29. Item Presentation (5)
Clap clap clap—!
As Alterisha stepped up onto the stage, the applause continued for a while without showing even the slightest sign of dying down.
That brief stretch of time was enough to calm her nerves, and it came to her as sweetly as honey.
At last, after taking a deep breath, she stepped forward, and the applause gradually subsided.
The sudden silence that arrived so abruptly felt strangely alien, making the audience focus all the more on Alterisha.
Today, her outfit consisted of blue jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and a white lab coat.
Originally, several coordinators had rushed in, all wanting to style her in a way that would make her beautiful features shine even more, but Alterisha had fiercely refused.
Today, she wanted the people of the world to focus solely on the 'Item,' without even having the time to turn their eyes toward someone like her.
Tok—!
At the sound of her footsteps, the gaze of the audience of over ten thousand people gathered on her.
But instead of going to the center of the stage, Alterisha stepped slightly off to the side.
Some might have thought she did that because she was nervous, but in truth, it was intentional.
It was because she did not want to block the screen positioned at the center of the stage.
Staring quietly at the still-empty screen, Alterisha secretly swallowed dryly and parted her lips ever so slightly.
They said the beginning was always the hardest.
While planning this presentation, Alterisha had come to understand that saying to the bone.
'The first words.'
How should she begin?
'Hello? I'm Alterisha.'
That was too rustic.
'I completed the Cross Formula of Alchemic Random Sequences and am currently developing Items…'
This wasn't some self-introduction session.
'Greetings! I am Alterisha of the Stella Academy Department of Alchemy!'
That sounded too stiffly tense.
She had agonized over it for a very, very long time.
How, exactly, should she begin?
How, exactly, should she introduce it?
Then she changed her way of thinking.
'…Today is the day we unveil the Item anyway.'
There was no need for a self-introduction.
Everyone who had come here already knew who she was.
In that case, erase the introduction of 'myself' and begin naturally, as though carrying on a conversation.
"…Since the beginning of magical history, technological revolutions have brought great transformations to magical society."
The screen changed.
Magitech.
"With the discovery of mana lines, even those who could not use magic themselves became able to enjoy the benefits of magic."
Lighting powered by mana, doors that opened automatically upon sensing life, buildings floating in midair, and countless other inventions flashed past, and at the end, a train and an airship appeared on the screen.
"With the development of Warp Holes, the concept of space itself has been astonishingly reduced, and now people travel freely, disregarding the limitations of distance."
This time, a photograph of an enormous Warp Hole appeared together with a world map.
Every point connected by a Warp Hole had been marked, and the population moving through them—tens of thousands a day—was recreated in graphic form.
"Each time a revolutionary technology revealed itself to the world, the trajectory of human life changed."
The screen was dyed black.
It was to draw the audience's attention back to Alterisha.
She left a brief pause, then slowly spoke.
"…And today, I dare say with confidence that another transformation in human life is about to take place."
At last, light returned to the screen.
But what appeared there…
was an image completely opposite to what everyone had expected.
There was no flashy PowerPoint on the screen, no magic circles, no formulae.
Only a single word.
[Item]
That was all.
"I will now introduce the technology that will bring revolution to the world—'Item.'"
While Alterisha's presentation was underway, Baek Yuseol moved elsewhere in order to entertain Melian and Zeliel.
'I didn't expect to meet her like this…'
Villainess Zeliel.
To be honest, he didn't have very good feelings toward her.
Because in the original game, she tormented the player in an especially vicious way.
Of course, Hong Biyeon had also nearly undergone a complete reformation(?), and what happened in the game was only game content…
but the situation here was slightly different.
Hong Biyeon, at least, had such a tragic set of circumstances that she had no choice but to be born into the fate of a villainess.
But Zeliel had chosen the path of evil of her own accord.
For the sake of profit alone.
Zeliel would stop at nothing, and while she did not torment the player directly on the surface, she was the sort of existence that constantly got in the way throughout the story, like a mosquito in the middle of summer.
'What's her objective?'
There was no other reason for her to come all the way here.
For a discussion about brand Items, talking with Melian and me would have been more than enough.
She was the type to pursue efficiency to the extreme, so she thoroughly excluded unnecessary movement.
