Dictator From Outer Space - Chapter 276:

―Who would want such paper scraps?

That was the most common remark that the Roselone Bank heard when they issued the credit currency.

Most people did not trust the paper money itself.

They had been using metal coins, mainly silver and bronze, for so long that they could not believe in anything else.

Why would they exchange gold for paper?

The bank guaranteed that the paper had the same value as the coins, but to the people, it looked like nothing but numbers and designs.

And they only had unlimited exchange for one year, after which they would have to pay extra taxes. So they had even less reason to switch.

The influential people who were favorable to the current king also criticized this move.

―He must have wanted to reform the currency, but he failed. He was too radical for his own good.

―The king doesn’t know what it feels like to have gold coins jingle in his pocket. That’s so satisfying.

The problem was right there.

The gold coins were actually made of gold.

Most of the gold coins circulating in Bagran were produced in Zaium.

They were supposed to have a standard size, but many of them did not fit exactly.

Zaium was skimming profits by making the coins smaller.

As a result, the face value and the actual market value did not match, causing confusion.

And the users of gold coins also secretly shaved off the edges to reduce their size.

This had been going on for 200 years, and it made it very hard to calculate the precise value of one gold coin.

Usually, they weighed them, but that was also unreliable because many people tampered with the scales.

Arma hated this kind of thing.

“You can’t trust something that you can’t convert into numbers. That’s why we should change all the money in Bagran to credits.”

The credit currency came in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 bills.

They were not ordinary paper, but a mixture of fibers that made them quite durable. They also had some anti-counterfeit features added.

And the printing method was slightly different, making it hard to imitate with existing technology.

It was impossible to forge them poorly.

Despite these efforts, the credit currency was not widely used for various reasons.

But when Arma presented some concrete plans, the atmosphere changed.

One of them was the credit-only law.

From now on, all public servants and businesses in Bagran had to pay all their dues in credits.

And anyone who wanted to trade with Bagran from outside had to use credits as well.

If they refused to use credits and tried to use the old money, they would face a fine for the first offense and imprisonment for the second offense.

When the legal officer recorded this in the Codex, the law took effect.

Starting from April, the employees working at the royal palace received their salaries in credits.

They were dumbfounded by the bills in their hands.

“How am I supposed to buy food with this?”

“I used to enjoy hearing silver coins jingle on payday… They would disappear soon enough anyway.”

They grumbled, but they had to eat, so they had no choice but to go to the grocery store.

But an unexpected incident happened there.

The grocery store operated by Roselone City had already prepared for credit payments.

Most of the stores that dealt with essential goods were run by the city, so they accepted the orders very quickly.

Of course, the store employees were not familiar with the credit currency either.

But an unexpected advantage emerged here.

The employees who bought food to take home realized how easy it was to calculate with credits.

“Let’s see… A bag of potatoes is 2 silvers and 10 bronzes, and a basket of fresh strawberries is 3 silvers… If I add bread and butter, it’s a total of 6 silvers and 40 bronzes. If I convert that into credits…”

“It’s 640 credits.”

The clerk said, and the employee matched the number with the bills in his hand and handed them over.

And he was surprised.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. Six 100-credit bills and four 10-credit bills make 640 credits.”

“Oh, right.”

He felt empty because it was not silver, but he did not have to weigh them, which was very convenient.

These days, there were too many people who secretly cut off the edges with a knife-like thing.

It was impossible to weigh them very accurately, and many people manipulated the scales as well.

But this credit currency was very easy to handle.

He just had to match the numbers and give them away.

A calculation that would have taken more than 10 minutes of haggling was over in an instant.

This happened all over Roselone City, and people realized that credit currency was surprisingly convenient.

―It’s very light and easy to use.

―It doesn’t seem like ordinary paper. What is it made of? It holds up well even when wet.

―The best part is that the calculation is done quickly. It used to take an hour to wait for the scammers to do the math.

As the use of credit currency increased among the people, the impact spread throughout the society.

