47. An(other) office Scene

Her office was once again filled with stacks of papers. Sifting through them she had to sort out personal work with Guild work. Rubbing her temples she looked down at how much paperwork she had left. Her two dogs, Brutus and her blink-dog, Lazy-Daisy sat where the light streamed into the office, the warmest spot here was also conveniently in front of the fireplace.
 
She was expecting her workers to come in late afternoon. So she had time to finish her guild work and enough time sort through all the new paperwork. There was another requisition from a different branch. Reading over it, it matched many of the items were on the previous dossier that was sent a few months back, those would immediately get the approval stamp. But there were so many more requisitions than she was initially told of. Frowning she filed the document and moved to look for the letter to double check the request.
 
When looking over the cyphered letter she read over the details to see which items her Aunties or Mentor pressed due to urgency or need. If the heads didn't send their unofficial approval for the items that were on the currently delivered list, in addition to being on the original dossier/the official docket, the request would either get shot down or if the items looked necessary, a report would be requested. Depending on the report the items would shuffled to the appropriate spot, organized by importance.
 
Scarlet had a displeased look on her face, due to the new heir sponsorship each candidate would be required to show their worth. She was well aware that the heads that sent this request were trying to gage how much they could get out of her. This list was rather tame... The list that her mentor had given her with that surprise visit and the write up that went with it was down right shocking. Their postulating and demands were almost comical. She had already gather the information and had the full break down on what the extent of their power and the boon debit they were in. They had made moves to already secure the debt so it couldn't be used against the family. If they had any idea on what she had done... Sighing she refocused on the task at hand, realizing that she should stop speculating and see this as a possible probleem. She thought to herself, 'They might know more than they let on, it's best to play it safe in case this is a probe. We're still rooting out the moles.'
 
Unofficially, years before this recast was started they had put into motion the plans to help fix the territory and had already made good headway. While this was going on, the heads in the know were starting to move the corrupt politicians out and were slowly replacing the government positions. It had taken a painstaking amount of years, almost a full decade of work. The different companies that were 'developing' the property, at least to her knowledge, currently wasn't able to be traced back to her. Some of the initial companies went bankrupt and were bought out by her faction. This was done to ensure that it was harder to trace where the money was from. With so many hands changing it was a dizzying task to keep up to date with all the details.
 
Scarlet underlined a particularly scathing entry in another request letter. She added notes for her report, filed it per usual. Updating the shipping log for the items that were previously 'passed', wrote her reply, and folded up the paper. Moving to the expansive shelf she opened a hidden compartment, it was only wide enough to let a single sheet pass through. The chute would catch the document and would slide it to a waiting tray. Replacing the decorative siding it hid the small paper slit. There was a room behind this one that the papers were held in. There were no doors into the room. The only way in would either be to magically move yourself there or polymorph into a small enough creature that could run through the small maze that was created to get to the room. It really was overkill but it's what her mentor ordered and she didn't want to fight with her.
 
Shaking her head she muttered, "This is the 5th person to send me poorly veiled threats. I'm glad the Aunties are taking up the helm. Those idiots need to be booted out."
 
Writing a terse note, she relayed that any non-essential request may be possibly fulfilled at a later time if deemed necessary. The only project she was officially and remotely tied to was the forestry work and that was mostly due to her Eldest Aunt's insistence and request. A small army was raised for the job and a culling was scheduled. Due to the illegal mining and logging, many animals were displaced and it was wrecking havoc on the ecosystem. Several mudslides and collateral damage later, her Aunts were able to muscle in and retake control over that territory. "Such a fucking waste of manpower and resources. This wouldn't have happened if they followed the original plan. Those trees were planted there to keep this from happening. I can't believe I'm related to them." She huffed as she wrote another report.
 
But as she worked the ever growing list of items kept getting longer. And there were so many services needed so...it would be some time before some of the legitimate request would be fulfilled. If the heads did greenlight it, the job would be moved ahead of the current schedule. Currently due to the way her workload was stacked it would be some time for these to push through. She looked over another book, the schedule was packed. Frowning she muttered, "I'm not made of infinite money. Do those assholes even understand the undertaking I had to go through to raise the funds, establish the businesses, and choreograph the trade agreements." Feathers hooted and she nodded in agreement, "I know! Right? Screw you new quartermaster. You'll get those items whenever the infrastructure projects finishes. I don't even know why you're requesting them now. The blacksmiths I hired and their crew are only now getting shipped out."
 
