Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick’s first night in his stone house was a lot easier after Al installed proper bathroom fixtures. Having a working toilet, even if it was just a raised hole in the ground with water running across the bottom, was a good thing. No sink or shower, though. Only [Cleanse]. That was probably the hardest thing to adjust to, when it came to living in Spur.

In other, non desert cities, there might be cisterns in every building, or fresh water pumped in from reservoirs; Spur only had extra running water 3 months out of the year. Al would have to go around town and shut off three out of every four water sources in 45 days, when the underground water table usually dropped.

But that was a problem for the future. The people in the Courthouse were already thinking of extra ways to capture Erick’s rain. Reservoirs were already being built; Al had worked on a few of them, in fact.

The next morning everyone went their separate ways. Jane to her guild to do some adventurey stuff and buy kitchen things. Al back to work. Erick went to the Mage guild for some odd jobs and to meet more of the locals. Watching Jane whip out that big [Mend] spell lit a fire in him; his own [Mend] was still almost a thousand casts from level 10.

Erick's jobs took him to the Atriz Household, where the pinkscale nanny Redalia was all too happy to receive him. She was more reserved than normal, and her five charges were the same; they were screaming, playing, until Erick showed up, then they were silent, hiding around corners and peeking out when Erick wasn’t looking. Erick [Cleanse]d their house, and [Mend]ed several broken toys.

Eventually, Redalia confessed, “I cannot believe that you are still doing these jobs, Archmage.”

Erick smiled. “How else would I get to know my neighbors?”

“Still… Thank you for your assistance.” Redalia glanced behind her. Her kids were quietly staring at Erick from around a door. Redalia whispered behind a raised hand, “I don’t have to use The Cage when you’re here. It’s a nice change.”

His jobs took him to new neighbors. To people he had seen on the streets but never spoken to.

His jobs took him to people he knew, but did not know where they lived. Like Anhelia’s house, which was in a mixed district of dragonkin and incani. She welcomed him with a smile and a tray of purple plum cookies, and the task of [Mend]ing a sitting room with glass antique cases that a client had destroyed in anger. She tipped him an extra gold.

Everyone wanted to talk, to chat, to shoot the shit. It was nice. Erick felt like he was really a part of the town. But everyone wanted to know why he was still doing these jobs.

“There’s a lot of jobs on those boards! Someone has to do them.”

“Well that’s alright, I suppose. Here: I just finished making these cakes/pies/cookies, have some.”

Erick didn’t need to eat lunch after his morning of indulgence. Instead, he went straight to the woodworkers in town to buy some furniture. Sleeping on beds Jane made from [Conjure Item] was alright, for a short while, but it was not a long term solution. He needed more kitchen stuff, too, but Jane was going after all that, except for the stove. Al had gifted Erick the stove they had used in their apartment.

Erick wandered down to the working side of the city, near the east gate. Over here the buildings were much larger; the space necessary for larger industries like metal working and furniture making. Erick soon found what he was looking for: A warehouse kind of store with wooden furniture displayed on the outside and half of its land dedicated to [Grow]ing specific strains of trees.

In the middle of the woodworkers store, Erick felt a pang of happiness. He did not realize how happy he would be buying new furniture. There were beds and chairs and tables and everything else to get! And the process they used to make the furniture was also quite captivating. Erick watched workers [Grow] trees and then chop them down, to slice them into planks with metal tools and bring the whole thing together with [Woodshape], which was a tier 2 spell combining [Watershape] and [Grow].

A greenscale man walked over to Erick. “How can I help you, Archmage Flatt?”

“I have no idea! This is all quite fascinating to watch!” Erick paused. He said, “No. Wait. Yes. I came here for furniture. How does that work? I see you have wares for sale, but I’m looking to outfit a whole house.”

“New place? Never been furnished?”

Erick smirked. “The rumor mill is well informed.”

“It’s not that large of a town.” Greenscale smiled, then said, “Either you can pick out what you want and the guys will deliver it to you, or we can come and check the place out and give you an estimate for the whole property. We do everything, from cabinets to beds to sofas to bookcases; any wooden furniture you could possibly want.”

“How much for two— No. Three bedrooms. Three beds like that one.” Erick pointed at a king sized bed, well made, thick and sturdy, like the orcol-furniture at Al’s place. “And some dressers like that one. Probably just six pieces of furniture right now.”

“35 G per bedroom set, which includes a bed like that, one of those dressers, some tables of assorted sizes that can either remain tables or become simple writing desks, and your choice of bookshelves or shelves. Mattresses and other cloth products are not included. Would you be interested in a dining room set, too?”

Seemed expensive, but reasonable. Better than clothing prices on Market Street. He was buying nice furniture, after all. How much did a mattress cost, though?

Erick said, “I am interested in a dining room set, but I don’t see anything I like except your beds and dressers. I’m going to shop around and be back later.”

Greenscale countered, “32 G per bedroom set. Dining room set for 30; draw up any design you want. My people can work with you on site through all the pieces you purchase. You won’t get a better deal in Spur, or a faster job done. We can do the whole thing in a week and move everything there ourselves.”

