Just like parents.
Which parent doesn’t want their children to succeed?
So this is how Hilde treats Dioni.
Afterwards, Hilde took Sophia to visit various places in the orphanage. They first quietly came to the accommodation area. Through the windows here, they could see the children sleeping soundly in the dormitory with 8 people in a room. The priestess would walk into the dormitory every once in a while to observe the children's sleep.
The teaching building used for teaching was also designed by Hilde herself. After all, in ancient Greece, there was no such thing as classes, so Hilde specially built this teaching building for the group. Currently, there are less than 50 children in the entire orphanage, and they are divided into three classes according to their age. The priestess will design how to teach them based on the age characteristics of the children in different classes.
After visiting the orphanage, both Hilde and Sophia were very satisfied with the construction of the orphanage. The priestess was also very serious about her work. The clergy of the Byzantine Kingdom were truly loyal people who were willing to sacrifice themselves for God. They were not like the clergy of Athens who were arrogant, ignorant and conceited.
Plus the entire orphanage.
Then Dioni will be in charge.
Therefore, even if there were any problems in the orphanage, according to Dione's personality, she would not choose not to see it. So, when Hilde called Dione to her side, she took Dione to the mini open-air theater nearby.
"Sit down first."
"OK, all right!"
Dione looked really happy. She could hardly suppress her inner joy. She was so lively even when Hilde called her over. When she sat on the marble steps of the mini theater, Hilde sat beside her and said with a smile, "Are you very happy today?"
"Of course I am very happy!"
"As you know, I asked you to be the director of this orphanage. From now on, I will hand it over to you. If you are in charge of the management, I will be very relieved about the children here, and I will not worry that someone will take advantage of the power to bully these children." Hilde said with a smile, "However, before I hand these children over to you, there is something I must tell you."
"Okay, I'll listen carefully."
Dione knew that Hilde was very serious, so she immediately sat up straight and looked at Hilde expectantly.
"First of all, you must be clear that these children are living beings, and the original intention of building an orphanage is to hope that these children can grow up healthy and strong even without parents. Therefore, no matter what, these children must be given the most adequate protection. If you become the director of an orphanage, you must keep this in mind. This is the starting point and end point of all your work."
"Yes!"
Dione could fully understand what Hilde said.
"I will take good care of the child."
"Okay, this is the most important thing. As long as you can ensure this, you can be free to play in other aspects. You can let the children do more outdoor activities, or invite a drama troupe to perform comedies for the children, or even take the children to the military camp to watch the soldiers' training. All of these are fine. What you have to do next is to manage the entire orphanage in an orderly manner, so that every child here can have enough sleep, rich activities, and carefully prepared food. The ultimate goal is to let these children grow up with dignity, and when they leave the orphanage, they can find a foothold for themselves in this society. I believe you should be able to do this well, right?"
Dione knew very well that Hilde was telling her that managing this orphanage was not a joke, but a real big deal. The lives of these children would be tied to Dione, and if she didn't do this job with the mindset of taking good care of these children, then it was obvious that she was not worthy of being the director of this orphanage.
Fortunately, Dioni was mentally prepared for this from the beginning.
When she learned about this from Hilde.
Dione already understood his responsibilities.
The first section of the sixth tune: Dione's little thoughts
So in the face of Hilde's repeated inquiries, Dione responded seriously: "Sister Sissi, I will definitely do this well. I may be a little unfamiliar at the beginning and may make many mistakes, but I will definitely work hard to let these children live the life they deserve, so I will work hard to be the dean, but please come and supervise me often and point out some mistakes I make at work, Sister Sissi."
"It's okay. It's normal to make some mistakes occasionally when working. Whether you can learn the necessary experience from these mistakes is the most important thing. Dione, you have been with me for more than three years. Now you are a relatively mature woman and should have the ability to be independent. So this time is not only a job assigned to you, but also a test for you. This job is not difficult, it is even so simple that I want to do it, but this job is difficult, because the future of dozens or even hundreds of orphans is on your shoulders. Any slackness on your part may cast a shadow on the future of these orphans, so I hope you can keep this matter firmly in mind and know what kind of responsibility you have to bear."
"Yes! I understand!"
Dioni also nodded seriously.
She understood everything Hilde said.
Seeing Dione's statement, Hilde was relieved. She reached out and gently stroked Dione's long golden hair. "I am really pleased to see you grow up. It's like you are my own daughter, growing up little by little to where you are now."
"……yes."
Dione couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"But Sister Sissi, you still treat me like a child."
"In my eyes, I'm afraid you will always be a child."
Hilde laughed, then stood up and walked towards Sophia on the other side. Dione looked at Hilde's back. Although she was very happy now, what Hilde said just now made Dione feel a little bitter.
