Chapter 11 - Hero Coin (3)

When the Hero Coins were first distributed, the reaction from those around was reportedly nothing short of cold.

Typically, when a general achieves merit, the reward is usually a famous sword or a treasure with a martial legacy. That's the common custom.

If circumstances don't allow for such preparation, they'd at least save face by bestowing a medal or equivalent treasure, yet in this case, it was just a single coin.

Before everyone knew the purpose of the Hero Coins, some even called King Germis the "Coin King," which gives you an idea of the reaction at the time.

Despite such cold reactions, people figured out the true purpose of the Hero Coins due to King Germis's usual conduct.

He was one of those typical royals far removed from the concept of jokes, so it was unlikely he'd make such a political blunder by mistake.

This coin must have some purpose.

While the generals and royalty of various countries were racking their brains over this, something caught their eye.

It was the Hero's face engraved on the coin.

Looking at that face, which anyone who'd seen him even once would never forget, people thought:

Could this perhaps be a threat?

"A threat, you say?"

"...Ah, I've misspoken. Please consider it a slip of the tongue due to fatigue from overwork and kindly forget it. It's just that there were such views."

"I'm fine, so please continue your story."

"Yes, it's exactly as I said. What was engraved on the Hero Coin was the Hero's profile. Naturally, it would be natural to think it was related to the Hero."

"I suppose so..."

"Even now, but especially back then, every part of the continent was engulfed in war, with countries and territories facing destruction. So what everyone wanted wasn't money or honor, but peace."

The way to bring peace.

That was to win the war, and the one who could accomplish this more certainly than anyone else was the Hero.

Could it be that the country that collected the most Hero Coins would get the Hero dispatched to them first?

What if countries with few or no Hero Coins wouldn't get the Hero dispatched to them at all?

It might have been a natural conclusion for people yearning for peace to think of the Hero Coins in this way.

King Germis never explicitly confirmed this purpose, but everyone thought so.

Privately, he was the Hero's father-in-law, and officially, he was the king of the country to which the Hero belonged.

The fact that such a person bestowed Hero Coins on generals who had achieved merit for their country could easily be interpreted that way.

From this day forward, various countries spared no effort to obtain Hero Coins, sending troops or support supplies to the kingdom.

If everything had ended there, we might have been able to salvage the situation somehow.

The problem came next.

"It was government bonds. His Majesty bestowed Hero Coins on nobles who bought a lot of government bonds. From that point on, the Hero Coins earned monetary value as well."

As the war intensified, people craved peace more, and consequently, the value of Hero Coins rose further.

It must have been from this time.

Not just countries, but influential nobles also jumped into the market to get their hands on these Hero Coins.

At first, even fairly influential nobles showed reluctance to touch these Hero Coins.

The reason being that no matter how many you collected, if you had fewer coins than other countries, you were no different from those who hadn't collected any at all.

Even for powerful nobles, amassing more coins than an entire country was practically impossible.

So most had given up early on, watching and staying out of the invisible brawl between kings, but when the coins gained value, the story changed.

The fact that the coins earned monetary value meant that, unlike before, even if you couldn't collect the most coins, you could still guarantee some profit.

Moreover, it was none other than the state buying them up.

To the lords, the coins must have seemed like the safest asset in this chaotic world of war.

From this point on, the lords also began desperately collecting coins. Those who couldn't afford it pooled their resources to collect coins and shared ownership.

Besides their monetary value, the coins could also be used to request troop deployments by presenting them to the king, so they quickly established themselves as a currency across the continent.

Previously, the most expensive currency was the gold coin of the Lumaris Empire, but now the Hero Coin took that place.

As I was at a loss for words at this absurd situation, the maid continued:

"There are those who curse His Majesty as a cruel king who puts people's lives on a scale. But in the eyes of us court nobles, there's no one wiser. He moved the local nobles and kings of various countries without saying a word."

"......"

"Lord Count?"

"...Did your family also buy these Hero Coins?"

"No. But thanks to His Majesty's grace, we were bestowed with just one, which we keep under strict—"

"Sell it immediately."

"...Pardon?"

"This is a favor I'm extending to you for teaching me important information. Sell that fucking thing right now."

"L-Lord Count?"

Leaving the bewildered maid behind, I walked past her down the empty corridor.

At first, my vision was so dark that even I didn't know where I was heading, but at some point, my legs began moving towards a certain room.

The king's bedroom, where the unconscious king would be sleeping.

My legs started moving towards that place.

*****

"Lord Count, His Majesty still needs to rest—"

"Move."

I pushed aside the royal guards blocking my way with mana, clearing everything in my path.

Normally, this would be tantamount to treason, but right now, there was no time to worry about such things.

After I cleared away a few knights, even Lord Leius, the captain of the royal guard, stepped forward.

Rumored to be the kingdom's finest knight before the Hero appeared, he seemed to have continued his training even after we left.

He looked surprised when he first saw me, but remembering his duty, he placed his hand on his sword hilt and faced off against me.

The man called the kingdom's premier knight wasn't someone I could subdue as easily as the other royal guard members.

As I was about to draw up mana to resolve this situation as quickly as possible—

"...Everyone, stand down."

