Hey guys.

It has been a while since i posted so sorry. You know the last weeks of school are filled with projects and make up work so i hardly had anytime.

Anyway enjoy the chapter.

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Around eleven In the morning, Wesley's first day was finally over. Wesley promptly left the Academy grounds and walked back towards his house. Wesley really didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary in this academy.

'From now on I will attend the light magic and swordsmanship classes daily, the other classes will be once a week.'

Wesley was only interested in light magic and swordsmanship, as for the other classes, he could simply read books to cover keep up with the studies and not be bothered by them. Wesley was going to take advantage of the light magic studies to improve his Dark magic, and he would use the swordsmanship class to improve his Silent Techniques.

It took Wesley a little longer than in the morning to return to the Black Manor since the streets were more crowded now than in the morning. When Wesley reached the Manor, he was slightly surprised to find two men standing guard at the front gate.

The two men were both about six and half feet tall, and both of then wore jade green uniforms while each of them had a long sword on their hips. The two men stood at attention and exuded a sense of professionalism.

'These must be the new guards Lane hired. They look rather impressive.'

The moment the two men laid eyes on Wesley, they squinted their eyes a little, but as soon as he walked close enough for them to better look at his face, they both seemed to realize who he was and spoke in unison:

"Lord."

'Hmm, it seems they recognize me, Lane's work no doubt."

Wesley didn’t worry about the fact that they called him lord because it was easy for them to come to that conclusion since the Lane who hired them serves him. Wesley simply nodded to the two men and walked in.

Walking in, Wesley noticed that there were still some renovations still being done on the outer walls, there were also a few people working on the outer facade of the Manor which fell to disrepair over the years. Wesley also noticed that there were two more green uniformed men standing at the entrance of the house.

Wesley simply walked towards the house and was showered by stares by the workers who not only recognized him as the master but were also surprised by the Royal Academy uniform he wore. Wesley just ignored the stares and the whispers that no doubt followed. As soon as he entered the house he was greeted by the figure of Lane. Lane slightly bowed and spoke in his high pitched yet serene voice:

"Welcome back Master. How was school."

Lane's voice held a hint of excitement which he tried to mask as he spoke about school.

'haha, It seems Lane also wants to attend school.'

"It was fine Lane. How are things progressing?"

Wesley immediately started walking towards the study as soon as he asked his question. Lane simply followed and spoke as they walked:

"The renovations will be completed in two more days. Some guards have also been hired. I have also scheduled for the owner of the construction company as well as the owners of few more companies to come meet with us later to discuss some business."

Wesley and Lane reached the Study by the time Lane finished his report. Wesley walked in without responding to Lane and headed towards one of the chairs and then simply sat. Wesley then spike while gesturing for Lane to sit as well.

"Good, Good. Tell me about these guards you hired."

"Yes Master. They are all residents of the Seventh District. They were once soldiers in the service of the city who for some reason or another found themselves jobless. I hired ten, six of which will be living in the Manor."

'Former Soldiers. That explains their impressive attitudes.'

"How about finances?"

Lane's face seemed to slightly turn red as Wesley asked him about the finances. He was about to run out of the thousand gold Wesley gave him a few days ago but he was reluctant to ask Wesley for more.

"Master, I am almost out of gold. From the renovations to the hiring of ten guards and four maids as well as buying essentials, uniforms and furniture, I have spend a total of nine hundred and forty gold."

Lane didn’t ask for more because he knew that a thousand gold was not a small amount, in fact, middle class families will earn a thousand gold in two months, while he spent It in three days. Wesley noticed Lane's embarrassment so he couldn’t help but laugh as he spoke:

"Haha, Lane. Don't be so shy. It is only normal to spend such an amount when one is starting out and doing all the things you did. How much do you estimate our monthly expenditure to be from now on since we are done with the renovations and hirings?"

Lane's face lit up as he heard Wesley's words. He was worried that Wesley would chastise him for spending so much money in such a short period of time. Lane immediately started calculating somethings in his mind and answered a few seconds later:

"Master, six hundred gold a month should be enough. Adding up the total for the...."

"No need for too many details Lane, six hundred gold is good. Now, tell me about these business owners that are coming over."

Lane was momentarily startled by Wesley's sudden interruption but he didn’t mind it and proceeded to answer the question he was asked:

"Master, I have arranged for us to meet the owners of five businesses that we can potentially invest in. Each of the five businesses are based in the seventh district and managed to be successful even under the Shorn Family."

"Hmm, I see. What sort of investing are you planning to conduct with these companies."

