Episode 22 06. I became Banco’s assistant #3(4)
The hound mercenaries demanded the lord for an additional cost to hire a wizard, and from the lord’s point of view, if he disposes of some of his property, he did not need to go to Banco to get an additional loan.
Nevertheless, what he did to Banco was that he didn’t like it.
‘It’s money, you can go and borrow it again. Do I even need to touch mine?’
The old lord and his father, Welsh de Montefeltro, emphasized that his sister and sister were “beware of debt.”
‘Who doesn’t know that having a lot of debt is of course a problem?’
If there is a sudden famine in the estate, or if the situation in the estate suddenly becomes difficult due to an unexpected whirlwind of war, there may be a problem in securing tax revenue right away, but if there are no such things, the additional cost of hiring a wizard is enough to bear with an additional loan It was something that could be done.
‘I came to think of it now, but my father was too afraid of debt. If the estate is not going to go bankrupt right away, and if there are no signs of it, I don’t know if there’s a need to be so afraid of debt.’
Lately, the frequent visits to Banco have given the current lord an opportunity to reconsider the legacy left by his father.
‘If there are no major problems within the territory, the washing is done steadily, and if the situation does not go well, I am the owner of this place, so you can use your guts to some extent. The owner said I would pay it back later, but who the hell would say that?’
If his deceased father had read his thoughts, he would have been in a state of anger, but he had already entered the swamp of loans, and the lessons his father left behind were becoming meaningless.
“Wow!”
When the lord, who announced his popularity with a big cough, entered Banco, Rockefeller, who was doing business inside, recognized him.
When Rockefeller, who bowed his head politely, asked the reason for his visit, the lord hesitated for a moment and then told him about the purpose of his visit.
“I have decided to pay the additional cost of hiring a wizard in this orc subjugation.”
It was something I had guessed, but Rockefeller, who pretended not to know anything, asked with a surprised face.
“A wizard? If you are a wizard… … Did something happen to the orc subjugation?”
The opponent was a young boy about 15 years old.
However, since he was Banco’s assistant and also a family member, the lord did not intend to ignore Rockefeller too much.
“It’s not a big deal, so you don’t have to worry so much. Where else is Carter?”
Naturally, he found the owner and repeated the same words as Rockefeller did to all his guests.
“The owner is busy right now, so I am in charge of the shop. If you need anything, you can talk to me, lord.”
Hearing those words, the lord gently narrowed his eyes.
How long has it been since you became an assistant?
“Carter… … You seem to believe in you a lot. I wouldn’t be that person. He is a suspicious person.”
“Yes, but you trust me. My father and grandfather were great people too.”
“Is this a family history?”
Rockefeller, who was smiling with a sad expression, bowed his head, and the lord had a different idea.
After thinking about it, he decided that it was better to borrow money from the young Rockefeller than the snarky Carter.
‘I’d rather have a child. I mean, Carter is too sassy. like a goblin.’
“Wow! So you’re saying it won’t be a problem to borrow money from you.”
“Yes, there is no problem at all.”
“Then there would be no need to meet with Carter. Then I will tell you about the dragon.”
The lord spoke right away.
“The Hound asked for an additional 100 talents for this wizard hire. That’s why we need 100 talents right now.”
“Is it 100 talents each?”
One talent is roughly a month’s wages for a rural worker, so that’s the price of a wizard who takes 100 talents for one hire.
‘The price of a wizard is really high.’
In modern terms, they were high-income earners in professional occupations such as doctors and lawyers.
“Is a gang of wizards that expensive?”
“He’s a wizard who can’t be anyone, so of course he has a strong danga. Otherwise, would you be a wizard for nothing?”
Youngjoo smiled softly as if he suddenly remembered the dead Hans.
“By the way, your father also failed to become a wizard. I don’t know, but if Hans had become a wizard, he would have done pretty well. If I was lucky, I might have bought a small estate and became a nobleman.”
His light smile gradually turned into a sneer.
“But I couldn’t. Because I didn’t have the vessel to become a wizard at all.”
Why are the people who died here mentioned?
That too with a sly smile on his face.
Rockefeller got upset, but didn’t show it at all and asked another question.
“By the way, my lord. This may be a very presumptuous question, but for people like us, 100 talents would be a huge amount of money, but from the lord’s point of view, 100 talents is not that much money, is it?”
The lord’s expression hardened when he asked why a person with financial power as much as you would come here to borrow money.
If you had money in your hand, would you have bothered to find it?
Lately, there are too many places to put money in the mask.
“You’re asking something useless.”
“I’m sorry if I was rude. I’m just worried that the lord will get in trouble with the money he borrowed here.”
“Am I in trouble?”
Youngju smiled bitterly.
“Is that possible?”
“Still, if you have a lot of debt, everyone gets in trouble.”
Young-ju reminded him that the IOU he had written could be traded elsewhere, and immediately changed his expression.
