“Burgers,” Caleb said, as Frieda pointed to the eatery. “Coming?”
Emily sighed, dismissing her concerns. “Yeah,” she said. “Can you get us a private booth?”
She followed them into the burger bar, looking around with interest. It could have passed for a fast food restaurant on Earth, if the chairs and tables hadn’t been wooden and the burgers larger and generally more attractive. She reminded herself to be careful what she put on her burger as a waitress led them to a private booth. The local mustard was far stronger than the yellow crap she’d eaten back home.
“So,” Caleb said, once they were seated and orders had been placed. “What happened?”
Emily ran her hand through her hair. “I’ve been noticed,” she said. She cast a privacy ward before continuing. “Vesperian himself asked me to visit.”
Caleb blinked. “And you went alone? Without telling us where you were going?”
“I beat a necromancer,” Emily reminded him. She knew he had a point, but that didn’t stop his concern being irritating. “And I didn’t know where to find you.”
“Ouch,” Frieda said. She shrugged. “What did he want?”
“A loan.” Emily went through the full story as they waited for the burgers. “He wanted ten thousand crowns.”
Caleb muttered a rude word under his breath. Emily didn’t blame him. The value of money on the Nameless World was a little variable, largely because coinage hadn’t been standardized for long, but ten thousand crowns was an immense sum. She had a feeling it was well over ten million dollars, perhaps much more. Even a well-paid alchemist would be lucky if he made over a hundred crowns in a year.
Frieda shook her head. “Do you have that sort of money?”
Emily winced, inwardly. She’d never liked discussing money.
“He thinks I do,” she said, finally. Vesperian might well be right. Even if she didn’t have ten thousand crowns at hand, she could – presumably – use her position as Baroness Cockatrice to take out a loan. Hell, Imaiqah would probably send the money if Emily asked for it. “But I asked him for a look at his books, and he refused.”
Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “That’s probably not a good thing.”
Frieda glanced at him. “Probably?”
“On one hand, opening his books would help to convince someone to offer him a loan,” Caleb pointed out. “But on the other, it would also reveal the names of his investors…who could then be targeted, if someone wanted to ruin his business. The Accountants Guild was noted for using their inside information to cause trouble, back before the New Learning.”
Emily nodded, slowly. “If he wants so much money…”
“That’s probably not a good thing either.” Caleb leaned forward. “Do you remember what Marian said, yesterday?”
“She was talking about notes,” Emily recalled. A thought struck her. “Vesperian offered me fifteen for ten.”
Caleb met her eyes. “You wouldn’t be the first person to be offered such a good deal,” he said. “The price of notes has been going up and up…”
“And it will come down,” Emily finished.
Frieda held up a hand. “Notes?”
Emily and Caleb exchanged glances. “Vesperian has been selling promissory notes to everyone with the money to buy them,” he said. “He started out by offering eleven for ten, from what I heard, but the rate has been going up over the last few months. People have even been exchanging the notes or selling them on.”
“Shares,” Emily muttered.
She shook her head in disbelief. It sounded like a recipe for trouble.
“I don’t understand,” Frieda said. “What does it mean?”
“Suppose I loan you ten crowns,” Emily said. “We set the repayment rate at fifteen-to-ten, with a due date of…well, next month. You have to pay me fifteen crowns and, if you don’t, I have the right to claim something of yours.”
“I don’t think I have anything that’s worth fifteen crowns,” Frieda mused.
“You’re a poor investment risk,” Caleb gibed.
Emily ignored him. “We write the terms of the loan down in a promissory note,” she added, carefully. “I could then sell that note onwards to Caleb…for eleven crowns, perhaps. Caleb then makes a profit of four crowns when you pay him the full fifteen.”
“Except you would have given up a profit of four crowns,” Frieda said, slowly. “Why would you do that?”
“I might need the money before the note came due,” Emily said. “You wouldn’t be paying out the full amount before then.”
“Assuming you can pay,” Caleb pointed out. He sounded disturbed. “What happens if you can’t pay? What happens if you don’t have anything to cover the cost?”
The burgers arrived before Emily could think of an answer. They were huge, cooked to perfection and slathered with melting hunks of cheese. The server brought them a small collection of condiments and a basket of oversized chips, then hurried away again. Emily reminded herself, again, to be careful with the sauces. They were nothing like the ones she’d used at home.
Healthier, though, she thought. But we might have to skip dinner.
“I don’t know what would happen if someone couldn’t repay the loan,” she said, slowly. She tested the burger, just to make sure it was safe to eat. “If they didn’t have anything that could be seized…”
“They’d be in some trouble.” Caleb picked up his burger and took a careful bite, then a larger one. “Ten thousand crowns…how many of his bills are coming due?”
Emily winced. If she was right – and she had no reason to think otherwise – Vesperian was borrowing money to repay the first set of loans, rather than investing it in his railway. Ten thousand crowns could repay a lot of debts, as well as convincing some of his creditors that there was no need to panic and demand repayment. He might even be able to use the sudden influx of money to get more loans.