Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Rebuilding the entire fief government from the ground up meant the meeting room in my office would not be sufficient to hold every head of the myriad of departments that keep the wheels of government running.
The castle dining room was hastily renovated into a meeting room, a larger and more extended version of the meeting table I had in my office replaced the dark pine dining table. The dining chairs too, wood, replaced with nylon executive office chairs.
"Good morning everyone, thank you for taking the time out on the weekend for this. I would have unsummoned you all otherwise." I said, nodding to the people sitting around the table as I took my seat at the head of the table.
*Weak laughter around the table.
"Well, let's get down the business, Ms Rhona, how's the treasury looking?"
"Rather well, we recovered about 36 million ducals in cash, stocks, bonds and other liquid assets and repossessed an additional 150 million in hard assets such as property, land and other commodities." (Rhona, Secretary of the Treasury)
"That's good. The list of recovered assets sent to me by evening."
Rhona nodded, "It will be done."
I now turned to one of our new additions, Stanton Rosland, head of the newly formed state budget office."
"How's the fief's budget looking?"
"With public spending close nil, even with the massive tax cut, the office projects at least 8 million ducals in surplus.
"Any ideas on what to the surplus on?"
"Several, the department of transportation is proposing expanding and modernising the road networks. Commerce wants tax breaks and expanding the port to encourage economic growth, so on and so forth. In fact, every single department sent a proposal for how to use the surplus best for you to look at."
I glanced over the at heads of the mentioned departments, at their hopeful expressions as they waited for my approval.
"Well. This is what this meeting is for. For you, all give me ideas. Let's start with Transport. Jerome, you have the floor."
"Thank you, sir-"
The meeting went on for a long time, with each department head enthusiastically explaining their proposals for hours at a time, combined with the equally excited opposition members debating the merits of their plans. With an hour's break in between for lunch, and the usual toilet breaks.
The meeting started at 11 am and was expected to end at two. But I stopped counting when the fourth hour ticked by. It was no longer a meeting, but a full-on debate, every one of them vying for my approval to increase their funding in their respective departments.
I barely spoke during the entire 'debate' letting them give their arguments, besides the occasional questions and clarifications. The other department heads did most of the questioning for me.
Ken became very busy too; he had to run in and out of the room, serving everyone drinks every so often and helping money penny with the minutes. I remember giving him the occasional head ruffle or head pat and whispers of thanks, but that was the extent of our interactions during the hours in the room, a poor consolidation for breaking my promise to let him reunite with his old friends living in the city.
It was only until 8 in the evening did the meeting finally end, there were several groans and crackling of bones as everyone tried to stand up, some successful, some not so much.
I waited for everyone to finish their stretching before finally giving my verdict.
"I have decided. We will modernise and improve the existing road networks, no expansion, for now, public works projects should alleviate our unemployment issues for the short term, work with the budget office on this.
I want to focus more of our resources on healthcare and education. The modernisation and expansion of schools is our top priority. We also need to retrain our current pool of potential workers, reduce the need for me to summon new people to fill the vacancies because they do not have the necessary education or training. 3.5 million shall be allocated for education, another 4 million on modernising and expanding the hospitals and clinics.
I will not be increasing the budget for the security departments this year, make do with what you have.
Keep 5% of what's left as a reserve. The rest spread them out between the agriculture and commerce departments. You have my approval for the port expansion. We will discuss this further at a later date. Thank you. That will be all."
"Thank you, sir." They collectively said, standing up, gathering their papers and files and headed out the door.
"Mike. I need you to stay for a while longer."
"Are you serious boss? After the marathon we just had, you want another?" Mike groaned, stretching his back.
"I will make it quick. There is a new project I need starting, and I am going to need your help in setting it up."
Mike sighed, sitting back down. "You're the boss. I will do my best not to fall asleep." He deadpanned.
"I want to start a company."
That got Mike's attention as he immediately sat up straight.
"While I can't exactly say no to this, but at the same time, I have my doubts. Starting a company can be a monumental task, especially when it comes to you. It will be no doubt large, ambitious and requires substantial capital."
"That's why I summon the most capable people to do the jobs." I retorted.
"Well then, what's the plan?"
"I have been looking through the list of assets the late Earl Danthron held, most are next to useless, but there are some that could be of us, like the dairy farm and sugar plantations he owns up north and in Tyler respectively.
I intend to merge the assets we recovered from the corrupt officials and Danthron, creating the Atlas Corporation, focusing on finance/banking, energy and the food industry for now.
Once we get the more revenue; however, I intend to expand into, the defence, medical next."
"YeP. Ambitious as always. The others found fine, but the food industry? Are you sure? What food are we even going to sell?"
"This." I held up my cup of cold coffee.
"Coffee?"
"Coffee house, or cafes, to be exact. I want to create a strangereal version of earth's Starbucks coffee chain. As well as start as a line for chocolate, aimed at the wealthy."
"I assume you have a plan for this already?"
I shrugged, "Kinda, there are still kinks to iron out obviously, but the plan is to import coffee and sugar from the nearby island nation, Republic of Tyler, combined with milk from the local dairy farms in which we have a considerable supply of due to overproduction.
I am also thinking of converting two of the defunct factories the late Earl Danthron owns, refurbished them to create the world's first condensed milk and powdered milk."
"... Okay. Compared to your previous idea of building a space elevator on earth, this is a lot more plausible to pull off. I'll draw up a proposal and the materials for you to look." Mike replied, standing back up, making his leave.
"Thanks, Mike. Have a good night." I called out.
"Yeah, You too, boss!" Mike yawned back, shutting the door behind him.
"Haa…" A long heavy breath left me, along with what remained of my energy.
What happened afterwards was a blur, and before I knew it, I was lying down on my bed, with Ken snuggled up close right next to me. He had been sleeping with me since he got here, his past experiences gave him night terrors every time he slept alone.
Not that I mind it one bit. Sleeping with someone else is a new experience for me, but one that I welcome, waking up next to Ken with his arms around me every morning makes my chest feel light with a fluttery but tight sensation.
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