Chapter 29
Chapter 29. Clarisse Rosemore (1)
"What? Wh-what did you just say?"
Serena had just heard a shocking truth.
"I'm really sorry, Miss Serena."
When the two borrowed the car, she hadn't expected to get it back anyway.
The weak get devoured.
That was the cold, harsh rule of the world.
"H-how could it be totaled in just one day..."
But she never imagined they'd scrap her precious car in just a day after she asked them to take good care of it.
Using her imagination to predict what happened...
Vroooom~
Pe: Is the ride comfortable?
Ju: Not bad, but it's not something to use long-term.
Pe: Really? Then want to see some fireworks?
Ju: Fireworks?
Fwooosh~BANG! (Sound of Bunny exploding)
Pe: How is it? Pretty, right?
Ju: Wow, it burns well.
Something like that must have happened, roughly.
"Sorry, I'll compensate you. How much?"
Serena's mind returned to reality.
Infuriatingly, Penelope was even mentioning compensation.
"I-it's okay... I was planning to give it to you anyway?"
"Really? Then I feel a bit less sorry."
How shameless!
It's not like Serena was in any position to demand such things, right?
"More importantly, how was the brewery?"
"After inspecting it directly, the condition seems good. If Miss Serena is agreeable, I'd like to purchase it. I'll pay the full amount in one lump sum."
"Y-yes, that's a relief..."
"I'll send you the revised proposal soon. Please draft the design first."
"How long do you think it'll take?"
"About a week to draw up the blueprints."
"Alright, good work. Ugh, I'm tired."
"Go get some rest."
As if it were only natural, the two delivered only their business and left without lingering.
Only after they were sufficiently far away did Serena shed tears drop by drop.
"Sob, sniff... That's too much... Bunny... I'm sorry..."
She had even replaced the suspension herself, and painted it all by hand...
The one fortunate thing was that Serena knew inside information about the 'Cola' business.
If Penelope, who monopolized Cola, was building a factory, it meant Cola's value would drop soon.
Serena had received 15 bottles of Cola from Penelope so far.
She needed to quickly sell them off before the premium disappeared and the market price crashed.
She could at least recover the car's value that way.
"Oh..."
Serena suddenly realized.
Even when the two committed outrageous acts, they didn't just commit them.
They threw appropriate breadcrumbs while maintaining just enough pressure so Serena wouldn't harbor excessive dissatisfaction.
Presumably, they were establishing discipline so she couldn't climb up at all.
Even though Serena had no intention of climbing up anyway.
"Nobles... are scary..."
Serena learned another lesson about the scariness of nobles today.
***
Five days had passed since the attack incident.
Many things had happened in the meantime, but to organize them one by one, first.
"I'll take attendance. Student Jurgen."
"Present."
"Good, let's start today's lesson."
"Please take care of me."
Penelope started a full-fledged alchemy study session with Jurgen.
The textbook was the first edition of 'Introduction to Alchemy by Hanbin' that she had previously gifted him.
Since she was teaching directly anyway, she planned to make Jurgen into a proper Alchemist.
Why?
Because Penelope was now a 5th Rank Alchemist who had mastered the unique code called 'Falling Petals.'
Moreover, she was a genius among geniuses who had swiftly dispatched the terrifying killer called the Undertaker at the moment of awakening.
If Jurgen, who received one-on-one lectures from such a person, couldn't produce decent results, what would that say about her reputation?
"Miss Penelope, does that mean you've definitely entered the 5th Rank from that previous battle?"
"Right, thinking about it, the flowerpot called Albion Royal University was too small to nurture my growth."
"Oho."
"Yes, I was meant for practical combat. It's such a waste that I didn't know this fact and spent all that time idly."
Since her awakening, Penelope's confidence had reached an all-time high.
Anyway, the lesson began.
The lesson topic was understanding the concepts of circuits and codes.
"The earliest alchemy worked by combining catalysts and transmutation circles. Oh, by the way, transmutation circles are frameworks for creating 'Codes.'"
"But as alchemy became more sophisticated and the concept of code stacking emerged, the limitations of transmutation circles were discovered."
"Since codes were created outside the body, the efficiency became too poor when stacking them. There were also many failures."
"Alchemists thought, 'What if we brought the transmutation circles inside the body?' The result was Magic Circuits."
"Modern alchemy provides Magic Circuits as transmutation circles to stamp out codes."
"Of course, it's difficult. It's like creating transmutation circles inside the body. It requires intricate calculations and control."
After listening to the explanation, Jurgen nodded.
