Rockefeller, who was about to leave the factory, stopped and turned around.
"Did you call me?"
"How much of a stake... do you want?"
Barely holding back a smile, Rockefeller answered the question without emotion.
"A stake? If I'm investing 10,000 Dallants, I should at least get half, shouldn't I?"
"Half? Half is a bit..."
Seeing Frank hesitate, Rockefeller decided to show him what true money mania was like.
"If you give me half of the stake, I'll help you expand this factory. And if you need more money later, whether it's 10,000 or 20,000 Dallants, I'll give it all to you. All I want is the completion of the Magic Stone Tank."
"You'll lend me more money later if I need it?"
Finally able to smile openly, Rockefeller responded with a grin.
"Yes, of course. All I have is money, so why wouldn't I help you with that? I'll help you in any way I can, so please, Your Excellency, complete the Magic Stone Tank by any means necessary. That's all I ask."
If Frank hadn't heard that, he might have thought differently.
However, upon hearing Rockefeller's words about further support for the factory and readily helping with even larger funds if needed, Frank couldn't help but be greatly swayed.
'This is too good of an offer. I don't have the courage to refuse...'
If he accepted the offer, the completion of the Magic Stone Tank could easily be achieved in a matter of weeks, depending on how determined he was.
'What should I do? What should I do?'
As Frank pondered, Rockefeller showed only a relaxed demeanor, careful not to reveal his true intentions.
"Come find me whenever you make a decision. I'll always be at Ghetto Nuovo. Oh, since the name has changed, you can come to Bank of Rothsmedici. The reason the store's name is not a banco is because our future direction is to be a bank."
Just as he was about to turn his back and leave...
Frank called out to the departing Rockefeller.
"Um, excuse me! I'll give you a stake."
The Magic Stone Tank was impossible to build without investment.
So Frank had no choice but to give Rockefeller a stake in order to complete his beloved creation.
"I'll give you half, so please help me complete the Magic Stone Tank."
With the conversation over, Rockefeller and Ricardo headed back to the store.
Ricardo felt that he had learned a lot from the previous encounter.
In reality, Rockefeller had managed to secure half of the rights to the Magic Stone Tank without spending a single penny.
Of course, he didn't invest nothing, but the money he gave was indeed Goblin Dollars, as Ricardo had expected, not gold coins.
"W-What is this?"
Ricardo couldn't forget the bewildered look on Frank's face when he received the Goblin Dollars.
"What do you mean? It's the money I'm lending you."
"I was expecting Dallants..."
"Ah, if you take that to my store or another bank, you can get 10,000 dalants. It's a certificate that guarantees the dalants."
Only then did Baron Frank seem to understand.
In the time he had been socializing and living his life, the form of promissory notes had changed significantly.
"I thought it was a promissory note. I don't go out much, so this is the first time I've seen something like this. It looks like... it's not a promissory note, but more like money."
"It was made recently. It's not just a simple promissory note, but an improved version that allows people to use it like currency."
"But I'm very sorry to say this... why are you giving it to me like this? I was expecting gold coins."
From the perspective of the naive Baron Frank, only gold coins were considered real money.
Of course, he had seen people using promissory notes like money, so he was somewhat less resistant to the idea, but it was not the direction he had wanted, so Baron Frank was not immediately enthusiastic.
However, the answer to that was firm.
"Ha ha, can't I carry around 10,000 dalants worth of heavy money in this place? It's actually more convenient, so just use it like that. Once you start using it, you probably won't even bother looking at dalants anymore."
"That's true, but..."
When he thought about it differently, Rockefeller's words made sense.
10,000 dalants was an enormous amount, enough to fill a wagon.
And to think that money could be replaced by a bundle of paper.
'How ingenious.'
"Actually, this is probably better. Alright, I understand. I don't think there will be any problems, but if there are, can I come to you?"
At that, Rockefeller just laughed.
"Problems? What problems could arise? Our Lyon Guild's credit is recognized by everyone. Anyway, please do your best to complete the Magic Stone Tank. I'm looking forward to hearing good news soon."
Recalling the events of that time, Ricardo still had many thoughts.
'It's amazing. No matter how much I think about it, it's really amazing.'
With that, Rockefeller, who had been walking quietly beside Ricardo, suddenly spoke up.
"You seem to have felt a lot from the earlier incident. You're not saying anything."
"No, it's not that. It wasn't that shocking because I had anticipated it anyway."
"From now on, there will be more such things. We lend out money we don't have, and they live on that money. And because of that, we will grow even more."
"I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Did you invest in the Magic Stone Tank with some confidence? Most people are quite negative about the Magic Stone Tank. And no matter how much you invested with Goblin Dollars, if that person goes to the bank, you have to give them the equivalent amount of gold coins unconditionally. In the end, that means you helped because you had confidence in the Magic Stone Tank... I'm curious about this. How much confidence did you have in the Magic Stone Tank?"
Regardless of his intentions, Rockefeller was able to answer with a faint smile.
"Whether or not I had confidence in the Magic Stone Tank. In the end, it was a necessary thing to deal with the First Prince, so I did it. I don't know if you know, but the likelihood of the First Prince coming to me is very high due to the upcoming crown war. It's only right to increase my influence on the Magic Stone Tank to prepare for that."
At those words, Ricardo narrowed his eyes slightly.
He never thought Rockefeller would have seen that far ahead.
"So, did you invest in Baron Frank for the Magic Stone Tank without any confidence in it, just to deal with the First Prince?"
"Roughly, yes. After all, I have money left over."
Rockefeller's words continued.
'There's no need to insist that I had confidence.'
"That much investment is not regrettable at all. Isn't that right?"
At that question, Ricardo silently affirmed with his silence.
'Well, if it's such a gamble, I can understand the investment in the Magic Stone Tank, which has many words and defects.'
Then Ricardo thought about the First Prince that Rockefeller had mentioned.
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thaanks for the chapter
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