Money was something most queer. In the Empire, silver had bee the standard for age, in no small part because Lord Bavaria sold much to the Austrians for silver from the mines in Tirol, and the Duke of Bohemia had productive silver mines of his own. While they could not mint quite as freely after the reforms, these two had been responsible for most of the silver cirg ihe empire before.

  What she found queer about this was that, to those oners who sought to be paid in it, silver had no value. It could not be eaten, nor made into tools nor ons, nor were they craftsmen who made it into jewellery.

  Or rather, the oners khis well. It was not the natural state of things to use s.

  However, it could hardly be said that, even with the absence of s, what the rural oners naturally did fell under bartering. These small vilges instead formed a kind of sprawling family where there was a on kindness between themselves and their surroundings. If someone needed grain or firewood to get through the winter, it was natural to share, that one could never know when they may depend upon such kindness iure. Likewise, even without calg, there was certainly a sense of value for things, that one may gift a shepherd this much grain now with the uanding of receiving that much wool ter on.

  That had been the hypothesis Vist Erberg notionally worked from. Barter, to him, was the respoo merts and other strangers beyond this trusted family. Of course, it went the other way as well—a fn mert could hardly force a vilge to repay as.

  s, then, were aension of bartering. Few seemed to think of it that way, yet the y of the minting reforms spoke to how s were a good like any other. While every should have been parable, made with a on purity of silver, any old ruler could have diluted their silver and then stamped them again as pure, making a profit. Ign the other issues this brought, it meant that s were no longer parable, thus again resembling barter as one argued the true worth of each .

  S had wanted a si of silver s uhe King’s trol with harsh punishments for any who dared debase them.

  With regards to the undesirability of bartering, the full extent of his reasoni beyond both her ability and her i. The kind of reasoning that justified itself by pointing at those fn tribes which had no desire to hoard preetals. However, she very much had an i in taking his moary reforms beyond their promised implementation and io their logical clusion.

  “I still fail to see what be this bank will bring the city.”

  Her eyes held no response, mouth hidden behiea cup as she took a sip. Steam steadily rose, thi the room’s chill that only slowly melted to the modest fire. Once she lowered her cup, her lips parted, and her reply thereafter followed.

  “Then it is a good thing I have o vince Mr Mayor in order to establish it.”

  Immediately, he tensed up, soo out an awkward chuckle. “Of course, I don’t expect My Lady to indulge me. Such a statement is nothing more than an admission of my own failings.”

  “It is good to be aware of such things,” she said, irely lightly, but it cked iy with her gaze elsewhere.

  He again chuckled, taking a moment to reach up and adjust his cap.

  With that addressed, she turned her attention to the other perso, a Sir Matteo. To call him a knight was not particurly corredlord a better fit, that he rented out the little plot of farmnd he owned and was one who paid money in lieu of service.

  However, that rather missed the reason for his presence. “Mr Mayor is here that I may impress on him that he is to fully ply with sir’s requests.”

  The knight chuckled, a certai to the a, that, although not a particurly heavy person, his weight preferred to settle on his fad his middling age did not help. Otherwise, he had a appearance, fine clothes with a fortable sess, and a quiet fidence behind narrow gsses.

  “I am sure everyone will cooperate well to not invenience My Lady.” He spoke in fluent German, what little at he had as if an iional fir.

  In reply, she softly smiled, only to then shake her head. “It is better to invenience me than not. Sir is wise in these matters, and Mr Mayor knows me well, that I am sure her would bring unimportant matters before me.”

  He gave a slight bow of his head, acutely aware of her awareness of his talents.

  Yes, to establish her bank, she knew of no oer. He had worked closely under a Jewish banking family that had fled from Spain to Italy, with particur responsibility for managing branches in the Empire—and had personally opened a bran both Amsterdam and Frankfurt. However, ret years had seen Christians find ever more creative ways to justify their usury, that Jews once more found themselves being pushed out of the little work they had beeted to do.

  When the family decided to onove on, he decided to stay in Frankfurt. For a while, he managed ats for a few prestigious families, whicluded making iments and handling loans.

  So it was only a matter of time before he entered her.

  She had always known precisely how much money she wanted and knew well the rate of i others would offer her. Rather thahat to iate for a lower rate, she had always iated for more money instead. Not once had she been te on a payment—nor had she ever paid early.

  A mert naturally lived or died by their uanding of money. However, her he nor she were merts. That they both had this deeper uanding of mohus gave him a certain respect for her, which appeared to be mutual.

