"Retribution?"
Fante repeated Gloria's words like a parrot.
He wondered to himself if he had ever done anything that Gloria had to repay him for.
"Well, at least you got me out of there."
"No, I was just sleeping there, you escaped by yourself, it was thanks to your courage and wisdom."
"That's a nice compliment, isn't it?".
"I always admire people like you, well, back to the point, what did you learn about the silver coin that you observed."
"It's only a small difference, but the newer the coin, the more water it lets through."
"The more water? But this is not possible, the Van Millio storage ensures that all sizes and weights are exactly the same."
With the same weight, since the only metal that could be filled with silver coins at a low-quality level would be a metal of lower density than silver, this would lead to an increase in volume.
If the weight is the same, then an increase in water consumption indicates a decrease in silver content.
If the difference is insignificant, it may be difficult to determine how much water has flowed, but if the silver content has decreased to such an extent that the white coin has turned black, even a layman can see that the coin has increased in size by several turns.
If what Gloria said is true, then perhaps this is a harbinger of the imminent decline in the silver content of the Trini coin.
"But then should we assume that Gerian is lying?"
"It's hard to say for sure. But, depending on how things go, Jerian might actually give you back ten Kabul gold coins."
"I think so too. If it was just a fraudster trying to get paid for information, he wouldn't eat so much at the bar and would have demanded payment from Rhea even in church."
"Businessmen are so complicated."
Gloria spoke with a slight smile, while to the side, Fante was desperately thinking.
However, the more he thought about this state of affairs, the more elusive it became.
What were the intentions of the young man named Jerian?
It was clear that he was up to something.
If he could figure out what was going on, it wouldn't be difficult for him to profit from it.
It was for this reason that he accepted the offer.
However, there was still no way to find out what was behind it, which made him a little anxious.
"By the way, you said that drainage has increased, why is that? Obviously, the stamps and weighing of the vault show exactly the same size and weight of silver coins four times."
"This is a relief, and I noticed that the brand used on the hyphenated silver coin is different from the others, it is a relief that sticks out... messing with the size of the relief, imperceptibly increasing it a little, and then replacing a small amount of silver, so that although the size is "a little larger", Both the thickness and diameter of the coin are the same as the original."
"I see, this is really a mistake on our part...".
The silver coin was perfected at a minting conference four years ago, ostensibly to "increase its security and legibility," and if Gerian's deal was indeed a conspiracy ... then Tristratown was also involved in it, and from the first days of its existence. A conspiracy.
When it comes to the possibility of making a profit from a decrease in the value of silver coins, i.e. with a decrease in the silver content, we are talking only about long-term investments.
Assuming that the value of gold or silver will gradually decrease by two levels, sell the gold when it reaches the first level and buy it back when it reaches the second level.
Thus, you will not only have the same amount of gold on your hands, but also the difference between the amount you sold at the first price and the amount you bought at the second price.
The gold or silver market is always in motion, so if you wait patiently for gold to rise above its original value, you can benefit.
However, this time there was no such free time.
Fente had only six months to commit such a decade-long speculation in precious metals.
"Since Gerian offered such a deal, then this guy must be profitable.
It can't be unprofitable.
" "In general, this is true, I suppose, but if he offers it on the basis that he may lose money?".
"But he mentioned that he did not ask about part of the losses. In that case..."
"Ah... I've been thinking about it."
"What?"
"Fente, you won't be deceived, will you?"
Hearing Gloria's words, Fante stopped thinking for a moment.
"Fooled?"
"That's right."
"Are you saying that ...was cheated out of ten Kabul gold coins?".
"Fraud is not the malicious withdrawal of money from the other party."
Fente had been a merchant for almost seven years, and he had seen and heard about all sorts of strange and unusual scams.
However, he didn't understand what Gloria was talking about.
"Carefully planning how you will never lose money, only for the other party to risk profit or loss, is also considered fraud. In other words, you lent Djelian ten Kabul gold coins without asking for interest, money that, as his investment capital, had to be returned only a month after the congress of minters, in a month or two, and how can you get a gold coin or two out of ten Kabul gold coins if you are a merchant?".
Fente's head became cloudy, and he even forgot how to breathe as the blood rushed up all over his body.
"Gerian will never lose money, at most he will not earn a halfpenny on a deal with you. But in the last two months, he has already made a small fortune on ten Kabul gold coins! Not to mention that if you made a profit, then he has other dividends that he should take ..., which is equivalent to the interest on a two-month loan of fifteen gold that you earned from him about."
Fente felt weak, as if he had lost all sensation from his knees down. He felt helpless as he succumbed to such an obvious trick.
Gloria's words really made sense, and it seemed to Fanta that there was a great conspiracy behind them.
No, that's what any traveling merchant who knows how to cheat would think, and that's why Fente thought so.
Gerian "should get something out of this deal.".....
But he does not need to "make money on this deal" at all!
Ten Kabul gold coins is a lot of money even for the best traveling merchant like Fente.
For a traveling merchant like Jelyan, this was an unimaginably large amount of money and-at the same time-initial capital!
Fente, on the other hand, did not receive any "interest on the debt" at all after its release, and was stupid enough to spend time studying the silver coin because he believed his nonsense, which was an excuse to take Fente's brain away from an interest-free loan!
"This man is very smart."
Gloria said it quite seriously.
As if by the way, Fente did nothing but sigh.
