Technomancer: Genesis - 89 A Tour of Bren Part 3

Ezra’s thoughts drifted away, on earth he had led teams before, management was not a foreign concept to him. However, the atmosphere here was different everyone was excited, it also helped that he kept stressing for them to report all mistakes and acknowledge them. On earth, teams were colder and the relationship was purely out of work everyone feared that the other would get credit for something he/she did.

His team blossomed with camaraderie, and they tried their best to help each other out as he directed. He did see some of the clerks struggling, and there were slow learners compared to the other people he hired but Ezra didn’t mind and they were not hindering operations anyway. He just advised them to take notes and keep repeating what they had learnt.

He hoped that this could continue in the future. Maybe the people in the hall before him will fight for higher positions in the future especially that the bank was going to spread out. He had contingency plans though. He was by no means rushing anything, there weren’t any imminent threats as long as he kept out of the limelight, his plans would move forward and bloom to fruition. He would fulfil his promise to Evan.

The creation of the bank was actually out of his main plans, he wanted to focus on industrialization and production. The past few years he had been searching for key plants and animals that were needed for the development of modern living. He had instructed Rycharde to find them for him. With his precision, he could draw exactly what he wanted. It was really convenient since he wasn’t that good at drawing when he was on earth.

Over time he had gathered quite a few key elements such as the rubber fig. He had a patch of land he bought outside the border walls and had a caretaker handle these. The first part of his plan was the introduction of the printing press which he made 3 years ago. After that he had made many more improvements with it such as the publication of books and slowly introducing the masses to education.

If his bank venture became a success, his next project would be university education. He thought back at the course of human history and he realized that aside inventions that revolutionized the world, some simple procedure could actually advance it forward.

For example, banking, one could argue that banking actually made the U.S. the world’s superpower. The history of the United States could be actually described as a history of modern central banking. There was a shortage of cash during the harvest season beforethere was a central bank and thus affected the whole country and this lack of liquidity eventually produced modern central banking. Banking made money elastic and made people produce more rather than be limited to what they had. It was a mistake to say that industrialization gave way to modern banking, rather it was the other way around. The great robber barons wouldn’t have made so much without J.P Morgan. For industry to prosper finance has to keep up with it.

The meeting was adjourned and everyone stood up and bowed down to Hestia and went about their duties.

Hestia had observed Ezra, and she was amazed that he could hold a meeting such as that. She heard words that she had never heard in her life. She asked Erela what some of them meant, however, Erela just snorted and told her that it was just some jargon Ezra created to sound smart and that the whole meeting was a ploy.

However, she saw the genuineness of the people so she didn’t agree with Erela although she didn’t say it out loud. It was also a different type of meeting from those that she had attended in the past. Though both had scribes that were writing down what each said, meetings in the capital didn’t have such structure and could go on meandering from their topic.

Ezra held authority over every aspect and it was not forced everyone seemed to be eager for Ezra’s comments and instructions they didn’t treat him like a child at all. She could notice this since she as princess felt that people respected her in words and actions yet there was a different lustre in their eyes. She was, after all, a child only.

She was still dazed when Ezra talked to her. “Princess is everything alright? I hope that I didn’t take up too much of our time?”

She snapped out of her trance, “Yes it wasn’t too bad.”

“Okay, shall we go now? Let’s eat lunch, there is an inn nearby where I frequent.”

It took half an hour for the meeting to conclude and the party went across the street.

“Lord Ezra, Princess Hestia.” The whole staff of the inn bowed as they went inside. The in was luxurious it was obvious that only people who had a lot of money could eat at the place. However, the whole inn was reserved so there weren’t any people aside their retainers.

Ezra was curious, Hestia was still silent and he was quite nervous since the last time she was this silent she had a random outburst.

“Do you like the food, princess? ” Ezra tried to initiate the conversation but she just nodded in agreement and was still silent.

Ezra was a bit anxious, he observed her facial expressions and movements for any sign of tantrums. The food was just the regular food nobles ate, roast beef and mutton. When the dessert came, however, Hestia’s eyes widened.

“What is this?” Hestia asked.

“Well, it’s our dessert.” Ezra smiled.

“But it looks. . uhh. different. I have tasted many things from your domain, but, I have never seen this before.”

“Well, It’s called gelatin.” Ezra had introduced gelatin to this inn as an experiment, he used seaweed as a base but the price of seaweed in Bren was high and only this inn could afford it. In the end, Ezra bought some for them and ordered them to make it as per his directions. The result was good and the in made it into a delicacy which made other nobles visit the inn.

“Just taste it if you don’t like it then we can change it.” Ezra was smiling but he was still uneasy. He knew that it was good but he didn’t know what the princess would think. Ultimately she would be the judge.

Hestia sliced the dessert carefully. It wobbled which was a new experience for her. She concentrated as she bit the jelly. The taste was unimaginably delightful. She smiled its bouncy smooth texture complemented its sweetness. She kept eating and eating the gelatin.

“Wow, this is so good. I will eat this every day. I pay my compliments to the chef.” She beamed at the attendant who was waiting for them.

“Thank you, princess, however, we cannot get the credit alone. It was Lord Ezra who actually taught us to make this dessert.”

Hestia was shocked. She looked at Ezra and thought what else could this boy do?It was as if he could do anything and everything.