“This spot will do nicely.”Our party entered the stock exchange and secured good seats on the second floor, with a clear view over the trading floor.We weren’t here to participate at the desks today; we’d only come to watch something entertaining.“Can I sit here?”Plop-.“……Do as you like.”Before any permission was given, Rebecca comfortably sat on the seat to my left and crossed her legs.“Ugh, it’s exhausting being out after so long. My back hurts. I feel stiff.”“……”Ciel glared at her for a moment, then took the seat to my right.Thus the seven of us sat in comfortable seats, looking down on the busy trading floor as we talked.“So what’s this entertaining spectacle?”“Miss Beca, did you not receive a detailed explanation?”“Why would I need to? Alfredo takes care of everything anyway. Alfredo, explain.”“Yes, my lady. The basic gist of this plan is to reverse-use the short sellers’ scheme so that a phenomenon called a short squeeze occurs. First, you should understand short selling—”“Explain simply.”“Then about the malicious rumors regarding the Lombard Guild that recently spread around Stella Harbor…”“Ah~ I don’t care. Even simpler.”Rebecca covered her ears as if she didn’t want to listen.Alfredo let out a small sigh and cut to the conclusion.“……In short, the other side will be unable to buy back what they borrowed and will end up buried in debt, while we will take their funds intact.”“Oh, I get it. Then roughly how much are we expecting to make?”“Judging by the total assets held by the guilds involved, I estimate we could realize over 50 billion krone.”“Oh ho. Fifty billion? Then we won’t have to worry about money for a while.”Even Rebecca—who normally showed little interest in external affairs—perked up at the hefty sum of fifty billion.The wealth generated and protection tax collected by the Panopticon Western Branch she managed would already be enormous, but fifty billion seemed no small amount even to her.Rebecca asked me,“Hey. How much did you put in?”“Five hundred million krone.”“Five hundred million? What, does House de Valis have that little money?”“……It’s my personal funds. My allowance was cut off.”In truth, it wasn’t even personal funds.That money was practically borrowed from Izelin as well.At my comment about my allowance being cut, Rebecca chuckled as if she found it cute.“Heh heh, then should big sister give you an allowance instead of Aslan? How much do you want. Ten billion enough? I gave you those gloves cheap last time too.”Rebecca tapped my shoulder, offering to toss me money.'Ten billion, huh.'Honestly, with how many places I’ve needed to spend money lately, it was a little tempting, but I refused on the spot.If I let myself get hooked by a few pennies, the aftermath wouldn’t be pretty. There are plenty of ways to make money anyway.“I refuse.”“Playing hard to get.”While we looked down from the second floor at the staff preparing for the opening and chatted about this and that—Thud-thud-thud-.A ground tremor that seemed to shake the entire stock exchange building. At the same time—Boom-.The exchange doors swung open and the plaza crowd poured inside in a rush.Investors flooding in like waves. They sprinted into the exchange as if being chased by someone, shouting at the top of their lungs.“M-me first!”“I’ll buy every last share of the Lombard Guild I can!”“One hundred shares of the Lombard Guild!”“Hey, move! I got here first! Don’t you see the ticket number?”Investors swarmed like ants, all trying to buy the Lombard Guild’s stock.With the crowd suddenly converging, the stock exchange staff—who had been leisurely preparing to open—hurried back to their stations to respond.“Ah, it’s not trading time yet, so transactions aren’t possible.”“It’s only one minute left! Just do it!”“Shut up and take my money!”“I said I’m buying! I’m buying, so why won’t you sell!”They yelled at the exchange staff and shoved money toward the desks.Flustered, the staff checked each investor’s business card and account information and hastened final preparations for the opening.We sat on the second floor and smiled as we watched the farce.“It looks exactly like a street market down there.”“Indeed it does.”The reason those investors were so urgent was nothing special.Since our party had locked down 94 percent of the Lombard Guild’s stock, they were flocking to buy the remaining 6 percent.And why were they trying to buy that float?The reason was simple.'Because it’s certain the Lombard’s stock will rise.'Thus far, the quantity of Lombard Guild stock Jeremy’s party had borrowed from brokers and sold short was about 20 percent of the total.They ultimately had to repay that quantity by the designated date, but the amount left in the market was a mere 6 percent—less than half of that.Which meant the remaining 14 percent of stock they needed to repay could not be found anywhere, a shortage would occur, and naturally the value would skyrocket.Those investors intended not to miss the opportunity and to hop aboard the same train as us.All we needed to do was sell off our holdings bit by bit while the stock was soaring and reap maximum profit until the opposing guilds’ funds were emptied.It would likely play out over the course of several days.As the trading floor bustled like a marketplace with crowds trying to buy the Lombard Guild’s stock—“This is fraud! Stock manipulation!”A voice filled with anger rang out from below.Looking down, I saw a few merchants who had been with Jeremy making a scene and drawing attention by shouting.“Call the financial supervisor! No, first close the market immediately!”They couldn’t bear to have their noses cut off in broad daylight like this, so it seemed they meant to stall for time and fight however they could.“Oh? Is it finally getting interesting?”Rebecca adjusted her posture, just about to watch the show downstairs—Step-.A few people came up to the second floor where our party sat.It was Jeremy’s group, whom we had run into in the plaza earlier.While part of their entourage kept other investors’ attention below to buy time, it seemed they had come to meet us—the ones behind this plan.“Loen, what on earth have you done?”Jeremy, face stiff, demanded as if accusing me, but I merely leaned back arrogantly in my chair and tilted my head.