Sword and Magic and Taxi

“I can speak the lingua franca, but poorly, so I need someone who knows the local context.”

Zhao Mai finished this sentence in stumbling common language, and continued to look at the guy in front of him named Ferdinand Green, nicknamed Junkrat.

From the outside, he has nothing to do with creatures like rats. The facial lines are very firm, the body is of medium height, slightly muscular, and the skin is well maintained. Judging from his facial features, he is about the same age as Zhao Mai. He is an older young man, with maturity and passion in his eyes at the same time.

If he could dress up properly, he would definitely be an outstanding young man, but it's a pity that his current patched old clothes ruined his overall image. However, his common language is very clear and his speaking speed is also very slow - or he deliberately slows down so that Zhao Mai can understand - which gives him a lot of bonus points.

I understand, you want to hire me as a servant to help with various chores. Green said: Although this is not my main profession, I am definitely qualified. According to the price agreed by the guild, Neibo The town’s full-day servant hire price cannot be less than 5 silver coins per day. I can provide better services, so the quotation is 8 silver coins per day.”

Zhao Mai thought for a while, and it was commendable that he understood what he meant without much effort. He found that Green was very talented in language. He knew that certain words were important parts of a sentence and emphasized them clearly. In this way, even if the remaining part is not fully understood, the whole sentence can be understood by connecting these main words together. For this reason, it was appropriate to pay more. After all, all of his money was taken from the dwarf illusionist.

The first three days are considered as a trial. I am willing to pay 5 silver coins per day, and then it can be increased. How about this?

Of course, this is allowed by the guild. If you have nothing urgent to do now, please follow me to register with the guild so that I can start serving.

Zhao Mai nodded in agreement and asked about the situation of the guild. Junkrat Green spent a lot of effort to explain to Zhao Mai the role of the guild in general.

The so-called guild is a place that specializes in matters related to private contracts. It can provide drafting, review, notarization, custody and accountability work. It is somewhat similar to the combination of civil court, notary office and law firm. Such a combination has problems such as insufficient division of labor and excessive power, but it is still a very progressive initiative for Golarion at its current stage of development.

The guild's business involves all aspects, and a group of people who specialize in studying documents and writing have determined the elements that should be used to standardize contracts. It is said that they referred to many devil's soul contracts in the process in order to achieve a foolproof level, although this is still just a dream at the moment.

Due to the considerable illiteracy, they often suffered disadvantages when signing contracts and documents. The existence of guilds changed this situation, and the standardized market brought a larger market. Coupled with the negotiation-loving atmosphere in Nebo Town, the guild's business is getting bigger and bigger. Using the service fees collected, the guild is able to hire adventurers to recover compensation from those who broke the contract.

The guild only cares about whether the recovered gold coins can make up for the interests of the damaged person, and does not care about the life or death of the defaulter. Green shrugged and reminded Zhao Mai in a very serious tone: It is easier to kill than to capture alive, and Mercenaries like to work in the most efficient way, so most of the defaulters will not survive.

Is there no local lord? He doesn't care?

If the defaulter still stays in the local area, he will usually go to the guild to explain why he violated the contract. As long as we discuss it, there can always be a solution. Green said: Once you escape, you will leave the jurisdiction of the local lord, and other lords will also I don’t care much about these things, after all, it’s not my own people who are dying.”

Zhao Mai understood. The autonomy of local lords plus a part of tooth for tooth, eye for eye, although this is still an orderly civilization, it is completely incomparable with the world that I am familiar with. Every place has its own rules, every place has its own institutions of violence, and sentences and punishments can come quickly and harshly.

Without a unified constitution and a judicial system with clear division of labor, this is a world in which security is insecure. Perhaps villages and neighbors can still watch each other and protect the most basic order, but after leaving the town, it is a world governed by the law of the jungle.

If you don't have certificates from other commercial firms in other places and don't have a guarantor locally, you have to pay some fees to register your identity, which is equivalent to one-tenth of the value of the contract you want to sign. Green asked: The longest you can How many days will you hire me?”

The longest should not exceed...two months. Zhao Mai thought for a while and replied.

From the clock on the car, he knew that there was a thirty-fold difference in time flow between Golarion and his own world. Here is a stable month of thirty days, which is equivalent to one day on earth. He has been staying for almost half a month, and another half to a month is almost the limit. It is as if he is missing on earth, and someone might find him. He didn't want his family to worry too much.

The name he registered as Mike was used, and the local contact person used the name of Jungle Ranger Carl. This surprised Green, who couldn't help but widen his eyes. Seeing his expression, Zhao Mai asked: Why, is Ranger Carl famous?

Although he is rarely seen, everyone knows him. He is a person trusted by the local townspeople and the Druid community. He was the one who promoted the Druid to help Nebo Town, and he also helped Less than ten years old.”

Zhao Mai picked up the stored grain and showed it to Green. He gave me this dog, and now he is my good brother.

Reserve Liang barked at the right time, and then stuck out his tongue in a cute manner. Green smiled, but other thoughts were on his mind.

After several hours of contact, he discovered a lot of doubts. It was true that Mike, who came from outside the town, did not fully master the common language, but he was not uneducated. When a real country bumpkin comes to the guild for the first time, he will be frightened and overwhelmed by the complicated procedures and novel concepts here, but Mike seems to be at ease and can even point out some shortcomings. .

From chaos to order requires enough learning, but what kind of learning does not include a common language? This outsider has another mother tongue. He stumbles and speaks, sometimes with grammatical errors, but from this he can find the distinctive features of his mother tongue. Green himself is proficient in multiple languages ​​and has not seen similar grammatical habits.

Considering the overly obedient dog and the man's connection to the ranger Carl, Green immediately thought of the Druid community. The mysterious Druid language has never been revealed, maybe this is Mike's heel.

Things get interesting.

Why did you register as a businessman instead of an adventurer? Green asked: Businessmen pay higher taxes, which is inappropriate.

Because I have something to sell, and if possible, I even want to open up a business route, so I must register as a merchant, right?

In fact, you can entrust other merchants to sell them on your behalf, which will lower the cost.

The guild clerk raised his eyes and looked at Junkrat, but did not expose his words. Although Green is right, if taxes are taken into account, the cost of entrusting merchants to sell them will be lower, but the profits may be reduced even more. But the man named Mike in front of him is a smart man with his own ideas, and he should have figured out the reason.