"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 were also many young men. They were responsible for entertaining and catching
Take every opportunity to promote Roland's bonds and take a commission from them.
Griffith took a bond brochure and read it over and over.
"Do you know anyone here?"
"Yes, it's 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 the question for a moment. The vast territory in 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 now rich. The local chamber of commerce and shops are no match for them. They also brought steam engines, a very magical thing, to
When draining swamps or transporting ore, dozens or hundreds of people work on top of them. 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 military police? In the end, I can only go to Beyeland to try my luck or go farming, but reclaiming wasteland is very difficult and hard.
They say that the grain produced is more expensive than the grain shipped all the way from the south and 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 was dressed gorgeously, shaking hands with all kinds of people and greeting them. It seemed that 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 Vouchers. Many years ago, when he had just received the fiefdom of Sebasto Qiming County, he began to issue the first issue of Weifu Vouchers - endorsed by his personal credit.
local bonds.
This unknown local bond, with a small circulation at that time, spread all over the world together with his amazing steam engines, muskets and cannons. Now, no one in the financial world does not know that the great Roland is synonymous with creation and the future.
The earliest underwriters of Welfare Bonds all made huge profits.
There were even elves among the guests. They appeared from afar on the second floor balcony diagonally opposite, away 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, the 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 brochure of Weifu Roll 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, letting the knight see 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 subscribe 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 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."
"Then what do you do?"
"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 at her collar towards the knight and pointed to her skirt: "It's softer than the clouds in the sky."
At this time, a waiter came to Griffith and said that the count had invited him to the interview room. Seeing that Griffith had arrangements, Tina stopped disturbing 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, the half-elf ranger captain Harandil 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 commanded by Harlandir 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, "I just came here and 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 are not a member of Roland's early adventure stories? Griffith was a little confused, but did not go into details. There was a nervous noise in Roland's conference room.
"Your pretense can't convince me!" a voice yelled in the room. Considering that Roland's guests are all elves, this should be a frustrated Canaanite financial officer shouting.
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 lower his voice, "But, what did I see? You put
The principal that should have been raised to pay off our maturing bonds was used as funds for the new issuance, and spent on these vulgar parlors, 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 some profits, you invested all of them in Verona.
Go buy land and farming tools for those mortals and poor devils, and throw them into the bottomless pit where there is not even a splash of water!"
"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. Their beautiful faces were all filled with anger, or they were extremely uneasy.
A group of beautiful girls were waiting for them outside and invited 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? Then 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 within the foreseeable time, they can't see that I have enough cash flow to arrange payment, which makes them
I am so nervous that I am no longer interested in wine, tobacco and girls. They used to like it very much and would pack it up and take it 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 and 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 Hallandir 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 dinner plate on the table and put it in his mouth, chewing it while asking: "
So, Earl, what’s the matter with you coming to us?”
"Well, speaking of this!" Roland became more energetic, moved out of the sofa, leaned forward, and approached 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 advent of the evil god?"
"..."
The expressions of Griffith and Hallandir froze in an instant.