Chapter 155 Happiness 2
After a few hours of discussion, the four individuals slinked back to their rooms wearily with their heads buzzing with all the instructions they had given.
The story about the 3 princes had given Daneel the idea that segregating was the way to go if he wanted to precisely target each and every part of the society of Lanthanor.
First of all, their entire focus was on those who lived beyond the inner city walls of the capital of Lanthanor. It was safe to say that those who were capable enough to build a house in the inner city were definitely influential and powerful enough that they did not need to take any advantage of any of the welfare schemes which Daneel had planned.
Crashed onto his bed, the King of Lanthanor replayed the conversation which had led to the distribution of duties in the first place.
In fact, this conversation had only come towards the ending of their long discussion which spanned various topics and issues that plagued the people of Lanthanor.
It was only after taking everything into purview that Daneel made his decision regarding the final plan.
"Our plan can be split into three major parts: past, present and future.
Past: Scribes and scholars must be immediately called over to prepare new material which talks about the demise of the Lanthanore Family and my ascension to the throne. I made a promise to Laravel that his family wouldn't be forgotten, and I intend to keep my word. Still, the latter part must be focused on. It must be so that no matter who asks any question regarding my ascension to the throne, they should be answered by a crowd who can tell the story perfectly. Kellor, I leave this up to you."
Hearing the King of Lanthanor's words, Kellor's eyes had shone with a fire of duty which had been absent during the reign of King Richard.
Right now, he felt as if he were taking orders from a completely different man when compared to the one he had saved back in the academy all those years ago.
Time and experience had truly changed Daneel in many ways.
Musing over this fact, he had started to plan about how he would carry out his orders while Daneel moved on to the next part.
"Present: Faxul, like you said, we must find ways to increase the living conditions of the people. I already have a plan to use mass-produced trinkets to increase the economy of our system, but that will take time. I want you to venture into these households and identify areas where the Kingdom can act to get maximum results with minimal efforts."
Indeed, although the plan of using prostitutes or drugs was excellent in the short run, Daneel knew for a fact that it would only bring disaster if more and more time passed.
To win a sprint, it was great- but in Daneel's case, it was a marathon.
He had actually considered using such methods seriously before he realized that the Empire Spirit was a sentient being that definitely had full awareness regarding the Kingdom it was situated in. This had been evidenced quite clearly by the answer it had given to Daneel when he had gone to ask after the coronation ceremony.
Thus, such methods would definitely not fool it.
Thus, Daneel chose this method while also starting to think about whether there was a way to hoodwink the damn spirit.
Seeing his friend nod, Daneel first said, "Good. Just make it fast." before turning to Luther and Robert to instruct about the third and most important part.
"Father, Luther. I am trusting you to handle the most crucial part of this whole endeavor: the future.
"For any Kingdom, children are the most important asset who will dictate its future. As you all know, just like in most of Central Angaria, Lanthanor has no official institutions which focus on training children of a young age. Fighter and Mage organizations only hire at least 12-year-olds, because that is when a clear test regarding body potential or comprehension can be done.
"This needs to change. Lanthanor will set up a school which will hire instructors for each and every occupation in all of Angaria. Along with these, there will also be language and world knowledge instructors who can take over the role of parents who generally pass such information down to the children. No longer should people have to depend on finding instructors who charge exorbitant prices if they want a child to embark on a certain path."
At this moment, Daneel's eyes moistened slightly as he recalled the days of his childhood.
"All of us know that the slums are the bane of Lanthanor. I wish I could directly empty the treasury to uplift all the people who have no other choice but to live there, just like my own family just a few years ago."
Hearing these words, Robert's face fell as he too was reminded of all those years of living in extreme poverty.
"Unfortunately, I cannot do that. The next best thing is to give their children a way to excel in life. This should be the first step we take in the journey to abolishing the slums. Speak to the ministers, and make an exhaustive report with each and every detail."
With his hands tightened into fists, Robert stood up and only nodded at Daneel before walking out the door.
Daneel knew that his father blamed himself for the condition of their family. Although both he and Maria had said repeatedly that it hadn't been his fault, Robert had always refused to listen.
Thus, Daneel understood why he had seen such ardent passion in his father's eyes when he laid out this plan.
After dismissing the others as well, Daneel had laid down on his bed and become lost in his thoughts.
Education. This would be his first weapon which he would use to reach his goal of increasing the satisfaction of the Kingdom.
The importance of a proper education system to a nation didn't even need to be stated. In fact, Daneel had been quite surprised when he had seen that although there were numerous establishments which taught kids, almost all of them had had the minimum admittance age of 12 years old.
As someone from Earth, Daneel knew very well the importance of basic education from a young age itself. Although it made sense that a child's value and potential in life would only be discovered when he was tested at 12, it was foolish to disregard the early years which were the bulk of the formative period of a child.
With all the preparations underway, Daneel breathed a huge sigh of relief before giving himself a few minutes to relax.
Yet, after these few minutes passed, he launched himself back into all the matters which demanded his attention.
Making his way down to the chamber in which the headquarters of the Network of Angaria had been set up, Daneel saw that Eloise had dark circles under her eyes which meant that she definitely hadn't slept in many days.
Daneel had given her the goal that the NOA should become and remain to be a daily part of people's lives for at least a period of a month.
His main fear had been that maybe, although the network might be intriguing at first, it would later lose its flavor and be discarded by the people as they went about their daily lives.
Not having the time to tackle this issue himself, Daneel had assigned it to Eloise after giving her some ideas.
Eloise had indeed been hard at work night and day to try out all the unique inputs given by the King. As she did so, she found that she had started to love her work more and more.
Some ideas, such as using the NOA to broadcast information such as specific locations where certain goods/trinkets could be found at a special discount had been so amazingly effective that she had wondered why she hadn't thought of such a simple thing herself.
After all, who wouldn't want to save some extra Lans?
Others, such as occasionally giving bards a free hand to experiment and find ways to enthrall audiences through the network, had yielded considerable results which neither the King nor she had expected.
Often, she found herself daydreaming about this man who both looked quite handsome and dashing in his intricately woven robes while also possessing an intellect which impressed her to no end.
It was during one such daydream that she heard his strong voice from behind her, making her jump with shock before blushing fiercely hearing the appreciative tone of the King of Lanthanor.
"Well done, Eloise! I believe that we can move our plan forward to deploy NOA in the rest of the continent. We can start with the Kingdom of the Elves, as their elections are due, making it so that their people will ... appreciate news that could help them decide their next leader."