Factory Manager and Assistant Factory Manager

From a distance, Heinz saw Xu Yi approaching the factory with a ragged crowd of men and women trailing behind him. The sight gave him a start.

Had Xu Yi somehow caught the attention of Bunta City's "Beggars' Gang"?

As the crowd drew closer, Heinz realized something was off. Walking ahead of the ragged men and women, alongside Xu Yi, was an elderly man in fine clothes whose every movement carried an air of refinement.

"Butler Wenlai? What brings you here?" Heinz asked in surprise.

Butler Wenlai nodded to Heinz without answering, then turned to Xu Yi. "Chairman Xu, I've brought you the people. From now on, these hundred slaves are entirely at your disposal. You may order them to do whatever you like. But the Viscount also said they are only on loan. He is neither giving them to you nor selling them, and he expects you to fulfill your promise to him. If you cannot, he may take them back at any time."

Xu Yi smiled. "Of course. Thank you for bringing them here yourself, Butler Wenlai."

Butler Wenlai turned and gave the men and women behind him a few instructions. They shuffled over to stand behind Xu Yi, looking ready to obey.

"Well, my task is done." Butler Wenlai nodded to Heinz again, then addressed Xu Yi solemnly. "Xu Yi, the Viscount has not told me why he is placing these hundred slaves in your care. But as his butler, I must remind you that they are important to him as well. By entrusting them to you, he has shown his faith in you. I hope you won't disappoint him."

Xu Yi gave a slight smile. "Don't worry. If the Viscount didn't have confidence in me, why would he have agreed to my request?"

Butler Wenlai nodded and said no more. He turned and left.

Once Butler Wenlai had climbed into a carriage in the distance and departed, Heinz could no longer contain his curiosity. "Hey, Xu Yi, what's going on? Are all these people slaves? And they're all Viscount Leslie's slaves? Why would he let you use them? What terms did you agree on?"

Xu Yi raised a hand, cutting off the barrage of questions.

"We'll talk about that later. How are the houses I asked you to build coming along? Let's get these people settled first."

Heinz gave Xu Yi a suspicious look, then shouted toward the factory building. A moment later, his nephew Alex came running out.

After listening to a few instructions from Heinz, Alex led the slaves toward several large wooden houses near the river.

"Heh... I've had more work than I can handle, so I called him over to help," Heinz explained, looking a little embarrassed. "The boy isn't the brightest, but he takes his work seriously. Having him help me manage this place has saved me a lot of effort."

Xu Yi smiled and patted Heinz on the shoulder. "That's my fault. I've put everything on you. With the workload growing, I should have found someone to share it long ago. It's good that you brought Alex in. At least he's one of our own, so we can trust him."

"That's what I thought too. Of course, Chairman, if you have someone better in mind, I'll send the boy straight back to mind the grocery store."

"That won't be necessary. Now that he's here, let him work hard. Let's use this opportunity to define your roles. Heinz, you're in charge of production and all the day-to-day affairs here, so you'll be the factory manager. As for your salary... let's set it at thirty gold coins a month for now."

"What? I can't take that!" Heinz froze, then waved both hands. "I own a share of the business. Managing this place is already my responsibility. How can I take a salary on top of that?"

"Your shares and the work you do are separate matters. You should be paid for your labor. Managing this place takes a great deal of your time and energy, and thirty gold coins a month is actually quite little. But we're only just getting started, so that's all we can set it at for now. Once the business grows, your salary will go up." Before Heinz could object, Xu Yi patted his shoulder again. "It's settled!"

"This... I... I can't possibly..." Heinz rubbed his hands together, looking embarrassed, but offered no further protest.

Xu Yi smiled and continued, "As for Alex, we'll make him assistant factory manager. His salary..."

"No, no, no, no! He should count himself lucky just to be here helping. How could he ask for a salary? You really don't need to worry about paying him!" Heinz said hurriedly.

Xu Yi laughed and pointed at Heinz. "You'll be taking thirty gold coins a month while he doesn't get a single copper coin. Do you think he'd be happy with that? Enough. I've decided: ten gold coins a month to start. If he does well, we can raise it anytime. What do you think?"

