"Provided you want to implement my suggestion, the contract is included in the folder."

"No, Reyji, I'm not going to do it. It's also too theatrical for me. They're just papers. It won't shock anyone to tear them apart."

Reyji nodded that she understood. Slightly hurt, she opened the door and they stepped inside. They arrived in a room that looked like a normal conference hall with a long table in the center. Two of the walls had full-length windows and to the right of the door hung an oversized white board. The area in front of the board up to the table was free. One person could stand at the front and give a presentation to everyone present. The chairs were all occupied. The twelve-member board was assembled. A young man sat at a typewriter at a small single table at the very back. His presence was not really necessary, as he was not allowed to take notes and the papers had already been prepared.

First there was a welcome for Marah and Reyji. The atmosphere was relaxed. It was the last appointment of the week for everyone and they were always happy to make time for the little Marah. What could she possibly want? The last time she was here, she only needed approval to buy an expensive mine. This time it would be something similar again, they thought for sure.

The bankers were as you would imagine bankers to be. No one really stood out. Their attitude alone made them look like they belonged here. People often bowed their heads out of an inner impulse when Marah was in front of them, but she had the opposite effect on the bankers. It was about standing your ground. After all, the world bank was independent and detached from the politics of the country. In the eyes of the bankers, she was not above them, but beside them.

Marah quickly wrapped up the initial discussions.

"So, ladies and gentlemen, I have some concerns about this bank today, or rather, there will be some changes in general as far as the banking business is concerned."

The opening sounded as if it was about something bigger. In passing, Marah had instructed Reyji to give her the file folder from her handbag. When the bankers saw that it contained more than just a few pages, the first ones became suspicious and the tension rose. Marah smiled confidently, then read the first page.

"I would like to see the credit rating of senior government employees from Violence 2 upwards increased significantly. I've brought the names and figures with me."

Marah held up her file so that you could see the list on the first page.

A collective sigh of relief went through the room. The bankers seemed somewhat at ease. One man in particular, who was sitting at the very front on the right, made his presence felt.

That man nodded very understandingly, turned to Marah, then graciously put his hands together in his lap.

"I think that can be arranged. The only question is, are you sure you can trust all these people?"

"Do they like to make yourself important?"

Marah's question came so unexpectedly for the man that he flinched back with his upper body.

"Don't get me wrong. When I say I would like to, it's still not a suggestion. It just means I'm still in a good mood."

A woman in the front left jumped in to save the day. "We'll take care of it." she assured them, then stretched her arm across the table as if expecting to receive the folder.

"What do you want? That was just the first point. It's just the first two pages."

As the woman did not understand straight away, Marah let the two pages flutter between her fingers in the file. That was apparently enough. The woman slowly withdrew her arm, while clearly showing her dissatisfaction. It was probably not the last humiliation she would experience today.

"Let's get to the core issues, the reasons why I'm here today."

Marah was full of energy and looked around scrutinizingly. There was not much more than an indifferent shrug of the woman's shoulders and waiting faces to be seen. The bankers' motivation was very limited. The mere fact that Marah wanted more than one thing from them was apparently already an unexpected burden.

"1. Baele will leave the Free Banks. The world bank will become a state bank again and fully subordinate to the financial court."

It only took a moment for everyone to process what they had heard and then there was a steady stream of objections. It would be a huge mistake. It would be irresponsible. Marah obviously had no business sense to even consider such a move. There were many such accusations, but little constructive criticism.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Marah let it all bounce off her as if she was not even hearing it. She waited calmly for silence to return to the room.

It took a while. The man at the front was the last one who was still speaking.

"If we leave the Free Banks, we will lose our license for the Fee and the Nitzia and many trade agreements, some of them with outsiders, will become invalid."

"I'm aware of all that."

"If we lose the trade contracts, it will cost us hundreds of billions a year. Are you aware of that? That would be an economic disaster."

"Yes, it's tragic, but there's no way around it. I want Baele to become the strongest economic power on the planet in the long term, and to do that we have to get rid of the clog on our leg that is the free banks."

"You call a monetary union a clog on the leg?"

"Yes. The contracts lays down too many rules so that all partners are on an equal footing. That is a disadvantage. Equality is a disadvantage for the strong."

