Mage? Magic Engineer!-Chapter 66 - 63: Gold and Banknotes

Rorschach had been recuperating on Prairie Avenue for the past few days, freeloading brunch off Kano at the Tower of Starry Torch every day.

A sunny-side-up egg topped a slice of bacon, which rested on crispy, butter-toasted bread. This stack sat on a bed of baby lettuce and white sauce. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Rorschach cut down with his knife, splitting the multi-layered meal in two. Bright yellow yolk flowed from top to bottom, merging with the sauce and ensuring every layer was coated in the rich flavor of lecithin and cholesterol. He tried to lift all the layers on his fork at once but failed, opting instead to first eat the tender fried egg and greasy bacon on top.

"Master, didn’t you say it was normal to wait half a year for the publication process?" Rorschach was surprised to learn that his first paper, "An Examination of Thermodynamic Conversion and the Efficiency Limits of Heat Engines," was about to be published.

In ancient times, Mages who acquired knowledge would of course hide it all away. Nowadays, Mages... hide it away to a limited extent. The good stuff is kept within Magic Towers according to lineage and faction, while some knowledge related to basic theory is published in books. Since the rise of the printing industry, self-published pamphlets had also become more common. Those reviewed by the Magic Guild could even be collected by the Guild and get a chance to be circulated continent-wide.

Before Rorschach went to the Sub-plane, Kano had told him that a Great Mage submitting his paper for review, with Kano using his reputation to pull some strings, had a pretty good chance of getting published. But Rorschach never expected it to be this fast. The trip to the Sub-plane took less than three days, and he had been "recuperating" for five. Had they managed to get it all done within a single ten-day work period? ’Was there a peer review? Did they really replicate all the experiments?’

"Master, you must have the Face Fruit... Your student can sense your extraordinary power in the Magic Guild!"

"What kind of nonsense is that? This old man hasn’t even started trying..." Kano had a strange look on his face. He spooned up some soup, fished out a few peas, hesitated for a moment, then pushed the soup toward Rorschach. "The reason your paper is being published so quickly is because a leading figure in the Masons’ Guild, a subsidiary of the Guild, pulled some strings. Yes, that old man Granor."

"Who?" Rorschach felt like he had heard that name before. ’But if he’s helping me just because he’s heard my name, isn’t there something fishy going on?’

"You remember François, don’t you? It’s his old man, the one who licked His Majesty the King’s golden boots until he became a Lord."

"How did this get back to our great His Majesty the King? What do they want?"

Kano grinned. "You punk, an Empire Person calling him ’our Majesty’! You want to know?"

"Of course I do. No one would help me for no reason. I can’t imagine what a High Tier Mage would want from me. As thanks for saving his son?"

Kano nodded. "If you want to know, go and ask them! I’ve received two invitations to pass on to you. One is an invitation for Rorschach Mage to attend a banquet at the Granor Clan’s estate tonight, and the other is for a small banquet at the Royal Court tomorrow night. Seeing as you’re up and about, if you have no objections, I’ll go ahead and accept for you!"

"Your student doesn’t really want to go..."

"I also think these banquets are boring. Let’s start writing the report on all matters concerning the Sub-plane tonight."

"But... as an Empire Person, your student is still very curious about the banquets of the Holy Kingdom’s Nobility and King. Please allow your student to go, and to probe that Great Mage’s intentions. Master, I’m a little nervous about going to the banquet alone. I’m afraid I might do something rude. Master Kano will be there too, won’t he?"

"Hmph. Take a guess."

Viscount Granor, who had left Rorschach so baffled, was currently inside the Royal Palace, gathered around a round table with several other Great Nobles. The table was too low for dining; everyone was slouched over, with their elbows resting on their thighs or knees. Only at the head of the table, the Minister of Finance, Nekker, was leaning back in his chair with his legs crossed.

