Dungeon 42

Contract Negotiations

Chapter 26

After a few moments of contemplation, I made a decision. It was better to handle the contract now while Elim could explain things to me and vice versa.

I'd meant to allow him to leave so he could refuse without feeling scared if he wanted to. I was still going to do so, but it wouldn't hurt to have the contract ready first.

"So uhm… how much are you paid normally?" I asked, realizing I knew nothing about the local currency.

"Two silver a day and meals when I'm garrisoned. Three on active duty, and one if I'm at home but still go for training musters. Earl Savex sets the standard, and he's always been generous with wages like that," Elim explained. I nodded to acknowledge him, not to agree. I had no idea if that was good or bad in the grand scheme of things.

"How much do most villagers earn in a day?" I asked, knowing I wouldn't like the answer.

"Half a silver or so, depending on what they do," Elim volunteered.

"So, your money is coins, and they go copper, silver, gold? How much copper to make a silver?" I asked.

"Oh… that would be ten, though most people just cut them up. Same with gold, ten silver makes a gold coin. Merchants weigh the bits to make sure it matches up to the value," Elim said, then pulled out a silver coin from a pouch for me to inspect. It had a cross mark on it, which I assumed was to make it easier to cut. So villagers possibly made a literal half a silver rather than five coppers.

"Are copper coins not used as much? I mean, why not just use the lesser coin instead of cutting up a silver?" I asked, baffled by the idea. Elim looked at me and opened his mouth to speak before closing it again and looking thoughtful.

"I honestly don't know," he said finally.

"Do you have other forms of currency, I mean money?" I asked. I'd come from a place with paper money, so it struck me as odd it didn't seem to be a thing.

"Nobles and particularly wealthy merchants use checks, but I don't know much about those," Elim said with a helpless shrug.

"How much would you need to make to feel like you were middle class?" I asked. I received a blank look. Shit. That probably wasn't a thing, and the term certainly wasn't going by his expression.

"How much would you need to make to cover the expenses for your family and feel comfortable for a year?" I corrected lamely.

"Ah… Sixty gold or so?" Elim said after some consideration. Doing the math that was close to what he'd make in a year if he was garrisoned the whole time with no days off. I hated math but did a bit more.

"Okay, I feel like I kind of get things now. I'll send you a contract to review shortly. Don't feel like you need to accept it. Just treat it like a draft and let me know if you see anything that's a problem or have questions about," I said finally.

Despite Elim's enthusiasm, hammering out an employment contract wasn't a quick matter. Particularly since I was woefully ignorant on a lot of important points about local customs. Not so much because I wanted to honor them, but more because I lacked a frame of reference to communicate effectively.

"So, I can do what I like on my days off?" Elim asked, both eyebrows raised.

"Yes," I replied simply. Elim looked at me funny, then touched his prompt. I wondered if he was checking tooltips because he didn't believe me. After a few minutes, he finished reading and let out a heavy sigh.

"Something wrong?" I asked, not understanding his reactions. He smiled in a cheerless way.

"I feel like I'm going to wake up on the verge of death with all of this having been a hallucination," he said, scrubbing his face as if to wake himself up. I didn't know how to feel about that.

"Uh..." I made a vague noise as my brain failed to produce useful sounds.

"Earl Savex is generous. He gives monthly days off and occasionally half days besides. Weekly leave isn't something I've even heard of," Elim explained. I nodded, figuring my terms would be pretty different from what he was used to.

"Well, they aren't guaranteed, which is why you're on salary… Uhm, a guaranteed amount of pay for the year. If needed, you'll have to travel or complete projects and won't get bonus pay for missing days off. I do pay you every day, no matter if you work or not. I've basically got you on call," I explained, pointing to the lower section about workdays. I didn't plan on working him excessively, but I had no way to predict how much or when I'd need him.

There was also the fact he'd probably end up away from home for extended periods. I felt like if you couldn't go home at night, your employer owed you something for the inconvenience beyond meals and lodgings.

