Chapter 50

< 50. Hygiene Improvement. >

The effect of the currency was immediate.

As the currency was sufficiently circulated through the exchange and wage payments by the Financial Agency, the transactions that had been inconvenient until now became much easier.

Also, since the Financial Agency was established, people could store their money conveniently and safely.

Thanks to that, the Financial Agency was always busy with long queues.

Yellow Footprints watched this phenomenon with his eyes and smelled the strong scent of money.

‘This will surely make money.’

Even at this moment, people were constantly depositing money at the Financial Agency.

What if he could pull some of that money into the Lightning Guild?

‘I could expand my business more than now.’

As the business grew, so did the profits.

Yellow Footprints was confident of success.

And he immediately made a plan and went to see the guild leader.

“What are you doing here? You must be busy with the sugar cane trade.”

“Guild leader, I have a good idea. Would you like to hear it?”

“A good idea? Of course I want to hear it!”

Quiet Sea smiled at his words.

He was making a lot of money thanks to the sugar cane trade proposed by Yellow Footprints.

With the guild leader’s permission, Yellow Footprints wasted no time and laid out his plan.

“Why don’t we keep people’s money like the Financial Agency does?”

“Yes. Think about it. If some of the money that flows into the Financial Agency comes to the Lightning Guild, we can supply more ships of sugar.”

Quiet Sea was slightly surprised by his words.

He had never thought about what to do with the money he saw at the Financial Agency.

‘He is indeed a brilliant guy.’

He could not deny his outstanding brain.

But Quiet Sea had a question in his mind.

“Hmm. It’s a good idea, but… Will people trust us with their money? They can keep their money safely at the Financial Agency.”

“Of course we have to offer something better than the Financial Agency.”

It was a natural question.

Yellow Footprints had an answer for that.

“Think about it. The Financial Agency only keeps money for them. What’s the benefit of depositing money at the Financial Agency? Nothing but keeping their money safe.”

“That’s true.”

“We approach differently. We give more money to those who deposit money at the Lightning Guild at a certain rate. Then people who are sensitive to profit will deposit their money at our guild, not at the Financial Agency.”

“…!”

Quiet Sea’s eyes widened slightly.

He understood Yellow Footprints’ proposal.

Indeed, if they guaranteed a certain profit in return for depositing money, quite a lot of people would come to the Lightning Guild with their money.

“Ho ho. It looks quite promising, doesn’t it?”

They would give them money if they left it alone. And there was no loss from accidents as if they had a stake in the guild.

How attractive was that?

“If we use that money, we can grow faster than now.”

“But what if people who deposited money at the guild suddenly withdraw their money at once?”

“Of course we have to leave some amount. But not everyone will withdraw their money at once, right? We can use an appropriate level of deposited money as the Lightning Guild’s fund.”

“Hmm.”

The more he thought about it, the better it seemed.

A way to increase the size of the guild with little risk.

Quiet Sea felt a strong possibility of success in this proposal, just like when he started the sugar cane trade before.

“Haha! I can’t catch up with your brain, can I? Okay. Let’s try it. Will you manage it yourself again this time?”

“If you allow me, I would like to do so.”

That’s how the establishment of a private bank was first discussed and soon implemented at the Lightning Guild.

“What? If you deposit 10 cents of gold coins at the Lightning Guild, they will give you one more cent in a year? Does that make sense?”

“Did this guy live by being fooled? The Lightning Guild is one of the top guilds in the empire. Do you think they would scam you?”

“Hmm. That’s true. Should I go and see for myself?”

“Hehe. Let’s go together after work today.”

The rumor spread quickly. And in fact, many people withdrew their money from the Financial Agency and put it in the Lightning Guild.

***

‘Huh, well. I expected it, but I didn’t think private banks would emerge so soon after the Financial Agency.’

The story about the Lightning Guild was quickly reported to Kim Kiwoo.

“Are you going to leave it alone? Most of the imperial citizens still have their money deposited at the Financial Agency, but if time goes by like this, many of them will go to them.”

The Minister of Internal Affairs said with a serious face.

The Lightning Guild was large enough that many guilds were watching them.

Thanks to that, they followed the Lightning Guild and jumped into the sugar cane trade.

The same was true this time.

As the Lightning Guild showed signs of making a fortune in the financial business, everyone was preparing to enter this market.

When the competition started, they would surely raise their interest rates.

Of course, there was nothing good for the Financial Agency.

‘I can’t just leave it alone.’

The absorption and reinvestment of private capital through the Financial Agency was a very important part of Kim Kiwoo’s plan.

And there were many ways to stop it.

The owner of this empire was none other than himself.

“The solution is simple, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s a matter of making one bill. The interest rate in the market cannot exceed the interest rate of the Financial Agency.”

“Ah!”

The Minister of Internal Affairs sighed.

The current interest rate of the Financial Agency was zero.

It was practically the same as saying not to pay interest.

If this happened, the benefits for the imperial citizens would disappear.

In other words, they would deposit their money at the Financial Agency, which had higher reliability.

If this bill was made, the Lightning Guild would end up wasting their efforts.

‘I don’t feel good about suppressing private capital, but.’

He didn’t feel any guilt.

The existence of private banks was a clear obstacle to Kim Kiwoo’s plan.

