Early Morning, Ginip – In Front of Kaelmart
The street was overflowing.
Hundreds of people stood pressed together, sweating in the morning sun. Men in patched tunics, women clutching thin children, old veterans with scarred hands — they'd all come for the same reason.
Ten silver a month.
That was the wage Kael had promised.
It was a staggering number.
Most laborers in Ginip made only one or two silver monthly — three if they were lucky or did dangerous work. For Kael to offer five to ten times that… it was enough to make even stable, long-time workers reconsider their loyalty.
No one believed it at first. Some laughed. But when the rumors held, and when a town crier announced it outside City Hall, people dropped everything and ran.
A merchant paying ten silver for soap work?
It was a dream to them.
And that's why Kael now stood inside his shop, peeking through the shuttered window, watching the swelling crowd with a calm expression.