"Okay, then what's a stipend?" Elim asked.

"Money to cover food, lodgings, and any travel and work-related expenses. Like if you need to buy something for me, I pay for it, not you," I explained. Elim blinked several times, then nodded. I felt like I'd just added significantly to his feeling this situation couldn't be real.

"I'd like to accept the contract now," Elim declared.

"Really? There's nothing you want added or changed?" I asked, flabbergasted he wasn't even trying to bargain with me for anything.

"No? Your terms are beyond generous, and you said you'd do what you could to help my village. What more would I ask for?" Elim returned my question with one of his own. I thought about it for a moment, then had to sigh. He didn't even know what a stipend was. What exactly did I think he was going to ask for? A 401k?

"Fair point… I'll revise it a little more, then send you the final," I decided before revoking the contract. I'd sent it expecting a much more intense debate, so now I felt like I should recheck it just in case.

"There is one issue. To work for you, I'll have to buy myself out of service to the Earl. That means going to the main garrison, which will take two weeks. Is that all right?" Elim asked.

"I don't want you to do anything that will get you in trouble, so leave his service the right way," I said, not exactly happy, but seeing it as necessary. It wouldn't do either of us any favors for him to get in trouble with the local authorities. Besides, outside of his village's problem, I didn't really have an immediate use for him.

At least not one requiring him to be somewhere specific. Buying stuff and adding it into the inventory for me to clone only required access to a market. I doubted he'd have to do any extravagant traveling to find one. Once he was out of the desert anyway.

"How much will it cost? I'll cover that," I offered.

"That shouldn't be needed. I'll just turn in my horse… if it's still here," Elim said, looking a bit grim.

"You paid for your own horse?" I asked, surprised.

"It took some saving, but I bought one to get out of the infantry. I was lucky I already knew how to ride," Elim told me, looking proud. I felt a little shiver of displeasure at that. My sensibilities were different, and the idea he hadn't been provided with all of his gear didn't sit right with me. It also occurred to me he might have been paid less before getting a mounted position.

Happy thoughts. It didn't matter because he was about to leave Earl Savex's service for mine.

"I'll be right back," I said, then left to check the view from the entrance. It was early morning, and I could see several horses grazing.

None of them was close to one of my owned plots of land. Feeling like performing an experiment, I went creeping in the early morning shadows until I was close to a pair. I pulled both of them into my inventory.

They populated the store under uncommon goods. Seeing that, I released the original pair, then checked to see if the copies were compatible with my crafting tabs. They were, but I didn't check the dismantling option.

I didn't need to butcher one of them for no reason, even if it was a system clone. I had complex feelings on the subject I didn't want to explore. Best not to poke them with a stick until I was ready.

"I don't know if any are yours specifically, but there are horses in the valley," I said when I got back to Elim's room. I was surprised to find him tossing chunks of beef jerky out of the door to the hounds. Stalin and the lady were waiting to chase them with wagging tails.

It was an odd thing to witness, but I kept that to myself for the moment. Since all parties seemed happy with the arrangement, I had no reason to interfere. I definitely needed to ask the hounds how much and how often they would eat, though. I'd been negligent on the point.

"That's good, they're probably the bandits', so I can claim them," Elim said with a grin. Nodding, I looked the contract over before making a couple of quick edits and sending it.

[Guardian not defined: Choose a Guardian]

The prompt had a little box icon. When selected, it opened my monsters tab in the store and my dungeon inventory. Looking at my options, I closed the one for the active monsters right away. Stalin and the lady hound were the only ones worth sending, and I wasn't going to do that to either of them.

Partly because I wasn't sure they'd be able to survive and because it was overkill. Elim needed someone to watch his back and help him in a fight, not burninate the countryside. I found a better fit in earth elemental creatures.

"Elim, are you a cat or a dog person?" I asked though I felt like I knew the answer.

"Who would be a cat person?" He asked with eyebrows raised. The lady hound laughed her huffy laugh while Stalin woofed appreciatively at the quick answer.