My Lord Who Is Being Prudent! [EN]: Chapter 274

274. A Miraculous Cash Injection

The endless procession of carriages.

And approximately 1.5 billion gold per carriage.

This meant only one thing.

“Ah…!!”

Sian could feel a thrill coursing through his entire body.

His mind reeled, and his body began to tremble as if he were receiving a divine revelation.

And then.

Ding!

《S, save me! Please save me!》

《Please, save meee…!》

The pleading notification from Mobile Lord popped up.

However, Sian ignored the notification.

More accurately, he couldn’t afford to pay attention.

The thrill coursing through his entire body.

A joy that made his body tremble and convulse.

“Ah…!!”

He simply couldn’t contain this feeling!

Sian could only twitch and tremble, out of his mind.

And Amelia watched Sian’s state.

“……”

She was truly speechless.

Well, honestly, it wasn’t that she didn’t understand.

And it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen it once or twice.

So, it was about time she got used to it.

But no.

“Ugh…!!”

She could never get used to that.

No, seriously, now that she thought about it, she was genuinely curious how he could do that.

Look at that possessed writhing.

The trembling, measured in hertz [cycles per second, a unit of frequency], was not a tremor that could come from a human body.

Could he do that even if he were electrocuted?

Well… even if he received a divine revelation, she didn’t think it would be like that.

“Aaaaaah…!! Uaaaaaaaah…!!”

But what she saw before her eyes was reality, so what could she do….

“……”

Amelia was truly speechless.

And from her past experiences, there was no medicine to cure Sian’s condition.

The only way was to leave him alone until he calmed down.

However, Amelia couldn’t do that this time.

The gold Amelia had obtained by selling treasures.

That is, the gold piled up in those hundreds of carriages.

“Lord. I have something to tell you.”

Because there was a significant problem with that gold.

#

The capital of the Charlotte Empire, Darkan.

The heart of the empire located in Darkan, the Imperial Palace.

And the most central part of the Imperial Palace, the Emperor’s Audience Chamber.

The Emperor, Valuaga, quietly looked up at Konrad.

The Crown Prince, Konrad, subtly avoided Valuaga’s gaze.

He hadn’t exactly done anything wrong.

More precisely, it wasn’t Konrad who had done anything wrong.

However, Konrad couldn’t bring himself to meet Valuaga’s eyes.

Whether Valuaga knew Konrad’s thoughts or not.

Valuaga simply stared at Konrad in silence.

Tapping the armrest of the throne with his index finger, he repeated the content of Konrad’s report from just now.

“So… there’s a shortage of gold currency circulating in the empire?”

The content that there was a shortage of gold currency circulating in the empire.

It sounded like nonsense, but it was exactly as he said.

The gold used by the people to buy and sell goods.

There was a shortage of that gold currency right now.

And once again, it could have been dismissed as nonsense.

The amount of gold spread throughout the empire was countless.

The number of coins… no, gold coins, was impossible to count.

Of course, large transactions mainly used bills [paper money or promissory notes].

If all those transactions used gold, there would be a shortage, but that wasn’t the case.

In any case, the number was still more than enough to handle.

Above all, there was no way that there would be a small amount of gold spread throughout the empire.

But there was a shortage.

They couldn’t buy things at the store because they didn’t have gold.

It was different from the concept of not having money.

It was because they literally didn’t have gold, so they couldn’t buy things.

They were wealthy in assets, but they couldn’t buy things because they didn’t have currency, because they didn’t have the gold itself to give to the store owner.

The gold that was spread throughout the empire had all evaporated.

It was truly an absurd phenomenon and could be called nonsense.

However, that phenomenon was now hitting the empire.

And the culprit was also clear.

“The Ruben Family swept away all the gold?”

The Ruben Family. The family currently at war with Elandur.

So, Sian swept away all that gold.

Almost all the gold that existed in the empire.

It really sounded like nonsense, but it was true.

As a result, a new paradigm [a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions] was blowing throughout the empire.

“Currently, the northern and southern regions of the empire are trading through bartering because they don’t have gold….”

The barren northern region. The largest granary, the southern region.

