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78.1% Rise of a Finance Minister / Chapter 263: Mountain Resort

Chapter 263: Mountain Resort

When Elizabeth saw Kukes, she was blown away by how upscale the city looked. She recognized familiar boutique clothing stores, she saw Carlsburg and Sextons Department Store, an alchemy store, a casino, an auction house, a theatre, and cafes, the entire town had electricity, and several people were riding bicycles, and playing reversi or checkers.

"Will, did you do all this?" Elizabeth asked amazed, admiring the newly build shops and upbeat Main Street.

"Yes, I had Gideon and Vincent oversee the construction. Everything in this city is the best Gadreel has to offer on a more intimate level," Will said enjoying how Elizabeth marveled at the small mountain valley city.

When Will said it was the best, he meant by Earth standards. The resort could legitimately be considered the only Five-Star, Five-Diamond. The ski-in/ski-out resort featured luxurious amenities, personalized service, breathtaking mountain views, renowned dining, and spacious accommodations.

The guest suites were spacious and luxurious. Will knew his guests were men and women of great power and wealth. His guests were used to a certain standard of luxury, fine wine, and dining.

Luxurious services and amenities include ski concierge services, complimentary snacks & alcoholic beverages, there were also special amenities for children and pets, and heated outdoor hot springs.

Will spared no expense fill the wine cellar was expensive aged wines. The lodge had two restaurants and three bars, perfect for clandestine late-night meetings.

For the inaugural World Economic Forum, Will invited world-renowned chefs, bartenders, and sommeliers ready to make the lodge's dining experience one to remember. All the restaurants and bars had stunning picturesque views of the Theta Mountains.

The resort and city could be summed up as rustic meets cosmopolitan.

"I've never seen that chic boutique before, what does it sell?" Elizabeth asked.

"Women's cosmetics. It's a small shop that sells our lotion and rose soap, but other types of boutique lotions and soap as well.

It also sells lipsticks, shampoo, conditioner, and powders. Nothing in the store is harmful to the skin, so it doesn't dry out or damage the skin. Several of the products are Elven-made, so the products all come from nature," Will said.

"Oh really? Then I should check it out," Elizabeth said.

Will followed Elizabeth into the store and watched her eyes widen at all the products, and attractive glass bottle packaging. She even appreciated the nice pink bag all her items went into.

"Did you like the shop?" Will asked.

"Yes, was it hard to get the elves to agree?" Elizabeth wondered.

"No, the queen and king are attending the Economic Forum and they asked me for advice on how best to show off their culture. I recommend a women's cosmetic boutique, and here we are today," Will informed her.

"Greetings Lord and Lady vont Ballard," Gideon bowed.

"Is everything prepared for tomorrow?" Will asked.

"Yes, we finished the last construction yesterday. We hope to finish the furnishing today. I must say, this city looks completely different.

Since we started construction, immigration went up 200%. The southwest has never had this many paid jobs available," Gideon said.

"How's Vincent working out?" Will asked curiously.

"Baronet vont Wright is a wonderful lord. He's rolled up his sleeves and helped us with construction. He's a fair judiciary and a benevolent lord. I must say it's nice to have a lord again!" Gideon said.

"Can you give us a tour of the lodge, and where is Bubba?" Will asked.

"Bubba and Baronet vont Wright are at the lodge," Gideon said.

"How about we take a rickshaw. They're a huge hit among us locals. The Baronet said you invent this too!" Gideon said.

"It's been so long ago, that I forgot I did," Will chuckled.

Gideon drove them to the massive 5 stories, U-shaped lodge. The opening of the lodge faces a giant ski lift that went up onto a snowy mountainside.

Will looked as if locals were already skiing downhill and enjoying themselves. Even young children had grasped the sport and were having fun.

When they got to the lodge, Will and Elizabeth checked in. Elizabeth went to the room, while Will went to locate Bubba and Vincent. Micheal and Samuel closely followed Will.

When Elizabeth opened the door, she was astonished once again. The rustic-looking lodge was the absolute epitome of luxury.

