Paul gestured towards the classroom and asked, “How are ‘they’ doing?”
Eileen looked puzzled and asked, “Who?”
“The women who were rescued from the pirates.”
At this point, the female advisor became visibly upset.
“Those despicable scumbags,” she said with anger. “Do you know, Count? Some of them were even abducted to the island before they were of age, and then they were forced into doing those disgusting acts. You should hang all those pirates; not one of them is innocent.”
She took a deep breath and continued with a tone of worry: “As for the performance of these poor people, to be honest, it’s not good. Due to being imprisoned for a long time, they lack various basic life skills. Those who were kidnapped at a young age even struggle with everyday communication.”
Paul felt overwhelmed: “Is it that serious? This is troubling. How long will it take for them to start working? Do I have to support them for a long time before that?”
Eileen exploded upon hearing this: “Paul Grayman, have you lost all your humanity? They have already fallen into such a state, and you’re still thinking about exploiting them.”
Then she suddenly remembered that Paul was her employer. Although it wasn’t appropriate to speak to him , she didn’t intend to take back her words and glared at Paul angrily.
Paul was speechless, finding her naivety somewhat endearing. He knew that the nobility in affluent areas were keen on charity, especially the ladies and misses who had nothing better to do and liked to satisfy their so-called ‘moral superiority’ in this way. They seemed oblivious to the fact that their wealth was extracted from these poor people, as if it was their birthright to squander money.
He wanted to retort with harsh words like “I don’t have extra money for charity” or “He who does not work, neither shall he eat,” but he decided not to argue with her.
Paul shrugged and said, “Maybe my expression just now was ambiguous. But this doesn’t change the reality, Miss Dias. Perhaps for the family you come from, it’s trivial to spend some ‘small money’ to maintain a few idle people. But for Alda right now, every expense is carefully calculated.”
Eileen didn’t argue this time, as she hadn’t seen a noble as ‘frugal’ as Paul before. Of course, this ‘frugality’ referred to his personal life.
Despite the many ‘factories’ established by the government and private sector in the past six months, greatly increasing the financial income of the territory, Eileen, having worked with Paul for so long, understood that his military was a gold-eating monster. Both the army and navy required large sums of money to maintain. This peculiar lord was really willing to spend money on his soldiers.
Recently, the Minister of Agriculture from the Administration Council, Hansel, went south to the capital, gathering refugees along the way. These people needed food and drink, and the local lords wouldn’t help. The Administration Council had to continually send money south, and once the refugees arrived, settling them was another huge expense.
“But you can’t just kick them out! Without any skills, they can only…”
Eileen couldn’t bear to finish her sentence.
Then, Paul suddenly had an idea: “How about this? Most of my soldiers are single. Why not assign these women to them as wives? They would even enjoy military family benefits.”
As he was pleased with his ‘great idea’, he didn’t realize how deeply it hurt Eileen, who had run away from home precisely because she opposed her father’s arranged marriage.
Ah! This world is just too unfair to women.
The advisor’s face quickly turned cold.
“Even if you are the lord, this is too much. Don’t forget, you once said that you wouldn’t treat those rescued from the pirates as slaves.”
Then, with great solemnity, she raised a hand and declared, “I, Betty Dias, swear to the heavens and to my father above, that I will ensure they memorize everything in the ‘Handbook’ and recognize the words in it. They will become qualified ‘medical personnel,’ as you call them.”
Paul was puzzled by her seriousness. It was just an idea, after all.
But her sudden enthusiasm was a good thing.
“So, I’ll leave it to you, Miss Dias.”
However, Eileen continued, “There’s another issue that needs to be addressed.”
“Discrimination! The omnipresent discrimination! Given their past experiences, many people gossip and exaggerate about them, portraying them as fallen women.”
Paul shrugged: “That seems like a problem only time can slowly resolve.”
Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Eileen was quite dissatisfied: “No, there’s a more effective way. As the lord, you can issue a decree to prohibit such idle gossip and severely punish those who indulge in it.”
“Oh… Betty, you’re too naive.”
Before Eileen could finish, Paul shook his head in frustration.
“Such actions would only backfire. Deliberately eliminating barriers only creates bigger ones. The moment your suggested decree is issued, their situation will become even harder. If they can’t behave like normal people, if they can’t demonstrate their worth, people will always view them through a biased lens. Prejudice and suspicion will only intensify.”
Eileen had no response, as the count seemed to make sense. She reluctantly asked, “So, you’re just going to stand by and do nothing?”
After pondering for a moment, Paul replied, “The army needs its independent health system. Once they are trained, I’ll assign them to the barracks, forming a separate unit. The barracks have a closed-off management, which can reduce their contact with ordinary citizens. The rest will have to rely on time.”
Eileen suddenly became alert: “You’re not thinking of implementing that ‘great idea’ you had earlier, are you? Besides, with all those men in the barracks, aren’t you afraid something might happen? Or is that what you hope to see?”
Paul replied irritably: “My soldiers aren’t as bad as you imagine. They are different from the ruffians you might know. The army is particularly strict about such matters. They wouldn’t dare risk their heads for such foolishness.”
In Alda’s army, rape was a grave offense, punishable by death. In fact, all armies officially prohibit such crimes; it just varies in enforcement. Alda’s army was undoubtedly one of the strictest in the world.
Of course, the physiological needs of single soldiers also need to be addressed. Paul couldn’t expect them to be like puritans, so soldiers visiting brothels during their leave was not prohibited.
Eileen huffed and said, “I hope so.” Find the newest release on nοvelfire.net
Then she turned and went back into the classroom.
Paul, turning to Cecil, who had been silently observing, remarked, “Women really are difficult to deal with.”
The intelligence chief sympathetically replied, “They always have privileges, especially beautiful women like Miss Dias.”
“You’re right. Let’s go find Morrison.”
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