"I will try to do this job well, my lords!"
Just when everyone thought Kal would refuse this thankless position, he unexpectedly chose to accept it.
Even though Eddard Stark, the Hand of the King, had already stated that he would refuse it on Kal's behalf.
Eddard Stark frowned as he watched Kal calmly sit in the seat belonging to the Master of Coin, putting away that damned "appointment letter."
"Kal, this isn't a joke."
This time, Eddard did not address him as "Ser Kal," which meant he was speaking as an elder giving advice.
Kal naturally understood what the Hand meant.
"Lord Eddard, I know what I'm doing—just as I've come to understand the royal administration and finances during my time in King's Landing."
"But I believe I can do it, and I have confidence."
Kal sat upright in the chair that now belonged to him, confidence still written across his face.
Hearing those words, Eddard looked deeply into Kal's dark blue eyes. When he saw that Kal was neither joking nor retreating in the slightest, the Hand of the King finally smiled.
He was right—Kal was indeed Robert's most outstanding child.
Yet that truth only deepened the unease in Eddard's heart.
Still, he did not show it.
Instead, he took a deep breath and nodded. "Very well—welcome, Ser Kal Stone, Master of Coin."
Saying so, Eddard gave a light round of applause. In his capacity as Hand of the King, he was the first to acknowledge Ser Kal Stone as his new "colleague."
Varys's gaze betrayed no surprise; he too inclined his head in greeting and joined in polite applause.
In recognition of Kal's courage, Ser Barristan Selmy, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, also smiled and nodded toward him, raising a hand in gesture of acceptance.
After this simple welcoming ceremony, the appointment of Master of Coin Kal Stone was thus completed.
And Eddard formally began the first Small Council meeting of his life.
"Due to the war, our Master of Laws, Lord Renly Baratheon, and our Master of Ships, Lord Stannis Baratheon, are temporarily unable to attend this Small Council meeting—so we shall proceed as we are for now."
"As for His Majesty the King—he has 'urgent matters' to attend to!"
"We can hold the meeting first, and afterward I will report the results to His Majesty."
Just that simple opening made Eddard's face twitch slightly, as if it had taken great resolve to utter those words.
In his mind, he could still hear yesterday's scene when he went to report to Robert.
["I am the King, and you are my Hand—the Hand of the King! Ned, take this damned thing and get out of my room, then sit yourself down on the Iron Throne in my stead!"]
["You know what I'm going to do now—I can't hold it in another moment!"]
He could still recall how yesterday, when he had cornered Robert to discuss matters of state, that scoundrel had simply fished a badge out of the box by his bedside, tossed it at him, and urged his Hand to hurry off to work—while His Majesty the King had "more important" business to attend to immediately.
The badge was a silver brooch shaped like a hand, designed to fasten a cloak, and now it was worn at his throat.
The silver pin took the form of an open hand grasping a spiked ring.
And as the Hand of the King spoke those words through gritted teeth, the three others present naturally understood what Eddard meant.
As for the explanation concerning the King's absence, the three men seated at the long table each maintained their own expression—
—without revealing a trace.
For both Varys and Ser Barristan Selmy, this was no issue at all.
They had long since grown accustomed to Small Council meetings without the King's presence.
What was more, yesterday Ser Barristan, as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, had been on duty protecting the King—only to be dragged in by the Hand to work overtime the very next day.
After all, as the Hand had said in his opening remarks, the Small Council together with the King should number eight; yet even with the newly appointed Master of Coin, Kal Stone, they could barely make up four.
As for Kal, he was, of course, not unfamiliar with such a scene.
"Our beloved King Robert has far too many matters weighing on his mind," Varys said with a face full of smiles. "So he leaves these petty trifles to us, to lighten his burden."
Hearing Varys's attempt to smooth things over, Eddard still showed no sign of pleasure, his long face growing even longer.
He shot the sycophantic eunuch a sidelong glance, yet could only force himself to focus on the matters at hand.
"As for the Grand Maester slain by Gregor Clegane—my apologies, this is a grievous matter. Pycelle had served the royal family for forty years—"
Varys shot a subtle look toward Kal, but Kal did not return it.