Erick glanced toward Poi.

Poi nodded, oh so little that it was hard to tell he nodded at all.

Erick told Greenscale, “Sold.”

Greenscale smiled wide. “Half up front, half upon completion.”

Erick scrunched his face. “Is that normal?”

Poi said, “Yes, sir.”

Greenscale moved toward the cashier’s desk, saying, “I can draw up the paperwork right now.”

Erik followed him to the register. “Where would I find mattresses and such?”

“We work with them, all the time.” Greenscale pointed out the front door, to across the street. “The mattresses in the store here are theirs; they have more products you might like.”

Erick smiled wide. “Very good!”

- - - -

Erick spent way too much money.

And then he turned to Poi, and said, “I forgot to buy your stuff.”

“No need, sir. I can furnish my own living quarters; I already have various things I can bring to your home from the barracks.”

“Really?” Erick said, “I feel like I’m using you. It’s not a good feeling.”

“Speaking of, sir. We should drop by both the Farmer’s Council and the Courthouse to finalize some details on your terms of employment.”

Erick grumbled. “You think I’m being used, too.”

“In the same way any responsible member of society is used by the rest of us.”

“Hmm. Well. I suppose that’s not bad, then.”

Erick headed toward the Courthouse.

- - - -

Erick read through the contract for the third time. It wasn’t very long; only three pages of normal sized script. But it was hand written, like all of the books and papers and everything else he had seen on all his time on Veird, and Hera’s handwriting was a bit… loopy. Nice to look at; hard to read.

He set the contract down. He said, “Let me make sure I am understanding all of this correctly: I get paid 20G per day, and then 5% of the taxes gathered from farmland rentals, paid monthly. I am expected to provide 24 hours of rain per tenday week, however the Farmer’s Council decides to split the hours. Meat sales are different, as we don’t know if they’ll be monstrous or not. If they are monstrous, then I will be getting 5% of the profit of all monster meat sales raised on the farms— The deal I already worked out with the Farmer’s Council. If the meat is not monstrous, then that whole system will be scrapped, and all I get is 5% of the farmland tax.”

Hera and Silverite sat across the table.

On his side of the table, Erick sat with Al.

Erick had swung by the Sewerhouse and asked Al to come along, and reading these terms, it was a good thing he did. Al didn’t speak, but he didn’t need to; Erick saw the annoyance written on his brown-green orcol face.

He asked, “How much in taxes does the current growing season generate? How much is 5%, each quarter?”

Hera looked over some paperwork in front of her, and said, “Spur rents 10 by 10 plots of land for 1 silver per day in the water season to anyone who wants a plot of land and proves themselves able to utilize that land for the benefit of the city. The Farmer’s Council currently owns all 922 farm contracts, and they pay Spur 92 gold each day for that privilege, or roughly 8300 gold per water season.

“They make about 20 times that amount, or something like 160000 gold, divided however they divide it among all of their roughly 300 people. For three months of back breaking work, each of those people makes 550 gold on average, or 6 gold per day. But the cost for itinerant farmers to live in Spur is roughly 2 gold a day. So the average take is 380 gold per 3 month season, per person.” Hera paused.

Hera said, “But that’s for the farmers. For you, right now, 5% of Spur’s farmland rental taxes, paid monthly, would be 138 gold. With the expansion of the farms expected to add 5 more 9 square kilometer blocks of farmland, for…” She read over her notes. “A total of about 5400 ten by ten plots, or 540 gold per day in taxes, for a 30 day 5% cut of … 810 gold.” Hera looked up from the papers, and smiled. She quickly added, “As long as things work out like we think they’ll work out, you will get an additional 810 gold per month in addition to the guaranteed 600 you get from the 20G daily pay… in addition to whatever monster meat deals might occur outside of the scope of this contract.”

Erick sat back for a moment.

“Those are certainly a lot of numbers. Thank you for them. But.” Erick said, “I don’t know what sort of deals most of the people get around Spur, but this offer seems a bit low considering I have been working in the Sewerhouse for a while. I know how much that public office creates, and Al’s cut is 25%. 5% in farmland taxes? For 3 more quarters of growing season? How about 25%.”

Silverite said, “You have to understand that Al does—”

“40%” Erick replied.

Silverite said, “What you have to understand, is that you will be devaluing a great deal of that work. Many people will—”

“Fif—”

“No. Archmage Flatt.” Determination steeled Silverite’s voice, “Do not test me on this. Please. Let me finish.”

Maybe he was pushing too hard? Erick nodded, letting Silverite have the floor.

“Thank you.” Silverite continued, softer than before. “If this works, we are going to transition into something more sustainable. What you have to understand, is that you are simultaneously creating a great opportunity, as well as devaluing a current way of life. And I mean that very literally. The 810 gold per month Hera stated is based on current operations. The 1 silver price for a plot of land will likely drop to 5 copper, or less, meaning you would get an extra 400G per month.

