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Chapter 51
“Pay up already. If you pay, everything goes smoothly. Then we won’t have to come here every day like this.”
“I don’t have a single coin right now. Please. At least let me keep my shop open. That’s the only way I can earn money and repay the debt.”
It was a bakery in an alley inside the market, a place frequented by many commoners.
The front of the shop was already crowded with rough-looking men.
“I don’t care about that. Just pay. Hand over today’s interest and I’ll leave. Keep this up, and we might really sell your son and daughter off to a foreign country.”
“B-boss… if they’re sold to another country, does that mean they become slaves?”
“Of course. Our empire claims it doesn’t have slaves, but other countries treat them brutally. Remember that guy who couldn’t repay his debt last time? His son was sold off as a slave. They say no one’s heard from him since.”
“Oh dear. Imagine how much he must be suffering in a foreign land, not even treated like a human being.”
“Exactly. This family’s daughter and son will end up like that soon too. Oh dear.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll repay it as soon as possible.”
Worried sick about his children, the bakery owner bowed deeply to them again and again.
“Ha….”
A sigh escaped from Kourin’s lips as she watched the scene from afar.
“They come every single day like that. If we can’t prepare even one day’s worth of interest, they block the shop and won’t let us do business. Then we can’t earn anything, which means we can’t pay the interest, and the debt just keeps piling up. There’s really no way out anymore.”
“No way out? Don’t worry so much. I’ll have everything resolved within a few days.”
I patted Kourin’s heavy, worried shoulders to comfort her.
“You said their office is over there, right?”
I pointed toward the end of the alley where the bakery stood. Robert, following my finger, nodded.
“Yeah. It looks like they keep watch over the merchants from the market entrance. I heard there’s hardly a single shop in this market that hasn’t borrowed money from them. Look.”
“That’s right. Everyone in this market is at their limit.”
The rough men who had just left the bakery were already storming into the fabric shop next door and causing trouble there as well.
The neighboring shopkeepers lived in constant fear of when they’d be targeted next, and even customers in the market were nervously watching them and slipping away one by one.
“How much did you say they’ve taken from you so far? Ten thousand Ritas?”
“Yes. We’ve paid ten thousand Ritas in total. Five thousand of that was the original loan. And the remaining debt somehow grew to ten thousand Ritas.”
Just a few days ago, the debt had been seven thousand Ritas, but it had ballooned in no time.
“Then let’s get those ten thousand Ritas back from them.”
“What? From them? Is that even possible?”
“It has to be.”
“But five thousand of that was money we actually borrowed…”
“Kourin, you and your family suffered because of them, didn’t you? Then you deserve compensation. And you probably had to borrow money elsewhere just to keep paying them too.”
At my words, Kourin’s eyes lit up.
“Is that really possible?”
“Of course. Just trust me.”
“Then what should I do now? I’ll do exactly as you say. Please, help us escape this hell.”
“All right. Then…”
Perhaps nervous, Kourin blinked rapidly.
“Go over there and try borrowing another ten thousand Ritas. Tell them that if you can’t repay it within a week, they can sell you and your younger sibling into slavery.”
“…What?”
Kourin stared at me with her mouth hanging open in disbelief. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke again, betrayal evident in her eyes.
“That’s absurd. You know how much my family has suffered because of the money we borrowed from them. How could you suggest something like that?”
“I know. That’s exactly why I’m saying this. They’re like leeches—they’ll never let you repay the debt.”
From what I’d learned through Robert, they were truly vile people.
They beat their debtors without hesitation and had no qualms about selling them like commodities.
On top of that, they exploited the empire’s rotten laws to the fullest. In the empire, even in criminal cases, private contracts were given priority. Because of that, debtors—the victims—couldn’t even report them due to the contracts they’d signed.
“And they’re incredibly persistent.”
Even if Kourin brought them ten thousand Ritas right now, they wouldn’t let her go. They would find some way to force her into debt again and torment her all over again.
They had already done exactly that to many others.
Rather than repaying the debt, it was more important to cut them off at the root so they could never pull this kind of stunt again.
“Trust me. And once you borrow the money, go here.”
I handed Kourin a piece of paper with an address written on it.
After agonizing over it for a long while, Kourin finally decided to trust me. She took the paper and headed toward their office.
“But why today, of all days?”
Watching Kourin’s retreating figure, Robert asked, puzzled.
“There’s no better day than today. Today is perfect.”
Seeing Robert’s confusion, I kindly explained.
“For the past few days, the Imperial Knights have been overwhelmed with the Count Monjas incident. Since nobles are involved, they’ll be even busier. That makes now the perfect time. And besides…”
“Besides?”
“Did you know? The temple priests are about to travel across the continent to spread the word of the gods.”
“Yeah. I heard they won’t be back for twenty years. They plan to visit every country. Don’t tell me…”
“Mm. Do you remember the favor I asked you a few days ago?”
Only then did Robert grasp everything and grin.
“You asked me to secure a few laborer positions to accompany the priests, right? I was wondering why you needed them. So you had all this planned.”
“Of course. And you’ve got the people ready too, right?”
“Yeah. I’ve already lined them up so they can go in one by one after Kourin.”
I mentally applauded Robert’s flawless execution.
For a moment, I felt a twinge of guilt at using him so thoroughly without paying him a single coin—but I would be helping him get his revenge.
So it wasn’t really a loss for him.
“Alright, let’s go too. There’s a lot to do. This operation needs to move fast—no breathing room.”
We couldn’t afford to give leeches any time to breathe.
The loan office at the entrance of the market.
Iglun, the man who ran the office, was smiling as he looked down at the person kneeling before him.
“I told you—if you just paid up when I asked nicely, things would be easier for both of us.”
“Please. Please give me just a few more days. I’ve put my house up for sale. Once it sells, I’ll repay everything.”
“I don’t care about that. You need to pay today’s interest.”
The principal loan had been only two thousand Ritas.
Yet the accumulated interest alone had already reached five thousand Ritas.
By cleverly changing the contract from an annual 10% rate to a daily 10% rate—and then charging compound interest—this modest loan had ballooned in no time.
All of it was possible thanks to the empire’s law that unconditionally respected private contracts.
All it took was a single line: I will accept all disadvantages if I fail to repay the debt.
With that written in, debtors couldn’t report them, and the lenders avoided punishment.
As a result, his vault grew fuller by the day. With that money, he even acquired other lending businesses, expanding his operations and earning more favor from the powerful elder who had his back.
It was a business like a never-drying spring.
“Now then, you’d better go borrow money from somewhere. If you can’t pay the interest today, it’ll just pile up even more.”
At Iglun’s words, the man hurriedly got up and fled the office.
As Iglun laughed at his retreating back—
Kourin, the baker’s daughter, stepped into the office.
