Alaric had positioned himself under a tent, his hand under his jaw as he observed the two long line of job applications in front of him.
These were people of the Montclair barony who were willing to work.
Behind him, was Ava and his sister Erica.
If anything, they were there to supervise him and make sure the young master of the barony doesn't do anything off the mark.
'I asked for 100 applicants and 247 people showed up. Wether it's a good thing or not, depends on how this goes.'
He looked at the stack of papers on the table.
'Luckly I had the contracts ready before hand, this should make negotiating easier.'
"Umm.... Lord Alaric... I'm here for a job."
A young male villager in the barony said, his head slightly bowed.
"Niceee, it's good to see we still have hard working and determined people in our barony." Alaric smiled at the man, "I want to assume you know what the job is all about."
"Y..yes I do, you need strong men at the mining ground, I may not look the part, but I assure you, Lord Alaric, I am quite strong."
"Interesting..."
Alaric shifted his head to the display hovering above the man's head.
[You now have an interactive status window.]
'A new update?'
[Name: Tongs Eona
Occupation : Single husband.
Special skill: Lifting objects
Relationship: 45%.]
'Oh...?' Alaric smiled a bit, 'This will let me keep a register on everyone in my Barony, and even pick people suitable for the jobs I want.'
He pointed at the man, "Okay you pass, just sign this contract and you can stand to the side and await the next step."
The man picked up the contracts and began to scan through the pages.
Until he got to a particular place-
"Lord Alaric? What is a baronial credit?"
Alaric smiled, almost as if he was waiting for the question.
"I'm glad you asked..."
He began, "After your first monthly salary, you can only receive 70% percentage of your earnings in coins, while the remaining 30% is converted into credit points, which I like to call, Baronial credit."
Everyone's face behind the man turned pale. They had never heard of a credit before, but the fact 30% of their salary would be reduced was more then enough to ruin their mood.
Ava sighed and shook her head.
"You must be wondering, 'Why is Lord Alaric scamming us so bad. 30% is too much. What even is a credit.' Well wonder no further. The 30% isn't going to waste, it will be turned into credit, these can be used to buy goods, land, or services exclusive within the barony, such as better housing, farmland tools and many more. At the end of the day, it's for the betterment for all of us."
Hearing his detailed explanation of the process, they all began to mummer amongst themselves, realizing the young master had their best interest at heart.
Even Ava couldn't help but smile, she had initially thought Alaric was going to scam them into slavery.
And she was right.
'Look at them... they want me to give them 1000 eres monthly, so they can be rich and leave the barony when they've gotten what they want.' Alaric smiled sinisterly, 'with this system, they'll think twice before leaving, their credit score is right under the barony, leaving is like throwing away your hard earn money.'
Not only that, he also knew it would help circulate wealth around the already lacking barony.
Question was, how many people were willing to do it?
Alaric waited.
Reading the expression on everyone's face, and from what he observed, they were still contemplating it.
He wondered why they were thinking so hard when not up until a day ago, they were jobless and desperately looking for work.
'Agree to this already! Let me scam you, damnit!'
"I'd like to join in, if you don't mind, my Lord."
Hearing her voice, Alaric immediately hit Ava with the, 'The fuck you doing?' look.
"If it's for the growth of the barony, then I'll gladly partake in it."
Alaric forced a smile, "Aren't you generous? Sure, here you go..."
He handed her a contract.
And she accepted it.
It felt like he had bribed her before hand, or atleast that was what he thought the people of the barony would think.
To his surprise, Ava's action gave the rest the motivation they needed.
Firstly, it was some of the knights that were around the area, they each asked for the contracts and signed in front of Alaric.
Then the villagers stepped forward, doing the exact same thing.
Having the knights join in on the labour work was not part of the plan, but since it happened, Alaric worked with it.
And by the time had he noticed, all 123 contracts were signed and submitted to him. Meaning in less than a day, Alaric has hired over 100 people within his barony.
Walking down the hall, Alaric had a huge smlle on his face while Ava was behind him, carrying the contracts.
On the floor, trying to catch up to him was Arthur, it's tail wiggling left and right.
'Now all that is left for me to do is to purchase the equipment needed and submit the contract to my father for keeping.'
He was just about to take a step when he suddenly stopped.
"Lord Alaric? Are you alright?" Ava asked, also curious as to why he suddenly stopped.
'Just what I needed...'
A smile formed on his face as he began to read the notifications before him.
[+500Cp has been added to your account.]
[Peter tiempo and 17 others are flattered by your actions.]
[+6300 Cp has been added to your account.]
Alaric planned to butter up is sister by making her the wooden fridge she requested for and gain her praise so he could get more Cp.
But with this... He didn't need to yo overbored. He currently had over 50 thousand cps.
"Ava..." He called out.
Ava titled her head to side as Alaric looked at her.
"I have to go take care of something, I'll won't be back until tomorrow morning. Keep the contracts with my father and gather up the workers first thing tomorrow morning. Also have the knights stand guard around the borders. Right, I'll be going now."
His words were so fast for Ava to even keep up with.
All she knew was that he gave her orders and walked away.
_sigh_
'I never know what goes through my lord's head.' she whispered to herself, looking at Arthur.