After a long journey, Vikir returns to his dormitory at Colosseo Academy.
"Wash up first, Vikir! I need to do something first...."
"What?"
"Oh, just to clean up some personal work that I've been putting off because of the University League."
As soon as Piggy walked into his dorm room, he started fussing with something.
It was a piece of paper with numbers, diagrams, and graphs all over it, probably something related to finance.
Vikir went into the shower without a word.
[hack-hack-hack-]
The cub stood still under the warm water, checking to see if it was good.
As the water flowed down its black fur, it seemed to melt into the water.
Normally, he would have patted its head, but... Vikir was silent now, his brow furrowed slightly.
It was the necklace that had been making so much noise earlier.
A red chain hanging from a choker around his neck.
It was the 7th Corpse Decarabia.
[K-hahahaha! I am Decarabia! A taboo being! A savior of the species! A mixture of great destruction and magnificent creation! And the lucky one to have a pretty, beautiful mistress for this activity period!]
His voice is set to be heard only by Vikir in the first place, and Vikir's ears ache with the constant chatter.
Decarabia seemed to like the fact that it was hanging around Vikir's neck and chest, and was in high tension the whole way back.
But the good feelings only lasted so long.
The moment Vikir stepped into the shower and stripped off his clothes, Decarabia's chatter stopped.
[Hey contractor, don't forget to carry me in the shower with you in case someone picks me up... eh?]
The pupils in Decarabia's eyes, which were wide open in a nearly circular shape, were shaking.
[....]
Decarabia stares into Vikir's face.
[...?]
And now Decarabia is looking down at Vikir again.
In the meantime, Vikir has taken a quick shower.
[....]
Decarabia has already become very quiet.
It's been talking less and less, and now it's practically inanimate, as if it hasn't moved at all.
Its eyes, which had been looking up and down several times, had also closed.
Vikir, puzzled by the sudden stop in the chatter, taps Decarabia with a mana filled finger.
[...I am. Decarabia. Are. you. going. to. command. something?]
"Not like that."
[...Then.]
Its eyes open briefly, then close coldly again.
A very dry and bureaucratic answer comes back.
"...Well, that's quieter now."
Anything that works is good.
Vikir nodded with a satisfied expression.
* * *
When Vikir stepped out of the shower, Piggy was getting ready to go out.
When Vikir was wiping the moisture from his hair with a towel, with his back turned to the cloudy steam coming out of the shower room.
"Hey, Vikir. I have to go out!"
Piggy said, clutching a stack of papers in his arms.
There were so many papers in Piggy's arms that he wondered if he could even see.
Vikir sat back in his chair with a towel around his neck and asked.
"Where are you going?"
"Uh-huh. I'm going to show my personal work to my professor."
Personal work refers to studies that students do on their own to improve their skills outside of what the academy assigns.
Piggy smiled broadly.
"We've got a 'mock investment competition' in a little while."
"A mock investment competition?"
"Yep. It's a competition where you have to research and invest in promising stocks and sectors in advance, and it's organized by a famous Bourgeois family. There are many benefits to winning or being in the leaderboard!"
"I thought that was the end of the survival contest. There's more."
"Yes. There's a swordsmanship tournament, an archery tournament, a magic tournament, a lead dancing tournament, an eating contest, a boxing tournament, a theater tournament, a singing contest, a painting contest, a contest to raise the best beetle... There's been a lot of them lately, haven't there?"
Ever since Vikir donated the money he made from selling gnoll leather to the scholarship foundation, there have been a lot more competitions of one sort or another.
It was all an excuse to give scholarships to students.
'Professor Banshee is doing a surprisingly good job.'
Vikir nodded silently.
He'd doubted that the scholarship foundation would do the right thing, but the fact that they were producing visible results as soon as the survival contest was over seemed to indicate that they could be trusted.
Meanwhile, Piggy smirked as he finished.
"I'm a little short on grades, so I have to make up for it by getting extra credit for placing in competitions like this."
The truth is, Piggy's talent for combat is average to slightly below average, but he excels at everything else.
He's skilled in administration, law, medicine, art, and finance.
He was especially good at acquiring, analyzing, and summarizing information, as well as keeping up with the latest news and happenings of prominent figures in society.
(Apparently, he had already won several contests for raising great rhinoceros beetles.)
'If Cindiwendy saw this, she'd be screaming for a scout right now.'
Vikir nodded silently.
"I'm sure you'll do fine."
For someone who's usually a man of few words, the effect of Vikir's compliment was stunning.
"...Thank you, Vikir. You're always so inspiring."
Piggy clenches his jaw, impressed. His eyes turned red and moisturized.
Piggy then pumped his fists at Vikir.
