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nOur Magic Research Society meeting was held a few days later.

n“Wh… What’s all this?”

n“Sponsorship money, what else?”

nI could show the others the letters of sponsorship that had arrived from the Royal Class Student Council.

nEveryone was at a loss for words. Even Harriet, who had nothing to envy when it came to riches, was out of her mind.

nFirst Knight Division of the Imperial Knights, Shanapell – 400 platinum coins

nMerchant Guild – 300 platinum coins

nMagic Association – 100 platinum coins

nCount Kräusen – 50 platinum coins

nKnights of Raslan – 10 platinum coins

n.

n.

n.

nNumerous sponsorships arrived from those groups that handled things quickly.

nPlatinum coins had a value of 100 gold coins. That meant that one platinum coin was equivalent to 100 million won.

nSo Shanapell sponsored us 40 billion won and the Merchant Guild 30 billion won.

nThat was the price Shanapell was willing to pay for Olivia’s favor.

nAnd the Merchant Guild was willing to pay that much to have a friendly relationship with the Imperial Family.

nIt was an even bigger amount than I had expected.

nThe Student Council’s support hadn’t been decided yet because they couldn’t just decide on those kinds of things with a few phrases.

nHowever, at that point, the Student Council’s support wasn’t even necessary anymore.

n“This isn’t all, there’ll be a lot more. Of course, those directly from organizations have pretty much arrived in full.”

nWe collected nearly 100 billion won in sponsorships. Of course, it wouldn’t have been that much if not for Shanapell and the Merchant Guild.

nMany unusual coincidences had combined to bring forth that incredible amount that far exceeded all expectations.

nAll of them were looking at me as if I was a god of money after seeing all the sponsorships I got from the sponsorship meeting.

nI couldn’t believe it either, but it was even harder for them.

nLouis Ancton, our treasurer, was more surprised than anyone.

n“Is it not enough?”

n“No… How could that be?”

nThat’s what he said, but we never knew what could happen later. Money, especially when it’s a budget, was something one never knew when and how much one would have to use.

nHarriet, in particular, was sitting there, speechless, with the corners of her mouth twitching slightly.

n“I don’t think you guys would to anything stupid, but we have to be transparent about our expenditures. The sponsors who gave us the funds might be interested in what we’re doing, so I have to report our budget usage and balance regularly. Got that?”

n“Yes, understood.”

nOur original budget was also quite huge, but we were able to get an even bigger one, so Louis seemed bewildered and slightly frightened. Well, it was because it would turn into a big deal if he ended up filling out the ledgers incorrectly.

nSeeing Harriet completely speechless was rather amusing.

nWhen I created that club called the Magic Research Society, I never thought things would turn out like that.

nI only planned to make the club and let them run it on their own, but I ended up becoming a member, its president even, and even listened to Harriet’s joking request to get more money.

nEven though I wasn’t that skilled in dealing with people.

nIf I hadn’t become the president of the club, it was clear that it wouldn’t have been able to run properly.

n“You’ve worked hard, Reinhardt.”

nAdelia said as such. She expressed her sincere gratitude.

nAfter her, the others also said their thanks one after the other.

nHarriet still looked bewildered.

n“Y-you… You really got more…”

nShe thought I got placed last in the midterms because I struggled with her unreasonable demand of increasing our funds.

nHowever, I ended up producing results that far exceeded her imagination.

nOf course, I wouldn’t have been able to do that without Olivia’s help, but my connection to her could also be counted as my power.

n“I… don’t really know what’s what anymore.”

nHarriet sighed as she looked at me.

n“Good job. Thank you.”

nIt made me feel weird when Harriet expressed her gratitude so sincerely. They looked up to me as if I was some god of the Magic Research Society even though I didn’t know a thing about magic.

n“As long as you know. Just do what you were told, you punks. You can’t use the lack of funds as an excuse anymore, got it?”

nGet to work!

n“Right…”

nEveryone sighed as if they expected that things would end up like that.

n***

nThe Magic Research Society was back on track.

nIt wasn’t like they produced any proper results, the foundation for them to produce some was just laid out.

