Chapter 385: A New Investment

On the third day of the festival, all the Special Class students walked around together.

It was because Fjodra suggested that they use the festival as a chance to get closer and raise their teamwork.

‘I guess it’s because she just needed people to hang out with?’

Whatever the reason, to get to the conclusion first, we could not reach the goal Fjodra had set.

After all, when there are many people, they inevitably end up sticking with those they are familiar with.

Especially when the place is a festival ground packed with people.

From the start, it was impossible for nine people to stay tightly grouped in a place like this.

No, if they were determined to do it, it was not impossible.

But including the problem of obstructing traffic, it would cause trouble for others in many ways.

Hailga and Vigdis walked arm in arm, looking friendly.

Fjodra clung to Risi, and Svein clung to Pret.

I had to walk around with Yor in my arms, wedged between Reysir Daudabina and Liolikin.

Except for when we grabbed seats at food stalls and ate something, we did not even face each other all together.

It was fair to say that in practice, only our travel routes were the same.

Thus, there was no formation of new human relationships or occurrence of intimacy-raising events whatsoever.

Since not even a particular incident occurred, I will omit the details.

Now let us move on to the final day of the festival, when the Beauty Contest is held.

“So this day has finally come…”

“Yeah, yeah. I finally get to see you in a dress!”

Beside me as I let out a sigh, the Protagonist of Someone Else’s Novel grinned and said that kind of thing.

When I kicked his shin because his gleeful face was annoying.

Pret, wearing a name tag that read ‘Coordinator,’ entered the participant waiting room.

“Seniors, I brought the clothes from the costume room~!!”

For reference, we had never once checked the contest outfits until then.

Even if we set aside cases of reforming existing clothes, when making something new, going through fitting and basting is normally the case, but.

The costume room side had insisted they would make it perfectly even without such a process.

However, this was only the surface reason.

The real circumstances I guessed at were different.

*’If we had already checked what kind of clothes we’d wear, then on the day of the contest the descriptions and reaction scenes to narrate would be insufficient!

That must be why they deliberately skipped the fitting and basting process.’*

While changing rooms were assigned one per person, the participant waiting room is shared by everyone without even separating men and women; judging from that, it’s certain.

“Senior Karbaldr. Why are you sitting still? We need to go change clothes.”

“The category I’m participating in is last in order, so is there any reason I need to change clothes already?”

“Of course there is! If you don’t get ready in advance, you won’t be able to watch the other seniors on stage, right?”

“I don’t need to see that kind of thing…….”

“I absolutely must see it, so please get up quickly!”

Doing the reacting and being the target of it.

Neither appealed to me, so I wanted to finish preparations right before going on stage.

Unfortunately, the attitude of the person serving as today’s coordinator was forceful, far too forceful.

If anything, he looked ready to grab my arm and force me up.

I let out a deep sigh and got up from the chair, shuffling my steps toward the changing room assigned to me and moved.

Pret followed after me in a patter……

“Wait, Pret! Why are you trying to go into Karbaldr’s changing room with him?!”

Reysir Daudabina quickly grabbed Pret by the scruff of the neck and demanded.

“Why else? To help him put on the dress!”

“Why should you be the one helping?”

“Senior Karbaldr’s dress has a design that is hard to put on alone. But Senior Reysir Daudabina wouldn’t know how to dress someone, right? And even if you are engaged, having Senior Vigdis, a woman, help Senior Karbaldr, a man, change clothes would inevitably cause controversy. There’s no other option besides me, is there?”

“……”

Asking Pret how he knew how to put on a dress was a foolish question.

There was no need to ask; it was obvious he would make some excuse about a Circus Troupe.

Besides, since he was slated to inherit the Information Guild in the future, and was a master of disguise who even possessed the [Camouflage] skill, the idea that he didn’t know how to put on a dress was absurd.

“If you understand, could you please let go of my clothes now?”

“Urgh….”

Reysir Daudabina let out a groaning sound and glanced at me.

It must have been to check my intention on whether it was really all right to let Pret go.

“Well, it can’t be helped, can it?”

I had expected Pret to volunteer to help me change.

So I replied to Reysir Daudabina in an indifferent manner, then entered the changing room assigned to me together with Yor.

‘It’s pretty spacious? Well, dresses are bulky by themselves and there are times when you need someone else’s help too, after all.’

I waited a moment with the door open, and Pret came inside.

Only after I confirmed that he firmly locked the door did I take off the clothes I was wearing one by one and handed them to Yor.

*’While staying at the Possession Body’s Capital, I received Yor’s help dressing every time, so undressing in front of others had become familiar, thank goodness…

If not, I would have felt needlessly embarrassed and hesitated.’*

Apparently Pret took it for granted that I undressed in front of him without hesitation.

