Chapter 44
*
In the outskirts of the imperial capital, a shabby, narrow residential district where commoners lived.
The evening Civitas Square, with the sunset slowly sinking in.
A carriage carrying a low-ranking priestess came to a stop in an alley paved with cobblestones.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Clutching a gold pouch tightly to her chest, the priestess stepped down from the carriage and looked up at her home, where the sunset was seeping in.
A narrow, three-story red-brick house, long and thin as it rose upward.
It was a dilapidated boarding house blackened by smog, the sort you could see anywhere in Civitas Square.
Her family rented a single room on the second floor of this cramped, steep building.
The priestess climbed the creaking wooden stairs and stood before the firmly shut front door.
Was it because she'd just come from the manor at Sanctum Hill?
Today, for some reason, her home felt especially old and shabby.
Creak.
With a rusty hinge's groan, the door opened.
“Mom's home.”
The priestess's tired voice filled the cramped room.
Replies came from both the living room-bedroom and the kitchen, separated by a single door.
“You're back?”
In the corner of the living room.
Her eldest daughter, who had been lying face-down on an old sofa reading a book, replied blandly without even lifting her head.
Her eldest daughter, Valeria.
Sixteen years old, and a daughter who had grown more taciturn lately because she was in the middle of puberty.
Meanwhile, from the kitchen came a lively voice.
“Mom! You're home? You must have had a hard day!”
A fourteen-year-old girl trotted over.
Her younger daughter, Aila.
Unlike Valeria, she showed not even the slightest sign of puberty, a sweet and innocent child without a trace of sulkiness.
In Aila's hands were a stubby pencil and a worn notebook stained with ink.
She must have been studying at the table right until just before her mother arrived.
The eldest daughter must have given up the table for her younger sister and studied on the sofa herself.
Imagining that scene made one corner of the priestess's chest ache.
'I'm sorry, Mom...'
After losing her husband.
She had stubbornly held on, working as a low-ranking priest by day at the church and as a street vendor in Civitas Square by night.
Then one day, she suddenly awakened divine power.
A priestess who awakened divine power could become a healer and receive much more special treatment.
Thanks to that, she was able to leave behind life as a street vendor.
But reality was still not kind.
She still couldn't even grasp the fringe of the middle class, drifting from one cramped rented room to another.
Of course, a lower priest's earnings went beyond those of an ordinary middle-class family.
A single lower heal could earn a day's income for most artisans.
But the problem was the murderous rent and her daughters' education expenses.
Inside the walls, where land was scarce.
The right to put down roots in safe Civitas Square was never cheap.
On top of that, both her daughters awakened their talents early, unlike her.
Her eldest daughter was good at arithmetic, so she could enter the Academy Middle School.
And her younger daughter was attending the children's division of the seminary, in anticipation of a divine-power awakening.
With the earnings of a lower priest, it was difficult to cover both their education and the rent.
'Still... for the time being, I won't have to worry about money.'
The priestess clenched the gold pouch in her arms.
It was the payment, including compensation for the two lower heals and the hush money.
Thanks to this unexpected reward, she could let her two daughters focus on their studies without worrying about money for a while.
Remembering that, she forced herself to put on a bright expression.
“I'm a little late, huh? You must be hungry. I'll make dinner right away.”
Then it happened.
Thunk.
From the front door she had just closed a moment ago.
Something slid through the crack beneath the threshold.
At that sound, the priestess turned her head toward the front door.
Through the gap in the old threshold.
An envelope that looked luxurious at a glance was peeking out.
The priestess carefully picked up the letter.
The edges of the thick cream-colored vellum envelope were trimmed in gold.
A crest embossed in gold leaf was stamped on the front.
'Mercure Merchant House?'
Mercure Merchant House.
A merchant house no healer could fail to know.
The medicines this merchant house made were revolutionary, every one of them.
Southern fever, consumption, and even suppurating plague.
The medicines this merchant house produced were saving countless lives.
Among healers, this merchant house's medicines were practically essential.
“Huh? It's Mercure Merchant House?”
Even her younger daughter, who hoped to become a healer, knew the merchant house well.
