Chapter 347

Uriah knew who I was just by my words. I had mentioned that I wasn't just any family member, but the only remaining one. Led by Lucien, I was able to see various scenes happening inside the Capital building. Even at this hour, employees were having consultations and chatting in various offices, and there were also those who didn't seem to be succubi. As we entered the area that only authorized personnel could access, we could see scenes that were not visible from the outside. One succubus employee was giving various precautions to armed men. "Be careful not to cause any problems. Of course, everyone knows that what we are doing is a legal seizure, but let's keep it within limits." "Four!" "Four!" "Yes!" Are they debt collectors? The succubus employee who seemed to be in charge of them crossed his arms and nodded his head. "It doesn't matter if people get hurt, but if the seized items get damaged, it's all a loss. Remember that if you break the precedent and destroy the collateral like last time, you will be obligated to compensate." "Yes sir!" "Four!" "Of course, you know that if you don't resolve the collection within the deadline, there will be problems..." No way. Are debt collectors also slaves? My head was spinning from the evil words spoken in a gentle tone. Iri went up the stairs and headed upwards. When we reached the fourth floor, there was a room with a sign that read "President's Office." -Ring! Uriah rang the bell to signal that there was a customer, and cautiously opened the door. "Why, I'm busy." A voice that was somewhat sharp and unfamiliar, but that I had heard before, came from behind the door. "The boss, a very important customer has arrived." "I told you that we haven't met with any shareholders or royalty yet. Tell them to go back." What is this about? "A remaining family member has come..." "Family? What family... Could it be?" After a frighteningly urgent sound, the door opened wide. Now that there was no need to hide, I used Sarkagar's ring to return to my original form. As Baliye. The succubus queen with pink hair that I hadn't seen in a long time. Iri was there in that form. "Ah." Iri watched me quietly for a while, then hugged my neck. -Whack! "Baliye...!" "Uh, uh... How have you been?" I can understand to some extent how Iri feels about me, but I still feel awkward around her. Iri held onto me for a while, not letting go because she was so happy to see me. * * * Although it's called Angel Capital, it's a large business office that seems closer to the devil than to an angel. Lucien, Iri, and I were sitting at a guest table in that office. The secretary soon brought out tea. "Oh, I don't drink. You don't have to give me any." Lucien covered his cup with his hand when Iri tried to pour tea into it. "....?" "This is...Lucien, if you know about Eleris, you must know about Lord Vampire too. I am Lucien, the head of the demand." "Lord Vampire...?" Iri nodded her head blankly at Lucien's introduction. I didn't understand the meaning well, but I could tell that Iri was quite surprised to have received help from another Lord Vampire. "I ended up getting help somehow." Come to think of it, I didn't know where Sarkagar, Royar, and Eleris were located in the demon army. I was just infiltrating the Huangdao as part of the infiltration team. When I thought about it, I realized that I had too little knowledge about the demon world, and I didn't really know much about my subordinates either. Iri looked at Lucien quietly and then bowed her head slightly. "I'm Iri, not someone who has made a contract with Baliye." Iri said briefly and looked at me. "There must be a lot of things you're curious about, Baliye." "....Yes. How did all of this happen?" I didn't even have a sense of what kind of business it was, how big it was, or how it was being carried out. "There are limits to simple business to control the gold certificate." It was a natural thing to say. But it wouldn't have been such a simple thing to pursue it to the point of becoming that way. Iri had the ambition to control the Empire's gold certificates and cause an economic crisis. Of course, I just told Iri that she needed a purpose to live, and I didn't have any special expectations. But Iri was seriously pushing for it, and it seemed that she had achieved tremendous results beyond what she had expected. "At first, I didn't know anything, so I asked a lot of advice from my guests." It started with a bar. And people gather in bars. In the early days of the business, there were many problems with impressions caused by fraudsters, but Iri and succubi had no problem suppressing drunken fraudsters. As rumors spread and many people began to flock, Iri created a VIP system. A reception service for people who sell ridiculously expensive alcohol. Iri raised their understanding of capital by talking to them. How to make money. How money is rolled. And how did they make money? There were those who inherited it and those who succeeded from scratch. "I also thought about real estate and investment, but I judged that there was nothing better than this to quickly increase the size of capital in a short period of time. That's why I started." "...Does that mean it's easy to do?" "More important than money is the relationship with people who hold money." Iri must have made money while running a bar, but she built more important connections than that. Borrow if you need it, and invest if you need it. It all seemed too easy for Iri. "Of course, doing this job is about money, but the biggest reason is that it's a job that can manipulate people with money as a tool." Iri took a sip of black tea. And Iri, who put down her teacup, smiled.

"If you tie them up with debt, you can make them a slave regardless of their status."

It doesn't matter if they are nobles, royals, or commoners.

Money and debt are power in themselves. If you tie up your opponent with a huge debt, you have them. Everything they have becomes mine, and they become a slave who obeys my every word.

The succubus queen who lost her horns does a strange thing, not seduction, but making her opponent a slave with money.

There is a negative image of loan sharks themselves, but Iri is doing loan sharking in a slightly different context.

Not to make money.

She does loan sharking to control people.

To make people her slaves.

"...So, what's going on now?"

"Now I don't run a bar, but I do loan sharking for the VIP customers from back then. Lazark is a port city, and this port is bustling with ships constantly going to and from the continent, right? So, when captains or trade fleets set sail, they load up on the most valuable goods to make the most profit on their voyage to the continent. Same goes for when they come back. Traders sell those goods and make money with a price difference that can range from five to dozens of times the original price."