“The harvests will come slower and more methodical, with active harvests occurring only during your rain, instead of ripping everything we can out of the land, though I’m sure some of that will still happen. If Spur can become a year round breadbasket of the area, trade routes will open. We’re not the only city out here in the Crystal Forest. Not only are Frontier and Kal’Duresh looking to purchase food, so are many other places. Like Vindin to the far north, and Outpost to the north west.

“We will be transitioning into something better for everyone, and a much higher population. This means Spur will need money to pay people in the Courthouse and the Army, and especially in the Guard. Don’t forget: we’re going to need to protect all that new land out there. Monsters crawl out of the Forest all the time. Spur is expanding, Archmage. This is going to take a lot of money and we are going to get most of this money from farmland revenue, until we can transition to a more stable adventuring-based economy. Please don’t butcher the golden chicken, looking for eggs that aren’t there yet.

“And don’t forget: This entire system might not work. This is a very unstable proposition, because it all depends on one person. This all depends on you.”

Erick looked at Al. He wasn’t frowning anymore. Al nodded.

Erick said, “I hear what you’re saying. 10%”

Silverite countered, “7% and no more.” She added, “And keep this close to your heart: if people come here and try to set up a life and you fail them, I won’t be able to save you from a mob of angry farmers. I’ll try, but I won’t be able to. No one will.”

“… Deal.”

Erick held out his hand. Silverite shook it, as Hera made adjustments to the contract.

Silverite signed first. Erick signed second.

Silverite sat back, gently smiling. “Thank you for coming to Spur, Erick. This old city is going to see some major changes going forward. So take care of yourself!”

“Thank you, Silverite.” Erick paused, realizing there was something else to ask Silverite. “Do you know about the [Polymorph] spell? My daughter is thinking about becoming a Polymage.”

She hummed in silent thought.

Erick added, “She took Scion of Balance yesterday, if that makes a difference.”

“Scion of Balance makes a major difference.” Silverite nodded, saying, “Advise her to put all her extra points into Willpower from now on. Polymage is a good Class, if you can navigate the troubles of changing your body into monstrous forms. 25 Willpower is the minimum safe number, but 30 to 35 is a much better range. Does she already have [Polymorph]?”

“I’ll tell her that.” Erick smiled. “And no, she does not. She captured some juvenile mimics from the Forest and she’s taking them to an alchemist, but I’m not sure what happens past that point.”

“I’m sure she can find the relevant people in the Adventurer’s District. How is Poi working out for you?”

Poi was outside of the room right now.

Erick said, “He’s great. Already picked out a room in the house.”

“Would you be opposed to a few more guards stationed in your home?”

Erick felt a chill. “… Do I need them?”

“Only if you want them. Poi was stationed in and out of Ar’Kendrithyst for the last several years; there are more like him who would prefer to have some quiet downtime outside of the Dead City, and yet remain employed in the Army, without having to reposition to the Guard during their leave.”

“I’ll think about it.” Erick stood. “Timetable for rain is still up to the Council, correct?”

“Correct. Good day, Erick.”

“Good day to you, too.”

Erick collected Poi in the hallway, and together with Al, they left the Courthouse.

- - - -

Halfway down the Courthouse steps, Erick asked Poi, “Do you have any friends that would like a… a vacation? I guess? In my house? Silverite put forth that some other soldiers would like some downtime without having to transition out of the Army.”

Poi smiled. “I know several people who would appreciate such ‘time off’.”

“Not too many, though.” Erick frowned. “This is all kinda weird for me and Silverite suggesting I needed more guards is kinda freaking me out.”

“I understand, sir.”

Al nudged Erick. “You’re going to be as rich as me! Stop worrying and enjoy it all, already.”

Erick tried to smile. But instead, he said, “I get the distinct feeling that the one incident Killzone told me about was the only incident that was palatable enough to tell me about.”

Al laughed, then slapped Erick on the back. “You worry too much! But we can do some [Ward] work and get you some of the better [Ward]s. Maybe this will make you feel better? And if not: there is always beer!”

Erick chuckled. “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

Poi remained silent.

- - - -

The three of them stood outside of Erick’s house, in the vast, open stone fields of the Human District.

Several glittering white spherical [Ward]s were scattered around, alongside several glittering no-color [Ward]s. Al tossed a stone into his no-color [Ward]. The stone caught on gravity and flowed around the spherical space, bobbing back and forth through the air, eventually settling into a hover in the middle of the sphere.

Al tossed a stone into the white [Ward].

The stone bounced right back out.

Al did not yell, but he did speak loudly, “I do not understand how you are this bad at [Ward]ing. I don’t understand how anyone is this bad. This is basic spellwork.”

“I’m feeling some deja vu, aren’t you?”

Al went silent, staring at Erick. Al walked away.

Erick didn’t try to stop Al. He went back to his [Ward] work. Meditation kept his mana higher than it would have been; Clarity ensured the whole endeavor was a lot cheaper than otherwise.