Chapter 36
Chapter 36
'……Pull yourself together, Cassian.'
I pinched my thigh and shook myself out of my daze.
My opponent was a fox spirit.
A battle-hardened nine-tailed fox spirit, reeking of money.
Rich people don't waste money.
Having 100 billion won doesn't mean 1 million won starts looking like scrap paper.
If anything, they became rich because they know how to tremble over every last 100 won.
I did the math in my head.
Roughly 10 billion won for the southern grand mansion + 30 billion won in imperial-backed gold bullion = 40 billion won.
It was insane.
It was far too much to ask for in exchange for taking care of a student who still only seemed promising and hadn't even been verified yet.
Viscountess Müller called it a deal, but it didn't feel like one at all.
'This is just brute-forcing it with money.'
Her plan was obvious: make the other side lose their reason and bow down flat so they'd stamp the contract first.
When I kept quiet, my eyes darting around, Viscountess Müller lifted her teacup and said in a low voice,
"You really shouldn't make it so obvious that you're crunching numbers in front of someone. It makes you look materialistic."
"That's because you're suddenly throwing out such an extreme deal. Since I know you're acting out of goodwill, I'm honestly mulling it over instead of playing little mind games."
I shot back with a straight face.
If I gave ground here, it was over.
"I'll be blunt. Honestly, doesn't this make no sense?"
"What doesn't?"
"You're not even especially close with this disciple, and you only just took them in, aren't you? Yet it's 40 billion won?"
"It's 30 billion won, though."
"The deal comes with a grand mansion too."
What are you sneaking in there again?
You're doing this between us?
...Though there's not much between us to begin with.
I tapped the table.
"40 billion won is equal to the total taxes an ordinary commoner village would pay to its lord over its whole life. It's even enough to run a regular knight order for two or three years and still have money left over. And you're spending that on the protection fee for just one student?"
"……"
"What's the reason? You're not a philanthropist."
A question that struck straight at the heart of it.
But Viscountess Müller's reaction was completely different from what I expected.
Her eyes narrowed, taking on a strangely sharp glint.
"……Hmm."
She set down her teacup.
Clink.
"Your way of calculating things is unique."
"Pardon?"
"Ordinary noble sons don't know things like the tax burden of a commoner village. They have no interest in it, and no need to know. Same with the operating costs of a knight order."
"……"
Crap.
"But you compare them in far too much detail. That's only possible for someone who's familiar with the numbers in accounting ledgers."
Her gaze drilled into my eyes.
"By any chance, are you secretly learning practical work under the Court Count? Like intelligence budgets or inspection duties?"
……Wow.
What is this lady trying to kill me with right now?
Goosebumps rose all over me.
I had to deny it, but if I denied it, she'd ask, "Then why do you know so well?"
And I couldn't exactly say, "Because in my past life I was born dirt poor."
'Damn, it's a checkmate.'
I ambiguously kept quiet and looked away.
Then Viscountess Müller smiled with certainty.
"I knew it. So the rumor wasn't nonsense after all. The one about the second son of House Farne pretending to be stupid."
"……That's a misunderstanding."
"No need to be modest. Capable men are attractive."
No, I'm not. Please.
This is the first I'm hearing of that kind of rumor, for heaven's sake.
*
I decided to just crush the dangerous misunderstanding for now.
Even if I explained, only my mouth would hurt, and this lady would probably get even happier, like, 'Oh my, you're hiding your identity because you're a secret agent?'
"The core of it is simply this."
I changed the subject.
"I don't think I'm worth 40 billion won. It's way overinflated."
"You're lacking confidence? The terms were even more extravagant when I tried to take you on as a disciple. Unlimited support."
"That's an investment."
I drew a hard line.
"The expense handling, the equity share. It's a long-term mechanism to push me to work hard and deliver results. In other words, under that proposal, I'd be your subordinate."
"I didn't think of it that way."
"I did. If I'd taken it, I would've behaved properly as a subordinate."
Damn. The lady's eyes turned a little strange.
I had to gloss over that slip of the tongue quickly.
"Anyway, that proposal was more extravagant, but it was just a carrot meant to motivate me to work hard under you, Professor—not the kind of arrangement where you lock in a fixed reward up front."
But this was different.
Cash, paid in one lump sum.
This reeks.
Very rotten.
"As you just said, Professor, this looks less like an investment and more like a 'deal.' And every deal in this world comes with conditions. The fact that those conditions are worth 40 billion won..."
