"Richter intercepts the loan application, ensuring Diana’s father approves it with hidden, devastating collateral clauses attached."
The ink on the Magistrate’s decree was barely dry before the financial tremors began to shake the foundations of Aethelgard. Richter watched from the quiet shadows of the bank, his face composed and unassuming, as the economic machinery of the city began to cannibalize itself. The collateral clauses he had carefully inserted into Galileo’s loan application were now in full effect. Every credit that flowed into the Galileo coffers was now legally tethered to the secondary investment portfolios held by the Magistrate Bank. If the corporation failed to meet its aggressive growth targets, the bank would have the right to seize physical assets, foundry sites, a
