Yes, Madam Prime Minister

The primary reason is that all six girls, without exception, misunderstood Ronan's intention in asking the question.

Ronan just wanted to see how quickly they would solve the problem, but they thought it was about how to complete the mission while also solving the problem for the people.

Even more outrageous, they actually planned to explain the relevant regulations to the lame old man and woman selling oranges, and then, with a hint of threat, persuade the two women not to cause trouble. They told the old man that if he tried to play any more tricks, he would be severely punished to make him admit the truth. After the appropriate punishment, they would see if they could help the old man get a spot in the market.

If the kingdom's civil servants still need to reason with the people and solve their problems, how can they complete their job duties? The kingdom is an imperialist country full of feudal remnants.

The kingdom's civil servants are never, ever there to solve problems for the people; their job is to implement and enforce various policies and regulations.

In the kingdom, the lower the level, the more necessary it is to be simple and direct in order to ensure efficiency.

It can only be said that although people in this era are generally precocious, and although their families have deliberately cultivated them in order to marry into an upper-class family and become the mistress of the house, they are still just fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls.

Of course, Ronan actually thought this was quite good. It's a good thing for young people to have ideas. If they were all like him, a bureaucrat, then the world should just be destroyed, hurry up and get rid of it.

If Ronan were to answer this question...

It's very simple. Old man, didn't you say you were giving away oranges for free? Fine, I'll watch you give all the oranges away and even help you promote them. I bet those two women won't even need to say anything; they'll take as many as they can immediately.

If you admit defeat, all the oranges were taken, and you probably won't dare to do it again.

If you don't allow them to take it, you're deceiving law enforcement, and we'll confiscate the oranges and the cart without hesitation.

If you then admit that you are actually selling oranges, it will confirm that you have violated the rules and attempted to deceive law enforcement, and they will confiscate them without question.

The task was completed smoothly in less than ten minutes. I can return the stroller to him in a few days.

After dealing with this matter, there will still be time to deal with other people.

"She's a bit naive but also a little cunning, but that doesn't stop her from being a maid."

Ronan thought to himself.

As for who to choose, that decision was already made when Ronan went there to make tea.

Chloe, who scored first in the written test and whose appearance was in the middle among the six, and Lutas, who was the most beautiful among the six.

Chloe has a typical Villar appearance, and the geographical location of Villa is roughly the same as the location of Spain in Ronan's original timeline.

She had black hair, black eyes, thick black eyebrows, a fleshy nose, slightly thick lips, and skin that was tanned but very smooth. She had large breasts and was short, at most 158 ​​cm tall. However, for a woman of that age among the common people, this height was not considered short.

However, she was not chosen because she scored first in the written test, but because her father was a small landowner within the collective farm experiment area designated by Ronan, and this gentleman was willing to sell his land to support the collective farm plan.

Ronan would definitely choose her, especially since she has magical talent.

Just like civil service interviews consider background, Ronan is also choosing a maid. As long as she makes it to the final round, Ronan will definitely choose her.

As for Lutas, it wasn't just because she was beautiful; more importantly, the records also stated that she had magical talent.

Lutas doesn't have typical racial features. His burgundy hair is quite rare. He has dark brown eyes, a high nose bridge, and a delicate, small nose. His facial features are soft, with dimples. He has a sweet smile, fair skin, a bust, and is about 165 cm tall, slightly taller than Alice.

Ronan still remembered her answer to Alice's question: "I will tell everyone that I am young, emphasize that this old servant is old and experienced, and let everyone work together to get things done." This essentially implied that the man was old and nearing retirement, and what benefit could young people gain from flattering him? They should focus on serving this young man well for their future.

You could say she lived up to her name; Lutas means lotus, and she certainly had a lotus-like quality.

But Ronan didn't mind; it was perfectly normal for a pretty and educated girl to be a little naive.

"Yes, you are all very good."

Ronan ended the interview with a bland and uninspired comment.

Then, Ronan pretended to discuss it with Alice and Elena, and quickly announced the result.

Chloe and Lutas are the top choices.

Then, Alice took out the employment contract. "You can look at the contract yourselves. It's for three years, and I have the right to fire you at any time. All other rights, responsibilities, scope of service and compensation are written here. If you think there are no problems, you can sign it. If there are problems, you don't have to sign it."

The other four looked at the two selected individuals and kept repeating to themselves, "Don't sign, don't sign, don't sign."

However, Chloe and Lutas only glanced at the document before signing their names without hesitation.

"There's also this supplementary agreement. Take it back to your parents to sign. Once they sign it, you'll officially become our maids. Remember, come back within three days. If you're over three days, the entire contract will be void."

Alice then produced another agreement.