‘Yellow Footprints… I should see his face sometime.’

The name of Yellow Footprints, who quickly copied the Financial Agency system, often reached Kim Kiwoo’s ears.

He was a young man who had just become an adult, but he was already so noticeable.

He seemed to have a natural nose for making money.

“As expected, Your Majesty is wise. Then I will start preparing the bill with the Supreme Court.”

“Good. Announce it as soon as possible. I don’t want to hear complaints from other guilds.”

“Yes, sir.”

Only the Lightning Guild had entered the financial business so far.

That meant that the only one who would suffer from the bill was the Lightning Guild.

It was better to act quickly in this early stage to reduce unnecessary noise.

The bill on interest rates was quickly prepared.

As soon as the bill was proposed, the money that had been entrusted to the Lightning Guild was quickly recovered.

The interest rates were the same, but the reliability of the Financial Agency and the Lightning Guild was like heaven and earth.

“Damn…”

Thanks to that, Yellow Footprints tasted defeat for the first time.

Of course, it wasn’t a big business that involved a lot of capital, so the damage to the Lightning Guild was not that great, but it slightly tarnished his reputation that he had built up with great care.

But the person who proposed this bill was none other than the great emperor himself.

The living spirit and the absolute ruler of Wakan Tanka Empire.

Yellow Footprints was not someone who could challenge him.

That’s how the incident with private banks came to an end.

***

No matter what country it is, the most important thing is economy.

And Wakan Tanka Empire found economic stability.

The chaos over the introduction of currency had become a thing of the past.

‘Whew. I’ve come this far.’

Kim Kiwoo felt a sense of accomplishment.

Thanks to the currency, he became financially strong, and there was no external threat anymore.

And the officials of the empire also became matured.

In the past, anyone who graduated from middle school could enter any department, but now they had to take a test with a low competition rate.

The administration of the empire began to run smoothly.

‘I don’t need to worry about trivial things happening in the empire anymore.’

Until now, he had focused more on nation building than civilization development.

That’s why he tried to grasp as many incidents happening in the empire as possible.

But now he had reached a level where he could run the empire smoothly without him.

Then he thought he could focus more on civilization development from now on.

He delegated many parts that he had been doing until now to each department.

‘At least there is no force in the empire that threatens me.’

This would not change much over time.

He was an immortal spirit, who had absolute power and overwhelming support from the people. 

Who would dare to raise their flag against him?

He didn’t mind giving decision-making power to each department.

He wasn’t completely retiring, and he still intended to pay attention to major issues anyway.

He told this to his ministers.

But they opposed him one after another.

“No way, Your Majesty! How dare we replace your role!”

“Please think again!”

“My will is firm. I will never change my mind. Now these are things that each department can handle enough.”

“How could it be…”

The ministers were speechless.

Kim Kiwoo usually tried to accommodate as many opinions as possible from various officials.

Even if they came up with something that he didn’t like, he didn’t scold them or anything.

But when Kim Kiwoo drew a line like this, he never changed his opinion.

The ministers who had been dealing with Kim Kiwoo for a long time knew this well.

“I’m not delegating decision-making power to each department to rest. I need more time to make Wakan Tanka Empire more prosperous. Think about it. If I hadn’t gone to Black Sky myself, could I have made steel like this?”

“…You wouldn’t have.”

“That’s right. I still have many things to make and enrich the Wakan Tanka Empire. But it would be hard if I handle all these tasks.”

The ministers couldn’t argue with that.

Kim Kiwoo’s words were very reasonable.

In the end, they gave in.

“As you wish, Your Majesty.”

“We will follow you.”

That’s how Kim Kiwoo got their consent.

And then,

The work structure of Wakan Tanka Empire changed from Kim Kiwoo-centered to department-centered.

***

‘Whew. Now I feel like living.’

For countless long time,

Kim Kiwoo was at the top of all work processing.

But after the work structure changed,

Kim Kiwoo’s burden was greatly reduced.

He only received reports after preliminary actions on the necessary issues.

As the workload decreased in an instant, Kim Kiwoo had a lot of time left.

He had a simple tea time with the hygiene minister.

Gulp.

‘Huh. I feel my brain waking up.’

Kim Kiwoo savored the cocoa that the steward brought.

The amount of cocoa that came from the Central Continent was very small and expensive, but Kim Kiwoo didn’t care.

He felt like his brain was getting nutrients when he drank sweet drinks.

Clack.

Kim Kiwoo put down his teacup and spoke to the hygiene minister sitting across from him.

“So. How is the hygiene situation in the capital?”

He knew the answer.

As expected,

The hygiene minister’s answer did not deviate from Kim Kiwoo’s expectation at all.

“Very bad. It seemed to get better as the factories moved to Black Sky, but as the empire developed, more and more people are flocking to the capital.”

The biggest wish of the imperial citizens was to live in the capital.

It was the most developed place in the empire, and the sacred place where Kim Kiwoo, the great spirit and the emperor of Wakan Tanka, resided.

But even though more people came, the water supply was constant.

How could hygiene be good when water was so scarce?

The dark face of the hygiene minister seemed to reflect the current situation of the capital well.

And it was also the problem that Kim Kiwoo wanted to solve first.

< Hygiene Improvement. > The end