“Are you sure that the Doux is going to let us take these documents back to the Bureau?” Minerva asked while we were perusing around the office. 

“I mean the Bureau is just another government building,” I pointed out. “Besides, we’re not going to get any work done if we’re holed up in here.”

“Fair enough,” Minerva replied. “Let’s find everything we want then bring it back tonight. If we need anything, we can always come back.”

“Sorry to bother you with all this,” I said while smiling softly at Minerva. 

“It’s fine,” Minerva told me with a gentle look. “I’m really glad that I’m able to help you.”

When she said that, I could feel a slight thump within my chest. Maybe it’s because Sekh told me that she was on board with the idea, but I’ve recently been feeling a bit warmer than usual towards Minerva. Regardless of whether I have budding romantic feelings, I’m incredibly thankful that I have someone of her skill to support me. 

Once we arrived back at the Bureau, the rest of our companions began staring at the pile of papers that we were hauling along. 

“Are we planning to commit tax fraud?” Sekh asked with a mischievous smile. 

“Unfortunately it’s the opposite,” I said with a wry smile. “But don’t worry about it, Minerva and I will take care of the administrative stuff. You guys can just rest and train.”

“Is it alright if we have a look?” Irene asked curiously. 

I glanced at Minerva for confirmation, though her face failed to show any signs of an opinion. 

“Sure,” I answered. “It wouldn’t hurt to have extra help for this. Besides, none of these documents have particularly sensitive information. It’s predominantly large scale statistics with maybe a few specifics here and there.”

Surprisingly, everyone decided to go upstairs with Minerva and I to have a look at the pile of tax documents. But when they laid eyes on the staggering mess of numbers, everyone but Irene was struck with a case of sleepiness. 

“Your brain didn’t die?” Minerva asked Irene as the girl perused over the papers strewn on the table. 

“I’m fine,” Irene replied. “See, my father is the head of our village and he would sometimes let me help him with his work to educate me.”

“Do you know tax procedures then?” Minerva questioned her eagerly. 

“I only know about land and household tax,” Irene replied nervously. “I have pretty much no understanding of taxes on trade goods and stuff like that.”

“That’s still great,” Minerva said as she put her hand on Irene’s shoulder. “Pretty much all the workers here are city people, so they don’t know that much about more rural affairs. And since you’re from the local region, your perspective will be incredibly helpful.”

“Do you want to help though?” I asked Irene. “We can pay you, but I don’t think it’ll be much.”

“There’s no need,” Irene replied while frantically waving her hands. “We already appreciate that you’re letting us stay here, on top of training us. Just consider this as a way for me to repay you.”

“I’ll pay for your food then,” Minerva told Irene. “Don’t worry about it, since the Bureau has recently had a small budget increase.”

“How come?” Irene asked curiously. 

“Iblis is no longer on payroll,” Minerva answered. “So we have a fair amount of money freed up.”

Oh, that’s right. I was pretty much promoted by Doux Isaac. Which means that I currently outrank her, possibly even being her boss. At the very least, it wouldn’t make sense for her to employ me, since I can’t really be a standby if I’m busy with other work. 

“Don’t worry, I just switched employers,” I assured Irene. “Your food expenses won’t cut into my budget.”

“So what are we going to do with these papers then?” Irene asked the two of us.

I paused for a moment to consider her question. “Well our main priority is to increase the budget for the government by raising income. While we’re at it, we’ll fix any accounting issues that we find.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Irene remarked. “When do we start?”

“Right now,” Minerva replied nonchalantly as she passed a pile of papers to the poor girl.

Before going to sleep, the three of us occupied ourselves with reading the tax report, something that we would have to continue for at least another day. 

Since Minerva was now occupied with helping me, the Labor Bureau would have to stand on its own legs for a while. So in the morning, I was approached by a mildly concerned Edwin, who was probably wondering how I got his boss caught up in some new issue. 

“So how long is the boss going to be gone?” the orc clerk asked me, not even bothering to ask what I was busying Minerva with. 

“Maybe a day or two,” I replied with a hand on my chin. “If you need her immediately, just let me know. Approaching her directly might get you yelled at.”

“Don’t worry, I know,” Edwin told me. “I just need to know the timeframe so the other senior clerks and I can prepare ourselves.”

From what he said, I can assume that the Bureau is fairly sufficient now. Most likely the staff can function for a while by just subsisting on the idea that Minerva will be back.

“Well I’m glad that things are getting better,” I said with an easy smile. 

“It’s been improving for a while,” he informed me. “A lot of the rookies have been getting more useful since the training. I guess the temporary decrease in efficiency was worth it.”

“Are you saying that you’re still unsure if the mental pain was worth it?” I quipped. 

“Patience is a virtue,” Edwin sighed. “One that I’m still trying to develop.”

Fortunately for him, Minerva, Irene, and I completed our task fairly quickly. By evening of the day, the three of us had finally finished. To my surprise, things were in a better state of affairs than I had expected. However, I had expected nothing short of a disaster.  

