Daniel was the youngest student on our team at fifteen, but he had already earned a degree in accounting and was working on another degree in library science. He was young, brilliant, and had no idea what he wanted to do professionally. So he stayed at the university and learned even more.
I really liked him.
“Yes, Patron?” He asked as he came into the map room. “You wanted to see me?”
“Hi, Daniel. How are our finances?”
“The shoppe’s or Special Services?” He asked with a grin.
“Both, I guess.”
He sat down across from me and nodded to both Red and Simon, who alternately nodded and waved back to him. They liked the kid, too.
His feet did not touch the floor, but he was used to that. He had his usual mussed brown hair, a rebellious earring in his left ear, and his halfling family crest on a necklace hanging down on his faded, beige shirt.
I continued. “In brief, the shoppe has been eating the costs of the war until the new credits arrived from the Duke. That did wonders for our balances.”
“That money is-” I began.
He interrupted. “I know, I know, earmarked for the war. I get that. I’m just glad you can start putting some of your own money back into your vault rather than spending it.”
We have had this discussion before. He was a zealot with both accuracy and in protecting my interests as he saw them. It was one of the many reasons I appreciated him and his work.
Bella said, And he respects you greatly. You treat him as an equal and base your judgment on his results, not his age.
Thanks, Bella. Busy at the moment. I replied.
“Right. And I do appreciate it, Daniel. Do not think that I don’t. It’s part of why I wanted to chat with you.”
He waited patiently for me to explain.
We will continue to see some revenue from the Duke, and I wanted to clarify some actions on our part because the numbers have jumped, and will continue to jump higher.”
He grinned. “I like the sound of that.”
“I thought you might,” I replied.
I pulled out a parchment sheet and one of Red’s gifts to me, an inkless pen he calls Red’s Lead. It was a metal rod, sharpened at one end, that was made out of a composite of copper and lead. It would write on just about any surface. He even claimed it worked underwater. I had yet to prove that out since paper didn’t work well under water, but it worked well, and unlike ink or charcoal pencils, it never smudged.
“I’d like you to work with each of the shift leaders to keep a careful track of who is working at each station and their hours.”
“We are already doing that, Patron.” He said smoothly.
“Oh. Good. I want to make sure we are sticking to our six-hour shifts and that nobody works more than two in a row. They need their rest.”
“Yes, Patron.”
I got the feeling from his expression that they had handled it as well, but he didn't want to embarrass me.
Good insight, mighty Patron. Bella commented sarcastically.
Not right now, Bella. Please. I asked.
“Have you and the other bookkeepers agreed on a single accounting system so you each know what the other is recording?”
“Yes, Patron. We are using accounting standards that we are all familiar with and can easily pick up the work from each other with full confidence in accuracy and understanding.”
“That’s excellent. Are you working two per shift?” I inquired.
“We are. Although at times there could be anywhere from one to three of us at the desks, depending on the work we are doing.”
“I think that makes sense. I am personally accountable for the Duke’s funds, and I want to make sure that we account for both income and expenses carefully.”
He didn’t reply. He just nodded.
“And there is just one set of books for each the shoppe and the Service, right?”
“Yes. Double books are not usually acceptable in accountancy as they lead to questions and ethical temptations.”
He was frowning, and I think he may have thought I was questioning his integrity. I needed to get to my points. “That is as I hoped. You and your team are very knowledgeable, and please understand that until recently, the only bookkeeping I did involved shelving them in the guild library.”
He grinned and relaxed. “The team is all following auditing best practices.” He said proudly.
“Perfect. And that leads me to my first request. I’m sure it will be a pain, but for the next week, I would like you and the team to invite a Ducal auditor in from the keep to review daily inputs and outputs.”
He started to protest.
I raised my hand. “Please let me explain. This is not about my trust in you, or the Duke’s trust in me. It is about others who would use our trust against us and mislead one of us. If we have an auditor sign off on daily activities, we will be harder to target.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“But who would bother with that right now?” He asked.
