Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 648
Chapter 648: Barbarian Business (1)
Maybe it was because the way I said it made me sound like a con artist.
“Big money…you say?” The alliance leader narrowed his eyes at me, sounding mildly surprised. That look told me If anyone else had been the one saying that to him, he would’ve immediately kicked them out. “Tell me this first. What is this plan you have?”
Still, since I got permission from him to continue, I quickly explained myself before things took a turn. “I’m talking about investing in this opportunity.”
He paused. “An investment? Do you have a business you’re looking into?”
“No, I’m not investing in a business.”
“Then…?”
“Let’s invest in the land of District Seven.”
“The… The land?”
The leader didn’t seem to understand what I was going for with my nonsensical talk, but it was understandable. I had expected as much. In this world, buying land was not all that attractive of an opportunity for the people. Or, more accurately, it wasn’t something people thought of as a “good” to invest in. Only the nobility could buy land, anyway.
And honestly, it’s closer to an alternative income stream that produces monthly earnings.
Nobles with land to spare would rent the land and its buildings out, even though there was hardly ever a case where the land appreciated as they did.
It was only natural. In this deformed society where mana stones replaced every single material, where the currency was simultaneously consumed and circulated, the value of money very rarely fluctuated. It was for that reason that the value of the real estate in Rafdonia never rose or fell, instead always remaining consistent.
“As you know, District Seven is in a terrible state,” I began. “If we buy the land now, we’ll be able to get a very cheap price for it.”
“Isn’t that too simplistic of a view? Even they will know that everything in District Seven will be rebuilt within the next few years. No one will try to sell their land at a loss.”
Well, that was true. Most of the nobles would try and hold on to their lands.
If this were an ordinary situation, that is.
“I don’t know about that. Aren’t you the one who’s treating this as too simple of a problem?” I countered.
A huge event had happened, the sealing of the labyrinth. On top of that, District Seven was the district right next to Bifron, which had been taken over by the Noarkan forces.
“From what I heard, many houses are trying to spend as little money as possible to hold onto as much wealth as they can.”
Uncertainty about the future, and the uneasiness that accompanied it.
After explaining all this in as simple a way as I could, I spoke with a voice filled with confidence. “If we look hard enough, there will be a few nobles who are trying to sell. When everyone starts spending less, the businesses of the nobles will take a huge blow.”
“That’s true… Many people will become desperate to keep their money.” The leader seemed to understand my point now, but that didn’t mean he was fully convinced. “However, the same goes for us as well. Even if we can buy those lands at a cheaper price now, it would be a long time before we’d reap the benefits of this investment.”
“True.”
“Just as you said, we don’t have the luxury of looking so far into the future when we can’t even see what is going to happen directly in front of us. Not me, nor any of us.”
He was as wise and experienced as he was old.
Even if the other noble houses were trying to sell their land to acquire more funds, the houses of Melbeth needed to hold onto their own wealth. We couldn’t afford to invest in something that would pay that far into the future.
I think I’m nearly there.
Grinning, I lowered my voice as I said, “But what if we can buy the land and hold onto our wealth? Then what will you do?”
The alliance leader, who had lived in Rafdonia for his entire life, could never accept such a hypothetical. It would only sound like the fantasy of a random barbarian, and he took it as I expected him to.
“That…is a meaningless dream.”
“Even so, answer me. What will you do then?” I pressed.
The leader was forced to give me an answer in the end. “Why bother asking me again? If that were possible, any noble would take up your offer.”
“Hmm, really?”
“But how is that possible realistically? Buying land yet retaining the money— there’s no way to buy land for free either.”
Seeing the leader mumble to himself, I answered him directly, “There is a way.” Technically, the land didn’t come free, but there was a method that came pretty close.
“Then tell me. How is that possible?”
“We’ll lease the land out without receiving any rent.” We wouldn’t take any monthly or yearly payments.
“What? How absurd, to not take any rent—”
Hey, don’t cut me off.
“Hear me out,” I cut him off in turn and continued my explanation. “We won’t receive rent from the land we buy. However, we’ll receive a sum based on the value of the land and give the renters the right to freely use the land as they wish.”
The leader had been listening intently to see what I was going to say, and when he heard that, he let out a laugh. “Hah! Are you saying you will purchase the land through a proxy? That is strictly illegal under the land laws of the kingdom!”
Buying lands through proxy was something that wealthy merchants—the other side of the money equation—who wanted to buy land did. It was rare for them to get caught in the act since it wasn’t a common charge to investigate, but it certainly had the potential to become a problem if someone made it their mission to turn it into one.
“Technically, this won’t be illegal,” I explained. “To make a proxy purchase, the rights to the land need to be written within a perpetual clause of the contract, but I’m not planning on putting a clause like that in mine.”
He hesitated. “Then you could be spared from that. But who would try to rent from us in that case? Wouldn’t it be much cheaper for them to just rent normally?”
“People will come to us. A proxy purchase requires you to spend nearly three times the value of the land, but I’m banking on receiving money that’s less than the value of the land… And I’ll also be returning the money they give us when their contract is over.”
“What?!”
Unfortunately, the alliance leader who had spent his entire life living in the city couldn’t wrap his mind around the new idea I was proposing.
“Giving back their money?” he sputtered. “Then won’t they be using the land for free while we don’t even get any rent?!”
Hmm… Is this that difficult to understand?
The leader saw it as a surefire loss for us, and it took me much longer for me to explain everything to him. “Your Lordship, I’ll tell you one more time, so listen closely.”
