# Chapter 44: Cedric (10) – Image Improvement: Lord Edition
The citizens were all struck with fear upon hearing the rumor that Claudia had driven out the deputy lord and settled into the manor.
“Claudia? Isn’t she that notorious wicked woman?”
“She beats her servants at the slightest provocation and spews verbal abuse; very few survive a year in her service.”
“Then why is she taking on the role of the lord now?”
“Could she be trying to drastically increase our taxes?”
“She might even feed disobedient citizens to her demon beasts!”
“Hush! All of you, lower your voices! What if someone overhears?”
In the Eched domain, Claudia’s name was infamous for the wrong reasons. Although she hadn’t roamed the region committing acts of tyranny, those who had been her servants and fled had spread various tales painting her as vile.
Rumors, as usual, were half exaggeration or distortion, but the other half was based on real experiences, so it wasn’t entirely baseless slander.
The citizens trembled with fear, wondering what Claudia would do. However, she defied their expectations in a positive way.
– Woof! Woof woof!
– Grrr.
“Isn’t she supposed to have fearsome demon beasts? That’s just a red-furred dog, right?”
“What? They’re supposed to serve as guards? That doesn’t sound right.”
The citizens were first surprised to find that Claudia’s supposedly fearsome demon beasts were rather cute. They were then astonished to learn they were supposed to act as guards, and finally, they were amazed to discover that these dogs were actually effective.
“I was about to get beaten up by some hooligans, but then a dog started barking nearby, and soon after, the guards arrived. Thanks to that, I survived.”
“I lost my money pouch and was searching for it when one of the dogs found it for me!”
“My son is a member of the guard, and he says his work has become much easier lately. He no longer has to wander around; they just wait until the dogs lead them to where they need to go.”
“Thieves who used to haunt back alleys now seem terrified even of normal dogs.”
When Claudia unexpectedly managed the lord’s duties competently, despite doing nothing previously, the public opinion of her quickly turned around.
The reasons for the rapid improvement of her image were twofold. First, expectations for her were unrealistically low. And second, her policies were easily perceivable to the common folks.
In fact, when high-ranking officials announce policies to benefit the commoners, it’s rare for them to feel happy about them directly. Policies that disregarded social repercussions often led to adverse effects and criticism, while fine-tuned policies took too much time to show significant results, making it hard for people to notice improvements.
In contrast, the blood demon guard system was immediately visible, easy to understand, and required no extra effort or sacrifice from the citizens.
There were no additional conscriptions or higher taxes for the establishment of the guard system, only pure benefits.
Of course, there were some who resisted the growing positive public sentiment.
*
“Damn it, this is bad.”
Hamelren, a young official in the Eched region, was one of the representatives who did not welcome Claudia’s actions.
This wasn’t because he received bribes from criminals and disliked improved security but rather because he held a different perspective.
Actually, he highly rated Claudia in terms of improving security.
To be precise, he highly rated ‘only this part’ of her work.
“Kicking people out is one thing, but surely you should have a decent alternative plan! What do you think you’re doing just dumping so many rookies in and expecting us all to collaborate smoothly now!?”
The ones who quit in protest after the deputy lord was driven out were mostly close to the deputy and well-off financially, which meant they were high-ranking officials in the bureaucracy.
Claudia filled their vacant positions by promoting some lower officials, including Hamelren, but without proper training or onboarding, expecting smooth operations would be odd.
Moreover, Hamelren didn’t have the luxury to focus solely on this. He also had to teach newly hired administrators who knew nothing about paperwork.
In any organizational environment, new hires are more a burden than manpower until their adaptation period ends.
Answering continuous questions like “How do I do this?” or “What should I do about that?” was both time-consuming and exhausting.
“Right now, she might be able to dazzle with shiny policies, but soon there will be mishaps everywhere….”
And when things went wrong, it was likely that Hamelren and fellow existing officials would bear the responsibility.
After all, the lord is not someone who takes responsibility but someone who asks for it. Firing the new hires, who are purely loyal to Claudia, would be less effective for consolidating power than removing the old officials.
Despite these thoughts, Hamelren’s future didn’t seem bright, so he was filled with intense depressive feelings one day.
“Here, take this.”
Summoned to the lord’s office, Hamelren received a stack of papers from Claudia and blinked in confusion.
As if reading his mind, Claudia explained, “I noticed some inefficiencies in your current methods, so I made some adjustments. Going forward, follow the procedures listed here. Make sure to pass this on to everyone in your department.”
“Is… is that so?”
Hamelren had to exert great effort to keep his expression neutral. Such incidents weren’t entirely uncommon. It was a somewhat frequent occurrence for higher-ups to glance at the lower-level operations and suggest changes with comments like, “Don’t do that, try doing this instead.”
The problem was that such suggestions often turned out to be ill-conceived.
Even the previous lord’s deputy once issued a brilliant command to limit the amount of paper each official could use per day to save resources, but soon, they found themselves buried under documents filled with incomprehensibly small text, which led to the order being rapidly rescinded.
Now, what could be expected from the commands of such a high-born lady, who had likely never touched paperwork in her entire life?
Suppressing the urge to sigh, Hamelren began flipping through the pages.
“… Quite surprisingly, it’s not half-bad. Even an index is thoughtfully included.”
“Standard format? Setting predetermined guidelines for what content should go in what order depending on the type of business? I was already doing this, but come to think of it, there are indeed those who ignore it and do as they please. Setting it as a rule would definitely be beneficial.”
