With all of the observers showing up early enough to join them for breakfast the next morning, Maelyn greeted them as they entered the tent saying, "Oh! Welcome guys! I'm sorry for not greeting you all at the entrance like I have done previously. You guys have managed to show up before I have even finished my breakfast this morning -and I'm usually the first one up! But thank you all for showing up this early! We will be able to start at the first light and hopefully make even more progress today! Again, thank you!"
Smiling at her surprise Abjul told her, "After opening up another site yesterday and finding another dragon shaped cavity everyone is eager to get their sites opened up now and we all agreed to show up early so we could get started right away!"
"Well, as usual, we're gonna have one site having to start late today." Maelyn sadly reminded him, "So, since we have everyone here I want to announce a little change of the setup!" She then called everyone to attention and explained, "Alright guys! Given how Jeff and Hammad are always the last ones able to start each day and Joseph keeps getting stuck up top digging on his own I'm gonna shake it up a little today and see how things work out! Today, since access to the palace is Harmon's sole goal we're gonna give him even MORE incentive to start getting here at least BEFORE lunch if not on time. Today the top is gonna be on hold until lazy butt gets here and Abjul will instead be observing Jeff's and Hammad's site. As for Joseph, he is going to be starting us a little game of round robin. He will go to his first site of the day when one of that team takes the wheelbarrow up to dump it so they can keep digging. Then, when they come back, he will go to the team that has to empty the other wheelbarrow since we're gonna have both of them down here until we get started each day up top. And, when I'm not having to attend to other matters in town or whatnot, I will also be helping out each team like how Joseph will. This should help us start opening up any more cavities that may be present or at least make faster progress on reaching sites without a cavity. So, we all on board with this plan?"
They all agreed and quickly finished their breakfasts and went to their sites to get prepared to start as soon as they could. Abjul also added, "To be honest, I may have to show up late on a couple of days myself. Seeing how you have done more to improve your tenants' positions and neighborhoods by paying off their loans and giving them a lower, more affordable rent, I have decided to start doing the same for my tenants as I can. I plan to put this in motion by doing like you did, but instead of meeting with them at night, I am wanting to meet them at their work and talk to them there. That way it will help reassure their coworkers that also rent from me that I am changing things for the better and lighten their worries."
"I wouldn't go to their work though," Maelyn advised, "Then, with you being the Third Minister their employer might be so busy trying to impress you that you won't get time with your tenant to talk. Or, if you ask to talk with the tenant specifically or privately, they might think the employee is in trouble and discipline or even fire them to try and look good."
"I had not thought about that but you're probably right." Abjul sadly agreed, "Because whenever dad or grandpa talk to the workers it's usually because that worker has displeased them. But I am trying to change that by not being so heartless to the people I meet so I was hoping they wouldn't assume they were in trouble before I got to talk to them."
"Well how do they pay for their rent each month?" Maelyn wondered.
"They come to my office and give the money to Catia. Why?" Abjul asked.
"Why don't you just have Catia send them to you because you're wanting to talk to each of them this month before you change everybody's rent?" Maelyn suggested as a solution, "Then, when they get here, you talk to them and tell them the changes."
'But I was also wanting to pay off their loans like you are doing as well." Abjul told her, "And I was hoping if I did it quick enough I could avoid Dad upping their payoff amounts like he is doing to you."
"In that case, why don't you do like I tried to do?" Maelyn urged, "have them all meet you the next morning and, instead of going inside with them like I did, stay outside and give them the money they need before they walk in. Then, by the time Harmon hears about it and tries to up their rates, most of them that are able to meet with you that day will be done. Then, with the rest, have them wait until the next month so that he thinks it was just a one time thing."
"Or I could urge the ones who owe less than their rent to instead take their rent for that month to pay it off and tell them when they pay the next month's rent that it will be cut in half from thereon." Abjul added as he vocalized his ideas for avoiding his father burdening more people with an extra charge, "Or maybe only pay a small number off each month so he doesn't think I'm following your lead!"
"Or you could let them pay it off themselves without Harmon knowing you were directly responsible by telling them to use the amount of rent you are forgiving to pay it off." Maelyn told him, "That way they can pay them off a little bit at a time without having to borrow more and your father would never know."
"And, if they need a loan in the future I'll suggest they go to your new bank." Abjul promised, "because I know you'll treat them more fairly than dad and HIS bank do!"
"Speaking of my bank, I need to go find me some employees for it!" Maelyn exclaimed, "I will be back shortly because I am pretty sure this Linfay girl will be willing to change jobs if Harmon hasn't already fired her for being the unlucky one to be working the counter when I was helping my tenants pay off their loans."
"I would suggest checking which properties he had to sign over yesterday too." Abjul grumbled, "Knowing dad he probably put her house on the list at the very least!"
Arriving at the bank Maelyn didn't see Linfay working and asked for her. When they told her that she had been fired and they had had to inform her of it the previous morning. Since she was a close friend of the coworker Maelyn was talking to she was able to get Linfay's address. She then went to the undersecretary to pick up the list of properties she had been transferred.
