Why Is the Female Lead Here?
I slumped against the corner of the empty cargo car, letting my back slide down the wall until I hit the floor. Across from me, Tom sat with his knees drawn up. The train clacked and rattled over the rails, and only then did the tension finally drain from my shoulders. I looked at the boy and spoke.
“Tom.”
“Y-yes!”
“You seemed to know a lot about railroads earlier. Do you like trains?”
At my question, life sparked in Tom’s eyes.
“Yes! I love them! It’s amazing how so many intricate mechanisms fit inside that huge mass of metal, and the way it can race across the entire empire at incredible speed is just… cool!”
He’d been talking with real heat, but the moment he realized how excited he sounded, he ducked his head in embarrassment.
“A-actually… my dream is to become a train engineer when I grow up.”
An engineer, huh. A ten-year-old kid with such a clear, unshakable dream. I tried to remember what I’d been doing at his age and came up blank.
“Really? Then you should study railroads properly. With your talent, you’d make a great engineer.”
My suggestion made Tom’s shoulders slump.
“The thing is… to become an engineer you have to attend a technical university in the capital. Grandfather doesn’t want me leaving for the big city. He even hates that I’m interested in trains…”
Now that he mentioned it, I remembered the old man yelling yesterday when he was looking for Tom—something about the boy reading railroad books again. He had to know about his grandson’s talent, so why was he so against it?
Well, I can’t say I don’t get it.
From the perspective of a lifelong coachman, trains were the enemy that would steal his livelihood. On top of that, the world was changing at a dizzying pace. To an older generation, it must have felt chaotic and terrifying.
Being a stubborn old man in this era isn’t exactly strange. Maybe he’s just disappointed that his grandson wants to abandon carriages for trains.
I leaned forward and whispered, “Tom. Do you want to go to that university in the capital?”
“…If I could, I’d go in a heartbeat. But Grandfather would never allow it, and the tuition is supposed to be insanely expensive. Just one semester would bankrupt our whole family.”
Hmm. That expensive? The original Allen never went to college, so I had no frame of reference. But who cared? University tuition would soon be pocket change. Once I reached Hamilton City, an absurd amount of money was going to pour in.
“I’ll send you to university.”
“…Y-yeeeess?!”
Tom shot up like he’d been electrocuted.
“You said you wanted to study. Isn’t discovering talent and supporting it the duty of nobles like me? The way I see it, you’ve got what it takes to become an incredible engineer.”
“B-but that’s way too much for someone like me…!”
“Letting a talented kid like you rot in the countryside is a loss for the entire nation. Don’t worry about your grandfather. I’ll persuade him—he’ll agree.”
“Still… Duke Goldman, you’re already struggling with debt. Taking on expensive tuition on top of that…”
I tapped the breast pocket holding the check envelope.
“Aren’t you curious why I’m heading all the way to Hamilton City?”
“The… reason?”
“Exactly. I’m going to make so much money that paying off the debt will be nothing.”
“Whoa! R-really?! Wow… As expected, Your Grace had a plan all along!”
“And if it weren’t for you, my plan would’ve been destroyed before it even started. I survived thanks to you, so consider this me returning the favor. I’ll cover tuition and living expenses, so don’t lose that passion. Just study hard.”
Tom’s voice shook. “Th-thank you… Duke Goldman… You’re nothing like the nobles I imagined…”
I let out a small laugh at his pure, innocent reaction.
“Nobles, my ass. Is there any noble who rides a freight train covered in mud? I’m basically just the friendly neighborhood hyung.”
“Pfft!”
Tom burst out laughing, then immediately turned beet red and started apologizing nonstop. I waved it off, feeling awkward.
Time passed. I dozed in fits, checking the sun through the gap in the door and my pocket watch in turns to keep track of the date. Tom and I shared our emergency rations and water to hold out.
Finally, the train began to slow. I cracked the iron door open and peered out. In the distance, I could see the city and the station.
Hamilton Station.
Click! I pulled out my pocket watch. The hands read 2:30 p.m. Only one hour remained until the stock exchange closed.
Judging by the sun and the time… there’s no mistake. Today is March 9th.
The brakes screamed. If the train stopped inside the station, the staff would catch us. Avoiding hassle was the smart move. I had to jump when no one was looking. Right now.
