Chapter 20

“We store your gold coins safely, and even produce gold coin storage certificates so that you can visit at any time to get your coins back right? Then it’s natural that we should charge a fee for our hard work,”

“Did someone say you shouldn’t get a storage fee? That’s not the problem! It’s the guts you’ve got here to charge a 10 percent storage fee for the storage that’s the problem! Which Banco in the world charges 10 percent? Usually it’s 3 percent at most! And some places like Hwangdo and Lyon only charge 1 percent! Do you not know that at all?!”

“Of course I know. I know that might be the case for the Banco is Hwangdo or Lyon but that’s them and this is us,”

“What?”

“In this fief, there’s only our Banco and the owner close to the Lord of the territory as well, so there’s no chance of this store failing – so it’s very safe. So of course the storage fee would become more expensive. You get your own premium,”

“What kind of premium are you talking about from this tiny Banco at the border?”

“Of course it’s a premium, our shop is affiliated with the Lyon guild, the largest of the Banco unions. In other words, it’s a very reliable shop,”.

“You must be joking,”

“Since we belong to the Lyon Guild, you can get your gold coins you have entrusted to us from any Banco belonging to the Lyon guild. So when you look at the various aspects, adding a premium to the existing storage fee is natural,”

Rockefeller threw out one more word while Carl could’t respond immediately,

“Plus, this is the periphery of the kingdom, the prices are higher here,”

Carl, who was pondering what Rockefeller had said, frowned as though he did not agree.

‘No matter how much the prices go up, taking 10% as the storage fee isn’t it,’

“Leave it then. I’d rather take care of it myself somehow than give you a 10 percent storage fee. What the hell do you mean by 10 percent?”

Rockefeller considered that maybe it was time now, and decided to pull back from their little scuffle, and instead began approaching with a different suggestion,

“Hey, Ajusshi,”

Rockefeller lowered his voice and glanced around the store, checking the back before he began to speak in a low voice; Of course it was all pre planned acting,

“The owner can’t find out about this – charging 10% was the owners idea after all,” Rockefeller carefully watched the changes in the mercenary’s expression as he continued,

“I thought it was too much too. 10% as the storage fee is just daylight robbery, they say Hwangdo and Lyon only take 3% after all,”

When Carl thought there was a chance he might lower the gold coin storage fee, Carl naturally lowered his vice and asked,

“So, what are you saying?”

“Without telling the owner, I’ll just take 6% as the storage fee. 6% isn’t bad right?”

An amount that was significantly lower than the 10% he had originally said.

“6 percent?”

Six percent was also a storage fee that didn’t make sense, but it wasn better than the aforementioned price of 10 percent.

‘No, what do you mean, 6 percent? It still doesn’t make sense to charge that much,’

“Can’t you cut it down anymore than that? I mean, at the end of the day, I don’t actually have to leave my gold coins here,”

Rockefeller shook his head at the suggestion,

“That’s not true right? If you’ve come all the way here, then doesn’t that mean you can’t just leave the gold coins lying around right? Most people don’t want to leave gold coins with Banco because it’s a waste of money to pay the storage fee, that’s why they’ll hide it where no one else can find it instead – but that comes with a lot of risk,”

“……”

“For example, what would you do if a weirdo found the gold coins you hid and decided to run away with it? But if you keep your coins safe here, then you’ll have to pay a storage fee but it’s guaranteed by the Lyon guild, so even if this place goes down, you can pick up your gold coins from other stores,”

There was nothing wrong with what he was saying, but Carl’s expression was still dark.

“But I can’t just give you that much money as a storage fee. 10% is 15 Talents, and 6% is … anyway, it’s not like you don’t know how much money that is right?”

If he really thought it wasn’t right, then Carl would have kicked open the door and left the store while ranting about how the assistant at Banco was saying some nonsense.

However, seeing as he was still in this place, Rockefeller could be certain of something.

That he had no other option.

‘He definitely came to leave the gold coins here. Or else he would have just left as soon as he heard the ridiculous storage fee,’

And there was only one Banco in this territory.