I lowered my voice.
"That means it's either that dangerous, or that tricky."
"……"
After a moment, Viscountess Müller clapped.
Clap!
She nodded with an impressed expression.
"Your insight is remarkable. Since you're being honest, I'll be frank too."
She leaned forward.
Her voice lowered conspiratorially.
"According to the merchant guild's information network, my adorable disciple seems to be connected to His Highness the Crown Prince."
"……!"
I was startled inwardly.
At this point, that was practically top secret.
The relationship between the Crown Prince and the Saintess still hadn't surfaced. Louis was keeping it thoroughly hidden.
And the guild master knows about this?
'This lady's intel network is practically on par with the Intelligence Bureau.'
I looked around.
This was a café terrace. People were passing by, and chatter was drifting from the neighboring tables too.
"……But is it okay for anyone to hear this conversation?"
When I asked worriedly, Viscountess Müller snorted a laugh.
"It's fine."
She tapped the saucer sitting on the table.
"I've had the soundproofing artifact on since earlier."
"……Pardon?"
"You're a mage, so there's no way you wouldn't have noticed it... Are you warning me right now? 'Don't use magic without my permission' or something like that?"
"……"
No.
I had absolutely no idea.
I was just breaking out in a cold sweat because I thought we were talking openly the whole time.
The warning-like remark from Viscountess Müller struck my ears.
"How am I supposed to interpret this situation?"
Fuck, you'd have to be a mage to notice it.
I'm just a button-clicker.
What even is presence?
What's the flow of mana?
You just press the skill button when it lights up, and once you use up the charges, you can't use it again until the cooldown ends.
It's basically a flying shooter game with the basic attack button removed and only three ultimates loaded.
"My sensitivity to it is bad, so I couldn't feel it."
"……Excuse me?"
"I'm dull. I'm not very good at reading things like mana flow."
"You're not telling me to believe that, are you?"
Viscountess Müller let out a derisive snort.
"A genius officially recognized by Professor Iris and the department, right? I heard you solved complex equations on the spot, enough to fill an entire blackboard. Does it make sense for your magical sensitivity to be that dull?"
"It's true."
"No way……"
"It is true."
When I shamelessly pleaded my innocence, Viscountess Müller's eyes went wide.
Her face said, Wait, is this actually true?
Seeing her, normally so unflappable, genuinely flustered gave me a strangely satisfying thrill.
This older lady has some gap moe when she gets flustered.
"I'm serious. What magical training would I have even done? As you know, I spent my entire life in a rural backwater digging potatoes, obsessing over double-cropping corn, and fishing around like a layabout."
I tapped the table.
"They just told me to solve the problems, so I picked up a pen and they came out smoothly; that's all."
"……So you're saying you never properly studied the math behind it, either in practice or in theory?"
"Yes. Well, I did have a one-off lesson because my father strongly insisted. All the famous teachers around the Farne estate probably know me. They'd probably just call me the world's greatest lazybones."
"So you're saying you're just pulling off feats like this purely on intuition? Without even knowing how to handle mana?"
"That's what I'm saying."
"……"
Viscountess Müller stared at me blankly.
Her pupils trembled with confusion.
"I can feel a wall."
"That's the wall I feel when you wield your money power, Professor."
"No, I'm serious. I'm a noble daughter too, so I received early magic education when I was young, and... there probably isn't a case like yours anywhere in history."
'Of course there isn't. That's a perk of being possessed.'
In the noble society of this world, magical aptitude is like ballet or taekwondo in Korea.
That was probably why Viscountess Müller knew more about magic than I did.
Unaware of my inner circumstances, Viscountess Müller shook her head.
"So that's why you turned down my spot as a disciple. Because you had greater ambitions in magic."
"No, that's not it."
I denied it firmly.
"I'm still not interested in magic. I just turned it down because if I became your disciple, I thought way too many people would start clinging to me apart from the benefits I'd get."
"People around you?"
"Yes. For example, a pink-haired Saintess who'd be withering away without a patron. That sort of thing."
She raised both hands as if surrendering.
"All right. I lost. It seems I got caught up this time by your brutally honest way of speaking."
Viscountess Müller adjusted her posture and sat up straight.
"Since you've been honest with me, I'll be frank too."
Good.
*
"Lily is in a complicated situation. She's a fallen noble, and that's why she became a Saintess."
Was that so?