As she walked in the Bree smiled and told her, "Here is the stack that he owes for yesterday and I have already readied a stack for today as well so if you stop by after he shows up I can hand over the stack he will owe for today as well."
"Thank you for that." Maelyn expressed her gratitude then informed her, "I was actually going to wait until tomorrow to get the rest of this week's stack. But if you already have yesterday's and today's ready, could you tell me if one of them is this address?" She then handed Bree the address she had been given for Linfay.
"This address, no." Bree told her as she looked at it, "But I do have this name." She then pulled out the deed for Linfay's house and told her, "The address you have was close but it was one street off. Here is the real address. And I was told to make it be the first one transferred yesterday so he must have it out for this girl or something."
"This girl was the unlucky cashier that was working the front counter when I was helping my tenants pay of their loans." Maelyn angrily shared, "And it's a good thing I made sure to get her name before I left that day because he fired her as well!"
"Sadly that doesn't surprise me." Bree told her as she shook her head and complained, "Prime Minister Anton may keep a high rent on his tenants, but he has never fired someone or assessed penalties on their loans for making him mad like Second Minister Harmon does on a regular basis!"
"Soon that will change!" Maelyn assured her, "The way he keeps being late and having to turn over these properties every day he's gonna be cutting into his reliable flow of money he lavishly uses irresponsibly. And, with Abjul starting to also enable HIS tenants to pay off their loans at Harmon's bank, Mister lazy butt is gonna be hurting BIG TIME come next month!"
"Don't tell anybody I said this," Bree told her, "But I am looking forward to that day! His high faluting attitude has bugged and irked me every day since we were in school together! And I am eagerly looking forward to him getting knocked down a couple notches!"
"Well sit back and enjoy the show!" Maelyn told her with a wide grin. She then left and went to see Linfay.
Knocking on Linfay's door, Maelyn was surprised when it was angrily opened and Linfay angrily and loudly informed her, "YOU! Your little stunt with paying off all of those loans GOT ME FIRED!!! WHAT gives you the AUDACITY to show up at MY HOUSE!?!?!"
Understanding the anger, Maelyn calmly told her, your property was one that Harmon ordered to be transferred to me. I also came here to talk to you about a job."
"GREAT!!! So you just got the house and you're ALREADY coming to demand rent?!?!" Linfay angrily demanded with tears rolling down her face, "Well you're gonna have to WAIT because Second Minister Harmon demanded this month's rent before he would let me leave work that day! And then I went to work yesterday to find out that he had fired me right after I had left! So now with no MONEY to pay the bills due this week and no JOB to pay them or RENT I am going to have to go ask my former COWORKERS and FRIENDS for a loan to pay the bills at least!"
"Linfay, Can I come inside and talk to you about this?" Maelyn gently asked, "I have come to solve these problems. It was not right for him to punish you for something you had no control over!"
Angrily grumbling Linfay lead her inside to the table and asked, "And how do you plan on fixing this problem?!?! Are you going to pay my bills every month from now on?! Cause that's the only way I see you being able to fix it!"
"First off, do you have a loan already you are having to repay with the bank?" Maelyn asked, "And how much has Harmon been charging you for rent?"
"The only way I was able to pay rent yesterday was because we DIDN'T have a loan!" Linfay angrily told her, "After seeing how everybody kept having to borrow more at a higher and higher interest rate, me and my husband starved ourselves and only used the heat and AC when we HAD to so we could pay off our loan! And, after going a whole year without a loan, he UPPED our rent! So until I got fired we were BARELY making it through each month without having to take out a loan. Because he demanded THIRTY THOUSAND scales for rent yesterday! And our rent was supposed to be TWENTY thousand!"
"I see. And sadly, I'm not surprised." Maelyn told her with a frown then smiled and told her, "But rent will be MUCH better for you now. I will only charge you FIVE thousand scales for rent. And, since Harmon demanded this month's rent from you early, I won't charge you rent for this month."
With the news putting her in a slightly better mood, Linfay grumbled, "But what about the job part?! Without a job we won't be able to pay the rent!"
"That is why Harmon firing you works out PERFECTLY!" Maelyn told her with a smile, "because I need a cashier to run the bank that I started the same morning I was at your old job paying off the loans my tenants owed. And I was wondering if you would be willing to take the position?"
"Depends on how much you will pay!" Linfay cautiously informed her, "becasue you are foreign to Altinyn and I should be able to find a job making forty thousand scales a month if I look hard enough!"
"I was hoping you would accept SIXTY thousand." Maelyn told her, "With raises and bonuses every year."
With her eyes wide in astonishment, Linfay gladly told her, "I will DEFINITELY accept! When can I start?!"
They then discussed where to locate the bank and how Maelyn wanted to set the loans up and the interest rates and other matters before Maelyn finished and told her as it neared lunchtime, "I have to get back to the site to work now that Harmon might have finally decided to start his walk up the hill. Thank you for accepting and I will see you again in a couple of days so we can officially open our bank."