漫画大王

Chapter 223

Attending the club meeting were Ceres Van Owenne, the president of the Royal Class Student Council, accompanied by the vice president.

In addition, Olivia Lanche, the president of the Grace club and Leiter Zabri, the president of Monthly Royal Class, who had been scolded by Charlotte for causing trouble previously, were both there.

Besides these four, there were about five other seniors who seemed to be presidents of other clubs sitting around as well.

The Royal Class was noticeably small, but that meant there were plenty of leftover funds available to support the various clubs. Now that a club based around the important subject of magic research had been created, the club was allocated a substantial budget, since magic research required a lot of money.

Five thousand gold coins was about fifty billion won, which was an excessively large amount of money to support the activities of a high school club. Other clubs did not need that much money, so they didn’t receive such a large amount.

Magic research was, in many ways, a money-eating activity.

Despite this, I had suddenly asked for the support fund to be tripled. No wonder the president turned pale.

“Why? It’s not like the kids are fooling around in there. If the money is for studying and they need it, they should get it,” said my overwhelming supporter, Olivia Lanche, as she smiled gently at Ceres.

‘Oh, this noona is usually a bit of a troublemaker, but in times like these, she definitely helps me out.’

“...”

Of course, her remark merely irritated those around the table who harbored significant displeasure with the fact that Olivia Lanche adored me immensely.

‘Is it really a good thing that she’s on my side...?’

I looked around, noticing the looks that the others were giving me. ‘Who are you? Who the heck do you think you are?’ their faces said.

I really didn’t know what to do, since they weren’t exactly saying anything directly to me.

Of course, the student council president sighed deeply.

“Reinhart, even though we are the Royal Class, there are limits. Most of the funds available for club activities have already been allocated to your club. Do you understand that it wasn’t just a student council decision? It even required a faculty meeting to allocate so much of the budget to your club.”

“... Oh, is that so?”

“Yes. Providing such facilities and research funds is no simple task. Of course, if this were a graduate school club, or if your club had many achievements, it might be possible to allocate you more funds. But that’s not the case,” Ceres explained calmly, pointing out the issues with my unreasonable request.

She continued, “I understand that there was a large amount of resistance even in the faculty meeting, but thanks to the strong arguments put forth by Mr. Effenhauser and Ms. Mustang, the support was approved.”

That, I did not know.

It seemed that the two first-year homeroom teachers had passionately advocated for us, which led to this situation. Although I doubted that Mr. Effenhauser had displayed any real passion when advocating for us.

“Of course, I understand that magic research can be infinitely expensive, but the amount of money currently allocated to you is already substantial. It’s impossible to grant an additional request for three times the current amount, Reinhart.”

“Oh, why not? They’re a special class, right? A unique class. So they should be given everything they ask for,” Olivia Lanche said.

“... Senior, please. Could you keep it down?”

“Eek!”

Ceres glared at Olivia Lanche, who was whining on my behalf, something she rarely did, and Olivia flinched and shrank under her gaze.

Olivia always seemed to get scared when someone got serious.

I hadn’t actually looked up her physical data, but she seemed to have considerable prowess not just in Divine Power, but also in close combat.

She likely did mean it when she subtly mentioned being good at fighting, but to see her so intimidated took me by surprise.

I wasn’t trying to stir things up by suddenly asking for an increase in funding while attending a club meeting in which I just needed to show my face.

—“Money. Get the money.”

That had been Harriet’s stern command, given just before I’d left to attend this meeting.

It would be impossible to achieve any results from the three research projects I’d ordered them to work on just by figuratively banging our heads against the wall.

Dimensional magic was considered ultra-high-level magic that was not an established field of magic in its own right, the Power Cartridge requires us to collect and research on all kinds of magic stones, and Moonshine also required experimenting with numerous reagents.

At this point, success was uncertain, but it was clear that these projects would swallow up a lot of money.

Thus, no matter how much budget we had, we would still fall short of funds in the end. Harriet ordered me to secure plenty of funds if I was going to ask them to produce something so outrageous.

‘Damn it. Why am I being made to feel like a husband being nagged by his wife to bring in money while knowing that I have starving kids at home?

