Alaric had been passing the time by kicking stones at the gate. He could afford extra mutton with every meal now, and that mattered more to him than he liked to admit.
The estate gave out free food, and it was rich enough fare, but men, especially knights, ate like wolves.
Alaric, slim as he was, proved no exception. He had no wish to be known as the poorest knight at table, the sort with less meat on his plate than the rest, so he was grateful for it.
More than that, he had been told he would earn a commission from the work, since he had paid for half the kobolds, and another commission would come from the poster.
There was even more coin waiting in the modeling work for the soap.
For that, standing a little longer at the gate was nothing.
Joji arrived near dusk with Nike, Daisy, and Lena. Nike had left her bog golems at the factory as a precaution, in case anyone thought to circle around and trouble the kobolds under her watch.
