Deputy Minister of Commerce

A week later, Will walked into the palace to his his new office. The left wing of the palace was for administration. The Finance Minister, Chamberlain, Chancellor, and their deputies had office buildings in the administration wing.

Similar to modern times, higher administrative positions had offices on higher floors.

Will's office was on the second floor, of the three story palace. Also on the second floor, was Francis II, the Vice Chancellor of Seals and Official Correspondence.

If the King was metaphorically the CEO of the kingdom, than the Finance Minister was the CFO, and the Chancellor the COO.

As the new Deputy Minister of Commerce he was now responsible to managed international trade, enforce tariffs, and oversee the Merchant Guilds, Crafter Guilds, and shop owners.

To encourage hard work and fairness, the Deputy Minster of Commerce was paid from the kingdom's sale tax. Which meant, the more commerce the higher Will's salary.

The same was true for the othe deputy ministers as well. The Treasury Deputy Ministry was paid out of the treasury based on how well he inventoried and monitored the kingdom's treasury.

The Deputy Ministry of Revenue was paid from the tax collection. Therefore, his salary depended on reducing theft among tax collectors and increasing amount of taxes collected.

Finally, the Finance Minister's salary was paid out of annual taxes, treasury, and sale tax. Thus, the greater oversight usually increased his salary.

If Will calculated right he'd earn almost a 100,000 gold annually in his new position. Still less than he made annually as a business owner. But the position gave him greater authority to over his businesses and others.

But before Will could even get settled into his new office or greet his employees he was surrounded by guild masters gifting him lavish presents and thousands of gold.

"Congratulations Deputy Minister, Earl vont Ballard," said Lord Arwin vont Navarrete, the Guidon Merchant Guild leader putting a large cake on his office desk.

"Old friend congratulations," said Lord vont Murphy, the Gadreel Merchant Guild Master, who stressed the word friend.

They guild leaders introduced themselves. The only female Guild Master was Vlore's Delores vont Cho.

"To celebrate your appointment. We have decide to grant you a lifetime exemption from paying guild dues!"Tirana's Guild Master David vont Newton exclaimed in glee.

"Listen everyone, I remember when scrawny silver headed boy sat across from me wanting to sell board games. Little did I suspect he'd become the wealthy man in Fermion and the future Deputy Minister of Commerce," Lord vont Murphy beamed in happiness.

"Calm it down Harold you tell that story at every chance you get," Lord vont Cho snapped.

"Thank you Merchant Guild leaders for the cake, gifts, introductions, and story. I look forward to getting to know you all better.

As you already know, I've been a proud Merchant Guild member for almost 20 years.

The Merchant Guild has been my biggest supporter since adolescence. I appreciate you all coming to wish success.

I hope to deepen our relationship over the years by working together to strengthen both domestic and international business. After all the more we grow together the wealthier we all become, cheers," Will said raising a glass of champagne.

"Cheers!" they all laughed green with greed.

"I heard there was cake?" said King Roland, as he and Duke Francis walked in Will's office.

"Your majesty!" They all bowed.

"We came to celebrate one of our guild members appointment to Deputy Minister of Commerce," said David vont Newton.

"Don't mind us. Keep celebrating!" Duke Francis encouraged.

"Ahem, Deputy Minister we came to advocate for the Merchant Guild, and our members. There are several pressing concerns we have that require your assistance.

First we would like to raise the tariffs on imported goods. Many of the foreign goods are cheaper and better quality. It's hurting our members—" Will interrupted Guild Master vont Naverrete.

"Denied, tell your members to increase the quality and lower the price, or stop producing. What's next?" Will asked.

"Several guild members would like you to release your bathhouse patent—" Will interrupted Guild Master vont Cho.

"Approved, what's next?"

"The price of fish and tulips!" Harold vont Murphy said

"What about fish and flowers?" Will asked.

"The price of river fish has steadily gone up. It's hard to even find river fish now a days. And since the wedding the price of tulips doubles almost everyday," Guild Master vont Murphy said.

"Hm, I look into that. What did the last Deputy Minister of Commerce do about those?" Will asked the king, Duke, and guild masters.

"Will do you recall our conversation before the Winter Ball? This has been a challenging position to fill. Few people have the qualifications and knowledge to handle this job," the King said.

"For the last ten years, this has not been a stable position. More than once, I had to manage the Commerce Ministry, on top of my other duties," Duke Francis said.

The Guild Masters, King, and Duke continued to talk to Will out the economy, trade, and business.

