Chapter 49

1-Second Invincible Player In The Game 49

49. The Beggar and the Noble (2)

Meeting Limberton and Ashley wasn’t too difficult.

The same building, the same floor.

As I walked down the dormitory corridor, a rumbling sound came from Limberton’s stomach.

“…I’m hungry. After subsisting on bread and jerky in the dungeon, I crave a warm meal. When do we get to eat?”

I gestured for Ashley and Limberton to follow me.

It was good timing since I had something I wanted to show them.

“Come with me.”

The place they arrived at was a restaurant.

Seeing the seniors devouring greasy food with gusto, Limbutton and Ashley’s mouths watered.

Of course, a proper meal was but a pipe dream.

“Do you guys have any coins?”

“Where would we get coins from…”

“I thought as much.”

Even the cheapest meal costs a coin.

Having given all we had to Liamon, we were penniless.

Limbutton’s eyes widened in shock at the prices on the menu, then he deflated.

“What the heck, are we supposed to buy this with money? Doesn’t the academy provide meals…”

Ashley seemed to catch on as well, showing a similar reaction.

“Yeah, it’s not free. But don’t worry about it now.”

I had seven coins in my pocket.

While walking towards the exit with Liamon, I had snatched some from a member of Lethe who had been robbed.

“Hand over the coins.”

“I-I will give them to you.”

Indeed, there’s nothing more foolish than cutting open the goose that lays the golden eggs.

I decided to invest the coins I had taken in these guys.

“Choose something. Under two coins.”

As I spread two fingers, Ashley and Limbutton gulped down their saliva and picked from the menu.

The moment their meal arrived, they devoured it desperately.

As I was about to swallow the last piece of meat, I asked Limbutton.

“Don’t you want to make sure you have three square meals like this from now on?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course, everyone wants to eat like that.”

“But you know, the people from Shulaphe House are grateful to have even one meal a day. Do you know why?”

Limbutton shook his head.

“It’s because they only get 30 coins a month.”

“The guys from Vuerger House get 150 coins every month, and the ones living in the best place, Adel House, get 300.”

“Just 30?” Searᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“That’s right. Half of it goes just for dorm heating and other stuff. The seniors from Shulaphe House barely manage to get by with cheap, bulk dried goods from the canteen.”

“…”

Limbutton licked the remaining sauce off the plate he picked up.

“So, I was thinking of making you guys an offer.”

Securing living expenses was an urgent matter to get to the Adel district.

And I had thought of a little trick for that.

A method that could be used only once, on this first day of enrollment.

“Well, now that we’re fed, shall we go? I’ll explain on the way.”

It might seem a bit harsh depending on the view, but hey, that’s none of my business.

* * *

The place we arrived at was a bulletin board plastered with papers.

Limbutton looked at the pinned request and said with a puzzled face.

“What, what’s this… 5 coins for a foot massage?”

The requests were filled with various tasks, from collecting research materials to organizing documents.

“Wait, this one just has a person’s name on it?”

“Not only professors post requests. The snooty bourgeois types do too.”

“Whoa, this one says 50 coins for just having dinner together. Geez, it’s only for women.”

“Hmm, looks like there are seniors like you too.”

Limbutton stopped smacking his lips and narrowed his eyes.

“So, the method you thought of is to take on requests here and earn some money?”

Not at all.

Squeak──

I tore off one request after another, from foot massages to various odd jobs.

“You, you can’t be serious… A noble like you would stoop to this?”

“Quit your yapping and start tearing.”

I handed Limbutton a handful of requests.

Then I tore off all the high-difficulty, well-paying requests, except for one, which I handed to Ashley.

“What in the world are you planning to do…”

The rest, of ambiguous difficulty, were mine.

“What, what are you going to do with all those?”

“If you want to make money, follow me.”

My gaze settled on the nearby reception desk.

As I laid out the request forms in front of the professor in charge, he opened his eyes wide in surprise, then narrowed them.

“…If this is a joke, go put them back where you found them.”

“I’ll take all the requests here.”

“What?”

As I maintained a serious expression, the professor looked at me as if I were some oddity.

Still, there were no issues with the regulations, so he stamped each one.

I checked my pocket watch.

It was almost time.

Until the end of class.

“I’m heading back to the bulletin board right now.”

People began to swarm into the previously empty space.

Their eyes ablaze, they sprinted with all their might, resembling hungry beasts frantically searching for prey.