The two regions were bartering for the same reason, but for different reasons.

“……”

Valuaga was truly speechless.

And damn it, it was called a new paradigm.

In fact, it was virtually a return to a primitive economic system.

From a monetary economic system to a bartering system.

That too, because there was no gold currency.

“Are you saying you just stood by and watched until it got to this point?”

“The Imperial Finance Director urgently told them to stop, but… the situation had already happened, so what could we do….”

“Haa….”

Valuaga unknowingly let out a deep sigh.

But what had already happened had happened.

Now was the time to fix the situation.

“Tell the Mint to mint the deficient gold right now.”

The Mint was, as the name suggested, an institution that minted currency.

And minting currency was not something to be done so carelessly.

Currency minting had a significant impact on the imperial economy.

They had to consider countless things such as the empire’s overall money supply and prices.

Various complex and headache-inducing factors were decided only after the empire’s top financiers repeated calculations that made their heads spin.

Even the emperor could not decide with such a simple order.

Unless he intended to bankrupt the imperial economy.

However, Valuaga didn’t care.

Now was not the time to worry about that.

But damn it.

“That is… there is a shortage of gold to mint the gold.”

Now that wasn’t possible either.

To mint gold, they naturally had to have gold.

If they didn’t have the raw material, gold, they naturally couldn’t make it.

“There was a phenomenon in the past where there was a shortage of gold circulating in the empire. We consumed the gold we had collected to match that circulation….”

This incident, that is, the phenomenon of the empire’s gold disappearing, had happened before.

Because of that, the Mint had once printed a large amount of gold.

Thanks to that, they were able to somehow match the currency circulation.

However, they had to consume all the gold they had accumulated.

And the culprit at that time was also clear.

“That was also from the Ruben Family….”

That damn Sian.

He evaporated all the gold in the empire.

The gold that went to Sian was not circulating and was all evaporated.

And this time, an unbearable situation exploded!

No, what the hell was this bastard doing while he was at war?

“We are urgently mining gold ore, but… we cannot properly meet the required quantity.”

In any case, they were in a situation where the raw material, gold, was far from sufficient to print currency.

“Unless we make gold currency out of iron instead of gold….”

Konrad muttered, but of course, it was nonsense.

Making gold currency out of iron, what was that?

If they did that, the value of the currency would plummet and prices would be shattered.

In short, it was a situation where they could neither do this nor that.

“Merchants are going bankrupt one after another because they cannot give gold according to promissory notes and bills….”

As a result, the empire was now in a state of chaos.

“Because there is so little gold, the gold currency itself is acting as a precious item….”

The return to a primitive economic system was a cute level.

“Also, because transactions are only made through bartering, the goods themselves are not circulating….”

Konrad’s reports continued one after another.

“If this continues… the empire’s economy will not be able to avoid collapse.”

It was virtually a national overthrow situation of economic collapse.

And this was no different from an act of treason to overthrow the country, except that they did not directly wield a sword.

Kwaang!

“I’ll just kill that son of a bitch!!!”

It was the moment when Sian changed from a mere loafer to a son of a bitch.

#

“…… So, I couldn’t exchange all the treasures for gold.”

At Amelia’s words, Sian nodded slightly.

It was a long explanation, but the gist was simple.

“You’re saying there was no gold to sell it for?”

“Yes.”

Amelia nodded as if she had pinpointed it.

An economy had to circulate.

A gives 100 gold to B and buys goods.

B gives 100 gold to C and buys other goods.

If C gives 100 gold back to A and buys goods.

In this process, only 100 gold moves.

Even with only 100 gold, the economy continues to circulate.

This is the basic principle of a monetary economy.

But the gold that came to Sian did not circulate.

It was sucked into Mobile Lord and evaporated.

It had been gnawing away little by little, and this time it exploded.

In the end, there was a mess.

“The Imperial Finance Director even came to me in person.”

That too, quite urgently.

And he begged desperately.

Please, please stop.

“So, the gold I exchanged was about 1.5 billion….”

Amelia couldn’t bring herself to finish her words.

About 1.5 billion.

About to the amount of 1.5 billion. What kind of nonsense was that?

