That evening Maelyn, on her way to meet Abjul at his office, stopped by Undersecretary Bree's office to collect all eighty deeds that Harmon's absence had resulted in her receiving that day. As she entered she could see that Bree was the only one left there working. Walking up to her desk as she was finishing typing the page she was working on, Maelyn asked her, "Did it take you this long to get all of them done?!"
"I'm sorry ma'am." Bree confessed, "After you left and I finished the deeds needed for that hour I decided to do my other duties until I saw him today so that I would know how many I needed without falling behind on my duties to the First Minister. When he still hadn't walked by when I saw the ones being sent to observe I watched all of them walk by to make sure Second minister wasn't in the group and, when he didn't walk back down to his home I started on typing up all of the deeds he now owes you and am just now getting finished."
"Thank you for dedicating the time to complete this tonight instead of waiting until in the morning." Maelyn told her, "I really appreciate this. And did he punish you in any way for doing this?
"No ma'am." Bree told her, "I work for the First Minister and my property is owned by him also. So he has no power over us that is not part of his position."
"That's good then." Maelyn confided, "Because he has added to the rent of all of Abjul's secretaries because Abjul approved my application for citizenship and is likely to do it even more when he finds out that I have established my own bank today and he will be losing the power over them that his loans have been giving him as soon as his bank opens it's doors in the morning."
"Well ma'am, I feel I should offer you some advise on that." Bree shared, "his employees will be able to refuse to receive payment if the person receiving the loan isn't present. So anticipate them using that as a delaying tactic so they can get him to be present and give his approval when you do."
"But if the loan's owner is present or pays it off themselves they have to accept it?" Maelyn asked to be sure, "Because I am not above trusting them with the money needed to pay it off."
"So will you be taking ownership of the loans along with ownership of the houses?" Bree asked curious, "If so then I hope you are able to earn enough of a profit to stay in business so that the bank will maybe start to offer more services instead of just loans and collecting rent for Minister Harmon."
"I don't know about HIS bank, but MINE will offer lots more services and will make sure it leaves money in the hands of my tenants instead of in the hands of lazy butt." Maelyn matter of factly told her.
"Don't let HIM hear you say that!" Bree laughed, "Or he'll find some way or have a law made to make us have to give him MORE money!"
"I wouldn't worry too much about that." Maelyn told her with a fierce smile, "He doesn't realize how hard it's gonna be for him to keep ahold of his privileged lifestyle when he keeps losing the sources of his privileged!"
Handing Maelyn the last deed along with a map Bree told her, "I'm looking forward to seeing him taken down a couple of notches! And to help you with that first notch, here is a map with all of the deeds he had to hand over marked on it. See? Like I said earlier, almost all of them are in that same neighborhood."
"Thank you Bree." Maelyn told her with gratitude, "This will make my task tonight easier, because I had already planned on going to visit these homes while the adults were home. And, speaking of that, when I tried visiting this afternoon the kids were at home. Don't y'all have a school for them to attend?"
"Sadly no." Bree said with a frown, "It was one of the things that the Prime Minister had canceled like ten years ago because the cost of the school was keeping the kingdom from having the money available for your project at the palace."
"Really?!" Maelyn asked in shock, "Well I might have to change that! Because these children learning to expand their knowledge will expand this kingdom! Don't worry! I'll make sure they get that back one way or another!"
"I hope so ma'am." Bree told her, "I hope so."
Maelyn then bid her farewell and met up with Abjul at his office asking him, "Abjul, Are any of your secretaries on this map? Or do you own their homes like Anton owns the homes of his secretaries?"
"I haven't been able to purchase the homes of most of my secretaries from my father yet." Abjul told her as he looked at the map, "And yes, all of the ones here in the city are on there. Along with several of the observers."
"Well the observers I will talk to in the morning." Maelyn told him, "And any secretaries in this neighborhood I will talk to tonight. The rest I will have to talk to tomorrow though."
"Well two of them are here in this neighborhood." Abjul let her know, "The rest are some of these scattered homes on here."
"Well let's get started!" Maelyn encouraged him and started walking to where the neighborhood was.
When Maelyn got to the first home again the door was answered this time by the kid's father and he asked, "Hello ma'am. Hello Third Minister! How may I help you today?"
"Can we come in and talk to you about the house sir?" Maelyn asked him. He then lead them inside to their table where, as she sat down, Maelyn showed him the deed to their house that she had received and told him, "Sir, as you can see, I have acquired your property from Second Minister Harmon."
"I did not know ma'am!" the man wailed, "I have JUST paid Second Minister his rent when he showed up at my work and demanded it today! I am sorry but I won't have it today, but I will go to the Second Minister's bank and add to our loan to pay it to you tomorrow!"
"Do not worry mister Prak." Maelyn comforted him, "I am not demanding it today. What I DO need today though is for you to share with me how much you and Misses Prak make each month as well as how much your household bills are each month so I can set you a fair rent."
After he had provided the information to her she summarized, "So, you both make thirty thousand scales a month. Your rent is ten thousand scales, utilities are another ten thousand all together, food is four thousand, and this loan is six thousand. And let me guess, you have to borrow more money each month when your bills run higher?"
"Some months." Mister Prak hesitantly replied, "Most months though me and my wife eat less so we can use food money to pay the bill."
"And how much do you owe on that loan?" Maelyn asked, "And what interest rate is he charging you THIS month?!"
"We owe a total of ten thousand still." mister Prak meekly told her, "With a current interest rate of fifteen percent. But I am hoping to have it paid off next month and start back at ten percent!"
"How about instead you be able to pay it off tomorrow when you meet me at the bank first thing in the morning?" Maelyn asked, "Then, instead of you having to continue to pay interest, we will just factor it in to your ne rent amount."
"I would be eternally grateful ma'am!" Prak exclaimed, "But I will need to borrow again to pay you your rent this month!"
"NO YOU WON"T!" Maelyn asserted, "Because I am not greedy like Harmon is and won't be making you pay rent twice this month. And, when it IS time to pay rent NEXT month, you will only have to pay me five thousand scales."
"But ma'am! How are you going to be able to afford it?!" Prak asked in confusion, "Mister Second Minister has stressed to me repeatedly how he is barely able to keep this home available and was going to have to raise rent here again in a couple more months!"
"Harmon was lying." Maelyn told him simply, "With you paying all of the utilities, his costs aren't NEARLY as much as he claims. And they DON'T increase like that! The only cost that increases is his constant craving for ever finer things and living as luxuriously as he can."
Mister Prak thanked them profusely and they bid their farewells. They repeated the process at the next couple of homes before Abjul asked on the way to the next one, "How do you plan on being able to afford these lower rates of rent? And how are you able to do the lower rent while also offering to pay off their loans?"
"Those loans are the only reason I'm charging them as much for rent as I am!" Maelyn laughed bitterly, "Cause if they didn't owe for loans I will be charging them the five thousand scales for this first year only! After that, or after the other like Prak recoup me for the amount it took to pay off their loans, I plan on only charging a two thousand scales a month!"
"I thought it cost more than that to keep the houses in shape and taken care of?" Abjul asked in confusion.
"it costs a little bit." Maelyn told him, "And sometimes more when problems arise like pipes breaking or lights blowing and such, but you make that money back by the time the next problem shows up."
"I... did not know that." Abjul said in wonder, "I had been told by father and my grandfather that we had to charge the amount we do to be able to pay for repairs because these homes are constantly in need of repair!"
"Some will be." Maelyn conceded, then enlightened him, "But most of them AREN'T"