There was a reason this merchant house had become so famous among healers.
Soon after this merchant house first rose to prominence.
Most healing priests regarded them warily and with displeasure, calling them heretics.
They thought the merchant house would steal the healers' livelihood.
But that displeasure didn't last even a year.
The merchant house had declared that it would distribute medicine only through healers.
— “Medicine can become poison depending on how it's used. Therefore, our merchant house promises to distribute medicines only through experts.”
The merchant house never sold medicine to ordinary people.
Instead, it entrusted all prescription rights and compounding rights to healers.
It was a bold declaration that even healers had never imagined.
An age when anyone could make and sell mysterious medicine.
An age when anyone could be a snake-oil peddler, and anyone could buy such medicine.
In such an age, monopoly prescription rights through healers were enough to shake the entire healing world.
“Waaah... Mom, I don't like this merchant house.”
“Hmm? Why?”
“Their medicines are part of this month's exam scope...”
At the younger daughter's grumbling, the priestess gave a wry smile.
Of course, there was that sort of trivial side effect.
Even so, to the priests, Mercure Merchant House was something to be grateful for.
By nature, there is a limit to how much healing a priest can use in a day.
But once the merchant house opened up prescription rights, the healers' fame and income exploded beyond anything before.
So impressive was that decision that even the Holy King and the cardinals were said to have wanted to bless insulin.
And they would have blessed vaccines immediately, without question, even before they were released.
'But why is this merchant house suddenly... ?'
The priestess patted her whining younger daughter's head once.
She carefully tore open the embossed gold seal and opened the envelope.
And the moment she unfolded the thick documents inside.
The priestess's eyes bulged wide as if she'd seen something unbelievable.
======================
[Imperial Academy High School Admission Recommendation Letter and Scholarship Certificate]
— Beneficiary: Valeria
— Support details: Full high school tuition, monthly living stipend, full textbook costs
— Special condition: Five years of mandatory employment with the merchant house after graduation
======================
“M-my goodness....”
What, some new kind of scam?
The instant she saw the contents, the priestess felt her legs go weak.
While that happened, her hand was unconsciously tearing open the second envelope as well.
======================
[Special Scholarship Recommendation Letter for the Sun Church Monastery's Directly Run Seminary]
— Beneficiary: Aila.
— Support details: Full tuition, a free first-class single dorm room.
— Special condition: 15-year exclusive contract for merchant house medicines after ordination
======================
The elite path she could never reach no matter how hard she struggled.
That chance was contained in this small envelope.
The priestess's heart began pounding wildly.
Please, let this not be a dream.
But that thrill didn't last long.
“…Ah.”
Once a little of her reason returned.
Because she realized what these letters meant.
'It's hush money.'
The timing was far too perfect.
Less than half a day after she witnessed the baron's eldest son perform the miracle of curing demon disease, received a pouch of gold coins from the head of the house, and was met with a chilling threat.
A proposal so perfect it went far beyond the common sense of a lower priest.
It was timed too well to dismiss as coincidence.
The priestess swallowed dryly.
This was not simple goodwill, nor some new kind of scam.
It was an extravagant, entirely justified carrot held out by someone in power to buy her silence for good.
'No. Of course it is.'
Not only had she made a mistake, she had witnessed a noble family's secret.
One that must never be known to the world.
And even so, she had kept her life.
Then it was only natural that she pay an appropriate price.
But instead of taking her life, they opened a golden road for her two daughters and asked for silence.
There was no reason to refuse.
No, there was no way she could refuse.
Could she really leave her two clever daughters to wander between the cramped kitchen table and the worn sofa, worrying about tuition?
'If anything... it's too generous.'
The more tightly she kept her lips sealed, the brighter her daughters' lives would shine.
If she carried this secret to her grave for the rest of her life, she could break free from the yoke of poverty.
This was an opportunity, not a leash.
The priestess tightened her trembling hand and clutched the documents.
…but there was nothing she could do about her trembling hands.
She was nothing more than a lower priest living hand to mouth.
