"This is a big hotel. It was the private residence of a certain Duke earlier. Count Roland rented this place to promote his bonds, and I'm here to help!"
Tina introduced the knight. Under her guidance, Griffith discovered that there were many girls in this place who came to work part-time. Of course, there are also many young men. They entertained and took a cut of Roland's bonds at every opportunity.
Griffith took a bond brochure and read it over and over.
"Do you have any acquaintances here?"
"Yes, not just me, but many fellow villagers came. Some of them originally went away to avoid military service. After the war, although they were allowed to return to their hometowns to work after paying a small fine, there was actually no Good jobs for them.”
Griffith couldn't answer for a while. The vast territory of the East was conquered inch by inch by countless comrades like him, watered with blood, sweat and tears. Now, the residents there have left.
"The land and mines in my hometown were sold to the masters from Beyeland. They are rich. The local chamber of commerce and shops are no match for them. They also brought steam engines, a very magical thing, to When the swamp is drained or the ore is transported, dozens or hundreds of people are supported. As a result, everyone's salary is also reduced."
"Isn't there any chaos in the area?"
"There are many people who are unhappy and organize themselves to smash machines. But who can compete with the legion and the gendarmerie? In the end, they can only go to Beyeland to try their luck or farm, but reclaiming wasteland is very difficult and hard. It is said that the grain produced is more expensive than the grain shipped all the way from the south, and it cannot be sold at all, which is unbearable... Count Roland has been recruiting immigrants to Verona, where there is a cooperative called what? Yes, as long as those who go there can get farm tools and good land, and harvest agricultural products at very good prices, many people will be tempted."
The banquet hall suddenly became noisy, and the imposing Roland appeared surrounded by a large number of people. He dressed gorgeously, shook hands with all kinds of people, and it seemed like there was no one in the world who was not his friend.
Roland's speech was brief and confident. He briefly reviewed the history of Weifu Notes. Many years ago, when he had just received the fiefdom of Sebasto Kaiming County, he began to issue the first issue of Weifu Notes - local bonds endorsed by his personal credit.
The then-small, unknown local bonds spread throughout the world along with his marvelous steam engines, muskets, and cannons. Now, there is no one in the financial world who does not know that the great Roland is synonymous with creation and the future, and the earliest underwriters of Weifu Securities all made a lot of money.
There were even elves among the guests. They appeared from a distance on the diagonally opposite second-floor balcony, separated from the noisy humans, watching the retired legendary warriors.
It is expected that steam engines will replace labor to a certain extent; but the underwriting of agricultural products is a bit unexpected. After all, food in the southern provinces is harvested three times a year, and indigo, cotton and sugar are more abundant than other places. If not, the land of Verona cannot be competitive even if it is played well.
Roland must be losing money on subsidies... Griffith stared at the Weifu Roll brochure for a while, then raised his head and asked the girl next to him:
"Are you ready to go?"
"Of course!" Tina rolled up the non-existent sleeves on her evening dress and showed the knight her strong arms. "I will move there when I earn some more money. Although the count is in charge of land and farm tools, he still has some savings. The first days will be easier, I want to raise a litter of rabbits and feed them vegetables every day!"
Griffith and Tina laughed together. As in the past, the receptionist always looked full of energy.
"I subscribed for some bonds," Griffith took out his wallet and asked while taking out the money, "500 silver francs?"
"The money is not for me," Tina pulled him to a registration room to fill out the documents and subscribe. At the end, she took a stack of bearer bonds and patted them in Griffith's hand, "From now on, you are Be part of the glorious revitalization of Verona! I thank you on behalf of Count Roland!"
Griffith put the bonds away and prepared to talk to Roland in person later. Before leaving, he asked Tina: "What do you and your fellow villagers do here in normal times?"
"Textile factories, ironworks and various magic workshops, there are also many additional jobs that can serve workers who do manual labor, such as taverns, bathhouses and theaters. There are also many jobs in Wallen City. , every time a noble gentleman comes to a meeting, he can make a lot of money."
"That's good."
"But," Tina started chatting when she saw an acquaintance, and kept talking in a brisk tone like a nightingale, "some strange news has been circulating in the past few days. It is said that the kingdom wants to investigate the identity of the workers and drive away the illegal workers. The wages in the factory have also been reduced, saying that there are people who are willing to work, and those who are not willing to work can leave. Everyone is very angry and is planning to petition the king and the Senate."
"What about you?"
"What can I do~" Tina shook her head, "I can only seize the time to earn more. The nobles and wizards are very generous with their money, and they will also give me jewelry and clothes."
She shook the necklace on her collar towards the knight and pointed to the skirt: "It's softer than the clouds in the sky."
