Working at the bank had not been as interesting, or as difficult, as I had expected it to be.

Not only was there no real hard manual labor involved, such as the type I'd had to do on the ship, the hours weren't bad. The bank was only open a few days a week, and also only open for a handful of hours at a time. Never during the night, and never during the early morning. Not even for appointments.

That meant most of my day was spent on my own time. Where I was free to do whatever I wanted.

Although I was more than happy to have such moments to myself, finally… especially after spending years on a ship where there basically wasn't any such moments of privacy or time to relax, it was also strangely unsettling.

It made me feel bored. Or as if I was wasting time. Precious time. Time that could be spent making money.

Not that the Society needed money…

Placing the box of coins down, I sighed at the wealth before me. Around me, even.

I was alone in the vault, though only to a point. Outside of the room, and down the hallway, were guards. One non-human and another human. Both proper members of the Society, though a tad lazy if I was allowed to judge people so.

It wasn't their fault, though. This place, this bank and half-way station was… well…

Easy going. The port city we were located in was well regulated, thanks to the local lords. They employed large numbers of guards and actually enforced the laws they imposed. They even targeted corruption, in and out of the system. It was likely one of the safest cities I'd ever lived in, and possibly ever would.

The one and only issue with this location, at least in the perspective of a non-human, was you couldn't live here if you couldn't blend in with humans. And that didn't just mean physically, either.

Leaving the vault, I slowly walked down the hallway to the metal gate at the end. I tapped lightly on it, and the human guard turned in his seat and noticed me. The man did get up, as to let me out, but did so a little slowly. Enough so that it bothered me.

If I ran this place I wouldn't let people be so lazy, I'd think. It set a bad example.

"Why the sour face, Brandy?" the human asked as he unlocked the gate, and then slid the huge bar that really locked it in place upward so the door could swing open.

Stepping out of the hallway and into the small guardroom, I reached up to touch my cheeks. "Had I looked upset?" I asked. Although I had been annoyed over his slowness to open the door, it hadn't been to such a point it should have showed on my face.

"Rather you look annoyed. Upset, maybe," the man said as he went to locking the door again.

Hm… I rubbed my face a bit, wondering what he had seen. What had I just been thinking about…?

Money, of course. The box of coins I'd just taken in there, the fifth one this month so far, had been full of golden scripts. More wealth than my family's kingdom had made in ten years.

But that shouldn't have made me annoyed. Especially because now, after all these years, I knew full well how small and insignificant my family's nation had been. My decade on the ship had proved that fact in only a few ports, honestly.

So… if not the fact these two were lazy, or the obscene wealth… what was upsetting me?

Was it possibly the fact I now had free time, again? That my job for the day was finished, and I now had hours before I needed to go to sleep as to wake for tomorrow's work?

Yes. Likely.

"I think I'm just bored," I decided, and admitted.

The other guard scoffed at me. I turned a bit, to look at the non-human man who turned the page in his book.

He hadn't even bothered to get up to let me out, even though I knew he had likely heard me approach long before the human had noticed. He was a sharp man, and likely the strongest here. Thus why he was a guard, though I wasn't sure why he always spent most of his time down here protecting the vault.

"He's been prickly. Ever since Solia turned him down again," the human said gently as he walked past me, heading back to his own seat.

I smirked at him. "As she should," I said.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

His eyes narrowed at me, and I turned away. Before he could say something I left the room, heading down the hallway that led to the stairs back up top.

"She's such a…" I heard the two start to gossip about me, but paid no heed to it.

After all, I planned to leave soon.

It was time I went elsewhere. I'd learned enough here. I learned all about interest, loans, how to operate and run a bank and all the little systems involved… I even learned how to build what the Society called a credit-profile for not just an individual, but entire groups. Such as guilds, companies or even nations themselves.

A few weeks ago I had used the equation, the method, to figure out what my own nation would have been given… had it still existed, and still in its prime.

Turned out my nation would have been given a rather good rating, though not a high limit on loans. We would have been able to buy nearly anything on credit, but only once or twice and only for a few things at a time. It was nothing compared to some of the loans we, this very bank not just the Society, had for some of the nobles in this town.

