The Founder of the Great Financial Family - Chapter 36

The old man thought that perhaps Rockefeller was the most daring and quick-thinking boy he had ever encountered.

“You’re a strange person,”

It was the little girl who had led the conversation but now she was the one who felt uncomfortable.

On the other hand, Rockefeller felt no inconvenience in dealing with this little girl as if dealing with any other commoner.

‘What are you so taken-aback about? You told me to talk comfortably so I’m taking comfortably.’

“If you tell me where you felt the problem lies, I will try to answer you sincerely,”

When Rockefeller tried asking again, the girl begant to react.

“There was nothing on that promissory note that guaranteed gold coins, nevertheless, you gave me the coins without any problems here. Can’t you feel anything weird about that?”

“Yes, that’s true, but as written on the promissory note, it’s guaranteed with the promissory note issued by the Lord as collateral, that’s why it can be exchanged for Talents.”

“Do the people here believe that the Lord will never fall?”

“Yes, of course. The Lord is like the sky is he not?”

It was then that the man who intervened between the two.

“There is nothing eternal about a Lord or his territory, boy. Even in times like these, there will be Lords who will disappear due to political problems within the Empire or territories that will be invaded by foreign powers,”

Of course, Rockefeller understood what they were taking issue with.

And what Rockefeller wanted was that their line of questioning to not spread to others.

‘I know it all too well – but I need to take advantage of the ignorance of those who don’t.’

“We’ve never thought that the Lord or this land might fall. And if you’re a Lord, isn’t it natural that there wouldn’t be a problem?”

The man pointed out again,

“That complacency is the problem. To issue a promissory note that holds no worth beyond the Lord’s own promissory note – a Lord on the periphery of a territory, not even the imperial family! Usually when it comes to a promissory note, it should be gold coins used as collateral, not the Lord’s credit.”

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to say in the middle of a conversation, but are there any problems with the Talent we gave you?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“If what you had just said is the problem, of course it would be our shop that would suffer the damage – but I was wondering if you were worried about our shop? As you said, if the Lord’s credit is damaged, the we’ll get the damage – since we issued the promissory notes with the Lord’s credit as collateral and gave out the gold coins,”

The girl answered shortly,

“Not only you, but many people will suffer because of the Lord,”

“As you said, that would only happen when if things went wrong, right?”

The girl waited quietly to see what Rockefeller would say,

“But our Lord’s credit status is very good right now. Our Lord… he pays his interest on time, and he has never once caused trouble because of debt problems,”

Rockefeller put on an innocent smile that screamed ‘I’m a good person’.

“That’s why we can comfortably use the promissory note that puts the Lord’s loan as collateral. If they Lord’s credit was bad, would we give out Talents for such a promissory note, that might become more a worthless piece of tissue one day? Of course not,”

The girl glanced at the man behind her when she heard that the Lord’s credit status was better than expected, and the man was lost in thought for a moment but soon, he gave Rockefeller the reaction he had wanted.

“If the Lord’s credit here is sound… then I don’t think it would cause any big problems,”

“Are there no threats here?”

“As I said, this is a territory on the periphery of the Empire. It’s a peaceful place where no territorial or political issues come to mind,”

As he thought about it, the man was able to recall the old name this territory had,

“A long time ago, this place was called the Azrak Godmine, and was the land of the Dwarfs,”

“Azrak Goldmine? I think I’ve heard of that.”

“Yes, it was one of the more well-known gold mines on the continent. But now, I hear that all the gold veins have dried up and died and that this territory had been incorporated into the imperial territory after the dwarves withdrew from it,”

The little girl pointed out the small possibility of hope,

“If there was such a big gold vein int he past, wouldn’t it still be there?”

The man however, denied even the small possibility of such a thing,

“My lady, the dwarves, who care more for gold than their own limbs, would not be that soft. If there were any gold veins alive on this land, there would be no reason for them to abandon it. But they left – without any regrets.That means this land is already dead.”

As thought to emphasise his words, the man continued,

“There’s a good reason for everything in the world, My Lady,”

The girl lost what she could say when even the idea that there was gold in this land that could cause conflict had been dried up.

What was clear was that there was definitely a problem with those strange promissory notes issued by this Banco.

However in order for those problems to arise, the situation in this land had to take a turn for the worse or the Lord’s credit status had to be disturbed.

But since there was no way to point that out anymore, she as an outsider, could not take any further issue with it.

“Is that so?”

Well, if there was no specific or immediate problem then getting involved was rather a nuisance.

Rockefeller, who watched their exchange closely, judged that the girl would probably not throw out any other issues on the subject and said,

“Thank you very much for your concern about our shop, but if the Lord’s credit is strong, there will likely be no problems,”

She had exchanged her promissory notes for Talents.

All of her questions had been answered too.

When there was nothing more to see, the girl looked at the man and the man acted quickly, having understood the meaning.

“Then, shall we go?”

The girl who turned to follow the man without reply, suddenly turned back and asked Rockfeller and unexpected question,

“What if – what if there was a problem with the Lord’ credit? It probably won’t happen, but what if it does?”

1 in 10-thousand.

What would you do if that 1 in 10-thousand thing happened?

Rockefeller paused at the girls question. Then he answered without a lie.

“At that time, we would somehow find a way to get the money we lent back no matter what.”

The girl had asked the question without expected much a response.

However, the girl was surprised, and even the man, who was holding the door at the threshold of the shop turned around and looked at Rockefeller.

Would such words come from a 15-year-old boy?

At that moment, they could no longer see Rockefeller as the young banco assistant who lowered himself to deal with nobility.

Sitting in that chair behind the counter, he looked like a devilish creditor, who would do anything to get his money back.

“If I am unable to receive money from my Lord, I’ll take something of corresponding worth instead. If there is no money to reimburse his debt, then the rights of his castle and his lordship – and if he didn’t even have that, then the land would do. If he didn’t have the land, then I would take the Lord’s soul.”

Rockefeller once again smiled the bright and innocent smile at the two, who had yet to move another step.

“After all, we never do business that causes a loss.”