nOver time, they might complain about the lacking budget again, but they probably wouldn’t for the rest of that year at least.

nI told them to use as much as they needed if they had something they needed. It would be funny if they couldn’t progress in their research because of money problems.

nBut just because I told them to spend as much as they wanted didn’t mean that they would spend more than 100 billion won in a month, right?

nThe construction of the stores at every train station was also in progress. We had the space, permits were granted, and investments were received.

nSetting up the shops wasn’t something that took a lot of time.

nSuddenly, seeing a simple convenience store built in the station near Temple made me feel strange for some reason.

nI mean, it all started with some words I said, after all.

nI wondered if it was what one would call a sense of accomplishment. I silently realized that people in business gained their sense of accomplishment through means other than money as well

nThe items sold in the store were no different from the ones sold in modern convenience stores. They sold things like simple meals for those who skipped their breakfast and small things they might have forgotten but might need, like tissues.

nWhile there weren’t crowds of people, there was a steady amount coming and going.

nIt reminded me of the saying that people didn’t know what they wanted until they got it.

nThe station was just a stopover, and they probably never felt the need to buy anything inside of it or get some food to eat on the go.

nBut if the stores were to disappear, the people would feel greatly inconvenienced.

nJust as people who were able to live without a smartphone before started to feel anxious at some point when they didn’t have their smartphone with them.

nSimilarly, as shown in the original novel’s development, wizards, who had used magic according to their own mana pools before, ended up unable to fight properly without power cartridges later on.

nSomething that people needed but didn’t know they needed…

nThat was where value came from.

n“So what else other than that is there?”

n“Hmm…”

nI directed a question at Eleris.

nShe was in her semi-basement apartment. The moldy scent had disappeared, perhaps because she’d cleaned up and taken some measures against it.

nI told her that I had created the Magic Research Society and planned on developing various things and that I had brought in quite a huge amount of funds.

nEleris made a fuss, saying that she didn’t know I could do those things.

nHer reaction to the things I wanted to make was similar to other people’s.

n“Something people don’t even know is greatly convenient to them… Hmm… “

nEleris agonized over my question, but it seemed like she didn’t come up with anything.

n“I don’t really know much about business, and I don’t understand why you’re doing these things.”

n* * *

n* * *

nThere was no doubt that making my classmates stronger had nothing to do with reconstructing the Demon Realm.

n“However, my specialty… is magic. I feel like it won’t be worth the money.”

n“It’s okay. I just asked you to say whatever came to mind, not to come up with an alternative.”

nEleris concentrated for a bit, making a flame appear above her hand.

n“This is ignition magic.”

n“I guess.”

nA spell that was the lowest of the low-ranking ones. It was such a low-ranking spell that the only thing it could be used for was to light a campfire. Where was she going with that? In my eyes, Eleris was simply staring at the flame she had created.

n“I can multicast this spell dozens of times with my current mana pool. I also wouldn’t have to chant. This is only possible because I’m very familiar with the spell.”

n“…Is that so?”

n“By the way, I chanted this time. I had to.”

nAfter all, it was an advanced field of study, and as an outsider, I couldn’t understand what Eleris was trying to tell me.”

n“It’s a low-ranking spell that doesn’t require chanting. However, you had to chant just now?”

n“Yes.”

n“Why did you need to chant?”

n“Because I used the magical power around me, and not within me, to cast the fire spell.”

n“What…?”

nWizards used their internal magical power to cast spells. Therefore, the rank of one’s Magic stat signified the amount of magical power held in one’s body.

n‘However, using atmospheric magical power, as I read in some comics, is that even possible in this world?’

n“Isn’t that method of using external magical power like one’s internal magical power that you mentioned meant to be used to overcome the lack of magical power inside one’s body?”

n“Yeah.”

n“So what I’m trying to say is that the current method was also designed to relieve some of the inconveniences people felt at that time.”

n“By ‘inconvenient’, you mean…”

n“Yes, casting magic using external magical power is many times more difficult than using one’s internal magical power to activate spells because we would have to instantly calculate and estimate the amount of energy that has to constantly flow into us.”

nWas it the same concept as a car having to constantly draw gas from outside without having a fuel tank?