Yet she had come into the field of view of a noble family from Sanctum Hill and the empire's largest merchant house.
A place high beyond imagination, where gold and power were tangled together.
The fact that someone there would be looking down on her for the rest of her life felt terrifying beyond belief.
Even if that gaze was merciful.
No, because it was merciful, it was even more frightening.
'…It's okay. I just have to keep my mouth shut.'
The more tightly she kept her lips sealed, the brighter her daughters' lives would shine,
and if her lips grew loose, all of this would vanish into foam.
That was all there was to it.
In return for becoming part of a tremendous secret, she had been given a tremendous opportunity.
This was not a curse, but a blessing.
'Yes... I should accept it gladly. No, I'd never be grateful enough even if I thanked them for the rest of my life.'
Rather, the fact that she was feeling fear right now made her feel shameless.
So she bit down on her trembling lips and steeled her mind.
“Mom? Why is your face like that? What is it?”
Then her younger daughter's voice pierced her consciousness.
Aila, holding her worn notebook and stubby pencil, tilted her head and asked.
Valeria, who had been lying face-down on the sofa, was also casting a sidelong glance.
“Uh... u-um, well...”
The priestess, startled, tried to hide the documents behind her back, then quickly relaxed her stiff expression and smiled gently.
“Um, it's a letter from a place called a 'scholarship foundation.'”
“A scholarship foundation? What do they do?”
“Umm... not sure?”
At her mother's vague answer, Valeria frowned.
In this world's setting, it was common for nobles or major merchant houses to sponsor commoners.
But most of those cases were for the purpose of using them as soldiers or taking them as concubines.
Research donations were mostly made to monopolize the resulting research.
That was why the concept of a 'scholarship foundation' that simply supported education was unfamiliar and strange.
For that reason, the priestess herself couldn't understand this scholarship foundation's intentions either.
But because her eldest daughter, who was properly in puberty, was staring at her so sharply, the priestess, pretending to know better, stammered out a vague explanation.
“R-right. Since you two are both such outstanding, hardworking students at school... a wonderful merchant house that noticed your talent says it will cover all your tuition and living expenses.”
Surprisingly, that was correct.
Valeria still didn't drop her suspicious gaze.
In contrast, Aila, who had no suspicions whatsoever, bounced in place with delight.
“Wow! Really?! Then I can move into the dorm now?!”
“Y-yes.”
“Hmph. This is obviously some merchant house scheme. Don't you know there's no such thing as a free lunch?”
The sixteen-year-old girl tried to act cool, as if none of this mattered.
But the corners of her mouth were already twitching.
She couldn't hide her anticipation that the misery of giving up the kitchen table for her younger sister and studying on the old sofa might finally be over.
“There might be some poison-pill clause in there, so I'll take a look. I'm studying law for the entrance exam anyway.”
Valeria, trying to act like an adult, snatched the recommendation letter from her mother's hand.
Before the priestess could even stop her, Valeria quickly skimmed through the documents and tilted her head.
“Huh?”
“W-what is it? Valeria?”
The priestess's heart plummeted.
Maybe there was some frightening wording in there, like a confidentiality oath.
But the part Valeria pointed out was completely different.
“There's a strange condition here.”
“A condition?”
“Yeah. Keep your grades within the top five, stay neat and proper, and never receive any demerits at the academy. I guess that's only natural if you think of it like an investment, but...”
Valeria's finger pointed to the very last line of the document.
“But what is this last condition? It's kind of strange.”
“T-the last condition?”
The priestess hurried over to her daughter's side and looked down at the document.
The special clause written in small letters at the bottom.
[Students receiving this foundation's scholarships must, to confirm their academic progress and for exchange purposes, have a mandatory meal with the foundation's scholarship officer once every six months.]
[Assigned scholarship officer: Director Schun (Schun)]
***
Meanwhile, at the same time.
Yulian, who had fallen asleep in the morning and opened his eyes in the evening, was sitting in a rocking chair, deep in thought.
'A scholarship all of a sudden...'
He'd woken up to a call from the merchant house.
It was about the scholarship foundation he'd discussed with the merchant house head the other day.
