Chapter 86: Michael’s Economics Lesson

These precious metals and gems might just be toys to Iris, but in human society, they’re very valuable. But it’s not like the more you have, the better it is.

“Hey, if you’re gonna sell them, don’t sell too many.”

Michael saw Leo acting like a dumbass, just gathering up gold and gems non-stop, and couldn’t help but whisper a reminder.

???

Don’t sell too many? What’s that supposed to mean?

Leo and Iris both felt confused in their own ways. To Iris, this wasn’t even worth a fingernail to her, so she couldn’t call it a lot. To Leo, he didn’t understand why he shouldn’t sell many.

“You scared of getting robbed? Relax, with old man Raphael here, no one can rob us.”

Even though they clashed in their thinking, Raphael had actually never truly abandoned Leo and Michael. Plus, Raphael’s strength was top-tier on the continent, so for now, it was very safe.

Anyway, Leo didn’t think there’d be some dumbass who’d risk their life against a demigod-level contractor just for a bag of jewelry.

Iris also nodded in agreement with Leo’s words. She shot Michael a look of contempt reserved for cowards.

Michael’s eyelid twitched a few times. Not only are you dumbasses who don’t understand shit about economics and the market, but you actually dare to look at him with that contemptuous stare.

“Are you guys dumbasses? Ever thought about why these things have value?”

“They’re pretty,” Iris replied immediately.

“They’re really rare,” Leo replied.

Both of them gave a reason they thought was the most important in determining the value of rare metals and gems.

Being smart people, even though they’d never studied or had much exposure to economics and the market, those two still had some sense when Michael asked.

“Right on. So tell me, who wants to own these things the most?”

Michael nodded and then continued asking. He thought that with their way of thinking, they’d probably get his point pretty quickly.

“You mean merchants, nobles, royalty… All those rich folks with a ton of assets?”

Back in the war, Leo had rummaged through or raided the castles of big nobles plenty of times, so he’d seen their wealth firsthand.

“Exactly. What use do commoners have for this stuff? They need food. Even if they accidentally dug some up, they wouldn’t dare use it carelessly, or they’d be asking for trouble…”

Michael nodded in agreement with his point, paused for a beat, then continued.

“So, you two guess why they want this stuff?”

“Cause they’ve got money to burn?”

Leo wasn’t really clear on this issue either. Even though he’d had considerable power at one point before, he’d never become a rich man.

“What’s with the dumb question? Looking for this stuff, obviously it’s because it’s pretty. I’m gathering it up because it’s pretty too.”

Iris imposed her personal perspective onto humanity. Of course, the ’pretty’ factor wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t completely right either.

“As I see it, there are three main reasons.”

“First, to prove your own status. The more exquisite and magnificent the jewelry, the rarer the item that no one else can get. It proves you’re extremely wealthy and powerful.”

“Second, it’s about controlling the economy. If they hold most of the gold in the market, even if they don’t sell it all off, they can still steer it. They’re always the ones holding the handle of the knife, while the common people are forever holding the blade, unless they come up with some other unimaginable way to break this deadlock.”

“Third, it’s for those with vision investing in the future. These shiny, precious things aren’t just for decoration. They’re also important resources.

They’re things born from the great power of nature. These are things humanity finds hard to create, or could create but at a cost greater than the benefit.

Right now, there might not be many applications for them, but in the future, hundreds or thousands of years from now, their value could increase dramatically because their quantity is so small.”

Iris and Leo listened to the lecture dumbfounded. They were the type to be completely clueless about economics, having never managed anything in this area, so they understood some things and didn’t understand others.

At least now they understood why Michael said not to use too much. In their current situation, doing that was a bad idea.

“I get it now. Leo can’t go too far right now, and he doesn’t have the strength for it anyway. In a small area, the number of rich and powerful people isn’t high.

If you have too much jewelry, it’ll make supply way exceed demand, dropping the value of the jewelry. If I dumped my entire fortune onto the market, jewelry wouldn’t be much different from iron.”

The one who said that was actually Iris. This surprised Michael a lot because he thought the law of supply and demand would be meaningless to an existence like hers and that she wouldn’t be able to understand it at all.

“You’re actually this smart?” he said in an incredulous tone.

This attitude and tone made the veins on Iris’s forehead twitch. She wanted to grab something hard and throw it at his head, but in the end, she didn’t because she still wanted to hear more about the current issue.

“Ahem, what do you think, Leo?”

Michael saw Iris’s expression quickly darken and got scared, quickly changing the subject to something else.

Leo didn’t answer him, his body stiff like a statue. He was probably thinking about something in his head.

“Wait a minute, what if I give the stuff to Raphael and have him sell it? With strength like his, going to some faraway, wealthy places to sell it wouldn’t be a problem at all. Anyway, selling jewelry or decorations compared to the danger of selling holy herbs isn’t even worth mentioning.”

???

’Nice one. I actually forgot about that old man.’

Michael was stunned when he heard that. Because he saw Leo gathering the stuff, he instinctively thought Leo was going to sell it himself and didn’t think of Raphael.

If they had Raphael’s help, then the problem wouldn’t be a problem anymore. Of course, the risk was that they wouldn’t have Raphael’s protection for a relatively long period of time while he was away.

But given the identities of the three of them now, if they knew how to hide, it would be hard to run into any major danger.

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