Silver Phoenix Bank & Trust

It was a beautiful summer morning in Rijilir, the sun was out, not a cloud to be seen. The sunshine brought happiness and vitality to a city in need of healing.

Will stepped out of his house, the 20-degree Celsius weather felt perfect. The uncertainly, fear, worry, gave way to optimism and hope.

Beastmen and women who were upset with the inaction and partisanship of the Tribal Council were happy to see the impasse gone. There was hope that inflation would be curtailed, and balance would return. Yet, people were still cautious of this human's plan, but surely the Tribal Council vetted this proposal. People were somewhat confident; the plan would work. They all knew William vont Ballard was intelligent and had lots of money.

In secret, Holo and Teacher Eleanor shared with Tribal Council members that Will would never miss an opportunity to make money. The cautioned council members that this was a lucrative opportunity, and if given the opportunity Will would purchase as many shares as possible. The downside was Will owning the dominant shares of the Tribal Council's debt, which spurred council leaders to gather more funds for the auction. This was Will, Holo, Teacher Eleanor's plan. To add to the ruse, Will made a big show out of visiting the currency exchanger to load up on credits. The mention of Will owning the majority of debt spurred people to action and helped get more money off the streets.

Today was going to be a great day for Will. In the morning, Will would open his café, casino, and theatre. In the afternoon, the bond auction was scheduled. In anticipation of the auction, Will purchased two more additional lots. The first lot he purchased was converted into a bank, the Silver Phoenix Bank & Trust. The second, was still under construction. Soon, his newest business an auction house would be up and running. Eventually, Will would to figure out how to connect the separate auction houses.

Lawrence and Holo left early this morning, today they would cut the ribbon. Unlike Guidon where Will was responsible for everything, Lawrence and Holo were responsible for staffing and operations in Rijilir. That was a part of the agreement when Will sold them 10% of the business in Rijilir. Will was more hands-on during the construction, but as an experienced chief executive, he was fine to delegate.

Since it was such a beautiful day, Will decided to walk with his Wolfmen guards a few blocks to the stores. All three stores would open at the same time, the bank was still in development. The Blacksmith's Guild was still working on the bank vault doors and deposit boxes.

As Will approached the stores, he notices a growing crowd of people outside. The City Lord begrudgingly allowed the inner circle guards to let in citizens regardless of their backgrounds. Former protestors stood shoulder with middle circle crafters, who stood next to Tribal Council members.

Will wove through the crowd to a stage. The makeshift wooden stage, looked like it was made of scrap wood and nails. It was barely big enough to eight guests, and Will prayed it could hold the weight. Beastmen and women weighed more than humans. Holo pointed to a seat next to her. The other guests joining the stage were Stalking Wolf, the City Lord, and the Tiger, Bear (City Lord's father), Eagle Clan leaders. There was also an empty seat for the Snake Clan out of courtesy.

At the 10th bell, Lawrence rose and addressed the crowd. He spoke eloquently thanking the guests for coming out. Holo spoke next discussing each business and their partnership with Will. A round of applause rang out for Will. Will hated these trite acknowledgments, but he stood, waved, and bowed regardless. Truth be told, Will was okay to miss these events. But Holo and Teacher Eleanor chided him. They told Will he was now a celebrity, and his non-appearance would not go unnoticed.

Holo acted as mistress of ceremonies and introduced each 'esteemed' guest. The City Lord thanked Will, Lawrence, and Holo for their investment in the city. The Stalking Wolf spoke up about how proud he was of the next generation. The other clan leaders addressed the crowd and spoke about the importance of revitalizing industry across the Tribal Lands. No one mentioned the riots, even though that was on the mind of everyone.

Afterward, Holo and Lawrence cut the ribbon and welcoming people inside the businesses. Will noticed, the majority of the wait staff, dealers, cooks were werewolf people, but there was a sprinkle of bear, tiger, eagle men, and women as well. After the political conversation he had with Grandfather Wolf and the City Lord, he was happy to let Holo and Lawrence take over.

