My Dear, You're Swallowed by Debt (4)
Late at night, when the moon was high in the sky.
Lord Chester received a report from his stewards about a disturbance that occurred in his territory.
It turned out that Carter Bank was not exchanging the debt certificates brought by the residents for gold coins.
As a result, the angry residents went to Carter Bank and caused a commotion, according to the report.
'It's not my concern.'
Lord Chester had no idea how things had escalated to this point.
He simply thought that there must be a problem with Carter Bank that prevented them from giving out gold coins, but he never even dreamed that he was deeply involved in the matter.
Of course, he was not completely without suspicion.
That very night, before the incident occurred, a young man named Rockefeller had met with him.
'There wasn't any good news... But it must be unrelated. This is an issue with Carter Bank itself.'
Rockefeller, who visited Lord Chester, had a serious conversation about debt repayment unlike before.
He also asked that the interest be paid in gold coins as much as possible, but Lord Chester was not the one to hear it.
Facing Rockefeller, Lord Chester said,
"If you've been accepting my debt certificates so far, then how can you suddenly refuse to accept them? What am I supposed to do?"
Rockefeller argued back,
"I don't know when it started, but we have been constantly accepting your debt certificates. The debt certificates are your promise to repay the debt eventually. However, we cannot keep accepting only your promises indefinitely. Please pay us in gold coins for the interest."
"I can't afford to pay interest like that. As you know, where would I get that kind of money?"
"Aren't the taxes from your territory collected steadily?"
"Ah, yes, the territory taxes are being collected. But I can't give them to you in gold coins, can I? I'm running short on gold coins too. I need to prepare for emergencies, right? Then I have to have a certain amount of gold coins."
"I think you're being too excessive."
"Well, I don't have any gold coins."
As Lord Chester blatantly showed his defiance, Rockefeller recalled what Carter had said about bad debtors in the past.
'Not all debtors were bad from the beginning, just like him.'
Rockefeller realized at this moment that even a good debtor like Lord Chester, who had been diligently repaying his debts, could turn into a bad debtor depending on his circumstances.
However, this was all according to his plan.
He was the one who had subtly induced Lord Chester to incur such debts.
To crush him with debt.
'It was exactly what I aimed for. Nice to meet you, Lord, no, Mr. Bad Debtor.'
"So, are you saying that you will replace gold coins with debt certificates this time as well?"
At this question, Lord Chester began to get defensive.
"When did I say I wouldn't repay? It's just that I'm having a hard time right now, so I'll use debt certificates instead."
"How long exactly?"
Lord Chester was overly confident in himself.
'What can he do if I don't give him gold coins?'
"Why are you so persistent? You should be grateful that I'm even giving you debt certificates."
At that, Rockefeller also threw in a remark.
"Lord, as I said before, we cannot keep accepting only debt certificates. We've already seized the land as collateral, so if there's a problem, we have no choice but to take the land."
At this, Lord Chester blatantly snorted.
"You dare to take my land? What kind of trick can a mere banker pull off?"
"Didn't we agree on that?"
"We did agree... but how are you going to take it? I'm still very much alive."
At that, Rockefeller inwardly mocked Lord Chester.
'He's too confident that he's the owner here. That's how he'll end up getting a big nosebleed.'
"We already made a promise in front of Priest Peter."
Nonetheless, Lord Chester's arrogant attitude remained unchanged.
"You, be sure to know this clearly. The land is not given by the church, but by His Majesty. Whatever promise you made with me and the congregation, it is His Majesty who considers it and makes the decision. Just because I'm in debt doesn't mean you can take the land as you please."
There was no mistake in what he said here.
Even if the promise with the congregation was valid, in principle, the empire's land was divided and given by the royal family, and if the royal family did not recognize the promise made here, whatever promise was made here would be completely null and void.
That was the power of the royal family and the land of the empire they ruled.
"Still, it's the promise we made in the presence of God. Even if His Majesty is the sky, God is above him. It's a promise made in the presence of God. No one can break it."
Lord Chester's voice grew tense for a moment.
"How dare you bring up His Majesty!"
As Rockefeller hesitated, Lord Chester, with veins popping in his neck, glared at him.
"You... you've grown a lot while I haven't seen you. You even come to me and talk back."
Rockefeller inwardly acknowledged it.
That he had grown a lot.
'Anyway, that guy won't last long. The moment I leave here, I'll be the first to pull the trigger.'
"It's a promise made in the church. His Majesty may be the sky, but God is above him. It's a promise made in the presence of God. No one can break it."
The church was the place Lord Chester hated the most.
It was a place where they didn't listen to him and didn't even have to.
It had always been a headache, and he didn't have a good feeling about it even now.
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