However, fortunately, Fente had not bought Trini silver coins on purpose until now.
All he had on hand were the Trini coins he already had.
The contract with Gerian did not specify how many coins to invest.
In other words, now he could only pray that the silver coin market would not change.
Until the market changed, Fente could accuse Gerian of lying and get his ten Kabul gold coins back.
Of course, if the value of the silver coins depreciates, Fente will be able to get back ten Kabul gold coins.
Thinking about it, he felt that even though Gerian had deceived him, the loss was not too great.
After all, most merchants would lose everything if they accidentally fell into a trap.
However, the fact that he was deceived by Gerian, who had just started doing business, greatly hurt Fente's pride.
Standing in front of Gloria, who was smiling with the corners of her mouth slightly raised, Fente couldn't help but cringe with shame.
"But I always felt it wasn't that simple."
Compared to Fente, who was relieved that he was able to stop his losses, Gloria's expression was like that of a hound standing in front of its prey.
"Does it often happen that the silver content in a coin gradually decreases?"
Feeling like a ray of light in the darkness, Fente reluctantly raised his lame, molten metal spine and said.
"No, certain contents are usually maintained very carefully, and even when it is felt that the value of the silver coins issued by the country is too low, the king prefers to open another qualified mint to issue new currency, rather than messing with the silver content of old coins in such large quantities. For this, on the contrary, will lead to a decrease in confidence in the country, as a result of which the population will no longer trust the currency issued by this country."
"Hmm. Against this background, however, there is a trade in silver contained in silver coins. Is it just a coincidence?"
Fente lightly stroked his chin, gathering his thoughts.
A sarcastic smile appeared on Gloria's face, could this woman be in cahoots with Gerian, Fante couldn't help but think about it for a moment.
However, Gloria's next words immediately dispelled this trifling concern.
"What if the person with the agenda is not a young man?".
"Ah..."
Fente felt as if he had received a heavy blow to the head.
"This young man does not necessarily have to benefit from who he is dealing with. For example, it's possible that a young man was ordered by someone and advertised a strange deal to get a commission, right?".
Yes, Fente had previously considered this a conspiracy of the Duchess, but immediately discarded this possibility when he realized that the silver content in the silver coins of the catalysts would actually fall.
Who in their right mind would allow the mint on its territory to reduce the silver content in such a subtle way?
No, now was not the time to run away from reality, and Fente forced himself to concentrate.
It was important for a merchant to have knowledge, but this knowledge was not just knowledge of the price of the goods.
Think about the current situation, be flexible and don't get attached to established ideas.
Immersed in his thoughts, Fente combined the new information with his previous guesses.
What if Gerian wasn't using the people he was actually talking to-that is, Fante and the others-but something else?
What if Gerian could take a commission from another person by forcing someone to buy a silver coin?
As soon as these thoughts came to mind, Fente took a deep breath.
Because if you accept this point of view, a trick comes to mind that can explain the status quo.
He had heard this plan from another traveling merchant at a banquet in a city he had previously attended.
Since the merchant's plan was so big that the initial capital of 100,000 was beyond the power of either a traveling merchant or even most small chambers of commerce for the rest of his life, Fente only heard about it as a cheerful conversation at a banquet.
However, using this trick, it was easy to explain the senseless step of buying up a large number of depreciated silver coins.
You can also understand why Gerian could have taken some unthinkable actions just to deceive.
For example, his willingness to conclude a contract in the presence of a notary when he knew he was lying, or the privileged attitude of tavern owners, waitresses and notaries in the distant town of Taocent when he was a minor player.
Gerian had to do this to make his offer convincing enough for Fente to want to buy silver coins.
If Fente's suspicions were correct, then Gerian was under someone's command to return the silver coins.
In addition, it was necessary to take care not to find out who collects coins and for what purpose.
The best way to quietly collect a specific coin is to take advantage of the greed of merchants and instruct several merchants to collect it.
Merchants who bought coins with the intention of making a fortune were very careful and secretive so as not to lose their profits, helping the people behind Gerian to keep the secret for free.
The next step is to buy silver coins collected by merchants at the right time.
Thus, not only will he not affect the silver coin market, but he will also be able to achieve his goal without discovering who collects them.
This is also often used when you want to buy back an item to increase its price.
The trick of this strategy was that as soon as the price of silver coins fell, merchants sought to sell their coins in order to minimize their losses so that there would be no difficulties with buying them later.
Merchants who lost money would not announce that they had invested in silver coins that would soon lose money, so as not to tarnish their reputation.
Silver coins will also be concentrated in one place, unnoticed.
The huge structure depicted with this trick was supposed to bear dizzying and heartbreaking fruits.
At least in the stories that Fente remembered, the benefits were measured in billions.
But, in contrast, the project also required a huge amount of capital.
The only person who could do this in the Southern Lands was the Duchess of the Southern Lands, Sirleith. Floria!
Fente couldn't resist the urge to call out -
"Gloria, let's go!"
"Eh? Where to?"
Fente, who had already started his little run, turned around impatiently and answered Gloria
"To Karafrog, to the merchant house of the goddess! I understand everything. This is a trick to buy more and more depreciated silver coins, the more profit you can get!".
After finding out what the other side was trying to do behind the scenes, it was possible to make a profit for sure.
The bigger the attempt, the more profitable it will be!
And now, in order to wrest profit from the mouth of the Archduchess who ruled this southern kingdom, Fente had to fight every second.