Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 52 Payday

"Everyone, get ready—raise your guns, aim! Shoot!"

Vaughn gritted his teeth and lifted the heavy wooden stick in his hand. As required by the training, he placed one end of the stick against his shoulder, keeping it parallel to his eyes.

This stick, made of ironwood, a specialty of the forest, is only about one meter long, but it is very heavy, weighing nearly ten kilograms.

If it were any other day, it would be easy for him to lift more than a dozen iron and wooden sticks at the same time.

But this was the three hundredth time that day that he had lifted the crude stick.

Vaughn felt a wave of numbness and swelling in his arms, and he felt that he could not hold on any longer. Dave and Tommy beside him had already made painful sounds of gnashing their teeth for the two hundredth time.

However, the conditioned reflex brought about by nearly two months of rigorous training still made him subconsciously obey orders. Even he himself was surprised by this strange perseverance.

"All ready—bayonets! Strike!"

The next command came quickly from Pierce's mouth, and everyone immediately pulled out a sharp cone with a ring buckle from their waist, skillfully inserted the ring into the front end of the wooden stick, and held it with both hands in unison.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" Accompanied by low and hoarse slogans, everyone used the same force and angle to push the wooden sticks with spikes in their hands forward and quickly completed three stabbing attacks.

"Everyone—rest where you are!"

Vaughn heard a sudden sigh of relief from the surroundings, and he also breathed a sigh of relief. He tucked the wooden stick under his armpits, sat down on the ground and began to rub his swollen and painful arms.

Several new blisters had appeared on his already rough and calloused palms. Vaughn squeezed them without a care in the world and rubbed them hard in the sand on the ground.

"Brother Vaughn, why are you doing this again?" Tommy slid closer. "The commander said that if you get blisters on your hands and feet, you must go to Uncle Rooney, who's in charge of logistics, and get some ointment to apply."

Duff followed up, "Right! Commander Pierce said that if a wound isn't treated, it'll rot. It's called... infection..."

Vaughn curled his lips and said nothing, thinking to himself that he was not that weak.

Until now, he still didn't understand why Commander Pierce used strange methods and strict training to train them.

But we have to admit that after nearly two months of hard work, the entire militia team has become more presentable, whether it is daily life, formation training, painful long-distance cross-country, or even today's weird gun-raising training.

They all showed everyone the distinctive characteristics of this team - discipline and uniformity.

Their role is definitely not just daily patrols and fighting against those evil orcs who swarm around the territory.

Vaughn couldn't help but recall the large-scale wars between the evil orc tribes that he had experienced in the past. The war drums were beaten and the horns were blown, and then a large number of warriors rushed forward, killing each other and causing chaos and bloodshed.

He now vaguely felt that compared with the orderly organization of his own team, the chaotic fight at that level had an ugly feel, like a fight between hooligans at the village entrance.

……

"Vaughn, today is payday!"

After the training, Pierce walked to the front of the team with a briefcase and announced that the salary promised by the lord, that is, the salary of the militia, would be paid today, and the end of each month would also be set as payday.

Regardless of their exhaustion after training, everyone raised their arms and cheered.

Then Pierce took out a list book and read out each person's name in order from team leader to ordinary team member, and asked him to come forward to receive his salary.

"Ah? This...this isn't money? This...isn't this just a piece of paper?"

Wayne, who was chosen as the team leader like Vaughn, couldn't help but ask questions when he and Vaughn received a stack of colorful pieces of paper handed over by Pierce at the same time.

Vaughn also subconsciously took the stack of papers, rubbed them gently in his hands, and found that there was not a single wrinkle on it.

"This piece of paper is so beautiful!" Vaughn couldn't help but mutter.

The front of the paper is painted with intricate patterns and designs, and a large digital symbol is printed in the middle. The back depicts the line pattern of the lord's castle, which looks lifelike.

"Fifty? This symbol means fifty." After one or two months of literacy education, Vaughn was already able to skillfully memorize the meaning of each numerical symbol. After all, these symbols are the easiest to remember.

Pierce's cold voice was heard at this moment, and the chattering of the crowd suddenly died down.

"In Lord Harvey's territory, only this kind of paper currency called gold yuan can be used for consumption."

"If you're dissatisfied, you can go to the market's dedicated currency exchange office and exchange these notes for metal coins. But I can guarantee that you won't be able to buy even a single pig hair in the territory with those metal coins."

The implicit meaning in the words is very clear. Those who think that the stack of coins called "gold yuan" in their hands is waste paper can now exchange it for silver coins or gold pounds, and then get out of the territory and make a living on their own.

……

Pierce gave a brief explanation and then announced the end of today's training and disbanded the militia.

"Brother Vaughn, can this thing really buy anything?" Tommy was still a little skeptical, holding the folded paper in his hand. "Let's go exchange it for coins. The militia provides food and shelter anyway, so we can definitely save up the money."

