Money Falls from the Sky
The nobles and commoners of the Eastern Region all had ties to the rice fields. Now I had obtained what might as well be the ultimate black card—one that would make every last one of them tremble.
Ten years had passed since I first compared my past-life memories with my present-day knowledge and began crafting a plan to seize this very authority by exploiting the tulip crisis Meriel was stirring up in the East. At long last, I had reaped the harvest.
On a day this joyous, what should a man do? Of course the real work still lay ahead—delivering the grain to the princess, surveying the farms, and securing the rare crops before anyone else in a cutthroat race. But if people only ever worked, their motivation would eventually hit rock bottom.
The whole point of earning money is to spend it and enjoy it; if you make the fortune but never savor the fruits, what’s the use?
So, to commemorate this glorious day, I summoned every single employee of the Lorend Guild’s Eastern Branch to the mansion. It was absolutely not because I wanted to throw a festival for myself. Definitely not.
“Beloved family of the Lorend Guild, thank you all for your hard work until now!”
The mansion was already packed to the rafters. The Lorend Guild had grown into something that would qualify as a major corporation back in modern times. Just counting the people who worked directly with me brought the number into the hundreds.
I looked out at them and held up the contract the princess had given me.
“Everyone, can you guess what I’m holding in my hand right now?”
Only Elina knew my ultimate goal. Everyone else simply stared with question marks floating above their heads, so I kindly explained.
“This document appoints the Lorend Guild as the supreme agricultural overseers, granting us the authority to manage the Eastern Region’s farms on behalf of the imperial family.”
“Oh my word…”
“We’re acting in place of the imperial family!?”
Strictly speaking I was the one representing the imperial family, but since the Lorend Guild would be the one wielding the power, it wasn’t exactly wrong. The crowd was finally beginning to grasp the sheer weight of what we—what I—had accomplished, so I decided to raise the roof.
“That’s right! Our Lorend Guild has become the towering pillar of the entire Eastern Region! Now let me hear you scream!”
The cheers of my guild family shook the rafters as barrels of liquor and trays of food began pouring in. The spread had been thrown together on short notice, so we’d simply raided the storerooms, but the important thing wasn’t the menu. The important thing was the even greater gift waiting for them.
“Right! A happy day like this needs a bonus to be complete. Elina!”
“Yes, young master.”
At my signal, Elina carried over an enormous sack. It was stuffed to bursting with silver coins—each one worth roughly five thousand zenons. I took the heavy bag in my arms and finally did the one thing I had always dreamed of doing once I became rich.
“This is a bonus for all of you who worked so hard!”
Shaaaaaaaark—!
I plunged my hand into the sack, grabbed a fistful of coins, and hurled them into the air. Silver rained down on the crowd.
“Haha… It’s raining money from the sky!!”
“Waaaaah!!!”
“Grab them quick!”
The people on the first floor lost their minds scooping up coins. Hahaha! Look at these hardworking little cows! Snatching silver like it was grass! Companies always say “work like a cow,” but anyone who’s actually raised cattle knows the truth—cows eat like absolute monsters.
They devour so much you start worrying their stomachs will burst. In other words, if you want them to work like cows, you have to feed them like cows.
And humans don’t work for food. They work for money.
So eat up, my dear family! Devour this money and keep working hard for me tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that! You’ve all earned every last coin!
Shaaark—! Shaaaaaaaark—!
“Hahahaha! Here, take some! And over there too!”
Every time I flung another handful, the first floor turned into pure chaos. Food and drink were completely forgotten. Coins even landed in the dishes and wine, but no one cared—they just kept snatching up every silver piece they could find.
Once I had scattered every coin I’d prepared and every pocket was bulging, I spoke again.
“All right, my Lorend Guild family! Tomorrow things are going to get even busier. But I believe in every one of you. I know you can handle it.”
“Yes! Of course, young master!”
“Just leave it to us!!”
“Then… for the Lorend Guild… cheers!!”
With my toast, everyone raised their glasses, and only then did the real festival begin.
I stepped down from the raised platform on the second floor and walked over to Elina and Chloe, who were waiting for me. Elina offered me a towel.
