The Lavender Guild's Test
Even for a moment, my face must have looked stunned by Selena's friendliness.
I quickly calmed my mind and pulled the huge red spider's gemstone from my pouch.
"This investment will be covered by that."
"……A gemstone?"
Selena's smile vanished in an instant, her expression turning icy cold.
Because I knew exactly what kind of expression that was, I nodded and placed the gemstone on the table so she could see it clearly.
"It's the gemstone of a red giant spider. Since it was a dungeon boss, I expect its mana to be quite strong."
"……A dungeon boss's gemstone, huh? That's amazing."
Gemstones were rare enough to be obvious, and a dungeon boss's was even rarer. Obtaining something like this this early on was extremely difficult, and it wasn't common even for a low-ranking student like me to have.
Selena's eyes sparkled as she naturally began calculating the gemstone's value in her head.
While she finished her calculations, I leisurely sipped my coffee.
"Hmm……"
Finally, Selena, satisfied, grabbed the gemstone after converting its value to gold.
"Will this amount be enough?"
"It's more than enough."
In the game, the gemstone of a red giant spider was worth roughly eighty to a hundred gold. The twenty-gold difference came from the buyer's price fluctuating depending on the seller, but if this were reality...
'The seller could vary the value depending on how they sold it.'
In that sense, Selena was one of the few people who could sell this gemstone at its absolute highest value.
"You're turning the gemstone into gold and investing it?"
"To be precise, turning the gemstone into gold is also a test for the Lavender Guild."
"……I see."
The Lavender Guild would succeed regardless.
As I had said before, removing just one variable and the Lavender Guild— no, the Golden Road Merchant Guild—would soar with wings spread wide.
So I would invest in the Lavender Guild no matter what.
But Selena didn't know that. Therefore, I needed to use the word "test" to spark her enthusiasm.
Selena was the one who needed the investment desperately.
I also needed to invest here, but Selena had no way of knowing that.
"If this test is successful, can I expect even more investment funds? Investor-nim?"
"Of course. Investing in a place with potential is only natural."
My casual reply made Selena smile smugly.
That smile felt somehow arrogant, like 'you're going to invest in our guild anyway……' and left me with an uneasy feeling.
'……No way.'
Selena wasn't a regresor like me, so she couldn't possibly think that.
"Understood, Investor-nim. I'll bring back a satisfying result."
"……I'll leave it to you."
"And this is——"
With a smug grin, I answered her bold declaration, and she rummaged through her pouch.
"This is a small gift from the Lavender Guild to you, Investor-nim."
Selena pulled out a rather luxurious small box and placed it on the table.
'……What is this?'
I blinked slowly while staring at the box. This was an event I'd never seen before.
The luxurious black box smelled faintly of tea, and it was small enough to fit in one hand.
"……Should I accept it?"
Selena wouldn't sabotage me, and even if she had such thoughts, she wouldn't use such a troublesome method. So I cautiously reached out.
"Of course."
"Hmph."
When I picked up the box, it felt a little heavier than expected, the weight passing through my hand.
"So, what is this?"
I looked at her satisfied smile and asked, and she rested her chin on her right hand and replied indifferently.
"An elixer."
"……An elixer?"
"It's good for the body."
Good for the body, but......
Selena never did anything that harmed me, so I was only curious about her motive.
'……If it's an elixer, it's the best item for my current situation.'
It was the easiest way to raise my specs and the best item in the early stages.
Raising early specs would help my growth later too.
She must have prepared it thinking I was a new student at the academy.
'I wonder if she knows......'
Thanks to this, it would be a huge help in my early start.
Selena would make me rich and give me an elixer! My dad is crying tears of joy......
@
Selena looked at Allen with strange eyes.
She was pretending to be indifferent, but the corners of her mouth kept twitching, showing she was satisfied with the elixer she had prepared.
'As expected......'
Selena was one of the very few people who knew Allen's past timeline actions.
