Afternoon the next day.

“ Now for everyone's favorite people, tax collectors.”

Silve groaned and even Gark seemed to have lost the spark of life in his eyes.

“ You sound way too happy about them.”

Silve said before he started chugging his beer and grabbed another from the table and did the same.

“ Why shouldn’t I? Other than the ten percent I will personally get from it all...”

Silve and Gark put two and two together and came to a realization.

“ By grandpapies red hot fire stoker, we are the ones on top now are we not?”

Gark nods in agreement but still seemed worried.

“ And this is why I have been such a bastard about paperwork with you two. Because there will be lots of money in it for us.”

“ Yes, but not for years to come.”

David raises his hand to Gark showing his spread-out digits.

“ Five in fact, well, four and a little under half now. You both have read over the documents I arranged based on money?”

“ You mean that thick tome you gave us at the start of the meeting? That Silve is currently using as a beer coaster.”

Silve seemed to blush as he picked his beer up and David sighs nodding.

“ Yea, I overdid it a little bit. What do you think Jasmine?”

The two look to the other side of the table where Jasmine and Jake were sitting, both looking through random papers.

“ Fuck David, if I knew you wanted me for boring stuff, I would have skipped today like I did yesterday.”

“ Dear, be nice. David spent his fortune to give us the chance at a decent start of a new life. He well deserves boring us to tears with legaleeze.”

David rolled his eyes as Silve and Gark chuckled. Which was met with a slap on the back of their heads from their own wives sitting nearby looking at copies of the material as well.

“ Don’t mock the lady, especially when you both have not even opened your tomes.”

Silve took the hit in stride as he took a chunk of meat on a spit and started eating from it. Gark on the other hand started whimpering a little at his wife. David was tempted to laugh at their misfortune but decided the nearby dragonkin did not need the excuse as well.

“ Moving on, I find the concept of an actual money collector to have too much power and too much temptation to well lie and steal. So any that we hire should be bound to a special contract. Any assets they hold will come at the expense of the state. In return, the collector is bound to a line of credit that we can track. Any expense he would incur will be deducted from his pay and any wealth he has on him will be the property of the state till his term of service ends.”

The eight around the table listened to the proposition and all of them could agree it will be difficult. As David planned the position be a lifelong one. So any willed assets not listed as owned before the position or acquired after the job was taken and not accredited would be seized as stolen goods from the state. This was also one of the few positions of nobility he had planned for outside the Wardens. Because taxes were one of the lifebloods of a country, and he be damned if he let anyone take anything that was his at this point. Except for perhaps Azanii, as that ship had seemed to have sailed already.

-----

After-tax collection, the group on the laws of taxes and money, in particular forgery of money. As well as laws based on scams and selling fake products. Then moved on to banking. After the money was addressed in multiple fashions. They moved on to healthcare. While the Change did not cure ailments or preexisting conditions, the growth of statistics enabled people to overcome mundane illnesses. But David had a feeling that opened the door to all kinds of advanced ones specific to targeting higher-level individuals. Probably evolved from those that still had the original sickness in them when they grew stronger, allowing the illness to grow with them.

This is when David brought out the Pharmacy card he got from the National Guard when they hired him for dungeon clearing. This also made David recall the Adventurer Guild. Which was a topic they brought up a week later after they worked on the difference between those that would be considered the nation's military and those in the police force. Which the Wardens would act as a bit of both.

This continued day after day as Brandon observed. The newborn AI helped in subtle ways, such as making searches faster and more detailed. Making recommendations that seemed more appealing to the three councilors and their wives as well as the senior Warden and his wife. He had learned the females seemed to have the intelligence of a greater but more subtle kinda compared to the men. Though the closest couple he saw was David and Azanii. One had a vast experience in politics and military matters while the other had a more focused and specialized, if not more advanced, education in business and law.

As the days and weeks turned to months the formation of a country was slowly but smoothly formed. And when nine months passed since the end of the transition happened to the microsecond David and the other leaders got a message.

The auction stage now begins.