漫画大王

Chapter 246

“It’s sponsorship money, what else?”

I was able to show the kids the sponsorship certificates that had arrived via the Royal Class student council.

Everyone was in shock. Even Harriet, who had no reason to envy others when it came to money, was dumbfounded.

[Shanapell, First Imperial Knight Order] - 400 platinum coins

[Merchants’ Guild] - 300 platinum coins

[Magic Association] - 100 platinum coins

[Count Kreuzin] - 50 platinum coins

[Laslan Knight Order] - 10 platinum coins

.

.

.

Sponsorship funds had arrived from numerous groups that had managed to handle their affairs quickly.

One platinum coin was worth a hundred gold coins. Thus, one platinum coin was equivalent to a billion won.

Shanapell had offered 40 billion won, and the Merchants’ Guild gave 30 billion.

The amount was much larger than anticipated.

Support from the overall student council had not yet been determined, as it couldn’t be decided by just a few people on their end.

However, by this point, the support we would get from the overall student council didn’t matter.

“This is not the end; it will get even larger. But for the most part, this is all the sponsorship we will be getting from large organizations.”

Nearly one hundred billion won in sponsorship money had been gathered in just one attempt. Of course, without the Merchants’ Guild and Shanapell, we would not have raised this amount.

A couple of unexpected encounters had produced ripple effects, resulting in an unprecedented amount of support.

Everyone looked at me like I was some sort of deity for collecting this much money in just one sponsorship gathering. Even I couldn’t believe it, so it was unlikely for the others to wrap their heads around it.

Louis Ankton, in charge of finances, was the most astonished.

“Is it not enough?” I asked.

“No... Of course it’s enough.”

Although he said that, it was anyone’s guess as to what could happen in the future. Money, especially research budgets, could unexpectedly leak out in vast amounts.

Harriet was left speechless as well.

“You guys probably won’t use the money haphazardly, but whatever sponsorship money used must be transparently disclosed. The sponsors might be curious about what we’re doing. We need to report the budget usage and balance periodically. Do you understand?” Louis said.

“Yes, understood.”

Our existing budget had seemed vast, but this new incoming amount of funding utterly dwarfed it. Louis seemed bewildered and also frightened. Indeed, if he made errors in accounting records, it could be disastrous.

Seeing Harriet unable to speak properly was rather amusing.

When I’d first created this club called the Magic Research Club, I never imagined it would turn out this way.

I wanted them to manage it by themselves, but then I somehow became a member, then suddenly the president. In response to Harriet’s playful order to get funds, I had gone to the sponsorship gathering where a couple of unexpected events occurred, leading to us receiving an enormous amount of money.

Who could really predict what could happen?

In the end, it was clear that, if I had not become the president of the Magic Research Club, things would not have turned out so properly..

“You’ve worked hard, Reinhart,” Adelia said with a genuinely grateful expression.

As soon as Adelia had spoken, the other kids began to thank me one by one.

However, Harriet still seemed dazed.

“You really... you really managed to bring it in...” Harriet muttered.

She believed I’d ended up last in the midterm exams because I’d gone through hell trying to get the money she’d thoughtlessly asked for.

However, I’d produced results that far exceeded anyone’s wildest imaginations. Of course, without Olivia, this wouldn’t have been possible, but my connection to Olivia was also one of my unique traits.

“I... really don’t know what’s what anymore,” Harriet said as she sighed and looked at me. “You did well. Thank you.”

Harriet’s genuine expression of appreciation made me feel strange. Everyone looked at me like I was some kind of deity who didn’t know magic but was the god of the Magic Research Club.

“If you understand, then get to work, you punks. No more excuses about not having money, got it?”

‘Get to work now!’

“As expected...”

Everyone sighed heavily as if they had known things would eventually turn out this way.

***

The Magic Research Club had finally found its footing. Of course, no results had been produced yet, but the foundation to produce said results had been established.

Over time, there might be complaints about a lack of budget, but that year, at least, that was not going to be an issue.

I told them not to worry and to spend as much as needed without hesitation. It would be ridiculous if research progress was hindered because of money problems.

While I told them to spend freely, I was hoping they wouldn’t end up exhausting the whole budget of nearly one hundred billion won within a month.

As for the Rotary Club, the work of setting up shops at each station had already been completed. The space was there, the permits had been granted, and investment funding had been secured. Setting up physical shops in the stations didn’t take long.

Seeing the mini-convenience store \\ at the station near the Temple made me feel oddly pleased.

‘I can’t believe this all started from a single suggestion of mine.’

I felt a sense of accomplishment, and realized that business people could find subtle fulfillment in places other than just money.

The items sold in the stores weren’t much different from those in modern convenience stores. They sold ready-to-eat meals for those who skipped breakfast or items that might be suddenly needed but not carried around, like tissues.

Although it wasn’t packed with people, the store still saw a steady stream of visitors.

It suddenly dawned on me that people never really know what they truly want.

The stations were just transit points; people never felt the need to buy something or grab a snack there before. Now, though, if that store disappeared from the station, people would find it inconvenient.

Just like how people in the real world went about their lives just fine without smartphones before, but later became anxious without them, mages could practice their magic based on their own mana without Power Cartridges for now, but later on, according to the original story, they wouldn’t even be able to enter battle without them.

Something that people want, but do not understand that they want or need... Value arises from that.

“So, what else could there possibly be?” I asked.

“Hmmm...” Eleris replied.

I asked Eleris about this in her semi-basement room. She seemed to have cleaned it thoroughly and taken various other measures, because the musty smell had dissipated somewhat

I told her about the Magic Research Club, what we had decided to work on, and how I had secured a huge budget.

Eleris was astonished to learn that I had such capabilities.

Her reaction to the items we planned to make was similar to that of others.

