The head of the department cautiously spoke up.

    “Director of Public Safety, it seems we are lacking more personnel than you anticipated. With 400 people, it’s only possible to manage the waste from Florence up to a certain limit.”

    The official population of Florence is 200,000, but this only accounts for ‘middle-class men and above.’

    Therefore, if you include commoners and the poor, it’s roughly about 700,000.

    In a place where there is no concept of working hours, if we rotate a six-day workweek of 14 hours, we could theoretically manage all the waste in Florence somehow...

    “But we can’t even cover the personnel needed for actual gunpowder production.”

    I was aware of that when I gathered only 400 people.

    It’s simply a dirty and degrading job to deal with waste, so it would suffice to have the poor volunteer for the task as a form of social welfare.

    To extract saltpeter from the waste requires a year of fermentation; would the impoverished want to do such work?

    It’s more effective to gather criminals or those on the verge of death for this task.

    “No matter how much the poor are considered potential criminals who can’t live without committing crimes, would they be willing to work all day long smelling the stench of rotting feces?”

    Of course, if you pay them well, they might not refuse.

    Even if I offered them half of Kris''s salary, the poor would gratefully stir through heaps of excrement, right?

    “People who used to earn 300,000 won a month would work like dogs if you deducted taxes and paid them 7 to 8 million won.”

    “If you pay them a lot, it could be resolved. But why do the poor deserve such generous compensation? It’s a waste of taxes.”

    “The poor only demand from the empire; they are scum who kill and rob among themselves as a daily routine. Even if you forcibly make them work for the state, there’s no need to pay them much.”

    “And how many death row inmates or criminals do we have in our empire?”

    The best way to prevent crime is to make the conditions in which criminals serve their sentences “harsh.”

    Lawyers and others would oppose this, but in this world, in every developed country, the ‘prison’ is the most comfortable place for repeat offenders.

    What if we threw these scum into a ‘prison worse than death’?

    “I guess I’ll have to visit the Director of Public Safety.”

    It would be a good deed to give every criminal a chance at rehabilitation too.

    The Director of Public Safety holds a higher rank than I do.

    However, an aristocrat at the level of a director usually knows how to assess his “actual position in society.”

    He did not look down on me just because my rank was lower than his.

    “Why has the newly appointed Director of Public Safety come to see me? Did you come to borrow soldiers for maintaining security under imperial command? I can lend you as many as you need.”

    “I didn’t come to borrow troops; I wanted to take some prisoners.”

    The Director of Public Safety frowned deeply.

    From his perspective, just offering to lend his subordinates to me is a significant favor.

    I agreed with that thought and had given him about three gold coins last time in exchange for his cooperation when I borrowed soldiers.

    But what would happen if I asked to take the prisoners under his direct jurisdiction?

    “Generally, I heard that they end up serving life sentences instead.”

    “Those who commit light and petty crimes don’t need to be executed, so they should atone through harsh and grueling labor for several years. Those who commit serious crimes will pay for their sins for a lifetime.”

    Even though I’m the one establishing these facilities, producing gunpowder through waste fermentation is undoubtedly a terrible thing.

    The resulting gunpowder is valuable, but the quality of life for the workers is at rock bottom.

    Just thinking about the stench of the waste that is being fermented and that I must mix it myself is unbearable.

    “Those who say that prisoners'' rights are unnecessary would probably change their minds if they saw this work.”

    “Your Majesty’s compassion and righteous desire to cherish the people’s taxes can be widely known.”

    At those words, the Director of Public Safety’s eyes widened.

    Yes, let’s slightly flip the causality around in the report.

    While I was contemplating recruiting personnel to do the dreadful task of mixing and fermenting waste, you, Director of Public Safety, provided this solution.

    And all of this stems from loyalty to His Majesty.

    “For me, once I secure the supply of gunpowder for sale to Ifriqiya and Nador, that’s all that matters.”

    Moreover, just by mastering the gunpowder production method and improving hygiene to reduce diseases, I would have accomplished far more than an individual could possibly deserve.

    “One must share and live. Otherwise, you will get stabbed in the back.”

    The wise Director of Public Safety, upon hearing my words, gripped my hand tightly.

    “Let’s keep those who should be executed right away out and have those middle criminals with some mitigating circumstances serve their time for life. We can release the minor offenders after a few years. That way, we can efficiently utilize the wicked prisoners.”

    “You’re saving lives, saving money, and doing good for the country.”

    The Director of Public Safety suddenly stood up.

    “But is it really okay for me to receive such a great credit? I feel too guilty about this.”

    “We need to help each other. And about Judge Mancini.”

    It’s a secret that I’m acting on imperial orders.

    However, thanks to the fact that I transferred the credit for making a righteous accusation to Mancini, I was promoted to the position of chief judge several years ahead of my peers.

    The Director of Public Safety held my hand tightly.

    He looked like he might cry any moment.

    “Honestly, I thought my public service career would end here, but thanks to you, I see a path to rise further. If we succeed in gunpowder production this time, you will be the benefactor of our Chelo Jun family.”

    “Thank you.”

    “Then I will first go and research how to apply this in practice.”

    And the Director of Public Safety began to run, forgetting all about his dignity.

    Seeing him act this way puts my mind at ease.

    Now, once the prisoners are gathered, I need to inspect the stone quarry site I have set aside near Florence.

    I must teach them everything I know to prevent any issues from arising.