More Government and Stuff

Country of Eruchea:-

"So, keeping him aside, the next person being appointed would be…

Elder Lao."

Hearing his name, elder Lao looked towards Harry.

"I'm giving everyone positions based on their previous lines of work wherever possible.

That's why you shall be the Minister of Housing and Urban Development.

Your fields of governance would include all the construction activities going on in the country as well as things that relate to or things that might affect people's living conditions.

Mainly things related to construction work."

Elder Lao started nodding slowly as he thought about the job assigned to him.

"Now, the fact that you're assigned to manage construction-related work doesn't mean that your job ends there.

You would need to also coördinate with other ministers while performing your role.

If you need to do work related to the military and national defence, you will of course need to work with the military and general George here, who's also a minister.

Working on schools or similar projects would require you to work with Jeanette and her Ministry of Development."

"Don't worry about that, Your Majesty. We have been working like this for ages now.

The only difference that I can see between then and now is that we have some fancy titles attached to our names.

But the job of working with people of different professions isn't any bit alien to us…"

"Ah…

Right…

Sorry, that was just me being dumb…

My brain decided to shut off and ignore the obvious.

Sorry about that.", replied Harry.

It was pretty normal for people of different professions to work together everywhere.

But that simple fact decided to play hide-and-seek with Harry's brain at the wrong moment.

"No worries, Your Majesty.

We all make mistakes once in a while.", came the reply from elder Lao.

Harry had expected, in one corner of his mind, that everyone would try to stop him from apologising. This had been their regular reaction for a long time.

But contrary to his expectations, his previous efforts to remove, or reduce at the very least, the annoying class differences was working.

He probably won't get the annoying "No, no, Your Majesty! How can a King apologise for such a little issue!" line screamed into his ears ever again. Or at least not as often.

"Okay then, I suppose that there shouldn't be any issues regarding your work.

So, we can now move on to appointing Mr Kruger here as the Minister of Technology."

Harry saw Fredrick's eyes light up instantly.

"Technology" was a fancy-looking word. Much fancier than "Blacksmith".

Naturally, he would be excited.

"Now, listen to me before you get lost in your fantasies like Wang Cheng.

You are going to be responsible for all matters related to the development of old and new technologies in the country.

Others might have a small say in your job but the majority of the decisions still lie in your hands. Unless I decide otherwise that is…

You might get elder Lao or anyone related to him coming to you about construction vehicles or other similar things. They would probably have a say in what you do with their tasks.

However, they can only play a small part. They can't and won't do everything for you.

Is that understood?"

"Yes, Your Majesty.", came the reply.

"Oh, and before you ask, you do need to work especially closely with the Ministry of Resources though it should be pretty obvious.

You do need raw materials to use after all."

Harry tried to be as thorough as possible with the information he gave this time around.

Just then, there was a knock on the door and in came the lunch trays.

They hadn't realised it and several hours had already passed since they began.

{A/N: They have no idea that it's actually been two weeks since they started…

But I paused their reality in the middle since I was too lazy/busy to write…}

Seeing the delicious-looking food that was being kept on the table, everyone came to the wordless conclusion that it was best to pause their discussion and give in to their stomachs…

Even though a mini feast of sorts had been prepared since there were guests around, it didn't take long for all that food to be gobbled down.

But contrary to expectations, it wasn't Harry who ate the most.

Even though it was Harry who had been talking the most, it was Wang Cheng and elder Lao who ended up stuffing themselves.

Everyone else did eat too.

But these two ate like they had been starved for days.

They ate large steaks and fish in a few bites. And any sort of bread or cakes were also gobbled up in large quantities.

It somewhat made sense with elder Lao since he was a construction worker.

His diet would naturally be large with all the work he does.

But as it turned out, Wang Cheng was a bit of a foodie glutton.

At least that's what he confessed when he was asked about it.

It was like a dream come true for him to be able to enjoy a meal in the royal palace and he just tried to make the most of it.

But since there was plenty of food for everyone, no one really complained about it.

