24th June Alvaton,
It had been raining heavily since midnight. The roads were overflowing with water. The doors and windows of the houses were tightly shut. The city was covered under the blanket of dark angry clouds.
Under the rumbling thunder, Karl, one of the Kingdom's officials, was walking up the road. He had a leather cover draped over his body, which saved his upper body from the rain. He tugged the ends of his clothing for warmness.
A month ago, days like this used to be an unofficial holiday and rarely anyone would come to the office.
However, since the prince took charge, officials had to come on all days and those who didn't, had to pass through rigorous questioning. If Adney was satisfied then it's okay or at minimum a week's suspension waited for them.
Now, instead of an annual work report, daily reports of their work were sent to Adney, who compiles it for the month end meeting.
In the month end meetings the performance of officials would be discussed. Those who failed to achieve targets within estimated time would be given warnings, and those who did well be rewarded.
It was rumored that the officials who would receive three warnings in a year might be sent to border areas. No one confirmed the news but still Karl didn't want to be the first example.
Karl increased his pace as the palace entrance came into view. The rain had now slowed down a bit.
He saw the back view of a person in blue robes waiting near the entrance. He found it to be familiar. When he got near that person, he was pleasantly surprised.
The person in blue robes was none other than the man who changed his life. "Teacher Petrov," he called out and bowed politely.
The man turned and recognized his student at first glance. "Ah! Karl, you are early as always. I was waiting for one of you to grant me the permission to enter."
Teacher Petrov narrated the entire event. He was denied entry as he didn't carry any proof or permission which were required to enter the palace. Karl looked towards the guards questioningly.
The guards had heard about the great teacher Petrov of Alvaton. He had taken in many students from humble backgrounds and taught them free of cost. Many of his students had become successful in their careers.
The guards gazed at the teacher student duo. It was not that they had barred him out of jealousy that Petrov hadn't taught them.
Military Chief Kipler was not in the capital. He had gone north to inspect the preparation of the northern soldiers. Till his return the security around the palace had been increased. No one without explicit permission was to be admitted.
The guard helplessly passed the order that they had received from their superiors.
Karl's expression eased.
He moved a little back and saw the guards wearing the same leather coat as him and partroling on the palace wall in the ongoing shower, under the dark clouds.
"No problem. I take responsibility for anything that happens. You guys need not worry." Karl said as he took a quill from the desk, dipped it in ink and wrote that.
…
Eric was on his work table. He muttered, "can this day get any worse," while doing the calculation on the beast skin.
He leaned back instinctively as the winds pushed rain inside through the window. The water wet the beastskin and made the writing unreadable.
He stood wiping his deadpan face and went to the window. Outside was dark like twilight. He forcibly slammed the window a few times before shutting it and returned to his seat.
Early this morning, Adney had called for him in the meeting hall. He had come to know about the farmers assistance program.
Eric had explained his scheme to them and some simple concepts of investestment and how the money would flow back to the Kingdom's Treasury. He had to waste two hours on them.
Even then many people in the hall had their mouths wide open as if he had described Einstein's theory of relativity to a first grader.
"...Eric write an official report about your program and from next time please write a report and get it verified first. This is how the Kingdom works… About your scheme, you said we will start getting returns from the first harvest. We will wait three months and emit only 25 silvers instead of one gold. If the results are good then we continue and if not dispose the scheme…" These were the words with which Adney had ended the meeting.
And now, all his report and calculation were diluted, he growled as he tore the beastskin and threw it away.
He couldn't go out because of the damned rain, it also had to come today of all days. He took out another beastskin and started writing from the start again...