Evan's Hard Work Pt.2

"Can we get started?" Mathew filled four cups of tea, and passed it around to everyone, he felt quite excited to finally tell them his future plans.

-" Who should start?" Irelia asked while looking around the table at her three companions, this was her first true meeting as a bureaucrat so she was quite anxious.

-" What are you interested in the most, Mathew/?" Evan inquired, as he was the responsible for everything the past few days, so he wanted to start;

-" Hm... Why don't you start with the financial report? This way, we can be aware of the prefecture state before making any other decisions." Mathew gave his tea a small sip and focused on Evan.

-" Excuse me then." Evan took out a bunch of scrolls and finally began to explain the financial situation of the prefecture. "The funds recovered from the previous administration amounted to approximately 468 gold pieces, of which we have already spent approximately 36 coins."

"36?" Irelia was astounded; her salary was one gold coin per month, and this small village had spent three years of her salary in just three months. " Where did it all go?"

-" Well, the miners are receiving 7 silvers per month, giving a total of 3 gold coins and 5 silver pieces, and we ordered 100 pickaxes, 30 wheelbarrows, and a few more tools from the blacksmith totaling two gold coins and 80 pieces of silver. " Evan began to detail the expenses. " The rest was the advance for the mason guild, which will come in the next days to plan the restoration of the village."

-" If you take out the payment to the mason guild, our expenses are quite low." Mathew nodded in approval, he expected that they still would have money for a year or two after the initial round of investment. " What about the proceeds from the mine?"

-" The miners are working very hard, and in those three months working, they gathered around 445 kilos of iron ore." Evan had a tinge of pride as he spoke about the mine output, he was the only one who was against Mathew's decision at first, but, in the end, it turned out to be quite the success. " This output can be compared to bigger mines, with much more workers."

-" 450 kilos..." Even Mathew himself didn't expect the mine to be this efficient. "We only need to save around 50 to 60 kilos, we can sell the rest."

"At three silver per kilos of ore, we can easily make eleven gold coins, but. we must deduct the imperial tax of thirty percent." Evan let out a smile as he finished the calculation. " We are left with seven gold coins."

-" Quite the profit, isn't it?" Simon didn't expect the mine to be profitable so soon.

-" Not quite profit." Mathew took out a quill and wrote down the expenses of the mine. " Seven gold coins and 7 pieces of silver was the mining income, if we deduct the expenses, the profit will only be around 1 gold coin and some silver."

-" Still not that bad." Evan was impressed by Mathew's knowledge, as many people wouldn't know the difference between income and profit. " At least we aren't losing money."

Mathew was proud of the success that the mine had achieved, but, he knew that this small amount of money was barely enough to fund the village's industrialization. " But, not enough... When will the mason guild visit us?"

-" In just a few days, they may arrive before I get back from the trip to Maplehill." Evan scratched his head as he looked at Mathew, completely unsure what he was thinking about now. "They will come to plan the blacksmith expansion and mine restoration, however, if you have any other ideas, you can discuss them with them;"

-" I did think about some things, but, they are all quite farfetched." Mathew felt like zoning the village, and truly building up the city, yet, the amount of money required would be too much. " What I just need is for them to renovate Clifton's villa."

-" Renovating? His villa is in a wonderful state!" Simon felt confused about what Mathew was talking about. " Such a vain person would never live in a rundown place."

-" I'm not talking about renovating in this manner, I want to transform Clifton's villa into five buildings." Mathew took out a small scroll, and opened it, showing a crude drawing of the villa. " I will transform the villa into public buildings."

-" Five?" Evan looked at the drawing with curiosity.

-" The bath area is already being used by the villagers, so my plan is to convert it into a small public health office. It will still only be a bath for the time being, but I want to hire a physician to work there." Mathew pointed to the area as he continued to speak. " The next would be the village school, there is a big hall that would be perfect here."

-" Oh? This is a great idea! This way, we won't have to spend as much money on the buildings." Simon burst out laughing, Matthew's way of thinking always surprising him.

-" Will the buildings be connected?" Evan too was impressed, he was quite worried at first, but, it seemed that Mathew was always thinking far ahead of everyone.

-" No, I want to cut off the hallways that connect them, however, I would like to re-use the stone and materials of the hallway." One of Mathew's biggest headaches was stone for buildings, as the village had no stone source, and needed to import it. " The next building will be the quarter, it will be located in this open area, including the servant living place, and the stable."

-" Huh? Why put the servant's living place in the quarter? Isn't it better to make them it's own building?" Irelia commented in curiosity, the servant's house was no luxurious place, but, at least was better than the straw and mud shacks that most of the villages lived in.

-" As the city grows, we may need to have some guards living there, so it's better to deal with this now." Mathew smiled, as he continued to the last two buildings. " As you all know, the kitchen and the surrounding area will be used as the storage and will be the place where the food for the government workers will be made."

-" Food?" Simon jolted up in excitement, he was quite the bad cook, and the news of having someone to cook for him made him happy.

-" Yes, we need to feed the guards and the rest of the workers that are on duty, right?" Mathew took a deep breath and pointed to the center of the villa, it was the most luxurious part, and one of the biggest too. " This is the only place that I'm hesitant... but, I plan to transform this place into the new prefecture hall."

-" New prefecture hall? Isn't this place enough?" Evan felt that it was a waste to use such a large building for something so simple.

-" It may be enough for now." Mathew wasn't sure why, but, he was determined to completely transform the village into a city. " But what about when this village turns into a municipality? "Don't you think having such a small administration center will be embarrassing?"

-" A municipality?" Evan's eyes widened in surprise, he knew that Mathew wanted to grow the village, but, not to this point. " Hey! This is a serious matter! Aren't you putting the cart before the horse?"

-" Don't worry about this, we just have to give our best." Mathew laughed as he saw the reactions that Irelia, Evan, and Simon had. " What is the trouble in trying? Isn't it our job to strive to develop our prefecture?"

"Sigh... you're overly optimistic, Mathew," Evan admitted defeat and choose not to try to convince him, he had learned that Mathew was too obstinate to change his ways. " So? You should have something in mind if you are saying those words."

-" Talking about this now won't be of any use, we must first focus on the matter at hand." Mathew wanted more funds, there were too many things to do still, and it was clear that the prefecture funds wouldn't enough. " Let's talk about the caravan... from the ten jars of boar's blood, we will sell seven and save the others three."

-" So you decided to sell them? I expected you to want to save them." Simon was bummed by the decision, the blood could be used to cultivate and he was quite interested in it.

-" It's a good choice, we can always try our luck and try to hunt again." Evan nodded, satisfied with Mathew's decision, as he was one of the only persons who wanted to sell it.

-" Three jars are enough for us." Irelia didn't show much care about the discussion, as she had another thing in mind. " What about the core? Will you sell it?"

Everyone looked at Mathew in expectation, as they had hunted the beast, all the proceeds should be their property, not from the prefecture, so no one would complain if they choose to have the core for themselves.

-" We will sell the core, and the funds will be given to the prefecture." Mathew expected for Simon and Irelia to complain, as they would not gain anything from this.

"Sigh... I expected this after seeing how you decided to sell the boar's blood." Simon felt sad, but, didn't complain any longer, after all, this was his hometown village.

-" Well, I'm not against it too, but, what about the rest? The tusks and leather are quite good too." Irelia didn't mind losing the core, as what she wanted was new armor and a weapon.

-" They will be saved for our use, for if anyone of you needs a new weapon, you can get them." Mathew remembered his agreement with Milton, he hadn't any news about him for days, and could only anxiously wait." You just need to find a blacksmith, of course."