"When I got here , I knew absolutely nothing to be honest. There was this man traveling along the same road as me that night . I noticed that someone had laid ambush for him in the roadside bushes , with a knocked arrow just ready to fire when he stepped into range.
I yelled , notifying the man before he was shot. The assassin obviously fled , but the old man was grateful that I'd saved his life regardless. He invited me to his home where I came to learn that he was the leader of the southern raiders , an armed extremist group that was one of the factions responsible for the frequent raids in the south.
The old man was good to me and so I helped him piece together the rival group that had tried to assassinate him. Once we did , we attacked them in retaliation and defeated them.
An added bonus that we'd not seen coming was the large stock of food and livestock that these people had amassed in their former raids. All of that became ours and I helped the southern raiders establish a lucrative trade with the pirates that occasionally docked at our coast ,"Alren started.
"Still , a single trade even if it involves maritime imports , would not raise enough capital to accomplish this level of development within the span of a year ," Hazel insisted , slowly putting away the blanket . The fire was now providing sufficient warmth for her.
"You are a smart one . I had guessed telling you the story up to that point would satisfy your curiosity," Alren congratulated her. It was to be expected , she was a princess after all and all of her life she'd been trained in the ways of governing a country.
"I am set to inherit this country , so it is within my rights to demand enquiries into all administrative affairs within the borders of Aropia ," Hazel said , toughening up her voice a little.
"Don't take that tone with me. I have nothing to hide. In fact, if the two of you had taken time to go around the markets and the shops , then you'd probably have already figured it out ,"Alren replied , aiming to diffuse the tension that Hazel was trying to create.
"You're talking about the strange coin I have seen the people using ?" Hoglen joined in , having had some experience .
"Exactly . You see , there was no way I'd be able to work off enough wealth to build a town that fast. So I decided to do away with the current system in place entirely. I minted my own money and put that into circulation .It's called the Alrenn ," Alren was never happy to divulge so much information at any given time , but since it was her country and soon to be public knowledge , he decided to make an exception for Hazel.
"You changed the currency , that's impossible. The national treasury has not forwarded any such proposals ," Hazel did not buy his story , but Hoglen gave her one of the new coins as proof.
"I know what you're gonna say , this is treason and I deserve death. At least that's what your laws say ," Alren continued , " But I needed to provide some value to the people in exchange for the labor they put in constructing this town.
The only thing I had to do was to provide security within the town borders then demand a daily tax for having access to this town. This tax could only be paid in the Alrenn , which in turn could only be obtained by offering labor services in the town's public works.
Eventually once people got used and accepted this new currency as a store of value , I expanded its use to the purchase of trade commodities eventually taking over the role of the old currency. And since we managed this micro economy so well , we avoided inflation and the value of the Alrenn is currently double the value of the old Aropian currency ," Alren finished and then went quiet to allow his audience to process what he'd just told them.
Hoglen, who was more of a soldier than a thinker , failed to comprehend the full depth of what Alren had just accomplished unlike Hazel .
Alren had created a working system inside Aropia , something that the country had not seen in over fifty years. Sure Alren did not have to deal with outside influence or masses of irate citizens , but neither did he have access to an official military , well educated and trained ministers to handle departmental affairs nor the royal heritage to gain legitimacy with the populace.
"Tell me about the relationship between you and my father ," was Hazel's next inquiry.
"Well there isn't much to tell , we only communicated once and that was to warn me about gaining too much influence. He was content with me maintaining stability in a small town but he cautioned against expanding my authority to the other parts of the southern region ," Alren answered her.
"Still , I can't believe that I am only learning about you now ,"Hazel went on.
"This town was completed two weeks ago. The better part of the year was spent learning about the workings of your world.." Alren stopped talking too late.
"Our world?" Hoglen jumped on that last part .