Chapter 340 - Reversing Nightmares

With August ending just a couple of days ago, harvesting season has struck Ignis. It is that time of the year when most crops are harvested, wheat being the most planted crop. For everyone this is just a great way to increase the food supply, but for a specific Kingdom across this Continent is a big way to be bailed out of trouble.

Crutal Kingdom! We are talking about crutal Kingdom, the Grand Capital here in Ignis. Due to the fact that this Kingdom has been under heavy debt, this is what they need to reverse a great portion of it.

An estimated 800 thousand gold coins worth of crops are being harvested in this domain, half of which rightfully belong to the Castle thanks to the agreement every farmer or farm manager took when requesting pieces of land to work on.

Now the 400k alone are enough to reverse a lot of debt and build up portions of the crashed economy, but the King also requested to obtain about 200k worth of crops. This specific portion will be given for free to the Castle, under the Grand King's request.

It does sound like a deal breaker for the Farmers doesn't it? But after paying off the 20k debt to the farmers, he wants to use this farming opportunity to obtain 600k for the Kingdom. This will help solve the economy crisis, and in exchange the King promised to pay for the crops 10% more within a year.

It is a great deal for the farmers, and momentarily a great deal for the King. But eventually the King will have to pay 220k for 200k worth of crops, by that time it won't be such a big issue but the Kingdom needs it now desperately.

As for the other remaining 200k worth of crops, the farmers can sell them wherever they please which thankfully keeps them from being bankrupt. They can sell them utside or inside of the Kingdom, although due to avoiding bankruptcy they've all sold it to the Kingdom.

The King is offering to buy them because after all the Kingdom can't starve year around and the crops are perfectly sellable to the people although the first few months food is supposed to be given for free due to the economic crisis.

As you might have guessed, the 600k worth of food will be sold around Meridionali Ignis. Reason behind it, is that the hunter rate has dropped tremendously due to the recent war with the Snow Ignites primarily.

The domains in Meridionali Ignis has farms, we shall not confuse it here. But even there they are facing minor to medium budget crises, so they mostly sent the Crops at Ratan for a better price, mostly 20% more profit-wise since the large Continent can afford to buy it and sell it for more.

Buying crops cheaply from Crutal Kingdom is their best solution, it keeps people feed and they will have more time to build up better incomes of food. It would cure one problem and inevitably start strengthening the Alliance since the battle with the Snow Ignites is technically over.

Speaking of food, in the past two months Crutal Kingdom has earned around 200k in total by selling 12 tons of various meat types to the domains in Meridionali Ignis who as mentioned have food shortages.

This profit, helped pay in some of the nastiest highest debt Crutal Kingdom currently has. Hilariously, this large debt was partially paid with a smaller debt(300k) gathered around domains in Meridionali Ignis.

The large debt I'm talking about, is the one Crutal Kingdom owes to its own civilians. There are 1,500 people under employment here and for 3 months they didn't receive a salary but free food and lumber instead. 3 months of salaries, equals to 741k worth of gold coins!

With the help of the debt attained in Meridionali Ignis and with the profit from the sold meat, 1/3 of this large debt has been paid a couple of weeks ago. Meaning, 247k has been paid and 494k remain in debt.

This large debt is the main issue here, because regarding the 300k debt in domains around Meridionali Ignis, the 10% monthly income they have to hand in to the Grand Capital will be used to get rid of the debt favourably as soon as possible. Meaning Crutal Kingdom won't have to send in gold to them month by month until it is paid.

A day ago, another form of profit reached the Kingdom. Specifically 200k! What could this profit be you might ask? Well Crutal Kingdom only owes debt to a few domains, not all of Meridionali Ignis or Ignis at this point. Meaning the 10% of the income in the other domains has been handed to the Grand Kingdom, twice.

The first one was instantly stored in the Castle so a budget can be built, the King didn't want to focus his prime attention to removing the debt. As for the second one brought here recently, all of it has been used to pay off the second set of salaries he owes to the 1,500 people.

200k alone isn't enough to pay the second set of owed salaries, so the King used the profit from the sold meat to cover it, 53k still remained in the budget from the meat profit which helped save up a total of 186k for now. The math might sound confusing, but I've did it so you don't have too.

What these calculations portray, is that Crutal Kingdom is just a few steps away from being debt free. The total of 200k monthly income coming from all the Domains in the ill.u.s.tratian Alliance will help achieve a stable economy again.

What helped the Kingdom even more, is the 400 sets of armour they've sent to Ratan in the july. Due to the fact that it took 2 months for such profit to arrive here, it wasn't big help instantly but now it brings a nice 120k in the Budget.

Along with the other saved up gold, Crutal Kingdom now has 306,000 gold coins in the royal treasury. As much as Grand King Xakro ill.u.s.tratio lll is concerned, this economical nightmare is close to being over, there are 1,500 employees splitting 494k in a span of two weeks and the domains in Meridionali Ignis are recovering from the monetary losses they had due to the recent war with the Snow Ignites.

What's better? Thanks to the 600 thousand gold coins worth of crops which are close to being shipped to Meridionali Ignis, 200k as an income from the 10% taxes coming from domains in the ill.u.s.tratian Alliance, 100k coming from the meat shipped to Meridionali Ignis and 120k coming from the monthly 400 sets of armour sent to Ratan. Crutal Kingdom is a couple of months close from recovering.

