You call this the god of etiquette?

Chapter 132 Painting Club Reform
"So, do you have any suggestions for the arrangements for this new land expansion?"

There was a hint of exhaustion in Ige's voice.

Square windows are dotted on the wall, and the sunlight shining through the windows reflects beautiful and blurry light spots in the air.

There is a huge long fir table in the room, with a row of wooden chairs on both sides of the table, which are also simple and sturdy.

There was a spacious fireplace placed in the corner of the room. The light black marks on the wall and the charcoal residue that had been cleared out of the furnace room proved that the time for a fire had completely passed.

The walls are covered with framed oil paintings.

These are the exhibits selected from the painting club gathering.

Of course, the top few works have been sent to the Black Ceremony Temple.

What remains here are only mid-to-high-end works that can be appreciated.

Hearing Ige's question, Boyce hesitated for a moment, and finally spoke.

He is mainly responsible for the city guard and city security affairs. At first glance, he has nothing to do with pioneering.

But the area where they were pioneering was not within the normal sphere of influence of the "Talek".

In a sparsely populated and uninhabited land, there may naturally be various security issues.

"Lord Ige, I'm wondering whether, in addition to establishing a few outposts in advance on the newly expanded land, our city guards should also arrange for manpower to patrol regularly."

"I have sent people to conduct reconnaissance. The surrounding conditions of the small amount of cultivated land east of the planned Prosperity Road are pretty good, but the main cultivated area on the shore of Lake McCaton has traces of a large number of wild leopards."

"I suspect it is a water source for several groups of wild leopards."

When Ige heard this, he frowned.

The Wild Leopard is a relatively common wild monster in the mountains of the North.

The individual strength is slightly better than that of Silver Moon Wolf, but the group size is generally smaller.

Their streamlined bodies and curved, strong claws allow them to move and climb quickly across mountains.

Generally speaking, unless they are a hunting team that is confident in their own combat effectiveness and pursuit ability, ordinary hunters will flee as soon as possible when encountering a wild leopard to avoid being besieged by its companions one after another.

Since there has been no human activity around Lake McCaton for a long time, it is not surprising that it has become a habitat or water source for monsters and beasts.

However, there are mountains to the west and south of the lake, making it very difficult to clear out the wild leopards.

Once they burrowed into the mountain, the guards couldn't catch them.

"How many guards do we currently plan to have in the Lakeside Plowing Area?"

Eagle thought for a moment and asked Boyce.

Beuys blurted out without thinking:

"Currently in the Lakeside Farming Area, the Guard plans to set up six outposts, each with a team of five people."

"The guards stationed at the outpost are rotated by people from the city on a monthly basis."

Iggy nodded.

That's thirty people in total.

"How many believers are planned to be among the guards?"

"Well." Boyce hesitated, "There are currently no plans to send out believers."

"Didn't we just recruit 26 new believers into the Black Ceremony this time?"

"Why can't your guards send out believers?"

Iger frowned, somewhat doubting Boyce's overall concept.

The pioneering plan is currently the top priority of "Talek".

Even if the plan goes smoothly and everything is on track, truly reliable believers of the gods must be sent from time to time to participate and supervise.

Not to mention that the plan is still in the final preparation stage before implementation.

Boyce sighed and explained helplessly:
"Sir Ige, new believers have joined the church several times before. Among them, the young men who are willing to contribute to the safety of the city have come directly to our guard."

"But now, everyone knows that the security department offers good treatment and many opportunities, so no one plans to join the Guard."

Iger didn't seem to hear the implication of Boyce's words and replied:
"Boyce, I have considered the situation you mentioned before."

"Currently, Black Gift's manpower is indeed too limited, so that when we carry out many tasks, we must take risks to involve people whose loyalty cannot be confirmed."

"When Ma Li reported to me the results of the April Painting Society's application, I briefly talked with her about my opinions and asked her to do some research."

"How about we listen to her report first?"

Igdu had mentioned this, so Boyce could only nod his head and said smoothly:
"Of course, Lord Eagle."

Ma Li was not surprised when Ige called her name, because no matter what was discussed in today's internal meeting of Black Clothes Ceremony, she was going to make this report in the end.

