Chapter 995: Hiring help (2)

Chapter 995: Chapter 995: Hiring help (2)

"Sorry I can’t take a more involved role given my position in the adventurers guild, but I can help ease your burden when it comes to adventurers, just leave the majority of the work to me and my staff. We’ll ensure everything goes smoothly and that you receive a thorough report of everything." Like Rana, Ringwald refused to take on a more important role in the management of Niflheim but not because he didn’t want to but rather because of his position as a branch guild master.

It was frowned upon for guild masters to be deeply involved in the management of the territory they inhabit beyond his current role, doing so may in fact result in having to abandon his position in the guild, something he had no desire to do even if it meant a promotion in Niflheim.

"Does no one I trust want to relieve me of my burdens?" Frost openly complained, disheartened by both Rana and Ringwald’s refusal. He needed help but none of them was willing to give him any, not real help anyway.

"Although I can’t help more perhaps you should discuss your lack of personnel with Jaina. She has great managerial skills and since she’s lower ranked than myself in the guild there should be no issue with her taking on dual roles."

"Jaina you say." His first meeting with the female dwarf wasn’t exactly pleasant but she eventually apologised for her previous attitude and was now a stellar employee of the adventurer’s guild, serving practically as Ringwald’s right hand.

"Yes, she’s been eager to take on more responsibilities, putting herself forward for pretty much any task that requires a senior member of the guild to oversee." If she was working at a large guild like in the Capital or even under her father in Furano there’d be an endless amount of work she could sink her teeth into, but Niflheim was still the boonies, lacking much in the way of managerial development, at least at the moment.

"As long as it doesn’t clash too much with her regular work and you’re willing to give a suitable wage I’m sure Jaina would be more than happy to take on office work on your behalf as would some of our entrée staff just don’t poach too many, ok." The guild in Niflheim had gotten into a healthy rhythm recently resulting in excess hands so he was fine with outsourcing them to Frost just as long as he didn’t go overboard.

"Sounds like a good alternative, I still need to discuss this with Calder, but I’ll keep Jaina in mind, thank you Ringwald."

"No problem Lord Frost." Another exited without accepting the job but unlike with Rana, his mood was much more positive.

"Jaina huh, I should probably give Bastion a call and get his take on it." Her father may have big plans for her future, best to get the whole picture before barrelling in with the promise of high pay and incentives.

"Go and fetch Calder if you can." After Ringwald left and he allowed himself to enjoy a nice lunch and strong beverage Frost ordered one of the Ronso guards to summon Calder to his office and thankfully the man was willing to appear but only because he needed to request a larger budget for whatever purchases he was making for the city, something that was happening more and more frequently as the civil war loomed closer.

"Huh you want me to take on a more involved role? More involved than I am now? I’m practically your minister of finance, not a single budget about the city whether that be expenditures, purchases, or taxes fails to pass through my desk at some point or another."

"Urgh..." Frost loosed a groan as he realised every word of that was true, Calder had his hand in pretty much all the city’s finances bar anything related to DP. He was already heavily involved.

"I guess that’s another refusal, I’m oh for three it seems." None of his most trusted and accomplished council members were willing to step up and take on his burdens.

"Not exactly, I’d really like to become your finance minister in an official capacity, that way I’d feel more confident in bringing my own people in to support me in that role as right now I have to do the vast majority of it myself."

"Done, but I still need people to help with the overall management in other departments as well as someone who could take on the role as a representative of the council to save me handling each of their problems personally."

"I can’t help you with a representative of the council nor any roles with much clout, but I can hook you up with office staff, the merchant guild has quite a lot of individuals with clerical experience, as long as you’re willing to pay then I can probably convince a bunch to make the move at least on a temporary basis." This wasn’t anything new, Calder always had this ability, but Frost was rather resistant to letting outsiders into Niflheim’s inner circle.

"As long as you think I can trust them with such work then I’m willing to give them a shot." If it was a few days ago Frost would have vehemently denied such help, afraid to let the common rabble so close to the heart of his personal city but after walking through the Dungeon with Yuna his views changed. He didn’t need to be so controlling, the city after all was merely an extension of his true calling, the Dungeon.

"Great, I’ll make some calls immediately, just give me a list of the positions you’re looking to fill." Calder was amped, having more of his own people here would allow him to better spend his time as finance minister while also solidifying his own position in the city.

"Ringwald also offered to share some of his staff as long as the pay and incentives were fair, he also suggested that I try and employ Jaina in a more demanding role, what’s your take on her?" If Calder could fill in the lower ranks then perhaps it’d be fair to enlist Jaina as his representative or at least as another secretarial role like Yuna’s.

"Urgh so that old man beat me to the punch." Calder muttered under his breath, barely a whisper.

"Hmm what was that?" Frost couldn’t make out his mumbling.

"Nothing, nothing." Calder waved his hands as he bit his wayward tongue, admonishing its useless wagging.

"The adventurer’s guild certainly has highly trained staff, they’d perfect for office work, but their loyalties first and foremost align with the adventurer’s guild so their might be an allegiance clash. Jaina as far as I know is diligent, hardworking and eager to be promoted. With her senior role in the guild she’s certainly qualified to take on such a position and given your friendship with her father I’m sure she can be trusted to put Niflheim’s benefits above those of the guild’s if push comes to shove or at least give you an ample heads up about any conflict."

"Why wouldn’t those serving the merchant guild be of a similar nature?" While he praised the skills of the adventurer guild staff and Jaina in particular Calder was clearly advocating for his own people.

"Simple, merchants and those in the business of making money place profit above all else. As long as you’re paying them a healthy wage a merchant will place you on a pedestal, you’ll be akin to their most respected confidant." Merchants followed money, plain and simple. As long as the pay was high enough a merchant would be willing to do almost anything, perhaps even corrupt their own values.

Such people were very easy to control and manage as their every move could be predicted.

"Merchants don’t sound all that different from mercenaries." Mercs also followed money and were willing to risk their lives for a big payout.....now that he thought about it a lot of people shared this trait. Adventurers often risked life and limb all in the name of making money and or gaining fame.

"That’s an accurate statement, only our methods differ, the end result is the same." Calder didn’t feel insulted in any way at being compared to a mercenary, folk that were stereotypically seen as rough, boorish and lacking in morals.

"Alright you’ve convinced me, I’ll draft a few positions with healthy wages and incentives, please find me a few merchants with office work experience who are willing to sign long term contracts." If making money was their main goal in life he could get away with adding a few extra caveats to their contracts as long as he increased their pay, stuff like NDAs and private concealments, he still didn’t want those residing in Niflheim and those beyond its borders to know of its true military and economic strength.

"Perfect, I’ll get right on it." Calder was all smiles, not only had his budget been increased again but he now had an official position in Niflheim’s management.

"Wait this wasn’t the only reason I called you in for a meeting." Frost quickly grabbed onto Calder’s arm as he tried to leave and get to work on hiring subordinates.

"There’s more." His schedule was already full, taking on more work before he hired help would be impossible, but it wouldn’t look good for the new finance ministry to reject his Lord right after getting appointed.

"Relax it’s nothing complicated and should be within your current means. I need you to gradually sell the items held within these storage rings and then transfer 85% of what you make to these two traders." Frost handed over the rings he got from Anya as well as the additional documents explaining them.

Calder perused the rings, his eyes growing wider and wider with each search, this was quite a lot of cheddar, each piece of equipment was of a high quality, but his instincts were telling him to be suspicious of their source.