Stock Exchange(3)
Even after Joshua left after giving words of encouragement, Bob remained slumped on the ground, not thinking about getting up.
"Why did I have the guts to do that when it wasn't even certain? I fell for it and ended up losing."
Bell reacted differently to his words.
"What are you talking about? It seemed like you were pretty confident."
"Is that confidence? I just bet on the ship coming back. And that guy would profit just by the ship returning. For me to make up for the loss, the cargo must be on board without fail."
"Well, he's the guild leader's younger brother. Let's trust him a bit."
"Ugh..."
Bob, who had been sighing deeply as if the ground were collapsing, began to lament himself.
"I'm the one to blame. What was I thinking, investing in a trade ship to make a fortune overnight? If I hadn't invested, I wouldn't be like this now."
"What's the point of regretting it now? It's not too late, so let's salvage what we can."
Bob had no courage to sell back his shares.
All he could do was hope that the ship would return safely.
'Please! Please! Let me live!'
"It has to come back. Otherwise, I'm finished."
Bell, who hadn't seen Bob in good shape since he invested in the trade ship, was able to make a resolution once again.
Never invest in stocks.
'If I don't want to see that kind of situation, I must never invest in trade ships. Yep, that's right.'
How much time had passed?
Bob, whose life or death was uncertain, suddenly came to Bell's clothing store, pulling a carriage.
"Ahem!"
Bell's eyes widened at the sight of Bob, who appeared with a grand carriage sound and a pompous entrance.
'What's that?'
Wasn't the carriage he rode better than his own?
It looked quite expensive, even though he didn't know much about it.
Bob had been missing for a while, so what had happened during that time?
Bell greeted the surprised visitor.
"Hey, what's with that carriage? Did you borrow it from somewhere?"
"Borrow? No way. Ahem! I bought one this time."
What on earth was he talking about?
Just a while ago, he was sighing as if the ground was collapsing, but now he suddenly became rich and came to visit?
The clothes he was wearing looked like he had recently spent money on them.
"What on earth happened?"
Then something crossed Bell's mind.
It was the trade ship investment.
"Did the Morning Glory return safely?"
At his words, the corners of Bob's mouth stretched into a wide grin.
"Hahaha! As I lived, it turned out like that."
Bob, who had gambled his life on the trade ship investment, suddenly became rich and came to visit, which made Bell suspicious.
"Wait, how exactly did that happen? Did the ship return safely?"
"It did. And it came back with a full load of cargo."
"A full load of cargo?"
Bell had a question here.
Even if the cargo was fully loaded, according to Bob's words at the time, it was barely enough to break even.
But the current situation seemed too far from what he said back then.
"Didn't you say that even if the ship returned, you'd only break even? How did this happen?"
At that, Bob nodded his head in affirmation.
"That's what I thought. I thought I'd be really lucky just to break even. But it turned out not to be the case."
Bob started explaining the reason to Bell.
"Well, I thought the profit would be about four times, but it wasn't."
"So, you made more profit than that?"
Bob grinned.
"That's right. Thanks to our pirates working so hard, the price of magic powder skyrocketed. So it didn't just jump four times, it jumped twenty times."
"Heh..."
If it was four times, it would be just enough to break even, but with the magic powder's price jumping twenty times, Bob made a profit five times greater than breaking even.
"If I hadn't messed around in the middle, I could've left at least twenty times more."
Painful memories of the past.
It's all in the past.
What mattered to Bob was only the present.
"It's a shame."
"Wow... So you made five times the profit now?"
"That's right. That's how it happened."
It was hard not to feel envious when others were doing well.
Bell, who had been buying Bob food and drinks out of pity just a few days ago, somehow felt a headache coming on.
'How did it turn out like this? No matter how unpredictable life can be, isn't this too much? How did it lead to a twenty-fold profit...'
"It's great. You did well."
Bell, who didn't really mean it, congratulated Bob, who was holding his head high and speaking with a booming voice.
"Hahaha! I'm in such a good mood today. I'll buy the drinks tonight. Let's have a fancy drink!"
With a laugh, Bob disappeared, leaving Bell with mixed feelings.
He had been squandering his wealth on things that didn't suit him, while his friend Bob had become several times richer than him by betting his life on a trade ship investment.
Just looking at the carriage Bob rode made Bell's stomach ache, and he couldn't concentrate on his work.
'Ah... life. St. John...'
Now it was Bell, who had become relatively poor, who had to find his life, not Bob.
Bell spent a few days without appetite and suddenly made up his mind.
That's right, it's a life that you only live once.
He would also try investing in a trade ship.
'Yeah, I'll try it too. Why should Bob be the only one to succeed? If St. John hasn't abandoned me, I can hit the jackpot too.'
And so, Bell invested all his remaining wealth in the Morning Glory, which was about to set sail for the New Continent again.
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You didn't split the chapter, but how come it's shorter than splitted chap?
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