She curled up on a bear-skinned fur rug in front of a roaring fireplace while sipping champagne and surveying the twinkling lights of the city.

Originally, she thought Kukes would be like Lezhe underdeveloped.

Interrupting her rest was a chorus of deep bellows and grunts. When she looked out her window, she saw a herd of elk walking over a ridge.

***

Anne sat in the carriage, as the horses climb the mountains.

The trip to Kukes was a long and bumpy ride. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why Will had chosen such a remote location to house an international meeting.

Surely Gadreel had more space, better amenities, and most importantly better protection.

But Will never did what was expected. That's why she liked him. Unlike most men, who were predictable, she could never guess what Will's plans were. She liked that Will kept her on her toes.

Thinking about Will, she patted her 18-month toddler's head. Mercenary and motherhood were two jobs that rarely went together.

But after having a child, Anne realized only mothers truly understood the desire to protect someone and kill anything that gets in their child's way.

"Are you sure your fit for the job?" asked her client across from her looking unamused at her daughter.

'What an annoying twat. He's lucky I haven't gutted him like a fish. Should I break his jaw?' Anne thought sitting across from her client.

"Unless you want a line separating your head from your neck, don't ask me such stupid questions," Anne said resting her knife against her client's throat before blinking.

"Y-yes, I understand," he stuttered.

Anne went back to her seat and rested her toddler in her lap. The only thing that made her happy was her daughter Willow.

It wasn't long before the carriage arrived in Kukes and her eyes grew wide in amazement.

The backward mountain town looked like an upscale neighborhood of Gadreel.

"At least it's not a hovel," said the disappointed imperial noble.

'Hmph. Not a hovel? This looks nicer than the noble districts in Annapolis!' Anne said to herself.

"Come on let's see where you'll be staying," Anne said excitedly to drop off her client so she could explore the town.

It didn't take long for her client to get to the lodge and check into his room. Only the World Economic Forum participants could stay at the lodge.

Guards and servants had to stay offsite at different hotels. Expect Samuel, Micheal, and Sasha who slept in the lodge's servant quarters.

After dropping off her client Anne was ecstatic to finally have some time to herself.

***

"Sasha I'm ready to explore," Elizabeth felt she had rested enough.

Sasha, who had been sitting outside the bedroom gently laid her needlework on the table and went into the bedroom to help Elizabeth get dressed.

Outside the lodge, Elizabeth enjoyed watching people in this snowy mountain town.

Elizabeth enjoyed people-watching. There were thousands of unrecognizable faces, accents, and language.

According to Will, these people could be political, industry, faith leaders, academics, or finance leaders from hundreds of countries.

And, to a lesser extent, servants and locals.

It was funny to her, that this sleepy alpine town was to be the hub of influence, power, and prestige, addressing pressing global concerns.

As she explored the city on her own, she heard a strange voice call out her name.

"Elizabeth?" Anne said in surprise.

Anne wondered why Elizabeth was walking towards her.

Had Elizabeth heard that she was in town, and came to confront her?

Why else would Elizabeth be walking toward the same inn as her?

Had Elizabeth checked all the inns' registry for her name and how she came to confront her so openly?

All these thoughts race through Anne's mind.

Elizabeth on the hand was thinking different thoughts of her own.

Wasn't this the woman who confessed to Will on the day of their engagement? Elizabeth was unsure.

Then she spotted the toddler by Anne's side.

"Anne?" Elizabeth asked uncertain.

"Fine, if you came to confront me, let's do this. I shall never apologize for loving Will. Listen well, Will shall always be my first love. And I know he cared for me too. If our backgrounds were similar, I'm sure he would have chosen me.

But you won. Or at least your family did. How could a commoner compete against the niece of the king?

There's no need to gloat about it or confront me to tell me if not worthy of him. That's why I can't stand you stuck-up nobles.

I'm sure Will told you about Kukes. When Will and I fought together, I drugged and slept with him. This is his daughter, Willow! It's short for Wilhelmina. Will doesn't know it, and I ask you not to tell him," said Anne confrontationally.

