112. Chapter 111 – Prince Lahore

Chapter 111 – Prince Lahore
Even Aiwas himself didn’t expect that the fish this could even be directly hooked.

He didn’t even say two sentences, only just started to nest, not even officially hooked it …… fish on their own fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering fluttering jumping on the shore.

–It seems that Mr. Fish is really in a hurry.

So Aiwas didn’t point it out, but directly followed Mr. Fish to Lloyd’s.

The Capitol District is to the northwest of the Red and White Queens, and to get to Lloyd’s you have to directly cross the entire Red and White Queens …… but Lloyd’s, as a harbor district, surely can’t let all the goods be backlogged and shipped out. There was more than one railroad from the most populous metropolitan area to the Lloyd District, which was southeast of the sea. But they all bypassed the Red and White Queens in the center.

Attorney York took Ivars on the train.

It was only just after nine o’clock and they had arrived in Lloyd’s.

— Despite Attorney York’s statement that they were not a commercial company, what came into view was a skyscraper.

With more than thirty floors, the building was already considered to be of a very impressive level given the technology of this era. This was the tallest building in the entire Lloyd District, a stark contrast to the surrounding buildings that were only one or two stories tall.

The Lloyd’s headquarters building could be said to be filled with people, and the flow of people coming and going tried their best to remain decently dressed. The entrance to the building was a huge revolving glass door, and the marble floors of the lobby shone like new.

There were many small round tables in the lobby with low stools set up next to them. There were some young men in suits who looked like businessmen sitting there, chatting in low voices with some well-dressed but embarrassed people.

On the side of the hall, there was a huge display board, on the left side of which were written the names of Tyson Crude Oil, Nemanja Ocean Group, and Bea Lizard Metal and Lumber Company, and on the back side, there was a row of numerical boards that could be flipped over to a single digit after the decimal point. On the right side were the names of goods, things like cotton, soybeans, sugar, wine, etc., and on the right side of the flippable sign were their prices.

A large number of people in suits were gathered there, some discussing in low voices, some looking nervous, some making a lot of noise, and others standing in the corners with a book and taking notes on something. Every now and then someone also came over and flipped the counting board, adjusting the numbers to the latest version.

As soon as Attorney York entered with Ivars and Lily, someone immediately greeted them.

A receptionist who appeared to be just in her early twenties, exquisitely dressed with mature and beautiful makeup came over and politely greeted, “Mr. Counselor.”

“Which senior is in?” Counselor York asked.

“Mr. Boca, Mr. Forbes, Ms. Gray Green.” The female receptionist replied.

“Is Mr. Lloyd not in,” Attorney York murmured, then spoke up and instructed, “Please ask Vice President Boca to come to my office and tell him I’ve brought someone new.”

“Yes.”

The female receptionist responded.

Immediately after that, York took Ivars and Lily to the elevator and spoke to the elevator attendant, “Go to the seventeenth floor.”

The elevator administrator was a middle-aged woman in her forties. She nodded and turned the wheel in her hand, raising the gate made of barbed wire. She then pulled the gate in front of her, and the half-open elevator swung right up.

This was the first time Ivas had ever seen an elevator in Avalon.

Moreover, this elevator was too old – when the elevator reached the mezzanine floor of the two-story building, red bricks could even be seen through the wire mesh door, and the elevator was still shaking and making noise as it rose. It made Ivars suddenly hang on for dear life, lest it suddenly break and fall right out of mid-air.

In the gaps of the wire mesh, powder and small debris rolled down into the elevator from time to time. The elevator manager was not surprised by this and kicked it straight down the gap in the wire mesh again.

In the end, the elevator reached the seventeenth floor, and after a violent vibration, it slowly stopped swaying from side to side.

At least it had arrived safely. Lilly’s sigh of relief was not traceable, her fingers clenched tightly on the wheelchair just now to the point that they had turned white from the exertion.

“Have you ever been in an elevator before?”

Attorney York laughed, “I’ve brought quite a few people to Lloyd’s headquarters, but they were all terrified of the elevator the first time they came.”

So this is still the downward spiral you’ve been preparing for, is it?
Ivars ventriloquized.

But he just shook his head slightly and said very firmly, “I’ve never ridden this kind of elevator before.”

“This elevator, along with this building, was designed by architects from Star Antimony.”

Lawyer York walked in front and enthusiastically introduced, “You may not know that our buildings in Avalon usually don’t reach this height. Buildings like the Candle Cathedral of the Division, the Temple of Silver and Tin, and so on, all come from the design of the Church Kingdom. But none of them can reach this high either.

“In the case of buildings reaching this height, special reinforcing materials are needed. Otherwise a gust of wind will shake the upper floors, and with a whimper–it’s easy to just bend and tip over.”

As he spoke, he cheerfully gestured with his hands.

It was as if he had already forgotten that he had just returned from a funeral, and as if he had finally let go of whatever was on his mind.

It was a relaxed ease that naturally overflowed. Even his footsteps lightened up, and he was almost about to hum a song.

“Not all buildings can be maintained by preservationists at regular intervals like the Temple of Silver and Tin. It is a very normal thing for most buildings to gradually deteriorate over time. In this case, it shows the advanced technology of Star Antimony ……” Lawyer York’s words were doubly impressed with the technology of the Star Antimony Kingdom. He chatted about what advanced technology was used in the building, from the architects to the physical structure, and then to the building’s daily foot traffic.

