Tina had promised the steward a reward equal to one ten-thousandth of the total revenue—that is, 11,383 gold coins.
For him, a worker who earned only ten gold coins per month, this sum was equivalent to nearly ninety-seven years of non-stop labor.
In his thirty years at the Merchants' Guild, he had accumulated only about 2,000 gold coins. Even if he risked every last coin, the most he could earn was still no more than 2,000 gold coins.
And he would be taking on the risk of ten years of imprisonment.
In comparison, the steward realized that his previous impulse had been downright reckless. Rather than chasing ill-gotten wealth with such danger, it was far wiser to help Tina execute this transaction properly.
After carefully reviewing the contract and confirming there were no hidden traps, he signed his name. He also neatly folded the other copy of the contract and slipped it into the inner pocket of his suit.
"Rest assured, Miss Tina. I will help you sell this batch of gel at a price that satisfies you. Do you have any other requests?"
"Hmm…" Tina pondered for a moment before replying, "Of this, 10,000 liters of gel, please use as collateral and convert it into futures to be listed over the next couple of days."
The steward frowned in confusion. To him, futures trading was far slower than spot trading.
After all, the concept of futures had only been proposed a few years ago. Most people still could not accept such advanced trading methods. They preferred direct physical transactions. Even if the Guild had mechanisms to prevent one party from defaulting, they still saw futures as risky.
Thus, at the same price, futures sold far slower than spot goods.
What the steward did not realize was that Tina's earlier 20,000 liters of gel had been sold over four days. Otherwise, he might have suspected something unusual—no sane person would repeatedly purchase large batches of the same person's futures.
Even the Guild only realized something was wrong when Tina's margin was insufficient to cover the buyer's losses. Had she not had collateral or additional funds, the Guild could only purchase goods with the margin and deliver them to the buyer. Any loss beyond the margin would have to be settled by the buyer themselves, possibly through the courts.
In most cases, buyers did not have enough assets to cover such losses, which was why most merchants were wary of futures.
But Tina knew that the person who had tricked her into signing the futures contract was undoubtedly one of the masterminds behind this price storm.
This individual had already spent 18.3 million gold coins to acquire the 20,000 liters of gel futures from her.
If they did not want to see more than ten million gold coins go to waste, they would have to maintain the gel price's upward momentum until the agreed settlement date. Otherwise, if the price dropped, panic selling would trigger a herd effect and the market would collapse.
In short, the current gel price structure was like a sandcastle: fragile and in need of constant maintenance.
With a deep bow to Tina, the steward accompanied her out of the warehouse.
Over the next two days, Tina practically lived at the Merchants' Guild. To ensure she could graduate, she even brought her homework with her and completed it there.
Her teachers, seeing that her assignments were submitted on time, were lenient and did not penalize her grade—otherwise, even perfect exam scores could not prevent her from being held back.
Tina was not about to become a junior to Lecko and the others, giving them reason to coin her a new nickname.
Aside from completing her homework, Tina kept a close eye on the gel price.
On the fifth day, with a large influx of gel hitting the market, the price fluctuated slightly. It did not reach 4,000 gold coins, instead stabilizing at 3,700 per liter.
By the sixth day, the price finally reached 4,000 gold coins.
Tina knew the person manipulating the market behind the scenes was beginning to crack.
Over these two days, aside from the 10,000 liters of gel futures, the steward had likely listed many more barrels of gel. Though each batch was small, cumulatively it added up to a significant quantity.
The mastermind behind the gel market clearly did not want it to collapse too quickly and had spent huge sums acquiring gel from the market. This is why the price continued to rise steadily.
Meanwhile, in Sherlock's office, he stared at the bill his secretary had handed him and sank into thought.
"Does Tina really have that much capital?"
Over the past six days, he had spent 55.3 million gold coins acquiring 30,000 liters of Tina's gel futures.
Adding in some scattered physical gel, his funds were nearly depleted, and he even had to shamelessly request additional investment from the Mechanical Academy.
Yet Tina seemed like a bottomless pit, continuously listing gel futures.
Sherlock could not comprehend how much capital she had to sustain this capital battle.
But he understood one thing: no matter what, he had to ensure the gel price maintained a steadily rising trend over the seven days.
Otherwise, he would face consequences worse than bankruptcy.
Because the gold he was spending did not fully belong to him.
Beyond his own Sherlock Merchant Guild, there were six other allied guilds tied to mechanical factories, along with the funds of the Mechanical Academy itself.
Yet he had poured all of it into the gel market.
What frustrated him even more was that most of his money was tied up in futures, which could not be delivered immediately.
Even if he wanted to cash out and leave, it would be very difficult.