The demon of capitalism, Yurha Silverstar, has appeared!
What will the students in the Old School Building do?
- Fight.
- Run away.
- Chase her out.
- Buy things.
“Isn’t there really only one option?”
Yunia answered my question while hugging the fuming Ludmila.
“If we don’t buy anything, it will be a problem for us.”
“That’s true.”
Is there no way the Academy could arrange to procure and supply items?
The Academy is already doing its best.
To emphasize that no special privileges would be granted to special admission students, they even deployed the Golden Carriage. The fact that the Golden Carriage arrived alone shows the Academy has done everything it could.
The only surprise was that the person who brought the Golden Carriage was entirely different from what we, especially I, had imagined.
“Yurha Silverstar…”
Ludmila gritted her teeth and growled openly.
“Everyone, be careful. That woman is dangerous.”
“Yeah! She’s no good!”
Evangeline immediately agreed with Ludmila’s blatant refusal.
“She’s definitely going to rip us off! She’ll secretly manipulate prices and drain our entire budget!”
“She might even threaten us, saying she won’t sell anything unless we buy everything in that Golden Carriage. It’s just a hassle for her to take it back, so she might dump all the junk on us.”
“Exactly! And she’ll charge us way more than it’s worth! Probably for stuff that’s been gathering dust in her warehouse, not even new goods!”
“Hahaha….”
Yunia scratched her cheek, a bit flustered by their fierce reactions.
“Is it really that bad…?”
“Miss Yunia, haven’t you been tricked by Silverstar before?”
“Not really ‘tricked’, but Silverstar never came to sell where I lived….”
Ludmila and Evangeline were hoping for an ally in Yunia, but unfortunately, Yunia had no experience of being ‘victimized’ by Silverstar.
“Hah, but I do understand why you’re saying that. Silverstar is… absurdly, and unnecessarily, expensive.”
Even though she hadn’t been swindled personally, she knew indirectly.
“I used to think about it all the time while staying at the South Terminal. With that money… what was it again?”
So-called, “with that money”.
“While staying at the South Terminal before my special admission, with Phoenix’s help, I heard that Silverstar’s restaurants and hotels charged ridiculous amounts.”
“You heard…?”
Evangeline pricked up her ears.
“You heard? You sound like you had a blast, but you didn’t pay yourself?”
“Uh, well…”
“Of course.”
I gave Evangeline a thumbs-up.
“Because I paid for everything.”
“…”
Evangeline’s gaze toward me shifted.
If I were to be blunt, it was the look of a woman scanning to see how much ‘mineral’ was left in my bank account.
Not that I could actually see how much ‘mineral’ others had, of course.
“Ahem, hey, Student Phoenix? About staying at the terminal with Miss Yunia, I’d love to hear more details.”
“Be precise about what exactly you want to hear.”
“Like what?”
“Well, I’ve got a lot of money, Evangeline.”
“…”
Evangeline wiped her lips with her thumb, her eyes sparkled.
“Probably way more than what Miss Ludmila brought to the Old School Building.”
“What are you talking about?”
Ludmila clutched her purse, startled by my words.
“Phoenix. I don’t know exactly how rich you are, but I was an A-rank adventurer.”
“I know.”
“When Silverstar offered me a contract back then, the signing bonus alone was…”
“I bet it was enough to make you say ‘wow’ ten times over, right? That signing bonus.”
Even if it’s on the low side, Ludmila must have brought at least hundreds of millions in cash.
The exact figures might be smaller in gold or silver, but it’s not easy for a student to carry around that much cash.
Moreover, Ludmila’s equipment alone is worth billions.
Even such a person fiercely resists Silverstar’s ‘overpriced’ reputation—it’s both the public image and the reality.
“Phoenix. Do you have some kind of [Black Card]? Is your money endless?”
“Do I have a [Black Card]? Or… something similar?”
“…Hmm.”
Ludmila, who had been on edge since the appearance of Silverstar, quieted down.
“Is that so?”
Ludmila isn’t a shallow person who values only money.
However, in some standards for evaluating people, “having a lot of money” is certainly a plus, not a minus.
“Well, uh…”
And for Yunia, who had experienced what’s commonly known as “reckless spending” firsthand…
“Were you overdoing it back then?”
“What?”
“All that expensive stuff you ordered and bought to impress a girl…”
It seemed she had misunderstood.
“While I did want to get the best for you, it was also because I could afford it. That’s why I spent the money.”
“Are you, by any chance, the secret child of one of the Empire’s top three richest families or something?”
“No, nothing like that. I just sold ‘magic stones’, that’s all.”
She put her hand in her bosom right away. As if I usually hid my emergency fund, I took out the magic stone from my inside pocket.
However.
I reached into my pocket. Well, not exactly into my pocket.
“…Ta-da.”
Though I felt a little lightheaded, I stretched out my hand and showed them the shining magic stone between my index and middle fingers.
“Wow…”
“Is that a refined magic stone? Incredible. How did you manage to keep such a highly refined magic stone hidden like that?”
