If I upgraded the Shack, more gear would be added to make for better hunting. A level two Shack would double the yield. But it would cost me 150 gold in order to upgrade, as well as having a Workshop, so the better items could be crafted.
The other option I had was to promote someone to Hunter, which would add +2 to the daily yield. This would only cost me 25 gold, which was a fairly low price, although the daily cost of 1 gold would dip into our funds a bit more. Yet, with the ability to preserve the food, I could ship the meat to further villages without having to worry about spoilage. This would increase our profits significantly.
And so, I promoted a man named Hunter to become a Hunter. I picked him specifically because of the irony involved. Immediately, he went to the Hunter’s Shack and changed clothes, donning a bow and preparing to go out for the hunt. The increase of meat hovered above the Shack; we were now generating 4 units of meat per day. Now all I had to do was find someone who wanted that meat.
I brought up the trade menu to see that the village of Reed had an indicator next to it, meaning that I could use the Caravan to negotiate a new trade deal with them if I wanted. Rather than having to go and meet with them each time I wanted something new, I’d be able to do it remotely. Fascinating.
I examined the trade menu and noted that Reed didn’t generate any meat. I prepared a trade offer to send them. I would deliver 14 units of meat to them per week, in exchange for the market price of the preserved meat: 15 gold per unit. I wouldn’t get an immediate answer, but hoped that they would reply with either a yes or a counter-offer. Hopefully, Hatha wouldn’t have trouble negotiating with them.
Once the trade offer was put in place, the Master of Caravans immediately prepared for the journey and set off on a lone horse, to bring the message to Liza Reed. The trip would be much faster this time, thanks to the fact that she was only on her horse.
As I waited, a new symbol appeared in front of me, in the shape of scales.
“What’s this?” I asked, calling Hemmings for assistance.
“Ah yes, a judgment call,” he replied, his bodyless voice drifting up to me. “You aren’t just the economist here, you know. You are the leader of the town. This means that the villagers have some kind of dispute and have called upon you to solve it for them.”
“Oh, interesting,” I said. It looked like I was the Human Resources department as well. I opened up the Conflict tab to discover that there was a quarrel between two women. The first woman, Elean, accused the other, Srana, of having stolen some money from her. There were very little facts involved in this case, however, and I had no information whatsoever.
“So they want me to rule on this?” I asked.
“You can issue a judgment automatically, ruling in favor of one or the other,” Hemmings said. “Or you can handle it directly, sitting in and listening to their frustrations. Another option would be to promote a Judge, who would handle that for you.”
It would be a good idea to sit down with a few of the villagers and help them sort through their issues. This might lead them to trusting me more. It would be far easier to just issue an automatic judgment, but that kind of impersonal action would be frustrating for everyone involved.
“Bring them into my office then,” I said, closing the book. “Let’s hear the case.” While the Mayor went out to retrieve the two women, I took a moment to go to the washroom and clean my face. The washroom was really just a room with a bucket and a hole in the ground. Fortunately, I had been raised in a time period where all we had was outhouses and wells, so this kind of living wasn’t too foreign to me. The only thing I really, truly missed was air conditioning.
Once freshened up, I returned to my post and took out a pad to keep notes. I had been in the center of many employee arguments before, but those were usually so petty. A case of theft would be new to me. It was a little nerve-wracking to think that, if I messed this up, the people’s suspicions of my competence would be confirmed. I couldn’t let that happen.
The door opened half an hour later and the two women entered. Elean was an elderly woman, who walked with a hunch and looked as if she had seen much better days. Srana was much younger, in her early twenties, with bright red hair and a smug grin on her face. Elean’s demeanor was agitated, weary and exhausted. Srana was walking as if she had already won the case.
“Please, sit,” I said, waving to the two chairs in front of the desk. “And let’s resolve this whole issue. Elean, tell me what happened.”
“I’ll tell ya what happened!” Elean crooned. “I left this morning to do some simple chores, to check in on Leopold, and when I got back, the three gold pieces I keep in my jar was gone! The only person who saw that jar was Srana, when she was helping me carry some goods back to my house yesterday!”
I looked at Srana, who merely shrugged, her wry grin never changing. “And what’s your side?”
Srana sighed. “I didn’t take her money. I was busy all day helping Karl clean his shop. The guy makes a horrendous mess whenever he does anything.”
“And can Karl corroborate this story then?” I asked.
“Well, I wasn’t there the whole time. I had to go out for breaks and whatnot,” she said.
“Elean, are there any other witnesses? Someone who saw her enter your house?”
Elean shook her head. “No, but I know it was her, I can feel it.”
No evidence, no witnesses, just hearsay. In my world, you were innocent until proven guilty. This would be an easy ruling to make, to be honest. Sure, Srana was being smug about the whole thing, but she probably knew she was innocent and wasn’t worried about the charges. Or perhaps she had done this sort of thing before and had gotten away with it. Still, no evidence, no crime.
“So Elean, you have nothing else to offer me? No one who saw her around your house at all? No one to testify on your behalf?” I asked.
