(IN) Chapter 28 - Benjamin's Comeback!

*Yawn*

On the 18th Day of the Month of Death, the next month after Craving, 19 days after the splitting of the Reinforcement Army (29th of Craving), or 7 days after Derek escaped the ambush and reached the Imperial Capital (11th of Death):

Vivian woke up after a goodnight's rest, stretching her arms wide as she started the day with her usual morning routine.

The first thing Vivian did was go downstairs to fetch some water from the nearest well owned by the small Pendragon estate so she could take a nice refreshing bath.

Since there were still no servants within the small estate, Vivian had to do all the carrying herself, but since the small bath shack was close to the well, Vivian didn't need to go too far and only had to go fetch water 4-5 times in order to fill the large wooden tub with water.

It wasn't all too bad though as Vivian had access to a convenient water heating device Galleo installed for them in the estate. And so, even if it was already winter, Vivian could still enjoy a hot bath instead of the freezing ones commoners and poor Nobles are forced to endure.

There was also a fragrant soap that was soft on the skin that Duke and Galleo engineered together.

Soap wasn't a new invention in Brune, but high-quality soap like the one Vivian was holding which wasn't coarse to the skin nor smelled horrible was typically too expensive for them to consider, but since Galleo and Duke manage to create one with little needed expenses, Vivian could peacefully enjoy such luxury.

[I wonder if we could sell this at the Capital...] Vivian wondered as she thought up of another business that could help out their abysmally delicate economic situation.

All the money they made through the Grain Trade all went to their expenses in developing Maine, and so Vivian had little leeway in starting any other projects.

After her bath was over, Vivian head back upstairs to her room where she would finish up her morning by getting dressed for the day.

Normally Vivian also applied makeup to make herself stand out less, or check whether her hair color's original color was returning as the brown dye she used faded away, but since there was nobody in the estate she had to be wary of, unlike her old life back in the Palace, Vivian needed no longer to mind if she was attracting unwanted attention.

And so, she finally started the day by entering the estate's study.

Inside she found a tired-looking Benjamin shifting through a large number of documents with superhuman speed.

[Huh... I wonder how Duke got this monster to agree in working for him] Vivian thought to herself, grateful at the immense help she got from Benjamin's skill. One cannot simply underestimate the legend of the Imperial Bank of Brune's - Iron Hand.

"Ah, milady! Here are the reports you wanted. All finished!" Benjamin smiled. Despite the large eyebags that he had accumulated due to the lack of sleep, the noble and cultured vibe behind Benjamin still remained.

[No doubt about it... Duke was right... He was the perfect butler!] Vivian could no longer deny Duke's decision of dressing the ex-manager of an Imperial Bank's branch in the clothes of a butler instead of the usual suit.

Vivian thought it was disrespectful to clothe Benjamin, an ex-manager of the Bank, with the clothes that servants usually wear.

[But I take that all back!] Vivian thought as she finally realized: It was disrespectful to NOT clothe him in butler's attire. Just by wearing a butler's suit, Benjamin had basically uplifted the attire's meaning and status itself!

"Where's Anna?" Vivian asked as she sat at her desk.

"I sent her to sleep after you rested milady" Benjamin explained.

You see, although it seems unfair that only Benjamin didn't sleep for the night, Vivian and Anna usually work overnight along with him. But due to being the old gentleman Benjamin was, he couldn't just let two young ladies waste their youth and beauty away by not sleeping! Knowing that Vivian would probably work herself to death if left alone and that Anna would probably follow him even if he jumped off a cliff, Benjamin would usually ask the two to rest every now and then. And the two were grateful to Benjamin for it.

"That's good..." Vivian nodded. *Pages quickly turning* Wasting no time in checking out the document Benjamin had passed her.

"You already finished this?!" Vivian welp realizing that Benjamin had just finished the full report on the corruption cases within Maine.

"Yes, were there any errors?" Benjamin asked while scratching his chin.

"No no, this all good! Now, all we need is to wipe them out clean!" Vivian answered, referring to the corrupt officials within Maine's territory that festered after Duke's mother disappeared.

"No need to worry about that milady, I took care of everything last night... Maine didn't have too many corrupt officials anyway, and so they were quite easy to deal with. The loyalty Maine displays towards the Pendragons never ceases to baffle me whenever I see it... Haa if only everywhere was this clean, I'd instantly be out of the job, hahaha!" Benjamin happily joked.

After knowing that Maine was finally in their total control and had been completely cleaned out of the parasites that sucked off its development, Vivian was brimming with excitement as she asked: "Ha! Goodjob Benjamin! Then how about the other report? You know, the one for our 'allies' within the Guild" The 'allies' Vivian mentioned here were the Nobles and territories that had rallied themselves under Vivian's or more specifically, the Pendragon's banner.

It was no secret that although the members of the Commoners Merchant's Guild were 'equal' partners to the Pendragons, the Pendragons still without a doubt fully led (Or controlled) the Guild as a whole.