In fact, everyone expected this day to come sooner or later, since the Bagran government had nailed the credit-only law to the Codex.

But it was accepted so smoothly because the credit currency had an overwhelming advantage.

And since the government and city-run stores accepted credits, the people naturally followed suit.

―It doesn’t matter to us what we use. Whether it’s silver or credit, there’s no difference.

―I heard that the merchants from outside also exchanged gold for credits. They had to pay with credits to buy strawberries.

―It’s nice to pay taxes with just a few pieces of paper.

However, not everyone was happy.

The commoners who did not have much wealth easily accepted credits, but the rich, especially the nobles, did not think so.

They saw the introduction of credits as a conspiracy by Leobold to plunder their assets.

―Exchange gold for paper scraps? No way.

―Who would give up gold after a year when they add extra taxes? It’s better to keep it and pass it on to future generations.

―The inspectors are roaming around, but they can’t find the gold hidden deep in the warehouse.

But there was one problem.

The Bagran government had introduced a new land tax.

According to the Codex, the nobles of Galisto who were incorporated this time were spared from military pressure, but they had to pay land tax instead.

This was still acceptable.

Leobold had unified Bagran and forced the nobles to renounce their titles.

And those who refused were crushed by force.

It was better to settle with paying taxes than being treated like that.

But this land tax varied depending on the size of the land and could only be paid in credits.

The huge amount of gold and silver that the nobles had was useless.

The nobles of Galisto calculated their land tax and raged that it was absurd.

“I have to pay more than 2,000 golds a year in taxes! How am I supposed to afford that?”

“If I can’t afford it, they tell me to sell my land at a low price? How dare they!”

“Paying taxes only in credits is the government’s tyranny! I have to protest right away!”

The nobles’ protests were doomed from the start.

Sitting at the desk where the complaints were received was Balgard.

He was a war hero who had single-handedly destroyed a hundred Goliaths in the Heston Valley and captured the royal palace.

He was an enemy to Galisto, but there was no one left to hate him after the country was gone.

“Anything to say?”

He looked in a bad mood.

His sharp eyes glared at the nobles as if he would devour them.

They all shrank back and waved their hands.

“No, nothing at all.”

“We must have been mistaken. Well then…”

The nobles had to admit that it was better to pay taxes or land to Balgard than to d*e.

Leobold had never intended to grant them any privileges in the first place.

Many people took out the gold coins that had been stored deep in their warehouses and exchanged them for credits.

Sometimes, people who had no money paid land instead of taxes.

It was only a short time since the war ended and they had borrowed a lot of money from Denova, so they were all struggling.

As a result, the land of Galisto that the nobles owned was gradually being transferred to the government.

“The nobles’ income is decreasing, so I expect most of the territory will be transferred within three years.”

“That’s enough. In another year, they’ll think it’s better to give up their titles and lands and keep whatever little wealth they have left.”

The land tax was just the beginning, and there were plenty of regulations that could restrict the ether bloodline.

There was almost nothing that could stop Leobold in Zaium.

And even that huge empire was suffering from the products from Bagran lately.

This was no exception for Elvrande.

***

“…”

Drizden sighed as he looked over part of the first quarter report from the Import and Export Management Bureau.

“I’m pretty sure I told you to stop trading with Bagran.”

The bureau chief bowed his head in front of him.

“I’m sorry, Your Excellency. We tried our best to reduce the volume, but the strawberries from Bagran are so popular…”

“Bagran? I thought the seeds came from the Floating Continent?”

“Uh, yes. I’ll correct that. The strawberries from the Floating Continent are so popular that we can’t help it. Especially, the demand from the great families is huge.”

“…So you’re saying you’re not listening to me.”

There was another pillar of power in Elvrande besides Drizden.

It was the twelve great families.

The royal family of Rustel had fallen under Drizden’s purge, but the rest were still showing their strength.

It was difficult to purge them in the current situation, since even President Drizden was a member of the Featherwood family.

