A Currency War in Another World? (6K) (continued)

This was his regret, which wasn't really a regret.

He never intended to seduce Elizabeth; he simply wanted to be a hamster, bringing the vampire queen and her maid under his control.

It could be said that the bloodsucking was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, but unexpectedly, he ended up capturing this ancient queen from a thousand years ago.

"Sigh, the debts of love..."

Mahiro at the enormous sun in the sky and let out a sentimental sigh.

The summer holidays passed quickly.

The new semester has begun.

Perhaps because Claire and Rose became famous after their fight, the Ninth Sword Technique Classroom, which was not usually crowded, was packed with people.

The number of people has surged from around twenty to sixty or seventy.

Many of them got in through connections and forced their way in.

Their gistras were also colorful, with many wearing the same black as Claire and Rose.

To this, Mr. Jeno could only give him a wry smile.

All those who joined Group Nine were sons of powerful and influential nobles from various countries; even Vice Dean Lutheran couldn't do anything about it.

However, this didn't matter to Mahiro.

Whether you herd one sheep or a whole flock, it's all the same.

Moreover, compared to what happened to the Arcadia Trading Company, his situation was nothing at all.

Due to the meteoric rise of the Arcadia Trading Company, which monopolized the market with unstoppable momentum, the original chambers of commerce suffered dismal business, and many even went bankrupt and were subsequently acquired by the Arcadia Trading Company.

This led other major chambers of commerce to unite and form an alliance, intending to jointly defeat the Arcadia Trading Company.

For this reason, the members of Shadow Garden even gathered together.

The bright moonlight streamed into the room, and the candlelight illuminated the sumptuous dishes on the table.

The firelight flickered, and at the same time, several dark figures appeared in the dimly lit room.

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Zeta, and even Ita, who always looks sleepy.

It can be said that everyone except Delta, this human weapon, was present.

Just because of the person sitting in the main seat—

"My lord!"

"Owner."

The Seven Shadows bowed to him, and the Snow Woman serving beside him also gave a slight bow.

"Yes, everyone, please sit down. And you, Snow Woman, too."

At his signal, everyone took their seats.

Two beautiful women dressed in revealing kimonos, along with several members of Shadow Garden, were preparing tableware for them.

"There's no rush to eat, we can wait a bit. Let's talk about things first," Mahiro suddenly said.

Putting aside whether he was hungry or not, he was suddenly called over by these girls late at night, it couldn't have been just for a meal.

"Natsu, Kana, you may leave now."

"Yes, Lady Snow Princess."

After the Snow Woman Maiden's servants withdrew, Alpha waved for the people from the Shadow Garden to leave first.

Instead, a pile of reports was presented to him.

"This is...?"

"Mahiro, you must have heard that the merchant guilds in the capital have recently launched a joint campaign to try and crush the Arcadia Trading Company."

"Yes, I've heard about it." Mahiro nodded.

Moreover, to be precise, it wasn't just about defeating the Arcadia Trading Company, but also the Snow Fox Trading Company, which was allied with it.

The Snow Fox Trading Company was naturally founded by the Snow Woman and established itself in the capital city of Midgar under the name of the Lawless City.

This was the final straw that broke the camel's back for these chambers of commerce.

This leads to --

"They've already begun their operation," Alpha said solemnly.

"Tell me more, I'm quite interested."

"New, come and report on the situation."

"Yes!"

Alpha called out softly, and immediately the familiar tea-haired girl appeared at the table. She first bowed respectfully to him, then turned to the group and said:

"Just a few days ago, our Arcadia Trading Company's transport train was attacked..."

About five days ago.

As always, the Arcadia Trading Company's transport train departed from the transit station, carrying goods to the main merchant guild in the royal capital.

Halfway through the journey, a group of people suddenly appeared and attempted to rob the train.

They were easily killed by the guards on the train, and a few unlucky guys were captured in the process.

If these people were thieves or something, it wouldn't matter.

The key point is that these guys actually came from the Kada Trading Company, one of the chambers in the Merchant Alliance.

In other words--

"So, the so-called Merchant Alliance can't hold back any longer?"

"Yes."

Alpha gave an affirmative answer.

But Mahiro couldn't help but chuckle.

He didn't quite understand what these girls were thinking. They had the means to be forceful, but instead chose this roundabout approach.

But it didn't matter to him; he didn't care.

Moreover, this matter could add a little bit of trivial fun to his mundane life, which he was more than happy to do.

So he asked:

"Then what?"

Please wait a moment.

Gamma gestured to his men to bring out a tray and place it in front of him.