I taught Limberton, who wore a dumbfounded expression, what these creatures were.

“Limberton, take a good look. Those slobs are our proud seniors from the Schlafe dormitory.”

“…What?”

“Soon, the freshmen will end up just like them.”

The people of Schlafe are all untouchables.

Born nobles grovel at the feet over a single coin, massaging stinking feet, and sometimes becoming jesters before nobles of lesser houses.

It’s the environment here that shapes people this way.

“I can’t for the life of me understand what you’re thinking… Wait. It’s not what I think it is, is it?”

Limberton broke out in a cold sweat, trembling around the eyes.

I smirked and replied.

“Probably so?”

“Ah…”

“Start getting ready.”

The second-year seniors saw the empty bulletin board and their faces turned ashen.

As I approached, hugging the request forms, their eyes lit up.

I let the ‘noble blood’s last embers’ flicker faintly as I spoke.

“Single-coin tasks go to this little guy here. Five-coin ones to me. Ten-coin tasks to the big foreign friend. If you need a request fulfilled, get in line.”

As expected, the seniors’ reaction was explosive.

“Is that a new face? Are you a freshman?”

“I’ll let your cheeky tone slide just this once. Stop fooling around and hand it over…”

“Huh, has he lost his mind? I’ve seen all sorts of things, but this…”

As they approached with menacing expressions, Limbutton almost whimpered.

“Hey, you out of your mind! Why on earth are you doing something that’ll get you marked by the seniors!”

“Limbutton, don’t even think of sympathizing. They would have done the same if they knew such tricks from their first day.”

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about!”

I looked at Ashley and pointed to the bulletin board.

“Start, Ashley.”

With a hefty hand, Ashley effortlessly plucked the bulletin board out.

Then, swinging it around like a club a few times, the approaching guys’ eyes bulged as they fell flat on their backs.

“Gasp!”

“Put that down, junior.”

“No, rather, why is this barbarian…”

I glared with intensity.

How dare these extras, who don’t even have playable characters, think they can?

“I’m warning you just once. If you raise a hand against me again, I’ll double the fee.”

Intimidated, they changed their tune.

Their chosen method, true to their lowly nature, was to abandon their worn-out dignity and appeal to emotions.

“But still, how can you extort fees like this… If I don’t work today, I’ll starve for three days…”

“Yeah, please consider my situation. If I don’t get any requests, I’m really in trouble. I have debts to pay today.”

“Come on… You’re still a senior, so please cooperate with your junior, right?”

Their pleas and attempts to evoke pity were endless.

Their pitiful attitude infuriated me.

“Quiet, you vermin!”

I couldn’t help but shout at these pathetic creatures.

“You are losers. Vermin who have failed in competition and remain in the trash heap even after all these years. Are you now stooping so low as to sell your pride to a junior like me?”

Their way of thinking was already tamed to the level of slaves.

From noble mtl dot come

“And you call yourselves nobles? The world is coming to an end. I’m really looking forward to the future of the empire. To think that those who merely serve here are the future.”

And yet, they failed to escape from slavery despite having the means to do so.

“I simply cannot understand your way of thinking. Why didn’t you spend your money wisely? If you had known when to save and invested in the future, you wouldn’t be in such an ugly state now, would you?”

Frost Heart operates on a free market economy.

Students are even allowed to manufacture and sell their own goods.

These activities are usually led by clubs, and it’s fair to consider them as a sort of business enterprise.

“Earning money through commissions is outdated. You shouldn’t be doing things fit only for first-years, right? There are plenty of stable ways to make money besides that.”

If you have money, if you use it well, even if your academic grades aren’t high, you could have bought a position like a Burger Manager.

But they just couldn’t do this simple thing.

They just lied to themselves, saying it was impossible, making excuses about how hard it was, and turned a blind eye to reality.

A little more hardship now would mean an easier future, but still.

“After all the fun, when you’re suddenly out of money, you slink back. How long do you plan to repeat this pathetic cycle?”

“You, did you really have to say it like that? Do you think we live like this because we want to?”

“What? Is what I said wrong? But look at yourself. Even a freshman like me has been shaken down for commissions. You’ve been exploited again today. But don’t hold onto it. You’ll be exploited tomorrow and the day after anyway, so you’ll forget soon enough.”

He was speechless, with a vacant expression on his face.

Around him, the slaves quietly muttered and vented their anger in hushed tones.

Tired of the argument, I conjured a flame on my fingertip and brought it close to the commission papers.

