Chapter 94   – A Little Game

Pon seemed to want to say something but caught himself in the middle of it and thought better. Amethyst, on her part, wanted to ask more about the event but chose not to dwell too much on it.

“By the way, how many families are attending this time?” asked Amethyst, nonchalantly.

“There are seven families, including three Nobles,” said Pon.

“Just seven?” she muttered. She thought the number of families seemed very little compared to the size of the festival this was going to be.

“After your Excellency inherited the Duke of Skad, he excommunicated many families, and now there are only seven left,” responded Pon, attentively, “I’ve heard that there were more families in the past.”

“I see.”

“I’ll post the information on each family in a separate document,” he said, “It might be helpful if you read it in the meantime.”

“Oh, yes, thank you,” she said, gratefully, “And… Lunia?”

“Yes,” asked Lunia.

“I have to prepare for the annual festival…,” she said, “You said the workers aren’t obeying, did you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Punishing and using a stick might be faster…but I’d rather use the carrot.”

“What?”

“Do you know… a compliment sticker board?”

“Compliment… stickers?”

“Haha, I guess you don’t know,” she said, “Pon, can you lend me some paper and pen?”

“Of course,” said Pon, handing her a paper and a pen.Amethyst explained as well as she could by drawing on the paper to make it clearer. “I’m going to make a three-line table for each of the five spaces and stamp on it once a maid has done their work accurately and quickly,” she said. “If they can collect these stamps five times, they will get a reward….”

Amethyst thought.

“If they collect it five times, they will get a 10 percent bonus,” said Amethyst, “and the whole procedure will be repeated… once they reach to 10 times they can go on paid day vacation. If they do it 20 times, they get a 20 percent raise in their salary. There is no harm in trying. If this doesn’t work, we will find some other way.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” said Lunia.

“Pon, make a compliment sticker board for all the maids and distribute it,” she instructed, “And let’s have Roman handle the stamps. It might be confusing at first but once one or two manage to receive the reward, others will follow.”

“I think this is a great idea!” said Pon.

“And…I’ll stamp Lunia and Pon myself!” declared Amethyst.

“What? Us too?” asked Lunia.

“Of course! We can’t have one rule for a group of workers and another for someone else,” she said. “It won’t be fair. You guys can’t get stamps and stickers from Roman. Distribute the tables to Gen as well as the knights and all the employees who work for the Duke.”

“Haha, it’s like a surprise event,” said Pon, excited.

“It’s meaningful if we all enjoy it together,” said Lunia.

Pon, the efficient butler that he was, made it happen in the blink of an eye. He handed out the compliment board into a card and distributed it with the Duke’s seal engraved on each and every one of them.

The confirmation stamps were delivered to Amethyst and Roman, who would be the ones stamping on the boards depending the efficiency of the ones working under them. Ponwas the first person to receive a complimentary stamp on his sticker board.

“Great! I am very proud of your efficiency Pon,” she said. “You even have delivered the stamps!”

“It was no problem, Ma’am,” he said.

“Then please give me your compliment board, please,” she said.

“What? Mine?” asked Pon, surprised.

“Yes,” she said, stamping his sticker board. “It’s a job well done, and you deserve this.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” he said, looking at his first stamp on the board with a certain sense of pride. He had always been efficient but no matter how silly this idea was, it made him feel seen. It made him feel validated.

“I will work harder, Ma’am,” he said, smiling in joy.

*The compliment stickers or stamps were all the rage in the household. Anyone who worked for the Duke were seen conversing and inquiring about how many stamps they had received.

“How many did you get?”

“I’ll be getting a bonus now if I get one more!”

“Lucky you! I still need two more.”

“Let’s finish these chores and get a stamp from Roman!”

“Yes! You have to hurry, in order to get a stamp.”

The workers under Roman were no longer in mutiny. The first thing they did was check the number of stamps they needed to receive in order to get a bonus. They worked harder than before.

Meanwhile, the knights weren’t immune to the charm to the sticker board as well. They were excited about this change, as silly as it was.

“Leyrian, don’t forget it’s my turn to teach the Duchess’s!”

“Sir Buer, it’s up to her to make the choice who is going to be her teacher. I can’t help it if she chooses me.”

“You said you already have four stamps! I only have one. Make a concession!”

“No! Collecting one more means a bonus!”

“Well, aren’t you greedy?”

“I’m not being greedy! It’s survival,” said Leyrian, winking.

The two knights’ bickering was interrupted by Sir Marcua. “Both of you, shut up,” he said, “I should be the Knight to look over Madam today. You both promised last time…”

“You’re out of this, Marcua!” protested Buer.

“Yeah!” echoed Sir Leyrian.

“You both are evil. Plain evil,” said Sir Marcua.

The voices of the knights echoed across the field.

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