47 - Chapter 42

Sa Bina and Lou Sie entered the sect inn. They had stopped here on the way back to the estate. It had been some time since Sa Bina had put out the request to recruit a variety of healers.

The issue was that even low grade healers were always in demand. In a world where war was constant, the demand for those who could get the soldiers back in fighting condition would always outstrip supply. So Sa Bina did not hold high hopes of being able to secure good people in the short term. It was the exact opposite of all the other professions. Still she had to keep pushing, She needed them to support her army as well as for her own personal reasons.

She asked the proprietor, who also managed recruitment and liaised with the sect, if there had been any interest in her request.

“There has been some interest, my lady,” said he, “But as I am sure you are aware, they are in demand and their demands are high in turn.”

“I can understand that,” said Sa Bina. “When can you arrange for them to meet with me? Also, how many do you think are interested?”

“I can ask them to meet you tomorrow about this time,” answered the proprietor, “if that suits you? We have had five or six people express interest, though I dare say a few more may come along if I let it be known that you are interviewing.”

“Please make the arrangements,” said Sa Bina. “Also can you ask if Sun Li is free to attend? I will see you tomorrow.”

With that they left to return to the estate. Even though Sa Bina had a lot of things she wanted to do, she was going to take the evening off. Though when she mentioned it to Lou Sie, she was reminded that she had made arrangements to teach double entry accounting to everyone this evening.

Sa Bina sighed to herself, she had totally forgotten that she had made those arrangements. She prepared herself to spend a few more hours in class. She would need to ensure she did a good job as the class would be attended by people from the ministries.. She also promised herself that she was going to take fifth day off. She told Lou Sie to make a note that any meetings or requests planned for fifth day to be cancelled. She was going to spend the day relaxing and going around town.

They made it back to the estate and Sa Bina went to refresh herself and get changed. She also decided to ask for a light snack before her scheduled class.

Be Net was seated in the large library with several others. The group consisted of retainers responsible for tracking and managing finances, people from the ministry responsible for administering guilds and an assortment of others who were interested in seeing what the lady wanted to teach them.

Though he had kept his opinions to himself, Be Net was a little concerned about Lady Sa Bina and her strange ideas. She did not behave like any lady, or young girl that he had interacted with in the past. Sometimes he did not know how to behave around her. She was far too casual in some instances. He believed proper decorum should always be observed, and that the lady was damaging her standing with her behaviour.

This class was another example of that. No noble lady should be reduced to teaching retainers. If she wanted something taught, she should have hired someone to do it in her place. He could not believe there was a topic that she could not find a teacher for in the whole city. He would, of course, follow her instructions to the letter.

He did not know how to deal with this situation. In his past roles, he had known his young principals better, and could gently nudge them if their behaviour strayed outside expectations. There had also been the elders who would guide the young nobles away from mistakes. Yet in this household there was only Lady Sa Bina. There were no other nobles, no one to guide her or point out the errors she was making.

She had been in the kitchen baking for goodness sake. Not only had she been baking, but she had advertised the fact to all her senior retainers. How was that appropriate behaviour for a noble!

Some of the more fastidious retainers and servants were already talking about her strange behaviour. He had even heard rumours and gossip suggesting she was not really a noble at all. He really wanted to point out these issues, but dared not without an inkling of her reaction. Some might consider the act condescending, others would take serious offence. After being transferred across to be a citizen of her kingdom, and holding an auxiliary position in the army, he was not sure what the consequences of upsetting her would be.

He would bide his time, and see if her behaviour improved. If not, he would have to find a way to point out some of the faux pas she was making. Heaven forbid if news of her actions spread beyond the estate, it would make her a laughing stock of the city. No one would take her seriously. It would harm her standing, and that of all her retainers. Even if her behaviour was considered appropriate back in her own kingdom, and he could not see how it could be, it was still not right for her to carry on so in this one.

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As an ambassador, her standing would also reflect on her kingdom. He wondered who had decided to send such a young and inexperienced noble in such a role. He wondered if whoever had sent her had done so to punish her or set her up to fail. Surely they had trained her before she departed? Also why had she arrived alone? There were too many inconsistencies. If things didn’t change soon she would start to lose people.