“……I don’t quite know what you’re talking about.”When I feigned ignorance, that same plump ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) merchant, Wellun, pointed at me and shouted,“T-this was done by the Bellatea vice guild master in collusion with you, and by the Black Rose Association woman sitting next to you!”Wellun sprayed spit as he bellowed.I narrowed my eyes in displeasure and spoke.“I don’t know on what basis you’re saying that. And…”I cooled my gaze and snapped quietly,“You filthy merchant who does nothing but hit people from behind—how dare you call me ‘you bastard’… Do you think Jeremy will protect you when you’re soon thrown out penniless onto the streets?”“!”“Was your name Wellun? Let’s see whether you can keep living well after insulting the House of de Valis.”“H-hiik…”As Wellun turned ashen and shrank back, Jeremy stepped between him and me.“Enough. Stop the threats and answer the question, Loen. Did you really manipulate the stock price?”“Stock manipulation, you say. Well now… not sure who should be asking whom that.”I didn’t bother explaining further.There was someone with far more to say on stock manipulation than me.When I glanced over, Sheika gave a small nod and rose from her seat.Then, setting her expression, she declared boldly,“No, the ones who manipulated the stock price were you.”“……What?”Fixing them with a sharp glare, Sheika continued,“You spread malicious nonsense about our Lombard Guild and colluded with each other to drive down the price through short selling. Then, when the price of spices you’d bought in advance soared, you profited off that. Am I wrong?”“W-what kind of nonsense is that? Just because you have a mouth doesn’t mean you can spout anything! We’ll sue you for defamation!”Struck squarely in the sore spot, the man tried to brazen it out with a hollow retort, but it didn’t work on Sheika.Sheika looked toward the investors crowding below and went on,“Nonsense, you say. I have the evidence we’ve gathered thus far. Do you really think what’s happening down there right now is a coincidence?”“……!”“You tried to take what belonged to others, so you must have been prepared to have yours taken. Now it’s my turn. It won’t be long before the Financial Supervisory Office summons you. Wash your necks and get ready to appear.”At Sheika’s resolute declaration, Wellun retreated in fright and asked,“W-who the hell are you?”At this, Sheika—as if she’d been waiting—removed the cloth that had covered her face.When the cloth fell away, golden earrings hanging from her ears shone brilliantly.Their shape was a bit unusual—like a wagon wheel, the emblem of the Lombard Guild.“!”A few quick-witted merchants flinched at the sight of that wheel emblem.Looking down at them with anger-tinged violet eyes, Sheika calmly declared,“I am Sheika… Sheika Lombard. I am the guild master of Lombard—the very guild you chose as your sacrificial lamb.”***A few days later.A short article appeared in the Union Daily.[Stella Harbor Stock Manipulation Incident]Since it was an affair outside the Union, there weren’t many details, but it stated that several guilds involved in the incident had been sanctioned by the Financial Supervisory Office.Well, even if they hadn’t been sanctioned, they were already beggars, so it wouldn’t have made much difference.During the audit, they pointed to the Bellatea Merchant Guild and the Black Rose Association as the masterminds of the manipulation, but their claims were dismissed.Meaning it was drivel not worth hearing.Of course, if one dug deep, one could have discovered that the [Black Rose Association] was in fact one of the Underworld’s funding conduits and that they had been lending stock to those men through anonymous brokers until now, but since it wasn’t exactly illegal, it didn’t matter.Whether Jeremy had cut off an appropriate tail and slipped out or not, there wasn’t a single mention when I checked various newspapers.Perhaps the Kingdom of Gilbert had gagged the press.But that’s fine. I never thought I could crush him entirely with just this.Let’s be satisfied with having screwed him over royally. Not to mention I’d already pulled a hefty sum out of his back pocket.I folded the paper, opened my bankbook, and checked the profits from this affair.[7,678,990,100]'767.89901 million krone…'Considering the grand scale and how it played out over several weeks, it wasn’t an astounding sum.Less, even, than the allowance amount Rebecca had offered to slip me.But with a satisfied smile, I folded the bankbook again.'This is only the beginning.'This 7.678 billion would be seed money to gradually grow my assets from here.If you think about how hard it is to save up even a few thousand in seed money in real life, then this 7.678 billion is a fortune.Since I know the future information of the Miruelin Saga, I can multiply this many times over—tens or hundreds of times—through investments in various fields.I drifted into happy thoughts, considering how much of it to allocate where.'I’ve already paid back the money borrowed from Izelin Academy, so first I’ll reinvest half back into stocks… I’ll need to set some aside for the relic excavation and the tram branch line construction. Or I could buy a staff. An Azoth sword would be nice too. Ah, and I should stock materials to process the fragment of the Light Dragon’s Heart.'As I jotted down uses for the funds in my notebook, a warm black tea was set on the table.Click-.Peeking sidelong at my notebook, Ciel said,“You look happy.”“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be? Since I made money, I should give my secretary a bonus too. What do you want? Shall I open a shop for you on Traum Street? A café would be nice, or maybe a dessert shop.”“……No, thank you. Please don’t spend recklessly and manage your money properly.”“Don’t worry. I have enough leeway to give you a bonus.”“That lax mindset is what I’m warning you about.”She let out a deep sigh and continued,“Anyway. A message from Lady Freya. She says she will soon visit the General Student Council Office regarding the Sports Festival.”

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