The Crown Prince In Hiding

(Sound of steam engine)

Dan opened his eyes again. He found that he had fallen asleep and woken up resting on Princess Nora’s shoulder, which he had dozed off on without noticing.

He straightened his head back up. He turned to look at Nora and she felt the movement, so she woke up as well.

Everton and Galatasaray had disappeared. They must have gone to pick up supplies outside.

Dan opened the watch to check the time.

00:30.

He turned and nodded to Nora. Both of them got up and went to the middle section of the passenger car. As people came down one by one, they descended to the platform.

”The south side looks more crowded than the north side, Mr. Don.”

”Still need a fake name, Miss Nadia?”

”Well, no one’s caught me yet.”

.

.

The next morning.

In front of the hotel where Everton was staying.

Everton waved his hand to call everyone.

A four-wheeled vehicle stood waiting still to receive them.

Dan and Nora who walked down showed great interest.

”Is this an automobile?”

”That’s correct.”

Everton puffed out his chest proudly.

”It came to pick us up specially.”

”Isn’t a carriage faster?”

”Well, yes it is. But I just wanted to show off.”

Dan and Nora glanced at each other.

”Come on now. In the future it might get so good that carriages die out anyway, who knows.”

The scene cuts again. Dan and Nora experienced what was called an ”automobile” for the first time, sitting in the back seat. His hand rested on the seat, turned his head back to observe the movement of the vehicle.

”It’s like an open-top carriage.”

”But it’s smoother than that. It doesn’t shake like a carriage.”

”Have you ever ridden in one before, Nora?”

”This is my first time, honestly.”

”My company has invested in many things.”

Everton turned and interjected from the front. He patted the car to show it off.

”This is a prototype that my subsidiary company is currently developing.”

”Why an automobile?”

”Because automobiles don’t need to rest.”

Everton answered.

”Horses still need time to rest, to drink water. But with this thing here, you barely have to think about that at all. Lighten the burden, life becomes easier, and it’s even easier to control besides.”

He explained,

”All you need is to learn how to operate it. Anyone can drive it. Unlike horses where you have to train until you’re skilled or hire a coachman to control it. You should try using this. It’s much easier than a carriage.”

”That’s true, but...”

Dan leaned forward to look at the carriage running past alongside.

”... am I faster than this?”

”I believe in the future it will get faster. And it will definitely be faster than a carriage. The steam engine already exists in locomotives. Why couldn’t this thing have it?”

”I agree.”

Nora spoke up. She leaned forward to hold onto Everton’s seat.

”If you wanted to partner with someone, what would you think of me?”

”That’s quite interesting. You want to partner with me, Your Highness?”

”I’ve been thinking about it for a while, Mr. Everton.”

”Gala, note it.”

Galatasaray: ”Yes.”

”Hey... did you think about it well, Nora?”

Dan tugged at the edge of Nora’s shirt as a friendly warning, but Everton swatted his hand away.

”Keep your hand off the princess, Unc !”

Fury himself didn’t know if it was true. Anyway, he wasn’t thinking of arguing with his younger brother over something like this.

Princess Nora herself seemed to know more about the matter as well.

”Sigh...”

.

.

Main street.

”Right now we’re on a street called Vault Street. This is the headquarters of MTSE*—the stock market where money from all around the world flows in every day, tens of millions of credits!”

*MTSE: Mathema Stock Exchange

He pointed his finger to show Fury the prosperity of Mathema.

Tall skyscrapers, bustling crowds, people rushing about to make money... or perhaps the greed hidden beneath what looked like professional clothing.

Just stepping in made you sense the chaos and turmoil of investors and speculators. Every type of asset was bought and sold here. You could say Vault Street was the place with the highest value in the world.

”The buildings on the left and right that you see are all banks! There are hundreds of banks! They’re all stationed here, competing against each other, spilling blood to become the institution that controls the highest % of transactions!”

The sound on Vault Street was loud and chaotic, so much so that Everton had to speak loudly.

