Yukime, who is having a drink while watching the fireplace, feels a breeze flow in.
Looking behind her, the window behind Yukime is open, and the sound that seems to be a finger flicking something can be heard.
"Is that you, John-han?"
Following her question, a man in a suit appeared from the darkness.
Wearing a white mask on his face, and possessing a strong-looking body that could not be concealed under his suit, he walked in with a smug expression his face.
Sitting opposite of Yukime, he plays with a gold coin by flicking it into the air with his finger.
"The value of this gold coin has inflated many times; this thing is just an illusion of empty trust."
With a low yet clear voice, he spoke.
Yukime thought that John was talking about the new bills that have been circulating on the market recently.
"Actually, this piece of paper that everyone believes is paper money is not exactly banknotes, it is, in other words, just a deposit receipt, a cash voucher. The Mitsugoshi Bank grants the remuneration feature to deposit receipts so that it can be circulated. At first, it could only be used in the Mitsugoshi Co's shops, but now that the credit system has spread throughout the Kingdom, those papers can be used in major stores within the country. Yet people believe that these pieces of papers have the same value as real money."
He then put two banknotes on the desk. One is the banknote of the Mitsugoshi Co, while the other one is of the Great Commerce Alliance.
“I believe that the Mitsugoshi Bank's goal is to make people think that those receipts have the same value as gold coins.
And thanks to that, it is now possible to inflate or expand the value of a single gold coin many times.”
"The Mitsugoshi Bank distributes bills as deposit receipts and keeps loaning them with it as collateral. Then they keep doing it as many times as possible, in which then the current bills are growing many times their actual monetary value. We can say that one gold coin was loaned to dozens of people and Mitsugoshi Bank got a huge interest in return, thus covering the empty holes."
The top brass of the Mitsugoshi Bank is not on the same level as a common swindler. I would like to talk to that person once about this bold and cunning technique and how in the world it was possible. (EN: I don’t know if someone is actually saying this or if it’s just an internal monologue, or even who is saying it.)
Yukime takes a sip of sake from her cup as she listens to John’s question.
"Is this piece of paper truly worthy of the peoples’ trust?"
This would be astonishing to the people, but it is already a well-known fact to the executives of the Great Commerce Alliance.
At any rate, the Commerce Alliance had to keep an eye out for the movements of the Mitsugoshi Co.
If it's something like this, John-han should have known it, but for what reason has he brought this up? I’m unable to understand it.
“There are two banknotes here, did you notice anything when comparing these two banknotes?”
"Notice… something…?"
Yukime compares the two with her pristine water-like eyes. There is indeed a difference in their design, but that does not seem to be what John-han was referring to… Perhaps!?
“Is it about the watermark?”
“That's right; additionally, the design of the notes from Great Commerce Alliance is rather crude, do you know what that means?”
Developing counterfeit notes would be possible. However…
"It would be easy to make counterfeits. Yukime, let's make a profit on counterfeit notes!"
"Huh….?"
Yukime tilted her head in confusion…
The Great Commerce Alliance Should already understand that it's easy to make counterfeit bills of their banknotes. With that in mind, the Alliance issued the notes while knowing the risks involved, John-han should have realized that, right?
"John-han, are you serious about this? The banknotes of the Great Commerce Alliance only circulate within the kingdom. As soon as counterfeit bills come out, it would be easy to pinpoint the source.”
John suddenly stopped moving.
"If you do it on a small scale, you can do it without getting caught, but you can only earn up to the extent of pocket money. However, doing it on a large scale will make it easy to be tracked down, and it will be the end for us."
Knowing that some counterfeit bills will circulate, the Great Commerce Alliance will keep their distribution range under strict watch so that it will be easier for them to investigate the sources of the distribution of any counterfeit bills. The Commerce Alliance would only begin distribution outside the kingdom after an effective countermeasure against counterfeiting had been established.
In other words, the Alliance wanted the Mitsugoshi Co. to collapse and gain the watermark technology as soon as possible so that they can get a hold of an effective countermeasure against counterfeit notes.