The next day, Will work was interrupted when the Crafters Guild arrived to celebrate Will's appointment. Will was surprised to learn that both the Elves and Dwarves had joined the Crafters Guild. They gift Will, money fine leather and a shield with coat of arts.

The day after the Academy Headmasters came. While the Academy are technically governed by the Chancellors office, their budget is approved through the Commerce Ministry. When they arrived, they advocated for extraneous budget expenditures. The Headmasters gifted Will academy banners to hang in his office.

Will had yet to get a full days work done. He thought that today, he might finally have a rest until the farmers arrived.

A collation of farmers, from across Fermion arrived to celebrate Will's appointment. They wore new or clean overalls and brought a crates of fruit, vegetables, and a pig as gifts to Will.

They farmers raised several concerns about imported crops, especially profitable crops like flax, soy beans, and cotton.

Will listens closely to every concern they presented. They also told Will something interesting, less farmers were cultivating edible crops. The reason being, Will shipping company was able to sell textile cheaply at most seaports. Which sent the demand for textiles through the roof, which meant textile companies were dependent on farmers to produce more cotton and flax.

When they couldn't find the amount they required, they started purchasing those crops from overseas.

Farmers rushed to plant the cash crops, instead of edible crops, driving up the price of wheat or barley.

"Thank you for telling me, I speak with the king about providing farmers who grow edible crops a subsidy. This should balance out the crop issue," Will said.

"Deputy Minister, we can't tell you how happy we are to have you in this position. Someone who respects farmers and and the ground. We farmers have a particular appreciation for terramancers.

The next day, Will was surprised to see Elizabeth leading a group of women into his office.

"Congratulations Deputy Minister on your appointment," said the women handing Will his second cake of the week.

The women then spoke about the importance of women shop owners, crafters, farmers, and administrative clerks.

The Charter for Women's Rights emboldened women to form an interest group. And who better to lead that interest group than Elizabeth, the woman responsible Women's Charter.

Will chuckled to himself as Elizabeth led these women around like sheep. There was no doubt Elizabeth was the most powerful social icon oh their generation and younger.

Before leaving, Will kissed her goodbye. She and the women left to visit Francis II and celebrate his appointment to Vice Chancellor.

Finally alone, Will closed his door and got to work signing, stamping, and writing memos. With the in and out appointment over the years, there was a lot of backlog.

In addition to unclogging the backlog, Will calendar exploded with meeting request.

Yet, Will fiercely guarded his weekly morning meeting time with his clerks and city administrators at the begging of the week.

In the afternoon he met with his ministry employees.

The second day of the week he had a Deputy Minister Meeting with Duke Francis. Duke Francis continued this meeting, when he resumed his role after the War Council.

Outside those to meetings, Will had complete flexibility. He could work from home, or Durres where he was spending more time. Or his favorite place to work remotely, Lezhe.

Will spent more time in Durres because his office supervisor the shipping charters the king granted.

Yes, Will was responsible for supervising his own shipping company and business. But this was no different than modern Earth where former CEOs became Secretary of the Treasury or Commerce in the United States or Chancellor of the Exchequer in the United Kingdom.

Will was already wealthy when he took this position. His secret vault behind his house had more than recovered since he donated the 3 million gold to the king's recovery 12 million recovery plan.

To manage his calendar, Vanessa was brought over from Yorkshire. Will moved Jesper to Yorkshire, and hired a new Senior Clerk, Candace, to supervise his Guidon businesses.

Candace was a long time employee who served under Mei, Vanessa and Jesper.

And Will was happy to be reunited with Vanessa after all these years.

Vanessa desk sat in front of Will's office. No one was allowed entry unless they were on his calendar. The three exception being his majesty, his grace, and his immediate family.

***

After a first challenging week, interrupted by interest groups, Will returned home to his Gadreel mansion.

After changing close he prepared to spar with Kalista, when he noticed Elder Thaddeus sparing with Kalista.

It was impressive to see him dueling aggressively with Kalista. Will was blown away by his master's skills.

Kalista saw Will she ran over excitedly and yelled, "Master I did it. I broke through Journeyman!"

"Congratulations," Will said hugging her.

"I broke through today, just before you arrived!" Kalista beamed excitedly.

"Thank you master for helping my daughter," Will accidentally misspoke.

"You consider me your daughter?" Kalista asked in surprise her eyes welling up with tears.

"Of course dear," Elizabeth said coming out to hug her.

"I've always considered you my older sister anyway," Camille said.

"If I'm honest, I did too!" Edward said next to Elizabeth.

"Family hug!" Elizabeth yelled.

As the family squeezed together.

"Master get over here!" Will yelled as Elder Thaddeus joined the hug.