”MTSE opens at 10 o’clock sharp, Mathema time. So you’ll see this kind of chaos as normal.”

”Is it like this every day?”

”Until the world breaks.”

He laughed loudly. Dan thought he was exaggerating, but when he looked at Nora, she nodded that it was true.

But suddenly, when he looked to the side, Dan saw Mathema police officers standing guard in front of a large gathering of protesters, who were gathering across from Vault Street.

And looking at the signs... they read:

I CAN’T PAY FOR BREAD!

FOFANA OUT!

”It looks like people are starting to dislike her more and more. What happened?”

”The presidential system is like this. If it were Snowhaven, she’d already be dead.”

Nora: ”No need to jab at each other, Mr. Everton.”

”President Fofana borrowed a lot of money from other countries. When it’s time to pay it back, she has to go find money from collecting taxes.”

”Taxes?”

”Or else raise interest rates, which makes the people who borrowed from banks unhappy.”

Everton explained,

”Brother, you might think this is a city of innovation. It’s only half true. Because the other half is dog shit.”

Dan and Nora froze.

”What do you mean?”

”Look at this.”

Everton threw the newspaper he had been holding since morning down onto Dan’s lap. He picked it up. Nora leaned forward to read.

Headline:

Selling Dreams! Samuel Bankman Caught! Charged with falsifying accounts and defrauding shareholders!

”This doctor set up a company four years ago to develop automobile parts. He sold the world a dream that from now on we’d have flying trains to use. But in the end, you see how it turned out. This isn’t the first case. And it won’t be the last.”

This is what always happens in the R&D industry... which is con artists spouting bullshit and opening companies to scam investors’ money.

Everton grinned.

Innovation is something that hasn’t happened yet. When creating stories to sell dreams and trick investment money out of people, it’s easy. I respect their method. But it’s completely shameless.

Dan: (Now I understand why Casca ever got scammed investing in a company like this.)

”And the good news is that the street we’re stepping on right now is full of money-hungry people waiting to get busted, and greedy people who can’t wait to see their stocks soar in their hands. It’s a cycle that’s like a time bomb.”

A city of innovation... yes, it is.

But every time innovation flourishes, it’s always filled with ”breaking promises from the dreams sold.”

”Mr. Everton, how can you be sure that Mathema’s industry is full of opportunists? How can you be sure you’re not just thinking to yourself?”

Even though the evidence is clearly on display, with steam locomotives, airships, automobiles, transport innovations, inventions, etc.

”That’s a very good question, Your Highness. What invention do you think Mathema has that changed our world?”

”Locomotives, airships, engineering, weapons of war that use magic... and then...”

”...”

”I can’t think anymore.”

”And do you think...”

Everton turned around, leaned his body in close to the seat, and pointed out to the side at a company that was showcasing a large, bulky, funny-looking automatic house-cleaning machine in front.

”That thing there? Can it change the world?”

”I don’t think so... I’d probably clean it faster myself...”

Before she could finish speaking, suddenly the motor of that dummy exploded with a bang! People went flying in different directions.

”That was in the showcase booth yesterday, I remember. Its face looked funny.”

Dan added.

”Mathema has only 5-6 good things... but there are over 10,000 other things that are inventions that are useless garbage.”

”What exactly is your point, Everton?”

”The point is...”

Over 10,000 companies in the Mathema stock market are just producing garbage like that zinc dummy, selling dreams. After everyone saw that the steam locomotive was a success, they looked at the leftover scrap metal and all thought, ’This thing must be able to change the world too.’ It ends with everyone throwing all their own money into creating something that even they themselves can’t answer whether it actually works.

Or worse, Whether the world actually needs it.

So it becomes...

”A bubble...”

Nora spoke in a silent tone (while Fury was still confused).

”You think the MTSE is in a bubble?”

”Mathema has already passed its peak. We are in a middle of the bubble I believe.”

Everton said,

”If innovation doesn’t make life better, then it’s just garbage.”