In particular the land taxes and household taxes appeared to have been properly conducted. Land taxes were determined by the agricultural productivity of an acre of land and were taken from the person who owned the land. As such, a tenant farmer didn’t directly pay such a tax. Apart from that, household taxes were based on the property owned by a household unit. After an official conducted a survey of belongings, a tax collector would soon return and collect an amount based on the prior reports. 

Compared to Zayyid lands, the land under the Iasor empire had a greater number of free farmers owning small plots of land. The Zayyid empire, on the other hand, had a greater amount of large estates owned by aristocratic families which were farmed by a large number of tenants. Of course the difference wasn’t night and day, it was probably a difference of around ten to twenty percent. 

As for my own homeland, I would say that it bears closer resemblance to the Iasor empire. Large estates were quite rare, with most of the land being dominated by free farmers or the lesser nobles who only had a few tenants under them. 

But despite the relatively smooth rural taxation, Damask’s income was still terribly low. Although we would have to investigate the Katepans and tax collectors for corruption, the issue of trade was the main problem. 

Due to the influx of monsters and bandits following the war, Damask’s trade routes have declined quite sharply. Recently, military patrols have aided in recovery, though it isn’t anywhere near enough.

Additionally, the famous Damask steel is hardly present in the city’s markets. As such, traders have much less reason to traverse to the city. To add insult to injury, the Doux had raised tariffs on trade goods and even instituted an entrance fee. 

“Alright Irene, you’ve done more than enough,” I told the girl after we had finished discussing our findings. “Minerva and I will take over from here since everything has to do with trade for now.”

“Sorry I couldn’t help more,” Irene apologized. “By the way, will you be able to help with training then?”

“I’ll try,” I responded. “But it looks like I have quite a lot of work for now.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” Irene said while patting my back. “You wouldn’t want to make your girlfriend upset.”

“Of course not,” I replied with a smile.

Once Irene left the room, Minerva and I looked at one another in exasperation. Our reason for holding back was to prevent Irene from worrying about us overworking ourselves.

“How are we going to fix this?” Minerva sighed. 

“We could politely ask the Doux to rescind his economic policy,” I snorted.

Putting both her hands on my shoulder, Minerva stared right into my eyes. “Azel, I think that might actually work.”

“Seriously?” I asked back.

“Yes,” Minerva replied. “The Doux seems to trust you. If you fail nothing happens and if you succeed we get a major opportunity.”

“Good point,” I responded. “I don’t think he’ll agree without other terms though.” 

“Well I trust that you can negotiate with him,” Minerva said with an encouraging smile.

And so later that night, I went over to the citadel to talk to the Doux about lowering tariffs and removing the entrance fee. The result was pretty much as expected. 

“No,” Doux Isaac replied after I told him about my plan.

“Can you explain your reasoning?” I asked in the politest tone that I could muster. 

“Income is already low,” he explained. “I believe that it won’t be worth it to lower these taxes since the economy won’t grow enough to make up for fiscal losses.”

“But what if we make it worth it?” I said with a wry smile. “Say that we’re able to increase trade significantly, would you agree?”

“And how would you do that?” Isaac asked with a neutral look. 

Hearing this, I couldn’t help but smile. During my walk to the citadel, I had actually formulated a makeshift plan to convince Isaac. 

“By increasing Damask steel production,” I told him. “On top of that, I intend to clear the main roads of bandits and monsters.”

“That does sound good,” Isaac replied.

“How about a deal then?” I said, pressing my advantage. “Once Damask steel production increases, you’ll lower the tariffs. As for the entrance fees, let’s remove it temporarily as a test. If income increases, then we keep it that way. If not, we can reinstate it.”

I’m not completely sure if the total income will increase if the entrance taxes are removed. However, I’m certain that we will see profits if this change is followed by safer roads. 

“That seems reasonable,” Isaac responded. “I’ll instate these changes as soon as possible then. However, I would like to see changes to the production of Damask steel quickly.”

“As would I,” I replied wryly. “I’ll be off then.”

Coming back to the Bureau, I told Minerva about what had transpired in the citadel. Naturally she was quite happy to hear about my success and promised to help me with the Damask steel project. And due to the soft time limit, we decided to start immediately on the next day. 

“Minerva and I are going to be gone for about a week,” I announced during breakfast. “We’ll be going to the area in the southwestern mountains and checking up on the situation from there.”

“That’s fine,” Sekh answered. “The rest of us will just go monster hunting in that case. But is it just you two traveling by yourselves?”

“No,” I told her. “I’ll be bringing along some of the Doux’s soldiers and administrative staff.”

“You’re moving up in the world then,” Zeph remarked. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to remember you all when I’m at the top,” I joked. 

After breakfast, Minerva and I went over to the citadel to grab the necessary personnel for our trip. Unfortunately, Gallus had still yet to return to Damask, so I was still in the dark about the situation in the east. 

