Time began to slow rather smoothly after my series of misfortune. We managed to secure a long-term supply for all of the materials needed for the apothecary. When it came to short term, we had a few ingredients that should be able to carry us through.

The day we opened for business was severely underwhelming. We were an apothecary; our greatest customers were places that needed bulk medicine with a long shelf life. The pharmacist’s guild expected this and not a single recipe we were given lasts less than a few months.

An example of this was the tacky amber substance I made. Once it had dried it was ground into a powder. That powder could be mixed with water and then applied. It needed to be stored in a special vial to achieve the long shelf life.

The special vials we needed were only supplied by the pharmacist’s guild. To get them to send us some we needed to have a sufficiently large order. Everyone including May decided it was worthwhile not doing all the paperwork and instead we got our large orders through the pharmacist’s guild.

Today we received our first large order. It was probably going to be checked, but that shouldn’t be a concern.

Me, Mark, may, and Mr Cedar were waiting in the apothecary for the guild to tell us what we needed to do.

Mark was asleep in a chair while May was bouncing off the walls and Mr Cedar was writing something. seeing as he was the only one doing something interesting, I inquired Mr Cedar as to what he was doing.

“What are you writing?”

“Oh, I am just compiling information that’s been coming in.”

“What do you mean by that.”

“I have already explained it once, I will not do It again.”

“Yeah, but when did you explain it to me?”

“I can’t remember.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“Did you know that the mass exodus of servants from the manor wasn’t your fault?”

There had been a culling of staff at the manor after the incident in which I left bloody handprints across the front of the manor. I had assumed that the servants that were fired were because of a possible intruder, but then again it didn’t make much sense why that would be so.

“No, I didn’t. Care to elaborate?”

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“Sure, the baroness has been giving funding to apothecary’s and farmers. The formation of an armed group separate from the town guard has also been confirmed. There have also been funds going out to several farms and mines to expand their production.”

“Increasing production of goods is a good idea since we get so much of that as taxes. But she shouldn’t have the funds to be able to do that. And how does this relate to the servants.”

“You weren’t paying attention, the formation of an armed group and funding for the apothecary’s is the key points.”

“So, the barony is going to be dragged into a war, not like two old men didn’t predict that and tell me about it constantly. Now, how does this relate to the servants?”

“The thing is, it doesn’t, not yet. Now will you let me finish?”

“Sure, go ahead, I wasn’t stopping you.”

“Damn.”

I wish I wasn’t wearing a mask so that he could see the eyebrow that I raised at him.

“Anyway, the barony doesn’t have the funds for this, and even less so while paying for the servants. Previously the baroness fired all the servants in the annex, right?”

“Yeah, though for a while I just thought they went to the main building.”

“Well, the baroness set up a temporary business in which she recommended the servants jobs. Both the servant and the noble that needed them had to pay. So she was cutting off an unneeded expenditure while also earning some money.”

I didn’t particularly like the idea of mother being the one making good decisions, but at least there was someone with some sense. The relief I felt that the barony wasn’t entirely going to shit in her hands probably felt worse than anything else.

“I don’t suppose she can do many more things like that?”

“I hope not.”

“Why so?”

“There won’t be any skilled hands left in the barony if she sells them all off.”

“But I thought a barony couldn’t sell it’s own people.”

“That’s why she created that company. All the residents of the barony are free citizens, we hold no serfs. This means that the people can come and go, but we can’t make them.”

“Neat.”

I stood there in silence staring at Mr Cedar for a while. I had accidentally ended the conversation and there wasn’t much reason to reignite it.

A knock on the door eventually came t save me.

May shot over to answer and Mark seemed to wake up.

When the door opened a man with a large leather pouch reached in and pulled out a scroll. Before May could even open her mouth, the stranger threw the scroll inside and walked off.

“Rude.”

May’s protest was either unheard or went upon deaf ears. The stranger continued on and left the small shop behind.

Mark got up with plenty of groaning from both him and the chair. The old man muttered as he walked over to the scroll.

“Typical fucking westerner.”

Hearing Mark’s words I jested.

“I don’t suppose hunting a rude mailman would be a mission for a mercenary, would it?”

Mr Cedar replied as Mark kicked the scroll, sending it up into the air.

“Unfortunately, not.”

Mark caught the scroll and opened it. after a few seconds he opened his mouth once more.

“That is one long list.”

Mark then tossed me the scroll. I took a look at its contents, and I exclaimed as well.

“How do they expect us to make all that?”

I tossed the scroll over to Mr Cedar who also took a look and had a few words of his own.

“Welp, I guess we better start now. I had hoped that we could take on a few jobs while we did the apothecary work, but not now.”

“I don’t suppose you know anyone that could help out so that we can be free?”

Mark and Mr Cedar gave each other a good long look. It was at this moment that I realised I had fucked up. Another old man was surely going to be added to the team.