Success
"Why are you back again?" asked the man with dark eye bags, looking as if he'd have a sudden cardiac arrest at any second. "If you have regretted it and wish to take back your shares, it will cost one thousand and five hundred gold coins, not one thousand gold coins anymore."
"That's unreasonable, isn't it? The contract we signed clearly stated that I give you something worth one thousand gold coins as collateral. You can't ignore the contract just because the price has gone up. By your logic, does that mean that I can take it back with a thousand gold coins if the price drops? Does that mean I just earn from the difference? What, I have to compensate you now? I didn't come here to earn from the difference this time, though. I came to make another proper loan with collateral from you."
"But the contract clearly states that we gave you two thousand gold coins. We loaned you that two thousand. You are pawning it with us, not selling it to us. Do not try to replace the concept with a disguise. This is a loan, not a sale and purchase transaction. You cannot dodge the debt."
If I didn't want it anymore, the bank could probably sell it for two thousand and five hundred gold coins. By the same token, I couldn't possibly pay a thousand gold coins to get it back. Of course, I was aware of that… I just pawned the shares. I didn't sell a future contract.
If I adamantly refused to repay the loan, it could be considered a future contract. The only reason the bank would loan me money is if they were sure they could get the money back. If its value appreciated and I didn't repay the loan, the bank could take my collateral, thereby profiting. I could place a bet on the mine not being worth money. That would lead to me giving the bank my collateral to repay my debt for the value wouldn't change once it's determined. As such, I would've profited from the difference. Needless to say, it would also run my credibility into the ground. Thus, I saw no hope in fooling the bank.
"Haha, I now have another four percent of shares. You may double check to confirm them. Edward has acknowledged it. I, therefore, plan to give this four percent to you as collateral for another loan. Based on the current value, four thousand coins would be within reason for sure, wouldn't it?"
"Where did you get the shares from?!"
"I bought it with money, obviously. What, you think Edward would donate them to me for free or something?" I retorted. "I trust that you now realise the value of coal now. That's why you gave me two-thousand gold coins. You definitely value the shares I now have. After all, you can definitely make money from it. So, you can get me my money, right?"
"No… We recently heard that the road is not in very good condition."
"What are you worried about?" I haughtily flapped my cloak andclaimed, "See this cloak? It's sky blue? See it? Queen Sisi personally gave me this. Why did I change my cloak? Because Veirya has gone to buy me one and has yet to come back, get it now? I have Queen Sisi and Veirya backing me. How hard do you think it would be for me to repair the road? I could repair it in less than one week; it won't delay the transportation."
"True…"
He then put his nose to the paper and began to write the contract. He blatantly overlooked one aspect. I could remove the obstacles on the road in a week. I could also leave the obstacles there for years. Then, I could just dump the coal mine that isn't making any money in the bank's lap and not repay them. I could spend money to buy the coal mine back at a rock bottom price afterwards. Subsequently, I would've taken the rights to the mine from Edward in the blink of an eye. That was my plan.
I soon received four thousand gold coins. Ignoring the cost, I had two thousand and eight hundred in earnings. I wasn't done yet, though. Six percent of the total shares was nowhere near enough. I needed more if I wanted shares.
I had been going back and forth between the related people the last few days. Every day that a businessman wasted was lost money. Not earning meant losing. They didn't hold meetings. All they did was gather over drinks and idle chatter. I didn't know what they were here for.
Maybe they were waiting for good weather to go see the mine? Perhaps they were waiting for news from Her Majesty to arrive? We were at the location closest to the mine. Wherever there are deer, the ones closest to them will be the wolves. The pack of wolves would look as though they were idly wasting their days. The moment the deer approached, the wolves most definitely wouldn't take their time jumping it.
I think I used everything I learnt in my entire life on the shareholders over the few days I interacted with them. When wheat reaches its peak in growth, I would finally have finished the steps I needed to take. The cluster of wheat in the North had also grown as high as it could grow.
I signed future contract after future contract and bought share after share. The prices of the shares were no longer an issue. Once all was said and done, I could remove my mask and publicly buy shares. Once Queen Sisi's announcement that the large-scale steam-powered factories were in operation was made, the coal would be heated in my hand. I never mentioned repairing the road. I had people on the road. If the merchants hired any teams to go and repair it, my people would drive them away. Meanwhile, if they hurt any of our men, then that would be considered them violating Veirya's territory. Nobody would dare be audacious with Angelina and Veirya present.
I owed the bank over fifty thousand gold coins but became the majority shareholder of the entire coal mine. With the mine in my grasp, not a single cart of coal could leave. The price of firewood soared, while the popularity of goal gradually declined. I was waiting for the price of coal to hit rock bottom. I had done what needed to be done. It was a waiting game again thenceforward. I'd send out an odd cart or two every now and then; however, I still didn't want to share a penny with Edward. I intended to send the coal mine to hell once I was done.
The conclusion had been set in stone. Nobody deciphered my plan. I basically just took from one hand, passed it to the other and viola, the entire coal mine was mine. Once we began to export coal, the coal, which was a better flammable than wood, would instantly transform into money.
"I've succeeded. Nobody can question me. I'm now the most successful businessman on this entire continent!" I inwardly celebrated.