A Fantasy Nerd Transported to Another World

(Author's note: correction: in Chapter 20, I wrote that ten gold coins in the Vorbei Kingdom is the equivalent of 10000 days labor for a common laborer. This was mistaken. That amount is actually only 1000 days labor for a common laborer, not 10000 days labor for a common laborer. It has since been corrected, but I would like it to not cause any confusion when reading this chapter, so here is the scale of money in the Vorbei Kingdom:

Gold Coin: 100 days labor for a common laborer

Large Silver Coin: 10 days labor for a common laborer

Standard Silver Coin: 1 day labor for a common laborer

Bronze Coin: 1/10 day labor for a common laborer

Thanks, and I'm sorry if this caused any confusion.)

After the Sun Knights and Ethan left the Royal Palace, most of the knights went their separate ways for the day with the plan to report back to Mia the next day. After that, Mia said to Ethan "Well, you can pick up your horses from the royal stables when you are preparing to leave town. Anyway, I did promise you that I would help you find some knights for your barony. I have a little bit of time before I need to meet with the Minister of War and the other captains of the Royal Knights to form a comprehensive defensive strategy. I guess that the first place to go is the Mercenaries' Guild. I have a few contacts there that I think are trustworthy, and most mercenaries there are experienced and would prefer the higher paying profession of being a knight to the relatively lower paid and more dangerous profession of being a mercenary."

"Speaking of pay, how much would a knight typically make per year working for a barony of this size?" Asked Ethan.

"It depends a little bit on experience, but ten gold coins per year is generally going to be considered to be a good salary for a knight working for a low ranked noble. That is about three times as much as a common laborer would make in the same amount of time, but not nearly as much as a Royal Knight would make." Said Mia.

"That's good to know. I guess that I could even afford to pay them a little more than that." Said Ethan.

"Paying more than the going rate certainly would guarantee that you get the best people, but keep in mind that there are other expenses to keeping knights on retainer than just paying their salaries. You must also pay to feed them, buy them health potions for any injuries that they sustain in your service, house them and their families, take care of their horses, and maintain their weapons and armor. If any of them use combat magic, you will need to pay for mana potion for them. If you appoint one of them as the leader of your knights, you will have to pay that person more. If you want to transport them somewhere else, you will have to pay the transportation costs. Many people chose to hire squires for their knights, so if you chose to do that, you will need to pay for squires. Additionally, if any of them die in your service, not only will you have to pay to hire new knights to replace them, but it is customary to pay the families of the deceased a pension for decades afterward. In any event, you do have a lot of money from the monster cores from Verafgelegen and from gambling last night, so you probably have enough money to pay them a little above market rate, but be careful not to overestimate your own funds. A baron has many other expenses besides just knights. If I were you, I would pay them ten percent more than the average market rate, but no more beyond that." Said Mia.

"So you would recommend that I pay them eleven gold coins in salary per year?" Asked Ethan.

"Yes." Said Mia.

[So, eleven gold coins times twelve knights is 132 gold coins. That is a little bit more than I made last night from gambling, but I do have more than that in cash, but that is just in salary, not including the other expenses that Mia just said. Still, I also need to hire an alchemist, a stone mason, a blacksmith, and an architect for my barony. Plus, I would like to buy a ship, some weapons, and books on magic if possible. My expenses are really adding up, and I haven't even set foot on my barony yet. Maybe I can sell the rest of my monster cores and then stay here for a few more days to increase my funds further through gambling. I can also use the Vorbei National Library to study magic, but I can not take any books out of the library. In any event, I should gratefully accept Mia's help to hire knights today, as she really knows a lot of the military type people who live in the capital, and she will be very busy after today.] Thought Ethan.

"Alright, I think that I will follow that advice. Shall we go to the Mercenaries' Guild then?" Said Ethan.

They then went to the Mercenaries' Guild Hall building. The first floor most resembled a pub, with a bar with a bartender serving drinks and there were tables with people eating food and drinking beer and waiters and waitresses serving them. Almost all of the people here were armed, but there were no fights between them. There were two features of the first floor which did not resemble a pub. The first feature which did not resemble a pub was that there was a large receptionist desk in the back right next to the bar. The second feature which was not like an ordinary pub was that there was a large bulletin board on the side wall. Nailed to that bulletin board were requests for mercenaries from potential employers. On each request was the amount of money offered, the time period that would be required, the number of mercenaries requested, and a brief description of the job requested. The jobs ranged widely from protecting castles to guarding merchant convoys to even storming the castles of rival nobles. Some of the requests had the name or names of those requesting it, while others were anonymous.

"The guild connects employers to mercenaries. It is a good deal for both the potential employers and the mercenaries. If the employer and mercenary know and trust eachother, they don't have to go through the guild. If, on the other hand they don't trust eachother, the potential employer pays the guild the amount of the request, plus five percent extra which is the guild's fee, and then the request is added to the bulletin board. The mercenary will then inform the guild that they accept the request and the guild pays the mercenaries only after the job is completed. This prevents the employers from just not paying the mercenaries after the job is done, and it prevents the mercenaries from just taking the money up front and not doing the job. The small fee is a good deal to both parties because it keeps all parties involved certain that they will not get ripped off in the end. It is actually a lot like the Royal Adventurers' Guild with the only difference being the types of requests offered. Here, the requests are those that require an organized military force to do a specific thing, usually in a specific way. At the the Royal Adventurers' Guild, on the other hand, it is much more like, 'do this and I don't care how you do this' it could be anywhere from killing monsters to gathering rare materials in the ancient forest, but the guild hall and payment system are almost identical between the two guilds. In fact many people who are members of the Mercenary's Guild are also members of the adventurers Guild and vice versa. Anyway, because you are just paying to keep people on retainer as knights permanently, you really don't want to go through the guild's payment system. I know a band of twelve mercenaries whom I think that you can trust, and they'd be happy to be your knights for eleven gold coins." Said Mia.

"Okay." Said Ethan.

Mia and Ethan then went up to the receptionist desk.

"Is Clovis Schwert available?" Mia asked the receptionist.

"Yes. He's in his office right now." Said the receptionist.