Becoming an Assistant at Bank #3(5)
Regardless, he was the owner of this store.
If he couldn't be persuaded, it would be impossible to impose more debt on the lord, so for Rockefeller, convincing him became crucial.
"Carter, sir. Isn't it a bit early to worry to that extent? If the lord repays the borrowed money on time, it's in our best interest to lend more, right? Among the customers we deal with, the lord is the most creditworthy. In my opinion, it would be fine to lend even more.”
Rockefeller understood Carter's perspective.
From their viewpoint, it was beneficial to extend the maximum loans to a creditworthy customer.
"I agree that the lord has good credit. It's much better than lending to someone mediocre. But still, there has never been a case like this before."
"What case?"
"The lord has never borrowed money consecutively like this. Something feels... not right. My intuition isn’t usually wrong, and that's what worries me."
Rockefeller's efforts continued.
"Previously, the lord borrowed 150 dalants to hire mercenaries, and this time, an additional 100 dalants for employing a mage. Adding the remaining 150 dalants to be paid later to the mercenaries, the debt incurred by the lord recently amounts to 400 dalants. For people like us, that is indeed a large sum. However, for a lord managing a domain, it's not that significant. Definitely not."
"It seems like you keep urging me to lend more money to the lord."
"It would be beneficial for us to lend as much as possible. Wouldn't that increase the revenue of our store significantly?"
It was an undeniable fact that the store's income had increased since Rockefeller arrived.
Therefore, no matter how much the store owner might be, he couldn't simply ignore Rockefeller's opinion.
"Yes, I understand what you're trying to say. The money borrowed so far isn't that much, so it's alright to lend more. But you see, what I'm really worried about is the lord developing a bad habit of borrowing, that's my concern."
Carter continued his speech.
"If you're the ruler of a single domain, then 400 dalants might not seem like a big deal. However, most large debts start out as small ones. The debt may only be 400 dalants now, but if you keep borrowing recklessly like this, it could eventually increase exponentially. That's what I'm worried about."
The prospect of what might happen in the future was like a horrifying nightmare that Carter didn't even want to imagine.
"You should never assume that everyone will pay their debts on time. It might be easier to get your money back from someone who has nothing at all. You could just send some thugs to collect it. But what if the debtor is a lord? Do you think it's easy to recover money from such a person?"
Carter shook his head.
"No, it's never easy. Especially not from someone with power. That's why you have to be careful from the start. It's about making sure a good debtor doesn't develop bad habits, by managing them from our end."
Carter must have thought that Rockefeller fully understood what he meant by now.
But that was his own misconception.
"If you could get all that debt back?"
"Get it back?"
Carter couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion.
Rockefeller continued, facing such a Carter.
"But you still wouldn’t lend it?"
"How could that be... impossible, right? Think about it. If someone like me goes to the lord and suddenly demands repayment, would he listen? It might not be a problem right now. But what if he’s in debt he can't handle? Then he would never repay, even at the cost of his life."
"That's a bit strange."
Rockefeller deliberately tilted his head.
"Why are we going to collect that money? Like you said, the lord won’t even listen to us."
Carter expressed his doubt.
"No, if we don’t go to collect it, then who will?"
"Here’s the thing."
Rockefeller pulled out a promissory note written by the lord.
"We sell this to others. Then that person will go to the lord and collect the money on our behalf."
“That’s because…”
“If that happens, we don’t have to worry about the lord's debt at all. The debt collection becomes someone else’s responsibility, not ours.”
Only then did Carter realize what Rockefeller was implying.
“So, are you suggesting we transfer the promissory notes to someone else?”
“Yes, if the amount of promissory notes from the lord keeps increasing, we inevitably have to do that. It's too risky for us to hold all of them. Plus, as you, Uncle Carter, worried earlier, the lord, who has lost the ability to repay, might consider unsavory options. It's only natural.”
When Carter couldn’t respond, Rockefeller asked about a previous matter.
“Didn’t you, Uncle Carter, inform the lord about this? That these promissory notes could be traded elsewhere.”
He had indeed said that.
The problem was…
