Chapter 209

“Ah, I wanna snack!”

It was the season when the shrubs at the Royal Academy turned red. As we stepped out the door after lunch at the academy cafeteria, Victoria muttered under her breath. Then she started reeling off every snack in existence.

“It hasn’t been a minute since we ate.”

“Lately, no matter how much I eat, I’m still hungry,” she mumbled. Since fainting in Bern City and waking up three days later, Victoria’s appetite had strangely increased.

I inspected Victoria from head to toe.

Purple hair, snow-white skin. She was a girl who clearly bore the marks of a Harvester. Of average height, with an appropriately curvy figure for her age—she was quite the pretty young lady.

She hadn’t gained weight or grown taller. If anything, she seemed slightly thinner than before.

Was she sick?

But according to Victoria’s senses, nothing hurt. Her bodily sensations were all normal; it was just that her appetite had increased.

Or maybe something was broken?

Summoning oceans into the sky *was* weird. It didn’t seem like something a human should be able to do. If it had cost lifespan or life force, that would make sense.

Yet despite all this, the light inside her seemed fine. Sure, it had turned purple, but its warmth had actually grown stronger.

Normally, warmth grows in youth and gradually diminishes with age. Though there are times it spikes suddenly—or drops abruptly—it generally follows a bell curve.

The most efficient way to gain warmth is to consume it at its peak, but waiting for the right moment yields far more in the long run.

The soul-like light, once obtained, is discarded afterward. In the realm of “Below the Surface,” it vanishes; here, it simply dissipates.

“Why just throw it away?”

A warm rock cools down and becomes just a rock again. What do you expect us to do with a cold rock? Should we eat it like some demon out of a fantasy novel?

How does one eat light anyway?

That’s the feeling I get.

Once a Harvester takes warmth, what remains is merely useless byproduct with no practical use.

When one Harvester dies and their warmth is taken, the next thing you know, some demon swoops in and grabs it. I don’t know what they’d use it for, but if they can find a use, more power to them.

Light is inherently impossible to hold onto anyway.

If it disappears, then it disappears.

So, I consoled the currently famished Victoria.

“Hold on until the end. There’s still afternoon class, right?”

“It’s not about time.”

“Is that so?”

With a serious expression, Victoria looked straight at me and said,

“I’m short on cash.”

Short on cash? Oh, right…

We occasionally received allowance, but since the Bern City incident, we hadn’t gotten any extra money.

“Are you spending too extravagantly?”

“No! No way! Bell, I think carefully before spending money. Just because snacks are tempting doesn’t mean I’m dumb enough to spend without thinking!”

As Victoria shouted almost angrily, I glanced around.

No one nearby seemed to be paying attention to us. Polaris, who had recently started accompanying us, had gone off to talk to someone from her faction and decided to eat lunch separately.

“So, is it because you haven’t received your allowance?”

“That’s part of it, but honestly, I don’t want to ask my parents right now—it feels awkward. So I’m not gonna complain about that.”

True.

Lately, we’ve only been receiving short letters. The good news is that when Victoria sent a letter to the address provided, she actually got a proper reply.

“So, why the lamentation?”

“It’s expensive these days.”

Ah. So it wasn’t just about lacking money—it was about rising prices.

I didn’t realize prices had gone up. Though I sense emotions rather than read minds, I hadn’t expected such a difference.

What about back when Victoria’s hair was blonde?

Hmm… Compared to then, prices have risen by about 20%. Isn’t that within normal limits?

Prices have gone up somewhat, but isn’t that typical? Based on faded memories, there have been periods where costs increased similarly.

Economic hardship has certainly been mentioned.

Why do certain memories disappear, or why do phrases like “annual 2% increase” keep popping up?

Isn’t it common for something priced at 1,000 won to go up to 1,200 won?

Too many flickering memories make it hard to organize.

Just because you have knowledge doesn’t mean you’re an expert in that field. What I know and what I merely remember are completely different things.

Just because you own an encyclopedia doesn’t mean you’re proficient in everything inside it, right?

It’s the same situation.

Just because you memorize formulas doesn’t mean you’ll ace related practice problems. I’m similar.

My brain must be bad.

So instead of lies, I use truth as my weapon.

Let me explain based on what I know.

“Prices are going up.”

“Really? Maybe. Still, buying even one thing is becoming difficult! At this rate, I won’t even be able to indulge in sweets. No matter how great the cafeteria food is, I can’t live without the sweetness outside!”

