Chapter 238 Citizen In Need
Getting notified by the communication trinket that had been given to them by the Palace, Helena and Dalia made their way to the designated location looking forward to finding out just how their problems would be solved.
Dalia had been thinking hard on the matter for the past few days, and she had been unable to come up with a way in which the King could effectively solve everything.
The most obvious thing to do was to give the money to go buy a trinket by themselves, but in that case, they would have to be lent a lot of money to buy the best trinket that had insurance, the cost of which came to around 100 Gold Lans.
If this much money really was given to them, no matter what interest was charged, it would be very very difficult to pay it back as their earnings were only in Silver Lans which was enough for them to sustain their life.
Of course, the insurance here only meant that any trinket possessing a specific indication that it belonged to a certain seller could be taken to that seller for repairs before a period of time passed after its purchase.
So, what would the King do?
With anticipation in her eyes, Dalia kept looking around while waiting in the auditorium-like room in the Palace which was currently empty.
Seeing the size of the room, the two had been puzzled as to why they had been asked to come here.
The query was answered in a few seconds, when they saw people trickling in slowly who looked like they were from all walks of life.
Most of them seemed to be slum dwellers with tattered clothes that had faded colors, while a few were from the middle-class, wearing clothes which were neat even though they did not look very expensive.
Only one seemed to be a high-class individual, wearing clothes that were clearly enchanted with auto-fitting and auto-cleaning enchantments.
Finally, over 500 people had arrived in the room and taken their seats, waiting for the King to arrive.
A minute later, the King of Lanthanor arrived at the podium at one edge of the room flanked by the Grand Court Mage and the King's father.
After receiving their bows, he began to speak.
"Welcome, hard-working citizens of Lanthanor. Except for a few of you, the rest must be wondering why you were called here. The reason lies with a particular mother and daughter duo who did not hesitate to come to the Palace and place their problem in front of me so that I could find a solution for it."
These words made Helena and Dalia both look down, feeling glad that they had made the decision to go to the Palace. Of course, the credit lay in Dalia whose fanaticism for the King had led her to push them towards doing so.
"Over the past few days, I tasked our government officials with finding hard-working citizens who are looking for loans from loan sharks but did not obtain them because they had no surety to give. The criteria was that each individual had to have run a business for a certain amount of time before having to shut it down for reasons like these. Not just these, even the ones who are on the verge of shutting down due to financial problems have also been called to this meeting."
This finally made the people in the room understand why had they had been called. Indeed, each and every one of them currently had no money in their pockets to buy the trinkets or materials needed to continue the businesses that sustained their lives. They had approached loan sharks and exhausted every resource they had to no avail.
But, how did the King even manage to find out about their problems?
Seeing the puzzled expressions on a few of the faces in front of him, Daneel answered the question even though it hadn't been asked.
"I could identify you all because of the details you gave when setting up a stall in any marketplace. Using that, it isn't hard to find out and check for those who are in need of money by asking around."
Realizing that their personal situation could be found out so easily, some in the room couldn't help but feel slightly disgruntled.
This made Daneel resist the urge to chuckle, as he was reminded of the people back on Earth who had been indignant when they found out that each and every one of their actions could be tracked by the government very easily.
Looking into each of their eyes and taking note of the frustration and hopelessness that came from the situation they were in, Daneel put on a serious tone before continuing to speak.
"You are the people who trusted and supported me when I ascended the Throne. And there is no way that I would let you starve because you have no surety to give to obtain a loan."
Nodding at Kellor who was beside him, Daneel waited for the display trinket to activate which had the logo of the Bank of Angaria rotating on it: it was a locked golden chest with the letters BOA clearly visible at the place where the keyhole was supposed to be.
Of course, there was no way for Daneel to create graphics in this world. This 'animation' had been simply made by recording fire elementary particles which had been controlled to make the logo.
"The Bank of Angaria is my cherished dream that will hopefully help many, many people all across the continent. Right now, I shall not get into the particulars and the plans that I have for it in regards to the continent. Instead, let me tell you what you will obtain from the bank."
As he said these words, officials started to spread around the room holding pairs of trinkets that were shaped like square badges made of what looked like gold.
The letters BOA were stamped on the badge, shining in all their brilliance while the people looked at them, awed.
"From now on, all of you have the status of 'Citizen in Need" in Angaria. This means that you have a credit of 1000 Gold Lans with the Bank of Angaria, which you can use to buy anything you need."
At the mention of the number which made them feel dizzy, the people in the room gasped with shock.
"You have to understand one thing. This does not mean that you can take money for free and use it as you wish. There will be a special wing opening in the government which will directly procure what you need when you give it your requirements. As for the interest, it will be collected in a unique way. Your business will be closely monitored by the government, and you have to pay 20% of the profits you receive from the business to the government as both a fee for maintaining the account and as payment to clear your debt. Of course, there is a hard limit for this amount that will be collected, which comes to 120% of the amount that was loaned."
Daneel gave a pause at this moment to see what the people would say. Although some weren't very experienced with the calculations that came with interest and principal amount, many were astute enough to realize that he was actually charging an interest rate of 20%, going by the usual way they can calculated interest.
This was simply… atrocious! Even loan sharks didn't charge this much, with their interest mostly capping at 10%.
Wasn't this simply… fleecing them of their hard earned money?
Seeing the anger and indignation that has started to appear in some of the faces, Daneel continued to speak.
"If you think I'm charging an interest rate of 20%, you are wrong. Instead of interest where you have to pay monthly or yearly, this is a lifetime fee. This means that no matter how much time you take to pay back that amount, I will only take a 20% extra on it. This number may still seem to be a bit high, so this brings me to the other main factor that you need to consider. If you do come into losses and lose the money, you do not have to pay anything. Your loans will be waived off, and after assessing the reason behind why the loss of money occurred, you might even be granted a new loan to try again. And of course, most importantly, no surety is required except for the blood which you will use to bind the trinkets that shall be your proof which you must use when you take material or money from the government. What do you all think now?"
As the realization finally dawned on the people that they were essentially obtaining a loan from a friend who would understand if they lost the money and not berate and threaten them for it, many of them couldn't help but smile.
This was because the whole agreement was based on one thing: trust. And it was this trust that they had never gotten from any of the people they had approached to obtain a loan.
Here, the King was placing trust in them that they would use the resources that they took to bring in profits for their business which would benefit both parties.
If he was doing so, what else could they ask for?