But considering the gold that should have been earned, about 1.5 billion was right.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

Sian nodded lightly.

It was a shame, but… it couldn’t be helped.

He couldn’t tell them to create it when there was no gold.

Above all, the remaining treasures worth about 8.5 billion hadn’t gone anywhere.

They could be exchanged again when gold was released back into the market.

And 1.5 billion was by no means a small amount.

No, what do you mean a small amount.

It was a crazy amount!

‘Maintenance costs are naturally no problem….’

There was no problem in restarting Ruben normally.

Here, the price of the newly opened top-level martial art, 10 million gold.

Also, Arnaize’s special, 500,000 gold.

In addition, upgrading all the existing Ruben facilities.

‘Would it be about 300 million gold in total?’

There was really no problem at all.

‘Here, there is no problem with the cost of Elodie’s knowledge and Morcru’s technology research… and there is no problem with the production of dragon equipment. Oh, right. I have to build housing and various living facilities for the beastmen.’

Semir is currently revising Ruben’s blueprint.

Once that work was finished, he had to spend quite a bit of cash.

‘How much will it cost….’

Eh, I don’t know.

It would be about 500 million gold at most.

Sian didn’t care much.

Of course, the word ‘at most’ couldn’t be attached to 500 million gold.

But 1.5 billion was that kind of money.

It was an amount that Sian couldn’t reach even if he combined all the gold he had spent on Ruben so far.

Also, considering the treasures of Carze that he hadn’t exchanged yet, it was truly ‘at most’.

And.

《A, no…! No!!》

《That’s too big toooo!!!》

It was also an amount that made him very worried about the well-being of Mobile Lord.

#

Lord’s Castle Lv.4 located in Ruben.

Amelia’s room located inside.

“Hoo…!”

Amelia collapsed on the bed.

Her long red hair spread out on the bed, and the fatigue from this business trip rushed in like a flood.

And the cozy bed that wrapped around that fatigue.

It was made directly by the dwarves of Ruben and was truly a fantastic bed.

Would this be how it feels to lie on a cloud?

“I can’t even sell this bed because there’s none left.”

Amelia unknowingly chuckled.

As she lay still on the bed, drowsiness slowly crept in.

The memories of this business trip flickered through her encroaching drowsiness.

The business trip that nearly bankrupted the Empire’s economy.

The 1.5 billion gold earned after so many twists and turns.

From an ordinary perspective, it was an impossible feat.

Amelia had earned 1.5 billion gold.

Even acquiring that much gold was incredibly difficult.

Most of what Amelia sold were jewels:

diamonds, sapphires, rubies, gold, and so on.

These jewels comprised most of the treasures from Carze that Sian had brought.

So-called luxury goods.

It was impossible to drain the Empire’s gold reserves with just luxury goods.

Because people aren’t forced to buy them.

You won’t die if you don’t own a luxury item.

But, as mentioned, that’s only from an ordinary point of view.

In reality, jewels weren’t merely luxury goods.

That’s just how they’re commonly perceived.

Jewels were essential necessities in daily life.

Diamonds, as everyone knows, are metals with incredible hardness.

Because of this characteristic, they were used in various building materials, of course,

and even included in small amounts in specialized tools.

They also possessed high thermal conductivity but extremely low magical conductivity.

Therefore, they were crucial for building magical defenses.

Or when magic power needed to be blocked from flowing into a specific circuit.

There was significant military and industrial demand.

Not only diamonds but other jewels as well.

Sapphire, in particular, had the second-highest hardness after diamond.

Due to this, it was used countless times as a material for high-end cutting tools and abrasives.

Sapphire had enormous industrial demand.

Rubies were used as components in various machines.

Gold was a human-friendly metal with endless applications.

Like this, jewels weren’t just luxury items.

And these were facts unknown to the average person.

But a merchant had to be well-versed in the goods they were selling.

Especially if you dreamed of becoming a great merchant, you had to know almost everything.

“It’s a good thing I studied from time to time.”

Amelia felt inexplicably proud.

Because she had studied so, so much.

She had never studied this much when she was in the Brahe family.

She wondered if she was still studying from time to time now.

