Chapter 268

“Wooden sword…”

“I’m sorry… I’m tired, so I’ll go in first…!”

After finishing her report on the trip to Korea to the Katsuhata clan head, Emika hurriedly dashed into her room and let down her tightly secured hair.

Worried that it might fall off if she made a mistake, she gently touched the translucent horn with her fingers.

Naturally, this horn is an artificial organ created by gathering mana, just like the Aura Heart.

Tap tap—

The vibrations only slightly resonated in her head, and she felt no sensation from the horn itself.

[Since it was made using a rudimentary technique, if you enter a space completely sealed from mana or use a virtual reality capsule, the magic will break, and the horn will disappear as well. To grow the horn, you just need to go to a relatively quiet place and gather mana in a comfortable position. Once the horn grows to about the size of your thumb, you will be able to handle mana with the horn as well.]

Kneeling down in a formal sitting posture, Emika was quietly meditating.

After an hour of meditation yielded no signs of growth, she ultimately contacted Name again.

[Name-chan: One hour?]

[Katsuhata Emika: Yes. How much longer should I do this? It can’t be half a day, right?]

[Name-chan: Well, if you focus, you could finish it in a day. About 18 hours?]

[Katsuhata Emika: Eh? Not that long…]

“No, I had a holiday until today. I’ll have to stay up all night, but let’s just endure a little longer.”

Meditating allowed her to perceive things she usually couldn’t notice.

The mournful cries of the evening cicadas echoed all around, and the footsteps of the Katsuhata clan members thudded against the ceiling.

However, the fun of discovering such things was only temporary.

‘I’m bored… I’m sleepy…’

After finally winning the battle against boredom, her eyelids began to droop.

To meditate, one must close their eyes, but they must not fall asleep.

Each time drowsiness washed over her, Emika pinched her thigh to stay awake.

While Emika was battling herself beyond the firmly closed door, the people outside, unaware of her struggle, were whispering, worried about her well-being.

“Perhaps the shock from Korea was too much?”

“She seemed fine until she got on the plane…”

“Sigh. Is she finally going through puberty?”

“Puberty…! Our little Katsuhata lady…!”

Since returning from the trip, the girl had locked herself in her room, refusing to eat or drink.

It seems the defeat in Korea weighed heavily on her mind.

As breakfast preparations were underway, concern poured out for the young successor, who had been designated as the future clan head.

“Call Katsuhata. We have some instructions to relay to Emika regarding the Autumn Equinox Festival. If it’s later than the council, tell her it’s time to get serious.”

An elderly man appeared and issued the order in a firm voice.

From March to May, and September to November, training camp was mandatory for the Katsuhata school.

No exceptions, even for the successor.

Creak—

Katsuhata Emika, who was on the brink of becoming a high-risk recluse, entered the restaurant.

Even for someone famous outside, prolonged exposure tends to dull enthusiasm.

To the general public, she might be a mysterious genius swordswoman, but to the Katsuhata family, she was merely a cute little sister, Emika.

She appeared more haggard than ever, rubbing her eyes with her arms as she trudged in.

“Whoa!”

“What… what is that?”

“A hairband?”

“Demon cosplay?”

As an utterly incomprehensible situation unfolded, her close senior Tachibana approached and placed a hand on her head.

“Emika, what’s going on with you? You can’t just come out looking like that in front of everyone!”

Emika was 14 years old, exactly the age for being in her second year of middle school.

They say a usually meek child goes wild during this age, but no one imagined she would pull such a stunt in the notoriously conservative Katsuhata family.

“What’s this? Why won’t it come off?”

“That’s my horn…”

“Huh?”

“It’s a horn that grew from my head.”

“Eh?!”

Tugging at Emika’s hair with both hands, they naturally found no trace of a plastic band or joint.

Emika’s face turned redder than a radish.

As the clan head and council entered the restaurant, the raucous atmosphere subsided.

But still, the piercing gaze was directed at one person.

The elderly people sensed an unusual atmosphere today, squinting their eyes and pointing.

“Hey… you!”

“What a disgrace!”

“Do you think you can make such jokes here?!”

“I can explain everything!”

Emika, bursting out of her seat, walked to the center of the restaurant and stood before the clan head.

“This isn’t a toy; it’s magic! I didn’t catch puberty! And it’s definitely not cosplay!”

In front of an average age of 45, consisting of around 50 people, it took an immense amount of courage to confess the truth.

Katsuhata Emika gulped, trying to hastily take out the newly acquired wooden sword.

The restaurant was the epitome of places where bringing a sword was absolutely forbidden.

Seeing the successor have crossed the line of rudeness and broken the rules, the elderly rose from their seats, shouting in outrage.

“First, let’s all calm down and listen to Emika. We know she wouldn’t normally act like this, right?”

In the end, the clan head sitting in the center had to step in to pacify the crowd.

“Emika, go ahead. But be prepared for punishment regarding today’s commotion if you don’t have a valid reason.”

“So… this…”

Emika slightly bowed her head and closed her eyes tightly.

She just had to explain it as she had heard from Name.

[For now, it’s tentatively called the Demon Lord’s Horn, but the official name may change later. It’s magic we’ll be launching roughly a month from now, and my older sister is a sort of product tester for our company. Go to the council or whoever and tell them this is an incredible magic; would they be interested in investing? This much should be doable, right?]

