Sylvia's Confession (2)
Sylvia's Confession (2)
About two weeks earlier.
Emilia Raymond's office.
Emilia was savoring the fragrant scent of money that wafted through the academy.
"The plan is moving along smoothly. The conflict between the Order and the autonomous government is intensifying."
At her subordinate's report, Emilia drummed her fingers on the table.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The resonance was soft, fitting for a high-quality hardwood desk. But the grain bothered her. The faint roughness against her fingertips each time grated on her nerves.
"Make sure that conflict never dies down. We have to exploit every blind spot to expand our influence as much as possible."
"Understood."
Lichten Academy.
A place that was, by its very nature, a flowerpot for money.
Emilia Raymond could see it clearly.
Consume Lichten from the shadows.
Expand her influence by winning over the faculty, and ultimately seize control of the board of directors.
To hold Lichten Academy in the palm of her hand and shake it.
That was Emilia Raymond's primary objective.
At the moment, the plan seemed to be cruising along.
However.
"......"
There was one person who lingered in her mind.
From the very first moment she saw him, continuously.
Ian Blackangus.
This was about him.
"...Come to think of it, that guild you asked me to look into. What's happened to its stock price?"
"Are you referring to Eco Mana?"
"Yes."
"As you instructed, we are liquidating the entire position."
"You're shaking it properly while dumping, yes?"
"Yes. We're selling off in blocks as directed, maximizing the shock to the share price."
"We should be able to push it down over thirty percent."
"Yes. Barring anything unusual, that should be sufficient. However... if some positive news breaks, we'll have to absorb some losses due to our short positions... Is that acceptable?"
"Kyle."
"Yes."
"Do you think I've only been trading stocks for a day? If good news rained down that easily, everyone would be rich."
"M-My apologies."
"Don't worry about it. Just handle it."
◆
A week passed.
Sylvia's office.
"...The thing is, it kept crashing until just recently."
Sylvia, her complexion pale, made that admission.
"Crashing?"
"Yes."
"How far did it fall?"
"About 35%. That was the last figure I checked three days ago."
"Hm."
Ian stroked his chin.
The investment had been 1 gold, wasn't it?
From Ian's current perspective, it was a large sum, but also an amount he could walk away from and forget if he had to.
He'd just skip two meals a day, no big deal.
"S-So, you told me before you left for the North, remember? You said if it kept dropping, I should take out a loan in your name to keep buying."
... Ah, right.
Buy on every single red candle.
That was what Ian had asked Sylvia to do.
"But it can't be that much, right?"
Ian was already leveraged to the hilt anyway.
Any loan taken out in his name would have been half a gold piece at most.
"W-Well, about that."
Sylvia hesitated, her eyes darting around.
"Her Highness the Princess acted as a guarantor."
"...?"
"So it's roughly three times the principal?"
Having said that, Sylvia slid a piece of paper across the desk.
"This is the interest you'll owe going forward, Ian."
Ian stared at the numbers on the paper with a distant, hollow gaze.
Hmm.
Does this fantasy world have some kind of fasting pill?
He might need to look into free meal services.
"Sylvia, you're surprisingly audacious, aren't you?"
She really scraped together every last coin and threw it in.
"Well, of course! I believe in your intelligence network, Ian."
Sylvia spoke with a triumphant look.
Come to think of it, their relationship had started with him selling her information in the first place.
Ian realized this situation was his own karma.
"I hadn't heard any news of it dropping lately, so I'd put it out of my mind. But... it's probably been cut down quite a bit."
From the sound of it, Sylvia had only made additional purchases exactly as Ian instructed—when the stock price fell.
"Hm."
Ian was a little thrown.
Of course, 3 gold was a lot of money from a student's perspective. But looked at another way, it wasn't an impossible sum to raise. Besides, he still had various rewards coming in from all sides.
So his bewilderment wasn't because of the debt or the interest.
'Has the story diverged?'
Originally, the stock price of Eco Mana should have skyrocketed immediately after the feature article on the northern mountain range cross-train was published.
"Has there been any news about the northern mountain range cross-train?"
"...There was, about three days ago."
"Ah."
Only then did Ian grasp the situation.
The proper article was published late.
Because Schwab, the Imperial Daily reporter who was the sole witness to the derailment, got caught up in the Richard incident.
The real articles must have only started coming out after he returned.
'There it is.'
A grin.
The corners of Ian's mouth lifted.
"Sylvia, let's take a quick trip to the stock exchange."
It was time to harvest.
