I once again found myself in the conference room of the City Lord Mansion. Only the individuals in it were far different from the group that was there earlier today. Of course, Richard, Brock, Hubert, and Vanessa were all present, but so were Frian and Lirian who flanked me on the left and right respectively.
I was seated at the head of the table, and I told them they could sit down, but they politely refused so I didn’t bother any further. It didn’t help that Vanessa was giving me a weird look though. This is not child abuse; they could murder all of you! Plus, I asked them.
Anyway, the four people that have silently following me around are here too, and I know exactly what to do with that now.
“Alright, I have been thinking long and hard about how to get through the first couple days of the start of this City successfully, and after a visit to the shop where I learned a couple of things. I think I have a rough idea of what it is I want to do. This is going to be a somewhat long explanation so wait till the end for any questions.
“First of all. We don’t have any ‘workers’ in the City. So that needs to change immediately, there need to be ways for the people of this City to earn money, and there also need to be ways for the people of the City to spend money. So, first things first we need to offer a few Government positions that will come with pay. You all are included in this. We can figure out your exact titles later, but for now you’re all just Government Officials. By the end of this we will discuss your pay.
“Back to the Government positions. So, the City needs its own City Guard. Jrino brought over 50 Body Tempering cultivators from his Clan to help handle things, and as you can see, they have been doing so. Though at the end of the day, they are Jrino’s people. We need our own Guard. The City Guard will be responsible for protecting the City from outside threats, and genuinely being a police force for the City, so they need to be fairly strong and good at fighting.
“Next, the City needs to be kept clean. I have no idea what the sanitation systems are like just yet since I haven’t explored everything, but there needs to be an official department responsible for keeping the City clean.
“Next, I don’t know if you guys have read many Lit RPG stories or watched any type of Isekai anime but every single one of them had an Adventurer’s Guild of some kind. If you don’t know what it is, basically it is place where freelance fighters can earn a living by going out and completing missions for the Guild in the wild.
“I’m not just doing this because it sounds cool. I’m not sure if you all remember, but there were monsters in the Tutorial, and if any of you read the Monster Encyclopedia, then you know there are more than just Goblins to be wary of. And of course, none of us truly know what to expect out there. If there’s something like a Goblin horde forming in a random forest, then it would be nice to be able to officially send people to go investigate or get rid of the problem altogether.
“That’s where the Adventures Guild will come in, and it will also be where anyone can come in and sell monster materials, or anything else they find. This will be Government controlled, but we won’t stop anyone from opening up their own shops and doing the same thing, but we will be the only Adventures Guild in the City. Now I touched on it a bit just now, but shops. There are two entire streets available for shops; some of the shops are big, some of them are small. People will be allowed to rent them, and do whatever, as long as they are providing a service. They would also need to pay a tax to the City on their earnings.
“This goes for every business. And the Tax will be small, we’re not here to rob people of all their wealth, but the City needs to run so we need a tax. Which means the Copper Coin entrance fee will remain, now I would like to be able to waive the fee for Adventurers, or maybe even people who pay rent, but then we would need a really good way to document everyone who lives here accurately, and unfortunately, we don’t have computers, so there will be a lot of writing. That’s where you four come in. The punishment for causing a problem in the line is that you’re now scribes for the Government. You will still get paid, but you have no choice in this, and I expect you all to do a good job.
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“Ah actually you do have a choice. You can leave. Does anyone want to leave?”
I stared at them for a few moments and all I got were strong shakes of the head.
“Good, glad to have you. Now, money. The shop system in the City is really interesting and we can go over it in depth another time, all you need to know for now is that we can essentially have things delivered from other Cities. This might be something only available in Greja’s shop, which was the shopkeeper from the Tutorial, but it’s all we need for now. A lot of things can be purchased, Grant literally bought a boat. Basically, what I’m trying to say is I have a much better understand of the value of our Coins now. Food and simple basic necessities should always only cost Copper Coins depending on the item. From there Bronze Coins are if you want to buy something in bulk, or it’s a really nice item. Silver is for truly valuable things. A plate of food should never cost a silver coin unless it was made with Qi Refinement ingredients. Gold Coins are for the truly wealthy, and most regular people would have to save up for a very long time to be able to see one.
“Remember, a Gold Coin is a million Copper Coins.
“So, let’s talk pay, even the lowest of low paying jobs should still be able to earn someone a few hundred Copper Coins a month. People working in more skilled positions should be able to earn around 15-30 Bronze Coins a month. I think the City Guard should fall in this range for example. Maybe even more for a position like the Captain of the City Guard.
“You Richard, Brock, Hubert and Vanessa. You all will be responsible for running the City and will be paid roughly 5 Silver Coins a month. That’s 50,000 Copper Coins a month. This is how valuable your position is. Now the scribes, you work for the four I just mentioned and will be mainly following directions from them. Because this is still a punishment your pay will be a bit lower. 6 Bronze Coins, or 600 Copper Coins.
“So here is my next task for you guys. Draft up contracts listing your role and your pay and make two copies of each. I’ll keep one and you all will keep the others or store them in the Government building next door. I don’t know. Next, based on everything I just told you, figure out what the rent should be for the all the homes in the residential districts that we’re filling up right now. Now I had the scribes write down a lot of information I learned in Greja’s shop, which is the only place we can readily get food and supplies at the moment.
“Review it, plan accordingly and then come find me in the office once you guys got a plan.”
Right after I said all of that, I took out the 20 Silver Coins from the ring, and along with 24 Bronze Coins.
“As promised, here is your pay.”
I placed it on the table and before they could respond, I took out another 20 Gold Coins. This is a lot of money, but this is essentially my first real test for my new Government Officials. Can I actually trust them? We will find out.
“20 Gold Coins, or twenty million Copper Coins. This is the Cities money. I will trust you all with it. Do not waste or squander it. Use it to run the City, which means paying people according to how I just explained. All of the Copper Coins we are collecting at the Gate will be a part of this fund as well. I know I said I’ll take questions, but I changed my mind, think about everything I said for a bit then let me know.
“As I said earlier, I’ll be in my office which is on the second floor. You guys can stay here, but I recommend going to the Government building next door. That’s where all your offices are or will be, I think.”
After saying that I got up to walk away. I’d say that was very successful if I do say so myself. Now they can do all of the work after I came up with all of the ideas. Yep, delegation is a wonderful thing.
“Raizen. I think you should be a part of the discussion the entire time. You’re the City ‘Lord’ of Black Cove City, you should always be aware of what’s happening in your own City.”
Dammit.
So close.