Chapter 11
Honest Labor
Axios, Upper Midgard
15 Ianuarius 652
Folkmoot Hall was known as 'the Guild Hall of Guild Halls'. It was supposedly build atop the sacred circle where tribal chieftains would meet in ancient times, not to be confused with the sacred circle the Great Temple was built on top of. Plenty of sacred circles back in ancient times. This particular sacred circle was now the center of burgher politics. There were lords with their respective slices of the city and authority over them, but most of the practical governance was done here. The Trade Guilds originally had a monopoly on representation in the Common Council, but the balance had since shifted so that one in three aldermen was not connected to any Guild. There were forty-eight aldermen on Council to 106 Trade Guilds. The twelve Guilds that topped the order of precedence--the so-called 'Great Twelve'--were guaranteed seats, which meant the others had to fight over who got the remainder, a fight that became all the more intense once the number of seats available for the Guilds was reduced. Aldermen served for six-year terms staggered so that a third of them would be up for election every two years. Election years were always hell.
As much as Pawel enjoyed sharing trivia with the children, he did not get into local politics today, as that was not what they were there for. Rather than going around to each of the Guild Halls, which would take days to complete, representatives of the Guilds gathered at the great hall of Folkmoot Hall to do their recruiting. The large banquet table that usually dominated the center of the great hall had been moved out and the Guild representatives had set up stalls where each one could explain their business. Supposedly the table was originally one piece, but they had to cut it down into segments to move it out for this monthly event. Pawel doubted the story because how the hell could they get a table that had to be a good thirty meters at least into the great hall in one piece?
Pawel looked at the stalls all lined up and wondered why some of the Guilds even bothered sending representatives. After all, what budding Adventurer was going to want to moonlight as a fruit-seller or a wool trader? Still, having all the Guilds present would help the children get a better understanding of how the World worked, so it was not a total waste, but few absorbed all that much in the beginning.
The group was welcomed by a representative of the Mercers' Guild, a clerk with his beadle at his side. These greetings were all stock performances, but seeing it all again after so many years stirred a strange sense of nostalgia in Pawel.
"Welcome, young Adventurers, to Folkmoot Hall," the Mercer clerk said. "This is where the Common Council meets to handle the administration of this fine city. It is also a place where the one hundred and six Trade Guilds can come together to conduct business, mediate disputes and so on. Today we are going to introduce to the Trade Guilds. If my esteemed colleague in the Adventurers' Guild would kindly yield the floor..."
On the surface, the Mercer sounded pleasant, but Pawel could tell the passive-aggressive undertones in his voice as he spoke to the representative of the Adventurers' Guild. You see, the Mercers' Guild was once the preeminent Trade Guild in the city and in the World at large, but it was supplanted by the Adventurers' Guild because, well, saving the world has a somewhat higher prestige than the work of the common merchantman. Even four hundred years later, the grudge kept going on strong.
"In this, at least, the Adventurers' Guild will happily yield to our most reputable associates," the Adventurers' Guild representative replied. "The floor is yours, my good Mercer."
The Adventurers' Guild representative was no less passive-aggressive. To think that they went through this every month... Pawel certainly hoped that both Guilds had the decency to rotate the representative they sent. If it was the same people, did they come up with new ways to heap empty praise on their rivals each and every time? It sounded exhausting.
The Mercer resumed his speech, saying, "There are one hundred and six Guilds as I said. Of course, our good friends in the Adventurers' Guild are not represented here as you all are already members. You Adventurers enjoy a number of special privileges that we People of the World do not, and among them is the ability to associate yourselves with more than one Guild. Of course, Adventuring is your first and most important profession but it need not be your only one. By picking up a Trade, you open up a new path for earning a living and if you choose well, it can benefit your career as an Adventurer. For instance, a Fighter might want to become a blacksmith to forge and repair his own gear, a Mage into a magecrafter to make enchanted items, a Cleric into an apothecary to combine natural and magical healing, and so on.
"You start out as an apprentice studying under a master. For the People of the World, this is every day starting from as young as age six into your twenties in some cases, but for Adventurers, you may only need to spend as little as one month out of the year with your master. When your master thinks you are ready to set out on your own, you become a journeyman and hone your craft until you can create your masterpiece, which will secure your place as a master yourself. This usually takes many years and not everyone has the skill and dedication to become a master, but we have seen cases of Adventurers becoming masters startlingly quickly, so there is always that to aim for.
"You will be bound to your master by a Pact. If either you or your master chooses to annul this Pact, I must say that it will prove difficult to find another master willing to take you on, but as Adventurers, it will not be nearly so difficult as it would be for a Person of the World. However, I must warn you not to take your apprenticeship lightly. You do not need to make your decision today, and I would in fact discourage you from doing so. Think carefully on it, and if you have any... I say, would you two happen to be these children's Mentors?"
The Mercer was speaking to Pawel and Zofiya.
"Yeah, that's right," Pawel said.
