Chapter 168. Worker Benefits and Healthcare!

After taking a look at the other gifts which were mainly clothes, some towels, handkerchiefs, and sculptures which were all nice to look at. The handkerchiefs were all handstitched by the senders themselves which made it very nice though the ring Kaori gave is still the best since it gave me a very beautiful nostalgic sensation.

Taking a seat on the couch together with Tanya, Faron, Lia, and Sheena. A serious atmosphere surrounded us as I looked at them in the eye before asking, “Do you have anything to report to me during my very short absence?”

“We have a report from the Defense Council, my lady. I think it is best for Faron or Lia to explain the report to you,” Tanya responded as my gaze turned towards the two who nodded with Faron taking the first step.

He took out a few papers and handed them to me which I gladly took, skimming it for a few seconds. The papers were a report of the total crime rates over the past few days, separated by small and large offenses with the larger ones being marked in deep red.

“As you have read, Princess. The crime rate of the town has risen by two percent since the letter of challenge was sent, most of the offenses conducted were mainly minor to medium which consisted of stealing money and products from the marketplace.”

“To attempt to reduce the overall crime rate, we decided to tighten the security of most major public spaces from the parks to the marketplace which indeed worked but there are still risk-takers who still perform the following offensives in broad daylight which led us to a conclusion that they were hired to possibly dirty the town’s and the Princess’s name,” he reported.

I was already expecting something like that to happen especially since nobles in this world are high and mighty regardless of who they are facing whether it’d be the Queen or a Duchess. The only way to make them kneel is to force them as Kaori did.

“Heh… those fools think they can get away with this,” I smirked before looking at him with a nod, “Have you investigated over which nobles are involved with the rise in criminal activity?”

Lia immediately stood up and answered, “We have conducted a separate investigation and we found traces of several nobles’ servants roaming around the town and conducting suspicious business with the criminals we caught, though since we do not have sufficient evidence, we are unable to apprehend those servants.”

“What kind of occupations are the offenders mainly from, how many of them are adventurers, and which noble does each servant that was found belong to?” I looked at her before she looked at her couch and grabbed a paper before handing it over to me.

The paper was a table that showed the name of the noble and the number of servants from that noble that was caught conducting suspicious business on the town. The table looked pretty neat which impressed me a bit but what was written didn’t impress me one bit.

Noble

Servant Count

Baron Haris

12 servants were found.

Viscount Louis

8 servants were found.

Count Ame

6 servants were found.

Baron Harpe

4 servants were found.

Marquis Yusa

2 servants were found.

Count Tarde

1 servant was found.

Marquis Easa

1 servant suspected.

I was a bit surprised to see Marquis Easa’s name at the very bottom but then again, that part is listed as suspected which means it could have been a rogue servant that was conducting some kind of odd business coincidentally.

My eyes latched on Baron Haris and Viscount Louis’s name as I could feel anger rise inside of me as I handed the paper back to Lia before looking at Fiona who was standing behind me all the time, telling her via telepathy, “Bring this emblem to the guild and tell them that all branches of the Adventurer Guild must not accept a single request from Baron Haris, Viscount Louis, Count Ame, Baron Harpe, and Marquis Yusa.”

“After telling them that, tell the Guild to also send the same notification to most organizations that are under the royal family’s power to also stop business with them. Add that this is an order coming from me and also under Her Majesty’s orders,” I said while handing the Windsor family’s badge.

Fiona immediately bowed down as I turned my attention back to them before asking, “Is there anything else to report?” as Faron and Lia sat back down on their seats.

“There are several more reports coming from the Trade Council and a new organization that popped out by themselves which is called The United Farmer Council which focuses on reports over the farmer’s wellbeing, issues and etc.”

“And there was a delivery from the Adventurer Guild about a very special license card given to your guard, my lady. Do you want to receive it and hand it over to her?” Tanya looked at me with a poker face, she already knew that license was for me but since the others still don’t know yet, she still had to say it is from my guard.

