The large door on the first floor of the Bank of Briton.
People were swarming around this.
If I opened this, people would rush in here.
“Is this really okay? When we looked yesterday, there were lots of people with ties to n.o.bles who would withdraw lots. We don’t have enough money here to fully pay them.”
A young female staff member boldly came to ask.
Apparently she’s called Martha.
She has a small and thin body, but as if inversely proportional with that, she isn’t timid at all.
“If you open it, we won’t be able to stop the mob.”
“There are no problems.”
I tell her that, and open the door.
The crowd is puzzled by the sudden opening of the door.
However, coming towards me, they tried to enter.
“Wind.”
I lightly blow them away using magic.
And I go outside the bank.
“Wh,what is it?”
The crowd strengthens their vigilance, and take distance from me.
Around me, a circular s.p.a.ce formed.
“Thank you for coming to the Bank of Briton today. I’m the president who just took office today, Ashtal.”
“This s.h.i.tty brat is?”
“Stop joking around. We don’t have enough time to play around with you!”
The angry mob doesn’t believe it’s the truth, and bellow at me.
“I’m aware of everyone’s requests. You’d like to withdraw money.”
“That’s right, hurry up and let us do it!”
“Okay, I understand.”
“Eh?”
Hearing my unexpected answer, someone raised a hysteric voice.
“Our bank will now be returning to normal business. Withdraw as much as you like.”
When I say that, a stir runs through the crowd.
“Don’t lie! There shouldn’t be that much money left in the bank!”
That man touts his leaflet.
It’s the leaflet that someone had distributed in large quant.i.ties the other day.
“That means that it’s first come first served. Hey, hurry up and let us in.”
“Please wait, before that there is something we’d like to explain.”
In the meanwhile, Adrigori prepared the stand. It’s about 1 meter tall, and pretty wide.
“As a result of that leaflet being pa.s.sed around, it can’t be helped that everyone feels uneasy. Our bank has also lent a large amount of money to the government.”
I get on the stand, and start my speech.
“However, as the business base for our bank is good, there will never be a time where we run out of money.”
“Do you think we’d be satisfied hearing that!? Show us the evidence, the evidence!”
“Right now, you people will withdraw from your accounts, which will serve as evidence.”
“Then you’re going to let us withdraw our money now?”
A good-looking middle aged man came out from inside the crowd.
“He’s Earl Goldberg, one of our major customers.”
Martha tells me in a small voice.
For the earl to come out himself, he must have been pretty impatient.
“Of course we will.”
“Then let’s finish this quickly. I’d be troubled if you told me you ran out of money.”
“Yes. Would you like to withdraw Briton gold coins?”
“What do you mean?”
Earl Goldberg glares at me.
“I thought it was already widespread among merchants though.”
Adding that remark, I explain.
That in response to the uproar this time, Briton’s currency was difficult to exchange with those of other countries.
In case you had no choice to exchange them, you’d be reduced to about half the value.
“What……?”
Receiving my explanation, the crowd again got astir.
“Well then our withdrawals would actually become half!”
That’s not accurate.
That’s only what happens if you get foreign currencies.
However, for things produced inside the country, nothing has changed.
However, I won’t explain that.
“How are you planning on taking responsibility for this!?”
The crowd gets even angrier.
“The value of our country’s currency has fallen because the trust in the government has fallen. The country will take responsibility for that. We only guarantee the face value.”
“I see. So you judged that the currency of this country’s currency is worthless, so there’s no particular problem with returning it.”
Goldberg unjustly suspects me.
“Who’s going to fall for that? Don’t even speak of this country’s currency. Bring Scottyard gold coins, or even just pure gold!”
In this situation, there’s no way I can prepare Scottyard currency.
Thus, the angrier ones strongly demanded it.
“I understand.”
I bow once, and as if he were waiting for it, Adrigori brings the bags one after the other and places them on the stand.
He put the bags that couldn’t fit on the stand by the bank’s entrance.
I show off one of them.
In order to make it visible to everyone.
“Th,this is Scottyard currency! And there are so many white gold coins……”
Goldberg’s eyes become calm again.
“Of course, we also have many more bags filled with Scottyard currency.”
I opened another bag, and showed it.
It was a bag containing a large amount of gold coins.
“There’s still much more in the bank. I wonder if maybe the people in the front are able to see them?”
“Indeed, there’s more of the same bags in there. Exactly how many hundreds of bags are there……?”
A man standing in the front testifies.
“T,that much!? How many are there?”
A doubt is heard from the crowd.
“I apologize. There were too many that we at the bank couldn’t count them all. No, I’m sorry, it’s a failure for us at the bank.”
I play the fool, and *pes.h.i.tu* hit my head.
“There’s more,look over here!”
The one who said that was the former president, Ben Springfield.
Looking excited, he brought over a leather bag that should’ve belonged to him.
“Hou, is that okay?”
I bend over, and ask him in a quiet voice.
“I understand your thinking. This is the bank my grandfather made. Even I have some backbone.”
I nod to Ben’s words.
I don’t hate people like him.
He gambled on me.
All of his property and all of himself.
In that case, I only have to do one thing.
I return to a serious face, stand up, and resume the speech.
“You’ve seen the evidence. This is proof that even if we fully refund everyone, we’ll still have enough spare Scottyard currency .
People were beginning to be convinced by my words.
They’re thinking ‘I see, so we actually can withdraw’.
“I,in that case, hurry up and let us withdraw!”
“Okay. We’re always ready here, but are you really okay with this?”
“What do you mean?”
Goldberg looks at me suspiciously.
“Money is safe as long as it’s in the bank. That’s absolute, and without a doubt.”
I powerfully a.s.sert that.
“However, it won’t be when you withdraw it. Take a look at this situation.”
I make large, exaggerated hand movements.
Gathering over here were many angry people.
They were people who were about to start a riot.
“Many people are watching this, so the story will spread. ‘Earl Gold has a large amount of Scottyard gold coins’. The city is unstable right now. It wouldn’t be strange if someone who attacks your mansion appears.”
Goldberg hears my words, lets out ‘ha’, and looks at his surroundings.
“Or maybe, you’ll be drawn into a dark alley, and robbed of the money you just withdrew.”
Naturally, there were several people accompanying Earl Goldberg as guards and companions.
They strengthened their vigilance, and surrounded Goldberg.
“Normally, the government would preserve public order, so these things wouldn’t happen, but now it’s different. Since this mess has happened, it’s not longer safe.”
Earl Goldberg puts his hand on his chin and thinks.
“I see……since you were able to show this much money, I can be relieved. There’s no need for me to withdraw anything.”
It didn’t take him long to figure that out.
It’s only natural that Goldberg was able to reach that conclusion.
“What did you say your name was?”
“My name is Ashtal.”
I bow once more.
“I’ll remember that.”
Goldberg said that, and left.
The remaining crowd said, ‘What should we do now?’ and ‘Since it’s safe, we don’t need to withdraw our money, do we?’ and consulted with their surroundings.
“Of course it’s better to withdraw when we can. Are you saying that we can trust what he’s saying? No, of course we can’t!”
I snicker at him.
I remember that man.
He’s the man who fueled the crowd when Yufilia spoke the other day.