"Ah, excellent," the Mercer said. "By all means, seek the counsel of your Mentors. They can tell you far more than I can about the experience of being both Adventurer and Tradesman. Now, let us go around the hall and hear from the different Guilds. We have a lot of ground to cover, so they will only give you a brief explanation. If you want to learn more, we can arrange for a more in-depth consultation from a Guild representative.
"The Guild representatives are lined up according to the order of precedence. Now, the order of precedence determines the ranks of the Guilds relative to each other. The older the Guild, the more honorable the trade, the more important their function to the Kingdom, and so on all help determine where a Guild ranks in the order of precedence. And we begin with my own guild, the Mercers' Guild, truly first among equals."
"Or second among equals," the Adventurers' Guild representative quipped.
The Mercer shot him a mean glare before putting back on his pleasant facade and continuing, "With our storied history and vital function not just in the kingdom but in the greater World, truly we are in a different league than certain upjumped upstarts who exploit an advantage none of the rest of us can lay claim to."
This was all very tiresome, Pawel thought.
The Mercer actually got to the point as he said, "Nearly all commerce in the World is conducted through us. Clients can, of course, directly commission work from many Tradesmen and Tradesmen who produce goods for sale are free to operate their own storefronts, but when goods need transport to market, a Mercer will be the one doing it. Merchant caravans and village shops all fall under our purview. Our original business was luxury goods, but we have since expanded to pretty much anything that can be bought and sold.
"If you choose to sign on with us, you can be delivering shipments while ranging and of course your fellow Mercers will be more than happy to provide for your lodgings in even the most remote location that we operate. The whims of the market are a concern, but you will be hard-pressed to find more reliable income. As Adventurers, you will be better geared to face any dangers on the road than People of the World, so there is almost nothing but benefit from becoming one of our Merchant Adventurers. Please do give it some consideration if you have any interest in the merchant's trade.
"Oh, yes, one more thing. The Mercers' Guild also has exclusive rights to Appraisers. It is, of course, essential for good merchants to know the quality of the merchandise they are selling, but the skill of Appraisal has more far-reaching implications for Adventurers. It is particularly useful, as I understand it, and a skilled Appraiser will be quite sought-after by Adventuring Companies. It can be quite lucrative.
"By all means, if you are interested in hearing more, please let me know after we are finished here so that I can schedule a meeting with one of our representatives. And now let us move on to our close associates the Grocers, also known as the Pepperers or the Spicemongers..."
And so they continued, going from one Guild to the next, all the way down to the Fossors, who took a particular interest in the one American kid as he had chosen Tantalion the God of Death as his Patron. Even with each Guild only being given a few minutes apiece, the whole ordeal took hours. How they expected to hold the interest of a bunch of ten-year-olds for that long never made much sense to Pawel, but at least they had the sense to take a couple of breaks and provide some light refreshments along the way. Given that the intended audience was a bunch of children, he could understand them serving small beer, but he certainly could have gone for something a little stronger.
* * *
According to Pawel, each of the 48 wards of the city had at least one smithy, but here in the South Quarter there tended to be more. Arjun remembered how there were different kinds of smiths making different things with different materials. Each one had their own little slice and they were not allowed to work outside it unless they wanted to risk expulsion from their Guild and lose their ability to legally work in the city.
Although the new Adventurers were told they did not need to decide on a Trade Guild right away, Arjun already knew what he wanted. After speaking with the Culters' Guild representative, he was told to see a Master Bladesmith called Black Tom mac Tavish. Arjun wanted to try going to Black Tom's smithy on his own, but Pawel insisted on taking him. Arjun did not think it was all that fair to Zofiya to leave her with the other nine children just so Pawel could keep an eye on him. It was different when he was called by the priest of Nyxia the other day. He was going to talk about honest work in the safe part of town, not wandering off on his own in the Rat's Nest or being lured away by creepy night goddess-worshipping cultists.
For a man of Black Tom's reputation, his smithy was not particularly bigger or fancier than any other one Arjun had seen. There were two chimneys to the forge, which was more than some but not that unusual. The forge itself was basically a covered patio attached to the cottage where Black Tom lived.
You could hear the rhythmic beats of the hammer well before you saw the man himself at work. He looked fairly stereotypical for a blacksmith, a big burly man in a leather apron with a bushy reddish-brown beard streaked with white, not that you could much tell the natural cover as he was covered with so much soot from the coal-fired furnaces that you did not need to ask how he got his name.
Pawel stood several paces off and motioned for Arjun to go forward. At least he was not holding Arjun's hand the whole way, but when faced with the prospect of approaching the big stranger all on his own, the boy could feel himself getting nervous, much as he hated to admit it.
Somewhat uncertainly, he went forward, and once he was under the roof of the forge, he tried speaking up to get the smith's attention.
"E, excuse me?" Arjun said.
It was a wonder Black Tom could hear him over the sound of him hammering away at a piece of hot iron, but somehow he did and landed a stroke a little harder than the others to make it clear that he was being disturbed.
"Kinna ye see when a man's waerkin', boy?" he asked gruffly.
Arjun took a breath to muster his resolve, coughing a little from the smoke that was not getting funneled out through the chimneys.
"That, that's what I'm here for," he said.