Dioni is now a 16-year-old girl. In fact, Dioni is not much younger than Hilde, but Hilde has never treated her as a woman of the same age as herself, but as a child. Now that she has been assigned a job, Dioni is still very happy. As long as she has a job, she can prove to Hilde that she has actually grown up.
"Sister Sissi!!!"
At this time, Dioni stood up and ran quickly towards Hilde.
"Wait for me!"
In fact, this is Dioni’s true inner thoughts.
Not to mention Hilde, even Dione himself didn't notice it.
In the past three years, Dioni has received very caring care from Hilde. Although she is also Hilde's food, Hilde's way of eating is indeed a little too intimate. Three years ago, when Dioni was still an ignorant girl, she didn't feel anything special when Hilde sucked her neck.
But she didn't know when it started. When she noticed that the relationship between Sophia and Hilde had undergone substantial changes, the seed in Dioni's heart suddenly began to sprout. She found that she could no longer look at Hilde and the relationship between herself and Hilde as she did a long time ago.
She had witnessed it.
The look of Sophia that Hilde longed for.
It's not just because I can't suck blood and I'm hungry.
At the same time, I also long for the entire person of Sophia.
Dioni had witnessed the intimate behavior between the two, and that scene was actually deeply engraved in Dioni's heart, but Hilde always regarded Dioni as an ignorant girl, so she didn't take it to heart at all. Only Dioni herself still remembered this incident firmly and had not forgotten it.
And now...
Hilde still thinks of herself as a child.
This made Dioni a little frustrated.
But there is no other way, perhaps. I have not proved to Hilde that I can stand alone, so Hilde always thinks so. Dioni knows very well that what I have to do now is to become a person who can stand alone, so that Hilde can be assured and realize that the little girl from Thrace has grown up now.
No longer that little guy who needs protection.
At the same time, Hield does not need to, and cannot, look at Dioni the same way as before.
What Dione needs is fairer treatment, and she hopes Hilde will see her as someone of her age. But all this will take a long time to achieve. Dione knows that she still has a lot to do. Now, she can only be a good kid in front of Hilde.
Wait until the three of them returned to the palace.
Hilde was very careful and explained to Diony the various situations in the operation of the orphanage. In fact, Hilde didn't know much about this area. She could only tell Diony some things that she felt necessary to do based on her experience and knowledge in her previous life.
Dione listened very carefully and gave timely feedback when he encountered questions he didn't understand, which made Hilde very satisfied. After discussing for two hours, until the sky outside turned completely dark, Hilde finally said everything he wanted to say.
"You listened very carefully."
"After all, as you said, this is a big responsibility. I have to work hard to give these children a good life."
After Dioni said this.
I couldn't help but yawn.
"I'm a little tired today..."
"It's normal, it's normal. When we were at the orphanage today, you were running the whole time. I was wondering how you could be so strong. Sure enough, at night, your true colors showed up." Hilde smiled and patted Dione's shoulder, then stood up. "If you are very sleepy now, go and rest quickly. You still have to go to the orphanage early tomorrow morning. Then, I'll leave it to you."
"Understood!"
Dioni also nodded.
She had some things she wanted to say, but felt that now was not the time to say them, so she had to lower her head and quickly return to her room.
Hilde looked at Dione's back as he left.
Chapter 6: Overly aggressive plans
This little girl...
What are you thinking about?
Hilde didn't think much about it. She just thought that maybe Dione was a little tired today, so she was like this. But today was just the beginning. Working in an orphanage was not an easy job. As the director of an orphanage, she had to pay attention to the conditions of all the children at all times. It was a physically and mentally exhausting job.
Waited until the next day.
Dione went to the orphanage early in the morning.
Early in the morning of that day, Alcibiades and Artaminus handed over their plan to Hilde. Hilde was also very curious. Since this task was given to the two of them, she didn't know what kind of opinions they could reach. As a result, when Hilde took the plan and looked at it, she frowned.
“Are you planning to build all of them?”
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"I've seen your reasons, but I didn't expect you to have such a big appetite." Hilde couldn't help laughing when he said this. "So you want to build the Chalcedon side first, and then the Golden Horn side. But this still requires a lot of financial, material and human resources..."
"Your Majesty, this move is to further enhance the military strength of the Byzantine Kingdom. With these workshops, we can produce more weapons and equipment to equip our army. In this way, even the newly recruited troops can use the latest weapons. In our previous battle with Abydos, we have already shown the superiority of our advanced weapons. With the addition of Golgopas, those Abydos soldiers were brave and fearless, and their combat effectiveness was outstanding, but they were still repelled by our First Legion. On the one hand, it was because the First Legion had high combat effectiveness, and on the other hand, it was also because their weapons and equipment were far ahead of Abydos."