Suddenly, Lord Leius removed his hand from his sword hilt and said with a small sigh:

"I thought I was the strongest in the kingdom if not for that Hero bastard, but heaven is truly cruel. Just when I'd given up on an unclimbable mountain, it throws another one at me."

"...Captain!!"

"This isn't an opponent we can beat even if we try. And he's not a traitor trying to assassinate His Majesty either. The fact that you're all still alive is proof of that."

In the past, he was honestly what you'd call simple-minded, the epitome of a man who didn't think about consequences.

But it seemed he had learned humility after being defeated by the Hero, as his demeanor was quite different now.

"Promise me one thing. I'll let you pass, so swear that no matter what happens, you won't harm His Majesty."

"...I promise."

As the captain, he would have no way to avoid responsibility for letting me through, so this request was likely for the sake of his subordinates.

The bond between the captain and his men must be quite strong, as the eyes of the subordinates letting me pass were filled with hatred and anger towards an enemy.

If possible, I'd like to preserve his pride, but I don't have enough time to waste on one individual's pride.

No, isn't this just an excuse?

In truth, I know too. That everything is already too late, and there's no way to turn back.

The tumor called "coin" had already spread throughout the continent, and to treat it would require more than just cutting out one country.

Everything is so fucked up that I don't even know where to start fixing it.

But that doesn't mean I can stop walking.

Without asking for permission or knocking, I opened the door to the bedchamber and strode in.

"...How insolent."

A weak voice immediately rebuked me.

The king's face, barely raising his head from the bed, looked so haggard it seemed he might breathe his last at any moment.

The chancellor standing beside him wasn't much different.

Seeing the expression crumble on the face of the chancellor once called the Iron Mask was not a sight I particularly wanted to see.

"The country is about to fall, and you're worried about etiquette? Hero Coin. What the hell is that? What on earth were you thinking when you created such a thing?!!!"

"Urgh...!!"

"...There are circumstances."

The chancellor spoke to me on behalf of King Germis, who had not yet regained his composure.

"You might not believe this, but we didn't intend for this from the start. At first, we just thought of creating something called a coin."

"...Coin?"

"It was a story that Hero told us over drinks. About something called cryptocurrency that existed in his world."

As the Hero's name came up here, I felt an intense headache coming on and squeezed my eyes shut.

Apparently, in the Hero's world, there was a special currency that could be obtained using a tool called a computer.

While the value of currency is usually guaranteed by the issuing country, this cryptocurrency deviated from this principle as it wasn't issued by anyone.

The chancellor's explanation continued for a while after that, but honestly, I, with my limited knowledge of economics, understood less than half of it.

How could a currency that no one guarantees possibly have any value?

"We thought, in a world where we wake up to news of another country's destruction, wouldn't it be nice if we had such a currency too?"

"...There's no way such a thing could exist, right? Even someone as economically ignorant as me knows that much."

"If people think something has value, it gains value. We thought if such a thing existed, and if we could manage it, we could become the new hegemon of the continent."

"...So that's why you engraved the Hero's face on the coin? To mean it's a currency guaranteed by the Hero?"

"Yes, that's right! That fellow might be the worst in character, but isn't he the most powerful being of all?"

So they engraved the Hero's face on the side of the coin to signify that it was a currency guaranteed by the Hero.

They thought that even if countries were destroyed, the Hero would survive, so the value would be preserved.

"We wanted to create a currency whose value the Hero would protect. So we distributed commemorative coins as a test."

"...A test?"

"At first, it was just an experiment. We did it lightly, with an attitude of 'no harm if it doesn't work.' But at some point, that cursed rumor started circulating. A rumor that anyone who knows the relationship between the Hero and us would scoff at."

The kingdom was barely maintaining itself by catering to the Hero's whims.

That's why he was forgiven for all his crimes, and no matter what atrocities he committed, he was never punished.

Naturally, the kingdom also lacked the power to force the Hero to go on expeditions.

It was questionable whether the Hero would have willingly gone on expeditions even if he had retained his original power.

"Then you should have corrected it right away—"

"The kingdom's front lines without the Hero and you were too devastated! There was support from various countries, but it was far from enough!!"

That's why they couldn't deny the rumor.

If they acknowledged it, support from other countries might decrease, and some countries might try to take advantage of it.

For example, countries wishing for the kingdom's downfall.

There would be countless countries wanting to welcome the Hero to their side, even if belatedly.

"Then later, rumors started circulating that if you bought government bonds, you'd be bestowed with coins... And later...!! I don't even want to sully my mouth by saying it!!!"

"...So you're saying all of this wasn't some threat or scheme using the Hero, but just a misunderstanding?"

"Ha, when you put it like that, it makes us sound like incompetent idiots. You asked why we created the Hero Coin? Because we didn't know!! We didn't fucking know it would turn out like this!!"

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

I couldn't believe that all of this stemmed from a simple misunderstanding and the Hero's drunken ramblings.

Could they be trying to deceive me?

With that thought in my heart, I looked at them with suspicious eyes, but those weren't the eyes of liars.

"This is ridiculous..."

As such vulgar words slipped out, King Germis, who had barely managed to sit up, said to me:

"...We can't put spilled water back in the bottle."

"......"

"So, I was wondering if we could perhaps cover up this incident?"