— [Oh dear, young master. This time the first scholarship students have been selected, but...]
“That fast?”
Yulian asked, rubbing his eyes.
The scholarship foundation was a system he had come up with while sending a donation to his mentor.
The idea was to broaden support beyond mages, since he was already helping them anyway.
'Though I did it because that's just the kind of cliché this genre has.'
In web novels, it's usually a cliché for a transmigrator to support promising rough diamonds from a young age.
There was just one minor problem.
Yulian hadn't read the original, so he didn't know exactly whom he should support.
So he decided to keep it simple.
'If I don't know who I'm supposed to support, I can just support a bunch of people and hope one of them pans out.'
That's how he founded the scholarship foundation.
He figured that if he supported a few dozen people every year, one of them would probably pan out.
It was a brute-force method only possible for Yulian, who had money to burn.
And before even a few days had passed since the scholarship foundation was mentioned.
The children who would receive scholarships had already been selected.
'Let's see...'
Countless lists of names were piled on Yulian's desk.
Cal. 15. Second place in the Academy Middle School Swordsmanship Department.
Ellie. 17. First place in the Academy High School Alchemy Department.
'Hm? These kids seem to have a bit more potential than the others.'
Valeria. 16. First place in the Academy Middle School Diplomacy and Economics Department.
Aila. 14. A divine-power awakener, top student in the seminary's children's division.
He mentally filed away the especially eye-catching kids.
After reviewing several dozen applications, Yulian nodded.
“Good. Proceed with this.”
— [An excellent decision, young master.]
“Ah, before that, you did add the item I mentioned, right?”
— [Pardon? Ah, that... special condition saying they must have a meal with the scholarship officer once every half year?]
A faint trace of embarrassment colored the merchant house head's voice over the communication tube.
— [Yes, as you said, I've recorded everything under Director Schun's name, but... may I ask why you included such a troublesome clause?]
“Could it be a cost issue?”
— [Not at all. From the merchant house's perspective, buying the students a meal is nothing. But, young master, you really intend to meet dozens of students one by one and have meals with them.]
It was a reasonable question.
All he had to do was provide money, so why go out of his way to gather commoner scholarship students he didn't even know and feed them regularly?
The merchant house head couldn't understand Yulian's intention to deliberately make life difficult for himself as a noble.
But Yulian brushed aside the merchant house head's question.
“If it's a venture my money is going into, is it wrong for me to personally check who I've invested in?”
— [My apologies. That was a foolish question.]
At Yulian's answer, the merchant house head nodded in understanding.
Director Schun was the sort of person who'd go volunteer at Limbus Pit just to check the ground beneath his feet.
Such a person going out of his way to have dinner meetings for that reason made perfect sense.
Besides, the merchant house head was no longer in a position to say anything to Yulian.
— [Please rest well, then, young master.]
“You may go now, Merchant House Head.”
After finishing his call with the merchant house head.
Yulian fell back into thought.
'It's just an extension of what I did at Limbus Pit.'
Uncover talented kids and slot them somewhere.
Also known as orphan gacha.
The name sounds weird, though.
In any case, it was what he'd always been doing.
From orphan gacha, he had unearthed Erika.
So he trusted the power of orphan gacha.
'Now I'm just doing it on a larger scale.'
This time, the target wasn't orphans, but academy students.
At a larger scale, and aimed at kids who seemed more promising.
However, the reason Yulian added the dinner clause had nothing to do with talent gacha.
'I wanted to try it at least once.'
The story of a boy who won a lottery and got to tour a chocolate factory.
Yulian really liked that story.
So this time, he was going to try copying it.
Regardless of whether he himself was the protagonist or whether that was just how this genre worked.
Because it looked fun.
He was planning to stop later if it became annoying.
'Do I maybe need to arrange a tour of our pharmaceutical factory someday...'
Then would I need to hire some dancing dwarves for it?
Or maybe just replace them with dwarves?
Thinking that, Yulian tilted the rocking chair back and forth.
'The dress code and restaurant for when I meet the kids...'
Yulian was already looking forward to meeting the children.