Naturally, out of 10,000 ideas, only 1-2 are actually useful. They flip the world, truly change lives.

There wouldn’t be a problem if everyone thought up ideas with their own strength, their own money.

But because of the policy after the war by President Fofana,

all those 10,000 ideas flowed into MTSE and opened it up for everyone to invest...

That’s where the danger comes in.

Right now people are ”expecting” that some miraculous invention will be created to change the world.

But what Everton sees is a wave of hype getting excited about useless garbage.

Because there will be only 1-2 companies that can actually produce things that generate profit... the rest will just be garbage that collapses and dies.

”As for myself, I chose to bet on the automobile manufacturing company we’re currently sitting in. The rest... I see nothing but useless things. And monkey-like people jumping into a pile of fire.”

His education is genuinely good.

His engineering is genuinely good.

Each invention is genuinely creative.

But in their midst,

there is also enormous capital flowing to the wrong places.

”So what’s your plan then?”

”Take advantage of this situation. Wait for the time when everything collapses. Then rake in the money and flee, what else, Brother?”

”How?”

”Flip the newspaper I gave you to page 2.”

(Sound of flipping newspaper to page 2)

Advance Housing announces new project Phase 6, containing over 3,500 housing units!

”House of the Future? What’s that?”

”It’s very popular right now. All real estate in Mathema is at its absolute peak.”

”Why peak?”

”Because right now everyone is going crazy about innovations of the future. Everyone thinks that from now on, Mathema will become a metropolis of the world. People from all corners are moving in to seek opportunities here. Every real estate project is rising like a rocket.”

”Moving into Mathema? Because of the story that it will become the center of the new world? Is that it?”

”Why are you questioning the faith of the masses so much? It’s like a religious thing.”

Dan tilted his head and made a sound of surprise—there’s a phenomenon like this too?

”How can you even allow people to move into the country like that?”

”From President Fofana’s policy.”

Everton grinned.

”They saw the success of this model in Velmount already.”

”But Velmount accepts soldiers, not innovators, right?”

”Just adapted it to be an inventor version.”

Everton shrugged,

”The stronger the story of a metropolis of the future, the more people it pulls in seeking opportunities. The more people there are, the more real estate gets released. Banks lend out more because they believe that even if borrowers default, it’s just a small portion of NPLs*. Once it becomes a loop like this, it’s as if housing prices will skyrocket infinitely.”

*NPL = Non-performing loan

”That sounds like a good system. So why is there a problem?”

”Brother... don’t you remember what I told you? I told you that those sweet dream images of the future, they’re illusions, aren’t they? That means that whenever this dream gets torn down, everyone will flee for themselves. And who will pay the debt? Once no one pays the debt, banks won’t lend. Once banks don’t lend, all housing prices in Mathema will...”

Everton made a face like a zeppelin crashing, while making his hand fall from high to low.

Nora froze.

”Mr. Everton... don’t tell me what you’re aiming for is...”

”Sharp, Your Highness. You’re truly superior in intellect unlike my square-headed brother.”

”Nora... do you really believe his reasoning?”

Nora rested her chin on her hand, thoughtful.

”Mr. Fury... if you look closely, it does make sense.”

”If that’s really the case, then why would you get involved with a Mathema that’s like a countdown time bomb, Everton? Why not just let it go its own way?”

”A savvy investor takes advantage of every opportunity to make a profit.”

Everton gestured with his fingers.

”Even after saying all that, Mathema’s innovations are genuinely good things. I believe this country is suitable for investment. It’s just that right now everything is inflated far beyond reality. Whenever the real estate prices here plummet... it will be me who goes and buys them up.”

”Oh, so that’s why you came to Blackwood.”

”No.”

”?”

”I came for another reason.”

”What reason, Mr. Everton?”

”I came to make a bet with the fattest source of money in this entire world.”

Once he finished speaking... the automobile came to a stop in front of a dark glass building. Large letters blazed proudly on top.

BLACKWOOD INC.