Warehouse

As they came back to the castle, the father and son duo went straight to the dining room to have their supper.

It did not take them long to start talking about what had happened.

"Why is the security of the city this shaky? Has it always been this way?" William could not help but ask.

"Not at all, no more than five years ago Landow was much safer than it is now, the situation had slowly deteriorated ever since and we don't know exactly why as of yet." the marquess answered.

William thought about it for a while, trying to list things that could be the cause, taking inspiration from modern societies as well as ancient ones back on earth.

"If I may ask, how much is the territory losing because of the Bandit attacks?"

"About a tenth of our income I believe." The marquess answered after giving it some thought.

"Have there been other attacks before?"

"Indeed, they did happen from time to time and I would always be able to dislodge them before they could cause too much damage. This recent one lasted a little more since I wanted for this recent attack to be a learning opportunity for Marek, therefore the bandits have been able to do more damage than their predecessors."

The marquess explained.

"This is just an assumption, but if the trade has been impacted for such an extended amount of time, it means not only did we lose in taxes but also jobs; jobs that would have probably belonged mostly to poor families that most likely worked in the peers correct?" William asked.

"I know what you are trying to say son, if people go for an extended time without an income, they would probably resort to crime."

" So why don't you just employ them?" William suggested.

"We have no jobs at the moment, so how can we employ them?"

"Just create them, I am sure there are roads somewhere that need to be built or repaired, walls, waterways. Anything would do as long as you plan a bit for it." William suggested.

Lord Ulric frowned a bit at the proposal. "This will cost us greatly, we may have some wealth in our coffers, but money is not something we can squander on unnecessary expenses since we have no urgent need for such projects."

William sighed a bit as he thought, 'i should not expect people of this era to understand basic economics, I just need to be patient with him.'

" Think about it this way, if the security deteriorates further it will affect trade, which will lead to job loss which will, in turn, lead more people to partake in criminal activity and on and on. It's a vicious cycle that if we fall into, we will hardly ever get out."

William paused for a moment to allow the marquess to digest the information before he continued.

"On the other hand, if you start some project that requires mass recruitment, we will absorb a good portion of the idle manpower thereby limiting the spread of criminals. On top of that, the money you spend will go to merchants and trade guilds, who will spend it in the economy and eventually be taxed by our house. It's a win-win for everyone."

Lord Ulric thought deeply about this proposal, the more he delved into it the more sense he saw in implementing it.

"This is just a temporary measure until our house can deal with the bandits." William added at the end trying to convince him further. which seemed to have worked as the marquis finally relented.

"Good idea William, I still need to consult a few experts but this may indeed be a good solution to our problem. How did you come up with it?"

"Do you remember that merchant that I helped?"

" The one whose debt you bought?"

"Indeed, I have been talking to him from time to time. I have to say merchants sure know how to use money, What I told you is nothing serious compared to what they know, you should seriously consider getting a competent merchant to help you with managing the house's wealth. Trust me they have excellent ideas."

The marquess looked at his son, he gazed into his dark jet black eyes for some time before he nodded.

"Maybe you are right, I have never been the best with money after all."

'Thank you Edmund for being a scapegoat without even knowing it." William sighed deeply, he simply did not want to be too suspicious, always abiding by the saying "too much attention Is bad attention.... For now."

After that, they continued eating their meal in silence, but not for long though as the marquess breached another subject.

"I have decided to go ahead and deal with the bandit problem myself seeing as your elder brother was not capable of doing it himself. I want you to go with me."

"Why?" William asked, this was no walk in the park, these are very capable bandits they were dealing with here.

"I see potential in you son, you learn from your surroundings, you have some theoretical knowledge which you have learned from the books in our library, but you still lack experience. I believe that this is a good opportunity for you to learn from a first-hand approach ."

William hesitated a bit at first as this could be quite dangerous, sure there were the guards and his father who was an experienced commander leading them with him, but still.

'This could be a bit dangerous, but experiences like these are quite rare to come by.' he tried to reason.

After a few moments though he relented.

William crossed his fingers and closed his eyes as he prayed, " please don't make this be like the forest incident, I still have nightmares from time to time for Hades' sake. As long as I don't say what's the worst that could happen I should be fine right?"

Then he opened his eyes and agreed.

"Alright, when do we leave?"

"In two days, I have a few things to take care of first and then we will set off with the men."

----------------------------------------------

The very next day William woke once more and started his routine, as usual, waking up, washing up, breakfast, training, nap if possible then lunch.

During their lunch, the marquess had informed him that the group of men he had caught the day before were nothing but a group of bandits, their plan was to lure their victims into the dark alleys and rob them of their possessions without killing them if they did not have to.

William was not told of their fate, nor did he ask frankly, but if he had to guess they would probably be sentenced to hard labor for a long time to come.

After he had his lunch William made his way towards the four seasons establishment, which has now become their new meeting place at the usual time.

After he reached the place, he did not have to wait long for Edmund to arrive at the scene.

Once the usual greetings were over William asked.

"So!! have you found us a place for our little project?"

Edmund nodded. "I found a place among the warehouses near the docks. It's not too big, but it fits with the budget."

"Good, let's go have a look, shall we?"

William knew that his father will not like hearing about him going near the docks, but as long as he could get this project going, it would all be worth it.

They took the main road the cut through the city from the castle district all the way to the docks going through all the other districts in the process.

The more distance they crossed towards their heading, the less exquisite the architecture became, giving way to more "economic" buildings that prioritized space efficiency, keeping any architectural decorations to a minimum, that is if they were any a all.

As they arrived at the section dedicated to the warehouses near the docks, the place became extremely bustling with activity as workers moved goods in and out in an unending stream.

Even though it smelled quite badly William took a deep breath as he thought.

'Add a couple of smoke chimneys here and there, and it would look more like a Victorian-era industrial zone.'

Following Edmund's lead William and his disguised guards further back, finally arrived at a small warehouse quite a distance away from the main road.

"Space is at a premium here, this is the best I can do with the budget you have" Edmund commented.

" This should be more than enough for a start Edmund." William replied before he asked.

"What are you waiting for? Let's get in so that you could show me the place."