"Master, I have to plans. First, we buy shares in the companies and gain a portion of their profits as partial owners. However, most businesses are not willing to give up shares of their companies easily, so the second option is to lend the companies money and charge them interest."

'Oh, like a bank. Interesting.'

Banks were not a rare thing in the four kingdom and Blackreach County, in fact the kingdoms themselves had national banks that lend businesses money while charging them interest. Banking is also a favorite of noble families who have the capital since they have access to the businesses that operate in their lands.

"And how are you planning on determining which businesses we lend money to?"

"Master, I will examine each business' financial record to see how they fared in the last few years. I will also require a business plan from each of the businesses outlining how exactly they plan to make profits. And just as a save measure, if one business fails to make payments then we will automatically receive payment in shares that will be worth half their original price."

'What a shrewd mind for business. It is far more complex than I thought.'

"That is an acceptable plan. Only, I am sure most of these businesses receive loans from Banks, how do you plan to compete with them?"

"Master, there are only two major businesses in Blackreach City and they do offer substantial loans, however, their interest rates are rather steep. Since we are not a bank that is obligated to pay a portion of their profits back to the people whose money they spend, we can offer lower interest rates."

"Good, just make sure that we don't commit to too many businesses. The amount of funds I have is not unlimited."

"Yes Master, You will only need to pay for these first five companies' loans. We will charge them an interest rate of ten percent and then rotate the profits from the interest we gain back to do further investments in the future."

"Good. Is there anything else I need to know."

"No Master."

"Good. Go prepare the contracts before the owners arrive. Also find little Sala and tell her to come see me for her reading lesson."

"Yes Master."

Lane immediately stood up and left the study leaving only Wesley sitting alone in the study.

'Lane seems to have quite the talent for finances. I should search for a proper school for him to further hone his talent.'

Wesley always knew that this Lane was an impressive child, and now that his skills in financial management was apparent, Wesley wanted to further polish him, however, he didn't want to push him to hard lest he might be unable to unable to handle the stress, after all, he is only a eight year old.

A short while later, Sala came for her reading classes. After a short hour, Sala was starting to get bored so Wesley let her go back and he started reading.

.................................................................................................................................

Three hours later, the noises outside the study started to quiet down while Wesley himself continued reading his book. Wesley was engrossed in a copy of the book that was used in his strategy and tactics class. The Black Manor library contained thousands of books so it wasn’t too big a surprise to find a copy of the Academy's textbook.

The book was titled [ War I ], apparently it has four volumes and each volume covers a time period, with the earliest covering the first two hundred years following The First War of Four. The accounts were rather detailed with maps and different points of views causing the book to be very thick with almost thousand pages.

Wesley was not interested in War strategy itself, but he still needed to pass the class, and since he will only be attending it once a week, then he would need to do some self study to keep up. While Wesley was reading his book, a knock on the door ripped his attention from the book.

"Come."

Lane immediately walked in followed by five men. Four of the men seemed to be in their early fifties while the fifth seemed to be in his late seventies with a head full of grey hair and wrinkles all over his face. Lane immediately walked to Wesley's side and leaned in to speak:

"Master, these are the owners of the companies."

"Haha, good good. Please have a seat gentlemen. Would you like some things to drink?"

"Thank you young master, we are fine."

The old man who was in his seventies was the first to speak, even more he spoke as if he was the representative of the other four which slightly puzzled Wesley, but he didn't mention it and continued speaking:

"I see. Well gentlemen, I assume you know what we'll be discussing today."

The five men continued looking at Wesley with confused looks on their faces. When Lane told them that his master would be the one to make the decision, they didn’t expect his master to be this juvenile kid. The old man spoke again this time with hesitation:

"Uhm.. Young master, could it be that you are the master who we're supposed to deal with."

'Hmm, interesting.'

"Yes, I am him. Are there any problems?"

The five men were flabbergasted. Without even mentioning Wesley's age, the terms of the agreement outlined by Lane couldn't have come from the mind of a child, and second the amount of gold that was involved was astronomical. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be surprised if the person they were dealing with has not even reached adulthood. One of the five men, a skinny man with blonde hair and a youthful face, suddenly burst out, his voice full of disdain as he pointed to Wesley:

"What kind of a joke is this. Stop wasting our time and go inform the true master."

Wesley simply continued smiling as if he didn’t even hear the scorn in the man's voice. He simply looked at the blonde man and spoke, his youthful voice firm:

"Haha, I am indeed that Master, but if you gentlemen would rather not deal with me then you can leave. I will not be begging people to take my gold."