"Gregor Clegane was steeped in sin. I am glad to have avenged him," Kal declared with righteous fervor, his voice filled with conviction.
Both the Hand of the King and the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard nodded in satisfaction.
"May the Seven bless—"
"May the Seven bless."
The four of them observed a brief, ceremonial silence.
"As for the appointment of a new Grand Maester, I will send word to the Citadel afterward and urge them to present a decision as soon as possible."
"Now, let us move to the main issue."
With a few concise words, Eddard swiftly concluded the preliminaries.
Now that the King's Master of Coin was in place—and having learned of the dire state of the royal finances—there was nothing else to do but address the matter first.
Thus, Hand of the King Eddard once again turned his gaze toward Kal.
"Ser Kal, regarding what you said just now—do you have any sound method to alleviate the Crown's current financial difficulties?"
Eddard asked.
But as he spoke, he suddenly remembered something and quickly added, "I do not wish to see more borrowing. Listen to me—our kingdom cannot endure further debt."
The Hand spoke earnestly, setting out his bottom line.
Having learned of the royal deficit and realized how severe the treasury's shortfall was, he was deeply anxious that the debt would only continue to grow.
As a lord himself, he was highly sensitive to such matters.
But as for Kal—who had long since prepared his own responses to these issues—he naturally would not resort to such "robbing Peter to pay Paul" measures.
During his time handling state affairs in King's Landing, he had been dealing with these numbers day after day—
—and so, inevitably, he had been thinking about ways to resolve these problems.
Such economic thinking, for someone who had once lived in the 21st century, had received a high level of compulsory education, and had further refined his mind through university studies—
Kal had no fewer than ten different ways to solve it.
So this problem was not difficult for him at all; in fact, he was perfectly confident.
As for his earlier outburst, it was simply because he hadn't expected that old bastard Robert Baratheon would dig such a pit for his own son.
Other people had wastrel sons—
—but in his case, he'd ended up with a wastrel father.
And though he had made great contributions to the very seat he was now sitting on, that old bastard had "repaid" him in this way.
How could that not be infuriating?
Yet he had to admit—the position of Master of Coin was indeed a grand feast—
—and an exceptionally sweet one.
As for that little trace of "poison," it was hardly surprising.
So Kal spoke with impassioned conviction: "Of course it won't be that kind of method, Lord Eddard."
"In fact, not only do I have ideas to resolve our debt problem—one might even say, I have a way to transform it into a far more powerful form of operation."
"What I mean is—I intend to make those debts 'circulate' in another form!"
Kal's bold words left everyone present taken aback.
"Debt is debt—how could something so intangible possibly circulate?"
Varys voiced the doubt that Ser Barristan Selmy and Eddard Stark both shared.
As a man friendly with the wealthy governors of Pentos, he possessed at least a modest sensitivity toward matters of economy.
"Why call it intangible? Its very existence means it's not illusory."
"Besides, isn't the most direct solution to stimulate it?"
"To bring it back to life—to set it flowing again!"
"To make the money multiply."
Kal said this with an easy smile, offering what seemed a simple, convenient, and efficient answer.
Yet he hadn't expected that, for the three sitting across the table, his words were far too abstruse.
"What?" Duke Eddard asked, utterly confused.
Noticing their continued bewilderment—and even the way they were looking at him as though he were a fool—
Kal finally realized what he had done.
Ideas too far ahead of their time could easily spell disaster here.
Realizing this, Kal slapped his forehead and hurried to make amends.
"All right, that's just one method—an idea, or rather, a way of thinking."
"But it would need a great deal of groundwork, and I doubt it could succeed."
Before he could even state his proposed solution, Kal had already rejected it himself.
Though in truth, the three high officials before him hadn't understood—or even grasped—anything he'd just said.
"So perhaps I should speak of something more concrete instead."
Kal decided not to play with such advanced economic games in this era, choosing instead something straightforward—
—at least enough to let them understand what he was doing and how he meant to solve the problem.
"For example?" The Hand did not dwell on Kal's earlier words; he was far more interested in something practical.
Varys and Ser Barristan Selmy also fixed their gazes on Kal.
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