“Hmm, categorizing the work by field? Indeed, it would be easier to teach this way, and mastering it would be faster as well. But if the officer responsible for a field leaves, other staff won’t be able to handle issues in that area if it’s separated like this… Ah, I see, that’s why there are sub-managers.”
“Customer service manual? Hold on, there’s even a full record of etiquette and procedures based on the rank of visiting dignitaries!?”
“…”
When Hamelren started reading the document with the mindset of expecting nonsense, his expression grew increasingly serious as he flipped through each page.
At one point, he even momentarily forgot he was in front of the lord.
“… Incredible.”
Hamelren’s hand trembled. As the most capable person in administrative work among the remaining officials in Eched, he could recognize the incredible value of this document.
“The content itself isn’t extremely innovative. There’s nothing here that’s so advanced or conceptually complex that it’s hard to understand. Many officials with long experience unconsciously follow similar methods.”
However, that doesn’t reduce its worth.
There is always a gap that can’t be bridged between the vague idea of ‘this seems good enough’ and ‘if A happens, then we do B.’
An extremely thorough manual.
Even if one were a rookie with a basic grasp of literacy, they could follow the instructions written here and perform tasks efficiently.
Moreover, it wasn’t just for rookies. Implementing this could significantly boost the efficiency of the existing officials.
The exact extent of the effectiveness could only be determined after implementation, but based on Hamelren’s expectations, it would be at least double the current efficiency.
The efficiency improvement was so great that even reducing the number of existing officials wouldn’t hamper the functioning of the Eched administration.
Hamelren looked at Claudia with an expression of admiration.
Any grudges he once harbored against her disappeared long ago. In fact, he felt a sense of fulfillment in serving such a capable lord.
“Wonderful, truly wonderful, my Lord! With this, we will not just manage perfectly, but even exceed expectations in running the dominion!”
At Hamelren’s words, for some reason, Claudia flinched slightly.
But it passed quickly. She waved her hand dismissively and said, “Don’t fuss over nothing. If there’s no problem, just go and spread the word.”
Despite the seemingly indifferent response, to Hamelren, who was now fully enchanted with admiration, it appeared to be the humble modesty of a ruler.
He bowed deeply and left the room eagerly, wanting to implement the changes as soon as possible.
Once Hamelren was completely out of sight, Claudia muttered quietly,
“… Cedric, is this really that amazing? Honestly, I didn’t understand much of it when I read it.”
In reply to her question, Cedric, who had been quietly standing in the diagonally opposite corner, said,
“It’s amazing if you see it that way, but trivial if you look closely.”
“Still, his reaction was quite excessive for something trivial, wasn’t it?”
“Hahaha, his reaction reminds me of when you tried omurice for the first time.”
“…”
Claudia let out a breath, then retorted sharply,
“Th-that’s a lie! There’s no way I reacted that loudly!”
“Is that so? The intensity with which you focused, forgetting everyone around you, was very much similar to that moment.”
“Don’t touch that mouth immediately?!”
“Ah, isn’t it commendable to ignore the sincere testimony of a loyal servant?”
Claudia picked up a paperweight off her desk and threw it at him, but Cedric effortlessly caught it and put it back in place.
Claudia glared at him irritably, then clicked her tongue and said,
“Still, it’s unexpected.”
“What are you referring to?”
“Honestly, I thought you’d just take care of everything directly rather than passing on these kinds of documents.”
Claudia knew Cedric was capable in administrative work since he tutored her daily.
And when the existing officials left, she let them go without holding them back precisely because she believed Cedric could handle everything.
However, contrary to her expectations, Cedric chose to help indirectly by creating a manual rather than getting directly involved.
She found that hard to understand.
Others might think he avoided it because the work was tedious, but the Cedric Claudia had known so far was nearly work-obsessed, so it made even less sense.
“It’s simple. If I were to handle everything directly, it might be convenient in the short term, but in the long run, it would harm the organization. A structure that ceases to function with the absence of one person has no value.”
He added, “Unless one is the ultimate decision-maker, but that’s another story.”
Claudia frowned at the odd undertone in his words.
“Then, why disguise the manual as something I created rather than just saying you made it?”
“It’s simply more advantageous this way.”
Cedric answered without hesitation,
“Generally, people prefer just following the habits rather than questioning efficiency. Officials like Hamelren, who volunteer to apply new methods, are rare. To efficiently enforce necessary changes, using your authority makes sense. If this manual is thought to be made by the lord herself, they’ll follow at least to save face.”
“Wouldn’t it work if your name were credited?”
“Of course not. A servant with little experience suddenly pushing for administrative reform wouldn’t be taken seriously by the officials, would they?”
The statement wasn’t false.
Yet, Claudia somehow felt dissatisfied.
“… Even the servants in the mansion. They’re happy, saying I’ve changed, but they don’t talk much about you.”
Strictly speaking, they weren’t silent about him either.
Since Claudia’s behavior changed shortly after hiring Cedric, it wouldn’t be hard to guess the connection between them.
However, that was merely a guess.
Almost no one outright claimed that Cedric had changed Claudia, because Cedric himself avoided publicizing his own accomplishments.
“I merely gave advice. It was you who accepted and acted upon it. Do not undervalue your own merits.”
“That’s not what I…”
Claudia attempted to interrupt but stopped herself mid-sentence.
She felt a subtle unease buried deep inside her.
The moment she voiced this unease to Cedric, she felt as if it would become a reality.
“… Forget it. Bring me some tea. Sweetened.”
“Understood.”
After Cedric left,
She said quietly to herself,
“… Why does he insist on being absent yet indispensable?”
—
