Darkstone Code

Chapter 470: 0468 All for the children


In Nagariel, High Priests are definitely the wealthiest, yet also the most low-key group of people.

Every year, many religious festivals take place, and during these festivals, people begin to prepare goldware to be sent to the nearby temples for blessings.

Poor families can't afford good goldware, but they also can't not send anything—if they want to be reborn into a good life, then these annual festivals are the time to show it. People may not be rich, but they can't have nothing, even if it's just brass items painted with gold paint.

Sometimes, some priests will guide people, explaining that the reason why the rich get richer and the powerful maintain their power is because the goldware they sacrifice aligns more with the divine will.

This has created another local phenomenon that foreigners cannot possibly understand. During major religious festivals, some fanatic religious families will sell their sons, daughters, wives, and houses to gather gold, crafting a piece of goldware to sacrifice to the gods to express their devotion.

Such occurrences have become somewhat rare in recent years, and the arrival of foreigners has indeed brought some change, yet this phenomenon still persists in society, especially among the elderly. As they are about to lose their family authority, they do this.

They sell everything they can control for goldware to sacrifice to the gods and then start wandering. Among the elderly who wander the streets, beyond those driven out by their children, many are like this.

Their purpose in doing so is to please the gods, hoping to be reborn into a better life upon death.

The nationwide religious fervor has turned temples in every region into huge gold gathering institutions. From gold paint to gilt items to pure goldware, massive amounts of these things flow into various temples every year.

Temples then entrust these things to certain people or handle them themselves, extracting the gold to cast into gold ingots or gold bricks.

Because they lack specialized tools, the processes aren't very refined, and unscrupulous traders add materials to the goldware, the purity of these quickly processed items is often not high.

The most added material is copper. As long as it's handled well, a bunch of priests who never attended chemistry class won't easily notice.

Lynch shook his head, tossing the gold bricks back onto the small mountain of gold. He walked to the side of the gold mountain, gazing at the gold bars and bricks riddled with holes and pockets, falling into a momentary daze.

The gold price in the Federation is very stable now, not very high, thanks to the continuous decline in finance and economy in recent years. The prices of precious metals like silver and gold have been steadily rising, with gold reaching thirty-seven dollars an ounce and silver surprisingly reaching one dollar seventy-one an ounce, with fractional coins not included in the statistics.

A ton equals more than thirty-two thousand five hundred ounces, meaning the price of a ton of pure gold has exceeded one hundred thirty million.

Looking at this gold, Lynch made a quick mental calculation, realizing there was at least tens of millions of wealth piled here!

But it offers more visual impact than ten million in cash placed before people. Gold, since its discovery, has firmly captured people's gaze!

Lynch gave what he thought was a reasonable estimate, "Around ten to fifteen million Federation Sol."

He expected the High Priest to modestly show his wealth, but to Lynch's surprise, the High Priest was also stunned.

"This... so much?" The High Priest seemed a bit bewildered by the number. "The number in my mind is... less than what you said."

He had intended to say much less, imagining there might only be about three to five million, which was also related to the Pretton Trading Company's practices in recent years, as their gold recycling prices haven't aligned with international gold prices.

Also, Nagariel actually has rich gold reserves, which contributes to the High Priest thinking these items wouldn't be so expensive.

Lynch nodded, casually picking up a gold bar. Due to molds not being clean enough during casting and the solution containing many impurities, a circle of pores formed on the back of the gold brick. These pores ranged from the size of soybeans to large enough to fit a finger, which also reduced its estimated value.

"Transportation, re-refining, labor costs, all these additional expenses should be deducted from its value, plus security costs and bank insurance services."

"Storing so much gold privately can easily lead to accidents, so it can only be stored in a bank vault, which also incurs costs."

With a clang, he tossed the gold bar back, watching it tumble along with the gold bricks. Lynch sighed, thinking these people are damn rich!

Of course, this is also very normal. This is a characteristic of underdeveloped countries, where wealth and power are more highly concentrated in the hands of a very few compared to developed countries, representing one of the many signs of an irrational social structure.

The more mature and advanced the overall social structure and mechanisms are, the more balanced the distribution of wealth should be across different classes. The ideal social structure is where the top and bottom have the same wealth and social obligations, with power being skewed due to different roles.

The more progress made toward this direction, the more advanced the social system becomes. But Nagariel is different; the high concentration of wealth and power only leads society on the slow path to death. The rulers tightly grasp power and wealth, equivalent to robbing ordinary people of their desires.

