The Furano town council building was where the heads of each department involved in running Furano -e.g., the guild heads (adventurer, merchant, agriculture, etc…)- came together every week along with the lord- or their representative- to discuss the current state of affairs and decide how the town's budget would be allocated. Leo had great respect for this building and the people working in it, but he also dreaded it. Every time his father dragged him to the meetings as a young boy, he'd get a headache from all the information being tossed about. Leo was not how do you put it… the most academic of people. The life of an adventurer certainly suited him more.
Luna however was fairly gifted in that department; she'd frequently help out her father with administrative tasks and enjoy them. She'd make up for Leo's short comings in the future.
The carriage came to a stop in a large open square, the driver Edwin opened the covering behind him.
"We've arrived in the central square young master." Edwin informed them of their location before facing forward again in silence.
"Great, Frost, Maya we'll start the tour here." Leo smiled as he alighted the carriage. They'd start in the central district where the magic happens before visiting the north and then the west district before returning to the south. Purposely avoiding the east for now. They'll be walking for most of the journey, with the carriage following behind if they get tired or bored.
The central district albeit interesting to Leo and Luna was not much of a tourist attraction, people were simply hard at work, not much to look at. Leo then led them into the town's largest bank where he received a most glorious welcome.
"Ah the young lord how can we help you today, are you making a withdrawal? A deposit?" The bank manager came down from the second floor as soon as he spotted Leo and Luna. He presented a large over the top business smile, making him look rather comical.
Maya sniggered under her breath unable to resist.
"Yes, I'll be making a withdrawal Hoggins but I'm mainly here to show my benefactor here the sights of Furano." Leo smiled and acted as they planned. They had to be seen touring the town by many influential individuals to keep Adam's guard lowered. The bank manager Hoggins here was one of those individuals, although not as wealthy, talented, or connected as the guild master of the merchants guild, Sebastian. He was still rich and powerful, plus the bank here in Furano was just a branch of the main one in the capital. Hoggins represented a powerful faction in the entire empire, Leo and his family dared not treat him with disrespect.
"Hoh the young lord's benefactor." Hoggin's eyes opened up wide with interest, but he wasn't surprised, given his station he was already aware of someone aiding Leo when he was attacked by the red hawk bandits. He looked over Frost with curiosity, his wolf mask in particular.
'I don't recognise him and he's hiding his face…how curious.'
Leo gestured to Frost to introduce himself.
"Frost, nice to meet you Hoggins." Frost spoke politely and extended his hand in greeting but did not demean himself in anyway, his background was much grander than some banker.
Hoggin's eyes widened slightly in surprise. He expected the young lord Leo to have mentioned his background to Frost, and usually adventurers even those of high rank would act with a little humility, even adding the title 'sir' before his name. Yet Frost spoke to him albeit politely, it came from someone of equal if not higher standing. Hoggins couldn't help but smile as he shook Frost's hand.
'Interesting, very interesting,' instead of taking offence Hoggins was intrigued, Frost acted so naturally that he must be a big fish.
'An important individual hiding his face that I do not know, and he travels with a beautiful beast woman… seems I need to improve my intelligence network.' Hoggins didn't suspect for a second that Frost didn't understand his position and was simply being rude, he must be someone of great standing. He looked at Frost with great respect, even more than he did Leo.
Maya smiled and gave Hoggins and internal thumbs up.
'This man has good instincts.' None of the other people they met were able to understand her young master's majesty.
"The pleasure is all mine young master Frost; I hope you find our branch here satisfactory." Hoggins made sure to memorise Frost and Maya's face (well what was visible at least) before leaving post haste back upstairs. He needed to find out as much information about Frost as soon as possible.
Leo and Luna felt a little bewildered with Hoggin's actions but chalked it up to him being impressed with Frost, they were a little biased since he was their saviour.
"I'll withdraw some spending money; it won't take long." Leo rushed to join the queue. He kept most of his money here in the bank, that way no one but him could touch it.
With Leo rushing off Luna explained some of the banks features.
"Anyone can store their money here for a small monthly fee, although it's mostly used by merchants and the more affluent. Carrying around tens or even hundreds of coins can become very bulky and heavy, so people simply withdraw what they need when they need it instead of carrying it around all the time." Luna presented her very light coin purse filled with a couple gold coins and nothing else. Frost subconsciously grasped onto his much heavier coin purse that held hundreds of coppers.
"They also offer investment options where in you can loan your money into some of the local businesses or merchants and receive dividends, although it comes with risks, it helps stimulate the town's market and promotes up and coming merchants." Luna explained that before Sebastian took control of the merchant guild and Douglas control of the viscounty, the bank was a shadow of its current self and was only used by nobles and the most affluent of merchants. Now however with everyone being able to access the bank the town has flourished with dozens of new merchants and businesses opening up over the years. The bank also had much more money within its vaults, greatly pleasing the central headquarters who were thinking of pulling out of Furano entirely.