Moving back to the desk she continued her translation. This used the general family cypher which made her wary because they should have all moved to a different key. Because she had been long since accustomed to this type of task, she made quick work out of it. Reading over her translation she found out that there were a few things that she should see about finishing.... The one of (the approved) heads had put in an order. Or to be specific her Mentor got access to the order and added her stamp which greenlit it and allowed it to skip to the front. She had no idea what that loose cannon would do, but orders were orders. Scarlet was sad that she wouldn't be there to see finale. She murmured, "I wonder if she's going after Thökk finally." Feathers hooted and she answered, "Yeah, the asshole responsible for imprisoning me in that tower. To be honest I'd like to be the one to end him but if given the option to have him taken out sooner, I won't say no to that. The world will be better for it." Feathers nodded and shifted to warm his feet. The room was very cold.
 
The decoded list had several items from the requestions letter she read earlier. Scarlet did a quick check to compare it with the last report to make sure everything matched, thankfully it did. Besides the old/wrong key being use there were additional items that weren't 'officially' approved. She made a note to have those delivered as well. She felt the paper and found the markings, and she sighed in frustration. She would have to the current drop off for that quarter to ensure the parties in questions would receive the new items... and it would serve to keep the other branches unaware of the going on until they locate the moles. Which meant she had to shuffle around her human resources AGAIN.
 
Running the numbers she would able to acquire everything the heads wanted and officially OK most of the other items in the list. Some of it she couldn't fulfil due to the amount of turn around time needed to acquire them. They weren't eyebrow raising items. Nobles were commonly in the habit to buy gems due to the game of showmanship and postulating prestige. It would just be a pain in the ass for her to get her hands on them because that meant she had to spend time in the auction house or get off her ass and finally establish a formal agreement with a jeweler, which she despised. "They're going to try to sell me a bunch of useless shit again. I don't even like jewelries."
 
Going back to the stack she read through another request. Regarding this request she did write a note regarding some of the items, asking for clarification and requesting an update. The quartermaster had just been swapped out. The new gal, from what she heard, seemed to be a reasonable sort. Her Aunts had given the Lady their (standard) endorsement. Because there was not an (un)official letter from the heads or her mentor, she would be treated as a regular employee. That report was filled, filed, and sorted.
 
Diving back into the pile she finished reading the last of the letters, after translating the paper it was dumped into the fireplace. This room was especially cold, only the gods know why. But it was fine. The location was very secure, it's what she paid for, and tied to the temple of Barasios. Due to the amount of money she was required to move due to her work her mentor and Aunts insisted. And that meant that to a select small group she now pinged on their radar. She kept to herself and feverently hoped that they wouldn't bother her. After enough personal papers were thrown into the fire she added soiled newspapers. It was best to make sure that there was enough 'stuff' in there to muddle things in case magic was involved.. After a bit she added a few more logs.
 
Having built up different enterprises to help support her family she looked to see what the current roster looked like. She needed a few more tinkerers. The armory, from what she read in the last report, was poorly managed. No, it wasn't poorly managed, it was left to rot. The maintenance was purposely gutted, and she suspected foul play... But the report regarding the full damages to the armory hadn't come in yet. Whatever hadn't rusted... well maybe it could be melted down and turned into hob nails or something. They did a fine job hamstringing the family's soldiers. "Which is why I'm footing that bill." Looking over another ledger she mumbled, "This can't be right. Sniffles told me soldiers eat 2-3 times more than normal people. I should increase the rations. Uh, that's another trade deal. I should have gone into the merchants guild." She clicked her tongue in frustration as she fixed the form.
 
"I need... at least another half a dozen blacksmiths and enough apprentices to support them. I don't even want to think about the other weapons..." She sighed as she leaned back talking to Feathers, "It's a good thing I don't need to manage the estate and I'm only managing the support. My poor aunts... Mom would roll over in her grave if she knew what had happened," Scarlet said to Feathers.
 
Brutus rolled over. Lazy-Daisy didn't even lift her head and Feathers moved to the bird perch behind her chair. He was claiming the spot of the 'most important pet'. Brutus knew better than to get into fights with him. Daisy was too lazy to care.
 
The rest of the morning she continued to sift through paperwork. Only getting up to accept the deliveries of more firewood, the daily delivered lunch spread, and the foreign newspaper that gets delivered on Tuesdays. Sitting back down she continued to work... Muttering the entire time.