Reaching the stairs, I slowly ascended. I took my time, since I knew there was really nothing else for me to do today. The bank by now was fully closed and locked down. The Society housing, the half-way house, was active… and I didn't mind helping out at it, and would likely be where my feet would eventually take me, but at the moment I simply wanted to linger in my own thoughts.

The decision to leave was a big one. Especially since I needed to be sure I really was ready.

My original goal, back when joining the Society, was to both figure out a place for myself… as to earn the right to be a member, but also to correct my own mistakes. My own family's mistakes.

I never again wanted to lose a home because I didn't understand wealth well enough. Or its purpose, or its power.

Honestly I was making great progress. At least in my opinion.

I had spent a decade on that ship, dealing with goods. The act of buying, selling, transporting and so much more. I knew market trends, how they worked, what was valuable and why they were, and even more importantly I had learned the value of people. Not as a product, but instead an investment.

On that ship I had learned what hard work was. And why it was so valuable. To the point that it was worth paying well for it.

And this last decade here in this bank, I had learned the finer forms of money and wealth. I had learned how the goods bought with money on that ship were properly transported and used, here I had learned how to both invest wealth and create it. On the ship I dealt with the products. Here I dealt with coins and ledgers, the very ones that dictated where that ship went and what it carried.

I've learned the beginning, the process… now I needed to learn the end.

I could make money. I could hold it, and comprehend it. Now I needed to know how to actually use it.

Thus my next goal was to figure out how to use it. Properly. Not to make more wealth, but instead how to use it to secure our security. As a Society. As a person.

Of course no one could outright tell me where I needed to go to learn such a thing… since although the Society was huge, and had so many locations and places of interest, there really was only one place that ran it all.

Telmik. The Cathedral.

And the only ones allowed there were members of the cloth. Or rather, the only ones allowed any power there were. At least, so I was being led to believe. But I hadn't figured out where else to go. Another ship? Another bank? One of the many businesses, maybe? Although I could do such a thing, since there were several options to choose from, I felt like I needed to go somewhere… important. Important enough to let me see and study those who made the big decisions.

My current plan right now was to speak with the protector. I had been told he should be arriving soon, within the next few weeks.

If anyone, that I could actually speak to at least, would know where I should go it'd be him.

He was one of the very few people who not only was involved with the inner-workings of the Society, but also someone who had been around from nearly the beginning. Plus I knew him personally. He had helped save me from my kingdom when it had fell, at least in a way. So I kind of hoped he'd be willing to at least hear out my request and maybe help me find my proper path…

"Brandy!"

Stopping at the top of the stairwell, I turned and smiled as Sofia ran over to me.

"Why are you covered in paint?" I asked. Her arms were all red, dried paint covered them nearly up to her elbows.

"We're painting the inner kitchen's dining area! Or well, we had been. Now we're waiting for the layer to dry," Sofia said with a huge grin.

Ah… right. I had heard about that. They all had planned to clean the place up, including giving it a new coat of paint, before the protector arrived. I wasn't really sure why, since the man I had met back then hadn't seemed the type to care about such things, but I wasn't going to voice such an opinion.

It made them happy to do so, even if it was a waste of money.

"So… if you're done, why not clean up?" I asked with a point to her arms. They looked dried enough that I doubted touching them would make me red too, but I didn't want to risk it. Sofia was a hugger, so I needed to be careful.

"I am! About to! I came to invite you to share the bath with me and my sister," she said happily.

Oh…?

My first instinct was to turn her down. But then I remembered I of course had nothing else to do. Plus…

"Sure… let me go get a set of clothes and my bath stuff, I'll meet you two there then," I said, deciding to do it. Especially since here soon I might not get to ever see her again.

"Great! We'll head there now!" Sofia happily said as she turned back around and ran off, likely to go get her sister.

Although not really in the mood for a bath, I decided it was better than walking around aimlessly.

My mind wandered when I was bored. In ways I didn't like.

Hopefully the protector showed up soon. And hopefully I could actually find a solution to my dilemma from the information I could glean from him. Otherwise who knows where I'd end up and what I'd end up doing…!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.