Above Pirate King - Chapter 103
The Side Hall of the Royal Palace.
At this moment, a long dining table was set up in the side hall. Aside from the attendants serving nearby, only Arthur and three anxious young people remained in the entire grand hall of the palace.
“Please have a seat!” Arthur sat in the main seat and made a gesture of invitation, smiling.
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” The three young people sat down on either side of Arthur, with a sense of trepidation, pulling out their chairs.
“Clap!”
At that moment, Arthur snapped his fingers.
Soon after, the attendant by the side brought out plates of exquisite dishes to the table.
“Here, all the dishes are ready. Let’s eat first and discuss later!” Arthur said with a smile.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” The three young people respectfully replied, but they made no move.
As Arthur began eating with his utensils in hand, the three young people dared to start eating as well.
However, it was evident that their minds were not focused on the delicious dishes. They merely ate absentmindedly.
After a while, Arthur put down his utensils and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief.
Seeing Arthur do so, the three individuals, who were already preoccupied, quickly followed suit, setting down their utensils, wiping their mouths, and sitting up straight.
Observing this scene, Arthur smiled faintly and didn’t say anything. He just waved his hand.
The attendants approached and tidied up the entire table, then placed fruits on it.
“Alright, let’s get to the main topic now!” Arthur said solemnly. “I carefully reviewed the test papers from the three of you, and the methods you proposed are all good. They caught my attention. Now, tell me about your ideas.”
“Yes!” The three individuals nodded in unison, but then they looked at each other helplessly.
Because they all wanted to be the first to speak and leave a good impression on Arthur, but it wouldn’t be ideal to argue in front of him. For a moment, they didn’t know what to do.
Seeing this, Arthur smiled faintly and directly called out, “Let’s do it this way, Bessie, you go first!”
Bessie was a young man with golden curly hair, dressed in a magNefericent blue tailcoat. He was twenty-three years old and had chosen a major in commerce.
Being called upon, Bessie instantly became nervous.
“Phew…” Bessie took a deep breath, relaxed his emotions a bit, and then confidently spoke to Arthur, “Your Majesty, I believe that if the kingdom occupies new territories, commerce should develop like this…”
As Arthur listened to his words, he nodded slightly and occasionally raised some questions, all of which Bessie answered one by one.
Half an hour later, Arthur showed a satisfied expression and commented, “Not bad!”
With that evaluation, the conversation between the two also came to an end.
Bessie smiled upon hearing Arthur’s praise. With this evaluation from Arthur, his future promotion was assured!
“Now, Nefer!” Arthur continued, calling out the next person.
Nefer was a young man with brown disheveled hair, dressed plainly and wearing glasses. He was twenty-five years old and had chosen fisheries as his major!
Fisheries was a department that had only recently been established in the Kingdom of St. Martin. So far, it was merely an empty shell!
Originally, due to the natural isolation of St. Martin Island, it was not suitable for developing fisheries. Thus, there was no fisheries department in the kingdom. It was only after taking over Philte Island and gaining a large area of sea territory that fisheries began to develop.
And thanks to the blessing of the Sea God, the fisheries in the Kingdom of St. Martin developed rapidly. Therefore, Arthur took the opportunity to establish the Fisheries Department!
It must be said that Nefer was a clever person. He knew that by choosing the Fisheries Department, which was currently just an empty shell, he would easily have the opportunity for promotion as long as he achieved some political accomplishments.
Moreover, although the current Fisheries Department was still insigNefericant within the kingdom, its prospects were promising!
After being called by Arthur, Nefer didn’t show any stage fright. He smiled slightly, adopted a serious tone, and began speaking, “Your Majesty, I have some thoughts on the development of fisheries after the kingdom occupies new territories…”
Nefer started confidently discussing with Arthur. Initially, he talked about how to develop fisheries after occupying new territories, but gradually, it shifted to how the kingdom should develop fisheries overall!
He discussed a series of ideas and thoughts, including the protection, breeding, development, and rational utilization of fishery resources, as well as fish farming, fishing, processing, and so on.
Although he digressed a bit, Arthur didn’t stop him. Instead, he listened attentively to his narrative.
It had to be said that Nefer had put a lot of effort into understanding fisheries. He covered everything from how fishermen should fish to the sale of fish, as well as the protection of fishery resources, the implementation of fishing bans and open seasons, and more.
Arthur nodded occasionally, clearly showing his satisfaction.
This lecture went on for a full two hours before Nefer finally stopped, feeling as if he could go on forever.
Afterward, he looked at Arthur with some unease, waiting for his evaluation.
However, instead of evaluating him, Arthur suddenly said, “From now on, you will be the Minister of Fisheries for the kingdom!”
