Chapter 65 - 65 Barney Ogburn
The Kingdom of Pasture was in the midst of a recession.
The reparations paid due to defeat caused domestic gold to flow out of the country, the industry was destroyed by the unequal treaties signed, and nobles who lost their territories along with their servants and officials became unemployed.
These factors piled up, causing a sudden recession.
Barney Ogburn also served a noble, but because that noble lost their territory, he was one of those who lost their job along with them. Since the place they lived was ceded to the Kingdom of Cascade, the lord also became a noble of the Kingdom of Cascade, and when he tried to sell himself to that lord, he was rejected saying they wouldn't hire people from the former enemy nation.
Even trying to switch to farming was impossible for Barney, who lived in a town and had no land, and even trying to do business lacked startup capital. Just when his savings seemed to be running out, he heard that Baron Archibalt, a noble in the western region of the Kingdom of Cascade, was recruiting talent capable of calculations, so he applied, got hired, and decided to relocate.
As for Baron Archibalt, he was the father of Steve Archibalt, the hero of the enemy nation who captured the capital of his homeland, the Kingdom of Pasture, and while his anxiety was great, he couldn't turn down the offer since he had no choice, so he jumped at the salary of 10 Kingdom of Cascade silver coins per month.
Regarding hiring, former colleagues also applied, but only he was selected during the interview. That interview was quite strange; Barney fell asleep during the interview, but when he woke up, the interviewer told him he was hired.
Former colleagues also fell asleep, but they were not hired, and they didn't understand why that judgment was made.
To reveal the secret behind this, it was shown through illusions of situations where cheating was possible by Cody, who played the interviewer, and Steve, who secretly used Illusion Magic, to judge whether or not they would cheat.
And because only Barney did not cheat, he was hired.
Once hiring was decided, funds for relocation and railway tickets were provided. His only daughter Clara was greatly excited just by seeing the railway station.
"Dad, the station is as big as the lord's mansion, isn't it?"
Seeing his daughter, who was 12 years old and almost an adult, play innocently, Barney was able to temporarily forget his anxiety about working in a new land.
In the station building, there were several merchants waiting for the train. Most people moving from the north to the center were merchants. They preferred the railway where they could move long distances safely with their goods. Since there were no tolls, it was beneficial even if they paid the fare.
Travel was not yet common, but besides merchants, there was demand from nobles who disliked carriage travel. Besides disliking carriages, nobles also had the reason that they could omit the troublesome task of notifying the lords of territories they passed through in advance.
Barney felt slightly out of place and apologized, when a Steam Locomotive entered the station. Seeing the black iron body puffing smoke and gradually growing larger made his heart leap.
Clara and others were greatly excited without hesitation.
"Dad, Mom, look! Is that a train?"
"That's right. Dad is seeing it for the first time too."
Clara tried to run and board, so Barney hurriedly stopped his daughter. The surrounding merchants watched that with a smile. They who usually use trains are used to seeing children seeing a train for the first time acting the same way uniformly.
The train takes time to load the merchants' goods, so the stop time is long. Clara walked around looking inside the train with Barney. His wife remained in the seat to secure a spot.
Once loading the goods finished, the train finally started moving. Smoke came in so windows couldn't be opened, but Clara kept watching the flowing scenery. However, after a while she got tired and fell asleep.
That day they were rocked on the train until night, but couldn't leave the north, so they got off midway and stayed at an inn. This was according to the original plan. Trains have no lights so they cannot run at night. Currently lights are also under development, but they hadn't reached practical use yet.
Barney arrived in the west while repeating stays like this, and from there aimed for the Archibalt Territory with a trolley train.
Though not as fast as a train, Clara was very happy with the first experience.
Thus the Ogburn family arrived at the Archibalt Territory.
Barney went to the lord's mansion leaving his wife and Clara at the inn because he had a meeting with Brian. There he met Brian for the first time.
"I am Barney Ogburn. Thank you for hiring me this time. I will work with the resolve to break my bones for your excellency."
