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First Day of August, In the Year of the Empire 6777 Continued

The bank was a large marble building that demonstrated how much money the bank had, hoping that would impress. It works, but not really to my taste.

As I walked in, a young woman spotted me and walked over. She smiled and greeted me. "Good afternoon, Viscount. How may we assist you today?"

With a smile, I returned her greeting, "Hello. I have a letter of introduction from the Royal Mage for one Edelman Crane. Do you know where I might find him?"

She stood a little straighter, "Yes, Sir. Please follow me." Leading me up a full flight of stairs, she took me to an office with large double doors leading to a larger office, I'm sure.

"Karissa," the young woman said to a much older, professional woman, "the Viscount has a letter of introduction from the Royal Mage for Mage Crane."

Karissa thanked the young woman and turned to me standing. "The letter, please, Viscount."

I grinned and handed it to her politely. Karissa then slipped into the doubled door office, closing the door behind her.

A few minutes later, she reappeared and held one door open widely. "Mage Crane will see you now, Viscount."

Saying "Thank you, Karissa," as I walked past her, I entered the office.

Mage Crane was an older man with black hair and a goatee. He came around from behind his desk to greet me with a handshake. "It is a pleasure to meet an Honored High Mage, Sir Perrin."

I smiled and shook his proffered hand, even though mine was smaller and awkward. "Thank you, Mage Crane. I do hope I'm not disturbing you. I can come back later if you'd prefer."

"Nonsense now is fine, Sir." With that, he motioned me to take a seat in a comfortable chair facing a fireplace.

"Great. I do appreciate all that the Royal Mage and you are doing for me." I sat in the proffered seat. I was curious to see what was going to happen next.

"Our pleasure, Sir. Would you care for some wine?" He asked.

"No, thank you. I'd take some water if you have it available."

Bringing me a glass of water, he sat down with his own. "So how can I help you today, Sir?"

"I am new to many things, Sir. The honors that were recently given to me come with several new responsibilities that I was not expecting. So, saying, I need some advice about what accounts I might need and how to use them, if you don't mind, Sir."

He smiled at me. "If only others would start as accepting as you, our lives would be much more comfortable."

He paused for just a moment and began to count off his fingers. "You will need at least two accounts. The first account is for your private funds, and the second is for the management of your lands and taxes collected. Many open a third account to set aside taxes and other fees to be paid. A possible fourth account is a campaign account for your soldiers' pay and upkeep. Some use this account when receiving pay for battle spoils as well. Finally, you may need one or more business accounts for any business you would prefer to keep dealings separate."

The banker waited why I thought about those suggestions before asking. "How are the funds tracked?"

"We use a set of magically linked ledgers. We keep one, and you keep the other, some even have a third copy for a business manager or the like. Writing something is one is visible in the other."

"How do you know when I want something done then?"

Nodding, the banker explains. "When you record transfers of funds between different sets of ledgers, it happens automatically."

He continued, "When you make payments to someone that also banks here, the bank will take care of it. You simply write in your instructions on a few lines, enter the amount, and sign the note. When that happens, our copy of the ledger will gain a soft glow until it acknowledged. Payments to you follow in the same manner."

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"Further, magical slips work the same as those from the college. Only transfers of hard currency would require a trip to our bank."

"That will work well. Tell me, what are the fees? What would it cost me to store a large amount of gold here?"

Mage Crane chuckles, "If you have a large amount of gold here, we charge nothing. We may even issue you payments for storing lager amounts here as we use it to make wise loans."

"Thank you for explaining things to me. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

"Yes. General Angelo has already had your campaign account set up some time ago. He has been making regular deposits with what the General terms as a 'Floating Carriages' fee. I'm quite curious as to what this 'Floating Carriages' is and why you're receiving those 'fees' as he calls them."