If a considerable number of counterfeit bills comes out, the counterfeiting operation would soon be crushed, and if it is in small amounts, it won't produce any profits. And I think no person is foolish enough to pick a fight with the Great Commerce Alliance in the first place. Anyone involved in business knows the horrors of opposing large firms.
"John-han….?"
With a dejected expression, John's shoulders slowly dropped.
His appearance looked just like an excited child who invited his friend to go treasure hunting, only to be shot down with logical arguments of there being no treasure and is now depressed.
No way… was John-han really planning to make counterfeit notes?!
Fufufu~
Yukime smiled, surprised that John had such a cute side to him.
But in the next moment, Yukime felt an overwhelming pressure.
This tremendous pressure, which came from the depressed John bore down on her.
"Wha?!"
"Do… You… Really… Think… So…?"
John spoke with a deep voice that felt like it came straight from the depths of the abyss.
What is this pressure?!
This is not a force caused by magic, it was more akin to the pure force of his will.
It seemed like Yukime’s analysis was wrong.
He was testing her. To see whether or not Yukime was worthy of being his partner or not!
But… Did I miss something?!
Yukime carefully examined the flow of the conversation.
And then she noticed something.
It's the fundamental difference between The Mitsugosi Bank and the Great Commerce Alliance!
The Mitsugoshi Bank keeps the money of their customers and issues bank notes in exchange-based that amount.
But the Alliance is different. They issued banknotes from the start by using their brands and the people's trust of the notes that are being spread by Mitsugoshi Co.
Formerly, large firms also engaged in loaning out money, but there were not many cases where they used their costumer's money. It was not until the establishment of the Great Commerce Alliance that people's deposits started to be used by these firms as sources for loaning out money. However, the number of deposits is still small. So, most of the banknotes issued by the Great Commerce Alliance come from their own funds.
In other words, there is a big gap between the Mitsugoshi Bank’s and Great Commerce Alliance's income, with the Mitsugoshi Co. in the lead.
The Alliance has already issued a large number of banknotes and loaned them out of the bank at low interest to their customers to compete with the Mitsugoshi Bank.
Incidentally, as The Mitsugoshi Co. continued to introduce new products, new demands would rise, the people would spend their money at the Mitsugoshi Bank, and would then distribute their banknotes in exchange for their customers’ money, allowing the flow of goods would circulate. The kingdom would flourish with the unprecedented prosperity in the economy and the growth of investment. Which would then lead to people taking out more loans for their businesses, and that would then lead to the Commerce Alliance needing to do the same to compete, but they would not have the funds to give out such loans.
The banknotes of the Alliance are indeed spreading beyond imagination. Although there are some people borrowing money from the alliance, few people keep their money with them. As they have already deposited their money at the Mitsugoshi Bank, and only a few people were willing to move their money to the Alliance.
Which means…
"Banknotes are issued ten times the actual funds and are circulated in an amount that exceeds expectations. The notes are an actual voucher for real cash. In other words, even if one-tenth of notes are exchanged for money, the Alliance will…”
This is truly serious; although the establishment of credit involves these kinds of risks, it would be dangerous to keep increasing the number of notes like that any further.
But the Alliance has to issue more notes to compete with the Mitsugoshi Bank, and in the future, the difference between the number of funds and issued banknotes will continue to increase.
The danger will elevate further beyond repair.
When it does, the Alliance will go bankrupt… No Way?!
"Are you planning on intentionally destroying their earned trust by issuing a large number of counterfeit bills, essentially making them go bankrupt?!"
In this situation, I don't know when the Alliance will go bankrupt. However, it is possible to manipulate the timing of when the Alliance goes bankrupt by planning when to circulate the counterfeit bills into the market. In doing so, the Alliance will no longer have the funds necessary to exchange for banknotes or to support their firms. The people will lose their trust in the Alliance, and when that happens, the people will want to withdraw their funds from the Alliance. At the same time we can exchange our counterfeits for real cash, further depleting the Alliance’s finances.
Large scale workshops for producing counterfeit notes would stand out, but Yukime had a base in Outlaw City that could serve as a cover. The less time needed for the Alliance to go bankrupt, the lower the risk of their counterfeit operation being exposed. And by the time the Alliance knows of it, they will have already collapsed, and a large sum of money will have already made its way into Yukime’s hands.