If he mobilized his personal guard, their forces were not negligible and Elvrande would be split in two.

To be honest, it was only possible for Drizden to become president because of the tacit support of the great families.

They knew best about Astera’s secret and judged that they could not stop Leobold with Elvrande’s current system.

They pressured Drizden to step down as president when Leobold died and everything was over.

But he was dreaming of immortality.

Anyway, it seemed clear that the great families had taken a liking to the strawberries from the Floating Continent.

It would cost a lot to airlift strawberries from the end of the continent, but they were willing to pay for it.

Drizden bit his tongue.

“Is this all because you can’t resist that? This way, it will be hard to starve Bagran to death.”

One of his strategies against Bagran was to pressure them economically.

Bagran had succeeded in supplying most of its resources and necessities by itself through three years of reform.

But there were still some goods that they imported from Elvrande.

He wanted to completely block them and reduce Bagran’s trade volume to zero.

That was his first pressure tactic.

But it started to go wrong from the beginning because of the intervention of the great families.

Drizden scanned through more of the report and said with a cold voice.

“What is this? Cotton fabric? Why are you importing this?”

“It’s rumored to be good quality…”

“Isn’t it just made from cotton? We have it in Zaium and Silverd makes it in our autonomous regions too.”

“Well… You’ll have to see for yourself.”

The bureau chief brought out some cotton fabric and his rough fingers touched it.

“…It has a nice shine. And it’s soft too. How much is this?”

“Three silvers per meter. It doesn’t exceed four silvers even with tariffs.”

“Are you crazy? Do you want to export at a loss?”

“Well… Actually, it’s not a loss. They use some strange machines to separate seeds from cotton at an incredible speed and spin yarns. One machine does the work of a thousand people.”

“…”

Drizden was shocked and just fiddled with the fabric for a while.

Three silvers per meter was not a very good fabric.

The high elves of Elvrande would not consider it a high-quality fabric.

But it was different for everyday use.

Bagran had already commercialized efficient ether engines and used golems in factories, somehow.

The productivity that came out of there was not ordinary, as proven already.

‘It would be possible to make everyday clothes with this fabric.’

It would probably be worse than Eraqsil fabric, but it looked much better than what they used before.

Even if the cost increased slightly, the elves would choose this fabric.

‘Leobold… He’s more scary than I thought.’

He should have noticed his potential and killed him when he went up to the Floating Continent.

Now it was impossible to k**l him unless he had a good plan, and even the picky high elves were paying him money.

He didn’t know how much he would lose.

The bureau chief left and the captain of his personal guard, Ekidna, came in.

She showed him something with the Imagine Record magic.

“This is… a dragon’s bone.”

“Yes. Leobold found it in his territory in Zaium. He is boasting that he will raise funds by selling this bone on a large scale.”

“Has he gone mad? What does he want to do by excavating a dragon’s bone?”

“It seems that there are some ruins and treasures buried underneath. And… there is a rumor that this bone belongs to Altima.”

“…What?”

Drizden doubted his ears.

Altima was the greatest enemy of the elves.

He found the bone and wanted to dig it up?

He couldn’t believe it and looked at the magic.

It was blurry, but it seemed like Altima’s bone.

Gold dragons had one horn on their head, and there was a horn exactly in the middle of the forehead on the bone.

“Hyperion too. He’s trying to scratch our nerves by bringing up those names again.”

But Denova seemed surprisingly unconcerned about the name Altima and was willing to invest.

They probably had their eyes on the ancient ruins and treasures.

“…”

Drizden tapped the table with his fingers and pondered for a while.

It was easy to say to pull out the money, but it seemed worth using.

If, if he could.

What if he could gather Altima’s soul?

She was known to have died fighting the gods of the elves, but in fact she met her end by being betrayed by the royal family of the Gram Empire.

The soul that remembered that last moment would be more resentful of one side than the other.

