After leaving Boklund Street, Sifa visited a newspaper office and placed a statement in the Backlund Daily, formally severing his ties with Bison.
He then went to the Navy General Affairs Office, where he received his identification papers as a general, along with a new uniform.
Sifa was also informed that he needed to visit the royal palace on Saturday morning, when King George III would personally conduct his investiture ceremony.
After that, he would have to go to the Oak Island Royal Navy Base on Monday morning to meet the officers and soldiers of the fleet he would be commanding.
After a busy morning, it was already noon by the time Sifa returned to Star-Moon Manor. After lunch, his manservant Condon brought a middle-aged man into the study.
This was a gentleman recommended by the Metropolitan Association for Assisting Household Servants to apply for the position of butler.
Sifa spoke with the gentleman for a while and came away with a fairly good impression.
The man was enthusiastic and proactive, spoke well, and had experience serving a member of the Lower House. However, he had only recently become a butler, and his employer had merely been a member of parliament, so he was not sufficiently familiar with Backlund's upper society.
Unfortunately, Sifa could only tactfully say that he would give the matter careful consideration and make a decision by tomorrow at the latest.
Then he asked Condon to give the gentleman a bottle of wine made at the manor.
More applicants came to the manor throughout the afternoon.
Sifa earnestly engaged each gentleman in an in-depth conversation, making a comprehensive assessment based on their clothing, demeanor, speech, past experience, and other factors.
By the time he saw off the last applicant, evening had arrived.
That afternoon, Sifa had interviewed