The mountain of sweets safely stored in my stomach, I decided to step out of the room and resume my work.

            As I opened the door, I found two of my mercenaries guarding the door to my room, they were likely placed there to protect me as I slept. I was surprised since Tristian is always the one who watches over me when I feel the need to sleep but they do make adequate replacements. Besides the mercenaries working under Damian are in reality my personal army, one that I have raised for almost five years. They are completely loyal and even with their mercenary pasts I am planning on making them a part of my standing army once I get a title of my own.

            The two men saluted me before one of them when to tell Damian of my waking.

            I paid them no mind as I made my way to the lord’s office so that I could check on the progress made by my appointed stewards and the civil officials.

            I am glad that only the defence focused part of the castle was damaged as it would be a shame for such a splendid estate to suffer the same fate.

            Before I even opened the door to the office, I could hear the voices of the many ministers working to restore the city. I half wanted to turn back and laze around in that big, comfortable bed but I knew that it is time for me to resume my duty.

            I made up my mind and pushed the doors open, in that very moment the room turned silent. The bureaucrats who just a second ago were loudly arguing with one another had their eyes on me and dared not make a single move.

            As I made my first step into the room every one present rose and bowed their heads to me. The atmosphere is a bit tense, could it because of the muscular guard behind me or is it that they finally learned of the details of how I am responsible for the city’s current situation?

            Either way I pushed forwards and sat on the desk meant for the highest-ranking individual, the lord.

            I acted as if their current state of mind did not matter and asked to be briefed.

            “Yes--my lady, I have done as you asked and calculated the lord’s monetary fortune and found that he holds 14 Platinum pieces, 11,028 gold pieces along with 4 gold tablets. The amount of silver will take time to count but we assume that the figure is some ware around 55 to 60 thousand pieces. This does not include other assets such as the lord’s estates, art, and jewelry.” The old butler curtly explained the financial situation of the lord’s family.

            “Hmm, I wander how he managed to amass such a fortune.”

            I could see people twitching at my words. I know that what the butler has told me is only a part of the real wealth held by the now deceased lord Katimus and that is not even to account for these scoundrels’ share of the pie. Finding the trace of the money will take too long so I won’t be able to get it back in time before my departure. As a matter a fact I am sure that these people will try to escape with the money as soon as I leave this city.

            Due to this I am stuck having to make one of two decisions. The first is to make a deal with them by ensuring their safety along with my allowing them to keep the money they stole in exchange for their continued services as governmental officials. It is impossible to run a city let alone a duchy without these people, but should I encourage this type of behaviour, or should I see it as a one-time exception?

            What am I saying? There is no one time exception, whatever decision I make will dictate future policy and how these people think and act in the future.

            If that’s the case maybe it would be better to deal with them the legal way and hope that I will be able to trace the money back to them or more precisely to where they hid it.

            As much as I wish to make an example out of them, I only have one option and that is to keep them on my side and gradually demand exorbitant amounts in taxes. This is the best way to recover the money whilst demonstrating that no one can escape my oversight.

            Having made my decision, I ignored the flagrant inconsistencies in the report and ordered them to take everything of value to a certain location, the cite of my future capital and where I am storing my vast amounts of wealth. To be honest I have so much money there that this is not enough for me to even call it pocket change, my volt is filled with so much gold that I do not have enough spare space for even a single copper or silver coin.

            Storing over a million gold coins, hundreds of gold bars, and enough platinum to make any king or merchant weak in the knees. I believe that that facility is one of the most important in the entirety of this continent.

            Allow me to clarify things, that money is not only made of what I created, as a matter a fact I only created the gold bars along with most of the platinum. In the grand scheme of things, I had little impact on the economy as most of what I created remains in my possession and I do not intend to use it unless it became necessary. Meaning that only in the event of war or hostile acts, be they economic or otherwise, will I make use of the money stored in that volt.

            As I’ve previously stated my company is one of the wealthiest in the eastern part of the continent, I would go as far as to say that our company is in the top twenty, standing alongside the ancient banks and trading firms that have existed for centuries.

            With David and Jean’s help we were able to completely dominate the duchy’s economy. Almost every coin in the duchy has its source in our business or to others connected to us. Be they nobles or merchants, they have long learned not to go against us as we could cut their supply from the duchy’s economy and even worst restrict the trade in their very own domain.

            I have spoken of my policy of forgiving loans in exchange for land, this program did not start without issues. Some nobles refused to part with their land as compensation for their unpaid loans, they even went as far as to kill the company’s representatives who when demanding repayment. With such nobles leveraging their positions to take our money with impunity we had to retaliate. I of course knew that this would happen, after all the Jews had the same thing happen to them an uncountable number of times when loaning money to nobles and kings in the Middle Ages. For those nobles who did not wish to repay their loans to us, even when we gave them a way out of their predicament, we forced an embargo on them, cutting their access to the market. Not even peddlers would trade with them. Some tried to use their retinues to replace the whole system but ended up even more in debt, that is if they can even find a merchant to trade with. With this tactic we were able to force most nobles to repay their loans in either coins or though the land exchange we truly desired.

