"Good story…"
Kazuma's talent was exceptional.
Listening, entranced, to Uchiha Makoto's little tale, his mind seemed to fill out of nowhere with a jumble of curious knowledge.
A brand-new door was opening to him.
Kazuma had no doubt about the power of Makoto's move. The daimyō first spending heavily in search of tulips, making twists and turns before finally purchasing a rare specimen—once such a story spread through the Land of Fire, it would almost instantly ignite the domestic tulip market.
"What do you mean, pricing by the stalk?"
"If the nobles next door in the Land of Wind hear of it, they'll think a noble of the Land of Fire like me is down and out… bring in another roomful!"
"I want every room in my house filled!"
This was a toy even the daimyō pined for; those old-money trendsetters of the cultural scene would never miss it.
The old-money nobles of the Land of Fire would likely line up to pay heavily for tulips.
Can't get one?
Then you add more money!
Tulips were still cheap on the market; stockpile now, and when prices rise you'll certainly make money.
Four or five times, even a dozen times, wouldn't be a problem!
"I understand, Lord Makoto—I'll go stockpile a large batch of tulips at once!"
Kazuma said, face flushed, feeling a bright future waiting for him.
"Small. Your frame is too small…"
"Kazuma, your thinking is still… forget it—let me enlighten you again!"
Uchiha Makoto shook his head.
Kazuma's scope was still too small; the leader would have to awaken him once more.
Buying low and selling high is too simple—so long as you exploit information asymmetry, there's no difficulty; anyone can do it… tie up a dog and it could, too.
Of course… that's not the point.
The key was that the profits wouldn't satisfy Uchiha Makoto.
Tulips' selling points were beauty and scarcity. Because they take long to cultivate and are difficult to grow, there aren't many on the market. Even if Makoto drove the price up several times or more than tenfold, the fixed scarcity of tulips remained—an unavoidable constraint.
To harvest profits from the herd, the only option would be to keep hyping the price.
But if tulip prices went too high, the nobles weren't fools; they wouldn't be idiotic enough to spend their meal money on flowers. And those sanctimonious parasites, seeing profit in tulips, might meddle themselves—squeezing his margins.
Therefore…
Relying only on buying low and selling high would never do!
"Then what do you mean, Lord Makoto?"
"We should indeed stockpile a batch now and unload when prices surge, but tulips are scarce… even with hype, the money we can make is limited."
"So what we must really connect with is the primary market—the tulip growers!"
"That's the true target of this operation, and the secret to big profits."
"But, Lord Makoto, tulips take a long time and need difficult conditions. Large-scale planting would require immense resources—that isn't easy."
Uchiha Makoto smiled. He had no intention of making money by growing tulips.
That method was far too slow. The cycle ran for years. By the time a new crop bloomed, the nobles' fads in the Land of Fire would have shifted several times. Cold dish by then—too late even for the quickest to catch up.
Obviously he wouldn't choose such a foolish route.
"We don't need to plant tulips. We just need to sign contracts with the growers, fixing the price for the next batch in advance. No matter the market price then, we purchase at the contract price—and we can pay deposits upfront as guarantee."
"That way, we hold a large book of tulip orders in our hands—and what we'll be selling is future tulips!"
As Makoto spoke, Kazuma suddenly grasped it, leaping up in excitement and saying loudly:
"Oh, I get it—I get it!"
"Lord Makoto, you mean when the market explodes and crowds in the Land of Fire rush in—since tulips are scarce—we can bring out the contracts. People will pay extra to buy the contracts we signed with growers. We can transform trading tulips into trading tulip contracts. No need to plant anything—just sell the contracts!"
"Hahaha…"
Kazuma waved his arms in glee, a wicked grin on his face.
"Exactly. That's precisely it."
"Hahaha… we could even work with the daimyō to forge fake contracts. Those already blinded by profit won't care!"
Kazuma was already extrapolating—he'd even thought of forged contracts.
It's not legal…
But making money—nothing to be ashamed of.
Yes. Exactly.
Once trade detaches from the real into the virtual, it grows insanely wild. A mere piece of paper flipped once can yield one-, two-, three-fold, even many-fold profits; anyone can lose themselves in such rapid churn.
These profit-drunk people lose the ability to think clearly; they won't visit fields or verify contracts with growers. They'll just buy, then sell, assuming someone will take it—until the bubble bursts and they're left holding the bag.
So if the daimyō lent a hand, mixing forged contracts among the genuine ones would be doable. When the revel ends and the bubble pops, those contracts will be no different from blank paper.
Besides, surely no one would actually bring the contracts to his village to… well, in that case… decisive measures would be taken.
"Hahaha, Kazuma, that's you all right—coming up with methods that wicked!"
Uchiha Makoto looked at the diabolical Kazuma with deep satisfaction. He was a fine comrade, fit for great responsibility.
He could already picture his village's future, teeming with talent.
Everywhere, vigorous life; all things flourishing.
(End of Chapter)
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