“So you’re abducting my boss again?” Edwin commented when I came back to the Bureau, most likely having heard the news from Minerva. 

“Borrowing is a more accurate term,” I replied with a grin. “Rest assured, I’ll bring her back as soon as possible.”

“Well I am a patient orc,” Edwin responded. “At least that’s what I intend to become.”

“You’re walking the correct path then,” I quipped. 

To my surprise, when I went outside to check on my preparations to head to the blacksmithing villages, I noticed that Sekh and her group were almost ready to leave. 

“You prepared really quickly,” I remarked to the leopard girl as I inspected their supplies. “Are you sure you have everything?”

“We’re sure,” Sekh assured me while her tail rubbed against my arm. “It’s not that hard considering how we have a bunch of grain and smoked meat in our stores. All thanks to you of course.”

“I’m glad I could help,” I smiled. “In that case, make sure to stay safe.”

Somewhat displeased by my statement, Sekh reached up towards my face and pulled on my cheek. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

“How come?” I asked through my temporary speech impediment. 

“That arm didn’t break itself right?” Sekh grumbled.

“Oh right,” I conceded. “I said I’m sorry about that. I just told you to be safe because I’m worried about you.”
Loosening her hand on my cheek, Sekh proceeded to plant a light kiss on my lips. “Yeah, I know. I’ll make sure that nothing bad happens. But I just want you to take better care of yourself, especially since you’re overconfident because of your hero abilities.”

“I will, dear,” I assured her.

As she hugged me, Sekh began pleasantly giggling. It’s a shame that I won’t be able to experience this for a while. But that means that I just have to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

After Sekh’s group had left, my new traveling companions were assembled outside of the Labor Bureau. Apart from Minerva and I, our group consisted of six regular soldiers and two administrative workers that were handpicked by Minerva. And around noon, our group of ten began the journey to the southwest. 

Since the roads to the blacksmithing villages were well traveled, the surroundings were reasonably safe. Still, I did decide to divert our course a bit to hunt some surrounding monsters. Part of the reason was to improve road safety, but I also wanted marauder crab omelettes. 

The distance to the villages would take about two and half days to cover. And halfway through that time, we ran into a bit of a problem. 

“Achoo!” Minerva violently sneezed as she sat by the campfire. 

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that her silver hair was still damp from washing in a nearby stream. Worse, I already washed in the stream before and noticed that the water was quite cold. 

“You feeling cold?” I asked Minerva.

“A little,” she replied with an apologetic smile. “Sorry for not listening to you. I didn’t expect it to be that cold.”

“It’s fine,” I said gently before walking to my tent to retrieve a blanket. 

“Oh, that’s warm,” Minerva said when I draped the thick cloth over her. “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

“Wait a bit, I have to do something else,” I told her before getting Minerva’s towel. 

Gently, I took the cloth and began to dry Minerva’s long hair with it. 

“You need to be more thorough when you dry your hair,” I said to the dark elf as I rubbed her head. 

“Yeah, sorry for bothering you,” she replied glumly. “The last time I went with you and Sekh, the place that we went to was a lot warmer and nicer. As you can tell, I’m really not used to traveling on the road.”

“It’s pretty obvious,” I commented without thinking, provoking a sad look from Minerva. “But it’s no big deal. I think it’s a bit cute. Just a bit.”

Upon hearing my remark, Minerva turned red, all the way to the tip of her long ears. Since she had gone completely silent at that point, I decided to just continue my work without talking. 

It was around late evening when we finally arrived at our destination. Near the base of the mountains separating the region of Damask from Lycia was a collection of villages renowned for creating the best weapon’s steel in the world. Or at least the known world, since I’ve heard theories of great continents separated from our own by the great ocean. 

The various settlements that dealt with the famous metallurgical trade were separate entities that cooperated with one another as a sort of guild, regulating both quality and quantity of their products. And although no one village was the true leader, the largest settlement, Camil, held the most sway. So naturally, Camil was the first place for us to visit. 

The settlement was an interesting location to say the least. Despite being the size of a fairly regular village, the architecture could even rival a city. In place of the typical wooden palisades, the settlement was instead surrounded by grey stone walls. All the houses were constructed out of cobblestone or hardened clay bricks, with very little wood used. The forges were large buildings with complex ventilation systems that diverted fumes away from populated areas. And there were canals that diverted water from the mountains towards the settlements as a reliable water source. 

When we neared the walls, the lone watchman waved lazily to us. “Hello, can you tell us what your business is?”

I guess there are normally more people manning the walls considering how he used ‘us.’ 

“We’re subordinates of the Doux in Damask,” I informed the man. “Our purpose here is to inquire about the production of Damask steel and help increase production in what way that we can.”

“Seriously?” the man asked in surprise. “Did you have dinner yet? Actually, you’re invited to dinner anyways.”

Taken back by the man’s excitement, our party nervously entered the settlement with high hopes.