“Fiona will hand it over to her, you can give it to her and she will take care of the rest,” I replied before she nodded as she walked over to a drawer and took out a beautiful golden fur box before handing it over to Fiona who took it as I spoke via telepathy, “Show it also to the Adventurer’s Guild, they will obey the orders from the highest-ranking adventurer regardless of how weird it is.”

“As you wish,” she responded.

“As for the reports, here is the report from the Trade Council which is their monthly tax statement from all the merchants that are registered under them with a few issues with solutions that they want to have accepted,” Tanya took out several papers and handed it over to me before walking over to another drawer as she took out another few.

“This is from the United Farmers Council which is a report of their harvest for this month along with issues with possible solutions, general wellbeing report of the farmers and their monthly tax statement which comes from all the sales they have made from their harvest,” she said before handing it to me.

I started skimming through every single report which was neatly composed. The Trade Council has paid a total of 345 gold coins which surprised me a bit as it meant their sales were around the platinum amount, that is super amusing since this is coming from a town that was once like the desert.

As for their issue, there was only one and that issue was the lack of space for more merchants to sell on which I can already tell was going to happen sooner or later. The solution they offered is to build three more marketplaces around the town through a bit of the tax money they paid with the general cost of all three at a total of 100 gold coins maximum.

The solution didn’t seem bad since tax money was always meant to be returned back to the town which is why I don’t feel like rejecting their solution, “Tell the Trade Council that I will approve of their solution and will add an additional two hundred gold coins.”

As for The United Farmer Council which is not a member of the council group that I made, their report states that the farmers' wellbeing has improved and are living a decent life but there are several issues they have stated such as pesticide, higher wages and farmer benefits which consisted of healthcare and reduced taxes for their sales.

The reason for the reduced taxes part is because they think the price they are selling their harvest is very low and hardly enough to sustain them added with the tax rate which deducted their total sales by a large amount, it makes it hard for them to continue living as a farmer.

As for the healthcare, that is quite problematic as we still need to hire healers over to the town which there are a few but none of them are permanent healers of the town which is something I want, unlike in my old world, there is no proper healthcare on this world actually. The church is usually the one that handles that but since most kingdoms are wary of the church, they usually do not go to them.

“Tanya, can you tell a few servants to announce that the town is going to hire independent healers to the town to work here permanently. We will offer them a free house, a workplace of their own, and a proper wage,” I looked at Tanya who nodded, “As for their pesticide issue, please find someone who is more well-versed with this issue and let them take care of it.”

“Their tax reduction will be granted along with the other jobs that have a low income, tell the council who is in charge of the general workers to create a Workers Benefit which will involve free healthcare for any medium-level injuries and a reduced price for more critical injuries which will be billed to the town.”

“Add a condition as well that the benefit is only applicable to those who have worked for three or more months in their job and has paid at least 99 percent of their taxes within a six month period though since the town is still starting out, make it a two month period until the next year,” I placed the paper while Tanya wrote it down with a nod.

I can already foresee this Worker’s Benefits program making waves around the entire kingdom or possibly continent, it might bring us a lot of manpower to the town very soon which is what I am hoping since my goal is to make this town not just a town but a city that can rival and surpass the capital city and for that to happen, we need a lot of lands, resources, and manpower.

Resources are a critical thing as well, especially mana since we need a new way to produce mana or electricity in this world since using mana stones to power the lights all around is pretty wasteful and inefficient.

I will have to talk with Kaori about this one since she is the person who is generally smarter in regards to electrical stuff, she might know how to make a turbine and create electronics which is what I am hoping for, otherwise, there is also the option of investing into Aurora’s project which she showed me back then.

That project of hers is pretty revolutionary and most likely the safest bet for me… oh well, I will think about that in the future.

Stretching my arms wide, I stood up with a yawn before saying, “It’s time for me to visit the nobles who are waiting for the challenge. All of you can rest if you want or go back to your posts since I only need Fiona and my secret guard to watch over me for this one.”

“Tanya, please prepare a dress for me to wear, and Sheena, can you prepare the bath for me?” I looked at the two who nodded before I yawned my way upstairs.