Chapter 438: Laura’s New Assistant
Today was yet another day Laura never imagined she would see come to pass.
Two years ago, she was just a regular orphan from a small town working as a farmhand, earning 28 Coppers a day, just barely able to feed, cloth, and house herself.
One year ago, she had been hired by a strange little boy to nail holes into trees, cook a variety of ’ingredients’, and mix others together. It was a job she had never heard of before, but it paid 50 Coppers a day, so she had immediately said yes.
Today, Laura was a project manager in the yet to be named company her little boss, Lucas, had founded. She was earning 3 Silvers a day, which was more than a 10-fold increase from just 2 years ago, and instead of being a labourer, she was now a supervisor.
It was currently mid-March of the year 877, and Laura’s new task was overseeing the clearing of a plot of land roughly 10 kilometres away from Falcon’s Bend to set up a permanent sugar-harvesting operation.
Suffice it to say, a lot had changed in Laura’s life these past few years.
Laura had never done anything remotely like this before, so she was leaning heavily on the others around her for advice and guidance, especially Blaine, a young man her immediate boss, Victoria, had hired to serve as her assistant on this project.
Blaine had recently turned 26, so he was slightly older than Laura who was just 21, and was similarly an orphan, though he had grown up in Falcon’s Bend, rather than Redwood Town.
The young man had held many jobs over the course of his short life, but most of his experience was in the construction field while he was also somewhat familiar with logging and woodwork. Blaine had a relaxed attitude, but was also a hard worker, making him the ideal candidate to help Laura with her current situation.
Having lost his parents at a young age, and with 2 younger brothers to take care of, Blaine had learned young to not stir up trouble, especially when he was on the job, which was why he was confused when his former boss, Lady Molly Foster, had summed him to her office and told him he would no longer be working at the lumbermill.
The young man had been fired before for a number of reasons, some legitimate, some not, so he didn’t immediately panic; however, Blaine was genuinely feeling distressed as he had quite liked that job.
The work was hard, but the pay was good, the seniors were friendly, and so long as he followed orders properly, there was little danger.
A newly installed set of giant rotating sawblades, powered by massive waterwheels, had also made the work of cutting big logs into planks much easier and less labour intensive, so Blaine was naturally reluctant to leave.
Still, Blaine understood his place. He wasn’t the lowest level of grunt in the sawmill, but he also wasn’t anyone important. In other words, he was replaceable.
Doing his best to mask his depression, Blaine accepted his firing, thanked his old boss, and turned to pack up his things and leave.
Before Blaine could go, however, Lady Foster stopped him with a burst of laughter, saying he had misunderstood.
While it was true he wouldn’t be working at the lumbermill anymore, it was only because she was recommending him and the team he led to an associate of hers, one who was in need of someone with his skillset.
Blaine had always had a bit of a hasty personality, and after his parents’ deaths, he had taken to thinking negatively and was prone to assuming the worst. This was just another example, one that caused him to blush, bow his head, and apologize for jumping to conclusions.
Molly waved him off, gave him an address, and told him to not be late for his next job, as it was a very important one.
The next day, Blaine met with Victoria Moore for a long interview, in which Lucas’ Head Manager grilled the young man on numerous subjects for over an hour before finally giving her approval and offering him a contract to sign.
Blaine had some basic reading, writing, and calculation skills he had picked up over the years, but the contract that was put in front of him was so long and filled with clauses that he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
There was one thing that stood out, however: the salary was 80 Coppers a day.
That was more than twice as much as he had been making at the lumbermill, so Blaine didn’t hesitate to leave his mark, figuring that whatever else was in the contract didn’t matter as long as he got paid.
Victoria didn’t miss this, but she also didn’t care. The contract was just a standard one that she had drawn up together with Lucas, and there really wasn’t anything nefarious or disadvantageous in it. If anything, the conditions and protections included were so favourable to employees that Victoria felt anyone would be a fool not to sign it.
The only exception was the part in the contract regarding confidentiality and breach of trust, which carried extremely heavy penalties, but again, Victoria didn’t have a problem with this.
Some low-level worker wanted to betray Lucas?
Hah, good luck!
Even if they managed to pull that off somehow and survive, given the boy and his Master’s influence, said worker wouldn’t be able to live in the Rockwell Kingdom anymore.
Victoria’s schedule was still extraordinarily busy, so as soon as Blaine had signed the contract, she introduced him to his new boss then left to continue with her own work.
Blaine had been surprised by how young Laura was when he first met her, but given how well dressed she was, and how confidently she carried herself, he didn’t think too much about it, figuring she must be the daughter of some rich family or possibly even a noble, so there were entirely different rules for her than some lowly peasant like him.
Laura had no idea such thoughts were going through Blaine’s head as she introduced herself to him, but if she did know what he was thinking, she would definitely be very surprised.
Just like the tall, well-built, somewhat haggard looking young man with dark brown hair before her, Laura came from a commoner, orphan background. If anything, she was from an even lower social stratum than Blaine was considering she had been orphaned much younger and in a much more rural place.
However, Blaine’s misunderstanding wasn’t entirely his own fault as compared to even a year ago, Laura looked and acted very differently, a fact that she probably didn’t even realize.