Elizabeth stood there dumbfounded. She didn't even know Anne fought beside Will in Kukes, and now they had a child together.

Although it was common for noblemen to have illegitimate children, she was not prepared to hear this information today. She felt like a train had just collided with her.

Elizabeth turned around to leave, still trying to wrap her head around everything she just heard. She came out for a stroll, only to be surprised with this much-unsolicited information.

Elizabeth was feelings were hurt. And she was mad, at herself. She had prepared herself for this, several times. She thought she had guarded her heart. But her heart was broken.

"Sasha, have Vincent arrest her and give the child to a local wet nurse!" said Elizabeth in disgust.

Elizabeth hid her tears until she got back to her room.

Every wife knew men were prone to wondering. She waited for the day, Will brought home another woman or let her know of his concubines were pregnant, but the more Will remained faithful the harder it would be to receive the news.

Elizabeth had Anne incarcerated until she could decide what to do. She knew it was wrong, especially to separate a mother and child.

But she had committed a crime. That woman had robbed William of his seed, and Elizabeth of happiness. She had to be sentenced for her crimes.


Chapter 264: Inaugural Economic Forum

Elizabeth walked back to her guest room in the lodge. Her husband now had a third child. Elizabeth wondered how Will would respond.

Would he accept her or reject Willow as his child? Elizabeth felt conflicted about either option.

There was a third option. He could always wait to see if Camille or Edward could use mana.

But, she stopped herself there. She could not allow herself to think that Willow, might unseat her children as Will's heir.

Now, she understood why her mother never let her father bring his other children into their home. Elizabeth swore to fall her mother's example, and never let that child in her home.

Elizabeth knew she couldn't keep this a secret. She knew she had to tell Will. Whatever may come, she has to let Will know.

***

Will, Samuel, and Micheal stood in the large conference room. In a couple of hours, the conference was scheduled to start.

Vincent and Gideon were standing off to the side. They knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Vincent knew, that if this went well, this could be his ticket back into noble society. And if this went poorly, his reputation would never recover.

While Will was surrounded by several invitees, Samuel stepped off to the side. A little birdie told him Elizabeth and Anne had a big confrontation, and Elizabeth had Anne imprisoned.

Samuel oversaw the security of the World Economic Forum. Yet, he enjoyed working with all the different guests' security. He knew Anne was coming and who she guarding.

Also having a 'noble killer' overseeing security provided a big incentive for good behavior.

Moreover, Samuel was only the first line of defense. Should a threat escalate, Will could easily handle it.

Two hours later, the conference room was filled with important men and women. Emperors, kings, dukes, guild masters, nobles, and rich commoners filled the conference room. Except for royalty, the two attendees shared a table.

Emperors and kings had a table to themselves.

The conference room had studio seating. Royals sat on the first stand, and commoners sat in the back row. In this world rank was everything.

Outside, uninvited people jockeyed to get. However, Vincent was not even allowed entry. Vincent and Gideon's job was to keep uninvited guests out of the conference for safety reasons.

Exactly at the 14th bell, Will told us and magically enhanced his voice.

"Greeting world leaders, today is the inaugural meeting of the World Economic Forum. I want to welcome you all today to Kukes. For the next five days, we'll engage in global issues.

The goal of this conference is not world peace, far from it. The goal of this forum is political and economic cooperation on global issues.

However, be for we get started, I would like to first introduce my king, and dear cousin, King Roland Godwin Fermion III," I Will finished with a round of applause.

King Roland gave a brief welcome and a short thank you to Will for putting this conference together. After another round of applause, King Roland returned to his seat.

"Thank you, King Roland. Before our reception or keep you from Kukes' wonderful recreation, please let me formally explain what and why we need a World Economic Forum," Will began his big introduction speech.

"The world around us is changing at unprecedented speed. At this tipping point, our traditional concepts of society, meaningful employment, and the nation-state are challenged, and many understandably feel insecure or even threatened.

A new model of responsive and responsible leadership is needed to allow us to address the challenges the world faces, from security to economic prosperity.

We need cooperative, action-oriented thinking and solidarity on both the national and global levels.

