The Mechanical Era

Kristina was sitting on her chair in her office. She had just finished dealing with the mountain of paperwork and reports on her desk and was on her break. On her hands was a piece of brown paper which she stared at with a wholesome smile.

It was a poem, written in blue ink, her children had written for their loving mother. Her heart filled with joy once she received it. She smiled while reading it over and over again. It described what her children think of her. A strong, busy mother who was finally coming back to their lives once more.

Just then, there was a knock. Kristina instinctively consented, still distracted by the poem. Kant leans into the room.

"Knight Kristina, may I borrow a few minutes of your time?" he asks calmly. Hearing the prince's voice put her back to her senses. She lifts her head to respond to Kant.

"Of course sire." Kristina opens the empty drawer to put the poem in, where she can read it again some other time. Kant walks over and sits down on the wooden chair.

"What was that? That piece of paper you were holding." Kant asked.

"That was a poem my children wrote for me. I was just reading it," she said while smiling.

"I see. Now onto business. Knight Kristina, do you remember about the police force I want to be established?" Kant asks.

"Oh yes, I do. I have the file stored in the cabinet after reading it all through multiple times. I just... didn't have the time to discuss it again." Kristina replies.

"Well, I am here to inform you that there has been a change of circumstances that has forced my hand to adopt the police sooner than anticipated."

"What is it sire?" She asks in curiosity.

"Yesterday I received from Albersterg that he needs my cement. As the cautious man he is, it is unlikely he did it out of the blue. With the rise in demonic activity, I suspect that he might have encountered a sign of a demon wave.

I do not know what exactly. I have sent a letter asking him on why to get a proper answer. Considering the letter will arrive sometime tomorrow, I think we should prepare, just in case. I would like them to get out in the next month at least." Kant explains. Kristina nods her head.

"Well, if that is what you desire, then I cannot stop you sire. However, it would mean that we would have to cut out a lot from the original plan. Are you going through with it?" She asks.

"Yes. I am. What do you propose Kristina?" he replies.

"Hold on sire." Kristina took out another piece of paper and a quill. She then got up and walked over to the cabinet. There she took two blue files and brought them back to the table. She opened it and tuned over the multiple pages, looking for something.

"Here sire. It says that you require police officers to be literate. We might have to axe that. Considering sire wants to have police officers on the streets as fast as possible, cutting the requirement would save a lot of time.

however..." She turns the pages of a file and points at a section of the pages.

"...it would mean that we would have to cut out the 'detective' role. Though I understand its purpose, and that it could reduce crime rate and catch wanted criminals, implementing such an idea would take a long time that we might not have."

"That is fine. I can sacrifice it for now. We can add it back in the future when the time calls for it." With that answer, she writes it down on the piece of paper, in her beautiful cursive handwriting.

"There is also the point of filing cases. Instead of its building, I propose that we can just handle any criminal cases over to the police. That way we can use the knight hall's infrastructure to help it along."

Kant thought of it. He didn't like the knight hall. For he suspected that it was plagued with corruption. He can see the signs. He just didn't know how much. However, in the end, he yielded to the request made. It wasn't like the knights were going to do it anyway.

"As long as they don't get rewarded in monetary terms like the knights. Then I am fine."

"But what would incentivize them instead?" she asked.

"The more work they do, like completing the requests and such, the higher the chance their wage rate increases. It would be more suitable for them." Kant replied.

"Alright then. Moving on... One final change regarding the uniforms and equipment."

"That is?"

"The uniform you have stated was 'A black shirt made of wool compromising a white armband, black pants and calfskin shoes.' and the equipment being a 'nightstick, one set of handcuffs, a small notebook to write, and a whistle.'

Considering that we won't be teaching them to read or write, we should cut the notebook with a pencil. Should I take out the whistle as well?"

"Yes, I do think so. It is unlikely that anyone will pretend to be the police. They know it would get them in trouble."

"Alright then, what about the handcuffs?"

"Take it off as well. Replace it with some rope. It is much cheaper, and a lot faster to equip."

"And that is it. These reforms, however, would mean that the police force that sire wants to set up would be mostly just a city patrol. Are you sure you want to continue?"

"As I said, I am prioritizing speed over here."

"When should I start recruiting?"

"As soon as the police headquarters is made. I am thinking of refurnishing a building to act as the headquarters. Currently, it is undecided which specifically, but I prefer an area near the knight hall."

"Alright sire."

...

Kant walks to his office and sits on this swivel chair with a blank expression. He stayed like then for a good minute until he took out his small book, grabbed a quill with ink, and flipped to the notes section.

There, on the pages, he wrote something in black ink. After putting the book back into his pocket, he dragged the typewriter closer to him and continued typing on the piece of paper. It was part of the Patent act that Kant wanted to implement in the coming weeks. Kant continued typing on the typewriter until Decan arrives with the blueprints of the school.