‘It’s going to be difficult… … It’s definitely possible. What if the IOU that I wrote turns out to be wrong.’
“I’m grateful for your needless concern, but that’s not what you care about, so give me your talents now. It’s a busy body.”
“Yes, Lord.”
Rockefeller went straight into the store and went to see Carter, who had the key to the safe.
It was to take the talent to give to the lord.
At this point, Carter sat quietly in his seat with an unfavorable expression on his face.
Rockefeller could roughly guess why by looking at the bundle of IOUs he was holding.
‘There were so many uncollectible bonds. Judging from the lord’s credit, that’s a slight degree, but it’ll make you feel bad.’
In a normal case, those bonds had to go back to the lord and return as gold coins.
That too with interest.
However, from a certain moment, the lord wrote only the deed of borrowing and took only the gold coins from the store.
So Carter, who had only a piece of paper, not a gold coin, had a hardened expression on his face.
“Is that uncle over there? The Lord has come. What do you do when you ask for 100 talents?”
Carter, who had frowned at Rockefeller’s question, nodded his head.
The opponent was the owner of this estate.
Even if you don’t like it, you have to obey his request unconditionally.
‘If it weren’t for the lord here, I would have gone and had a blast.’
When the lord, who had borrowed 100 talents from Banco, left, Carter came to Rockefeller and started complaining.
It was a dissatisfaction with the lord.
“No, it seems like the last time he borrowed money, why is he coming and borrowing it again? Doesn’t the guy with the name of lord have no money?”
“Why are you doing this all of a sudden, Mister? It’s money. If a lord with good credit borrows a lot, it’s good for us, isn’t it?”
Carter then showed Rockefeller the bundle of the lord’s IOUs in his hand and raised his voice.
“It should be appropriate to borrow! If you don’t pay it back and only borrow it, then that’s a good thing! Rockefeller, that’s it. It’s just a piece of paper that’s useless.”
Rockefeller was very sympathetic to this.
‘right. As you said, it’s just a piece of useless paper.’
Carter took a gold coin from his pocket, showed it to Rockefeller, and continued.
“This is the real money. This is not a piece of paper.”
Rockefeller opened his mouth with a soft smile to calm him down.
“Still, as long as the lord’s credit is alive, there doesn’t seem to be any problem, right? The interest is being paid on time, and there is no risk of defaulting right away, so it is good for us to lend a lot. It’s borrowed money, so there’s no problem getting it back right away, right?”
Carter was a fairly experienced goldsmith.
So, he was very well aware of the process of how a good (prime) debtor turns into a bad (sub-prime) debtor.
“It’s Rockefeller. You have no idea how bad debtors are born. Not all bad debtors were vicious bad debtors from the start. Most of them were excellent debtors who had good credit and paid interest on time like the lord who just came.”
He continued speaking with a dissatisfied expression on his face.
“But if those good debtors start not repaying their money on time, and if they sell only my credit and receive gold coins, then you will know and I will become that bad debtor who is shivering.”
Now Carter’s tip was speaking.
The lord is smelling like a subprime, bad debtor.
‘If you start delaying repaying the principal and then paying off the interest, in all probability, you’ll be like them. Especially those with power. They’re the worst of any debtor.’
“In the future. Even if you are the lord, do not lend money recklessly. Once you have no money, you have to get rid of it. And when you start paying back the borrowed money, then lend it again. We’re not digging for business, and we can’t keep lending money to a guy who doesn’t pay back, can we?”
Rockefeller wasn’t ignorant of Carter’s concerns either, but he had a different idea.
Carter was worried about the lord’s default, but Rockefeller, on the other hand, saw it as an ‘opportunity’ to devour him.
‘I don’t know why you’re already wary of such a bonanza? If it’s me, I think I’ll try it after working properly.’
Carter was fluttering and worried because he was afraid that he would not be able to get his money back from the debtor, who was a permanent resident in the event of a problem with default in the future.
The lord was a ruler with unconditional power in this land.
How could a single goldsmith who pays taxes to such a ruler get involved?
But Rockefeller was different.
‘Didn’t you allow the IOU to be transacted with other people in order to get back the money you lent in the first place?’
The IOUs written by the lord were not the only ones that could be traded here.
It was a product that could be sufficiently traded with other powers and other places.
So it’s not just a piece of paper.
It was like a death trap that could steal everything from him in an instant.
‘I’ve been thinking about how to take this land for a long time, but I’m starting to draw a picture.’
It would be foolish to pay my own money to buy an intact estate.
‘Actually, there is a better way than that. It’s also not the right price, and there’s a way to hit it properly at a very low price.’
It was not because they were good that banks sometimes forced to lend money with a good face.
Behind the masks they wore, there was an even more evil spirit, and Rockefeller knew how to use them.
‘Killing people with a knife is a primitive and rather low-level method.’
Learners just kill their opponents in a different way.
‘If you want to kill with more dignity, you have to crush it with debt.’