Chapter 127: Cleaning House

Originally, employees I did not pay wages to did not appear in the management window.

That was because the system functions had not yet been improved back then.

Now I could check every piece of information on the city hall bureaucrats.

It appeared before me like a hologram.

Vice Mayor: Jim Lacroix (watching extreme sports).

Tax Chief: Nolan Ewing (calculating taxes).

<City Hall Employee Management>.

1st Class Tax Officer: Efrain Doherty (preparing embezzlement).

2nd Class Tax Officer: Chad Finnegan (preparing embezzlement).

How could there be so many brazen thieves.

It gave me a clear picture of just how poorly managed things had been until now.

The budget allocated to city hall had turned into a complete free-for-all.

It seemed they thought that as long as they collected taxes properly, they could embezzle however much they wanted.

Instead of handling it this way, I should just openly reward the good ones.

If I showered rewards and honor on those who performed their duties faithfully, everyone would naturally work hard on their own.

It would send the message to earn it openly instead of stealing.

Of course, punishment comes first.

A carrot without a whip would never work properly.

I immediately left the mayor’s office.

My secretaries tried to follow right behind me.

“That’s alright. Stay here.”

“Ah… understood.”

Normally, when a high-ranking official moved, an entire entourage would swarm after them to maintain dignity.

But I had no intention of putting on such airs.

Besides, I needed to move discreetly right now.

When I reached the tax collection department, the bureaucrats were busily moving about.

I leaned against the wall and quietly listened to their conversation.

“Thanks to the new mayor taking office, we’ve received quite a generous budget.”

“Quick, think of an excuse. What should we say we spent it on?”

“We don’t have time for that. First we need to pocket the money. Are you just going to stand there watching?”

“Come on, the Tax Chief hasn’t touched any yet. Even cold water has an order to it.”

“He already told us to handle it ourselves. He said he’s not taking any this time.”

“Really? Wow, that’s impressive.”

It sounded like the conversation between 1st Class Tax Officer Efrain Doherty and 2nd Class Tax Officer Chad Finnegan.

When I had checked earlier, those two were the only ones marked as preparing embezzlement.

The Tax Chief seemed to participate in skimming the budget from time to time, but he was sitting this one out.

He’s being cautious.

Since the mayor had changed, he probably wanted to observe what kind of person I was first.

It might sound a bit self-praising, but I was quite famous for being fair and upright.

He might have decided to play it safe.

In any case, this absurd practice needed to end.

I moved exactly when the tax officers were scooping up a large amount of gold coins.

Creak!

The moment I opened the door, an awkward silence fell over the room.

It was truly a dramatic moment.

The greedy expressions on the tax officers’ faces as they grabbed the gold coins were absolutely perfect.

The one who broke the awkward atmosphere was Shugl, who had been dozing off and suddenly woke up.

-Huh? Thieves.

“N-no!”

-What do you mean no? You’re grinning slyly while stuffing your pockets with gold coins.

“This is the city hall budget?”

-Then it’s embezzlement!

“No, that’s…….”

Efrain Doherty could only twitch his goatee; he could not come up with a proper rebuttal.

His face had turned bright red, so he seemed at least a little ashamed.

Whether it was from embarrassment at getting caught or from being verbally overpowered by a mere sugar glider, I was not sure.

“1st Class Tax Officer Efrain Doherty, 2nd Class Tax Officer Chad Finnegan. Correct?”

“Yes?”

“Yes!”

The two answered with slightly dazed expressions.

They must have recognized my face immediately.

I casually glanced at the desk.

Baron Doherty seemed even more flustered.

A quick look at the open ledger showed it was the budget expenditure record book.

It looked like they planned to pocket the gold first and then scribble some sloppy justification later.

Wait, they’ve already written some entries?

To these people, this was simply everyday business.

The budget was money they could take and spend however they wanted, and city administration was the last thing on their minds.

I picked up the ledger and looked at the tax officers.

“Bring that with you and follow me.”

“…Yes.”

Their weak replies suggested they had already guessed what their future held.

Efrain Doherty and Chad Finnegan were stripped of their tax officer qualifications and expelled from city hall.

Of course, I did not dig into their past offenses.

I only punished what had happened after I took office.

If I investigated everything from the beginning, there would be no end to it.

I handed them over to the court on charges of embezzlement.

This was an appropriate level of handling.

The bureaucrats would feel a sense of caution, and word of the mayor’s work style would spread widely.

Anything more would have been too burdensome for me.

City hall was severely lacking in talent.

“Why are all the employees just tax collectors?”

No wonder the city was in such a mess and no one bothered to fix it.

It did not seem possible to recruit new people right away.

Even if I hired talented individuals now, training them would take forever.

In that case, I had no choice but to pull people from elsewhere.

I can do it like I did with the Delriat Governor’s Office.

Thanks to the Allegan Trading Company employees stepping up, we had overcome the crisis.

Of course, I did not need to do it exactly the same way.

I had the Dapan Group now.

“Could you come in for a moment?”

“Yes? Yes, Mr. Mayor.”

Even though I had not raised my voice loudly, the secretary appeared like lightning.

