Herald of Steel

Alexander thought about the challenges of implementing the two banking systems for a while, naturally finding the traditional type far easier.

He just needed to give anyone asking for the money and then sit and wait for the repayments. How the man gathered the money was his headache.

The interest free system however needed a lot more oversight.

First of all, it required a far more selective vetting of the debtors, as here Alexander was not lending, but investing. He risked losing all his money, hence naturally the borrower needed a far better ’credit score’.

Then, once the loan was given, it required further accounting oversight to make sure the business was reporting proper revenue number.

Otherwise, it would be all too easy for a business to make enormous profits but cook the books to make it look like they were barely breaking even.

This was a trick as old as the ages… to dodge paying business taxes. And Alexander certainly did not want to end up as one of the swindled.

Lastly there was the hassle of properly distributing the earnings among the depositors at the end of the year.

With a fixed interest rate, it was simply multiplying the percentage with his savings.

But with the interest less model, the profits had to be divided up among the investors in proportion to the deposits, and sometimes even according to the accounts used to generate that percentage of the profit.

Alexander certainly did not have the educated manpower to set up such complex structures even if he wanted to.

So for now Alexander decided to only offer the traditional interest based loans, with plans to offer the much more complicated alternative at a later date.

Even when he did, Alexander wished to simplify the process a lot, such as making the borrower’s books much more transparent, lending money to only business with a stable cash flow, and skipping giving personal loans in that manner.

For now though, Alexander kept his decision to himself, and so turning to the slightly unhappy Lady Parthia announced,

"Indeed… just as Your Highness said, it is hard to think of a way to make loans work without interest. Let me pray to the goddess and ask for her guidance. Hopefully, she will answer soon. For now… let us do with what we have."

Lady Parthia’s expression did not change much at this, figuring Alexander was just saying this to placate her.

So she simply gave a curt nod and once again promised to do her best supporting him.

Thus reassured, Alexander then turned to Lady Nanazin, and with a simple smile, proposed,

"Your Highness, I recall that you have some experience in managing books. So I want to be in charge of this new ’lending house’. It is named the ’Bank of Goddess Gaia.’ and I have already set you up with all the necessary staff."

"....!!!.." The announcement appeared like a bolt out of the blue for the Adhanian queen, her eyes bulging out with surprise and more than that excitement!

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When Alexander had called her, she certainly did not expect to be given such a huge boon. She only figured Alexander was summoning her for her advice.

"...That…umm… I…" Hence for a moment, even the mature queen lost command of her words, blurting out a few disconnected syllables as she struggled to find the exact words to thank Alexander.

Because just saying ’thank you’ seemed too cheap.

"....Bank of Goddess Gaia….? What does bank mean?"

While seeing the shocked queen, Lady Parthia decided to cleverly interject as such, taking away Alexander’s attention and thus giving the Adhanian queen a chance to recover in the background.

She was also actually curious about that specific word Alexander used because she had never heard it before. In fact, given Alexander used the literal English pronunciation for the word, it even sounded a bit alien to her.

Alexander calmly chimed at the query,

"It is a type of counting house. But we will only store and lend money. We will not provide any of the other services the counting houses give such as currency conversions or book keeping for other business."

"I used the completely new word ’Bank’ to describe our business to make it appear different from the Tibian counting houses… so that the nobles don’t instantly equate the two. So now Your Highness can say, ’This is not a counting house... this is a bank’ to anyone objecting to me, hahaha. I hope I was able to make your work at least a tad bit easier my lady."

Alexander gave a frank chuckle at the thin facade, not thinking much of the tactic.

Because Lady Parthia had already said the counting houses had already tried all sorts of tactics and that the nobles were ’veterans’ of the topic.

So this type of plausible deniability was bound to turn into an open secret very soon. They would certainly not buy it just because Alexander changed the label and packaging.

Hence the true reason why he called it a bank was simply due to habit and came up with this excuse to justify the invention of the brand new word.

The Tibian queen’s eyes however imperceptibly flickered at the suggestion, for she marveled just how quick the man was in his plotting.

How long had it been since she brought up the problem regarding the nobles? Not even an hour! @@novelbin@@

And he had already thought of a way to dress up the problem.

One should never underestimate the power of presenting something in a way that makes it more palatable. Even just a touch of deniability could be used to dodge massive consequences, a fact that was true across all times.

And even more impressive for Lady Parthia, Alexander was not even done, as he elucidated on the meaning behind his business,

"But I also understand having such a strange name might put some of the business off. So I also added my mother’s name to give it legitimacy."

"This business will thus also be like half a temple. Just like people can store their money in temples for safe keeping they can keep the money with us."

Lady Parthia’s astonishment once again released a new level at this, for turning a counting house into a temple was a 4 D cheese move she did not think she would have been able to think of even if she was given the rest of her life.

If Alexander truly did this, it would completely change the equation.

Nobles had no problem criticizing or even outright banning any businesses they wished. It was completely within their power and many were even antagonists towards this ’valueless’ class.

However, if it was a temple doing business or even just a business related to the temple’s revenue, such as the stores selling religious idols, charms, beads, etc., they would have to think three times before wetting their feet.

Unless they wanted a fight, nobles would only move after getting solid evidence of the store breaking the law and getting permission from the local clergy.

Hence Alexander’s taking interest money in the name of a god would make the noble far more cautious of speaking out…. even if just outwardly.

Even better, if Lady Parthia were to speak up for Alexander then, fewer nobles would dare call her out as a traitor or sell out because technically she was a priestess of Gaia.

It was only natural for her to defend her faith and some might say even an obligation.

The clever queen could already see a script forming inside her head, where she saw herself claiming that the collection of the interest was sanctioned by the gods and it only applied to the believers of the faith.

As for how true that was…

Well were the nobles going to stand in front of the bank and ask each and every one coming out of it what their chosen faith?

Of course, such a ridiculous thing would never happen.

And even if the nobles were to accuse her of trickery after all this, charging her with fraud, Lady Parthia could easily hide her tracks by just asking Alexander to make everyone taking the loan sign a paper saying they were believers of the Mother.

As for verifying the faith….

"It is not up to us to determine whether the man is truly a believer or not. He has sworn he believes in the Mother in Her home and it is up to Her to judge him. There is no compulsion in faith."

Lady Parthia had been in charge of statecraft long enough to know how to twist words and turn events to suit her needs.

Now, whether the borrowers would themselves be willing to make such a ’dangerous’ promise, well…according to her personal experience, Lady Parthia did not doubt 99 out of a hundred 100 would sign in a heartbeat.

Because merchants were among the least religious groups in society.

They were perhaps even more agnostic than the nobles, who at least nominally venerated the gods or ancestors or the heavens in gratitude for their privileged position.

But merchants… most worshipped their one true lord- gold.

And things would indeed turn out just like Lady Parthia guessed, especially after Alexander added a tiny disclaimer that absolved the contractee of any such religious pledge once the loan was paid back.

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