The Founder of the Great Financial Family

The tailor was dumbfounded when he saw the Talent placed in front of him. 

“So it was real? Then as the kid said, ”this is a new IOU?” 

Carter tilted his head and asked the tailor, 

“Did you come to check it out yourself?” 

“Yes, the child working here was holding something unfamiliar, so I came here myself to check if it was real,” 

“It’s a new product. There aren’t any problems with it, so you can head back,” 

“How fascinating to think it’s a promissory note guaranteed by the lord,” 

“That’s not it, to be exact. It’s guaranteed by the loan certificate signed by the lord. Everything is properly written on the 1Gold so when you have time, take a look,” 

“It’s fine. Why would I bother checking something like that? As long as I can exchange it for Talents here, then that’s the end of the matter,” 

When he saw his reaction, Carter gently hinted his intentions, 

“Well, now that you’re here, are you going to exchange it for a Talent?” 

The tailor looked at the promissory note called 1Gold and then at the Talent in front of him. In truth, carrying around the promissory paper note was more comfortable than carrying around the coins. 

“No, I’ll just take this one. Even if I take the gold coins, won’t I have to come to you later anyway? The storage fee is a waste when this is so easy to carry and store,”

Then, of the two forms of money in front of him, the tailor picked the promissory paper note and returned to his own shop. Rockefeller, who was watching the exchange silently, smiled lightly, and so did Carter. 

Carter then spoke to Rockefeller, 

“Your work seems to be going better than I thought.”

“People seem to like the lord’s promissory note more than I thought – that’s what it feels like anyway.”

“It seems so. After all, this new promissory note is guaranteed by the landowner, as opposed to the shop’s promissory notes,”

“Then, I’ll get moving again,” 

“Are you going out again?” 

“It’s only when I move around a lot that the people around here will become more familiar with the 1Gold certificate,” 

How many times had he repeated that to Carter already?

“What about the clothes you bought?” 

“It’s the same thing – I’ll go and get a refund,” 

Right, he would get a refund when he got there. Rockefeller’s goal was to make people feel more familiar with a new promissory note called 1Gold anyway. It wasn’t to recklessly spend his wages shopping. 

‘It’s not like I have the money for that anyway,’

“Then I’ll be back. I’ll leave the shop in your care in the meantime,” 

Carter couldn’t stop the laugh that burst out when Rockefeller, with those simple words, left once again. 

“He’s good at acting. Seeing as I don’t have that stamina anymore – I must be getting old,” 

Although he hadn’t known it at the time, it seemed like a stroke of good fortune for him to have brought Rockefeller into the shop. 

“I feel lucky,” 

The announcement of the 1Gold borrowing certificate, which began that way, went smoothly. Some market merchants started using the 1Gold certificate a few days later instead of the existing 1IOU. 

“This is… it’s a promissory note guaranteed by the lord himself,” 

“Oh, I saw that too. I heard it’s a new thing they’ve started this time around,” 

“Do you know that the lord writes a promissory note to the Banco whenever he needs money?” 

“Of course, I know,”

“It seems like they’re issuing this with the lord’s promissory notes as collateral. In Banco, their belief in the lord is like iron – so they will change the promissory note to Talent for you,” 

The two merchants from the market who had met by chance continued to chat, 

“I’ve been thinking about it too – I think the certificate related to the lord is better than the IOU issued by Carter Banco. What the Carter Banco issued – if that Banco goes bust, then there’s no way for us to get our Talent back, but that’s not the case with the new promissory note, right?”

“That’s what I think too. That’s why some of the people I know seem to have already visited the Banco and exchanged their existing IOUs for the Gold certificates,” 

“What? Already?” 

“That’s right, I mean, think about it, if the Banco fails, all the IOUs are nothing more than pieces of paper, so who would prefer the promissory note issued by Carter Banco? Rather, the promissory note related to the lord would be safer,” 

“Huh…. then are you going to do the same thing?” 

“Of course, I’m going to do that. It’s common sense,” 

Rockefeller, who had been passing by, listened in on the conversation between the two merchants on the market floor. Things were going a lot smoother than he thought. 

‘I thought it would take longer for the new promissory note to be integrated into the market floor, so it’s a little surprising.’

The fact that the newly released promissory note replaced the existing IOU at a faster-than-expected pace also proves that the lord’s credit was good. 

‘Well, I do understand them. Of course, people would think that a promissory note related to the lord is safer than one issued by one small Banco. Though that’s not the case in reality.’

Suppose one actually read the small text on the surface of the 1Gold certificate. In that case, it clearly states that the certificate is taking the lord’s loan as collateral and has no direct relationship to the lord’s residence.

Nevertheless, market merchants simply moved on from that without much consideration because they were able to receive gold coins without any problems when they visited the Banco with the 1Gold. 

‘That’s exactly what I was aiming for. If we were reluctant when accepting the 1Gold certificate, people’s thoughts would have been completely different from now. They would have thought there was some problem with the 1Gold.’

The most important factor when it came to the field of finance was the ability to deceive people and for that, what contributed the most was their own ignorance. 

‘If everyone knew about my ideas, would they move so well on the playing field I had laid out?’

Rockefeller smiled without realising it. 

‘No. People don’t like being used, so that would have never happened.’ 

But that didn’t matter – because people were still ignorant. So he would continue forwards. 

‘That’s why the people on this market floor would play his games unknowingly and move well, according to his plans.’

A commoner’s dream is to drown his lord in debt and seize the land he abandoned. The first stage of achieving his dreams was going ahead smoothly. 

‘If things carry on like this, maybe it’s not unfair to have not been born a nobleman. Since it’ll be enough to become a noble on my own.’