My First Investment Yielded Tens of Times the Profit
In a quiet café just outside the academy’s main gate, I sat across from Lilian and watched with great interest as she clutched her teacup with trembling hands.
“So, how exactly did you remove the toxicity from the magic stones without the Empire’s or the Magic Kingdom’s refining technology?”
“W-well… that is…”
Lilian hesitated at my question, then spoke carefully.
“The principle is actually much simpler than you might think.”
What followed was an explanation so absurdly straightforward that it left me feeling utterly deflated. There was no need for advanced alchemy or the spells of a grand mage. It all came down to the unique mana property that every direct descendant of the Rumien family possessed from birth.
They were born with mana that was almost completely useless—bland and harmless as plain water. When they planted the seeds and watered them, they simply let a little of that mana flow out. As the fruit grew, it naturally neutralized the harsh toxicity of the magic stones on its own.
“If another family or a mage tries to copy the method, the trees burn to death or the fruit rots. This cultivation technique can only be performed by those of Rumien blood. It was thanks to that ability that our ancestors received the Rumien surname and the title of baron.”
Lilian puffed out her chest with pride, but to my ears it sounded like nothing more than a money-devouring hippopotamus introducing itself. A cultivation method that relied entirely on bloodline? Mass production was impossible. Systematic scaling was impossible. And with only the woman in front of me as the heir, it meant that if the entire family fell ill, the year’s harvest would be completely ruined.
As a business item, it was the absolute worst of the worst.
Which made it perfect.
This is the most reliably terrible business I’ve ever seen.
I barely held back the smile threatening to creep across my lips and put on the most serious expression I could manage.
“Very well. The Kaldia Merchant Guild will fully support this venture.”
“R-really…?!”
“I will provide two thousand gold coins as initial capital. In addition, I will send promotional letters about these Magic Stone Fruits to every high-end client the Kaldia name can reach within the Empire.”
Two thousand gold coins. That was a staggering sum, equivalent to three months of an average count’s household budget. It was the perfect amount to inflict a moderate blow on the guild’s surplus funds while simultaneously broadcasting my own stupidity to every noble in the Empire.
Lilian gasped sharply, then bowed so deeply she nearly slammed her forehead into the table, repeating her thanks over and over.
“Thank you! Thank you so much! If things go well, I will immediately accelerate research into fractionation magic for mass production!”
“…Mass production? Ah, yes. Understood.”
Mass production or whatever, within a week at the earliest—or a month at the latest—Magic Stone Fruits would vanish from the continent entirely.
Two weeks later.
Inside the Kaldia Merchant Guild headquarters in the heart of the capital, I sat in the guild master’s office, humming a cheerful tune.
Beside me was Eleanor, the vice guild master my father, Duke Terius, had assigned to me. She radiated the aura of a true professional as she flipped through documents without end.
She had entered the academy at the top of her class, graduated with honors, and immediately followed the elite course reserved for the ducal family. She was, quite literally, a workaholic in human form.
Doesn’t that hurt her eyes?
I watched Eleanor for a moment before closing my own eyes, waiting for the inevitable reports: news of the catastrophic failure of the Magic Stone Fruit cultivation and confirmation that my two thousand gold coins had vanished into thin air.
That was when it happened.
Bang!
“Guild Master! Vice Guild Master! This is an emergency!”
The office door flew open without so much as a knock. The chief secretary burst in, his face deathly pale. In his hands was a freshly printed copy of the Imperial Daily, still warm from the press.
“How rude. Did they not teach you to knock when you joined the company?”
Eleanor didn’t even lift her eyes from her documents as she pointed this out in a dry, professional tone.
But the secretary ignored the reprimand entirely and thrust the newspaper onto my desk.
“Th-that’s not important right now! You must see this immediately!”
“……”
I frowned and picked up the newspaper he offered. The moment I saw the enormous headline dominating the front page, my entire body froze.
[The New Master of Kaldia Completes a Perfect Debut?]
[Fruits from the Remote Frontier Sweep Through Imperial High Society. The Miraculous Fruit That Combines Beauty and Mana Recovery!]
“…No. This can’t be right.”
The hand holding the newspaper began to tremble with growing dread.
The article’s contents were nothing short of shocking. To summarize it as simply as possible: the Rumien family’s Magic Stone Fruits had become an explosive hit among the nobility—so popular they were impossible to obtain.
To elaborate: the nutrients within the fruit, combined with the mana from the magic stones and the unique magic power of the Rumien bloodline, were absorbed by the body. This produced an astonishing anti-aging effect on the skin. Furthermore, for mages suffering from chronic headaches and mana depletion, the fruits had become the perfect palatable alternative to the usual bitter mana potions.
