Chapter 130. Interest is really sweet. (3) He makes a living by working as a peddler.
It was good to find a way to make sure I could earn it, but I didn’t have the money to buy the product.
No matter how good a trade is, if there are no goods, there is no way for any competent merchant to hit the jackpot.
You can also borrow money if you don’t have it.
However, until now, it should be seen as a way for merchants to borrow money.
Borrowed from acquaintances, or from merchants or usurers.
However, neither method was difficult for him.
First of all, there was no one willing to lend money.
Moreover, it was even more difficult to borrow money from merchants or moneylenders.
I will have to borrow it
But how much interest will you have to pay?
No matter how profitable a business may be, if you lose all the money you earned from interest, it is meaningless to go through hardships while doing business.
I got a good number of cases, but should I give up?
Then, I found it on the bulletin board of the company affiliated with the car.
This is an official notice about a recently established bank.
At the bank of Ernesia Kingdom, you can borrow money at an interest rate that is quite ordinary compared to usurers.
Reliability was certain because it was an interest publicly guaranteed by the state.
‘…Can I borrow it?!’
After hearing the news, I went to the bank of the rumor while going with dubious doubt.
After that, following the guidance of the clerk, I checked the necessary documents and an ID that could guarantee his identity, and started a full-fledged consultation.
I got a confirmation that I could lend you money.
In addition, the interest is more common sense than borrowing from a merchant.
Of course, the cost of not being able to repay was not light, but even that was not comparable to the tyranny of merchants and moneylenders.
Even if you are not afraid of heavy interest, you can reach out to the business you dreamed of.
Other merchants who heard the rumors began to use the bank slowly.
some to borrow money.
Others put their money in a trustworthy bank.
The number of customers of Ernesia Bank gradually increased.
On the other hand, among the nobles, the reaction was lukewarm at first.
“There is nothing more unreliable than the safe in my mansion!”
Most nobles still trusted their coffers rather than banks.
Even if the kingdom advertised that it would even guarantee compensation in case of loss, in the end, it must be a person’s heart that you can feel safe when you hold it in your hands.
It was an incident that changed their perception.
In the past, a group of thieves, considered quite a nuisance, had been rampant in the kingdom.
There were thieves who were targeting convoys loaded with goods of nobles, or raiding the houses of wealthy people who were rather poorly guarded.
Of course, there was no way that Ernesia Bank would not come into their eyes.
Although raiding an institution managed by the kingdom would be quite reckless even for them.
The news that vast funds were entrusted there was enough to blind the wicked by itself.
“Attack the wagon transporting money!”
Thieves had their eyes on the money managed by the bank.
However, it is impossible even for them to attack the headquarters in the capital.
I came up with a plan to rob a branch or convoy.
Basically, when the convoy passes by, the route is secretly attached.
Through their efforts, they managed to obtain information about the wagon’s route to the point.
However, there was also an opinion that it was dangerous to raid the bank in which the youngest prince invested.
To those subordinates, the leader of the bandits confidently shouted, “Be at ease.”
They will be fully prepared for the attack.
I was full of confidence because I was provided with sufficient equipment and information through some kind of route.
However, it was only then that they smiled meanly.
In terms of results, their plan eventually ended in failure.
Perhaps the skills of those escorting the wagons were more than those of the Knights.
It was because he never dreamed that all of them would be made up of mercenaries who were Auro users.
Not only did they fail, but the entire band of bandits were eventually caught up in the wake of their colleague’s informant.
The escorts, all of whom are users.
Hearing the news that the money was guarded by guards equivalent to the first-class knights in most kingdoms, the nobles asked for advice to entrust their assets one by one.
In this way, the assets of the nobles were directed to Ernesia Bank one by one.
“Somehow it worked out.”
Marquis Carret smiled heartily.
My face was quite tired from the recent heavy work.
Still, I am genuinely happy that the banking business has started successfully.
“I thought it would take the longest for nobles to entrust money.
It was faster than I thought.”
I smiled bitterly over a cup of tea as I listened to him report on the current situation since the establishment of the bank.
Merchants, of course, would welcome the current banking structure if they could borrow money at a low interest rate and leave the money safely.
However, it was judged that it would take quite a while for the nobles to open the tightly locked safe.
“Marquis Karet, you ate too meanly.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He pretended not to know with a refreshing smile similar to mine.
Surprisingly, it was Marquis Karet who suggested a method that would lead to the opening of the nobles’ heavy safe.
He insisted that I need a performance to prove the safety of the bank.
The content was to deliberately release information to induce those who deliberately seek bank money to do tricks.
It was intended to clearly appeal how safe our bank is.
It doesn’t matter what information you say.
Just where does the escort wagon go? Where does he say he has so much money? It’s a buzz rumor.
Of course, I also considered that method.
But when he brought it up before I even proposed it, I was dumbfounded for a moment.
Well, it was a method I was considering, so I gave permission.