“Well, what magic is it? Explain quickly, Katsuhata Emika.”

“The Demon Lord’s Horn…”

“The Demon Lord? Are you saying you’ve become the Demon Lord?”

“N-no… it’s not set in stone but it seems like it might be…”

“Ha.”

“That’s not how I was going to say it… Waaaaah! Why won’t you listen to me until the end?”

Eventually, Emika was the first to burst into tears.

* * *

“Wow, Name, this is amazing! How did you manage to gather such precious people?”

“Wait a minute. Did you order correctly?”

I stopped Baekhochan, who was trying to take a seat next to me, firmly gripping the café chair.

Then he took a deep breath.

“Caramel frappuccino with whole java chips added. Espresso whipped, mocha syrup, and caramel drizzle. Right?”

“Passed.”

“They say too much caffeine is bad for your age… Anyway, look at this article.”

[Global News) Halloween is still a month away… but in Japan, a Demon Lord cosplay craze?]

I slowly stroked my chin while watching Emika’s exploits unfold in my eyes.

The Autumn Equinox Day is designated as a public holiday in Japan.

Especially families as historically significant as the Katsuhata clan hold their own memorial services.

The direction of the educational policy set by the Katsuhata school is conveyed through her words.

In a speech wishing and encouraging the growth of young Japanese mages, Emika mentioned the ‘Adele’ magic, signaling a shift in swordsmanship.

“Is that all you’re going to do? She even mentioned our company during the magic demonstration!”

“Yes, yes. I had her do that.”

“You know this kind of marketing is something worth tens of millions that you can’t get easily, right? Our Name really is admirable.”

“Ugh, just let me enjoy this quietly for a moment.”

Unfortunately, it seems Emika did not reach a level sufficient to destroy the ‘transcendent sword.’

Instead, by demonstrating the first-circle Adele magic alone, she drove many theoretical wizards who were working hard into despair.

Since she had already shown that she could cast spells with the existing magic, she immediately caught the spotlight of the media.

However, there was one aspect that diverged from my expectations.

Rather than praising the potential of magic, the public paid more attention to the cute Emika with horns.

Trends are like an epidemic.

And in a capitalistic society, companies had an uncanny knack for sniffing out a profit.

Toy companies and hairband companies clamored to produce ‘Demon Lord’s Horn’ Emika editions, quickly turning it into a seasonal gimmick.

Since this was promoting the bio-arcane magic for free, there was no reason for us to stop it.

“After all, while the cost of magic includes labor costs, advertising expenses can be tremendously high.”

“How far along are we with the multiple sclerosis treatment?”

“We passed the preclinical trial last week and are moving on to phase 1 clinical trials.”

“Still?”

“That’s pretty fast. A normal preclinical trial stage usually takes 2 to 3 years, but we completed it in just 2 months.”

“No, it’s still too slow… If we skip phase 2, how long will it take to get everything done in the shortest time frame?”

“Skipping phase 2? That’s almost impossible, but even if we get approval, it’ll take a minimum of 3 years for FDA approval.”

Three years is too long.

Vaccines can get approval in 10 months with emergency use authorization, so why can’t treatments?

“So, Name, the selling price for this should be set at $10,000 per year. You should know, given your economics education, that we also need to consider future inflation…”

“It absolutely has to be under $3,000. There’s no compromise on that, so don’t even think about it.”

“Even fake medications that don’t work can be priced at $50,000 or $100,000… sigh, I understand.”

“The shorter the development time, the easier it will be to recover costs. So, Mr. Baekhochan, please make it happen quickly.”

And I had nearly provided my knowledge accumulated from my past life for free.

“The outsourcing costs for clinical trials are insane! The national funding we received is leaking everywhere.”

In the end, it always comes around to money.

Money is needed to solve the problems, and money is also needed even in the process of making money.

I gently closed my eyes and interlaced my fingers.

While sipping my frappuccino, I fell into thought.

“Let’s delay the release of the Demon Lord’s Horn.”

“Why would we delay it? We need to create a cash cow as quickly as possible to keep the business afloat!”

“Investment funds will soon come from the Katsuhata school. I don’t know how much, but that should buy us at least a month’s time, right?”

“Why the delay?”

“Let’s create two versions and introduce them to the market. One will be a 3-circle rudimentary version, and the other will be the 5-circle original. If we sell the latter for a very high price, won’t that bring in a lot of money?”

“How are we supposed to do that? Based solely on the performance you’ve mentioned, it doesn’t seem like that attractive of a magic.”

Naturally, as the Demon Lord’s Horn is an organ designed for Mazzaks, it has a fatal drawback in that humans would see little to no effect.

The ability to purify magic is hardly useful except in areas like the Middle East or magical power plants, and reading mana from the air requires a significant amount of effort.

“I heard somewhere that a company creating what people want is a second-rate company.”

“…?”

“A truly first-class company is one that can spark the desire to buy even in people who usually have no thoughts.”

“Ehh? I think I’ve heard that somewhere too.”

“This time I’ll take the lead in marketing.”

[Response: Seviron Foundation]

[You are permitted to participate in the Academy对抗赛.]

There were no height requirements for middle school.

No middle school student had ever been below 120 cm at Seviron Academy before.