Chapter 12: The Gun is Mightier than the Pen - 3

Previously!

I ran the factory at full capacity for a week, decorated the kids' living space, and bought a truck, so now I'm almost broke!
And when I went to deliver goods to Millennium, Neru fired a bullet at me!
The Student Council President told her to bring me in!

 

"...Yuuka. If you have anything more to discuss, you can talk with A."

"Yes, Boss."

The situation isn't good.
Of course, Neru, who starts firing a gun at a guest's face the moment they arrive, is obviously the bigger problem...

"There can't be two guys who wouldn't dodge or block that bullet, but catch it instead, right?!"

Judging by those words, Neru was certain that I would catch her bullet.
I've only seen Neru's bullets once before.

When I "terrorized" Millennium for promotional purposes last week. It was back then.
I guess I have to assume that Neru has already figured out that I was one of those terrorists.

And the fact that she's bringing it up now, along with this request, must mean the Student Council President knows too.

"Haaah..."

I'm screwed.
The only positive, if I had to find one, is that the Student Council President seems more amicable than I expected.
If she really wanted to hunt me down and crush me, she wouldn't have given Neru a request to "bring me," but would have had me captured and detained herself, or handed me over to Valkyrie.

"Still, was there a need to go this far?"

"It's because I don't know what you'll pull! You could run away again, and besides, you might not even be the guy I'm thinking of, right?"

"...Could you at least guide me?"

"Of course! But if you don't follow quietly, it won't be 'guidance' anymore."

In this situation, there's no reason not to meet with the Student Council President.
There were things I wanted to say, and more importantly, if I run away, the Farm won't just fail to surpass Kaiser, it'll likely be wiped out as a criminal organization.

"A-rin. If there's more to discuss, please talk it over with A."

"Yes, Boss. Ah, could you lean in a bit..."

Why so suddenly?
I lowered my head to match A-rin's height.

...

Aha, is that so?

Good. This solves most of my worries. When it comes to the delivered goods, A-rin, who is better at accounting than anyone I've ever seen, will handle it well.
Yes, she's so skilled that...

'I'm going to land this big fish.'

I recalled the whisper A-rin had secretly given me earlier and smiled a smile that wouldn't be seen behind my mask.

 

 

* * *

 

 

My outfit drew some attention, but as I followed Neru's lead, we soon entered a strange, deserted path.
We hadn't said a word until now, but I guessed it was okay in a place like this.

"Why did you hide it?"

"Heh, given up on formal speech already?"

"There's no reason to be polite to someone I don't respect."

"Well, you've got a point there. So..."

Neru stopped walking, turned around, and watched me.
Unlike the cheerful smile I'd seen from her so far, her face was quite serious and cold.

"Is it you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You didn't think I'd noticed? You want me to say it directly? The Millennium attack, a little over a week ago. Wasn't that you?"

I expected it, but I didn't think she'd actually figured it out.
Well, there's no need to hide it anymore. Given Neru's personality, it's not like she'll go blabbing about it.

"Yeah. To be more precise, it was carried out by our Farm."

"I knew it."

After that, Neru didn't say much else and started guiding me again.

"Not gonna ask anything else?"

"You planning on answering if I do? Besides, that kind of thing is pretty common around here."

So it was common at Millennium, too.
I'd heard related news from Trinity or Gehenna, but I'd never heard anything from Millennium, so I didn't know.

On my sister's academy grounds—according to what the General Student Council President told me—it was quiet in Abydos, so I had no idea.
No, maybe it wasn't that it was quiet, but that someone was taking care of it all.

"And... as long as our President is interested, what can a grunt like me do?"

"You respect her?"

"Well, it's formally a superior-subordinate relationship. Of course, that doesn't mean I like how someone the same age as me acts like she knows everything..."

"Because she's got the skills to back it up?"

"That's what's so annoying! It's frustrating when a jerk is good at their job!"

...Didn't she just say she respected her, at least formally? And now she's started bad-mouthing her right away.
Well, I guess it can't be helped.

The Student Council President of Millennium.

Naturally, when it seemed my relationship with Millennium would deepen, I'd already asked my employees about her.
And the answer that came back was unanimously, 'We don't know.'

Her appearance, her name, even her past activities.
Only that she's a genius who became the Student Council President as a first-year high school student, and that she's such an overwhelming monster that she can crush any problems arising from her age.

She might not be on the level of the General Student Council President, but there's a good reason why even Neru—who'd shoot a guest in the face just to prove a hypothesis—respects her.

"You can go in through here."

"Is it okay to just show an outsider the Student Council President's office like this?"

"Hah, our President doesn't even show herself to those around her. This is just a place she told me about because of the request. I don't even know if she's in there."

I gave a slight nod at Neru's words and grabbed the doorknob.

"Hey, good luck, huh? For some reason, I feel like I'll be seeing your face a lot from now on. Well, not your *actual* face, I guess."

Hah, she really lives life on her own terms.
Well, if you want to call that a charm, I suppose it is.

With those words, Neru walked off down the path, and I went inside to meet the Student Council President.

 

 

* * *

 

 

"...Wow."

What is this. Am I seeing things?

"Looks like you're here, Farm Owner."

"Yeah. I take it you have no intention of greeting your guest properly?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Ah, sh—"

I didn't expect her to show up in person, but I at least thought she'd use a hologram or something.

"You really think sending a single white drone makes any sense?"

"I have a lot of work to do on my end. It was unavoidable."

"Oh~ so you think I'm some jobless bum who walked all the way here because I have nothing better to do?"

"Statistically, it is rare for the president of a small company to be busier than the student council president of an entire academy."

...Hah, Neru. How did you put up with someone like this as your boss?
At least you could have a conversation with her. What is this?

