章節 67: Money-Making Machine

Will and Vanessa walked across the street to the casino. To Will, the casino resembled a poor medieval rendering of Caesar Palace casino in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States. The casino was ornate, with gold inlaid trim, statues of famous Fermion merchants from antiquity were placed in prominent spots inside the casino.

Vanessa introduced Will to the inn staff. The inn was positioned in the center, with the gambling floor to the left, and the restaurant to the right.

Passed the inn's reception area, was a central room where the accounts were kept. No one had access to this room but Vanessa, because this was her office. While she would float between businesses, this was where she spent most of her time.

As Will, Vanessa walked through the property, the gambling boss, Pamela, and the innkeeper followed behind nervously. News of the troubadours spread like a wildfire, and neither the gambling director, Francis, chef, Pamela, or innkeeper, Darwin, fancy going to jail.

"Let's check out some empty rooms first, tell me Mr. Darwin what room was recently vacated?" Will asked happily to see the casino appeared to be in good order. Until he looked at the books, he wouldn't have a good idea of how everything was.

"Boss Will, room 33 left just this morning, please wait while I grab my keys," he said rushing to his office to grab the key.

The inn was not the largest in Guidon, but it was on the large size. The inn was six stories tall, and other than the first floor, each floor had 20 guest rooms. The largest hotel in Guidon, where the king and cardinals had stayed was over 10 stories tall and had over 150 rooms.

Will was not bothered by the size of his inn. He purchased the building and remodeling with the sales from his game. He was in a rush to capitalize on his success. Yet, he leveraged the success of his Guidon businesses to build the tallest most ornately decorated inn in the capital. For Will business was like a game, and like any game, he knew how to read his hand.

Thump, thump, thump, Will could hear the sound of Mr. Darwin's heavy feet pounding against the staircase as he ran to catch up with the rest. Will, Vanessa, Francis, and Pamela had read the third floor when Mr. Darwin rejoined them sweating.

Mr. Darwin took out the key, but his nerves made it difficult to enter the key into the lock. Has his hand giggled from nerves, Vanessa gently took the key from him and opened the door. The room was average size. There were two twin beds and a closet. The beds were constructed with a wooden frame and built of wool and feathers. The room was tidy, new sheets were on the bed, and not a speck of dust was visible.

"Full marks Mr. Darwin," Will said spinning around and walking downstairs. Ms. Pamela, I wish to see the kitchen.

Mr. Darwin's belly collapsed letting out a big sigh of release and then refilled itself with pride. He once owned his inn, but it fell on hard times, and he had to sell. When this job became available at the Merchant Guild, he rushed over at once. He impressed Mei and was hired that day to supervise the remodeling of the inn.

"Ms. Pamela, how have you been since starting work here?" Will asked.

"Well it's a little harder, there is more to keep up with, but I get along fine. I would compare each day to a party at the City Lord's manor, there's certainly a lot of orders and more waitstaff to supervise than the café," she said smiling.

Will was happy to see her in such a good move. As they walked through the dining area, Will noticed the few patrons eating a late lunch. When the guest saw Will walking through the dining area with Vanessa, Pamela, Francis, and Darwin they were impressed. Will looked like a high noble with a large retinue of important people behind him.

Will followed Pamela behind the service door into the kitchen, where he saw cooks, waitstaff, busboys, and dishwashers talking to each other.

When Pamela saw this she was mortified, she yelled at them "get to your stations and get to work!"

Will was unhappy for a different reason; he didn't see a maître d' standing by the door to greet guests and usher them to an empty table. Since few people were eating, he knew the staff would be relaxed.

Hearing Pamela, yell they immediately jumped into action. The kitchen staff knew Darwin, Francis, and Vanessa, which meant this unknown young man had to be the boss William vont Ballard. The staff had originally gathered to talk about their boss's decision to arrest the troubadours from next door.

"Please don't arrest me," shouted a knelling waiter who succumb to the pressure. The rest of the kitchen staff and not even thought about being arrest, but seeing their begging colleague they wondered if they should beg too?

Will looked at Vanessa, who yelled at the man to get up and get back to work.

"Ms. Pamela, who is the head waiter?" Will asked.

"Boss Will, this man, here, is the head waiter his name is Rupert," Pamela said pointing to a man who was instructing the other waiters.

"Bring him to me," Will said, and Pamela called a busboy to bring Rupert to meet the boss.

As soon as Rupert entered, he bowed respectfully to Will.

"Tell me, Rupert, what are your duties?" Will questioned. This question put both Pamela and Vanessa on alert.

"Boss Will, I roam the dining room greeting customers, instructing waiters, relay message to Ms. Pamela from the dining room," he said nervously. To be caught lazing around and then be called back to the kitchen immediately made him anxious.

"Then who greets customers when they walk into the dining hall. And who escorts guests to an available table?" Will asked.

"Boss Will, whatever server is available or I, will greet them and escort them to an available table," he said.

"Thank you, you may return to the dining room," said Will.

