Chapter 26 - 26 Cycle
Steve was leading Christina on a tour of the factories in the Third Village. Christina was in a position where she would eventually govern this territory as Steve's wife, and she felt a sense of duty that she must be able to cook the local specialty soba herself and understand factory management, or she wouldn't be able to serve as Steve's proxy.
And above all, she simply wanted to be with Steve.
"This is the cafeteria. The villagers come here to eat every day."
"Every day? Even in the cities, such a custom is quite rare."
"The people of this village all have cash income, and the only places to spend that cash are here and the general store. They can buy produce at the store, but by not having to spend time cooking themselves, mothers get more time to spend with their children, so many choose the cafeteria."
General commoners in the Kingdom of Cascade spend a lot of time working and have little time to interact with their children. It wasn't as if the men looked after the children while the women were cooking; instead, the men used that time to prepare agricultural produce for tax payments or maintain their farming tools.
In contrast, in the Third Village, all the tools for both the factory and the cafeteria are kept at the workplace, so there is no maintenance to be done outside of working hours. Maintenance itself is scheduled to be done during work hours.
As a result, after returning home, there is little to do besides eating and laundry, but by eating out, they increase their personal time even further. They can spend that time with their children.
"Even nobles have little time to spend with their families, so this is a very luxurious lifestyle, isn't it?"
Christina's parents spent almost no time with their children, as their evenings were filled with meetings and parties with other nobles. Christina's experience was eating alone while being educated by a tutor, and it was the same for many noble children.
It was only the House Archibalt, poor country nobles, that was unusual.
Steve guided Christina to the kitchen and introduced Myra, who was doing the prep work there.
"This is Myra, the person in charge here."
Seeing Steve and Christina, Myra bowed her head. Since she had been told about Christina's visit in advance, Myra didn't panic.
As Steve explained, Myra had become the person in charge. When he had her learn arithmetic, she turned out to be quick-witted—the fastest and most accurate among the workers.
Now, she was entrusted not only with accounting but also with procurement. Naturally, her salary was higher than Riley's.
"Welcome, Wakasama, Waka-okusama (T/N: Young Madam)."
"We're still only at the engagement stage, though."
When Steve said that bashfully, Christina giggled, finding his reaction adorable.
"Myra is a fast learner; she was able to do calculations without any problems in about two weeks. Cyril was surprised too, but it's a big mistake to think commoners are slow learners. Now, there's talk about creating a system to find talented people even among commoners and have them do work for the country."
"That is because the teaching methods of Wakasama and Wilkinson-sama are good. I never thought studying could be so much fun."
As Myra said, the studies were designed to be as enjoyable as possible. Instead of simply solving math problems, they learned arithmetic by playing shopping games and competing to see who had the smallest error in the total amount.
It's natural for children to get bored, but adults get bored too. It's important to understand that and be creative.
Furthermore, George was submitting those educational records to the Royal Research Institute via Cyril, and his work was highly evaluated, leading to an informal job offer for the next term.
Even with the new appointment, he would continue to be a teacher in the Archibalt Territory while receiving a salary from the state. His job was to report on those educational methods.
"Steve-sama, I would like to observe the school lessons as well."
"It's not on the schedule for today, so maybe next time. It would surprise George. A researcher from the Royal Research Institute is coming soon to do a research lesson, so I'll reserve an observation slot for Chris then."
"Um, Steve-sama, you will be with me, right?"
"Of course."
Myra watched their interaction with a warm smile.
After that, they checked the shift status, had Myra explain how she suppressed employee dissatisfaction with the assignments, and finished the cafeteria tour after fulfilling Christina's wish to try a taste-test.
Next, they moved on to inspect the factory.
"I imagined something like a workshop where apprentices surround a master, but this has an atmosphere like a government office where each person works at their own station," Christina remarked.
"That's right. There's a division of labor for each process, and each person works with responsibility for that specific process. It's different from the way where a master oversees everything from start to finish. Nick doesn't constantly monitor them, and there's no harsh instruction either."
"You don't give harsh instruction?"
Christina had heard about the factory from Steve beforehand, but she thought he might be exaggerating a bit. One of those points was the method of instruction. Christina knew that a master's fist was the common form of guidance. She had assumed there would be similar instruction in the factory.
However, in reality, instruction was done using Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and by now, the workers were able to read the SOPs for the processes they were in charge of.
They had grown to the point where, when they ran into trouble with a task, they would re-read the SOP and think for themselves about what should be done.
The SOPs weren't just text; many parts were explained with drawings. It was an effort to make them understand visually.
If they still didn't understand, they would consult the Factory Manager, Nick.
"This is the line making building blocks."
"Speaking of which, my parents were delighted when I sent building blocks to my family home. It seems there's a flood of purchase requests in anticipation of their educational toy effects. The Emmanuel Trading Company says they sell out completely before they even reach the Royal Capital, so it's difficult to obtain them in my family's territory. Apparently, the woodworking craftsmen say they don't want to make children's toys for business and won't accept the work."
"Thanks to that, our territory is prospering."
Orders for the educational toys increased as rumors spread. And as orders increased, supply couldn't keep up, leading to a shortage. It's human psychology to want something when it becomes scarce, and there are quite a few people waiting for the building blocks to come in stock. Since they held a backlog of orders, the factory's management was stable.