Heinz chuckled twice and did not object.

Seeing how hard Heinz was trying to contain his excitement, Xu Yi found it rather amusing.

It was only natural for Heinz to secure some benefits for his nephew. Xu Yi held no prejudice against that.

As he had said, Alex was one of their own, someone they could trust.

Besides, it would make Heinz more invested in the factory. That could only be a good thing.

Their salaries were a minor matter anyway.

"By the way, Xu Yi, you still haven't explained what's going on with those slaves," Heinz said once his excitement had subsided.

"Oh, I borrowed them from Viscount Leslie for the time being. We'll be investing more and expanding production soon, so the factory needs a lot of workers. These slaves are obedient and easy to put to work, making them ideal. Also, get in touch with a few more construction crews in Bunta City and have them build several more houses as quickly as possible. The dwarf craftsmen I've contacted will arrive in a few days, and they'll need somewhere to stay."

"All right, I'll take care of it. Anything else?"

"Anything else..." Xu Yi glanced at Heinz and shook his head. "Not for now. The main thing is to get the slaves and dwarves settled. Heinz, don't neglect them just because they're slaves and dwarves. They're vital to the growth of our company."

"I understand. I'll do everything I can to arrange things properly." Heinz nodded gravely.

Xu Yi sighed. He still had far too few people.

Heinz was factory manager in name, but he was also handling personnel and logistics. Nearly every matter, large or small, fell to him.

The factory was still small and production limited, yet Heinz had already needed to bring in Alex to help. Once it grew further, there was no way he could manage everything alone.

But people with management talent were often even harder to find than researchers. There was no quick solution.

After giving Heinz a few more instructions, Xu Yi entered the workshop.

The thirty students he had hired were at the academy for classes today, leaving the workshop unusually quiet.

Looking around the empty workshop, Xu Yi could not help lamenting the shortage of workers again.

For those students, their studies at Baron Rector Magic Academy ultimately mattered more. Even with signed contracts, they would never make this work their priority. To them, it was merely a way to earn money while studying.

For a factory, however, a stable and lasting workforce was crucial.

Xu Yi could recruit students in large numbers to do the work, but they had been shaped by the traditional values of the Sains Continent. They considered becoming powerful mages far more important than working here, so it was unlikely they would stay as long as he hoped.

"Two solutions. First, cast a wide net. Magic flourishes across the Sains Continent, and there are plenty of mages. Some of them are bound to be struggling. They still need work to make a living, and these jobs do suit their skills. Some should be willing to come. As for the other solution..." Xu Yi fell deep into thought.

The other solution was to lower the skill required to draw Magic Arrays.

The Wind Spiral Array used in the current Magic Fan was a low-level Wind Element Array, one that even students still in school could draw. But Xu Yi planned to bring out many more industrial products, and the Magic Arrays they required would likely go beyond low-level arrays.

Drawing advanced Magic Arrays would certainly demand a corresponding level of ability from a mage.

At that point, it would be difficult to recruit large numbers of mages at will to do the work.

What Xu Yi could do was reduce the magical power these Magic Machinery products needed, lowering the strength and level of their Magic Arrays and making them as easy to draw as possible.

But that was an enormous undertaking, one that would require a tremendous amount of time and effort to research.

Even improving the Wind Spiral Array used by the Magic Fan was already extremely difficult for Xu Yi. Every new product he wanted to make would present the same problem.

There was no chance he could solve all of them on his own.

Xu Yi knitted his brows and paced through the workshop, thinking about how to tackle the problem.

As he neared the students' workstations for drawing Magic Arrays, a cool breeze swept over him and cleared his head.

He looked up and saw that the Magic Air Conditioner Prototype on the wall was still running.

"Why is it on when no one's here? Isn't that a waste?" Xu Yi muttered. Then he remembered he had instructed them to keep using the Magic Air Conditioner so they could test its performance.

"I wonder if they've found any problems yet. I could collect their findings and take them to Great Mage Camilla..." Xu Yi narrowed his eyes and murmured, "It looks like I need to have a proper talk with Great Mage Camilla."