And once everyone was full and the plates were cleaned up, they came back to business once more.

But before Harry could continue, a question came up from his audience.

"Your Majesty, you are assigning new government posts to us now.

But what about our workplace? Do we have to work from our houses only?", asked Lan Li.

"Workplaces… Right…

I do have plans on giving you guys proper offices but with all the other construction and development activities going on right now, I think that it's best if you-"

"Work from our homes or old offices?"

Elder Lao interrupted Harry.

"No, no, elder Lao!

I wasn't saying that! Of course not!", protested Harry.

"Ah, I apologise for speaking out of turn and cutting your words in the middle…", apologised elder Lao.

"Elder Lao, you only told me earlier that we all make mistakes.

If I, the king, can make a mistake, so can anyone else. Even you!

There's no need to apologise so much.

But, keeping that aside, I was thinking of allowing you to set up your office in the royal palace only. At least for now.

We have lots and lots of empty and unused rooms here.

My family and I would occupy like 4-5 rooms at max! And that is if all of us decided to live alone! Which we don't…

Even after that, there's still like 20-30 rooms empty at the minimum!

It would honestly be a waste if you guys have to work from home or whatever while all these rooms just keep collecting dust!"

Everyone's eyes once again lit up.

Coming near the palace was a rare thing for them earlier.

It was usually something like distance or authority that caused them to stay away.

After all, not anyone could approach the king any time they wanted.

That's why even the elders from the various guilds didn't visit too often.

Actually, "too often" was an over-exaggeration.

They could only come nearby if they were summoned by the king, which was a pretty rare event.

And even then, it wasn't always the same person who'd go.

They usually tried to rotate and shuffle the person who would visit the ruler to ensure that none of their ongoing work would be hampered.

Because even though doing that was very important, sometimes they did have to give an equivalent level of importance to the task at hand.

If a specific person was to go and some task that the king had previously assigned to them was negatively affected, the outcome would be pretty bad.

As for the very regular of the commoners, they were too far to even think of visiting unless absolutely urgent.

Plus, they couldn't just walk up to the palace.

If they didn't have proper permission or reason for showing up, they would be punished.

The severity of this punishment naturally differed with their status with the lowest of the commoners paying with their lives while some of the highest nobles would just pay a fine of a few gold coins. (Even that fine was pretty expensive from a commoners point of view but it was actually like a really rich man paying $100 to evade a death penalty.)

"I know that some of you guys do live pretty far away from the palace.

So, that's why I will also send vehicles every morning to pick all of you up right from your homes!

By 'vehicles' I naturally mean the royal sort since I don't want you to be too tired to do anything early in the morning.", added Harry.

Everyone felt so excited that it felt like their hearts would burst out at any moment.

WHICH F***ING KING IN HISTORY WAS THIS KIND!!!???

They were 100% sure that no such king had ever existed in the world.

"Now, now, before you guys end up having a stroke, let's finish up this meeting, shall we?

Next on the list of ministers would be Lan Li.

You're going to be the Minister of Agriculture.

So, your job is somewhat less diverse, in a sense.

I mean, you would mainly just look after the areas related to agriculture or similar occupations."

"So, you mean to say that I'll look after matters related to crops, cattle and all that stuff, Your Majesty?"

"Yes!

Exactly that!

Though these fields would also increase in the future as we invent or discover new farming methods and things to farm. Food processing would also somewhat come under your domain."

"That's fine, Your Majesty. But I don't think that I'll be able to look after so much on my own.", replied Lan Li.

"Oh, that's perfectly okay.

You're free to hire assistants or secretaries to help out with anything that you feel necessary.

In fact, you all are free to do so!

No need to overwork yourselves trying to juggle 20 different tasks at the same time.

I mean, look at me.

I tried juggling like 50 or more of them for so long.

Now, I'm setting up a government with several members to divide up the jobs."

This piece of news brought smiles to everyone's faces.

Though all the other things like becoming ministers and working from the palace were very exciting for them, they still were worried about having to work all day with the number of jobs that they were being handed.

