Seeing as there didn't seem to be any court today, Viveki headed to the Imperial rooms and respectfully asked to speak with the Emperor regarding some economic issues.

Viveki is soon escorted inside, before Shiba. He nodded to her. "You are our guest from the Ivory Kingdoms, are you not? Viveki from House Doshi. Welcome."

A servant pours her a cup of tea near the cushion where she's indicated to sit.

Viveki clasps her hands together, bows, and takes the offered seat. "That is correct. Thank you for meeting with me. I had hoped to speak with you at court, but perhaps a more informal setting is better."

She smiles warmly. "In the interest of your time, I shall make my words short. I learned yesterday that your empire does not yet have a currency system in place. I had hoped to convince you of the importance of implementing one, and I wish to offer my assistance in doing so."

He nodded, clearly listening intently. "From my understanding from discussions with the Nezumi, your country produces many adept traders. I would be happy to hear your ideas."

"That is true," she replies, inclining her head at the compliment. "Shifting to a set currency would be my first suggestion. The barter system is awkward to use, especially as the scale of a transaction increases. If you wished to purchase five hundred pounds of rice from me, how would you pay? With chickens? Would be better to go with man who has seven hundred pounds of silver, because silver cannot die or run away. But I cannot eat silver, so maybe I split between both?"

She waves the idea away. "With currency, I can trade for coins, then use coin to trade for what I need. It smooths out entire process and makes it easier for people to conduct commerce across the entirety of your empire."

He nodded seriously. "I see. How do you decide what each unit of currency is worth?"

"It is... largely decided by market demands, which is to say, it is worth what people believe it to be worth. I know that is not a good answer, but right now, you have a general sense of how much a chicken is worth compared to, say, one of your swords or a ring made of gold."

She lifts a hand, displaying her rings. "The most easy way to begin is to mint coins - intricate designs are good, to prevent counterfeits - and then tell your subjects how many coins are to be spent on common items for a set period... a few years, perhaps. With that baseline in place, they can work out the value of other items. Placing a ban on bartering, forcing others to use the coins... this would help things along."

Shiba rubbed his chin, nodding as he listened. "I'm not sure the speed is worth the disruption. But I believe I can sort out a way to give them some lead time to adapt."

Viveki nods in agreement. "Many nations have copper coins, which work well. Adopting so.ething similar would make future trade easier."

She withdraws a copper coin and passes it to him to examine. "Once things are up and moving, you would only have to regulate how much coin is produced. Many people think that minting more coins means more money to spend, but doing so only lessens overall value of each coin. It can be helpful to have trusted people handle the entire process, to ensure they do not collapse the system."

He picked up the coin, turning it over between his fingers. "I have an idea or two about who to entrust with such work."

"Is there any reason why copper in particular, aside from it sounds like it has been agreed upon by many others?"

"No, nothing special in itself, other than, as you say, it is what others use. It would make trading with foreigners easier for your people, but that is all." She pauses. "I would recommend against using a valuable substance such as gold, as it runs the risk of the currency being more valuable than anything one would want to purchase with it, and thus running counter productive to your goals."

"Mm... I see. As what is ultimately merely a medium of exchange abstractly representing the movement of goods in a more portable way, that is a benefit," he agreed. "Besides which, copper is considerable lighter than gold. If that's it's job, portability is important, as well."