"You know as well that she's a puppet Saintess chosen by Cardinal Barneo to be used however he pleases."
Right. I think that was the setup.
My hazy memories became clear.
Ah, if I'd known this was inside a novel, I'd have organized the original story from the moment I could talk and write, damn it.
I remember it, but it's been weathered away a lot.
The only setting I remember clearly is that the Saintess here is fake.
It's been a long time since anything like an oracle has come down.
So the current Saintess is a fake one selected by the pope and the cardinals through political compromise, under the pretext of rallying the faithful.
How could a twenty-something greenhorn ever beat the divine power of old folks who'd spent their entire lives praying?
In romance fantasy, if the author starts talking about purity or innocence as the basis of a Saintess's divine power, people would burn the place down, saying the author's worldview is seriously messed up.
But the key point is this.
'But she's the real deal.'
Lily is the real Saintess, and she even got the regression perk.
She's the kind of Saintess you only find in history books, one personally chosen by the gods.
The problem is, unless Viscountess Müller's info team has some direct line to heaven, there's no way they'd know this, even if they knew nothing else.
"Even now, the cardinal is forcing Lily to endure uncomfortable sleeping arrangements and hunger in order to create the image of a 'Saintess who can understand those at the bottom.' He's abusing her under the guise of frugality."
Right.
That's why, even as a Saintess, her stomach's constantly growling and she's crazy about my jerky.
Of course, my jerky is insanely delicious.
"My goal is to neutralize the influence Cardinal Barneo has over Lily and become her official guardian, so I can build a foothold to exert influence over the church."
"……Wow."
Look at that ambition.
So it wasn't just ordinary disciple affection after all.
This lady was planning to swallow up the church too?
Cassian felt a chill run down his spine.
'I've gone way too deep into this.'
I tried to pull back, but Müller didn't stop.
"And as for His Highness the Crown Prince……"
She toyed with her teacup and smiled meaningfully.
"If Lily is going to work out with him, she has to keep running away like this."
"What do you mean? She has to keep running away?"
"You really are……"
Viscountess Müller clicked her tongue.
"You've inherited only the talent from the Court Count. You have no experience, and you're hopeless at theory."
Huh?
What did I inherit from my father?
"The Court Count was exactly that kind of person too."
"I'm not really following. What exactly did I inherit, and what kind of person was my father?"
Viscountess Müller smiled slyly and treated me like a greenhorn.
"There are things like that. You'll understand when you grow up. The tension between a man and a woman."
"……"
Damn, that's such a MILF line, big sis.
Anyway.
"I suppose I should give you my answer now?"
"After hearing all this, how could I not? I'll do it. But let me ask you one thing."
"Go ahead."
"Everything you just said was real, right?"
It does seem real, no lie.
Still, I'm asking just in case.
I still don't understand why she's spilling everything about something this serious to me.
"Of course. I'm finding you more and more likable."
"You're a married woman, so please stop saying things like that to make my heart flutter."
"But you confessed your love earlier, didn't you?"
Why is today's conversation so dangerous?
"No, I meant an ode to money worship."
Damn. Stop this wicked capitalism that's already cut my tongue open!
"I meant praise for a genius's talent."
……This is weirdly exciting.
But could the reason the Crown Prince has to chase Lily be this strange fluttering tension I'm feeling right now?
I wanted to ask, but I couldn't.
She's really a married woman, and this question would be blatant flirting.
"Understood. Thank you for being honest, and I'll gratefully accept your offer."
"Good. Then let's prepare a contract guaranteeing that the exchange coins equivalent to those ten gold bars will be delivered on the day Lily graduates."
"Yes, thank you."
"Then shall we get up?"
No.
I still had one more thing to do today.
"No. Please get up first. I have somewhere to stop by for a moment."
"What for?"
"I just need to buy something."
This lady's expression somehow brightened.
I'm starting to get a little irritated?
"Jewelry?"
"No."
"Then cosmetics?"
"That's right."
"Hmm."
It was written all over her face that she was enjoying this.
I hadn't realized until I came to the capital that I was the kind of guy whose face alone could crack people up.
"I don't know what you're imagining, but it's a gift for the head maid, so even if you make a funny face, I won't mind."
"All right. I'll stop teasing you. Then I'll get up first."
"Yes. Thank you for the tea today."
Viscountess Müller left her seat with a smile.
And I.
"...Who's that?"
As I turned to stand up, I happened to notice a woman who seemed to be subtly turning her gaze away from me.