“Huh, Hersel. You’re a magician?”

“It’s surprising you’re only realizing that now…”

Come to think of it, I had never shown magic in front of these guys.

“Don’t make it hard on a cold day. If you don’t want to take commissions, then get lost. I’ll use this as kindling.”

As I brought the flame closer, a murmur of ‘uh-oh’ leaked from the crowd.

Eventually, a few caught on and started to line up, and the slaves became animated as the commission papers sold out in an instant.

“Hmph, easy to handle.”

I pulled out coins from the bag and distributed them between the two.

“120 for me. 90 each for you. Good work, Limberton. Ashleigh. You two take the remaining two coins.”

Ashleigh silently took the bag of money.

But Limberton seemed to feel a pang of conscience and couldn’t do the same.

“…No matter how I think about it, this doesn’t seem right.”

“Limberton, if you keep thinking that way, you’ll live as a slave for the rest of your life.”

“No, but still. Shouldn’t seniors give advice to their juniors? Especially since we live in the same dorm, we should get along well.”

I felt the need to trample the naive ideology of this flower-headed fool as I recited the lessons life had taught me.

“Don’t even think about mingling with them. Unless you’re a loner, you’ll end up being assimilated.”

They are a swamp that drags each other down.

Every time I see someone trying to do what needs to be done, they interrupt with ‘You can do that later!’ and insist on resting even when it’s not the time, wasting precious moments, dragging down even the lives of others, finding solace in not being alone.

And then they forget.

They forget that this is not how one should live.

Because everyone around lives like this, they think that’s just how life is…

“Those guys are just lingering to be used. If you don’t draw the line, you’ll be exploited too.”

“…”

Seeing the still hesitant expression on his face, I drove the final nail with sweet words.

“And you know what? Women like men who are just bad enough and have a lot of money.”

“Is, is that so…?”

“Of course. Even if you go to the Burger Joint, the Schlaffe girls would be dying to have a cup of tea with you.”

Though in reality, they’re just looking to take advantage.

“But imagine going to the Adel District. Then, the girls from the Burger Joint would be the same.”

Limberton’s lips curled into a smile.

“Hehehe.”

Such a simpleton.

Then, even after deducting living expenses, there would be a surplus left, only the task of increasing it remains.

Before that, I pulled out a 100-coin commission slip I had tucked away.

[Item Requested: Merrily Root.]

[Reward: 100 Coins.]

[Requester: Rockefeller Den Harman.]

Starting tomorrow, there’s a magic class, and if it’s that subject, I should be able to gather the herbs listed here.

* * *

Rockefeller enjoyed a steaming cup of tea while looking out the window at the morning.

He had been thoroughly scolded by the principal yesterday, but somehow, he managed to talk his way out of it.

“…That one will not adapt to life in the Schlaffe District. A starving beast is easier to tame, after all. I will offer an irresistible condition when the time comes.”

For someone who has lived a life of quality, it’s difficult to start from the bottom.

The thirty coins I received today will probably be squandered in a day, unable to break old habits.

No, even that won’t be enough, and there’s a high chance I’ll end up in debt.

If only I could entice him to join the Knight’s Division then…

“…Adel Manor. I loathe to offer such terms to that detestable man, but do I have a choice?”

Rockefeller stood up and stretched himself out.

In about three days, they’ll be begging for their lives like the slaves of Schlafe Manor.

I can’t wait for the day to come, to see them grovel and lick my boots in gratitude.

* * *

The first lesson was in pharmacology.

The location was outdoors, covered in white snow.

The female professor showed us a herb and said,

“Memorize this well. You only need to collect one root. But don’t worry. I’ve chosen the easily obtainable Merrily root especially for those of you who are still unaccustomed.”

…That swindler.

Merrily roots are expensive herbs.

Of course, largely because they’re hard to find.

“But don’t let your guard down. Monsters appear near the snowy mountain regions, so be careful.”

I knew the location, though.

But I plan to only hand over the thinnest roots to that brash newcomer or the woman trying to swindle me, and sell the rest myself.

“Well then, shall we go find the herbs with your assigned partners?”

A woman with a gloomy face slowly approached me.

She looked as if she had been offered as a sacrifice, so scared…

I had no choice but to smile gently and greet her.

“I’m Hershel Ben Tenest. Nice to meet you.”

“Gasp…”

Ah, right. My face looks even more unpleasant when I smile.