Chapter 546: There Is No Such Project

"Before we get started, let me first offer my sincere apologize to you, Head Treasurer Oxley, I know that I have recently been the cause of much stress to you and your department," Lucas lowered his head sincerely.

Quinn Oxley, in return, let out a loud snort, her arms crossed as she glared at the boy, "You say that, but you have no intention of stopping, do you? In fact, I bet you’re planning on increasing my workload even further, aren’t you?"

Unable to deny the charge, Lucas just averted his eyes awkwardly.

"Haaaa..." Quinn let out a very long, very tired sigh as she slumped into her chair, muttering to herself, "Maybe I should just quit... those hard-headed old fools have been trying to get me removed ever since I took over. Perhaps its time I stop fighting and give them what they want."

Quinn was highly talented, but she was also very young, so it only made sense that those with seniority over her weren’t happy about her appointment as Head Treasurer by the Marquess and Elder Council.

That said, most of her rivals in the Treasury Department had gone silent over the past few months, probably re-evaluating whether they really wanted the position anymore given the near exponential growth in work that needed to be done.

In any case, today wasn’t just a chance for Quinn to get some payback, it was also her first opportunity to meet Lucas face-to-face, ask him all the questions she had piled up over this past half-year or so, and to judge for herself whether all the stress he had put her through was worth it.

If she found that the projects and proposals that were constantly flying across her desk were just dead-ends with no hope of success, she would ruthlessly cut off funding for them.

Quinn Oxley took her job very seriously, and the Balfour Family’s finances were actually under an enormous amount of strain right now, so even though Lucas was the Marquess’ First Disciple, she wouldn’t show him any favouritism if doing so meant compromising the family’s economic stability.

That being said, she was willing to set aside her personal grievances and hear him out with as open a mind as possible.

It was this unbiased and duty-driven attitude which had earned her the position of Head Treasurer in the first place. When it came to managing the finances of a large force like the Balfour Family, competency was naturally the most important qualification, but integrity and fairness were pretty close seconds.

Corrupt bureaucrats might be useful in the short run, especially if one also had corrupt intent, but they were terrible in the long-term, not that truly corrupt bureaucrats tended to live long in the Balfour Family under Celestina’s rule and Great Elder Pauline’s watchful eye.

Speaking of Pauline Balfour, Quinn had actually complained to her on multiple occasions about all the new requests for funding coming from the Marquess and her First Disciple, both in terms of the number of requests and the amounts of money being demanded.

Unfortunately for her, the Great Elder had unequivocally declared that all funding requests were to be given the highest priority consideration for approval.

This point had always bothered Head Treasurer Oxley, but she had let it slide so-far as she had almost unwavering trust in Pauline’s judgement; after all, the Great Elder was the one who recommended her to her current post over all her other colleagues.

Still, this was an opportunity for Quinn to finally get some answers about where the millions of Gold Coins that were flowing out of the family’s coffers were going and what they were being used for. This was especially the case for the projects which were marked ’classified’, as those requests tended to be annoyingly vague despite asking for the most money.

Hell, there was even one request which had been personally written and signed by Celestina demanding 10 million Gold and 1 million Low-Grade Spirit Crystals be set aside for it without providing any additional details.

Furthermore, Quinn was to personally and exclusively oversee this account and all transactions into and out of it.

There were also to be no physical records of any kind kept with the exception of a single ledger that Quinn was to carry on her at all times.

As far as anyone else was concerned, this project simply didn’t exist.

"Project Ascension, was it..." Quinn Oxley muttered, only to be startled in the next instant as a heavy pressure instantly descended upon on her.

Sitting up straight in her chair, the rather petite Head Treasurer looked over to see two pairs of eyes glaring fiercely at her, causing her to lower her head, "Forgive me, Lady Crest, Young Master Lucas. That was inappropriate of me."

Narrowing her eyes, Allina glared at Quinn for a few seconds longer before snorting and withdrawing her Cultivation Aura, "See to it that this doesn’t happen again, Head Treasurer Quinn, or there will be serious consequences."

As for Lucas, his earlier contrite tone had vanished as he declared coldly, "There is no such project, Lady Oxley. You would do well to remember that."

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Quinn Oxley again realized that while she was part of the upper echelon of the Balfour Family, a member of the ruling Elder Council, in fact, there were still some secrets that even she was not supposed to touch.

She and Allina were close friends, so for the latter to openly threaten her just went to show how important whatever Project Ascension was.

Even Lucas, who she had been treating rather casually, suddenly gave her a rather ominous, even dangerous feeling.

Logically, there should have been no way for an 11-year-old Sixth Step Body Tempering boy to intimidate her, a Mid-Rank Spirit Initiate, but somehow that was exactly what was happening, like crossing Lucas on this matter would be a fatal mistake.

Good thing I didn’t ask Great Elder Pauline about it, Quinn thought to herself before nodding once, clearing her throat, and getting back to the subject at hand, "Tell me what you plan to do here in Torren Ridge, and why the Treasury should approve a special budget for it."

Raising his brow slightly, Lucas was actually quite impressed how quickly the Head Treasurer was able to adapt, brushing aside the previous matter in the blink of an eye and pretending it never even happened.

This was actually a good opportunity to re-set the whole dynamic here, so Lucas didn’t hesitate to play along, a casual smile returning to his lips as he announced, "I am here, along with a couple of my colleagues from the blacksmithing team, to conduct a comprehensive study of the Balfour Family’s mining and ore processing industries."

"Specifically, we will be looking for ways to incorporate a new invention we have recently completed into these industries to significantly boost production of both raw metals and refined ingots."

"Oh?" The clear and concise description of Lucas’ purpose and intent came as a bit of a surprise to Quinn. She had naturally read all the various funding requests submitted under Lucas’ name, but up until now she had assumed they had been written by one of the more senior members of the Balfour Family on the boy’s behalf.

Now, it appeared, Lucas was writing these proposals himself, something that piqued her interest.

Additionally, as the Head Treasurer in charge of all large-scale financial matters in the Balfour Family, the steadily increasing consumption of metals, and their subsequent increase in price, had not been missed by Quinn.

If Lucas really had a way to significantly boost production at the family’s mines, Quinn wouldn’t have a problem approving the necessary funding.