Will visited each business. First, he visited the café and played a game of Go with Sun Yefang. Will had strongly fermented wolfberry kombucha and jam tart. After playing a longer than expected game with Sun Yefang, Will left and went to the casino to play a game of baccarat.

Eleanor and Ye Fan joined him at the table. The excitement of Ye Fan winning his first game, brought a crowd to the table to watch the next hand. Will played ten hands of baccarat with Eleanor and Ye Fan before he left. Will noticed Eleanor and Ye Fan smiled more together, he secretly wished they had a happy long-lasting marriage.

After Eleanor and Ye Fan's wedding, Will was scheduled to ride back to Guidon for the start of his second year. In Rijilir, Will had not received any news about what was happening in Fermion. The arrest, trial, paying the fines and fees, dealing with construction, worrying about the riots, and speaking with dignitaries on economic policy were two months of not stop roller coaster action. Will had expected this summer to be less hectic and inexpensive. Once again life had taken Will in a roundabout way to achieve his goals.

Once Will lost his tenth hand of baccarat, and one game of roulette, Will went to the casino restaurant. For lunch Will ate Peking duck with green onions, cucumber, pancake, and heirloom mushrooms. Will sat at a table by himself eating, observing the happy face of the guest. This was the Rijilir had come to know, the Rijilir before the riots and destruction. When the riots ended, Will toured the devastation of the outer ring. He saw the burnt houses and shops. He saw people sleeping under tents and Bearmen troops march frequently through the area. The outer ring looked like an occupied territory. But here, now, people ate and drank merrily even if it was a façade.

Today was his victory. As Will ate his duck, he relaxed. He had achieved his summer goal of explaining his economic empire into the heart of the Tribal Lands. With Lawrence and Holo taking command, he could rest comfortability and watch the money literary role in, on a wagon. The Wolf Clan would guard his money wagon to the Fermion, Tribal Land border, then an army of Merchant Knights would march with the wagon to Elder Thaddeus cottage.

Will knew there would be a new pile of coins when he returned to Guidon. Will instructed Vanessa to keep the coin in the casino until he arrived back in Guidon. Will needed to expand his bank and trust immediately. Will chuckled when he decided on the name Silver Phoenix Bank & Trust.

Everyone wanted to know what a bank and trust were. Will explained how a bank operated, allowing people to deposit money while earning a monthly annuity. Will looked at their crazed faces when he explained they earned money for leaving their money in the bank. He also explained how the bank would loan out the money with interest. Then he explained the trust helps people manage their investments. If people wanted someone to talk to about their bonds, investment, taxes, and/or company shares they could find help.

We decide to move up his plans to create a to capitalize on the fever pitch that became the bond auction. Will planned to purchase bonds for the bank, rather than himself. This would provide added capital, in addition to his profit from the café, casino, and theatre. Will told Lawrence and Holo to deposit 75% of his profit to the bank and send him the rest of the profit, as Fermion gold, in wagon loads of 10,000. Ten thousand gold was slowly becoming the standard denomination for him.

In his absence, Will found a shrewd Rabbiton that grasped the concept of banking rather quickly and agreed to come on board as the manager, for a hefty salary. Will and the Rabbiton contractually agreed on an incentive-based deal, where the manager earned different annualize percentages based on the gross profit of the bank.

Holo and Lawrence decided to recreate Will's grand opening presentation from Guidon. At the 14th bell Holo and Lawrence schedule a theatrical performance of the founding of the Tribal Lands.

The beastmen, women, children, emerged behind the drape. A narrator told the story, of the Beast Clans reclaiming the lands from monsters and humans. Ten founders with godly strength were able to carve out the Tribal Lands. Over time those founders passed away, but today their legacies live on.