Fortunately, Leobold didn’t know how to handle souls yet.

‘If he knew, he would have awakened a friendly deity and attacked us long ago.’

In fact, Leobold and Arma had realized the existence of souls through Cain and knew that they could gather souls with the branches of Yggdrasil.

They didn’t use that method because it was much easier and more efficient to exercise their power through ether origin.

Drizden mistakenly thought that Leobold was ignorant and blinded by money and wanted to excavate Altima’s bones.

“Stupid fool. He’s digging his own grave.”

“Should I contact Denova and tell them not to withdraw their money?”

“He’s digging a hole for himself, so there’s no reason to pull it out. Tell them to support him with more funds so he can dig deeper.”

“I understand.”

She left and Drizden was lost in thought.

He guessed why he wanted to excavate Altima’s bones.

She was the most powerful creature among the dragons and had a high reputation, so he must have thought it would make money.

He must have also thought that the elves hated her name so much that they would pay to bury it.

But he didn’t know that her soul was angry at humans.

“Your ignorance is why you lose, Leobold.”

Meanwhile, Drizden had a feeling that another great war might break out.

He wasn’t sure, but something seemed ominous with the Holy Kingdom moving and all.

‘The great war… We elves shed a lot of blood to correct the human’s mistake…’

Even if that day came again, the elves would make the same choice.

It was their duty to protect this Astera from the mighty demon king.

‘Don’t be mistaken, Leobold. You’re not the first one like you. There was one like you 200 years ago, and in every era. You’re not original.’

They were called pioneers among humans, but Drizden saw them as nothing but bringers of calamity.

While Drizden was deluded, the real demon king was growing rapidly in Mare.

***

The planet Mare is a place where plague, known as demons, swarm.

The number of individuals was unknown even to Arma, and countless plague queens gathered their legions and attacked each other’s territories.

They didn’t appear in Astera very often because they couldn’t control the ether storm.

Mare was a barren place without an atmosphere unlike Tera, and the flow of ether was unstable and sometimes storms occurred.

The demons found the exact door in the storm gap and moved to Astera.

Two hundred years ago, this ether storm blew quite often, but recently it hardly happened.

Being in such a closed world, they naturally had to compete with each other.

Hundreds of demon kings in Mare fought endlessly and stabbed each other in the back.

Sometimes they did diplomacy as they learned from humans, but their nature didn’t change and they started wars again.

But recently, the demon kings of Mare were united.

The cause was a new demon king who appeared suddenly one day.

Her name was Lucia.

She was incredibly strong for someone who appeared out of nowhere and quickly subdued the weak demon kings around her and started breeding her legion.

Recently, she was as powerful as the top ten demon kings in Mare.

This was an achievement made in less than a year, so the surrounding demon kings had to be nervous.

—She’s big and strong. What does she eat to grow like that?

—I’ve never seen her around here before. It’s suspicious that she suddenly appeared.

—Could she have come from Tera?

They were suspicious, but they couldn’t do anything about her right away because even the top ten demon kings were fighting for power.

The demon kings sent scouts to explore her nest and found something strange.

There was a human statue built in the highest and best place in the nest.

The statue initially only showed a vague face, but recently it revealed its body and limbs in detail.

They felt a great fear at the giant statue that looked like it would come alive at any moment.

—Is the owner of the statue someone Lucia worships?

—Could it be the Demon God who will appear someday?

While the demon kings were mistaken, Lucia worked hard to expand her nest and increase her legion.

It was for when Leobold would call her someday.

But one day, someone spoke to her.

It was not a telepathy between demon kings, but a voice that seemed to echo from the depths of her soul.

-Greetings, little possibility.

-Who are you? Why are you talking to me?

-That’s because we are one. I am your future and your greatest possibility.

-I don’t understand what you’re saying.

-You haven’t evolved yet. You’ll know later.

The voice kept ringing and Lucia learned a little about her identity.

She was the plague queen who fought with Leobold in the solar system 54 years ago.