So she had simply noticed what he needed most at this time and prepared it.
Compared to his heroic actions, it was very small...... just a drop in the bucket.
Still, Allen would feel great gratitude toward her for that alone.
'......That was enough.'
Selena was a calculating woman.
She knew that the investment would never be wasted because she possessed the most essential ability for running the guild.
There were many reasons.
There was no one else who could save this world but him.
He would save himself and lift the guild even higher.
Others might make excuses, but if Allen asked why, she wouldn't hesitate to give him an answer—there were too many to count.
But giving Allen the elixer wasn't just for calculation.
'......He absolutely must not die.'
Allen.
Allen di Boerger must never die.
He was the only one in this world who had her side. The regret of not being able to protect him in his previous life still remained with Selena.
Click.
Recalling the memories of her previous life, Selena unconsciously clenched her fist tightly.
She took a deep breath to control her heart.
"......What's wrong?"
Selena liked this side of Allen.
She was a sly woman who had already mastered maintaining poker face in such situations.
Yet she couldn't hide her expression in front of Allen.
He easily noticed even the smallest changes and could read her mood.
Of course, anyone else would feel bad about such behavior, but it wasn't the case for Allen.
To Selena, he was——
'The only savior.'
He was the one who had reached out to her when she was sinking into darkness.
Someone might call it trite or overused, but the person who had received the salvation could never take that moment lightly.
So this time, she couldn't let him die.
The elixer was only part of it.
She hadn't liked sending him to such a dangerous battlefield in the first place, but it was unavoidable.
'......Because he wants to do it.'
He had to do it.
Only he could do it.
So what Selena could do was grow him as much as possible, gather strong weapons that suited him and people who could protect him, and make sure he wouldn't be in danger.
To do that, she had to make the guild's size even bigger.
Knowing Allen's personality of hating to make friends, she needed to expand the guild's influence across the entire continent.
"It's nothing."
Anyway, everything was for Allen's sake.
She gave a small smile and shook her head at Allen's question.
She reignited her determination in her heart once more.
In her previous life, she had only focused on growing the guild.
But this life, growing the guild was easier than eating cold rice for her.
She already knew everything—those who would grow, things that would definitely succeed, the weaknesses of competitors, and the secrets of the powerful.
That's why this life Selena had decided to focus solely on protecting one person.
'If it's not me, who will protect you?'
Allen hated making friends—that was no big flaw.
In fact, to Selena, it was a plus.
She couldn't get along easily with other girls.
That meant she didn't give them any chances at all.
It was no threat to her future whatsoever.
With such gloomy thoughts, Selena smiled faintly on the outside while resting her chin and staring at Allen's face.
Allen, wondering at her strange expression, simply smiled back with a blank stare.
Meanwhile, in the academy professors' meeting room.
"......Is it really all right?"
After the meeting ended and everyone was about to leave, someone asked Elcia with a worried voice.
"What is it, Professor Darren?"
Darren.
The head professor of the magic department approached her while pretending to be on her side.
"You're adding twenty-one students to Class A, right, Professor Elcia?"
Since the academy's founding, the magic department and swordsmanship department had never been on good terms.
This wasn't just about the students, but also applied to the professors.
Whether one department's grades were better or whose students performed better was an important matter for the professors.
"It's fine."
"Adding twenty-one students to Class A is controversial enough, but if they're not even top-twenty-first rank students......"
"Professor Darren."
Elcia cut off Darren's words and glared at him coldly with her emerald eyes.
"I will take responsibility for my choice."
"......"
"And that student is——"
Elcia let out a small breath and looked at the clueless Darren with a hidden sneer.
"He has the highest possibility of anything. So there's no need to worry. There won't be anything I can't handle."
With those words, Elcia turned sharply and looked at the single sheet of paper in her hand.
[Allen di Boerger: Class A.]
She gazed at the paper bearing the precious result of her struggle.