Construction Mage - Chapter 8: Mentor & Reparations

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“The formation of Delver Guard Regiments was thought to be a clever notion during its inception. However, we failed to account for the variables at play during implementation. With travel between cities proving to be more challenging every day, it was up to each lord to interpret how these new regiments ran. What was once planned to be an order of guards who kept Delvers in check quickly turned into a quagmire of politics between the Noble Hardliners and Uplifted factions. We must learn from this mistake and think twice before implementing any future policies.”

-Journal entry from Royal Scholar Aedric Quillborn, 3 AD

***

“So?” An imposing woman stood before Clay’s cell with a hand on her hip. She had dark green hair that was tied into one long ponytail. “I did remind Garrick to tell you to come see me when you’re free, but I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

“Hi, Thalia. I’ve got to say I’m happy to see you right now.”

“I bet you are.” Thalia sighed and shook her head while the young commander next to her began unlocking the cell door with an amused grin.

“Sounds like you’re in luck, Clayton,” Commander Kayston said. “To think you knew the steward’s aide. You should’ve opened with that.”

Clay ruefully nodded at his words.

“I only knew Thalia worked as an aide, managing financial ledgers for the guilds. Not someone who had connections with the guards.”

“I believe I told you before,” Thalia sharply chided. “The city administration is always shorthanded. They often hire contractors from the guilds for help in managing the books of various organizations under them. Occasional third-party workers help keep things straight, or so they say. Were you seriously only looking at the numbers when you were helping me out?”

“Eh? Is this a tryst I’m hearing about? Behind good ol’ Garrick’s back?” Kayston chimed in.

He was quickly shut down by a cold stare from the woman he tried to tease. Using the reflexes he honed as a guard, he swiftly retreated to the other cells, pretending to inspect them.

Seeing this, even Commander Zarek wisely left the dungeon at some point as Clay walked out of the cell.

“Thanks, Thalia. I probably would’ve stayed in here for at least a night if it weren’t for you.”

“You owe me one. You better come work it off sooner rather than later.”

“Yes, yes. Just give me a few days to settle down first. I-uh, just moved into the third ring.”

“Yes, I’ve heard, but we can talk about it more somewhere that’s not here.”

Clay immediately nodded. Few people thought of cold and damp dungeons as a good place to have a leisurely chat. It made the filthy streets bearable in comparison, since it at least didn’t make the skin itch.

As if he were waiting for this moment, Kayston rejoined the conversation.

“Then, follow me. I have a room and refreshments prepared while we wait for the other party to show up.”

The three of them quickly climbed out of the basement and entered the guard outpost proper. They passed a few guards who instantly saluted toward the commander as soon as they saw him, but they all avoided looking in Thalia’s direction when they noticed her. Instead, only the desk workers warmly greeted her.

As curious as Clay was about the dynamics, he wasn’t interested in stirring the pot when he had no business doing so. He silently followed the commander to what seemed to be a break room, where a few tables were, along with a modest pantry at the other end of the room. They sat down at a table for four, where tea and biscuits were already prepared.

“So, it seems you’ve achieved your goal of becoming a Delver, I see. I guess that means there’s no longer any hope of the guild recruiting you,” Thalia commented.

“All thanks to you and your husband, of course. I’ll forever be grateful to you two for giving me a job and teaching me to read and write.”

When Clay had stumbled into this new world, there were a few problems that he didn’t immediately realize. One of them was his inability to read and write the language of this world. He hadn’t noticed it at first because he could converse fluently, as if it were English, but it quickly became a problem. It was only inconvenient to be unable to read signs and price tags, but fatal when what Clay wanted to do was taken into consideration. He was new to the world and had much to learn. Being illiterate would slow down his progress extensively and make it impossible to found an Adventurer’s guild like he envisioned.

Thankfully, Garrick had introduced his wife to help him learn when he brought up the issue. He spent the first month with minimal sleep as he studied Common and helped Thalia with her work in exchange. Unfortunately, after a few weeks of constant hard labor and poor nutrition, he couldn’t endure it anymore and stopped visiting.

As they regaled Commander Kayston with the story of how they met, a knock was soon heard. A guard with a gray mantle, but had his face hidden behind his helmet, peeked into the room. Once he spotted Kayston, he held up a hand, and the commander responded in kind. 

“It seems the other party is here,” Kayston declared as he got to his feet. “Let’s try to finish this business before it gets dark, shall we?”

Seeing Thalia had no objections, Clay simply followed along, as his language teacher was likely familiar with how things worked around here. He could leave it up to her with peace of mind.

