Chapter 360 Cooperation, not confrontation
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The beautiful lady introduced herself with a smile, "My lord, you can call me Helen."
Every glance and smile of hers exuded a captivating charm and beauty. Even Hobert had to silently remind himself, "She used to be a man, she used to be a man," to maintain his composure.
Seer, the ordinary man beside him, was breathing heavily.
Hobert said to him, "You go out first. I'll have a private conversation with Miss Helen."
"Yes, sir." Seel felt like he was escaping. Only after he got outside did he breathe a sigh of relief: Uncle was right, my knowledge is still too shallow. This is a real woman! Those women at the docks who solicit business are, well, just so-so.
Then, he wondered how the lord would "talk" with the beauty inside.
The scene inside the room was far from as sordid as Seel imagined. Hobert remained seated in his chair. "You shouldn't use Beyonder abilities on my servant."
"I wasn't using it on him, I was using it on you," Helen said with a charming smile.
"It might be impolite to say this, but I must tell you, I've met a lady who is more beautiful and has a better temperament, so my standards for beauty are relatively high," Hobert said with a smile.
"You can withdraw your ability, and we can talk about some practical matters."
"Oh?" Helen's eyes flickered. No wonder Ms. Monica said this baron was cooperative. Did he sleep with a member from somewhere else? That certainly makes it easier to establish a cooperative relationship.
Helen indeed stopped using her Beyonder abilities, but her every move still attracted the attention of the opposite sex.
Hobert asked, "May I ask what brings you to me?"
"I heard you didn't bring your wife?"
"I don't have any plans to get married yet."
Helen smiled, "I didn't say I wanted to marry you. I just want to be your mistress."
Hobert reached into his pocket and took out a wooden box. "Can I take your words just now as a willingness to cooperate? Then this is my sincerity for cooperation."
As he said this, he pushed the wooden box towards Helen.
Helen was slightly stunned. She opened the wooden box and looked. There were two Beyonder characteristics, one "Instigator" and one "Apprentice," which should be the Beyonder characteristics of those two idiots who were killed yesterday.
"But if you want to cooperate with me, you must cooperate with me personally, and you can't bypass me to cooperate with others in my territory," Hobert said seriously.
"From now on, in my territory, only I have the final say."
Although Hobert would try to restrain himself and would not cooperate with the "Theosophy Order" in bed, he would not completely refuse cooperation in other fields, as long as it did not harm the people in the territory or his own interests.
Hobert had thought about it last night. Before the Earth Mother Church sent people, this was a necessary compromise.
It was impossible for him, a Sequence 6, to challenge the "Theosophy Order," the "Blood Sanctify Sect," and the "Aurora Order" at the same time. And Hobert would never cooperate with the "Aurora Order" and the "Blood Sanctify Sect."
The former were a bunch of lunatics, and cooperating with them was courting death.
The latter regarded human life as worthless, and their cruelty and bloodiness had far exceeded Hobert's bottom line.
After thinking about it, establishing some cooperation with the "Theosophy Order" was still acceptable, but Hobert also understood that such cooperation could not exceed his bottom line.
One of Hobert's bottom lines was not to engage in bed activities with witches, otherwise it would be easy to become addicted, and before he could "corrupt" others, he would fall first.
Growing up reading "Eastern Classics," Hobert had a particularly thorough understanding of human nature. He knew that he was not a "saint," so he simply rejected everything that might make him "degenerate," at least he could barely be a "gentleman."
Helen was silent for a few seconds. Hobert's reaction was a situation she had never considered before coming. After a few more seconds, she said, "You seem to know us very well?"
Hobert answered irrelevantly, "My father has some power in Feynapotter City."
Helen nodded, "I understand."
Hobert thought: That's what you understand yourself. I didn't say anything.
He said, "I have my purpose in coming here, but my purpose is not you. Don't try to infiltrate my territory anymore. I don't care what you do here.
"On this basis, we can have some mutually beneficial exchanges. This is what I think is a feasible cooperation framework."
Helen thought for a while and then said, "I will come again tomorrow and give you an answer."
Hobert smiled slightly, "I look forward to your reply."
After seeing Helen off, Hobert called Philip again, "I heard that there used to be a school in town?"
"Yes, sir, but without the lord's mansion's salary, the school has been disbanded."
"What about the school teachers?"
"Some teachers have left here, and some local teachers have stayed."
Hobert "hmm"ed and said, "Call those teachers here."
Philip thought that the lord was preparing to restore the school and quickly sent two male servants with quick legs to call people.
Soon, one woman and two men, the only three remaining teachers here, came. They were all locals who had tried to venture out, but without exception, they all failed and returned to farming.
Decades ago, compulsory education began to be popularized throughout the Northern Continent. Although nearly half of the people in the Feynapotter Kingdom were still illiterate, the other half who had school experience would be qualified workers or servants.
They had sufficient learning ability and comprehension ability to make them competent for this industrial age position.
However, in this remote area, at least 80% of the people were illiterate. This was still the result of the efforts of Hobert's predecessor, Viscount Wright.
In those territories that had not had a lord for decades, the illiteracy rate was close to one hundred percent.
"I'm going to restore the school," Hobert said straightforwardly. "Your salaries and benefits will be the same as before. The lord's mansion will pay you every week, starting from today."
The three teachers were all pleasantly surprised. Being a teacher was certainly better than farming. The work was easy, and they were generally respected.
They immediately bowed to Hobert and expressed their praise for the lord.
"But I have to have someone repair the school first," Hobert said with a smile. "So before the school is repaired, you will come to the lord's mansion to work first.
"The specific work content will be designated by me personally."
The three people nodded repeatedly, expressing their willingness to follow Hobert's arrangements.
Hobert instructed, "Your task for the next two days is to find fifteen people who can read and write and teach them how to fill out this form.
"Next, I need them to do a statistic. Their weekly salary is two-thirds of yours."
The three people were all stunned, feeling that the lord's instructions were strange, but they were still very focused on learning the form given by the lord.
They were unfamiliar with the highly efficient form. Hobert explained it to them for more than an hour before finally explaining the role and usage of the household registration popularization form.
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