Chapter 101 Margaret
“So that about sums it up.” Isaac finished telling Celeste about the visit to the blackmarket, and everything that culminated in a masked man appearing next to her out of nowhere as she was closing up for the night. “I was not, and still am not, planning to staff our manor with charity cases. This goes one of two ways and one of them I am positive Lenna and I both would not prefer. The first one is simple; we give them some money and send them off into the world with a few coins and some new clothes. The second is they get sent to the Arbencroft Estate to be taught how to properly take care of a manor and then they work in our home until their debt to us is paid off.”
“A debt of three thousand gold.” Celeste replied.
“Without interest.” Lenna corrected what was no doubt going through the sorceress’s mind.
“Fine. Even so, how much are you going to pay them? Where are you going to get the constant stream of money in the meantime?” Celeste wondered.
“We have enough saved up to keep them on hand for years.” Isaac stated. “Their wage should be less than a walk-in maid’s. How much do they make?”
“Ten to twelve gold a week depending on how good they are.” Celeste replied.
“Seven gold a week with rooms and meals included for the older two. The little one can make three until she is ten. Then she can make five gold per week until she is thirteen where she will be moved up to the adult wage.” Isaac explained. “That should be a fair wage and if the older two are giving five gold out of each pay back to us for what they owe, that should be six years or so. We’ll cover any uniform expenses and the like so they can keep up their regular payments.”
“What if they don’t pay you like that?” Celeste pressed. “Are you going to just take it out of their pay or are you going to let them live there forever? What if they do horrible work?”
“If they bite the hand that feeds them then they can fend for themselves.” Lenna spoke unflinchingly. “I want to help them, we have helped them, but I will not have that generosity be taken advantage of.”
“As for the pay, if they want to pay more or less per week then we can figure that out but there will be a minimum and a maximum. At the very least, one of the gold coins that the children earn will absolutely not be taken as payment. The inverse is also true to some degree. The mother is thirty, and fully human as far as I can tell, that means that she has thirty more years of work left in her. I think that at the very least two gold per pay needs to be put towards what they owe.” Isaac explained. “I do still intend to get our money back, even if it is not soon.”
Celeste finally took a deep breath and sighed it out. “Alright. I admit that you have thought it through, or at least just thought it through to a sufficient degree.” Celeste conceded. “Are you going to sit down with them and explain this in the morning?”
“No.” Isaac replied. “We need to get confirmation from Sera that she can take them until their training is done first. Our manor is not fully furnished yet. At the very least we’ll need to wait a week until the bedding arrives from Sapphirestone.”
“In the afternoon then?” Celeste requested clarification.
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“Yes.” Isaac agreed. “For now, can you just keep them here using your motherly charms and Leo’s cooking?”
Celeste gave him a flat look. “Flattery may work with many, but it does not work with me, Isaac.” She told him and then sighed. “But yes, I will keep them off the street until they have at least heard your offer.”
“Thanks.” Isaac told her with a grin. “I think moms are predisposed to be bleeding hearts and I thank you for it.”
Celeste shooed him away. “Get out of here so I can go to bed and don’t you dare make me regret this, at this point I’m not sure how I would, but you’d better not find a way.”
—
Isaac and Lenna walked into the room that Celeste had temporarily given the family after a pair of knocks on the door. Isaac had opened the door and then closed it once he and Lenna were inside. The youngest, Martha, was sitting on the bed watching them with an odd mix of interest, weariness, and curiosity. The oldest daughter and mother both rose from their chairs to stand before the duo and bowed. “Thank you for saving us from that place, I am Margaret and this is Madeline, Martha has already introduced herself.” The mother greeted them with a higher grade of decorum then Isaac had expected.
“I am the Lord of Darkness, Isaac Wexler.” Isaac introduced himself. “And this is my Lady of Hellfire, Lenna V’Nova, as I am sure you are aware.”
Margaret bowed again. “I am. Is there anything that we can assist you with? If I may be so direct, what are your plans with us?” The mother questioned.
“There is. You may. And read this.” Isaac told her. He pulled a flat sheet of paper out of a thin plate of shadows that appeared over his hand and handed it to her.
Margaret tentatively took the paper and then began reading it. On the page were all of the conditions and payments that the duo had talked with Celeste about as well as a few extra terms that Sera had recommended. One such term was that anything they broke needed to be replaced or repaired with their own money. That was the biggest deterrent that many employers could have against staff ‘accidentally’ breaking expensive things and then selling it off once a new one replaced it. It was also a way that some employers used to keep a specific staff member under indentured servitude by having items break and the staff member in question being blamed for it. The addition of that condition was also a test to see how good Margaret’s contract comprehension was.
“What will count as a broken item?” Margaret asked once she arrived at that specific part.
“Something that my retainer cannot simply put back together using magic.” Isaac replied. “Or, if you are able to use the spell, that you cannot put back together.”
“It sounds like you are telling us that if you do not realize it was broken then anything is fine.” Margaret stated.
Isaac grinned and sat down on his shadow that rose up to take the shape of a throne much like the one still resting in the Guild’s storeroom. “If you think that you can fool me, my Lady, or my retainer, then you are more than welcome to try. But remember who you would be attempting to fool.”
“I am afraid that I do not know very much about you, my Lord.” Margaret replied. She was doing a masterful job of maintaining a businesslike temperament despite the fact that nothing about Isaac made any sense to her. His magic was even more strange than any other magic she had ever seen. His temperament was somewhere between benevolent ruler, charitable stranger, and dragon from a storybook. The story where a beautiful black dragon took the hero’s family hostage so he would retrieve an ancient relic for her came to mind. Like Isaac, the dragon had talked to the hero with his family in the room. It was a simple contract with farther reaching consequences than the hero could have possibly foreseen. Margaret read over the entire contract again as she tried to find something that she was missing. She thought about her family lineage and wondered if there was something the enigmatic strangers in front of her could have been after.
“I do not have all day.” Isaac told her after he had given her a few minutes to think and reread the singular page that made up the contract. “If you do not like the contract, then I am done with you. If you do, then sign it and get it over with.”
“I, uh, would it be alright if I took some time to discuss it with my daughters, your lordship?” Margaret requested.
Isaac sighed as he rose to his feet. “If you would have asked for that in the first place then I wouldn’t have wasted the last five minutes waiting for you.” He told her with a frown. “Fine. But Margaret,”
“Yes, my Lord?” Margaret replied.
“You are not important nor powerful enough for someone like me to scheme against. Do not keep me waiting too long. If I find someone else to take the job before you sign it, then I am sure there is an abandoned house somewhere in the slums that you can use.” Isaac explained and turned to leave.
Lenna smiled warmly at Martha. “Goodbye, Martha, you, your sister and mother, as well as Isaac and I, should have dinner together later, alright.” She told the little one. It was a clear deadline for Margaret on when her answer was needed as well as an invitation for Martha to leave the small room that consisted of two small beds, two chairs, and a small table.
“Okay!” Martha replied. “Thanks for the clothes!” Her volume was a bit high for Lenna’s elvish ears but the knight did not let it show. Instead, she gave the child another warm smile and a nod before she left with her mate.