I laugh a little. "Yes, Sir. I can explain that. For my Finals Spell, I created a spell with that name. I intended people to transport luggage and other things with it. I used to carry four large trunks behind me when I moved to my new residence. The trunks floated along behind me at waist height. Unbeknown to me, the military uses it to transport wounded soldiers quickly. It has been quite successful from what the General and others have told me."

He looked concerned, "I've never heard of such a thing. To my knowledge, the military does not pay fees for any spells. Why this one?"

Nodding, "I wondered the same. It was not official at first. The soldiers themselves were taking up collections for me. Unasked for, I assure you. These collections caused a bit of an issue until the General leaned why. He then made it officially paid by the Kingdom so the soldiers could keep their pay. The military pays when the spell helps someone."

In wonder, the mage asks, "Is this how you earned your High Mage rank then?"

"No, Sir, that was for another project that I am not allowed to speak about, my apologies."

Mage Crane shakes his head, "Not needed. I'm not one to question the Royal Mage and highest-ranked General in this Kingdom. I'm happy to hear it was for real contributions. I commend you for your work. Thank you."

Quietly I say, "Your welcome."

Mage Crane laughs again. "One moment, please, Sir."

Going to the doors, he asks for my ledgers.

Turning back to me, he offers me a stack of ledgers saying, "The ledgers here are just as I spoke of earlier, at no fee."

Taking them, I simply put them into my satchel for now.

Mage Crane grins, "Now, did you have any special instructions for us?"

"Yes, please direct the military stipend and spell pay to the campaign account. The mage stipend should go into my noble account. Please automatically transfer the taxes owed for those incomes to the taxpaying account."

"May I transfer my funds at the college to my private account?"

Mage Crane returned to his desk and is writing notes as I speak. "Take a college slip and instead of an amount, write in "Transfer all remaining funds and sign it. Oh, and if you have any other collage slips, I can refund the cost of those as well. Anything else?"

I follow him back to the desk and sit down in front of it while talking.

"Yes. Please send a third copy of the business ledger to Head Librarian Moss at the College Library with a note to record all books copied for me into it. I've given Moss fifty gold already, so please make a note of that in there as well. I'll need to transfer another two-hundred gold from my personal account to my, let's call it 'College Library' account."

I waited until Mage Crane finished his notes before asking another question. "One more thing, is it possible to set up each barony with a ledger copy that requires my approval for each of the barons when spending my money?"

Mage Crane nodded again. "Yes, we can do that as well."

"Good, I'd like to set up three more accounts then, one for each barony with three ledgers each."

I waited until he finished writing another note. "Next question, where can I find a good accountant to hire to help me with all of these books? I'll need a new ledger for each account for that person as well. And do please charge me."

He added more notes before he answered me. "I'm intrigued, why go to all this effort? Very few would even attempt it."

"Easy answer? I'm a mage that pushes for every gram of efficiency in spells that I can find and will do the same with the funds entrusted to me. The hard answer is, I'm the new Viscount of lands that I must straighten out after they have suffered for some time."

Sitting back in his chair, Mage Crane thinks on that for a moment. "Ah, yes, I am somewhat familiar with those lands. I do wish you the best of luck. It's going to take some time to get them earning gold as they should. If you should need a loan, please come see me about it."

Steepling his fingers, Mage Crane continues. "As for a good accountant and secretary, I would recommend my granddaughter Cari. You met her when you entered the building, and she brought you up here. Bank policy prevents her from working here as a family member. I've pushed that rule a bit by having her help with nobles that come in. But this does not let her do any accounting. She is looking for a good job, and she is capable, but many job offers have had strings attached that she wishes to avoid. You don't strike me as such a man."

It takes me a moment to understand what offers she may have gotten, which would be unacceptable to her.

"No, Sir, that is not how my father raised me. I will speak with her on my way out. Thank you for your help today."

"Your welcome Viscount. I will enjoy watching your progress in the future."

On my way out, I did stop to speak with Cari. We settled on a salary for the position here at the manor in the city. While she went to tell her grandfather, I flagged down a coach for us.