‘Harriet isn’t even my wife, and the kids in the Magic Research Club aren’t my children! Why am I even in a situation like this?’

Anyway, Harriet had put her hands on her hips and told me to go out and get the money, and that was why I was in this meeting, trying to do something.

I almost asked Harriet if she could somehow cover it with her personal funds since she had some money, but even I recognized that such a request crossed a line.

So anyway...

‘Uh. Please give us more money!’

That’s what I was trying to do.

I wasn’t at the meeting just for show. This was where budget allocation was decided, and although we had already received a significant amount of funding, it was evidently not enough.

Thinking about it, it was quite funny, actually.

If it had been my own money, I would have felt like it was quite significant. But since this was someone else’s money and labeled as a budget, it didn’t feel like my money at all, and even I felt like it was insufficient.

However, Ceres was adamant—it was impossible to get additional support from them.

“Is it really impossible? Isn’t there something that can be done?” I asked.

“There’s nothing to give even if we wanted to. That’s just how it is, Reinhart.”

Ceres appeared visibly troubled by my constant insistence, which was basically a tantrum in disguise.

“Ceres, this place isn’t the only place to source for funds, is it?” Olivia Lanche said.

“... What?”

Olivia Lanche tilted her head and pointed with her finger. I had no idea what she was pointing at.

“Oh, no way... The Head Student Council?”

“Yep,” Olivia said with a bright smile. “If we could secure more funding from them, wouldn’t it be possible to increase their budget threefold?”

Watching Olivia boldly suggest we take money from others since our own council had none gave me a weird feeling.

Even though I myself was a thug, it felt as though she was just as thuggish as I was.

***

The Temple’s Head Student Council...

Each class had its own student council, and a Head Student Council oversaw all these student councils.

The Head Student Council wielded massive power within the Temple itself.

The Temple’s secondary education began from age 17 and concluded at age 22. The Head Student Council oversaw all the student councils during this six-year period.

Naturally, they would be allocated a substantial budget, and they also had the power to request for additional funds from the Temple’s headquarters.

The scale of funds available to them would vastly exceed that of the Royal Class.

While Ceres Van Owenne, the president of the Royal Class Student Council, had quite a bit of influence with the Head Student Council, the sheer scale of it overwhelmed her.

Our club had already received the maximum level of support from the Royal Class. While we could request more, the current level of funding had been secured only after a faculty meeting, and so asking for more was likely out of the question.

Things might be different in the future, but a newly established club suddenly asking for heaps of cash was sure to be seen as delusional.

The only place left that could provide us with more funds was the Head Student Council.

After the club meeting ended, I went back to the dormitory.

“The Head Student Council?” Harriet asked.

“Yeah. We’ve already reached the limit when it comes to funding from the Royal Class, so the only option left is to get it from them.”

“Hmm...”

Harriet, seeing a less-than-enthusiastic response to her command to bring in more money, twisted her lips slightly in thought.

Since I was the one who had thrust a random task upon them without warning, I wanted to make sure that I could procure an adequate budget from somewhere.

“Do you think the Head Student Council will readily give us the funding we need?”

“Probably not.”

Even Ceres’s reaction had been one of confusion bordering on incredulity, So I didn’t expect the president of the Head Student Council to react that differently.

Harriet seemed slightly apologetic, perhaps sensing that she had made an unreasonable request.

“Still, the usable funds that our club has is larger than the budget allocated by the student council,” Harriet said.

“Why is that?”

“We’ve decided to allocate all the support funds we receive individually towards the club’s budget.”

Magic majors received more research funds than other students did, and could be granted amounts beyond the standard allocation upon request.

The magic students seemed to have already agreed to funnel all these additional research funds into the club budget. My coercion aside, they seemed genuinely interested in the research projects.

“So, what’s the total amount then?”

“Um... it varies slightly by field. The ones receiving the most are Adelia and me, and we each get about a thousand gold per semester. Cristina gets seven hundred, and Anna gets five hundred. In total, if we manage it flexibly... we should have over three thousand gold available.”

Adelia, given her magical talents in an expensive field, and Harriet, with her talents across all magic, each received around one billion won per semester in support funds.