The five men were quiet for a moment. Who would have expected that this youth was in fact the master they came to see. The old man spoke again:

"Sain, stop making a scene, we are here to do business. Apologies young master, we may proceed."

'It seems they really don't want to deal with the banks. Good, that should make them more receptive to my proposals'

The blonde man names Sain sat down with a bitter look on his face as he glared at Wesley. Wesley simply ignored him and continued speaking with his constant smile:

"Haha, well gentlemen. First of all, my name is Wesley. May I know who you are."

The old man was the first to speak up:

"My name is Eleme. I am the owner of the second biggest plantation in Blackreach City."

He was followed by the blonde Sain who spoke with his voice full of irritation and disdain:

"I am Sain. I am the owner of the Sain Merchant Company."

Wesley simply ignored his arrogant tone and looked at the remaining three men.

"I am Walter. I own a weapons forging factory."

"My name is Silen. I own a mining company."

"Haha, my name is Foren. I am the owner of the construction company that is currently renovating your Manor."

Wesley smiled and nodded to each man as they introduced themselves. When they were all done, he spoke again:

"Now that we are done with introductions, I want to reiterate the conditions of our agreement once more and hear any concerns you might have. First we will lend you money with an interest rate of ten percent, this shouldn’t be a problem since the Blackreach bank charges an interest of thirteen percent. Second, the loan will need to be paid back in yearly installments for a period of five years. And finally, If you fail to pay back the loan, then payment will be made in shares of your companies sold at half their price and worth the amount of money you owe. Any questions or concerns."

The five men stared at Wesley without blinking each of them considering his words. The owner of the weapons forging company, Walter, raised his hand hesitantly and spoke:

"Young master, is it possible to extend the period for the loan a little."

Wesley looked towards Lane who was standing next to him, and Lane seeing this spoke:

"That won't be a problem, only the interest rate will be increased slightly."

"I see. Don't worry about it then."

Wesley continued looking at the five men who were each staring back at him. After seeing that there were no more questions, he spoke again:

"Good. I take it that there are no objections. Lane will give each of you three copies of a contract outlining these points for you to take. When you read it over, if you decide to proceed then simply have them signed and return with them. We will keep a copy, you will keep a copy, and a copy will be stored at the Department of Law."

Lane immediately walked towards the five seated men and handed each of them the contracts, he then simply walked back to Wesley's side. The five men looked at the sheets in their hands, and then the old man Eleme spoke up again:

"Thank you young master. Only, when are we going to receive the loans?"

"haha, when you return the contacts bring sufficient guard because that is when we'll give you the gold."

"I see. Then we'll be taking our leave."

The old man Eleme immediately stood up and bowed to Wesley respectfully before departing, the other four men did the same except for Sain who simply swung himself around arrogantly, but Wesley continued smiling amiably like always.

After the five men were gone, Wesley turned to Lane and spoke:

"How much gold will we need to spend for to spend in total for these five companies."

"Master, when I discussed our proposition with the owners first, We agreed on two million gold each."

"Hmm. I will arrange for the money. You should scout some more business, only make sure these business are not as big or as successful as these five. Also make sure that they are not in the Seventh District, the central or second district would be preferable."

Lane was surprised at Wesley's request. Why would he want to lend gold to business that might fail.

"Master, such businesses might fail. I don't think we'll benefit much from giving them loans."

"haha, Lane. What will happen if we do lend them gold and they fail while under the same conditions as those five companies."

"Then we'll gain control of the....."

Lane stopped his talking halfway as if he had some sort of epiphany, he then sated at Wesley with an honest smile on his face. Wesley was amused at Lane's action, so he spoke again with laughter:

"Haha, Lane, it seems you understand my intentions well. We can't solely depend on the interest we gain from loans, we also need direct sources of income, that is why we should try to get a few businesses directly under our control. Just make sure they don't deal in the same merchandise as those five."

"Yes Master. I'll get on it immediately."

"Yes, you go do that."

Lane immediately bowed and walked towards the door. But before he could exit the study, Wesley spoke up:

"Hey Lane, Would you like to go to school?"

Lane immediately turned around with a surprised look on his face, his eyes shone with a clear luster as if he was about to cry then he spoke with a shaky voice:

"Yes Master. I really want to go to school."

'haha, it seems he really did want to go to school.'

"Good. You're still young now. Go search for different schools, and I will send you to any school you want the day you turn ten."

"Yes master. Thank You Master."

Lane immediately bowed and left the study with a huge grin plastered on his face. Wesley simply continued smiling at how talented yet childish this Lane could be.