Agera kingdom distinguishes three types of employees. On top of the ladder are so called free men, those work pretty much like people in my old world. You work your hours, do what you are supposed to do and you get paid. Free men even receive benefits like access to family doctor for them and their families. Most of them used the servant wing of the mansion for housing for free and are receiving good enough pay to support their families without issues.
On the other side, on the bottom of the ladder are slaves. They get paid in leftovers, sleep in the stables with horses and are bound by the slave collars to do the master's bidding. Nobles who use the services of slaves are generally looked down upon in the society. It's perfectly legal to own slaves but nobility looks at it as barbaric and most of slaves are owned by small farmers that have no other choice. Since they need extra hands but don't have money to pay them. Slaves are generally criminals and prisoners of war. But also, some were just poor village people that were bought off from their families that didn't knew about their options. The latter was the way Victor obtained his slaves. By sleazily buying good looking women from extremely poor families and abusing them in the mansion.
The last category of employees are the so-called workers. Workers are people that either needed money for their families or needed to settle some debts. They went to the 'work agency' and made a contract. The work agency either paid off their debt or is sending regular payments to their families. Depending on their issue. And for that, they are obligated to work as 'worker' for certain amount of time. For this time, they are required to receive housing and rations from their employer and all the money they earn is paid to 'work agency' until the debt is paid or need to transfer money to their families disappears. They are much better off than then slaves since they are required to receive standard housing and good food. Also, they can't be forced to do anything they don't like because they have no slave collars just a work contract that bounds them to work for certain amount of time after which they can still stay as free men. And if compared to free men, they are much cheaper, one free man is paid about as much as three workers.
I was inside of a carriage heading to the nearest work agency. Despite feeling a strong pain in the muscles and being exhausted from my workout I still wanted to handle this. It was very important to have maids in the mansion, so that the place is clean and properly functioning. Despite the name work agency also handled free men employment and I needed them to look for my instructors. I knew that it is going to take some time before they find somebody thanks to my reputation, so I wanted to post the listing as soon as possible. They also handled the slave trade but I was not interested in that.
Soon I arrived in front of the house that was painted white and shaped into the letter O with a large terrace in the middle. I was led into a spacious room with several couches and large window that overlooked the terrace from the second floor. While I waited for the agent that was going to handle me, I noticed a gorgeous woman sitting on the bench in the middle of the terrace.
She had beautiful tanned skin, jet black hair cut into angled bob and blue eyes. She had an hourglass figure that was barely contained by a torn leathery looking outfit, about C-cup breasts and perfectly round butt. She was breathtaking. I could not take my eyes off of her.
Several minutes later a door to the room opened and agent entered, that was when I realized that I spent several minutes starring at a girl. I hoped she didn't notice.
As the agent entered the room he spoke.
"Greetings Mr. Balzac. How can we be off service to you?"
I politely nodded towards the man that looked to be in his late twenties. Everything about him screamed average, it was one of those guys you forget about the moment you don't see them.
"Greetings! I came to hire some workers! And post a job listing!"
The man sat on the couch next to the table, placed a blue glass on the table and started tapping on it as he asked.
"What kind of workers are you interested in?"
I sighed shook my head and decided to ask since I was not able to stop looking at her even when the man was inside of the room.
"Before that, I would love to ask you something. Who is that?"
I asked as I pointed towards the beauty. The man stood and looked at who I was pointing at, and spoke.
"She is a criminal slave. She was caught poaching in the neighboring duchy in the duke's hunting ground. She was trying to explain to the judge that her family was just hungry and she wanted to procure some food for them, but he didn't care. She arrived just recently! Why do you ask?"
"Can I talk to her?" I asked right away, forming a plan in my head.
"I see no problem with that. Let me handle that!"
The agent quickly stepped out of the room for a moment and shortly after that, his assistant led the beauty into the room.
"Well, go ahead and talk! I will leave you. Knock on the door if you need me!"
Spoke the agent from the door and closed it after the assistant left.
"What is your name?" I asked.
"Rina!" The girl responded shyly.
"Greetings Rina, I am Victor. I have an offer for you! I would love to buy you, set you free and then register you as a worker for me as a maid. I would be sending money back to your family! So that they don't end up being caught poaching! What do you say?"
"Master Victor you would do that for me? But I have nothing to offer to you!" She froze for a moment and continued very slowly her voice barely above a whisper. "Nothing but myself!"
I shook my head. "Nothing like that Rina! You would be my maid! My personal maid! Tending to me, helping me with everyday things! Nothing indecent, I promise!"
She looked at me almost disappointed as she spoke. "Do you not find me attractive?"
I chuckled. "On the contrary, I found you gorgeous. But first I am too young for that and second, I don't want you to do things like that for me just because I helped you. Do you understand?"
She nodded. "Understood! In that case I appreciate your offer and I would love to be your maid!"
I pointed to the door as I spoke. "Go get ready please, and send in the agent! I will take care of the formalities!"
She nodded and ran out of the room. The agent popped in shortly and confirmed that I will be buying her out, setting her free and making her a worker. Right after that he once again popped out of the room and told something to his assistant. Once he returned, he sat straight across of me and spoke.
"My assistant will take care of everything regarding Rina, she will be waiting for you near the exit. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
I nodded. "Yes! Firstly, are there any more slaves like Rina. I mean ones that became slaves for things like poaching to feed families!"
He scratched his chin and spoke. "I am sorry but rest of the slaves are actually here for violent crimes, closest to her would be a woman that killed her abusive husband. I would suggest her if she didn't cut him to pieces and didn't try to cover everything up by making meat pies from him and feeding him to the rest of the village. The only reason that she was not executed is that she looks good and judge thought that somebody would like to have her as sex slave."
I sighed. "No thanks, I am good. If you get somebody like Rina in the future let me know."
The agent smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Will do!"
"Now, to the main thing. I need about eight maid workers and I want to post a listing for swordsmanship and magic instructors, both instructors need to be top notch! I will pay handsomely!"
The man scratched his chin once more. But this time he smiled. "Those maids won't be an issue we have plenty of maid workers, if you want you can go pick out the ones you like."
"I will take the most experienced ones that are willing to work at my mansion!"
Man nodded understanding. "As for the job listing for the instructors. I know about a person that can cover both. But she is, how to say it, very strict! Aggressively strict! Passionately strict! She can be here in a few months if I contact her and she will be interested. But she is going to be pricey!"
I smiled and nodded. "Please contact her for me! She sounds like exactly the type of an instructor I need!"