  If not, she wouldn’t have extended an invitation, and he wouldn’t have accepted.

  She brought her hands together in a gentle cp. “Now then,” she said to him, “while we have spoken of some matters before, I thought that, to rea initial agreement, it would be best to meet in person. That is not to say that these matters are at all sensitive or secretive, but that I think it would be easy to misuaain points.”

  “Matters of money are certainly proo misuandings,” he said, the to light, yet his momentary smile and pinch of his eyes veyed the joke.

  Her hands settled on her p, a momentary smile of her own her reply to that. “I believe that what I should emphasise is that this bank would not seek to make profits. That is not to say that, for example, it ot charge i on loans. Rather, I would look at it as if a road. That a road takes moo build and maintain does not ate charging a toll for it to be profitable to the city as a whole.”

  He met her gaze the eime, only to find it sincere. She had not misspoken when suggesting this a point easily misuood. It needed not be said that, as a Christian ruler, she could have hardly written down that she wished to charge higher rates of ihan the Church permitted. He would have uood that she wished to keep a certain deniability about this.

  However, her eyes did not pinor her smile quirk, her voice perfectly level, nothing about this a joke to her. Which suddenly made this a rather iing proposal pared to what he had expected.

  “A bank like a road,” he said, his amusement pin to hear, “a most curious idea.”

  “Curious, yet hardly novel. Certain cities in Italy have fouheir own banks to solidate their debts and to hahe issues that stem from having fn currencies in circution.”

  He nodded along, her statemeirely correct, albeit unusual in just how pinly she stated it. “Ihey have. Since My Lady is aware, is it that she has a partieed to address?” he asked, his personal i again grown.

  “A partieed? No, I have many needs. Or rather, this is not about what I need and instead is about what sir may offer,” she said, her head tilting as she fihat sentence. “It would be helpful to solidate the city’s debts and my personal debts, that is true. It would be helpful to better manage currehat the Empire is burdened with its trio and that much trade es up from Italy.”

  “Those are certainly matters I believe I may address…” he said.

  Though he stopped there, it felt ie, her expression taking on an amusement of her own which pulled at him. However, his patience did not break.

  So it was that she spoke again. “If I should have another need, one which I mentioned earlier, it is that we should put out of busihose usurious money-lenders.”

  A smile broke through, his eyes pinched. “Of course, if we would offer services for the good of the city, naturally we would offer such rates that few could pete.”

  Despite the natural fideh which he spoke, she brushed it aside with a flick of her wrist. “It truly was correct to have this meeting in person. No, sir is n; however, on this matter, sir is wrong. It is natural to think that what I suggest is to offer lower rates on safe loans and other such services. Rather, what I suggest is reasoes on all loans.”

  The implication of that was not lost on him. He drew in a deep breath, the out, again pleasantly surprised by the twists of this little versation. “We would ba profits with losses.”

  “Exactly,” she said with a smile. “Of course, that is not to say that we would give any beggar off the street a small fortune, yet there may well be some beggars worth a few s. I believe sir should be able to find the appropriate bance.”

  He did not think her example of a beggar to be entirely figurative, his own smile returning as he softly said again, “A bank like a road.”

  Which she heard with a certain satisfa.

  “Those are, in a sehe spirit with which I would expect the bank run. However, I would have some more immediate and tangible goals. The first is that the bank would mahe city’s ats, which would include ats for those employees with regur work,” she said, returning to a polite smile.

  He gave a single nod, already deep in thought. That phrase of hers once more found itself oip of his tongue. “So we would have o handle many small ats,” he said, talking to himself, yet not so rude as to mutter.

  “Indeed. If I may, sir should find the city aodating. There has been an effort to teach the oners simple literad arithmetiot to say that they would be suitable, but that sir may find from them those with talent who are worth further training. In doing so, the city has also expanded and refis produ of paper and there is a printing press which may provide support.

  “However, there is oher sideration I hope sir may take into at.”

  After regarding her for a moment, he nodded and said, “Pray tell, My Lady.”

  “The city does also have capable Jews. That is, I am not pelling sir either way. All I ask is for moderation. I have worked towards opening other professions to our Jewish citizens, and I would like for our other citizens to gain experieh ating. I am sure sir uands these bes.”

  What she shared took a long moment to sink in. Sink in it did, though, and he felt a ughter rise in his chest, only for it to fall with his breath. “Then, would My Lady be ameo granting a charter for an ating guild?” he asked.

