“If you think I could help,” Ash said, trying to back away but bumping into the wall.
“Excellent,” Emelia said with bright eyes. “You will have an official office in the government building, but I will assign a person to watch over your office so that you can do most of your work here with me.”
As Emelia was about to go on, she was interrupted by a knock at the door. Frowning she turned toward the door. “Enter.”
“Milady, your guests have arrived and are currently waiting in the anterior room,” a young maid said as she pushed open the door to the room just enough to peek her head through.
“We will greet them in the official meeting room. Escort them there in about five minutes so we have time to arrive first,” Emelia said, dismissing the maid.
As the door shut, Ash and Emelia took a second door in the back of the room while moving through a set of halls that were hidden from most guests. Ash had been through the halls twice before, but he found it slightly odd to need a second set of halls just for one person to get around to impress guests.
The main meeting room was much larger than the study, but still smaller than the dining room that they often ate in. The inside of the room had a large square table with one large chair and seven smaller ones. Emelia took the large chair while Ash took the one on her direct right of her after she insisted.
Shortly after they were seated, the doors to the room were opened and two men were ushered into the room. One was Raven, while the other was the man who had stood for him during the trial. As soon as he saw Ash, Raven gritted his teeth and placed a two large stacks of parchments on the table.
Ash picked up the stack that had been placed in front of him and started to flip through it and a cold chill ran through his body.
163 platinum, 89 gold, 41 silver, 64 copper, and 11 iron pennies in the royal bank.
211 platinum, 33 gold, 75 silver, 34 copper, and 56 iron pennies in the merchant bank.
54 platinum, 267 gold, 218 silver, 871 copper, and 124 iron pennies in personal safe.
1 manor at 22 Margol Place in the city of Tellian.
1 farm with house along with eighty acres located in the southern section of Baron Lightgold’s territory.
1 small house at 137 merchant plaza in the capital city Forlanc.
47 slaves. Then the papers went on to list the name, age, sex, occupation, and location of each slave. The papers also listen a number of other belongings such as horses.
“I don’t see any mention of the stores that Mr. Tellamor owns. I know that he has at least three within my territory that were listed under his name during last year’s tax,” Emelia said frowning.
“Yes, I wanted to talk to you about that,” the older man said while leaning back in his seat. “It is true that Raven owned the stores, but the fact remains that he only sold goods that we provided him. In light of that, I would like to purchase the stores so that I may keep them within the family, otherwise we would have to buy more location to replace those that would be shut down.”
“I see, but they still should have been mentioned. Then you could have talked with Sir Ash about purchasing them.”
“I understand that, but during that time they would have to be shut down, otherwise there would be trouble with who had the rights to the income they provided and who was responsible for employee recompense. I was hoping that we could clear it up without that hassle. As you said, Raven has three stores within your land and two other smaller ones. I believe that a sum of fifty platinum coins would be more than enough to cover the cost of these stores.”
“I will accept the coins,” Ash said, interrupting Emelia before she had a chance to say more. “I have no use for stores, nor do I want the hassle of dealing with them.”
“Then I will have the money transferred over to your accounts with the royal bank within the week,” the man said with a light bow. “Other than that, are there any problem’s your grace?”
“Do you expect Sir Ash to go visit each slave?” Emelia asked as she looked at the slave locations.
“That will be up to Sir Ash. If he wishes, I will send along letters to send the slaves here, but he will have to cover the costs of their travel.”
“Then have them come here and make sure they have plenty so they can travel without worry. I do not wish them to die of starvation on the trip, nor do I expect them to walk the entire journey,” Ash said after a few moments.
“Very well, I will arrange it for Sir Ash out of thanks for dealing with the case of the shops so quickly. Only nine of the forty-seven slaves live within Tellian, the others live in the other houses or work at the stores. For the three that live in the capital, it will cost at least a gold for travel expenses while the others should easily make due with a handful of silver.”
“Can you pull the cost out of what you plan to pay me for the purchase of the shops?” Ash asked while he tried to figure out how much to give each person.
“Yes, if that is what you wish,” the man said without a second pause.
“The give five gold to each of the slaves in the capital and a full gold to the other thirty-five. That should be more than enough for them to arrive swiftly, and please let them know I want them to gather swiftly.”
“Will do. That will be a total of fifty gold coins which means I will deposit a total of forty-nine platinum and fifty gold into your accounts,” the man said after doing a few mental calculations.
“That will be fine.”
“Then that concludes our business. If you are ever around the capital, feel free to visit me. It is refreshing to meet a person such as you who doesn’t fret over the small things and looks at the larger picture, while at the same time cherishing those under him,” the man said, giving the first smile Ash had seen since seeing him.
“You are going to be busy today,” Emelia said in a pouting voice.
“What do you mean busy?” Ash asked, not understanding what she meant.
“Well first you need to have the slaves that you acquired marked. Also, you need to stop by the royal and merchant bank and change the accounts into your name. I am sure that you will also like to see your new home. Also, you now have a small fortune so I am sure there are things that you wish to buy.”
