Sword of Dawnbreaker - Chapter 190 - : Heidi's Work Arrangement
Gawain rubbed his eyes before exiting the dream lantern’s magical connection.
When the image of the Ancestral Peak ended, the lantern didn’t put on any more new images.
Perhaps it was because Selena Gerfen had turned into a dark priest afterward. Due to the great change in personality, she might have lost her habit of making regular recordings. It was also possible that she had an unnatural death shortly after the recording. No matter what the reason was, the clues from the lantern had ended here.
However, these clues were already enough to reveal countless facts.
Gawain had around 90% confidence in determining that Megal III was wearing some kind of “spacesuit” back then. Furthermore, he had received all sorts of magical enhancements, allowing him to stay in an outer space environment (or some similar environment). As for the objective of the entire ritual, or should it be Megal III’s “destination”… If Selena’s “voiceover” was trustworthy, then the attempt for the mysterious communication with the gods was actually to send a pope to the god realm?
So the god realm was situated in space? Or could it be that a space journey was required before reaching the god realm?
What kind of truth did those religious leaders obtain 700 years ago?
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Selena mentioned the “god-sent” hints in the voiceover. Those religious leaders seemed to have received information that involved the god realm from the god-sent hints and also understood the environment condition of the god realm. They then used that information to design a protective suit that was similar to a spacesuit. The god-sent hints seemed to also come from the Eternal Stone Slate… It also meant that those religious upper echelons who could have direct contact with the Eternal Stone Slate wouldn’t just be able to learn knowledge of theurgy, they could also “see” the god realm?
Gawain stood up and muttered as he paced around in the study. Right now, he was the most curious about that final outcome of the ritual… Did Megal III succeed? Did he reach the god realm? Did he return? What did he see or hear? What did he bring back?
After the conference at the Ancestral Peak, there were several factions that degenerated into the evil dark cults. Among them, the strongest, most mysterious, and completely corrupted factions were the Oblivion Association, the Eternal Sleepers, and Sons of the Storm. Furthermore, the leaders of these three factions just happened to be standing at the altar…
Right at this moment, a knocking sound interrupted Gawain’s thoughts.
Gawain was instantly able to determine that it wasn’t Amber standing at the door… Because that half-elf young lady would definitely jump in through the window or emerge from the shadow realm. It wasn’t Rebecca either as she would normally use her hand to blast the door open before recalling that she should knock first. He shook his head to temporarily put the complicated thoughts aside before he cleared his throat and said, “Come in.”
When the doors were opened, Heidi, who had a pair of dark circles around her eyes, walked inside while carrying a large stack of documents that were arranged orderly. Her magic staff was floating right beside, which she had used to knock on the door.
“Ancestor, the steelworks’ production report and the exploration report of the land at the northern bank have been delivered.” Heidi carried the documents to the work desk and placed them on the table carefully. She let out a breath and said, “There is also the development of the forest in the next season, the production and expansion of the mines, the construction of the new residential area, the expansion of the night school, the construction of the gravel factory, the recruitment of apothecaries, and the nurturing proposal. Please take a look!”
After the eldest granddaughter blabbed out a whole list of proposals, and when those heavy documents slammed on the table, Gawain felt a slight shock. He had an astonished face as he asked, “You specially accumulated a stack before looking for me?”
Heidi had a face as though she was excessively overworked. “Of course not. I have been arranging everything for nights, and each of these projects were urgent. Previously, you instructed me to bring these proposals to you once they were ready.”
The proposals were the sequential development prepared by Gawain. Heidi had to admit that these proposals could greatly increase the overall efficiency and also the execution accuracy. However, when dealing with these proposals, Heidi recalled the suffering days she went through back when she was learning magic and how she was force-fed and forced to memorize the information. However, there was a minor difference between then and now… When she was young, if she was overly pressured when she was learning magic, she could use her magic staff and fight with her mentor. Right now, even if she felt overly pressured by these proposals, she didn’t dare to fight with her ancestor…
As such, she could only use eyeshadow to draw dark eye-circles before coming. She hoped that the old ancestor would notice that she was overworked and could reduce some of her workload…
Gawain could also feel the intense complaints in Heidi’s tone, and when he carefully pondered, it seemed like he impulsively instructed her to prepare all these huge tasks. Therefore, he could only smile wryly and said, “Cough, cough. It is rather good. You did a good job. After all these things are done, you may rest for two days…”
As Gawain spoke, he lowered his head and took a rough glance at the topmost reports. Heidi took this moment to let out a sigh of relief and casually looked across Gawain’s table.
The first thing she saw was the dream lantern and paid a little more attention to it. However, her specialty wasn’t in such theurgy support items; thus, she shifted her eyes away and saw a knight’s biography at the corner of the table. As such, she curiously picked it up and read the title on the cover.
.
Heidi’s expression immediately turned strange. “Ancestor, is… is it fine for you to read such books?”
