Chapter 45: Flattery

It was February, and the time for work to start was approaching. The weather was quite good.

There was no snow in the mountains, but the originally fluffy snow had been trampled down and became firm, causing the horses' hooves to slip due to the freezing weather.

When Olivia went to the Baron's mansion to attend the banquet, she passed by the site where the monastery was planned to be built.

From a distance, she saw from the window many tents being erected on the planned foundation.

The entire monastery is many times more magnificent than the church in the city, after all, it has to build three complete halls.

Some shrewd businessmen have already started renting land in the surrounding area, preparing to do business nearby in the future. For a while, the outside of the city gate was even more lively than inside the city.

A line of carriages entered the city. Olivia was already familiar with the place this time. After being taken into the Baron's mansion, she went to the Baroness with several ladies she knew.

The main building of the fortress is in the shape of a U.S. U., and although the external passage looks cold, the territory belonging to the Baroness is exquisitely decorated.

The Countess's maid had gone back a few days ago, and only a few people related to the project came today.

So, it was not as grand as the birthday party, but just a small social occasion, with the main activity taking place in the Baroness's living room.

Olivia followed Mrs. Real and sat down by the fireplace in the living room. A servant brought them some wine and they both took a sip.

"How's it going? Are all the workers in place?"

Mrs. Real is in charge of raw materials, which is a lucrative job. Jobs like Olivia's, which involve personnel, are more stressful.

Olivia smiled warmly and nodded, "We've found everything, just waiting to get started."

Mrs. Real didn't realize that although Olivia was young, she was capable of doing things.

No matter what methods are used, as long as the task can be accomplished, it is considered as ability.

"Why hasn't the Baroness arrived yet?"

The road outside is slippery, so we walked here slowly. It is already noon now, and we can start lunch in an hour or so.

Mrs. Real asked her to sit here for a while and said that the Baroness must have been worried and tired in the past two days and had not had a good rest.

From her tone, it seemed like something was bothering the Baroness, and Olivia immediately became interested and wanted to find out what it was.

"What troubles the Baroness?"

"What else could it be? Of course it's because of the Countess."

Mrs. Real said that the Queen's birthday was in early March, and in order to temporarily stabilize the situation, the Countess wanted to prepare a good gift for the Queen.

The Countess had obviously handed this matter over to the baronesses below to work together, but none of their opinions satisfied the Countess.

Olivia also has a task hanging over her head to increase the Baroness's favorability.

She couldn't help but grab Mrs. Real and ask a few more questions.

"Is it difficult to give a gift to the Queen?"

Mrs. Real shook her head, showing a sarcastic expression, and said:

"Our queen has never been on good terms with the king. She was banished to a monastery by him at a young age. That's why it's difficult for the Countess to give her a gift."

If the gift is too expensive, the king will be dissatisfied; if the gift is too little, the queen's family still has a powerful faction that has not been overthrown.

Only by being neither too light nor too heavy can the Countess maintain her consistent governing philosophy of not offending anyone and keeping a low profile.

Olivia wondered, was this queen chosen by the king himself?

If you don't like her, why choose her?

"You are young and may not know this yet. The Queen's birthday is on the first day of March, the same day as the God of Servant's birthday. Plus, she is of noble birth. Whoever becomes king will choose her as queen."

After Mrs. Real said this, Olivia completely understood. It seems that this queen is on the path of destiny and good fortune?

But the situation is indeed complicated.

Olivia wondered, which god’s birthday is on the first day of March?

She was just thinking about it when, after a while, the Baroness packed up and came out with her five-year-old daughter.

Everyone followed Catherine and headed towards the restaurant where they were scheduled to meet for today.

The lunch was not as grand as the birthday party. It was mainly small and beautiful, with common ingredients but complicated cooking methods.

Olivia observed for a while and then began to concentrate on eating. They didn't talk about anything else during the meal, mainly about the monastery.

After the meal, everyone was called by the sheriff to collect their grants. After receiving the money, they had to say goodbye to the Baroness.

Olivia received a grant of 200 gold coins and also received a small amount of gold coins from selling trees.

The Baron's Mansion does not have an installment payment system. It pays out the money in one lump sum and the Baron will not be responsible for any subsequent expenses for each project.

If the money is not spent well or the work is not done well, the person in charge will have to pay for it out of his own pocket. Anyway, the territory is here and he can't run away.

Since the ladies were carrying a lot of money, the Baron's Mansion also sent someone to escort them.

When Olivia was about to say goodbye to the Baroness, she was careful and left behind, having the servant take her to the bathroom.

After the group of ladies in front had left, she slowly walked into the Baroness's living room.

In the living room, the Baroness sat alone by the fireplace, with servants waiting on her. Two maids had gone out to see the other ladies off.

Seeing that the Baroness was alone, Olivia thought it was an opportunity, so she walked up to her and said her goodbye politely.

