If It Pays, Even Lewd Pics Are for Sale (2): Capitalist Devil Yurha Silverstar Appears! What Will the Old School Building Students Do?
1. Fight. 2. Flee. 3. Drive them out. 4. Buy the goods.
"Isn't there only one real choice here?"
Unia hugged the fuming Rydmila while answering my question.
"If we don't buy anything, we're the ones who'll be in trouble."
"True enough."
Was there no way to get supplies delivered to the academy without this hassle? But the academy was already doing its best. To avoid any accusations of favoritism toward special admissions students, they'd rolled out the golden carriage—and that alone showed they'd gone all out. It was just that the person who'd brought it, especially me in their eyes, was on a completely different level from what they'd expected, leaving them rattled.
"Yurha Silverstar..."
Rydmila ground her teeth openly, growling.
"Everyone, be careful. That woman's no good."
"Yeah! She's totally off-limits!"
Evangeline immediately chimed in with Rydmila's blatant rejection.
"She's definitely gonna fleece us! She'll jack up the prices on the sly and bleed our budget dry!"
"She might even threaten not to sell unless we buy out the entire golden carriage. Hauling it back would be a pain, so she could just dump it all here as a quick fix."
"Right! And she'll charge way above market price? With outdated junk from the warehouse, no less!"
"Ahaha..."
Unia scratched her cheek awkwardly at their fierce reactions.
"Is it really that bad...?"
"Miss Unia. You've never been ripped off by Silverstar?"
"Not ripped off, exactly—they never even came to sell stuff where I was staying in the first place..."
Rydmila and Evangeline had wanted Unia as an ally, but unfortunately, she had no "victimized by Silverstar" stories to share.
"H-ha, but I get what you two mean. Silverstar's... ridiculously, pointlessly expensive. That's common knowledge."
She hadn't paid out of pocket, but she'd heard plenty indirectly.
"Living in the southern terminal, I heard that all the time. Y'know, that whole 'with that money...' thing?"
The infamous "that guy seed."
"With Phoenix's help, I stayed in the southern terminal until special admissions. I heard their restaurants and hotels charge insane prices."
"Heard...?"
Evangeline perked up her ears.
"'Heard'? Sounds like you had a blast, but you're talking like you never paid a dime."
"Uh, well."
"Obviously."
I flashed Evangeline a thumbs-up.
"I covered it all."
"......."
Evangeline's gaze shifted as she stared at me. In crude terms, it was that classic "scanning for remaining minerals" look women get. Not that she could appraise others' wealth precisely, of course.
"Ahem, um, fellow student Phoenix? About that time you spent with Miss Unia at the terminal... I'd love some details."
"Just the juicy parts, right?"
"What?"
"I'm loaded, Evangeline."
"......."
Evangeline wiped her lips with her thumb, eyes sparkling.
"Way more than what Rydmila brought to the old school building?"
"What are you—"
Rydmila panicked, clutching her pockets at my words.
"Phoenix. I don't know how much you've got, but I was an active A-rank hunter."
"I know."
"When Silverstar approached me with a contract offer, the signing bonus alone..."
"Was in the hundreds of millions, easy. And that's just the bonus."
Even conservatively, Rydmila must've brought hundreds of millions in cash. Sure, in gold or silver it'd be smaller units, but what student walks around with that kind of money? Plus, her gear alone was worth tens of billions. For someone like her to rage against Silverstar's "rip-offs" spoke volumes about their reputation—and reality.
"Phoenix. Do you have a [Black Card] or something? Infinite money glitch?"
"Black Card? Something like that."
"......Hmph."
Rydmila's tense voice softened a bit at Silverstar's arrival.
"I see."
It wasn't that Rydmila was materialistic. Money was just a solid plus in any evaluation, never a minus.
"Uh, um."
And for Unia, who'd experienced my spending firsthand:
"Wasn't that... overdoing it back then?"
"Huh?"
"Ordering all those fancy things to impress a girl... or whatever. Guess not."
She must've misunderstood.
"Part of it was wanting the best for you, sure. But I could afford it, so I spent."
"Are you secretly some imperial top-three heir or something?"
"Nah. I just sell mana stones."
I slipped my hand into my pocket—like pulling out emergency cash—and drew out a mana stone from my inner pocket.
Not the shirt one, though.
"...Ta-da."
I ignored a brief dizzy spell and presented the sparkling mana stone between my index and middle fingers.
"Whoa..."
"A purified mana stone? Heavens. How do you even carry something this pure around in your pocket?"
"......How rich are you?"
If I said "infinite," Evangeline—and even Rydmila—would drag me out to gear-shop right then, bolting from the old school building.
"As much as I wanna spend?"
"What kinda crazy talk—"
"Precisely: as long as the sun's up, I can secure mana stones convertible to unlimited cash."
"......."
Unia widened her eyes like she'd realized something, then glanced around and clamped her mouth shut.
"Miss Rydmila. If Silverstar were a hunt target, what prep would you need?"
"A ton of funds."
"Right. And what those funds buy is right here."
I flicked the mana stone lightly.
"Wh-what're you doing!"
Evangeline freaked, reaching down, but I snatched it mid-air and slotted it back between my fingers.
"Mana thread...?"
"Just a simple trick. So, what's the price now?"
"......."
"Skip the haggling bullshit. How about we do cool, straightforward deals from now on?"
"Cool deals?"
"I'll buy it. That golden carriage."
I stepped up to Yurha and placed the purified mana stone right into her palms.
"Buy out everything in it. On behalf of the old school building forgery squad."
"......."
"Payment via proceeds from selling this. Oh, keep the change."
"Ha...!"
Yurha smirked, clutching the stone tight.
"This might cover ten golden carriages. You sure?"
"Then starting next week with the next one, that's nine more. Easy fix, senpai."
"Oh? Deal's done already? This is just for one carriage."
"Hold up, Phoenix."
Rydmila yanked me back from behind.
"You're not seriously trading this one stone for everything in that carriage, are you?"
"Go pick what you want, Rydmila. You too, Evangeline, Unia."
I snapped toward the golden carriage.
"Oppa'll buy it."
"Pfft...!"
Unia, already used to me, burst out laughing. Evangeline tilted her head, staring at me like I was some enigma.
"......."
Only Yurha kept eyeing me with that calculating gaze.
"Special admit Red Sol Phoenix. What are you...?"
"Sucker."
"Pardon?"
"From a business POV, no customer's better than a sucker who splurges to impress girls, right senpai?"
"......."
"And."
I leaned in close to Yurha, whispering low.
"...It's worth exactly double. Ten carriages? Please."
"Heh..."
Yurha raised one brow, grinning.
"You know the market rate and still?"
"Labor to haul it here, weekend premium. Plus the time of someone holding a pillar of Silverstar. No clue why you showed, though."
"What else? Angel chaos forced the boss to step in. Of course..."
Yurha sneered toward the academy.
"Someone's hoping my visit turns them into angels."
"Risking it all to meet old school folks?"
"I'll go anywhere for profit. If it pays, I'll sell wedding rings and pics."
"Heh, next you'll hawk your worn stockings?"
"Buy 'em?"
"How much?"
"Hm, haven't priced 'em yet."
Yurha chuckled low, slipping a hand under her skirt.
"First-deal special—throw in a pair for free?"