It was a sharp question.
"The difference... well, there is one, but originally there shouldn't be any. The gold coin standard set by the imperial court was actually based on the gold content of the dwarven 'sovereign'. This was done for the convenience of trade between them. The same goes for the goblin 'ducat'. So, in principle, the gold content of all three types of coins is the same, which means their value should be equal."
"But that's not really the case, is it?"
It was a sharp question.
Although it was information Carter didn't necessarily need to know in his banking work, he decided to explain in detail out of consideration for Rockefeller.
"The truth is, regardless of the form, if we only consider the weight of the gold, all three gold coins are identical. However, other factions do not trust the gold coins minted by the empire at all."
"Why don't they trust them? Is there some reason I'm not aware of?"
"Well, there was a problem with the empire's gold coin, the dalant, in the past. Even now, there are dalants with a slightly lower gold content and mixed with copper."
That's when Rockefeller finally understood why everyone outside the empire was avoiding the empire's gold coins.
'Now I get it. Indeed, among all races, humans are the most cunning.'
"Gold coins mixed with copper? Isn't that wrong? Gold coins should only contain gold."
Rockefeller's remark was not contradicted by Carter.
"You're right. Gold coins should naturally only contain gold. But by mixing in just a little copper, they can make another gold coin with the amount of gold saved."
"Isn't it a problem if you get caught?"
"Well, that's true... There was a big war between the empire and the lizardmen in the past. It was called the Flame War, which started over trivial friction caused by wyvern eggs and escalated into a full-blown conflict between the two powers."
Lizardmen.
They were a minority race on the continent, now only a name remaining after being defeated by the empire in the past.
"As you know, the empire emerged victorious. However, at that time, the empire was suffering from severe financial difficulties. They needed to wage war against the lizardmen, but the royal treasury was empty."
Rockefeller could roughly guess what was coming next.
"Don't tell me... they made coins mixed with copper during the war?"
"That's what happened. Money doesn’t just appear out of thin air, right? Naturally, the empire resorted to trickery. They mixed copper into solid gold coins to increase the quantity. Thanks to that, they won the Flame War, but as a consequence, the empire's gold coins lost trust from everyone. The massive amount of counterfeit coins produced back then are still circulating in the market. We call those coins bastard dalants."
Bastard Dalant.
This term refers to imperial gold coins mixed with copper, which became the reason for the loss of trust in the empire's gold coins across the continent.
"Are there still many of those fake coins around?"
"During the Flame War, the empire was in dire need of gold coins. Do you think all those minted coins just disappeared overnight? There are still many around."
"Shouldn't such coins be weeded out?"
"It would be better to weed them out, but that's only feasible if there were just one or two. At least within the empire, they are still being used without issue, so I also accept them. However, I don't accept coins with a higher copper content than Bastard Dalants. This is the same for everyone, including myself. The empire only allows up to Bastard Dalants."
"That's somewhat of a relief."
Rockefeller understood the reason why the empire's gold coins lost their trust.
However, he still had questions about why goblin gold coins were preferred over others.
"But why use goblin gold coins instead of the high-quality dwarf gold coins? Isn't the pure gold content of a sovereign better than that of a ducat?"
In the novel, it was said that the dwarf gold coin, Sovereign, was of the highest quality.
It also had the highest pure gold content.
However, there was a reason why such high-quality gold coins were not widely used.
"Sovereigns are indeed of great quality. After all, they are gold coins made by none other than the dwarves themselves."
"Then what's the problem?"
"The problem is that these dwarves are so petty and despicable that it creates a lot of issues when using Sovereigns across the continent."
Rockefeller did not doubt the pettiness and despicability of the dwarves.
'Those narrow-minded creatures. They live so pettily, like miserly little fish.'
Carter continued the conversation.
"There are various types of Sovereigns, and sometimes when dealing with dwarves, they outright refuse to accept certain Sovereigns. And to make matters worse, if you're caught trading with the Sovereigns they don't accept, you become complete strangers from that day on. How can anyone use them? It’s not like we can stop trading with the dwarves altogether."
In the continent, there was no power that could ignore the existence of the dwarves.
They were a race that had to be mingled with, whether one liked it or not, as they were among the wealthiest on the continent and also monopolized various rare resources.
"Dwarves really are something. How can they live being so narrow-minded?"
"Exactly. That's why the Goblin Gold, the Ducat, is widely used. Goblins, unlike narrow-minded dwarves, can deal even with their enemies. These creatures are really troublesome, but still seem better than dwarves."
"So, that's why Goblin Gold is used everywhere. Now I understand."
"In terms of quality, Ducats are no different from the Empire's dalant, but at least the goblins don't do something stupid like mixing copper in them. They know it well and never mix copper. It's not because they're fools; rather, they are craftier than humans."
Unknowingly nodding, Rockefeller thought to himself.
'In other novels, this might be laughable, but at least here it means Goblin = Credit. Since Goblin Gold is used all over the continent.'
Continuing thoughts were for the distant future.
‘It would be valuable to use the name 'goblin' later on. After all, trust is something that cannot be built overnight.’
