The next day, when he woke up, Raphael felt that his mana was almost full and took the opportunity to learn one more skill before the day began.
As he had already learned [Price Reading], there was now only one other useful skill available to him, completely ignoring the one he had deleted the day before.
[Silent Command Presence:
Learn to exercise authority and leadership without shouting, threatening or imposing yourself by force].
Considering that he planned to get involved in running the city today, this skill would be very useful when dealing with the current managers, after all, everyone knew that he had been sent to Valenford for being useless in the main family.
With a useless Young Master wanting to give orders without any experience in the subject, who would want to put their head down and listen to the nonsense he would say?
So a skill like this came at just the right time, since Raphael didn't have much experience in this area in the other world either.
When he learned [Silent Command Presence], the mental fatigue was only slightly worse than when he learned [Price Reading], with countless memories and experiences flooding into his mind, as if he himself had trained this skill for years when dealing with people.
Without Raphael realizing it, the noble, calm and imposing presence he tried to replicate now became much more natural, as if it had always been part of his behavior.
Even the act of changing his clothes became more graceful, with his body movements becoming slower and more confident.
Today he had an appointment with the current city managers, "trusted" people who had been organized by the last baron who took over this territory to do his job while he just enjoyed the perks that the noble life brought.
Then, after making sure everything was all right with his outfit, Raphael descended the stairs of the mansion in calm, steady steps.
Despite the Mana depleted by the newly acquired skill, the weakness it brought did not appear.
Every step he took was firm and confident, as if he were in his peak state, showing no openness at all.
At the entrance to the meeting hall, William was waiting for him with a makeshift clipboard, really just an old board with a piece of parchment pinned to the top. The contrast between William's careful posture and the state of the cracked wood almost brought a smile to Raphael's face.
"All four managers have confirmed their attendance, Young Master." William reported.
"Good." Raphael replied, straightening the collar of the suit he had chosen himself. An outfit he would never have worn in the other world, and a combination that the old Raphael would hardly have chosen, a blue suit with discreet silver details.
William continued. "To remind you, Master Rodrick will be the oldest man in the room, the town treasurer, Mira Talwen is the only woman present, responsible for the orphans and the distribution of supplies, Thorne Grax will be the muscular man with a big moustache, he is the commander of the territory guard, and Erven Mildbrook is the tax collector, a man with a nice smile who I would recommend you don't believe too much... a simple survey showed that there is a lot of corruption in this area by the territory."
"Interesting cast." Raphael commented quietly, feeling what a headache this meeting would be. "If one of them tries to kill me, at least you can write a mystery novel."
William forced a polite laugh.
Then Raphael entered the hall.
The room wasn't large, but the rectangular table in the center and the old armchairs gave the scene a certain formality. The four managers were already seated, but they all stood up when they saw him enter.
Or rather... three stood up courteously instantly. Thorne took a few seconds to stand up and nod.
"Good morning." Raphael said, walking to the end of the table. He didn't hurry, walking calmly.
The four of them watched him with different expressions.
Rodrick frowned as if analyzing his every move, Mira looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism, Thorne seemed bored, and Erven was already smiling too much for someone who hadn't heard anything yet.
Then Raphael sat down.
"You can sit down." He said calmly.
The three of them obeyed at the same time, while Thorne waited half a second longer, out of tantrum or habit, but Raphael didn't comment.
"I invited you today because, as Valenford's new city manager, I want to get a better understanding of the current state of the city." He folded his hands on the table. "And to make it clear that I intend to take an active part in the administration from now on."
Erven, the tax collector, gave a little smile and was the first to speak. "Of course, Mr. Baron. It's a joy to see interest coming from the Von Kaelen family, the last baron didn't have much interest in running the city and left everything in our capable hands."
Raphael smiled back, without showing his teeth, and replied. "You don't have to expect the same from me, Mr. Mildbrook."
Erven raised his hands. "Not at all, of course not."
Rodrick snorted, as if he didn't want to waste time with flattery.
