Yes, Lady Funina!

“I understand. What do I need to do?” Clarinde was someone who listened to advice, and after Richard explained the pros and cons, she quickly accepted Richard’s proposal.

"Keep her busy, whether it's giving speeches or going to the Opiclie Opera to watch the trial, let her spend as much time as possible on harmless things."

“After all, just watching a performance won’t ruin a department, but if we implement her policy, we might really have to consider looking for new jobs in the job market, Clarin.”

“Not really, I’m still the dueling agent,” Clarind joked.

Neither Lynette nor Richard smiled.

——————

On the other side, Funina arrived at her office with high spirits, like a king inspecting her territory.

"Secretary-General Richard, has the plan I requested been prepared?"

"Yes, Lady Furina. Also, Lady Furina, Ms. Clorinde officially became your personal secretary a few days ago, and I have already handed over my work to her."

Upon hearing this, Funina's face paled. Thinking that Richard was no longer going to help her, she hurriedly asked, "What do you mean? Are you going to resign?"

“Of course not. I am still your Executive Secretary. I was temporarily appointed as your personal secretary because we couldn’t find a suitable replacement. Now that we have a suitable candidate, I can’t continue like this,” Richard explained.

Upon hearing that Richard wasn't resigning, Funina secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then belatedly asked, "Why was I the last to know about the personal secretary prepared for me?"

Shouldn't she be able to choose her own personal secretary? It's not that she thinks Clarinde is bad, but Furnessa feels that she should at least be informed beforehand.

"Haven't you seen the recent documents? It's mentioned there."

It was indeed mentioned, but Richard had it sandwiched among a pile of documents, so it's easy to miss if you don't look closely.

As expected, after hearing Richard's words, Funina was even more confused. When did this happen? How come she didn't know?

This time it really wasn't that she was neglecting her duties. Ever since Charlotte tortured her, she had been very dedicated. She might not read all the documents carefully, but she would at least get a general idea of ​​them. But I have no recollection of this incident at all.

Looking at the confident Richard, Funina couldn't help but wonder if she had really missed reading the documents.

Volume 1: Chapter 23 Lord Li is petty

Forget it, let's put the selection of a personal secretary aside for now. Anyway, the candidate is quite to my liking.

Funina picked up the proposal drafted by Richard and sat down in her office chair to read it with great anticipation.

Originally, Funina had a smile on her face, but as she turned the pages, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed involuntarily.

Even after finishing the book, she still couldn't believe it and read it again from beginning to end. Finally, she was speechless for a long time when faced with the title "On How to Build a Clean, Transparent, and Efficient Administrative System".

No, it's true that the title only mentions it briefly; the content inside has absolutely nothing to do with the title!

writer of sensational headlines?

Furnessa looked at Richard, and considering his previous loyal attitude, she wondered if there was some mistake, perhaps due to various coincidences, the page with the title was stapled together with unrelated content.

"Richard, did you pick up the wrong document?" Funina closed the plan in her hand and put on a smile that met societal expectations.

“No,” Richard said definitively.

"Then why is the content completely unrelated to the title?" A '#' appeared on Funina's forehead. Is this how you do things?

Are you trying to make fun of me?

"Lady Furyn, you must understand that Liyue Harbor wasn't built in a day. The title and content may seem unrelated, but there's actually an invisible connection between them," Richard said calmly, making up a story.

"An invisible connection?" Funina looked down at the document in her hand. Why couldn't she see it?

"Yes, all the measures in this draft are aimed at achieving the goal of a 'transparent government.' The reason why the connection is not obvious is because there is too much resistance to doing it openly. The best way is to promote it through subtle and gradual means."

Not at all. The title and content have absolutely nothing to do with each other. If you have to find a reason, it's that putting the most difficult part in the title is much less harmful than putting it in the content.

Moreover, Richard's draft proposal cannot be said to be harmful to the city hall; it's more accurate to say it offers little benefit. It's the kind of bland, insignificant change that doesn't bring about any substantial transformation, but it lets everyone know that we are indeed making an effort.

Just like operating a mobile game, where you occasionally notify players how many bugs have been fixed, but these bugs don't actually affect the players' gaming experience.

Did you do it? Yes.

But is it useful?

If so.