This kind of thing was decided while having breakfast at home.

Because of this, Boyce, Oswal and other believers in the church have always attached great importance to Mary's speech.

Because they couldn't be sure whether Ma Li's views were her own or those of her husband, Ige, the leader of the Black Rite.

Ma Li, who was wearing a black robe like everyone present, stood up and said in a clear voice:

"My lords, the last time I reported to Lord Ige, I received advice from Lord Ige and began to rethink the positioning of Lisavanier Painting Society."

"Everyone here knows that our original intention of establishing the Lisavanier Painting Society was to facilitate the Ritual in Black's foreign exchanges."

"Therefore, most of the time, the Lisavanier Painting Society and the Ceremony in Black are synonymous."

"However, to this day, after attending five large gatherings of the painting club, more and more people have officially started to apply for membership. Last month, plus the previous accumulated applications, the number of applications for Lisavanier's membership reached An unprecedented two thousand, seven hundred and twenty two copies.”

"I believe Lord Oswald is also aware of this."

As Ma Li spoke, she turned her attention to Oswal, the director of the painting club's office who was responsible for the daily operations of the painting club.

The latter nodded in agreement: "Master Mali, you are right."

Ma Li flipped through the notepad in her hand and then said:

"Faced with such an alarming number of applications, we still strictly control the number of people in order to maintain the purity and high standards of the Black Ceremony."

"And finally selected 26 people to join the painting club, which is to join the ceremony of black clothes."

“It’s no exaggeration to say it’s the cream of the crop.”

"However, this also means that a large number of people who are eager to join the painting club cannot get the opportunity. Many of them have even been waiting for more than half a year."

"This is not only killing the enthusiasm of the people, but also wasting a large number of manpower who are willing to move closer to us."

Boyce frowned upon hearing this.

As a leather factory worker with a background as a carpenter, the thing he was most proud of in his life was that he left his job at the Fire Feather Leather Factory and joined in the decoration of the Black Ceremony Temple.

Today, Huoyu Leather Factory no longer knows where it is.But he, Boyce, became the head of the "Talek" guard.

Therefore, Beuys is extremely grateful for the gift of black clothes, and he cherishes everything about the gift of black clothes.

He could not accept miscellaneous people sneaking into the black ceremony and tarnishing the glory of the church.

From what Ma Li means, it seems that she wants to relax the criteria for joining the Black Ceremony?

Ma Li keenly noticed the change in Boyce's expression.

The advantage of small meetings is that conversations and discussions are very efficient.

The expressions of everyone present were also clearly visible.

Of course, this is also because it is an internal meeting of the Ceremony in Black. Everyone is "one of their own" and there is no need to hide their inner thoughts.

Ma Li smiled slightly and continued her report:

"It's just that the admission standards of the Black Ritual can never be lowered, because this is our core strength and we must have high quality in all aspects."

"It is just an order to expand the number of people in the church, but once it feels too bloated and disorganized, it will be difficult to streamline it."

"After all, in wartime, believers have to form believer soldiers to go to the battlefield and serve as grassroots and even middle-level commanders. There is no room for sloppiness."

When Boyce heard this, his expression softened.

After all, Ma Li is Lord Ige's wife, and she still has some insight into the matter.

Boyce had no control over other churches. The black-clothed ceremony, which served the great god of etiquette, would never tolerate speculators with treacherous tricks and unstable conduct!
“So, after I sent people to inquire about the opinions of some of the painting agency’s applicants, I decided to readjust the positioning and functions of the Lisavanier Painting Agency.”

"That is, completely transform it into a municipal-level organization. While continuing to assume the current responsibility of examining suitable candidates for admission, the process of joining the Black Rite will be eliminated."

"In other words, the future painting club should be completely separated from the Black Ceremony. Joining the Painting Club is no longer the same as joining the Black Ceremony."

"In this way, we can absorb more people into our preparation system by relaxing the standards of the painting agency, and assign them to positions that are relatively low in importance but still require reliable candidates."

"The believers who were originally in those positions can be promoted to places where they are needed more."

After Ma Li finished speaking, the scene became quiet.

