Roland closed the booklet and breathed a sigh of relief.

The large arrival of witches from Sleeping Island would undoubtedly inject immeasurable vitality into the industrial manufacturing of Neverwinter City, but... there were currently several thorny problems facing him.

The biggest of these was the issue of compensation.

They belonged to the Sleeping Spell and were, in principle, under Tilly's leadership. Whether they were willing to accept employment depended on their individual will. Although Tilly's attitude towards him had greatly changed, Roland felt he couldn't bring himself to retract his previous promises and use her connections to drive the witches.

In other words, the job planning in the booklet was just his own intention. How much could actually be achieved depended on how many witches in the Sleeping Spell were willing to join the wave of production.

Lecturing them with slogans like "Labor is glorious" and "Labor changes destiny" would certainly have little effect, and sayings like "For the homeland" were even less meaningful. For them, the only place that could be called home was probably Sleeping Island.

Roland believed that as long as they lived here for a few years, anyone would love this city and regard it as their own. But that wasn't possible now. It was normal for newcomers to be subconsciously wary and concerned about a strange place. He couldn't wait a few years to develop the industry, so in the end, it still came down to compensation.

In short, there had to be desire driving them to work.

He had previously inquired with Tilly about the bounty services that witches provided to fjord merchants or adventurers on Sleeping Island. The prices were quite expensive, mostly ranging from tens to hundreds of gold royals. Although Tilly used this money to purchase basic living supplies and the witches still used a primitive quota distribution system, living a very poor life, it didn't mean they had never seen money.

Moreover, Tilly had three-tenths of the gold royals earned from the Chaos Drink trade at her disposal, and it was foreseeable that she would take out a small portion to improve the living standards of her companions. In other words, even if the witches didn't work, they wouldn't starve to death, and would even live better than they did on the island.

So relying solely on a few gold royals probably wouldn't work.

And what he feared wasn't low pay, but envy—the witches' alliance salary was mostly between one and three gold royals. Why give outsiders more? Even if he raised the latter's salary, it would easily cause controversy: it hadn't changed much in almost two years, and now the Sleeping Island witches arrived and it went up. Did the old-timers have to rely on the newcomers to set off their treatment?

Even if the alliance members didn't say that, Roland wasn't willing to do it.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look at Nightingale, who was lying on a reclining chair reading comics.

Perhaps feeling his gaze, Nightingale turned slightly. "What's wrong?"

A perfect curve.

No, now wasn't the time to think about this. Roland cleared his throat. "How long have you been here?"

"Two years, eleven months, plus twenty-six days," Nightingale sat up straight. "Why are you asking this?"

So precise?

"I remember initially giving you a salary of two gold royals per month, right?"

"Ah, that was the time," she revealed a meaningful smile. "That's right, Anna got twice as much, and I even refused. Later, you repeatedly begged, and I reluctantly agreed to be your personal guard."

There was no begging at all. It was clear that you saw Anna safely pass her adulthood, went back to try to dissuade Hakala, and then completely fell out before deciding to stay! Roland secretly rolled his eyes. "Then in these years, have you ever felt that your efforts and gains weren't proportional, and considered leaving?"

"What are you trying to say?" The smile on Nightingale's face suddenly froze, replaced by a trace of panic. "Why... why would I leave?"

"No, just asking casually," Roland immediately realized that this sentence was easy to cause misunderstanding, and quickly changed his words. "The focus is on the first half of the sentence. Will any witches feel that the salary is too low?"

After confirming that he was serious, Nightingale seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and appeared in front of his desk in a flash. "How is that possible? One gold royal is already half a year's income for an ordinary person. We don't work harder than those workers, so naturally it's not disproportionate. Besides, even if we have a sum of money, everyone doesn't know where to spend it—after all, we don't have to worry about food and clothing. Such a life is something we wouldn't even dare to imagine in the past."

"Perhaps not every witch thinks so..."

"That's nonsense! If you don't believe me, you can ask Wendy," Nightingale said confidently. "She knows the sisters much better than I do."

"Alright," Roland shrugged. "It just so happens that this matter also needs her opinion."

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

"A secret, but you'll know soon enough." Roland smiled slightly.

...

"Your Majesty, I have never thought like that!" Wendy came, and didn't expect her reaction to be even more intense. "Even if you don't pay a salary, I want to build this place well—I once said that Neverwinter City is the witches' new Holy Mountain, and the other sisters are also working for you with the same expectation! If the city hall is short of money, I am willing to give you all the gold royals I have saved."

"Uh... okay, I'm just collecting opinions," Roland suddenly felt a little moved. He touched his nose and turned his head away. "Then is there anything special you want?"

"This..." Wendy was stunned for a moment, while Nightingale began to quickly blink at her. "If I have to say, I think... that... perhaps... if there could be one more bottle of Chaos Drink each month... that would be good."

"Is that you too?" Roland looked at Nightingale.

"Is this playing a wishing game?" The latter chuckled. "Since we can say anything, I think two bottles would be better."

Sure enough, he had a rough framework in his mind for the salary reform for the witches.

If there was any money that was more valuable, it was what money couldn't buy. Although Evelyn's Hundred Tastes Tavern also had many witches patronizing it, the high prices would deter most people, who would instead choose cheaper fruit wine—not that they couldn't afford it at all, but their consumption habits would prevent them from investing a lot of gold royals in such luxury goods.

Moreover, the Chaos Drinks sold in the tavern were all old varieties, and the low sales made it difficult to replace the inventory, so they weren't as fresh as the new products released every month.

What if the Chaos Drinks, which were originally a welfare benefit, became a special purchase item?

Call it a point system, or call it a dual currency system. Gain witches-exclusive rewards through work, and then use these rewards to exchange for things that gold royals cannot buy. Wouldn't that make the work itself more attractive? At the same time, it avoids the sense of loss caused by raising salaries.

In addition, the special purchase items weren't limited to Chaos Drinks. He had countless ideas in his mind that could ensure that they were attractive enough and couldn't be imitated by others, truly making them unique.

Want to get them? Then work hard!