I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 219 Calming Down (Second Update)
The group was stunned by DuPont's words, and Robert felt a chill run down his spine.

They had initially thought the boy was there to dissuade the villains who were just going through the motions, but they couldn't even imagine what he was about to say.
Could it be that what this guy said is true?
“Those who are not in a position should not concern themselves with its affairs. You have your difficulties, the members of parliament have their difficulties, and I have mine.” DuPont picked up his teacup again, looking completely calm.

"Fortunately, our country is not full of good-for-nothings, so they sent me to solve the problems. Listen to your troubles, and I will try my best to help you solve what I can. If I can't solve it, you have to find a way to solve it yourselves."

"Of course, if all else fails, I can give you a small ticket, but I can't guarantee what kind of trouble you'll get after that." DuPont said, summoning the Mage's Hand and filling his teacup to seven-tenths full.

"Please hurry up, the sun is about to set. I don't want to waste too much time on you. After all, we're all strangers, and helping you won't bring me any benefit. Please respect time. Even the dwarf needs more time to savor the deliciousness of the wine, doesn't he?"

The apprentices exchanged glances, seemingly communicating something, before Robert, sitting in the middle, finally spoke up: "If we can't cancel this new policy, do we have more time or other ways to raise the money?"

DuPont clapped calmly after hearing this, looking pleased: "Good, it seems you've understood what I meant. I can indeed help you solve this problem."

“A kind and beautiful mentor opened a bank here. The location is a bit out of the way, but it’s still in the academy area.” DuPont took out a map and casually drew a circle: “If you are currently experiencing financial difficulties, as long as it does not exceed 500 gold coins, you can come here to apply for a loan by bringing your apprentice certificate, your personal and family details, and your past transcripts.”

"Loans??" The apprentices were somewhat confused; the unfamiliar term "bank" was not in their vocabulary. "You mean the Church of Woking? Don't they only lend money to chambers of commerce or powerful organizations?"

“No, this is a private matter and doesn’t need to be that complicated. All you need as a guarantee is a good credit history with no bad records, since this money has to be repaid.” DuPont took out a simple contract he had prepared.

"Bring us the information we need, and then you can come here to sign the contract. If you need 300 gold coins, after you hand over the documents and our staff confirms that everything is correct, we can give you the money directly. This process usually takes no more than half an hour."

Robert took the terms and conditions, read them carefully, and found that there weren't many requirements.

But repaying the money is a bit special.

If you borrow 300 gold coins, you must repay 27 gold coins at the bank on the next loan date, for a total of 12 months.

A year has 12 months, so that's 324 gold coins.
"It's roughly like borrowing 300 gold coins. You only need to repay 24 gold coins in interest over a year, while private loans generally have monthly interest rates of over 10%, and the repayment period is 12 months." DuPont raised an eyebrow. "And you can use scrolls instead. If you repay 4 scrolls, you'll get a gold coin back, which is much more convenient than normal student transactions in the academy. How about that? Isn't that generous?"

The group was quite surprised. DuPont was an apprentice and definitely knew the exact price of the scroll. By this calculation, they could borrow more money by working part-time and then hand the scroll over to the bank to pay off their debts. This was much more cost-effective than selling the scroll to their classmates.

Robert had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He looked at DuPont with some confusion and asked, "Is there anything hidden in this contract?"

“What’s so hard about the common language? We can just write it down on papyrus when the time comes.” DuPont looked a little impatient. “Besides, this bank has the backing of a congressman. To be honest, they’re doing this as a way to resolve this matter satisfactorily. Once you’ve gotten a breather and stopped causing trouble, their problem will be solved. The rest is just collecting the debts owed by those archmages and high-ranking mages.”

“Our dean alone can contribute 1000 million gold coins. Even if other grand mages can’t come up with that much, they still have a net worth of one or two million. If this is done well, the donations from each of them will be equivalent to the donations from many apprentices. This is why the councilors didn’t understand your trouble at first, and it is also why they chose to send me to solve the problem and gave me considerable authority.”

"And have you confirmed one thing, that is, Haruazhen is going to pay you back the money? The interest rate of 4% per year is not high, but it is 12% over 3 years. You can earn back the principal and make a little money at the same time."

