Chapter 7: Town Management

I filtered by sanguine temperament again and then selected an elf leatherworker with a family of 9! He was a master skinner and master leather worker. I had trouble with the quarryman, as there were only two masters with the sanguine personality. One was a shade, and the other was a demonkin. I didn’t want to select either due to their race.

I looked for another skill the village could use. Enchanting? Animal Husbandry? Earth Magic? Yes, earth magic. I sorted it again. There was one master earth mage, and he was also a master stone mage and master metal mage! Perfect! His race was elementalkin: earth. It made sense, I guess. He probably got casting bonuses for his race. I bid on him.

I hoped this mage would teach me some magic to help me build when he arrived. The timer zeroed, and my list was reduced to just the four I had selected. Apparently, no one had outbid me. They flashed, and a timer appeared next to each one. The giant was five days, the elementalkin seven days, the elf 11 days, and the catman 19 days! Wow, I needed to get one of those translocation stones, but having to wait for these NPCs was going to be a pain. And there was a chance they would not make the journey here successfully.

It was an hour before the list refreshed, and I started my search again as the timer started a new countdown from 28 days. There were two grandmasters this time. One was a gnome for cooking, and the second was for ancient languages, and it was a dragonkin. A grand master was at least tier 20, which meant at least level 67 in the skill. The gnome was also a master butcher and master herbalist. Her temperament was phlegmatic, which was relaxed and peaceful. I bid on the gnome.

I decided to find another warrior. I sorted by ranged skills again and giantkin. There were two masters of the bow. One had a choric personality, which was short-tempered and irritable. Nope. The other was melancholic, which was analytical and quiet. It was not what I was hoping for, but he had master rank in ranged, master rank in ranged: bows, and expert rank in polearms: spears as his three listed skills. He was a giantkin: forest with no family. I hoped he would get along with my other giantkin. I bid on him. I was imagining all my city guards being imposing 8-foot giants.

I started thinking about this bidding process. Once this game went live, thousands of players would be bidding on these NPCs, driving the prices up. Hell, most of the players in this beta test would have to start from scratch. I was told just the hard-wired few like myself would get to retain their gains. I needed to make the most of this opportunity. I had two more bids. I opened my character sheet and looked at what skills I wanted to acquire.

If I could get an NPC here with those skills and they trained up my skill I could save a lot of money. Air magic, spirit magic, and riding. Spirit magic had quite a few masters. Air magic had many as well. I started scanning for one that would catch my eye. A human air mage, he had master air magic, master air: lightning, and master spirit: life. No family and sanguine temperament. Well, two birds, one stone. I bid on him.

I was already down to my last bid. I scanned the NPCs for a while and found what I needed. Woodcraft: Ship Building. The NPC had the lumberjack skill as well. I didn’t know there was another woodcraft skill. He was just an expert, but if we could build boats, we could send our trade goods out without waiting for a merchant to visit us. I bid on him.

Done. I walked out of the tower and back to the center of town. Jaesmin had made progress clearing the earth. She smiled as I approached, and I praised her work ethic. Once again, she didn’t say much, so I returned home. I pulled out my plans for the inn. This was my next project. My skills were getting close to a high enough level to build it. It would be the perfect place for the gnome to cook as well. My day tomorrow would be fixing up two houses for the earth mage and the elf leather worker. Instead of carving tonight, I went to sleep content.

The next morning, there was a commotion in the square. I rushed over and noticed a trader had arrived. It was the elf that was here a few weeks back. He must have a trade route back and forth to the city to the south, so we were on the northern edge of his run. It also meant his goods would be depleted when he got to us. He had brought paper this time! I traded a few Simba carvings for the paper. Looking through what he had, I found he had also brought an axe.

Rare Steel Two-Handed Axe, Weight 6.8 lbs, Durability 50/50, Damage 45-60, Requirements: Str 25

Nice weapon. He wanted two gold for it. Way too much. My villagers said it was worth half that much as we went into our negotiations. I offered him one gold, and he did his trader thing, ‘oh, how can I feed my family if I take such a pittance.’ Eventually, I handed over one gold, thirty silver, and a dozen Simba carvings. I probably should have waited for my blacksmith to arrive to see if he could make me something comparable.

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The trader had eaten up half my day. I picked out two houses near the center of town and got to work. I had only managed to strip both houses before the night arrived. I would need to go to other abandoned houses to get lumber. On my way home, a global notification came up.

