< Usury (2) >
The staff of the Credit Union and the officials from the Livelihood Support Department under the Administrative Welfare Center began to gather at the Lord's Castle.
Having heard what had happened on their way there, they felt their necks stiffen with tension.
“Usury. That’s a tough nut to crack.”
“It’s clearly a problem, but isn't it nearly impossible to root it out entirely?”
It wasn't as if they were unaware of the issues surrounding usury. But what could they do? The government couldn't possibly solve the financial troubles of every single resident in the territory. Sometimes, one had to choose a necessary evil. The officials considered usury to be exactly that—an obvious evil, yet one with its own peculiar utility.
“There are problems, yes, but we can’t just hand out loans from the union without any screening, can we?”
“The union’s funds don't belong to any one individual; they belong to all the members. From our perspective, we can’t lend money for simple living expenses that hold no investment value. There’s also the issue of recovery.”
That was the stance of the Credit Union.
“The Livelihood Support Department is the same. The work we do isn't the kind where we expect to recover the funds we put in.”
“Our top priority is to rescue and assist those who are in situations where they cannot work at all, and even that is barely manageable. Since the annexation of Lontes, the number of emergency support recipients has increased drastically...”
And that was the stance of the Livelihood Support Department.
It wasn't that their hearts didn't ache for the woman with the chestnut-brown hair named Emma. Twenty silver coins. If she had just two or three people in her house who could work normally, she could have paid it back in no time. But misfortune always travels in packs.
A series of small tragedies had struck one family. In normal times, these might not have been significant. But her husband had been in an accident and couldn't work for months. In the midst of that, her parents fell ill, making the cost of medicine a burden. And then, to top it all off, the sheep that were the family’s main assets were mauled by wolves.
— P-please, just one month of interest...!
— Hey, hey. Can’t do that, can’t do that. If you borrow money, you have to pay it back!
It took only a moment for those twenty silver coins to grow, with the interest soon ballooning beyond the principal.
“......We have to find a solution, somehow.”
“The reality is just so...”
It was a situation where silence was inevitable for everyone.
The grand conference room of the Lord's Castle. Though over twenty people had gathered, everyone was cautiously watching only one person.
“I assume you’ve all heard what this is about.”
It was Aiden who broke the silence.
“I know the reality is difficult. They say even a king cannot save the poor, so how can we possibly rescue everyone who has a tragic story?”
The officials agreed with Aiden in their hearts, but none dared to nod or voice their agreement openly. There was one thing every official who had served in the North for any length of time knew: their Lord was a man obsessed with his work. To put it another way, he was someone who considered officials who couldn't do their jobs properly to be useless.
It wasn't for nothing that the treatment of officials in the North was so good. The problem was that, in exchange for that good treatment, they were expected to perform accordingly. Now that the situation had been identified, no matter how difficult the reality was, the moment someone answered with, “You are correct. Changing this is realistically difficult. It’s a tragedy, but there’s nothing to be done,” they would be out of a job.
‘Damn it.’
The minds of the officials, now cornered, began to spin rapidly. This was a place of judgment, but also a place of opportunity. Proving one’s worth was the only way forward.
‘The Administrative Officer isn't looking for a way to solve everything perfectly in one go.’
‘If that’s impossible, it’s enough to ensure a future better than the current reality.’
‘If I can just come up with one groundbreaking idea, I can catch the Lord’s eye. Come on, brain, work!’
The eyes of the officials began to gleam. Some were frantically writing and erasing words on the paper in front of them.
‘The atmosphere is pretty good, at least.’
Aiden was quite satisfied with the sight. A civil service culture that wasn't rigid, where everyone was eager to try something—it was a far cry from the organizational culture he could only have dreamed of in his past life. Seeing it firmly established in the North filled him with deep emotion.
Aiden leaned back in his chair quietly. He had a few ideas he’d thought of on the way to the conference room, but he felt he could wait a little longer. The officials’ enthusiasm was quite high; if he gave them some time, perhaps they would come up with a decent plan.
“I believe the core of this issue lies in the fact that there has been no helping hand for those alienated at the margins.”
At that moment, a young official stood up and broke the silence. When Aiden gestured for him to continue, the way he laid out his thoughts, despite his face being flushed with excitement, showed he had grit.
“I believe it is necessary to subdivide the stages of support and relief. If we prioritize those in urgent need and establish second and third tiers of support, wouldn't it provide a lifeline for those like the woman named Emma who were suddenly cast into misfortune?”
“Are you suggesting that the Administrative Welfare Center provide low-interest loans to those in the second or third tiers?”
“Yes. For families struggling in poverty, even just helping them with enough money to survive for a month or two would significantly reduce the number of people falling into the pit of usury.”
“But how do we recover the funds? In a way, these could become bad debts.”
The officials began to exchange opinions among themselves. Even with Aiden and his adjutants right in front of them, they participated in the discussion naturally, without worrying about their rank.
“The risk certainly exists. But I believe the government must accept a certain level of risk. We aren't merchants who need to make a profit off the residents, are we?”
