“Your Highness, it’s ready.”
Joonbum turned to Feimdall who was in charge of the factory. He was a Magnos who could work for long hours without feeling any fatigue.
“Hmph. Are these all the new coins?”
Jinpok asked instead of Joonbum. There were ten different-sized coins.
“Yes, sir. These will be our official Khalodian Empire coins. The first coin here has Emperor Joonbum’s portrait engraved onto it. The other two coins here have the two Empresses’ portraits. These other two have the portraits of King Brant and of his wife and mother to the emperor, Queen Sunsook. The rest are of the other founding fathers of the empire.”
“Good work.”
“Thank you.”
Joonbum smiled. “Wow, this really looks like Jackson! Oh, and what’s this? Is this me? WOW!”
Jinpok became really excited as he checked the coins.
“Yours is really good too,” Joonbum grinned.
“It’s nothing special.”
“Yeah, but this really looks like you. The entire world will now know your face.”
“We’ll only be using it within the empire for a while.”
“Really? Hmm, I think the merchants will beg to use it. Two-thirds of the continent is in our hands now… These are the coins that were created by such an empire. Of course everyone would want to use it.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. We are the new generation now, there’s nothing that can stop us. We can even rule the world if we push hard enough.”
Joonbum frowned as Jinpok spoke confidently.
“With power?”
Jinpok nodded with a grim expression. “Yeah. If our rifle production is settled, our army will be invincible. It will be strong enough to fight against the whole world…
“We even have an enemy. I know your way of doing things… to compete against each other and aim for a better future can be a good thing. However, I think differently. I can’t just turn a blind eye to those who suffer and die of poverty, discrimination, and all that while we are not there to stop it,” Jinpok blurted it out as if he had been thinking about it for a long time.
“Are you really okay with this? Are you satisfied? Really?”
“Hmm…”
Joonbum couldn’t help but quietly think instead of replying.
*
“What’s this?”
“A new coin?”
“Yeah, it’s a new one. How is it?”
“It’s durable.”
“Wow, is this the emperor’s face?”
“Look, this is His Highness’ mother, Queen Sunsook!”
“So, this is the new coin.”
“This is so cool.”
“It’s not only cool. I heard the empire is distributing it.”
“Really?”
“But what about counterfeits?”
“I am sure the empire is prepared for that.”
“Right.”
“It’s not just some people we’re talking about.”
“Those people are geniuses!”
“Right, did you talk with the officer at the government office? He’s such a genius that he even remembered my oldest son was going to attend elementary school!”
“Yeah! Oh, and do you remember that there’s a rat-catching campaign going on?”
“The one that gives you a potato in exchange for a rat tail?”
“Yeah! My kids collected about fifty tails, so I took them. Then that officer told me to send my kids to a hospital to have checkups and have them clean their hands after catching a rat…”
“Right. I heard those rats carry a lot of diseases.”
“Yeah, the hospital told me to wash my hands after catching a rat. You need to use that soap.”
“It’s so amazing. How do they know all that?”
“They’re geniuses!”
“Yes! But they’re only commoners and children of former slaves… I can’t believe it.”
“I thought only nobles can be smart.”
“Yeah, I thought bloodlines had to do something with it.”
“Wasn’t that the reason why they marry each other and stuff?”
“It was all for nothing!”
“Hahaha! Yeah, it actually made it worse!”
“Oh, by the way, where do I get those new coins?”
“You know the building next to the city center?”
“The one that’s heavily guarded?”
“Yeah, that’s the place. You can exchange it with gold, silver, or other coins.”
The stories between people went on.
*
“How is it?”
“This should… work.”
“Right?”
“How many do we have?”
“Twelve bags.”
“Hmm, that’s not very much.”
A man glared after checking the front and back of the coins. His glaring eyes were filled with greed.
“What! Kello, it wasn’t easy! I barely made that much even with them.”
The man pointed to the other side and Kello turned.
“Bah! Hender, give them some lashes! Slaves only work when you whip them. Starve them if that doesn’t still work!”
“I’ll take care of that myself,”Hender answered bitterly.
‘This bastard… who does he think he is?’
Hender thought as he stared at Kello, however, Kello seemed to be thinking similar things as well.
‘You dog… you think you have everything with these Magnos slaves? I’ll show you who you’re mouthing off to after this job is done.’
Kello then stood up.
“Oh well, I guess I’ll just take these for now. Make sure you create more later.”
Kello picked up the bags as Hender looked on silently. However, his thoughts were full of revenge.
“Bastard… I remember how you looked down on me after you joined the Thieves’ Guild.”
“I look forward to our next meeting.”
Kello smiled with bags in his hands.
“What are you doing you lazy dogs?! Load them onto the carriage!”
“Y-ye,s Master!”
Hender shouted, and a thin, weary-looking Magnos slave quickly came to pick up the bags of coins. He was thin, but he was still strong. A human male could barely move with one bag in each hand, but the Magnos slave managed to carry three bags in each hand with ease.
“Hender, make sure you get more next time. We can’t drag this on for too long. We have to prepare to hide once the word goes around that counterfeits are being made. You know what I mean, right?”
Hender nodded.
“Don’t worry.”
“Good. I’ll see you around then.”
The carriage left the road through the forest and Hender sighed. He knew this was a dangerous task. If he wasn’t doing this way out in the deep forest and in a hidden cave, he might have already been caught.
‘The Ainos are a danger.’
The biggest problem was the Ainos; they were scarier within the forest. If they decided to track down Hender, it would only be a matter of days before he would be found.
‘I should make this job quick, and then hide. Oh, and kill him before that.’
Hender turned to the Magnos slave walking back to his working place.
As the slave disappeared, Hender glanced around before he walked back to the storage. It was filled with various farming tools, however, he walked further in and pulled the cover off.
“Hehe. Kello, you bastard. I’m not going to hand everything over to you… hahaha.”
There was a huge amount of coins with Emperor Joonbum’s face on them.
