‘It’s not just that they have no sense of time—they don’t even have a sense of dates?’
This was not something he could simply laugh off.
A vague concept of time and dates did not merely end with the inconvenience of people being unable to keep appointments properly.
‘Damn it.’
Transportation, logistics, taxation, and more.
It meant that nearly everything forming the foundation of administration was being run as a complete mess.
Even in medieval Europe, which was practically a graveyard of science, technology, and reason, there was a reason cities built clock towers in their squares and rang bells.
“Um, Administrator. Even so, we haven’t had any major problems until now....” the aide said cautiously.
“That was only because the administration was being run by rule of thumb,” Aiden replied.
“Hehe-.”
At Aiden’s criticism, the aide scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.
Back when even the most basic population census had not been updated once in five years, and they had not even identified the enormous unregistered population, being vague about something as trivial as dates probably had not caused any major problems.
“But that won’t work from now on,” Aiden said.
A permanent market was still premature, but interest in the Northern Flea Market and the quality of the goods had both been better than expected.
On top of that, Aiden intended to break through the barriers to technical exchange created by the north’s distinctive tendency for villages to live in isolation.
‘Once things stabilize a little more, a five-day market might be difficult, but a ten-day market should be worth trying.’
But if people barely understood dates, problems would arise with everything from transport schedules and gathering times on the small end to delivery deadlines and the validity periods of official notices on the large end.
Taken one by one, they were only small holes.
But if those overlooked holes were left unfilled, then eventually—
‘Collapse.’
After all, a single small hole could bring down a massive dam.
“Bring me a wooden board,” Aiden ordered. “And don’t bring another whole log. Something square, roughly the same width and height, about this big.... I mean, something I can carry.”
“Yes, sir,” the aide answered.
For now, he had to start with what he could do immediately.
***
The second day of the Northern Flea Market began.
Curious eyes, excited voices filling the air, goods glittering in the sunlight.
Almost everything was the same as the previous day, but—
“What’s that?” one man asked.
“Good question,” another replied.
A few things had appeared that had not been there yesterday.
The first was a large wooden board erected at every entrance to the market.
“It’s a calendar. A calendar,” the soldier guarding the entrance explained.
“A calendar?” a merchant asked.
When people gathered around curiously, the soldier pointed toward the board and continued.
“You see the number circled in red here?”
“Yes, yes,” the merchant replied.
“From now on, the market will open on each of these days.”
“Every time? Ohhh-!” the merchant exclaimed.
“But he said there will absolutely be no extensions unless it’s one of the fixed dates,” the soldier added.
“Who said that?” the merchant asked.
“The Administrator, of course.”
“Ah, the Lord!”
“I said the Administrator,” the soldier corrected him.
“Isn’t that basically the same thing?”
“Well... maybe?” the soldier muttered.
If Aiden had heard them, he would have been horrified and clamped a hand over the soldier’s mouth.
But the soldier had not insulted his superior.
If anything, he had elevated him, so he had no awareness that he had done anything wrong.
“Anyway,” the soldier continued, “they say these calendars will be distributed to every village from now on, so you’d better learn the numbers at least.”
“I can’t read. Hehe-,” the merchant admitted.
“They said all sorts of things will be written on these calendars from now on, so learn even if it’s a pain.”
“What kinds of things...?” the merchant asked.
“The dates when merchant companies licensed by the lord’s castle will visit each village, tax-payment days, farming lessons, village meetings, things like that.”
“...Pardon?”
The merchant asked again, wondering what on earth all those unfamiliar terms meant.
“Truth is, I don’t really know either,” the soldier confessed. “I was just told to answer like this if anyone looked at the calendar and asked.”
The soldier stroked his chin with a thick hand and gave a foolish chuckle.
“Ah, right,” he said. “If you go farther inside, there should be a tent flying the lord’s castle flag. That’s the central operations room.”
“The central operations room?” the merchant repeated.
“If something goes wrong, go there and ask.”
“Oh, I’ll make sure to remember that,” the merchant said eagerly.
“And beside that central operations room, there’s a tent with two crossed flags,” the soldier continued.
“Yes, yes.”
“That’s the... what was it called again?”
