Episode 101 Noa-san’s Stock Market Lecture
It was somehow noisy when we returned to the Imperial Capital.
“Did something happen? Are Liz and Hina going back home first?”
“No… Master, if it is not a bother, may we accompany you?”
“I don’t mind. Actually, Hina…”
“Yes, nanodesu.”
“Don’t your breasts look smaller?”
“Naturally, nanodesu. Until the missile reloading is complete, they are flat, nanodesu. Adjustments are impossible, nanodesu.”
“Ah, I see…”
I’ll stop thinking deeply about it now.
When we reached the Guild, it was in a state of commotion.
“Lexie, got a moment?”
“Is it urgent? Monsters have been increasing… and I’m quite busy.”
“Then later is fine…”
“Riku-san, Riku-san, are you okay with this? About the monsters increasing…”
“Well, the adventurers are earning more, so isn’t it fine?”
“Master… how about visiting that Magic Knight from before through Lord Rocky?”
“Ah… speaking of which… well, maybe tomorrow…”
“And so, that’s what happened…”
After sex, while flirting with Noa-san on the bed, I told her about the recent events in an amusing way.
However, for some reason, Noa-san did not laugh and was deep in thought.
“Riku-kun… magic power overflows and monsters become stronger… and… they increase, right?”
“That’s right… the Dragon said he’d suppress it, but I wonder how effective it’ll be.”
“Which means adventurers are busy?”
“Yeah… they look incredibly busy… ugh.”
When I reached for her butt, I got a smack.
“I’m thinking right now, so do it later… How are the merchants moving?”
“Probably… gathering all the potions and ethers… the things that temporarily recover magic power, I think?”
“How are contracts in that world? If someone defaults, does the judiciary intervene?”
“No, basically contracts are magic contracts, so there’s no non-performance. If you can’t pay, you fall into slavery…”
“Hehehehe… fuh, fwahahaha… it’ll work… it’ll work! Riku-kun!”
“W-what are you talking about?”
“Well, well, Riku-san and Noa-san! What brings you here?”
Rocky-san appeared, wiping sweat incessantly.
“You look busy.”
“Yes… as an adventurer, you understand, right Riku-san? Since about last week, monsters have suddenly increased.
Potions and ethers are selling like wildfire, and I’m at my wit’s end trying to stock them. The price has already doubled.
This is truly a crisis for the Imperial Capital!“
“Is that so… By the way, Rocky-san, can you get in touch with Graham-san?”
“Yes… it’s not impossible, but given the situation… I don’t know if he’ll come…”
Noa-san crossed her legs and looked down at Rocky-san.
“Rocky-san… we’ve already identified the cause, so please contact him as soon as possible… Also, tell him to arrange an orb that absorbs magic power.”
“What did you say!? Th-that’s something I must do immediately…”
“And… Rocky-san. I’d like to do business using your routes…”
“Huh? What kind?”
Noa-san smirked with a grin.
“It’s a race against time. A certain contract… wide and shallow, centering on adventurers, conclude it with as many people as possible… If you want to earn volume, you could target trade partners or nobles… but now isn’t the time. That would only create enemies.”
“Eh? No, as expected… just what kind of contract…”
“A continuous sales contract for potions and ethers.”
“But… I don’t have the goods…”
“That’s exactly why it’s good.”
“Pardon?”
“The plan from the other day… it’s to build funds for that…”
“Pardon?”
Graham-san, who came in a hurry, didn’t have the orb ready as expected, but he promised to prepare it immediately.
“Can I ask you to keep my involvement a secret?”
“Yes… the Empire still doesn’t know the cause. However, right now soldiers everywhere are being forced into monster subjugation. If the cause can be removed, as an Imperial soldier, I will definitely keep this promise.”
After Graham-san left, Noa-san spoke.
“Riku-kun… you can teleport to that mountain, right?”
“Well… yeah…”
“So, we used a carriage last time, but it would take about 4 days on foot?”
“That’s right… I mean, Noa-san, what on earth do you intend to do?”
“Well, to put it simply… insider trading. Those four days are the game.”
“WHAAAT!? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Who’s going to judge us?”
“Eh? Who’s going to judge… eh? Who?”
“No one… got it? Riku-kun… No. One. At. All.”
Noa-san laughed with a very terrifying smile.
The next day, I teleported to the mountain with Hina and the orb.
“You were faster than I expected…”
“Yo. I brought the orb…”
I greeted Faranard-san, who was shaking for some reason, and headed to the altar.
In place of the broken orb, I tried placing the new one.
“How is it, Hina?”
“It is absorbing properly, nanodesu. However, calculating the absorption amount, it will only last 2 years, nanodesu.”
“Oof… the previous orb must have been really good. Well, for now, this should be fine…”
I picked the orb back up.
“Master, why are you retrieving the orb, nanodesu?”
“I don’t really get it either, but apparently it’ll make us money…”
“Hmm? Why does not placing the orb make money, nanodesu?”
“Who knows…”
When I left the altar, Faranard-san had a strange face. Well, I can’t really read dragon expressions though.
“Didn’t you bring the orb?”
“Ah… yeah. I’ll bring it back again in 4 days…”
“Hmm? Why? Isn’t that an orb you’re holding there?”
