Capítulo 2080: Chapter 301: Two Children Debating Gold

“Robbery!”

Upon hearing the last number, the Black Cat was startled: “Borrow ten and return twenty-two… even robbery isn’t that fast! You just said the three-month interest rate is high!”

“The three-month interest rate is high indeed!”

Fox Mask rattled his abacus, speaking with justification: “If you calculate it, based on a three-month interest rate, borrow nine and return thirteen, if you borrow ten gold beans for a year, the annualized interest rate is 177.8%… whereas the one-year term I just calculated for you has an annualized interest rate of only 120%! There’s a difference of at least five gold beans in there!”

“But I actually don’t need to borrow money.” The Black Cat looked at him with a gloomy gaze — although it didn’t quite understand Mammon’s calculation formula, that didn’t mean it hadn’t realized this guy was trying to rip it off.

Truly worthy of being the representative of ‘greed’.

“I’m just listing out the cheapest long-term options for you.” Mammon said in a tone that insisted he wasn’t lying, making his fox mask look even more obnoxious.

“Ahem, sorry for smashing you with the Cat Orb earlier.” The Black Cat turned to the Sin Bearer with an apologetic look: “It will definitely not happen again…”

“Don’t worry, once you pass the test, there won’t be a next time anyway.” The Sin Bearer said disdainfully.

“Well then…” Mammon interrupted the cat and person’s small talk, reminding the Black Cat: “If there are no other issues, would you sign this, please?”

He pushed forward the piece of Parchment surrounded by golden flames, while putting away the other two.

This time, the Black Cat carefully checked the loan amount and the total repayment, confirming without a doubt, borrow ten, a three-month term, borrow nine and return thirteen, returning thirteen upon maturity.

Then it carefully pressed its paw onto the Parchment.

A flash of red light passed by, and the contract was established.

Mammon carefully folded the contract and tucked it into a small leather pouch hanging around his neck.

“Here’s your gold, please check and accept it,” he pulled out a handful of gold beans from the small pouch, laid them out in front of the Black Cat: “Please count the gold on the spot, we’re not responsible once you turn your back!”

The Black Cat used its tail tip to count them once.

“Wait a minute!”

It screamed, interrupting Mammon who was about to turn and leave: “Wasn’t it ten gold beans? You only gave me nine! Don’t even say I lost one!”

Mammon turned around, eyes full of confusion.

“It is nine?”

He took out the contract where the Black Cat had just placed its paw, pointing to the four words highlighted in red: “The terms clearly state, borrow nine return thirteen… it means, you borrow ten gold beans, while I give you ten, I first collect one gold bean as interest to control risk, so in your hand, there are only nine left… it’s commonly known as ‘head cut interest’… then after three months, you give me the remaining twelve gold beans, making a total of thirteen, thus it’s called ‘borrow nine return thirteen’… If you had chosen the other one-year term financing then, there wouldn’t be ‘head cut interest’; saying borrowing ten gold beans means ten in full…”

Well-reasoned, yet with a regretful tone.

Infuriating…

The Black Cat took a deep breath, turned to the Sin Bearer: “Is he this irritating even within the Seven Sins? If I eat him, will there be trouble…”

“We still recommend you exercise caution here, guest.”

Mammon cautiously took a step back, smiling broadly: “All transactions between us are consensual, definitely no coercion… and eating a student at the school would result in being locked up by Dan Ha for a lifetime… even if you’re just a cat.”

The Sin Bearer glanced at the Black Cat: “I assure you, he’s not the most irritating one…”

“If there’s nothing else, please allow me to take my leave.” The Wizard wearing a fox mask took a few steps back into the shadows.

“Wait a minute!”

The Black Cat grabbed the gold beans in front of it, twitching its ears: “I’m not borrowing for three months anymore, I want to repay early! Right now, immediately, pay off!”

“Tsk, still has some brains.” The Sin Bearer, watching this scene, clicked his tongue.

The smile on Mammon’s fox mask visibly faded.

“Prepayment incurs penalty interest!”

His voice sounded a bit sharp: “Every complete implementation accumulates credit points that might make you a premium customer, so that one day if you need gold, you can get a high credit limit from us!”

“I’d rather strip off this fur and sell it for fur coats than borrow money from you.” The Black Cat firmly refused: “After all, applying potion after peeling and sleeping for a night grows the fur back… but borrowing money from you, who knows if I might end up losing this flesh and blood.”

“The penalty is high!” The Fox Mask continued to persuade: “Anyway, it’s just ten gold beans, invest in a handy Magic Artifact with this money, go trap two Houdous in the woods, and you’ve earned it back, haven’t you?”

“A ten gold bean Magic Artifact, are you suggesting I play with my life.” The Black Cat rolled its eyes but was a bit cautious this time: “First, tell me how much is the penalty…”

The Parchment surrounded by golden flames reappeared between the fox and the cat.

The Black Cat squinted, carefully sifting through the terms, finally finding two sentences about the penalty between the lines — prepayment penalty for loans under a year is no less than three months interest of the total loan amount; loans over a year prepayment incurs a penalty no less than one month interest of the total loan amount.

It rolled this sentence a few times in its not-so-big head.

“If I understood correctly,” the Black Cat tried to keep its tone calm: “I borrowed for three months, therefore it’s a loan under a year… then prepayment penalty rule is, charge not less than three-month interest of the total loan amount… since I borrowed ten gold beans, then the penalty is three gold beans?”

“It is no less than…”

Mammon was about to emphasize certain words, only to find that the Black Cat in front of him was silently growing bigger, bit by bit, and soon, its forelegs were nearly as tall as he was, those yellow golden eyes, like two small moons, hung stubbornly above his head, making him feel like there were three moons in the sky for a moment.

“What?” The Black Cat’s thunderous voice questioned.

“Yes, that’s right, three gold beans!” The Fox Mask showed flexibility, decisively cutting his losses.

Clap!

Gold beans fell between the Black Cat and Mammon.

The fox quickly grabbed them, but as he weighed them, his brows furrowed: “Wait, maybe you miscounted? There are only eleven beans here… you borrowed ten, previously deducted one for head cut interest, so you need to return two more… which means, you owe me ten plus two, a total of twelve!”

The Black Cat compressed its size; not wanting to draw attention from the school.

Then it opened its mouth wide, roaring at Mammon: “I got nine beans, you took one for head cut interest, I returned two more… nine plus two, isn’t that eleven beans?!”