But since this much was normal for ministers along with the fact that the fields given to them were still being controlled by Harry, resulting in much less work for them, they never thought of complaining.

However, with this announcement, their jobs felt less of jobs and more of a walk in the fields.

They expected to work all day since they were being hired to help govern the country.

But it turned out that they too could get more people to reduce their own work!

Just a relaxed task couldn't be called "work" any longer.

This just made the respect that they had for Harry skyrocket even further.

"So, finally, the last position of Minister of Culture obviously goes to Brittney.

Now, 'culture' is naturally a broad term. So you'll need to take care of the small-scale industries in Eruchea.

You know, like your family's paper making or those few families who do a handicrafts business.

Along with that, you would also be in charge of any tourism in the country. This includes both locals and foreigners.

For now, it'll be locals only since we don't get any traffic from other kingdoms but if you remain in charge of tourism in the future, you'll need to take care of them too. You will need to work with general George often.

Also, your department will be in charge of foreign relations. That means any foreign ambassadors coming to Eruchea or Eruchean ambassadors going to other places will be taken care of by your department."

"I understand, Your Majesty.", replied Brittney as soon as Harry stopped speaking.

Hearing her prompt reply, Harry continued, "Before you end up with any misunderstandings, the Eruchean ambassadors to foreign kingdoms or countries will be coming from your department only, okay?

Whether it be your subordinates or you, someone from your department only can become the ambassador.

Of course, that is unless I say anything otherwise."

"Me as a foreign ambassador, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, you.

I know that you might think that you can't do it since you're a commoner and all.

But noble etiquette and manners and all that crap can be easily taught to almost anyone at any time.

You guys are going to school at your age, aren't you? So if you just think of this as another subject to learn, you won't have too much trouble.

Plus, we do seem to have something of a shortage of nobles in our country, no?

Even if I didn't choose you, I probably wouldn't be able to get a noble for the job"

Brittney could only nod at this statement.

The nobles had left their country long ago.

Heck, they had run away.

Fleeing like foolish cowards who thought that their country was going to fall.

Everyone knew this.

"Don't worry. We still have enough people who know all the required things and can even teach them to you. I can even help if you want.

But, on that topic, I think that we should get a family name or a surname for you. It would help a lot if you travel to another country since other places still have the concept of social classes and having a last name would give the effect that you belong to the upper class. That way, you wouldn't need to use my or the country's name for every little thing."

It made sense.

Even if she went to another country as an ambassador, her authority would be quite less if she was perceived as a commoner.

Plus, since her image would be directly linked back to her country, it would damage Eruchea's international image too.

"I understand.

It would be an honour for me if your majesty could bestow a last name for me and my family.", replied Brittney.

The mood turned really formal all of a sudden.

But this was normal.

Getting the last name was like being promoted to nobility.

And usually, a commoner was promoted for doing some task of unprecedented greatness that was beneficial to the kingdom.

Plus, the ceremony was also pretty fancy.

It was like receiving a presidential medal of honour or a Nobel prize or something.

People with a family/surname were at the top of society.

Even if it was a newly appointed noble, he still had an incomparable level of power and luxury compared to commoners.

Normally, this was a very, very rare event.

Like, "once in ten blue moons" type of an event.

It wasn't every day that one could discover some huge treasure trove or make some peerless invention or maybe defeat some legendary beast. (Legendary beasts, aka, the big boss monsters from the Great Demon Law Forest.)

So, the amount of formality present in the room was barely scratching the surface of what is normal for such things.

But then again, the ruler wasn't some random dude (or dudette). It was Harry.

"Aight…

Imma fire you now.

Get out. Yer not a Minister anymore!", said Harry with a deadpan look on his face.

Everyone had an exquisite cocktail of surprise, confusion, horror and fear plastered their faces.

"Please, Your Majesty!

I will try my best to correct whatever mistake I have made!

Please don't fire me!

Anything but that!"

Brittney had freaked out when she heard Harry.