Victoria screamed.

Of course, the sweetness she refers to isn’t the overly processed kind filled with high-fructose corn syrup. We’re talking about pastries mixed with fruit or sugary snacks.

Though plants similar to corn exist here, they haven’t advanced much in creating refined sugars.

Based on faded memories, the taste is fairly bland, but it seems sufficient for Victoria.

Sure, people like Polaris or Kanna enjoy sweet treats in their personal spaces, but that’s not something consumed at the Royal Academy—it happens at their estates or homes.

Not easy for Victoria.

“How about earning money?”

“Mmm… Earning money, huh. Yeah.”

Victoria crossed her arms and thought deeply.

In my opinion, making money should be easy. With water-manipulating psychic abilities, there’s no reason she couldn’t work. In fact, she could probably rake it in—but she doesn’t seem to be considering that.

“Yeah. How does Bell manage? Does the royal family cover everything?”

Suddenly, Victoria asked about me.

Huh?

Come to think of it, I’ve never actually held money. Once, I briefly considered ways to earn it, but the idea slipped out of my consciousness.

After all, since teaming up with Maleficent—and especially after the falling-out with Victoria—I naturally drifted out of those thoughts.

So I’ve never held money. But the royal family provides everything I need to survive.

“Yes. I don’t personally handle money, but it doesn’t affect my lifestyle.”

“Ah, that’s Bell for you. Still, isn’t it better to have at least a little money?”

“Why?”

At my question, Victoria stared at me like I was something non-human.

“Bell, humans need money to live.”

She placed her hand on my shoulder with an expression like she was explaining something obvious to a child.

“I understand bartering.”

“That’s strange! We learn economics in class, and you always rank highly on tests!”

“I can recite what I memorize.”

“But do you understand it?”

“It’s too complicated for my brain.”

Wow, was her reaction.

“Bell, if you wanted something, what would you do?”

“I’d wait beside it.”

Why does she look so frustrated by my answer?

“There are plenty of people who wouldn’t give you something even if you begged.”

“If I wait long enough, eventually someone will offer it to me.”

“Bella… People will chase you away for loitering… It’s called obstructing business…”

Obstructing business?

There’s no way anyone would push away a harmless girl like this unless they were acting purely out of kindness to protect her—or more likely, to draw her in.

“If people don’t know who I am, only good people would chase me away.”

Victoria tilted her head at a 45-degree angle, clearly failing to understand what I meant.

“Weren’t we talking about buying things with money?”

“If I could buy what I desire with money, I’d gladly pay for it.”

Turning stones into gold isn’t hard. Gold is incredibly common among the elements scattered throughout the universe, right? That’s why, unless created out of thin air, gold faces absolutely no resistance.

Victoria stared at me, her eyes full of questions.

I deliberately said something else even though I knew she’d catch on eventually.

Let’s stop hinting at deeper truths.

All I want is warmth. If I could buy it with money, I’d turn this planet into gold if I had to.

Wait, turning stones into gold would create gold of the same volume—not weight—so turning an entire planet into gold might cause an explosion.

Would anyone even want that?

I’m not sure.

Such a massive change would likely shatter reality itself.

“Uh… So, what you want isn’t something that can be bought with money, right?”

“For now, yes.”

Who knows? Maybe someday, when the world advances, I might do something in exchange for warmth.

But not yet.

Let’s dodge the topic. I picked up a pebble from the ground and placed it in my palm where Victoria could see.

“Does Victoria need gold?”

And poof!

By pressing against reality, it turns into gold.

Victoria grabbed my hand and said seriously,

“Never show that to anyone else. Never.”

She said this with a spine-chilling expression.

“It’s just a rock.”

“Thank you for reminding me of what you truly are. Don’t do it.”

“Understood.”

It seems what I desired has become a question that shouldn’t be asked.

“Still, this should be enough for Victoria’s allowance, right?”

Victoria stared at her tightly clenched hand with deep contemplation, then spoke in a voice that felt like it was piercing herself.

“Make it like it never happened.”

So I turned it back into sedimentary rock.

For some reason, my memory brought in various elements, flashing brightly in my mind. Without AI, my mental search program kept throwing up random associations, making it frustrating.

Returning the rock to the ground, I walked back to the classroom with a dazed-looking Victoria.

Time for our afternoon lesson.

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