Time, which had once crawled like a languid stream, suddenly rushed forward like a swift river. Ravina found herself at the threshold of Madam Pelmen’s office, the familiar oaken door now seeming like a portal to an uncertain destiny. The room beyond, bathed in the soft, golden glow of morning light, felt both welcoming and foreboding. The Madam was waiting for her. The report was already open and on her desk, her glasses put to the side as she looked over Ravina.
Thankfully, despite her dry tongue Ravina was able to greet her properly. “Good morning Madam Pelmen, it’s a pleasure to see you again.” Madam Pelmen's frown carved deep lines into her weathered face, a silent storm brewing in her suddenly piercing gaze. Each passing second under that intense scrutiny felt like an anchor, dragging Ravina's spirits deeper into a sea of anxiety.
Finally Madam Pelmen pulled up her glasses and after framing them on her face she looked down at the report. “You think,” She started, slowly, announcing every syllable of her words. “That both the houses Ravenquil, and Ravenwatch have conspired together to steal away the emergency funds of house Ravenshield?” she looked up from the last word, moving only her eyes to stare into Ravina’s soul.
The young girl tried to swallow, but there was nothing in her mouth. “It’s just that.” she coughed to clear her throat. “Well, according to the reports, they are losing about a half percent of iron every month—at least according to our own records. That is the Ravenshield records.” she couldn't believe she was trembling, however she knew she couldn't fidget. The distraction made her stumble over some of her own words. “As that is the case I believe the call for aid is, is something designed–or some plan to get money for… something.” She wanted to cry, but did not have the nerve.
Slowly, Madam Pelmen took off her glasses. Very deliberately she collapsed the frame taking the time to delicately put them on the table. She took an agonizingly slow breath in as she stared at the child before her. Then released it all in a quick breath. “There is a flaw in your logic.” She said, sliding the paper away from her with a single finger.
As Madam Pelmen's words hung in the air, a chill seemed to sweep through the room, seeping into Ravina's bones. Her face blanched, losing its youthful vibrancy, as if the very walls were leeching the warmth and color from her being. “Is-is that so.” she managed to say.
“I do say. Do you know how much it would cost for the repairs to be completed?” Madam Pelmen asked.
“Er… n…no” That was it. The one thing she missed. There was always something but she was so sure of herself. She never looked into mine repairs, or any kind of logistics for the mines. Instead she was so sure she found the secret answer.
“400 gold coins to handle the clean up, repair and investigation. Probably less, but it's good to send extra.” That was… a lot. For a moment Ravina found hope once more. 400 gold coins was no small amount after all. That was about 12,000 silver.
Madam Pelmen paused, her voice taking on a teacher's tone. "Consider this: the mines collect a substantial amount each month, well over ten times the repair costs. Now, if they were to halt operations for repairs, that's two months of lost profits. Imagine, losing thousands just to save a few hundred. It doesn't add up, does it?"
A single word escaped Ravina's lips, a mere whisper. "Oh…" It wasn't just a realization, it was the crushing weight of failure. Her heart sank, and she felt a coldness creeping into the room, like a shadow of death washing down into it from the ceiling and bringing its cold hand closer to the young girl's vulnerable neck.
Leaning back in her tall chair, Madam Pelmen’s brown eyes scanned the young girl. “Do you know how many employees the Goldwel mine has?” she finally broke the silence and the tension.
“Around 300 or so.” Ravina replied almost automatically. Her own eyes found the floor, her head had fallen a little as well.
“Exactly 300. And they pay those employees 14 silver per month.”
“What!?” Ravina’s sheak startled the old woman. “14… 14 per… per month… over 10 years…” the girl sat down, her eyes unfocused.
“Are you alright?” Madam Pelmen asked, her eyes filled with the rare bit of concern.
“Fine… just… it's a lot of money.” She tried to laugh it off but she was still a little pale. A month of work would guarantee there… no, that's not hers. She shouldn't worry about them anymore.
“Quite.” Madam Pelmen allowed the conversation to move on, an expert at knowing how difficult some subjects are to brooch. “Well, 300 employees at that price would cost them about 140 gold per month for a grand total of 1680 per year.”
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“Right…” the math sounded, well sound.
“My dear, do you know anything about the laws pertaining to closing a mine?”
“Closing? No–uh I do know that if they have to fire employees then they need to pay about a year of their salary or until they get a new job.”
“Correct… they would also need to check and seal the mine. An inspection would be made and it would cost about 200 gold to do it properly, expensive because it's in the mountains.” Madam Pelmen held her tongue at that moment.
After a moment it clicked for the young girl. Ravina blinked. “So… we would send them 400 not to fix the mine but to close it.”