As for whether Furnessa's vision can ultimately be achieved... Richard can only say that he trusts in the wisdom of future generations.

In any case, Richard probably won't live to see the existence of a 'transparent government,' which is a paradox in itself.

It can only be said that Funina's idea was very bold, and she was a very decisive leader.

"It's like a gentle rain nourishing the earth silently; how long would that take?" Funina didn't want to wait ten or eight years; by then, it would be too late.

"Ten years? Eight years? You know, no one can say for sure about these kinds of things. The doomsday prophecy may have happened, but this matter has not yet been realized."

"That means it's going to be a long time from now!"

"You can't be so pessimistic. The future looks promising," Richard said with a smile, trying to comfort his naive and innocent boss.

Funina threw the draft on the table. "Isn't there a faster way? Not so subtle and gradual?"

To everyone's surprise, Richard nodded and said with certainty, "Yes."

Fulina had prepared herself for disappointment, but Richard gave her a big surprise.

"Really? What method? What are the consequences?"

Fulina is no longer the political novice she once was. At least she understands one thing: implementing a policy has its advantages, but it will inevitably have its disadvantages.

But as long as the drawbacks are within an acceptable range, then there is absolutely no problem!

"Send our entire department to court, and I believe our colleagues in court will thoroughly investigate us and make the truth public, achieving true transparency!"

"As for the price, Fontaine will no longer have a city hall department, and if any part of it goes wrong or is framed by someone with ulterior motives, we can have a team building activity in Mero Petersburg."

"What kind of method is this? This is clearly suicide!" Funina said irritably.

Richard looked at Funina with surprise. So you knew this was suicide too.

Then why be transparent?

"In fact, Lady Furina, why are you so fixated on such a massive issue as 'transparent government'? If you want results, why not start with something smaller, like steadily handling the cases in the courtroom?"

“This is quite an achievement for you as well,” Richard said, like a sycophant, knowing the king’s intentions.

Funina thought Richard made sense, and decided to focus on getting what she could get her hands on first.

"OK then."

The tone of her voice sounds rather forced. Disgusted.

"But with so many cases, can our department handle them all?" Funina suddenly remembered that she was in charge of the City Hall, and the City Hall's clerks were mostly skilled at handling the daily affairs of the Momang Palace and acting as a bridge between departments to ensure the normal operation of the Momang Palace.

Therefore, the city hall doesn't have many people capable of investigating cases; even if they did, they would have been poached by the court long ago. 7

"Don't worry, we have an expert in this field right here in our department," Richard said with a knowing smile.

"What kind of expert?" Fu Ningna was taken aback. She hadn't heard of any expert in her department specializing in investigations.

"Far away yet so close at hand..."

Was he talking about herself? Furness couldn't help but wonder. Not to boast, she was quite adept at investigating cases; after all, she'd witnessed so many trials at the Opéra Garnier, and had picked up a few tricks from the experience.

Hmph, Richard has quite the eye; even though I, the Water God, was hidden so well, he still found out. Seven

So Furness coughed, bracing herself for Richard's flattery.

"That expert is you..." Ling

Funina's ahoge (cowlick) stood up, giving her an adorable, proud, and spirited look.

“Your new private secretary, Ms. Clarind.”

"Cough cough cough..."

"What's wrong, Lady Funina? Did I say something wrong?"

Richard's hair stood on end when he saw Funina's ahoge (cowlick), and a pleased smile appeared on his face.

You don't think I'm talking about you, do you?

“You’re not entirely right, Clarinde is indeed a skilled investigator,” Furna said sullenly, but she agreed with Richard’s suggestion to let Clarinde take charge of the matter.

So, at Richard's suggestion, the task of investigating the old case eventually fell to Clarinde.

Unlike before, Clarinde now had to give most of the credit to Funina, since she was no longer one of the heads of the special campaign project of the Tribunal, but had been made Funina's private secretary by Richard.

For Richard, it was killing two birds with one stone: it prevented Funina from dragging him into a self-destructive act, and it cleverly transferred the work back to Clarinde. Everything was planned, a win-win situation!

But there was nothing he could do; Richard was just petty.

You think you can just leave after offending the Secretary-General?

Shortly after receiving this news, Claudia slowly typed a question mark.

