Chapter206

Francis felt an uncomfortable tightness deep in his heart, and his brow furrowed even more.

What should he do? The Francis family had just regained their status and honor, and he absolutely didn't want this kind of issue to create any more tension between the family and that woman.

Should he go and explain things to her? Or maybe just go straight to the palace and confess, asking for punishment?

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The matter with the men in the harem was more or less settled.

Elara also returned to the palace.

After Oswyn moved into the harem, he immediately examined Mathias.

But the conclusion he reached made his expression very unpleasant.

"He... was modified into the body of a man suited for a matriarchal nation. It's basically irreversible. If you forcefully try to reverse it, he probably won't survive."

"Also, his arousal condition…" Oswyn said, glaring at Elara, his tone showing clear displeasure.

"I can help delay it and reduce the severity when it acts up, but at most, it'll only act up once every three months. When that happens... hmph, you'll only need to hug and kiss him a bit! His body now has the chastity mark. If you don't like him, you're not allowed to break him!"

Oswyn finished speaking and turned to leave with large strides, looking furious at the diagnosis he had made himself.

But halfway out, he seemed unable to hold back. He turned and walked back to Elara, his gaze dark and fierce.

"You don't like anyone, do you."

Without waiting for Elara's reply, Oswyn suddenly reached out and hugged her, pulling her into his arms. He lowered his head and kissed her while she stared at him in surprise.

"Then it's all the same whoever you kiss. I'll just take what I want first... mm..."

Half a stick of incense later, Oswyn left the palace with his head slightly tilted back. The corners of his lips were curved, and his lips were moist and red.

Inside the palace, Elara's lips had been bitten, leaving a small cut. She sucked in air with a hiss, looking helpless, and told a maid to bring her ointment.

After applying it, she entered the bedchamber behind the screen. Seeing that Mathias was still unconscious after treatment, she turned and left the harem.

Since Mathias' body needed at least another month to stabilize, Elara planned to take him back to the Pei Family one month later.

Coincidentally, one month later would be the first "National Unified Exam" of Plumera. Recently, all departments were actively pushing forward the development policies she had confirmed two days ago.

Most of Elara's time after that was spent on the reconstruction and recovery throughout Plumera.

The first focus was this old and historic Plumera City. Though its design was grand and rich in ancient charm, it covered too small an area.

There were too many displaced refugees in Plumera who needed shelter. As the country developed, the population would surely explode.

The ancient city walls of Plumera had eroded with time and were now severely damaged. During Lord Gregory's governance, the funds had mostly been embezzled, and the walls had never been maintained.

So Elara decided to build new, wider, and stronger walls outside the existing Plumera City.

Four kilometers wider in both east-west and north-south directions, the new city would wrap the old city in a square-shaped layout.

On the outer sides of the east, west, south, and north walls, she would build taller secondary fortresses, meant solely for military defense.

Outside the city, a few satellite cities would be constructed to house future factories.

Even though the ancient environment was better, citizens couldn't live in the same city with factory emissions.

Even though System 92's improved technology produced very little pollution, a factory was still a factory. Elara wanted a separate area for construction to make future management easier.

As for the skills and manpower for building such strong and massive walls, System 92's sixth task was to fire one million bricks. So far, 819,000 out of one million had been completed.

The remaining 200,000 would be finished quickly once the brick kiln in the capital started operating at full speed.

By then, she would receive a manual titled Basic Ancient Architecture Construction Guide, which included techniques for city walls, roads, various buildings, bridges, and other foundational ancient infrastructure.

As for labor, there were plenty of prisoners of war captured during the recent battles. She could use them.

Having decided on the initial direction of Plumera City's reconstruction, Elara left the palace and went to the Bai Family's Business outside the city.

She relocated the large group of civilians Damon had taken in there into Plumera City.

She also planned to move the several compact factories in the estate.

The Bai Family's Business would become the first official merchant base outside Plumera City under the Ministry of Commerce.

It would still be managed by Damon.

After the people from the Bai Family's Business moved into Plumera City in large numbers, Elara immediately brought the various types of craftsmen inside to the Ministry of Works, letting them go to their corresponding departments. Then she personally led the construction craftsmen to hold a long small meeting with all the officials and craftsmen in the construction department.

The meeting mainly focused on solving the expansion, renovation, and repairs of Plumera City.

Elara first showed everyone a rough drawing of her planned expansion of the new Plumera City. She also clearly listed the key renovation targets outside the city.

Including the new city area, every road inside the city must be widened so that at least two carriages can run side by side, and there must be space left for small stalls and pedestrians.

All ground must be paved with bricks. The four main roads in the center need to be built even wider and smoother.

Next and most importantly, each street must have at least two public toilets.

Elara didn't want to experience even one street without public toilets again.

After they're built, the toilets would also be connected directly to the farmland fertilizing areas through underground ditches. This way, the waste could be used productively and reused.

However, this also involved the Ministry of Agriculture and Labor. Luckily, the talents from Marigold County had already built public toilets there and successfully directed waste through underground ditches to the farmland.

Some of the people who came to the capital this time had worked on that project before, so they could directly take the lead on this new task.

Next was planning the construction of buildings and streets in both the new and old city areas. This included the nine major departments Elara wanted, such as the commerce district for the Commerce Department, the new campus of Plumera University for the Academic Department, and a centralized area for the Medical Department.

And finally, the most important part, the taller and stronger new city wall of Plumera City.

Since Elara hadn't yet obtained the Complete Ancient Construction Manual, and the city didn't yet have usable bricks and stones, she told them not to discuss the wall yet.

Instead, they should first mark out areas and set up factories that would provide building materials, and begin with renovating the old city.

Once the brick kilns and other material factories were built and producing enough supplies, then they could talk about building the new city wall.

