“Regarding the Marshal, we are unable to find anything incriminating.” Taslim slowly explained, closely watching the change in expression on Mehmed’s face.

Mehmed sighed, relieved that Marshal Hassen was as clean as he made himself out to be. He liked the Marshal; unlike a particular Steward, he was hardworking and cared for the territory and its peoples.

“And for the Steward… How should I put this? We can’t even enter his home.”

“Why? Locks too advanced for your men?” Mehmed pondered about training the skills of his men, but Taslim interrupted his thoughts.

“All of our men who entered the home will suddenly be attacked from behind. The next thing they know, the night passes, and they wake up right outside the ground of the home. No more men are willing to enter the home.” Taslim shook his head.

“How about in the morning? Wasifi should be out and about or in his office.” Mehmed frowned.

“Too many guards are patrolling about the perimeter. While the guards are somewhat receptive, they distrust us a fair bit. Distractions will not work on them.” Taslim lowered his head in shame and shied away from looking at his liege’s face.

“Well then, it can be postponed to a later date. How about the Chancellor?” Mehmed grinned.

Taslim jolted and raised his head. His lips curled upwards. “The Chancellor receives a lot of secret gifts from the other nobility. It seems his interests are not in the interests of the lordship.”

“Hoh. That’s a problem. Do tell of the numerous gifts.” Mehmed grinned.

“I have made copies of the letters found in his abode. Do take your time looking through them.” The housebreaker dumped another stack of papers onto the table.

Picking up a few, Mehmed’s eyes bulged as he flipped through them. Bribes from merchants to deny permits and applications. Bribes from other counts to give a detailed account of all of his father’s diplomatic actions. “I can’t believe my father harboured a traitor amongst his midst! Sigh.” The boy could shake his head and clenched the pieces of paper in his hands, scrunching them up.

“What are your orders, sir.” Taslim bowed as he anticipated the boy’s following orders. Mehmed’s eyes shone with a mischievous glint.

“Say, these bribes are off the books, right? What’s stopping us from taking them? Is he going to report the theft? Heh, heh.” Mehmed chuckled.

“I do think so, sir.” Taslim smiled as widely as his liege.

“Then take those bribes for ourselves. And appropriate the numerous gifts. I might share some with the men if you do a good job. Tell me when father and mother come back with the Chancellor. We will immediately expose him then.”

“We will work on it.”

“Sigh, reduce to this, oh, the indignity!” Adnan wailed as he hauled a bunch of goods onto the carriages. They were a bunch of cheap goods that Mehmed pressured his subordinate merchants to hand over as gifts. Considering how they were simple everyday goods, the merchants were more than happy to offload the leftovers into his hands to curry some favour with him. His men selected the goods, went about the marketplace, and chatted with the villagers from the surrounding villager about the goods they procured. Some common goods were tea, coffee, hoes, wood, buckets and the banalest of everyday things that one could need.

“Why do I have to be the one doing this!?” Adnan kept grumbling as he hauled a couple of wood planks into the carriage. A couple of grunts helped out by placing a bunch of farming equipment in a corner.

“You know…” Adnan glared at the watchful gaze of Mehmed and commented, “I think all of your ancestors will be turning in their graves considering what we are doing to the noble carriage.” The man hauled some bars of soap into the carriage before closing the door. There was some room left in the carriage for a couple of seats. The goods occupied about half of the carriage, and wooden boards were installed to keep them from bumping into the passengers.

“You consider this carriage as a noble carriage? I’m looking for something more glamourous to serve as a carriage for our family.” Mehmed frowned as he looked towards the dingy, old carriage. The boy walked over and handed a short list that annotated the goods and prices to the Adnan.

“Whew. At least I don’t have to memorize them.” Adnan heaved a sigh of relief and shoved the parchment into a pocket by his chest.

“What are you waiting for? Get going. The goods are rotting as we stand here.” Mehmed complained as Adnan rolled his eyes.

“I will be on my way.” The man grumbled and got onto the coachman’s seat before speeding away.

