Accountant Isekai

Years went by since I went to the Holy See. I reached the age of fifteen, making me a legal adult under Greenrivers law.

A day after my birthday, my father brought me into the solar. He sat at a desk with numerous documents in front of him.

“You’re an adult now, and you might end up with a fief of your own someday. You might even rule over my lands if I die. You need to learn more about how we rule.”

Getting used to spellcasters saying “if” rather than “when” while talking about death took some getting used to, but it was pretty appealing.

“I understand, Father,” I said.

He smiled, “Good. Now, Gustav, you’ve had some training in logistics, but I think it’s time that you take a look at our family’s finances. I’ve got the records right here.”

My father handed me a large stack of papers. I smiled. Learning my family's economic situation would help me know how I can best help the commoners. As someone who was an accountant in my past life, I’d be able to understand it in seconds.

I did.

I fainted.

I woke up in bed with my parents and Joanna standing above me. Relief flowed over their faces.

“Thank the gods,” Mother smiled. “You’re oka…”

Before she could continue, I grabbed her and my father by their shirts and yanked them close to me.

“ARE YOU TWO COMPLETELY INSANE? YOU’RE GOING TO KILL US ALL!”

“W-What are you…” my father started.

“THE KING OWES US 2,000 GOLD DUCATS!”

That was the equivalent of about 90 million Euros or 100 million USD when I died.

I said, “You’re my parents, but I won’t let either of you destroy our family! Father, get on the crystal ball right the fuck now and tell the king that his debts are forgiven! Tell him that he doesn’t need to pay us even a single bronze trachy back.”

My father asked, “Gustav, are you kidding? Do you have any idea how much money that is?”

“That’s exactly the problem. We aren’t getting a single bronze trachy of that money back even if you don't cancel the debt. Kings don’t need to pay their debts.”

“The law says…”

“The law doesn't matter! His Majesty makes the law! Do you really think he’s beholden to it?” I glared.

“But His Majesty’s an honorable man,” Father stated.

“That is completely irrelevant,” I said. “Humans are built for survival, and when he racks up too much debt, he’ll decide to reduce how much he has to pay. We’ll be first on the chopping block.”

“This is ridiculous!”

“Shut up! I’m not letting us suffer the fate of the Knights Templar!” I said.

“The what?” father asked.

Fuck. I might have just blown my cover. How would Father react if he found out I was reincarnated from another world and had the memories of my past life? I didn’t want to find out. I thought fast.

I said, “Dʰéǵʰom told me about them. They were a group of holy knights from another world, but the king of a place called France owed them money. So, the king accused them of crimes and tortured them into confessing so he wouldn’t have to repay them. He killed most of the Templars who were in France and had their entire order disbanded.”

Reality sunk in for my parents.

“We…we need the money,” my father stated.

“How badly?” I asked.

“We’ll run out of money in one month without it.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Tell his majesty that the debts are forgiven,” I said. “I will get the money.”

If I didn’t get the money, I’d have to forget about helping the peasants because my family would be joining them!

First quest in this fantasy world: find some way to not run out of money!

I walked through the city of Blitzburg with Joanna. Before we entered the city, I spent over an hour thinking and coming up with plans. Our situation was desperate, and I needed a plan to at least keep things from getting worse. I hoped to hell that the plan I came up with works.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“The merchant’s guild,” I answered.

“You want to borrow money from them?”

“No. I’ll only borrow money as a last resort. I have a different proposal for the merchants,” I said.

“Dʰéǵʰom,” I thought. “Do they have debits and credits in this world?”

He said, “I don’t know. And before you ask why the god of humanity doesn’t know this, I don’t know every single thing the people here do. There’s too much to keep track of, even for a god.”

“Let’s hope they don’t have them. I might be able to make use of this.”

Before we put everything on computers, debits and credits were an essential part of accounting. Under the debits and credits system, you divide the pages of your financial journal into two sides. The left side entries are debits and the right side entries are credits. When you make an entry to one side, you also make an entry to the other. If the two sides aren't equal, something's wrong. In short, debits and credits are incredibly handy for finding errors and detecting theft.

If I could introduce the debits and credits system to merchants, I could have them pay me money in exchange for its use. And if they decided to use it without paying me, I could sue them for copyright infringement. Yes, they had copyright in this world. But wait, it gets even better! The benefits of debits and credits would make the merchants of Blitzburg more successful. That would increase my family’s tax revenue.

