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Ogra and Nami continued to bicker.

“Magellan, please bring out the rule book!” Ogra asked.

Magellan complied by taking out a fat pocketbook from his satchel that was apparently a government-circulated copy of the nation’s constitution. He showed it to Nami.

”Section 2, Financial Regulations. Part B, Outstanding Balance/Debt. According to Rule 1-B of Section 2-B, an outstanding balance is the balance of a bank account where the owner is in debt. Rule 1-A states that to be in debt is to own one or more bank accounts that were used to attempt a payment, but the owner of the account(s) failed to complete the payment in full due to the result of being unable, or not having enough money to, complete it.” Magellan read the rule book as if he knew it by heart.

”Rule 1-C states that to fulfill, pay off, or return a debt is to complete any incomplete or unpaid payments in full. Rule 2-A states that interest is defined as 1% of the debt, that is added every January 1. It is additional compensation for a late payment and is only allowed in some territories.” Magellan pulled out a whiteboard. “If a debt starts at $50,000,” he explained, “a year later, 1%, or $500 in this case, will be added, raising the debt to $50,500. The next year, $505 will be added, raising the debt to $51,005. In year three $510.05 will be added, raising the debt to $51,515.05, and so on and so forth. According to Rule 2-B, interest is rounded to the nearest cent, or hundredth of a dollar, so in the fourth year, $515.15 will be added, raising it to $52,030.20.”

”Rule 2-C states that interest can’t be charged in the regions of the Great Gorge, Danai Valley, Beresford County, and Maini Terrace and any regions within 10 kilometers of them due to them being used for governmental purposes and administrative tasks.”

Nami got angry. “JUST GET TO THE POINT! DOES HE OWE ME OR DOES HE NOT?!”

“Be patient, Kunami. Rule 3-A states that if less than 50% of the debt has been paid for after eight consecutive January 1’s, the offender may be charged with debt evasion and be sentenced to prison. Rule 3-B states that other fees such as property taxes and electricity bills must be paid, and the debt evader can still collect their paychecks until their debt is completely fulfilled. Once it is, the offender is released from prison, put under constant tracking by the Federal Financial Agency, and not allowed to make financial transactions above $5,000 for five years.”

“AHA!” Kunami exclaimed. “I’ve caught you now. It’s been seven years. You owe me $400,000. If you don’t gimme at least $175,000 before January 1, 2024, they’ll put you behind bars until you can pay, Ogurakusai.”

Ogra just shrugged. “Magellan, can you go over 1-D? If the person in debt was lent something by the other individual, then the second individual, or the lender, can only charge up to 85% of how much they bought it for. Your grand pirate brigade ship was *secondhand*, and Rule 4-A of Section 2-C states that for each full year that a piece of property is in use, its original value decreases by 5%. Do you have the property documents?” Kunami handed over some official-looking papers.

”Its original cost was $500,000, and had been used for eighteen years previously. It was made in 1998 by Calamansi Waterworks. So let’s sort this out.” Magellan pulled up the whiteboard. “I’m done for now. Ogra, you do the math.”

Ogra pulled out a calculator. “If you do half a million dollars times nought point ninety-five raised to eighteen…you’d only get two hundred thousand since it’s rounded to the nearest thousand. So you can only charge me $170,000 and I need to pay you $85,000 before the end of the year!”

Kunami frowned. “GRRR! So it looks like the rulings have got me. But if you don’t give me eighty-five k’s before January 1, I’m reporting you to the government. Does that clear things up now?”

Ogra sighed. “Fine…I’ll pay you upfront. Kailyen, let’s go to the bank.”

Magellan replied, “Yes, Ogra. Zebu, you coming?”

Zebu nodded. Magellan handed Zebu a map and asked him to check where the bank was. In grade school Zebu’s highest-scoring subjects were Mathematics and Computer Science. Now he was completing his grad