"I see it fundamentally differently and I can already tell you that I will never agree to leave."

"Do you think you have any relevance? I don't need your approval and I didn't come here to argue. I'm just here as a courtesy, but I can do everything on my own. The board's signature is a side note against the owner's signature. You can listen quietly now or I'll have you thrown out."

The man shook his head contemptuously. "You can save yourself the trouble. I'll go myself." he explained, getting up from his seat.

"You're free to go."

The man calmly took his jacket from the back of his chair, put it on, placed his chair neatly at the table and then set off.

As he passed Marah, he wore a disparaging look. Marah took it in stride and waited until he put his hand on the door handle.

"I agree to your leaving." she joked spitefully.

The man paused for a moment, but refrained from commenting and left the conference room. It was better for him that way...

"2. All private banks will lose their licenses for the S-Mark. I will not ban private banks, but they will no longer be integrated into the money creation process. 3. The State Bank will open its own branches nationwide and compete directly with the private banks. For the sake of efficiency and simplicity, these branches will be merged with the citizens' offices. All interest rates, lending, risk assessments and other matters will be determined directly by the state bank under the guidance of the financial court. Every citizen will receive an account with you when applying for a citizen's card and vice versa. The state bank will therefore also issue citizen identity cards. All monetary transactions between citizens and the state will take place exclusively via this account. The state bank will then, for example, also invest money for citizens. The financial court will regularly send the state bank lists of attractive stocks. There will always be a few foreign companies included. There are some in which I would like to have a higher domestic holding anyway. 4. The fixed exchange rate between the S-Mark and other currencies will be abolished."

"Ah, then at least it can crash undisturbed." said someone quietly at the back of the room.

While Marah had been going through her list, the room had turned into a symbol of despair. Some of the people were clutching their heads. The rest were slumped in their chairs. Some of them were probably already mentally writing their resignations. Unfortunately for the board, it was not over yet. Marah had one last thing.

"This is a list of goods worth promoting." Marah explained, proudly holding up a loose piece of paper. "I wrote it myself, but in future the content will be determined by surveying industry and citizens. I would describe it as a mixture of indirect subsidy and household formation support. If you want to buy something on this list, you should always get a loan. The only requirement is to have an account with the state bank. That is all. Nothing more should be required. I want it to be possible for a homeless person to walk into a branch of the state bank, open an account and buy an oven."

Some desperate laughter echoed through the room.

"That wasn't a joke."

The laughter stifled immediately.

"What kind of jerks are you?"

Marah asked as if she really could not believe it. She did not receive a real answer. The room was reduced to murmurs and Marah's mood turned to anger.

The first thing she did was take the handbag from Reyji, then she stormed to the window with it and jerked the pull handle so hard with both hands that it banged against the stop and the pane vibrated. The incoming air tugged at her dress and swept notes off the table. The conference room was high up in the building and the wind had become even stronger in the meantime. There was going to be a storm in the evening. You could see it in the clouds.

While Reyji stared into the sky, Marah looked down at the street. The entrance area was right under the window.

Next, she took something out of her handbag and held it up so everyone could see what she had there.

"These are green checks. They're all signed and without an amount."

They were stacks of checks held together by a rubber band. These checks were quite valuable when signed. Marah demonstratively removed the rubber and held her hand out, causing the now loose checks to flutter dangerously in the wind. Everyone watched her silently. Unfortunately, Reyji could already guess where this was going ... or so she thought.

Marah put the checks back in her handbag. At first Reyji thought she had changed her mind, but the next moment she leaned outside and shook the entire contents of her handbag out of the window. It rattled and rustled. Check after check flew away in the wind. Dozens of glittering coins fell into the depths.

Reyji's mouth fell open.

This was her regular handbag. She had not prepared this. It contained her everyday things. Make-up, skin cream, hair bands, pens, ammunition, treats, everything fell out of the handbag with a clatter. The only relief was that she had neither keys, nor a bank card, nor anything else important that she could throw away.

The cash was a maximum of 20,000 S-Mark. However, these cash checks were redeemable up to 1,000,000 S-Mark each. There were about 400 in the bag.

After nothing came out anymore, Marah looked inside her handbag again, then threw the handbag out as well.

"That's just money! It's worth something as long as I say it's worth something."

.../ End Part