“I don’t really get it myself, so don’t ask me… Also, a message from my girlfriend…”
“Girlfriend?”
“Yeah… she said it’s fine to leave the magic discharge alone until the orb comes…”
“Huh? I don’t understand the meaning? Won’t the humans be in trouble?”
“Who knows… but she said she’d prepare plenty of delicious sake and food for you…”
“Hmm… I don’t quite get it, but understood.”
Four days later, I teleported to the mountain with Noa-san and Hina.
“So you are Faranard-san.”
“Umu… you are Riku’s…”
“I’m Noa. I prepared the sake… Since you’re a dragon, I thought you’d need volume… do you have a taste for fruit wine?”
“Umu… it is a favorite… I particularly like grape wine.”
“That’s good. But with that appearance, should I put it in a barrel or something?”
“No need for concern…”
Was taking human form a default in other worlds?
“Master… your nose is lengthening, nanodesu.”
Standing before us was a beautiful woman with distinctive dragon horns.
“Oh, how lovely. Then it was worth bringing the sake.”
Noa-san, who took a glass and wine out of Hina’s stomach, handed the glass to Faranard-san.
“Umu… delicious, high-quality alcohol.”
Eh? Why is she taking things out of Hina’s stomach? I still don’t really know how that works…
“Ah, Noa-san. Wasn’t that expensive?”
“Hm? About a hundred gold coins, I think? I had Rocky-san pick it out.”
“Hiegh!? Whaaaat!? Isn’t that buying too much?”
“He’s a dragon, so I thought he’d need the volume… and besides… I think we’ll be asking for his cooperation again.”
Leaving Faranard behind, who was weeping with joy at the massive amount of alcohol appearing, we headed to the altar.
When the orb was placed, the magic power began to be absorbed as planned.
“Master, 40… 30… 10… 0. The magic discharge has stopped, nanodesu.”
“Alright, Noa-san… it’s fine now, right? The shortage of potions and ethers is actually getting serious, and adventurers are starting to get injured.”
“Yes… the setup is perfect, so it’s fine.”
“By the way, in the end, what did you do for ‘insider trading’?”
“It’s simple… I had Rocky-san do a short sell…”
“Short sell?”
“Ah, Riku-kun, you’ll be entering society after graduating high school, so you need to learn these things. Right now, merchants all over the capital are buying up potions and ethers from all over the empire, right? Because there’s not enough.”
“That’s right…”
“The current price of a potion in the capital is 2 silver coins. Since it was originally 1 coin, that’s double the price… Even worse, ether has gone up to 4 silver coins.
If someone were to offer a continuous purchase contract for 1 silver and 5 copper coins, two bottles a week for a month or two… don’t you think many people would sign?“
“If they can buy it stably, sure… but if there are no goods…”
“When the magic stops and the monsters return to normal now, what do you think happens to all those gathered potions and ethers?”
“Ah… there’ll be a surplus.”
“Exactly… it’s market principles that prices drop when there’s a surplus. Rocky-san will just buy the cheap surplus potions and ethers on the market and hand them to the people he contracted with, and profit is born…”
“B-but… if they can’t sell in the capital, they’ll just move them elsewhere…”
“Impossible… with the logistics of this world where monsters appear, just taking them elsewhere would require raising the price even more to make a profit…
If you know your deficit will only increase, it’s better to just throw them away.“
“O-Oh…”
“It seems he was able to sign quite a few contracts, so only Rocky-san will be buying the surplus potions on the market… it’ll be a deficit for this week and maybe next, but after that… he can just buy them up at his own price and flip them to the contractors for a huge profit.”
“Does that mean… we should periodically… this orb…”
Gulp…
I involuntarily swallowed while looking at the orb.
“No… probably, after this incident, those who can figure out what Rocky-san is doing will figure it out. Before we can do the same thing again, an able statesman would implement some regulation… or at worst, frame Rocky-san for something to worsen his position. Even if they don’t, I don’t think the other merchants will stay quiet…”
“No… but would they notice? People in this world are shaky even with basic arithmetic.”
“Riku-kun… you should be careful with that line of thinking. You shouldn’t measure them by the low literacy rate or the education level of the commoners. I hear that happens in other-world stories sometimes… but you’ve seen the town, haven’t you?”
“Well…”
“To build structures of that scale, there’s no way they can’t perform advanced calculations. Build with magic? Accurately without a set scale? After it’s built, it has to follow the laws of physics, right? If you built them randomly, they’d collapse immediately, and you wouldn’t get a city that orderly…”
“I-I guess so…”
“Even in our world, quadratic and cubic equations were used over two thousand years BC. If you underestimate the humans of this world, you’ll have the rug pulled out from under you. At the very least… as long as they can converse and give logical answers, you must assume they think at the same level as us.”
“Yes… sorry.”
“This time was a fluke. Since there’s no stock market, they just won’t immediately recognize short selling as a standard method… If we do it again, the other merchants will likely join forces and stop dumping stock on the market. Then Rocky-san, who needs to deliver the actual goods, would be the one losing money instead.”
“I-I see…”
I ended up getting a lecture from Noa-san.
Two months later, the profit exceeded 1,000 gold coins, and Rocky-san presented 500 gold coins—half the share—to Noa-san, but that is a story for another time.