“Almost.” Madam Pelmen’s words caused Ravina’s heart to beat warmly. “The more important issue is the miners. They make a payment based off of the profit margins of the ore they collect. If there is an issue with the mine it would require an inspection. Depending on what kind of inspection and what the company wants to achieve with it, The mine could close down completely. Then the workers would make nothing while technically they would still be under hire. If they did it correctly then there would be a two month gap, or more saving them 280 gold coins. However, they could delay it for a year, and have to pay the workers nothing.”
With eyes widened in surprise Ravina quickly ran the math. “They would save about a thous- no over 2000 coins. They would be saving on the closing costs as well.” The plan was far more devious than Ravina could have ever thought. A town would slowly die, holding on for a year with the hope of the mine reopening. The miners would lose their job and the security for being fired.
“Precisely.” she tapped her fingers on the paper. “Your solution to have the larger mine buyout the smaller mine and honor the legacy of it, closing out the dried up veins is good in theory. In fact it would work normally. But all it would accomplish is having Ravenquil cover the cost of closing. Something they would much prefer over paying their employees. Worse yet the families can use this to blame Ravenshield. Turning the anger at their scheme to us by saying we forced the mine delays and the closure.”
The branch families would be seen as the victim. Even if they were called out for it, only the noble families would know. A small apology would do nothing to deter the anger of the citizenry.
“Right.” Ravina pursed her lips, thinking. “What… can we do then? We can't pay them, they would only succeed in their lies.” She felt sick. She never really experienced such things. Conspiracies like this were only for the pages of a novel, stupid things that were usually caused by a mustache twirling villain. To have it brought to light in reality…
“Your right. Well…” The Madam scrutinized Ravina once more. Narrowing her eyes at the young girl. “you don't seem to know very much do you?”
“What, oh uh…” Thrown off by her sudden question Ravina stumbled with her answer. “No.” she blinked hard at her unimpressive answer.
“Yet you knew about the employee law.”
“Yes I found out about it when investigating the incident. I talked to a local mining expert, Kalmin was his name. Quite an indecisive man.” her remark was made out of annoyance. The man had agreed the mine was losing ore than suggesting something else before agreeing it was losing ore again.
“I see…” The good Madam fell into thought. Her stare made Ravina shift uncomfortably. There was something different about it. Thankfully it lasted only a minute before she spoke up again. “How old are you?”
“Me? Oh um… tw…twelve?” it was a guess, more than a proper answer. She was sure she heard someone say the count's daughter was around twelve and that she was at that same age.
“Are you asking?” a single eyebrow rose of the madams face, this impressive feat sent a small bout of fear though the girl.
“No… I'm twelve…I'm sure of it.” she wasn't.
“I see.” Silence hung in the air for another moment. The repetition gnawing on the young girl's sanity. Finally Madam Pelmen broke eye contact with the young girl. She instead looked down at the report she had written. “Did anyone help you with this?”
Feeling a weight off her shoulders Ravina relaxed, “Oh, yes Mr. Mathus helped me out, he gave me the household documents and set up the meetings between Mr. Kelmin and Mr. Russel.”
“Mr. Russel?” An eyebrow raised as she returned her gaze to Ravina. Something about it was less… dangerous than before. “The lawyer?”
“Yes, that's him.”
“Interesting.”
“What is?”
“No,” Madam Pelmen shook her head, pushing herself off the desk and leaning back into the chair. “Never mind that. I will tell you what we will do. We are going to close the mines for an investigation. We’re going to send out our own investigation.”
“But… won't that just play into their hands?” Ravina asked, knitting her eyebrows.
“No,” Madam Pelmen shook her head at the thought. “because we're going to place a continuous pay order on both parties. During the investigation they will have to pay their employees based on the averages of the previous year. Our investigators will look into both the accident and the possible collusion between the two. If it's found out that this is a ploy to save a little bit of money they will be forced to pay their employees twice. Of course, it won’t end there.”
“I see.” Ravina nodded. She was glad that at the very least. The miners would still be paid. She was still worried about the town. It relied on the mine and its population was nothing small. Perhaps they could transfer to an… agricultural hub? Right? That would work. People always needed more food…
“However,” Madam Pelmen’s voice cut into her thoughts. Ravina found the dangerous look in her eye had returned, a chill creeping down her spine. “If this isn't a ploy and they really did have an accident then we will have to pay for the investigation, the repair and the employee's paycheck. So I'll ask you, are you sure this is a ploy.”
“Im… not sure, but it…might be worth it even if it's just me overthinking it.”
“A poor choice of words. Very well, I'll set it up.”
“I see, you…you will keep me informed, won't you?”
“My dear, this is your project. Now please hurry along, I still have work to do.”