Chapter 98: Pushing Responsibilities

Unsurprisingly, the little sabotage games started the moment someone decided that the cons outweigh the pros. Of course, nobody wanted more responsibilities and less hot spring time. The brownie siblings quickly declined, passing this baton to the gnomes to decide who they wanted to nominate among themselves.

"Brownies only know how to stitch," they claimed. "Crafting is a wide skill that we aren't very good at."

Rino listened to the polite arguments between the eight gnomes who split themselves into day and night teams.

"The night team spends more time on maintenance work. I think that the crafting manager should come from someone in the day team."

One bearded gnome from the day team claimed that they were on rotation for the day and night teams to counter that statement. Hearing that, the gnomes quickly agreed that the representative should not be chosen based on the current rotation.

For some reason, Rino was listening to the private evaluation of each crafting member, from what projects they undertook to how many hoes they crafted. 

"The boat crafted in the afternoon was done by you," one gnome pointed at his friend. "I think you should be the crafting manager.

To counter the merit he just received, the gnome pretended to sigh and apologise while refuting the credit. "However, it was you who came up with the boat's design. My initial flat base strategy did not work. Not to mention, didn't someone else propose waterproof coating to prevent wood rot?"

The argument surrounding the reed collecting boat went in circles. Everyone pointed fingers at who did what, from material processing, design to finishing touches. Nobody wanted to take credit, too afraid of becoming the crafting manager. For a while, it was amusing to Rino.

As a busy ruler, Rino hardly had time to get to know his minions individually. He only chose people based on their capabilities and by first impressions, like how he liked Fronzo more than Fowler initially. Even Erika was appointed after talking to several women once. He did not bother to understand the individual named Erika and felt no need to do so as long as the job was done properly.

Every gnome and brownie had a unique personality, but for Rino, he was looking at eight different pawns to use. All he heard so far was the skills these crafters had to offer. Honestly, the crafting manager need not have good crafting skills. They needed good management skills to ensure that every worker had the tools they needed to do their jobs.

Rino mentally streamlined the crafting manager's duties into three categories. The most important duty was production management. The manager was in charge of creating production schedules and monitoring the production workers to meet the deadlines. If they were behind the deadline, it was the crafting manager's responsibility to create measures to meet the production requirements.

The second duty was to help Rino create new items based on his system's tutorials or brainstorm better systems with the lich. As an inventor, Rino enjoyed this process the most, so it would be nice to talk to someone with a curiosity that matched his own. Inquisitive minds and creative ideas made Rino open up quickly. He got along well with people who did not hesitate to speak their minds regardless of status. When in the lab, every brain was equal unless they were stupid. Then again, Rino would never allow an idiot to participate in meetings that involved the kingdom's welfare.

The last duty for his ideal crafting manager was generally a personality trait. Unlike Mutt, Erika and Rino, the crafting manager must be someone like Fronzo and Gnut who could talk to people effectively and had a high tolerance of idiots. 

Rino had to admit, the crafting manager's job fulfilment criteria were stringent. Unlike appointing a hunting squad commander, the crafting manager would work directly with Rino for projects. In some ways, the crafting manager had authorities almost on par with Erika's. This individual was someone Rino had to rely on a lot, and looking at these crafters, he narrowed his focus to two promising candidates.

The brownie siblings were out of the question. They did not have the patience in dealing with people and were only comfortable doing what they did best. Rino did not dislike such personalities. However, they would not make good managers. He decided to leave them where they would be their happiest. If there was a tanning workshop in the future, Rino would seek their expertise again to work with leather products.

The two gnomes Rino liked were complete opposites in their views and personalities. One of the gnomes had a fiery personality and gathered others under his thumb as he defended fiercely. The other gnome that Rino was interested in had a deep and pensive look in his eyes as he listened and observed. Whenever he spoke, he was full of calmness and did not like to waste many words getting his point across.

Either gnome would fit the position like a glove, and Rino was torn. He couldn't decide. It was best if both candidates could become his crafting managers, but Rino knew from experience how putting two queen bees in one hive would not make the bees more productive. If anything, the queens would constantly try to kill each other, resulting in a messy hive and inefficient production.

Then, an idea struck him. Like how two teams were working, Rino now had a new territory with many new positions that required filling. The quieter gnome would get along better with his magic teacher. That way, both gnomes can be part of his kingdom development team, and if one gnome starts to prove to be a pain, he can simply replace him with the other crafting manager.

A little rivalry never hurt, and Rino had high expectations from two very capable gnomes with very different methods.

"I've decided," he told the gnomes who were starting to show a little less professionalism now.

"You," he pointed to the charismatic gnome who puffed his cheeks in anger at the other gnomes who accused him of crazy ideas.

"From today onwards, you are Griffith, the Crafting Manager of Spudville. Serve me well. Your direct reporting manager is Fronzo, the production manager, but you will also work with Erika and Baron Goblin Lord Gnut of Noir Province."

He just made the names up, but nobody questioned the bizarre naming sense. The gnome, newly named Griffith, bowed and accepted his fate. Behind him, the other crafting faes tried not to appear too delighted should Rino changed his mind. The naming ceremony made the gnome evolve into a pygmy dwarf. His fiery personality materialised into red hair and beard even if everything else remained unchanged about his features. He was a third the height of a regular dwarf but almost twice as tall as his gnome comrades.

Spuville was the territory dedicated to the mana web array World Tree Rino controlled. The population density there was enormous, so Rino needed someone more outspoken to manage things there.

He turned to the more pensive gnome and pointed at him.

"You will be called Aiden. Henceforth, you are also a crafting manager, but you will be responsible for Cypress County's crafting needs. Your direct reporting manager is the Mayor of this county, Kragami, my teacher. You will also work with Erika and Baron Goblin Lord Gnut of Noir Province."

Naming the other gnome as a crafting manager, Rino watched him transform into a pygmy dwarf. His calm personality materialised into turquoise hair and beard while his other features remained unchanged.

Although faint, the lich sensed a small affinity with fire magic in Griffith and affinity with water magic in Aiden.

Two was better than one, and Rino dismissed the crafters after assigning them their teams for future projects.

Satisfied that he had capable individuals working under him, Rino decided to call it a night and return to the farmhouse. He had a daily quest to prepare for.