“Didn’t I mention that we worked for an enchanter?” Adam asked, glancing between them. “I’m sure there are plenty of people willing to pay you, what, fifty gold per month? One hundred gold a month for an Expert? Still, how much of that month would you send home? How much of that money would be used to maintain your equipment? How much of that money would be spent on potions for healing?”

“A fair amount,” Rick admitted. Though Experts earned a lot of coin, it came with the expectation that they were in danger at all times.

“We’ll deal with those sort of things through the business. You don’t have to worry about your equipment, potions and such. All you need to worry about is where you’re going to spend your money. Now, who can offer an Expert an enchanted weapon to borrow, and then eventually, keep?” Adam tapped his chest. “This guy. I mean, obviously the business, but you know what I mean.”

“We would borrow the weapon and then we would be able to earn it?” Rick asked. “How long would that take?” He noticed Charley was tapping her knee, falling deep into thought. There were no doubt many questions she had too, but she remained silent, leaving it to Rick.

“After enough years of service, you’ll keep the weapon,” Adam assured.

“How many years?”

Adam remained silent for a short while, thinking. A Basic magical weapon typically went for about a thousand, which was more money than they’d probably ever be able to save. “Do you have any recommendations?”

“An Expert makes roughly fifty to one hundred gold each month. If they saved every penny, then a year or two, but that doesn’t include the shelter and food. If they had the discipline to save and scrimp, then that might be realistic, but that isn’t reasonable. I’d say four or five years.”

“Sure, but if they had to send money back home to their family, it’d take longer, right?” Adam asked. “Then there’s the matter of buying appropriate gear to make sure they don’t die, as well as health potions and such, again, to make sure they don’t die.”

Rick nodded his head, agreeing with Adam’s statement. It did take a long while for most people to save up when they worked as mercenaries.

“Still, five years isn’t a terrible idea,” Adam admitted. “Though I heard that the price of magical weapons is fluctuating due to the war.” ‘Five years might be good, but ten years might make more sense? Unless we also offer magical shields and armour?’ “We’ll have to think about that a little deeper, since we may also offer magical armours too.”

Rick was now certain Adam was crazy. He hadn’t heard of such an offer in his entire life.

“We should probably also discuss hours. If you’re a guard, and you’re at the business, then I expect something like… six hours a day, six days a week? Something like that? It would depend on the number of guards, but that would be the end goal.”

‘Six hours a day six days a week?’ Rick couldn’t control his eyes, as they widened for a moment, before he narrowed them, trying to control himself. Adam was beating them with his unforgivably crazy statements.

“Right, then there’s the paid holiday of a month or so every year,” Adam said, recalling the other benefits he had thought of.

‘What?’ Rick stared at the Half Elf, still trying to understand what he was saying. ‘Did he say a holiday of a month? Paid? What does that…’ Rick then realised he had heard similar terms before. Such terms reminded him of the Adventurer’s Guild, which was brutally competitive since it provided great terms to its workers.

“Of course, when if you’re a guard travelling on the road, then we expect you to be working at all times,” Adam said, shrugging his shoulders. “Might have to increase pay during the time you’re out, but we’ll have to figure that out at a separate time. I’m glad we talked, since I can continue to work on the terms of the contract.”

‘Crazy,’ the farmers thought. ‘This Half Elf is crazy.’

“If… if you’re willing to offer such great terms, we may be willing to join you,” Rick said.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Maybe? Even after all that?” Adam asked, chuckling. He was sure everyone would jump at the chance of joining, though he supposed he hadn’t yet mentioned pay. “I’d assume the pay would be at least ten gold per month for a new workers, but for Experts, it’d be… at least twenty gold? Considering that all the twenty gold would be on luxuries, I think that’s fair pay, especially if we’re providing the gear and such too.”

“We still need to think of our partners,” Rick said. “You may offer me such, but I will need to send gold home. If it’s true that you’re going to deal with most of our needs, we’ll have to spend coin on the needs you won’t be dealing with, such as clothes, and we’ll need to send money home to our…” Rick paused. “Did you say the benefits extended to our spouses and children?”