What!?
In an instant, Nefer was shocked, and not just him. Even Bessie and the other young man was shocked.
After all, being a minister meant being the head of a department. In the kingdom, reaching the position of a minister was basically reaching the top of the officials.
And what about Nefer?
Until today, he was just a commoner, at most a provisional official!
There was a world of difference between a provisional official and a minister!
Of course, when Arthur said these words, it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. He had carefully considered it!
The current Fisheries Department of the kingdom was essentially an empty shell. In this situation, it was basically starting from scratch, and it didn’t matter who managed the department. It would need to develop slowly.
But instead of letting someone who didn’t understand the field manage the department and develop it slowly, it would be better to promote Nefer directly!
At least Nefer had a thorough understanding of fisheries. Perhaps the development of the Fisheries Department would bring some surprises to Arthur!
“Your Majesty… Are you… Are you joking?” Nefer’s voice trembled.
He was truly shocked by Arthur’s words, and his head felt a bit dizzy!
Originally, he was just here to take the exam. After the exam, his plan was to achieve political accomplishments step by step and eventually become a minister of the kingdom!
And now, all the steps were suddenly skipped, and he became a minister directly!
Instantly, he felt like a pie had fallen from the sky!
“I only have one question for you. Are you willing to become the Minister of Fisheries?” Arthur stared at Nefer and said seriously.
Nefer looked into Arthur’s eyes, and in an instant, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Although he didn’t show any expression on the surface, he was struggling internally.
“Willing or not?”
“Willing…”
“But can I do it well?”
“What if I can’t?”
“Not willing…”
“This was a rare opportunity to leap to the top!”
In the end, Nefer made up his mind and said loudly, “I’m willing!”
“Good!” Arthur smiled and said, “Regardless of how well you perform as a minister, I won’t blame you. But let me make it clear in advance, the kingdom promotes the capable and demotes the incapable. If you don’t perform well, I will remove you from your position. If you do well, you will be greatly rewarded!”
“Yes, Your Majesty, I… No, I will do my best!” Nefer looked at Arthur and said firmly.
Arthur smiled faintly and nodded.
Whether Nefer could perform well or not would be seen after he assumed the role. It was meaningless to talk about it now!
Then, Arthur looked at the last person.
This person was also a participant in this exam, and he was the only one who correctly guessed all the targets for the next occupation by the Kingdom of St. Martin.
Instead of guessing just one target like most others, who guessed the Oga Kingdom.
Of course, it was understandable. After all, the only kingdom that had contact with the Kingdom of St. Martin was the Oga Kingdom, so it was natural for other candidates to guess that.
But this person was able to guess all three target kingdoms, which was quite impressive!
“Inoue Yusuke, I’m curious about how you guessed all the targets for the kingdom. ” Arthur looked at the young man with a face full of curiosity.
Yusuke was a young man wearing a kimono, with an ordinary appearance. The only thing that made him memorable was his eyes that constantly flashed with intelligence. He had chosen finance as his major!
In his test paper, he mainly discussed various financial plans in the newly occupied territories. Arthur was more curious about how he guessed the three targets.
Finally, it was his turn!
Yusuke felt a bit excited!
But he quickly suppressed his excitement and spoke seriously, “Your Majesty, it was analysis, intelligence analysis. My home is not far from the kingdom’s military factory, and I see the vehicles coming and going from the factory every day, which seemed unusual to me!”
“After calculating based on the vehicles going to and from the military factory, I found that the production of military weapons far exceeded the quantity needed by our kingdom. Later, I carefully examined the Western Sea Post, which reported the wars near our kingdom!”
“After a series of intelligence gathering and analysis, I discovered that the war between the nearby Bell and Hall kingdoms seemed odd, as if there was a puppeteer manipulating them, forcing them to fight!”
“Based on all these factors, I made a bold guess that perhaps our kingdom was secretly controlling their wars. Because of our military weapons, they are forced to engage in an imbalanced war. Therefore, they have no choice but to fight!”
After speaking, Yusuke looked at Arthur with anticipation, trying to get an answer from him.
Upon hearing this, Arthur suddenly smiled and looked at Yusuke, saying, “Are you interested in changing departments?”
Such talent shouldn’t be wasted on finance analysis!
Arthur planned to place him in the intelligence department, where he could analyze ordinary intelligence and find key information!
Upon hearing Arthur’s words, Yusuke showed a smile. He knew his guess was right!
“I will follow Your Majesty’s orders!” Yusuke said respectfully.
“Good, let’s end it here for today. You can all go back now!” Arthur said solemnly.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” The three of them nodded respectfully and slowly exited the room.
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