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Ting-
As Oliver opened the door of the restaurant, a bell rang to welcome him.
He hadn’t noticed before, but even after moving the restaurant, they were still using the old bell.
It was… comforting, for some inexplicable reason.
“Welcome, Mr. Dave. We apologize for troubling you at this late hour.”
Despite the late hour, Al greeted him courteously, showing no signs of fatigue.
It was remarkable how consistent he remained, even though they had known each other for quite some time.
“No, it’s fine. Mr. Forrest wouldn’t call me out for no reason… By the way, are you okay, Mr. Al? I know you work during the day as well?”
“Thank you for your concern. But I’m fine, you don’t need to worry. My salary has gone up, and I’m getting extra pay. I’m also receiving a lot of tips.”
Al tapped his front pocket.
“……Is it a joke?”
“About half.”
Al responded with a smile, to which Oliver nodded.
After finishing their casual greetings, Al naturally gestured for him to follow.
“May I show you the way? The guest is waiting for you.”
“Ah, yes, let’s go right away.”
“Thank you. Please follow me.”
Under Al’s guidance, Oliver passed through the first and second-floor halls and followed him to the private room at the back. Along the way, a familiar emotion came into view.
“But… may I ask who the guest is?”
“It’s Mr. Paul Carver from the city’s internal affairs department.”
Al whispered cautiously, but his words were not a lie.
Upon entering the inner private room, which was more elegantly decorated than the first and second floors, he found Paul Carver, a city official.
It was Paul Carver, a city official, whom he had dealt with in the past during the cleanup of the contaminated zone and a task outside the city.
“Thank you for coming.”
Carver, who was eating a meat pie at a table covered with a white tablecloth, greeted Oliver when he saw him.
Despite the late hour, he was eating a meat pie, and Forrest, who was sitting next to him, was drinking coffee and greeted Oliver.
“I’m sorry for calling you so late.”
“No, it’s fine. I wouldn’t have come if I couldn’t. You don’t need to worry about it.”
Forrest nodded his head and suggested he take a seat opposite Carver.
Oliver did as he was told.
“Nice to see you again, Mr. Carver. I hope you’ve been well.”
At his greeting, Carver raised an eyebrow.
“I’ve been busy as always, but I’ve been doing well…… Thank you for welcoming me. Usually, when solvers see us, they would be busy frowning.”
“Really? Why is that?”
Oliver asked out of genuine curiosity, to which Forrest replied.
“Usually, when a city official comes, it’s to hand over a difficult task.”
It was a bit rude, but Carver didn’t deny it. In fact, he was even more explicit.
“Yes, that’s right. The city typically seeks you out to handle bothersome and dirty tasks like cleaning up contaminated zone…… or perhaps, to handle something even more filthy and dangerous.”
His attitude was brazen but straightforward. Seeing this Oliver asked, “Did you come today for the same reason?”
“Yes. And it’s closer to the latter.”
If it’s the latter, it’s a dirtier and more dangerous thing… Somehow, it seemed like something that could not be refused when considering Carver’s words and emotional state.
It wasn’t particularly surprising since the city usually sought compulsory cooperation.
“May I ask, what is going on?”
“Of course.”
Carver put down his half-eaten meat pie and took out some documents from the bag next to him and passed them to Oliver.
On the moderately thick bundle of documents was stamped <ABC Investment Company>.
“Have you heard about ABC Investment Company, Mr. Dave?”
“Yes. It’s the investment company set up by businessman Mr. Shamus, the operator of the leaf loan, and female investors from Landa like Mertle Vernu, Daisy Mulligan, and Jordan Debiki, right?”
“Correct. Do you know the size of the company?”
“Um, I’m not exactly sure. I just know they’ve amassed investments in the billions.”
“You’re a bit behind. They have already reached into the trillions.”
Oliver, who wasn’t easily surprised normally, was taken aback upon hearing the word ‘trillion’.
Even Oliver who had been earning quite a bit of money recently could not fathom this amount.
‘How many hundreds of millions do you need to make a trillion?’
Oliver tried to understand the number in trillions by comparing it with the largest unit he could comprehend.
In Landa, there were countless people who never got to handle money in the hundreds of millions in their lifetime, but a trillion was a number that only came about when there were 10,000 hundred million.
It was, to say the least, a shocking number.
“You’re not saying anything.”
“Ah… I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to say.”
“That’s a normal reaction. Trillion is a unit of money that really shouldn’t come up in normal circumstances. Even if you put it in a low-interest bank, at least 10 billion would be made in interest in a year.”
“It seems like a number with no sense of reality.”
“It’s a normal reaction, so don’t think it’s strange.”
“But how did ABC gather this money? I saw the news only a while ago, and not that much time has passed, has it?”
Oliver asked sincerely. It was questionable whether money could be gathered in such a short time.
“Have you ever heard the saying that there’s so much money in Landa that it’s overflowing?”
“Yes.”
“It’s possible if you scoop up all that overflowing money.”
It wasn’t easy, but the city official Carver explained it right away.
The important thing was publicity and dazzle.
“Publicity and dazzle?”
“Yes, as soon as Shamus established ABC, he used shows and money to get all the newspapers to cover ABC, thus benefiting from enormous advertising effects. Who set it up, who invested in it.”