“…How much money do you have?”
If I said “infinite”, both Evangeline and Ludmila would probably run out of the Old School Building immediately, saying, “Let’s go shopping for gear together.”
“As much as I want?”
“What kind of ridiculous statement is that?”
“To be precise, as long as the sun is in the sky, I can always exchange magic stones for money.”
“…”
Yunia’s eyes widened for a moment as if she realized something, but then she quickly scanned her surroundings and kept her mouth shut.
“Miss Ludmila, if Silverstar were an enemy we had to hunt as hunters, what would you need to prepare?”
“A lot of money.”
“Exactly. And what you can exchange that money for is right here.”
I flicked the magic stone lightly.
“W-what are you doing?!”
Evangeline reached out in panic, but I caught the magic stone in mid-air and held it again between my fingers.
“I’ll go negotiate with this. Just give me a mo—”
“Huh?”
“…!”
When?
“I followed the scent of money, and what do I find? Something truly magnificent.”
“Y-Yurha Silverstar…!”
Yurha appeared behind me, peeking over my shoulder, and Ludmila instantly pulled me into her embrace, her rabbit ears standing straight up toward Yurha in a show of hostility.
“I was wondering what you were discussing without even looking at the goods, and it turns out you were hiding such a rare treasure.”
Yurha’s gaze was fixated on the magic stone I was holding.
“Hmm…”
Seeing her calculating expression.
Flick.
I flicked the stone again.
Yurha’s eyes followed it up, and with a quick motion, she extended her hands and caught it between her palms.
“…What’s the meaning of this?”
“I’d like to make a sale, Senior Yurha.”
“Of what, exactly?”
“Well, what do you think?”
“…Don’t you know the basics of a transaction?”
Yurha tightly gripped the refined magic stone and glared at me.
“You’re supposed to give the money after the purchase.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then why are you acting like this?”
“Because I’m the one doing the ‘selling’ here.”
I pointed to the magic stone in Yurha’s hand.
“This is a fresh magic stone, freshly extracted from my heart, Senior. A rare treasure you can’t find anywhere else in the world.”
A “late-game resource” that can’t be obtained anywhere except in Hell.
“So, what price will you offer for this?”
“…What if I say zero?”
“In that case, this is what happens.”
I lightly pulled my finger, and the magic stone that Yurha was holding tightly came out and returned to my hand.
“A thread of mana…?”
“Just a small trick. So, how about the price now?”
“…”
“Let’s skip the tedious negotiations and make this a straightforward deal, shall we?”
“A straightforward deal?”
“I’ll buy it. The entire Golden Carriage.”
I walked up to Yurha and gently placed the refined magic stone back into her hands.
“I’ll purchase everything in that Golden Carriage for the Vermilion Bird class of the Old School Building.”
“…”
“And the price will be covered by the sale of this magic stone. You can keep the change.”
“Hah…!”
Yurha chuckled softly, but still clenched the stone tightly in her hands.
“It might be enough for ten Golden Carriages, is that okay?”
“In that case, I’ll take the first nine carriages worth starting from next week. How does that sound, Senior?”
“Oh my, but the deal’s already concluded—for just one carriage this time.”
“Wait, Phoenix.”
Ludmila grabbed my arm from behind.
“You’re not seriously suggesting trading that magic stone for the stuff in that carriage, are you?”
“Ludmila, why don’t you go and pick out what you want? Evangeline, Yunia too.”
I gestured toward the Golden Carriage.
“Brother is paying.”
“Pfft…!”
Yunia, having already gotten used to me, burst into laughter, while Evangeline just tilted her head, trying to figure out what on earth was happening.
“…”
Only Yurha continued to look at me with calculating eyes.
“Special admission student, Red Sol Phoenix. Who exactly are you…?”
“A fool.”
“Excuse me?”
“There’s no better customer for a company than a guy who throws money around to impress women, right, Senior?”
“…”
“And.”
I leaned in close and whispered softly to Yurha.
“…It’s worth just ‘double’, not ten carriages.”
“Heh…”
Yurha raised an eyebrow, smiling.
“You know the market prices and still pulled that off?”
“The manpower cost to haul the Golden Carriage here to the Old School Building, the weekend premium, and the fact that someone as important as you, Senior, came in person. Whatever the reason, it can’t have been easy.”
“Well, nothing special, really. The Angel Incident blew up, so the person in charge had to come. Of course…”
Yurha glanced slyly toward the Academy.
“Someone might want me to become an Angel by coming here.”
“You came all the way here, risking it, just to meet the people in the Old School Building?”
“Wherever there’s money, I’ll go. And if there’s enough money involved, I’d even sell a wedding ring or a photograph.”
“Hah, would you sell used stockings too?”
“Wanna buy?”
“How much?”
“Hmm, I haven’t set a price on that yet.”
Yurha smiled mischievously and reached under her skirt.
“Since it’s our first deal, should I throw one in as a service bonus?”