However, there was one massive problem: in my world, we had the debits and credits system since the late Middle Ages. Since the 1400s specifically. I was banking on this world not having the debits and credits system. If it did, I’d have to come up with some other plan and fast.

I strode into the merchant’s guild, a large building with statues of the god of wealth decorating its exterior. Many people dressed in fine clothes were seated at tables. They were discussing various manners of business. Or at least they were until I stepped inside. All their eyes turned to me. One merchant stood up.

“What brings you to our guild today, Lord Gustav?” he questioned.

“You don't need to be so deferential. I’m here to talk business,” I sat down at his table. “Show me your books.”

There was a moment of hesitation. None of these men wanted to show their records to someone outside their business, but I was the son of the lord of this city. They wouldn’t want to risk my father's displeasure either. The merchants gazed at each other, a wordless understanding passing between them.

Finally, one of the merchants handed me a journal. I opened it and looked inside.

“Yes!” I thought. “This is perfect!”

“No debits and credits?” Dʰéǵʰom asked.

“No debits and credits,” I answered.

I handed the book back to him and smiled at the merchants.

“I have something good for you," I said.

A few hours later, I was back in the castle. I was sitting at a table in my family's solar. Numerous books filled with our records were in front of me.

“We got a small down payment and, if everything goes well, we’ll get a payment at the end of the month from each merchant that adopts the debits and credits system,” I ran the numbers. “With our expenses, that means we’ll be afloat for…a month and a day.”

I slammed my head against the table.

Dʰéǵʰom wondered, “What are you spending so much money on, anyway?”

“Most of it’s going to diplomatic costs. The king assigned my family the duty of keeping good relationships with the High Elves. Here’s the exact letter he sent my father 65 years ago.”

It read:

To Count Blitzberg,

Make sure that we have good relations with the High Elves and keep them the fuck away from me by any means necessary! They aren’t worth conquering, and if one of those bastards comes into my court, asking me for drugs again, I’m throwing them out a window!

From His Majesty, King Eduard the Defenestrater.

“My parents interpreted that as paying for their drugs,” I sighed. “I can’t say it hasn’t worked, and it was manageable for a while, but the High Elves had a population explosion recently. Even if we got the money the king owed us, it would have just delayed things.”

"How fucked are your family's finances in general? I mean, outside of having to pay for the drugs," Dʰéǵʰom wondered.

"About 40% fucked. We get most of our money from taxes. The rest comes from mines we own. But the mines haven't been productive lately. They're almost spent."

“So, what’s your plan now?” the god asked.

I answered, “Find some way to get enough money to keep us afloat for a few months. That'll give me some time to come up with a permanent solution. Well, I bought us a day, and I don’t want to rush into any stupid decisions. I’ll go to bed.”

I saw a great fire, rising higher and wider than any nuclear explosion. It swept across the land. Everything in its path was set aflame. The entire kingdom burned, followed by the continent. A small breeze of wind sent up storms of ash that choked out the sun. Soon, there was nothing left but a charred wreck.

“Shit!” I woke up in a cold sweat.

Dʰéǵʰom wondered, “What is it?”

“I had a horrible dream.”

“A dream? Tell me it. It might be prophetic.”

One telling him my dream later…

“Yeah, it’s definitely prophetic. It shows what’ll happen if you don’t do something. Well, I'm not sure what you have to do, but you have to do something.”

“Merde. It's up to me to save the world from being set on fire?” I felt like I was at the bottom of the ocean from all the pressure.

“No, you see, the fire’s metaphorical,” Dʰéǵʰom said. “It represents the economy.”

I shouted, “That’s even worse! A big fire can be put out with enough water, but that won't work with the economy!”

The various servants who slept in the same room as me jolted awake. Dʰéǵʰom muttered something about me not being normal.

“Is something wrong, Lord Gustav?” one of my guards asked.

“If I don’t act soon, the economy’s going to be on fire!” I explained. “There’s only one solution that I can think of on such short notice!”

“And that would be, my lord?”

“I’m risking my life by jumping into some random dangerous mission that’s also worth a lot of money. In short, I’m becoming an adventurer.”