Then exchanges, stocks, and so on. It's a pity, of course, that we can't have our own banks; that would make everything so much easier. But even so, in a hundred years, we'll have a significant control over trade and transportation. Money and information.
And besides buying cheap here, transporting, and selling it for more there, we won't be doing anything else. No interference, no progress. Well, we'll come up with various insurance companies and other things a bit earlier, but that's not so scary. We won't be bringing any new technologies.
— Oh, but we will bring them. For example, what will we do with excess money? Merchants, you know, are not averse to investing in wars.
— Eugene, you forget that here only the Church lends money. And that's why there are so few wars between states and so many conflicts between individual feudal lords. We'll spend the accumulated excess on livestock and slaughterhouses for blood for us.
— And thus we will contribute to the development of agriculture, reduce the cost of meat, and improve the local diet, which will lead to an increase in life expectancy and so on.
— And do you want to lock yourself away in a village and not let anyone in?
— I just don't believe that by implementing plans of this scale, we won't interfere with the life of this world.
— We've already interfered. You saw what the fugitives were doing, and God knows what they're doing now. We destroyed the army that was supposed to capture these lands. We reduced the goblin population. We simply exist. So to not interfere at all, we'd have to kill ourselves! — Gennady exploded.
— Calm down. We don't need any more arguments. It's an old problem. Well described by the Strugatskys. — Alexander stood up and walked around — And there's no universal solution. I suggested not interfering and not playing gods or progressives. But I also don't want to cocoon ourselves in our little world. That would be degradation for us.
Stopping and looking at everyone in the room, the triumvir continued.
— What's in the papers, Gen (Gennady)?
— A detailed plan: what, where, and how to do it, step by step. We'll just need to allocate funds and an executor who will find the fronts. Everything is set up so that ideally, no matter what the result is, we'll still make a profit.
— And are you ready to take it on?
— Yes.
— Then I suggest we first read the plan. And then look for the "butterfly effect" and other subtle areas where we might influence the local civilization too much. Eugene rightly noted, we'll invest heavily in livestock and make meat more accessible, so the locals will include it in their diet, which will already have a positive effect on them. But what will this all lead to…
— And for how many years is the plan designed? — Konstatin asked for the first time.
— If we could establish our own bank, I'd do it in about fifty years. As it is, it will take me less than a hundred years.
— Do you think we'll live that long?
— Well, we don't age. The children don't grow. It's time to accept the obvious fact that the ordinary human lifespan doesn't apply to us, and we will live much longer.
— If we're not killed.
— That's why I want to concentrate money and information in our hands. And no one is better informed than merchants except for the clergy.
— Alright, Gennady. We'll review your plan and discuss it, and then let you know our decision.
When Yulia closed the door behind the departing vampire, Eugene looked at Alexander.
— So, what do you think? Can we trust him with such activities in the external world? After all, he will be almost without supervision and has no reason to remain loyal to us.
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