33 The Mercenariess Guild (1/2)
(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.