“Oh, I want some snacks!”
The bushes at the Royal Academy were dyed red with the season. As Victoria muttered while leaving the cafeteria after lunch, she rambled on about all sorts of snacks in this world.
“It’s only been a minute since you ate.”
“I feel hungry no matter how much I eat these days.”
Victoria mumbled softly. Since she fainted in Bern City and woke up three days later, her appetite strangely increased.
I looked up and down at Victoria.
Purple hair, snow-white skin.
She’s a girl showing characteristics of a harvesting machine. Just the right height and appearance for her age—beautiful, if I may say so.
It’s not like she’s gained weight or grown taller. In fact, she seems to have lost a bit of weight compared to before.
Could it be some kind of illness?
But with Victoria’s senses, there wasn’t anything wrong with her. The sensations in her body seemed normal; she really has just increased her food intake.
Or maybe something is broken somewhere?
It was odd that the sky was floating over the sea.
It looked like something beyond human ability. If it consumes lifespan or vitality, that would make sense.
Yet, strangely, the light within her body was fine.
Sure, it was tinged purple, but the warmth had actually increased.
Originally, warmth grows during childhood and gradually diminishes as one ages.
Of course, it sometimes spikes dramatically or suddenly plummets. But for the most part, it follows a normal distribution.
To gain warmth most efficiently, one needs to consume at peak times; however, it’s much more beneficial to wait and consume over time.
The light presumed to be a soul discards itself after acquiring warmth. If it’s below the surface, it vanishes; here, it just dissipates.
Why just toss it away, you ask?
A warm stone turned into a cold stone. What should I do with a cold stone? Eat it like some demonic being from a genre novel?
How exactly do you “eat” light?
That’s the feeling it gives off.
It’s merely a byproduct without any use after getting warmth.
Once a harvesting machine dies and takes warmth, who would have thought a real demon would snatch it right afterward? I have no idea what they’d use something I have no use for, but if they can make use of it, more power to them.
After all, light is inherently elusive.
When it disappears, it just goes away.
So, I try to soothe the hungry Victoria.
“Just hold on until it’s over. We have afternoon classes left, right?”
“It’s not a matter of time.”
“Is it?”
Victoria looked straight at me with a serious expression and said:
“I’m broke.”
Is money an issue? Well, yeah.
Occasionally, some pocket money comes through, but since the incident in Bern City, I haven’t received any specific funds.
“Is it that you’re spending too lavishly?”
“No…I’m not. Belle, I’m really thinking before I spend money, okay? Even though snacks are great, I’m not foolish enough to waste money without thinking!”
Seeing Victoria shout like that, I glanced around the surroundings.
No one around seemed to care about us.
The recently-joined Polaris said he would have lunch separately to talk with his faction, so here we are.
“So, is it because you haven’t received any money?”
“Sort of, but to be honest, I don’t want to beg my parents for money right now because I feel embarrassed, so I’m not complaining about that.”
That’s understandable.
Truly, only short notes are occasionally sent. Fortunately, this time when I sent a letter to the address Victoria sent me, I got a proper reply back.
“So what did you suffer about?”
“Everything is too expensive these days.”
Ah. So the sighs I hear when she brings her wallet aren’t just about not having enough cash but because prices have gone up.
I didn’t realize that this sensation is merely about observing and not actually reading the room.
But is it really that expensive?
What was it like when Victoria’s hair was blonde?
Hmm. Compared to then, overall prices have increased by about 20%. That shouldn’t mean the prices have gone up that much, right?
They’ve gone up, but it’s not skyrocketing, is it? Based on my faded memories, it feels like prices were that way before.
I think there were mentions of a tough economic situation floating around.
Why are some memories bringing up disasters or phrases like “two percent per year”?
Isn’t it common for something that used to cost 1,000 won to now cost 1,200 won?
There are so many memories shining brightly that I can’t organize them.
Knowing something doesn’t mean I’m well-versed in that area. What I know and merely remembering something is completely different.
Owning an encyclopedia doesn’t mean you’re proficient in everything inside it, right?
It’s just like that.
Memorizing a formula doesn’t mean one can score full marks on every problem using that formula. I’m kind of the same way.
My brain isn’t the sharpest.
So, I just stick to using truths as my weapon instead of lies.
Let’s talk about what I know.
“Prices are rising.”
“Is that so? Perhaps. Still, it’s tough to buy anything at this rate! If it goes on like this, I won’t even be able to see any sweets! No matter how good the food at the restaurants is, it just can’t compare to the sweetness sold outside!”
Victoria screams.
Of course, even if she calls it sweet, it’s not going to be the syrupy kind loaded with high-fructose corn syrup. It’s more like fruit-filled bread or candies packed with sugar.
