To Be a Power in the shadows part 2

chapter 116

Yukime, who is having a drink while watching the fireplace, feels a breeze flow in.

Looking behind her, the window behind Yukime is open, and the sound that seems to be a finger flicking something can be heard.

"Is that you, John-han?"

Following her question, a man in a suit appeared from the darkness.

Wearing a white mask on his face, and possessing a strong-looking body that could not be concealed under his suit, he walked in with a smug expression his face.

Sitting opposite of Yukime, he plays with a gold coin by flicking it into the air with his finger.

"The value of this gold coin has inflated many times; this thing is just an illusion of empty trust."

With a low yet clear voice, he spoke.

Yukime thought that John was talking about the new bills that have been circulating on the market recently.

"Actually, this piece of paper that everyone believes is paper money is not exactly banknotes, it is, in other words, just a deposit receipt, a cash voucher. The Mitsugoshi Bank grants the remuneration feature to deposit receipts so that it can be circulated. At first, it could only be used in the Mitsugoshi Co's shops, but now that the credit system has spread throughout the Kingdom, those papers can be used in major stores within the country. Yet people believe that these pieces of papers have the same value as real money."

He then put two banknotes on the desk. One is the banknote of the Mitsugoshi Co, while the other one is of the Great Commerce Alliance.

"I believe that the Mitsugoshi Bank's goal is to make people think that those receipts have the same value as gold coins.

And thanks to that, it is now possible to inflate or expand the value of a single gold coin many times."

"The Mitsugoshi Bank distributes bills as deposit receipts and keeps loaning them with it as collateral. Then they keep doing it as many times as possible, in which then the current bills are growing many times their actual monetary value. We can say that one gold coin was loaned to dozens of people and Mitsugoshi Bank got a huge interest in return, thus covering the empty holes."

The top brass of the Mitsugoshi Bank is not on the same level as a common swindler. I would like to talk to that person once about this bold and cunning technique and how in the world it was possible. (EN: I don't know if someone is actually saying this or if it's just an internal monologue, or even who is saying it.)

Yukime takes a sip of sake from her cup as she listens to John's question.

"Is this piece of paper truly worthy of the peoples' trust?"

This would be astonishing to the people, but it is already a well-known fact to the executives of the Great Commerce Alliance.

At any rate, the Commerce Alliance had to keep an eye out for the movements of the Mitsugoshi Co.

If it's something like this, John-han should have known it, but for what reason has he brought this up? I'm unable to understand it.

"There are two banknotes here, did you notice anything when comparing these two banknotes?"

"Notice... something...?"

Yukime compares the two with her pristine water-like eyes. There is indeed a difference in their design, but that does not seem to be what John-han was referring to... Perhaps!?

"Is it about the watermark?"

"That's right; additionally, the design of the notes from Great Commerce Alliance is rather crude, do you know what that means?"