The Founder of the Great Financial Family chapter 14

Episode 14 04. Became Banco’s Assistant (2)

“You have come too late.”

Carter glanced at the pocket watch in his hand and greeted Rockefeller, who had arrived just in time.

“Good morning. Uncle Carter.”

“Yeah, good morning.”

Carter sat facing Rockefeller before starting work.

A double-arm scale was placed on an antique wooden table between them.

“Did you say it was your first time doing this?”

“yes.”

“Then I should explain a few things before we start.”

Carter tried to explain what he was doing, as he couldn’t afford to leave the ignorant boy with the job.

“Do you know what a goldsmith does?”

“Roughly.”

“Yeah, you probably know. First of all, there are three main things I do.”

Hmmm!

Carter patted my beard with a brief cough and began to speak.

“The biggest thing is working with gold to make gold coins. Common gold has different shapes, so it is very inconvenient to trade. There are no standards.”

“That’s why we make things like gold coins. Easy to carry and easy to trade.”

“I know you well. But making gold coins is not an easy task for everyone.”

Rockefeller did not deny him.

As he said, the goldsmith business was something that no one could do.

“In order to do this job, you first need a special permit issued by the imperial family. And you need professional skills to work gold coins. It takes quite a bit of time to learn this. So I have no intention of letting you work goldsmithing. I’m thinking of doing something else instead.”

“yes.”

“Look at this first. This is the gold coin I made yesterday.”

Carter pulled out a gold coin with the portrait of the first emperor of the Empire from his bosom and showed it to Rockefeller.

“This is the Talent, the gold coin of the Empire. You’re a commoner, so you’ve probably seen it at least once, but with this one, you can eat and sleep in another country for at least a month.”

In general, the daily wage of a rural worker was 1 silver coin, and when 32 silver coins were collected, they could be exchanged for 1 gold coin.

“I know. A rural worker’s daily salary is one shilling. I heard that it takes a month’s worth of money to be exchanged for one gold coin.”

“Actually, it costs 32 shillings and 1 talent, but if you do a rough calculation, as you say, a country worker needs to earn a full month for one gold coin.”

“yes.”

Carter took out a silver coin this time and showed it to Rockefeller.

“This is the shilling you spoke of. Also called silver. Here, the silver coin can be made by a craftsman appointed by the lord, but only us who have obtained permission from the imperial family can make this gold coin talent.”

Even Rockefeller knew it.

“I heard the story.”

“Actually, there is no set standard for this silver coin, so the size and shape are all different. The lords decide as they please. So there are cases where the silver coins that can be used here cannot be used at all in other territories.”

“Is everything like that?”

“It is not. Most of them follow the rule of one talent for 32 shillings, but there are some places where they don’t.”

“Then there might be a problem if I use the silver coins here in another territory?”

“right. That is why this gold coin, whose value does not change anywhere in the Empire, is very important.”

“Then all transactions in the Empire are made in gold coins?”

“right. All silver coins are different, but gold coins are not.”

In modern terms, the gold coin of the empire was like the dollar, the key currency, and the silver coin was a concept like the currency of each country.

“I have a question for you.”

“Ask anything.”

“You need gold coins to trade in the Empire, right? So what happens to trade outside the Empire? Are you also trading with Imperial gold coins there?”

To that question, Carter patted my beard and pondered for a moment how to respond.

“It’s a bit complicated, though. First of all, it is not impossible to trade with Imperial gold coins. But I prefer the goblin gold coin, ducat.”

Even Rockefeller knew that non-Imperial forces favored Goblin Gold over Imperial Gold.

The only thing I was curious about was why.

‘Why do you prefer gold coins made by goblins?’

“What is the reason?”

A more complex story had to come out to even explain why.

So Carter took a few deep breaths and began to speak.

“There are only three types of gold coins in this world. There are Talents made by the Empire, Sovereigns made by dwarves, and Ducats made by goblins. If you can’t remember their names, you can easily call them Imperial Gold Coins, Dwarf Gold Coins, or Goblin Gold Coins.”

“Is there any difference between those gold coins? As far as I know, there is none.”

It was a sharp question.

“If there is a difference… … There should be, but it’s true that it doesn’t exist. The gold coin standard set by the Imperial Family was actually tailored to the gold content of Sovrin, a Dwarf gold coin. This was for the convenience of dealing with each other. The same goes for Ducat, the goblin gold coin. So, in principle, the gold content between the three gold coins is the same, so the value is also equal.”

“But in reality, that’s not the case, is it?”

It was a sharp question.

In fact, it was something that I did not need to know while working in Banco, but Carter decided to explain it in detail with consideration for Rockefeller.

