After the two siblings got cleaned up, Veronica sent them off to town on their first errand. She was going to ask Seraphina to do it, but figured she may as well take this opportunity to get everyone used to the way things would be from here on out. The townsfolk would get used to them running errands for her and the siblings could slowly increase their confidence in doing so.
Of course, it had also led to Seraphina making a remark about her being racist...
"You know, that's just a stereotype, right? Not all dwarves like alcohol."
She had given her two new helpers some alcohol and a rough blueprint for a new bar system she wanted the local blacksmith to look into for her. She wasn't sure it was possible, but figured it would be better to offer payment upfront. Since dwarves were known for liking alcohol and she wanted to take the opportunity to market the sort of fare people could expect at her up-and-coming tavern, it seemed like a decent choice.
"I also sent them off with two magic crystals. It's supposed to help them cover the grocery list I gave them, but it might be enough to cover a downpayment for the blacksmith as well. Admittedly, I don't really know what their equivalent exchange rate is outside of the dungeon, but that'd be true of anything I could have sent them with."
Seraphina laughed, seeming highly amused before trying to compose herself long enough to reply
"That's way too much for a few ingredients. Also, you weren't even told they could read. They can, but many of the orphaned children from the streets don't even bother with going to school long enough to learn. Seems the sister was smart enough to take on side jobs to cover their basic living costs at night and insisted both she and her brother go to school most days. She's capable enough at cleaning, sewing, and a number of other tasks, which is part of the reason I chose her. Anyways, let me know how everything pans out for you."
She waved at Veronica before meandering off to do her own thing, still far too amused by her own clumsy attempts to problem solve. The elven woman sure knew how to get on her nerves sometimes. The kids took most of the day to return, but it turned out they were quite honest. Elora tried to return her change to her while her brother explained
"The blacksmith says it's unlikely he'll be able to make what you wanted. He liked the alcohol, though, so he helped us purchase a set of barrel shelves, a keg for storing alcohol in, and a wooden keg spout. He even explained how everything worked in case we might need to convey it to you."
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Well, that wasn't quite what she had been expecting, but it still solved the problem well enough. Veronica supposed it made sense that a pressurized system to dispense alcohol not being a thing in a world with a very medieval level of technology made sense. She had been hoping something might be possible with the use of magic crystals or something, but who was she to question the local expert? Her dungeon wasn't going to fill in the gaps her knowledge didn't cover, so she'd have to make do regardless.
"Alright, thanks, you two did good work. You can keep the change and consider it a bonus for your good work. I'm a bit busy this week with setting up the tavern, so you can use that to buy yourselves anything you need in the meantime. You'll still get paid a crystal each at the end of the week too, just as our contract states, so don't think this is me trying to discount your work either."
Seraphina had sorted their employment contract rather quickly once the siblings finished with their baths. There were a lot of clauses related to both parties being able to terminate the contract at will should it no longer meet their needs for whatever reason. Veronica was expected not to ask the siblings to go up to any other floors, force them to stay in the dungeon, or do anything that would endanger them on purpose. Her [Monsters] were allowed to defend themselves, but were not supposed to attack them otherwise. They weren't allowed to do anything to harm her or the dungeon core. Basic safety protocols that Veronica could barely be bothered to pay attention to.
None of it was an official system contract, it was just a written agreement, making it far easier to terminate and less high stakes than it would otherwise be. Seraphina had insisted on that since employment contracts were usually done this way and could easily be tweaked to take the dungeon into account. She really hates system contracts, not that Veronica was going to complain either way. She'd hold up her end of the bargain with providing clothes on occasion, food on a regular basis, and a crystal for their official pay. They'd clean, carry heavy things for her, and other official inn work. It was all straightforward enough and everyone seemed happy with it, so she wasn't going to think about the matter any more than that.
Tallying up her recent dungeon points, she had received 53 DP from repeats, 2,660 DP from room rentals, and 415 DP from new tributes, all of which were from the siblings' errands today. Seraphina wasn't wrong about her temper affecting the dungeon traffic as that was far less than she should really be making in just over a week's time. While she was happy to be at 13,351 dungeon points total, there was no denying the fact that things needed to change.
Working on the tavern was a bigger project than anything else she had done since arriving in this world, so it was a good distraction. Everything she had Elora and Eldrin pick up included: barrel shelving, kegs, wooden keg tap, scallions, carrots, radishes, celery, tomatoes, garlic, cheese, boar meat, paprika, cumin, and chili powder. Most of those were food items, which she planned to use for the light fare portion of her menu. She was still ironing out the details for the hearty fare and desserts portion of the menu as the limited [Base Resources] she had was making things difficult. She wasn't even sure the siblings would be able to find everything she needed today, so it wasn't like she could just write up a wish list with anything she wanted. Who knew what was available in the market outside her dungeon versus what could only be found in other kingdoms? Even worse, some things from her old world might not even exist in this one.