V9C2

Volume 9, Chapter 2: Work

"It's good that it's piping hot, but there's something more important than that."

Suddenly, Jurojin appeared.

Well, it's reassuring to have Jurojin-san suddenly appear.

It's irritating that Colonel Kunihito is entering the room at this point.

Kazanzakis-san and Apollito also entered.

"Brother, we scouted, but there don't seem to be any enemies nearby."

"Even the Sacred Tree says that there hasn't been any tanker or anything. Where on earth did they come from?"

Kazanzakis-san also said.

"It's probably the old man's doing," Mitsuki laughed.

"Most likely, Dad is here with a very small number."

I replied.

It's troublesome.

It's Dad's specialty.

"By the way, who is your father?"

Kazanzakis-san asked.

"...I heard he used to work for an American mercenary company, but before he died, he did things like being a market manipulator."

"Market manipulator?"

"It's a company where you pool funds called a corporation and trade only the stocks you invested in on a big market."

I explained to Kazanzakis-san.

"Oh, that thing you mentioned the other day, the company that raises funds."

"Yes, it has evolved further, and the shares invested are traded between those who want them and those who want to sell them."

"Oh, that's interesting."

"They also pay dividends based on profits, but well, the stock price goes up and down depending on the company's performance and popularity."

"It's like antiques or something."

"It might be similar. You buy low when the stock is undervalued, hoping for future profits, and sell it when it goes up. They create stories about the future, artificially boost the low-priced stocks they bought, and then sell them."

"Boost artificially?"

"Well, it's a bit shady. They buy shares of small companies and when trading begins with large companies or collaborate with analysts who evaluate stocks, they make noise about the stock going up and buy and sell among themselves to raise the stock price."

"Hmm, that's an interesting profession."

Kazanzakis sighed.

"Oh? When I heard it, I thought he was doing aquaculture or something."

Mitsuki tilted her head.

"Oh, that's an old story. If a rare breed of fish or shrimp like Medaka and Bishrimp was created, he would crossbreed them, stabilize them, and sell them."

"Eh? I think he was still doing it."

"If you create a new breed ahead of time, the early birds can make a lot of money. Maybe he didn't give up?"

"So what did he eat?"

Jurojin asked in amazement.

"If there was something profitable, he'd act immediately."

"He opened a white Thai restaurant but closed it right away, saying it was dangerous."

Mitsuki nodded as she answered.

"Thai restaurant? Oh, is that the one you tried to open for dining here?"

Kazanzakis asked me.

"Yes, it's the one with a different texture."

"In this context, it doesn't seem legitimate."

Mitsuki laughed.

"But well, I don't think he accepted Yakuza's bribes. It's shady, but I think he had connections with police officers, politicians, and top executives of big companies."

"Why did he eat it then?"

Both Mitsuki and I tilted our heads.

"He was really rich."

"Yeah."

"Thanks to that, the insurance money was huge too."

I remembered.

"I don't understand. Why would someone like that be associated with them?"

"Well, maybe he had connections with the underworld after all?"

"No, I don't think so. There were conflicts, I'm sure."

"Because the other party would go missing."

I laughed.

"Ehhh? What's that?"

Colonel Kunihito was appalled.

"Well, even here, if someone related to a criminal organization goes missing, the police... or law enforcement officers, they don't move much."

"Oh, right, that's true."

Apollito agreed.

Being a former pirate, he probably had memories of that.

"In their world, they won't catch you unless there's a dead body, so when they dispose of someone at sea, they told me to stab them firmly to prevent gas from accumulating, and poke holes in them so they don't float, and let the Kuroshio carry them away or something. They said some incomprehensible things."

I said.

"I thought that was a joke, but maybe it's not."

"I don't know."

I sighed.

"Where did your combat skills come from?"

Princess Miyabi asked.

"When I was in middle school, I received combat training with just a knife. Seriously, I slashed. Even if I slashed, they healed it in secret, so now that I think about it, that was probably a healing magic skill."

"It was incredibly tough. I was told it might come in handy someday."

"That's why I've never killed anyone over there. Seriously."

Although I've been killing recklessly since I came here...

"What kind of family are you from?"

Jurojin was completely baffled.