A week, he would give her a week. If things had not started to change in that time he would take it upon himself to provide a nudge at the very least, or find someone who could guide her properly.

As he was lost in thought Lady Sa Bina entered the room with Lou Sie. At least she was appropriately attired this time. The dress she had donned for the kitchen yesterday did not bear thinking about.

“Greetings,” said Sa Bina. “Thank you all for coming. We are going to be covering a different way to record transactions in this class. This will be the official method that I expect everyone to adhere to going forward. With that in mind, how many of you are already managing finances? Please raise your hands.”

Be Net raised his hand, and then looked around to see that almost everyone had their hands raised.

“The biggest difference between the methods you use,” continued Sa Bina. “And the new method is that each transaction would require two entries. The funds must come out of one ledger and go into another ledger.”

“What about when we are paying someone outside,” asked someone.

“Or when we have income from outside sources,” asked someone else.

“Please have some patience,” said Sa Bina. “I will walk you through examples of how to create and manage ledgers. I will also point out the level of detail I will require for each entry. At the bare minimum I would expect you to record the date, the amount in the right ledger, the person making the transaction, the person the transaction applies to, the other ledger and the reason. This would be for both records. For example if Be Net was paying one of the kitchen staff. He would make a note taking funds out of the household ledger, he would note the date, that he was the one making the payment, the person he was paying, the reason would be wages, and the corresponding entry in the wages ledger. He would then make an entry in the wages ledger, with the same details, but with the funds showing as coming into the ledger.”

Sa Bina continued to provide details and examples. She also provided details of a range of ledgers she expected to be maintained.

Be Net had been maintaining household accounts for several households over years. He could see both the advantages and disadvantages of what Lady Sa Bina was expecting. It would increase the record keeping burden immensely.

They would need to take time and learn this new method, create the ledgers, keep detailed records making sure to note the required details at the time of the transaction lest some details be forgotten.

However, on the other side, it would make it much easier to track the funds, and find evidence of any wrongdoing. If people were taking advantage to line their own pockets, this new system would make it much harder to do that.

It seemed like Lady Sa Bina did know what she was talking about. He could also tell from the way she took charge and delivered the lecture, that she was an experienced teacher. The dichotomy between her age and her delivery was a little jarring. He had never heard of such a method of bookkeeping before, and he was sure it would be of interest to anyone with an understanding of such matters.

This was going to bring even more attention to the young noble. If the method spread, she would upset a lot of minor functionaries who were used to padding their own pockets. He wondered if she realised how much trouble she was creating for her future self.

Though given her status as a noble, the minor functionaries would not be able to target her directly. They would use whatever little power they had to make her life difficult. They could be and would be petty, delighting in taking their revenge.

Lou Sie took notes as Sa Bina lectured, her thoughts not too dissimilar to Be Net. She was less worried about how it would come across, and more worried about her lady’s safety. She had come to like her employer and would not see her come to harm. She had not realised what a big deal this change would be. Had she realised earlier, she would have stopped Lady Sa Bina from teaching, assigning the task to someone else.

She looked around the faces of the other attendees. A small minority had not understood the importance of the proposed changes, they had mostly neutral expressions focused on her lecture. The rest of the room was split into two camps, one was people like her and Be Net, those who understood and worried for their employer.

The other group, mostly made up of some of the newer retainers, and a proportion of the functionaries from the ministry were sporting ugly expressions. They understood that this new system would impact them, and potentially bring to light their misdeeds.

Lou Sie understood at a glance that they were not happy at the change Lady Sa Bina was bringing, and would obstruct her as much as they could. The fact that she was doing such a good job of teaching was making things worse. It made more people realise the full impact of this new booking method.

Lou Sie had no idea what she could do. At the very least, she made sure to note down the names of all those who looked unhappy. Perhaps knowing who was going to cause trouble would allow her to find a way to ameliorate some of the damage.