  Her expression soured at that. “If sir may excuse me, I have a certain distaste fuilds, that they seek to drive up prices a expansion. While there is a o ensure atants are suitably trained, I hope sir will make do with something else. Something like a guild, yet which would ck the monopoly on trade and training that so readily corrupts guilds.”

  So she still had ways to surprise him. In this regard, though, his clusion almost wrote itself, such a natural fit with everything else she had brought up so far. A clusion that rather brought those other pieces firmly together.

  The bank would exist to solidate debts and power, just as a road carried traders and armies.

  As if waiting for him to e to that realisation, she spoke up then. “To take a step back, if we wish for people of modest means to find value in the bank, it must cultivate an appropriate impression. Sir spoke of losses, what I would call insurand iment. That a family should not be ruined over a few s.”

  Although simir to before, he uood the nuance she wished to emphasise here. “Of course.”

  “Of course,” she said too with a slight smile. “Whis us to the goal. Sir may inquire of the specifiother time if he is curious; however, for now, let me state that I hope to start raising a million thalers through bonds.”

  For a moment, he simply tio look at her, then ughter rose in his chest, this time too grand to be settled by a breath and so it spilled out in chuckles, his hand at least managing to cover his mouth for what good that did. After a few seds, he swallowed the rest of his ughter and cleared his throat.

  “A million thalers,” he said, tone perfectly ral.

  She raised her hand. “At least one million in the first year,” she said, speaking a touch slower than before. “In total, I expect to raise five milliohe five years.”

  He simply could not ceive it. While others may have had some notion of the scale of monies, he had worked with rooms full of s, ly piled and perfectly ted. At its simplest, a million thalers meant a million ounces of silver. Such a lump of bullion would have not impressed the true extent of the wealth; by his estimation, this pile of stacked bars would make a square with edges two strides across, and then e up to his waist.

  Which was ironice, to other people, it wouldn’t seem that much; however, that amount of silver resembled the sort of annual revenue one of the notable Italian cities would bring in.

  After a deep breath, he took off his gsses and gave them a polish, theurhem to their pce, subtly wiping the ers of his eyes as he did. “Is the debt truly so deep?” he asked.

  “No, this is funding for a new project,” she said, rolling her wrist.

  “For that much, My Lady must be building a sed city,” he said lightly.

  Like earlier, she said nothing, an amused silence which pulled at him, only that his patience had found its match this time.

  “Pray tell, what ambitious pn has My Lady?” he quietly asked.

  She did not give him an answer, instead brought her cup to her lips only to frown. Without a word, before she had pced it down, her maid was at her side and repced the drink with a fresh cup of tea, steam rising in twisting coils among the chilly air that still hadn’t melted from the fire’s gentle warmth.

  Once she finished her sip, she pced the cup down. “Lastly, I have what is more a sideration than an explicit goal, yet it is something that should be stated clearly. Sir is aware of my distaste fuilds as they would unfairly raise prices through a monopoly, and it is rather clear to me that ndlords, taken together, are er. With the scale of the approag projed the tinued development of the city, this monopoly on housing will only worsen.”

  He hid his frustration at her ck of an answer behind a wry smile. Still, he listened, what she had said not particurly novel.

  “Thus, I hope that the bank may help dampen this silent crisis. If sir is amenable, I would gdly sult with him for such methods that I, as ruler, may make use of. Of sir, I believe the bank will do well with mes—even if there must be some losses now and then so that good families who have fallen on hard times would at least have a home to call their own.”

  In the silehat followed, he finally took a moment to assay the situation, as it were, which brought this whole meeting into focus. He had expected to find gold, instead found silver. He had expected to find a dy, instead found a ruler.

  Nothing about today would have surprised him if he had beeing with an aspiring mayor of an Italian city. Someone who, on the surface, wished to garner popur support with the tradesmens, yet truly wished to break the guilds’ monopolies and undermihe lingering aristocracy.

  That sort of thing was important for a mayor with a wealthy family behind him, money only able to take him so far. However, she was not some aspiring mayor, not at all.

  Laughter, manic ughter, ed in his chest, yet it didn’t show on his face at all. It was on that women handled certain finances among noble marriages, some more than others, so she had hardly been the first woman petent with mohat he had met. He had then been careful not to uimate her as he knew well how meticulous their dealings had been so far.

  Yet he had still uimated her. He should have known from the start; after all, she had extehis invitation to him.

  “My wife does pin about being so far from Italy.”