“True,” Ash said as he thought about what Emelia had said. “I think first I will take care of the slaves. Seven of them lived and worked at the manor, while two worked at the shop in town, but it says they were told to move to the manor yesterday. So at least they are all in one place.”
“Once you set up your new account at the royal bank, I can have your monthly stipend directly paid there. That will make that easier at least,” Emelia said slightly pouting. “Well, it is still early so you should first finish the papers you were going through earlier.”
Seeing her face, Ash couldn’t refuse so he took a seat next to Emelia and started to go through the papers again. While he worked, he thought about asking how much he would be paid, but shrugged off the idea. Right now he had more money than he could spend so it didn’t really matter how much he would be paid. In truth, he still owed Emelia quite a bit, so if this made her happy he was more than willing to do it.
5-3
It was still a few hours before noon when Ash finally finished his work and gathered Yuki and the others so that they could head to their new home. Allice was quiet and kept her head lowered, but the boy next to her side kept looking at Ash as if he were the devil. Ash tried to ignore the young boy, but seeing such a look of hate on his face truly bothered him.
The first stop before heading to his new manor was the slave trader’s guild which was located only five buildings down from the adventurer’s guild.
“Can I help you sir?” A young lady asked as soon as Ash entered the building.
“Umm…Yes, I hope so. I have a number of slaves that I need to be transferred into my possession,” Ash said, slightly disarmed by the young ladies warm smile.
“Arnold,” she yelled, turning her head. A few seconds later, a youn
g man no more than eighteen ran from the back room. “This man needs the service of a slaver. You’re not doing anything so why don’t you take the commission?”
“Sure sister Lin,” the boy said with a hopeful look in his eyes.
“How many slaves did you purchase?” The young man asked as he rushed to keep up with Ash’s pace.
“Nine,” Ash said handing over the slave contracts that covered the ones that were to be changed over.
“Nine!” The young man exclaimed with wide eyes. “It costs a silver per slave…Is that ok?”
“That’s fine,” Ash said, never looking at the man was he walked down the somewhat familiar roads. The last time he had walked down this path, he had barely paid any attention to the surrounding houses, but now he took notice. Most the houses belonged to those of high class merchants or lesser nobles who preferred to live within the city than at country estates, but couldn’t afford to live within the capital. They were all large and well-made, but the biggest of them were still only have the size of Emelia’s estates.
Soon Ash found himself standing in front of his new house. The window he had jumped through to enter the house last time was still broken and currently had only been boarded over. Seeing that Raven had been imprisoned, it was probably the best they could do. The house wasn’t the largest on the road, but neither was it the smallest. It was only two stories, but was almost as long as Emelia’s and had a large garden out front, yet little to no back yard.
As he approached the front door, Shina ran in front of him and opened it for him. As soon as he entered, Ash was greeted by nine bowed forms who were lined up in the fairly large foyer. Six of the slaves were women, the youngest of which was a five year old girl of the panther tribe. Other than the young girl, the only other beast tribe slave was a tall woman of the rabbit tribe who looked to be in her late twenties, but after meeting Shina, Ash didn’t try to guess her age. The two men stood out amongst the women as they wore armor and swords hung at their sides.
“I am your new master,” Ash said in the most confident tone he could muster. “Today we will be having your ownership changed. I need someone to show me to a room that would be suitable to perform the change.”
“Allow me master,” an older woman that looked to be in her mid-fifties said.
Ash and the others were led to the large room that he remembered well as it was the same one he had found Yuki in. The door to the room had yet to be replaced, but the broken door had been removed and now the archway simply stood open.
One by one, the slaves came into the room and Ash had his nerves tested as more than a few of them screamed. The worst was the young girl of the panther tribe who cried for nearly an hour after the change. Ash couldn’t see how a person could do this to another and not feel anything. If he could, he would have set each of them free, but unless done a special way, a slave mark could not be removed. Those like Allice had a red slave mark that could be removed, while those with a blue or black one were permanent.
Feeling mentally drained, Ash had the others rest while he left the manor. Shina and Yuki wanted to go with him, but he asked that stay behind and get to know the other slaves. When Ash explained that he wanted them to learn what skills and abilities each possessed so he could put them to proper use, they both agreed and seemed happy about the task.
When Ash left the manor, he headed first to the merchant guild since it was the closest, only being a few blocks away.
The merchant guild was a bit different than other guilds. It was one of the few guilds that people had to pay to join. Also, just like the adventurer’s guild, you could join it even if you belonged to another guild, but since you could have only one occupation, you wouldn’t be able to learn the skills. The merchant guild was also the largest non-governmental building in the city. Whenever Ash saw it, the building reminded him of a large bank.
The inside of the building was just as grand as the outside and had large cushioned benches spaced about. People milled about within the foyer talking and doing business. Ash ignored the numerous people and walked through a large open door to the right where the guild had its bank.