And it was a very good question. Who indeed. “It’s a promise I intend to keep and a way for the Duke to get his own reporting of activities beyond just me.”
He sat back and nodded. He was not pleased with an auditor breathing down his neck, but he accepted it. “I’ll inform the others.”
“Please do, and see to the choosing of the auditor yourself. Make sure the shift supervisor knows about it. I’d prefer to have a different auditor each day, but one with a stellar reputation is fine.”
He looked up at the ceiling while he thought about something. “Could it be a retired auditor, one who received the highest commendations and whose reputation and integrity are above reproach?”
“That would be near perfect, I’d say. It would not disrupt the daily workings of the auditors, and if you have someone in mind, it could be someone you and the team could work with smoothly.”
“I do have someone. She is one of my professors and was the chief auditor for twenty-five years before retiring a couple of years ago.” He answered excitedly.
“See that she is compensated out of the Service accounts and not my own personal accounts, although I would like her to sign off on both.”
“I’ll speak with her and see what the best way to handle this would be. It might be best to allocate funds from the Service books to the auditor's office at a 20% markup for their troubles, and then they pay her consulting fees out of that.”
I just blinked. “Sure. If you think that is best.”
He nodded again and waited to see if I had anything else for him.
I was glad he was on my side. While I had good math and geometry skills, accounting is not math. It is its own language.
“That settles the first item,” I said. “For the other, I would like to formalize stipends going forward so there is consistency. If we have underpaid or simply not paid someone yet, then the bookkeeping of hours and rates will catch everyone up.”
“Sounds like a good plan, Patron. What rates do you want us to use?” He lifted the parchment he had sitting on his lap and Red’s pencil from where he had replaced it behind his ear.
“For mages, we will have a standard rate of 10 gold standards paid for every casting point used.”
“Does this count for you as well?” He asked.
The way he protected my coins, I knew better than to say no. “Yes, it applies to all typical uses around enchanting that we do here.”
“I have been collecting data on your usage and will want you to verify those numbers, then.” He stated.
The kid had already been working down these lines to make sure I got my share of the expenses.
“Okay. We can discuss that after we are through here. Be sure they match up between the two sets of books.”
He rolled his eyes.
Right. We covered this already. “Also for mages, there will be times when a flat rate is used for commissions, both for income and expenses that will deviate from those rates.”
“We will record those as individual commissions.” He replied.
“Terrific. I expect several of those soon. Now, as for crafters and professionals, I want to assign five gold standards per hour worked.”
The lead of his pencil snapped. “Five gold standards per hour? Thirty royals per shift?” He clarified.
“Yes. We have journeymen doing the work of masters, and they will be compensated as such. If we have apprentices who are merely helping and not strictly crafting, then pay them one gold standard per shift.”
“That is still very generous, Patron.”
“The work we do here could help save the city. If the city falls, all the gold ends up in the hands of goblins.” I said, paraphrasing the Duke. “We might as well spread it around now and encourage only the best and brightest in our midst.”
I looked over at Red. “Hey, Red?”
He looked up, distracted. “Yes, Patron?”
“I’d like every shift leader to collect a daily checklist that is a simple ‘Yes/No’ about the competency of workers. If we have those who should not be here, they will need to be escorted out. If we have vacancies that need to be filled, we need to send out irregulars to find people to fill them.”
He gave me a thumbs up, made a note, and went back to what he was doing.
I looked back at Daniel. “I pay top coin for the best and only the best.”
He nodded and sat up a bit straighter in his chair.
I smiled. “Daniel, you are top shelf in my mind. You have nothing to worry about. But things are about to get a lot crazier, and we could double or triple the flow of people in and out of here. The high wages will bring lots to the door, but we only want the best.”
He made another note. “How do you define crafters, Patron?”