To her, it looked like she had made some mistake and Harry had decided to use his powers (or abuse them, if Harry were to explain it) as the king.

Because on Etheldor, and especially amongst the mortals, "firing a person" meant not only kicking them from the job but also literally setting them, their belongings and house(s) ON FIRE!

So, yes. If someone here was going to be fired, it meant that they and their everything was going to be set ablaze and reduced to ashes. (And usually, any protesters or family members were included too.)

Brittney didn't understand why this had happened. But the only thing going through her mind at the moment was to save her family. Not whatever she could have done to create the situation.

[… is the situation that the host has ended up creating.

This system understands that the host didn't mean it. But it has become extremely necessary to clear the situation before it gets worse. Otherwise, the host just might end up facing divine retribution for the blunder.]

Harry was pretty shocked when he heard that what one little misinterpretation was going to do to him.

He wanted to freak out.

But thankfully, this time the heavens were on his side since freaking out was the reaction he should be doing at the moment.

"WAIT! IT WAS A JOKE!!!

Don't go around doing anything irrational!

I AM SO SORRY!

I totally forgot what 'firing a person' meant!

Don't take my words to heart! I can never ever do such a cruel thing!

Please!", cried out Harry.

"Really?", Brittney looked up with tears flowing from her eyes.

Her entire face looked like a heart patient who was forced to ride a crazy roller coaster without any safety restraints.

Her face had become red in the little time it took Harry to realise his mistake.

Her eyes were starting to swell.

"YES! REALLY!

Now please stop crying!

I promise that I'll never say anything like this ever again!"

It took a few minutes for Brittney to calm down as she wiped her face, drank water and fixed up her clothes.

In the meantime, everyone in the room continued to stare daggers at Harry.

"Look, Brittney.

You know how much I hate people being unnecessarily formal with me, right?

That's why I reacted like that.

Plus, choosing a last name is something that you should do yourself. Probably invite your family to discuss it out as well.

You can decide on one common name for everyone to use. Or as many names as you guys want.

Then we can discuss it and do an official ceremony. And you can be as formal as you want in that ceremony.

Because if you tell me to choose a name for you, I'll call you 'Brittney Mjdkafns'!

And no!

I'm not gonna repeat that word. Because even I have no idea what the heck did I just say!", said Harry as he broke into a peal of laughter.

This caused everyone in the room to crack into a smile.

"Got it, Your Majesty.

If you forced that name upon me, I'd have no choice but to accept it.

But I'd rather prefer to spend some time thinking and discussing with my family before deciding on the name.", said Brittney who also ended up giggling halfway through her words.

The thought of being called something that dumb was just too funny for everyone in that room.

Just imagine how the introductions would be done in front of other nobles!

"We welcome Missus Brittney from the House of Mjhpwvbafds!", said Jeanette out loud, sounding like those announcers hired by nobility to say the names of guests who attend their parties.

Just the thought of such a line being spoken by the nobles' announcers caused another wave of laughter to echo through the hall.

There was even some laughter from outside the doors.

"Alright then!

I hope that everyone has understood their jobs.

And the importance of picking their own names as well.", said Harry as he wiped tears from his eyes.

He received an affirmative response mixed with giggles and laughter.

A few days later, Harry received a response from Brittney and her family.

And a week later, the ceremony was held in public where Brittney and her family were given the last name "Woods" as had been previously discussed.

Unfortunately, Brittney's biological parents had passed away a few years before Harry had become king so his plans of giving them names as well couldn't be done.

Also, an announcement was made clarifying that the social class system was abolished and that the use of last names was being done to make foreigners treat Erucheans with more respect.

Since if the person didn't know about Eruchea, they would treat the other person as a noble if they saw that the person had a last name.

This was the trend with descendants and refugees from Malonia. The people from Wangxiu surprisingly didn't have such a thing as commoners without surnames/ family names.

But still, if a Malonian didn't have a last name, they were treated badly by all nobility regardless of their place of origin.

All that was now left for Harry to do was to introduce the new Mrs Woods to their country's rather exotic trading partners…