Yukime finally understood why John dejectedly dropped his shoulders.
He was disappointed in Yukime, disappointed in her inability to understand the meaning of producing counterfeit bills and having to test her.
Noticing that fact, Yukime shuddered.
"However, even if the Alliance is crushed with that, the Mitsugoshi Bank will still remain."
On the contrary, there's even a possibility that the Mitsugoshi Bank will win and become even stronger.
The pressure coming from John suddenly stopped.
And after a few seconds…
"Do you really think so?"
"What!!"
A pressure several times greater than the previous one was suddenly released by John.
What the… Did I overlook something again?!
Yukime desperately looked for the answer and came to realize
I see!!
“The Alliance will fail to sell the bank notes without being able to exchange it to Zeni… Then people naturally will have no doubt in the Mitsugoshi banknotes. And yet the Mitsugoshi Bank is also handling credit distribution. If they can't exchange the alliance’s notes for theirs as well, they will go bankrupt too, after that we will have a lot of cash leftover.”
And then we can buy Mitsugoshi Co's technologies and facilities with the money accumulated from the counterfeit bills.
John did not propose the creation of fake bills with half-baked thoughts. This is a precisely calculated plan.
Earlier, John-han said, "Is this piece of paper truly worthy of the peoples’ trust?"
And that sentence already implied the collapse of the credit system.
He even bothered to explain the modus operandi of Mitsugoshi Bank…
He intended to clarify the difference between the Mitsugoshi Bank and the Alliance, and to suggest the danger behind it!
His words were hints all along?!
In the face of his vast intellect, cold sweat poured down Yukime’s back.
But that was not the end of it.
"Do you really think so?"
"What!?”
The pressure released from John further increased.
Did I still overlook something?!
Yukime desperately seeks the answer, but no answer comes out
John is observing Yukime as his eyes directly gazed into hers from behind the mask.
This is BAD! Very Bad!
If I don't say anything! He will become even more disappointed…
"….I'm thinking, but I cannot see what else I have missed."
Yukime glanced and muttered…, but there were no holes in his plan… she couldn’t figure out what else she had missed…
Yukime lamented her incompetence and readied herself for reprimand…
But… The pressure was gone.
"That's right…"
"…Oh!"
It was a trap!
If Yukime gave in to the pressure and acted irresponsibly, he would have for sure, reprimanded her without hesitation.
To be honest, I can relate in seeking this kind of response is the correct answer.
The last thing John tested was Yukime's honesty.
I barely got the right answer and was acknowledged as his partner.
Understanding that Yukime leaned on the sofa and felt her waist lose strength as she began to relax.
But I have to make up for all the disappointment I have caused.
"Let's make the counterfeit bills, leave the manufacturing and distribution to me. This plan will be a race against time. The counterfeit money will be then exchanged for a large sum of real money, and soon the Alliance will go bankrupt before they even realize it. Even if news of the counterfeit money spreads, the investigation will take some time. I'll take care of it as well, but surely you'll cooperate too, right? John-han."
"Fumu." (EN: I remember that’s how Tenshi always put it when the MC was affirming simple questions. It was initially “Alright.”)
"I'll tell you the details later…"
"Fumu."
John said that while playing with the gold coin in his hand. While flipping the coin, it falls, making a sharp 'clink' sound.
As Yukime was distracted looking at the falling coin, she realized that John had already vanished before she could notice any sign of him disappearing.
The rolling gold coin stopped at Yukime's foot.
Yukime then picked up the coin and played with it in the same manner as John had with his fingers.
"So that is John… The man they call Shadow…"
What a man… How should I put it…? How Bold. What power…
"That is a truly rare and splendid man… huh."
Yukime took a deep breath.
Yukime had at first hired him, expecting only his strength, but he was not just a man with power. He also holds immense intelligence and the courage to deal with and handle his foes at will.
When he learns of my true goal… will he become angry? Or perhaps he already knows…
Yukime smiled a little sadly.