"...I see."

"So, of course, they can't do it with just their own money, so they borrow a huge amount of debt and load up on expensive goods, or they get investments. They pay a certain percentage from the later profits."

It's probably a way to receive shares as an investment in trade fleets. Of course, I know about that.

"People are greedy. Once they make a huge amount of money from one trade, they won't just trade with their own ship without any debt. Once they make a profit, they borrow more debt or get more investments to increase the size of their fleet, hire more crew and captains. Continuously. The process repeats for everyone without exception."

Iri must have seen such behavior from those people. She tasted people's endless desires in the words of captains and trade fleets who returned from long voyages.

"According to what the captains and trade fleet owners say, the loan sharks lend money to the greedy trade fleet owners at an unreasonable interest rate, and if they can't repay the debt, they seize the ship or the goods. Since the interest rate is high from the beginning, it's good to receive repayment, and even if they can't receive repayment, they can just seize the ship. It's a structure where they can only make money unless the fleet disappears in a storm."

Iri didn't just see the captains.

She heard countless words from various influential people in the area who came to her bar.

Captains who sail far away on ships to trade.

Fleet owners who hire those captains to operate trade fleets.

Loan sharks who lend money to those fleet owners.

She grasped the structure of those who make money on top of those who make money while running a bar.

But for some reason, Iri's case seemed to have a slightly different meaning from loan sharking.

To make them slaves. "That word had an impact on me. So, I lend them money and if they don't keep up with the interest payment, I raise the interest rate or charge additional fees, and if that doesn't work, I take a stake in their ships or trade goods. That's how I do it," Iri said, and it seems like she's making a lot of money. "But at this rate, it will take too long. So, I'm using a slightly different method." Iri dreams of controlling the imperial gold reserves. She has already achieved tremendous success, but it's still not enough. "I'm intentionally messing up the financial situation of captains, shipowners, merchants, and traders who borrowed money from the capital. I make them borrow money to the limit and then make sure they have no spare money to pay the interest." "What?!" "In other words, I'm forcing them to go bankrupt. Through repeated defaults. I stamp them as having no payment ability and make their credit zero. Then I can execute forced seizures." It was so unexpected that I couldn't help but be surprised. If you control the flow of funds in the market, you can easily grab any funding source. "If I bankrupt three large trade fleets at the same time, the loan sharks, merchants, and even the shipowners in the Edina Island region who are involved in them will collapse together. It's a chain bankruptcy." If a large trade fleet goes bankrupt and seizures begin, not only the loan sharks who were supposed to receive money from there but also the local shipowners who were supposed to transport incoming trade goods will lose their goods, and those involved will collapse together. The collapse of subcontractors due to the bankruptcy of large companies. "If all the large fleets go bankrupt, the merchants can't buy or sell trade goods." "The captains lose their ships." "The crew loses their jobs." "Crew members without money can't drink." "Then the tavern can't sell alcohol and will go bankrupt." "That's how it falls like dominoes." "The economy will be paralyzed." Iri drank the last drop of black tea in her cup with a calm expression. Wasn't the purpose of this to make slaves or something? To ruin the national economy? Why? "You're not making money, but causing an economic crisis? Why?" I asked in surprise. Iri smiled coldly at my question. "The purpose is to eliminate the Edina Island trade fleet cartel." "What?" Once again, unexpected words came out. "If I have a lot of money, how much can I control the market flow of funds? No matter how much money I have, it's not enough." Iri looked out the window of her office. "This is also possible because the Edina Royal Bank is supporting me." A loan shark with unlimited credit. "It's not that Edina Island doesn't have a large warp gate that connects to the continent, but even if they want to build one, they can't. It's because of the organized obstruction of the trade fleet cartel bastards." It was not impossible to install a large warp gate on the Edina Island, but it was not being installed due to opposition from large profit groups that rely on maritime trade. Iri has a secret agreement with the Edina Island royal family. She plans to bankrupt large trade fleets to cause an economic crisis, which will force the installation of a large warp gate for the overall improvement of the Edina Island economy. In exchange, she will receive a 90% stake in the operation of the warp gate. Iri is connected to the Edina Island royal family and cannot pursue such a large-scale business alone. The purpose is to eliminate the maritime trade cartel and monopolize the trade between the continent and Edina Island. The maritime trade cartel has threatened to strike and paralyze the national economy if discussions about the warp gate construction begin. The Edina Island royal family wants to eliminate the maritime trade cartel and believes that the construction of a large warp gate is the solution. "If the intention of Iri trying to collapse the entire maritime trade cartel becomes known and she becomes a target, the royal family can simply step back," said someone. "It's too risky," said another. "That's right. Even if everything goes according to plan, there is a clear possibility that the Edina Island royal family will stab Iri in the back later." It is a situation where they can cut off the tail if things go wrong, and even if things go according to Iri's plan, the royal family can still discard her. She is taking on too much risk. "No, Bali, that won't happen." But Iri seemed to be convinced that she would not be discarded. "Why?" "You know, being loved is too easy for us." Even for the shipowners she is trying to destroy. Even for someone in the royal family who is secretly cooperating with her. It was a look that knew that she would not be discarded because everyone loved her. The queen of the succubi. Even if she lost her horns, Iri seemed to have not lost that confidence. "Some people may already think that my actions are suspicious and that I have crossed the line. That's why I won't do business with civilians who don't know me." She said that it was just playing with those who have already fallen for her and them, and that she didn't worry about that part at all.