Zans.

As a newly established government, the City of Freedom was operating unexpectedly smoothly, and the incorporation of the towns surrounding Zans was also an unexpectedly smooth process.

The common folk had received land that they were able to farm on their own, thereby bidding farewell to the era of noble tyranny, so they were naturally more than happy to follow the new regime.

It was as if a dark cloud that had been hanging over their heads this entire time had finally drifted away.

Equality and human rights were the most direct aspirations of the people living at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. At the very least, that was what appeared to be the case on the surface.

Of course, there was another reason why the common folk had so much trust in the new government, and that was Erwin. As a handsome and approachable young artist, he was certainly a lot more pleasant to look at than those haughty nobles with their large, protruding bellies.

With that in mind, it had been a very good decision to assign him as the commander of the Universal Church Freedom Army.

In addition to that, some people had been spreading stories of the battle that had taken place on the Canston Plain, so it became common knowledge that Erwin was just as splendid a magician as he was an artist. One couldn't help but wonder whether Lia had played a part in the dissemination of this information.

It seemed that as long as they had this young artist on their side, the City of Freedom would be able to stand tall and proud in the Fulway Empire, which was filled with countless nobles.

In reality, Theresa in Newfando and the Farody Family in Tellier were all eying Zans like a prized piece of meat. The praying mantis was hunting the cicada, while the oriole was lurking in the shadows. If Count Onen were the cicada, then the Farody Family would be the praying mantis, while Theresa would be the oriole, or so she thought. As it turned out, Erwin was the hunter who had reaped the most rewards from the battle.

Of course, in his new position of power, Erwin was also burdened with many new concerns. Not only did he have to be wary of external enemies, he also had to keep his guard up against his own allies.

Just like all of the rulers that had come before him, he was very much wary of the churches. Of course, Lia was also exercising caution in his collaboration with Erwin.

However, Erwin had no plans to directly contend with the church at any stage.

Recently, he had been developing a plan with Christine to open a business known as the Ubiquitous Firm.

Even though all of the land around Zans had been distributed to the people, the land taxes that they were receiving were nowhere near enough to support the freedom army.

Hence, the hundreds of thousands of Loonies that Christine had brought to Erwin were definitely about to come in useful.

For Erwin, he was willing to supply the money required to fund the freedom army, but he couldn't do it in his own name.

If he were to supply all of the funds required to support the freedom army under his own personal identity, then there would be many issues that would arise in the future. Firstly, placing himself in a position of absolute power over the freedom army would undoubtedly evoke wariness within Lia and the others.

The more powerful he became, the more Lia and the others would have to look out for him.

Furthermore, the opinion of the masses was also very important. This was supposed to be a land of universal equality. If he were to suddenly reveal such a large stash of Loonies and fund the freedom army entirely by himself, then he would essentially be making himself a class enemy to all of the people. Additionally, the citizens Zans would undoubtedly begin to wonder where those loonies had come from, and whether he had taken the money from the nobles.

The aforementioned scenarios were all ones that Erwin wanted to avoid. He didn't want to turn on Lia and the others at this stage, nor did he want there to be any conflict within the City of Freedom at this point in time.

A dissociative and cautious personality was being perfectly embodied through Erwin. On one hand, he was quite wary of this around him, and on the other hand, he wanted to avoid conflict with them as much as possible.

However, in a political setting, there were no issues at all with such a mindset.

Seeing as Erwin couldn't personally supply this sum of Loonies, someone else would have to do it in his place. Thinking back to his conversation with Christine about paper money, he decided that it was time to found a firm.

The firm would facilitate exchanges between paper money and Loonies, through the firm, Erwin could loan out the funds required to support the freedom army.

If he were to do that, then the Ubiquitous Firm would be the creditor of the City of Freedom, thereby taking him out of the equation. At the same time, Erwin would be able to establish a firm grasp on the City of Freedom through the firm without attracting any attention.

...

The founding of the Ubiquitous Firm truly came as quite a surprise to all of the citizens of Zans.

The grand opening ceremony, the red carpets that lined the streets, and the lavish scenes were truly astounding to all of the onlookers. Most importantly, all of the most important figures of the City of Freedom were all present, including Archbishop Lia and the commander of the freedom army, Erwin. It was clear that this Ubiquitous Firm was an extremely important establishment. Behind Lia stood Turan, Menpo, Joe, and the other prominent members of the Universal Church, while Erwin was also accompanied by all of his most important subordinates, including Sherry, Lanyon, Georgina, Shiba, and Bracken.

As for the owner of the firm, that was Christine.

This was also why there were so many important figures supporting the opening of the Ubiquitous Firm.

If Erwin were the owner of the firm, then he definitely wouldn't have been able to get Lia and the others to present for the opening ceremony.

Lia was still quite wary of Erwin, so he would be rather suspicious had Erwin been the owner of the firm.

During the opening ceremony, Lia couldn't help but feel like he had seen Christine somewhere before, but he was unable to recall where.

As for Christine, she would always subtly avoid Lia's inquisitive gaze.

Erwin could see the interactions taking place between the two. He didn't want to pray into Christine's past, but he couldn't help but wonder exactly who she was.

Initially, Christine had been opposed to the idea of becoming the owner of the Ubiquitous Firm, but eventually, Erwin had managed to convince her to take on the role.

...

Even with so many people gathering to watch the ongoing festivities, everyone still had no idea what exactly this firm was supposed to do.

