498. 2008 Crisis

"Why didn't you take me along?"

Hearing Ragnar's heart-wrenching words, the ghost of Sophia Oroborus also cried out. "Don't say that, Ragnar. What happened was not your fault. It was a crime and you made the criminals pay for it.

"Let go of the past now, you need to embrace the future. Make a family, laugh and love... you need to live."

"W-Where are you? In heaven?" He asked her.

She didn't agree or disagree, "I am in a place for souls. We don't know if the old man who manages the place is a god or not, but he does make us call him grandpa all the time.

"I and your father are well. We want you to be good too, that will make us truly happy as we worry for your safety and life from the moment we are gone. But... it seems you have made a new friend and have a new family,"

Ragnar cleared off his tears and nodded, "Yes, mum. Magnus is my best friend and a brother. His life is filled with bad luck too but he still smiles. My new mother, Grace, and dad are amazing people as well. They never made me feel like I was an outsider. I wish all of them nothing but wellness."

"Mum, did you know, Oroborus family comes from an ancient line of Wizard King in Norway. He was a fool, however, as he messed up a mutation on himself and turned into a half-dragon, he became mad and ate his tail, killing himself. That's how we got Oroborus name." Ragnar revealed. He wanted to share so many things with her.

Sophia calmly listened to everything he wanted to share. She knew how much he wanted to talk to her.

"I... I wish you were with me, mum. Life would have been so perfect." He calmed down soon after and just tried to hold her hand.

She patted his head, "Dear, every human gets what's written in their fate, nothing less, nothing more. I too wish I could have lived to see you grow up, dress you in cute clothes, see you get married and someday play with my grandkids."

"*sigh* Magnus said I should not keep you longer than 30 minutes, it can hurt you. I just want to say... I love you and I will try to be a man you can be proud of. Though I won't say when I will find a girl." He cheekily added the last words.

Sophia kissed his forehead, it only felt like air brushing his forehead, "I am already proud of you, sweetie. You've got nobody to prove yourself to. You live your life however you want to and just think about taking care of those who are already in your lives."

He nodded, "I will, mum. I will always keep my family safe, always."

After that, Ragnar noticed the clock, 30 minutes had already passed. He didn't want to hurt her, "Goodbye,"

"Take care and eat healthily. You will always have my blessing." Ragnar waved her goodbye. The bluish light started to disappear into the ring. He didn't feel sad, however, as he felt his heart was at peace.

*Sigh* "Time for dinner,"

...

He walked to the dining hall and saw the whole family sitting together and eating. He first went to Magnus and returned the ring, "Thanks, Mag. I will never forget this."

"Glad I could help," Magnus wore the ring on his right middle finger.

Taking a seat, Ragnar seemed particularly happy and excited. He chirped and put 10 fried chicken legs on his plate, "I am going to eat so much today that you all will feel ashamed of your appetite."

Grace chuckled, "Really? What made you so excited today?"

"Nothing, I just realised how lucky I am to have such an amazing mother," he replied, meant for both his mums.

Grace blushed, "Oh you, still the same. Here, take some more chicken,"

"Sure, put it all on my plate," He didn't deny and ate heartily.

Seeing him, Magnus felt happiness from the bottom of his heart. Ragnar had gotten his revenge but it was now that his sorrow had come to an end. ~May this smile always remain with you, my brother,"~

Magnus then talked to Athena to his left, "Dear, we will be going to the ICW next,"

"But... okay, we will go there, dad." She nodded silently.

She was being taught by Magnus so one day she could take the throne and run things as well as him. It was not easy to teach, she lacked the motivation to learn everything. Initially, she was excited, but as time passed, her feelings about what her dad does decreased.

Still, she didn't want to disappoint Magnus, so she tried her best to always comply with everything, putting aside her wishes. In her mind, everything she was learning was something bigger than her personal wishes. What her dad does affects the entire world, and she can't afford to make a mistake in the future where people will die.

*Burp* "Dinner was great," Ragnar finished eating. It was time to make the announcement. "But I have something to announce to everyone. Mum and dad, I have decided to leave. I am going on a world tour to find myself a wife. I will only return once I have a significant other,"

Grace lost her grip, the spoon fell on the table, "A-Are you serious?"

"Yes, mum. I think being 45, it will already be hard to find a girl to marry. But since I still look so handsome, I have a chance. Don't worry now, I will complete your long wish. I have given Magnus the means to find me and I leave tomorrow." He announced his plan.

