Chapter 170 (2) |
Upon receiving Rockefeller's request, she headed to the borderlands with the people who had trusted and followed her since before the Crown War.
As per Rockefeller's request, she transformed into a dwarf and captured orc scouts. She then proudly destroyed the orcs' sacred totem and implanted false information in them.
A few days later.
The orcs, whose totem had been destroyed near the empire's border, immediately declared war on the empire, assuming they were responsible.
The empire quickly reacted, moving the majority of their forces from the Montefeltro territory to the northern borderlands. This became a huge blow to the goblins, who had hoped for the empire's victory.
"Why the hell did they break a perfectly good totem?"
At the round table meeting of the Goblin Bank.
An enraged Goldman fumed at the empire's ridiculous mistake.
"Are these foolish humans capable of thinking at all? Are they determined to completely ruin everything at this point?"
Moreover, touching the totem, which the orcs held sacred, was equivalent to provoking their wrath.
No matter how much they desired gold, the imperial army had to move near the northern border to stop the orcs' southern invasion.
"Damn it."
The goblins had their reasons for being furious, even though it was someone else's business.
Due to the empire's foolish actions, the bond prices they had invested in suddenly fluctuated.
And not in a good way.
"The bond prices have dropped by 30% because of the empire's nonsense."
"Why did they touch the totem? Did someone who got shot in the head really do such a thing?"
"I don't know that either."
"That being said, has it already dropped by 30%?"
There was no reason for the bond prices to drop so much solely because of the war with the dwarves.
After all, the dwarves' goal wasn't the destruction of the empire, but simply to reclaim their ancestral lands.
But the orcs were different.
Since their sacred totem had been touched, they were determined to fight the empire to the death.
If the war tilted in favor of the orcs, the bonds issued by the imperial family would lose their value, as it was clear that the empire would suffer huge losses.
That's why the bond prices, which had been good until yesterday, suddenly plummeted.
"If the situation gets worse, we don't know how much further they'll fall. If the empire goes bankrupt, the bond prices could become worthless."
"Even so, will they really collapse?"
"They won't collapse. The empire is still good at fighting, after all."
"Ah... damn it."
The three gathered at the round table meeting began discussing the future with serious expressions.
"Isn't Montefeltro territory in danger now?"
Without the orc invasion from the south, the empire had a high probability of winning the Gold Vein War.
The empire had responded swiftly, but problems had also arisen among the three dwarf kingdoms, which had originally been enemies.
However, everything changed completely with the retreat of the Papal Army's cavalry and the orc invasion from the south.
"Damn it, what do we do?"
"Should we sell the bonds now? We'll suffer losses, but we can't just leave it like this."
"No, we've already invested so much money. If we pull out now, the already falling bond prices could accelerate even more."
The goblins, who had already tasted bitterness from the beer bubble, had no intention of foolishly dumping large quantities of bonds on the market like before.
If they did, the bond prices would plummet in an instant, and they would suffer severe losses.
"No, we can't. We've already tasted bitterness once. If we throw them away like beer, they will be completely worthless."
"Then what should we do?"
"Let's first watch how the empire handles this situation."
"I don't think that's a good idea. Think about it. Even if they stop the orcs, losing in the Goldvein War would be a problem too."
"Damn it."
"Is there no good solution?"
They tried to find a good solution, putting their heads together.
But no solution was in sight.
That's why the bond prices of the empire hadn't been reflected yet.
'Damn it. In this situation, there's no other choice.'
"I didn't want to use this method, but we have no choice. I'll go to the Emperor and offer to lend our army to him."
At Goldman's words, the two goblins reacted.
"You're not planning to lend it for free, right?"
Goldman's veins bulged in his neck.
"Free? What do you mean free? Just the cost of feeding the wyverns alone makes me want to puke. How can we lend it for free? No way. There's no such thing as a free lunch."
"That's right. Nothing is free."
"Nothing in this world is free. Okay, let's do that. If they don't want to collapse, they'll have no choice but to use our army."
The following words were crucial.
"For a fee, of course."
As the round-table conference ended.
Goldman, who could be considered the head of the Goblin Bank, went to the empire as a special envoy.
Leading dozens of wyvern riders, Goldman went to meet the emperor and saw the emperor and many human nobles who had been waiting for him.
They all looked like worthless, poor creatures.
'Such foolish humans. They can't even clean up their own mess, and they just keep rolling around like this. Tsk, tsk, tsk.'
In the presence of the emperor.
The bold head of the Goblin Bank, who dared to hold his head high, began to speak arrogantly.
"I hear some foolish guy messed up and now your situation is not good."
Goldman continued with a mocking expression.
"Do you have any countermeasures?"
The only race weaker physically than humans among all races.
However, they monopolized almost all the wealth of the continent, and there was no race that didn't owe them money.
Therefore, they were the most hated and feared beings on the continent.
And this was the same for the emperor.
'Do they trust the bonds they took and act like this?'
The empire had not issued bonds even when it was short of money because they did not want to see those faces.
However, they had already issued bonds, and the goblin who came now was a terrifying creditor that the empire had to deal with.
"There's no problem, so you can just go back."
"What? No problem? Why is there no problem? The orcs are already turning their eyes and coming down."
In fact, the one who was angry in this situation was none other than the head of the Goblin Bank, Goldman.
"If you guys collapse, we collapse too! So do it right!"
The goblin, who dared to be arrogant in front of their emperor.
Not a single noble stood up.
The wyverns that he had brought were already roaring wildly in the imperial palace, and if anything happened to him, no one could predict what would come from the Goblin Bank.
At that moment.
As if he had been waiting, someone spoke up.
The only financial advisor of the emperor and the most powerful person in the empire.
"You're too arrogant in front of the owner of a country. Anyone would think this is your living room."
"What? Who are you?"
Rockefeller smiled lightly and drew everyone's attention.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Rockefeller Rothsmedici. I am the emperor's only financial advisor and the prime minister in charge of the empire's currency and finance."