"The city collected 60 gold coins in the last quarter. About 25% of that went to crown taxes, another 20% to security, 15% was spent on roads and infrastructure, and the rest was distributed between social welfare and... emergency funds." He explained everything from memory, showing that he had come prepared.
"How many of the roads have actually been renovated?" Raphael asked without taking his eyes off him. "I don't remember any good roads on my way to Valenford..."
Rodrick hesitated. "The main road linking Valenford to the village of Broddick has been... leveled... in part."
Raphael sensed that there was something wrong with this, so he nodded slowly as he analyzed the old man in front of him. "Good, then show me the route on the map."
Corruption was very common in his previous world, where everything was monitored, in a place like this where there were no records of anything? Obviously corruption would be even more rampant.
Mira Talwen took advantage of the silence to speak. "Mr. Baron, if I may... the children's situation is critical. The orphanage hasn't received reinforcements for almost a year, and the supplies sent are arriving with pests... There are even reports of maggot-ridden grain and spoiled meat."
"How many children do we have in your charge, Mira?" Raphael asked, his eyes now focused on her.
"Forty-two, counting those sleeping in temporary foster homes."
"That's more than I expected." Raphael replied sincerely. "You're doing a great job with very little."
Mira widened her eyes in surprise.
Raphael turned again to the old man at the table and asked with half-lidded eyes. "Is that the model for the territory's welfare spending, Master Rodrick?"
Hearing Raphael's direct confrontation of his work, Rodrick was a little startled and quickly replied. "I'll check what's wrong with this distribution of funds immediately, Lord Baron."
Raphael nodded, but was interrupted by a snort from the large man with an imposing moustache on his face, Thorne, the captain of the territory guard.
"With all due respect, Lord Baron, even my grandmother could work a miracle with rotten grain, but the guard has been without decent weaponry for months. And if we're going to look for the root of the problems, I suggest starting with the collectors." He looked straight at Erven.
Erven kept his smile, but his eyes tightened slightly. "All the collections are being made as stipulated, the delays occurred on the routes."
"Then you're going to help me find out where the hole is." Raphael said, his voice sounding as firm as stone.
Everyone looked at him at once.
"I'm not going to act like an idiot and pretend that I don't know what happened, we all know that there's been a lot of corruption in the city in the years that the Von Kaelen family hasn't been around." "Although I don't like it, I'm willing to turn a blind eye to what happened before I arrived, but everything will change from now on. And get ready, because this week I intend to personally visit every sector you control."
The silence that followed was tense, but no one dared to object.
The [Silent Command Presence] worked its magic, but even without it, Raphael was completely on paper.
For the four city managers, the image of the pampered nobleman they had imagined they would meet seemed to be disappearing, and no one knew yet whether that was a good thing... or a dangerous thing.
-
Watching the four of them leave the mansion, Raphael sighed.
"Even knowing that there is corruption among them, do you intend to ignore it, young master?" William asked confusedly.
Raphael looked at the old butler and explained calmly. "Dealing with the management of a territory isn't easy, even if there are corrupt people among them, I can't just cut them off as soon as I arrive. If I did something like that, the territory would fall into chaos in no time, I wouldn't know the expertise to fulfill their role and there would be even more problems to deal with in the future..."
Hearing this, William's eyes glazed over, not having thought of it from that angle.
Then Raphael continued with a cold smile. "Sure, I don't intend to keep them here forever, when I get used to managing the territory and get capable people under me, it won't be difficult to replace them."
Looking at the young master, William was shocked, for a second he thought he saw the image of Master Von Kaelen, Raphael's father!
"William, take a copy of [Hansel and Gretel] to the orphanage and have Mira do a test reading session of this book for those children. We'll analyze their response to my story... and give those poor little ones a bit of fun, along with some supplies to improve their situation." Raphael returned to his carefree expression as he spoke.
William understood the appeal of this and smiled, nodding and heading off to fulfill his task.