Gawain looked up and took a glance, only to see Heidi holding a book that had a topic which was rather sensitive. He felt extremely embarrassed. “Goddamn it, I forgot to keep it… Cough, cough. It is just a novel. It’s fine…”
Halfway through his explanation, he suddenly realized something and looked at Heidi suspiciously. “…How do you know what is written in the book?”
Heidi was startled and had frozen for a few seconds before cold sweat started to drip down her face. After a long moment, she gave a vague explanation, “I merely guessed the contents after reading the title of the book…”
Gawain sized up Heidi and said, “If you were to say so earlier, I might have believed you, but your expression now is too unconvincing.”
Heidi: “I… I accidentally read it! After all, the book is rather popular among noblewomen. Moreover, this… this is a romance novel, and the contents are rather straightforward… Sorry, Ancestor, I was wrong!”
Gawain’s mouth twitched as he looked at “Madam Heidi”, who was reputed in noble society for being “mature, earnest, graceful, and wise”, as she was bowing and apologizing like a young lady who had done something wrong. Her face was so red, and her forehead was filled with cold sweat… If it was anyone else, they would never have been able to see her current expression in a lifetime. How should it be said? It was rather interesting.
To be honest, it felt like an accomplishment to occasionally tease the usually (and overly) stern Heidi. Gawain knew when to stop and gave a slight cough before speaking seriously, “Alright, alright, why are you so nervous? I have read the book, and although most of the stories are made up, it is merely a regular romance novel of knights marrying princesses. Although, marrying over eighty princesses is indeed a little too many… Mmm, there isn’t anything carnal.”
Heidi nodded forcefully and said, “Ancestor is right!”
Gawain curled his lips and looked at Heidi. “But I have to inform you about something.”
Heidi answered with reverence, “Please say it, Ancestor!”
“Your dark eye-circle makeup has shed off.” Gawain looked at this great-great-great… granddaughter helplessly and said, “They have started to fade due to the sweat.”
Heidi: “…”
Subsequently, Heidi bowed to the bottom this time and shouted, “Apologies, Ancestor! I was wrong!”
Gawain’s eyes twitched a little as he was worried that he might have put too much work pressure on Heidi, causing her to buckle under the heavy responsibilities. Heidi was starting to gradually reveal Rebecca-like thoughts… After all, they were both flowing with the same bloodline, and after looking at Rebecca’s behavior, Gawain knew that it was more or less related to her bloodline…
The more Gawain thought, the more possible it seemed. He sighed as he didn’t know whether to cry or laugh and said, “Alright, your work pressure is indeed a little too much recently… But it is fortunate that the most important winter construction sites have already been settled, and the craftsmen now have their own leaders, while those clerks and internal-affairs apprentices should be capable now. You can have a short rest… I shall give you a two-day break.” build
Heidi blinked her eyes and was pleasantly surprised but also rather apprehensive. “No… Ancestor, I am actually fine. It is now the crucial period of the territory’s construction…”
“Every single day of development is crucial, but no one can continue without rest. Even Nicholas Egg has a specific break to bask in the sun. You should just rest.” Gawain smiled at Heidi who was conflicted. “But after your break, I hope you can quickly conduct a test for the apprentices from the various departments and show me the test result. If it is useful, then we can consider putting in the administrative structure that I have drawn up a few months ago.
All along, Gawain had been striving to implement a complete, scientific, and efficient administrative structure for the new Cecil territory. However, due to the lack of intellectual personnel in this era, it was hard to fulfill the conditions. The crucial departments like agriculture, internal affairs, military, and medical were all fully managed by one or two individuals. It could also be said that the management of the entire department’s supervisors down to the workers was placed on a single person. Even though such division of labor was already superior to most of the management systems in the noble clans’ territories, it was still very far from what Gawain imagined.
As a result, whenever literate “intellectual personnel” appeared in the territory, Gawain would immediately pick out the excellent ones and assign them as subordinates for each of the department supervisors. These people never had any contact with the concept of management in advanced organizations; therefore, they had to start as apprentices. Even the unconventional scholars and poor knights hired from Tanzan Town would have to start from the role of apprentices first.
It was also due to the complex conditions of these apprentices, Gawain didn’t believe that all of them would be able to successfully “transform within the organization”.
Especially those poor knights and scholars.
Now that the “intern” period was over, those apprentices who couldn’t withstand the pressure and adapt to the new system should already be on the brink of absconding. Gawain felt that it was time to conduct a test for them and to select the talented people that were truly useful and to allow the territory’s management to advance.
Heidi seriously accepted Gawain’s arrangement. Before leaving the study, she suddenly recalled something and spoke with uncertainty, “Ancestor, earlier on, I saw the Grade-2 Arcanist from the royal capital pacing around the feudal lord residence. Do you wish to call him in?”
Gawain was startled for a moment before he pondered carefully. “…So there was someone like that?”