Her expression changed at first, and she earnestly advised the Baroness to pay attention to her health and not to overwork. She also said in a very corny way that although she knew that you were wise and capable and that you were indispensable for all matters, big and small, she would be heartbroken if you were exhausted from worrying.

Olivia polished her flattering remarks so that they made it seem as if she genuinely loved the Baroness.

The Baroness looked at Olivia and couldn't help laughing, perhaps because she thought the girl was interesting and really good at talking.

She couldn't help but reply a few more words: "Don't worry, I'm not exhausted. I'm just worried about the affairs of the monastery and the birthday gifts for the Queen..."

Olivia looked at the servants around her and stepped forward boldly.

"Madam, I heard about the birthday gift for the Queen..."

The Baroness looked at her listlessly, as she seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"Why, do you have any ideas? Tell me about it."

So Olivia came up to the Baroness and whispered a few words in her ear.

The Baroness frowned, thought about it, and then gradually relaxed her brows. Instead, she looked at Olivia with bright eyes.

"That's a good idea. I'll write to the Countess and tell her. If she thinks it's a good idea, I'll give you a reward."

Olivia quickly shook her head. "Don't even think about rewards. Helping Madam solve her problems is my lifelong wish. There's no better reward than your approval."

After saying this, the Baroness was stunned for a moment, and patted her hand with emotion.

Seeing Doris coming in, the Baroness came to her senses and asked Doris to send Olivia out.

When they got to the corridor outside, Doris asked her what she had just said to the Baroness in the house.

Olivia just pretended to be innocent and said she was just asking about the Baroness's health.

Only after being escorted out the door and into the car did Olivia's stiff face slowly relax.

Olivia took a long time to convince herself of the cheesy words she had just said.

However, when she opened the system, she saw that the Baroness's favorability had increased to 60.

Regardless of whether this will eventually succeed, this progress is good news.

Her carriage slowly moved out of the city, escorted by soldiers all the way without any obstruction.

In the afternoon, Auntie and Letilen were already waiting at the manor. They had found three or four foremen in the surrounding towns, each foreman was in charge of ten people, and they were now outside the city of Lavosen.

Letilan and Narcissa paid for the rental of several villagers' houses, providing the workers with common beds at night and communal meals during the day.

In order to save money, each process in this project is managed separately in terms of diet, and each link is relatively independent, with clear division of labor, which makes conflicts less likely to occur.

The first thing to do when you come back is to divide the money.

Olivia distributed the gold coins in two installments as agreed upon. Each person received 40 gold coins in the first installment, and then 50 gold coins after the work was completed and inspected.

If something unexpected happens later, there are still twenty gold coins for emergency remedies.

If nothing unexpected happens, these twenty gold coins will be what Olivia will finally pocket.

In fact, when it comes to engineering, Olivia knows that this is the case no matter what era it is.

Although you may not necessarily lose money, whether you can make money depends entirely on luck.

However, it is likely that Letilen and his aunt also think so.

Olivia divided the money and treated them to a simple dinner at the manor. The two of them were not in the mood for dinner. As soon as it got dark, they hurried back to arrange things.

The butler sent the two of them out and came back. The restaurant was brightly lit and it was obvious that they had something else to discuss.

Olivia was in no hurry to let everyone rest, she still had things to do with Caesar, Fanon said.

"Now that the Baroness's affairs have been settled, I think we should also consider building a church in our own estate."

Fanon nodded. He really wanted a private space. After all, this manor was not a place for a priest to live.

He always felt that these servants would accidentally break his ox bile.

"It doesn't matter where the church is located. I can go back and ask the bishop for some funds, and then come back and give it to my wife to arrange."

Fanon said very sensibly.

He knew that the chapel was built at Toksun Manor just last year, and the bishop had given ten gold coins at that time.

But the priest of the Toksun Manor did not spend all of it on building the manor, purchasing sacred objects and spices for rituals.

He did not buy real paint to paint the mural, but put most of it in his pocket.

Fanon thought he was incapable of doing such a thing, and he didn't want to worry about it. Anyway, his wife was a very kind person, so he might as well leave it all to her.

Olivia nodded and agreed.

"In my opinion, we should build the church next to the mill. It's close to the manor and there's only the miller's family nearby, so it won't disturb your peace."

She originally wanted to use the money to enrich herself and build roads in the village.

But since the mission states that building this church will bring her real benefits, it's better not to build a shoddy project.

It should be built more spaciously to accommodate more people to pray every day.

Nowadays, the villagers have very loose prayer times. Fanon will go to the village with scriptures when it is not snowing, and the villagers will bring small stools from door to door to listen to the sermon.

It was like a sloppy rural stage or a mobile court, without any sense of solemnity.

Caesar consciously did not express any opinion. After all, his opinion would not count in this matter.

He just hoped Fanon would move out from across from his bedroom soon, so he wouldn't have to be restrained by his wife all the time.

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