*Sob* "My boy has grown up now," Grace wiped her fake tears. She hugged Ragnar, "Good boy, I will wait for my grandkids,"

"Woah, easy there, mum. It's going to take some time to pop a few babies. Here, I made you this teddy bear to play with until then. You press its chest, it will speak like me," He handed her the toy.

Grace pushed the toy's chest. The voice came, "Hahaha... it is I, the most handsome, the strongest, the best, Ragnar Grant Ulrik Oroborus."

(￣_￣|||)

Grace sighed, "What did I even expect it to do."

...

The next day, the whole family stood at the top balcony of the Camelot to see off Ragnar.

"Did you pack everything?" Magnus asked.

"Yup, food, clothes, my books, potions, materials and... condoms." Ragnar gave a thumbs up and lifted his broom.

Magnus chuckled wryly. "Contact me if you ever need anything."

"Big brother, make sure you send letters," Aurelia, Maximus and Clementia hugged him.

"And send me gifts," Athena added.

Ragnar exchanged hugs with everyone, "Of course, my little cutelings."

He then hugged Emma and whispered to her, "Take care of Magnus, Emma. I can't tell you much but... he's not very well. Don't let him use high magic."

Emma's eyes contracted. Silently nodding, she affirmed, "Thanks for the heads-up, Rag."

Next, he spoke to Adam and Grace. Adam was like all fathers, he hugged and wished him luck. But Grace cried, "My boy is going out so far alone for the first time. I will miss you so much every day."

"Hehe, I will speak to you daily, mum. I will send you photos of every woman I see as a possible wife. You can vote too." he warmly stayed in a hug for a while.

"MEOW!"

"HORRR!"

Just then, out of nowhere Chad and Summer came. Chad tried to pull Ragnar's jeans. While Summer sat down on his shoulder. It was comical. both of them had tied a small piece of cloth in the back, it was full of something.

"Do you two want to go with me? Why?" Ragnar asked.

"Mwa!" Chad replied.

He picked Chad in his arms. He couldn't help but be fond of this bad boy. He shared so many moments of his life with him, "Want to see the world with me? Haha, I don't mind taking you two. I do need someone to entertain me from time to time. But, Summer, you need permission from Magnus and Chad, you need permission from Granny Martha,"

Chad quickly turned his head towards Martha and hit her with innocent eyes. "Meow?"

Martha rolled her eyes, "You have my permission. You just sit, eat and be lazy anyway. Learn a few things when travelling, you are my heir after all. I will start your magical training once you are back,"

Chad saluted her cutely. Then quickly climbed to Ragnar's brought right shoulder to take a seat. Summer, meanwhile, was with Magnus, sitting on his shoulder and talking.

Not knowing what they silently talked. She eventually returned to sit on Ragnar's shoulder.

"Take her, Rag. But care for her, Summer is like family to me." Magnus gave permission.

Lovingly, Ragnar caressed Summer's head, "Sure, she's a family to me as well. Both of these munchkins are. Okay then, see you once I have a wife. TAKE CARE! EAT WELL AND KICK ASSES!"

He pushed the ground off while holding the broom vertically beside him. It sure was a stylish way to go. Once a few metres up, he correctly sat down on the broom.

His disappearing back made Magnus' heart feel uneasy, however. It was as if... the Universe was screaming at him to stop him. But he ignored it as the Universe was a bitch to him anyway.

...

Ragnar left, and in his absence, the house became a bit boring. But thankfully, Duck was always there. Clementia and Maximus were also based in Camelot. Only Aurelia lived in Los Angeles.

Besides that, Magnus asked for Bobby to come and visit from time to time. But the boy seemed pretty busy these days for some reason. Still, time passed as everyone got busy doing their own things.

Ragnar's letters would come every month, each package with hundreds of photographs. In some Ragnar, Summer and Chad would be dressed as tribal people from some African tribe, in some, they would be dressed in suits. The three were surely enjoying their time.

But the same could not be said about the world. In 2008, an economic crisis erupted in the United States of America. It was Sunday, September 28. Magnus arrived in America to meet Harrison Ford. The man had long ago completed his two terms as the president and now acted like a retired president.

But, that was not the case, he was in control of a few powerful people in the Government. But he had not expected this Mortgage crisis to appear and take such a big ugly form.

"So, what is all this even about?" Magnus asked him.

Frowning, Harrison passed on the important papers. "This is the investigation done by MEDA."

Magnus read the report. It was a pretty straightforward thing. Turns out, a major investment bank called Lehman Brothers and smaller investment banks were buying mortgages from lenders on a giant scale. Then they combined a bunch of them and started selling them as Mortgage-Backed Securities. Basically, money security where people and institutions can invest and hope for a steady return. Now homeowners pay these securities buyers.

