( Back at the Berkshire Baron's Palace )
After making his speech in all three towns, Leo finally returned to the Berkshire palace to take care of the paperwork necessary to put the recruitment drive for workers set to start tomorrow, into motion.
Although he had never been a desk worker in his life, Leo diligently signed documents and looked over procedural details with George the butler, as he seriously settled into his new role as the Baron.
"This is not how I imagined my life to be at all…. I was supposed to sit back and eat grapes …. Not work from a shoddy old office" Leo muttered as he signed a paper before starting to read the next one.
"I wasn't hoping to beat hundreds of thugs black and blue in a single night either, but do you see me complaining about it?
I was supposed to be retired, however, I'm sitting here beside you, 100% sleep deprived, to provide you with some moral support, but do I seem grumpy to you?" Ben said, as he told Leo to stop with his whining without explicitly using those words.
"Oh right master, how did you do it? How did you round up all the criminals in a single night?" Leo asked, feeling curious as by the time that he had logged out of the game and logged back in, Ben had worked hard to round all the criminals up in his absence.
"Oh that? It wasn't much….." Ben said, a proud smile spreading on his face as he massaged his shoulders.
"I just caught a couple criminals at first…. Disarmed them, broke their morals, then proceeded to break a few bones and then forced them to take me to their leaders or hideouts.
Then I raided those hideouts, beat everyone inside black and blue and asked them to reveal the location of rival gang hideouts.
It took me about an hour to round up each gang, and by dawn I had captured them all" Ben said, as he casually dropped an epic dad lore that Leo was probably going to remember for decades.
"Hahaha, well that does sound like something you would do for fun, Master," Leo said, completely fanboying over Ben, as suddenly working on paperwork did not feel as bad as it did just a moment ago.
Because of Ben, Leo got to share the credit of capturing the criminals in front of the masses and make his big speech sound like he was a tough guy.
Although the commoners were unlikely to ever find out the truth behind this incident, Leo himself knew that he did not have to lift a finger to restore law and order in his territory, because Ben Fucking Faulkner did it for him.
"Having you in my life is like having a cheat code master. You make life look like a speed run" Leo complimented, however, most of the words he used went over Ben's head, as he wasn't used to this sort of vocabulary.
However, although he did not understand what exactly Leo said, he did catch the emotions behind his words, as he responded with wisdom of his own.
"I'll always do the dirty work for you boy, which is why you must work hard on the legal work.
I can't sit on a chair and sign documents and overlook welfare schemes.
That's your job.
So you must do it well and without complaints.
Be a good Baron and soon you'll get both the grapes and the beautiful office you dream of" Ben advised, as he wished for Leo to be better than him and leave the dirty grunt work to him, while he focused on more nuanced issues bothering the upper class.
"Aye sir–" Leo said diligently, as he started to work on the paperwork with a smile on his face, as he approved the cash funds to be sent to every registration station that he was going to set up tomorrow, so that every signee could receive the promised signing bonus tomorrow.
Although a scheme seemed easy enough to implement on paper, when it came to actual execution there was a lot of planning and logistics that went behind it.
For Leo to proceed with a successful recruitment drive. He had to clear the back-pay for all administrative workers, get in touch with those who were still in the Barony and willing to work and then explain to them their roles for the next few days.
Then he had to decide on the location of these recruitment booths and ensure that each one had enough paper, contracts and money to sign a legal contract and pay out everyone who signed one.
From start to finish it was a complex process that needed a lot of paperwork to be done, which gave Leo a sneak peek into the daily life of a noble, as most nobles usually spent their days doing similar work.
If given a choice between this sort of work or training on Mount Faulkner, Leo would have chosen training on Mount Faulkner 10/10 times, however, Leo understood that at this stage of his gaming career, being a good Baron was more important.
In less than 35 days time, the demons were about to launch a big three front assault on the Empire and the game was only going to get progressively harder from there.
At that time, being a Baron was going to help him significantly, as where the common player struggled, he would thrive and increase his already widening skill-gap with them.
"I need to get the economy of this Barony on its own fucking feet fast and then proceed to building a stable army and defences around this place.
When the war comes for me. I have to be ready for it" Leo muttered to himself, as he realized just how tight of a timeline he really was on.
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/// A/N - Big notice for the month of July.
Guys, for the month of July I have decided to go all in for trying and winning WSA 2024 with this book, so I'm going to write 3 base chapters daily + bonuses, so we can potentially have 24-27 chapters released a week, or a whole volume in a month.
My only request to you guys for July is, please try and re-buy the privilege early, because next month is going to be worth it and because it will really help with my unlock numbers.
Thankyou– ///