The Marquis de Pontevedra attends the World’s Fair, attending several of the venues stoically, only periodically taking notes of tools, machines, and other ideas he finds useful for the Public Words Department in particular or the Interior Secretariat in general.
He however spends the bulk of his time speaking with foreign delegations, both the notable figures of states, as well as more common men, gossiping, cajoling, betting, and the like (rarely losing his gambles, and rarer still revealing his secrets). At the end of each day, he condenses what intelligence he has gathered, both high and low, from that rumour mill into a series of neatly arranged notes, with his own personal assessments attached. These notes are promptly sent to the King for his review; in particular, Pontevedra took keen interest in the attendees from Italy and Austria, though he nearly as often frequented German and French attendees. In his estimation, a European War would take off, or truly become a Continental war, should either of these sets enter into war with one another; he of course, was wholly intent on learning the national mood, both from the populace at large and from the elites, of those nations.
In a similar vein, he instructs members of the secret police to take careful note of the above, but even moreso of literature being distributed at the fair, as well as lectures. Whilst Pontevedra had no intention of banning these sales or events - he had no desire for an international incident - he was similarly wary of unwelcome ideas infiltrating the Kingdom. Thus he instructed his agents to buy all the books they found unseemly, so that they could be disposed of at a later date, whilst also taking up space at speaking venues, or otherwise redirecting their attendees to other events.
He also gave a few addresses and speeches and the like, though the Marquis considered none of them to be particularly noteworthy; his other tasks were of more import, he deemed, though he did spend considerable effort writing several pieces for the state newspapers, as well as for Royalist papers, applauding and advertising the Barcelona Fair, whilst also taking the chance to utilise the recently modernised railways – offering lower fees for subjects of the Crown to travel to the city and attend the fair. He concluded their spending in Barcelona, and along the trip to that city, would more than make up for the losses, and could very well help counter the ongoing recession.