Even the government was doing it. This created a cycle of more people buying homes and more mortgages being sold by these banks. Currently, the amount of credit insured by these insurers was at 62 trillion dollars, jumping from a mere 900 billion. At this point, there was no money in the world for something like this to exist, but the market was in full swing of being speculative. Everything was fine as long as the housing market didn't collapse.

So what happens when the market's demand for mortgages is high? Well, bank lenders issue mortgages to high-risk buyers. A lot of high-risk buyers. The mortgage contract came with extremely high ballooning interest rates after a set amount of time. So what may seem like a nice deal, will not be the same a year later.

Long story short, lenders kept issuing high-risk mortgages, investment banks kept buying them and even hiding them as AAA-rated bonds, then banks and institutions kept buying them as securities, thinking their money was safe. Of course, the government was in on it.

Lehman Brothers knew that this bubble was going to burst. So they filed for bankruptcy. Now, it was Sunday, the next day when the sun rises and the market opens, it's going to be a bloodbath. People will kill themselves and jump off buildings.

These investment banks had sold these securities to post offices, old age homes, nursing homes, and other institutions. All the money was now down in the drains. These banks have destroyed the lives of millions of people around the world. Millions will lose their jobs. It was a giant fraud, the sad part was, it was all legal.

Magnus put down the report and sighed. "What's the time? 4 AM? Tomorrow, the world will face a hit. I can't let that happen, not when we need financial stability all over the world. How good is your control over the government?"

Harrison was angered at this too, after all, there was no way the administration didn't know. "Not enough, but give me an hour. It's time I brought both political parties under my control. Their greed can clearly not be checked otherwise. What's your plan?"

"I can't do much. I can't just wave the wand and make money that never existed. This was pure speculative trading. Now that your banks are on the verge of going bankrupt, they can't pay loans to companies that rely on it to operate.

"Pardon my language, but you guys fucked yourself. Now, I can make an announcement that I will invest in the United States. What the government needs to do is immediately announce a bailout package."

Harrison agreed, Magnus was the leader of the Order of Merlin, his words were of the highest value to all. "What about all those responsible?"

"I will not, can not, tolerate all these so-called investment banks who caused this. Announce what took place as a fraud, a crime. Seize all their properties, all their wealth. Use it to help the people who are going bankrupt, help small businesses. No bailout to these investment banks, no matter how big or how high their reach is. Let them go to hell.

"They must pay for their crimes in blood if they have to. Put them all behind bars if you have to. Because let me tell you, after this, the American people will lose their trust completely from the government. People are not dumb, they know the government was in on this mess."

Harrison's jaw tightened. It was an extremely drastic step, "This... will mean we will go to nearly every financial institution. Goldman and such will be hit hard."

"They are the cancer of our society. I love capitalism, but I have said this, again and again, capitalism that harms your own people is not capitalism, it's crony capitalism. They didn't capitalise on anything, they knowingly created opportunities to earn money while knowing it would cause long term damage.

"Do you know why the United Kingdom today is richer than the US today? Because I never allowed these bastards to misuse the financial system. Harrison, there is a fine line that nobody should cross. If they do, they should not be saved. Rest is up to you, I will go back and try to mitigate this mess at home."

...

Monday came. Bloodbath also came. But this time, the government was ready. The President resigned soon after, the Vice President took over under Harrison's command.

It was not just a bloodbath in the market, but also a bloodbath of the investment banks. The Government was swift, it called out all these banks, announced them as frauds and seized their money and properties.

A trillion-dollar bailout package was announced, but no banks that caused it were named in the package. Magnus's announcement came soon after. The UK's economy was not as affected, and the announcement that the British Government will also make a bailout package of 300 Billion was a great help. Magnus announced a 100 billion dollar investment package for companies.

Still, millions of jobs were lost, millions of people were affected. But it could have been much worse. However, did the Investment Banks really cause all this? How could the Government see it and ignore it?

...

While Magnus tried to manage the world economy from going into recession, there was a single man who hoped to push the world into chaos. And day by day, inch by inch, he moved closer to his goal.

To catch him was impossible because he had learnt his lesson from the past defeat. This time, he was prepared to strike just once, a single killing blow to win it all.

While the chaos broke out, he sat in his comfortable room and watched the news, an evil grin plastered on his face, ~Slow and steady wins the race, Mr Pendragon. We shall meet soon.~

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