The people in the construction department were busy discussing all this throughout the day.

Because most of them had come from Marigold County and had been led by Elara in the same manner before, they were very relaxed and direct. They said whatever they needed and even argued loudly when discussions got intense, with flushed faces and flying spit.

Seeing them fully engaged, Elara left the construction department and went to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

This department specialized in building all commercial-related buildings.

Many in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry also came from Marigold County. At this moment, they were working overtime with maps of the old city area of Plumera City, planning renovations.

When Elara entered, she also held a small meeting.

She first looked over their renovation plans for the old city market. Then she gave them the blueprint for the initial layout of the new Plumera City and told them to combine that with the commercial area planning.

After explaining the commercial zone inside the city, Elara also brought up her main purpose for coming here and the most important current goal of this department.

"The construction and renovation of the commercial areas in both the old and new city will also be handled by the construction department. You should send people to work with them to save labor and resources."

"But saving labor and resources doesn't mean you'll have nothing to do. You still have an even more important and difficult task to complete."

The officials of the department quickly took out the notebooks they had custom-made in Marigold County, their faces serious and ready to take notes. "Your Majesty, please speak."

"It's about the official roads from Plumera City to every county, town, and village in the Plumera Kingdom."

To become prosperous, you must first build roads. All modern Edelweiss people know this.

"Building roads is a huge project that needs a lot of manpower, energy, and materials. But official roads are crucial for both military movement and trade, so there's no time to delay."

Once the roads were built, besides military use, they would mainly serve trade and commerce. That's why Elara assigned the task of building roads to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The construction department was already overloaded. If roadwork were added to their tasks, they simply wouldn't manage.

"To build official roads across all counties, towns, and villages within the Plumera Kingdom is an enormous task. As for manpower, I've already made arrangements. Go to the Military Department and have them send war slaves to help. They'll be used to build roads in each region."

"When you all went to the military to request war slaves, the general who accompanied you had Damon make the arrangements. Damon will be in charge of managing trade for the Commerce Department in the future. Having him bring troops ahead of time to help you repair the roads also allows him to become familiar with the conditions of the roads in various areas."

The official remembered quickly and nodded repeatedly.

"Lastly, when building official roads, post stations must be established in advance. From now on, all post stations in Plumera will be constructed according to new standards. They should not only provide lodging for traveling officials but also accommodate merchants, craftsmen, farmers, and any others who pass inspections and need a place to stay."

"So the post stations must be large enough, with separate internal areas. Especially for merchants, there must be a safe and spacious warehouse section to store goods."

Elara was determined to boost Plumera's economy first. Once trade became more active, the safety of the roads and the number of resting post stations for merchants would need to increase.

As for the cost of daily operation and maintenance of these large post stations, Elara had already come up with a plan.

Once the Commerce Department was completed, she would hand over the post stations for them to manage. The department would operate them like government-run inns. However, the fees charged would strictly follow the lowest standard. No one would be allowed to take advantage of the location to extort travelers. Any violations would be punished severely.

This way, the post stations could maintain their basic operating costs, ensure the safety of merchants and travelers, and might even help her fill the national treasury during busy trade periods.

"Yes! Yes!"

After giving instructions to the Commerce Department, Elara went to the Agriculture Department.

The Agriculture Department was another major focus. Even Marigold County had not yet achieved self-sufficiency in food, let alone Plumera City and the entire nation.

The food currently consumed in Marigold County still came from the last batch she bought from Zhaiyun Market. Fortunately, after removing Lord Gregory and others, many military supplies were confiscated from their stationed properties. In recent battles, Hector and Egbert also seized a large amount of food from enemy forces. The three large counties captured from Edelweiss had abundant supplies and grain, allowing Plumera to manage for now.

However, the seized food was consumable and would decrease over time. The Agriculture Department needed to act immediately, organizing people to reclaim and replant all the land that had been taken back.

When Elara arrived at the Agriculture Department, she brought up the farming manual she had memorized and held a small briefing with the department.

After the meeting, they immediately began sending out groups to the markets to recruit experienced farmers.

Plumera City, as the capital, naturally had many fertile farmlands around it.

Although these lands were not as rich as those in Marigold County, they were vast in area.

In the past, they had either been privately taken by Lord Gregory and others or sealed off by rebel forces and left unused.

Now that the lands were recovered, they all needed to be cultivated again.

The Agriculture Department got busy, and Elara then visited the Commerce Department, the Examination Department, the Household Department, and others one by one to inspect their work.

At the Examination Department, Minister Old Pei and Maurice were quickly getting the hang of things with Virono's help. In just a few days, not only had they sent out the announcements to towns and villages across all counties, but they had also finalized much of the three examination topics set for the next month. The testing locations were selected, and all that remained was to continue preparing in detail.

When Elara arrived, the sky outside was already dark. Minister Old Pei, with graying hair at the temples, was still personally handling various matters inside the office.

Virono stood beside him explaining something. Minister Old Pei listened attentively, showing no arrogance or airs.

Maurice and the others from the Examination Department were busy writing behind them. The whole department was brightly lit, with not a single dark corner.

When they saw Elara, everyone immediately set down their work and came forward to greet her.

Elara raised her hand to dismiss the formalities, then followed Minister Old Pei, Maurice, and Virono to look over the department's progress.

Throughout the visit, Virono kept chattering beside her about all the tasks they had completed in recent days. Minister Old Pei and Maurice quietly followed behind, their actions and words impeccable, though not particularly warm.

Clearly, the past actions of this body had left a strong impression on the father and son of the Pei Family.

Especially Minister Old Pei, whose eldest son, once his pride, was now one of Elara's male consorts.

Even though she had granted the Pei Family high positions and status, he still found it hard to show open enthusiasm in front of her.