Chapter 3066: Merit Loans

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Five Regions, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Tower, Penthouse Office

"Anna, we’re not loan sharks," Susan immediately shot down the proposal of lending merits for interest.

Unlike Anna, whose worldview had been shaped by ruling a kingdom, Susan’s had been shaped by an ordinary family.

Both of her parents had been schoolteachers. Growing up, they had drilled many lessons into her over and over again. Some of them were, stay away from drinking. Stay away from gambling. And, whenever possible, stay away from debt.

She had watched her parents live paycheck to paycheck while struggling to pay off their home and car loans. They carefully budgeted every expense, sacrificed countless little luxuries, and ultimately chose to have only one child because they simply couldn’t afford more.

Those experiences had left a lasting impression on her. Debt, in her eyes, wasn’t an opportunity. It was a burden. It was something that quietly stole away people’s freedom. That was why she couldn’t bring herself to support Anna’s proposal.

She didn’t want her fiancé. Or the Empire he had built to become a bank. Much less a loan shark profiting from the desperation of its own people.

Susan believed her fiancé would understand her concerns. After all, they had personally experienced how dangerous debt could become.

When they first established the Card Boutique, Corey’s aunt had repeatedly tried to use the small loan they had borrowed from the Bright Family as leverage over them. Had Susan not recorded their verbal agreement, they would have either spent years working under the Bright Family’s thumb or been forced to flee altogether.

That experience had left a deep scar on her. What Susan didn’t realize, however, was that her fiancé viewed debt very differently.

In pursuit of his ambitions, he had borrowed money, resources, and favors from almost anyone willing to invest in him. He still owed enormous debts to both the Southern Royal Family and Jill, many of which remained unpaid to this day.

"That’s absurd," Jill immediately objected. "Loans are one of the healthiest tools an economy can have. Especially microloans."

She nodded approvingly at Anna. A sly smile spread across her face, as she pointed out, "The real question isn’t whether we should lend merits with a reasonable interest rate. It’s who should qualify for those loans."

By the time she finished speaking, Jill had already accepted Anna’s proposal in principle and was busy refining it, moving the discussion from whether the system should exist to how it should be implemented.

"Everyone should be able to borrow up to sixty percent of the merits they’ve already accumulated," Anna suggested, turning toward her fiancé. "That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?"

She had expected him to run the numbers and point out any flaws. Instead, Jill answered first.

"Nah." She shook her head. "If everyone’s eligible, sixty percent is way too high. Our finances won’t be able to support that."

She folded her arms, already refining the proposal. "We’ll have to prioritize. For example, those borrowing merits to craft Origin Cards could receive loans of up to sixty percent of their accumulated merits."

"Those borrowing for cultivation resources or other purchases could be capped at forty percent."

"And to stop people from taking loans just because they’re available, every application should require approval from both their department or organization head who has to explain their rejection or approval to the Hive Spirit. People can be biased, but the Hive Spirit can’t."

The more she spoke, the more invested she became. By the time she stopped she had seemed to have mapped the whole thing out in her head.

"It’s shaping up to be a decent system that could genuinely help our people," Anna said with a nod, offering Jill a faint smile. For all their differences, they were still working toward the same goal.

Susan, however, remained unconvinced. Even after listening to the two of them refine the proposal, she pointed out the one issue they had both conveniently glossed over. She asked, "What about the interest rate? How much exactly are you planning to charge?"

She looked from Anna to Jill. Her tone grew sharper, as she continued to bombard with questions, "You both keep calling it ’a small percentage,’ but what does that actually mean? And what happens if someone can’t repay the loan? Does the interest keep accumulating until it exceeds the original amount? What if they die in battle before paying it back?"

She paused, letting the weight of the question settle over the room. Her eyes locked onto Anna’s, asking, "Will their immediate family inherit the debt? Or will you confiscate their Grimoire and corpse to recover the Empire’s losses?"

The room fell silent. Susan wasn’t arguing about economics anymore. She was asking where the New Empire intended to draw the line between supporting its people and exploiting them.

"To answer your questions," Jill began calmly, "the interest rate would actually decrease as the loan amount increases. If someone qualifies to borrow more merits, it means they’ve already contributed more to the New Empire. Charging them a lower interest rate would be our way of rewarding their contributions. And..."

Before she could address Susan’s next question, Susan cut her off.

"So, in other words..." Susan snapped. "The rich get richer, while the poor get poorer, even if they’re working just as hard... or harder."

"That’s not the vision Wyatt had for the people of the New Empire." She shook her head. Then she narrowed her eyes. "And good job avoiding the actual question. You still haven’t told me what the interest rate is."

"Oh, would you get off your high horse for once?" Jill blurted out, finally losing her composure.

"Me?" Susan shot back immediately. "You two are the ones sitting on high horses."

She pointed toward the glass doors outside, where the department heads were still waiting. "Get off your horses and go look at who actually has the most merits. The rich. Because they already possess the resources, influence, and strength to contribute more to the New Empire. Most of them also occupy higher positions within the Empire."

Susan’s voice softened, but only slightly, "As for the poor, many of them are barely getting by. They’re struggling just to survive, let alone accumulate enough merits to meaningfully contribute to the New Empire."

She looked directly at Anna and Jill. "It’s about time you princesses learned that numbers don’t tell the whole story. They only tell you the summary of it."

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