chapter 2
Chapter 2: The Greatest Talent in History, One That Even Insults the Regular Curriculum
Si-a stared blankly at the gold coin in her hand.
"Heh."
A gold coin. Gold. GOLD. A high-denomination currency minted from gold.
Something an ordinary commoner might never touch in their entire lifetime.
And yet, here it was, sitting right in her palm. She knew she should put it in her wallet, but she couldn't tear her eyes away for fear of losing it.
So Si-a just stood there, staring blankly at the gold coin.
As if it might run away the moment she looked away.
'I'm so glad I enrolled in the Academy……!'
Lee Si-a.
She was just an ordinary commoner. The Academy was a place where talented individuals from distinguished 'Hero Families' across many worlds gathered, but she had been born into a perfectly average rural household.
So she had worried a great deal.
What if she got bullied for being a commoner, what if she bombed the exam and lost her scholarship, what if she got expelled and her parents were disappointed.
She had enrolled in the Academy carrying all that anxiety with her.
And then.
She was shocked by just how thoroughly no one paid her any attention.
'Heh. Maybe that's actually better…….'
Come to think of it, she wasn't the only commoner who had gotten into the Academy on a scholarship. The nobles and heirs of Hero Families already seemed to know each other and stuck to their own circles.
In other words, there was no reason for them to waste time harassing some random commoner.
The discrimination and bullying she'd seen in dramas, anime, and novels was nothing but fiction, packed with the author's own biases!
Only once she'd reached that conclusion was she finally able to breathe easy and let her guard down.
But once her guard was down, the unsettling rumors circulating among the students began to reach her ears.
- "Hey. Did you hear the rumor?"
- "What rumor?"
- "That heir of the 'Golden Ear' family…… apparently enrolled in the Academy this time."
- "Golden Ear? Darmore?"
- "Yeah. And apparently it wasn't a normal enrollment either—they say he bribed the entrance examiners with an enormous sum to get in fraudulently. Even though he can't use Magic or Martial Arts at all."
- "What? That can't be right. Of all places, at this Academy?"
- "It's the 'Golden Ear' family. Is there anything money can't do for them?"
- "Wow. That's something else."
Golden Ear.
The rumor was that the heir of the world's wealthiest family had bribed his way into the Academy.
And apparently, he was in the same class.
It had nothing to do with her, as if it were a story from another world entirely, but for some reason she felt deeply indignant.
'I, I worked part-time jobs, barely slept, studied my bones off, and clawed my way into the Academy……. Is it fine to do that if you're just rich?! The world is so unfair!'
The world was unfair.
It was a fact she had long known, having tasted life's bitterness from a young age, but she'd never imagined it would happen at the Academy too.
And so, resentment and hatred toward the wealthy began to take root in her heart.
A furious, blazing red rage.
As if striking a bourgeois over the head with a hammer and sickle.
And then.
The instructor walked into the classroom, the lesson began, and just as that sourceless fury threatening to turn her into a communist was slowly fading—the door swung open, and someone stepped inside.
- "Demian Darmore. Quite the nerve, showing up late on the very first day."
'Th, that person is Golden Ear……!'
The source of all her fury.
The enemy of honest workers and commoners.
Demian Darmore.
And just like that, the spirit of the communist Heavenly Demon awakened once more within her.
'He's better-looking than I expected……. His skin looks great too……. He must have been pampered and groomed since childhood, right……? My siblings only ever used sample-sized cosmetics……!'
- "Go take the empty seat at the very back."
'H, huh? Don't tell me it's here? Eek?!'
That is to say, it was all happening inside her head.
The moment Demian Darmore actually sat down next to her, she forgot every last shred of her fury and was helpless to become a bumbling fool.
As dictated by the solemn logic of capitalism, the wealthy and the commoner existed in a perfectly clear hierarchy!
- "Excuse me."
- "Ye, ye, yes?! I, I, um, wh, what, what is it?"
'Sc, scary…….'
And the moment Demian spoke to her, her terror reached its peak.
The communist Heavenly Demon within her prostrated itself as a groveling goblin laborer.
'Di, did he find out I had bad thoughts?! My teacher said capitalists are like spirits who can see right through a worker's idleness with their mind-reading arts! Should I apologize right now?!'
The deeply rooted fear of capitalists, ingrained into her very soul.
The solemn hierarchy.
- "Damn it."
- "Eek?!"
The moment Demian suddenly let out a curse, Si-a's soul had already braced itself, trembling, ready to prostrate itself naked before the capitalist lord.
And then.
Demian handed her something yellowish and gleaming.
- "Oh. Sorry for startling you. Want one of these?"
- "Ye, yes?"
A gold coin. It was a gold coin.
The moment it landed in her hand, a weight far beyond its size pressed down on her palm.
Well. It wasn't actually that heavy for its size, but her soul—already surrendered to capital—made that gold coin feel as heavy as a mountain.
It was not something that should dare rest in her hands.
She should have prostrated herself right then and there and returned it to Lord Demian at once.
- "I'm giving it to you, so just keep it. I have plenty."
- "Re, really, truly, is that all right?! For someone like me to receive something like this……"
But Demian gave that gold coin to Si-a with remarkable ease.
In that instant, every negative thought vanished clean from Si-a's mind.
No. Her mind went completely white.
Thoughts cut off and resumed. Her emptied head felt light. She could tell, without even a mirror, that the corners of her mouth were curling up.
'Right. It's thanks to wealthy friends like this that I get to attend the Academy on a scholarship……. Mm, mm. Maybe there's nothing to be indignant about after all……? No. Shouldn't I actually be grateful?!'
