Merchant Maachan

When Kakerukun had taken up his post at this academy, the amount of money he had on hand was 10 billion.

Having seen how badly the previous principal and vice principal had botched things, and having also heard stories from the academy’s sponsors, he had immediately moved to take measures against Leopin.

He had set his sights on Monaka and Kotone, two of the academy’s influential figures, and devised the ‘Cheers Game.’

By taking away Leopin’s memory from those two, he aimed to isolate Leopin.

Then, as a further follow-up attack, he planned to saddle Leopin with debt through the ‘Leopin Pauper Game.’

He had intended not merely to turn Leopin into the academy’s genuine trash, but to drive him all the way into becoming society’s trash as well.

However, Kakerukun had been splendidly beaten back instead.

He had completely underestimated them.

The depth of the bond between Leopin and the girls.

And Leopin’s dexterity as well…!

In the end, Kakerukun failed to achieve his objective in both the ‘Cheers Game’ and the ‘Leopin Pauper Game.’

On top of that, he suffered a massive defeat of 1.6 billion.

After forcibly cutting short his very first morning assembly since taking office, Kakerukun and Diraira returned to the principal’s office.

Kakerukun rolled around on the carpet, tearing out fistfuls of its fluffy nap with both hands to vent his frustration.

“So frustrating, so frustrating, so frustrating! This is sooo frustrating～～～～～～! Because of that piece of trash, my whole plan got completely ruined～～～～～～～! Just you remember this…! Remember this, Leopin! Don’t think you can get away scot-free after causing me, a Gambler, damages of 1.6 billionーーーーーー!! I’ll win back double that from youuuuuuuuuuuーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー!!!!”

That day’s classes were only in the morning, so it quickly became after school.

Since the weather was nice, I decided to head home right away and work in the fields.

“Now that I’ve expanded the field and there’s even a river running nearby, today’s the day I finally look for new vegetables and plant them.”

With that thought, I energetically left the house, and outside the gate Tom had opened up a street stall.

Tom would pull up plants growing in the forest, or hunt small animals, and line them up on the ground as if to show them to me.

Most of them were weeds, or animals unsuitable for eating, but…

Today there was an unexpected find among them.

“Oh!? There’s ‘Wheatgrass’ and ‘Apples’!?”

“If I can cultivate these two, I’ll be able to get not just grains but fruit too! Well done, Tom!”

I took some grass called ‘Catnip,’ the currency of this market, out of my pocket and gave it to Tom.

It seemed that feline animals loved this ‘Catnip,’ and when they smelled it, they became as if drunk.

Tom too immediately indulged in it, growing totally limp and sloppy.

Holding the ‘Wheatgrass,’ I headed toward the field.

The fields around the house already extended all the way beyond the forest, and were quite broad in area.

“I’ll level the soil lightly first, then plant the wheatgrass.”

I changed jobs to Mana Farmer and started fieldwork with the ‘Gisu Hoe’ and the ‘Wind Cultivation’ skill.

While I was single-mindedly tilling the soil with rapid chops, before I knew it, someone was in the field.

I had no idea who that someone was.

After all, they had opened up such a deep hole in the middle of the field that I could not even see the top of their head, and were scattering dirt all around without the slightest restraint.

I’d been subjected to all sorts of harassment up to now, but this was the first time I’d seen something this bold.

When I flew over and peered into the hole, a female student was wiping her face with a cloth as if she’d just worked up a good sweat.

“Phew. If I dig this much, it should be fine now.”

“Yeah, just about the right depth for your grave.”

When I called out to her, the female student looked up and went, “Ah.”

She had short-cut hair and boyish features.

Blinking her round eyes, she rewrapped the cloth around her head and, without the slightest sign of guilt, said,

“Hehe, you don’t need to thank me! I just did it on my own!”

“What exactly are you talking about?”

“You see, I just thought I wanted to help out with the fieldwork a little. So it can be free!”

Apparently, this female student seemed to think she had been helping with the fieldwork through this act.

And the fact that the words “it can be free” came out first means…

“Could it be… you’re a Merchant?”

The girl nodded so hard it looked like it would make a whoosh! sound.

“Yep! I’m Maachan from Class 1-09, nice to meet you!”

Class 1-09. A class made up of lower-rank Merchant students, also called the ‘Merchant Union.’

If Class 1-07, made up entirely of upper-rank Merchants, were those who stood in the sunlight, then they could be called those who stood in the shade.

Maachan raised her hand and called out to me.

“Hey, hey, pull me up!”

If she had been doing this out of malice, I would have buried her alive, but…

Since it seemed to be out of good intentions for the time being, I gave an exasperated sigh and took Maachan’s hand.

After I pulled her up, she went, “All right, time to get to work!” and tried to dig another hole, so I hurriedly stopped her.

“You don’t have to hold back! I was just impressed by how amazing you are, Leopin-kun, and wanted to be of help even a little!”

“No, I appreciate the thought, but…”

As I started to say that, I suddenly came upon a question.

“Why do you remember me? Class 1-09 was supposed to have drunk the ‘Forgetfulness Potion’ in the ‘Cheers Game,’ wasn’t it…?”

At that, Maachan stuck out her tongue with a teasing grin.

Sticking out the tongue was also the new principal’s habit, but compared to that pampered-boy principal, her cuteness was on a completely different level.

“So you figured it out. I mean… well, actually everyone in Class 1-09 didn’t drink that potion. We all just pretended to drink it, then threw it away.”

It hit me as a mild shock, like a cat suddenly leaping out from a blind spot.

“You didn’t drink it? But why…!?”

“Because I… well… didn’t want to forget you either, Leopin-kun…”

The smile that burst across her face blew away the little thump in my chest.

“Ehehe, just kidding! Information is as important to a Merchant as money is! If we threw away a whole month’s worth of information, that’d be a huge loss!”

“That may be true, but you all accepted 100 million Enders in exchange for forgetting, didn’t you? If the principal had tried to trick you into drinking it, that’d be one thing, but isn’t that fraud…?”

Maachan still showed no sign of feeling bad about it.

“You know, Merchants outwit other people in order to make more money. Ah, but we only outwit other Merchants, we don’t outwit customers.”

As if she had predicted my retort, she added it with an innocent smile.

“But still, people with lots of money like the principal… Maybe we might outwit them just a little! …Eheheh!”

I felt like I had caught sight of a little devil of a different type from Akemi’s.

“All right, all right, Leopin-kun! That’s enough chatting, we’ve got to get back to the fieldwork! We have to fill this field with crop after crop! Now then, what should we do next!?”

“Fill in that hole.”

“Eeh!? Why!?”

“Once that’s filled in, we can move on to the next task. Come on, hurry up and fill it.”

“Chee, and after I went to all the trouble of digging itー!”

Pouting as she did so, Maachan used the shovel to restore the hole to how it had been before.

Even after that, she still wanted to help, so I decided to teach her the proper way to do it.

“Don’t dig it up with the shovel, use this wooden hoe to till it instead. The method is exactly what I showed you earlier. All right, then, can you till the half over there?”

“Roger that!”

Maachan ran off energetically like a dog and, awkwardly though it was, began tilling the field.

When I happened to look toward the house, it was sparkling brightly.