Which meant she had a reason to come here personally and meet me no matter what…
"I'm sorry for showing up so suddenly."
"…Not at all."
Without meaning to, the tension nearly leaked straight into his tone.
[Blessing of Crimson Spring March]
But in the next instant,
his heart settled calmly… and he was able to deal with the situation a little more coolly.
"It's an honor to meet the daughter of the famous chairman. You're every bit as beautiful as the rumors say."
"Thank you for saying so."
Baek Yuseol quickly prepared the tea.
It was 'Rilt Tea,' which had recently begun circulating in small quantities thanks to Eltman Eltwin and had quietly started to become fashionable.
Melian drank the Rilt Tea at ease, savoring the aroma, but Zeliel's expression slowly stiffened, as if she was not having quite the same experience.
Well, of course.
Smells like shit, doesn't it?
"Oh-ho… As expected of the very person who provided the recipe for Rilt Tea to Stella's headmaster, your skill in brewing tea is superb."
"As expected, your news travels fast."
"Haha… I wouldn't even call it news. The headmaster has been going around boasting about it to everyone."
For a moment, Baek Yuseol imagined the youthful great mage running all over the place spreading the fame of Rilt Tea, then briskly shook his head to banish the thought.
After setting down the teacup, Melian spoke with his trademark relaxed smile.
"Then shall we have a look at what kind of product has been completed?"
After clearing away the tea cups, Baek Yuseol brought out a black case he had prepared on the table in advance.
It was the kind of case also called a 007 briefcase, and even the case itself was already a product of Item technology.
Click! Pssshk…!
The moment he pressed the button, the case split apart to both sides, dividers forming like steps until it became something similar to a small vanity.
"Oh…"
In midair, clusters of light from magic circles flickered as they checked the system.
"This case recharges the mana of the Items stored inside, checks damaged areas and repairs them, and restores any broken sections. And this…"
He took out a bracelet from the case.
"…is a staff."
"…You're saying that's a staff?"
"Yes. Staff-type staves are enormous in volume, so not only are they difficult to store, but carrying them around already equipped means enduring considerable inconvenience. But if you simply wear this on your arm…"
Click!
The bracelet changed shape, and in an instant became a long rod.
"Then anytime, anywhere, if you want it, you can equip a staff immediately."
"Oh…"
Melian observed it with deeply interested eyes.
"May I ask you to explain how it differs from products already on the market?"
"Performance and design go without saying, but first of all…"
Baek Yuseol calmly persuaded Melian.
There was, for some reason, a power in his voice that steadied people's hearts, and his logic was convincing even from the perspective of an expert with real knowledge of magitech.
Marketability?
That went without saying.
'This is guaranteed to be a massive hit.'
Zeliel, who had been listening quietly to the explanation, was certain of that.
Which was why…
her father's mistake felt extremely irritating.
'Why did Father make such a mistake?'
Turning Item into a luxury brand?
What a joke.
No matter what it took, the Starcloud Merchant Company should have monopolized the Item technology itself.
But why had Father heard such absurd talk about luxury-branding Items and nodded right away?
Zeliel checked once more above Baek Yuseol's head.
"???"
Still, not a single number appeared.
That meant even with her own eyes, she could not confirm his value.
If that were simply because Baek Yuseol was the Item's developer, then Alterisha's value should not have been visible either.
And yet Alterisha's value had been shown clearly.
That was why she could not understand it.
'Why?'
Because she loved him?
Absolutely not.
Falling for someone at first sight was illogical and irrational.
To begin with, Zeliel lacked the emotion known as 'love.'
The only thing remotely resembling love that she could squeeze out was already being poured entirely onto her father.
That left only one hypothesis.
That the value of the boy named Baek Yuseol was so distant that even her own insight could not grasp it.
There was no other explanation.
Zeliel looked at Baek Yuseol with trembling eyes.
The truth was, her trait [Value of All Things] did not merely display things as numbers.
It grasped all of a thing's composition, connections, relationships, origins, existence, and so on… and pierced through to the target's very 'essence.'
In other words, the Baek Yuseol before her was an existence whose essence even Zeliel's analytical power could not grasp.
'Can that… even be possible?'
She could not accept it.
An existence I cannot understand with my own eyes, with my own head?
And he's only a mere seventeen-year-old high school student.
