Is Money Being Copied? (2)
Aiden received the document and found himself biting his lower lip without realizing it.
“Is the projected transaction volume really this high?”
It wasn’t that he hadn’t anticipated a positive reaction. Even if the stock market was inherently risky, the moment it was announced that the Northern Tobacco Corporation—a business backed by the Lord’s Castle—would be one of the first to list, even the children running around the neighborhood could have predicted that money would flock to it.
But this exceeded all expectations.
‘Even if this world is a place where politics and money move in tandem, this is a bit…’
Unlike the 21st century, where power-parasitic capital is often beaten down by public outrage, in this world, it wasn’t even considered a scheme for merchants or guilds to ride on the coattails of the powerful; it was simply common sense. In that sense, perhaps the Northerners didn’t view Northern Tobacco Corporation stock as a risky business venture, but rather as a form of physical asset, like a gold nugget.
“Besides, tobacco is a consumable, is it not? It is addictive as well. Those who get a taste for it will continue to purchase it, so it must have received a passing grade in terms of profitability.”
“Hmm….”
Aiden swallowed a groan at Kalisa’s words.
“Still, this is too much. If we aren’t careful, the price per share will skyrocket like crazy.”
“I do not believe it is a problem for it to find its true value.”
“I’m saying this because it might not just be a problem for Northern Tobacco Corporation stock alone.”
Aiden didn’t have much interest in money. To be precise, as long as he had enough to buy food so he wouldn’t go hungry and a house that didn’t leak, he didn’t feel much interest in anything beyond that. However, he knew well enough that he wasn’t the standard. He also understood how important money was to ordinary people. Because of that, he was somewhat aware of the irrational behaviors of the stock market.
“If the asking price for Northern Tobacco Corporation stock rises too high, there will be countless people who want to buy shares but can’t.”
“That is true. Those who already hold the stock will likely hold onto it, expecting it to rise further or hoping to receive dividends.”
“Then, Kalisa, what will the people who wanted to buy that stock do?”
“Well, they would raise their bid, or…”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Pardon?”
“Not everyone in the world acts as rationally and logically as you do.”
“……?”
Kalisa tilted her head, seemingly unable to understand what her superior was saying.
“Jamie.”
“Yes?”
“What would you do? If you couldn’t buy the stock you wanted because there was no supply left in the market?”
“…Would I buy the stock next to it?”
As Jamie answered while rolling his eyes, Kalisa immediately retorted.
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“What you wanted to buy was Northern Tobacco Corporation stock. But just because you couldn’t get it, you’d buy the stock next to it?”
“No, I mean, I already came all the way to the stock exchange, so I should buy something.”
“……?”
“I brought money, didn’t I? It’d be a bit awkward to go back empty-handed, wouldn’t it?”
“I’m sorry, Jamie. Are you perhaps an idiot?”
Jamie was hurt by Kalisa’s blunt remark. He roared, ‘I didn’t even intend to trade stocks, so why are you asking me that!’ and poured his resentment onto Aiden, but Aiden, having heard the answer he wanted, just shrugged his shoulders and continued.
“See?”
“…That is just because that son of a b…, no, the Director of Livelihood Support has no economic sense! The personnel selected to allow for pre-investment before the stock exchange opened all have basic economic knowledge, so they wouldn’t engage in such mindless trading.”
“I wonder. Would they?”
“Pardon?”
“The madness of capital can make even sane people lose their minds.”
Do you think there are countless ghosts around stock exchanges who lost everything but still couldn’t leave for no reason? This has been proven historically. Human reason is weaker than you think.
“…We need safety devices.”
“I agree.”
Perhaps because Jamie’s answer just now was quite a shock, Kalisa didn’t argue further. Even so, Jamie was actually very well-educated by the standards of this world and was, unexpectedly, quite a capable administrative officer. However, the fact that even he lacked strong economic awareness meant she agreed that ordinary people might do something even more absurd.
‘Well, the people Kalisa meets are mostly those who have spent their entire lives in commerce, so it’s natural she wouldn’t know the average of ordinary people.’
The main players in the organizations she had led—the Commercial Development Department, trading posts, credit unions, and chambers of commerce—were all merchants and guilds. It meant she had lived and breathed with people who, even if they didn’t know economic theory, instinctively knew what to choose to avoid going bankrupt. While credit unions invested in individuals or guilds, this was the first time Kalisa had dealt with something like a stock exchange where ordinary people poured in their own money, which was the source of the problem.
But discovering the problem before starting was a stroke of luck.
‘Because a discovered problem is no longer a threat.’
Aiden sank into his chair and waited leisurely for Kalisa to speak. She would surely find the answer. At least in this area, it was better to trust her instincts than his own.
“First….”
After closing her eyes for a moment to organize her thoughts, she finally began to speak.
“It would be best if the guilds listing on the stock exchange set an Agreed Price before selling their shares.”
“Agreed Price?”
“It is a device to prevent prices from soaring excessively due to the speculative frenzy of individual investors; it is a method where trading is conducted within a price range previously discussed with the Lord’s Castle and the Stock Exchange.”
It meant a device to control the fluctuation of stock prices in advance.
‘Is it a sort of price limit system?’
