If her work provided no value, why did it take him 12 years to figure that out? That’s a lot of wasted pay.

Agreed. Just the fact that he didn’t ALREADY know her value after 12 years of working with her makes his judgment very questionable.

Why would someone want to be brought “up to speed far faster”? I say: enjoy it all, take your time. It’s a rich story worth savoring. Start with either the manga if you can devote the time, otherwise go with the 90s anime (which I found well worth watching despite those criticizing it). If the story is powerful…