Baros and Bryston were shocked that Wayne didn't care about the 400 gold, but rather the two-month construction period. This was a massive departure from the clients they had dealt with in the past.
Usually, clients would prefer a longer timeline if it meant lower labor costs and better value on materials to drive the price down. Naturally, a long negotiation process would follow, but Wayne directly complained that it was taking too long.
However, Wayne's next sentence made them realize that his previous remark was just child's play:
"Is one week possible?"
When Baros was looking at Wayne's avant-garde blueprints earlier, he thought he was a young man with vision. Hearing this, he began to suspect the kid was simply a lunatic.
He said with a hint of anger: "Young man, do you have any idea what you're saying?"
"Under normal circumstances, an engineering project like this takes three days just to order and transport materials to the site. Once work begins, it requires 12 workers doing 12-hour shifts for two months to finish with guaranteed quality. And that's praying for no storms, heavy rain, or blizzards."
"One week? Even with 50 workers working day and night in shifts, it would take three weeks just to barely finish!"
Hearing this, the first thing that came to Wayne's mind was the scene from games like Warcraft or Age of Empires, where you just throw a bunch of peasants at a building.
He asked weakly: "Then... what about 100 workers? If not, 150 is find too..."
Baros and Bryston couldn't help but take a step back. They glanced at each other, and the floodlight on Bryston's mining helmet flashed in Baros' eyes, making him realize he wasn't dreaming.
"Kid, don't think you can just stack people to compress the timeline and lower costs. True, based on the 2-month quote, 12 workers at 10 silver a day means 6 gold per person for 60 days—a total of 72 gold in labor."
"By that logic, 150 people could rush the job in 7 days, and the total would only be 105 gold, which doesn't seem much more expensive."
"But a 7-day timeline is considered 'short-term labor.' The unit price for short-term work is higher than long-term work, just like the difference between a temporary bodyguard hired by a noble for a trip versus a permanent house guard. The prices are completely different. Furthermore, the shorter the duration, the higher the difficulty of management and coordination. That amount of money won't even come close."
Wayne: "Just do the math. Be quick about it, I'm really in a hurry."
Baros swallowed. The development of events had repeatedly defied his expectations. In his memory, perhaps only VanCleef, who flipped the table and started a riot, was "crazier" than the Wayne before him.
He calculated carefully. The money was easy to figure out, but whether a one-week timeline was actually feasible was the key.
Wayne added a sentence at this moment, like a gentle dagger piercing Baros' chest:
"In your hearts, you all miss the glory of the past. You never expected, nor do you want to look back on, how things reached this state."
"Some people are destined to have gone too far to turn back, but what about the rest? Are they destined to be buried with them in the dark, sunless mines?"
"The reason your old friend was willing to come find you personally, and the reason you are willing to come out of retirement after all these years, is to resolve that old grudge as much as possible. There is a ready-made opportunity right here. You can use your old connections to post recruitment notices around Sentinel Hill in Westfall. Perhaps after all these years, some of them are also waiting for an opportunity?"
Wayne undoubtedly hit the mark and moved Baros. However, it could only be said that a spark of life had been rekindled in a long-dead heart.
"Kid, don't be so quick to preach values to me. I know the past better than you do."
"Since you know why things happened, let me ask you: if the materials arrive within 3 days of the down payment and work starts immediately, it will take at most 8 days to finish for a total of 700 gold. Do you have that much money? Let me say it again: we do business by our rules. Even if the King came to negotiate, he would have to pay according to our terms."
Wayne quickly did the math in his head.
Including today's revenue, he realized that over the next 3 days, he would need to bring in at least 255 gold.
The net cafe currently had 8 stations. The daily rental income was 64 gold, meaning at most 192 gold over 3 days. There was still a gap of over 63 gold.
Recruiting new members wasn't reliable, and because the queues were so long, many people who wanted to try gave up and chose to watch the "live stream" outside the shop instead.
Nevertheless, he agreed readily:
"No problem. Do you have a contract? If you have one ready, we sign now. If not, we'll head back to the shop to draft one, and tonight I'll give you every single coin of the 350 gold down payment."
Bryston let out a "WOW." He had never seen someone spend money so decisively. He couldn't help but turn to look at Baros, the floodlight on his head shining right at him. Baros shielded his eyes from the blinding light and told him to turn it off.
"You... aren't joking?" Baros never expected that the bargaining phase would be skipped entirely with this young man.
"Let's go, Mr. Architect. I'd prefer to pay tonight and have you start work tomorrow."
After Wayne finished speaking, the three of them returned to the carriage. By the time they got back, it was past 8 o'clock. They drafted two contracts, signed, stamped, and thumbprinted them. After paying the full 350 gold down payment, the two men each clutched a small bag of gold and chanted their Hearthstones to teleport back to Stormwind City.
Tess: "Wow, Boss, after paying that, our savings are almost gone. That architect said he'd start sourcing materials tonight and the workers would arrive in three days. At that time, we'll have to pay another 280 gold. We don't have that much left."
Wayne had already formulated a plan while calculating. He told Tess to wait for him and ran across the street to the inn.
A moment later, he returned with a thick stack of paper and two pens in his hand.
"Come on, let's get to work!"
