Chapter 25

The Lord asked once again,

“Or do you think that this family and land of mine will be ruined someday?”

“If there is a big war around here, you never know. Who knows if the Lord will give up his right to this land and run away then? If that did happen, wouldn’t any promissory notes written by the Lord be worth nothing more than tissue fragments. And it’s not like anyone will guarantee them instead? Or did the Imperial family guarantee the Lord’s promissory notes? If that was the case then the mage might be willing to receive it,”

“That’s… it’s not,”

“Then it will be difficult. The mage will never trust the Lord’s promissory note.”

It was a bitter situation but the Lord also knew that the promissory note he wrote wouldn’t work well here.

Although people in neighbouring territories or merchants who sell within the territory accepted promissory notes without problem, outsiders who were not from the lands in the area were different.

They always preferred gold coins that could be used anywhere straight away, rather than a promissory note that could one turn into useless scrap paper.

“Then what do you want me to do? These days, the land situation isn’t very good, if I had the coins, I would have used them,”

At that moment, he didn’t know why, but Carl recalled the boy from the Banco he had met before.

“Then you would have to borrow gold coins,”

The Hound Mercenary asked the Lord to pay for the additional expense of hiring a Mage and the Lord did not have to go to the Banco to take out additional loans if he dissolved some of his assets.

He hated going to the Banco but –

‘I can just borrow the money, is there any need to lay a hand on my property?’

The phrase that his predecessor and father, Wallas de Montefeltro repeatedly emphasised was ‘Be careful of debt’.

‘Is there anyone who doesn’t know that a lot of debt is a problem?’

If there was a sudden bad harvest in the land, or if the situation became difficult due to the unexpected problem of war, one might have trouble securing the tax revenue immediately, which can cause problems.

But without such things, the additional cost of hiring a wizard was a problem that could be fully tolerated with additional loans.

‘It’s something I’ve only just come to realise but my father was too afraid of debt. I don’t know what he was so anxious about but if there aren’t any immediate signs of collapse then there is no need to be so afraid.’

Since he was frequently stopping by the Banco these days, it served as an opportunity to reconsider the legacy left by his father, the previous lord.

‘If there’s no big problems in the land, then I can pay back the interest and eventually pay off any loans I get. If things do go badly, then as the owner of the land, I can be a little audacious about it. I, the owner, say I am going to pay back later, so who on earth would say anything?’

Perhaps if his Late father knew of his thoughts, he would have been furious, but to the Lord, who was already entering the swamp of loans and debt, the legacy left by his father was becoming increasingly meaningless.

***

“Kehum!”

Rockefeller, who was working at the banco, looked up when the Lord entered the Banco and announced his presence with a loud cough.

When Rockefeller, who politely bowed his head in greeting, asked why he came, the Lord took a moment before informing him on the purpose of the visit.

“In this Orc Subjugation, I have decided to cover the extra cost of hiring a mage,”

Rockefeller, who pretended to know nothing, asked back with a surprised face,

“Mage? If it’s a mage then…  Is there something wrong with the Orc Subjugation?”

His opponent was a young boy of about 15. However the Lord did not intend to ignore Rockefeller too much because he was an assistant at the Banco and also the Head of a family.

“It’s not a big deal, so you don’t have to worry that much. More importantly, where is Carter?”

He, who naturally searched for the owner, was answered in the same way Rockefeller answered to any customers who came to the Banco.

“The owner has some work that he is busy with so I’ve been left in charge of the store. If there is anything you need, you can discuss it with me, my lord,”

Upon hearing that, the Lord narrowed his eyes slightly. How long had it been since he was made an assistant that Carter was already leaving him in charge of the store’s work?

“Carter… seems to trust you a lot. I didn’t think he was that type of person – he’s someone who is very cautious,”

“Yes, however he trusts me, after all, my father and grandfather were also people of excellent character,”

“Ah, so it’s the family history then?”

When Rockefeller looked down with a sad smile, bowing his head, the Lord suddenly had a different thought.

Rather than that snake Carter, it would be better to borrow money from the young Rockefeller instead.

‘I’d rather deal with the kid, Carter is sneaky enough to be like a goblin,’

“Ahem, well that means there should be no problems borrowing money from you?”

“Yes, there are no problems,”

“Then I don’t have to meet Carter, I’ll speak to you instead,”

The Lord immediately continued to speak,

“The Hound Mercenaries asked for an additional 100 Talents to hire a Mage, that’s why I need 100 Talents right away,”

“100 Talents?”

A month’s wage for the average rural worker was roughly 1 Talent, so to pay 100 Talents to hire a mage for a single mission was truly an amazing price.

‘A mage’s price is truly high,’

In modern times, it was the equivalent of hiring a lawyer or a private doctor. They were specialist professions with high earning potential.

“Is a mage’s wage really that expensive?”

“Of course, not anyone can become a mage so the price is higher than normal – or else there’s no reason to work so hard to be a mage,”

As the Lord recalled the dead Hans, he smiled faintly,

“Come to think of it, your father failed to become a Mage as well. I don’t know, maybe if Hans had succeeded in his path as a Mage, he would have done quite well. If he was lucky, he may have been able to buy a small piece of land and become a noble,”

His faint smile twisted into ridicule.

“But of course, he couldn’t do that. It wasn’t his place to become a mage after all,”

Why was he bringing up a dead person here? And that too in such a malicious way.

Rockefeller was upset, but he didn’t express it all and instead, asked another question,

“By the way, my lord, this might be a presumptuous question, but for people like us, 100 Talents is a lot of money, but for the Lord, 100 Talents would not be a huge amount would it?”

The Lord’s expression hardened at the implied ‘Why is a man of wealth such as yourself coming all the way here to borrow money?’.

If he had money in his hands, would he have come all the way here? These days, the problem was that there were too many places to spend money.

“You’re asking useless things,”

“I’m sorry if it was rude, I’m just worried that the money you borrow might cause you trouble,”

“I’d get in trouble?” The lord smirked,

“As if,”

“But if you have a lot of debt, wouldn’t anyone be in trouble?”

For a moment, the Lord recalled that the Borrowing Certificate he signed could be traded elsewhere and his expression hardened, but he soon corrected it.