The soldier, who had been explaining everything smoothly until then, suddenly froze.
“You know, the... the....”
“Temporary Administrative Welfare Office,” a voice supplied from behind him.
“Ah, right. The Administrative Welfare Office!” the soldier exclaimed.
The person who had appeared behind the soldier was Jamie.
The soldier’s face instantly turned pale.
“You forgot the most important one? Get your head straight!” Jamie barked.
“M-My apologies, Lord Aide!” the soldier stammered.
Strictly speaking, Jamie was not the soldier’s direct superior.
No matter how chaotic the north was, with administration and everything else running like a complete mess, civil officials and military officers naturally had different duties, and their chains of command had to be different as well.
“Our Administrator, huh? He explained it so simply for you!” Jamie snapped. “Attention! At ease! Attention! About-face! Run over there, touch that tree, and come back! Move!”
“Moving!” the soldier shouted before taking off.
But sometimes, there were people for whom such minor distinctions simply did not matter.
Jamie turned back to the merchant.
“How far did he explain?”
“Th-The wel-welfare office!” the merchant answered stiffly.
“Right. The Administrative Welfare Office is next to the central operations room,” Jamie said.
“Yes, yes!”
“Don’t confuse the two and go into the central operations room. You’re not allowed in there.”
The merchant, now thoroughly disciplined, nodded again and again.
“U-Um, sir!” he called.
“What?” Jamie asked.
“But what exactly is this Administrative Welfare Office?”
“......”
“......?” The merchant stared at him.
At the question, Jamie cleared his throat a couple of times.
“Oh dear, look at the time!”
Then he fled.
Under Aiden’s orders, they had hurriedly erected another tent and placed a large sign reading “Administrative Welfare Office” out front, but Jamie had never actually been told what the place was supposed to do.
Grumbling, Jamie made a circuit around the market where trading was in full swing, then went looking for Aiden.
“Where’s the Administrator?” Jamie asked a lower-ranking official.
“He’s in the tent next door,” the official replied. Then, hesitating, he added, “But Lord Aide.”
“What?”
“What in the world is that place? He said it was important, so we told the village heads and merchants about it, but....”
“How should I know?” Jamie grumbled. “I’m about to ask him now.”
At Jamie’s words, the other lower-ranking officials nodded as well.
Administrative Welfare Office.
It was a name anyone from South Korea would find familiar.
Because it was exactly what Aiden had created with an administrative welfare center in mind.
Some people still called it a neighborhood office, while others called it a community service center.
And now that very thing had appeared in the north.
But because it had existed only inside Aiden’s head and had been pulled out in a hurry, neither the residents nor even his aides had the slightest idea what it actually was.
“I’m going in,” Jamie announced.
Jamie, an aide of action, decided to muster his courage for everyone’s sake.
‘He’s scary when you interrupt him while he’s working....’
Even though Jamie thought Aiden might tear into him for interrupting, he preferred confronting things head-on.
That was how northerners were.
Whether physically or mentally, if you were confident in how much punishment you could take, there was no reason to take the long way around.
“Good timing,” Aiden said as soon as Jamie entered.
“Pardon?” Jamie blinked.
“Put this up over there for me.”
Jamie had expected to be scolded for interrupting him, but unexpectedly, Aiden brightened and welcomed his aide.
“What is this?” Jamie asked.
“An organizational restructuring proposal.”
“...Oh.”
Jamie’s eyes sparkled.
Looking at him like this, he was every inch the bookish bureaucrat.
That did not mean the situation felt any less burdensome, though.
Anyone might have been flustered by a sudden organizational restructuring proposal, but Jamie first carefully examined the organization chart that had been placed in his hands.
-Livelihood Support Department
-Petition and Dispute Department
-Technology and Labor Department
-Commerce Development Department
-Education and Enlightenment Department
Five departments in total.
Every time Jamie’s bear-paw-like hand turned a page, his expression went from puzzled, to enlightened, to impressed, and back again.
“I want the Livelihood Support Department!” Jamie declared.
Then, as though he had made up his mind, he thumped one side of his chest.