"The items on top are banknotes issued by our Arcadia Trading Company, while the other one is a banknote issued by the Merchant Alliance, which imitates ours..."

It's really obvious at a glance.

Mahiro picked up the two banknotes and examined them closely.

The exquisitely crafted banknote on the left was issued by the Arcadia Trading Company, while the other banknote, which resembled a child's doodle and was made of ordinary paper, was currency issued by the Alliance.

The difference is truly enormous.

The currency used in the Midgar Kingdom, as well as in other surrounding kingdoms, was the Zeni.

While the Arcadia Trading Company had expanded its stores throughout the country and other countries, its goods were in high demand and could only be sold by them and the Arcadia Trading Company Snow Fox Trading Company.

Gamma sensed a business opportunity and began developing its banking industry, issuing a currency called Arcadia Coin.

This coupon entitles you to a 5% discount on purchases.

As a result, it was snapped up by everyone and quickly circulated within the trial point royal city, which also caused the already bankrupt Merchant Alliance to finally sit still.

They immediately launched Alliance Coin coupons and quickly captured the low-end market with a 20% discount.

After all, the goods that the people need are not only sold in Arcadia, but also in competition with the Merchant Alliance.

However, this move ironically elevated the Arcadia Trading Company to a high-end position, while "low-end" became synonymous with the Merchant Alliance.

This creates a situation where the waters of the well do not interfere with the waters of the river.

This is how it should be.

The problem is, how could the Merchant Alliance be satisfied with tolerating the status quo?

So they sent their men to raid Arcadia's trade routes, though they were unsuccessful.

Thinking of this, Mahiro tossed the two coins back onto the tray and looked up at Seven Shadows.

"If that's all there is to it, I don't think it's necessary to notify me. Can't Gamma handle this kind of thing?"

His gaze fell on Gamma, but Gamma immediately stood up, knelt on one knee facing him, and said apologetically:

"I apologize, Mahiro, I am incompetent... I could only come up with a solution that is hardly a solution at all."

Tell me about it.

"Mahiro, the Alliance Coin's structure is simple and crude. We can attack our opponents by manufacturing counterfeit coins, causing the Alliance Coin to expand rapidly while severely damaging their business reputation. Ultimately, they will collapse on their own..."

"Then let's do it."

Mahiro up the little boy with both hands and winked at Gamma.

If it were him, he would definitely use the same method.

"But the problem is, Mahiro, if the Chamber of Commerce's reputation is damaged among the public, it's not just the Merchant Alliance that will suffer; it might also affect us. If that happens..."

"Ten million."

"Ah?"

Upon hearing Mahiro suddenly speak, Gamma looked up at him in surprise, her azure eyes filled with confusion.

"I mean, Gamma, your concern is simply that the shock will cause people to exchange their commercial certificates for cash, thereby emptying the Chamber of Commerce's treasury?"

"Would ten million gold coins be enough to support me?"

At the exchange rate of 1:100,000 for gold coins and Zeni, this is already an astronomical figure!

"If that's not enough, how about twenty million? Thirty million... a hundred million?"

Mahiro up the wine glass on the table, took a small sip, and gazed at Gamma through the rich red wine.

"I told you from the beginning, do whatever you want, and I'll cover for you no matter what happens. I have plenty of things like gold coins; I can have as many as you want. So why are you holding back like this?"

In addition, the Chamber of Commerce can take this opportunity to offer preferential policies and lower the exchange rate. If the currency ratio was 1:1 before, we can lower it to 1:2 or 1:3 when the shock comes.

In this way, we can absorb as many individual investors as possible from the alliance. Once the entire capital uses our currency, the Merchant Alliance will be completely crushed and will never have a chance to recover.

And this money will flow back into our own pockets many times over.

Basically, it's just a matter of going from the left pocket to the right pocket.

Isn't that right?

"Ah, this..."

Not only Gamma, but everyone else was stunned.

They all wore expressions of "I don't understand but I'm impressed."

As expected of Mahiro, such a bold method is something they never thought of, nor dared to even consider!

"But Mahiro, there's another problem. If we do this, the commercial bonds we issue will inflate and become worthless, which could also lead to a shortage of goods..."

What does it have to do with anything?

Mahiro interrupted Gamma, saying, "We can secretly manipulate commodity prices, raising purchasing power back to its original level. As for inflation and the resulting devaluation... well, with the Zeni as the base currency, what does it matter to us whether the currency depreciates?"

It really doesn't matter.

No matter how it's played, as long as it involves Zeni, it's always Zeni who suffers the consequences, not them.

It's just that doing this is a bit unethical...

Mahiro thought to himself as he sipped his red wine.