Protect the Magic Pants Mass Production Factory (4)
Yurha Silverstar had appeared.
If anyone asked how she'd shown up out of nowhere, I'd say it was the power of Silverstar's magitech. A hologram. In a world set in a medieval fantasy era, these vaguely sci-fi technological elements popped up under the name of magitech, but it wasn't really all that strange.
The game devs who created this world were modern people, after all.
It wasn't like they'd shoehorned in a magitech setting to justify this stuff. No, it started when I decided we had to sell SF suit magitech battle suit skins that clung tightly to the body... After prioritizing skins for the heroines to wear, I started thinking about how to integrate them into this academy world, and suddenly all sorts of modern and near-future elements came flooding in. All under the banner of magitech.
As for the question of whether it made sense to fight S-rank monsters in summer swimsuit bikinis—
—Because it's a magitech suit, there's an invisible magical barrier spanning the gaps between the bikini pieces that's actually safer than regular armor.
With logic that bordered on outright bullshit, I'd bulldozed through with the sheer determination of we're stripping them no matter what. So it wasn't weird at all for Yurha to materialize beside me like a holographic avatar using teleportation magic. Even the way she pretended to sip from a glass—the actual glass wasn't in the Old School Building but summoned from the room where she'd cast her hologram-linked spell.
"Phoenix?"
"Yes, Senior Yurha."
"Our deal... it's still going strong, right?"
"Of course."
For mass-producing the Magic Pants, I'd planned to commission Yurha Silverstar from the start. An item that was guaranteed to make money. But one I had no intention of selling at a premium price. From a manufacturer's perspective, it was natural to wonder if it'd even turn a profit, but I had plenty of ways to convince her.
And she already knew all about it. Because I'd sealed the contract with Yurha before Alheina even made contact.
"Listening to your chat with Alheina on the side, I was worried for a sec that you might be into types like her."
Yurha showed no trace of worry or concern in her demeanor. With her mana already infused into the contract's seal, she had zero reason to fret over the Magic Pants issue.
"I was just concerned you might offload the 'next product' to her instead."
As for the Magic Pants themselves—
"Phoenix?"
"Yes, Senior?"
"Oh my. I'm not here as an academy senior, you know?"
Yurha crossed her legs and turned her body toward me.
"I'm here as your contract partner—and a business associate we'll be building a great relationship with going forward."
Unlike with Alheina, she sat right next to me, signaling we were on the same side, while subtly pressuring me with her [holographic avatar] made of light particles.
"You haven't told me what comes after the Magic Pants yet, but it's gotta be something with value on par with them, right?"
"Something like that."
"What is it?"
"Can't say just yet, but I can assure you it'll match the Magic Pants in performance."
"Like, say, a Magic Bra?"
Yurha smiled. She'd heard every word of our conversation in this room, and knowing that, I nodded nonchalantly.
"You didn't think I wouldn't know, did you?"
"Of course not, Senior Yurha."
Because some of the items in this room had come via the golden carriage to the Old School Building, including ones with magic circles that could be tapped for eavesdropping with just a bit of spellwork.
"And you didn't think I wouldn't realize you 'mentioned it knowing I'd hear'?"
"Oh, you've caught on that far?"
"Because it's you."
The insider wouldn't activate without being triggered, but conveniently, Yurha had an insider in the Old School Building.
"You leaked the Magic Bra to me on purpose, didn't you?"
"Spot on."
"Why?"
"Straight talk? I figured you wouldn't be interested in that sort of thing."
"Well, logically speaking, yeah."
Yurha cupped her mana pouch from below with her hand. It looked big enough to rival Unia's. Of course, stripped down, it probably wouldn't quite measure up, but even a hundred Alheinas couldn't hold a candle to her. Too much? Nah, maybe Alheina's flat-as-a-board chest was the real crime.
"So, what's the real reason?"
"Set up a rivalry between you and Alheina, then in that meeting room, actually collaborate to scheme against Chairman Castor and oust him."
"......"
Yurha half-closed her eyes, staring at me.
"Oust Castor, Silverstar's direct-line matriarch. The CEO and chairman who holds unbeatable shares even if all six directors combined against him? That golden dictator?"
Her gaze dared me to keep going.
"Wanna hear the pitch?"
"Chairman Castor will do anything to get the Magic Pants. Academy boys short on tuition or with family in Silverstar execs will hand them over as tribute."
"Just like Alheina wants the Magic Bra."
"Once he sees the Magic Pants' effects firsthand, he'll realize it: items Phoenix is making in the Old School Building are worth a fortune."
"...So he'll go after the next one instead of the Magic Pants?"
"Exactly."
Alheina will tell Castor: Oh, the creator's so stubborn, no choice but to dump the Magic Pants at a discount. Better make bank on something else.
"Something else. Not Magic Pants, but new products for exclusive sales under Castor from here on."
"Right. Sure, no exclusive on Magic Pants, but the bait we dropped—Magic Bra and future items—will be different. That's what he'll think."
"Hmm..."
Yurha let out a thoughtful hum and raised her hand.
"Bottom line: From the public's view, we'll look like the 'reasonable price' option, while Castor seems 'overpriced.' Use that to sway market opinion our way?"
"That's part of the plan."
Capitalist through and through. She knew exactly the threshold between item value and consumer desire.
"But do you think consumers are that mature? A little blood-price sale from Castor, and they'll praise him while trampling me? Claim the Magic Pants were just a loss-leader bait to justify jacking up other products' prices and trash my rep?"
"That depends on the types of products coming out of here next."
I tapped my temple.
"Magic Pants, Magic Bra. They seem essential for men and women, but who knows if everything to come will be universal like that?"
"......"
"Tech isn't always developed for everyone. Sometimes it's tailored for specific people, depending on the research."
The items I'd supply to Silverstar—more precisely, flood this world through their mass-production muscle—wouldn't all be broadly useful.
"Silverstar's formula feeds 99.99% of babies instead of mom's milk, but that 0.01% who can't tolerate it due to allergies need special formula they don't make."
"Not that they can't—it's just tweaking ingredients and processes. Trade secret, so don't spill."
"Of course. But those kids' parents... they'd pay billions for it. Especially families short on milk, sick with mastitis, or unable to nurse at all."
Some modern company shuts down one day a year to make special formula. Ultimately, it's profit-driven. Boosts corporate image via CSR, keeps general consumers loyal, drives sales of other products.
Even knowing that, you can't deny they're making products for society's hard cases at a loss. But that's the real world. Silverstar? No such mercy.
They'll squeeze max profit regardless of kids suffering without proper formula, cutting costs to the bone.
"Senior Yurha."
I sidled up beside her hologram and slung an arm around her shoulders in sync.
"Hmm, what's this?"
No physical body, but I could see her flinch in surprise. She was clearly ready to sic her nearby insider—Instructor Esta—on me with a Phoenix sexually harassed me ploy at the slightest weirdness.
"Mana has a vessel set from birth, sure, but everyone builds it up over time, right?"
"Right?"
"That mana."
I leaned toward her ear and lightly tapped above her necktie with a finger, pointing at her mana pouch.
"What if we could give babies 'a bit more' mana from infancy onward, keeping them from every little illness?"
"......!!"
Yurha's gaze flicked to my hand—then to her own mana pouch.
"Can't go into details."
Spoiler.
"But the best for babies? Breast milk, obviously."
Spoiler, but just this one line: Cumming Dream knows the answer.