Even the Koreans who were interested in real estate debated if this was a great or terrible method. It was time to teach him the benefits of a jeonse system.
***
My plan was pretty simple.
We would buy the land of District Seven from nobles who needed money, and then we would take a high-value deposit from merchants or other rich individuals and give them the metaphorical “key” to the land to use it as they pleased.
And then we’ll use that money to buy more land. Rinse and repeat.
The old man wondered if that would even work, but with some persistent persuasion, he couldn’t help but come around to the idea in the end.
“That’s true… If a decent building can be reconstructed on the ruined land, it won’t be difficult to find those who want to enter the contract with us. It will be much cheaper in the long run for them as well.”
Jeonse, or a key money deposit, would require a lot of money upfront from the client side. However, if they had the money, the least would be much more financially beneficial for them.
That’s because they don’t pay any monthly rent.
I mean, this wasn’t even a world where putting money into the bank gave you interest. If my predictions were correct, some people would borrow money from the bank to pay the deposit we were asking for and the monthly interest would then go to the bank instead.
“I’m going to talk with Count Alminus, the bank director, as well. I’ll see if ordinary civilians can take out loans with me as a co-signer—”
At a certain point in my explanation, however, the alliance leader mumbled, “Th-this is… unbelievable…” His tone was completely different from before. If in the past he said it in a mocking and disbelieving tone, now, it was closer to him being overwhelmed and amazed. “And didn’t the palace promise to pay for most of the reconstruction costs for all the destroyed buildings?!”
“Yeah?”
“If this plan progresses as you say… Money that was once enough to buy a small street could buy the entirety of District Seven!”
Since he was a native of this world, he was slow to pick up on new ideas. However, he was still pretty adept in the way of finance and business, so he ended up understanding what “business” I was trying to pitch him.
Well, it wasn’t a perfect picture, but that was fine.
“I think you’ve misunderstood something, Lord Viscount. My goal isn’t to buy the entirety of District Seven. We’ll buy the entirety of District Seven and sell it later when its value increases.”
That was the core of the plan.
If I bought all the land and gave it to everyone under key money contracts, what good would that do me? If the value of the land didn’t increase, it would only be a loss to me.
Well, if the value did increase, on the other hand, I would see tremendous profits.
“Your Lordship, you know this as well as I do,” I began. “When the dust settles and District Seven returns to normal, the prices will return to how they were before the disaster.”
It was a guaranteed win for us.
I mean, that was unless the Noarkans came through the walls again and destroyed District Seven one more time in the middle of us reconstructing everything, of course.
Uh… That won’t happen, right?
I didn’t want to jinx myself and shoved the uneasy thoughts aside.
“Anyway, think carefully about it, Lord Viscount. When that time comes, how much money do you think we’ll make?”
“…What can I do to help?”
Alright, that look in his eyes tells me he doesn’t need more convincing…
To be honest, I had already told him everything I needed. We couldn’t even attempt this plan if Gramps here didn’t actively help me out.
From finding nobles who wanted to sell their land, to capital to buy the land, and then even to gathering more funds to survive until the buildings were erected and our tenants could be acquired… Every single step of the process required the leader’s aid.
Since I myself didn’t have many connections, I would falter at the first step.
“I’ll say this one last time, but unless they want to sell it for cheaper, do not buy it from them. We’re probably the only ones reckless enough to try buying land in this climate anyway.”
“Don’t worry about that part,” the old man reassured. “Negotiations in that field are something I have done countless times in my life.”
Yeah, this was it. A house with thousands of years of history, and the connections that came with it. On top of that, I developed negotiation skills that had been honed through years in politics and business. With the leader here, I could trust him to carry out the work—
“However, I’m afraid I cannot make such a weighty decision right this instant. I will think more on it before contacting you again.”
He did take a step back at the end, but I nodded without trying to convince him again. I had already seen the change in his eyes.
“Sure.”
He would contact me soon.
***
Creating a jeonse system in Rafdonia was sure to provide great profits. However, the one small worry I had was that such a capitalistic system might make me seem too much like an evil spirit.
There’s no specific technique that’s being applied here, though. And the jeonse system is something that anyone can think up.
Of course, the Koreans who knew about the system already would become suspicious of my actions after seeing it.
But there are only three Koreans here.
Baekho Lee, Hyeonbyeol, and me. And all three of them knew my identity.
Well, there could be more Koreans in the world who were living in hiding, but I decided that it was worth the risk.
I wasn’t the weakling from before who would cower in fear from evil spirit hunters from the Ministry of Security. I now had ways to protect myself.
And most importantly, I had put a few insurances in place before enacting the plan.
“Was this all…something that you planned in advance, Baron Yandel?”
“Not at all! It was thought up by my head administrator! Seems like her brain was working in that direction since we started building houses in our holy land!”
“Are you talking about Administrator Shavin Emoor?”
“That’s right. She was promoted not long ago.”
“…I truly can’t understand. I don’t know if these talented individuals flock to you through sheer luck…or if being around you has allowed them to shine even brighter.”
The way the leader’s eyes sparkled with jealousy made me feel a bit embarrassed. However, an expert warrior never let a single opportunity pass.
“Well, won’t you be able to see which one it is in the future?” I grinned as I said, “After all, you and I are on the same side now.”
It may not be obvious, but emotional phrases like this worked best on old people who had experienced all sorts of hardships in their lives.
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