"Very well, please wait a moment."
The clerk behind the counter worked quickly. Before long, she returned a stamped certificate along with the documents the clumsy girl had submitted.
"You have listed 1.6 milliliters of Softwind Slime Gel at the current price of 915 gold coins per liter.
According to the contract, you must close your position within seven days.
The cost to list this amount totals 1 gold, 46 silver, and 40 copper. An additional 5% deposit is required as a risk-control margin.
Therefore, the total margin you must pay is 1 gold, 53 silver, and 72 copper.
The transaction fee is one ten-thousandth of your principal, which comes to 1.5 copper coins. However, according to guild policy, transactions under 3 copper coins are charged a minimum of 3 copper coins. So you still owe 3 copper coins."
"What? I still have to pay 3 copper coins?!"
The clumsy girl rummaged through all her pockets again—but only managed to produce 2 copper coins.
"Um… Miss Beautiful Clerk, I've already given you all the money I have. Could you make an exception?
My fee was originally only 1.5 copper coins—I even rounded it up for you!"
The clerk hesitated.
Ordinarily, a difference of a single copper coin wouldn't matter much. But guild regulations required staff to maintain strict professional standards—every copper coin had to be accounted for precisely.
There had once been a receptionist who kindly covered a few copper coins for a client.
When her supervisor learned of it, she was dismissed—despite having worked there for three years.
For the sake of her livelihood, this clerk naturally wouldn't bend the rules.
She handed back a revised form and said,
"I'm very sorry, but those are the regulations. I can't make exceptions.
However, you may adjust the amount you wish to list. The fee can then be deducted from the remaining margin."
The clumsy girl hesitated, reaching for the paperwork—
But another hand had already placed a copper coin on the counter.
"I'll cover it."
The girl turned in surprise to see Tina standing behind her. At the same time, Tina had already picked up the form.
"Futures Listing Application?"
She began reading it carefully, line by line.
Seeing Tina pay the missing copper coin, the clerk promptly completed the girl's paperwork. Then she turned politely to Tina.
"Madam, would you also like to process a futures transaction?"
"Yes."
Tina nodded, though unfamiliar with this trading method. She decided she needed to understand it better first.
"I'd like to observe for now."
With that, she took the clumsy girl by the hand and led her away.
They sat down in a quiet corner. Tina set the document aside and asked eagerly,
"What exactly are futures? And what did you mean by short selling?"
"Oh, that."
A flicker of "just as I expected" flashed deep in the clumsy girl's eyes.
She cleared her throat and explained,
"Futures are contracts that define the future trade of a commodity.
What's traded in futures isn't the physical goods themselves—but the contract.
Since commodity prices constantly fluctuate for all sorts of reasons, making money in futures requires not only predicting price trends accurately, but also managing risk properly."
As she spoke, she grabbed Tina's hand and leaned in to whisper,
"Let me tell you something. I've been hanging around the Merchants' Guild since I was six. I know the price fluctuations of every commodity here like the back of my hand.
Take Softwind Slime Gel—the hottest item right now. It looks like the price is rising nicely, but in a few days, it'll definitely drop.
The price has almost hit its ceiling. It's unlikely to rise much further. Even if it does, it probably won't reach 1,000 gold coins.
And I've heard merchants from other regions are already on their way to Savant with large quantities of gel.
Once they arrive and flood the market, prices will surely crash.
That's when I'll make a fortune off my futures contract."
"A fortune?"
Tina chuckled teasingly.
"Isn't that still just a little over one gold coin?"
"Uh… well, yes."
The clumsy girl scratched her head awkwardly.
"I don't have much capital. That one gold coin was earned because I spotted the gel's market trend early.
But I entered too late to grab the biggest gains. Otherwise, I'd have at least ten gold coins by now—and next year's tuition would be covered.
By the way, Senior, why don't you try investing a little too? My predictions are usually very accurate."
"…Hmm."
Tina felt a stir of temptation.
She couldn't dump her gel directly onto the market—but she could handle it in another way.
If she bought gel futures now and shorted them, then when the price dropped, she could simply use the gel in her possession to close the position.
By trading gradually through futures, she could avoid the trouble of moving large quantities back and forth between private rooms and the guild warehouse.
Even using spatial equipment, handling each batch of gel required significant effort.
With futures, she still couldn't guarantee that selling wouldn't impact the market—but at least she wouldn't need to physically transport the goods every time.
After understanding the advantages, Tina immediately pulled the clumsy girl back to the queue.
When their turn came again, Tina handed over her gold card along with a freshly written form.
"Please open an account for me and list twenty thousand liters of Softwind Slime Gel futures."