“Tom! Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
I hurled myself out of the slowing train. The world spun as I tumbled across the gravel, but thankfully nothing broke. Still, the real race had just begun. I had to reach the exchange before the market closed!
“Run, Tom!”
“Yessir!!”
We sprinted toward the streets of Hamilton City. Once we left the outskirts and entered the downtown area, buildings I’d never seen in Goldfield rose around us. The urban scenery was breathtaking, but there was no time to admire it. I grabbed passersby, asked for directions, and kept running.
Then I saw it—a marble building with a sign that read Hamilton Stock Exchange.
Click! I checked my watch again.
Five… five minutes…!
Only five minutes left. I poured on the final sprint, taking the exchange stairs two and three at a time, then slammed the main doors open with a thunderous bang.
Dozens of heads whipped toward us at once. Two beggars covered head to toe in mud and dust stood panting in the entrance.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
A security guard started toward us, but I raised a hand.
“Customer. I’m a customer.”
Catching my breath, I pulled the envelope from my coat.
“Go sit over there for a bit.”
With every eye in the building on me, I walked toward the reception counter. Step by step. I set the envelope on the desk with a slap.
“The market… isn’t closed yet, right?”
The frozen female clerk stammered, “N-no… it’s still before closing, so orders are possible, but…”
I let out a sigh of relief.
“Rachel Mining. Three million gold, all at market price.”
“…Y-yes?!”
An absurd sum coming from a beggar. Thinking she’d misheard, the clerk opened the envelope. The moment she saw the three-million-gold check, her eyes widened in pure shock. Her gaze slowly rose to my face.
“Hurry. Before the market closes.”
Snapping back to her senses, she began typing rapidly beneath the counter. A few seconds later—
“Yes! Purchase completed!”
“…Already?”
When I asked in disbelief, she looked at me strangely.
“Yes…? It went through normally…?”
“Wait, don’t you issue paper certificates or anything?”
The clerk blinked, clearly baffled.
“Sir… are you from the countryside by any chance? Since the Magitech Network was developed, all public institutions and stock exchanges in urban areas process everything electronically.”
“Magitech… Network…?”
She pointed to the right. I turned my head and doubted my own eyes.
It’s a damn stock ticker!
I’d thought this world was some weird steampunk-magic hybrid, but this was straight out of modern times. A helpless laugh escaped me.
The setting is complete garbage.
No matter how you looked at it, the author had just copy-pasted the entire modern stock system. But you know what?
Honestly? I’ll take it.
This was a thousand times better than dealing with paper certificates. An electronic system meant orders and executions would be lightning fast. In the stock market, speed and timing were everything. Even a one-second delay could be fatal. Analog trading would have made quick entries and exits difficult, but digital?
Completely different story.
One click and every trade processed instantly. It was essentially the same system I knew. I’d spent years staring at charts from my room. This was practically my home field.
I turned back to the clerk.
“By any chance, can I also set reserved trades for a specific date or price?”
“Of course. The Magitech Network handles automated orders automatically.”
I cheered inwardly.
Perfect. Stop-loss, automatic profit-taking—everything works.
“Then please set this: On March 30th, the moment the market opens, sell every share I just bought at the opening price.”
“Excuse me? All the shares you just purchased… at once?”
The clerk flinched, but I wasn’t finished.
“Yes, all of them. And the moment that money hits the account, use the entire amount to open a full short position on Rachel Mining.”
“…What?!”
Her jaw dropped. It was understandable. Selling everything you just bought and immediately betting on a crash with the proceeds was insane switching.
I must look like a lunatic.
To anyone who didn’t know what was about to happen, anyway.
“You want it done that way…? U-understood. Reserved sell order set, followed by immediate full short conversion…”
“Thanks for your hard work!”
Leaving the half-catatonic clerk behind, I turned around with a spring in my step.
Hehehe, I’m going to be rich!
I was busy imagining myself lounging on a pile of money when someone called out from the side.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
I turned and froze solid. Red hair. Golden eyes staring straight at me, sparkling with intelligence. There was no way I wouldn’t recognize that face.
“…Rachel?”
The name slipped from my lips before I could stop it.
Why is the female lead here?