“……”
I had naturally assumed Lilian would use the two thousand gold coins to repair her collapsing greenhouse. Instead, she had spent it on the highest-grade packaging materials and transportation networks, flooding the very heart of the Empire with Magic Stone Fruits.
And the promotional letters I had personally sent out had transformed into certificates of quality guaranteed by the Kaldia Merchant Guild, pouring fuel on the nobles’ desire to buy.
“What… what is this…”
My mouth went completely dry. Far from going bankrupt, the investment had generated profits dozens of times greater than the initial sum, all pouring into the Kaldia Merchant Guild’s coffers. The article made my vision swim.
But I distinctly remember her saying the fruits had almost no special effects.
Had she lied to me? Was this some kind of test? Or had she simply not known?
I need to contact Lilian right away…!
That was when I heard it.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Steady, measured applause filled the quiet office. I turned my head to see Eleanor—who had never once spared me even a glance while buried in her documents—setting down her quill. She was clapping for me with an indifferent expression.
“I see you in a new light, young master. To be honest, when you invested two thousand gold coins into such a worthless venture, I assumed you were deliberately trying to ruin the guild.”
“No, that’s not—”
“But it seems I was wrong. With this level of success, I believe I can acknowledge you as the true master of the Kaldia Merchant Guild—the very thing that has been the driving force of my life.”
“…Sigh. Thank you.”
I started to say something, then stopped. My head hurt too much to organize my thoughts.
“Just keep doing what you were doing. I’m going to meet Lilian for a moment.”
Right… first I needed to figure out exactly what the hell had happened.
As I left the office and descended to the first-floor lobby, I spotted a head of pink hair just returning from an outside errand. It was Lilian, humming cheerfully while carrying two thick stacks of documents in her arms.
Without a word of explanation, I strode over, grabbed her arm, and dragged her toward the rarely used Warehouse Five.
“W-wait, Guild Master? Just a moment!”
The moment the dark warehouse door closed behind us, I backed Lilian against the wall and demanded urgently.
“What happened? You clearly told me the fruits had almost no special effects!”
At my accusation, she blinked in confusion for a moment, then seemed to understand what I was asking. She broke into a bright smile.
“Ah, about that! When we used to grow them, we only used the lowest-grade magic stones—practically garbage with almost no mana left. We were too poor to afford anything better. So the only effect was the very slight mana recovery I mentioned before!”
She adjusted the heavy documents in her arms and continued with lively enthusiasm.
“But you invested nearly ten times more money than we ever expected! Thanks to that, we were able to replace all the cheap magic stones buried in the fields with the highest-quality superior-grade stones.”
“……”
“And since we suddenly had money, my family was finally able to put plenty of meat on the table for the first time in ages. Everyone was so full of energy that the mana they poured into the fields flowed out much more strongly than usual… hehe.”
I slapped a hand to my forehead. My mind had gone completely blank.
The two thousand gold coins I had poured in to destroy the guild had instead become a miracle drug that upgraded the failing farm’s infrastructure to the highest standards and raised the workers’ condition to peak performance.
“So this is what they mean by ‘too much is as bad as too little’…”
The words slipped out before I could stop them. The investment I had thought would become poison by being poured on too heavily had instead become the perfect fertilizer, pushing her family’s latent potential to its absolute limit.
Completely unaware that my insides were burning black with frustration, Lilian continued her report with sparkling eyes, utterly failing to read the room.
“And that’s not all! With the surplus investment funds, I’ve already commissioned the Magic Tower to begin research on mana fractionation magic!”
“What did you just say?”
“Within three months at the latest, we’ll be able to mass-produce slightly lower-grade fruits! The limited high-quality ones will be sold at premium prices to the nobility! Reservations from the noble ladies of high society are already flooding in—we can’t keep up with demand!”
Lilian’s voice was brimming with excitement. The mass production she had once believed impossible due to the limits of bloodline had been solved in one stroke by borrowing the power of magical engineering with the force of money.
All the risks I had mocked so thoroughly had become completely irrelevant in the face of overwhelming capital.
She puffed out her chest proudly and delivered the final blow.
“Of course, we will provide the absolute finest products to the Kaldia ducal family free of charge whenever you desire! I will never forget the grace you have shown in saving our family.”
Without even pausing for breath, Lilian suddenly noticed my stiff expression and glanced at me nervously. She fidgeted, pressing two fingers together.
“Of course, since it’s a promise between me and the young master, I suppose we’ll have to charge the regular price after that… hehe.”
“……”
Even now, she was making sure to secure her own interests.