Marquis Carret used her skills to concoct a plan.
“It’s also an opportunity to wipe out the bandits anyway. This is a good thing.”
It’s true that this guy is too lazy to claim that.
But you are right.
There’s no way a mere thief could rob my bank.
From what I’ve heard, those thieves were famous for being quite a nuisance even among nobles.
yeah, it doesn’t make any sense
He personally hired people from Seina’s hometown as mercenaries.
Before putting them into the field, they went through rigorous training in our territory.
Even that was not enough, so we sponsored the equipment we made ourselves in our manor.
He has been a mercenary since the beginning, so he is familiar with escort work and knows the tricks of thieves.
And the equipment used is excellent, so there was no quality factor anywhere.
It’s not a thief, but it’s power to win lightly even if you fight with active knights.
That’s how I appealed to safety.
The conclusion is that the nobles gradually opened the vault door.
Even if it wasn’t so, the nobles who didn’t have a high level of enlisted soldiers seemed to be attracted to the fact that it was a vault protected by more reliable troops.
okay. How are you? good?.
‘Some idiot got caught in that.’
As a bonus, interrogating the thieves, there was a guy who secretly gave them weapons and some advice to help them rob banks.
That Countess Loubet.
Apparently, after I unilaterally reprimanded him for neglecting the undead last time, it seems that he deliberately instructed the thieves to approach and raid the bank as a way to prank me in return.
Thinking is the only way.
How stupid, I laughed.
Stupid bastard… Anyway, from my point of view, it’s good that I caught the number of things that would kill him faster.
Even if it wasn’t, I had to deal with him sooner or later, but it was annoying, so I left it alone, so it was really good that I self-destructed.
I won’t have to worry about it anymore.
Other than that, I have some guesses about the undead’s appearance last time, so I’m secretly investigating it.
However, this is just a stab at it, so don’t expect too much.
Anyway, now I am satisfied with the profits I gained from opening the bank.
The money deposited in the bank increases, the money borrowed increases, and the interest rate increases.
Currently, that is the basic revenue.
And a percentage of that revenue rolls into me.
A fraction of the total interest.
Looking at it this way, it seems a bit small, but the crumbs that actually fall on me are quite large.
This too is a pretty sweet benefit.
hmm? Does money smell very fragrant?
‘I can understand why moneylenders are stealing people’s backs with crazy interest rates.’
In general, usury is so sweet.
How sweet it must be to die because it sucks the honey that falls from the money that runs throughout the kingdom.
This is just the beginning.
If you gradually expand the role of the bank and start the financial business in earnest.
My influence and the amount of honey that can be sucked will increase.
It will not be long before I have a huge influence on the economic world, which is my original purpose, rather than simply profit.
Just imagining it makes me happy.
Sooner or later, no one in Korea will be able to touch me carelessly.
“Come to think of it, Mr. Arell? The currency reform is proceeding as instructed, but…
Marquis Karet, who was smiling happily after me, erased the smile from his mouth and mentioned the topic of currency reform.
“Is there a problem?”
“It’s not like that, but….
Currently, currency reform is also proceeding step by step.
Existing currencies are taking a structure that encourages them to be exchanged for new currencies through banks.
However, if you just ask them to change it, of course the merchants and citizens won’t follow it.
Little by little, it is induced by giving an advantage when trading or depositing through a new currency.
Fortunately, that too was being exchanged smoothly.
Since our assets are not easy anyway, it is quite easy to circulate existing gold coins as new currencies, so there is no problem.
But what is he worried about?
“It’s good to be exchanged… but what are you going to do with the currency after it’s been exchanged?”
“ah? Were you curious about that?”
I understood what Marquis Carret was worried about.
After exchanging the new currency, of course there will be old silver coins and gold coins.
Currency that is no longer used cannot serve as money.
“don’t worry. I’ve also thought of a place to deal with it.”
By now, the old currency must be eagerly diving one after another in the furnace of my estate.
If it cannot be used as currency, it eventually becomes a mass of silver and gold bars.
Anyway, gold and silver are precious metals that are quite valuable even here.
There’s nothing wrong with stacking them in my warehouse instead of currency.
It is a property and also a good experimental material for wizards and alchemists.
Silver and gold are useful materials not only for magic but also for science and technology.
This is also intended to be used in a useful place for me.
However, he did not bother to tell Marquis Karet about the purpose of this.
Because there is no need to explain.
Perhaps he noticed that too, and he rashly didn’t ask me about the handling of gold and silver.
“If it’s useless, shall we try at least gilding and silvering the castle? I think it will be shiny and very cool.”
“I don’t think that’s a bit off, since the servants will feel burdened.”
“I’m kidding?.”
….half of it.
….Umm ….Wouldn’t it be nice to gild the castle?
Somehow sullen…
“Did you seriously think it was cool?”
Oh, is it not? Absolutely not?
Even if you don’t have to worry, I don’t intend to use it in such a useless place.