“You worked hard, young master.”
“Hard? It was fun.”
“No, it really made my heart race!”
Chloe spoke while adjusting her glasses, her generous chest bouncing with excitement. She truly was the hidden jewel of the Eastern Branch. I had relied on her quite a lot during the tulip incident.
I took her hand and asked, “Did your heart really pound that much?”
“Eh!? …Y-yes, it did…”
“Then shall we go do something that makes it pound even harder?”
Chloe’s face flushed crimson. She seemed to understand exactly what I meant. She glanced around nervously.
“B-but… there’s someone as beautiful as Lady Elina… A woman like me who only uses her head…”
“Lady Chloe is more than beautiful enough.”
“I agree.”
“Young master!? Even you, Lady Elina!?”
Elina simply nodded beside me. Even by my standards, Chloe was a lovely girl; she simply didn’t wear much makeup. In fact, her lack of adornment made her an even rarer treasure—an honest-to-goodness glasses beauty with an impressive figure. That combination really doesn’t come around often.
The embarrassed Chloe tightened her grip on my hand.
“If that is what the young master desires… then I’m happy to…”
“Perfect. Shall we go, Elina?”
“Yes, young master.”
“E-eh!? Even you, Lady Elina?”
“…Do you dislike the idea, Lady Chloe?”
“N-no, that’s not it…”
“Then it’s decided! The three of us will spend tonight together!”
I placed my hand on Chloe’s shoulder. Though her face was burning red, she didn’t refuse. The three of us—Chloe, Elina, and I—headed for my bedroom in the mansion. After so long, it was time to have a hot night and flex!
That night, the lights in my bedroom stayed on for a very, very long time.
While the Eastern Region was turning into a battlefield over tulips, what was Meriel—the very root of all this chaos—doing?
To answer that, we must turn the clock back a little.
Two weeks before the tulip bubble burst, Meriel, trapped between Prince Lucas and Adler, the margrave’s son, had received countless tulip gifts from both men. The flowers had completely filled her villa, and she was on the verge of losing her mind.
She had certainly liked tulips once. They were the first beautiful flower she had seen upon arriving in the East, and their color reminded her of the clear blue sky that had eased her heart. But now she couldn’t stand the sight of them.
Along with the gifts, Lucas and Adler had demanded she make a choice. Choose me. Marry me.
Meriel had dreamed of a happy future. She wanted to meet a wonderful man who respected her, marry him, and live a joyful life. She had never imagined a future that felt this suffocating.
If a daughter of a minor noble house chose the prince, she would spend the rest of her life inside the imperial palace under constant disapproving stares. If she chose Adler instead, she would live as the woman who had rejected a prince, forever enduring the imperial family’s glare.
What frightened her most, however, were the looks in their eyes. The way they stared at her suggested they were ready to lock her away at any moment.
At first she had believed they loved her. But it wasn’t love. It was obsession.
She couldn’t allow herself to be pulled back and forth between them any longer. So she made up her mind.
“Radi.”
“Yes, miss?”
“Call the horticultural merchant.”
“The horticultural merchant?”
She instructed her maid to summon a merchant who dealt in flowers. Then, gazing at the tulips that filled her home, she declared,
“I want to sell every last one of these tulips.”
“All of them!?”
“Yes. All of them.”
She sold off every tulip the two men had given her. To hide the fact that she had disappeared, she accepted half price on the condition that the merchant would collect the flowers several weeks later. But the tulip bubble had not yet burst, so she still received an astonishing sum of money. She gathered every coin and made her preparations.
I can’t let myself be dragged around like this… I will find my own partner. I will find my own happiness!
With that vow in her heart, Meriel left the villa alone for the first time in her life. She, who had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse, was stepping into the wide world by herself.
“Haa… How refreshing…”
The night sky was clear and the air felt crisp. She felt as if she could go anywhere and do anything. Savoring the first taste of true freedom, she walked forward.
And on the very day Meriel left the villa, the following telegram reached me.
TELEGRAM
The Poison Apple Has Left the Nest.