Shades of the New World

Chapter 26: Educating the ignorant 2

"We ask you to witness a World Contract" Abvelgail replied promptly, no trace of surprise remaining on the feline's face.

"Of course. Give me the contract"

Abvelgail did as commanded, and Alanor glanced through the contents, before cutting his finger and having a drip of his blood seep into the paper. He then said:

"May the one who breached the Contract, have their body turned to gold.

Have their souls trapped in said metal, to witness history as a stack of gold coins"

Alanor whipped out a poem randomly, surprising both Evin and the Felines.

'I thought I would simply receive divine punishment if I breached the Contract? Did Aran lie to me?' Evin thought.

"Lord Ancestor, may I know why there is a different punishment for breaching the Contract?"

"Some stronger mages are opting to receive the punishment of our strike and a ban from the World, since they could safely endure the attack. Some high-ranking people of the World complained about this fact, and urged the Empress to create more Velvet Contracts. The Empress in turn, complained to us to create better contracts. Hence, the problem fell to us to create more severe punishments," Alanor explained.

"I see. Excuse me for interrupting you," Abvelgail said apologetically.

"No matter. Swear on the Contract," Alanor continued.

"I, Solraheeth Abvelgail, pledge to abide by the conditions of the World Contract of Alanor Elmes" Abvelgail recited solemnly. A look of piety could be seen in his eyes, as he said the name of his ancestor.

"I, Eviendra, pledge to abide by the conditions of the World Contract of Alanor Elmes," Evin recited after the Feline.

Evin could then feel a foreign energy seep into his mana-core. It made him unsettled, but at least it helped him focus on the matters at hand.

Abvelgail also seemed to feel the energy, but compared to Evin, the feline only seemed content and satisfied, a pious look on his face.

"Well then, I'll be leaving if you don't need me for anything else. A good deal for you all," Alanor said and disappeared soon after.

The pressure Alanor emitted naturally disappeared with him, and Evin could finally take a breath in peace.

'Who knew the Authority of a World was only a few broken pendants away?' he amusingly thought.

"Well, everything is prepared. Let us get into business," stated Abvelgail.

The cute little Abvelgail, wagging his tail at the Authority of the World of Space, was nowhere to be seen, replaced with the serious and stoic Feline.

"Please tell us your solution to the problem of insufficient capital," Rith urged.

"It's nothing special. You create what's called accounts. People would be able to save their money inside them, and you would have to pay them some interest. Your responsibility is to safeguard their money. Offer this proposal to the wealthy, and you will find yourself with enough money to lend out loans to most of the middle-class. Though, do be careful to not create huge price increases in the process," instructed Evin.

The Cosmic Felines already monopolized the storage business. If they just integrated its function to the banks, they would have already found themselves a new business. But luckily for Evin, they didn't. He continued:

"This requires you to always move your money around, so that it will constantly circulate in society. It sounds a bit difficult to execute, but you already have the advantage of being known to every person in the Empire. Not to mention the huge capital of the Elmes Group, your face already instills a feeling of trust in the masses. That's the advantage of huge companies branching into other fields"

"Yes, it's even easier for us since we already own the storage business. We just have to integrate that into the banking business. Now I feel dumb for never thinking of such things," Abvelgail lamented.

"Exactly as you said" Evin smirked, purposefully stating the matter vaguely, so it was unclear if he agreed with Abvelgail's take on the banking business, or if he simply agreed with the Feline's acknowledgement of his stupidity.

'Small victories like these, bring the most joy in life,' Evin thought in satisfaction.

"You mustn't have created a spectacle like that, just to say these few words, yes?" urged Abvelgail.

"Of course not. I'll tell you about transactions between bank accounts. You could start a new form of service called money transactions. Let me explain"

"First, there will be two different accounts in your banks, savings accounts and transaction accounts. Savings accounts will be the ones I told you previously, where a customer would receive money for keeping their money in your bank. But, they would not be able to retrieve their money freely and if they absolutely have to retake their money, they would have to pay a fee to do so. It is being used by the Elmes Group as their capital, after all"

"As for transaction accounts, the customer has freedom to do whatever they want with it. They could simply keep the money in it for safekeeping, or they could take all their money out for whatever they might need it for. They could also send their money to other accounts. Or they could give another person a slip of paper that states the customer's approval of letting the person with the paper receive the stated amount of money from the customer's bank account. We'll call these papers cheques"

"For transaction accounts, the bank does not have to pay any interest for it. Though you will be able to add small fees on the various transactions. These fees can't be too big, but they will be a very efficient source of income" shamelessly declared Evin.

"Very good. What else do you have to say?" Abvelgail said, obviously pleased.

"Doing these actions will also give your company immense benefits. You would know the exact amount of assets of the major powers of the World, cementing your influence in Alvox. You could also tell which of the powers are in cooperation with each other, by checking their transaction history," Evin declared proudly.

"But the cost of these transactions would be difficult to maintain, and I believe that some would be reluctant to pay them," Rith commented.

"But why would it cost anything? The difference between a bank and a delivery company is that the bank's delivering product is the same everywhere. If a person sends a hundred gold coins from the Kingdom to Tower City, the Kingdom's bank only has to receive the money, and the bank of Tower City will bring out the money for the recipient," explained Evin.

"Of course! Oh, you make me feel so dumb" said the Feline, sulking.

"It only requires some time to ponder about. No need to beat yourself over it," Evin comforted the Feline.

He did not feel proud of his 'revelations', but he had to admit it felt a bit good.

Evin then went on to educate the two on ideas from Earth. He felt that since he already plagiarized the idea of banking, he might as well plagiarize everything related to it. He told the Felines about financial management advising, insurance services, loans on property, he even told them about the possibility of ATMs, credit and debit cards.

All of them were received warmly. As for ATMs and the cards, the Felines said they could probably make it with magical constructs, but the prices would be too high, and most likely there wouldn't be a lot of customers to use them in this time.

During the talk, Evin became more and more sure that the Felines would accept his proposal, so his mood was sky high. The two felines were also in bliss, thanking the Empress for sending them such a goldmine of ideas.

A comic sight. A little boy, barely able to walk on his own, talking fervently with two cats that sat there and listened like the boy was the incarnation of the Empress, teaching them her insights. A golden halo would probably become visible in their eyes.

Everyone taking part in the conversation was extremely satisfied. The cats with the content, and Evin because he talked lots. There wasn't much chance for him to talk so much before, so he satisfied himself with his presentation. But nearing the end of the conversation, the most crucial part came.

"Now, you said that you can distinguish which projects would fail and which if them would not. Please tell me your solution," Abvelgail asked cautiously.

Evin's gaze regained its sharpness, and he became silent once more. He thought of what he should say, and he decided to keep everything simple.