A New Contract

After expressing the choices he could surmise to the woman, Michael began to make his way towards the door. Just before he opened it to leave, he was stopped by her words.

"Let's say I believe you. What would be the benefit to helping you?"

With the same gentle smile he had maintained from the beginning, Michael turned back to address the woman again.

"You would be working for me from that day forward. You would no longer be working as you have been and you would move into one of the vacant rooms within my estate. Your meals would be prepared by either yourself or by me but would not cost you anything. All the expenses for living and eating would be covered by me. You would never have to worry about your next meal again.

You would become my direct advisor moving forward. I would look to you to understand the state of the city and how to improve it when I was at a lose of what to do. I would seek your opinion on matters I am unfamiliar with which are likely to be many being that I am not from this world. I would ask nothing more from you. Your life would be yours to live."

After expressing the duties associated with working for him and the benefits that would come along with executing them, Michael carefully observed the minute changes in the woman's posture and expression.

The simple fact she asked such a question implied she was considering one of the first two options. As to which, only time will tell. After a brief pause for consideration, she spoke again.

"In that case, I would be a fool to not accept this offer. When would you desire me to start assisting you?"

"You would start immediately. Should you truly accept my proposal today, then you would leave with me for the estate. I have already taken what I believe to be the most important step in correcting my predecessor's mistakes before coming here.

For the time being, you will have no actual duties to fulfill other that helping me acclimate to this new life and familiarizing yourself with the new life you will be stepping into. I don not expect you to fully trust my actions or words for the time being. Over the next few weeks of being beside me, I can only hope that you begin to see and understand that I have not said anything false to this point."

After a moment of consideration, the woman nodded her head and met the gaze of the patiently waiting Michael.

"In that case then I accept your offer and I will accompany you back to your estate. However, should I begin to doubt your words or actions, I will leave of my own volition and we will never meet again."

Happy with the outcome of today's meeting, Michael approached the woman and stopped half a pace in front of her.

"I am looking forward to working with you from today forward and vow to uphold the expectations I have laid out in this conversation. Moving forward, you can drop all formalities in our association and simple refer to me as Michael.

Although I have retained the memories of my predecessor, being referred to as a Duke is still a foreign concept to me. The world I come from did not have such title in it. Along with that, I will have to admit that even after digging through all the memories I obtained in this life, your name was not present in any of them. It seems that my predecessor was truly self-serving."

"My name wouldn't be in those memories because it was never asked for or given during my last and only meeting with the Duke. My name is Allison Walker, but you can just call me Allison or Alice in the future."

Seeing a hand outstretched towards her, Alice stood up from where she had been seated during the entire exchange before taking hold of Michael's hand. With the conversation finished, the two began to make their way back to the front of the building. As they entered the bar area, Michael turned to address the Madam before departing.

"Madam, this will likely be the final time I visit this establishment. I thank you for taking care of me until today and would like to inform you that I will be permanently hiring Alice here. If there is any compensation required to terminate her contract with you I ask you to state it now so I can pay it."

"Well, this is extremely shocking. The formerly lecherous Duke is claiming to toss aside his nature and in fact wishes to buy out the contract of his most recent endeavor. I am curious as to what sparked this change but it is not my place to ask.

Being that Alice is still a rather new hire with only a single prior customer, yourself, I will treat the contract as void so long as you look after her from today on. In the future, if you toss her aside and reenter this establishment know that you will be paying triple the standard rate as compensation."

"I believe you misunderstand my purpose in hiring her however I will not seek to change your opinion of me today. I can only hope that my future actions will express my sincerity to change myself and this city. Take care of yourself Madam."

With that, the two exited the bar and began the slow trudge through the muddied road back to the Duke's estate. After passing through the gates and walking the short distance until they entered the home, the two removed their footwear as to not track the mud throughout the place.

With Alice following closely behind him, Michael made his way to one of the vacant rooms on the second floor. After stepping inside, he turned to Alice who had been silent the entire trip.

"From today on, this will be your room. You can do with t what you will and anything you wish to bring here will be solely yours. We can begin working together tomorrow morning so for the time being you may familiarize yourself with the estate and get comfortable with your new home.