“We don't need to make a profit, but taking a loss is dangerous. If the cash flow of the Lord's Castle is blocked, problems will arise in other areas sequentially.”
“However, a family that overcomes a crisis through help will return to being a diligent resident and do their part, so it is a gain in the end. Don't we know the fate of those who fall into the swamp of usury?”
“Well, that’s...”
“If they can't overcome the interest that tightens around their throats, they run away, become wanderers, or sell their labor to the usurer. In the end, the taxes the territory can collect will decrease, which is not good for anyone. Isn't this a problem we should look at in the long term?”
“Hmm. But how would you define the second or third tiers you speak of?”
“How about distinguishing by income and assets?”
“Can't income and assets just be hidden?”
“That is...”
In the free-flowing conversation, a little more substance was added to what had been a simple idea. It was like a textbook example of a proper meeting.
“Now, now. Everyone’s opinions have merit. However, since there is no way to accurately distinguish income and assets, I would like to reserve this opinion until we can think of a foolproof method.”
Aiden, who had been watching quietly, finally intervened to calm the atmosphere once it became clear that their opinions weren't converging.
‘It is surprising, though.’
He hadn't expected the discussion to progress to something nearly identical to a modern welfare system. But even so, this didn't fit the current society. Even in the 21st century, where computerization was complete, how many people were there who made a point of hiding or underreporting their income and assets? Furthermore, even if their income and assets exceeded certain criteria, how many people still had tragic circumstances, such as only holding the title on paper?
No matter how good a law or system might be, one had to strictly distinguish between what could and could not be applied depending on the culture and society. After all, laws and systems were merely human inventions, and there was nothing that was always correct across all times and eras.
“Umm... Administrative Officer, I think there might be something we can apply right away.”
At that moment, someone sitting at the very end of the table cautiously raised a hand.
“He’s a new recruit in our department. He was appointed this autumn.”
Jamie whispered to him with a proud face. He was a new official in the Livelihood Support Department and had come from one of the families that had been the first target of emergency relief. It was said that as soon as his survival issues were resolved, he had studied on his own and passed the official exam, making him the talk of the Administrative Welfare Center for a while.
“Something we can apply right away. What is it?”
“It is to bring usury out into the open.”
“Bringing usury into the open?”
Aiden’s face brightened as he asked back. He’d heard the man passed the exam through self-study, and he certainly knew how to get to the core of the issue.
“What is your reasoning for that?”
Aiden asked again to test his mettle, and the answer came back without the man even taking a breath.
“Removing the causes of poverty is the most important task, but as the Administrative Officer mentioned at the beginning, even a king cannot save the poor. Just as there is light, there is shadow, and just as winter follows summer, the equal distribution of wealth is impossible in reality.”
“Continue.”
“There are people everywhere and at all times who are desperate because they don't have money to survive for a month or two. With the administrative manpower our North currently has, we cannot grasp all these situations. But we cannot leave them as they are, either. If so, shouldn't we just ensure that even if desperate people take on debt, the debt remains at a level where repayment is possible if they work hard again?”
“In more detail.”
“Have the money lenders register with the Commercial Development Department. You must set a cap on interest rates and restrict the methods of collection. If you punish violations strictly, the number of people like the woman named Emma—who despair because they can't even dream of paying back the interest that has ballooned beyond the principal—will be greatly reduced.”
“But the money lenders are also my residents. If I restrict the methods of collection, wouldn't they suffer a significant loss?”
Aiden’s tone changed. Jamie and the other adjutants realized that this new official had caught Aiden’s favor. Their Lord always showed a comfortable side only to those he wanted to keep close.
‘We’re going to have someone getting a fast-track promotion for the first time in a while.’
Jamie’s cheeks twitched, seemingly very happy that a talent had emerged from his department. Of course, the new official seemed unaware of this fact and was focused on answering.
“If they collected according to the set methods but the debt still couldn't be repaid, couldn't we deal with those bad debts through territorial law?”
“Forced labor?”
“Yes. If they serve labor and the money earned from that is returned to the creditor, the money lender would find it difficult to complain.”
“At the same time, it would also reduce the practice of lending excessive amounts and focusing on interest-based profit.”
“That is correct. If they lend an amount that a person cannot repay through labor, it will eventually return as their own loss.”
“But if that happens, wouldn't the money lenders disappear, saying that interest-based lending is no longer fun?”
“Usurers, by nature, are attracted to steady profits with low risk, unlike other businesses. If you limit the interest to 70% of the principal per year, it would be a loss compared to now, but they wouldn't necessarily quit the business.”
“......?”
Aiden paused at the new official’s last words.
“70% of the principal per year...?”
No, what kind of unscrupulous loan shark talk was this? Hadn't he just been talking about limiting usury a moment ago?
“Since typical usurers receive 100% to 150% of the principal in interest per year, that’s exactly half!”
“If it only goes that far, the people struggling with debt will finally be able to breathe!”
“...T-then, 85%...?”
...He had forgotten. That this was an age of romance.