Although Nekker looked the most relaxed, he had lost the most. That’s right, the masters of nearly half the land in this country, the governors, and His Majesty the King’s "right-hand brain" were playing cards in the antechamber as bright sunlight streamed in through the stained-glass windows.

It was Granor’s first time participating in such a card game. Relying on the intellect expected of a Great Mage, he cautiously maintained a balance between his wins and losses. The other players—several Dukes, a Marquis, and a Prince—all won big, having practically divided all of Nekker’s chips among themselves.

"Game over, gentlemen." Nekker tossed out his last chip and said with a smile, "Valon, exchange the gentlemen’s spoils for them."

"No, no, Nekker, we were just playing for fun. Why worry about such a small amount?" A Duke started to push his chips back toward Nekker’s side of the table but was stopped by him. "My lord, please look."

Valon brought over stacks of paper slips. None of the Nobility had ever seen such exquisite printing.

"Allow me to introduce to you all, my lords, the most exquisitely printed items of our time." Nekker picked one up. It featured a side profile of the sixteenth monarch, various complex patterns, and a foil-stamped number one. "In my hand is the one with the largest denomination. According to its number, it can be exchanged for one Gold Coin, which is to say, twenty-four Silver Coins."

"This is just a trick of exchanging one type of chip for another!" The Prince grabbed a handful of the Paper Currency and rubbed them together. "Outside the Royal Palace, who would accept this for even a slice of bread?"

Nekker kept smiling. "And what if you gentlemen were willing to promote it in your own fiefdoms and gubernatorial regions? Starting late this month, it will be circulated in all of His Majesty’s directly-controlled Royal Family domains."

Everyone looked at each other, then slowly shook their heads. "Then let His Majesty and the Lord Minister of Finance set an example first. We will follow in His Majesty’s footsteps and promote it then!"

"Does the Lord Chancellor know about this?"

"Lord Dipresy has already agreed to the issuance plan. I know you all have your doubts, but I must tell you that this year, all of His Majesty the King’s bank creditors have agreed to accept half of their annual interest payments in this Paper Currency, in exchange for limited issuance rights."

The round table fell silent. Granor flipped and toyed with his chips.

Nekker unhurriedly continued to add to his wager, "Most importantly, and I cannot stress this enough, I guarantee on my honor, and the honor of the one I serve, that the Paper Currency and Gold Coins will always be exchangeable at equal value."

"With all due respect, there is no one in this palace whose honor is worth the entire Kingdom! Honor can’t be exchanged for gold anymore!"

"Correct. Which is why in the Sub-plane—oh, it has now been graciously named the Shaleanna Region by His Majesty..." Nekker deliberately nodded toward Granor. "The Magic Guild was fortunate enough to discover a gold mine."

Valon, understanding his cue, cooperatively presented a velvet pouch. Inside lay the very Dog Head Gold that the Apprentice had presented. The heavy, raw gold nugget was passed around for everyone to inspect.

Putting away his Single-Lens Goggles, the Prince asked Granor grimly, "Master, can you guarantee the reliability of the gold mine in the Sub-plane?"

"Geologically speaking, where there’s one, there are more. The discovery of this natural gold nugget was completely by chance, but its very presence indicates that there must be an enriched vein nearby."

"Thank you for your analysis, but what we need right now is for the Magic Guild to guarantee to us, in its name, that the gold mine is real."

"Your Highness the Prince, the Magic Guild cannot make such a guarantee!" Granor thought about his earlier conversation with Nekker, thought about his imminent promotion in peerage, and clenched his jaw. "But I—on behalf of the seven Lords of the Shaleanna plane, in my capacity as a High Tier Mage of the Kingdom, a future Count, and an Elder of the Masons’ Guild—I can assure you, yes! The lands in the Shaleanna plane directly controlled by His Majesty the King do produce gold!"

The Prince nodded and tucked the Paper Currency he had won into the inner pocket of his clothes. The others quickly followed suit, and Nekker watched with satisfaction as the Paper Currency on the table was completely divided up.