Zeliel clenched her fist and looked straight at Baek Yuseol.
She was used to putting on a mask.
A smiling face came to her with no awkwardness at all; it was only bright and beautiful.
"That's quite a good idea. But in the end, isn't this simply an Item with somewhat better performance? Does it really have the value of a 'luxury good'? If it's only going to be treated as a superior product with a somewhat higher price tag, then there would be no reason for us to treat it as a brand."
Unlike Melian, who had responded favorably, Zeliel voiced a negative opinion, and after thinking for a moment, Baek Yuseol took out a pen.
"You do it like this."
And then he drew a single line on the bracelet.
"What is… that supposed to be?"
"It's the line that separates an ordinary product from a 'luxury good.'"
"Wh… what are you even…"
The statement was so absurd and outrageous that Zeliel could not even think of how to continue speaking.
"There's more. Now that a line has been drawn on it, we'll sell this Item at ten times or a hundred times the price of the ordinary product."
"…Do you actually think that makes sense?"
"Yes. First of all, it has a different mark engraved on it from everyone else's, and if that proves it's 'expensive,' then it's already a luxury good. On top of that, it uses rarer materials and has better performance too, so there's no room for doubt. Ah, and if we add that it's a 'handmade creation crafted stitch by stitch by a master artisan,' then it'll be even more perfect."
"…You really do take consumers for complete fools."
"Isn't that what you do all the time?"
Flinch.
Zeliel's brow twitched slightly, then she quickly smoothed her expression.
'As if a brat like him knows enough to say that…'
There was no way a mere high school student could fully grasp the internal movements of Starcloud, so that must have just been some offhand remark.
There was no need to be shaken.
"Anyway, we'll use somewhat different technology for the 'brand Items.' The actual difference won't be all that great… but how would consumers know that? We'll keep it hidden as a corporate secret."
"You say that like you've done it a lot."
She had tried to jab him with a sharp question, but—
"Mm… well, I saw a lot of similar things back in my hometown."
Baek Yuseol slipped away from the question like a loach.
It was obviously a lie.
She had already investigated him and confirmed that he came from a remote rural backwater.
He must know full well that everyone already knew that about his hometown.
And yet he was deliberately telling a lie like that…
'He's trying to feed me shit, isn't he.'
If she tried to counter with, 'But your hometown isn't like that,' then she would only put herself in a disadvantageous position when he replied, 'How did you happen to know where my hometown is?'
'…Suspicious.'
Even after that, Zeliel kept tossing out remarks in a probing tone, but he deflected every attack with defensive justification.
Zeliel had always prided herself on her own 'mask.'
The mask that hid emotion and acted as another person.
And yet Baek Yuseol seemed even more skilled with masks than she was.
She could not read his emotions at all, and it was impossible to grasp what lay inside.
She, too, had accomplished much at a young age, and prided herself on having built up vast knowledge and experience beyond her years of life…
but the boy before her was looking down at her from a place far, far higher than that.
'Was I… wrong?'
She had thought the reason his value was high was simply because of the Item.
It had been a misunderstanding.
Exclusive rights to the Item?
Its technology?
Those things were not the issue.
Baek Yuseol.
That boy himself had value.
The Item was merely one very small element among the countless things that made him shine.
'Father made a mistake.'
Not because he failed to secure exclusive rights to the Item…
That was not the mistake.
The fatal mistake Father had made was leaving that boy alone, that boy who possessed true value.
"What is it?"
Baek Yuseol asked, but Zeliel did not answer.
An existence with unknown value.
If he became one of her pieces on the board,
then perhaps she could cut and polish him into a truly splendid gem and make use of him for a very, very long time…
'He's already slipped out of my hands.'
He was no longer a board piece, nor a gem.
He was simply an unknown threat.
'He can't be left like that.'
Her dream was to plant the Starcloud flag across the entire world.
From the moment she was born, she had run only toward that goal.
There had been nothing to hesitate over.
There had been no obstacles.
And yet, for the first time in her life, something had appeared that stood in the way of her path.
Zeliel was clever, but still young, and because she had never experienced anything like this before, she had no choice but to make an extremely simple and direct decision.
'…If I can't make him my piece, then I'll simply eliminate him.'
A quiet frost settled into her gaze.