That’s why he got caught off guard when he was led to a meeting room where a party of Delvers stood waiting. Their armor and weapons were a sight to behold, being a lot more flashy than the regular gear he owned. More shockingly, one of the Delvers was the same red-haired woman who had pointed him out to the guards—his accuser.

“Is this what I think it is about?” Clay whispered to his friend and mentor. “If so, I don’t really c—”

Before he could finish, the red-haired girl stepped forward with a pained expression.

“I’m terribly sorry!” she bellowed as she bowed down ninety degrees. “Please forgive me for putting forth accusations so hastily and without proper evidence. I promise it will never happen again.”

“Calm down, it’s fine,” Clay replied. “I don’t know what caused you to make those accusations, but no harm done.”

“I suspect inexperience to be the cause of this incident here, and I’m glad the apology was accepted,” Commander Kayston commented. “However, it doesn’t take away the serious nature of these accusations, and penalties cannot be avoided. If neither party has anything else to say, let us proceed to discuss the reparations.”

His words prompted the Delvers and Thalia to sit down on opposing sides of the table. The green-haired woman’s gaze made Clay quickly do the same, taking a seat next to her.

He was still a little taken aback at the sudden meeting he had stumbled upon, so he only awkwardly gawked at the opposing party’s equipment while barely listening to the commander’s words.

“As everyone here may or may not know. When someone makes a serious allegation that turns out to be false, reparations should be made. As each incident is unique, we must discuss the matter and come to an agreement on the appropriate amount of reparations. I will be acting as the arbitrator in this case, and rest assured, I will be as fair as possible. After all, it is in my best interest to do so when Delvers are involved.”

None of the Delvers sitting across from Clay reacted to talk about compensation. They likely already expected it when they were summoned. They all simply sat there with their arms crossed and eyes closed, except for the red-haired girl who was guiltily looking around.

“Now that I have made myself clear, let us start by hearing what the victim of this incident believes he deserves.”

The commander turned his gaze to Clay. No, to be precise, everyone in the room did. He froze up for a few seconds as he desperately tried to come up with something to say. Fortunately, there was a guardian angel nearby who whispered some words of wisdom to him.

“State what you think the value of your life should be.”

“Umm, I’m not sure what the norm is, but I highly value my life.”

“I understand,” the red-haired girl swiftly cut in. “I will do my best to repay you.”

“Well, nothing too bad came of it, so I’m not looking to ruin you financially either, so relax.”

As much as Clay liked an easy payday, he couldn’t, in good conscious, take advantage of the young girl across from him. Now that he had a closer look, he realized she was only a teenager. Someone who shouldn’t be harshly punished for the folly of youth.

She couldn’t help but remind him of the younger part-time co-workers he had to manage. They were only in high-school, and it pissed Clay off whenever the Karens and Darens verbally abused them for the dumbest things. 

If he had it his way, he would’ve slashed the tires of everyone who spat at the children for simply doing their job. It wasn’t their fault that their company policy said they couldn’t process refunds for items without a receipt and weren’t part of their current catalog. Nor was it his fault that they couldn’t understand the concept of off-price retailers when he tried so hard to explain it to them, but then still had the audacity to spend hours repeating the same baseless argument. Unfortunately, he needed the job to survive, so all thoughts about retaliation stayed within his imagination.

The girl in question appeared to be lost on how to respond to Clay’s words, while Clay wasn’t looking to push the conversation further. It caused an awkward silence to befall the room for a few moments before Commander Kayston audibly cleared his throat.

“If those are your wishes, we can set the reparations to something more reasonable. In more malicious cases in the past, the penalty was twenty gold coins. So, how about half of that amount?”

Finally, the Delvers sitting beside the red-haired girl reacted. They grimaced upon hearing the price.

“Isn’t that still too high?” Clay defended. “Nothing really bad happened. I just sat in a cell for a few hours.”

“This is a matter that could’ve gotten you executed if it went the wrong way. I think ten gold coins are quite lenient in spite of that, don’t you think?”

“The other party is Delvers,” Thalia whispered to Clay. “Ten gold coins between the five of them won’t be too tough for them to recuperate.”

“But look at them. They don’t seem to be able to afford it,” Clay whispered back.

“Umm, if I may,” the young man wearing plate armor interjected. “While I don’t deny that ten gold coins is a reasonable amount for us to pay, we unfortunately spent most of the funds on hand. It may take some time to find buyers for the skill books we found. I know the rules state that we must pay immediately, but—”

Hearing this, Clay slammed both hands on the table and abruptly stood up.

“Wait! Why don’t you just give me a skill book as reparations, then? Do you happen to have one for the Earthen Wall spell?”

No one responded as they stared at him, stunned at his sudden outburst. Then Clay realized how he had overreacted and plopped himself back into his seat.

“Haha, sorry.”

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