Chapter 66

<065. Convenience Store (3)>

Convenience Store No. 2.

Let's say WR No. 2 is opening.

"No."

"Why not?! Don't you think you should allow it when you see my sparkling eyes?!"

Why not.

Because I don't want to.

"Listen carefully, Nephthys."

"Yes, I'm listening carefully, senpai!"

"First, do you have the capital? Including the right to operate, monthly rent, and modeling costs for the building."

"···Uh."

"····."

"I'll earn it! I'll work hard!"

"Good. That's a good attitude."

I'm not so heartless that I would crush the dreams of a young man trying to earn money to start a business.

And the second problem.

"Alright, Nephthys. Let's say you're going to run a convenience store. Where would you get the building?"

"Of course, it would be the center of the 1st Knight Department, not here, right?"

Of course.

You are wise.

I'll give you a hundred points for wisdom.

"Yes, that's right. You are indeed wise. But it won't work."

"···Eh, why won't it work?"

"That's right."

"Why, why not?"

I fell into thought.

Nephthys will take all my business methods and items.

And open a convenience store in the 1st Knight Department.

Of course, she'll sell a lot. Monthly sales might even reach the billions.

Then, before you know it, Nephthys will have absorbed all my techniques and piled up money...

She'll come to me in the 8th Magic Department, raise her middle finger, and say:

'Your convenience store is bankrupt. From now on, this place will be dominated by me.'

"Icon of betrayal, harbinger of doom..."

"Yes, yes?!"

"No, no. Anyway, I've never thought about opening a branch of the convenience store."

"R, really?"

Nephthys looked noticeably disappointed.

"Why do you want to run a convenience store?"

"···Actually, well. Um. If you won't scold me for being disloyal..."

"Go on, tell me."

"In fact, to rise in the Joffrin... no, the Loengrin Empire, the best way is to graduate top of this Academy."

I nodded and urged Nephthys to continue.

"Probably, if I can maintain this grade, I'll start as a lower knight in the Empire. Probably."

"Is the salary insufficient?"

"No, no. It's not that. It's just that things have gotten a bit difficult lately. I'm getting a lot of jealousy from others."

"Hmm."

"Especially, as you've seen, there are people like Garbage Trash who hate me. ···Ahaha. It's not easy."

Garbage Trash?

I've seen her? Such a peculiar name?

···Ah. The one who hated Nephthys.

How can someone's name be Garbage Trash?

"So?"

"I'm really trying hard, but I still get hated, and it's very frustrating."

"If you think you have to keep walking this path, it gets frustrating, doesn't it?"

"Yes! That's exactly it! Isn't there some other heartbeat-inducing life? Being a knight is great, but..."

Somehow, I ended up giving career advice to a high school student.

"So why a convenience store?"

"···It's, it's incredibly, sparkling, isn't it!"

"Sparkling?"

"Yes! The snacks and treats you make, senpai! The drinks with various effects! How exciting and fun they are!"

"Maybe. Then let me ask you one thing. Is your belief in the convenience store?"

"······."

Nephthys stiffened.

"What is your belief?"

"To protect my mother and family, to protect the village, and to protect the smiles of the people around me."

She said this without a moment's hesitation.

She puffed out her chest as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Yes.

Nephthys was like that in the main story.

When forming a party, she was the character who was most sincere about 'protection.'

When her affection increased, she could protect allies even in 'impossible moments.'

The tank I trusted more than anyone, the greatest tank.

In terms of defense, she had parts that were better than even 1st-tier tanks.

A child who, despite poverty, never forgot to smile and protected her family and siblings, becoming a solid shield for allies up to Chapter 12.

But not now.

Since she doesn't go outside the school grounds, she doesn't fight monsters, and the opportunities for her belief to shine have decreased.

Then I have to remind her.

"What is your belief?"

"To be a shield for precious people."

"Why did you have such a dream?"

"···My father passed away protecting the village from a monster attack."

"So?"

"I came here to be a shield for someone."

"······."

"Yes. My dream is to be a shield of belief, protecting everyone from the lowest place."

"Right. Recall your belief once more. You're not a knight of desire, are you?"

"That's right. Hehe. That's right. ···Yes. I had forgotten this."

But it's also true that she's struggling with money.

Hmm.

Then there's nothing I can do.

"If you're short of money, tell me. As you can see, I'm doing pretty well now."

"······Yes?"

"There are plenty of jobs. The pay is good too. So... don't forget what you have to do, Nephthys."

"Yes, Wolfram von Loengrin senpai. Thank you for listening to my complaints."

What.

"Listening to a junior's complaints is what a senpai should do."

"···Hehe."

***

In the student council room.

Ive von Loengrin nodded as she received the report from the Knight Department's executive member.

"This is the sports festival report."

"Yes, good job. Are there any special notes?"

"···Hmm. Compared to previous years, the number of people experiencing mana sickness has decreased, but there's a slightly unusual trend."

"What unusual trend?"

"The decrease in mana sickness centered around a specific area, but it wasn't due to the installation of mana stones. It seems too coincidental to be just that, but it's also a bit ambiguous to think too much about."

"···That's interesting. Hmm. ···Wait a moment. Do you know where and how much revenue those people generated?"

"Um... Yes... Let me see... They mainly used the snack stalls... Ah. Could it be."

"Indeed. The revenue came from that man's stall."

