Linde stared, slightly dazed, at the several buildings that had sprung up in front of him in just a day and a night.
Wood was used for the framework, filled in with crushed stone and cement.
Sloping triangular roofs, with a steep pitch to allow snow and heavy rain to slide off easily.
The NPC dormitories built for the women and children looked decent enough. They were positioned closer to the existing buildings within Star Dragon Outpost, giving the impression that this area was being developed into a residential district.
To save space, they were basically all double beds, with small cubbies next to them for two children to live in.
"School dormitory lockers..." Linde's lips twitched slightly as he took in the familiar room structure.
Standard six-person dorm rooms. Classic.
Linde left the female dormitory, making sure to check the sturdiness of the door to make sure no perverted Undead would try to sneak in at night. Don't expect too much morality from players, because Linde himself had pulled stunts like that before.
The women and children entered the rooms, looking at the space, and burst into tears of joy.
Having a place of their own felt like a dream come true.
"Praise Lord Linde!" The women and children thanked him sincerely.
The Undead worked for Linde, so thanking him wasn't a problem at all.
The administrative building had been built, but with the way it was constructed - pouring cement to fill in crushed stone - there was no way it could be moved into within a day.
"A tavern?" Linde looked at the building that wasn't in the original plan.
These Undead really liked to add their own flair.
He thought about it carefully. It seemed like some Undead had asked him if they could build a tavern, but Linde hadn't been focused on that at the time and had casually nodded in agreement.
He hadn't expected them to build so fast. Were these the legendary infrastructure builders?
Now that he thought about it, dozens of players weren't sleeping, building frantically day and night without getting tired. It was like having a group of laborers with unlimited stamina. There would be something wrong if they didn't build quickly.
"What kind of medieval fantasy world is it without a tavern!"
The Undead were very satisfied with their construction.
A large group of Undead surrounded the tavern, giving their opinions.
"Now that we have a tavern, will tavern wenches start spawning?"
"Drinks! Get me a Jack Welles!" An Undead was already shouting: "Vodka, on the rocks, lime juice, ginger beer. Oh, and most importantly... a little love on the side."
"I think the tavern needs a catchy name. What do you guys think of 'The Rooster's Rest'?"
Linde pushed open the door of the small wooden building, shutting out the voices of the Undead.
The fire burning in the hearth raised the temperature of the tavern.
To retain heat, the building didn't have many windows, and they weren't large. Without the light of the fire, visibility would be terrible.
The floor beneath their feet was paved with stone, not cement.
Several mismatched long tables were placed haphazardly inside the tavern.
There were strong signs of imitation.
WoW's taverns, Witcher's taverns, etc.
"What do you think?"
"We need a tavern keeper," Linde said, glancing at Old Pete, who had followed him inside.
Old Pete managed the food supply for Star Dragon Outpost and had Linde's full trust, so making him the tavern keeper was clearly out of the question.
The Undead weren't that easy to deal with.
"That's right, and a cook, serving wenches, prostitutes, bards..." Old Pete said, then noticed Linde staring at him. He tugged at his bushy beard and cleared his throat. "Ha, you know, I was just remembering those days after a battle when I could cut loose at the tavern."
His eyes wandered, reminiscing about the past.
Downing ale, releasing tension amidst the laughter of women and the jeers of men.
Sometimes he'd find some gnomes and have them perform a comical skit about the Imperial Prince's struggle for the throne, then kick their short, upturned butts and toss them a few gold coins.
Now, all he had left was his life.
"That day will come soon," Linde said. "Things will get lively."
Linde didn't have any useful NPCs under his command. Accounting and doing business required a good mind. The women and children were out of the question. Sweeping and doing chores was all they were good for; they couldn't do anything else.
The soldiers were also not an option.
But that was okay. He could hire the Undead.
Anyway, he wouldn't be providing anything at this tavern. He just thought of it as a community hall for the Undead, a place where they could chat, brag, and exchange information.
As soon as Linde issued the "Hire a Tavern Keeper" quest, Undead immediately came forward to apply.
Linde realized he hadn't been clear enough. In order to reduce the number of applicants... that's right, all of the Undead in Star Dragon Outpost, except those who weren't online, had shown up.
