Shades of the New World

Chapter 22: Bait

The week later, Evin was released from the hospital and was finally released. When he saw his home again, everything was fixed like the vandalism had never happened.

The family resumed their bakery business like usual, so there was a queue of customers outside as well. Winter had just passed, so everything was much warmer than usual.

He went to his own room and informed his family that he would be practicing some magic. His mana-core had completely restored itself. It even seemed a bit faster and bigger than before.

Evin then shut the door of his room and started finalizing his plans. He first thought deeply about the information that he was going to offer to see whether he had forgotten something important about it all. He knew that a lot of people tended to forget miscellaneous information.

He also tried to remember the conversation with Rith and Aran, going over each word carefully. Hoping to see if he misremembered something.

He then formulated the speech he was about to give. He listed all the points that he will offer in his head. Going over them again and again until he was confident in it.

He went over the entire plan one more time, just in case.

Finding nothing wrong, he held the small pendant he received from the Feline.

Evin's tiny hands clutched the necklace briefly, hesitation apparent on his face.

'I really just want to take it easy and gradually build up my proficiency, but just as Two Tales said, old plans can't keep up with new circumstances'

'I do hope everything goes well though' Evin thought and went with the procedure.

After receiving energy from the World of Space, the pendant shone brightly and tried to float in front of Evin. The child panicked and removed the pendant from his neck hurriedly, lest he got himself caught in whatever that was going to happen and get strangled.

Freed from Evin's reach, the pendant started to spin faster and faster, until eventually, it broke apart into a firework of orange. The sound of soft bells permeated the area, momentarily stunning Evin.

For a little while, nothing happened afterwards. Evin could only silently sit and wait for the Feline's arrival. A few minutes passed, but Evin was patient.

"Really did not think that you would call me so early. So, how did our little Child receive enough lodestones to contract me?" Rith intoned playfully.

As Evin was wondering where the voice was coming from, a paw poked his shoulders and he turned around to see Rith floating beside him.

"I was actually hoping to make the lodestones off of your company," replied Evin calmly.

"Oh, tell me about it. I have heard of my kin offering their riches to some humans But those sound like practical legends to me. I wonder how will you achieve such a surprise," Rith purred.

"I want to sell your kin a business idea. I'm sure you will be very interested. Are you familiar with banking?" Evin could see the same sharp glint appearing in Rith's eyes.

Of course, Evin's plan was to introduce information from Earth into Alvox. He also knew how lucrative the banking business could become.

Obviously, the biggest advantage he had going for him was all the knowledge he brought from Earth. He would be a fool to not abuse it.

He was also trying to save time as much as possible. One of his goals was to solve all his financial problems in one go, never having to worry about money ever again.

"Yes, of course! Organizations created to give loans for various projects, right?"

From Rith's answer, Evin could guess that savings accounts and other related services were not popularized yet. Of course, it would've been even better if the concept of banks weren't invented in the first place. Though he knew how unlikely that case would be. People hated giving away their money, especially so if they weren't able to get anything back from it.

"You are absolutely right. Now, can you please tell me about the Elmes Group's experience in the industry of banking? Surely, such a vast organization like yourselves must have dipped their paws in many different fields, no?" Evin's answers stayed polite, never sounding arrogant or confident. Though the pun might've been unnecessary.

"Hmm. We have tried to make banks work, but most of our investments ended up in failures. We believed we chose trustworthy borrowers, but reality taught us a harsh lesson. The more successful one was, the more greedy they would become. Most used the loans as a way to find quick cash, and when it was time to pay it back, they would simply give away their collaterals. Most of them being things that are useless for us. It was just a glorified way for us to buy old property, basically," she said, then paused briefly before continuing.

"Afterwards, we decided to go hard on the collaterals. Creating contracts that were very harsh on failed investments. Probably wasn't that great of an idea in hindsight? After that, no one really dared to approach us. There was also the problem of dwindling capital. We wanted to invest in some big and promising projects, but they all took much too long for the capital to survive. So after a few years, we gave up on that idea"

The situation was even better than Evin expected. For the earliest attempts at banks, they would often only be used by the wealthy. But more often than not, they would be doomed to fail, because the wealthy were not that motivated to complete their projects they applied for. It was much better for middle-class, or even lower-class citizens to receive loans, provided that their projects were doable, of course.

But more importantly, they didn't realize that deposit and savings accounts could be used as capital. On Earth, such an idea surfaced in Ancient Greek, in the form of deposit accounts of Trapezitica-s, which were the ancient Greek naming of banks. There were instances of countries safe-guarding people's money for a fee, but only in the 1500s, a proper system that combined loans and various accounts, like in Ancient Greek, resurfaced in Europe.

"Well then, how about I offer you some solutions regarding the problems you faced?" Evin said as amiably as he could.

"Do tell" Rith purred. Focused and serious now. She was not one to belittle someone based on appearances. Especially a Child of the Empress. She was extremely knowledgeable about the things that they were capable of. There was a saying in Alvox: 'If something contains the name of the Empress, it's either a scam or the deal of your lifetime'.

"Now, let's talk about the problem of failed investments. First of all, you must include the middle-class in your customer list. They are the ones who are desperate to make their projects work. The rich and wealthy already have enough capital for most projects to be successful, most of them simply do not attempt to make it work. But the middle-class, on the other hand, they are the ones who need those loans for their projects to work. I assure you that they will try a at least a few dozen times harder than the wealthy. The middle class is also much more populous than the wealthy"

Evin spoke in a confident and assured manner. He tried his best to not use weak words, such as 'perhaps', 'maybe' or 'I'm not sure'. He instead used imposing words like 'must' or 'will' and 'will not', even at the cost of sounding arrogant.

"Secondly, you must give out the money in increments. Have the applicants divide their project into smaller pieces, so that you will be able to supply them with the right amount of money at the right times. Don't just give all the money all at once, check the progress of the projects consistently. Some humans become extremely irresponsible when they suddenly receive huge amounts of money. They feel as if they have a safety net with all that money they have"

"I also have a way to guess which projects will work and which project won't. But I'll have to tell the method after we have created a contract" Evin concluded. Obviously, his plan was to compare the projects with products or services that worked back on Earth. He would not be feel shame about abusing his knowledge.