“Wow” was all the boy could utter as he observed the dazzling array of coins littered his room. Bronze, silver and gold coins were separated into neat piles. Of course, the number of gold coins was fewer than the silver coins, and vice versa for the bronze and silver coins. Still, it was the most amount of my wealth that the boy had ever laid his hands on. The boy could only caress the gold coins with glee as he imagined all of the goods he could procure with the beautiful coin he held in his hands. A portrait of the current’s king face adorned one side while the other was decorated with the emblem of the Kingdom.

“Taslim, is there a local bank nearby? I want to deposit these funds.” Mehmed began thinking about storing his ill-gotten gains. Well, he couldn’t exactly say he got them with legal means, but it would be hard to explain where he got them.

“No, sir, all the merchants store their wealth in warehouses. The nearest bank would be in Khaled.” The man explained, not even daring to move close to the loot he obtained for his liege lest he suspected him of theft.

Reminiscing about the bandits who robbed the Merchant Union’s caravan, he shook his head about transferring his funds there. An idea began seeping into his head; it was a crazy idea, but with all this money, why not?

“Why don’t we start a bank? How hard can it be? Just lend and take deposits. Who would dare to mess with the nobles?” Mehmed mumbled, and Taslim baulked at his proposition.

“Sorry, sir, I know absolutely nothing about banking. I’m sure the men are with me on this position.” The man sheepishly admitted.

“I know a man who is very good with finances, though.”

Grumble, grumble. “Annoying bastards.” Wasifi could only furrow his eyebrows as he remembered the men barging into his home every night. He saw sure that the men were some of the criminals that Mehmed freed; perhaps he should warn the boy. If he could remember, that is, but he could relax with this nice book in his hands for now.

He took back everything he said about the author previously. Yes, the author is a literary genius, a god among men with the pen! His favourite pairing was back! He barely stifled a squeal when he read it at that time, causing a couple of guards to rush into the room to check on the situation. Luckily, he always wore his hood, so they couldn’t see how red his cheeks were. Their relationship was progressing at a pace that he had always envisioned. Oh, if he could find out where the author lived, he would write a love letter to them, platonically, of course.

“Ah, my Steward, just the man I was looking for.” Mehmed barged into his room. Shoving the book into a pile of papers, causing some papers to scatter about the ground, Wasifi grasped a random piece of paper and looked at it. It was an empty piece of paper that should be enough to fool the boy.

“What is it this time, Mehmed? I’m very busy. That reminds me, we should discuss about those criminals.” Wasifi coldly glared at the boy beneath his hood, causing him to take a couple of steps back.

“What about them?” Mehmed gathered his courage and took a couple of steps forward.

“You should know that some of these men break into innocent people’s homes. For instance, my home. It is very annoying; I hope you understand that these men can’t be trusted.” Wasifi bashed his fist on the table as he enunciated ‘annoying’.

“I understand. I will not trust them.” The boy nodded, realizing that the Steward did not know who ordered them to break into his home.

“Now, why did you come here today?” The Steward asked, and the boy took a couple of steps closer.

“I would like to establish a bank!” As Mehmed uttered those words, Wasifi slumped against his table as he felt an oncoming migraine.

“Who will run it, Mehmed? Banking isn’t something that anyone can do. And running something like that isn’t part of my duties when I signed up to be the Steward!” Wasifi complained as he raised his ever so tiring head from the table.

“Just lend money to people if they ask for it and help store money securely. As a noble, who else but someone like me can do it?” Mehmed confidently replied.

“A bank needs people to support it. You will probably need all merchants to back it if you want any funds to be put into it. I won’t be able to help with this.” Wasifi dismissed the boy. Mehmed shrugged and left his office. Seeing the boy go, Wasifi grabbed his book from under the piles of papers.

“I plan on opening a bank. Are you interested?” Mehmed proposed to the merchant who was sitting by the desk. He dropped everything in his hands and looked into the boy’s eyes.

“Are you sure you’re not planning on taking all the money and run?” Lufti frowned.