Ordinary people can't gain wealth, power, status, or other material and spiritual ascendancy through labor or other means, causing them to lose the motivation to strive.

They would rather lie in sewage waiting for death than stand up and find a job to fill their stomachs. Of course, the lack of job opportunities is another issue.

But no matter what, with so much gold piled up here, looking at it, Lynch's thoughts shifted from the ragged individuals outside waiting for a better rebirth back to focus.

"Are you sure you want to hand these things over to me?" Lynch asked once more.

The High Priest hesitated for a moment. He hadn't really expected the gold to be worth so much money, but he only hesitated for a brief moment before nodding forcefully, "Yes, all of it is entrusted to you."

Lynch nodded, "I will arrange for someone to handle these things as soon as possible. Also, the things I promised you will definitely be done, for the sake of our friendship and this money!"

He spoke these words in a rather inelegant manner, but this lack of elegance was acknowledged by the High Priest.

"I heard that the Federation is a country that values contractual spirit. Perhaps we can also sign some contracts to make things more perfect?"

Initially, he hadn't planned on doing this, but if the gold could only be exchanged for a few million Federation Sol, after being split by Lynch and his sons, each son might only end up with about a million Federation Sol.

But there was too much of it, so he had to impose some restrictions. After all, sometimes too much money can cost people their lives.

After walking out of his backyard with the High Priest, Lynch and he had a rough agreement. Lynch would use the money to establish a foundation, with shares held by Lynch and the High Priest's children, essentially gifting Lynch a portion of the money.

The foundation would be managed by "Darkstone Capital" company, with sixty percent of its annual income reinvested into the foundation as increased capital, while the remaining forty percent would be distributed as dividends according to the shareholding structure.

The trust period for this agreement is ten years. Within these ten years, no one can cash out. Only after ten years can they, and the trust will end.

In essence, the High Priest's children will have ten years to adapt to the society over there. After ten years, once they have fully integrated into the Federation Society and become Federation people, they can claim the money that truly belongs to them and have complete control over it.

Before that, they have to listen to Lynch.

After Lynch left, the High Priest gathered his children and told them of his decision.

When he voiced his decision, his children, including Rica, couldn't help but propose different opinions, roughly meaning that there was no need for the High Priest to do this.

Faced with these children who were arguing, seeking more autonomy and control, the High Priest only became more determined in his thinking.

When these people quieted down, he smiled and shook his head, deftly changing the incense stick in the burner, and softly asked, "Have you all finished?"

A single sentence, carrying the weight of accumulated authority, brought these children to regret their earlier impulsiveness, and they all lowered their heads, not daring to speak further.

After adjusting his incense, the High Priest sat cross-legged on the bed again, and started to share some of his views.

"Preton is very formidable. He knows a large group of powerful pirates, and it's said these pirates are backed by Gafura's Royal Navy. With this force, he firmly dominates the import and export trade of Nagariel."

"We all hate him, yet we can't do without him. It's quite a sad situation, children."

"Neither I, Drag, nor those fools in the Central Government can do anything about Preton. In fact, it can be said that if Preton wasn't happy, it would only take a few months for us to return to a primitive society."

"But such a formidable person, someone we couldn't confront, was easily dealt with by the Federation!"

A seemingly mystical High Priest suddenly discussing something so serious and solemn might feel absurd, yet no one in the room felt this way.

"You are unfamiliar with the Federation. They can casually find a reason to take everything you have, making you disappear from people's sight. No one will care about you, these savages from a savage society. You must have someone who can provide shelter for you to survive."

"Lynch is a good choice. I heard he has a good relationship with the Federation's King... President, which is enough to ensure your safety, protecting you from people who covet your wealth and might kill you."

The High Priest looked at these children and silently sighed. In fact, he had added another layer of protection for them, which was himself.

He chose not to go to the Federation with these children for two reasons.

First, he wanted to exploit his power for more benefits, like the inheritance of the High Priest. At that time, Priests and Chief Priests from various temples would go crazy, and a large amount of gold would gather to him, so he would have a second sum of money.

Secondly, as long as he remained the High Priest and retained influence, he would have value to be utilized.

To make better use of his power and influence, the Federation people would definitely take care of him and his family until the Federation people deemed him valueless and discarded him.

All of this was for the children.

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