"Nice to meet you. The employment conditions are as presented during recruitment. So, regarding the job content, I want to entrust the accounting of the factory we operate in our territory."
"Factory? Is it?"
The word factory was not in Barney's head. So, it became a form of asking Brian.
"Just think of it as a large workshop. There are over a hundred workers, and calculating salaries and income/expenses is tough. I'm expecting you because you're an experienced person."
"Leave it to me. I will surely meet your expectations."
Even so, Barney thought it was a very difficult job. Regarding language, there was no problem as the continent all uses a common language. The problem was the scale of the factory. In Brian's explanation before his eyes, material purchases, ingredients for the attached cafeteria, consumables used in the daycare, etc., the amount of money moving was very large.
It was different from tax collection from a village of a hundred people.
Furthermore, worker salaries change with working hours, so every month they will be chased by that calculation. At the noble he once served, servant salaries were fixed regardless of overtime, so calculation was very easy.
However, here it was different. Against Barney where such anxiety flashed through his head, Brian spoke.
"Right now my son is looking at the factory money as president, so it's better to take over there."
"Regarding your excellency's son, I heard he was awarded that Dragon Head Medal."
"That's right. He said factory management is busy and he wants manpower. Our territory has poor soil, so you can't live by agriculture alone, so we get money by making and selling products, and with that money we buy food from outside. Agriculture is a bit better now though."
Barney thought Steve was only a soldier. That he was managing a factory came as a surprise and he couldn't hide his shock.
"Your family's house is prepared in the Third Village. There are many confidential matters so you can't easily go outside the village, but if you apply, we will examine the content and give permission."
"Understood."
"Then, afterwards, an attendant will guide you to the Third Village."
"Yes."
When the meeting with Brian ended, the Ogburn family stayed one night in the Main Village then moved to the Third Village.
Upon arriving at the Third Village, Barney had a meeting with Steve. In the president's office were Steve and Nick, then Christina and Bella.
Barney first thought Nick was Steve, but since he looked older than Brian, he thought yes, he was a child, remembered, and turned to greet the still underage Steve.
"Nice to meet you, Your Excellency."
"Welcome, Barney Ogburn."
Barney looked at Steve, thought what, isn't he a child, but immediately remembered this child led his homeland to defeat. Fear that his family might be killed just by getting one word wrong came over him.
"You don't need to be that nervous."
"Anyway, Steve's bad rumors are spreading in the Kingdom of Pasture."
"As Bella says. Lord Steve is called the Reaper of the Kingdom of Cascade in other countries."
"Ah, so Wakasama takes away my lifespan too."
Nick joined in with Bella and Christina's talk, and the greeting went far off track.
At that sight, Barney's brain couldn't keep up processing. Knowing the Dragon Head Medal of the Kingdom of Cascade meant receiving treatment equivalent to a duke. In other words, Steve was an existence above Brian, the father he met yesterday, but the three people in the room were not taking formal attitudes. It was like speaking like friends.
"Well, does Ogburn think of me as the Reaper too?"
"No way. You are an existence like a god who extended a helping hand to me who was in financial distress."
Satisfied with that answer, Steve said triumphantly to the three.
"See, I'm not the Reaper or anything."
"Wakasama, there is no fool who calls you Reaper to your face."
"Nick told me that, didn't he?"
"As Factory Manager, correcting the president's wrong understanding is also part of the job."
Nick said his own name as Factory Manager, so Barney understood Nick was the Factory Manager.
"Well, it's not good for the talk to stay off track forever. Ogburn will handle accounting. We can't do it all at once, so let's take over documents one by one. The factory plans to expand further, so if accounting work increases we plan to increase people too, but for now if it seems like it won't fit, me and Chris will support. Ah, Chris is my fiancée."
When Steve introduced, Barney bowed to Christina.
"Also, family composition is wife and daughter, right?"
"Yes."