Alcibiades stepped forward to explain.
After hearing his explanation, Hilde smiled bitterly and put aside the papyrus he handed to her.
"Of course I know that."
"Your Majesty, is the budget insufficient?"
"If you're talking about the budget, it's indeed a little insufficient after all your efforts, because you did two things that I didn't expect. One is that you want to build weapons workshops and iron workshops in two places, and the other is that you actually planned such a large-scale workshop in Chalcedon. I estimated that if you really implement your plan, the iron and steel production of our Byzantine Kingdom will be more than 5 to 6 times what it is now. Do you understand this feeling?"
"seems like it……"
After hearing what Hilde said, Amyntas actually retreated a little. He could see that Hilde seemed to have some doubts about their plan, so Amyntas was also worried whether the conclusion he and Alcibiades came to was really not suitable for the Byzantine Kingdom.
"His Majesty!"
Alcibiades did not give up.
He took a step forward, then raised his head and said:
"The production of weapons and equipment is a century-long plan for a country. Your Majesty, the population of the Byzantine Kingdom has increased more than 100 times in just three years. From the original Byzantine City with only more than 1 people, it has developed into a huge country spanning Thrace and Ionia. What does this represent? This shows that our future will definitely have such a fast expansion speed, so we also need to have corresponding production capacity. However, the construction period required for weapon production is relatively long. Even if we start building these workshops today and train craftsmen, it will take at least half a year to produce steel and weapons. To achieve the ideal production capacity, these workshops need to operate continuously for more than half a year, and this round trip will take another year."
"Well, keep talking."
"Therefore, the Byzantine Empire will most likely need five or six times more production capacity in a year. It may not be needed now, but who can guarantee that it will not be needed in the future? If we wait until the future when we need it to build it, wouldn't it be too late?"
Alcibiades was very confident, in stark contrast to Amyntas. Hilde also understood that this actually made things difficult for Amyntas, who was an honest man who obeyed orders, so when Hilde raised questions, Amyntas naturally felt that he was wrong.
Then Hilde said to Amyntas.
"Amyntas, you and Alcibiades are both far-sighted people who can see so far."
"Your Majesty, I..."
It can be seen that Amyntas was also a little embarrassed.
"However, your plan is indeed a bit too aggressive. If we really proceed according to your plan, then it is obvious that our Byzantine Kingdom will not be able to do almost anything during this period of time. Our future does require very high productivity, but increasing productivity to three times the current level is enough. Just like you said, the Byzantine Kingdom may need it in a year, but how can you guarantee that the Byzantine Kingdom will gain more population and territory within this year?"
"I didn't think well enough."
Alcibiades could not help but lower his head.
"I hope your majesty will forgive me!"
"It's okay, it's okay. This kind of thing is very normal."
In fact, the Byzantine Kingdom was not really short of budget. It had more than enough financial resources to build two weapons production centers at the same time. However, Hilde did not intend to be so aggressive. Increasing productivity so quickly would only result in a lot of production capacity being wasted after the workshops were built.
Moreover, although Alcibiades considered the training of craftsmen, it would take a long time for mature craftsmen to be trained and able to produce qualified weapons. During this period, the manufacture and production of weapons could only be entrusted to those skilled old craftsmen. Therefore, the number of craftsmen who could take on the task of manufacturing weapons in the Byzantine Kingdom was only enough to expand the production capacity by 2 to 3 times.
That's the most important thing.
It is not surprising that Alcibiades and Artaminus did not know this.
After all, they could only be said to know about the process of weapon manufacturing, but not to understand it. They simply could not understand the entire process of weapon production as deeply as Hilde did. After all, the weapons workshop of the Byzantine Kingdom was founded by Hilde herself.
Chapter 3 of the sixth chapter: Athens in a difficult situation
Finally, Hilde thought about it.
"Your proposal only needs to be modified. Extend the timeline to three years. Don't you want the overall productivity to reach more than six times the current level? Then, I will give you three years. After three years, it will reach six times, and after one year, it only needs to reach three times. As for the construction issue, the bridge over the Golden Horn has not been built yet. If a workshop is built in the Golden Horn, even if it is completed and put into production, it will not be much more convenient to transport the products to Byzantium than to Chalcedon. So it is best to start with Chalcedon."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
After getting Hilde's guidance.
Alcibiades and Amyntas understood clearly.
In Hilde's eyes, Chalcedon has not been developed much until now, because Hilde has always regarded Chalcedon as the private land of Byzantium. In Hilde's plan, she wants to build Byzantium, the capital of the Byzantine Kingdom, into a city across the strait. To the west is Byzantium, and to the east is Chalcedon.
These two cities must be merged in the future.
