Shades of the New World

Chapter 210: Problem of funds

"But I bet you never would've thought that you would witness two of them to actually find hosts, right?" Rith said with a smile, to which the old man could only smile wryly.

"Oh yeah, Rith, wasn't I going to meet a Beast Lord of the World of Space?" Evin asked, suddenly remembering what the Cosmics promised him.

"That will happen in due time, don't worry about it," Rith replied with a smile. 

'That smile is a bit suspicious, but I'll let it slide,' Evin thought.

Rith then gave Runa back to Evin, and the latter sent the skinshifter into his shadow, so she could converse with the rest of the World Sprites, who were recovering gradually. Then the three chatted for a bit, with Evin and Rith drinking their daily coffee, before Evin remembered that he had a few questions he had for Rith.

"By the way, Rith, I wanted to ask you this, but are there Mana Complexes for spellcasting purposes only?" he asked.

"Definitely Though, why do you need it?" Rith asked.

"To keep my defensive measures up at all times," Evin answered.

"Ah, makes sense. If that's so, then you're probably going to have to create one yourself," Rith said like it was the most natural thing in the World.

"And how does one create such things, again?" Evin asked back, hoping that the Cosmic would clarify things a bit better.

"You can ask Nasst when you get back. Or if you don't mind waiting, then you can learn it in the Academy," Rith instructed.

"Alright, but can I ask why you can't teach me?" 

"It's because I don't have the authority to allow it," Rith shrugged and explained a bit: "What do you think the biggest difference between a Mana Complex and just a pile of Lodestones?"

"I don't know It's rechargeability?" Evin answered unsurely.

"Yes, and why do you think a Mana Complex Recharges so quickly?" Rith asked, making Evin think a bit.

"Ah, is it because they're connected to those places that are rich with mana?" Evin asked.

"Yep. See, you can realize some things if you use your brain a bit," Rith chuckled.

"Is that why they're so expensive?"

"Yep. There are actually very few places in the World who can provide you with near endless amounts of mana. Naturally, countries and organizations try their best to take control of such places. Sure there are some powerful individuals who own such places, but obviously, they'd rather use them themselves, instead of sharing with random mages, no?" 

"But why did you tell me to learn how to create one myself?"

"Because if you're learning to create one yourself, you probably own the rights to one of such places," Rith said flatly.

"I'm guessing those cost a pretty penny, huh?"

"Oh, definitely. Obviously, our Group owns quite a few, but even I feel uncomfortable when I think of owning one."

"How much would it cost if I were to purchase one?"

"Since it's only to keep your spells working, I don't think the base price will be too much perhaps 30k to 40k depending on its capacity. But since you already own another Mana-complex, its price will be doubled and there will also be a time limit attached to it as well."

Evin was once again stuck on the problem of money. At this point, he just had to do something about the problem.

"Alright. One more question. Are there any more loan-projects that you guys have for me? It's been a while since the last time it happened, I believe," Evin said.

"Oh, about that Well, don't worry about those for the time being. From what I understand, they're preparing a few big ones for you," Rith smiled mysteriously.

"Alright" Evin said.

After a small pause he continued with an 'ehehe'.

"Is the Elmes group facing any problems lately? Anything that might need consulting and help maybe a failed project or two that was stuck for a while?"

Rith, as a Cosmic, was obviously keen on noticing such things so she immediately caught on what Evin was trying to do.

"What is this? You're trying to sell us another idea?" she purred with satisfaction.

"Well, something tells me that I'll be needing a lot of money in the near future, so" Evin said and let the Cosmic figure out the rest. 

"Well, sadly for you, we are not facing any life-threatening problems for now. It's mostly because we're still trying to digest the one giant problem that you've brought upon us. Although the people are loving the idea of a bank, the ruling class is definitely not happy with what's occurring right now. After all, we're gobbling up most of the money that the people usually leave to rot or spend buying random stuff, lessening their dependency on the countries."

"So they're trying to ban you out?" Evin asked curiously.

"They've tried to introduce a variety of regulations against banks but they're too late at this point. If they acted a bit sooner, maybe they would've been able to achieve something, but they only acted after literally everyone was exposed to the conveniences that our banks brought. If they push for it more than they currently are, they're going to receive a lot of backlash," Rith said proudly.

Hearing that the banks were doing great, Evin's heart stung a bit. If he was a bit pushier with the percentages, he definitely wouldn't be thinking of making money like this now. He would probably be wondering how he should spend it all.

Though he really couldn't blame the Cosmics, as the fault mostly lied with himself. 

After all, if some dumb kid came at him and basically gave him free money, he would've taken it without question. Especially if he was some kind of being that put profit as the highest priority.

'But I really didn't have a choice back then After all, I was just some lone kid who was trying to impulsively strike a deal with a bunch of talking cats, who basically controlled the World's market. I was almost even happy that they even bothered to listen to me talk about my offer,' Evin thought self-depreciatingly.

'Nonetheless, things are different now. Now I have proper backing and I'm pretty strong myself. Even Authorities fawn over me depending on their mood,' Evin allowed himself a victorious smile.

But regretting his past actions and then feeling good about himself didn't change the fact that Evin needed to sell an idea to the Cosmics. 

Some might tell Evin to just start a promising business himself and then take control of it, but Evin was obviously too lazy to bother with that. 

'I want money, but if it forces me to work any harder than a certain amount, I would rather just give up and try to create gold through alchemy or some shit'

Evin wondered if a case of magically created currencies ever happened in the history of the Empire. After all, Earth's history was riddled with such attempts. Evin wouldn't find it surprising if some great mage of the World of Earth was able to create gold out of nothing.