Will had to admit the fight scenes were more realistic than the troubadours back in Guidon. Truth be told, Will was starting to miss Guidon.

The production ended just before the 17th bell with an action-packed fight scene filled with heroes, heroines, and dead human armies the drapes closed. The actors bowed before the crowd, who gave a standing ovation. Will enjoyed the production, minus the dead humans. The parts of ape beastmen ripping apart monsters bare-handed seemed embellished, but it was entertaining nevertheless.

After the actors left the stage, Striking Tiger Sun Yefang and Stalking Wolf Osamu Shimomura came to the stage. The old tiger and wolf agreed to host the auction.

"Greetings fellow beastmen and women," said Striking Tiger. "I trust everyone has their auction paddles Holo and Lawrence sold in the lobby. If not please purchase one, they cost one silver, we'll wait ten minutes."

"Striking Tiger, it appears there is no need to wait. Everyone seems anxious to start. Well, then lefts begin. Today, the Tribal Council plans to auction over a million credits in bonds at an annual yield of 3.5%. The Tribal Council will pay back the bonds in five years. Which means if you purchase a 10,000-credit bond, in five years the Tribal Council will pay you 35,000 credits," Stalking Wolf said grinning at this hungry captive audience.

"Yes, we plan to sell fifty 10,000 credit bonds, a seventy-five 5,000 credit bonds, and a hundred and twenty-five 1,000 credit bonds," said Striking Wolf.

The old tiger and wolf began the auction by selling one bond for 10,000 silver credits. Will immediately lifted his paddle, which immediately causes the bear, tiger, orca, and wolf clan to also raise their paddles. The bear clan bought the first bond for full price, followed by the tiger, orca, and wolf clans. The auction seemed too scripted for Will, but that must have been the arrangement. The money was simply too good to pass up.

After the dominant clans finished purchasing, the auction seemed to open up for everyone else. The first 45 bonds were sold a full price. Will purchased the last bond for $9,500 credits, which meant in five years Will would earn 105% of his initial investment, plus the 3.5%. Will effectively purchased a 10,000-credit bond for 9,500 credits.

In the second round of bidding, the Eagle Clan purchase two 5,000 bonds for full price. The medium size clans were quick to purchase the 5,000 bonds, and the smaller clans purchased the 1,000 credit bonds. Will lucked into a few discounted deals on the 5,000 and 1,000 bonds. In total, the Tribal Council raised over 900,000 credits funds. Will just hope the Tribal Council didn't deadlock on how to spend the funds.

After the last bond was sold, several people sitting next to Will commented how they thought he would have won more bonds, which he only sighed and compliment the clan's aggressiveness. Aggressiveness and assertiveness were prized traits for beastmen, and hearing the compliment many smiled and told Will better luck next time.

"Well folks that went very well, the Tribal Council has raised much-needed funds to help rebuild, recover the Tribal Lands. I want to thank everyone for their participation. The Tribal Council will meet tomorrow to discuss how to start spending this money slowly. I suggest each tribe send sometime tonight creating a list of pressing needs and wants. That should give us a good starting place, we can spend money on inexpensive projects and debate the more expensive ventures. Before we go, I'd like to give everyone to give Mr. William vont Ballard a round of applause for his help developing this economic policy. Mr. vont Ballard, when the Silver Pheonix Bank and Trust are finished, the Wolf Clan will make a deposit and store our bonds with you?" said Stalking Wolf.

Thunderous applause rose in the theatre. Will was given a standing ovation. People clasped his shoulders and shook his hands. Then each clan leader made a vow to use Will's bank to keep their money and bond purchases secure. In one week, the idea of earning interest became an obsession. Everyone wanted to earn money on their money.

Three days later, the Blacksmith Guild finished the bank vault. When the bank opened over two million was deposited in one day. Of the 900,000 bonds sold, over 600,000 were kept at the bank to manage their investment. Needless to say, there was one very happy shrewd Rabitton.