“Yes, I know that. But if it’s true, there’s no problem, right? …Or are the articles fake?”
“That would be nice, but no. All the contents of the articles are true. The investors, the investment money, the profits… Thanks to that, in less than a week after its establishment, over a thousand people deposited their money. The social status varied as well. It ranged from ordinary workers, self-employed, professionals, businesspeople, and even banking institutions.”
“That’s amazing… But can you gather a trillion just because a thousand people have increased?”
“After that, one by one, prominent tycoons deposited their money, and each time, citizens flocked in like ants to deposit their money. Currently, the number has far exceeded 10,000. If you wish, you can check the documents.”
Following the instructions, Oliver checked the documents.
The pages Carver referred to had investment records such as dates, number of investors, and investment money neatly organized.
As Carver said, people invested at regular intervals, and each time, the number of people increased exponentially.
It was much like a snowball rolling down a hill.
“Not only people from Landa, but they are also receiving investments from the outside. They’re using agents to collect money from not only nearby small towns but also from the capital of the kingdom and even as far as Northland.”
Oliver flipped through the documents again. As Carver had said, the flow of investment into Shamus’s company was neatly recorded. It was like a meticulously woven spider web.
Little by little, Oliver started to understand how such an unrealistic number was collected.
‘Even so, it’s unrealistic.’
Flipping through the pages rapidly, Oliver asked a question.
“… The investigation is very thorough. But I don’t quite understand the point of this story. Why are you telling me about ABC Investment Company?”
“Because the job I want to assign to you is to uncover the truth behind this absurd company.”
“…? Why do you say it’s absurd?”
“Because it literally makes no sense.”
City official Paul Carver asserted and explained the reason why.
Soon, Oliver found out that his words weren’t baseless.
Carver took out a pen and paper and wrote down an estimate of how much investment ABC could gather in the future right in front of Oliver.
Given the speed at which he wrote the numbers, it was clear that he had done this calculation multiple times already.
“If things go as they are now, ABC will collect even more investment than it has now. At least twice as much, up to ten times.”
“… Ten times? That would be 10 trillion?”
Faced with the absurd amount, Oliver was understandably shocked. In contrast, Carver remained calm.
“Yes, human greed and madness are like that…. But, no matter how much money Landa has, it will eventually run out. The investment will start to decrease gradually.”
Carver drew a gradually flattening graph on the white paper.
“However, the investment money that ABC must pay back will increase exponentially. They seem not to be worried about this as they’ve diversified their investment products, but in the end, it’s only a matter of time. They will reach an unmanageable level.”
Carver drew another graph on the white paper, showing an exponential increase.
The two graphs showed a huge gap and imbalance, implying a tremendous disaster. It was enough to even fluster Oliver.
“No matter what variables are given, there will come a time when they can’t pay the money. Even if they are given the maximum benefit of the doubt.”
“I don’t understand, ABC is an investment company, shouldn’t they payback from their investment profits? I’ve heard that ABC never fails in its investments.”
“Whenever the word ‘never’ comes out in investment, it is definitely a scam.”
Carver asserted once again. Considering his emotional state, it wasn’t just a baseless claim.
“I may not exactly know what the world tree is, but I understand enough that it’s nonsense to claim never to fail in an investment market filled with human greed and madness. Even the greatest sages have a famous story of a major failure in investment. That’s reality and history… Don’t tell me, Mr. Dave, you believe such nonsense?”
“I find it hard to believe, but I refrain from jumping to conclusions as there might be individuals with capabilities beyond my comprehension.”
“…….”
Faced with Oliver’s response, Carver was speechless, his emotions reflecting his disbelief.
Amidst the silence, Oliver spoke up. There was something that had been bothering him for a while.
“I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“If it’s that suspicious, shouldn’t the city conduct its own investigation instead of hiring a solver like me?”
“You’re absolutely right. I have nothing to say against that. Your point is valid, Mr. Dave, but we aren’t in a position to do that, hence I brought it to you.”
Oliver once again sensed a sense of alarm from Carver’s words.
“I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.”
“Before coming here, several people had already raised suspicions about Shamus’s business. Not just mathematicians, but also economists, even from the Moirai school.”
The Moirai school was a school of Magic Tower that specialized in the world tree.
Though it had a shorter history and scale compared to the schools of Life and Spatial Magic, it’s potential and growth rate made it one of the strongest schools even within the Tower.
“But why doesn’t the city conduct the investigation?”
“The city cannot conduct a proper investigation because of the city officials and council members who protect Shamus. Even within the limits of what we can do, we have tried our best to investigate, but we found nothing. Particularly, the issue with the world tree isn’t something that the city can judge.”
“I see…”
“Thanks to this, most of the investigations ended up going nowhere, providing an excuse for the city officials and council members who received money from Shamus to protect him. To make matters worse, the citizens are giving more money to Shamus.”
“Isn’t it fine to let it be since investment is a personal choice?”
Oliver, who valued personal will, asked this question.
If they earn money from the investment, it would be a joyous occasion. Even if they lost, it wouldn’t be bad as it was their own decision.
However, Carver only shook his head.
“I’m a city official. I can’t just ignore the blatant scam happening in front of me.”
“…….”
“…That’s the superficial reason, and the scale of the scam is too large. If we let this scale continue, the very existence of Landa will be in danger.”