“Good morning! Is Mister Barry home?”
Ann had guided us to the home of a certain fellow who she thought could handle being the foreman for our labyrinth construction project. The house was a red brick bungalow located a little ways from the center of the village. Between all the kobold children playing in the garden and the house’s weathered condition, the impressive structure looked less like an exercise in ostentation and more like a result of necessity. Big families needed big houses.
“Aye, is that you, Ann? My, how time passes.”
A well-muscled male kobold walked out of the house. Though his physique was impressive, his most striking feature was his missing arm. His body was covered with scars, and he sported a big, furry beard. Though not exactly frightening, he did look a little rough around the edges.
“You look well! Haven’t seen you around in a while, so I was getting worried.”
The old man smiled broadly and produced a sweetened rice cracker from his pocket, handing it to Ann. He looked like a doting grandfather sneaking some candy to his favorite granddaughter. Ann had described him as a kindly old fellow. Spot on, if you asked me.
“Oh, this looks grea—wait, hold on, me, don’t get distracted! Mister Barry, I’m here on business today!”
“Oh, are you now? What business do you have for me, Ann?”
“Ummm... You tell him, Aoi!”
Wow, way to set me up for success, Ann.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Aoi, one of the Great Dark Lord’s labyrinth managers.”
“Oho, Ann, this must be the fellow. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you got married!”
Uh. Hmm. I had picked up a few title changes in my past two months here in Milt. I’d started as “The Guy Who Hired Ann.” Then, after about a month, I’d leveled up to “Ann’s Sugar Daddy.” Now apparently I’d been promoted all the way to “Ann’s Husband.” Rumors always grew out of control in tiny communities, but this one was turning into a real wildfire. I couldn’t believe how much it had grown in just a month.
Incidentally, every time the rumor got crazier, Ann’s best friend Sara would storm into our hut and start grilling me, asking me if the stories were true and just what did I think I was doing to her Ann. I shuddered to think what the stories were saying about us now. I had my suspicions about just who was sowing all these irresponsible rumors about us: the village’s fiercest matchmaker and Ann’s staunch advocate, her aunt Jenny. I’d already accepted my fate with Ann, but Jenny didn’t seem satisfied with that and wouldn’t accept anything less than the removal of all possible obstacles between us. I hadn’t proposed to Ann, or even initiated a romantic relationship, but I had said a few words to her at one point, and denying those now would be in poor form. I couldn’t bear the thought of breaking her heart.
Ugh. This marriage thing was clearly Jenny’s work in action, but even if I could see it coming, I couldn’t dodge this bullet. I mean, I couldn’t just go and deny this kind of thing outright, you know?
“Married, eh he heh...”
Ann ran up to my side and glomped me, her eyes shining and her cheeks flushed. Yeah... Denying that was clearly not an option. Throwing a bucket of cold water on Ann when she’s this happy would be worse than sadism. It would be inhumane, I’m telling you! Absolutely inhumane!
“So, uh, at any rate, I came here to offer you a big job, Mister Barry.”
I stifled my urge to object and tried to continue the conversation. Barry looked at me approvingly, so at least it looked like I’d made the right call there.
“I’m trying to build a new underground extension for the labyrinth I manage, under the orders of the Great Dark Lord. I’d like you to be the foreman for the construction project.”
“Oh really. Now that’s a grand enterprise if I’ve ever heard one.”
His voice was soft, his mood sober. He’d gone from an affable old man to a canny expert in a heartbeat.
“Would you really want to hire a retired old hound like me for such a big job? I reckon there are plenty of young, active workers if you go to the nearest town.”
“That’s true enough.”
I nodded. I would certainly have been able to find a more active construction foreman if I’d made the longer trip to an actual town. But there was a reason I was looking for a foreman from the village itself.
“But I want you, and I also want every worker on the project to be from Milt. You know the villagers better than any city foreman would, and you know what jobs they’d be best at. You would be the perfect manager for them.”
If I were hiring professional builders, familiarity would be less important, but the villagers here were farmers, not construction experts. Having a foreman they knew and trusted would make all the difference in the quality of their work.
“Hmm, I see. A good reason, that. Plenty of folks think there’s nothing more to a construction project than throwing money at it until it’s done.”
I’d been doing a decent amount of management lately in my job, but I felt I knew the field intimately from my gaming experience. I remembered one administrative sim in particular, the sixth in a long-running series of city-building games called Some City, which I’d poured a ton of time into. As the foreman, you were supposed to oversee large construction endeavors, and the game emphasized the importance of good relations among your workers. Knowing their individual strengths was important, as was managing their fatigue. If you made the most out of their skills and status points, you could dramatically improve both the quality of construction and the time to complete a job. The series had been designed by an actual civil engineer, so the game was as close to reality as possible, from the construction methodology to the logistical planning. Recently, I’d been desperately studying it in hopes of building up at least some familiarity with the basics of architectural planning and execution.
“I’m well aware that, while you do need funds to undertake any construction project, that isn’t all you need. Barry, I think you’re just the man I’ve been looking for.”
“Well now, I just don’t know. I’m delighted you’d turn to this old man for help, but I’m not as spry as I used to be.”
Barry stroked his beard and murmured. I may have landed Mary by offering her a fat paycheck, but I had a feeling that wasn’t going to work with this retired artisan. Fortunately, I had a secret weapon.
“Ann, you’re up.”
“Roger! Leave it to me!”
I whispered Ann her cue, and she leaped into action.
“Oh please, won’t you help us, Mister Barry? Pretty please? You’re the only one we can count on!”
“R-Really? All right, all right. May lightning strike me down before I deny my precious Ann anything. I suppose these old bones have one more job in them.”
All it took was Ann asking, and every ounce of reservation he had melted away like snow under the sun. Ann’s cuteness was a force to be reckoned with. I couldn’t tell if Barry was just weak to children, being a grandfather, or if Ann’s persuasion skills were just brokenly OP.
“All right then. I’m Barry. Half kobold, half dwarf. I may be a bumbling old fool, but I deliver when it counts. Here’s to a good partnership.”
Barry turned and gave me a courteous nod. You know, I did think he was a little beefy for a kobold. Half dwarf, huh? Did Barry have a dwarf form, the same way Ann had a human one?
“The pleasure is all mine. I look forward to working with you.”
His handshake was so firm you would never have thought he was an old man. So, we had our foreman. One more item to mark off the to-do list.
“I’m going to the mayor’s house to ask him about hiring some of the villagers. Would you be willing to come along? I’d like to get your opinion.”
“Aye aye, boss. No need to be so stiff with me. You’re in charge now.”
Listening to Barry gently ribbing me, I grew certain that I’d made the right choice. This old man was more than he seemed.