He outlined his conditions: "You must maintain the daily operations of the tavern. Whether or not you hire other employees is entirely up to the tavern keeper, including their salaries, of course. Stocking the tavern, sales, service, etc., all of that will also be the tavern keeper's responsibility."
"And the salary?"
"A cut of the profits," Linde said. "The owner bears the responsibility for whether the business does well or poorly."
He really wasn't interested in earning gold. Gold was just a tool to maintain the Undead's enthusiasm for work. Keeping the currency under control and preventing it from getting out of hand was also a way to protect Linde's interests.
Some of the Undead wanted to give it a try, figuring they had nothing to lose. But as soon as they heard they'd have to take responsibility, they already wanted to back out.
Earning money wasn't as important as leveling up.
Spending most of their time in the tavern as the owner? That was just like working a job in a different place.
The number of applicants had been cut in half, but more than twenty remained.
Linde added another condition: "You need to know something about service and business operations, and it would be best if you could cook."
He was the lord; he had the final say.
Whatcha gonna do about it?
"I'm gonna be a chef in the game? Lord, I've seen Food Wars!. My cooking can make people's clothes explode! Let me do it!"
"Lord, I'm a master chef!"
"Lord, I can, uh, do a striptease for the customers when I serve the food!"
Alright, alright, here comes the rat race.
Linde pointed out the people who were shouting and waved them away. "You're all eliminated."
The Undead who were kicked out grumbled, but they didn't say anything. They were just shouting nonsense anyway. They didn't really want to be tavern owners.
The most important thing was the prestige of being the first to open a shop in the game. How cool was that?
Linde wasn't planning on running any kind of business model or making money, but that didn't mean he wanted to create a brothel.
After round after round of selection, there were fewer and fewer Undead. Finally, two people were standing in front of Linde.
One was a familiar face: RomanticRiceBucket. The other was an unreliable Undead with the ID "Ou Haochen I Love You."
"Tell me about your operating strategies," Linde said.
RomanticRiceBucket raised his hand. "I'll go first. If I get the job, I'll put a lot of effort into studying the menu and creating all sorts of delicious dishes. I'll attract the Undead with absolute culinary perfection!"
Linde: "..."
Your attempt at using your position for personal gain is endearing, but considering you're probably a male Undead, I won't say anything more.
He looked at Ou Haochen I Love You. The latter cleared his throat. "Lord, I would collect food from the Undead, and then brew some alcohol to ensure the normal operation of the tavern. But, in my opinion, food and drink alone won't be enough to retain customers. We need more service options."
"Oh?"
"We could introduce a membership system with customized special services. Then, each week, we could give the Undead who spends the most the chance to name something. For example, a mixed drink on the menu could be named after them, as long as they were the highest spender that week."
Linde raised an eyebrow, signaling for him to continue.
"Next, there's entertainment, which is also simple. We can create some playing cards and even host a Dou Dizhu competition."
Dou Dizhu? Did you just say Dou Dizhu?
A bunch of Fourth Calamity players are supposed to be saving the world, but instead they're playing Dou Dizhu in my Star Dragon Outpost. Don't you think that's a little ridiculous?
And this naming idea... he thought it was very problematic. These Undead have some pretty outrageous names.
He remembered very clearly that there was an Undead in the territory whose ID was "MySeductivePlace." If that person really was the highest spender, would the other Undead have to say, "Give me a MySeductivePlace," when ordering a drink?
That's hard to keep a straight face with.
"That's just the initial stage," Ou Haochen I Love You continued. "Later, we can research a unique card game belonging to this world, and then we can copy Hearthstone or Gwent... uh..."
He glanced at Linde. "In short, we can design a game that makes the Undead spend money to buy card packs. If they don't spend money, they won't be able to get powerful cards. Of course, this is just in my imagination, because this aspect needs to be designed properly, so that they're more willing to spend money."
"There's also a tea seat fee. Limited seating time, kick people out when the time is up, no freeloaders allowed."
"And there are performances. We can charge the Undead gold coins to give them a chance to perform, and then we can also charge admission fees for the seated Undead to watch the performances."
RomanticRiceBucket was already stunned. She really hadn't thought that much about it, just thinking that if she became the tavern keeper, she could eat to her heart's content. Did being a tavern keeper require you to be so devious?
Linde felt the same way. Good grief, it seems like your own people are the best at harvesting the sheep.
"You're hired! Tavern keeper it is!"