The reason for signing this agreement is simple: in the kingdom, or rather in most countries of this era, women do not have full citizenship rights. Before marriage, many things, including work, require the consent of their parents; otherwise, except in some special circumstances, they will be considered illegal.

Of course, magicians are an exception.

As long as you are a magician, regardless of whether you are a woman, a child, or even mentally challenged, you are a complete citizen.

Just like Dinia, even though it's almost a consensus that women are not suitable for being officials, no one would think she's unsuitable for the position when she becomes mayor, and no one would disrespect her, because she is first and foremost a magician, and only secondly a woman.

However, for women who are not magicians, becoming civil officials is more than ten times more difficult than for men.

A few days later, Chloe and Rutas officially became Ronan's maids and began their work.

However, on their first day at work, the two were scolded, not by Ronan, but by Alice and Elena.

Chloe was scolded because she tidied Ronan's somewhat messy bookshelf and desk, and Alice berated her for ten minutes.

“Remember, don’t touch anything in the study,” Alice concluded.

Lutas fared even worse; she messed with Ronan's wardrobe, which Elena had always kept in charge of—it was her private property.

Elena not only cursed at her, but also grabbed her wrist and pinched it, leaving a bruise.

"Only I can organize the young master's clothes and express my opinion on his attire. I have the authority to manage the wardrobe, understand?" Elena said arrogantly.

It's another weekend.

Ronan called Alice over, "I'm planning to have them both learn magic. You can give them some pointers when you have time."

“They’re a bit old,” Alice said with some concern.

“Being a bit older is actually just right, because I’m planning to experiment with some things,” Ronan said with a smile.

"?"

Chapter 118 Empiricism, Selflessness, Weekend Entertainment

Those who are born with the ability to summon magic or who awaken the magic of destiny at a young age have a basic understanding of magic, but this group is a very small minority.

Most people need to start with meditation to gradually learn the basics, and the age of beginners is usually around seven or eight years old. That's why Alice said that the two of them are a bit too old to start learning magic now.

Ronan had his own reasons, which are a long story.

Meditation is a very mysterious thing. Even if you only need to know how to meditate, you don't need to know why. But people who have not studied magic can't even do it by simply copying it. Moreover, individual physical conditions will bring some differences. If there is no one to guide and correct the mistakes in the process, some irreparable damage may occur.

So even if someone from an empire invented a movable type printing press made all kinds of books, including magic books, less expensive and affordable for middle-class families, parents who are not magicians would still not buy one for their children to study on their own.

In Ronan's view, an engineering student, "meditation" is essentially similar to building a virtual machine in a computer program.

"Operator" refers to the software installed on the virtual machine, while "enhancement" means that the virtual machine actually starts operating.

People who are born with magic or have it from a very young age possess this machine, which comes with its own software and starts operating on its own. Therefore, the two major systems of fate magic and summoning magic do not require any basic learning.

But for most ordinary people, the first step is to build such a virtual machine themselves.

Over the past few centuries, thanks to the efforts of magic academies, "meditation" has discarded some of the mystical elements left behind by the church. Various adjustment methods for different situations have become increasingly efficient and precise, and can solve more and more problems, but it is still ultimately based on empiricism.

Even now, the most fundamental concepts—"meditation," "operation," and "reinforcement"—still retain too much epistemological content.

Only in the subsequent four items, "release", "condense", "manipulate", and "attach", which fall within the scope of operational application, is mathematical logic truly introduced.

Ronan, a man deeply influenced by science, naturally didn't subscribe to empiricism. From the moment he traveled through time, he had been trying to develop a more universal meditation method, or rather, a way of building it. Once built using such a method, only minor adjustments would be needed, eliminating the need for major error corrections.

Alice was Ronan's first attempt, but unfortunately, it wasn't very successful.

Firstly, Ronan's theories were not very complete at that time. Secondly, Alice was too young at the time, not even ten years old, and there were many things that just couldn't be forced into her.

Now, Ronan's theory is much more complete than it was back then. Chloe and Lutas are both over fifteen, have a certain level of knowledge, and haven't developed habitual thinking, so they are more receptive to new ideas.

That's why Ronan said that being a little older is actually just right.

Of course, whether it will work or not remains to be seen.

After all, although this world, due to the existence of magicians, certainly has a much higher level of education in mathematics and logic than any other country in the original timeline, it is still far behind the era in which Ronan lived.

Hopefully, Chloe and Lutas can reach the level of first-year junior high students in his time. If they can, then he can teach them. After all, both of them are people with magical talent, which is equivalent to being able to open a certain program on a computer. Meditation is not about actually creating a machine, but about constructing a virtual machine within a computer program.