            Outside of economically dominating an entire duchy we have also expanded our business to neighbouring countries. Usually, companies would operate within one domain and maybe trade a little with their neighbours but not us, whether it be through subsidiaries or shell companies we have a presence in almost every country in the east and south of the continent. it can be said that we are the first multinational company in this world.

            Before I get to how we grew to be the size we are now I must first explain the relationship between our continent and the continent of Erimos.

            From what Aldry learned during his trip around the continent along with the map he made for me by using the constellations as a method of measurement, a method I taught him, we can assume that this land mass we stand on is about one and a half to two times the size of the largest country in my old world, Russia. However, we are the second smallest continent in this world. In comparison, Erimos is so vast that no accurate comparison can be made, the best we can infer from what the few explorers that wrote about their homeland is that the north portion alone is many times larger than this entire continent. With this size relation between the northern and southern continents comes a corresponding number of resources, and that is what the issue is. This continent of Alecia holds three major gold mines, all of which are running out of gold to extract.

            How I know this is a secret but the fact that we have so few sources of gold and that those few gold mines are likely to dry up in the near future presents a bleak picture for us as most of the trade with our neighbour to the south is made in gold. Adding to that the fact that we are currently in a state of trade imbalance where our imports are of greater value to our exports results in a future shortage of gold which we need if we are to conduct trade, thus putting us in a disadvantageous position. Even worst, most of what we import is made up of consumables that bring little benefit, but which are still necessary whilst our imports are valuable resources that cannot be replenished, and you get a powder cake waiting to explode. Most of Erimos’ exports to us are made up of wool, cloth, ivory, salt, slaves, fruits, spices, dyes, tea, incents, and silk. Most of our import are meant for one time uses with the exception of Ivory, slaves and maybe cloth. Alecia on the other hand trades in grains, livestock, wine, silver, and iron. Half of what we export are natural trading products but due to the level of trade imbalance we can be assured that we might fall into the resource curse, relying on them to shore up our economy and support our trade with Erimos. In the long run we will become economically dependent on the south. The nobles and the rich will continue to live as if nothing ever happened, and the people will be the ones to suffer the consequences. Gold is essential for the economy so the less we have of it, the harder it will be for our economy to develop and the greater our disadvantage.

            There are ways to solve this issue such as fiat currency or replacing gold with silver, but neither is a good idea in the long run. Or rather, I should say that neither will help me in what I am trying to accomplish.

            The Fortuna Trading Company took a different approach. Instead of participating in the lucrative southern trade, we created an inside market where we reversed the tendency of hemorrhaging gold. Instead, we reduced the southern continent’s advantage by creating a different source for many of the commodities only they have, whilst increasing our own production.

            I mostly focused on using my abilities to create spices since it is the one with the biggest profit margin, but I also acquired land that we used to grow wheat amongst other grains. We created new vineyards to increase the production of wine. We increase the number of farm animals and introduced the culture of pasture grazing thus increasing the number of livestock we can trade which had the domino effect of helping increase local production of wool. We did all this all whilst being able to sell them at a lower price and for a greater profit. There isn’t much I could do about things that are specific to Erimos such as incents, tea, and slaves but it’s not like I am trying to cut the south out of our economy, all I am trying to do is reduce their impact on us. This world is in no way similar to my old one, there is no free trade nor is there international organizations with the purpose of facilitating and/or regulating trade, this is why my approach has to be different by which I mean having to institute a mercantilist policy whilst still allowing for some trade imbalances.

            All of this is to say that gold is now even more valuable than people realize and with the help of my business I was able to get ahead on the future gold crises. Of course, I do not intend to prevent it from happening as it would give me the opportunity to attack and even colonize parts of Erimos. If I was to continue creating gold then this crisis will not take place and that is why I have refrained from creating more of it. My personal gold stash is a means which I will make good use of by using it to whether the coming storm without too many problems on my side.

            If the rumours are to be believed there are others with even bigger gold reserves such as the Welhem bank and the Southern Trading Company. It is said that their value is even greater to that of a grand duchy or even a medium sized kingdom. In other words, they should have millions of gold coins in reserve. Whether this is true or not I do not know but if it is then it would make sense. They did operate for far longer than we have, and they have likely made a fortune out of loans and trade with Erimos.

            The butler along with the rest of the government officials kept staring at me whilst I inspected the documents they handed over. I debated using some of the money in this report to push for a faster recovery of the town but decided against it. I already invested quite the amount so there is no reason to add to it, at least not for a year or two. If anything, they might use this opportunity to enrich themselves even more. I could also use the plight of this town to increase my popularity by coming to its aid in its hour of need.

            I reviewed many documents related to the work they’ve done during my time sleeping and solved the few problems I found.

            At this time Damian came into the room and presented me the revised plan to move east, this is a calculated move to force those who have relations to house Mordry and other nobles to the east to tell them of what happened to this city. Information is very important, by making use of what I have done here I am hoping that the rest of the eastern lords will simply surrender, this could backfire, but I highly doubt it.