He must have been waiting outside in advance.

“Please deliver this to Director Wilkins at the Midias shopping district.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Once the people are ready, come back with them. It will probably be more convenient that way.”

“Pardon?”

The secretary looked puzzled but soon nodded.

He seemed a bit scatterbrained, but he did not appear incompetent.

His neatly organized desk and quick movements were far better than those greedy tax officers.

I don’t think I need to replace the secretary. Shall I start by drawing up the organizational chart?

What departments were needed to properly run a city?

Even just thinking of Seoul would provide excellent examples.

But this was not modern society—it was a medieval dark fantasy world.

I could not copy the city hall organizational chart as is.

First of all, the scale was vastly different.

Seoul is a city of ten million people. This place has at most around one million.

It was only natural to plan things much more simply.

Moreover, the departments I needed immediately were fire services, water and sewage management, and waste disposal.

In modern terms, these were handled by the fire department and water resources corporation.

However, not only was general administration lacking, such organizations did not even exist here.

If city hall did not take charge, the city would never function properly.

“Alright. We’ll do it exactly like this, and then next…….”

I immersed myself in the work for a long time.

It had been a while since I had done something like this, so it was surprisingly quite enjoyable.

Eventually, the Dapan Group employees who would become my limbs arrived at city hall.

“As you instructed, I brought fifty people. They are all sharp individuals, so they should be useful, Chairman.”

Seeing Director Tobias Wilkins and the support team, a satisfied smile naturally formed on my face.

They were the most outstanding talents from the Carius Night School.

“Good. Write your names on the paper and submit them. Also choose the department you want to work in.”

I assigned the employees to their positions right there on the spot.

Of course, this alone did not complete the organization.

There was still a mountain of work left.

They did not even have desks to sit at yet.

But it would be fine for the time being.

Anyway, I will not be staying at city hall much.

After Duke Carius took the position of mayor, Perias underwent a massive transformation.

The biggest change was the disappearance of garbage from the streets.

“Wait, why has it gotten so clean?”

“The city hall dispatched employees. They apparently collected everything.”

“Then can we dump garbage here again?”

“Of course not. They’ve set up a waste collection point over there. Take everything there.”

“Why the hassle? Can’t we just dump it anywhere like before?”

“It’s something Duke Carius is doing. The town criers have been going around explaining it.”

“Ah, then we have no choice but to follow.”

The citizens of Perias were originally known for being difficult to control.

They rarely listened to kind words and usually only moved when fear and violence were used.

Among the nobles, there was even talk that the lower classes only worked properly when beaten.

But this time something was different.

People voluntarily followed the rules even though the town criers had only said a few words.

All of this was thanks to Abel Carius’s reputation.

“We cannot become obstacles in the path that person is walking.”

“Indeed, that’s right.”

“There’s a picture here. What does it mean?”

“It means we should separate garbage and feces when disposing of them.”

“Ah! So they don’t get mixed together? That would be much cleaner.”

Surprisingly, this positive atmosphere lasted for quite a long time.

However, negative public opinion also appeared from time to time.

Especially among the nobles, who did not view Duke Carius’s actions favorably.

“Does he really think the streets will stay clean like this? It’ll get dirty again in no time.”

“Obviously. There’s no way those lowly people will keep following the rules. It’ll go back to normal soon.”

“We’re the ones paying way more taxes, so why aren’t they cleaning the noble districts?”

“Because they were already clean?”

“He’s doing all sorts of things just to gain popularity.”

While they could not openly curse him, this level of criticism was still possible.

But things did not go as they expected.

Surprisingly, the waste management department was running extremely well.

The number of people stepping forward to transport waste using carts increased rapidly.

This was because they had hired a large number of children who could not find work.

“Who would have thought the city hall bureaucrats would be this proactive.”

“It’s all thanks to Duke Carius. If he hadn’t stepped up, the city could never have become this clean.”

“Now we don’t have to worry about flooding every summer. It’s the first time I’ve seen the sewers flowing this smoothly.”

“Everyone was saying the Duke would fail this time, right? As if. You idiots!”

Perias must have been far more beautiful when it was first built.

It had not regained its former glory, but the city had become quite respectable.

However, Abel Carius did not stop there.

It seemed he had something planned, as he gathered a large number of people.

Then he spoke.

“From now on, we will begin a large-scale civil engineering project.”

Not only the nobles who knew Perias well, but even the lower-class citizens looked puzzled.

What kind of construction could they possibly do in such a complex city?

Thinking it would only increase confusion, people watched with doubtful eyes.

When everyone’s attention was focused on him, Duke Carius spoke again.

“We plan to completely overhaul the aqueduct system. Therefore, water supply to the city will be temporarily suspended.”

“Whaaat? Umm, to what extent? Surely not the imperial palace as well?”

Someone asked in extreme shock.

For a moment, silence fell over the surroundings.

It was a question involving the imperial palace, after all.

“Of course.”

People thought Abel Carius had finally lost his mind.

But his attitude remained perfectly calm.

As if he had expected this reaction.

And then, a single sentence a moment later made everyone nod heavily.

“This is a project ordered by His Majesty the Emperor.”