Rise of a Finance Minister

When Will returned to Fermion and at once got to work as Finance Minister, a position he would have for centuries.

During his time as Finance Minister, he challenged the Terra intellectual dogma and became the leading figure in economics worldwide. In the past, governments were weary of going into debt.

But, as an economic adviser Will urged the Kingdom of Fermion and over governments to use the elastic currency.

He showed King Albus and others, that going into debt when the economy most needed an injection of funds was the right decision.

Will showed them deficit spending was the antidote to recessions caused by the plague, famine, peasant revolts, and war.

Furthermore, he was a staunch defender of free-market capitalism and classical economics. His Treatise on Classical Economics was considered the barometer that other financial and economic textbooks were compared.

Will was considered the father of economics, and the study of economics became a global obsession.

Finance Ministers devoted themselves to Will's teachings and often sought his council. To relieve himself from annoying kings and senior administrators, he told them he needed time to write a second book.

Of course, this created the problem that he would need to write a second book.

While his first book was an introduction to free market capitalism, his second book focused on the essential components of economic freedom.

In the book, he urged kings to give their citizens the ability to pursue their happiness and fulfillment in the marketplace. In a marketplace, he argued, buyers and sellers engage in voluntary transactions that satisfy their needs.

Next, he described how kingdoms could improve the living conditions of their citizens by building a well-functioning capitalist kingdom, where millions of individual buyers and sellers make decisions about which goods and services, they require to satisfy their needs.

Thirdly, as long as there are no monopolies, buyers are free to choose their sellers, sellers to choose their buyers, and workers to choose their employers.

He explained that free markets are inherently decentralized in nature, thus maximizing individual freedom and choice.

Lastly, he explained, functioning marketplaces can only take hold when hold, when there is can only happen kingdoms, can safeguard their citizens.

Will's second book Second Treatise of Classical Economics, rocked to international fame. Diego had to purchase new printing presses to keep up with demand.

Despite his fame, Will only care about his family and business.

His businesses had steadily been growing. Thanks in large part to his non-compete agreement with Duke von Mueller.

His city Amphitrite prohibited the Duke from competing against him on the Empire's newest territory.

While the land was large, it was sparsely populated. Amphitrite was the largest city and Lukas City was a distant second. None of that worried Duke von Muller.

What worried Duke von Mueller, Will's businesses monopolized the continent

Amphitrite, the haven for the southern continent, was Will's fief. And the Rhaziesian Empire, which Emperor Jacques-Louis was contractually obliged to Will.

Between them, there was no safe place to build. Duke von Mueller had no choice but to back out of his contract with Will triggering a heft penalty.

For the penalty, Will had to save Camille's wedding. To Camille's delight, Will approved her marriage to Maxwell von Mueller. They were to be wed after her graduation.

The news was met with much fanfare across the kingdom and empire. The joining of the strongest merchants was considerable news.

Yet, not we're happy to see the two families grow closer. They worried too much wealth might weaken Emperor Pius or King Roland's political power.

However, the wedding was also seen as a way to bring the kingdom and empire closer together. Both families were so economically powerful, the king and emperor were expected to attend.

With the betrothal of Camille and Maxwell, people's attention turned to Edward. The child, Will raised to take over his economic empire.

Edward's time in the Valley A&M Academy business school was similar to a college preparatory program.

He understood how to better read a ledger and identify flaws. He learned to manage a business and set quarterly goals. Kurosawa did his best to make this a game for Edward.

However, when Edward made a mistake Kurosawa would whip his hands or back. Kurosawa beat into him the principles of rudimentary financial, managerial, and corporate accounting, basic macro and microeconomics, and ethics.

Will put Edward in charge of the truck assembly plant. He'd submit daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports. If his reports were off by a slight margin, he was forced to apologize to assembly workers and then fire someone.

While brutal, Kurosawa helped Edward get used to letting people go and helped him grow his business acumen.

Will didn't expect Edward to remember everything but developed a foundation that could last him for the rest of his life.

Edward's hard work paid off. When Will returned from Annapolis, the truck assembly plant was running near optimal capacity.

Will was thrilled by Edward's hard work, but he was even happier with Edward's mana capacity result when he tested as an earth and fire dual Elementalist. His mana pool was massive, much larger than Will's at his age.

To celebrate, Will declared a city-wide festival and held a sumptuous feast in Edward's honor.

From that moment until he enrolled at the academy Will and Elder Thaddeus trained Edward. The beatings Kurosawa gave him were beatings compared to the beatings Elder Thaddeus relentlessly unleashed.

It was through that training Edward learned a secret that his father's mana pool was a mana whirlpool. A mana whirlpool he and Liam would one day have as well.

Liam, Lily, and Sophia grew up quickly. With King Roland's marriage to Angelique von Boell, Sophia was politely shipped off to Will and Elizabeth's estate in Gadreel.

Will and Elizabeth, both felt it was better for Sophia to grow up with children her age. At first, the girl was scared, cagey, and rarely spoke. But, soon Sophia flourished under Will and Elizabeth's care. She brightened up and began to act her age.

Unlike other kids her age, Lilly seemed to always be fascinated with books. She was always in the library, looking at books, and when she found out her father wrote a book, she tried her best to understand to read it, but it kept putting her to sleep. A fact, Elizabeth found particularly comical.

On the other hand, Liam seemed to like adventuring. Always begging his uncle for more stories about slaying wyvern and sea wyvern single-handedly without weapons or armor.

The greater the embellishment the more Liam leaned into the story. But, when Marcus told stories about Will, Liam would look at his dad in disbelief and shake his head not believing the truth. Another fact, that made Elizabeth laugh.

Huang rarely came over to the Will and Elizabeth's manor. When he did, Elizabeth or Will took great care of him.

