Venerable Earl vont Ballard

As Deputy Minister of Commerce Will knew the first thing he had to do, was wrap his head around this new position.

If he wanted, Will could have sat on his ass all day and push paperwork. That would have fulfilled his job requirements, but he would find the job tedious and unenjoyable. And when an accountant finds a job tedious, that's a bad sign.

Instead, Will decided to he wanted to audit his ministry. And with that decision, Will hired several clerks to help his audit his ministry and the Tax Ministry. Why the tax ministry? Because they were responsible for collecting corporate sales tax as well as household income.

The King and Duke were surprised to see Will's sharp hiring increase but they said nothing.

Quickly Will found out their were two problems the first their was so much red tape, and second their was to much redundancy.

Red tape is when there is too many bureaucratic roadblocks and rules that delayed reports from being processed efficiently.

Second, his office was to bloated. To many employees did the same job. Redundancies we're important of to a point. It was important to document information, but his Commerce Ministry operate like a modern day Department of Metro Vehicles.

Will understood better than also anyone that businesses are an important engine for driving and maintaining economic and societal well-being.

Businesses harness the energy, creativity, innovations, and productivity of many participants, including investor, owners, and employees alike.

Will saw his job responsibilities including overseeing, but also growing capital and economic expansion to support the kingdom.

Without auditing his ministry, Will could not operate on data, and audited financial statements have long been a critical element of this accurate and transparent information.

This is why auditing is essential for fact based management decisions. Enhancing the trust in and reliability of ministerial-reported information was a key aspect for public policy.

That's why the United States enacted the The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 which created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and this new agency required all companies to have their financial statements audited by independent Certificated Public Accountants. The same was true for the European Union's European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

Thus Will's first edict as Deputy Minister was to mandate every business and guilds file an annual financial report to his office.

To his surprise most businesses did not complain. Since his FTSE required quarterly and annual financial reports, many business owners anticipated Will's request.

Moreover, many of them praised Will for cutting the red tape and making his office more efficient and receptive to clientele.

While bureaucracy was inherently impersonal, Will encouraged his employees to be friendlier.

Although, when he was a junior administrator, he always used to hate the morale campaigns.

As an administrator would announce some bullshit program like 'let's smile more,' or 'let's be nicer to our customers.'

Based on Will experience, most people did those things naturally. And the people who didn't would usually not have a change of behavior just to earn a star or smiling face on a bar graph.

These programs all had one thing in common, the told the employees 'the beatings will stop once the morale improves.'

Will had no intention of asking his hardworking employees to belittle themselves. Rather he simply put a bell in the office that read [Ring the Bell for good customer service]. If a customer dinged the bell, the employee earned five silver coin. To his commoner staff, five silvers was a months wages.

If a clerks client rang the bell, they run over to Vanessa for payment. If to clerks helped on client, they both earned five silvers. Will wasn't stingy with coin. So far, the program was a success. Will didn't know if his clerks would sustain their effort, but they sure seemed to enjoy the extra coins.

The last thing Will did after cutting the red tape, reducing redundancies, mandating financial reports, and improving customer relations, was to break down the walls the separated his clerks from the tax clerks.

So much of his ministry required collecting sales tax.

The tax collectors collected taxes for a range of ministerial, military, and local lords.

One the first floor each ministry was siloed. The Revenue Ministry's offices were located in the middle with the Treasury and Commerce on the side.

One day with out asking permission, Will and Vanessa walked down to the first floor. When his staff saw his they all rose and bowed.

"Good morning Deputy Minister vont Ballard how may we help you?" said an old gray haired balding man. He was the office's manager.

"Oh don't mind us, you keep working," Will smiled.

Even Vanessa was confused why Will asked her to come downstairs with him. She thought someone may have gotten in trouble.

Will stares at the wall dividing the Revenue and Commerce Ministries. After finding the support beams, and making sure not to damage them, Will cast [Erosion]. The wall slowly started to disintegrate. Where the wall had been now stood an open corridor.

The Revenue Ministry clerks looked at Will in fear. People still talked about how badly he beat Samuel.

"D-D-D-Deputy vont B-Ballard h-how c-can I help you," said a clerk his twenty clanking against each other in terror.

"Nothing, I just want my office and your office to get along better. Since you collect taxes for us, I feel that our offices should be closer, don't you?" Will asked

"Y-yes we agree!" said the same stuttering man.

"Good, from now on let's our offices be the best of friends. To night, dinner and drinks are on me!" Will said to cheers.