The maître d' walked slowly out the door, unsure if he answered the questions correctly, or what would happen next.

"Boss Will I can assure you this does not happen regularly?" Pamela did her best to save face in front of Will. She wanted Will to see her as a competent supervisor. She was scared of being replaced and out of a job she enjoyed.

"As long as it doesn't have often, today is fine. Vanessa and Pamela, I want you to hire two women to greet our guest, they job responsibilities included greeting guest, sitting them at tables, and informing waiters that they have new guests. I always want a person to greet guests when they enter." Will said sternly.

"Yes, sir," Vanessa and Pamela said in unison.

"Ms. Pamela bring me the menu," Will asked.

"Boss Will the menu hasn't changed since we opened," Pamela said handing the menu to Will.

"Pamela from now on, I want you to create off the menu seasonal dishes. The waiters should repeat the new courses from memory to the guests as a new menu item," Will said.

"Yes, sir. Boss Will want seasonal dishes do you recommend?" Pamela was unsure what he meant.

"Are there not certain dishes, people make at different times of the year?" Will was sure Terra was like Earth, where almost every month had a unique dish equated with it.

"Oh now I understand, yes I will see it done," Pamela said curtsying.

"Ms. Pamela everything in the kitchen seems in order, I saw the cooking staff washing their hands, all the kitchen seems to be clean. Well done! Now Mr. Francis onto the gambling floor, please lead the way," said Will.

Pamela was thrilled her inspection was over, if it lasted any longer she would have fainted. She locked her knees, otherwise, Will might have heard them shaking.

For Pamela, Will was a white knight who rescued her out of poverty, gave her a job and a room. Will gave her life meaning again. She no longer had to stand next to a brothel selling food at different times of the day for a few sporadic coppers.

Everything that Will suggest would be done immediately, for her Will's orders were inviolable. She decided not to follow Will to the gambling hall, because her time was better spent creating a new seasonal dish for the menu. Regarding the lectern and greeters, Pamela knew Vanessa take care of those things.

After leaving the dining room, passing through the inn, they arrived at the gambling floor. Unlike the mostly empty restaurant, the gambling floor had several guests. Men and women gambled, laughed, and drank.

"Mr. Francis, how many dealers have caught cheating? How many have you had to fire and rehire?" Will asked.

"Boss Will I had to let 11 go since we opened. Since you taught me all the methods people use to cheat, I've been looking at the dealers closely. Most of the people we fired were in the beginning, the dealers know better now than to cheat. Although I catch an occasional cheater from time to time," Francis said.

"Any other issues? Faulty equipment?" Will was curious.

"Vanessa has been quick to get repairs fixed. The only other issue is belligerent customers who lost all their coins. However, the city guards are quick to remove them," Francis smiled proudly.

"Well done, keep a watchful eye on dealers and let Vanessa know at once if something urgent happens. Vanessa lead me to the accounts," Will said.

Vanessa led Will to her office behind the innkeeper's desk. The room was a large bright room. The desk was petite and refined, just to Vanessa's taste. The room smelled like her, that is to say, it smelled like chamomile tea, fresh apples, and candle smoke. The office was neat, every item was in place. The office looked like it belonged in a museum.

Vanessa handed Will three large books, one for the inn, gambling hall, and restaurant. Will thanked his lucky stars that Sarah trained them how to use the double-entry accounting system. Thanks to Sarah it made reading the accounts so much easier. The gambling hall accounts were of course the largest, every payout had its line, with both Francis and Vanessa's initials.

As Will read the daily earnings from the casino he smiled, a casino was a money tree. Even better the inn and the restaurant accounts were in order as well. The casino and café were making money-making machines. Will was excited to someday deposit his earning in his bank.

Finding no errors, Will congratulated Vanessa on keeping a perfect account. Vanessa was flattered by Will's praise and even blushed a little. It was only after the pressure was off, she realized that she and Will were alone in her office.

She knew some merchants took liberties with their senior clerks. Although she would be nervous, if Will decided to take advantage of her, she would let him. She blushed even more thinking about her and Will copulating. She was devoted to Will, to her Will was like a demigod, strong, powerful, and full of knowledge.

"Boss Will, is there anything else you require?" Vanessa said, nervous about Will's response.

Seeing her red face, made Will nervous. He thought to himself, 'what is she thinking about?'

"Now that I've checked all the books, write to Mei and tell her what happened today. That way she can prepare ahead of time for my capital inspection. I'll leave you; I still need to head to the Merchant Guild and visit the Thompson brothers before nightfall," Will said.

His last stop of the day was the Merchant Guild and the Thompson brothers to purchase another building, for his bank and schedule its remodeling. Will was already feeling tired and knew was looking forward to dinner and then bed. Ah, that reminded him.

"Vanessa, tell Pamela I'll eat dinner at the restaurant and to save me the best table!"

"Yes, sir, I'll see it done immediately," Vanessa said as she opened the office door for Will to leave.