Volume 1: Chapter 24 Cat Girl vs. Fox Girl

Claudia's investigation was in full swing, but Richard was not worried at all, because the cases Claudia was investigating had already been reviewed by him and were carefully selected, so there was no way they could trace them back to him.

Knowing the whole story, Lynette asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid of getting beaten up by Clorind for doing this?"

They lured someone to the city hall, then dumped their original job on them, and even demanded that Funina take half the credit. Anyone would be angry if they were tricked like that, right?

"First of all, she can't beat me. Secondly, Lynette, you might have some misunderstandings about me. Do you really think I schemed against Cloninder out of revenge?"

Lynette looked at Richard noncommittally, ready to hear what kind of twisted logic this guy had to come up with this time.

"When someone wants to integrate into a group, the first thing to do is to make everyone aware of your value. The second is to understand the rules of the group and respect them. After achieving these two points, you can gradually build connections with other members of the group through mentorship programs. Over time, you will become a member of the group."

Richard's meaning was clear to Lynette. The reason for arranging for Clorind to take over this matter was twofold: firstly, to announce the existence of this minister's secretary to the city hall officials, and secondly, to allow Clorind to understand the responsibilities of a private secretary through familiar work, so as to integrate into the city hall system more quickly.

After all, although they both belong to the Mo Mang Palace, the operating system of the City Hall is quite different from that of the Court of Justice. The intricacies are difficult to explain in words and can only be understood through personal experience.

Therefore, it is clear that Richard did not deliberately scheme against Clarinde in order to get revenge, or at least not entirely.

Lynette had reason to suspect that Richard had long ago set his sights on the strongest dueling agent.

It was premeditated.

“It’s no use telling me this; you have to talk to Clarinde,” Lynette reminded her.

"Oh, I already explained it to her. I just saw that you didn't know, so I explained it to you again."

Lynette: #

"It hurts..."

Richard rubbed his lower back, pretending it hurt even though it didn't.

Could this be considered a little unspoken understanding between him and the cat? After all, the only men besides himself who could make Lynette's emotions fluctuate were her brother Linni and her younger brother Fimini.

Furthermore, Lynette's decision to leave the Hearth House and become his secretary speaks volumes.

After the joke, Lynette began her dutiful work report.

"The Inazuma delegation will leave Fontaine tomorrow, and the Fontaine Academy of Sciences will also send a professional advisory team to accompany them..."

"Okay, I understand. Arrange a farewell ceremony later, and make sure the attitude is appropriate. After all, Inazuma is indeed a huge market, and most importantly, due to the isolation order, only Fontaine and Inazuma can participate in sharing this market now."

These are all political achievements, and political achievements are the fuel for politicians to climb the ladder of success; no one would complain about having too much of this.

Although Richard had already vaguely touched the pinnacle that a civil servant could reach, the next step would be to become the Supreme Permanent Secretary of the Mo Mang Palace and succeed Furina as Minister of State.

Both are viable options, but in terms of potential, the former is naturally more appealing.

No matter what, Fontaine is a country of "justice", and Momang Palace is the place in all of Fontaine that best represents "justice".

The power actually wielded by the Supreme Executive Secretary of the Mo Mang Palace is clearly much greater than that of the 'Logistics Director' Minister of Administration.

However, it seems unlikely that Richard will be able to reach that position, because the one currently holding that position is not a person, but rather Melousin.

The Melusin are long-lived; since their birth, no one has ever been known to die of old age.

Even if Richard is a half-elf and has an extremely long lifespan, he might not be able to outlive his opponent.

Not to mention the current Supreme Judge, Mr. Navigette, who is rumored to be Melousin as well...

Of course, Richard had met the Supreme Judge, and he didn't believe the rumor at all, but he was certain that the other party had a very close relationship with the Melusin clan.

The special patrol team within the Tribunal, a direct subordinate agency of the Momo Palace, was also mostly composed of Melousin, making this foundation virtually unbreakable.

Therefore, if Richard wants to advance further in his career, it seems that becoming the Chief Executive is the only path to promotion.

Before Richard met Funina, he did indeed think that way, but after meeting Funina, his thoughts changed.

You said that it makes perfect sense for the water goddess Funyna to also serve as the supreme judge, right?