Chapter 74 Significance

"Come in."

Connor knocked on the door gently and walked into the room only after hearing Hughes' voice.

He coughed lightly, and a smile appeared on his usually calm face.

"Master, your shop opening was quite successful. We sold over two thousand on the first day alone. This was all the stock we had, and it was sold out in just a few hours."

"The soap is the best seller, the laundry soap is also pretty good, but the olive oil is just so-so."

Hughes nodded and laughed too.

It's nothing, it's just that their treasury is almost empty.

Castres's town hall had long since spent its last gold rum, and his private treasury had almost run out of cash, leaving only some jewelry and antiques that were difficult to cash in.

God knows how Connor, the butler who manages the purse for Hughes, has survived these days. He has never heard of a lord who can spend all the gold coins in the treasury. If Hughes hadn't had a tough attitude, he would have wanted to refuse Alexei from taking money from here.

"Don't worry, old Connor. I told you that if I give out gold coins, I can take them back."

Connor nodded approvingly, still a little amazed.

It’s not that no lord has ever thought about making money from his subjects, but the results are often very poor. Those poor people value money very much and are unwilling to hand it over no matter what.

But Hughes did it, and it was so smooth that Connor found it unbelievable and completely incomprehensible.

Hughes glanced at him and smiled even more happily.

"I have always insisted on hiring people to work for me, and I have never delayed their wages. What do you think?"

Connor was silent for a while, then slowly said, "Master, you have your own ideas, but in my opinion, this is a bit wasteful."

"Waste of money, eh?"

The old butler nodded.

"But have you ever thought about this question: What exactly is money?"

Hughes took out a gold coin from his pocket and looked at it in his hand. It was about two times larger than his fingernail and very thin, but it was not light.

“Money, or all currencies, are essentially the embodiment of productivity. This may be a bit complicated, but you can understand it this way: it has only one truly effective use.”

Hughes flicked his finger, and the gold rum drew an arc in the air and fell into Connor's hands.

"trade."

Connor looked at the coins in his hand and frowned.

“The more transactions there are, the faster the currency circulates, and the more its significance will be reflected.”

"In the beginning, I had money, but the people in my territory had none, so I gave the money to the people in my territory."

"Now, the money is back in my hands, and the circulation is complete."

"It looks like nothing has changed, has it?"

Hughes turned around and pushed open the window of the room. The bright sunlight outside poured in, filling the entire room.

Connor looked closely.

Factories were built on the originally empty land. They were like silent giants. Workers transported raw materials in and goods out like ants. Children played and fought with smiles on their faces.

Beside the volcano in the distance, countless picking teams are busy in the woods, and under their feet, a wide road is slowly being paved on the ground towards the factory.

A little further away, Miss Zoe in the school was reading the text aloud, and the voices below, some young and some old, followed suit.

The barren little island had changed at some point.

Castel.

Connor felt his hair stand on end. He was busy following Hughes every day and had no time to pay attention to other things. Suddenly he looked up and found that Castel had changed so much.

He stood there in a daze, feeling something churning in his heart.

"How beautiful."

Hughes muttered to himself.

Connor looked out the window, then lowered his head and looked at the coin in his hand.

Gold coins. Connor had seen a lot of them. The Duke of Cohen’s vault was filled with one box, two boxes, countless boxes. They all looked the same and had been the same for thousands of years.

But for Castel, every day is different.

"It's strange. There are only so many gold coins, but everyone is richer. Everything is getting better, isn't it?"

Connor thought of those lords again, who tried hard to take every last Rio from their subjects, and complained that the poor people always held on to it tightly.

They were wrong from the start.

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It’s not that Xius can make money from his subjects, but that he is already that rich.

His treasury was empty, but he was the richest lord in the Storm Ocean.

Money is valuable only when it is circulated, otherwise it is just a pile of scrap metal. Connor suddenly remembered this sentence, which was once said by Hughes. He did not understand it, as he did not understand many of Master Hughes' words.

But at this moment he had a vague understanding in his heart.

When he looked up, Xius was looking at him with a smile.

"So, the money you collected also needs to be spent and put into circulation again, right?"

Xius was stunned for a moment, then slowly clapped his hands.

"Yes, my old Connor, you are becoming more and more like a real chancellor of the exchequer. Would you consider becoming a civil servant?"

"You are right, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer is a second-class civil servant, higher than your title of Court Councillor. This is not in accordance with the rules."

Hughes choked on the tea in his hand.

"Well, by the way, I have something else to hand over to you. Chloe gave me an official document from the Candlelight Society, which mentioned the accompanying investigator. Can you help me investigate her situation?"

Connor took the document with some surprise, and nodded in realization after seeing the name on it.

"Beatrice Joan, are you suspicious?"

"Yes, this is a noble surname. She should be a member of the Ruoan family. There must be some story behind a noble becoming a transcendent, but this is not the reason why I want you to investigate."

Houston paused. "She is a young noble lady. She must have her own circle in the Rhine. I think she will be very interested in soap. This is an opportunity for us. What's even better is that she won't stay here for too long. When she returns to the Rhine, she will be our best advertisement."

Connor's eyes lit up. "The Ruoan family is a frequent visitor to the salons held by the royal family. Although I have never heard of Miss Beatrice's name, she should have a certain influence among the noble ladies of the Rhine."

Aristocratic butlers often know more about the upper class than the nobles they serve, because they need to arrange travel plans for their masters and invite guests to banquets. Connor used to be in contact with related affairs in the Duke's mansion, and he has detailed information about the Rhine nobles.

"I'll check for you right away."

Connor left quickly, and only realized he was still holding the gold coin when he left the room.

Connor smiled and put it in his pocket.

(End of this chapter)