Debt

TL/ED: Lolz

Wake up early in the morning.

Ian, as usual, finished his early morning training.

“Phew.”

Lately, he had been increasing the intensity of his training little by little.

The ‘Combat Training’ event was approaching.

It was quite an important event, as it influenced grades and scholarships, and from a story perspective, it served as the foundation for future scenarios.

‘The villains are starting to reveal themselves.’

Of course, he didn’t plan to get involved in every event happening. His mind was currently occupied with improving himself.

His concept was to observe from a distance, a slight detachment from the story.

After all, Pongpong had disappeared from the story for a while after the s*icide incident.

‘It’s troublesome if the story line goes wrong for no reason.’

With that determination to keep training and growing, he returned to his accommodation.

“What’s this?”

What greeted Ian upon his return to the accommodation was a stack of bills.

Notices pasted like locusts at the door.

The accommodation was already cheap near the academy, and with these notices…

“I feel like my life has gone terribly wrong.”

A laugh burst out.

It was a laugh born of sheer absurdity. Just how much debt had he accumulated to have these stuck to his door? Should he take a look?

“Oh.”

After checking the content of the bills, he barely restrained the stream of curses that wanted to escape.

“Pongpong, you crazy b*stard…”

The amount of debt was anything but ordinary.

He vaguely thought he’d have some debt and had been planning to confirm and prepare for it.

“200 gold…?”

200 gold coins.

When converted to Korean won, it was 200 million won.

It was practically the maximum credit loan available as a Pongpong.

He cursed himself for getting in too deep.

“Please tell me you bought land in the capital region.”

Of course, Pongpong wouldn’t do that.

He had, of course, invested his entire fortune in the heroines.

His head was spinning.

Luckily, the interest rate was quite low.

There seemed to be special tuition loans and living expense loans available for Lichten Academy students.

It was like a top-notch institution in Korea, almost on par with the country’s leading medical schools.

“At this rate, I’m heading for bankruptcy.”

The 100 silver coins Pongpong left him were his entire fortune.

Just paying the interest due this month would be 30 silver coins. When considering living expenses and other costs, he could probably make it for two months at most.

“…I’ll have to pay tuition soon, too. I have to find a way to get a scholarship here.”

He had a gloomy feeling.

But it wasn’t completely hopeless.

He had been thinking of ways to earn money for a while. He just hadn’t put the plans into action.

The decision had been to focus on growth to the best of his ability. Of course, the situation had changed now.

“For now, the most effective way to earn money is…”

Naturally, it was stocks.

Wait, stocks in a fantasy setting?

That was his first thought when he encountered the stock content in Fanta X Aca. But as he continued to trade stocks with pen and paper instead of with his phone, he naturally realized that stocks had existed for a long time.

Anyway.

Apart from the hassle of going to the stock trading guild in person and making transactions, stocks were the most efficient way to make money.

He knew about upcoming events and the guilds that would become important in those events.

Fortunately, it was still a time before major events occurred.

Ian took out a blank notebook.

[Ecomana]

Roughly speaking, it was a new guild that would begin trading in about two weeks.

Ecomana was a guild that created new mana to replace the most crucial resource in Fantasy X Academy, ‘mana’. In a world where mana engineering had advanced significantly, mana was an incredibly valuable resource.

Ecomana guild’s stocks initially received poor evaluations as mere scams…

However, the guild leader later displayed a performance by using ‘Ecomana’ to operate a mana train, leaving a legendary record of skyrocketing stock prices in the Lichten Stock Market.

“Of course, it was a scam.”

Well, even if it was a scam, it’s not a problem when you know it. You just eat and forget about it.

Ian nodded in satisfaction. The real issue was something else.

“In fact, the seed for stocks is essential.”

This was the problem. He didn’t have money right now.

“Should I take on some quests?”

Registering with a quest guild would allow him to take on several quests. However, he needed to be cautious, as taking the wrong quest could potentially make him the prey of the non-v*rgin heroine.

He had to think carefully about this.

“I can’t believe how quickly time has passed.”

Before he knew it, it was time to go to school.

There was never a day when he wasn’t busy.

◆

“This afternoon, we will form combat training groups. Magic, Priest, Reconnaissance, and Knight Department, a class from each will gather, and I hope you plan your teams with no more than four members.”

After morning classes, Professor Violet, who was responsible for Mezai, stopped the students briefly, saying that there were some instructions.

“Please keep in mind that every year, a significant number of injuries occur during combat training.”

The atmosphere in the classroom had changed considerably.

From the beginning, the name of the class was ‘Combat Training’.

It involved training against monstrously large monsters as if it were real combat.

While the monsters weren’t real, they were recreated using mana engineering, and their strength and aggressiveness were accurately reproduced, making it quite dangerous.

“Now, everyone should assemble at the Second Training Ground in the afternoon.”

They had to form teams again.

With Ian’s current reputation, he couldn’t gather team members normally.

‘I’ll give up on team member recruitment.’

It couldn’t be helped. He quickly gave up and went outside.

He planned to eat his lunch outside.

He had some time to spare for a light jog.

After eating, he went for a walk around the training ground.

Ian stood in front of a nearby mana engineering beverage vending machine.

He decided to get a refreshing drink.

As a benefit for Academy students, one can was free per day.

“Might as well go with something carbonated.”

He picked up a can of the beverage and started sipping it. As he was standing there, he noticed a familiar face approaching from a distance.

‘…Silvia Laurent?’

Silvia Laurent, a 4.5-star character. Although she didn’t make it to the top tier of Fantasy X Academy’s official heroines due to her low potential, she had a unique charm and was a popular character.