Above all, it helped that there were many people to ask when she didn’t know something.

Blacksmith Semir, researcher Jerry, and wizards Asrandiz and Sera, etc.

Ruben had talents considered the best on the continent in their respective fields.

Amelia didn’t hesitate to ask them for guidance.

Because she couldn’t be of much help in fights.

As an ordinary woman, she couldn’t contribute to combat power.

But Amelia had her own role.

So Amelia was working day and night to help Sian.

And to help Ruben.

Now, after repeated efforts.

Amelia was the head of the Ruben Brahe Merchant Guild.

She had risen to the ranks of a super-merchant who controlled the Empire’s economy.

“Of course, it’s thanks to the Lord…”

And it’s something she thought about every time.

Amelia wondered if she was really a great merchant.

Just… when she watched Sian from the side, she suddenly felt that sense of self-doubt.

Well, still.

Thanks to Sian, Amelia was also able to grow a lot.

In particular, Amelia could now boast that she had the greatest courage on the continent.

Now, ordinary funds couldn’t surprise Amelia.

Frankly, 10 million gold didn’t even feel like money.

It would take hundreds of millions to make her feel a little nervous.

That courage was a talent that could be seen as a vessel for a great merchant.

In that respect, Amelia had the best talent on the continent.

“Still, 10 billion this time is a bit…”

Of course, 10 billion was an amount that made her hands tremble and her mind dizzy.

It wasn’t just Amelia.

Didn’t the entire Empire feel dizzy?

“How much will he bring next time?”

Surely he won’t bring 100 billion gold, will he?

Could it be 1 trillion gold?

Sian might…? she thought.

As she was thinking this and that with drowsiness, then.

Krrrrrrrr…!!

Suddenly, Amelia’s room vibrated greatly.

To be exact, the entire Lord’s Castle shook greatly.

If it was an ordinary territory, they would have made a fuss saying, “It’s an earthquake!!”

Or “It’s an attack!!”

“Looks like it’s starting again.”

But Amelia didn’t care much.

It just managed to shake off the drowsiness that was coming over her.

Because it happened often.

Because it happened almost every time she made a lot of money.

Kwakwakwakwakwakwang!!!

Krrrrrrrr!!

This sound of Ruben being turned upside down.

A glance out the window.

Sure enough, Ruben was being destroyed.

At the same time, krrrrrrrr…!

The entire Lord’s Castle shook once again as if a major earthquake had occurred.

It was still an amazing and incomprehensible sight.

It was still a sight that she couldn’t get used to.

“What on earth is the Lord doing…”

Still, she wasn’t surprised or shocked anymore.

The time when she made a foolish expression saying, “Eeeeeek?!” was over.

Not only Amelia but also most of the territory residents of Ruben were like that.

Of course.

“W, what is this…!”

“Eeeeeeeek?!”

“It’s an earthquake!! It’s an earthquake!!”

“No, is it an attack!!!”

The beastmen who came to Ruben for the first time this time were a little different.

The sight of the beastmen seen through the window was literally a fuss.

They were running around in a panic through the scenery of Ruben being destroyed.

I was worse than that at first.

Amelia smiled at the thought of the old days.

She couldn’t resist the drowsiness that was slowly coming over her and closing her eyes.

“I wonder if it will be over when I take a nap…”

Amelia slowly closed her eyes.

The sound of Ruben collapsing rang through the heavens and the earth, but Amelia did not open her eyes.

The fatigue from the previous business trip made that sound a lullaby.

As her consciousness gradually faded away, then.

Knock knock.

-Amelia. Are you inside?

Sian’s voice was heard from outside the door…?

Amelia’s eyes flashed open.

Drowsiness disappeared and consciousness quickly returned.

Why is the Lord suddenly here…?

Amelia hurriedly tidied herself up.

“Yes. I’m inside. Come in.”

Then, with a click, Sian came into the room.

And just as Amelia was about to ask, “What’s the matter?”

“Amelia. Let’s get ready to go to the Imperial Palace together.”

Sian’s words were heard a beat faster.

“Yes? The Imperial Palace? No, more than that, why so suddenly?”

Amelia couldn’t understand anything.

