For two weeks straight, I grudgingly toured the territory with a smile. Sprinkling random acts of kindness upon these depressed denizens should be a surefire way to gain Wolt's favor.

I focused all of my effort on Manatown, home of the Magic Tower. The town was home to roughly ten factories.

The murky river flowed over large gray stones on the city's eastern side, passing by every factory.  Those stones were compacted accumulations of trash and industrial waste upon closer inspection.

Luckily, they exported their biohazardous waste by land instead of dumping it into the river.

We were looking to hire commoners to clean the streets. I asked a few commoners about finding an unemployment office, and they gave me confused looks.

"Let's look over here. It looks like a lot of poor people live here," Ubir said as he pointed to a dark alleyway. I peered over his shoulder, and it was hard to tell whether it was day or night in there because it was so dank. 

"Perfect. Good job, Ubir!" I said as I followed Sheraton and Ubir to the dark alley. I was not a classist; I was perfectly willing to hire poor people. If I lowered the poverty rate, I would get a significant boost to my reputation.

We entered the passage, and the scent of fermenting piss, shit, and rotting animals damn near destroyed my delicate nose.  An emaciated beggar crawled towards us and asked for coins. There was no way that this man could do the labor that I needed, so I ignored him and instructed Ubir to do the same.

"What in the ungodly fuck is this? Who do we talk to?" I looked around for anyone that seemed alive as I side-stepped the hobos crawling at us like zombies.

I spotted a blue-robed man standing against a wall near an unmarked door. By standing up, the man stood out in this squalid place. Maybe he was a policeman or probation officer. 

The creepy man looked up and met my gaze. The yellow-toothed-robed man grinned and motioned us over. Sheraton walked in front of me as she grasped the handle of her chef's knife in a protective stance. The man ignored her silent threat.

"Hello sir, I am looking for the…local unemployment office?" I asked.

"You've come to the right place, young miss. Let me take you inside." He pushed the door open and welcomed us in. Inside the room were several men sitting at round wooden tables, all wearing blue robes and dark blue bandanas on their heads.

Excellent, they had their own uniforms. That'll save me some gold.

[Hey guys, my accountant needs you to fill out form W-4 ASAP ok?]

Our unemployment office tour guide removed his hood, and he also had a dark blue bandana. Everyone menacingly turned toward us as we excitedly entered. 

Is this a cult?!

All sorts of weapons were strewn about the room. I counted five maces, ten axes, and several knives and daggers. Hopefully, this was just a lumberjacks' guild or something along those lines. A few men turned away to continue playing Uno.

"Don't mind the weapons…." He glanced towards a man polishing an ax, "...we repair weapons to feed our starving wives and children.

"That makes sense," Ubir nodded approvingly. Sheraton kept up her poker face, so I went along with the flow and nodded. The man winked at Ubir.

I cleared my throat to get the man's attention, "Ahem, I am looking for workers to clean the city. We want to hire as many people as possible from this unemployment office."

A thin smile appeared across his face, "We have about 100 members looking for employment, provided that the wage is fair."

"Let us negotiate. I will pay double the average wage in this city. This is a temporary position, so we do not offer health insurance or retirement benefits." I offered the man.

"Hmmm…I like the sound of that. Let me add one more clause; You must deal exclusively with our unemployment office. There is another office across town, but they're all crooks and murderers," said the man as he scratched his chin.

"That doesn't sound too unreasonable. I wasn't planning on hiring murderers, so this is a deal." I held out my hand for a handshake. The man grasped my hand unreasonably hard and giggled creepily.

CRASH!

Oh my god, what now?!