“Something people don’t even realize that they lack... hmm, what could that be...?”

Eleris pondered my question but didn’t seem to have any sudden inspiration. “Well, I don’t know much about business, nor do I fully understand why Your Highness is engaging in this kind of work.”

She did not seem to suspect that making classmates stronger had nothing to do with the reconstruction of the Demon Realm.

“However, if it’s my area of expertise... it would be magic-related, not something that’s related to money”

“That’s okay. I’m just asking you to bring something up, and not necessarily come up with a solution,” I said.

Eleris seemed to concentrate, and after a moment, she summoned a flame in her right hand.

“This is a fire-starting spell.”

“So it seems.”

It was the lowest of the lowest-grade spells, and could only be used to ignite something. I was clearly unsure why Eleris was showing me this, so she looked at the flame flickering on her right hand.

“I can create this level of magic dozens of times simultaneously with just my will. It’s almost at a level where no casting is needed. It’s possible because I’m very familiar with it.”

“That makes sense.”

“Just now, though, I had to cast it. Casting was necessary.”

Her area of expertise was magic, and since I was an outsider, I couldn’t fully understand Eleris’s explanation.

“You mean you took time to cast a low-grade spell that doesn’t usually require casting?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you need to cast it?”

“The fire-starting spell I just performed drew on the external mana, not my internal mana.”

“What...?”

In this world, mages used their internal mana. Because of this, each person had a trait that determined the amount of internal mana they possessed. But magic using external mana, like in those old rental fantasy novels, was apparently also possible in this world.

“Using external mana like internal mana is ultimately a way to overcome a deficiency of internal mana, isn’t it?” Eleris remarked.

“Yes.”

“But I’m trying to tell you that the way magic is currently practiced was created to alleviate some kind of hardship.”

“A hardship...”

“Yes. Using external mana to cast magic is several dozen times more difficult than using internal mana. This is because one must measure and calculate the constantly-fluctuating energy levels.”

It was like a car without a fuel tank, having to draw gasoline directly from an external source.

I couldn’t fully grasp it, but I got a rough idea of the concept.

“A long time ago, ancient magic operated this way. Thus, magic was an even more exclusive power granted only to a select few as compared to now. Across the entire continent, there were fewer than a hundred mages, and even those mages possessed little power. If I were to use this method to cast magic, I wouldn’t be able to cast large-scale spells.”

.”... So, modern methods of magic were developed to alleviate the hardship of controlling external mana?”

“Yes.”

Just as I wanted to create Power Cartridges to break through the limitations of modern magic, the current system of using magic had been established to break past certain limitations as well.

“People discovered that manipulating internal mana was easier, which led to the development of various methods to increase internal mana. Over time, this form of magic became standardized, making access to magic much easier compared to ancient times.”

So, there indeed existed a method of using mana that existed in the natural world, but it was just an extremely difficult method that had been rendered obsolete long ago.

“I don’t know what else people find inconvenient, but I mentioned this because I remember how what was once inconvenient became more convenient in such a way... though I don’t know how this will help, Your Highness.”

She must have just said whatever came to mind.

I grinned widely.

“No, this is very helpful.”

Difficult did not mean impossible.

‘Imagine Harriet de Saint-Ouen mastering the use of nature’s mana. She would be like a god of destruction itself.’

Just thinking about it was terrifying.

Of course...

“Y-You! Why do you always pick on me! Why do you give me the hardest tasks? Why do you only treat me like this?”

Harriet burst into tears when I told her to research how to use external mana for magic.

***

Performing magic by using external mana...

It might have been too much to expect Harriet to come up with a method that even Eleris struggled with, even if her talent was extraordinary. Harriet cried when I asked her to take on something utterly unreasonable on top of the dimensional magic task.

She seemed to think I was just trying to be mean by assigning her bizarre tasks.

Once Harriet calmed down a bit, I looked at her and said, “No, I genuinely think you can do it. I’m not trying to make your life hard on purpose. Do you think I’m a madman or something?”

“You are a madman!”

‘Oh. That’s true. But not in this case. Even if I say absurd things to bother people intentionally, this time is different!’

“Why are you saying it’s impossible without even trying?” I asked Harriet.

“Do you think people are stupid and didn’t use that method for a reason? Smarter and more capable people have developed modern magic theory over time—”

“What if those people were all stupid?” I interjected.

“What?”

Harriet, her eyes still wet with tears, was stunned when I interrupted her.

“What if all those people were dumber than you, and that’s why modern magic theory turned out the way it did?”

“What... What are you even saying?”

“Isn’t it possible that all the mages throughout history were just not as smart as you?”

‘Perhaps we’re just following the path created by fools.’

Of course, they were likely smarter than me, but Harriet could be smarter than them.

She was not only the greatest talent in the Saint-Ouen family, but one of the top talents in all the history of magic. Harriet could make the impossible possible.

Harriet seemed genuinely taken aback by my ridiculous and over-the-top praise.

Her face didn’t even turn red.

“Are you... serious?”

“Of course I’m serious.”

Harriet looked at me. She seemed to be searching my eyes for any hint of teasing, doubt, or suspicion.

But there was none. I genuinely believed that Harriet possessed talent and intellect far surpassing any mage in history.

“How much of a genius do you think I am? Based on what exactly...? Why do you think that highly of me?”

“You’ll be the greatest mage in history, across the entire continent and all races. You know my ability.”

“Yeah, I do...”

Self-Deception... I looked at her with unwavering conviction, as if I were casting this Self-Deception not on myself, but on Harriet.

“I truly believe that.” Though I framed it as Self-Deception, it was the truth. “So, just shut up and follow my lead.”

“You always end things like this!”

In the end, I couldn’t help but make Harriet grumble loudly.