“Actually it is. Regardless of the shape, if you simply look at the weight of the gold coins, all three gold coins are the same. But the other factions do not trust the gold coins made by the Empire at all.”

“Why don’t you trust me? Is there any reason I don’t know?”

“that is… … In the past, there was a problem with the Imperial gold coin, the Talent. Even now, some of the talents have a slightly lower gold content and are mixed with copper.”

It was then that Rockefeller understood why everyone shunned Imperial gold coins for dealings outside the Empire.

‘Now I understand. Of all races, it is because humans are the ones who roll their hair terribly.’

“You said gold was mixed with copper? So it’s not okay? Gold coins should contain only gold.”

Carter did not deny Rockefeller’s words.

“You are right. Of course, only gold should be in gold coins. But with a small amount of copper, you can make another gold coin with less gold.”

“If you get caught then, wouldn’t it be a problem?”

“It is, but… … Once upon a time, there was a great war between the Empire and the Lizardmen. The fire war was a war in which minor frictions caused by the Wyvern Egg led to an all-out war between the two factions.”

Lizard Man.

It was a minority race on the continent that was defeated by the empire in the past and now only a name remains.

“As you know, the result was a victory for the Empire. But at that time the empire was in great financial trouble. I need to go to war with the Lizardmen right now, but the imperial family didn’t have any money.”

Rockefeller could roughly guess what was going to happen next.

“no way… … Did you create copper-mixed gold coins for the sake of war?”

“That’s how it happened. It’s not like money comes out of nowhere, right? Of course, the Empire used a trick. I used a method to increase the amount of gold coins by mixing copper with normal gold coins. Thanks to this, the flame war was won, but the imperial gold coins lost trust from everyone as a result of the aftermath, and the fake gold coins that were printed at that time are still circulating in the market to this day. We call it the Bastard Talent.”

Bastard telent.

As a term for imperial gold coins mixed with copper, the imperial gold coins became the reason for the loss of trust in the continent.

“Do you still have a lot of fake gold coins like that?”

“At the time of the Fire Wars, the Empire needed a lot of gold coins. Could it be that the gold coins that were printed like that were all gone in one day? There are still many.”

“Shouldn’t you be thinning out those gold screens?”

“It’s good to thin out, but there should be one or two of them. At least in the Empire, it is being used without any problem, so I am accepting it. But I’m not getting anything higher in copper than the Bastard Talent. This is the same for everyone including me. Only Bastard talents are allowed in the Empire.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Rockefeller understood why the imperial gold coin had lost its credibility.

However, there was still a question as to why the goblin gold coins were preferred.

“But why are you using goblin gold coins while leaving good quality dwarf gold coins? Isn’t sovrin better than ducat for pure gold?”

In the novel, the Dwarf gold coin, Sovrin, was said to have the best quality.

The pure gold content was also the best.

However, there was a good reason why such high-quality gold coins were not used.

“It’s Sovrin, the quality is definitely good. These are gold coins made by Dwarves, not anyone else.”

“Then what’s the matter?”

“The problem is that these dwarves are so clumsy and clumsy that it’s difficult to use Sovrin all over the continent.”

Rockefeller did not question that the dwarves were naive and dull.

‘There are no such narrow-minded people. Because they are very frivolous people living like a stag beetle.’

Carter continued.

“There are several types of Sobrin, but sometimes they say that when you trade with Dwarves, you don’t receive a specific Sobrin at all. It’s not enough. They say that if you’re caught doing business with other guys with the Sobrin they don’t accept, you’ll become a complete stranger from that day. How can you use this? It’s not like I won’t do business with Dwarves at all.”

There was no force on the continent that could ignore the existence of dwarves.

They were the wealthiest on the continent, and they monopolized several rare resources, so they had no choice but to get along even if they didn’t like it.

“The dwarves are great too. How can I live with such a narrow heart?”

“That’s it. That’s why the goblin gold coin, ducat, is used throughout. They are goblins, unlike the narrow dwarves inside, they can do business with my enemies. These guys are really goal hitters, but I think they’re better than Dwarves.”

“That’s why goblin gold coins are used everywhere. Now I know.”

“In terms of quality, Ducats are not very different from Imperial Talents, but the goblins didn’t do stupid things to mix copper with them. Goblins know it well, so they never mix copper. It’s not that they don’t mix because they’re stupid. Rather, they are more clever than humans.”

Rockefeller thought, shaking his head involuntarily.

‘I would laugh if I said something like this in other novels, but at least here, goblin = credit. Goblin gold coins are being used throughout the continent.’

The following thoughts were for the distant future.

‘It might be worth using the name Goblin later. Credit is never built up overnight.’