‘Then it’s worth trying to be audacious here too,’

“Ajusshi, it’s not like we dig the ground and do business here but we still do have to pay for some labour costs. And I already gave you a big discount from 10% right? It’s already a lot,”

Carl still looked unwilling.

“Whatever, let’s go with 3% – it’s normally 3%, 6% is ridiculous,”

To be exact, the 3% storage fee also felt like too much so most people bargained with Banco’s goldsmiths to cut down the gold coin storage fee.

So what is the 6% storage fee in this rural area?

However, this boy who was working at the shop wasn’t easily allowing it.

“There aren’t any other goldsmiths in this feif so you’ll have to go to another feif to get a storage fee that low but since around here, everything is real, I don’t know how much they’ll charge for the storage fee somewhere else. Plus, there’s no knowing whether they would be affiliated with the Lyon Guild like we are,”

How could this young boy have the guts to talk with the Captain of the Hound Mercenaries like that?

‘He’s barely learned to walk yet so where did he learn to talk like that?’

Only then, was Captain Carl able to understand his men who had chewed their tongue and warned him before going to visit the Banco.

‘Captain, that’s not it, the little one there is so toxic! Why else would they have charged us so much?’

‘Set is right, the little guy is pretty bold.’

‘Normally kids like that piss themselves making eye contact with us, but he didn’t even flinch. Boss, why don’t you just guard it for a few days and we can leave it someplace else after a few days. It’s only a few days after all, nothing will happen,’

His men had emphasised many times, ‘be careful of the boy who was working at the store.’.

He was indeed tough like a goblin.

‘If only I had a subspace pocket where I could store the gold coins separately,’

If he had such a thing, then he wouldn’t have had to come to this Banco in the first place. It would have been enough to keep the gold in the subspace pocket without having to pay the storage fee.

‘But even if you can find someone who sells them, the price isn’t easy,’

It wasn’t a commonly found item so it was treated like a treasure and because it was a treasure it was even more difficult to obtain since people were less willing to sell one even if they had one. The prince was also astronomically high.

“Alright, let’s make it 5 percent. 5% is still me giving in a lot,”

For him, 5% wasn’t a price he was willing to pay at all, but right now there was no other choice.

“5 percent?”

If this had been a normal transaction, Rockefeller would have offered him a 3 percent storage fee from the beginning, and Carl, who would have received the quote, would have bargained about 2 percent or 1 percent because it was a waste of money to just accept 3 percent as a storage fee.

‘Well,  5% is still good business but when you’re doing business with your guts, you have to stick by it.’

“I can’t do that, I told you before right? It’s supposed to be 10 percent, but I gave you a big discount and will give it to you at 6 percent. It’s hard for me too since I have to be conscious about the owner,”

Carter, who had been trimming the gold coins inside the store, smiled helplessly.

‘Where on earth did he learn things like that?’

Captain Carl, who had been fighting with Rockfeller for a while, reluctantly decided to accept Rocekfeller’s proposal.

Since he didn’t know much about the shop owner, he was worried that if he did come out to the front then Carl would be charged more for the storage fee than what he had just been offered.

“Fine, I’m not happy with it but let’s do that. But… you’re not lying, are you?”

“Lie? How could I lie to someone as tough as you?”

Carl thought of the subordinates he would be meeting later with a sick look on his face.

‘I complained so much about them getting ripped off, but if I say I paid 6% as the gold storage fee,  then it would be a real laugh,’

“Instead, there’s a condition,”

Rockefeller tilted his head towards those words,

“Condition? What is it?”

“This deal, let’s keep it between us. I’ll pay the 6 percent storage fee, so if anyone comes and asks, I only paid 3 percent. Since I have a reputation as well,”

“Alright, but Ajusshi, you can’t go around anywhere talking about it either,”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be taking this incident to my grave. Just make sure that if those rough looking guys come and ask for confirmation, just tell them you traded at 3% – that’s enough,”