And since Bermont REALLY did not like dealing with the complex economics and two-faced business deals a Merchant's Guild had no choice but to participate in, he left Vivian with most of the decision-making within the Guild. Of course, he and Lyons still had a large say in matters regarding the Southern Region, but as long as Vivian's goal coincides with his, Satrius Bermont cared not for who was in power... of course as long as it wasn't those dirty Medicis!

After the arrival of the many Caravan and Merchant groups in Maine that excitedly wanted to be a part of the successful economic and developmental reforms initiated by Vivian and Duke and the 5-Year tax exemption that Duke had announced, the Commoner's Merchant's Guild quickly swelled in membership and the influence that came with its members. Making it the new economic and political powerhouse within the South that had now basically swallowed up the Grain Consulate whole!

"I'm done with that too, milady. In fact, this was the first thing I started working on, sadly because of its larger scope I needed a lot more time. I finished writing down in comprehensive detail about the different Nobles and notable Merchants within the South, especially the Corrupt ones... I still have a few grudges to deal with after all" Benjamin smiled as he handed Vivian a second much thicker report containing much of the important information regarding the different notable figures of the Southern Region.

The corruption cases that happened within the South were included, whether or not they were under Pendragon influence, they were still included inside Benjamin's comprehensive report.

Only Benjamin as the past Branch Manager of the Imperial Bank could do something like this.

Even if Benjamin was clean in his ways and was impartial to all parties that had transactions with the Imperial Bank, as Branch Manager, Benjamin still had to interact with a lot of Nobles and Merchant groups, especially the corrupted Grain Consulate that gave Benjamin a lot of headaches during his time as manager.

It was actually his unwillingness to cooperate in underhanded deals that led to Benjamin getting purged from his position in the Imperial Bank by the corrupt and powerful opponents he had accumulated over the years.

Luckily for Benjamin, Duke found him alongside Galleo who was fighting with him over a chicken drum they found in the trash.

Benjamin shouldn't have become a homeless bum after his dismissal, but since he was evicted from his position for 'improper management' as his opponents blamed him for their mistakes, Benjamin's bank account and the money inside was confiscated by the Imperial Bank as reparations for the mistakes 'he' committed.

*Flipping Pages*

"Good job Benjamin. As expected of the Imperial Bank's Branch Manager, everything was concise and easy to understand" Vivian praised after skimming over Benjamin's report. It was too long to fully cover now, but Vivian planned to study it later.

"I could only complete it thanks to my old experiences and with the help of milady's information network..." Benjamin bowed, referring to the information network Vivian had established called the Gilded Rose.

Merchants weren't the only ones included in the Caravan traffic that came to Maine after the Tax Exemption Duke announced. There were also a lot more orphans, beggars, debt escapees, and all sorts of people that came along with them.

Using this influx of people, Vivian made sure to recruit some of them into her new Information Network as simple Informants. These people didn't even know the name of the organization they worked for.

Vivian also specifically recruited those who brought along families members with them, ensuring their loyalty to Maine as Grunts or Spies, sending them to other places for espionage. While these people still didn't know their organization's name, they were given a lot more trust than the simple Informants.

Finally, the ones Vivian recruited from Maine's original and extremely loyal population, she recruited them as Special Agents or Spy Masters, training them through a special method Nuir taught her, then sent them to other fiefs within the South to establish espionage rings of their own and finally establishing her spy network within the Southern Region with only a few select Spy Masters that actually knew the organization's name.

And even these Spy Masters were kept incredibly close by Vivian.

Although the Information and Spy Networks were still immature and were in their early stages of development, lacking any Veteran Agents that could perform highly complex tasks on their own, through Nuir's help in establishing its hierarchy and organization, the Gilded Rose was still capable in completing basic tasks such as collecting information, simple sabotage, and basic eavesdropping through employing its members at the other fiefs as servants or maids.

Of course, Nuir didn't tell Vivian that this was the very same system Duke's mother used when she first started her own Information Network as the Snake Dragon.

Thanks to this network (The Guilded Rose), Benjamin was able to easily piece together the assumptions he had already made back when he was Branch Manager and fully back them up with actual evidence that he included in his report.

"Send copies of this to our allied territories, prioritize giving Lyons and Bermont a copy" Vivian ordered as Benjamin swiftly bowed and left the study room to send the contents of his reports to other fiefs allied to the Pendragons so they too can clean out the dirt and corruption in their territories.

After Benjamin became bankrupt, ironic considering he was the South's leading expert when it came to banking and economics, everybody thought he was either killed or died somewhere in a gutter.

No one could've ever guessed that he was secretly taken in by the Pendragon, after all, no one wanted to take Benjamin in as they feared that they might catch the ire of the Imperial Bank that was now against Benjamin.

But now, unbeknownst to everybody within the South, Benjamin was once again starting his fight against corruption.

This time, however, he had the backing of Vivian, the Pendragons, and the Commoners Merchant's Guild at his side...