Stella de Montefeltro.
Rockefeller knew her as well.
She was the bold young lady who came to him because of her father's debt.
'Could he still have feelings for the Lord's daughter?'
There was nothing good about getting involved with the Lord's daughter.
After all, he was planning to have him crushed by debt.
If it was simply a matter of debt, they wouldn't necessarily become enemies.
On the contrary, the Lord would have a greater chance of fearing Rockefeller.
The Lord was a debtor, and Rockefeller was the creditor who had to collect money from him.
However, if Rockefeller were to take the Lord's position, their relationship would not be so good.
The Lord, who had his position taken away, would never have a favorable impression of the Rothsmedici family.
And what if the daughter of such a person and his sibling have feelings for each other?
'I'm not sure exactly what their relationship is, but I don't like it.'
Of course, since they were from the same hometown, they could get along well within the military academy.
However, Rockefeller did not want their relationship to develop into deeper emotions.
'I asked about it before in a casual manner...'
Fearing that their relationship with the Lord would be strained, Rockefeller had sent a letter to Andrew, telling him not to get close to the Lord's daughter.
Of course, Andrew wasn't unaware of the reason.
He had explained everything to him.
'Should I ask again this time? Now that Andrew has grown up, he'll surely tell me. Whether he has feelings for the Lord's daughter or not.'
The best scenario would be for Andrew's perspective to widen and he would find a match with a woman other than the Lord's daughter.
If that woman was a noble lady like the Lord's daughter, it would be an even better situation.
'I wish that would happen...'
However, things did not go as Rockefeller had hoped.
Andrew was still a commoner, and as he had written in his letter, there were definite limitations to what he could enjoy as a commoner.
'In order for Andrew to get involved with a noble lady, I need to become a Lord first. Only when that happens can Andrew break free from the constraints of a commoner and freely meet noble ladies.'
The grand plan to take over the Montefeltro territory, which had been in operation for three years, was now slowly coming to fruition.
'I've almost reached the point I had in mind. I just need to get through this last hurdle.'
The last hurdle.
That was the end of the Totem War.
'When the war ends, many mercenaries here will return to their original regions.'
Most of the funds being used for territorial defense were held by two types of loan certificates issued by Carter Bank.
IOU and Gold certificates.
These two certificates were being used as 'money' for territorial defense.
'To be exact, it's the fake money we've printed. People are funny to think that all the gold coins written on those certificates are here. But they're not.'
The Lord was not using 'real money' for territorial defense, but 'fake money' created by Carter Bank, and that 'fake money' was being used as 'real money' among the mercenaries.
And at some point, that 'fake money' had to be converted into 'real money.'
'When the war ends, the mercenaries will want to exchange all their loan certificates for Dalant. If our Gold certificates were usable anywhere on the continent, they wouldn't need to exchange them, but unfortunately, their certificates can only be used in this region. So they'll definitely want to exchange them for Dalant.'
If the mercenaries came to Carter Bank to exchange for gold coins, and Carter Bank didn't have enough gold coins, a problem could arise.
If such a problem occurred, there was a risk of a large-scale accident called a bank run.
'If there's a bank run, it's all over. We've been getting by on credit alone without having that much gold, but a bank run means our credit is completely ruined.'
However, the bank run that Rockefeller feared would only occur when Carter Bank's credit and trust were completely shattered.
In other words, if Carter Bank's credit and trust remained intact, a bank run could be avoided.
'The gold coins that the mercenaries exchange and take away can't be helped. They don't need these loan certificates here. The important thing is not to have a problem with our credit during that process.'
A bank run was all about credit issues.
If the perception that Carter Bank was solid didn't disappear from people's minds, the people of the territory wouldn't come to the bank to exchange their 'fake money (loan certificates)' for 'real money (Dalant).'
If that happened, Carter Bank could continue to deceive everyone with fake money created out of thin air, just as it had been doing so far.
And if that deception could continue...
'We'll become even richer.'
First, to prove Carter Bank's soundness, a sufficient amount of gold coins had to be secured in advance to prepare for the large-scale exchange that would soon come.
That way, Carter Bank's stability would be firmly established in people's minds.
'So the immediate problem to solve is to secure the necessary amount of gold coins in advance to prepare for the large-scale exchange that will come soon.'
As always.
Rockefeller had a plan.
'I've thought about it all along.'
The next step for the bank, which could be called a bank, always had to be solid and large in scale.
'The larger the funds you manage, the more effectively you can deal with such situations.'
And if the managed funds were large, the interest income that followed would naturally be large as well.
In that sense...
'It's entirely possible to give our lovely customers who use Carter Bank a 3% interest every month.'
Why?
'Loan interest' was always higher than 'deposit interest.'
At that moment, Rockefeller felt a long smile curling up at the corners of his mouth.
'Should I start growing the size of the bank now? Let's have some real fun.'
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TFTC. Also, the TOC hasn’t been updated in a while.
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