Mr. Pantalone has no crazy plans today.

Unsurprisingly, in this world with a God.

The dark age of aristocratic oppression was ultimately brought to an end by others, guided by the god of liberty.

The Lawrence family, once one of the most powerful noble families during the Mondstadt period, is now regarded as a family of sinners in Mondstadt.

Even after being stripped of their ancient status, many of them still yearn for the glory of the old aristocratic era.

This might be a good starting point.

Perhaps... he could be used to his advantage.

Pantalone's eyes gleamed with contemplation as he gazed at the report on the document.

"These former nobles have a lot of money on them. They are ready-made fat sheep. If we handle things well, we can squeeze a lot of money out of them. Given their former noble status, they should be worth a lot of money."

Pantalone looked at the documents in his hand and murmured softly, thinking about how to squeeze every last drop of profit out of these fat sheep.

Those old nobles who still yearn for their former glory probably wouldn't mind becoming his front men, his tools for extracting funds from Mondstadt.

"If I remember correctly, Mondstadt seems to have a thriving wine industry. Perhaps by placing large orders for Mondstadt wines, we can raise the price of Mondstadt's specialty wines. With high enough profits, merchants, driven by greed, can buy futures contracts and use them as collateral for loans from the Northern Bank, and then use those futures contracts as collateral for a second loan."

"Given the huge orders, if Mondstadt is unable to repay the enormous sums of money required to pay the Northern Bank for these orders, then it would be perfectly reasonable to mortgage Mondstadt's physical assets to the Northern Bank, wouldn't it?"

He had considered that such a thing might attract the attention of the Wind God, but he didn't care.

Although he considered himself different from his colleagues and had no grand ambitions such as being a mastermind, he was still, after all, the ninth seat of the Fools' Executive, "The Rich" Pantalone.

In the end, he only borrowed a little money from Mondstadt's pocket, not like "Lady" punching and kicking the wind god.

After all, these are all legitimate business practices.

It's unlikely that Barbatos, the god of wind, would break the rules and leave the game directly.

Just as the God of Contracts would never break the "contract" he himself made, this is why he believed he could use legitimate business means to make Winter replace Liyue as the heart of money circulation.

"But speaking of which, I seem to have heard somewhere that...Aregino seems to have some connection with the Lawrence family..."

Pantalone pondered the veracity of the rumor.

To be honest, he didn't know much about the past of his colleagues among the executives. In fact, no one else would know such things except for the executives who were familiar with each other.

Not to mention Arecino, his "servant" with whom he didn't have a very good relationship.

So he just thought about it casually and didn't intend to investigate it further.

Chapter 24 I will surely see through his true plan

Beyond the snowfields of winter, a vast, pure white world unfolds.

Snowflakes falling from the sky land on the ground, melt into water, and freeze into frost.

The biting wind was incredibly piercing, feeling like a knife scraping against your skin.

On the ice palace forged from ice and snow, a tall woman in a silver-gray coat leaned against the wall, conversing with a handsome young man wearing an Inazuma-style outfit standing on the city wall.

It was Arecino, the "servant," and Scaramucci, the "striker."

"Pantarone is up to his old tricks again. It seems your impeachment last time didn't completely bring him down, and 'The Clown' has even gotten him to submit another plan. It looks like your attempt to weaken Pantalone's influence hasn't worked."

“If you can’t speak, you can shut your mouth, Scaramucci.”

A tall figure with silver-white hair coldly stared at the boy who stood high on the city wall, admiring the scenery of the endless snowfield.

After being reprimanded like that, the boy was not angry. He simply squatted down and said in a flippant tone.

"Don't be so irritable, Arecino. I've heard that Pantalone seems to have some plans or ideas for Mondstadt recently. I also heard that you are from Mondstadt, just like 'Lady'."

Furthermore, I've heard that Pantalone seems to be preparing to take action against an old Mondstadt noble family named Lawrence. I've also heard that you might have some connection with Lawrence. I don't know if it's true or not, so why don't you tell me about it?"

The words of the "skirmisher" were incredibly detached, as if he hadn't seen the deathly stare directed at him from Arecino's face.

This made Arecino, with a chill in her heart, crush a brick against the wall beside her.

“If you really can’t speak, then I can teach you to speak. Don’t go too far, Scaramucci.”

"Alright, alright, I won't say anything then, but these are all public property of Zhidong, and I won't pay for them if you damage them."

Seeing her reaction, "Scatter Soldier" shrugged helplessly.

Although his words did indeed contain an element of deliberately provoking Arecino, he still knew what it meant to be tactful.

Seeing your colleague get the short end of the stick can be pleasing, but only if you're not the one in the situation. If you were one of the people in the situation, it would be anything but pleasant.

He enjoys experiencing the pain and helplessness of others, but not his own.

"You don't need to tell me this."

"Yes, yes, yes, but Pantalone has been making a lot of moves lately. I heard he even went to see that madman Dotole, apparently to discuss some construction plan."

On the other hand, he's planning his next move against Mondstadt. What new plans do you think he's preparing?

After stretching his body while gazing at the dim night sky and falling snow, the "scatterer" looked at Arecino and asked for her opinion.

Arecino was naturally aware of everything the "scatterers" had said.

Otherwise, she wouldn't be here. She had seen all of Pantalone's recent actions, especially after the impeachment plan.