The pipe-making crew showed their breakthrough to their lord with excited smiles, expectantly waiting to bask in his praise. What they got was a wan smile and a “that’s great, men,” delivered halfheartedly. Otto watched their expressions deflate. Never one to beat around the bush, he asked, “What’s wrong? What did we miss?”

Jason shook his head and apologized. “Nothing. The seal looks great. The hemp fibers and pitch seem to work just fine, as you demonstrated, and the lead poured around the seam should prevent movement. You did well; this seems to be exactly what we needed.”

“Then why do you look like we killed your favorite horse?” Otto asked bluntly.

Jason sighed. “I just realized how monumental a task we have before us. I try to do one thing, and there are two other things I have to invent first. We’re going to be able to start laying pipe, but I still have to reinvent concrete to build the sedimentation tank above the town, and figure out how to make valves to shut off the water flow at each house and for faucets.

“There will probably be more things I forgot on this one project. And we haven’t even gotten close to producing electricity, which will unlock so many other things. There’s no way I’m going to be able to...”

Jason trailed off as the group watched him silently, unmoving.

“I have been trying to do everything, haven’t I? I mean, I’ve got assistants and teams working on implementing what I say for the most part, but you all just proved that you could figure out what needs to be done. Even better than me, in cases like this.” Jason pointed to the demonstration of two pipes sealed and leaded together.

Jason noticed the corners of Otto’s mouth begin to curl into a smile, and the man spoke up. “You know, for a noble, you’re not half as much a blockhead as you should be.”

Jason laughed, even as the other eyes in the room grew wide. “That’s a mold I’ll gladly break.” His eyes looked around the room. “I’m going to be relying more on all of you in the future, and not just to do what I say.”

“Tom,” Jason said, looking at the smith’s eldest son. “I want you and your team to figure out the best way to make a valve we can mass-produce. Make sure you’ve got enough men continuing to make the pipes. I want the size variants we discussed for inside homes as well as the mains. And elbows, couplings, will all be your responsibility. Let’s talk more after this - think of what questions you need to ask.”

“Yes, my lord,” the man said with clear determination.

“Otto,” Jason continued. “You probably have the best experience working with kilns. Let me give you the formula for something called cement.” Samantha handed him a paper, and he jotted some notes down. “The limestone and clay will be simple. The rest, let’s talk about later. But you’re in charge of producing this. When mixed with crushed rock and gravel, you can form or pour it, and then it will solidify harder than stone. It’s going to be useful in making that sedimentation tank, but I’m sure we’ll use it for house foundations and other construction projects too.

“In fact, I’ve thought that we wouldn’t need to build a traditional city wall because guns - well, actually cannons - make city walls obsolete. I may have been wrong about that. There are still typical medieval armies in the area with cavalry and foot soldiers, and stopping their advance is still a valid concern. A cement wall might be good for that. Sam, set up a meeting with Tyler and me about that.”

Jason paused for a breath, then looked around. “We’re going to need more people. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

---

The next few weeks flew by, with the town’s infrastructure work progressing at a rapid pace. The news that good-paying work was available had reached Brighton and the surrounding area, and more people decided to join the growing town every week. That sped up the pace of construction but caused problems, too.

Alex finally cornered Jason at his home and confronted him about it. “We’re running out of money. In two weeks, our coffers will be bare.”

“That fast?” Jason asked. “What about lumber sales?”

“We haven’t been exporting much since we have been using most of the lumber here. I’ve never seen so many houses built in a couple of months, and they’re very nice compared to what commoners have anywhere else. It’s incredible. I’ve never heard of a lord allowing a ‘fifteen-year mortgage’ before, either. Everyone I’ve talked to is ecstatic that they will become landholders, free and clear, within their lifetimes.”

“Aren’t we bringing in gold from those mortgage payments?” Jason asked.

“Yes, and a good chunk of the wages you are paying the commoners for their work around the town gets paid back to you in mortgage payments. Maybe half. Over time, you'll make many times your initial investment. But for now, that’s not enough to stem the bleeding.”

Samantha, who had been writing at Jason’s table while the two were talking, finally spoke up. “How much money is needed to turn this around?”

Alex grimaced. “About ten gold a day.”

“Well, that doesn’t seem so bad,” Jason commented.

Samantha and Alex looked at each other, then at Jason.

“All right,” Jason sighed. “What am I missing?”

Sam started by saying, “A normal laborer without any particular skill can earn two coppers per day. A silver is worth ten coppers, and a gold is worth ten silver.” She worked on the numbers for a moment. “You need to somehow earn the equivalent of 500 common laborer’s wages to simply break even.”

That much? “Where’s it all going?” Jason asked, the problem finally sinking in. “How many people do I employ directly?”

“Not 500,” Alex interjected. “You actually have about two hundred people working on your various projects. An incredible number, I might add, considering how our town didn’t start with more than a few hundred families. But the reason you’re able to attract so many people to our town is in partially because you pay higher wages than most.”