Huang never wanted to leave his mother's side. When she was there, he played by him in a corner. He refused to play with Liam, Lily, and Sophia. And most of all he hated Edward and his incessant teasing.

Neither Camille nor Edward treated Huang particularly well. They teased him because his hair wasn't like theirs. They teased him because he didn't have the same eye color. Sadly, the teasing would only grow worse as he went to K-8 school.

Also growing worse were James and Helen. Helen was mundane already living to 57 was considered an achievement.

She and James expressed their wish to return home. Helen died shortly after returning to the viscounty. James, a journeyman knight, would live another 50 years until his death and be buried next to Helen's body.

The Queen Mother Ashley Maria died devastating King Roland for weeks. Will and Francis II were forced to manage the kingdom in his absence. Will and King Roland consoled each other at the passing of their mothers.

Will felt guilty for not revealing the truth to James and Helen. He was anxious. If they rejected him or asked where their real son was, his feelings would have been devastated.

While the kingdom mourned the loss of the Queen Mother; Amphitrite, Lezhe, the Ballard Viscounty, and Gadreel mourned Helen.

Helen was an outspoken advocate for commoners. When they were little, she checked on the village women monthly, if one was sick, she brought them food.

Or if a woman's husband got injured, she made sure servants gave the family coppers until they got better.

To be clear, when Will reincarnated the Ballard family was poor. But Helen always had a few coins for others in a needy situation. She was adored in the barony.

And she was adored in the Gadreel. Helen found a tight-knit group of friends easily, old married aristocrats who like to gossip negatively about young married or single aristocrats.

With Will paying for their house staff and giving James and her a substantial allowance, Helen easily agreed to join Elizabeth's Endowment for the Arts.

Helen was well-liked by all, every aristocrat in Gadreel knew of her philanthropy and love for others, especially that she had for her grandchildren.

Will had risen from the ranks of a poor aristocrat. He endured jokes and taunts about him being a fringer.

From being the fifth child and third son, he made his way to Guidon. Met a master and lifelong friend.

His master's donation allowed Will to begin selling board games, then card games, then bicycles, which he flipped to build banks, casinos, and theaters across the kingdom. All of which were now ubiquitous around Terra.

He turned the least desired Quartermaster Commander position, into one a position everyone respects globally. He used that commander position to secure himself a fief in a location people thought I dangerous and mocked his choosing.

Again, he triumphed over mockery, built the impossible city, and claimed the only passage between two kingdoms.

From there, he married the king's niece and cultivated relationships with Beastmen, Dwarves, and Elves. He named his fiefdom, Friendship Valley. Fermion's aristocracy mocked him again, for naming his fief such a silly childish name until they realized the power of cooperating with demi-humans.

Time and time again Will were mocked. He was told, "you can do this. It's impossible to build an airship!"

But he did.

"It's impossible to build tracks that travel from Durres to Northern Territory and stretch from the western fringe to the eastern hills!"

But he did. From above, the train tracks below looked like the Kingdom of Fermion's arteries.

Will rose from nothing to transition from a Baronet to a Baron, Viscount, Marquis in the Great Eastern and Rhaziesian Empire, and second-only Duke in Fermion.

Now he controlled three fiefs Gadreel, Lezhe, and Amphitrite. Was a grandmaster Spellsword Knight and had a wonderful.

Will and Elizabeth enjoyed living a long and happy life. They got to see their children and nieces and nephews become adults and have grandchildren of their own.

Through their times together they celebrated life's ups and downs.

They watched as Edward began running the Silver Phoenix Trading Company and saw Camille carry on her mother's philanthropy.

Watched as Lily became Dean of the Royal Academy and Liam became the next King of Fermion.

They supported their children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great-nieces, and great-nephews, etc.

When Liam became King William I, they moved from Gadreel to Tirana. Edward no longer needed Will's help, but Liam needed tremendous support.

After years of searching, Will found Sage Yang's diary. Reading the diary helped him remember the universal truth, something he forgot long ago when he was the first mortal. Meditating on what he remembered, he was able to unshackle further the chains of mortality.

But the same could not be said for Elizabeth. After centuries of love, Elizabeth failed to break through her master rank.

As she approached her 300 hundredths birthday, Elizabeth grew increasingly older. Her looks faded and her body began to wither.

All she could do was lay down in her bed and wait for death.

Will called all his remaining children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to Tirana to say goodbye to Elizabeth. They wept, telling each other melancholic stories of happiness and laughter.

Just before the bell told midnight, Will looked at his family and conveyed his love and happiness. He kissed them lovingly on the forehead and then disappeared with Elizabeth forever.

The news of Will and Elizabeth's passing shocked the world. Time across the world stopped when the news of Will and Elizabeth's passing arrived.

People across the world wept. Will and Elizabeth were global icons. Their love story was one of great friendship and patience.

Will tales of heroism were as abundant as his wealth.

It was rumored Sage Ming wept for 10 days on hearing the passing of his disciple. Emperor Pius II and the Pirate Queen, both grandmasters, wept to at hearing of Will and Elizabeth's passing.

The idea a Sage would rather die than life without his true love created a new literary love sub-genre. A genre, Lily would capitalize on and come to dominate.

Edward made sure to sell memorial coins with his father's image, for a high markup price.

Instead of calling for a traditional holiday, King William I decreed the kingdom's first tax holiday, something his father had pushed for centuries.

And Camille commissioned statues of her parents' places in the Citadel of Demeter, Basilica of Gaia, and Lighthouse of Pontus.

In a private ceremony, Will and Elizabeth's nonexistent bodies were sealed away in Gadreel's Ancestral Tomb.

Crowds lined up outside just to touch their crypt. For two months, commoners and nobles alike stood in long lines just to pay their respects to one of the greatest men who ever lived.