nI couldn’t understand it exactly, but I felt like I had a good idea of what she meant.

n“A long time ago, ancient magic worked like this. That’s why magic was seen as a special ability only a few were chosen to use, even fewer than today. There weren’t even 100 wizards on the continent back then, and they weren’t really powerful, either. If I were to cast magic as they did back then, I wouldn’t be able to cast large-scale magic.”

n“…So you’re saying that the current method to invoke magic was created to relieve the inconvenience of casting spells while having to control the flow of the external magical power?”

n“Yes.”

nJust as the power cartridges were created to break through the limits of magic, the already established method was also created to break through certain limits.

n“People find it easier to control the magical power inside their bodies, which is why several methods to increase one’s internal mana pool were researched. That’s the form of magic that has become commonplace after its long history, so the accessibility of magic has greatly increased compared to the old days.”

nThere was a way to use nature’s magical power…

nIt was just a method that had long been abandoned for centuries because it was too difficult.

n“I don’t really know what people find inconvenient nowadays, so I just wanted to say that today’s magic is the more comfortable version of the past magic… I don’t know how this information will help you, though.”

nI guess she just said whatever came to her mind.

nI grinned.

n“No, you were a big help.”

nDifficult didn’t mean impossible.

nHarriet de Saint-Owan, who had become able to use nature’s magical power…

nWouldn’t she turn into the Goddess of Destruction, then?

nJust imagining that was terrifying.

nOf course…

n“Y-you! Why are you only doing this to me?! Why are you always giving me the hardest thing to do?! Why am I the only one who has to do this?!”

nHarriet actually started to cry when I told her to research how to make use of the atmospheric magical power to cast magic.

n***

nMagic operated with external magical power…

nI wondered if it was unreasonable to ask Harriet to try the method that even Eleris struggled with even though she had the best talent in the field of magic. Harriet cried when I gave her another task as nonsensical as researching dimensional magic.

nShe seemed to misunderstand that I only did it to tease her.

nAfter she calmed down a bit, I started to speak again.

n“No, I really just asked to do this because I genuinely think that you can do it. I’m not trying to bully you here. Am I crazy?”

n“You are!”

nAh…

nRight…

nBut not when it came to that. I did tend to talk bull** just to tease her, but that absolutely wasn’t the case at that moment!

n“True, but you haven’t even tried yet, so how can you just refuse, you punk?”

n“Won’t people only use that kind of method because they’re stupid? Modern magic theory was created by people much smarter and better than—”

n“What if they’re all stupid?”

n“…Huh?”

nWhen I cut off her words and interjected, Harriet, with tears in her eyes, was shocked.

n“What if all those people who created the current magic theory were a lot dumber than you?”

n“Wh-what… What do you mean?”

n“Every wizard in history could have been a lot dumber than you.”

nThat meant that she was just following a path paved by idiots.

nOf course, they were all smarter than me, but Harriet could be a lot smarter than them.

nShe held the greatest magic talent in history, not just in the Saint-Owan family. Harriet would be able to make the impossible possible.

nHarriet seemed genuinely taken aback by my ridiculous praise that went far beyond boldness.

nHer face didn’t even turn red.

n“Are… Are you serious?”

n“Of course I am.”

nHarriet looked at me.

nShe seemed to be trying to find out my hidden intentions, suspicious points, and any signs that I was just doing it to make fun of her.

nBut there are no such things. I believed that Harriet had more talent and was a lot smarter as an archwizard than all other wizards that existed in history.

n“Hey… Just how much of a genius do you think I am? On what grounds? Don’t even dare…”

n“On the continent. No, regardless of race, I believe that you will be the greatest wizard in all of history. You know my talent.”

n“Ah, yes.”

nSelf Suggestion…

nI looked at Harriet with an unwavering gaze, ready to bet everything on her, not myself.

n“That’s what I believe.”

nIt might’ve seemed like it was just a usage of Self Suggestion, but it was actually true.

n“So trust me, shut up, and do what you’re told.”

n“You always end things like this!”

nIn the end, I couldn’t help but enjoy Harriet making a fuss.

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