Tess took the pen and paper with a dazed expression, only to find they were advertisement flyers from the inn, listing room rates and specialty dishes.
Wayne told her that he had approached the innkeeper, Farley, offering to promote the inn for free in exchange for some paper.
Every day, dozens of people stood outside the net cafe watching the stream. Many grew tired or hungry and would go to the inn for food and drink, which unintentionally boosted the inn's business.
Farley was more than happy when Wayne came to his door.
Wayne instructed Tess to write along with him:
$$Want to know why the legendary Ancient Dragon King has reappeared in the world?$$
$$Want to know why this giant dragon is called the God of Twilight and the World Eater?$$
$$Want to know why the blood of dragons flows within a mortal?$$
$$The Darkmoon Faire is exciting, but Goldshire Net Cafe is not to be missed!$$
$$On the mountain peaks where dragons circle, the prophecies of the Elder Scrolls await your discovery!$$
$$In the temple where heroes rest eternally, witness the final battle between man and Dragon King!$$
$$Unparalleled stories and a fantasy world!$$
$$Come to Goldshire and experience something you've never done before!$$
Below was a line with the address.
After finishing one, Tess let out a sigh: "Boss, this is so long... how long is it going to take to write all these?"
Wayne looked at the thick stack and agreed it was a bit much. He then asked Tess to go to the inn and call Raymond over.
This apprentice of his had been short on cash lately and was hungrily taking on various quests from professional guilds or local sheriffs to save up money for the net cafe.
Hearing his master's call, he ran over without a second thought.
Wayne immediately issued him a quest: "Follow this and finish writing these. No messy handwriting. Once you're done, I'll let you play for a full day for free."
Raymond nearly knelt before Wayne. He looked at the master he already worshipped with even more reverence, picked up the pen, and began writing furiously.
Although the workload was significant, it was much easier than crawling through mines, catching wild boars, killing murlocs, or running errands as a messenger.
At 9:30 the next morning, the central square of Goldshire was already bustling. Merchants and adventurers were loading goods and repairing equipment as usual.
However, on the walls of many houses, the town bulletin boards, and even the backs of carriages, handwritten net cafe advertisements were posted.
Many people had already seen the cryptic content of the ads. In particular, the news of Wayne slaying a dragon yesterday had spread like wildfire. Today, a more powerful "Twilight Dragon King" had appeared, further piquing their curiosity, though they still didn't know what this new thing actually was.
At that moment, a melodious piece of music sounded, drawing everyone's attention.
Everyone turned their heads. The locals noticed that while the net cafe had only one "black frame" showing images to the outside yesterday, today there were two.
People crowded around. Then, amidst a snowy landscape, the screen opened from a first-person perspective.
Like waking up after a long sleep, the vision was blurry, showing only a vast white expanse. A line of letters, "Bethesda Game Studio," appeared and quickly faded as the person's vision became clear.
The crowd discovered that Wayne was on a horse-drawn prisoner cart, his hands bound by hemp rope. A squad of fully armed soldiers was escorting the cart to some destination.
Among the four people sitting with him on the cart, two were talking, and one was gagged, unable to make a sound.
A man named Lokir quietly told him that the gagged man was Ulfric, the leader of the rebel Stormcloaks. During negotiations with the High King, he had killed the king in a duel using a dragon's shout, which triggered the civil war.
The other man, Ralof, added that Ulfric was later betrayed by a companion. The Imperial army took the opportunity to capture him and gagged him to prevent him from using his powerful dragon shouts.
Soon, the carriage passed a mountain road and drove into a town surrounded by stone walls.
By now, more and more people were watching the stream. Interestingly, as the carriage in the stream entered the town, many local "townspeople" in the video were also watching them.
"Ah!" Some women screamed when they saw the images that followed. The carriage's destination was an execution ground, and on the ground were several torsos and heads—still spraying blood—that had been chopped off by an executioner with a massive axe!
The man who had just told Wayne about Ulfric grew terrified. He shouted that he wasn't a rebel and tried to escape, but he was met with a female officer's command. An Imperial soldier's arrow pierced his back, and he fell silently to the ground, dying instantly.
"Next."
The female officer shouted at Wayne.
The Wayne on screen took a step forward.
Officer: "Who are you?"
Normally, this would enter the "character creation" phase, but Wayne wanted to show the plot and content, so he immediately chose to skip it. Besides, in front of the public eye, now was not the time to play "Modded Skyrim".
Hadvar, an Imperial clerk nearby, told the officer that this man wasn't on the execution list. To everyone's surprise, the officer replied that it didn't matter—he would be processed just the same...
Recalling the beheading scene from moments ago, the crowd watching outside was too scared to speak.
"Wayne is going to be beheaded?!"
"No way, what did little Wayne do? How can such a good person be beheaded?"
"Quick, notify Dughan! Tell him to go save Wayne!"
"Save what? This is a game, it's something happening in another world."
On screen, Wayne was pushed by soldiers toward the chopping block.
He was forced to kneel, and then kicked in the back. With his hands tied behind him, his upper body leaned forward, and his neck landed on the block.
At that moment, a long, low sound came from the sky, like rumbling thunder.
The executioner spat in his hands and raised the great axe with both arms, about to swing it down toward Wayne's neck!