Adam nodded. “Yes. Your spouses and children will be provided housing at the business, and with food and education, and also yes, clothing as well. I want you to think of your basic needs, all of those will be taken care of. I really should have written it all down. Stuff like clothing, gear, all that will be sorted out through the business. We’ll also provide some alcohol too, of course. The things you’ll spend your coin on will be luxuries, finer alcohol, finer food, finer clothing, that sort of thing.”

“That makes this decision much easier,” Rick admitted.

“I mean, I expect your spouses to work, and your children to work hard in school. Your spouses will be paid whatever ends up being the basic fee, probably ten gold I’d assume, and your children will go through basic education, and once they’re a little older, around maybe around ten or so, they’ll learn a trade or something along those lines. Smithing and alchemy most likely, but perhaps stuff like cooking and baking, tailoring, that sort of thing.”

Adam’s words continued to beat the farmers, as he continued to reveal more and more about the business to them. He was going to pay their spouses too? Ten gold each month? And provide all of this to his family? He’d also teach the children a trade including smithing and alchemy? If they hadn’t seen Adam and what he was like for the past year or so, they would have politely left.

“The goal is to provide your children with education, under the assumption that they’ll take a contract with the guild for some years. Again, all their basic needs will be taken care of, their eventual spouses’ needs, their childrens’ needs, so on. Numbers. Letters. Whatever trade they learn. We will guarantee a decent life for all those under the business.”

Rick stared at Adam, suddenly understanding what the business was. It was an enchanting business, yes, but it was more than that. It was planning on becoming something far greater than an enchanting business, something more like an empire of business. Smithing? Alchemy? All of this was going to be used to further the reach of the business.

“Though, if they do end up learning a greater trade, then we will need them to sign a contract stating they will work for the business for much longer than typical,” Adam said. “We’ll allow them to buy their way out of the contract, though it’ll be quite costly. I want to make it difficult for you to leave after we provided you with all the benefits, but I don’t want to force you to be with us forever if you don’t want to be.”

“I can’t speak for anyone else here, but I will accept,” Rick said. “If what you’re telling me is right, that you’ll take care of all our needs, and you’ll offer my children the same, and educate them with a trade so they can live decent lives, then I’ll accept.”

Adam smiled. “That’s wonderful to hear, Rick. I’ll get the contract written up once the business is up and running properly.” ‘I still need to figure out how businesses operate in Aldland. Ah, well, can’t I just pay someone else to do that?’

“If you really will take care of our needs, from clothing to food to shelter, then I suppose I could spend the gold on paint supplies,” John said, his thoughts trailing off.

Adam looked to Charley, whose fingers were tapping along her thigh. “You can spend the spare coin on dyes.” He smirked slightly.

Charley replied with a similar smirk. “I could…”

“Of course, if you’re an archer, a magical bow, or sets of arrows, will be offered instead,” Adam said, looking to Ivy, who remained half hidden under her cloak, still hunched over. “Though, I’m sure the Enchanter will probably provide a few magical arrows when you go out on duty, if they’ve enchanted any. It won’t be good to lose capable warriors by being stingy.” Adam looked to Greg, thinking about what to say to him. He really didn’t have much, he supposed, since Greg was always so quiet.

“Anyhow, this was just me telling you about the business and what to expect. We’ll figure out the proper terms later, and then you can accept or decline then. Our current deal, with everyone earning the same share, remains intact, so you don’t have to worry about that. However, if you need to send more gold back home, let me know and I’ll send some coin back to your families. I’ve got enough coin to deal with it from my personal purse, but we can also use the party fund.”

“We’ve send coin home already, but thank you,” Rick said, not wanting to give Adam too much leverage over them. “Once the loot is split, we’ll be able to send more home.”

“Good shout. Alright, well, enjoy the snacks and drinks, on me. I’ve got to speak with the other Executives about the matter, and bring them up some concerns that our future employees may have.” Adam winked. “I’ll be sure to speak to them about the matter of magical weapons, and also the pay for Experts and such.”

As he stepped out, a thought came to Adam. ‘This is becoming more expensive than I originally thought.’