“I’m the elder here,” she said. “My word should be good enough for you to accept as true.”
“That’s not how it works, I’m afraid,” I replied. “You can’t just accuse someone of a crime without evidence. You weren’t even home, so how could you possibly know that it was Srana who took it? Just because she knew you had a coin jar didn’t mean she stole it.”
“Srana’s a lazy girl,” Elean said. “She sits around all day and still expects to get paid. I have no doubt in my heart that she would steal, just because she could.”
“But what would I even spend it on here?” Srana interrupted. I could see that she was irritated at being characterized as so lazy. “There’s food and that’s it.”
That much was true. There wasn’t anything of luxury that one could spend their money on, unless they wanted the higher quality cuts of meat that Karl was providing. But since she worked to clean the shop, he probably just compensated her with better food. I had heard enough.
“I’m not sure how it was done in the past,” I said. “But for as long as I’m here, if you are to accuse someone of a crime, you must have proof. You cannot just have a hunch or a feeling. It’s not fair to Srana.”
“Of course, the false champion sides with the lazy and wicked youth,” Elean said as she hobbled to her feet. She pointed a withered finger at me. “A real champion would have done the right thing.”
And with that, she stormed out… well, as quickly as an old woman could storm out. She grumbled and heaped curses upon both myself and Srana. I looked at the young woman who remained. She seemed rather surprised at my call.
“The rule of thumb has been that whatever the elders say is true,” Srana said. “Thanks for not judging me like Elean did.”
“What do you think happened to the coins?” I asked.
“Knowing her, she spent them this morning and forgot about it,” Srana said, standing up. “Look, I know it’s not worth much, but I think you’re okay. The elders really freaked us all out about your condemning us but…you were really fair with us. I’ll be sure to tell my family about this.
They’ll appreciate it.”
And with that, she left to go about her own business. The first judgment had been issued by me and I felt good. Did I believe that Srana was innocent? I wasn’t sure. But the fact remained: there was no evidence either way. It wouldn’t be fair to force Srana to prove that she hadn’t committed the crime. At the very least, this might push Elean to go out and collect real evidence. Until then, my hands were tied. I wouldn’t accept any baseless accusations while I was in charge.
Chapter 9
By the end of the first week, things were starting to look up for me personally. The addition of the Butcher Shop and the ruling in favor of law—as opposed to tradition—caused the Satisfaction rating to drop down to negative ten, which was good. All I needed was to bridge the gap to those ten points and I wouldn’t be executed by these people.
I didn’t really blame them for their anger at me. Leopold’s proposal had been meant to scare me off, but I hadn’t budged. Would they really try to kill me? I wasn’t so sure at this point. They had mostly been responding to the fear that their village would never be prosperous. If my long-held traditions and views had been so callously disregarded, I would have been mad too.
But soon this would be behind us all. I woke up early on their version of Sunday, called Sornas, to find that finally Hatha had returned with a message from Reed. Since Hatha was a Master of Caravans and not a messenger, she had to wait in the village until the Governess was willing to see her. That turned out to be a few days. I’d need to hire a Messenger if I wanted the process to go faster.
The note from Liza Reed was a counter-offer. Her village had no need for the meat, since they primarily relied upon wheat to make their food, and meat was more of a luxury. However, since we had an excess of it, she would be willing to trade resources instead of gold. Her village had an excessive amount of silkworms, which could be used to produce silk for us. In exchange for 10 units of meat for 6 weeks, she’d give us a total of 500 silkworms.
This was an interesting offer. The silk could be spun into threads, which would give my villagers much better clothing. On top of that, we could probably sell the completed silk to other villages. Since this was a luxury good, we would be making some real money off of such a trade. In fact, I wondered if I would even be able to recreate The Silk Road from my own world’s history. Wouldn’t that be something?
I wrote up an acceptance letter and instructed Hatha to bring it when she was delivering the next shipment. That would hopefully cut down travel time for her.
“Hemmings!” I exclaimed as I entered into the dining room. “Where’s another village that’s close?”
Mayor Hemmings, who was busy digging into a very fine cut of venison, looked up at me. “Reed was the closest. The next one would be to the further south, the village of Cornet. Anything further and you’d need supplies for a long term journey. And of course, there is Igithor, but since you aren’t working with the Tradesmen, I doubt there is anything for you there.”
“Anything that I should know about Cornet before I go?” I asked, returning to my bedroom to get dressed. I needed to make connections before we had the silk operation going, so I could properly project what our profits would be.
“Reed was a friendly village because they have no champion and are taking things into their own hands. Cornet very much so has a champion who is…well, from what I hear, he’s not terribly competent.”
An outsider like me? I hadn’t quite realized that I might be talking to another person from Earth. Or were there many other worlds out there and this person was from a different place from me? I suppose I would find out when we met.
“What makes you say they aren’t competent?” I asked.
“Well, there was a bit of a mass evacuation from the village a few years ago. A few of the displaced villagers ended up settling here for a while before moving on to a big city. Apparently, their leader, a Mr. Peters, I believe, had made some very tyrannical decisions and, in the process, lost a lot of support.”