“We have three types of Service members: mages, crafters, and apprentices/irregulars. Those are the three categories. I am not an employment service and won’t screen for different types and levels. You are a crafter. Biff is a crafter. The alchemists and tailors are all crafters. Does that keep things clear?”
“It sure keeps it simple, yes, Patron.”
“And for apprentices and our irregulars, they each get one gold per shift, paid out in five silver and fifty copper coins. If they start walking around their neighborhoods with gold, there could be trouble. If they want to keep their coins safe, start a deposit for them here and keep track of it. After this is all over, we can get them a bank account with their surplus if they like. In fact, check with Biff and Junior to see how much we should give them at a time. If they are seen with coins, it could be dangerous for them, so it might be best to keep most of it here, but they can get it anytime they want since it is theirs.”
He made more notes, patiently letting me talk through this as we went.
“Oh, and I know we cannot pay the City Watch out of the Duke’s coins because they are already paid, but I want each to receive five gold standards from my personal account for them and their families.”
“That could look like a bribe, Patron,” Daniel said with a frown. “And would in any case be seen as a conflict, or potential conflict of interest.”
“Even if I am also a city commander?” I asked.
“Even so.” He paused. “Speaking of which, what are you getting paid as Commander of the Special Services?”
I opened my mouth and closed it. “It never came up,” I said.
He rolled his eyes again. “I’ll have the auditor look into the rates for the level of government position. There has to be a rate range.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. “Okay, I’ll leave that to you.”
“Was there anything else, Patron?”
I noticed that Red had left the room. “Oh yes, pass the word that I’d like the door removed from the upstairs common room, double the bunks and linen in there, and put out the word that all meals in the kitchen and sleeping accommodations are free and at all hours. Check with the Watch families about paying their family members to prepare, serve, and clean up the area. We can’t keep asking Bella to do all of that.
He made another note.
I thought about the team of irregulars. “Oh, and see to it that the irregulars have access to new clothes, shoes, and baths as desired,” I paused, “Or as desired by others.”
He laughed. “I’ll take this to Adriana, she is the shift captain this morning.”
I stood up, and he followed suit quickly. “That’ll do it. Thank you, Daniel.”
He bowed and hurried off to take care of his new list of duties.
I sighed and sat down.
“Does anyone want to see me?” I asked Bella out loud.
She appeared standing beside me. “Believe it or not, nobody at this exact moment.”
“Do you know anything about this Twilight, Bella?”
“I know that I witnessed its occurrence once before, many thousands of your years ago, during the age of those you call the ancients. It arose from a struggle and disagreement of some kind. It all happened away from my locus, and so I have no details. But I know that a great deal of sorrow came of it and an intent arose to never allow it to occur again.”
“We all know what road is paved with good intentions. I think I will spend a few hours crafting. I fear that as this grows, I may get less and less time to do that.”
“You may want to check in with the enchanters first. They have been wanting to show off their latest batches of Single Use Spell rings.” She suggested.
“I will. Please screen off the large forge. I want to make some Dwarven Copper rings. That is something I cannot pass along to another.”
“At least not until you choose an apprentice,” She said with a smile.
And so, I went down to the crafting level, met with several teams, and was impressed and surprised with the total number of items we were accumulating. The silver arrow production was in full speed mode, and the engravers were working hard to create the necessary runes to make them go boom.
Given several new mold sets, I was able to create three batches of seven Dwarven Copper rings. I inserted five sockets in each thanks to our new magical restoration potions. After inspecting each, I set them aside for Daria to carefully buff and polish. She was a shy young apprentice, but eager to please and worked hard. With so many adults around, she had mostly been just running errands. I knew that this would be a big task, but a real treat for her.
She took them in her hands as if they were fragile eggs or priceless diamonds. “Buff and polish them to a shine, Daria.” I directed her.
She bowed and only said, “Yes, Patron.”
I had used more than a few of the magical restoration potions in order to enchant the rings with sockets. We would need to increase that production because the potions and casting points disappeared quickly.