Both Boyce and Osval were lost in thought.

What Ma Li talked about was not complicated, but the actual problems involved were quite a lot.

Rather than "adjusting the positioning of the painting club", it is better to say that it is "reforming"!
After Oswal thought deeply, he glanced at Ige secretly, trying to get clues from his expression.

Unfortunately, the Lord of the City still looked calm, leaving Oswald unable to guess how much Ig was involved in Ma Li's plan.

However, he still felt that out of consideration for the future development of Black Clothes Ceremony, he had to ask clearly about the details of this reform:
"Lord Mali, I think your plan is generally good, but there are two questions I hope you can answer."

"Lord Oswald, please speak."

"You mentioned that the Lisavanier Painting Society will become an organization independent of the Rite in Black in the future. Then I would like to ask what process future members of the painting society need to go through if they want to join the Rite in Black. Woolen cloth?"

Ma Li had already considered this and answered confidently:

"Lord Oswald, after this adjustment, we will still choose the members of the Black Rite from the painting club according to the same strict standards as before."

"It's just that those members of the painting society who have held public office for a certain period of time and have performed well will be given priority."

Oswal listened and had no objection.

As the director of the painting club's office, he was originally responsible for the daily affairs of the painting club and did not have the authority to review admissions, so asking this question was purely out of public interest.

But the next question does have some selfish motives for his personal power:

"Thank you for your answer, Master Mali."

"I would also like to ask if you have considered the impact of this adjustment on applicants."

"After people learn that joining the painting club is not directly related to joining the Black Ritual, will their support for the painting club decrease?"

"As a result, the authority of the Art Society as the city's apparent governing body will decline, and the number of applicants will probably stagnate."

Mary agrees with Oswald's concerns.

From the perspective of the art club, the ideal situation is that everyone wants to join the art club, but they will never give up their pursuit and loyalty to the art club just because they are not selected.

But this is almost impossible to achieve in reality.

So in order to maintain the public's desire to join the painting club after depriving it of its privileges, she and Iger have discussed it many times:

"Yes, Lord Oswald, this is indeed a possibility."

"But as I just introduced, after joining the painting club, it is equivalent to having a shortcut to obtain public office. At the same time, membership in the painting club itself is also a plus point for joining the church."

"I think this is quite attractive to many civilians."

Currently, public positions are basically recruited directly from the city by department heads, which inevitably involves strong subjectivity.

Many interviewees who are quite qualified may just make a mistake on the spot and cut off the opportunity to join a certain department.

In contrast, it is much safer to first join the painting club through the fixed review process, then apply for a job as a member of the painting club or even be directly assigned to a certain public position.

This is undoubtedly very tempting to many civilians who claim to have "unappreciated talents".

Noticing Oswal's suddenly confused and hesitant expression, Ma Li understood that he was somewhat persuaded, but not completely convinced yet.

After taking a look at Ige and getting a affirmative look, Ma Li decided to tell the most crucial part of her plan:
"In addition, I think we can also use some means to ensure that after the painting club expands its enrollment, the public can still maintain their pursuit and recognition of the membership of the painting club."

"Oh?" Oswal and Boyce looked curious at the same time.

For the current "Taleq", public office is not very attractive.

Because in terms of privileges, only church members have privileges in the city.

In terms of wealth, the salary of most public officials is lower than that of tannery factory workers, just to look more respectable.

As for opportunities to join the church
Nowadays, almost everyone in "Talek" knows how difficult it is to join the Rite of Black.

It can only be said that until an opportunity comes, it is always just an opportunity.

The time, energy and money spent on going through the tedious procedures of five art club meetings are a burden that cannot be ignored for any civilian.

In this way, I only get the convenience of a public position, which I am afraid many people feel is not worth it.

After all, after the Reformation, the painting society became independent from the church.

Everyone present has come from the bottom and understands how stupid it is to only talk about dedication without talking about benefits in secular organizations.

Ma Li's voice then sounded:

"I think this is the most critical measure we should take at that time."

"That's it. Distribute the land!"

　Thanks to Qiliangah, Linlili, Book Friends 20220624200829767, and old people who love reading for their monthly votes!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)