It shouldn't be a big problem for a junior high school student to build a model.

If it proves effective, Ronan's next step is to promote it on a small scale at the magic academy in the future New Sea City.

If the small-scale promotion goes smoothly, people will naturally come to "learn" from it.

While Ronan's method can only more conveniently and efficiently train and educate novice magicians, and doesn't have a significant impact on subsequent stages, that alone is enough.

All of this was done, of course, because Ronan wanted more magicians to appear.

The reason is the same as Ronan's desire to increase productivity, which is to create more middle-class people. Wizards are naturally "middle class," and more wizards mean more middle-class people.

For a country, the middle class is a good source of profit; the poor have too little to eat and are prone to rebellion, while the middle class has plenty to eat and is less likely to rebel.

As for the fact that there are more middle-class people, civil servants will have more to manage and their power will be greater. This is just a side effect; it's a case of good people being rewarded.

"Sigh, I have really worried myself sick for this country. There is no one more selfless than me in this country. I am so lonely."

Ronan couldn't help but sigh to himself that sometimes having too high a moral character can be a lonely thing.

"Hey?"

"Ronan."

"Young Master!" Alice called out three times.

"Huh?" Ronan finally snapped out of his reverie. "What's the problem?"

"No," Alice replied, her eyes half-closed and a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“That’s fine.” Ronan took out a manuscript and two copies of the most widely circulated version of “Introduction to Meditation at the Royal Magic Academy”. “I’ll leave the matter to you. Anyway, your department won’t be taking any action for a while, so you have the time.”

"Isn't Elena even more free than me?" Alice retorted.

"Her first three basic skills were purely bluffed and not solid at all, which is why she had problems with the last two skills, manipulation and attachment. If it weren't for a special opportunity, she would never have become a proper mage. You are different. After all, you were taught by me. Although you didn't achieve the best results because my theory was not perfect, your foundation is still very solid. Even if you are born with some lack of magic power, you will eventually be able to enter the realm of proper mages."

"It would be perfect for you to guide these two people in testing my meditation method."

Ronan said some nice things.

"Alright then." Alice agreed, seemingly not very happy, but she was actually a little pleased to hear Ronan's evaluation of her.

"I'll be busy again for a while. I need to keep an eye on things at the collective farm. But if you have any problems, feel free to come to me. This matter is also very important."

After saying that, Ronan left to find Elena.

Weekends are for relaxation and entertainment.

Ronan and Elena's entertainment is simple.

The afternoon's battle showed that Ronan's fighting style relied heavily on close combat, as did Elena's. Although both were mages and didn't need to practice every day to maintain their form, they would still become rusty if they didn't practice for a long time. More importantly, if they didn't practice for a long time, it would be difficult for them to instantly enter a highly focused fighting state during an encounter.

After dinner, rest for a while, take a good shower, and change into a new set of underwear.

Breakthroughs have been achieved in the processing of fig tree gum, resulting in the successful creation of elastic webbing. This makes it possible to wear bras and panties with a certain degree of elasticity, eliminating the need for tie-up bodysuits.

To commemorate this great invention, Ronan decided to sit on Elena and give her a milk cannon as the first shot of the night.

Chapter 119 begins: Holiday, Surprise

As the new week began, Ronan, as he predicted, got busy.

Ronan was busy with recruitment exams.

In the past, the scale of the exams in various special cities was very small because there were few openings, and they were basically only recruited from the new immigrants who made up the smallest percentage of the population. Everything was very easy and simple.

Now that there are more job openings, the collective farm system requires many grassroots positions. Even if farmers are not illiterate, each collective farm must be under the leadership of the municipal government.

Moreover, it is now very necessary to recruit people from the old immigrant community into the city hall to reduce the proportion of new immigrants in the city hall. Otherwise, if all the councilors and city hall staff are new immigrants, will Ronan still be in charge of New Sea City?

Not to mention that Dinia will be causing trouble in the future, so it's necessary to recruit more people all at once.

In short, the number of people to be recruited is far greater than in the past, and their sources are more complex.

Not only that, Ronan had to take care of everything, from how the exams were conducted to what was tested and how the positions were arranged. He practically lived at the city hall for this job.

Since Ronan wasn't going home, he simply gave the two new maids a day off.

Chloe and Lutas both went home.

Chloe's family was a typical farming family; the plot of land she contributed was only a portion of her family's land holdings. They also owned a pasture and a vineyard.

"Darling, why are you back?" Chloe's mother was both surprised and worried when she saw Chloe, fearing that something had happened to her with Ronan.

“It’s okay, he gave me a day off,” Chloe replied.

The mother breathed a sigh of relief. "Then come in quickly. After lunch, we'll have a good talk with your father."