“W-What did you just say, Master?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. I’m not your master. Also, I’m going to pay you wages.”
“We’re getting wages?”
I explained that I hired them as employees, not slaves and that they would receive proper wages, albeit small.
Judging by the look of surprise on the faces of all the slaves present, it seems they didn’t expect to receive any wages at all. It shows just how exceptionally rare it is for slaves to be paid wages.
“That’s right. However, since I bought you as slaves, I can’t pay the same wages as a regular employee. The amount will be quite small, but I fully intend to pay you wages.”
“Just getting any wages at all is plenty for us.”
“Also, I’ll offset part of your wages against what I paid for you as slaves. Once that amount is offset, those who want to will be freed from slavery.”
“I-Is that true!?”
Carifa rushed over when I explained that. I nodded to her somewhat bewildered look, and she made a delighted expression. The other slaves seemed to feel the same way, with some even shedding tears of joy.
I want them to keep working as employees even after being freed, but I have to leave it up to their autonomy. Some may have become slaves against their will, and some may wish to return home after all.
Anyway, I’ll have them work on the cookie-selling venture for a while, then ask again what they want to do after the slave purchase price is offset.
“Alright, let’s start with the head slave, Meranda.”
“Y-Yes!”
When I called out to Meranda, she came forward looking nervous. While wryly smiling to myself, I handed her a leather pouch containing her wages.
“I’ll be relying on you as head slave from now on too.”
“I vow to fulfill my duties even if it costs me my life.”
Saying that she accepted the pouch on one knee with both hands. Her words felt a bit exaggerated, but her motivation seems good, so I’ll let it slide.
As originally planned, I gave Meranda two large copper coins after deducting her slave price, one large copper coin each to deputy head slaves Shifan and Carifa, and three small copper coins uniformly to the other slaves without particular roles.
For Meranda, Shifan, and Carifa, besides head slave and deputy head slave roles, they also hold concurrent positions as leaders of their respective teams, but they can hand off the team leader roles to others eventually. So I based their wages on their head and deputy head slave roles.
The wages are less than a typical employee’s, but the slaves, who rarely get paid for their work, seemed happy about it, with everyone smiling.
“You’ve all received your wages. You really worked hard today. It’ll probably be similar tomorrow, but keep at it.”
『Yes, sir!』
Getting wages seems to have motivated the slaves, as I got the loudest response today. After stowing away the food stall in storage, I returned to the mansion while Machad and the slaves went back to Commercio Trading Company.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the mansion, I immediately summoned Sobas, who soon came to the room.
“Welcome back, Master. Do you need something?”
“Sobas, before dinner, call Stella, Manya, and Mocha here.”
“…Understood.”
Realizing what I wanted from the names I mentioned, Sobas promptly left the room to fetch them. A few minutes later, the door knocked and there stood Sobas, Stella, Manya, Mocha, and for some reason the head maid Mia, whom I hadn’t called for.
Since there was no harm in Mia being here, I ignored her presence and addressed Sobas.
“Good work, Sobas.”
“It’s only natural as a butler, Master.”
“Right. Now… Stella, Manya, Mocha. You understand why you were summoned?”
“Yes. Who’s the target?”
“Huh?”
They seemed to think I wanted them to assassinate someone, as all three had serious expressions. No no, I won’t do that.
However, they were brimming with enthusiasm, as Stella wiggled her fingers eagerly, cracking her knuckles, Manya juggled a throwing knife she had concealed, and Mocha pinched a needle that looked like a five-inch nail between her fingers in a combat stance, having pulled it out from her cleavage.
I shot quizzical looks at Sobas and Mia, wondering if they were always so bloodthirsty, but they both shook their heads, so it didn’t seem to be their normal behavior.
“Who told you to assassinate someone?”
“…That’s not it?”
“No, it isn’t.”
“What a shame.”
“Disappointing.”
Manya and Mocha made disappointed faces at my reply. Something so simple could be handled with a frontal attack, so assassination itself is meaningless to me.
So why did I gather them here? To establish countermeasures in advance for potential issues.
“Listen, I’m assigning you the task of identifying the clients who ordered anyone trying to obstruct the cookie stall’s business, and making those culprits reveal their backers.”
“Has someone already tried to interfere with the business?”
“No, not yet. But you can be sure idiots who try to disrupt successful businesses always appear. When they do, make them spit out who’s behind them.”
“Rolando-sama, may I ask something?”
“What is it?”
When I gave instructions on how to deal with the expected obstruction attempts, Stella spoke up with a question. Wondering what she wanted to ask, I prompted her to continue, and she said something outrageous.
“You ordered us to make them reveal their backers, but after they tell us, we can kill them too, right?”
“No, don’t kill them. We need them alive as a deterrent for the future. But I’ll leave the methods for making them talk up to you, so restrain yourselves. If possible, return them in one piece.”
“I see, that’s disappointing, but I’ll refrain.”
“Let’s chop off their hair and make them bald!”
“Peel off their fingernails a bit!”
Despite their cute appearances, their bloodthirsty words left me feeling a bit conflicted, but for now, the groundwork for potential future issues has been laid.
“So in short, don’t assign these three any mansion work for a while. If you’re short on help, discuss it, and feel free to hire more people, Sobas and Mia.”
“We’ll manage with the staff we have, so no issues there.”
“We can make do with the current personnel, so no problems.”
Since Sobas and Mia say it’s fine, there’s probably no issue, so I end the discussion there.
After that, I had dinner and turned in early.