Soon, Christine announced an astonishing piece of news, which was that the paper money of the Ubiquitous Firm had already been released, and everyone immediately erupted into a frenzy upon hearing this.

No one had ever heard of the concept of paper money before, and everyone was waiting with bated breath to see exactly what this groundbreaking form of new currency was.

Looking at everyone's reaction to the news, Christine smiled as she made a hand gesture. Two lines of young women wearing tight-fitting black dresses emerged from the doors of the firm, and each of them was carrying a red platter.

These women made their way over to the people with the platters in their hands, and only then was the crowd able to see the paper money in its full glory.

These pieces of paper money were bearing values of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000.

Different pieces of scenery were printed on each of the notes, and they primarily consisted of natural scenery or religious buildings around Zans.

Christine wore a confident expression as she introduced, "In the future, large-sum transactions will no longer have to be facilitated by lugging around large chests of Loonies. Instead, these notes will act as a perfect replacement for large sums of Loonies."

Everyone looked back at Christine with skeptical expressions.

A faint smile appeared on Erwin's face upon seeing this.

In order to make paper money a prevalent form of currency, it would take more to convince the general public than just a verbal claim from Christine. A few days ago, Christine had already invited the owners of the dozens of shops in Zans for meetings one by one, and each of them had received a great deal of benefits from her. Furthermore, these shops would also benefit from the prevalent circulation of paper money. After all, the efficiency of all of their transactions would be improved significantly as a result. All businesspeople were opportunistic by nature, so it didn't take much convincing from Christine to buy into the idea. With these shops providing her with indirect assistance, the initial release of the paper money would undoubtedly go far more smoothly than it otherwise would've.

This was something that Erwin and Christine had planned together, but on the surface, Christine was the sole face of the firm.

"You can all use your Loonies to exchange for notes for equal value in our Ubiquitous Firm," Christine said with a smile as she swept her gaze over the crowd. "I know what all of you are concerned about. You're wondering whether you'll actually be able to spend the notes, right?"

Indeed, this was exactly what everyone was worried about.

"Here, I can make a guarantee to all of you: as long as you're using these notes in Zans, no shop will refuse to take them."

"Is that true?"

"You know what? I'm going to exchange a small sum of Loonies, then try and use the notes in the shops."

Everyone was beginning to discuss spiritedly among themselves again.

Despite her young age, Christine was putting on an impressively calm display, facing everyone's skepticism with a friendly smile.

"Then what about if we leave Zans? What do we do then?" someone asked.

"That's what I was about to get to next," Christine replied with a smile. "Our Ubiquitous Firm aims to spread its paper money to all corners of the Boll Dukedom as quickly as possible. After that will come all of the nearby dukedoms, and our ultimate goal is to have the entire Fulway Empire use our paper money."

Everyone was struck by an immense sense of absurdity after hearing such a grand vision from a little girl of Christine's age. It simply sounded completely far-fetched and unrealistic, but at the same time, all of the most important figures in the City of Freedom were present to lend her credibility.

This also pointed out an issue, which was that the spread of paper money was related to the territory of the City of Freedom.

If they wanted to truly put the paper money into widespread circulation, then the freedom army would undoubtedly have to expand its territory.

At times, the objective for starting a war wasn't just as simple as fighting over new territory.

At this point, even if Theresa and Mackney didn't come to find him, Erwin had to think of a way to approach them.

...

After the release of the paper money, it was smoothly incorporated into the lives of all of Zans's citizens even faster than Erwin had anticipated, and soon, this form of highly efficient new currency was rapidly sweeping through the cities and towns around Zans.

Given how well the paper money had been received, the negotiations between the Ubiquitous Firm and the City of Freedom were also made a top priority.

Of course, Erwin had arranged all of this in the shadows.

Meanwhile, Lia was also struggling with concerns of his own. The enormous expenditure required to support the freedom army was something that neither the government nor the church could afford to provide over the long term. However, the Universal Church Freedom Army was the basis of all operations. After all, it was imperative for the protection of the City of Freedom and the expansion of its territory.

Hence, as Christine came to visit with the offer of funding the freedom army, Lia and the others had responded in a rather indifferent and composed manner, but in reality, they were celebrating internally.

As the main financial backer of the freedom army, Christine was naturally able to state her own condition, which was that the currency distribution rights in the City of Freedom had to be completely handed over to the Ubiquitous Firm.

Given the current situation, it didn't make any difference whether those rights were handed over to her or not. In terms of religious gospel, both Lia and Turan were experts, but when it came to the field of business, they were no more adept than an infant in comparison with Christine.

Hence, even as Christine passed a contract that had been written up in advance into Lia's hands, Lia still wasn't feeling very vigilant or watchful.

After carefully reading through the entire contract, he passed it over to Erwin.

Erwin pretended to also read carefully through the contract, and he even raised a few questions about certain clauses toward Christine, but in reality, he was the one who had drafted this entire contract.

A faint smile appeared on Erwin's face as he read the clause "The Ubiquitous Firm shall be the only currency distributor of the City of Freedom."

While answering Erwin's completely inconsequential questions, Christine was doing her best to hide her own amusement toward Erwin's pretentious display.

Once Erwin approved of the contract, he exchanged a glance with Lia, and both of them gave one another a gentle nod.

After both the archbishop and the leader of the freedom army had signed the contract, the collaboration was officially established.

In this moment, Lia had no idea just how much trouble this signature of his was going to cause for the City of Freedom and even the entire world in the future.