The Daimyo hesitated, sitting there in indecision.
Should he get involved in this business after all?
Based on his familiarity with those insects…
when faced with profit, they would turn into devils, greedy to the point of losing their minds!
By habit as a ruler, the Daimyo truly hated this feeling of losing control.
This game of the tulip bubble was bound to spiral out of control, eventually leaving behind a total mess.
But there was no denying that as the initiator and market maker of this game, the Daimyo would make a killing, filling his pockets and raking in a massive fortune.
Faced with such vast wealth, even the Daimyo was green with envy.
Kazuma sat silently on the sofa, observing the expressions on the Daimyo’s face.
He knew it was time for him to step up!
He had to give the Daimyo a push!
How could anyone hesitate when there was big money to be made?
“Your Highness, please hear me out!
The tulip game is strictly voluntary.
No one is forcing them to play!
Besides, the people who can participate in this game are all incredibly wealthy, yet they remain so greedy.
Even if they end up bankrupt, they will have deserved it.
As Lord Makoto said, when a person’s wisdom does not match their wealth, their money will always find a way to flow back into the market.
Your Highness, surely you do not wish to see those greedy, foolish people continue to enjoy wealth they do not deserve?” Kazuma spoke with an enticing, persuasive tone.
In this Ninja World, those who held massive wealth were not the powerful shinobi, but the nobles and merchants.
Yet, they often possessed this wealth not because of personal talent, but because…
well, reincarnation is indeed a highly technical skill in the Ninja World.
Hearing Kazuma’s words, some unpleasant memories surfaced in the Daimyo’s mind.
This struck a raw nerve.
His subordinates had been growing more and more restless over the years.
When he was young, the Daimyo had grand ambitions to accomplish great things in the Land of Fire—to clean up the administration and reform the tax system.
But the deeply entrenched nobility had formed a bureaucratic system over a thousand years that a single Daimyo could not shake.
Unless the Daimyo was willing to “invite wolves into the house” and let shinobi meddle in the Land of Fire’s governance.
Of course, that was absolutely out of the question.
He had to guard against the nobles, but he had to guard against the shinobi even more.
The nobles only craved wealth and power, but if the shinobi came…
they might actually take his life.
The Daimyo would never do something so counterproductive.
And even if he tried, the nobles would use every means to stop him immediately—*Your Highness, you aren’t very good at swimming, are you?* But regardless, the Daimyo in his youth had still made the nobles of that era restrain themselves.
Now that he was old and lacked energy, they clustered together.
Not only did they refuse to pay taxes, they were also dishonest with their accounting.
Their falsified ledgers were a total mess, fooling not just those below them, but even daring to deceive the Daimyo!
“Those bastards!
They are all thieves!
It turns out the taxes collected in the Land of Fire are collected for them!
Out of 300 billion ryo, you lot split 200 billion, leaving me with 100 billion—and I’m supposed to play dumb and thank you for it!
Do you really think that just because you are nobles and hereditary vassals, I can’t touch you?
The money you embezzled!
That’s my money!
It’s mine!
My money!!!” The Daimyo screamed inwardly, his face darkening.
Meanwhile, Kazuma continued to whisper in his ear, speaking ill of those insects.
“Your Highness, this opportunity is once in a lifetime.
That wealth is not something they can hold onto!
We are merely following the mandate of heaven…” Thinking of this astronomical wealth, the Daimyo’s heart grew hot again.
The wealth harvested this time wouldn’t be just a few billion ryo; it would be tens of billions, perhaps even 100 billion ryo.
“Then it’s settled!” Already harboring extreme dissatisfaction toward the insects, the Daimyo finally made up his mind under the temptation of boundless wealth!
Let’s do it!
Opportunity knocks but once!
This money belonged to him in the first place!
“Your Highness…
this is the wisest decision you could make!” Kazuma flattered him, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.
Soon, after the Daimyo agreed to the tulip bubble, the two began discussing the specifics of the plan.
The tulip plan only required the Daimyo’s passive cooperation; the remaining difficulties were practically negligible.
According to the tulip bubble plan designed by Makoto Uchiha, the first step was for the Daimyo to buy a tulip at an exorbitant price, causing the tulip’s reputation to spread rapidly through noble circles.
After that, they would manipulate the tulip’s price.
They would deploy a large number of actors to queue at the tulip sales points, creating the illusion of a shortage.
They would use this to drive up prices, then dump stock, pump, and dump again for repeated arbitrage.
This would naturally require substantial capital to pump the price.
Akatsuki Village might not be able to afford it, but they had the Daimyo backing them.
At worst, in the end—the wealthy gentry’s money would be returned in full!
By that point, the critical contract-based trading would fall into place naturally.
As for other issues, human greed would solve all their difficulties for them.
“Good!
Good!
Good!” The Daimyo said “good” three times in a row.
The plan designed by Makoto Uchiha was incredibly cohesive, perfectly calculating the dark side of human nature.
Even he, if driven by greed, would surely participate in this tulip money game and end up suffering heavy losses.
“As long as Your Highness is satisfied.” With the entire plan negotiated, the only thing left…
was the distribution of profits!
This had to be agreed upon beforehand.
Even biological brothers keep clear accounts, let alone cooperating with an insect like the Daimyo.
Makoto Uchiha wanted a 70/30 split.
Right!
Naturally, Akatsuki Village would take seventy percent, and the Daimyo would take three percent.
Even a single ten-percent share would be an enormous sum of money!
However, that was unrealistic.
Circumstances dictated otherwise.
Akatsuki Village was still weak, requiring not only the Daimyo’s cooperation but also his financial support.
They would need to continue cooperating with the Daimyo in the future.
Giving the Daimyo only thirty percent was something Makoto Uchiha could only dream of.
Of course, the Daimyo would never agree to providing both money and effort, while also using his own name to hype the product, only to receive thirty percent.
Who was he looking down on?
A 70/30 split meant the Daimyo got seventy percent!
But Makoto Uchiha also had his bottom line.
*I planned the tulip project from scratch, and I’ll be the one painstakingly managing the market from start to finish.
You, the Daimyo, only need to sit back and collect a fortune.
I can’t possibly take only thirty percent!* At the very least, fifty-fifty!