–But you haven’t been to Star Antimony, I’ve really been there. Although it was a past life.

The elevators used by the people of Star Antimony are much more advanced than this. Ivars thought to himself.

After listening to Lawyer York’s broken conversation for a while longer, Aiwas finally couldn’t help but open his mouth and interrupt, “Was this building owned by Lloyd’s two hundred years ago?”

“…… Do you actually know that Lloyd’s is two hundred years old?”

Attorney York was a bit surprised, but quickly drifted off again, “That’s right, you are a ‘Moriarty’ after all.

“But unfortunately, no. It’s been less than a hundred years since the invention of the elevator, and this building was constructed about seven or eight years ago.”

Attorney York laughed, “I didn’t even have this building when I was a kid. I remember it was ten years ago when the old Lloyd’s building was attacked and blown up, so the then President of Lloyd’s paid for this new building to be built.”

“President Lloyd?”

Ivars knew where York wanted to turn the topic, so he aptly chimed in, “Does Mr. Lloyd …… have any relationship with Prince Lloyd back then?”

As expected, this was the topic that York wanted to talk about.

He pushed open the door of his office and smiled pleasantly, “Since you know Prince Lloyd, that’s good. Please have a seat, Aiwa-oh, I’m sorry. Please ask Miss Lily to stay here with Mr. Ivars for a few moments while I make tea for the two of you.”

Ivars keenly heard that York was deliberately saying the wrong thing. His purpose was to interrupt the conversation between them for a while.

In that case, Aiwas would look around in his boredom. And this position was just right to reflect the entire room into his eyes and see the entire layout of the room.

This office was filled with well-cared for greenery, and there was a green parrot with colorful tail feathers in the cage. While the water tank next to it was filled with goldfish, and on the wall was a cozy group photo of Attorney York taken together with other friends. Hooking up, smiling, and even pictures of each other playing around – from their twenties until now, and almost all of those friends were celebrities or big shots.

And while the water was boiling, York didn’t exactly stop.

As he gauged that Ivars was starting to look at his pictures, he spoke again, describing the history of Lloyd’s, “How much do you know about Prince Lloyd?”

“Successful businessman, disgrace to the royal family.”

Aiwas replied.

Prince Lahore’s last name was not “Du Lac”. He was a merchant named “Lahore” more than two hundred years ago.

–More than two hundred years ago was when Avalon’s shipping industry was at its peak.

Prince Lloyd started out as a café owner, and because he was a good coffee maker, many merchants came to his café. When they talked, they brought a lot of information.

Prince Lloyd realized the business opportunity and took out a loan to publish a newspaper called Lloyd’s News, which was published three times a week with a limited edition of 500 copies. On it were all kinds of shipping news and maritime intelligence. These things are very valuable to the merchants of the ocean voyage, which is very costly.

Newspapers were not well developed in those days, and news lagged behind. Lloyd’s had the connections to provide the most accurate and reliable news in the industry. Because of this, the Lloyd’s News commanded a high price among the weaker merchants. Those who couldn’t buy the paper had to come to his café to deal with him personally and consult him for information.

But what Lloyd wrote in the newspaper was only “second-rate” news. He had his own more secret “first class” information, which he sold only to those who were willing to deal with him – exchanging his own information and favors for his information and favors.

By running his own intelligence business, Lloyd gained a high level of influence. The captains, merchants, and loan sharks had to curry favor with him. In this case, he set the rules in his own name and developed an insurance brokerage industry.

Initially, Mr. Lloyd did not issue insurance himself, but all “marine insurance” had to pass through him, and he took a 5% net profit.

It was a profitable business, so of course someone would want him dead. So he started to run his own private army. Eventually, when he saw that he had the power, he started issuing loans himself – the Lloyd’s Loans – and gradually he became a giant. And he gradually entered the circle of the upper class.

In the end, he became a merchant from a private family without a knight’s bloodline, but he fell in love with the queen of the time and became a prince. But even so, he did not abandon the Lloyd’s Register, which he had built with his own hands. Instead, he used the authority of the royal family to make things easier, authorizing Lloyd’s Register members to carry out all insurance business, including marine insurance, and transforming the original Lloyd’s Register into the Lloyd’s Register Weekly News.

Prince Lloyd drew a steady stream of blood from the Crown through Her Majesty, who was devoted to him, and passed all sorts of legal provisions that favored Lloyd’s from the side. At the same time, he also operated an exquisite and fine network of favors, so that important members of some knight families joined or disguised themselves as Lloyd’s. By the time the queen passed away, Lloyd’s had become an untouchable behemoth.

Nowadays, even the Round Table Hall was not in a good position to lay hands on Lloyd’s. It was even closely related to the income of several departments.

Prince Lloyd had become the “shame of the royal family”. Because of Prince Lloyd, many of the royal family’s powers were taken away and limited. It was also after him that the Knights forbade intermarriage with folk merchants without blood.

However, Lawyer York didn’t care about Ivars’ sharp words and just smiled.

This is the first chapter of more than three thousand words, the second chapter is not yet finished, and will be posted at six o’clock in the evening! Double shifts will resume today meow!
Went to bed at 9pm last night, woke up at 3:30am.

Feeling almost dialed in, though my head is still a bit groggy. Although I think you guys have a point, I’m already halfway through tuning out, so I can’t stop (sad)
Let’s just leave it at that for now –

(End of chapter)