“Hello sir, how may I help you today?” a woman in her early twenties with light brown hair asked as Ash approached one of the three counters.
“I need to change an account over to my name,” Ash said, handing over a document for the transfer of ownership.
“Are you a member of the guild?” the woman asked after looking over the document.
“No.”
“Then if you wish to have an account with us, you will need to join the guild,” she said as she started to pull papers out from under the desk and place them in front of Ash.
“Then I will just withdraw the amount,” Ash replied. He didn’t really need an account with the merchant guild since it was mainly used for business means when one needed money sent outside of the kingdom. In truth, since he could carry any amount with him he didn’t need one at the royal bank either, but it would help him should he need to purchase something that cost more than a few platinum.
“Sir…Let me contact my manager,” the woman said in a slightly panicked voice.
Ash looked at the slip of paper and tried to figure out the money in this world again. Each time he thought he understood it, he was proven wrong. The more he thought about it, the more he decided that it was impossible to compare it with the currency from his own world. If he tried to say an iron penny was worth only a cent in his world then how does a cheap drink only cost nine pennies? But if he were to say it was a worth five cents, then that would make a copper five dollars and by the time it reached platinum it would be five million. No matter how he tried, the currency just didn’t make sense to him. In his mind, an iron penny was about five cents while a copper was close to a dollar, but at most a silver was only ten to twenty dollars. A gold was easily a thousand but a platinum was more around the amount of twenty five thousand instead of a hundred thousand. Each time he tried to come up with what a coin represented, the more it baffled him.
“Sir,” the older woman easily in her late sixties called out to him. “I heard that you wish to close your account.”
“Well I have taken over an account and I don’t wish to join the merchant’s guild so I figured I would just withdraw the coin,” Ash replied.
“Sir, if you wish we could wave the membership free. That way you won’t have to carry such a large amount on your person. Not to mention if you are ever outside of the kingdom, you can withdraw the gold from any guild office,” the woman said in persuading manner.
“No, I would prefer to withdraw it at this time,” Ash said again.
“I understand sir,” the woman said with a sad look on her face. “Give us a bit so that we can gather the funds.
Ash was seated in a small room with a comfortable cushioned chair while he waited. Ash had thought that it would only take a few minutes for them to get the coins, but he had sat for almost an hour before the young woman along with four others returned carrying a number of bags. Looking back at the paper ash looked at the amount again. 211 platinum, 33 gold, 75 silver, 34 copper, and 56 iron pennies in the merchant bank. While it was a large number, it still should all fit in one decent sized bag.
“We must apologize, we didn’t have near enough platinum or gold coins so we even had to bring out silver coins for the transaction,” the young woman said with a low bow. “While we are a major branch, most of the transitions at the guild are done on paper so we don’t tend to keep more than 200 platinum coins in the vault at one time.”
“That is fine,” Ash said pulling out a sack from his inventory. It was a plane pack he had in his inventory, but as far as the others were concerned it could be a bag of holding.
Once he had agreed to accept the coins the staff started to count them out slowly. The more he watched them, the more he was starting to think that this had all been a ploy for him to keep the money here instead of taking it with him. In the end he received 186 platinum, 2
350 gold, 18375 silver, 34 copper, and 56 iron pennies. It took more than two hours for the coins to be counted and the guild staff just watched with wide eyes each time Ash poured the coins into the almost bottomless pack.
“Thank you,” Ash said as he bowed before leaving. The staff of the guild looked around as if asking each other what to do, but before they had a chance to act Ash had already left.
The next stop was the royal bank which was located next to the government building that the courtroom was in. Ash thought about checking out his new office, but since he had only received the appointment today, he doubted Emelia had time to set it up yet.
The royal bank was much smaller than the merchant guild, but unlike the merchant guild all he had to do was sign a few papers. Once everything was done, Ash was given a metal plate much like he received when he had joined the adventurer’s guild. The only real difference was that the card only showed his name and the amount that he had within the royal bank. Since the card had been attuned to him that meant that only he could use it, so it was nearly impossible for his money to be stolen.
Ash put the card in his inventory so that it couldn’t be lost or stolen. Once he was finished, Ash ran through his new ownings again. There was also supposed to be a personal vault in the manor that held a large amount of coin as well as numerous other items, though they were not listed individually. With nothing else to claim until the slaves arrived from the countryside and the capital, Ash headed back to the manor.
Ash actived his sneak abilities as soon as he neared the manor so that he could enter the vault that was located in the basement without being bothered by Yuki or Shina. The vault door itself was made out of metal but was locked by magical means. Following the instructions on the paper, Ash reset the locking mechanism and the door swung open.
Ash’s mouth hung open as he entered through the door. The room itself was not very large. It was only about an eight by ten by ten room, but it was lined with shelves that were filled to the brim with objects. The Tellamor family was known for alchemy, but Raven didn’t have the skill for alchemy so he was unable to join the main branch. However, he was still entrusted to a store since he held their blood.
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