Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2674: The Moral Loan Shark

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters

”What about the VR-Universe?” Jill asked. It hadn’t even made it onto the list of things I was concerned about. It was virtual, hosted within my personal realm network, and protected by the Devil Merchant Code.

”Your dynamic currency system,” Jill continued. ”The exchange rates are going to crash. People will panic-sell, fearing that once the central government and the royal families take control of the VR-Universe, they won’t recognize trades and deals conducted under you.” She had a valid point. What she didn’t realize was that humans were greedy by nature. That hadn’t changed in the past, wouldn’t change in the present, and wouldn’t change in the future.

”You’re right about panic-selling, but the exchange rate is stable, and the currency value is steadily increasing. That’s because the major noble and royal families, their branch families and allies, along with the top ten universities and various hidden sects and clans, have begun investing heavily in the VR-Universe. Now that they’ve made up their minds to come after me together, they’ve started fighting over who gets how much of the VR-Universe. We have nothing to fear on that front. In fact, in a way, this is excellent for us,” I explained, relying on the Hive Spirits’ real-time reports.

”Isn’t that a little presumptuous? They’re acting like they’ve already won,” Aurelia remarked, irritation flickering through her voice. Still, she was quietly relieved that their boss didn’t need them to go to war, confident enough to handle the situation on his own. Despite all her bravado, Aurelia understood this was for the best. No one present knew the cost of war better than she did.

Were the world leaders being presumptuous? No, they weren’t. The fact that, despite their massive investments in the VR-Universe, the currency value rose steadily rather than skyrocketing proved they knew exactly what they were doing.

Come tomorrow, even if the world-governing bodies failed to act against me or collapsed disastrously in the attempt, their investments in the VR-Universe would remain safe and continue to grow. Either way, it was a win-win for them.

At any other time, the VR-currency value would have surged several fold almost immediately. It didn’t, because their aggressive buying pressure was counterbalanced by panic-selling. That selling came primarily from common people, those who had invested in the VR-Universe early, back when most couldn’t see its potential or were waiting for the central government to sanction it or outright steal it from me.

It was saddening, but that was simply how the investment world worked. If they trusted me, they would hold. If they didn’t, they would panic-sell. That wasn’t my problem to solve. Sooner or later, people would catch on, and it was only a matter of time before the VR-currency value finally shot up.

”Thanks for the tip, boss. If the meeting’s done, I have some urgent business to attend to,” Aurelia said at once, reading everything she needed from my smile as she rubbed her hands together like a gambler at a roulette table who believed it was not gambling if she knew she was going to win.

As the leader of the Bright Lions Gang, she now handled its finances. It was a gang after all, it had no formal treasury or dedicated treasurer, which meant she directly controlled a vast pool of capital. In the past, the Bright Brothers had simply left financial matters to Diana. Aurelia, however, was different. She had chosen to manage it herself.

One of the perks of maintaining excellent public relations was that it allowed her to personally know small business owners across the cities, making it easy for her to identify which ventures showed real promise and could blossom into solid investments with proper support and encouragement.

As a result, she began offering zero-interest loans with a three- to ten-year principal return period in exchange for majority shares. In essence, she was a loan shark, but not the kind that grew by draining its borrowers dry. She grew alongside them.

I glanced around at everyone. They all seemed calmer now, more confident, even a little eager and urgent, as if I was keeping them from something very important. I never knew my employees were so enthusiastic.

Seeing that no one had any further issues to raise, I said, ”So, I take it all of you know what you need to do. If something urgent comes up, you know where to find me. If I’m unavailable, contact them. You’re all dismissed.”

With that, all of them hurried off to their posts, including Jill, Anna, and Susan. I was willing to go out on a limb and guess they all shared the same idea as Aurelia. No wonder they all seemed that eager to get back their work.

I turned to Kiren and the Western Princess. They hadn’t left, though the princess’s bodyguards had. That alone said a lot, but I still asked, ”Aren’t you two following them?”

”No. We invested all our savings into the VR-Universe the day we learned about it. We had planned to venture into the Way Beyond to earn more and invest further, but then Redfall happened, and so did you,” Kiren said, her words carrying a trace of blame. She appeared proud of their foresight, yet at the same time faulted me for becoming an unexpected distraction to their plans.

”Funny thing is, I told those two they should invest in the VR-Universe. They didn’t believe me, but the moment they heard you, they instantly regretted it. It was satisfying. Still, I gave them a five-minute window to sort things out,” the Western Princess, Christina, said, prompting me to raise an eyebrow.

If I were in her position, I would have fired those guards and hired new ones. They had left their princess alone with someone who had threatened her just minutes earlier, all for the sake of money. That was simply unprofessional.

As if reading my thoughts, Christina added, ”Don’t underestimate their loyalty to me. They would die for my amusement. It’s just that they trust your strength too much. I convinced them to leave by telling them you were strong enough to kill all of us together without us even realizing it. So staying behind to guard me, while missing the opportunity to make the fortune of a lifetime, would be stupid.”