Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Information Guild
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Just like the past few years,
this time too,
Mophin couldn't believe what he had just heard.
"......Are you saying you're opening securities accounts for us?"
"That's right. His Excellency commanded me to teach you about finance and economics through practical investing using securities accounts."
"......"
Securities accounts.
While there were no basic derivative products, stock trading itself was already active in this world.
The existence of a securities exchange
was something any cultured slave knew about.
Of course, a truly cultured free person
would find the very idea of a slave being cultured absurd.
Anyway.
Mophin, as a slave with a fair interest in money, knew what it meant to open a 'securities account.'
It was a tool for speculation,
a magic wand that allowed an ordinary individual to own a stake in businesses.
"......Can we actually trade with them?"
"It's managing His Excellency's assets. I won't forgive any reckless waste, but slaves who produce good results will receive rewards commensurate with their achievements."
"......"
"If you produce truly outstanding results, you might even catch His Excellency's eye."
Handling His Excellency's money directly.
If good results were achieved, it would directly benefit him.
On the flip side, losing money would mean squandering his assets.
In other words, the implication was simple.
His Excellency trusted the slaves.
He trusted them enough to 'invest' a not-insignificant sum of his wealth in mere slaves.
He deemed mere slaves worthy of investing money in.
"......When does the training start?"
I want to make money.
I want to repay that trust.
I want to prove to you
that we truly are valuable enough to be of help to you.
"It'll start in a month. The training schedule has been adjusted, so memorize it properly as an instructor and prepare in advance so there's no disruption to the new slaves' education."
"......Could I possibly receive the materials in advance?"
"Materials?"
"Yes. I'd like to know ahead of time what we'll be learning."
"Hmm. I'll check and let you know."
"Thank you."
Mophin wasn't particularly gifted,
nor did he possess any special talents like some slaves──
but when it came to learning something that made money,
he was confident he could master it more fiercely and quickly than anyone else.
Learn a little earlier than others,
think a little more,
and ask desperately about anything he didn't know.
Wasn't it that miserly trait that had gotten him the instructor position in the first place?
"Here. The materials you asked for."
"Thank you, Overseer. It's nothing special, but it's jerky bought with Talants."
"Heh. First time receiving a gift from a slave."
"Haha......"
In that way, he succeeded in securing the materials a month early by asking a supervisor he'd grown friendly with.
"......It's tough."
But the materials alone were hard to understand.
They explained basic concepts step by step in a friendly manner,
but even those basics weren't easy for a slave to grasp.
And
while Mophin wasn't a particularly brilliant slave,
he did have experience with education.
"You. New slave. Your name was Rosenthal, right?"
"Yes, Instructor."
"Before you were sold here, you were a scribe slave handling accounting for a fairly large estate's chief scribe, weren't you?"
"......Yes."
"Do you know a bit about finance?"
"Basic terminology, at least......"
"Perfect. Study this and teach it to me."
"Pardon?"
If he didn't know something, he just had to ask someone who did.
Financial knowledge sounded like an alien language to him, but it would be different for a slave with basic background knowledge.
Mophin was a slave,
but he was also an 'instructor' with authority over new slaves.
He intended to use that authority to the fullest.
"By the instructor's authority, I promise ample rest time and high marks. Meat stew once a week too."
"......Is that for real?"
"Yes. But you have to teach properly."
"......I'll read through those materials first."
The slave named Rosenthal was quite prudent.
Instead of jumping at the carrot with an immediate 'I can do it,'
he first assessed whether it was something he could handle.
That attitude earned Mophin's trust.
Was it because he was a scribe slave?
He was different from farm slaves who had only done manual labor.
"......There are quite a few unfamiliar concepts, and fully understanding the deeper content will take a lot of time...... But just teaching the concepts themselves doesn't seem too hard."
"Can you prepare to teach me within a week?"
"One day is enough. After that, I can learn and teach at the same time."
"Good. I'll trust you."
In that way,
Mophin succeeded once again in remaining the 'most cultured slave.'