"Oho, I understand."
If anyone else had said that, she would have snapped, 'What do you understand? You think such superficial understanding will work?' But Jurgen was an exception.
"It's because I explained it so easily."
"As you say."
His learning speed that she had observed over four lessons was extraordinary.
She had also conducted lessons on the concepts of elements and catalysts previously, and there was no need to explain twice.
The quiz she conducted as a test, wondering 'Did he really understand properly?', was also perfect.
The sharp questions he occasionally threw at her required Penelope herself to ponder for a while before answering.
She sometimes even gained insights through that process.
At this point, even Penelope was confused.
Just what was Jurgen's identity?
The fact that he commanded Vic as a familiar.
His sharp insight in pioneering the Cola business.
His ability to draft proposals and functional specifications.
All of it was utterly un-commoner-like.
Above all...
The body she had seen during the Undertaker's attack kept weighing on her mind.
Setting aside the muscularity, those were definitely scars no ordinary person would have.
She had no intention of prying if he didn't want to reveal it, but...
"If I study this hard, can I become like Miss Penelope too?"
"Hm?"
"That previous battle was so impressive, you see."
"...What's your intention?"
Penelope, who had been lost in other thoughts for a moment, sensed a build-up full of malice and became serious.
Seeing Jurgen grinning like that, this was definitely intentional.
"Don't."
"I'm serious."
"Didn't I tell you not to?"
"'Wither gracefully, Garden of the Fool'... Really, isn't that a chant that strikes a chord?"
At Jurgen's imitation even of her speech pattern, Penelope clenched her fists and entered vibration mode.
"But Miss Penelope. Is 'Wither gracefully'... part of the spell's name?"
"......"
"If so, the spell's name seems a bit long... but well, what does it matter? As long as it's cool."
"Yes, that part is unnecessary! What are you going to do about it!"
The cringeworthy line 'Wither gracefully' wasn't an essential element of the magic.
But at that time, her emotions were extremely elevated, and she got carried away by the atmosphere.
"Being emotionally rich is a good thing. As you said, didn't it help with mental image construction when creating a unique code like 'Falling Petals'?"
"Be quiet. Today's lesson ends here. Just do your homework well."
Penelope hurled an enormous amount of assignments as revenge.
The way he took notes of the homework as if it were nothing only made her angrier.
While she was cooling down her anger, Jurgen asked.
"But Miss Penelope, is it really okay to not do anything?"
"About what?"
"Blyton. Didn't he hire the Undertaker to attack us?"
"That's right. Why?"
"It seems unlike Miss Penelope's personality to stay silent like this."
"...What's wrong with my personality?"
Actually, Jurgen was right.
The old Penelope would have gone to find Blyton immediately.
She would have vented her emotion-filled anger, saying 'How dare you attack not just my business partner but even me, a noble!'
But such actions were likely to have little effect.
"There's no evidence."
There was circumstantial evidence.
That alone was insufficient.
The two had no clear proof that the Undertaker received a commission from Blyton.
They almost died, yet they couldn't do anything about it.
It truly was a frustrating and suffocating situation.
"Hmm, so you're planning to just let it slide without doing anything?"
"I never said I wasn't doing anything, though?"
"Mm?"
So Penelope borrowed the power of the social circles.
She asked Manager Ritz to widely spread the rumor that 'Penelope defeated the Undertaker.'
This was the time-honored political skill of the social circles called 'Backdoor Advertising'—hiring people to spread rumors favorable to oneself.
Actually, Backdoor Advertising itself wasn't a very popular skill.
Its effectiveness was hit-or-miss, and if caught, there was a very embarrassing penalty. Many people actually got caught and became laughingstocks.
However, Penelope was immune to the penalty.
"Why is Miss Penelope immune?"
"What honor do I have to lose?"
The power of Backdoor Advertising, the propagation power of social circles.
And the result of adding Penelope's performance that betrayed everyone's expectations...
Was explosive, like Cola with Mentos added.
"Did you fellows hear that? Penelope caught the Undertaker."
"The Undertaker? Wasn't that outlaw Nortaris's troublemaker?"
"That's right. He was a 5th Rank Knight, but somehow he went around killing even 6th Rank Alchemists."
"Can that incompetent young lady really catch such an outlaw?"
"Hmph, I can't believe such a rumor."
It started with skepticism.
But the truth inevitably comes to light.
"They say the rumor is true. The city hall paid out the bounty."
"My... I heard the Adventurers Union also sent a plaque of appreciation and compensation. Was that really true?"
