Year 1452, month 02, day 10

  “Here, take your share. Move along so the next person can step forward.”

  “Please... can’t I have another one? Just one more?”

  “I am sorry, but everyone is only allowed to take one portion for now. It is important that everyone in line gets a turn. However, you can come back and take another portion tomorrow morning. And since you are a child, you can come back this evening to get a snack as well.”

  “... O-okay. Thank you, miss.”

  I watched the interaction from a short distance away. That was a conversation between Woya and a young child who was waiting patiently in the long food queue. Since we began distributing food for charity, the line had become a permanent fixture near the edge of my newly acquired land, stretching deep into the nearby streets. Woya looked visibly troubled; it was clear she was having a difficult time saying no to a hungry child who was asking for more food. Her expression flickered with a brief moment of hesitation, her eyes softening as she looked down at the small boy. But she is a disciplined girl who does exactly what she is told, and she knew the rules I had set for the distribution. She maintained the order of the line with a gentle but firm hand.

  It has been more than a week since Eren Karzan came to visit me to deliver the news that his father, Sir Halver, had finished processing all the necessary legal paperwork for the land. Sir Halver had sent word that the City Lord had taken a particular liking to the concept of my new business. As a result of this favorable view, the Lord had decided to exempt the transaction from the standard land-purchase taxes. It was a detail Sir Halver had not even mentioned during our initial negotiations, so I could not truly say I was "pleased" by the disappearance of an expense I hadn't even known existed. Regardless, I suppose it was a good thing. Any coin saved at this stage is a coin that can be reinvested into the infrastructure of the guild.

  I wanted to initiate the building process as quickly as possible. With the continued assistance of Sir Halver, I was able to secure the services of several highly skilled master craftsmen and artisans. Their task is to build the necessary facilities from the ground up and ensure they are filled with the proper structures and internal items required for a high-functioning guild.

  Sir Halver had even proposed to find a professional labor force for me, but I had another idea entirely in my mind. Since the land I purchased was located directly adjacent to a significant slum area, I was thinking of utilizing the people living there as my primary construction workers. I viewed this as a multifaceted strategic move. In this way, I would be able to provide immediate jobs for the people living in the area, significantly reduce my overall labor costs compared to hiring a professional firm, and create a more stable, secure environment around my land by clearing out the jobless, desperate atmosphere of the neighborhood.

  By being the one who provided them with a lifeline during their harshest days, I was ensuring that these people would develop a positive relationship with me from the start. They would be far more prone to join the Questers Guild in the future—whether as a quester, a manual laborer, or in other administrative roles—because I was the one who gave them a chance when no one else would.

  There was a clear advertising effect to this approach, and to boost that sentiment further, I started this charity event. Every morning, we distribute light, nourishing food such as vegetable soup or warm porridge accompanied by a thick piece of bread. In the evenings, we provide small snacks specifically for the children. Since it is often most effective to show goodwill toward the children of a community to win over the parents, this was the best possible choice. The food itself is simple, so it might seem to an observer like it costs very little to maintain. However, nearly everyone in the vicinity comes in the morning for breakfast. Considering that some individuals inevitably try to slip through the queue more than once, we are currently preparing enough food for at least 2,000 people daily.

  I am fully aware that a considerable number of those in the line are likely not residents of the slums, but I don't see it as a bad thing to get along with my neighbors in the city. I have even noticed a few soldiers who have just finished their duty, or who are on patrol nearby, joining the queue from time to time. Everyone involved—especially the local baker and the owner of the nearby cheap diner, whom I contracted for supplies—has been very happy with my perceived generosity. The only thing not happy about this arrangement is my wallet.

  Food is noticeably more expensive in this country compared to the fertile agricultural lands of the Targonia Kingdom. But since I am purchasing all of my ingredients and supplies in bulk, I have managed to get the cost per serving down to approximately 5 copper coins. This means I am spending roughly 1 gold coin per day just to please the eyes of the public and to invest in the loyalty of my potential future employees.

  The baker and the diner owner were actually short on employees themselves, thanks to the massive, excessive orders I was placing. Seizing the opportunity, I suggested that they hire additional personnel from the slums as well to meet the demand. This serves my long-term goals as well; I am effectively helping these people learn how to manage and work in bakers and diners. Since the Questers Guild business will eventually have no real limitation to its geographic area, I might as well begin training my own personnel for as many different departments and service roles as possible. Such a diverse workforce may come in very handy someday.

  While Wyn and Woya remained busy managing the food distribution, I arrived at the primary section of the land that is currently under construction. Around half of the total land I purchased was empty space, and I wanted to use that specific area for my main building. This will serve as the central gathering hall for questers—the heart of the organization where they will come to receive their assignments and report their successes. I have planned for it to be at least three stories tall. The executives and administrative staff will use the upper floors as their offices, document storage rooms, and secure places to keep high-value items.

  The area where I wanted to place the main hall was originally occupied by a ramshackle, single-story building that was beyond repair. I ordered it to be demolished immediately. It has been three days since the site was cleared, and now the workers are focusing on the new foundation. As for the remaining buildings scattered across the land, I have a tiered plan for them. I intend to demolish the ones that are structurally unsound or that interrupt the planned construction of our other facilities. I will use the serviceable buildings as immediate accommodations for workers and slaves, and I am planning to restore and maintain the ones that are still useful but need work.

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  The people from the slums are currently performing the bulk of the manual labor, but I have observed that some of them are quite bad at even basic tasks. Since they have lived as outcasts and haven't been part of a productive workforce in a long time, it is going to take a while for them to get used to the discipline of a regular job like this. However, because the construction phase alone is going to be a long-term project, there will be no shortage of work for quite some time. This period will also allow me to highlight the particularly useful and bright individuals among the crowd, whom I can then consider hiring for more specialized roles later on.