There are plants akin to corn in this world, so making high-fructose corn syrup out of that would be an option as well.
But that kind of sweetness hasn’t really developed.
Based on my faded memories, that kind of taste is still quite unsweet with Victoria clearly finding it sufficient.
Of course, there are those like Polaris or Kanna who enjoy sweet things in their own spaces, but they only eat them when they get back to their own villas or homes, not at the Royal Academy.
It would be tough for Victoria to eat them.
“What about earning some money?”
“Mmm… earning money, huh? Yeah.”
Victoria crossed her arms and pondered.
To me, earning money seems easy. With her psychic ability to manipulate water freely, there’s no way she couldn’t find work.
On the contrary, she seems like she could rake in money, yet doesn’t appear to think about that angle, does she?
“Right. Belle, what do you do for money? Does the royal family cover everything?”
At that moment, Victoria suddenly asked how I was doing.
Huh?
Looking back, I’ve never actually held money in my hands. I once thought about how I would hold it, but that thought just faded away like a stream of consciousness.
After going out with Maleficent, it’s no wonder I drifted out of anyone’s thoughts, given that it was a day when things fell apart between me and Victoria.
So, I’ve never held money. But everything I need to live has been provided by the royal family.
“Yes. I don’t have a chance to hold money, but it causes no hindrance to my living.”
“Ah. That’s how it is for you. Still, isn’t it better to have at least a little money, right?”
“Why?”
At my question, Victoria looked at me with an expression as if I were the odd one out.
“Belle. People need money to live.”
She placed a hand on my shoulder with a serious expression, as if explaining this to a child.
“I understand bartering.”
“That’s strange! We’re learning about economics in class, and you’re in the top tier for exams!”
“If it’s memorization, I can talk about it.”
“What about understanding?”
“It’s too difficult for my brain.”
She looked at me as if I were dumbfounded.
“Belle. Just wait a moment! If you want something, what do you do?”
“I wait nearby.”
Why does my answer earn her such an exasperated expression?
“No, many people won’t give you what you want, even if you plead!”
“If I wait, eventually, they’ll hand it to me.”
“Belle…! Many will not give it, and waiting like that gets you kicked out for being a nuisance!”
A nuisance?
There’s no one who’d push away a powerless girl like this sticking around. Most people draw you in, unless it’s solely out of goodwill to keep you out of danger.
“Unless they know my true identity, no one who pushes me away is a good person.”
Victoria tilted her head at a 45-degree angle. Clearly, she failed to grasp what I was saying.
“Aren’t we talking about buying things with money here?”
“If I could buy what I wanted with money, I would give it without hesitation.”
Turning stones into gold isn’t hard. Among the elements scattered through the universe, gold is incredibly common, isn’t it? Because of that, there’s practically no resistance to gold unless you’re creating it out of thin air.
Victoria looked at me with suspicion in her eyes.
I purposely said something else even though I knew better. No matter how foolish I seem, sooner or later, people pick up on what I’m saying.
I should stop vaguely hinting at my true intentions.
All I want is warmth, and if I could buy it with money, I would turn this planet into gold to get it.
Wait, if I turn stones into gold, that wouldn’t be the same weight but rather the same volume, so turning the planet into gold would lead to explosions.
But would anyone want that?
I’m not so sure.
And if the volume were that huge, most likely reality wouldn’t withstand it and would break.
“Um, what I mean is, what you want isn’t something you can buy with money, right?”
“It is currently the case.”
Maybe one day, when the world develops, they might do something for me in exchange for warmth, but that’s not the case yet.
So, I’ll dodge the subject. I picked up a stone from the ground. Then, I placed it in my palm for Victoria to see.
“Do you need gold, Victoria?”
And then, sizzle.
Pressing down on reality transforms it into gold.
Victoria approached and grasped my hand tightly, saying, “Don’t ever show that to anyone else. Never.”
She said that with a look of genuine fright.
“It’s just a rock, though?”
“Thank you for reminding me of what you are. Just don’t do it.”
“Agreed.”
Already, what I want has probably become a forbidden topic.
“Still, wouldn’t it be enough with Victoria’s allowance?”
Victoria gazed at her clenched fist with a deeply troubled expression before saying in a tone that felt like she was stabbing herself, “Pretend this never happened.”
Well, nothing I can do about that. So, I turned it back into sandstone.
Somehow, the various elements in my mind flash brightly, making my internal search engine a bit tedious. Without AI, it’s a flurry of random searches, making it complicated.
Returning the stone to the ground, I went back to the classroom with the dazed Victoria.
Now, it’s time for afternoon classes.
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