Since the end of the last Great Schism, there has been a surge in global economic development. But despite this, the world is living a tale of two realities.

On the one hand, we have rarely been as well off as we are today. We live in a time of relative peace and absolute wealth. Compared with previous generations, many of us live long and mostly healthy lives.

Our children are educated, often frequent academies, and connect us to the world.

Even a generation or two ago, our parents and grandparents could only dream of the lifestyle many of us have today and the luxuries that come with abundant energy, advances in technology, and global trade.

On the other hand, our world and societies have suffered catastrophic a plague, civil unrest, maddening hyperinflation, and dangerous unsustainability.

The 8-Day plague was just one event that demonstrated that we still live in dangerous times.

Some cities, towns, and villages were decimated and now remain uninhabited.

We need to come together and share better medical practices and care.

We need to come together and increase our global wealth.

To understand how we got here—and how we can get out of this situation—we must go back in time, we must go back to the Great Schism.

We must go back to the origins of our global economic system. We must play back the picture of post-war economic development and look at its milestones.

We must go back, so we can be prepared for the future.

After the Great Schism, the relief of the end of the war soon made way for the fear of another one.

At the time, the results were not clear to us or anyone else. This was a battle of ideologies, economic systems, and geographical power.

For decades, empires, kingdoms, principalities, dukedoms, and theocracies entrenched their positions and competed with each other for regional supremacy.

At the same time, feudalism won the ideological battle between feudalism and mercantilism.

With the benefit of hindsight, we know that the feudalism created, based on mercantilism and trade, were building blocks for an era of unparalleled shared economic prosperity.

Combined with the will of many people to rebuild, we laid the groundwork for decades of economic progress and economic dominance.

Today, many parts of the world, including the Kingdom of Fermion, have a baby boom.

Education and industrial activity expanded.

The royalty has committed themselves and their empires and kingdoms to reconstructing their economies and societies towards mercantilism.

Yet, mercantilism isn't enough. We need to move to capitalism.

Capitalism is the way to develop strong relations with allies aimed at sustained peace.

Given so much of your national focus on freeing the peasantry class, there was an unprecedented increase in societal cohesion.

These working citizens now line our pockets with their taxes. Many of your treasuries overflow with gold.

Looking at economic indicators in the largest economies of the world, it seemed as though everyone is winning.

Annual economic growth averaged up to 5, 6, and even 7 percent.

In some of your kingdoms, my kingdom included, economic growth doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled.

The booming economies make former peasants feel respected for their contribution as workers in developing economic wealth.

As a businessman, I believe every citizen is a shareholder in society and plays a role in creating and sustaining shared prosperity.

The best way to do so, I came to think, was for companies to adopt a stakeholder model, in which they served society in addition to their shareholders. I decided to turn that idea into action by organizing a management forum where business leaders, government representatives, and academics could meet.

I thought Kukes offered the best setting.

This ideal small picturesque mountain town, high up in the mountains, with its clean air, where attendees could exchange best practices and new ideas and inform each other of pressing global social, economic, and political issues.

That is why I organized this World Economic Forum.

Now I wish to lay out this forum's guiding principles:

1: We have no ideological or commercial interests. This does not mean that we are neutral – we are committed to improving the world in ways that are objective, measurable, and sustainable.

2: We bring attention to challenges that affect the future of global society. We believe that no issue is isolated – there are always affects and interdependencies, which we systematically and rigorously take into consideration.

3: We actively invite perspectives from all interested parties. We believe that the world's challenges can only be solved through engagement with all members of a global society.

4: We focus on the long term, not the emergencies of the day. Success is measured not only in terms of immediate results - we understand that real progress takes time and sustained commitment.

Finally, I believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive changes in this world.

Again, I wish to thank everyone for attending this opening session.

Please follow my servants to the reception for cocktail hour. Dinner shall be served promptly at the 15th bell.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
MightyEagle MightyEagle

Sorry for the delay, I have terrible writer's block. I rushed this chapter out half done. So if there are grammatical errors or something is missing. Please let me know.

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