Game Mechanics Adjustment: All future NPC auctions will have the following minimum bids based on their primary listed skill level, None: 1 copper, Novice: 1 silver, Expert: 1 gold, Master: 1 platinum, Grand Master: 100 platinum

I stopped and went to the NPC screen, feeling worried. Cool, they didn’t clear the auction board. There were seven other bids already in as well. I also noticed that the grandmaster cook had 100 platinum next to her name; the new minimum bid was to outbid me. I felt my cook was safe, and anyone who wanted to outbid me would have to bid 100 platinum! It meant I would be in trouble the next cycle unless I started making some coin.

I spent the day walking through the village. I spent a good amount of time with our new farmers. Both families were large, with seven and eight family members. The new blood was great for our village. They thanked me profusely for the houses and promised to work hard. I allotted both families land and a house, but they would have to fix it themselves. They couldn’t believe my generosity and their good fortune in coming to Malcum.

That evening, I pulled out my paper and got to work on the draft. The first building I worked on was a brewery. I figured I needed beer if I was building an inn, right? The next building was a brick manufacturing building. I was not sure we would have the firewood to run it yet, but we would need it eventually. Then I started on a tannery. The tannery would be the next building I was planning to build. I hadn’t finished any of the plans but noticed it was mid-day. I had worked through the night and into the afternoon. Just like in my college days, I could go for hours drafting.

My drafting skill had also increased by 3 points! I walked out into my village, and it was more active than it had been in the past. There were more kids playing, more goods being bartered, more laughter. It made me feel good. I walked over to see Jaesmin. She was hauling up sand and small rocks from the river. She had a big smile on her face when I approached. Once again, I had to do the majority of the talking.

She was working on the first 100-yard stretch of the road. It was dug and sanded, and now she was dumping the small stones. Next was the mortar and paving stones. I helped her lay out the next markers for the road to make sure they would be straight to the guard tower. I then went to the guard tower myself.

Two militia sat in chairs at the top. I went up to join them. As I was climbing the stairs, a notification from my town management flashed. I paused to read it.

Monthly upkeep and wages due today

I opened the screen and was floored. Building maintenance was nine silver and fifty copper! Simba appeared behind me on the stairs, following me. “Don’t worry. You can do the work yourself on the buildings. You will need materials to do the work, but you are out of lumber, so I suggest you start harvesting some trees or trade with another settlement.”

Simba was right. I could select each item and see what work needed to be completed on the guard tower, mill, roads, store, and docks. This simple upkeep would take me three days to complete. I would have to tear down another abandoned house for materials. I checked the map of the village. The river was now green, and the forest shoreline had a line strip of yellow shade. The monsters and beasts were just too strong to risk harvesting the trees.

I also owed wages for the militia and one laborer. I hadn’t realized I had to pay them. Well, it was only 28 copper each…which totaled…420 copper. I continued my climb to the tower. The watchers greeted me, and we talked for a bit. I told them they could pick up their wages at the general store tonight. I would have Elice distribute the wages.

I walked to the general store and met with Elice. I gave her four silver and 20 copper and the list of names from my interface with their pay. I then found all the militia and let them know where they could get their wages for the coming month. Then I went to Jaesmin, gave her last month’s wages, and told her she could get next month’s wages from the general store.

It turned out this was a smart move as most of the militia just used their money at the general store, so they got goods from Elice instead. I can also see why Gwen had handed me the village. She only had enough coin for a few more months. The tax screen showed that I would have 143 copper coming in from property and individual tax. So, my expenses far outweighed my income. Every building I upgraded also increased maintenance costs.

I spent the next three days doing the maintenance work on the buildings. During this time, the giantkin, Galana, arrived. She was just over eight feet tall and always smiling. She looked like a red-haired Amazon warrior with a massive bow and sword on her back.

After the initial panic of seeing the warrior walking up the road, the village welcomed her. She loved her ‘little’ house, and we had to negotiate wages. She was in my kitchen the first night, and while we ate, she started the negotiations by asking for four silver a day!

Simba informed me that a fair wage for someone of her skill level was 20 silver a day. I countered with one silver a day, the deed to the house we had given her, and the title of Captain of the Guard. She eventually said she would work for a year at that wage but then wanted it doubled to two silver and doubled again after another year to her original request of four. I thought that was very reasonable, and we shook off it. I paid her 26 silver for the coming month. Soon, my Guard Captain would be wealthier than me!

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