Chapter 22 (2/2)

Students gathered to see the faceoff between Rivelia and Isaac. The headstrong Rivelia versus Isaac the schemer. The face-offs they had were always fun to watch.

“Since you’ve broken the rules, you must be punished.”

“But I never did business here?”

“Ha! Are you trying to deny it now? I never thought you’d be so shameless.”

“Who said I was selling food here?”

Isaac never mentioned that he was selling sandwiches until now. He only said come have some.

“So you’re saying that you were giving out this food for ‘free’ with no intention of reaping any profit?”

Rivelia seemed happy that she put Isaac in this spot. Everyone knew Isaac’s situation. Yes, it was true that he was doing business with the students, but it wasn’t that big of a business. If Isaac bought all of the ingredients and the s.h.i.+pping costs for these sandwiches, it would mean that he used up all of his savings.

While Rivelia smiled triumphantly, Isaac pointed to a corner of the tent. Rivelia’s eyes followed his finger and saw a pamphlet.

Supplied by the Rivolden Merchant Guild

“Rivolden Merchant guild? Why is the Rivolden Merchant Guild involved with this?”

Isaac shrugged against Rivelia’s questioning.

“Why else? These sandwiches were given to me by them.”

“Am I supposed to believe that a merchant guild just gave away their goods without any payment?”

“That’s exactly what they did.”

“Urk!”

Rivelia’s head was in a desperate scramble to find a rule that would go against this. She had memorised the entire rule book despite the lack of time due to her intense training in order to strike back against Isaac. She even made all the required adjustments using her power as the President but there was no rule that had any case regarding the involvement of a merchant guild from the outside.

Such a rule never existed in the first place. For a case like this had never happened, at least until now. There was no rule that went against anyone giving their goods away for free.

All Rivelia could do was stare menacingly at Isaac.

“Of course, the Rivolden Merchant Guild didn’t really give these away for free.”

While Rivelia was confused by Isaac’s statement, Isaac turned to speak to the students.

“‘The Rivolden Merchant Guild will do their best to sell the highest of quality goods. It would be nice if you would remember our donation in the future when considering which Merchant Guild you’d like to trade with. We understand if our goods are inferior to those from the other guilds, but know that we will always try our best to help you in your most desperate times,’ is what the master of the Rivolden Merchant Guild wanted me to say.”

“…”

Isaac had come from a world where marketing thrived in every corner of the world. Knowing that the options were too limited with him alone, Isaac brought Krent in to increase the scale of the incident, just to push his teasing to its limit. The Rivolden Merchant Guild had agreed to pay for all the ingredients, transportation, labor costs, and warehouse rental fees. Isaac only needed to do one thing to pay them back.

Advertise.

The students of the Campus were the future leaders of the Empire. Having their names engraved in their memories was more than enough to bring back the profit. The number of supplies the Empire required for its infrastructure was astronomical. Just contracting one department of many was enough to make many merchant guilds go by with a profit.

The people who determined where and how the goods are procured were the departments’ field managers. It is a t.i.tle which all students of the Campus must go through once they graduate if they wish to become the elites. If they were given two goods with identical functions from different guilds, it was entirely up to the manager’s whim on which they chose. But what if the name Rivolden came to their mind during this time? When they provided food at the worst time of the Campus? There wasn’t even a need for consideration.

In truth, Krent’s father, the master of the Rivolden Merchant Guild was greatly impressed by the letter containing Isaac’s plan and promised absolute support.

‘Don’t you look down on the consumers of capitalism.’

Isaac found Rivelia, who was metally stomping around in a desperate attempt to find a rule which goes against it, adorable.

Isaac laughed and muttered to Kunette.

“Kunette, give that girl one of the sandwiches.”

“… Okay.”

Kunette followed Isaac’s order and walked up to Rivelia with a basket full of sandwiches. Rivelia struggled to keep her face from melting at the sheer adorable nature of Kunette.