"Did she handle it herself? There are no witnesses, right?"
"Well, they say the Red Sage himself verified it. She dealt with it using flame-based magic."
"The Rosemore Count Family's specialty was definitely flame-based, right?"
"Then, that was real?"
The incompetent young lady's out-of-the-blue skill demonstration.
The death of the vicious outlaw called the Undertaker.
Though shocking, if this was all there was, it might have ended as just a minor disturbance.
That's because there were so many interesting gossip topics in social circles.
The rumor that 'incompetent Penelope repelled the attacking Undertaker' wasn't gossip interesting enough to chew on that much.
So Penelope added seasoning on top of this gossip.
"Seasoning?"
"You said it yourself. The life of cooking is seasoning."
"So what seasoning did you sprinkle?"
"The information that Polar Suns might have hired the Undertaker."
If this incident was the Undertaker's independent action, that would be the end of the case.
The Undertaker was already dead.
But if this attack was someone else's instigation, that is, Blyton's instigation, the story changes.
Someone was about to get screwed.
I know from experience...
"Social circles have a beautiful custom of really liking stories about someone getting screwed."
"Miss Penelope, your speech..."
"Ah, mistake. Pretend you didn't hear that."
The result.
'Breaking news! Polar Suns and the Undertaker really were in a cooperative relationship.'
'Is that really true?'
'I'm telling you it is! Think about it. Isn't Polar Suns dominating the beverage market with lemonade? Who would Blyton find most bothersome at this point?'
'Right, right! Because Cola threatens the monopoly!'
'The crazy bastard was someone else. Of all things to mess with, he messed with Rosemore?'
'That mafioso bastard, acting all high and mighty like he's some big shot was really an eyesore.'
The social circle figures looked at Blyton with gleaming eyes.
As if very curious about how he would fall.
It wasn't confirmed that the Undertaker worked under Blyton, but such trivial details were no longer important.
There was no need to bother arguing hoarsely or getting angry.
Just create the flow and ride on it lightly.
"If it's just me, it's circumstantial evidence, but if everyone thinks so, it's different."
"You made it an established fact."
"Anyway, Blyton's lifeline is now in my hands."
Penelope smiled wickedly.
"How much I'll extort before sparing him depends on my mood?"
It was a villain-like smile she hadn't shown in a while.
***
"Damn it... Son of a bitch..."
He had just received a call from the Gray Council.
It was a notification that the 7th Seat, Edwin Blyton, was being permanently excommunicated.
Immediately upon receiving the call, he heard news that a Gray Council meeting had been convened without Blyton.
The intention was obvious.
They were declaring they had no connection whatsoever with Blyton, who had touched the bloodline of the Rosemore Count Family.
It wasn't just the Council that contacted him.
His 'friends' also conveyed in various ways their intention to sever relations—by unilaterally cutting off transactions, selling off Polar Suns stock in large quantities, halting new loans and starting to collect existing ones, or simply not paying for goods at all.
To them, Polar Suns was already a sinking ship.
"Why, why of all things did he do something I didn't even tell him to do...!"
Blyton blew into a whiskey bottle.
He'd been doing this for five days and nights without getting a wink of sleep.
He felt wronged.
As soon as he heard the news that 'Penelope killed the Undertaker,' his insides twisted.
Though the Undertaker was a bit crazy, who knew he'd suddenly attack Penelope?
"No, if he was going to attack without being told, he should have at least done it properly!"
If that had happened, he could have kept quiet and feigned ignorance, but instead he got defeated and splattered a ton of shit water on Blyton too.
"Has there been contact with Penelope...?"
"She's not answering."
"She's really determined to make me dry up and die."
He tried to salvage the situation somehow.
He went to the hotel trying to convey to Penelope that there was a misunderstanding and negotiate, no, plead.
He absolutely had to do that no matter what.
However, Penelope didn't answer letters or phone calls, nor did she show herself outside.
Blyton wasn't just being arranged in a flower arrangement—he was becoming a dried flower altogether.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!"
Everything he had built was shattering in just these few days.
If he wanted to at least save his life, he should flee by night right now.
"I can't! How could I, after climbing this far...!"
The reason he didn't.
There was a sliver of hope in this worst of all situations.
The lawyer who was contacted by his secretary opened his mouth with a stiffly hardened expression.
"President, Miss Clarisse has come to see you."
Clarisse Rosemore.
Just thinking of that name sent chills down his spine, yet paradoxically, that very existence was Blyton's only hope.
"...Let's go."
Blyton gargled with whiskey and rose from his seat.