Because of that situation, even though they were a Count's house, the Macintosh family in the north had been unable to obtain the building blocks.
Count Macintosh, who had been begged by a relative to get some for their child, sent a letter to his daughter, Christina, asking if she could request Steve to sell them some. Since it was a request from Count Macintosh, who would become his father-in-law, Steve immediately sent ten sets of building blocks to the Count. That was the background.
Furthermore, craftsmen disliked making children's toys a business. They believed children wouldn't understand the quality of their work. That was one factor contributing to the shortage.
When Steve and Christina reached the chamfering process, where corners are rounded off with sandpaper, the worker there stopped their hands to greet them.
"Wakasama, welcome."
Christina did not miss the look of displeasure that crossed Steve's face at that greeting. She wondered why he looked displeased at being greeted, thinking perhaps Steve disliked the worker.
After finishing the greeting, the worker returned to the task. Then, they placed the chamfered block into the basket for the next process.
At that point, Steve spoke to the worker.
"A moment, please. Look at the block you just did."
"This one?"
The worker took the block out of the basket as told by Steve.
"Ah!"
The worker was shocked upon looking at the block. There was a spot that hadn't been chamfered.
In the chamfering process, the order of chamfering is fixed to prevent forgetting a side. This is stated in the SOP, and only after being able to work according to that order during Nick's work observation is one certified as a full-fledged worker and entrusted with the job.
This worker, of course, understood the order.
Yet, a missed chamfer occurred.
"Do you know why the missed chamfer happened?"
"Because I didn't follow the instruction to not interrupt the work until one cycle is finished, which was forbidden."
The worker answered Steve's question.
Not interrupting work until one cycle is finished is a factory rule. This is because the risk of skipping a step when restarting the process is high. That is exactly what just happened.
The worker thought it would be rude not to greet Steve and interrupted the work midway. Christina understood that Steve had looked displeased because he saw that. She thought he would scold the worker, but surprisingly, Steve simply ordered the rework and ended it there. Christina worried that if he didn't caution them more strictly, they would repeat the same mistake.
Steve sensed Christina's inner thoughts.
"Are you wondering why I ended it with just that?"
"Yes. If you don't speak more strictly, won't they do it again?"
"Strict instruction isn't just about words. I'll show you that now."
Steve called Nick and told him what had happened.
"Wakasama, I'm sorry. I'll give 'em a piece of my mind."
"No, that's fine. That won't work if we want to confirm if they truly understood."
"Then should I punch 'em?"
Nick showed his fist, but Steve shook his head.
"I won't order such a thing. I want Nick to do a 'mean test'."
"A mean test? What's that?"
"I want you to talk to that worker while they're working. If they truly understood what I said, they won't respond to even you, Nick, until one cycle is finished. If they do respond, then please re-instruct them."
"How kind of you."
"Not really. I'll make them do it over and over until they can do it, so I think it's stricter than giving up on them halfway."
Steve believed that not stopping even if the other person grew to hate it was stricter than abandoning them.
To ensure no dropouts among the migrants, instruction was carried out strictly. That strictness did not mean fear. It was the role of becoming like a robot that could produce the same thing any number of times. The compensation for being able to do that was a salary higher than the average commoner in the Kingdom of Cascade.
However, since there were people not suited for such work, he thought he had to create places to work other than the factory or cafeteria. He hadn't even started on that yet, though.
That's why, for now, he had no choice but to have them follow the rules strictly and not produce defective goods.
"Stricter than abandoning them, huh..."
Christina asked herself if she could give the same instructions when she had to serve as Steve's proxy. However, she couldn't reach a conclusion.
"Christina-sama, I bet Wakasama will check if you can do the same thing over and over too."
"Work and private life are separate."
Since Nick was teasing him, Steve snapped back sulkily.
"Not stopping work until one cycle is finished. It's a wonderful idea. It makes sense once you hear it, but one tends to do it unintentionally. Steve-sama, if I do that, will you give me a mean test too?"
"If you wish, Chris. But I wonder if a time will come when I entrust you with such work."
"Even with paperwork, I think if you stop halfway, you'll make a mistake. So, I think it's common to everything."
"Well, that's true. If a denwa (T/N: phone) comes during work, you'll forget how far you've entered the sales."
"Denwa?"
Steve accidentally said 'denwa' from his previous life's knowledge. Of course, there were no telephones in the Kingdom of Cascade, so Christina was puzzled by the unfamiliar word.
"It's 'denwa' (T/N: written with characters for 'transmission' and 'bird') for a messenger bird. See, you count birds as one-wa, two-wa, right?"
"Oh, so there is such a word."
Christina felt a sense of incongruity in Steve's phrasing, but she processed it as just being how it was.
On the other hand, Steve reflected on accidentally speaking knowledge from his previous life. While it seemed there would be no problem even if Christina found out he had memories of a previous life, it was better not to sow the seeds of unnecessary trouble himself.
"To avoid stopping in the middle of a task, it's necessary for not just the worker but also the people around them to be careful not to talk to them."
"It's true that even in the middle of seasoning a dish, if someone talks to you, you lose track of whether you put the salt in or not."
"Exactly. If someone like Elder Sister Sherry comes for a snack and you caution her, it causes you to forget, right?"
The two conversed while laughing, but was it a coincidence that Sherry, who was at home at the time, sneezed?
Since this is basically a story about the manufacturing industry, this should be the main stream of the story.