Agent Seven, I’ve got big news for you. The Rell contract has been completed to the satisfaction of the holders. This means that they’re going to see through the rest of the construction costs on the company keep south of the city. I’m sure you’re the first to appreciate just how much gold flow that opens up for us. As such, I have a few suggestions.
Let’s see if we can’t turn this gold into some more gold. After all, upkeep on the keep is going to be a significant gold sink by itself. I might suggest wilderness guide and escort services, especially if I can get Agent Five to take an interest in vetting candidates for the job—by no means a guarantee that she’ll approve of any, but a possibility. Another idea might be services with high entry barriers but low incremental costs: say, smithing for nails and horseshoes. The common folk may be underserved by the wealthy craftsmen who can afford to be in the business.
Make some friends among the old landowners. As the nouveau riche, we’re going to face the usual feudal challenges. I have confidence in our ability to field those, especially with my background and Agent Zero’s techniques, but the more tools we have at our disposal the less painful it will be.
Hire and train yourself some assistants. Since we’ve never breached this subject before: you have my word that we are not out to replace you. But consider what one of my old teachers at the academy taught about the “wyvern factor:” if an ornery reptilian were to swoop down from the sky and make off with one or more members of your group (they’ve got big talons!), what’s the smallest number of people it could do so with that would cripple your endeavor? It turns out that number right now is one, and we’re not doing our duty to the world if we don’t take care of that risk. Again: you are one of our most valuable, dependable agents, and so long as you keep up your work we will never fail to honor that. But catastrophes happen and we need to be ready for them. And with how busy we’ll be in the future, I thought you might appreciate a higher capacity to take on the challenges.
As always, I treasure your counsel on matters of coin. If you ever believe it may be better spent in pursuit of our quest to better this world, convince me and I’ll be right there with you.
Oh, and by the way, I have yet to expend that 500 gp asset I told you about. Here’s to hoping I never need to.
Regards,
Agent Three