Shades of the New World

Chapter 25: Educating the ignorant 1

"Could you please tell me about how much profit you made when you were working the bank?" Evin asked, calmly.

"I'm pretty sure the bank was actually losing us money. As for the income, it was around 2 million gold in the kingdom, right?" Rith asked and looked toward her brother.

"The exact income was 2,648,310.12 gold and the expenditure was 3,467,164.3 gold in a year. For every branch, the income was 11,164,798.41 gold and the expenditure was 15,564,778.94 gold in a year," Abvelgail answered dutifully.

'Humph, fucking show-off What a nerd' Evin was also dutifully badmouthing the Feline in his head.

Inspecting the numbers, Evin could see that the Western kingdom was one of the biggest reasons why the banking project failed for the Cosmics. Evin didn't know what nobles were like in the kingdom, but judging from how the 1st grade citizens completely ignored Liza and Evin's family, he didn't have high hopes for them.

But, if the Elmes bank included the middle-class and lower-to-middle class in the mix, the numbers of customers and the income should skyrocket. Not to mention the middle-class in Tower Capital should be to most financially capable of the bunch. Hypothetically, if the bank makes a profit of one million gold, Evin should receive a cut of 10000 gold every year. Honestly, that was exceedingly good. If the numbers were converted to Earth's dollars, it would be 10 million dollars. And he would be making that money, doing practically nothing. Compared to that, 100gold was 100thousand dollars. It wasn't a bad amount of money, but he would definitely need to have a side job to take care of the costs of being a mage.

"Rith, do you know how much money a mage requires to cover for all their expenses??"

"I'd guess about 300 gold a year should be enough to take care of all your lodestone needs and the maintenance of your laboratories. Though the required amount should differ vastly between the various levels of magehood" Rith explained.

"Do you know how much lodestones I can buy with one gold coin?"

"You can buy roughly 20 kilograms (44lbs) of dust-grade, 10 kg (22 lbs) of rock-grade and 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of crystal-grade lodestones," Rith replied courteously.

"Why are their prices so different?" Evin asked in confusion. Wasn't this supposed to be like that question that goes: "Which is heavier? A kilogram of feathers, or a kilogram of steel?"

"Well, the crucial difference is in its reusability. As you know, lodestones have the ability to absorb mana from the air. And crystal-grade lodestones do it much faster than rock-grade and dust-grade. Some mages also say that crystal-grade lodestones are easier to use, compared to the other two grades, but I don't really feel any difference," Rith shrugged.

"Hm, okay. What's life like as a slave in the Elmes Group?" Evin asked in all earnestness.

Rith chuckled at the question, but Abvelgail was sitting there, like a statue. Still and silent.

'Damn stuck-up cat, must think he's better than everyone,' mumbled Evin.

"I don't know, I never paid attention to our slaves. But since none of them complain about it, it shouldn't be too hard. We will give you a place to live in our headquarters, food, clothing and all your living essentials. You also get four days off in a month. Our goal is to make you work your best for our company, not torture you. Healthy and stress-free workers are the most efficient, after all. But, of course, you can never leave the headquarters without permission and without someone else to watch over you. Or else the whole point of you being a slave will be lost"

"What do slaves do on their days off?"

"Most of them take their days off together, drinking and having fun generally. Although some hole up in the libraries, reading up on magic or business studies"

"How does a slave regain their freedom?"

"You must bail yourself out. Bail cost starts from 1000 gold and rises by 3000 every year"

"How do slaves make money?"

"That's your problem, not mine. If you do become our slave, perhaps you can ask the others," Rith shrugged.

"Can I have someone else pay my bail?"

"Of course not. If we allowed that, then what's the point of punishment? The rich would go scot-free, while the poor would have no choice but to rot," Rith said with emotion.

'I wish humans thought like you guys' Evin sighed.

"How do you evaluate if someone made their own money or not?"

"We have our ways. You don't have to worry about that. Even if someone tries to cheat you, I'll nag Abvelgail to give you some justice," Rith reassured the child.

"Then I am assured. Abvelgail, I will choose the second option, but I want to add a condition that says you won't force me to tell you more information even after I become your slave," Rith said after making his decision.

'If I told these two cats the crucial information I was about to share, they might get greedy and fuck me up for it,' thought Evin.

Also, Evin could easily solve the 1000 gold bail if he sold some more info from Earth. He did not want to destroy his advantage without trying to keep it.

"Sure, I expected that you would say something like that," Abvelgail shrugged and pulled out a piece of paper.

He then wrote the conditions of the contract on the paper and showed it to the child. Evin's stated conditions remained the same, and Abvelgail added a new condition that bound Evin to say the truth regarding this matter of banks.

Abvelgail then pulled out another pendant from his pouch, but this time, the light from the pendant glowed with a brilliant blue glow.

Rith's pupils narrowed, and expectation filled her face.

Just as Evin expected, he inserted some energy into the pendant, but it did not explode into a magnificent firework of bright blue colors. Instead, the energy inside the pendant flew up to the sky and turned into a breathtaking aurora. The aurora had an ethereal quality to it, being visible in the sky even from inside Evin's room.

Evin would've loved to lose his focus and let the aurora mesmerize him in full, but a towering pressure set his foot in Evin's room.

But this time it was not a feline, it was a man wearing a suit of dark crimson. A monocle could be seen covering his eyes that shone an alluring tone of gold. The newcomer's face was youthful, but one could see lines of wrinkles that littered the youngster's profile.

"Solraheeth Abvelgail and Solraheeth Rithlaven greets their ancestor," Rith and Abvelgail greeted their progenitor uniformly.

Evin felt pressure from the man, but he could not help but be thankful. If they were going to use the World of Space contract, the felines must definitely uphold their part of the deal. He was sure the consequences of them breaching the contract should be much more severe compared to an outsider.

Alanor Elmes prudently checked his surroundings, briefly eyeing each character in the room. After his eyes fell on Evin, a flicker of gold flared briefly in his eyes.

Noticing it, Abvelgail showed a surprised expression, which the child was not able to notice.

'The progenitor has seen this child before? As far as I know, he only accessed the Worlds a month ago or so. Hm. Evin is a Child of the Empress. Perhaps he saw the "replacement" before,' Abvelgail concluded.

"State your business," Alanor ordered after his observation.