Hans, a devout believer, tried to pour out all his money and got smacked on the back of the head by me.
Even if you're devout, there's a limit. The biggest reason Hans often starved was offerings to the church. It stemmed from the belief that by praying to God, he could overcome this desperate reality and send Sabine to marry into a good place.
Since I threw down a lifeline, he wouldn't need to rely on it that much.
But all I could do was set a limit on offerings.
Rather, I'm the strange one to them for telling them to reduce their religious life.
I hired Hans at 400 copper coins a month. On top of that, he receives more work allowances, so with separate fixed income coming in, he always has a smile on his face these days, saying he can make a living. Recently, Hans thanked me, saying he bought delicious Bratwurst for his sister.
I tried to hire Hans's sister as a maid, but the sister expressed her intention to join after helping with her aunt's work for the time being because it was too busy. I allowed it since she seemed responsible. The sister's name was Sabine Flamm.
Since Sabine helps with the textile shop run by her aunt's family, Hans commutes every day. He can't leave Sabine alone in this rough world. So when he comes to work, running is basic, and I teach him various training I'm doing, and his body is getting better and better.
But while I was checking the bulletin board in front of the government office to see if there was other work, a different administrative official came to me instead of Neumann. He was the administrative official I saw in Beyen before. He approached me taking advantage of Neumann's absence.
"If it's alright, would you take on the logistics transport supervisor position?"
"Logistics transport? Is it different from building materials?"
"Of course building materials are also included in logistics transport. These days our office is too noisy because of the financial audit. So we're short-handed, and I wondered if you're interested?"
"I see. So what's the allowance?"
"I'll set it at 200 copper coins."
[Repeated Quest: Occupation]
[Logistics Transport Supervisor]
[Manage 20 workers without gaps]
[Manager Scouter temporarily provided]
[Reward - 200 points, 200 copper coins]
When I played the game, repeated quests were quite boring content, but repeated quests here are no different from my livelihood. I still eat three meals with points, eating German-style for breakfast, modern food for lunch, and low-calorie meals (vegetable-focused) for dinner, though I sometimes eat out.
Besides that, I use the rental shop for entertainment.
Anyway, I accepted the Beyen administrative official's proposal.
Neumann gave me work at 100 copper coins, but this side offered double that, so I had no choice but to transfer. Neumann would lose his golden goose, but he'd eaten his fill until now, so that was enough. If he complains to me, I plan to show him what a noble is. I have quite a temper too.
I'm the case that became calmer with age, but even in my twenties, I once fought brutally with another department. Of course, it doesn't even compare to disputes in medieval times, but anyway, I'm not just gentle either.
"Ah, and this side is my servant, so give this guy a separate allowance too."
"What? Even to a servant? But..."
"If you don't want to, let's forget it."
"N, no. I'll set it at 40 copper coins."
If I can get it, I should get it all. Officials are beings who try not to give money any way they can. Regular workers get 20 copper coins, so receiving double that wasn't bad treatment either. Hans seems to be worrying these days that he's too lucky.
"The workers working at the loading dock are famous for being low quality."
"When were there ever quality workers?"
"Still, I heard many over there are connected to the slums."
"Slums? Hmm. That's something to be a bit careful about."
Where there's light, there's darkness.
Especially the capital had that tendency even more.
Like Hans's case, residents whose villages disappeared head to the capital aimlessly or to seek success. The capital was the number one city sufficient for such purposes. But most can't find jobs and either move between day labor jobs or, if they can't even do that, create poor people's dens.
Slums were born that way.
Criminal organizations run rampant, but since policing doesn't happen inside the slums, it's no different from lawlessness. The duchy government leaves it alone. Because shoving all the troublesome poor people into the slums and monitoring them costs less for maintaining public order.
So slums were basically garbage bins.
The slum district was located at the southwestern tip of the districts divided by the four main avenues, and it started growing and eventually ate up half of the southwestern district.
"How connected could day laborers be to the slums?"
"That's true, but there are so many rumors."
"Hmm, let's be careful then. If you're that anxious."
Maybe because I haven't really met slum residents yet, but honestly I seem to take it a bit lightly. There's nothing wrong with being careful. Anyway, following the guidance of the official in charge of the Beyen district located on the southern avenue, I moved to the warehouse where building materials were collected.
There I received 20 workers.
When I looked with the Manager Scouter, the quality of the workers was overall not good.
Workers with honest tags were few. I wish I could hire the workers myself, but they're already hired. Did they hire residents of the southwestern district where the slums are located?
The main task is moving building materials stored in each district to warehouses in other districts. But I questioned whether this really needed management. It's not cleaning, just simply moving materials? Ah, they might run off with materials, so monitoring seems necessary.
And there were other problems.
"Five bastards disappeared."
I was speechless looking at the absent personnel shown on the Manager Scouter. Even so, is management this lacking? First, I sent Hans to find these guys. They had sour expressions as if wondering how I knew, and I got angry.
I just gave a verbal warning and moved on.
If I waste time picking on each one, it would work out the way those bastards want.
Of course, I identified those bastards' information, so I'll inform the Beyen official and cut their wages.
But is it because I have F-rank Management?
It seemed I could manage personnel more skillfully than usual.
While working like that, I caught guys slacking off 3 times. 12 out of 20 people got caught. Looking at it now, these bastards seem to take turns slacking off. When I told the Beyen official about this, he complained that it's difficult to manage properly due to chronic manpower shortage.
I didn't know it was this much of a mess.
"Still, how did you find the hidden guys so well? Your work handling is really amazing."
"There are methods. Would it be okay if I come over to this side starting tomorrow?"
"Oh, I welcome it! I won't have to hear whining from Neumann."
Neumann seems to have made quite a fuss. Naturally, but that's over now too. So I frequently visited the administrative office on Beyen Avenue instead of the plaza. Since logistics transport connects various goods like a spider web, manpower was woefully insufficient.
Manpower being insufficient means finding guys who don't sneak things is like picking stars from the sky. Being close to the slums, it was hard to find quality workers. Plus, if you go further west, there's a narrow bridge where you can cross a small stream, and beyond that is the famous prostitution street.
"Do I need to train?"
Recently, I've been bringing Hans home and making him do physical training. He's strong but physical fitness is a separate matter. Hans followed without complaint, but as I gradually increased the intensity, it seemed increasingly overwhelming for him to keep up. Plus, his motivation was lacking.
"If I had to categorize it, you're a servant slash soldier."
"S, soldier? I'm confident in strength, but I don't know how to handle weapons?"
So I handed Hans the arming sword, shield, and leather armor set I got from the armory shop a while ago. What is all this? Hans's wide-eyed reaction was very amusing. Actually, this is a surprise gift from me to Hans.
If he wears this, he transforms from servant to soldier.
Hans's expression became very sour, but I was satisfied.
"After I receive my knighthood next year, when there's mobilization, I can go to the battlefield. At that time, you'll have to fight under me as a soldier, so you'll need proper equipment and arms, right?"
"Huh? M, me? But I can't fight?"
"That's why I'll teach you from now on. You said you want to send Sabine to marry into a good place?"
"...Yes. I'll work hard!"
Is this the head of household's mindset that he can do anything for Sabine? If Hans really helps me with his life on the line, I'll also try to send Sabine to marry into a good place as Hans wishes. A contractual relationship is nothing special. You just need to be clear about giving and receiving.
First, as a knight's maid, she should be able to find a decent match.