“Thanks to your brilliant plan, Administrator, hardly anyone is going hungry right now, but the north has always been a harsh place to make a living, hasn’t it?”
“That’s right,” Aiden replied.
“Even if putting food on the table isn’t difficult at this very moment, poverty always clings to places where people live like a shadow. So let me take charge of this department.”
“Hmm....”
Despite his appearance, Jamie was saying something almost saintly, overflowing with love for humanity.
Anyone else might have been deeply moved by the speech.
Aiden merely folded his arms and nodded vaguely.
“Uh....” Jamie hesitated. “Is there someone else you already have in mind for the Livelihood Support Department?”
“Well, yeah,” Aiden answered.
“Ah....”
At Aiden’s confirmation, Jamie instantly drooped like a stray dog soaked through by the rain.
But only for a moment.
“Then how about the Petition and Dispute Department?” Jamie asked hopefully. “Ever since I was a kid, whenever I showed up, people strangely stopped fighting right away. Isn’t that fascinating?”
Aiden clicked his tongue.
Perhaps the next time merchants came through, he should order a mirror.
This man had so little self-awareness, yet somehow he was an aide.
“...Do you already have someone in mind for this one too?” Jamie asked.
“Yeah. I do.”
“Th-Then how about the Technology and Labor Department? After all, for the development of the north—”
“I have someone else in mind for that too,” Aiden cut in.
“The Commerce Development Department....”
“Someone’s assigned.”
“The Education and Enlightenment Department....”
“That one too.”
“......”
“What?” Aiden asked.
“Th-This is too much!” Jamie cried.
Jamie hugged the organizational restructuring proposal to his chest and launched into a full display of ‘I’m sulking.’
“Pull that damn muzzle back in,” Aiden said.
Of course, it was the kind of sight Aiden feared might appear in his dreams.
“We’re going to put up a new building for the Administrative Welfare Office,” Aiden continued. “One side of this clearing where the Northern Flea Market is being held should be good. The market will open once every fifteen days from now on, so residents who come to the market will naturally encounter the Administrative Welfare Office too.”
“...Yes,” Jamie replied, still sounding hurt.
Even so, he was not the sort to do a sloppy job just because his feelings were bruised.
“Will the Administrative Welfare Office only be established at the lord’s castle?” Jamie asked.
“For now.”
“Which means....”
“Once we have enough leeway, we’ll establish branch offices in places that can serve as hubs,” Aiden explained. “Whether every branch office needs every department is something we’ll decide then.”
“Allocating personnel to each department will become important.”
“Right. The work each department is responsible for has different characteristics. Ah, every department doesn’t need to have the same number of people. We don’t have enough personnel for that in the first place.”
“I’ll still do my best. Ah!”
“What?” Aiden asked.
Jamie, who had been enthusiastically discussing the matter, suddenly let his shoulders droop with a gloomy expression.
“But personnel matters fall under the authority of each department director,” Jamie said. “Is it all right for me to interfere?”
His lips were sticking out again.
Apparently, he was genuinely upset.
“That’s right. It’s work the department directors should handle,” Aiden agreed.
“...Exactly.”
“Which is why you need to help.”
“Pardon?”
“You just said it yourself. We’re short on people.”
“Uh.... Yes, that’s true, but....”
“We don’t even have enough useful personnel. How am I supposed to divide up the department directors one by one?” Aiden said. “Let’s keep things like this until everything settles into place.”
Aiden grinned and pulled out one more sheet of paper.
《Northern Administrative Personnel Appointment Order》
Document No. : A/05-032-Northern Personnel
Effective Date : Immediately
Appointment Details
Affiliated Institution : Administrative Welfare Office under the Northern lord’s castle
Appointed Position : Director of the Livelihood Support Department, Director of the Petition and Dispute Department, Director of the Technology and Labor Department, Director of the Commerce Development Department, and Director of the Education and Enlightenment Department
Appointee : Aiden Blackwood
The above personnel appointment is hereby ordered.
Chief Administrator of the North
Aiden Blackwood.
“This is...?” Jamie asked.
“Yeah,” Aiden replied.
All five department directors.
Every single one of them is me.
Aiden was smiling brilliantly, as though nothing could possibly be better.