"Can we bring our families?" as a maternal looking woman with short black hair.

"Not at all. As long as you mingle I'm fine," Will smiled.

"Who dares remove a wall—ah Deputy Ministry you're here. Did you do this?" the minister asked.

Will nodded affirmatively.

"Ah, very good then. Carryon everyone," said the man briskly running out of the room.

***

"He did what?" asked Duke Francis laughing. His assistant telling him the story again for the second second.

"That's a good idea, why didn't we implement that sooner?" he asked his assistant.

"It was recommended, but the idea was rejected by the Deputy of Minister of Revenue. So, you and the king decided not to pursue the idea any longer," the assistant added.

"Oh, I wish I could have seen it with my own eyes. I'm sure the Deputy Minister Donovan was too surprised to respond," Duke Francis said wiping the tears out of his eyes.

"You see amused," said King Roland walking into his uncle's office.

"Quickly, tell the king what you told me," ordered Duke Francis laughing a third time.

Soon both the king and duke were laughing.

"I guess we should admire the speed of which he followed through on his decision," laughed the king.

"Donovan might be in t-rubble," chuckled Duke Francis at his 'dad joke.'

King Roland smiled at hearing the awful joke, not wanting to hurt his uncle's feeling.

"Do you think we should issue a statement about his unofficial renovation?" King Roland asked.

"Why, he'll be Finance Minister soon. It's better not to respond, as an unofficial sign of support.

I'm sure he did it for a reason. And do we care what the reason is as long as revenue goes up?" Dukes Francis asked.

"Fine. Anyhow, I can here for a different reason. Have you chosen our World Economic Forum delegation?" the King asked.

"I have. But I was surprised by the difficulty. I asked Tirana's Merchant Guild Master David vont Newton, but he said he was co-leading the Fermion's Merchant Guild delegation.

"Several people I asked, were already leading or co-leading delegation. In the end, I confirmed the three ministers under Will, Deputy Minister of Revenue, Francis II, and Adviser Chen," Duke Francis informed him.

"I admit, the Forum has me a bit on edge. So many countries and dignitaries in such a backwoods town. It has all the signs of a trap. What do you think he's planning?" asked king anxiously.

"What do your spies tell you?" inquired Duke Francis.

"All the reports discuss is construction projects, nothing more than lodges and shops. Yet, it sounds too simple?" said King Roland pensively stroking his beard.

"As simple as a board game, or a card game. While things may appear simple with Will, he always has a strategy to make money. You just have to figure out how he'll profits from this?

Is the answer simply to make Kukes more lucrative. You wonder whether is there a more covert reason?

What puzzles me more is his hands off approach to the Western Region. Consider this, your cousin informally controls the entire Western Region. His brother Jason now controls the northwestern region, his vassal control the center west, and he controls the southwestern region.

By controlling the three largest cities in each region, he effectively controls our entire western boundary.

Now let's consider each territory. He created a soy bean farm on his familial farm and help advance his ancestral barony to a viscounty.

With Baronet vont Wright as his puppet, he's turned Kukes from a backwood mountain town, into a tourist city.

And most strange, he did nothing to his second fiefdom, Lezhe, but now it's the top beachfront resort town.

When you exam all three cities, no pattern emerges, except for profit. The tax base for all three cities have grown considerably under him. To the point where Kukes and Lezhe were once pariah fiefdoms meant for punishment, are now seen a prime estates by the gentry.

Dear nephew, you wonder his plans? I can tell firmly, he plans to turn nothing into gold. The man is blessed with an uncanny vision.

We thought he wanted Kukes because the mountains were filled with gold mines, but Will builds gold mines, why does he natural ones?" said the Duke finishing his lecture.

"You are correct. Yes, you're right. Maybe I'm nervous to host so many dignitaries. If something happens we may be reprimanded with war," the king expressed.

"Let them come. If they plan to offend a Grandmaster Spellsword, his Sage master, and all of Will's trade partners, let them go ahead.

I heard Will now has dragons living in his fief. Dragons mind you! Who would be so foolish as to fight Fermion?" the Duke laughed loudly.

"You put more faith in your son in law than your king?" King Roland asked jealously.

"Will's younger and higher ranked then both of us. Of course I'm jealous of him! He's young, powerful, and rich! Point to a man that's not jealous of him, and I'll renounce my title," the Duke continue laughing.

"I assume you're right! Well I'm happy to hear our delegation is in order. Don't be late for the Adviser Meeting," King Roland remind his uncle before leaving.