Knock! Knock!

“There’s a person at the door. Someone get it!” Mike shouted from his room.

Everyone was busy getting ready so I sighed, before travelling down the flight of stairs. 

Knock! Knock!

The knocking didn’t stop, who was this urgent?

I turned the handle of the door and looked out. To my surprise it was Tybalt. Why would he be here? Plus he came here personally? Odd.

“Master, it’s a pleasure to see you.” Tybalt gave a quick bow before speaking hastily, “Sir there’s a great issue brewing and we need you back at the bank as soon as possible.”

“Wait. What do you mean, there’s an issue?” I was slow on the uptake as I was still sleepy.

“Sir, please we need you at the bank. Miss Rose says we need you back as soon as possible. I’ve even brought a portal device, so we can get there as soon as possible.” Tybalt spoke, with urgency in his voice.

“Okay, let me put on some proper clothes. Give me 5 minutes. Come inside and sit in the living room.”

“Okay young master.”

I ran up the stairs and into my room. Good, I had an excuse to finally skip school. I quickly put on a white T shirt and my hunter’s Trench Coat. I matched the clothes with black A tier trousers and A tier boots. I slid my rings one by one, and now I was ready.

“Where are you going, dressed like that?” Jace came out of the bathroom rubbing his wet hair with a towel.

“I have some important matters to attend to, see you in the afternoon.” I said walking out.

“Wait! Let me come with you! How are you leaving me behind? I don’t want to go to school!” Jace yelled running behind me.

I accidentally bumped into Malia but she scoffed and turned her head in the opposite direction and walked away. Guess she was still mad over Dianmu’s stupidity.

“What’s all the commotion about?” Mother popped up at the bottom of the stairs. Sh*t. 

I had to escape.

“Mother, I got some issues at the bank I need to solve, so I’ll be skipping school today.” I said quickly before she could comprehend what I was saying.

“Tybalt open the portal, let’s go!”  I clapped my hands telling him to pick up the pace.

“Yes sir.” he pulled out a portal device from his dimension ring and placed it on the floor.

“Zeref, where are you going? You need to go to school.” Mum spoke from behind me trying to make me stop.

“No mum, I don’t need school. The school needs me.” I smiled, leaving her confused and shocked, before jumping into the portal with Tybalt.

“ZER-” Mother’s shout ended half way as the portal closed.

I was in for a beating, when I returned.

**

Chaos! 

That’s all I could see. The bank was upside down as people were running all over the place, dwarves and humans alike ran around frantically. 

What the hell was happening?! It was like the end of the world was near and everyone was hurrying to pack their belongings.

“Sir, follow me quickly.” Tybalt sped ahead walking in front of me, taking large strides.

We reached my main office and the state of Miss Rose’s condition left me surprised. I gulped at her sight. She had large dark circles underneath her eyes and her hair was all frizzy and messy. I had never seen her in such an unpresentable manner.

“Sir! You’re finally here!” She ran over to me and hugged me tightly. This was new.

“Oh, you smell soo nice.” She took a deep breath in. Was she high or something?

“Miss Rose, are you okay?” I asked, as she finally let go. This was a good life skill, don’t let someone go until they let go. You never know what they may have been going through, sometimes a hug can change someone’s day.

“NO! I’m not okay! The bank is going upside down.” Miss Rose pouted, folding her arms.

“Well I can see that. Tell me what happened. What’s the cause of all this?” I asked, getting straight to the point.

  “Please follow me to the board room.” She said, walking past me. I followed her to a room near my office. There was a large glass display powered by water mana; it showed trendlines on a graph.

“Firstly, the stock market crashed, and our stock values are declining. Secondly, someone has broken into our vault and stolen more than half of our coins. We’re running on fumes, here! 

“Lastly, some of our land has been seized by some unknown organisation near the Elven Kingdom. The Elven Kingdom is also demanding that we take care of the situation before that organisation starts plotting against their kingdom.” 

