That night after the cleanup of the battle though there was a time for mourning the fallen, everything soon turned into a feast. Now with the knights helping me, i could cook for events like this with ease. I had 4 knights help me in the kitchen while Yosif and the 6 others act as waiters. It was refreshing that everybody came to terms with me being a skeleton so that i don't have to constantly close my visor. I don't need air but it still feels suffocating doing that for some reason.
For the appetizer, i made some shashlik out of lamb served alongside bowls of Olivier salad. But since i'm serving the whole town i also made baskets of Pelmeni and Chebureki as well. The main course consists of Borsch soup and a crap load of beef Stroganoff. I would've made fancier recipes but i intend to save the best for truly important events. For dessert was mayonnaise muffins (yes you read that right) and because we have a lot of work to do afterwards, i only served Kvass instead of Vodka. I doubt the people here can handle a shot of Vodka let alone barrels of them.
It is now dawn and the sun has just risen, people were returning home to rest after the party last night and i was heading to the mayor office to start my job. Sergei is my body guards and the knights will be my personal enforcers to maintain the peace and help out in personal project, i gave 2 knights basic Slavic cuisine knowledge so they can help Roxanne with the inn while i'm away. The building was a regular medieval city hall with 2 floors and a small bell tower on the roof to make announcements. The walls made of sturdy bricks are painted chestnut brown though visibly aged, they were quite intact albeit a little faded. The interior is filled with wooden furnitures with very little decorations. The staff's wing is to the east while the guest's wing is to the west. On the first floor there's a lobby where people file complaints/requests, a kitchen for the guests and mayor, several bedrooms for servants. On the second floor, there's only 3 actual rooms up there. one being the mayor's office, another one belongs to the secretary and the final one belonging to head of security. I of course have the mayor room while Osmond is my secretary to guide me on paperwork and management while Sergei occupies the head of security room.
The moment i step into the city hall, all of the staffs were gathered there waiting for me and all greeted me. They don't particularly detest me but i can see how uncomfortable they are standing there so i quickly send them off to do their respective jobs. Inside my office were 2 cabinets of books behind the table where i would sit which has a padded black leather chair facing a simple wooden one on the other side. On the table was pots of ink with feathers as people didn't have pen back then. 2 potted plants sit on each side of the door leading into my office and the one leading into my bedroom which is to the right. The bedroom itself was compact with a small white bed, a nightstand with a lantern on it and a wardrobe with a trunk next to it.
Osmond was already sitting on the wooden chair in the office and he stands up dusting himself off before gesturing to the neatly stacked pile of papers on my table.
Osmond: I'm surprised you are here this early with all the work you had cut out for you at the feast.
Me: can't be late on my first day on the job now can i?
Osmond: I suppose you're right. Anyway the first problem on our hand is to repair the town.
Me: What are the details?
Osmond: Well to start off, about 35% of our walls are destroyed along with the gates, we lost over half the guards and adventurers of the town and some houses near the gate were also damaged during the fight. The repair costs with the amount needed to recruit and replace the guards come to a total of around 500 gold.
Me: Well how much do we have in the town's budget.
Osmond: Erm *cough* 327 gold
I nearly fell from the chair at that statement. How the fuck did they only have 327 gold as the budget for the ENTIRE TOWN OF 1000 PEOPLE! What happened to agriculture, trading, dungeons income, where the hell did all the money go?
Me: Osmond explain to me how the heck is the town's budget THAT low. With all the incomes from farms, merchants, mines heck even the dungeons that the guild clear, how do we have such a tight budget?
Osmond: well yes, the income per year is indeed decent at around 875 gold or 950 if we're lucky but it's because the daylight robbery from the king with his taxes.
Me: I've heard a lot about outrageous taxes but i didn't know the exact amount, how much of our income are we asked to pay?
Osmond: 65%
Me: Excuse me WHAT THE FUCK! HOW IS THAT TAXES! THAT'S JUST ROBBERY WITH EXTRA STEPS!
Osmond: I'm afraid so but there's little we can do as a small town to oppose the king and his soldiers, they're simply stronger and outnumbers us by a huge gap.
Me: *sigh* this is going to be bothersome. *takes 500 gold out of inventory* we'll use this to pay for now.
Osmond: What? where and how did you get that?
Me: It's better not to question it, but we can't keep doing this. At one point the king is going to question where we pull the money out of so this is only temporary.
Osmond: I might have a couple of ideas but they do not bode so well in the long terms, what about you.
Me: What if we manufacture something exotic that hasn't been seen before and sell it?
Osmond: Well of course that's going give us a lot of legal income but what can we make?
Me: Osmond, we're heading to the distillery later and i'll show you one of the greatest drink in the world but for now i believe we still have more on our plate. What's the next issue?
Osmond: This isn't a pressing matter but i think it should be attended immediately. It's the education system, while i understand the usefulness of combat schools, i believe we should also have specialized ones to train dedicated scholars.
Me: I suppose that is ideal to have more knowledgeable people to help the town financially, i'll look into building a new school but that has to wait, we're running on a tight budget.
Osmond: Very well then. Next thing we need to look into is treating the sick, Maria may be skilled but the flu season is coming and i fear she won't be able to treat everyone by herself.
Me: Why not have Sergei help her?
Osmond: The head of security? How would he help her?
Me: Keep in mind Osmond, he's also a paladin with healing spells so it wouldn't be a problem.
Osmond: A skeleton paladin? It's truly great luck to have someone like that on our side. Anyway, the final problem we need to look into is the migration of the wild beasts this time of the year. We can't send out adventurers to clear their dens because they're needed here to help with rebuilding.
Me: not a problem Osmond, i have this crystal here to solve that problem.
I pull out the crystal of decay which now has its grey core replenished. As the light in the crystal flickers when i activated it, 10 more skeleton knights arrive at the room only this time instead of rising out of the ground, they materialize from a grey mist. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we're on the second floor. Osmond has to rub his eyes over and over again to see if he was dreaming. Surprisingly, just after 5 seconds and he has already returned to normal. I guess he must've saw a lot of weird shit back in his youth to be like that. The knights leave the room as i instruct them to scout the area surrounding Gobi and i stand up from the table. It was time to make some money.
Total inventory:
Brigand's greatshield
The iron castle
Warp dagger
Diadem of supreme arcane might
Helm of clairvoyance
Old knight captain's armor
11 slime essence
130 bone powder
10 scrap metal
Crystal of decay
7 healing potions
Greater ironskin potion
Captain Lambert's journal entry #1
76 copper 53 silver 45794 gold
Current familiars:
- Sergei the Skeleton Paladin