After lunch had passed and with still no Second Minister lead Maelyn to head down to the undersecretary's office after she had checked on everyone's progress. As she entered the office and walked up to her desk the undersecretary bowed down low with her arms spread wide in a submissive form of the traditional greeting while she apologized, "I'm SO sorry madam Khadim! I have been working my hardest to stay prepared for him to walk by but for some reason I have Yet to see him walk by! And so I have been trying to get a new four deeds prepared and ready for you at the start of each hour but I have not completed the four deeds for this hour yet."
"Do not stress dear." Maelyn comforted her after returning the greeting, "i would suggest going ahead and preparing the ones for the next hour so that you're ahead of the game though, because it is close enough to the start of the next hour that I am pretty certain he will not be able to make it to the site in time given the awfully slow pace he walks at."
"Yes Mistress! I will make sure to prepare it now!" The undersecretary promised as she sat back down and hurriedly started typing as fast as she could.
"What is your name miss?" Maelyn asked after looking and not seeing a nameplate on the desk, "And don't rush too hard on that. I don't want you to make a mistake and get even more nervous because of having to start over on that deed."
"My name is Bree Haddel and I am again so so so sorry for not being prepared for you miss Madam Maelyn Khadim." Undersecretary Bree told her, "I will finish these last two deeds and start on the four for the next hour as soon as I can if you will forgive me and allow me to finish!"
"Bree dear," Maelyn comforted as she sat down, "I am NOT going to punish you for this! All of this extra work you are having to do is directly due to Harmon's continuing tardiness and is thereby HIS fault NOT yours! So calm down girl! I am nowhere near as pretentious and egotistical as that man is So calm down and continue your work at a comfortable pace so you won't make a mistake and give him an excuse to punish you."
"I am sorry ma'am." Bree replied in a calmer but still nervous voice, "I am under such pressure to get this done that I feared I would be punished with demotion or be forced to include my own property in this stack."
"Don't worry so much about the possibility of your property being in any of the stacks I will be collecting in the future." Maelyn told her frankly, "From what Abjul has told me about rent prices and some of the other household costs, I can assure you that you would come out better if it ever did end up on my pile. Also, mentioning prices, part of the reason I came here today is to find out which homes I am taking over so I can go to them today and talk about how much they are being charged for rent as well as utilities and food as well as any other bills. That way I can adjust their rent to a level that covers my costs while not interfering with their ability to pay other bills."
Bree cautiously looked around to make sure no-one else was close enough to hear her and quietly confessed, "If you are even willing to consider our costs when setting rent I kinda hope that he DOES make me include my home in the pile." Then, in a normal voice she told her in a more formal tone and more formal posture, "If you wish to visit the homes, you are free to write down the addresses for them while I am working on these final deeds. When I am done with this last one I will go retrieve you a street map of the area."
"Thank you for that." Maelyn told her, "And, to get me started and to help me know of any extra expenses I may not know about, could you tell me your expenses each month?"
"My energy bill is usually close to two thousand scales." Bree told her while trying to not appear less than pleased with Second Minister Hamon's rent, "My water costs one thousand scales. My rent is a reasonable fifty thousand scales. And my loan costs ten thousand scales."
"And what about food?" Maelyn asked, "And, if you don't mind, could you tell me what the loan was taken out for?"
"We usually have to spend four thousand scales, sometimes it is seven thousand." Bree hesitantly told her, "And the loan is from when we have to take out loans to pay all of the bills when they are higher than usual."
"If you have to take out loans when the bills are high, how much do you make a month?" Maelyn asked concerned, "Cause I don't want to charge people more than they are making."
"As Undersecretary I am blessed enough to make forty thousand scales a month." Bree confidently began but sounded sad as she finished, "And my husband is a cook for the Tamm bakery and they are able to pay him thirty thousand scales most months but are only able to use him enough for fifteen thousand scales during slower months."
"Ouch!" Maelyn told her, "And does the bank charge you interest on the loan? If so, how much?"
"We are charged ten percent interest right now." Bree told her with sadness, "But it goes up one percent each time we have to borrow more until it is paid off."
"That is ridiculous!" Maelyn exclaimed in anger, "Would I be able to offer personal loans to tenants? Or would I have to establish a bank to do it?"
"Second Minister Harmon offers these loans through the bank he owns." Bree told her, "And we ARE allowed to offer personal loans. But the person offering the loan has to have twice the amount offered on record with Second Minister Harmon's bank to be allowed to offer loans."
"Why don't I feel like I can trust that bank with my money?" Maelyn replied sarcastically then asked, "What would it require to be able to make my own bank?"
"That is the part that keeps his bank as the only one available." Bree revealed, "Because in order to establish one, a new bank is required to have one hundred pounds of gold on hand."
"Is that all?" Maelyn asked seriously but with a grin, "Any other requirements?"
"None other than the fee of a hundred thousand scales to file for the business license." Bree answered, "But you would have to get approval of the license from the Third Minister before you would be able to start offering services."
"I believe I can handle that part." Maelyn confidently replied. Then, finished writing down the list of addresses, asked, "Anything special about these homes? Cause it looks like they're all on the same three streets."
"They are." Bree confided in her, "Those are the home in what the Second Minister calls the slums due to many of the residents in that are having difficulty paying him full rent as well as their loan payments each month."
"Ah! I see. He thinks he's gonna make me lose money because he's losing money on these properties." Maelyn chuckled, "He's gonna hate seeing this area turn into one of the better places of this city!"
"I hope you can improve all of these homes and all of the future homes you may receive." Bree confessed, "Because some of my coworkers live the next street over and I live three streets away too."
"Don't worry. He will come to regret being this lazy." Maelyn assured her, "Now I'm gonna go get me a business license for my new bank real quick and will be back to get those deeds shortly."
"But remember! You need the hundred pounds of gold on hand FIRST!" Bree told her, "If you don't have that to show the Third Minister he won't approve it!"
"Bree dear," Maelyn revealed, "I didn't know what currency Altinyn would accept so I brought TWO hundred pounds of gold here to exchange for the local currency as needed."
"Two Hundred?!" Bree replied in amazement, "I have only ever seen ONE hundred pounds the one time I had to accompany Prime Minister Anton to the safe he keeps inside the bank!"
"Well, when I get done with the palace and have more time to devote to revitalizing this kingdom, you will be able to possess a hundred pounds of it if you wanted to." Maelyn promised, "It will take a couple years, but it WILL happen!"
"I hope so ma'am." Bree told her, "I truly hope so!" But I fear that the Second Minister will block you once he discovers what you are doing."
"I wouldn't worry about that!" Maelyn chuckled, "The only way he will be able to beat me at this game is if he learns to treat his tenants better! And, if he does, then I STILL win!"