“Thank you.”

Rivelia had completely forgotten about Isaac at this point and bowed to Kunette in appreciation; Kunette bowed in return. Rivelia just barely managed to hold herself back from hugging Kunette.

“Ahem. I won’t make a judgement of this case as there aren’t any rules related to this incident, but I will make a formal report to the Committee to discuss this with them.”

“Dear me. Then I must ask you for your mercy.”

Isaac closed his distance to Rivelia, and Rivelia instinctively stepped backwards. Her well-trained body could feel a sense of danger that was creeping up menacingly.

“Can’t you just act like this never happened?”

“T, that’s impossible!”

“Don’t be so stingy. Keeping up for your studies is hard enough; you should at least reward yourself with some good food.”

Isaac wasn’t wrong. The Campus did provide delicious and nutritious food for all of their students except during the Week of Suffering.

“Hmph! Impossible! I will never look over this incident, no matter what you try!”

Isaac seemed confident despite her upfront rejection.

“Aren’t you curious as to what I might offer you?”

“Ha! Are you trying to bribe me now? Why don’t you try it? I’ll immediately expel you for attempted bribery! And do you really think there is anything you possess that could satisfy me?”

Rivelia had grown up without ever in want of anything, for she had everything. Not even the Emperor’s family would possess something she did not have. No matter what Isaac offered, she was ready to scoff at his futile attempt.

But Isaac’s sinister smile came ever closer. And the warning bell within Rivelia was ringing louder than ever.

As her confidence began to shake, Isaac suddenly put his hands under Kunette’s armpit and lifted her up in the air.

Kunette’s eyes opened wide like that of a rabbit’s, and her adorable arms and legs began scrambling midair. Rivelia couldn’t stop herself from smiling when she saw that.

“C, cute.”

Flinch!

Rivelia quickly closed her mouth once she realised what she had just spoken, only to see Isaac looking into her eyes with a giant grin.

“Kuh! Y, you!”

In the end, even Rivelia was a teenage girl who loved cute things. She was only hiding it under the cold mask she had created because of her pride.

“Cute right? If you just help me out here, I’ll give you permission to cuddle Kunette once a day!”

“…”

Cuddle? Cuddle that cloudlike soft and fluffy white fur? Those cute stubby arms and legs? To bury her face in that chubby stomach? Until now, she could only turn her eyes away from Kunette while all the other girls could scream and fawn at Kunette’s presence.

There had been a few cases where some students couldn’t keep their desires in check and tried to approach Kunette in an attempt to pet her. They all paid a large price. Kunette’s cuteness was indeed a dangerous temptation. But a deal to have permission to do so? It was an offer from the devil itself. She knew she had to refuse it, but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

“No! Never!”

Kunette struggled as if her life depended on it. Isaac simply whispered a single phrase to Kunette’s ear.

“Ten pots of honey. Every. Day.”

“…!”

Kunette was very thankful to Isaac with all the honey he had been supplying. She was well aware that his original stock of honey had run dry long ago, and all the honey she was having now were purchased personally by Isaac. The guilt within her had been growing for a long time; and in return, she tried to savour the honey as long as possible, since Isaac could never buy that much honey himself.

That is why Kunette who was extremely against anyone petting her allowed Isaac to be an exception.

She liked it when he pets her. That’s why she willingly climbed onto his lap. But that was only for Isaac alone. There was a feeling of betrayal when Isaac willingly allowed someone else to pet her, but ten pots of honey was indeed a reward she could manage with, especially if it was every day.

Her consideration didn’t last long. She was prepared to face any barriers and challenges for the beloved honey. Kunette’s arms and legs went limp and her head dropped. Isaac handed Kunette to Rivelia like handing her a puppy.

“Now, don’t you want to rub your face onto this wonderfully soft fur?”

With the snow white fur shaking in front of her eyes, Rivelia couldn’t even mount a proper resistance before falling for the temptation.

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