“I heard all your money is stored in your warehouses in Alkhadra. It’s easy if someone decides to steal it. It would be up to the land’s lords to decide how much attention to it. But what if you store in a bank backed by the nobility. Then stealing from it won’t be such a simple matter; we could even escalate matters to the Duke of the Alwaleed Duchy. All in all, it would be safer to put the money under the bank.” Mehmed explained, placing a piece of parchment that noted down the bank’s affairs.

Lufti snorted as he took a glance at the piece of paper. “I could transfer the funds into the banks at Khaled. Why bother?”

Grinning, Mehmed replied, “With the bandit attacks ravaging the roads, you won’t do it. The risk of losing huge sums isn’t worth it in your eyes. You have funds piling up in Alkhadra but nowhere to ship them to. Aren’t I helping you? Plus, I will care more if my bank gets robbed than if one of your warehouses gets robbed.”

Sighing, Lufti could nod his head. “Who will run this bank? I’m sure; as a busy noble, you will not be running the bank yourself. I would prefer if it were someone who has some experience in banking.”

“That is something for all of your merchants to decide.” Mehmed placed another piece of paper on the table, listing out the names of merchants that Mehmed had put under his thumb.

“You can discuss with your fellow friends and nominate a manager. The warehouse where the funds are stored, and the guards can even be discussed.” The boy took his leave, leaving the parchment on the table.

Grabbing it, he glanced at the names of merchants that dominated the market in Alkhadra. Like him, they too had money piling up in various warehouses. Raising his head from the piece of parchment, he looked towards the receding back of the boy. There was fear in his heart, fear of what the boy would do in the future. All of his future plans were being tossed out of the window, all because of this one boy. Yet, his senses as a merchant could smell a great opportunity if he sided with the boy.

“My secretary!” Lufti hollered as a man ran into the room.

“How can I help you, sir!” The secretary energetically exclaimed.

Passing the parchment into his hands, Lufti ordered, “Organize a meeting with all these men. We will have much to discuss.”

“Yes, sir.” With a brusque reply, the secretary ran off.

Mehmed walked through the marketplace. Unlike the previous times when the merchants did not bat an eye as he rarely spent a single cent here, he could see merchants stand on attention as he passed by each stall. Whispers passed about stall owners. Behind the boy were the various criminals who kept their heads low, staring at the bronze coins in their hands.

“Sir, are you sure this is okay?” Taslim nervously asked as he felt the gazes of merchants on them. They had stolen from some of these merchants, and they could feel that under their cold watch, malice ran underneath it.

“it’s the first time we have made such a big profit thanks to you and your men. Naturally, that wealth should be shared. Keep up the good work, and the amount might increase.” Mehmed bid his underlings goodbye and left the marketplace, leaving the merchants staring at the convicts.

Seeing the boy separated from the convicts, the merchants kept their gaze on the boy’s back this time.

“Ahmad, have you heard about the new bank that the big merchants are planning? I heard that the boy is backing the bank.”

“Ali! Are you sure the boy won’t run away with their money!”

“Ahmad, listen to me. All those big merchants get to decide who will run the bank. They also contribute to the guards. I don’t think the boy could easily confiscate their money.”

“Hmmph, once they establish it, then I’ll decide. At least I won’t have to store my money under the mattress. Stupid bandits!”

The merchants whispered rumours among themselves as the once-robbed merchants kept an eye on the criminals.

“Heh heh, young master. Long time no see. So, you decided to visit this old man after a long while.” Basil grinned as he looked towards the boy walking in the sands by himself.

“Come on, Basil. I haven’t mastered the sword. I still like to beat up that bandit that beat me up.” Mehmed quickly drew his blade.

Chuckling, “You still have a long way to go, young master. Even I could not defeat her.” Basil did not even bother to keep his blade unsheathe his blade, grabbing the scabbard instead.

“So, the bandits are led by a woman?” Mehmed asked, and Basil smoothened out his facial expressions.

“No response. Tsk. It’s okay if you won’t say it. I will find it out myself.” Mehmed lunged at the explorer.