Chapter 139 Side Story – Wages
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
At last, with domestic affairs settling into some kind of rhythm, it struck me—I really ought to pay Yoluminette and the others their wages. So I called up my trusted finance man, had him haul a respectable sum from my personal account, and brought the money to the old town hall.
Not that my coffers overflowed with revenue. Taxes from the territory came mostly in kind and in pitiful dribbles of coin. Which meant this money wasn’t just tax income—it was sweetened with the royalties I’d been getting from Mr. Baldric for the fast-food shop, my one steady source of personal pocket money.
A digression, but a happy one: those royalties were climbing fast. The star product now was mayonnaise—yes, mayonnaise! Made from the eggs of chicken-like beasts, disinfected in bulk with chlorine and preserved safely in cold storage, free from salmonella worries. Add to that the cheap, abundant oil pressed from Lusrith’s moonlight sunflowers, and mass production had become a reality.
Even better, Baldric—damnably competent as always—had begun shipping it, along with other dressings, to the elf nation of Lukurusa Theocracy, where vegetarian culture ran deep. Truth be told, I could never have scaled things this far on my own. But, well, I’m wandering off.
Point is, thanks to that windfall, I could finally pay them. And so—here’s how payday went down.
Yoluminette: five gold coins.
At first, she was scandalized. Five gold coins—a knight’s salary on par with a raw recruit! She raised her voice in protest… until I sweetened the deal with the promise that the sword, armor, and horse she’d been issued upon assignment were hers to keep, maintenance costs on me. That mollified her.
Ninim: ten silver coins.
Compared to her bureaucrat days, it was a pay cut. But she admitted she’d never been paid much at the bureau either, and besides, here in Keldan she wasn’t surrounded by People of Birene-hating nobles. The lack of discrimination outweighed the lower wage.
Rilina, Nanari, Luruna: two silver coins each.
By noble standards, maid work paid poorly for its long hours. But the three of them beamed, sweating brows and all, proud to clutch the first coins they had ever truly earned themselves.
Sasami and Cocoa: one silver coin and five coppers each.
Cocoa immediately tucked most away for savings, keeping only a little to spend. Sasami—worthless as a person though she often was—did something unexpected: she kept only the five coppers for herself and ordered the finance man to send the silver coin home as a remittance for her family. For all her trash personality, the girl was dutiful in her own way.
Roto and Sheris: no payment required. They were technically serving under royal command, and their wages came from the state. Sarasa, though, was another matter. She wasn’t even supposed to be here—helping out of her own will—but leaving her unpaid felt too cruel. I slipped her the same amount as Sasami and Cocoa.
As for me? Of course I was unpaid. Yet somehow, in spite of that, my dear knight Yoluminette managed to bleed me dry anyway. She just had to insist on purchasing a mithril longsword and full armor—mithril, “true silver,” the stuff monopolized by the elves of Lukurusa!—along with, of all things, the priciest-looking white warhorse she could find.
Absolutely better than her previous gear. No question. And she had the audacity to look me in the eye and declare, “Naturally, a knight of my caliber requires equipment befitting my station, my lord!”
Couldn’t she at least have waited until our finances improved?! I paid, gritting my teeth, and nearly cried on the spot. My wallet is ruined. My noble estate is back to square-one poverty.
That day, Yoluminette’s radiant smile, glistening from the glow of her new mithril armor, stood in stark contrast to my own gaunt, hollow-eyed frame as I staggered back to the old town hall. Rilina and the others saw me, of course. They always do.
Notes:
• Baldric – The branch manager of the Elandric Merchant Guild.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply