January 4, 1615 Central Calendar, 16:25

A town in northern Doric Province, Eastern Parpaldia Empire

Several days had passed after New Year’s Day. Each nation has its own way of welcoming 1615, from brilliant festivities that light up towns and cities to solemn prayers, the people around the known world all hoped that they are always blessed with fortune as they started the new year. However, for a town located just a few kilometers north of Duro in the eastern Parpaldia Empire, a ‘great power’ in the Eastern World, the atmosphere was filled with gloom as the snow continued to fall lightly from the heavens above.

Walking through the empty dirt road of the said town was a figure of a young male, possibly in his early twenties, wearing thick but dirty winter clothing all over his body to ward off the cold. After walking some distance, he turned and arrived at a wooden house on the outskirts of the town, knocking on its front door.

The young man waited for a moment before the door opened to reveal a slightly younger girl who greeted him.

“Ah, Ehren, welcome home.”

“Yeah… I’m home.”

The man called Ehren was ushered by the girl to enter the house. However, the interior of the house was not much warmer than the outside for the young man, who grimaced bitterly as he walked inside. Inside, Ehren was met by the sight of a group of people sitting at a round table, an older woman, a young boy, and a little girl. These people were his family, who despite their glum demeanor, was able to give Ehren a small smile upon his arrival with the girl walking behind him.

“Brother! You’re back!”

“Everyone, I’m back,” Ehren nodded, “I brought you something to eat, it’s not much, but at least it can fill your stomach for the night.”

From inside the coat he was wearing, he took out a bundle and placed it on the table. When his younger brother reached for the bundle and opened it, revealing it to be two loaves of cold hard bread. The family soon divided the meager food equally and began eating, thanking the gods that they still have something to eat in this day and age.

Ehren’s family is a farming family of six living in the rural areas of eastern Parpaldia, with him as the eldest child, followed by his sister, Irene, who was two years younger, and the second son, Ruud, who was ten years old, and the youngest child, Teresa, who was six. During the normal days, Ehren will help his father tend to the farm, sell the harvested crops to the town, and stock up for the winter.

Usually, Irene will also go to the forest to gather firewood, and sometimes she will go hunting and bring back some skinned rabbit or if she is lucky, a deer. She is a very skilled hunter with a bow and arrow, but when she tried to use his father’s matchlock magic musket, she threw off her aim and after that, she never touched it again.

It’s not much, but it’s honest work. They continue to live their humble pastoral life without any particular grievances.

However, seven months ago, Ehren’s father was conscripted into the army and was sent to the invasion of the north. Although Ehren was nineteen years old, he avoided conscription by faking an injury as told by his father, thus leaving him to take care of the family. His father promised to send letters every month, but after the first two months, the letters never came. This was at the same time as the Parpaldian Army’s advance was bogged down by the surprisingly fierce resistance of the northern territories.

Thus, Ehren resigned to the fact that his father may be already dead on some barbarian mud somewhere in the north, but he never said it out loud to his mother and siblings.

However, disasters struck one after another. Unexpected storms occurring near the harvest season had caused a widespread crop failure for farmers living in the eastern Parpaldia, the country’s largest wheat-producing region, dooming not a small number of people, including Ehren’s family.

With the huge loss of income, Ehren tried to find a job in the town, hoping to earn some shillings for himself and his family in order to survive the winter, but none of the factories or mines are interested in hiring him, preferring to use ‘free labor,’ or, in other words, slaves, as their workforce. These slaves are brought from the subjugated countries or smaller nations that were forced to provide a certain number of them as demanded by the Parpaldia Empire as yearly tribute. For some, human cargo makes for lucrative trade. However, the common Parpaldian people like Ehren despised the slaves for stealing their job opportunities.

After three months of fruitless efforts, the family’s savings began to run out, and the rising food prices meant that their money could only buy even less food than before. He did not dare to say to his mother that the money she had given him was only able to buy one loaf of bread, and he had to steal for another.

After finishing dinner, the exhausted Ehren and Irene sat facing each other in the living room.

“None of the places I visited want to hire me, sorry,” Ehren began, “What about you? Did you go to the forest today?”

“Well… I did go out today… but I can’t find anything, not even a rabbit,” Irene answered.

“I see, it’s alright,” Ehren mused, “There are never that many animals in that forest to begin with, maybe others who began hunting them made it even harder to find a catch.”

“But don’t worry, Ehren! Perhaps if I go deeper, I can still find something and we can have some good meat!”

Irene tried to keep optimistic in this dire situation, but Ehren shook his head.

“That’s too dangerous—”

“Then what should we do? Do we even have any option left?” Irene retorted, causing her brother to shut his mouth.

For a moment, Ehren thought of borrowing some money from a wealthy merchant in town, but that will be a gateway to becoming a slave. If he can’t pay the debt which Ehren was damn sure will be charged with an exorbitant amount of interest, he will fall even deeper into debt and ultimately the only thing left is to become a slave. That is the last thing he wanted to happen to himself and his family.

Alternatively, he can steal. It may be against what his mother always tells him and it will surely hurt her feelings, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, he had already stolen one piece of bread before. There’s no time for being idealistic if he wants to live.

“…I’ll think of something. Tomorrow I will go to the town once again, let’s hope that there will be some good news by then.”

“I really hope so, Ehren, I really am.”

After that, the two siblings called it a night and retreated to their rooms, which they shared with one of their siblings.

January 5, 1615 Central Calendar, 07:00

The next day, Ehren visited a tavern in the town by the time the sun had risen. He wasn’t there to drink, but to gather information before going on another job hunt. Since this tavern has a magical transmission device where they can listen to the news once every weekend, it was crowded with people. Even in times when the region’s economy was crippled, this tavern is never empty of visitors. After entering the tavern, he stood at one corner of the building.

“Hey, is there any news—”

“Shhh!”

Someone newly arrived at the tavern yelled out, but the rest hushed him. Ignoring the person, Ehren turned his attention to the device.

“…Next news came from the Doric Province in Parpaldia Empire, the Third Civilization Area…” the voice of a female newscaster was heard from the magical transmission device, “The crisis following the harvest failure caused by unexpected poor weather several months prior is reported to be still persisting, and the food prices are reported to continue to rise. Furthermore, a number of food processing industries are reportedly closing down, resulting in a spike in the unemployment rate in Doric Province and its surrounding regions. This high rate of unemployment in eastern Parpaldia is exacerbated by the fact that business owners who responded to this unforeseen economic downturn began to terminate their paid labors in favor of increasing the number of free laborers. The Parpaldian government had promised to overcome this crisis but so far, no concrete actions are observed.”

The patrons and employees of the bar listened to the news with bitter expressions. The shortage of food coupled with high demand has caused food prices to skyrocket and their livestock began to die one by one of starvation as winter came. The farmers were not the only ones affected by the crop failure, as the deteriorating economic situation in the region had forced other industries to fire their paid laborers and replace them with expendable slaves. And just like the Parpaldia Empire’s halted invasion of its neighbors, the government’s response is ineffective. Truly a terrible way to start a new year in eastern Parpaldia.

“On to the next news. The government of the Holy Milishial Empire had announced the recruitment of personnel for the infrastructure and resource development projects in the Altaras Kingdom. The Holy Milishial Empire’s companies, which previously only opened recruitment for workers on the island, had announced through the Holy Milishial Empire’s government that they extended the offer for the rest of the Third Civilization Area as the development projects began to expand into more areas.”

Hearing the newscaster’s words, they looked at each other. The Holy Empire is recruiting workers for their development projects?

“According to the announcement, the requirements are that they must be of legal age according to the Holy Milishial Empire’s law, which is 18 years old; in good physical condition; and willing to be placed in the designated area. Furthermore, the announcement also stated that food, accommodation, and transport to the worksite will be guaranteed by the employers.”

The tavern clamored. They cannot believe their ears at the unbelievably generous conditions offered by the Holy Empire. At the same time, they leaned forward as the newscaster continued to read the news.

“W-what about wages!?” someone from the back of the crowd shouted.

As if answering their questions, the newscaster continued, “The Employees will be paid a monthly salary of 50 Milishian zollarks with the work duration of eight hours a day and six days per week. The salary will be paid weekly for the first month of employment, before shifting to monthly payments in the following months. If you are interested, please visit the employment bureau established at the Holy Milishial Empire’s embassies in each country. This concludes today’s World News. On behalf of all of us at Millicent Broadcasting Service, see you next time.”

The listeners fell silent, trying to digest the information they just got. After several moments of silence, one of the visitors raised his voice.

“Err… just how much is fifty zollarks?”

“One Milishian zollark is nearly 20 paso… 50 zollark per month is like… almost 1.000 paso!” one helpful employer answered in an increasingly louder voice.

Hearing this, the noise became even louder as the whole tavern practically screamed.

“Are you serious!?”

“No way, I don’t believe it! It’s too much money!”

“But it’s an official statement, right!? Why would they be joking with that!?”

“Our monthly wages on the other hand are a joke compared to that!”

In Parpaldia, an average (paid) male factory worker might earn 25 shillings (or 1,25 paso) per week, with a six-day, 72-hour workweek. This means the Parpaldian laborers will have to work 12 hours a day in horrendous or even deadly working conditions with a 5-paso monthly wage. In contrast, the current average wage in the Holy Milishial Empire for the same profession is 25 zollarks (493,75 paso) per week, with a work duration of eight hours a day and six days a week, of course, with a much better working environment. This shows how different the standards of living are between the two countries, even though both are classified as great powers.

Furthermore, after the Holy Empire revised the Minimum Wage and Labor Protection Act in 1612, the monthly salary offered for the Third Civilization Area this time is actually the most minimum wage in the Holy Milishial Empire. Some Milishian conglomerates, such as the Aikon Corporation, the world-largest telecommunications company, or Wellston-Martini, the renowned automobile manufacturer, instituted a shorter working duration with at least double the standard monthly wage.

As the others clamored upon the statement conveyed by the news, Ehren, who was standing alone by the corner of the tavern, swallowed hard at the amount of money. If he can somehow earn that much money, maybe his family can live a decent life. Heck, they can become rich. However, one hurdle presented itself.

“Everyone seems to be getting worked up by the news, but what about you? Are you willing to take the gamble and go to some barbaric island outside civilization for all those money? Are you desperate enough to do so?”

A voice suddenly broke Ehren’s musing, and as he turned in the direction of the voice, he found a man who looked like he is slightly older than him leaning against the wall with crossed arms.

“………”

“Well?”

“Who are you?” instead of answering the man’s question, Ehren asked back with narrowed eyes.

“Ah, pardon me. My name is Herman Willem de Vries, I come from the town of Vries, if my name isn’t obvious enough. I just arrived at this town yesterday morning, by the way,” the man, Herman, said, bowing slightly.

“I see, I’m Ehren Giovanni van den Bosch……” Ehren introduced himself in response to the man’s words, before he realized something, “Vries? So you’re from a neighboring town then, what brings you here?”

Herman raised an eyebrow, but answered nonetheless, “Desperation brought me here. I used to be a paid miner but ever since the food crisis struck, my employers sacked me along with several others, and I had come this far seeking a new job.”

“Ah… right,” Ehren scratched his head, so this man was also like him, in a way. “Well, sorry to disappoint you, but you will not find one in this town either.”

“Hmph, figured as much. But it appears my visit to this town isn’t so fruitless after all. Now back to my earlier question, about the last World News, are you interested in taking the gamble?”

“Who doesn’t?” Ehren retorted, “It’s just… let’s say I’m interested, that would mean I’ll be leaving my mother and siblings alone. Besides, I don’t even have enough money to find something to eat, let alone travel to Esthirant.”

When the food crisis struck, Ehren immediately sold his father’s matchlock and managed to earn some money, but even that had already run out by now and their family has barely any money left. It was said by the announcement that the travel expenses to the worksite, which is the Altaras Island, will be covered by the Holy Empire’s side, but for him, who lived on the other side of Parpaldia, he must first travel from his current location to the capital city.

“Why don’t you go home and talk to your family first? Maybe it’ll clear your head,” Herman suggested, patting Ehren’s shoulders briefly before walking off.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I found an abandoned shack on the outskirts of this town. That’s where I’m staying right now. If you made up your mind, come here again tomorrow. Well then, see you again.”

With that, the rather mysterious man disappeared from the tavern, leaving Ehren to solve his predicament alone.

Ehren returned to his home rather early at ten o’clock in the morning, where his arrival was greeted by his brother Ruud. Irene still hasn’t returned from hunting in the forest yet, so he decided to tell his family everything when all of them are gathered in the house.

Currently Publicly Available Information

CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE

Holy Milishial Empire’s currency is called zollark. 1 zollark equals to 4 Muish mandars and 19,75 Parpaldian paso.