  My main focus, however, will remain on the children. Since many of them in this area don't even have parents, they will naturally start to see the Questers Guild as their home and their provider as they grow up under our assistance. I am also currently planning to provide them with basic education during the time they come for their snacks in the evening. This idea might eventually evolve into me founding a formal orphanage on the grounds, but for the moment, that is nothing more than a concept I am considering.

  “Oh, Sir Han. I hope you are having a productive morning.”

  While I was standing at the edge of the site, watching the laborers move through the dust of the construction zone, a man named Halun Temel approached me and offered a greeting.

  ***

  Halun Temel

  Race: Human

  Sex: Male

  Status: Normal

  Equipment:

  Short Steel Hammer ?

  Leather Footwears ○

  Job: Builder Lvl 35

  ***

  Halun was one of the master builders Sir Halver introduced to me to oversee the project. He arrived on-site with ten of his own experienced men and asked me for a detailed walkthrough of my plans. I explained the various facilities I wanted to build and specified which of the existing buildings on the land were to be kept and which were to be leveled. Initially, he had suggested hiring a group of professional workers he knew from other projects, and he had seemed visibly dissatisfied when I gave him the order to hire the labor force directly from the slums instead.

  “Yeah. How are things progressing today?” I asked, nodding in return to his greeting.

  “Since we successfully removed the previous ramshackle building and cleared the debris, the construction of the foundation for the new main hall is going quite smoothly,” Halun explained. He looked out over the workers, his brow furrowed. “The main issue is that these people simply don't have any experience in construction. It is taking significantly longer to get simple tasks done because of the learning curve. We even had one man get injured while we were finishing the demolition of the old structure, but aside from that, we are on schedule.”

  As he spoke, it was clear that he was still somewhat annoyed at having to deal with the unrefined labor from the slums.

  “I heard about the injury. I was told it isn't serious, but make sure he is allowed to rest until he is fully healed,” I said, looking Halun in the eye. “Don't cut his wages during his recuperation time, either. I want him paid in full.”

  I wanted to make sure that Halun understood he must treat the workers under his command with at least a minimum level of rights and dignity.

  “Sure, if that is what you wish,” Halun replied, sounding a bit surprised by the instruction. “But, Sir Han, you are indeed a remarkably big-hearted and generous man. You feed these people, you give them a steady job when no one else will, and you even treat them with this level of care when they are hurt. There are a considerable number of them here who aren't even human, after all. Seeing how you handle them, I will try my best not to grumble so much about the quality of the workers you’ve chosen.”

  He expressed his thoughts bluntly. It was clear he wasn't a bad person at heart; he simply wanted to work with the efficiency he was used to. In this city and this country, it is the social norm to look down on other races, so I couldn't exactly hate him for his initial bias. It is a well-known fact that non-human races are treated as outcasts in Yargan unless they possess some extraordinary talent that makes them indispensable. Because of this, the percentage of non-humans in the slum areas is disproportionately high.

  This social reality changes nothing for me. All that matters in my calculations is whether an individual is useful to my goals or not. If anything, the non-human workers will likely be even more grateful and loyal to me in the long run because I am the one providing them with an opportunity in a society that has largely rejected them.

  “Thank you for the sentiment, Halun. I am not like those stingy merchants who spend their days counting every single copper coin and ignoring the people who make them rich,” I said encouragingly. “Just be honest with me and ensure the job is done quickly and precisely. If you do that, I will make sure your time here is very pleasant as well.”

  “Yes, thank you, Sir. I understand,” Halun said, his demeanor relaxing slightly. “I am currently spending most of my time teaching the new recruits the absolute basics of the construction. As they get more used to the physical demands of the job, I am planning to hire even more of them from the neighborhood. There are already a few individuals who have caught my eye; they are quick learners and have a good work ethic. I am planning to promote them to headman positions to oversee the new workers, since the ten men I brought with me aren't enough to manage everyone at once.”

  “That is good thinking,” I approved. “We have an enormous amount of work ahead of us, so don't hesitate to hire more people as long as they prove themselves to be useful. Just ensure you send me the updated worker information and a breakdown of the funds you need. I want to systematically reform this area and extract the most capable individuals for other roles in the guild, so consider this construction project a filter for our future hiring.”

  I reminded him of the priorities I wanted him to maintain as the project moved forward. “Once we have made sufficient progress on the main hall, we need to begin work on the training hall and the primary storage facilities. We also need to start the restoration of the usable buildings so we can provide proper accommodations. I want to reach the stage where we can start training our permanent staff and giving the new workers a stable place to stay as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, sir. I will do my best to see it done,” Halun said. He gave me a brief briefing on a few other minor logistical issues and then headed back into the construction zone to return to his work.

  We are still only at the very beginning of the master plan I have envisioned. Thankfully, things are moving forward steadily without any major complications thus far. There are still many high-priority tasks on my to-do list: purchasing the initial batch of slaves for the guild's core workforce, ensuring they and the other workers receive a proper education, hiring specialized trainers for combat and logistics, ordering all the necessary equipment and daily supplies, and finally announcing the official start of our services once I am confident we have reached a minimum level of competence.

  I also have my own personal needs and responsibilities to manage. I have to ensure that Woya and Wyn are taken care of, both physically and psychologically, to maintain their loyalty and well-being. And, of course, I need them to take good care of me as well—both during the busy hours of the day and in the quiet hours of the night.

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