Future Plans

Present Time- In Royal Palace

...…

Inside the queen's room. Eleanor was sleeping soundly but was woken up by sudden knocking sound.

"knock" "knock" "knock"

"Come in"

Debra entered the room.

Seeing Debra enter the room, past night's events came rushing back in her mind. But she supressed her emotions and calmed down.

"Good morning Your Highness".

"Yes, Debra. Did you prepare everything that I told you yesterday", Eleanor inquired

"Yes, your highness".

"Ok, inform everyone and tell them to gather in royal court. I will be there in half an hour" 

"Ok" Saying that Debra exited the room.

Yesterday Sylph informed her that if she improves the kingdom's condition without system's help then she will get extra rewards.

So, she decided to make her future plans without system's intervention. And today she is going to implement one of her plans.

.....

After freshening up, Eleanor walked towards the royal court. 

As she entered the Royal court, she saw few new faces. 

Everyone stood up to greet her. She walked towards the throne and sat down and signalled others to sit down too.

....

After the court settled down Prime Minister Reginald stood up and said "What is the meaning of this, Your Majesty. What are these merchants doing in royal court."

Yes, the new faces that Elanor see during the entrance were wealthiest and greediest merchants of Sinclair kingdom. They were dressed in luxurious clothes embedded with shiny jewels. They seemed more wealthier than lower nobles. Each one was dressed more luxuriously than other but there was one thing common in them. It was fear. They looked at the queen fearfully as she was some kind of monster. 

Yesterday Eleanor instructed Debra to summon these merchants for today's court meeting.

"Calm down Prime Minister, everything will be clear after some time" Eleanor said.

Eleanor already knew the reason for Reginald's anger.

These merchants sucked up to few nobles and created a monopoly in the market. They killed all the competitors and got away with it as they had nobles supporting them. Since they had monopoly over the market, the manipulated the prices of everything n the market making the civilians life even harder.

But now they are in constant fear as the nobles who protected them has been executed in broad day light. They feared that it may be their number next. When they received the summon from the palace, they almost pissed themselves. 

"You guys might be wondering, why I called you here" Eleanor asked looking towards the merchants

They just nodded.

"Well, nothing much. I have decided to establish a new department and a lot of money will be needed for that. I want you to 'contribute' a 'little' in it."

Hearing her emphasize the word 'little', they understood that their 'contribution' will not be little in any sense. In the worst case they have to 'contribute' fully.

But what can they do. Queen even dared to kill the strongest aristocrats and they are some lowly merchants. Even though they are rich, they are just commoners, they don't have any status. They can just be killed unjustly and no one will say a word, not to mention they have committed many atrocities in past.

They just nodded signalling they will do as the queen orders.

"Ok, you guys can go now. Financier Francis will contact you to discuss the contribution amount."

Hearing her words, they left with dejected faces.

…..

After the merchant left, the royal advisor Elara stood up and asked, "What type of department are you going to establish Your Majesty"

Others also looked towards Eleanor to get the answer.

"Well, I am planning to establish two guilds"

"Guilds? What type of guilds? And What will be the function of the guilds?"" Reginald asked.

"First is 'Merchant Guild'. Anyone who wants to do business in Sinclair needs to register with the merchant guild. Setting stalls, right to sell, providing jobs and collecting business taxes are all will be handled by the merchant guild. Basically, all business-related matters."

"Won't that will make merchant guild too powerful? Francis asked.

"Don't worry, I will be the guild master of the merchant guild. There's no way I will let other people control the kingdom's taxes". Eleanor assures Francis.

"What about business tax? How much it will be and when will be it collected" Francis asked

"It will be 10 per cent of the profits earned and will be collected annually"

"Half of the business tax collected will be transferred to royal treasury and other half will remain in the guild treasury."

"If any new merchant needs any fund, then the merchant guild can provide them the necessary funds and charge them some interest.

Hearing this, Francis eyes lit up. As a financier he grasped the potential of this merchant guild. Because of Merchant's guilds supervision no one will be able to monopolize the market and the 10 per cent business tax will bring in the large not to mention the money lending to merchants. It is brilliant idea. By lending money to the new merchants and merchants who in dire condition, we will make them feel grateful and they will also have to pay interest on it. 

"And second is Craftsman Guild. It will be a place to find employment, training, information and make sure the quality of the product is up to standard or not. Anyone can choose to join it or not. If anyone joins, he/she can gain access to the information regarding craft."

Hearing the queen's words, everyone realized, the kingdom is going to flourish. Everyone realized the potential of these guilds and how much it is going to help in boosting kingdom's economy.

Everyone unanimously approved on queen's proposal. 

"So, Prime Minister did you get your answer now, why were those merchants were here"

"Large amount of money will be needed to establish these guilds, from construction of buildings to hiring of employees. We can't afford to spend money from royal treasury in this dire condition at least not till the paper production can be done on large scale. So, we need those merchants for now."

"Yes, Your Majesty" Reginald apologized bowing his head.

"Francis, you calculate the expected cost of establishing the guilds and give those merchants a visit"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will thoroughly discuss the cooperation with them" Francis said with an evil smirk.

The merchants who were returning their homes just felt a chill run down their spine.