Told family composition, Barney got nervous. Since his job and family composition didn't connect, he braced himself for what would be said.
"Within the village currency economy is popularized, so if you can't calculate you will have to go to school."
"School?"
"That's right. Learn simple calculations and letters. Previous migrants were all farmers, so they hadn't received such education, so everyone received education, but Ogburn's family lived in the city so if they received education that exemption might be fine. Also, I'd like your wife to work if possible. Not forced though. Labor power is definitely lacking anyway. There are various job types so we can hear your wishes."
Ogburn was surprised that villagers were incorporated into currency economy and receiving education. But thinking carefully, to popularize currency economy calculation is essential. If that's for all villagers, the effort level is terrible.
Hearing this talk, he understood, well, with this the salary target should increase too.
"My wife can calculate and read/write letters, so I think I'll have only the child receive education."
"Understood. I'll contact the school myself."
"Yes. And, how much will the tuition be?"
"It's free."
"Free!?"
Education being free, Barney was struck by the Nth surprise.
"This is a preliminary investment. What I seek is quality workers. Trying to gather that without spending money is impossible, right. You can't constantly secure excellent talent like Ogburn who lost jobs due to war and subsequent recession. Then, you have to make such talent yourself, right?"
"That is so, but isn't there cost to operate the school too?"
"About that, I said preliminary investment. Also, this school receives funds from the country too."
"From the country, is it?"
"That's right. There's a teacher named George Wilkinson, this teacher belongs to the Royal Research Institute, and is an education researcher. This school is the research target for that, so it's a reward as a return for that."
Hearing the talk up to here, Barney accepted that the Kingdom of Pasture lost the war. There was also Steve's military power, but the difference in basic national power like railway invention and education for commoners was too large.
He thought even without Steve, the Kingdom of Pasture would have lost.
Actually, Steve is involved in everything.
"So that's why, from tomorrow please take care."
"Understood."
Thus Barney became employed as the factory accountant.
From the next day, daughter Clara would go to school.
It's mid-term enrollment, but other children are also repeating learning, relearning addition and subtraction, and the learning content is the same.
George introduced Clara to everyone. Clara was stiffly nervous, face red, and greeted.
"I'm Clara, nice to meet you."
When Clara greeted like that, Lala who migrated earlier stepped forward in front of Clara.
"I'm called Lala. Names are similar, aren't they?"
Saying that, she smiled. By this, Clara's tension relaxed a little.
From there it was a shopping game divided into merchants and customers. Children playing merchant role lining up wooden tags with goods and amounts drawn, and children playing customer role holding wooden tags with numbers written as money, while buying and selling each other, finding the other's calculation mistakes game.
Clara starting from memorizing numbers, became participation with Lala supporting.
As class progressed, Clara became a natural smile.
"Shopping is fun, isn't it?"
"Then, after school ends, shall we go shopping at a real store together?"
"Eh, just children?"
Clara was told by parents merchants deceive people so she thought shopping was for adults.
The store in the Third Village is operated by the House Archibalt, doesn't deceive villagers, so it's a reassuring store where even children can shop, but Clara who just migrated didn't know that.
Note, the store made profit properly even without deceiving villagers.
Contrary to Clara, Lala who migrated not knowing what a merchant is, doesn't know merchants deceive customers.
"That's right. Maybe you haven't received pocket money?"
So, Clara doesn't have money, so she misunderstood that she was worried about that.
Note, this concept of pocket money, was a concept Steve spread to recover villagers' money. Children buy things they want, so based on it being easier to recover than adults who think necessary or not, to hide that, it's loaded with theory to let children learn practically.
This theory of experiential learning was researched by George, wanting to recover money was well hidden.
And, Lala worrying about Clara was to appeal to herself to George. For beloved George, she was playing a good child, but no one noticed that.
Lala knew commoner Aila married technician Cyril, from having possibility to marry George herself, she suddenly got motivation and was aiming for George.
Whether Lala's effort bears fruit is known only to God.