And just like that, Si-a was reborn—from communist Heavenly Demon to capitalist servant.
All of this had taken place inside Si-a's head in no more than 10 minutes.
'Hehe. What should I do with this gold coin? Should I exchange it and wire it home right away?'
.
.
.
'Ah. This is boring.'
The Academy's classes were boring.
It was interesting in the sense that she'd transmigrated into a fantasy world to learn Magic, but they kept rattling on about Magic Theory and Dimensional Magical Studies and all sorts of strange theories she couldn't understand at all.
What even is that, you nerd.
Stop talking about lore only you know.
'……But, did the Traits I selected before transmigrating into the game carry over into reality?'
So she decided to ignore the lesson and just get a handle on the situation instead.
'Where's my current funds?'
The most reliable way to check whether the Traits had actually taken effect was her 'current funds.'
1,000,000,000 Gold. If she could confirm the starting capital from the Wealth Trait, that would mean the Traits had carried over into reality.
But she had no idea where her current funds were.
Her pockets were stuffed with gold coins, but it was far too little compared to the astronomical figure of '1,000,000,000.'
'If I think of it as the same system as the game…… the inventory?'
The moment I called that 'word' to mind, a familiar screen appeared before my eyes with a ding!
[Inventory]
[Current Funds: 1,000,000,000G]
"Oh."
The in-game inventory.
That exact same screen was right before my eyes. There were no items, but below it, the current funds clearly displayed the number '1,000,000,000.'
The curious thing was that even after giving Si-a a gold coin, the current funds hadn't decreased.
The gold coins in my pocket must have just been regular 'spending money' that the character Demian had on him to begin with.
'Can I take some out?'
As a test, I focused on the intention to withdraw some while looking at the inventory, and a single gold coin dropped into my hand.
At the same time, the number displayed in the inventory decreased by 1.
[Current Funds: 999,999,999G]
"Oh wow."
I put the withdrawn gold coin back into the inventory to restore the number. I also checked whether the gold coins Demian had on him could be deposited into the inventory.
Everything worked.
The real-world gold coins and the gold coins obtained through the Trait were no different.
"Ha. This is basically infinite money cheat."
In the game, 'Wealth (Large)' was a Trait you should never pick if you were aiming for the highest potential, but now that it had become reality, it felt nothing short of reassuring.
While I was playing around with the gold coins like that, the professor who had been diligently explaining strange magical formulas at the front called on me.
"You there, Cadet Demian?"
"Yes?"
"Not only did you arrive late, but you're fooling around during my class—quite the audacity."
"Oh. I apologize."
"No need to apologize. It is Academy policy to overlook something like not paying attention in class, so long as one has sufficient ability. It would be the greater wrong if mandatory lecture classes were to hinder a Hero's potential."
"Oh wow."
Is this teacher more flexible than I expected?
"So then—would you like to try solving this problem? If you can't, I'll give you Demerit Points."
"Sorry?"
What even is that, you nerd.
"You may use your abilities if needed. Arriving at the answer through abilities in the 'Analysis,' 'Mental,' 'Search,' or similar categories will also be accepted as correct. Respecting each person's individual abilities and talents is likewise Academy policy."
"Huh? Is that really allowed?"
"Indeed. In the end, what matters for a Hero is the field, not the desk."
Then why are we having class at all.
Besides, even if I'm allowed to use abilities, I don't have any skills yet.
My talents are at a wretched level thanks to the Penalties I chose.
So it looks like I'll have to take the Demerit Points regardless……
'Hmm? Would something like this work, I wonder?'
At that moment, I thought of one particular 'ability.'
If I used that ability, I was fairly confident I could solve that problem.
It was a bit of a stretch, but a stretch was all I had.
"Please give me a moment."
"Oh? So you're saying you can solve it with more time? I'll say this upfront—I don't particularly enjoy having my time wasted. If it's a problem you can't solve, don't be embarrassed; just say honestly that you don't know. Acknowledging one's own shortcomings is also an important quality for a Hero."
"I can solve it. Si-a."
"Ye, yes?"
I pulled a 'gold coin' from my pocket and slid it quietly in Si-a's direction.
Si-a, startled, answered, and her eyes lit up at the gold coin placed before her.
"What's the answer to that problem?"
"Wh, what?"
"Tell me."
"W, wait a moment! I can solve it! I'll definitely solve it! Just give me a second!"
Ah yes. This is called 'pay-to-win.'
It can resolve most problems.
"……Cadet Demian. I asked you for the answer, not Cadet Si-a."
"Didn't you say that arriving at the answer through one's abilities is also accepted?"
"So your argument is that the gold coin you just placed in Cadet Si-a's hand just now is your ability?"
"Depending on how you look at it."
I grinned shamelessly and shrugged.
I don't know anything about Magic, you know.
Then I might as well just be shameless about it.
"D, Demian! I solved it! Hehe."
In the meantime, Si-a, who had worked out the answer, wrote out the solution process and answer in her notebook and handed it to me.
Her handwriting was round and cute.
I took the answer Si-a had written for me, walked up to the blackboard, and wrote down the solution process and answer.
"I've solved it."
"……Correct. In all my years, you're the first lunatic I've ever come across."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Ha. Very well. Understanding your own strengths and weaknesses and making the fullest use of your strengths is also a quality of a Hero. Financial power is also an indispensable ability when leading a guild or a raid party. So, I won't be giving you Demerit Points. That said, make sure you work to develop your own actual abilities going forward."
"Yes."
"I'll be watching. Demian Darmore."
"Oh my. How embarrassing. Please don't stare."
"Go back to your seat."
"Yes sir."
Humor doesn't work on him. What a stiff fellow.