Chapter 80

The Lord who had finished speaking looked pleased with himself and Carter, saw that look, could read some of the darker the thoughts the Lord had in his head. 

There had been a person like that in the past as well, who had looked pleased with themselves exactly like the Lord had. 

‘He’s exactly like that bastard from before.’ 

At first, he had paid his money back every month on time, but at some point, he had ended up borrowing a huge amount of money and disappeared.

When he thought back to how tough it had been for him to find that guy from back then, it made his blood curdle even now. 

From Carter’s experience, not all bad customers were debtors from the beginning.They had all once been people with good credit, worthy of borrowing large amounts of money. 

It’s always when their situations change suddenly, that they become bad debtors. 

“Ahem…” It was at this point that Carter truly realised how much he needed Rockefeller. 

Despite all his experience, when it came to difficult and sensitive customers like the Lord, the only one who could really make things work well for them was his witty assistant and his silver tongue. 

And with his sharp wit, Rockefeller was able to recognise Carter’s hesitant for what it was, and intervened between the two. 

“With the situation being what it is, we can lend my Lord the 5000 Talents that we mentioned without any issue.” 

Although it wasn’t well mannered of Rockefeller to jump into the conversation like that, since he was giving the short and direct answer that Carter was hesitating to give, there was no reason for the Lord to dislike Rockfeller’s behaviour. 

“Yes, compared to the frustrating shop owner, the assistant is better to deal with. So you’re going to lend it to me?” 

“Of course. After all, it’s not anyone else but the Lord who is asking to borrow that money, we wouldn’t dare refuse.” 

The Lord looked pleased with his remark. 

“That’s good to hear.” 

“However, my lord, would 5000 Talents be enough?” 

“Well, it’s not like you have anymore that you lend to me right?” 

“Of course not, if you wished to borrow more, then we could increase the amount from there as well.” 

“What?” 

At Rockefeller’s words, both Carter and the Lord looked shocked. 

While the Lord was surprised that there was even more money hidden away in this Banco, while Carter’s thoughts were more chaotic. 

‘What kind of nonsense is he talking about now?! We don’t even have 5000 but you’re going to lend out more?!’ 

Since they were lending out money they didn’t have anyway, it wasn’t impossible to lend out more as Rockefeller said, but his bold actions left Carter drowning in his own anxiety. 

The previously pleased expression on the Lord’s face had been erased as he frowned at the unexpected discovery. 

Then he once again glared daggers at Carter. 

“You, just how much gold have you buried?” 

Could one who made and lent out money truly earn that much? Enough to be able to lend out even more than 5000 Talents? 

The Lord, who had never even dreamed that one could lend out money the didn’t have, pressed Carter thinking he truly had that much money and Carter who had suddenly become the accomplice in Rocefeller’s lie, waved his hands refelvely. 

“It’s not like that, my lord,” 

When Carter’s frightened eyes turned to Rockefeller for help after having said the wrong thing, Rockefeller smiled calmly and began to settle the matter, 

“That’s not it, my lord. The amount of gold you can borrow from our shop is only 5000 gold that Carter Ajusshi has in his personal possession.” 

“So how in the world are you going to lend me anymore than that?”

If a goldsmith secretly lent out money other than his own and got caught, the Lord would have no choice but to treat it as a crime for betraying the people’s trust and punish them. 

Which was why Rockefeller decided he would bring the Lord into it from the beginning and ask for permission in case the situation became bad later on. 

“My lord is aware that, in our shop, though we can lend out personal money, we cannot lend out the customers money right?” 

“Perhaps, are you thinking of lending me other people’s money?” 

The Lord had a rather unpleasant expression on his face. It was because this was something new to him, that was outside of his common sense of what was right and wrong. 

“That is a crime. Someone else’s gold of course belongs to them, why would you lend that out to someone else, that’s not up to you to do.” 

“But my Lord, with the situation as it is, you need to borrow as much money as possible to ensure the safety of the territory. However with only our money and the existing rules, we can lend you only 5000 Talents. If my lord turned a blind eye to us slightly bending the rules, we could help you to the extent of our abilities.”

Even as Rockefeller continued to speak, the Lord’s expression still looked displeased.  

For a Banco, trust was life. 

In that sense, people left behind the gold coins they gathered that were as important to them as their lives – but to play around with that gold? 

If it had been a normal situation, he would have expressed his anger at that suggestion first and foremost, however, to the Lord, who was panicked and wanting to get together as much money as possible, it ended up sounding like a convenient suggestion. 

“Ahem!” 

And to such a Lord, who cleared his throat like he was clearing his conscience, Rockefeller made a sneaky suggestion.

“We will take the risk and help my Lord with this matter, just this once, so could my lord also help us by taking our side?” 

“What side?” 

“Even if we break the existing rule that we can only lend our own gold coins, we hope that the Lord will quietly overlook this. Then it would also be possible for us to be able to help the Lord in the dire situation and lend you more than 5000 Talents.” 

Rockefeller smiled, 

“That is of course, if my Lord permits it.”