"Right... ···Hmm. There was no lie in the report."

Ive sighed as she looked at the top-tier mana potion next to her.

When that man drank the top-tier mana potion as Shafia instructed, his body improved significantly.

But that's not all. The potions sold at the sports festival stalls were also effective as advertised.

"With this... rumors will spread in the noble society, and those rumors will eventually... reach the ears of Joffrin's students, and they will approach Wolfram under their parents' instructions."

"···Even with a guardian wolf by his side, it will be quite troublesome if the entire Golden Hand gets involved."

"But it's even more of a problem because his fiancée is from the Tristar family. If Wolfram were alone, it might end with people trying to exploit his mysterious magical tools... But since he already has ties with the Tristar family, the Siella family won't just sit by."

"······."

"Go on. Phew... I need to think this through."

"Excuse me."

Left alone, Ive grabbed her aching head.

"This is more exhausting than I thought... especially since the Siella family won't just sit by."

Siella. Tristar.

These two families, known as the two major merchant families of the Empire, have slightly different focuses.

If the Siella family is centered around 'distribution' of luxury goods within the Empire,

the Tristar family is closer to 'mining and construction' using the power of magic to extract minerals from monster-infested mines and build structures.

Therefore, the pure financial power and connections among merchants are greater in the Siella family.

However, the items created by Wolfram von Loengrin are more likely to attract the attention of the Siella family than the Tristar family. It could be seen as an encroachment on their territory.

"Especially since Wolfram von Loengrin is engaged to Ayla Tristar... This could be seen as a declaration of war by the Tristar family, and the Siella family won't just sit by... especially considering the dangerous Regina Siella... Ah, really! I told him that if he just waited a year, everyone would shut up, but his noble lineage father is really!!"

Ive spread her mana with a loud bang. Her anger shook the student council room, then subsided.

"···Phew. There's nothing I can do. It might be best to pretend there's no connection with the Tristar family. For example, if we make it look like Wolfram started a third force on his own, it might somehow be smoothed over..."

Ive's distress deepened.

***

The sports festival ended like that.

I made a lot of money, and I made a lot of money.

But... strictly speaking, there's nothing left.

After deducting the cost of materials from the black market, the expedition with Ive, and the sales of the sports festival sets, I managed to make a decent profit, but I need to invest all of it in materials for the next item.

Can't I just maintain a little wealth and live peacefully?

That's the most foolish and unnecessary thought.

Whether it's an online game or an offline game.

In games, money works like this.

Saving 10 gold early on to buy a slightly cheaper item at mid-level is pointless. By the end, weapon prices will exceed tens of thousands or even billions of gold.

Instead, investing without hesitation in growth early on allows you to max out your end-game stats, run the best bus, or manufacture items, and gather money.

So, the proper way is to immediately invest the few tens of millions of rin I earned lightly into materials!

"Enduring for future happiness, investing everything... that's life. That's how I live."

Moreover, a path has also appeared.

"Handy Worker. Mix Beans. With the success of the potion manufacturing skill combo at level 3... it's time to aim for something bigger... Hmm. What should I do? Actually, the blacksmith is the one who... "

"···Fram. Wolfram."

"······?"

As I muttered to myself, a calm voice called out to me from the side.

Ayla, who had been drinking the energy potion I made, with her long black hair and eyes like amethyst...

"Ayla. I heard you made a good profit at the sports festival. Did you make quite a bit?"

"Um. I made a decent profit."

"That's good. As expected... Hehe."

"It's not just about the income, though."

"Yes?"

"The important thing is my plan. It's more important that I passed the point I anticipated. ···Hmm. This has opened up another direction for expansion."

"···What did you sell?"

"Something that anyone, regardless of status, can drink anywhere. A fusion of basic potions."

"···You, you made something like that? Are you planning to create an army later?"

I don't know. I'm not really interested in armies.

"Indeed, Wolfram exceeds my imagination. Hmm..."

"By the way, what did the Magic Department do during the sports festival?"

"We paid, watched, and... just played. After all, many of us aren't interested in sports."

"···I see."

I stared intently at Ayla.

The Ayla Tristar I remember doesn't have her stats revealed because she's not a party member.

So I investigated her stats in this world, and the results were surprisingly interesting.

Her HP is a whopping 15. Was it 16?

Anyway, she has lower mana than Ive but higher HP. I also know her strength is quite high.

A battle mage with high HP, strength, and skill, who could be called a melee mage.

That's Ayla Tristar.

"Ayla, you must have been quite bored."

"Oh, you know? I was quite bored."

"I see."

"But I won't be bored for long."

"Something fun is about to happen?"

"Oh, didn't you know? It's about the upcoming field trip."

"···Ah. The schedule to go outside, right."

"Yes, Wolfram and I are in the same group. So we're going to the same place."

"Is that so? ···Where are you going?"

"Where else? Of course, to the Tristar family's territory in Eden!"

"············What?"

Ayla stretched and smiled brightly.

"I'll finally get to see my parents after a long time. Hehe. It's been a long time since I've gone out!"

"······What?"

"Why are you so surprised, Wolfram?"

"···You mean, I'm going to your territory?"

"Hehe. Yes!"

Ayla looked at me with a silly smile.

"I'll finally be going back to my hometown! Hehe. It's been a long time for Wolfram too, hasn't it?"

"······."

One hundred percent.

She has no idea what she's saying.