            I am giving the east time to prepare, they will ether surrender or be forced to suffer the same fate as house Katimus and join the pages of history as fools who dared stand in my way.

            Damian also informed me that a mercenary group he once worked with are currently in the city and that they are offering their services. I approved their hire as this town is in need of as much security personnel as possible.

            Having finished all the work I planned on doing I motioned for Damian to ready the unit so that we could be on our way. Having spent three days in this city, I am confident that it is in no immediate risk and that the information I wished would leak has a three-day advance on us. Hopefully this will be enough to avoid as many battles as possible.

            We travelled for a day to the neighbouring lord’s estate where I was proven right as the lord surrendered without a fight and relinquished his title. I then gave him two choices, the first is to become a governor working under me. This would allow him to continue taking care of this territory as a noble in name only and with a fixed salary which would help me save up on human resources. The second option I gave him was to take whatever he is able to carry and leave the duchy, in other words exile. The old man chose the first option and swore his allegiance to me, yes me not my father. I found it amusing that even a baron who rarely interacts with the high nobility knows who is truly in power.

            This is not an offer I will present to every lord I meet; it is reserved for those who are competent in their work or trustworthy. Well, I say trustworthy but that is only as far as traitors go.

---

            Change of venue to the Isle of Providence where a priest awaits the arrival of a certain man.

            Clack, clack, clack, “Your grace…” a figure in a dark robe spoke to a man sitting on a bench, presumably preying to the idle in front of him.

            “Hahaha, are you sure that I am not the one who should call you that, oh avatar of our god.” The man answered whilst laughing. “Are you here on her behalf or is it that you heard the news about house Katimus and anticipating her will came to warn this old man of your coming actions.”

            “The first one, I have been commanded to slay her before the balance of the world is disturbed any further.”

            “It seems that our teachings were not enough to prevent the use of grand magic in war. I do not know what kind of monster that girl is but to destroy a city in one attack is something I could never have imagined. This is why the gods have long ago tasked us with preventing the use of magic in war, but it seems that we failed, miserably at that.” The old priest sighed and brought his left hand to his head trying to ease the pain of the headache he’s been recently suffering from.

            “What I wish to know is who she really is, only an avatar of the gods or a mage whose mastery over magic rivals that of the Elves could cause such devastation. The only theory I could come up with is that she is either a servant of the god of chaos or maybe the goddess of war?” the hooded man spoke those words with discuss obvious in his tone.

            “I am not sure either, but seeing as she was born human, we can remove the possibility of her being an elf. I am truly thankful that those intruders chose to seclude themselves rather than cause us trouble. What I wish to know is why our god did not warn us of this.” The priest felt the strong gaze of the man standing behind him and revised his earlier statement. “I am not blaming her or anything but if she had told us then we would have done everything in our power to stop her or at least get in her way and we wouldn’t need to rely solely on you.”

            “I too wish I could have stopped her before any of this happened, if only I could have snuffed the life out of this witch the very day she was born. She is an insult to my predecessors and even worst she is in direct opposition to our god.”

            “Most of them at least.”

            “Yes, most…”

            “Were you told of what magic she can use?”

            “No… do you have any information that could be of use to me?”

            “From what a recently arrived spy who worked as a solder stationed at the wall has told me, she should be able to use at least four trees of magic if not more.”

            “Four, at age 12? Now that’s impressive, what types of magic are they?” Real surprise can be felt from the hooded man as there are currently less than a dozen individuals in the entire world with that many trees of magic at their disposal.

            “She is known for being an alchemist but from what the man saw he reported that she could also use elemental magic, space magic, and for the last one, the spy wasn’t sure if it was enchantment magic, or chaos magic.”

            “I guess she will be somewhat of a challenge, but to think that a human can master so many trees of magic… I am honestly speechless, even I have only mastered enchantment magic whilst only having access to illusion magic.”

            “If she had some Elven ancestry in her like those in the Arialdian Empire then I would not be surprised if she could master all of them but even so, without spending at least a century or two studying them she is likely only able to tap into the base of those magics. Could she have been blessed by some god and like you given a gift?”

            “It is possible, it could even explain why she is so capable at such a young age. She may have been given a gift or even an edict from a higher being.”

            “I hope you find comfort in knowing that her sword skills are nothing compared to yours, from what a spy posted inside the duke’s castle reported she has a terrifying aura, in his words she gave him the impression that he was “in the presence of a tyrant who would snuff out the life out of him if he dared defy her” but that her sword skills are mediocre. On the matter of Swordsmanship, she is about as good as an average knight but no match for a sword saint or higher.”

            “Hmm, then I should engage her at close quarter combat. Her aura will have little to no effect on an Avatar like myself.”

            “I wish you luck but if I may, please don’t underestimate her.” The priest put his hands together, praying for the success of this man he raised since becoming an orphan, a man that this celibate priest sees as his own child even if neither would admit to their familial feelings as they are overshadowed by the belief and the desire to serve the goddess they both love. She who holds the world in order.