"Of course, if you take out a loan, you definitely won't make this money. It's up to you to decide what to do."

The apprentices were secretly communicating using teleportation. Dorothy asked, "Is this preferential loan policy available to all apprentices, or only to the five of us?"

“Of course, it applies to all apprentices, but they must be current students with good credit and be able to obtain a certificate from the academy proving that they have no criminal record.” DuPont said, looking at the uneasy expressions on their faces, as if remembering something.

“Oh, right, today’s events definitely don’t count. And those rough agents from the investigation department will apologize to you, Robert. You’ll have to accept their apology. Also, you’ll all have to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding today’s events, promising not to discuss this with anyone and guaranteeing that you won’t do it again. Then this matter will be over.” The group fell silent. Robert closed his eyes, then opened them after more than ten seconds: “Including my classmates who were kidnapped by the mysterious masked men?”

"They got food poisoning and were causing trouble everywhere. We arrested them just because they were affecting the city's appearance. They'll be released tomorrow once things are over. What else can we do?" DuPont shook the ring that detected lies. "Although you and they may have gone a bit too far today, we are all minors after all. The council certainly can't treat you all as spies."

Then DuPont changed the subject: "But if they really caught a few, I think it would be normal. After all, today's incident was too big, and many things have been strange. Like the second time you were taken away by the inspection department, you inexplicably left the inspection department and even gained a bunch of magical items, didn't you?"

DuPont's words drew everyone's attention to Robert, who scratched his head awkwardly. "Indeed, some things are too coincidental. I don't know why things went so smoothly. However, I will hand over all the magical items I received today. I hope you can use these magical items to investigate and find out who is taking advantage of the situation."

“Very good.” DuPont nodded in satisfaction. “You see, many problems stem from a lack of communication. As long as we are willing to communicate, the problems are easy to solve. So please sign the confidentiality agreement here. In the future, no matter who asks, you only need to answer and not say anything. As for the consequences of leaking information, although it won’t lead to your soul falling into hell, to be honest, the council has quite a few methods. I hope you will not make any mistakes.”

As soon as the words fell, a terrifying anti-magic array unfolded, instantly annihilating all spells below the fifth ring and even thinning out arcane energy, causing several apprentices to break out in a cold sweat.

With this anti-magic field, which is hundreds of meters long, wide, and high, in place, can the apprentices still defeat those guards with their numerical advantage?

That's probably almost impossible.

Under the magical lights that illuminated the street, the apprentices quickly signed a confidentiality agreement and left. Robert deliberately walked ahead to scout the way, and only breathed a sigh of relief after leaving the anti-magic zone and finding no one attacking.

It seems that the guy named DuPont wasn't lying; indeed, once they signed the agreement, they could go home or back to their courtyard.

But how much of what this guy says is true and how much is false?

Although the lie-detecting ring makes it impossible for the other party to lie, sometimes concealing the truth and telling the truth are not contradictory.

Even the other party's terrifying words made his hair stand on end.

Those members of parliament who agreed to the new policies were also accomplices. Does this mean there isn't a single good person in parliament?

No, that's absolutely not true. At most, there are more bad people than good people, and nobody cares about their opinions.
While they were thinking, the senior student next to them suddenly exclaimed, "Oh dear!" and said that he had forgotten something. He told them to go back first and then turned back. The others were a little confused after hearing this.

The girl of divine lineage looked at Robert: "Should we wait for him?"

"Forget it, the situation is still unclear, let's go back first." Robert shook his head: "The longer we stay outside, the more worried the other students will be about us. We've already reached an agreement, so telling them about our achievements is the most important thing. Otherwise, everyone will be on edge, and we don't want any more trouble to arise."

Everyone nodded in agreement and hurried back to the academy. Meanwhile, DuPont had just finished packing up and was about to leave when he heard a somewhat familiar voice calling from behind him.

"That junior from DuPont..."

Upon hearing the call, DuPont frowned. Without hesitation, he drew his sword and slashed back, only to see a deadly black-purple light.

It was a purple longsword woven from curses and shadows.

(End of this chapter)