The ability to follow new paradigms first.
In truth, that might have been
Mophin's greatest innate talent.
.
.
.
"Is the economic education for the slaves going well?"
"Yes. Especially the slave 'Mophin' you checked on personally last time—he's showing exceptional results. Seems to have a real knack for making money."
"Yeah? Well, he was the first to save up Talants and buy outing rights."
A former free person who sold himself to a merchant for his family's sake.
Bold and daring.
Quick situational judgment and decisive.
Sensitive to the smell of money.
He was optimized talent for investing.
"Good. Time to open up actual trading for them."
"Yes."
.
.
.
Studying finance didn't mean they could start investing without any information.
So newspapers and securities bulletins were provided to the slaves.
Newspapers cost 'Talants' to buy, but one slave could purchase and share with others, so it wasn't a big issue.
Some slaves even bought newspapers by type
and resold the information inside to other slaves cheaply.
And then.
In the midst of that chaos, as securities trading began,
Mophin requested a meeting.
"Greetings, Master."
"Oh, yeah. Hi, Mophin."
"It's an honor that you call my name, Master."
"Don't be so formal. So, why'd you come?"
It was rare for a slave to request a meeting with me, their owner, first.
Even if they did, overseers usually screened them. No reason to bother the master unnecessarily.
Yet Mophin had managed to secure a meeting with me.
Thanks to his instructor position, and probably because he'd built rapport with the overseers.
It was something I quite liked.
The 'free' overseers opening up to the 'slave' Mophin
was as good as a green light for my plans.
"I'd like to purchase information needed for securities trading."
"Information?"
But the reason Mophin wanted to see me was unexpected.
"Yes."
"You can buy newspapers or brokerage info from the overseers, right?"
"This is information I have to ask you for, Master."
"Hmm......"
If he was thinking of using my 'blessing' to gather info for investing, I'd refuse.
I'd felt it while screwing over the vault-keeper house.
Digging through the memories of all sorts of objects to find useful info was quite burdensome.
Besides, relying on the blessing went against my intent to train them in true economic independence.
But what Mophin requested wasn't the 'blessing.'
"Could I see the dispatched slaves ledger?"
"Dispatched slaves ledger?"
"Yes."
Dispatched slaves ledger.
In other words, he wanted to view the roster and details of slaves loaned out to other places.
It wasn't a difficult request.
Showing core business ledgers to outsiders willy-nilly was a no-go,
but Mophin was my slave.
There were no procedural issues.
"Sure. I'll make it available for Talants."
"Sell it very expensively."
"Not cheap, but expensive......?"
"Yes."
What was he thinking?
I was curious, but nodded for now.
No merchant refuses a request to sell something expensive.
"And I want to use the typewriter in the classroom for personal purposes."
"That's included in the classroom usage fee, so use it as much as you want."
"I'll be using quite a bit of ink."
"Ink?"
"Yes. I hear ink is expensive."
At this point, my curiosity was piercing the ceiling.
Finally, I couldn't hold back and asked.
"What are you planning to do by checking the dispatched slaves ledger and using the typewriter?"
And Mophin's answer was quite intriguing.
"I'm going to create an information newsletter."
"Information newsletter?"
"Yes. With securities trading opening up, lots of slaves are spending Talants on 'information.' High trading profits mean more Talants, so the spending burden is low too."
"Yeah, true."
"But the content in newspapers or existing brokerage newsletters is hard to parse. Lots of unreliable nonsense, and even finding useful info is tough."
"Hm. Probably."
"So, I'm planning to compile testimonies from slaves dispatched across the empire and reliable info from newspapers into a newsletter with trading-relevant information and advice."
"Hoo......"
"Not just simple sales, but monthly Talant subscription contracts. Tier the info by price—low tiers get newsletters summarizing publicly available newspaper info, high tiers get more diverse info and consulting──"
"......"
When gold is discovered, sell pickaxes and jeans.
Mophin perfectly understood that golden rule.
While raising the profitability of the entire mine through quality jeans and pickaxes, no less.