'How efficient' Frost commented internally about the Bank's role in Furano. He was amazed at how everything within the town worked and assisted one another, it gave him a great deal of knowledge in regards to running his dungeon.
They weren't kept waiting too long, Leo promptly returned with a bag full of coins ready to go shopping with. As the young lord and an active adventurer, he'd managed to save up quite a fortune over the years.
"Here Frost-senpai." Leo passed a second coin purse towards Frost as soon as he returned. Frost took the coin purse instinctively; it was quite heavy.
"What's this for?" He opened up the purse, it was filled with dozens of silvers as well as 5 gold coins, a large sum, far more than his current wealth.
"Your reward for saving Luna and myself from the red hawk bandits. My individual wealth was a little limited, so my father and mother told me to withdraw this amount from their accounts. All together it's 5 gold coins and 50 silvers, I hope that's enough." Leo wanted to give more but with the town in its current financial straits, he simply couldn't, at least at the moment.
"…." Frost's eyes were filled with gold, he felt insanely rich. His throat felt parched, and his lips twitched.
'Enough, of course it's enough.' The 2 gold coins from the adventurer's guild was already a large sum to him but this took the cake. He was elbowed by Maya before he started drooling.
"Ugh… it's more than enough, thank you for such generosity, Leo." He managed to regain his composure, luckily, he was wearing a mask otherwise Leo and Luna's impressions of him would be destroyed. Their cool senpai was a money fanatic.
"That's great" Leo felt relieved seeing Frost take the coin purse and place it in his robes.
"Oh, and that's just for rescuing the two of us, the participation in tonight's activities will have a separate reward." Leo nodded with a smile refusing to take advantage of Frost and Maya.
"Ugh…." Frost nearly stumbled as his legs turned to jelly, luckily Maya was there to support his weight. He'd get even more money; this information was too much. He was penniless a few days ago yet now he was awash with cash, the contrast was too much for the young dungeon core.
After retrieving some spending money and Frost regaining his faculties, the group got back on the carriage and visited the northern zone, the area Frost and Maya were most familiar with.
Leo introduced them to a few of the more useful adventurer shops in the area, such as a repair work blacksmith, a supply store, and an armourer. Of course, their prices were relatively low, specifically aiming towards the lower level adventurers. They did however pass a food stall selling horned rabbit skewers for 5 coppers each, Frost bought everyone two with his newfound wealth. They ate them with relish as they visited the different workshops. Nothing really caught their eyes equipment wise, but Frost did buy a couple low level health and mana potions with a potion holder for 10 silvers.
'In the future the ingredients required to make these will be from my dungeon.' Frost looked over the potions he just bought with a smile. The health potions were red and the mana potions blue and were stored in what looked like crude glass test tubes. The key ingredients being red, and blue dwindle flowers now grew and refreshed at amazing speeds within his dungeon.
With the Northern district done and it being a close to midday, the group once again entered the carriage and headed this time to the western zone, that was filled with restaurants and shops.
The moment they arrived they could feel the busy atmosphere, by far this was the busiest zone in Furano. The joy could be seen on Luna and Maya's faces as the carriage passed by the many, many clothing stores. Frost and Leo both sighed as they were forced to the vacate the carriage and follow after their partners. Hopefully, the money that Leo withdrew would be enough.
Thankfully, their grumbling stomachs restrained the amount of time the girls spent wandering around the clothing stores, trying on an unknown number of dresses while Frost and Leo were forced to carry their bags. They only managed to spend 50 silvers (each) on clothes and not defensive or practical clothes, but dresses purely based on appearance. Frost and Leo were powerless to argue as they reluctantly handed over the money, lamenting their pain.
"We can have lunch at the phoenix fledging restaurant." With them returning to the carriage with their many purchases Leo suggested where to have lunch.
'Hmm phoenix fledgling, sounds expensive.' A phoenix was at the very least a B-rank monster usually higher, yet a restaurant was calling itself phoenix fledgling. Frost couldn't help but lick his lips in anticipation yet at the same time grip onto his coin purse. Great tasting food takes a great amount of money.
"Hoh someone's feeling generous." Luna laughed lightly from the side. The phoenix fledgling restaurant was one of the most expensive and highly regarded restaurants in the entire territory, serving high rank monster meat in all dishes. Too eat there you not only needed money but also status.
"Hahaha" Leo awkwardly laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, even for him the phoenix fledging restaurant could erase his finances but hopefully Luna would go easy on him.
"We'll split it Leo, you've already rewarded me, I can't keep leaching off your generosity." Frost spoke up with confidence, he wouldn't feel right constantly receiving benefits and giving nothing in return. Although he'd probably regret his choice in the near future, at the moment however he felt empowered.
Leo released a deep breath as a weight was lifted off his shoulders, he gave Frost a grateful look. Him mentioning the phoenix fledgling restaurant was something he said without thinking but with Frost aiding him with the bill, he felt much more reassured.