Cleon was full of justified pride.
A cohort of men he personally picked, trained and disciplined for years has now turned into a well-oiled machine.
There was no task they couldn't handle, regardless if it was about making things appear on an open ground or to restore things to how they were before someone dared to build somnething they ended up tasked with destroying.
Demolition, repairs, building, craftsmanship - his small family could do it all.
And the range of their abilities combined with Cleon's wit allowed them to get a generous compensation for their services.
There were no tasks they wouldn't do, or the amount of money one could dazzle them with.
Theo, his mysterious employer, however, challenged both of those beliefs.
"This place really is a mess…"
The shop his family was assigned to was a shop only on the outside.
In the area where even legacy businesses and guilds struggled to thrive, this shop was a testament to what would happen to those daring to invest in this place.
In the mercantile circles Cleon frequented, this area was often called a city's gift to those not yet born. A great place to settle, but perpetually stuck in the vicious cycle - since not enough people lived nearby, there was no point setting up any workshops or shops there. And since there were no jobs no nearby places to go get one's troubles sorted… people weren't all that likely to settle here anytime soon.
With time, it would happen.
Cleon himself saw the port-town grow beyond the limits he knew as a child. What used to be wild bushes and generally an abandoned land has now turned into sprawling of activity.
And with the recent discoveries and the port serving as one of the major hubs for trade with the exotic new lands, it only ever appeared to grow faster.
Still, this was all only in the future. For now, this area was often considered a trap for the overzelous newbies, who were set to lose their fortunes by getting anywhere this place. By now, this feeling grew into an instinct, pretty much keeping all the merchants away from the place and thus only reinforcing the vicious cycle that only an outside interference could break.
Cleon fully expected a new rush of new settlers to be that outside force that would challenge and change the old, traditional status quo.
But his employeer?
The middle-aged man shook his head before sinking it into his hands. He then brought it up, still covered by his palms, setting his face straight to the sun.
"He didn't look like any of those new people. But the way he acts?"
Cleon shook his head.
It didn't matter. Who his employer was, where he was from, what was his purpose… all of it was just a distraction, futile and dangerous curiosity that could make him lose the deal of the lifetime.
Today was the first time Cleon encounter a job that made him lose some faith.
This whole shop was just one big dumpster, filled to the brim with things that should've never found their way there!
'Maybe the last owner gave up and used it as an actual dumping place?'
Cleon knew better than to naively believe doing something like this would be beyond an average person.
And today was also his first time to be dazzled by the offered fee for the job.
Not because the payment was high in particular. Cleon used to complete jobs that paid out twice as much!
But for a whole job. Not per week. And definitely not with the cost of materials covered by the employer!
On the surface, the difference was only slight. But in reality?
The usual down-time rarely shrank down to just half of their time. In most cases, Cleon would be lucky if he could put his crew to work a week out of a month!
But his new boss?
Five gold coins a week. An already generous fee… that was recurring one? And from what that guy said, a deal that could last for quite a long time?!
"Haaah…" Cleon sighed. 'Never would I expect anything to shock me as much in my current age.'
He then shook his head again… before going straight back to the shop, his internal clock announcing his short-break was over.
This was the secret to Cleon's crew.
Even now, when he could easily live off just hiring out his guys, he opted to stay at the job, at the site, working alongside the very men he took so much pride in.
In the end, he was the most experienced craftsman on the crew. And his mere presence seemed to make his guys move just a little bit faster!
"How is it, boss?" One of the younger guys, barely two years into the job, lifted a huge frame of what likely used to be a bed, before bringing it out, to where they dumped all the usefull materials from this landfill of a shop.
A bit further away, one of the oldest in the crew was dragging a heavy-looking bag behind himself while covering his nose with his other hand.
"Stay away! Stinky incoming!" the man called out in his low, raspy voice.
"Good work out there!"
With a shake of his head, Cleon got back to work.
The more hands on board, the sooner they would deal with the most annoying part of the job and move on to its fun parts.
And judging by the sparks in the eyes of his men as they went by him, Cleon wasn't the only one excited about the prospects for their nearest future.
Throwing away trash?
That felt almost below them, at this point and with how in-demand his crew was.
But once this task would be over, they could wallow in the destruction necessary for the remodelling before getting to enjoy the satifsaction of building something up!
"Boss, the first floor is emptied out!"
Before long, a report rang through the air, near instantly causing the whole crew to just move out to the next floor before they started to toss things out of the windows. They cared not for the window frames or their shuts, nor about leaving marks on the ground below the window.
Since the whole place was going to be redone, what issue would be there with adding some necessary landscaping to the bill?
"I've checked it out," one of the veterans now walked in to the room where Cleon was in the process of ripping shelves off the wall so that the added, thin wall could be easier to dismantle. "There are no hard stains, so we can spare ourselves the effort of redoing the floors. Thankfully, we've only found a few stinkies, so this place is nowhere as bad as it looks."
Right after the old-man said that, a scream of disgust came from the upper floor, causing the veteran's face to sour.
"That's assuming the upper floor aren't any worse, that is," he quickly added with a hint of frustration dancing in his eye.
Gale, one of the oldest in the whole crew and Cleon's actual first hire. A man who saw his boss go from just another nobody to someone even lesser nobles had to carefully wage their words against.
"Good," Cleon merely nodded his head before catching the bottom of a shelf with his hook and then ripping it off the wall. "That means we will be able to move on to the next a bit faster," he added, ready to turn back to his task, when someone else entered the room.
Not walked inside, like Gale just a moment earlier.
No, the newcomer burst in, running up to the middle of the floor before he finally lost his momentum.
"Boss, trouble," one of the young talents of the group leaned down and rested his hands on his knees, his heavy breath a testament to just how quickly he ran. "We've spotted Gilwart's men lurking around!"