Chapter 23 (1/2)

Rivelia cuddled Kunette to her heart’s content, screaming with joy as she described how soft, warm, and fluffy Kunette’s fur was. But soon after she had her fill, her satisfaction was replaced with a depressing sense of disappointment at her own will. She fell on her knees and despaired, and Kunette was kneeling next to her in the same position.

Meanwhile, the female students envied Rivelia who managed to hug Kunette, while the boys envied Kunette for being hugged by Rivelia. But their envy didn’t stop them from cleaning the tent of the sandwiches.

“Huhuh, this is a huge success, Sunbaenim.”

Krent approached Isaac with a br.i.m.m.i.n.g smile.

“It was a last-ditch effort, but I didn’t think they would actually go ahead with it.”

“It’s true that there was quite a debate about this, so we decided to invest only our family’s money in this plan. This project aims for profit in a long term scenario rather than an immediate profit, after all.”

“Well, I must say that I am in debt to you. I was very close to falling for the trap which she had set.”

Isaac’s original plan was built around selling the sandwiches at first. If Krent hadn’t tipped Isaac off about the changes in the rules, Isaac would have walked into the trap Rivelia had set in advance.

With Krent’s input in mind, Isaac had to quickly change his plan. The plan had many holes, but the master of the Rivolden Merchant Guild managed to make a big decision like this in such a short amount of time. Isaac a.s.sumed it was expected of a man who ran one of the largest merchant guilds in the Empire.

“But are you sure about keeping it a secret from Kunette?”

Krent muttered to Isaac with worry as he glanced at Kunette, who was still drowning in depression.

“Don’t you think ten pots of honey are more than enough?”

“It’s true but…”

Even Isaac would not be able to pay for 10 pots of honey every day. So Isaac decided to make another secret deal with the Rivolden Merchant Guild.

It was to use Kunette as the mascot promoting the Rivolden Merchant Guild’s goods. It would have been difficult for Isaac, but the merchant guild would have no problem in paying for so much honey. This was a deal made under a contract; there was nothing to be ashamed about. The only questionable part was that Kunette herself didn’t know of this fact and that’s what Krent was worried about.

“I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear that she’s earning the honey she’s receiving.”

Isaac was well aware that Kunette was trying to refrain from asking him to give her honey, despite her urges. Isaac found this to be too cute and couldn’t stop himself from feeding her all the honey he had, but Isaac firmly believed that children should be able to eat whenever they want.

“Then why didn’t you tell her from the start?”

“Because Kunette is the only thing that could get through to that girl.”

If Kunette knew that the Rivolden Merchant Guild was going to supply her all the honey, she would have never allowed herself to be cuddled by Rivelia. In order to stop Rivelia from attempting anything else once her plan failed, she had to get on Isaac’s side one way or another and Kunette was the best tool for that. Kunette herself said that Rivelia was a little girl, after looking at her with that All-Seeing Eye of hers. And there were no little girls that didn’t like cute things.

At the end of the day, Isaac managed to reap a profit without any costs, so it was the best result he could have hoped for.

The Week of Suffering had pa.s.sed. Once Rivelia was conquered by Kunette, the plan went without a hitch. The only problem was that because of this incident, the rations took longer to be depleted, making the Week of Suffering last longer than just a week. There were some complaints, but it was on the Rivolden Merchant Guild to deal with them.

Rivelia seemed quite depressed about the fact that she fell to Kunette’s charms, but she continued to cuddle her every day without forgetting. Kunette too seemed depressed that she couldn’t hold her desire for honey in check, but later on, she became so used to the cuddles that she willingly walked up to Rivelia for the cuddles and then demanded Isaac for the honey, which she rightfully earned.

She later learned the truth about the mascot part and became upset, but Isaac convinced her by listing as much bulls.h.i.+t as possible. Some of his reasoning were how amazing she was, how she wasn’t receiving the honey out of pity but earned it instead, that it’s a reward for her great work, that there would be no honey if she didn’t let Rivelia hug her, that marketing oneself is a blessing in itself, and that she can eat honey whenever she wants now. Kunette’s mind was easily appeased with those sly words from Isaac.

“Hiing! Sunbaenim!”

“What are you crying about now?”

During the Week of Suffering, which lasted for a fortnight this time, Isaac could not receive any orders from the students. Expecting a mountain of orders to come, he sent Reisha and Kunette, but they came back crying instead.

“What do we do?!”

“What do you mean what do we do? What, did you lose the list of orders on the way back?”

“No. We didn’t get a single order.”

“… What?”

Isaac sighed at the impossible words that Reisha let out, and decided that Reisha who was crying wasn’t the right person to talk to. He turned his head to Kunette, who didn’t even ask for honey anymore and just walked into the kitchen for that honey which she rightfully owned.

“…We had tea with Rivelia.”

“You had tea for the entire day?”

Isaac couldn’t understand how someone could drink tea for three hours. For someone like him, tea was something you gulped down within seconds. There should have been more than enough time to receive the orders once it was done.

“Rivelia was constantly holding on to us so that none of the other students could get close and give us their requests.”

“Hmm, I guess that girl actually likes you guys.”

Isaac remembered the merry look Rivelia had when she got a hold on Kunette and smirked. He believed that this wasn’t much to worry about.

Another fortnight had pa.s.sed, and once again, not a single order went through to Reisha and Kunette during that period. This was when Isaac realised how serious this problem was. He thought that she would give up at some point, but she seemed much more patient than he had imagined.

“If you wish to capture the general, first capture his horse. Using one of the principles in the Thirty-Six Strategems, that’s rather grand of her.”

Once he understood Rivelia’s intention, Isaac found it both impressive and adorable. Rivelia managed to figure out Isaac’s personality in such a short time.

Isaac thought to himself for a moment He first considered dealing with the issue by going to the Campus and settling things himself, but in all honesty, he found it extremely tedious. It was a nice experience to be surrounded by all the girls of the Campus, but this wasn’t the case for Isaac; he wasn’t the centre of attention because he was admired by the girls. Their relations.h.i.+p was more like master and servant, so Isaac needed to be very careful with his behaviour. That was the reason why he pushed the business onto Reisha and Kunette.

“Do we have to go again today, Sunbaenim? When it’s obvious we’ll be held again?”

Reisha asked. Her expression clearly showed that she did not want to go no matter what. She only worked for Isaac because she found doing the business very enjoyable, but when things turned out this way, she was more than ready to drop everything and leave.

“Does she really look like she won’t stop?”

“Yeah. How do I say it… She looked like she wanted to see who will give up first.”

“That’s a problem…”

It’s true that they have 3 hours for lunch period, but not a single student in the Campus actually used all that time to have a break. Time management was crucial in keeping up with the curriculum in the Campus. If you fall behind, you are left behind. The College was no exception.

The fact that Rivelia, the greatest of all geniuses and the centre of admiration, was enjoying a tea party was ludicrous. It was clear that this was just a front to hara.s.s Isaac in any way possible.