Modern price limit systems don’t have pre-negotiated price ranges, so it wasn’t exactly the same, but it was true that it looked quite useful by the standards of this world. In the modern era, if people saw the government and corporations negotiating price ranges behind closed doors, it wouldn’t lead to good press. However, here, there was no proper way to deal with economic criminals who disturbed the stock market, and no real way to punish con artists who might pull a "pump and dump" scheme, so even if there were some side effects, they had to tighten the safety devices firmly to prevent the spread of innocent victims.
“If trading still overheats despite that, I think it would be necessary to ring a bell and temporarily halt all trading at the exchange. Madness usually subsides naturally over time, so if they are given time to rest forcibly, many investors will come to their senses.”
This time, he was surprised.
‘That’s a circuit breaker, isn’t it?’
A circuit breaker. A safety device in the stock market that stops all trading for a certain period to prevent overheating. *‘She figured this out even without having seen the stock market run properly yet?’* He felt it once again. The people of this other world were absolutely not stupider than 21st-century Earthlings. It was just that the state and shape of their development were different.
“Prepare the official document immediately. By when can I receive the details?”
“Give me three days.”
“I’ll give you five.”
Usually, Aiden would have told his adjutant to shorten a three-day request to two, but this time he actually extended the time.
“Instead, try to block the risks that can be blocked in advance as much as possible.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
However, Kalisa’s face became even more solemn. If a superior who was stingy with time told her to take more time, didn’t that mean he viewed this matter as that serious?
And exactly seven days later, a large official notice was posted in front of the completed stock exchange building.
Document Number: No-A/05-033-Stock Exchange
Effective Date: Immediate
Implementation of the Guild-Specific Agreed Price System as follows:
1. All guilds must conduct stock trading only within the agreed price range.
2. The agreed price range must be negotiated with the Lord’s Castle and the Stock Exchange Management Department prior to registration.
3. Transactions exceeding the agreed price range will be treated as invalid and will not be recorded in the ledger.
4. Violating guilds will be subject to fines and up to a 3-month trading suspension.
5. Repeated violations will result in permanent expulsion of the guild.
The blooming spring of March had finally returned. (Of course, flowers didn’t bloom in the North just because it was March.) Outsiders tried to deny the fact that spring had arrived, saying, ‘It’s still cold! It even snowed last night!’, but the Northern natives were already feeling the warm breeze carried by the wind with their whole bodies.
“Spring seems especially early this year.”
“That’s for sure. At this rate, we don’t even need coats!”
Behind the people chatting and saying they should put their coats in the closet, *whoosh—* *clatter, clatter, clatter!* Outside the window, a fierce gust of wind was still blowing.
“Phew, it’s hot, it’s hot!”
The inn door opened, and snow that hadn’t yet melted was pushed into the inn by the wind along with a guest. But the man who had just entered said,
“It’s really spring now!”
He uttered such nonsense. The merchants from outside who had been curled up from the cold clicked their tongues, thinking, ‘As expected, Northerners are not in their right minds,’ but this was a kind of joke that only the natives understood.
“Here, it’s here!”
“Damn it, did you start already?”
“Hehe. It’s your fault for being late. I told you to come quickly. Why were you so late?”
The neighborhood people scolded their neighbor who had arrived late with the blizzard. When they handed him a glass filled to the brim, saying it was a penalty drink, the man emptied it in one go and pulled something out from his bosom to unfold.
“I was late because I was buying this.”
“Don’t show off in front of the illiterate. What is this?”
“Tsk tsk, my friend! How long has it been since the night school opened, and you’re still not proud of not knowing how to read? I told you to learn quickly.”
“I make a living digging the ground anyway, so what’s the point of learning to read at my age? I’m not going to take the administrative exam at this age, and I’m not going to start trading with my own land now. Why study and get a headache?”
“You need to know how to read to buy even one share of stock!”
“Stock? Don’t tell me, is this document that stock thing?”
“Hasn’t it been possible for all Northerners to trade stocks starting today? I went straight there and grabbed one!”
“Let me take a look!”
“You don’t even know how to read, so what will you know if you look at it?”
The table became noisy in an instant.
“What does it say here?”
“This, written nicely at the very top, is ‘Northern Tobacco Corporation.’ It was more expensive than I thought, so I could barely buy one share, but still, this is something. Isn’t it?”
“It’s a business the Lord is doing, so of course! It’s a treasure, a treasure. Let’s see, can I buy one too?”
“Go to the exchange once. But you have to take a test to open your first trade.”
“A test?”
“It means you have to know what a stock is and what investment is. What if you put money in without knowing that and then go bankrupt and throw a tantrum about burning down the exchange?”
“Still, a test is a bit…”
Another safety device introduced by Aiden and Kalisa. It started from the idea that those who want to trade stocks must have at least minimal knowledge without exception. There were concerns that it could be an entry barrier to trading, but—
‘No. I can’t concede on this. You must take the test.’
Aiden had personally experienced a man who, when his stock fell, demanded a refund and threatened to report it to the police when it wasn’t granted. At the very least, in the North, he wanted to prevent this level of financial illiteracy.
“But can you really buy that document, the one about participating in the Lord’s business, if you pass that test?”
“Friend. You know what a stock is, right?”
“It means if you pay money, they give you that paper as a souvenir.”
“……Make sure you pass the test.”
“Thanks.”
It looked like they had a long way to go.