At this time, a waiter came to Griffith and said that the Earl invited him to the interview room. Seeing that Griffith had arrangements, Tina stopped interrupting and ran away with her brochure.
…
After Roland promoted his bond in the main hall, he returned to the office, where he received special guests.
When Griffith came to the door, he unexpectedly found that he was talking to the elves. An acquaintance, Harandil, the half-elf ranger captain from Canaan, was waiting outside the door.
"Good evening, knight." The ranger greeted Griffith from a distance.
"Good evening, ranger." Griffith was deeply impressed by the half-elf squadron that Harandil commanded in the last war, and had always wanted to chat with him more. "Is Roland busy inside?"
"Yes, I think in five minutes, he will have time to talk to us," the half-elf said with a meaningful smile. "As soon as I came here, I knew that Roland had booked the entire Grand Budapest Hotel. The ham, wine and tobacco used for my bond road show and his dinner were all the best he brought. This rich man invited Canaan's financial officer to the banquet and arranged the best room and band early."
"Have you known the Earl for a long time?" After hearing this, Griffith felt that Harandier would be extremely rude if he was not Roland's old friend.
"The time I've known him..." Harandil paused, "is too long to tell."
But you weren't part of Roland's early adventure stories? Griffith was a little confused, but did not delve into it. There was a nervous noise coming from Roland's conference room.
"Your pretense can't convince me!" a voice yelled in the room. Considering that Roland's guests were all elves, this must have been the shouting of some frustrated Canaanite financial officer.
This is very embarrassing... Griffith and Harlandier, who were chatting, fell silent together, listening to the conversation in the conference room with their ears pricked up.
"Of course you are rich! Your Majesty Silver Moon, a large part of this money is given by us!" The elf continued, completely ignoring several voices asking him to keep his voice down, "But, what did I see? You put The principal that should have been raised to pay off our maturing bonds was used to finance the new issuance, and was spent on these vulgar drawing rooms, underwriters, maids, and wine and food."
"Not much, not much." The voice seemed to be Roland's.
"Shut up!" The elf interrupted Count Roland de Sissel angrily, "We also know that you used the previous bonds in Qiming County, and just after you made a little profit, you invested all of it in Verona. Go buy land and farming tools for those mortals and poor ghosts, and throw them into the bottomless pit where there is not even a splash!"
"I promise, this is absolutely not the case. Please read my prospectus and every question you have will be explained." Roland explained. His voice was lowered so that people outside could not hear clearly.
After a while, the participating elves rushed out aggressively. Each of their beautiful faces looked angry or extremely disturbed.
A group of beautiful girls were waiting for them outside, inviting them to a banquet, but Canaan's financial officer was not interested and left in a hurry.
"Hey~" Roland came to the door, watched the elves leave, and then looked at Griffith and Harandil who were standing silently aside. He seemed a little embarrassed:
"I can only say that the learned people of God have a biased understanding of the nature of finance."
"Oh? What is the essence of finance?" Harandil asked with a lightning-quick interface.
Roland invited the two friends to his reception room, closed the door, poured them wine, then retracted himself into the sofa and took a deep breath:
"It's imagination."
"Why?" Griffith asked.
"It's like this, my friend," Roland said, "The elves believe that my bonds are about to mature, and in the foreseeable time, they can't see that I have enough cash flow to arrange payment, which makes them I’m so nervous that I’m not even interested in wine, tobacco and girls, which they used to like so much that they have to pack them up and take them back every time.”
"I am very nervous as an investor," Harandil said. "If your Weifu coupons cannot be redeemed as scheduled, as far as I know, there will be a large amount due in the third quarter of next year. Once it defaults, they will How should the person in charge explain this to Canaan’s superiors?”
"Impossible, I promise you!" Roland waved his fist, "Unless there is a total war or the evil god comes, nothing can prevent my Weifu bonds from being redeemed on time! It is written in black and white on the bond contract! I, Roland , guarantee it with your life and honor!"
Having said this poisonous oath, Griffith and Harandil were speechless for a moment. After all, the legendary heroes who once saved the world risked their lives...
The half-elf ranger picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and nodded in agreement.
Griffith looked at the conference room and found that Roland had no intention of preparing dinner. He couldn't help but guess that today's meeting should be relatively simple. He tore a piece of candy from the plate on the table and put it in his mouth. While chewing it, he asked, "So, Count, what's the matter with you coming to us?"
"Well, speaking of this!" Roland became more energetic and moved out of the sofa, leaning forward and approaching the two guests, "I invite you two here, my old friends, to discuss with you -
"How should we fight together in the upcoming all-out war and the coming of evil gods?"
"..."
The expressions of Griffith and Hallandir froze in an instant.