She was a member of the Academy’s top-performing class, Aether, and a member of the upper class, Laurent.

Laurent was a competitor for Emilia Raymond’s upper leader position. Of course, she fell short in several aspects.

Anyway.

It means rich.

They could be acquaintances, and getting to know her wouldn’t hurt.

Besides, Ian was well aware of Silvia’s preferences.

Ian quietly observed as the blonde-haired girl walked past. Then, he cautiously started a conversation.

“Hey there…”

“Hmm.”

She briefly glanced in his direction and then turned her head away, looking somewhat displeased.

Her forehead was slightly wrinkled, and her lips curled slightly.

It was clear that she wasn’t pleased with his presence.

But Ian couldn’t afford to be picky.

— Slip!

“Aaaah!”

Silvia stepped on a discarded bottle cap.

She tried to regain her balance in a panic.

— Squelch

Just like that, her feet slipped in the mud, causing her to fall.

Silvia, who had been drenched in muddy water, looked quite miserable with her designer clothes and bag covered in filth.

Ian, who had managed to avoid getting dirty, muttered under his breath.

“… I was trying to warn you to be careful.”

Silvia, now irritated, approached Ian.

“You. You better watch that mouth.”

She seemed displeased, but she didn’t go any further with insults or threats.

Silvia was a high-society lady-like character, after all.

Ian shrugged nonchalantly.

“Hah.”

Silvia, who was about to walk past him with a sigh, suddenly heard Ian mumble softly.

“I can help you with those clothes if you want.”

“Help? You?”

“Yeah.”

“How? Are you going to do the laundry or something?”

Silvia raised her eyebrow, looking as though she found it amusing.

Mud was smeared across her pale face.

Ian nodded at her.

“I can purify it to some extent.”

“…Purify?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know how difficult that is…!”

“Okay, just hold my hand.”

“As expected, you have ulterior motives…”

Silvia seemed curious yet suspicious, furrowing her brows.

Her expression seemed to say that she would scrutinize every little thing.

Of course, it didn’t bother Ian.

He had already become accustomed to such expressions while playing Fantasy X Academy.

“So, are you going back to the dormitory now?”

“Not exactly.”

“Aren’t you a Laurent’s upper leader? You should be able to calculate the risk and return.”

“…”

Silvia hesitated for a moment, then reached out her hand.

Ian had expected this. Designer clothing, a high-end bag – she was the kind of person who put a lot of effort into cultivating her image.

She seemed to loathe ‘commoner’s items’ intensely.

Would it be appropriate to say she had the concept of a haughty chaebol heiress?

With outstanding calculation skills on top of it all, he was certain she would reach out for help.

‘By the way, this ‘Dishwashing’ is quite useful.’

Ian lightly cast a spell.

Silvia’s clothes and body, which had been dirtied, were instantly cleaned.

“…What is this? How did you…”

Ian slipped a band-aid from his pocket into Silvia’s bag as she was admiring.

“All set? I’m off. Take care.”

With this, Ian had more than earned his points with her.

◆

Silvia was already annoyed, considering that the Raymond upper leader was subtly extending their influence into the academy…

‘Ugh. Why is it always like this with the elite students today?’

In one of the Academy’s narrow alleyways, Ian stood in front of a vending machine.

Upon seeing him, Silvia furrowed her brows.

She was already having a tough day, and now Ian was involved.

Of course, Silvia knew Ian due to his notorious reputation within the Academy, which was less than stellar.

‘… Ugh, I’m going to be late if I go back now.’

Silvia hesitated for a moment, then decided to walk past him. However, she unexpectedly stumbled into a mud puddle.

With her clothing and bag turned into rags, Silvia’s dignity was gone.

And all of this was witnessed by Ian, who was one of the worst students at the Academy.

Her stomach churned.

“Okay, I’m off.”

Ian said after thoroughly cleansing her clothes and body.

“…Huh?”

Silvia was momentarily surprised, inspecting her bag, which remained impeccable despite just being caked in mud.

Even the inside of her bag was extremely clean.

‘The mud must have definitely made its way inside the bag.’

A mere Academy student from the lower-ranking E class, she couldn’t believe that someone outside the top Aether class could wield purification magic so perfectly.

“…Could this be a coincidence?”

Though it seemed unlikely.

Was it some sort of trick?

Silvia was left in astonishment as she examined her bag, frozen in place.

“What is this…?”

A small bandage caught her eye.

She noticed that a small cut had appeared on her hand.

However, it was impossible for someone like a high-ranking Laurent to carry such a shabby item.

Ian had clearly placed it inside her bag earlier.

“Whew.”

Silvia sighed and held up her bandage with her fingertips.

An infinitely low-quality band-aid.

There was a drawing of a dog that looks like some kind of kid drew it.

Her eyebrows twitched together.

“Did you think I would use such a common people item?”

She stopped talking to herself like that for a moment.

She looked around.

She suddenly swallowed her words.

She then looked back at the drawing of the dog on the bandage.

“Heh…”

A nonsensical sound came out of her mouth.

She carefully peeled off the band-aid and stuck it on the wound.

“So cute…hehe.”

Giggle. Silvia raised the corners of her mouth.

It was a somewhat silly laugh, and she allowed herself to enjoy the moment.

“Lady Silvia! You have to go quickly!”

In an instant, Silvia’s expression turned serious, and she reverted to her usual demeanor.

“Yes. Let’s go.”

And there stood the poised and elegant young lady once again.

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