Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 633 - 633 297 Faction Pendragon

633: Chapter 297 Faction: Pendragon 633: Chapter 297 Faction: Pendragon “…Last year, the total income of the Baron Domain was 12,561 gold crowns…

….The total fiscal expenditure for the year was 20,666 gold crowns.

Among them, the total military expenditure for maintaining the Knight Order, Security Team, and 600 warhorses in the Horse Governance Office was 18,372 gold crowns.

The salaries of territory administrative officials and various miscellaneous expenses amounted to 2,054 gold crowns.

The expenditure on servants in Avalon Castle’s Inner Court was 240 gold crowns…”

Azeryan, who serves as both the Chief of Public Affairs and the Knight Order Chief, reported the financial receipts and expenditures of the territory in an orderly manner to Leon.

Looking at the document in his hand, Leon listened quietly.

Even without considering the funds consumed by last year’s wedding celebration and knight tournament, just the account’s territorial revenue and expenditure had a fiscal deficit of 8,105 gold crowns.

However, Leon was not anxious, for without counting this massive expenditure covering more than half of the deficit, the territory’s current revenues and expenditures were actually balanced.

If it weren’t for the horse maintenance costs, there would even be an annual surplus of 2,587 gold crowns.

Out of that over 20,000 gold crowns yearly expenditure, 10,692 gold crowns were used for rearing those 550 fine warhorses acquired from Eastern Kantadar; the horse governance truly is a big spender.

Of course, even with the large sum spent on horse governance, Leon was not worried about a financial crisis.

Indeed, Avalon Castle was not short on money now.

After the Undead War, from the enormous compensation paid by the Shatai family and the Baldim family to the Thorny Flower Family’s troops, Avalon received a total of 20,000 gold coins.

And among the spoils of war distributed from military merits during the war, the various gains amounted to as high as 40,000 to 50,000.

With last year’s recovery, the territory income Avalon gained was also over 10,000, so now the wealth accumulated at Avalon Castle is enough to live extravagantly for six to seven years without worry.

This hasn’t even counted the treasure wagons that Uncle Bryan, or rather, now to be called father-in-law, brought back from somewhere far north after he and Olivia were married.

Claimed to be Olivia’s dowry.

Of course, Leon did not intend to touch the wealth his father-in-law hoarded for his wife over years, but just locked it in the depths of the Treasury.

After all, Leon believed that when the territory further develops in the coming years, especially after spring arrives and commercial ties are established with the Holy War Alliance Lords of the Great Domain of Sobonitz, it won’t be difficult to fill this over 8,000 fiscal deficit within a few years.

The victory in the Battle of Rolannar was very timely, as the Undead War didn’t severely affect the internal territory, and the Baron Domain recovered quickly from the war, especially as the administrative system was gradually set up, and is now able to manage various aspects of the territory effectively.

Currently, the territory has established six main government departments under the “One Hall Five Institutes,” gradually moving away from the makeshift teams used during initial land governance.

First is the “Administrative Hall,” serving as the highest administrative nucleus of the territory, responsible for coordinating the execution of various territorial policies and coordinating the operations of other departments, under the leadership of Azeryan as the “Chief Public Affairs Director.”

The dozens of village officials and town mayors on the territory are required to come to the Administrative Hall at Avalon Castle annually to report the situation of various locales to Azeryan.

And the two militia patrol units led by the “Chief of Public Security” Larian, covering various areas, also come under the direct jurisdiction of the Administrative Hall.

Then, under the leadership of Miss Elena as the “Tax Director,” the “Finance Bureau” serves as the fiscal and tax center of the territory, responsible for coordinating territory-wide tax collection and management, formulating annual income and expenditure budgets, and auditing the accounts of each institution.

Such an important department could only be trusted with Leon’s Inner Court Chief Steward, Lokhak’s sister, in charge.

In the future, an independent “Audit Office” might be established to prevent long-term issues of official corruption within the finance department.

But now there is a shortage of talent and a scarcity of officials, with even a single tax officer performing the duties of three people; maintaining the department’s structure is barely feasible.

Leon trusts Miss Elena very much, so until students from the Loyal Legacy Academy graduate and supplement the territory’s talent, he’s not in a hurry to expand and perfect the administrative organization.

Next, Lady Martha serves as the “Market Chief” leading the “Market Supervision Institute,” which manages various large and small commercial activities within the territory, supervises the internal ranches, fixed markets, mobile caravans, regulates prices, issues commercial licenses, and inspects for smuggling.

Of course, the biggest problem for this department is also a lack of educated numerate personnel.

Then there’s Hawk, taking the role of “Stable Chief” leading the “Horse Governance Office.”

The complex affairs of the currently occupying half of the fiscal budget’s more than 500 warhorses and various draft animals in the territory, accompanied by over a hundred coachmen, was enough for Leon to have to officially establish an administrative department focused on horse maintenance.

Lastly, Lady Wenreisa serves as the “Education Director” leading the “School Affairs Office,” and Miss Milena as the “Medical Director” leading the “Medical Office.”

These two departments are much smaller compared to the other institutions.

The School Affairs Office currently only needs to manage a few teachers and more than a hundred students at the Loyal Legacy Academy.

Within the Medical Office, even including Miss Milena, there are only a total of seventeen physicians.

Two Fort Doctors, ten outstation doctors distributed across the major villages and towns, and four Territory Traveling Doctors, most of whom were personally taught by Miss Milena in the past two years.

Although not numerous, under Kovis’s guidance, this batch of barefoot doctors in Avalon Territory maintains a medical proficiency higher than 90% of the civilian physicians in the Western Continent.

Aside from these, Leon anticipates that in the future, when it comes to constructing civil infrastructure, specialized “Engineering Institutes” and “Prison Institutes” will be established, separating prison functions from the Security Team to prevent abuse of authority.