“I know I said to pay people well, but how much do we pay?” Jason asked, realizing this might have been a good thing to pay closer attention to.

“Unskilled laborers get three coppers a day instead of two. A trainee in skilled labor, like at your ironworks, can earn five coppers. Anywhere else, they might actually be paying for an apprenticeship if they could find it. A skilled professional may earn ten or as many as fifty coppers per day, or one and five silver, depending on their job. Since Otto is no longer able to work on his own blacksmithing projects, and he’s been so central to your plans, we’re paying him the full five silver a day. He probably would have earned two or three silver doing his own commissions, more if you count what his sons would have earned for him as apprentices.”

“I’m guessing I’m paying them, too?”

“Right you are, my lord,” Alex said, flashing Jason a winning smile. “One silver and five copper pieces a day. But they are supervising men who are earning 5 or 10 copper each day, and it’s not usually good to pay the leader less than the men they’re leading.”

I’ve seen exceptions to that rule, Jason thought, but in this case, the boys are earning it, and more.

“So, what am I paying my councilmembers, including you?” Jason asked Alex, whose smile wilted a bit.

Sam’s ears perked up, and she was clearly interested in what the rest of the group was earning.

“Well, you see, my lord…” Alex looked like he wished to be anywhere but there.

“The pay, Alex,” Jason said sternly.

“Well, you already know Otto is getting five silver per day,” Alex began reluctantly. “Tyler is earning three silver.”

“That doesn’t seem like much for a councilmember.”

“It’s much more than he would have earned in the guard,” Alex defended. “He was very satisfied with it.”

“Hmmm…” Jason began, then moved on. “And what does Phipp earn?”

“One silver, my lord,” Alex said, then quickly added, “But he still earns money separately as a baker, so that pay is simply for being a part of the town council.”

“I see,” Jason replied noncommittally. “What about Sam?” the lord asked as he glanced at the young woman who was sitting very still, not making eye contact.

Alex’s voice raised half an octave higher, and sweat beaded his brow. “Your assistant is earning one silver and five copper, my lord. It’s a very generous pay for someone so inexperienced, and… erm… a woman.” He took a moment to wipe his forehead with a handkerchief.

Jason smiled coldly. “Judging by your reaction, Alex, you seem to know what my thoughts will be on that subject.”

“I’m simply trying to pay fair wages while saving the town the money it needs, my lord,” Alex spoke, his voice cracking.

Jason raised his eyebrows. “And what do you earn, Alex?”

Alex mumbled something neither Jason nor Sam could hear.

“What was that?”

“Eight silver, my lord,” Alex spoke.

That’s actually not as high as I thought he was going to say when I’ve been this negligent with my accounting, Jason thought, but I don’t think he’s lying.

Jason let the silence linger a few moments before he spoke. “Alex, I cannot tolerate a citizen of mine being paid less simply because they’re a woman.” The man flinched at the lord’s words. “And on the rest of it, I can see you were considering everyone’s day-to-day duties when assigning pay. That does make some sense,” he admitted, “but I believe it could send the wrong message to the council.”

Pay is hard to get right, Jason thought. I know I need to change some of this, but how can I make it fair? And this conversation started by us talking about how we were about to run out of money. If that happens, we’re all out of luck. I don’t want to slow down the projects, and that would put people out of work. The town’s growth would slow or reverse, and I’d start a downward spiral into a medieval recession.

One thing at a time, Jason decided. Pay first.

Sam finally broke the silence. “My lord, I certainly am earning more in this job than I could earn anywhere else, and I enjoy working with you. Please don’t feel like you need to change anything. Alex is right,” she said as she looked at the nervous man. “I am inexperienced.”

“I didn’t hire you for your experience,” Jason said. “I hired you for your creativity.”

He paused again. “Here’s the best I can do for now. Give each of the councilmembers a silver per day for the responsibilities of their council position. We’ll pay them a separate, fair wage for their day to day work if they are working directly for me. That includes Sam. She needs to earn a fair wage for her duties, and her gender should not modify that,” Jason said, sending another stern look Alex’s way.

“For the next month, the two of you will be taking the average of both your wages. That’s four and a half silvers each,” Jason decided.

Alex started to speak up but then thought better of it. “Yes, my lord,” he finally said.

Samantha looked like she was in shock, Jason saw, and he smiled. That’s like going from an annual $30k to a $90k salary overnight. Don’t spend it all in one place, girl.

“We’ll reevaluate at the end of the month. Now, back to our financial situation.”

They determined that they’d have to start exporting more lumber, immediately. Taxes were typically assessed on land values and collected once a year, Jason learned, so that wasn’t much help in the short term. Income taxes would be hard to assess across the population and would be wildly unpopular.

Ultimately, it comes down to trade, Jason concluded. If I can’t come up with a few good cash-producing exports in the next couple of weeks, I’m bankrupt.