"That's right, I'm going to beat that kid this time."
"...That kid?"
Vikir asked, puzzled, and Piggy snorted and nodded.
"Yeah, Sinclair, because she said she's going to be participating in the Mock Competition this year too!"
Sinclair. Top of the Hot class. A freshman from a commoner's background.
A prodigy whose name pops up all over the place at Colosseo Academy, a place where only geniuses come together.
In her major, magic, she has shown herself to be as talented as the mages of the Mage House Morg, and in her minor, Cold Weapons, she has surprised everyone with her proficiency with swords, spears, bows, and other weapons.
And other than that, she was famous as an alpha girl who could do anything, such as theory if theory, handwriting if written, certificate if certificate, part-time job if it was a part-time job.
This time, she was a librarian with a part-time job at a cafe, but she still managed to take first and second place in various practical and written tests.
Furthermore, she had recently placed eighth overall in the University League as a freshman, proving her star potential.
Piggy said, fueling the rivalry.
"Sinclair says she's also really good at accounting and office work, which is why she's working as a librarian at the library."
"I see."
Vikir simply nodded, not realizing that Sinclair had a talent for economics and investments.
"This mock investment competition is sponsored by Bourgeois House, so there's a lot of students who enter for prizes, scholarships, and maybe even a job after graduation, and I'm sure Sinclair is one of them. I'm not going to lose! I'm going to go!"
Piggy waved, dropped a few papers, picked them up, and stood up.
But he didn't see the one that fell behind his heel.
Vikir picked it up and tried to hand it to Piggy.
"Oh, it's okay, it's just a poster for the competition, I don't need it!"
Piggy waved it off and ran down the hall.
The room was now empty.
Vikir sat down at his desk.
[hack-hack-hack-]
[Don't drool on me you dirty puppy... No, spider, what is this?]
A spider and Decarabia were on the desk.
The baby madam is circling around and looking around to see what's so good about Decarabia.
[Hack! Hack-!]
[Ugh, I thought I told you not to drool on me, no, don't touch me, no, don't climb on me, just stay away... What, female?]
[Hack hack...]
[Oh my, are you a lady? In that case, I will turn a blind eye to this level of rudeness. In reality, I just close my eyes and surrender myself to your touch...]
Vikir breathed mana into Decarabia and gave a command.
"Open your eyes."
[....]
Decarabia hesitated for a moment, then squirmed as if it had no choice.
[Mm. Yes. I open my eyes, to my new taste. Maybe I'd rather have a man in that face...]
"What are you talking about, open your eyes and tell me something about the ten commandments?"
When Vikir slapped him with the palm of his hand, Decarabia responded in a hurry.
[Oh, you mean the one you asked earlier? What was it... Yeah, it was about the 6th of the 10, right?
"Yes."
Vikir was asking Decarabia for information about his next prey, the 6th of the Ten.
[The 6th Corpse, he must have been close to the 9th Corpse, they were always together].
Dekarabia knows something about the areas that Cindiwendy's research hasn't been able to uncover.
Even if it's just a small piece of information, it's a big help.
Vikir paused for a moment as he listened to Decarabia's words.
"The 9th Corpse is Dantalian. He wears the skin of Guilty, the head of House Indulgentia.
Dantalian's puppet, Guilty, had close ties to the Old Testament faction of the religious hymn Quovadis.
And a demon who was close to Dantalian. The 6th corpse.
'If we investigate the Old Testament Faction of Quovadis, we might get a clue.'
After the Indulgentia's disappearance, indulgences were still being issued and sold by the Old Testament Church of Quovadis.
After a brief hiatus from selling indulgences due to the publicity surrounding Dolores's 95 refutations, the Old Testament Church has recently resumed issuing indulgences due to public demand.
As we enter the new season, sales of 'indulgences' with new specifications are booming.
Surprisingly, they were even discounted.
'It's going to be a busy business since it's been around all season.'
Vikir thought about investigating the Old Testament faction of the Quovadis once more.
Maybe he could find a lead to someone with connections there, maybe even somewhere else entirely.
At that moment.
Something like a hunch, something he couldn't explain logically, flashed through Vikir's mind.
"...."
Vikir's gaze snapped to the front door.
There was the poster Piggy had dropped on his way out earlier.
The flow of the economy was created by humans, but cannot be predicted by human power.
However, the intuition of very few geniuses is able to connect with the great flow.
If you think you're one of those few, this poster is for you.
This competition is held in a place called 'the spine of the economy'.
and will be the staircase that will lead you to the big stage of the financial world.
Eligibility: All students of the Academy
Submission period: Until one week after posters are distributed (※Posters will naturally expire after one week)
Organizer: Bourgeois Family