Black Tom eyed him critically.
"Wha? Ye bin 'ere two munts? Tree? Ye kinna 'ford me waerk, boy. Gae on noo."
Arjun was not going to tell him he had only been here for three days.
"No, I mean I'm here for work," he said. "I want to be a Bladesmith. The Guild said you're one of their best."
Black Tom snorted, "Heh. One of 'em, dey saeys? Ay'd laek te see who dey saeys's better."
"Will you take me on as an Apprentice?"
Black Tom looked at him for a moment, stroking his beard before asking, "Wha's yer Job, boy? Fighter?"
"Thief."
"Teef, is i'? Ye tinkin' ye kin maek yer oon blaedes, eh?"
Arjun nodded/
"That's what I was thinking, yes."
"Tinkin's an 'elluva ting. Noo why maun Ay taek ye on, eh?"
For a moment, Arjun thought about name-dropping his father, but decided against it. He got the feeling with a man like Black Tom, it would have the opposite of the desired effect.
"I, ah, I guess you don't have to do anything," Arjun admitted. "You're the Master here."
Black Tom cracked a grin at this.
"Aye, lad, Ay'm the Maester. Ye lees' noo wha's oop an' wha's doon. Ye wants te be me 'prentice, ye maun agree te stae on fer 'tlees' tree munts, so as Ay kin prooves ye."
"We're gonna be heading out within the week," Pawel said, inserting himself into the conversation. "Don't plan on bein' back no time soon neither."
"Who the 'ell're ye?" Black Tom asked, giving Pawel a cock-eyed look.
"I'm the kid's Mentor," Pawel replied. "We're gonna be settin' up shop in Weinsberg."
Right when things seemed to be going well, Pawel had to go and pull the rug out from under Arjun's feet.
"But, Pawel, if he's willing to take me on--"
"You wanna fall behind the others?" Pawel asked sharply. "If you're stuck here for three months while they're out rangin', you'll have a helluva time catchin' up. Besides, I want you all together startin' out."
"But, Pawel--"
"You're an Adventurer first," Pawel said firmly, taking on his lay-down-the-law voice. "This sort of thing's just a side gig, got it?"
Arjun looked away in frustration. He knew he did not have an argument, but he was not happy about it. He barely even noticed Black Tom leaning in as he looked at him more intently.
"Dere's sumtin' dere in dose e'en o' yern," the Bladesmith said. "Tell ye wha', boy. Ay'll maek a Pact wi' ye an' Ay'll sign ooff on a letter te ol' Rotkopf oot in Veensbaerg. 'E'll tech ye sumtin' in me sted. 'Ow's tha' graeb ye?"
"He could just make the Pact with this Rotkopf, couldn't he?" Pawel said.
"Tha' depen's," Black Tom said. "Daes the boy wan' Rotkopf fer 'is masser or daes 'e wan' me?"
Arjun was not going to let this chance pass him by.
"I want you..." he said, "I mean, if you'll have me."
Black Tom motioned for Arjun to come closer. Arjun did so.
In a low voice, the Bladesmith said, "Lissen 'ere, boy. Ye e'er get oot frum unner Maether 'En o'er dere's wing, ye cum baeck 'ere an' Ay'll taek yer measure. If Ay sees yer fit an' ye put the waerk in, I'll maek sumtin' of ye. If nay, I void the Pact an' ye kin fine waerk elsewhere. Wha' saeys ye?"
Arjun nodded.
"In dis shop, when Ay ax ye, ye maun aenswer wit' 'Aye, Masser' or 'Nay, Masser,' an' ye dae i' guid an' lood. Sae Ay ax ye 'gain, wha' saeys ye?"
Eager to make a good impression, Arjun recalled what he saw in a movie about army training or something like that and in a properly loud voice, he shouted, "Aye, Masser!"
Black Tom slapped his knee and laughed.
"Tha' be it. Noo ye cum baeck 'ere tomorra a' dawn an' ye an' me, we gaes te th' Temple an' we maeks aer Pact, aye?"
"Aye, Masser."
"Aye?" Black Tom asked pointedly.
"Aye, Masser!"
Black Tom gave a little satisfied snort, then he called out to Pawel, "Ye dere, doan be coddlin' the boy laek 'e's some wee bab. The Waerl' ain't goot nae mercy fer sech."
"I know all about how little mercy the damn World's got," Pawel said grouchily.
"Den act the paert. Be a man. Let 'im be a man."
Ignoring what the Bladesmith was saying, Pawel said, "I'll see he's here at dawn."
"Nay, 'e cums aloon or dere's nae Pact. Ye gaet me?"
"Yeah, I got you," Pawel said with all the enthusiasm of a child being told to eat his vegetables or there would be no dessert. He then called to Arjun. "Come on, kid. Let's go."
Before Arjun could follow after him, Black Tom grabbed him by the sleeve and told him, "Ye kinna be a man lon' as 'e's 'overin' o'er ye. Ye remember tha'."
This was one time where shouting "Yes, Masser!" would be ill-advised, but he certainly thought the Bladesmith was on to something.