With the remaining 247k debt to the employees about to be paid in this month, at October Crutal Kingdom will have a total of 1,079,000 Gold Coins in their budget! Of course the Kingdom will owe another 220k to the Farmers but there is no rush with it, it can be paid off in November.

After all that farming business handled, the Kingdom will still earn a profit of 323k each month and it will gradually increase when more debt gets paid off. Short said, King Xakro ill.u.s.tratio lll managed to reverse this huge crisis in a span of 3 months.

I hope all the numbers don't sound confusing, and I hope the finishing sum makes sense. I could have skipped all of this but the last thing I need is to make budget problems magically disappear here, even fantasy has boundaries. So to the economic lovers out there, this 3 hour work is for you.

...

As for now, let's get back to simpler literature. For example let's take a quick glimpse at what has Chan been up too, the King's son.

Due to the recent fixes in the economy, King Xakro ill.u.s.tratio lll has obtained upon himself the capability to invest on his own son in a monetary way. Because as much as he wants too, he can't be with Chan 24/7.

Now when I say "In a Monetary way.", what exactly could my point be? Simple, he has hired a lady who is practically babysitting Chan. That would be the best way to describe it, but in a professional view it is a complex matter.

This fine 31 year old lady, has a prime job of keeping Chan out of trouble and has some years of experience regarding how to keep a person calm, happy and productive. Short said, she is called an "illusionist".

Just to confirm, she doesn't have any type of "Magical Powers", she just knows how to make someone happy without sharing a bed with him or in some terms, her. We can call her a psychologist!

Yet again that is not the only quality under her possession, she is also a great body guard. At a rate of 1/6 her muscles can be rated in the middle as a 3/6. Height wise she isn't too different from Chan, only 5.3 feet tall but that doesn't neccesarily affect her capability to protect or fight.

Best part yet (For Chan at least.), she is an ill.u.s.tratio. So the whole racial differences drama won't affect her work. Apart from protecting from physical harm, and keeping him mentally calm she also has more complex responsibilities.

For example, she has to make sure that Chan doesn't spiral down a whole bottle of Beer. Short said, she is keeping Chan from becoming an Alcoholic. Now since he used to heavily drink, completely getting rid of alcohol can have a bad effect so instead he can just take a couple of light goblets per week.

Other responsibilities include making sure that he reads enough books. Proven throughout hundreds of examples through time, although reading can not heal most brain damages it still can help boost brain capabilities. Short said, it can make one smarter.

Since Chan took an interest in reading before this fine lady arrived, this isn't the toughest part of her job. He can easily read 5 books a month and can even stretch to 10, because after all most books through Ignis are just 10k words long.

This lady, has to make sure that Chan reads at least 5 books a month. Eventually it will pay off since most books include ill.u.s.tratian history, some including ill.u.s.tratian stories. It will help deal with the brain damage caused by intense consumption of Alcohol.

Chan never would have thought that he would be happy to see a stack of books, King Xakro ordered the delivery team to find as much books as possible regardless of the cost. He got three crates of them, each one is different. In the temporary Castle, Chan even has a few Bookshelves to hold them all in his room.

Throughout the couple of months he even felt slight improvements, for example he can remember things just a hunch better. The lack of beer has helped clear his mind, therefore he attained such a boost in his mental capabilities.

Apart from books, Chan is also supposed to stay out of trouble in any terms neccesary. Meaning, no flirting with ladies or starting pale fights with random men, no no those attributes are hideous on a Prince. That's right, he was publicly announced as a Prince.

Now pay wise, this lady earns a total of 800 Gold Coins a month and after each year of work she will earn a 500 Gold Coin bonus! Hell, even the War Generals don't earn that much. She indeed landed a great job and proved that rare skills pay off best.

Walking across the Castle which is in the process of building, her and Chan witnessed the first floor being over half way built. The Castle will be 30% smaller than the previous one, but at least it will be built quicker.

"The polished rock looks beautiful doesn't it?" Asked Chan, as he nodded his head towards the Castle.

The "illusionist" which goes by the name, "Arbella Nicia" answered. "Indeed, can you remember how such a nice surface is attained?" Afterwards she gently stroked her own hair, which has been blocking her vision a tad bit. She pushed them behind her head with the aid of water.

Her hair, they reach nearly to her buttocks. Green, thick and life filled they almost look like vines. She added, "We learned this a week ago."

"Ummm... Don't tell me!" Chan joked around and went in to a state of thinking, trying to remember what he studied. 10 seconds later he answered. "This is made from rocks in the mines, put in a furnace to attain a smooth surface and afterwards worked on with tools that can even rough surfaces."

"Perfect! You remembered each detail!" Arbella congratulated and continued to praise after, which is a great way to tame mental damage. "You are truly over qualifying your position as a proper King!"

"All thanks to your help Miss. Arbella!" Chan complimented back, showing gratitude. In past events he didn't have trouble with showing gratitude to people or any other being who helped him. But now it has increased by a hunch, "Can we stay here a bit? I like seeing these people work."

"Yes we can spare a few minutes." Arbella answered with a smile and dusted a fine spot for Chan to sit. "You can sit here my Prince."