“That’s not all, many of our workers have sent resignation letters, saying they’re going to quit. Everyone’s scared they won’t get paid etc.” Miss Rose looked fed up and angry, I could feel her frustration.

“Mmh, I see.” I said, cracking my knuckles.

“Let’s tackle the problems one at a time. First is our financial issue.” I started, pacing up and down still deep in thought. Miss Rose gulped, in anticipation of my orders.

“You said our vault was broken into. That’s almost impossible with the amount of defences and guards we have protecting it. It requires permission from the higher ups, including you, me and Tybalt to even access the vault.

“The fact that our permission was bypassed and the defence spells were dismantled, We can only infer that there’s a traitor among us who’s helped the 3rd party to break into our vault. Tied in with the crash of the stock market, our stocks have dropped in value, decreasing our capital further.

“How much of our coins are left?” I asked.

“A-About 25% of our original amount.” Miss Rose stuttered. I did some quick calculations in my head.

“With that much plus taking our emergency funds into account, we can maintain ourselves for 3 months max before we go bankrupt.

“Firstly, as our stock value is declining I want you to sell more shares and slowly raise our stock value up. The stock market should return back to normal in a few weeks, so we don’t have to worry about that. 

“Secondly, use the bank’s emergency funds and half of my own capital to maintain costs of the Bank. Make sure you announce to the workers not to worry, I’ll take care of the issues myself.” I said, with a serious tone.

“B-But sir, we can’t let you use your money.” Miss Rose argued.

“It’s fine, I’ll make that money back easily, now listen to me. Tybalt I want you to guard the vault and gather your most loyal guards to secure the vault; if there’s another robbery we won’t last even 2 months.”

“Yes sir!” Tybalt bowed in understanding.

“Okay, now for the issue to do with land, you said that it was seized right?”

“Yes sir.” Miss Rose answered hastily.

“Well, I’ll go there and solve that issue first hand. I’ll take some guards with me, I’ll be leaving as soon as possible. The sooner we retrieve our assets, the better.

“Also assign me the guards that were on duty, on the day the robbery happened.” I said.

“Sir, please let me come with you. I’m familiar with the elven Kingdom.” Tybalt stepped forward insisting that he come with me.

“No, I need you to stay back and protect the vault. I’ll take Allefin with me and some other elves. Miss Rose, I have one last request for you.”

“Yes sir, please tell me what it is.” She smiled, sighing a breath of relief.

“I hunted some more beasts. 2 S rank beasts and a couple hundred C and B rank beasts. Take these and sell them to Black Market dealers. 

“Add 30% of the money to the Bank’s vault, Distribute 10% to the workers as a bonus. You and Tybalt can take 5% and leave the rest in my vault.” I grabbed her hand and transferred the corpses of dead monsters I had accumulated into her dimension ring. 

She stood shocked and wanted to open her mouth to argue but I shook my head.

“Thank you sir.” She smiled earnestly.

“Once you’ve done this, take a break for a few days. The bank’s state will soon go back to normal in a couple weeks, so relax and stop worrying. As long as I’m here, I won’t let this company dissolve.” I cracked my fingers and left the room. 

**

Knock! Knock!

“Come in!” Xanxus shouted from his office. 

I turned the handle of the room and entered his office.

“Ohhh Zeref, to what do I owe you for this visit?” He smiled sarcastically. 

“Xanxus I-“

“It’s principal Xanxus to you. Remember where you are.” He corrected me.

“I’m going to be away from home and school for a bit, I have an issue to solve so I’m just giving you a notice before I leave.” I said, before turning to leave.

“Wait! What do you think school is, just a place where you can stroll in and out whenever you want? 

“Who are you to demand when you can leave or stay? You do realise your attendance last year was 69%. If your attendance is bad again I will have no other reason to keep you here.” He said from behind me.

I ignored him and carried on walking.

“You should listen to your elders when they’re speaking to you!” Xanxus grabbed my wrist forcefully, his ice cold mana pressure being released into the atmosphere.

“Do you have a death wish, Xanxus?”

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