When I thought that was a relief, he raised a question about something else.

“Earlier you acted like you’d put it off forever because you didn’t want to change, and now without a single complaint you’re getting ready to change into the dress?”

It was not a difficult question to answer; it was just a trivial matter.

“I have to change clothes anyway, and I’ve already come into the changing room, so… at this point, resisting and arguing with you would be meaningless; that’s all I decided.”

“Aha, how wise of you.”

“Wise, my foot…”

As I clicked my tongue and finished undressing.

Pret took out a clean cloth, spread it on the floor, took out the dress, and set it down in a donut shape.

So that if a person stood in the center, the clothes could be lifted up and put on them.

“Now. Take off your shoes, come over here, and stand still, and I’ll take care of everything.”

“That aside…, there is something I want to request of you.”

He said.

I did as Pret instructed and brought up another matter in a small voice.

Since I had entered a closed room with the Heir of the Information Guild Leader for the first time in a while, to make good use of this time.

“Goodness, no wonder you agreed to accept my help so obediently.”

“So, are you dissatisfied?”

“Of course not! I’m merely honored.”

“Skip the flattery… You already know that I’ve gained a mine, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

“So, about the investment… Wait. This outfit, the back is too exposed…?!”

“Don’t worry. What you’re wearing now is the basic base, and I’m going to put this over it.”

As Pret said this, what he took out of the box that had contained the dress was a corset with an overskirt.

“You’re not thinking of tightening my waist, are you? It’s just a design element, right?”

“What do you mean, surely not? Of course it has to be tightened. Men don’t have prominent hips, so to make a feminine line there’s no other way.”

“There’s no need to go that far, is there…?”

“Don’t underestimate disguise.”

“No, why is disguise suddenly coming up?!”

Are experts originally beings who tolerate not even an inch of compromise in their field?

Pret really tightened my waist mercilessly.

So much so that continuing a conversation while the corset was being tightened was impossible.

“Ugh… it feels like my stomach is being pressed…”

“You’ll get used to it.”

“I doubt it…”

“First, have a seat. Since we’re hearing about the request, let’s just finish your hair styling and makeup here too.”

The supporting character of someone else’s novel half-listened to my complaints and dragged over a chair placed in the corner of the changing room and brought it over.

I sat in the chair, conflicted over whether to resent him or be grateful.

“You’re thinking of investing the mine’s profits? Is there a field you have in mind? Or a recommendation you’d like to receive? If not that, are you planning to invest in our guild? We aren’t so short on funds that we need to receive investment.”

“There is a field I have in mind.”

“Oh, a field that Senior Karbaldr is interested in… I’m really curious.”

Maybe he couldn’t just ask plainly what it was.

Pret, with a sly expression and tone, stuck what seemed to be ‘toner pads’ or something all over my face with practiced ease.

“The Demonic Realm. Specifically, I intend to find and invest in those who process and research Monsters’ byproducts.”

Readers who have read several hunter-style novels will know well.

How much money there is in crafting equipment using Monsters’ byproducts.

The world setting is fantasy, and only the terminology is slightly different; <Nas-e> was also a hunter-style novel, so the same was true here.

But until now, I had not paid even the slightest attention to Monsters’ corpses.

Though the allowance Karbaldr received was fairly generous, it was by no means an amount that allowed investment in a specific field at all.

Especially since at this point there were almost no people interested in it.

But if I were to borrow the power of House Austri to proceed with the investment.

The one who would rake in money and fill warehouses would be Hard, and what I’d get would be nothing but Hard’s worthless approval.

‘Why should I go through the trouble of worrying about this and that just to be helpful to the likes of Hard?’

If I just waited, someone would eventually achieve great results in Monster byproduct research and produce useful equipment anyway.

If I bought it under House Austri’s name, it would be practically free for me, wouldn’t it?

So until now I had not the slightest desire to invest, but now, thanks to the mine, I had gained an enormous amount of personal capital.

So.

The situation had changed.

“I’ve heard there are people researching that, but… are you sure? That field is uncharted, so there’s no way to predict what results might come out. It might even happen that the Demonic Realm stops appearing at some point, and the research itself gets halted.”

Leaving the pads Pret had stuck to my face alone, he fiddled with my hair and, sounding almost worried, offered an opinion.

It seemed that so far not a single person had produced results in research related to Demonic Realm byproducts.

If so, that was very good for me.

In this kind of business, whoever jumps in early can monopolize the materials, and if materials aren’t secured, research can’t proceed.

Which meant it was even possible for me to dominate the market alone.