◆
[ Continental Securities Association, Lichten Branch Stock Exchange ]
The waiting room of the stock exchange was still bustling with people when they arrived.
— It definitely seems like the mana and energy sectors took a heavy hit from this incident.
— They made trust their biggest weapon, and now that's crumbled...
While some sat with legs crossed, engaged in profound discussion.
— A refund, I demand a refund! It turned into scrap paper in a single day, this is insane!!
Others were being dragged out by force.
Though they probably weren't customers anymore.
Anyway, when would their assigned clerk arrive?
"Sylvia, are you okay for time? You're busy, I shouldn't have dragged you here... want to head back first?"
"What? No, absolutely not. I'm waiting too."
Sylvia shook her head, stubborn.
...Was she feeling responsible? She didn't need to.
After a short wait.
"Ahem."
The person who arrived was that same clerk from the first time they met here.
The one who'd acted somewhat rudely and offered his own recommendations.
"...Oh? The newlyweds from that time."
He seemed to recognize them as well.
He remembered that.
Squish.
Suddenly, the sensation on his arm turned soft. Ian turned his head to find Sylvia.
She was naturally linking her arm with his.
- It's an act, an act. We pretended to be newlyweds here, remember?
As she whispered that, her cheeks were visibly flushed.
"You must be here to check the price of the stocks you bought back then? Now, what was that stock again? Please, follow me."
The clerk's attitude was rather arrogant.
Well, he had ignored all the fellow's recommendations that day, so this was to be expected.
Then again, for a clerk of this caliber, not remembering what a customer bought was par for the course.
As they walked down the corridor into the exchange interior.
Through the window, Ian caught sight of the mana-related stocks in the distance, all dyed a deep blue. A sign that everything in the sector had fallen.
Ian asked the clerk.
"I recall you recommended mana sector stocks last time we were here. The outlook seems poor these days?"
"Ah. Ahem. It was not a bad sector at the time."
The clerk trailed off, then continued in an exaggerated voice.
"M-More importantly! Alternative mana is all the rage these days. You remember the incident where the northern mountain range train stopped recently, yes?"
"Yes. It was in the news a little while ago."
"It's been on a tear ever since. If you'd gotten in on this early, you'd be an instant millionaire. Though there aren't many like that. Those are the real masters."
"Is it that big?"
"You might not fully grasp this, since that purchase was your first time, sir."
The clerk puffed his chest out before adding.
"Just look at Eco Mana, the hottest alternative mana stock lately. It's absolutely monstrous."
Sylvia, who had been focusing every nerve on her linked arm with Ian, reflexively asked.
"...Eco Mana?"
"Yes, ma'am. The interesting thing about this stock? Over the last four trading days, it tripled three times and doubled once."
"W-What did you say? Th-Then..."
Sylvia's eyes widened as she did the mental math.
Seeing her expression, the clerk smirked.
"Hard to believe, isn't it? It's up over sixty-fold. If you ride a stock like this well, it could even go further."
The clerk was smug, as if he himself were a major shareholder of Eco Mana.
"Anyway, well, this is strictly territory for the masters. So, sir, what did you buy last time? Let me check your returns for you."
A faint sneer lingered on the clerk's face as he asked.
He seemed ready to see just how much the stock they'd bought, ignoring his recommendation, had risen.
Ian answered calmly.
"Eco Mana."
"...Pardon?"
"The stock I bought last time. It was Eco Mana."
They had arrived at the main trading floor.
The clerk's legs froze on the spot.
Above his head, a ticker scrolled by: [ Eco Mana, currently up 10% today ].
"H-How much did you purchase back then, sir?"
"I bought 1 gold's worth. With additional purchases, it should be around 3 gold now."
"Ah, ah..."
The clerk clammed up again, like a mute who'd swallowed honey.
Ian asked him.
"Could you check my balance for me?"
"Ah... yes, sir. One moment, please."
Taking Ian's membership card, the clerk scanned it on the terminal and checked the numbers.
— Ah!
A death rattle that sounded almost like a scream.
He shuffled back over, his movements creaking.
He looked as though he'd seen a ghost.
"Your current balance is one... one hundred and eighty gold, sir."
Including the additional amount Sylvia had purchased, the total principal invested was 3 gold. The current valuation: 180 gold.
A sixty-fold return.
"Then I'll sell off half."
The clerk, who surely should have had something to mutter about, silently walked off and returned with a check.
"H-Here you are, sir."
Ian looked down at his own hand.
90 gold.
Converted, a check worth nine hundred million was resting in his palm.