‘Those who are capable of magic really get an almost unimaginable level of support, huh.’

That gave us a budget of roughly eighty billion won.

“What are you guys talking about now?” Riana de Granz asked, hearing our conversation as she passed by.

She seated herself on a nearby sofa. “Is it about the Magic Research Club?”

“Yeah.”

Riana, who was familiar with the discussions around the Magic Research Club, nodded in understanding. “What do you need so much money for?”

“We’re attempting various projects, but since it’s unclear how we’re supposed to go about making progress on them, we probably need a lot more funding than we currently have.”

We did not know how much funding was required before the projects began to yield results. Despite the huge budget and extra funds, the outcome was uncertain.

If no tangible results were achieved, it would just mean blowing through a massive budget.

“We’ve received all possible support internally from the Royal Class,” said Harriet. “Now, we’re thinking of knocking on the Head Student Council’s door.”

Riana tilted her head slightly. “Do we really need to get that money from within the Temple?”

At Riana’s words, my eyes lit up.

“Why, are you going to give us some money?” I asked.

‘Doesn’t her family have a ton of money?’

“... Really. I hate to say this, but sometimes you’re so pathetic. Just, you know, despicable.”

My blunt and thinly-veiled request for money seemed to cause Riana to lower her already low opinion of me even further.

“You’re saying that you’re going to make something, but would it actually make money?” she asked.

Harriet tilted her head at Riana’s question, but the answer was obvious. “It’s not just a matter of making money; it would change history.”

Moonshine, and the Power Cartridge...

Dimensional magic aside, those two would definitely make money.

“Hmm, then why not establish a business partnership with an external entity and get research funding that way?”

In other words, why try to get all the money from the Temple? Just find an investor. That was what she was saying.

Only when Riana pointed this out did I realize that the part of my brain that had thought outside the box for the Rotary Club issue hadn’t extended to this issue for some reason.

“Wow, are you a genius or something?” I said.

Riana crossed her arms and flashed a confident smile. “Anyway, why not see if you can put together a business plan or a research proposal? You never know, right? We—my family—just happen to love having more money.”

A product that could change history if made...

The House of Granz could invest in it and reap the rewards indefinitely.

“Shall I ask my dad too?” Harriet de Saint-Ouen asked with a tilt of her head.

Securing funding on the basis of investment, rather than merely investing personal funds, seemed perfectly reasonable.

The Duke of Saint-Ouen and the Duke of Granz...

With the support of both families, out budget constraints would essentially vanish.

***

A few days later...

“I got scolded by my dad,” Riana said, shrugging as she returned to Temple.

“... You got scolded?” I asked, and Riana scratched her cheek lightly, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“He told me not to talk nonsense. The research proposal was too abstract, with no concrete basis or anything.”

In hindsight, that was the obvious result.

‘We seventeen-year olds promise to make something that will change the world, so give us money!’

Who would give us money for that? The Temple was our school and so they gave us funding, but no external entities would believe in us the same way.

These claims would be dubious even when made by the Temple University Research Center or the Mage Tower, and so we kids would surely not be taken seriously.

No matter how much money someone had, they wouldn’t invest in a project that was clearly doomed to fail.

Having a lot of money did not automatically mean spending it foolishly.

There was absolutely no reason for them to give us the money.

“Anyway, sorry,” Riana apologized.

“What’s there to be sorry about? I’m already grateful that you even tried submitting a proposal to a Duke’s household,” I said.

“... Oh, really? Then shouldn’t you show some respect to me, the young lady of the Duke’s household?”

“Maybe after graduation,” I replied.

“Never mind. I’m the fool for even asking you in the first place.”

‘Is being na?ve part of some people’s fate? You seem to do everything well until the critical moment when you slip up.’

Riana de Granz, who was usually cold and slightly aloof, did have a charming side to her; she got a bit flustered when she made such slips.

Riana’s attempt had failed.

Soon after, Harriet, whose face was flushed red with indignation, returned, and it was clear what the outcome on her end was.

“I’m never talking to my dad again!” Harriet exclaimed.

It seemed she had gotten into a big fight with her father.