Magic, steel, heavy industry

Chapter 68, First Batch of Civil Servants

Vilan spent the entire afternoon in his study, eating dried fruit while grading papers.

His expression was pained. Although many people did quite well, it was only on a few questions. There were almost no people who could do well on every single question.

Of course, this was something Vilan had anticipated, since it was impossible to expect the intellectuals of this era to be the same as he had imagined.

This is not a difference in ability, but a difference in tradition.

For example, most of the 100 people taking the civil service exam could solve the first math problem, which shows they have the ability, but the following questions almost all left Vilan speechless.

For example, that Casalan refugee named Evan answered 4 out of 5 questions very well, almost a perfect score.

Ironically, his answer to the simplest question, number 2, was a complete mess.

"This guy is usually so good at reading the lord's mind, so why can't he do it here?"

"This is clearly a case of a knight beating a serf without cause. Even if you're biased, shouldn't you at least investigate it?"

Vilan muttered to himself helplessly, his eyes filled with frustration.

Ivan's answer was shockingly simple: "Knights don't make mistakes; the serf must be lying. He should be severely tortured to restore the knight's reputation."

"..."

This is an easy question!

Vilan leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and felt a slight headache.

But after a moment, he recovered and put Evan's paper aside.

After all, he can't be blamed. In this world, serfs have no human rights, and daring to argue with a knight is wrong in itself.

Wiran knows he has a long way to go to change this perception.

"At least he answered the other questions very well, so he's quite talented. Let's keep him on for now."

Vilan muttered something and continued grading until dinner time.

Although he was very tired, he managed to select the first batch of people who passed the exam.

Regarding civil servants, Vilan selected 10 people, and another 20 were kept as reserves, who were considered temporary workers and naturally received lower salaries.

As for teachers, only 15 people passed the exam. It wasn't because the others weren't good enough, but mainly because the school hadn't even been renovated yet, and there weren't many children in class, so there was no need to recruit too many teachers all at once.

In addition to these 45 people, Vilan also selected 20 promising individuals from the remaining group, wrote their names down on a separate piece of paper.

These 20 people have one thing in common: they all answered the first math question exceptionally well.

Vilan planned to hand these 20 people over to McKinney to establish a chamber of commerce.

Previously, McKinney managed all the commercial affairs of Anvil Territory by himself, but with all the workshops operating at full capacity, all the goods need to be carefully counted, so it is necessary to find some help for McKinney.

Even if these 20 people lack management skills, as long as they can do accounting, they can be good at being accountants.

After doing all this, Vilan summoned Belin and handed him the list of hires.

Soon, Bering posted the three lists on the square's bulletin board.

The serfs couldn't understand what it was, but the free people excitedly gathered around.

"Wow, that was fast! The exam just finished this morning, and the results are out this evening!"

"Where is my name? Why can't I find it?"

"I passed the civil service exam! I'm a civil servant!"

"The Vilan Chamber of Commerce? Didn't I take the teacher's exam? How did it become a chamber of commerce?"

"..."

The free citizens crowded around, trying to find their names on the notice. Some laughed excitedly, while others were saddened.

The surrounding serfs understood; it turned out this was the list of teachers and civil servants selected by Lord Vilan.

The serfs didn't know what a civil servant was, but since Lord Vilan had personally chosen them, it must be something very important, maybe even an official position.

They looked on with envy at the ecstatic free people, their minds filled with a myriad of thoughts.

"If I could read, could I take the exam too...?"

Many serfs were thinking this in their hearts.

Soon, news of the list's release spread like wildfire throughout the entire town.

That night, some were happy while others were sad.

……

the next day.

All those who passed the exam returned to the military camp parade ground. Vilan was already there, with McKinney and Hans standing behind him, along with two somewhat unfamiliar faces.

Vilan smiled at the 65 people and said, "Congratulations, you are the first batch of staff I recruited. Note that this does not mean you have become officials; you are simply helping me with tasks. Of course, you will have corresponding salaries and benefits. Regular civil servants will be more busy, while temporary workers will focus on learning and have the opportunity to become permanent staff in the future. Now, let me introduce you to your department heads."

Vilan turned around and went to Hans's side first, saying, "This is Mr. Hans. He is the mayor of the Anvil Territory, responsible for managing the internal affairs of the entire territory. Civil servants and temporary workers all need to follow his work arrangements."

"This is Mr. McKinney, he is the interim head of the Chamber of Commerce."

"And these two are Mr. and Mrs. Andrew. They are respectable teachers who have taught for many years at Anvil and are now the school principals. All the teachers must follow their instructions."

The last two were an elderly couple, both around 50 years old, who were the only two teachers in Anvil Territory that Llorente had mentioned earlier. Everyone respectfully called them Mr. and Mrs. Andrew.

Vilan had spoken with them before. Although the two elderly people were not very knowledgeable, they valued education highly and were happy to accept the educational reform methods led by Vilan. Therefore, Vilan handed the school over to them.

After the introductions were completed, the heads of the three departments led their respective employees back to their respective offices.

The Chamber of Commerce has an office in the workshop, and the school has a ready-made office. Hans's town hall is a bit more troublesome, since Anvil Territory does not have a proper mayor's office, so they just found a relatively large empty house to use as a temporary office.

Nevertheless, Hans looked delighted.

Looking at his 35 employees, he couldn't suppress his smile and wished he could give each of them a big hug.

There was no other way; he was just too exhausted. Lord Vilan has finally shown some humanity and decided to find me some help!

And so many have come at once, things are finally going to get better!

Hans had already begun to imagine Anvil Territory becoming a real city, and him being the greatest mayor, at which point there would surely be much praise.

Seeing Hans's expression, Wieland shook his head helplessly, ignored him, and hurried back to the castle.

As for managing these new employees, Vilan had already written a guide for each person in charge.

The document lists the work requirements, disciplinary requirements, evaluation and reward/punishment details, etc., and the rest is left for them to figure out on their own.

We can't expect him, the esteemed lord, to do everything himself, can we?