Becoming an Assistant at the Bank #3(6)
Carter decided to agree with the notion of being a young breadwinner.
At the same time, he pondered over the job proposed by Rockefeller.
'I couldn't do it even if I died. I just don't have the guts for it.'
This situation was no different, but it was just a dream-like story for him unless someone stepped up and took the responsibility on his behalf.
After some deliberation, Carter reluctantly agreed to meet Rockefeller's demands.
After all, he was satisfied as long as he could earn more money than he was currently making.
"Alright. If that job is successful, I'll give you half of the profits. But remember, I'm completely uninvolved in this matter. I know nothing and I'm just being used by you. Don't you dare say otherwise later on. I'm sincerely just in agreement with your idea."
"Thank you, sir."
"Thankful? I should be the one thankful if it means making money."
Rockefeller continued, laying out his grand plan.
"Uncle Carter. In that sense, I'll take this promissory note signed by the lord as my first salary."
The money taken as daily wages was usually in silver coins, and in the case of high-income earners, in gold coins.
That was the true 'Money.'
But when Rockefeller said he would take the lord's promissory note instead of such money, Carter couldn't help but be puzzled.
"Not taking it in gold coins but taking that promissory note instead?"
There was another issue here.
"But isn't that promissory note too large? The amount is nonsensical for the wages you are to receive."
"That's true. That's why I'm planning to take this store's promissory notes issued against the lord's promissory note as collateral."
"This store's promissory note?"
"Yes."
"What do you mean by that?"
Rockefeller showed him the lord's promissory note once again.
"Look, this is the 100-dalant promissory note written by the lord. So, using this as collateral, we issue about 100 '1 Gold' promissory notes in the name of this store, each equivalent to 1 dalant. And I'll take a few of those."
“One Gold instead of one IOU?”
“Yes, usually when you deposit one dalant at our shop, we issue a paper promissory note called ‘1 IOU’, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But when we issue it as 1 IOU backed by the lord’s promissory note, it can get confusing with the promissory notes we’ve already issued. So, we issue a completely new promissory note in the form of 1 Gold. The difference is, this 1 Gold promissory note is guaranteed by the promissory note issued by the lord, not directly by our shop.”
Carter seemed to roughly understand.
“Oh? And then?”
“We, too, guarantee the lord’s promissory note, so if people bring this 1 Gold promissory note, we will exchange it for one dalant. This is as long as we guarantee the lord’s promissory note.”
“And what if lord doesn’t guarantee it?”
“Then we can’t guarantee it either. That means even if someone brings 1 IOU to our shop, we won’t exchange it for one dalant. In that case, those holding the 1 Gold promissory note would have to demand their gold coins from the lord who issued that promissory note.”
"I see. If we don't guarantee the promissory notes issued by the lord, then the responsibility for any new promissory notes issued lies with the original notes written by the lord himself."
"The important thing is that we have to clearly specify in the promissory note that it's worth 1 Gold. That way, we can avoid responsibility if there's a problem later."
"I have a question."
"Yes, ask me anything."
Carter was puzzled.
He couldn't immediately figure out what practical benefit they could gain from doing such things.
"Why go to the trouble of issuing a promissory note for 1 Gold? What are you really after?"
"Didn't I tell you earlier? To hold the lord accountable for the promissory notes he issues without much thought, multiple people need to have them."
"That's true."
"The promissory notes issued by the lord are large in amount and too inconvenient for ordinary people to deal with in transactions. We are helping with that. We’re distributing the rights of the promissory notes issued by the lord to everyone in the lord's domain."
Rockefeller raised his index finger.
"The important thing here is that we have the promissory note written by the lord, which means we earn the interest, but since the rights have already been sold to others, we can quietly withdraw from this matter if any problems arise. That's because what we've given to the people isn't our gold but just a paper promissory note called 1 Gold."
"Hmm... I see. But are you sure that's okay? People usually prefer gold or silver coins to promissory notes for their wages. That's real money."
"To be honest, it does feel a bit risky. But uncle, if I, who came up with this idea, don't take the lead, who else will follow me and use these notes like money? If I intentionally avoid using the promissory notes, who would follow my lead and treat them as money?"
Rockefeller gave him a meaningful smile.
"And this is just the beginning."
For Carter, Rockefeller's idea was so ingenious that he stood there for a while, repeatedly pondering over Rockefeller's words.
"The more I think about it, the more astounding the idea seems. How could one even come up with such a thought? By indirectly circulating the promissory notes issued by the lord and shifting the responsibility, while we reap the interest. It's truly a stroke of genius."
Carter had never seen Rockefeller as impressive as this.
It wasn’t just ingenious to have such an idea – he was a genius!
