Payday

The heat showed no sign of letting up, and before anyone knew it, mid-August had arrived.

The workshops of the Xinfei Merchant Guild were filled with cheer that day. Almost everyone wore a smile from the heart.

The reason? Simple. It was payday.

Under the rules Xu Yi had set when he founded the factory, the fifteenth of every month was payday. This was the first proper payday since the factory had opened a month ago, so the occasion called for something more formal, even a little grand.

Sebas arrived at the factory early and presented his summary of the previous month's finances to Xu Yi and Heinz.

Xu Yi believed in trusting the people he hired. He only skimmed the financial report, but Heinz examined it several times from beginning to end, checking almost every figure with Sebas before moving on.

Xu Yi found Heinz's behavior a little exasperating, but he had no objection.

As the Xinfei Merchant Guild's third-largest shareholder after Xu Yi and Viscount Leslie, Heinz had every right and reason to do so. His scrutiny also saved Xu Yi a great deal of effort.

The tense, excited morning passed, and at noon, every employee from the two Production Workshops gathered together. They lined up and came forward one by one to collect their wages.

The first was the dwarf Canby.

As head of the Magic Machine Tool Production Research Workshop, Canby naturally earned more than the other dwarves. His pay was provisionally set at twenty gold coins a month, roughly on par with Heinz's.

Alex came up next.

As Heinz's assistant, Alex earned ten gold coins, slightly more than an ordinary worker.

Then came the other dwarves.

Aside from a few whose pay had been affected by personal matters or illness, each dwarf received his full monthly wage of eight gold coins.

As Master Ranu had lamented, life was hard for the dwarves. Back in their tribe, they had not gone hungry, but apart from the wine they brewed themselves and could drink freely, they had little of anything else.

Since coming to work at the factory, they had been given food and lodging and no longer had to worry about getting by. Now they could earn a full eight gold coins every month, too!

Eight gold coins was hardly a fortune, but it could buy many things they badly needed. Taking those supplies back to the tribe would make life better for their parents, wives, and children.

The thought of their families' delighted faces filled the forthright dwarves with happiness.

And because this life had become possible only after they joined the factory, they looked at Xu Yi with even greater gratitude and respect.

Compared with the dwarves, the students hired from Baron Rector Magic Academy earned less: only five or six gold coins.

For one thing, they were still students, so their working hours were limited. Naturally, they could not earn as much as the dwarves who spent all day in the Magic Machine Tool Workshop.

For another, their job was simply drawing Magic Arrays. It involved magic, but it was straightforward, repetitive work that required little skill, so the pay could only go so high.

Xu Yi had worried that the students might resent seeing others earn more than they did. Yet when they received their wages, every one of them looked delighted, without the slightest hint of dissatisfaction.

Even Olin, who came from a noble family, grinned from ear to ear over his mere six gold coins, as though he had received six hundred.

Xu Yi thought about it, then laughed.

Their reaction made sense. They were students still studying at the academy. Earning wages through their own work was already a pleasant surprise.

Besides, five or six gold coins was a considerable sum to them. A semester's tuition at Baron Rector Magic Academy was only twenty-five gold coins.

If they kept working, they could even pay their tuition entirely through their own efforts.

Most of these students came from ordinary or poor families, and that would ease a tremendous burden on them. Their parents would surely be pleased when they found out.

After paying the students, there was still one group of workers left: the hundred slaves.

How to pay those hundred slaves had troubled Xu Yi for some time.

By rights, they had worked in the factory and deserved wages. But slaves were slaves. However much Xu Yi disliked it, he had to admit that slaves had no standing on the Sains Continent. Under normal circumstances, no one would agree to pay them.

More importantly, the slaves still belonged to Viscount Leslie. Xu Yi had only borrowed them.

Even if Xu Yi wanted to pay them, the money should go to Viscount Leslie. Whether Leslie passed it on to the slaves would be entirely up to him.

So Xu Yi and Heinz discussed the matter at length in front of Sebas. In the end, they decided to give the slaves benefits instead of money.

With summer still scorching hot, Xu Yi gave each slave a Second-Generation Variable-Speed Magic Fan and a voucher for the Metagen Tailor Shop in Bunta City. The voucher would let each of them have an outfit made there, at a total cost of no more than one gold coin.

They also received meat, fruit, and an assortment of everyday necessities.

Together, the benefits were worth about four gold coins.

Xu Yi felt that the slaves' work merited a monthly wage of at least six gold coins, and he had wanted to give them more. Heinz stopped him.

After all, the slaves belonged to Viscount Leslie. If Xu Yi gave them too much, Leslie might take it the wrong way.

Even the benefits Xu Yi considered meager were, in truth, quite a breach of convention.

The slaves had watched the dwarves and students collect their wages with envy. But they knew that as slaves, they could never expect the same, so they simply stood quietly and said nothing.

In fact, they were already quite content with their lives.

Since arriving at the factory, they were no longer scolded or beaten. They ate three hearty meals a day and never had to worry about going hungry.

They still had work to do each day, but it was far easier than the grueling labor they had done for Viscount Leslie.

And their workday lasted only eight hours. Once it was over, they were given no extra tasks.

The last time Xu Yi had asked them to help because the roadwork was short-handed, he had even given each slave a pound of meat as compensation.

The life they lived now was something they had once only dreamed of. They had never imagined they could live in such comfort.

If they could, they truly wished Viscount Leslie would sell them to Xu Yi.

For a slave, having a master like him seemed the best fate imaginable.

So when Sebas announced that the slaves should come forward to collect their benefits, they all froze.

Benefits? What were those? Were they for us?

Only after Sebas repeated himself more loudly and called out a slave's name did they realize they had heard him correctly.

The slave whose name had been called approached Sebas nervously. Smiling, Heinz pressed a Magic Fan, a tailoring voucher, some meat, and the other benefits into his hands.

The slave stared at what he held for a long while. Then his face split into a broad grin, even as tears streamed from his eyes. He choked back sobs, at a loss for how to react.

Xu Yi could not help sighing softly at the sight.

This damned system of slavery should have been abolished long ago.

Once they had finally handed out benefits to all hundred slaves, Xu Yi announced that everyone would have the afternoon off. A thunderous cheer erupted.

With their wages in hand, the dwarves and students were itching to go out and show off. They could barely wait.

By announcing the holiday just then, Xu Yi had given them exactly what they wanted. His standing in their eyes soared.

Xu Yi watched dozens of students rush off together, cheering. Even Olin was swept up among them, and Xu Yi could not help laughing.

The scene reminded him of his university days, when he and his dormmates would race off campus to let loose.

He looked back to see the dwarves dispersing in groups as well. Only the slaves seemed unsure what to do. After a moment's thought, Xu Yi drew Heinz aside.

"Heinz, let's start recruiting."