“Interesting. Will I be safe?” I asked as I finished putting my boots on. They had been freshly polished by one of the servants this morning and, I have to say, they looked good.
“Sort of,” Hemmings said, entering into my bedroom to give me a concerned look. “Champions have special abilities. If he thinks our village is worth attacking, he might come after us. I would suggest that you exhibit the utmost caution in dealing with him.”
I nodded at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s safe before I reveal my intentions to him.”
“Good, good,” the Mayor said. “Are you heading out now?”
“Shipments go out tomorrow, so I’d rather travel to Cornet and back before then,” I said, sliding my dagger into my holster. “Wish me luck!”
And with that, I headed to the stable where Smiles was happily munching on some hay. The horse seemed to be in better spirits, now that he had being regularly exercised and groomed by Hatha. She had been taking good care of him and his name was no longer ironic.
“You ready to go?” I asked as he neighed excitedly at me. As I saddled up and readied to take him out, Hatha came in, carrying a bucket and a brush.
“Oh, you’re taking him out?” she asked. It was strange to meet with her face to face, as previously all of our interactions had been through the commands I issued with the Great Picture.
“Yes, but we’ll be back before your next shipment,” I said.
Hatha nodded at that. “Good, I could use a day off.”
An awkward silence fell over us both as we looked at each other. I wanted to inquire if I was doing a good job, not because I was insecure and desperate for approval, but because I wanted to know her perspective. Yet, it would be weird to just ask, wouldn’t it? Finally, I spoke.
“Listen, Hatha, are you enjoying your new job?” I asked.
Hatha nodded. “Yah, it’s been good. I didn’t think I’d like it, to be honest, but I have a knack for helping Smiles move through the rough road.”
“And…” How was I going to word this? “Are you happy with me?”
Hatha laughed a little. “Yes, don’t worry, I’m not one of the people who want you dead. You’re promoting people, you’re giving us the tools we need for success and you helped me level up, which is something I honestly never thought would happen to me. As far as I’m concerned, you’re our champion.”
I let out a small sigh of relief. That was good to hear. “Can I ask you another question?”
“Sure,” she said, sitting on the edge of a large bale of hay and looking up at me.
“What happened when you were promoted? What did it feel like?” I asked. Mayor Hemmings could not describe it to me, but maybe she could.
“It’s like…you know, when you can’t remember something and you’ve been searching your memory for it the whole time and then suddenly, late at night, aha! You remember it? It’s like that. It’s like, all of a sudden, I knew exactly how to take care of Smiles and run a caravan. As if I had known my whole life and just now remembered.”
“And leveling up?”
“It’s like figuring something out in a blink, another aha moment,” Hatha said. “It didn’t hurt if that’s what you were wondering.”
“I just find it all so curious,” I said. “This is all so normal for your people, but from where I come from, you have to earn all of that knowledge. You don’t have any kind of leader who can just beam it to your mind; you have to spend years upon years of studying and working to achieve anything, really.”
“Sounds awful,” Hatha said. “I’ll take this world, thank you very much.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pouch of jerky. “Here, for your trip. It makes the road seem so much friendlier.”
I thanked her and took the pouch in hand. It was nice to just talk to a villager without there being some kind of agenda behind the conversation. And it was even nicer talking to someone who didn’t want to see me hanged. I turned
my attention to the journey ahead and hoped that my next conversation would go as smoothly.
Chapter 10
The village of Cornet was in a sad state. The region was relatively flatter than my own, and the long plains seemed to go on forever. Cornet was small, with a rickety old windmill on the edge of town. The huts were in a sorry state of affairs and several buildings were destroyed. The few people that I could see walked like zombies, staggering forward with exhaustion upon their faces. A large gate made of metal surrounded the town and I wondered if it was meant to keep people out, or to keep them in.
The townhall was the only building that looked well kept. It was much larger than my own and the town of Reed’s combined. The building was practically a mansion, with big stairs that led up to a pair of stone doors. I could see it clearly from any side of the town and wondered why it was so large when the rest of the town was in shambles.
“Hello?” I called as I approached the steel gate, looking for signs of a guard or someone who could let me in. There was no one around. Smiles whinnied a little, somewhat uncomfortable with where I was directing him to take us.
I could see one of the villagers off in the distance, sweeping the same spot, over and over again, as if completely unaware of the world around them. Were they sick? Or just so exhausted they could only sweep? I called out again, this time louder, in the hopes of gaining someone’s attention. Still there was no reply.
I grabbed hold of the gate and pushed on it. And much to my surprise, it opened for me. It hadn’t been locked. So bad was the state of disrepair in this town that they couldn’t even get their gate to function properly. I was learning everything I needed to know about the champion of Cornet. Mr. Peters did not know how to manage a village. All he seemed to know how to do was upgrade his living quarters. Perhaps this was a waste of a visit, but still, I had already traveled all the way over here. I might as well find out if Peters had anything of value for me.
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