“W-What did you just say, Master?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. I’m not your master. Also, I’m going to pay you wages.”
“We’re getting wages?”
I explained that I hired them as employees, not slaves and that they would receive proper wages, albeit small.
Judging by the look of surprise on the faces of all the slaves present, it seems they didn’t expect to receive any wages at all. It shows just how exceptionally rare it is for slaves to be paid wages.
“That’s right. However, since I bought you as slaves, I can’t pay the same wages as a regular employee. The amount will be quite small, but I fully intend to pay you wages.”
“Just getting any wages at all is plenty for us.”
“Also, I’ll offset part of your wages against what I paid for you as slaves. Once that amount is offset, those who want to will be freed from slavery.”
“I-Is that true!?”
Carifa rushed over when I explained that. I nodded to her somewhat bewildered look, and she made a delighted expression. The other slaves seemed to feel the same way, with some even shedding tears of joy.
I want them to keep working as employees even after being freed, but I have to leave it up to their autonomy. Some may have become slaves against their will, and some may wish to return home after all.
Anyway, I’ll have them work on the cookie-selling venture for a while, then ask again what they want to do after the slave purchase price is offset.
“Alright, let’s start with the head slave, Meranda.”
“Y-Yes!”
When I called out to Meranda, she came forward looking nervous. While wryly smiling to myself, I handed her a leather pouch containing her wages.
“I’ll be relying on you as head slave from now on too.”
“I vow to fulfill my duties even if it costs me my life.”
Saying that she accepted the pouch on one knee with both hands. Her words felt a bit exaggerated, but her motivation seems good, so I’ll let it slide.
As originally planned, I gave Meranda two large copper coins after deducting her slave price, one large copper coin each to deputy head slaves Shifan and Carifa, and three small copper coins uniformly to the other slaves without particular roles.
For Meranda, Shifan, and Carifa, besides head slave and deputy head slave roles, they also hold concurrent positions as leaders of their respective teams, but they can hand off the team leader roles to others eventually. So I based their wages on their head and deputy head slave roles.
The wages are less than a typical employee’s, but the slaves, who rarely get paid for their work, seemed happy about it, with everyone smiling.
“You’ve all received your wages. You really worked hard today. It’ll probably be similar tomorrow, but keep at it.”
『Yes, sir!』
Getting wages seems to have motivated the slaves, as I got the loudest response today. After stowing away the food stall in storage, I returned to the mansion while Machad and the slaves went back to Commercio Trading Company.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the mansion, I immediately summoned Sobas, who soon came to the room.
“Welcome back, Master. Do you need something?”
“Sobas, before dinner, call Stella, Manya, and Mocha here.”
“…Understood.”
Realizing what I wanted from the names I mentioned, Sobas promptly left the room to fetch them. A few minutes later, the door knocked and there stood Sobas, Stella, Manya, Mocha, and for some reason the head maid Mia, whom I hadn’t called for.
Since there was no harm in Mia being here, I ignored her presence and addressed Sobas.
“Good work, Sobas.”
“It’s only natural as a butler, Master.”
“Right. Now… Stella, Manya, Mocha. You understand why you were summoned?”
“Yes. Who’s the target?”
“Huh?”
They seemed to think I wanted them to assassinate someone, as all three had serious expressions. No no, I won’t do that.
However, they were brimming with enthusiasm, as Stella wiggled her fingers eagerly, cracking her knuckles, Manya juggled a throwing knife she had concealed, and Mocha pinched a needle that looked like a five-inch nail between her fingers in a combat stance, having pulled it out from her cleavage.
I shot quizzical looks at Sobas and Mia, wondering if they were always so bloodthirsty, but they both shook their heads, so it didn’t seem to be their normal behavior.
“Who told you to assassinate someone?”
“…That’s not it?”
“No, it isn’t.”
“What a shame.”
“Disappointing.”
Manya and Mocha made disappointed faces at my reply. Something so simple could be handled with a frontal attack, so assassination itself is meaningless to me.
So why did I gather them here? To establish countermeasures in advance for potential issues.
“Listen, I’m assigning you the task of identifying the clients who ordered anyone trying to obstruct the cookie stall’s business, and making those culprits reveal their backers.”
“Has someone already tried to interfere with the business?”
“No, not yet. But you can be sure idiots who try to disrupt successful businesses always appear. When they do, make them spit out who’s behind them.”
“Rolando-sama, may I ask something?”
“What is it?”
When I gave instructions on how to deal with the expected obstruction attempts, Stella spoke up with a question. Wondering what she wanted to ask, I prompted her to continue, and she said something outrageous.
“You ordered us to make them reveal their backers, but after they tell us, we can kill them too, right?”
“No, don’t kill them. We need them alive as a deterrent for the future. But I’ll leave the methods for making them talk up to you, so restrain yourselves. If possible, return them in one piece.”
“I see, that’s disappointing, but I’ll refrain.”
“Let’s chop off their hair and make them bald!”
“Peel off their fingernails a bit!”
Despite their cute appearances, their bloodthirsty words left me feeling a bit conflicted, but for now, the groundwork for potential future issues has been laid.
“So in short, don’t assign these three any mansion work for a while. If you’re short on help, discuss it, and feel free to hire more people, Sobas and Mia.”
“We’ll manage with the staff we have, so no issues there.”
“We can make do with the current personnel, so no problems.”
Since Sobas and Mia say it’s fine, there’s probably no issue, so I end the discussion there.
After that, I had dinner and turned in early.