Duff grinned and said disdainfully, "If the boss says it works, then it works. I don't care about anything else. I want to buy a new pair of boots!"

The heel of one of Duff's leather boots was worn out by the daily high-intensity training. He would have to wait until the second half of the year for the next free uniform set. He had long been accustomed to wearing light and soft leather boots and no longer wanted to walk barefoot.

Vaughn nodded. He wanted a pair of leather gloves to protect his palms; they were constantly rubbed and uncomfortable. The small group chatted as they walked and soon arrived at a convenience market in a riverside residential area.

This place was just opened a week ago, but there were no goods on the neat rows of stalls. At that time, the territory was still in the stage of distributing supplies. No one had money in their pockets, and no one paid attention to the empty market.

Today was different. It was almost evening when everyone arrived. The market was crowded with people, most of whom were crowded in front of a wooden stall, arguing noisily about something.

"Can I...can I exchange them for coins?"

"Sir, can this piece of paper really be exchanged for food?"

"Where's the meat? Can I exchange it for meat?"

Reiner, wearing a standard wizard robe, sat upright in the wooden shed, with two tall alchemical beasts standing beside him, looking very intimidating.

"Those who wish to exchange their money for coins, please come forward and line up to exchange your money. The Lord will never go back on his word."

He turned his metal skull, and the blue soul fire in his eye sockets flickered slowly. He looked around at the crowd surrounding the wooden shed, scaring everyone so much that they took a few steps back.

In the end, a small group of people stepped forward, exchanged the banknotes in their hands for coins, and then left the market in shame.

After all, these metal coins are not circulated in the territory. If you want to buy goods, you have to exchange them from others.

Vaughn only stood by and watched for a moment before pushing Tommy and asking with a hint of sarcasm, "Are you still going to redeem it?"

Tommy shook his head in fear. He was most afraid of those metal monsters and didn't want to offend the old metal wizard named Reiner.

"Then let's go buy something nice to reward ourselves for our hard work this month!"

A few people walked to a spacious wooden stall and found that the stall was filled with a variety of delicious foods piled up in wicker baskets of different shapes.

"Wow! Smoked venison! It smells so good..." Duff swallowed his saliva with a gulp, staring at the basket full of smoked meat in front of him with his eyes wide open.

"This is fresh tender lamb! Oh my God! It looks so fat and tender!" Tommy also stared at the other food basket and began to drool.

Vaughn looked down a row of food baskets and found a basket of meat with a golden surface, which looked extremely tempting.

"This is……"

"Ha! Brother Vaughn! Why are you here?" Sam poked his head out of the woodshed and asked in surprise.

Vaughn was also surprised, "Why is Little Sam here?"

Sam grinned and replied, "I'm working! The convenience market is owned by the Lord, and we're all salespeople. We get a salary, and if our sales... well, if our performance is good, we get bonuses."

Vaughn frowned and asked in confusion, "Didn't I tell you to go to school? Why don't you just go? If you can't read, you're useless."

He also remembered the classic quotes of Mr. Asdaren, who taught them literacy and knowledge.

Sam was not afraid of his cold face, and explained with a playful smile: "I only come to work at night. I go to school well during the day."

He turned around and brought out a large, flat wooden tray with various small pieces of meat on it.

"Come, Brother Vaughn, try some of these goodies!"

Vaughn was immediately shocked and covered Sam's mouth with his hand. "What are you yelling about? These are the lord's goods. How dare you give them to others to eat?"

"Woo... woo, this is... um... a free... sample!" Sam struggled hard to escape.

"The Lord has already said that customers can try some food for free and buy it if they like it!"

While Vaughn was still hesitating, Duff had already stepped in, grabbed a small piece of golden meat, and quickly put it into his mouth.

"Mmm... delicious! So fragrant! So... crispy!" Dave's eyes lit up and he wanted to reach out to the tray again.

Sam immediately took the tray away and said with a smile, "This is fried pork chop. If you like it, buy some. Please take care of my business!"

Vaughn also tasted a piece. The crispy texture with the aroma of oil made him squint his eyes.

It’s so... so delicious! I’ve never eaten such delicious meat in my life!

"Look at my salary, how much can I buy?" He took out all the banknotes distributed today from his pocket.

Sam took it and counted it skillfully. "Fifty, ten, ten... Wow! Brother Vaughn, your salary is so high, a full hundred gold dollars!"

He pointed to the wooden sign with the number on the basket of fried pork chops. "Five gold dollars can buy a pound of pork chops. Do you really want to spend your entire salary on it? If you don't finish it, it will go bad."

Vaughn had never seen any coins in his life, so naturally he had no concept of money. He waved his hand decisively and said, "Ten pounds of pork chops! The smoked venison has been stored for a long time, so use all the remaining money to buy it."

Tommy came over and whispered, "Leather gloves..."

"I'll buy it after I get my salary next month!"

(End of this chapter)