Was it even possible to understand that?

Fortunately, Sian seemed to know and immediately continued to explain.

“I think we need to print some gold.”

Of course, that was also an incomprehensible explanation.

“Print gold? What do you mean?”

“I mean we need to print gold as it is. They say there is a shortage of gold currency in the Empire right now. That’s why I couldn’t sell all the treasures.”

“That’s true, but…”

“So let’s go to the Imperial Palace together.”

What kind of logical operation thinking flow is this?

Amelia didn’t think she had a bad head.

But she couldn’t understand Sian’s words at all right now.

“There’s quite a lot of gold in Lord Carze’s treasures.”

The words Sian said at that moment.

“Ah.”

Only then could Amelia roughly understand Sian’s words.

Currently, there was a shortage of gold currency in the Empire.

The only way to solve this was to mint gold currency.

And the material for gold currency was naturally gold (金) [Gold in Hanja, Sino-Korean vocabulary].

In other words, Sian’s words now meant that he would melt all the gold treasures and mint them into gold.

And of course, gold could not be printed by just anyone or carelessly.

Under strict control, it could only be printed at the Mint with the approval of the Imperial Family.

In short, you could think of it as only the Imperial Family could mint it.

“I think I need to go to His Highness the Crown Prince and talk to him.”

That’s why Sian suddenly said to go to the Imperial Palace.

Nevertheless, there was a problem.

No matter how much the Crown Prince helped, currency could not be minted for such a simple reason.

There had to be a complicated calculation process that even Amelia couldn’t handle.

No, but wait a minute.

Let’s put that problem aside for a moment.

“You don’t really need gold right now, do you?”

Why do you need to do that now?

That’s because Amelia had just earned 1.5 billion gold.

There was no problem even if she took her time before using that gold.

But now─.

“Ah, that?”

Sian nodded as if he understood Amelia’s question.

And absolutely, resolutely.

Sian ended up saying words that should not exist in this world.

“I used it all.”

“……………… Yes?”

Amelia’s thoughts flowed a beat late.

Thoughts were not connected and began to be cut off.

A shock as if facing the truth of the world that should never be seen.

A sense of alienation as if seeing a contradictory phenomenon such as ‘cold hot water’.

The conclusion Amelia came to was.

‘Did I earn 150 million gold?’

Cognitive dissonance.

Amelia went so far as to manipulate her own memories.

No. It was definitely 1.5 billion gold.

Or am I mistaking 1.5 billion gold for 150 million gold?

No, even 150 million doesn’t make sense?

Amelia asked Sian, causing cognitive dissonance.

And Sian’s words that followed.

“That… the cash cost was more expensive than I thought.”

Only then did Amelia’s body stiffen.

The manipulated memories ended up facing the truth that should never be faced.

It was very… for a while.

A little while ago, just now, or a while ago.

It was a time when it wouldn’t be strange to bring up such concepts.

The time when Amelia boasted to Sian, “I earned this much!”

Also, the time when she walked wearily from Ruben to the Lord’s Castle, exhausted.

Thus, the time when she lay on the bed and imagined this and that with drowsiness.

It was only that much time.

But… but…

“I used it all.”

He used it all.

1. 5 billion gold. Not 150 million gold, but a whopping 1.5 billion gold.

That 1.5 billion gold that bankrupted the Empire’s economy!

He used it all…

Honestly, Amelia had a little pride.

The vessel as a great merchant.

She thought she had grown enough courage to surpass him.

She was confident that she would no longer tremble or feel dizzy with money.

She thought she could lead the money instead of being swayed by it.

But. But…

“Ah…? Ah ah…?”

I guess I still have a long way to go.

Thud.

Amelia’s body collapsed powerlessly to the floor like a doll with a broken string.

And as if fully, a hundred times sympathizing with and understanding Amelia’s feelings.

Tring!

《I… Kueeeek… I guess I still have a long way to go…》

《To deal with this crazy… big thing…》

Kkaekkodak.

[Detection of unprecedented causal runaway.]

[Emergency inspection in progress. Service will not be available during the inspection.]

[Connection to the server has been lost. Terminating Mobile Lord.]