"Anyway, let's get to the point. Why did you call me here?"

"Farm Owner. The delivery was handled well. I've just transferred the contract payment."

In fact, as she finished speaking, a deposit notification popped up on my phone.
The balance was now 1.52 million yen. Thankfully, I could get the production line running again.

"You didn't call me all the way here just to tell me that."

"Correct. I'll be brief. Millennium wants to exclusively purchase the products of the 'Farm' company."

Exclusive purchase.
At first glance, it was an undeniably attractive offer.
Think about it. Millennium, one of the Big Three academies, wants to be our exclusive buyer? That means guaranteed sales, right?

Wow, this is truly astonishing.

"Is setting traps your hobby?"

"A trap? What do you mean..."

"It's less of a trap and more that the offer itself makes no sense."

The purchase part is fine.
But the enemy I have to face is a super-massive dinosaur of a corporation that holds over 99.8% of the Kivotos market share. Even with Millennium's brand power, this is too little.
And you're asking for our 'goods', not our firearms. This just sounds like you want to stop our development in its tracks.

"So you're just trying to prevent any external leaks before our tech gets patented by someone else?"

"...Your firearms are dangerous. They are more alien than any technology I have ever seen."

"That's your problem. What kind of mindset is it to say you'll take it all for yourselves just because it's 'dangerous'?"

It's not even that alien of a technology in the first place.
It's just a mix of a standard Kaiser firearm manufacturing facility, know-how from A-rin's unique sense, and information about Mystics that someone I knew once told me.

The Millennium Student Council President. I think I have a rough idea of her personality now.
An extreme rationalist.

The type to try anything within legal bounds if it benefits herself and her academy.
...Isn't that just Kaiser? Now that I put it that way, it's a personality I really don't like. Just like my sister's.

"I'm sorry, Farm Owner, but you don't have a choice. Because—"

"Because I'm the mastermind behind last week's attack on the Millennium Prize?"

"So you know. If this becomes public, your business is finished anyway. Why not just be satisfied with an exclusive sales deal?"

No, I'm saying we'll be ruined if we go that route. Whether it's because of you or because of Kaiser.
Well, it's true we're at an absolute disadvantage in that matter. It's a situation that's impossible to cover up.

So what should I do?

I have to pull out a card that's absolutely advantageous to us and absolutely disadvantageous to her.
Hmm? Do I have a card that would put someone whose name I don't even know at a disadvantage?

Thankfully, yes. A-rin told me something interesting.

"Hayase Yuuka, was it? Maybe it's because she's new to Seminar, but she seems to have a lot of shortcomings."

"That is a problem that will be overcome in time."

"No, that's not it. I noticed some money was missing from the budget expenditure report?"

"—!"

What other reason could there be for the one who was speaking so smoothly to suddenly go silent? She's been hit where it hurts.
Your turn is over. Now it's mine.

"I saw the assets, split and rerouted into dozens of accounts. I guess she wasn't used to this kind of large-scale accounting, so she didn't notice."

"..."

"So, here's a question. How many people in Millennium have enough power to commit embezzlement on this scale and then order a rookie accountant to handle the books for it?"

"What do you want?"

She catches on quick.
Well, it must be baffling from her perspective. Of all people, Yuuka had to drop her accounting documents, and of all people, the one to pick them up was A-rin, who can process that level of calculation the moment she sees it. I still don't understand why she was a sukeban.
But that's that, and this is this. If you have a card to play, you have to play it, right?

"I want two main things. One, let us sell our goods in your stores."

"You're asking for sales rights?"

"Yeah. And one more thing. Your Engineering Club? Give me access rights to it."

Sales rights, access rights.
These two will be a great help to the Farm's future growth.
Sales rights, because it means we can sell in Millennium, one of the Big Three and a strongly neutral academy. Access rights, because having a regular point of contact with the engineering club of an engineering school... the value of that goes without saying.

"...So, to summarize, we give you permission for a storefront within Millennium and a free access pass to the Engineering Club."

"And in return, we keep quiet about what and how much you've been skimming off the top."

"That's problematic. Don't you think it's an unfair trade at a glance?"

True. Is it a bit of a rip-off?

"What are you talking about? It's practically an exclusive sales deal until we open other stores, and you're complaining this much about letting us meet one club, not even giving us access to other facilities?"

"Then, add just one more thing."

"What?"

"As you predicted, I did embezzle funds. Quite a lot, in fact."

"I know that."

"The reason for the embezzlement, which I would have explained later, is to prevent a great danger."

"Such a grand reason."

"When that danger arrives in the future, promise that you will help me stop it."

"That's it?"

"Yes. If you add only this condition, I'll accept the terms you've proposed."

"Fine. No take-backs. Where's the contract?"

"I'm drawing it up and sending it now."

And just like that, the cornerstone for the Farm's first business venture was laid.
In reality, it was all stuff that could have been settled with a verbal agreement in thirty seconds.

'Going this far must mean she doesn't trust me either.'

Not that I have any room to talk, since I don't trust her either.

By the way, why are they all asking for help like this, both the General Student Council President and this one?
The GSC President asked me to help the 'adult' who will come later, and this one is asking me to help stop a future danger.

Well, on the other hand, it means they're confident in the Farm's growth, so I can take it as a positive.

"Here. The contract."

The contract was printed out from the drone.
I had to wonder why a drone had a built-in printer function, but then again, this is Millennium.

With my business finished, I walked toward the door to go back to my kids.

Before opening the door.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"I can't tell you."

"So much to hide."

"Same to you, Farm Owner."

With those final words, my meeting with the Millennium Student Council President came to an end.

I didn't know then. That insignificant promise of help... what a huge dilemma it would bring me later.

I. I really had no idea.