Business hours for the final day ended an hour earlier than on the previous days. The Food Court members looked like they were leaning on the parasols in exhaustion. Mia and I cleaned up the last one, but we were nowhere near as spent as the others. Besides, I still had work left to do.
I headed towards the director’s office with some pain perdu as a gift, and asked Fulsig about the results of his experiment. In terms of coins, the Weinders were the bottom of the pack among our holding’s members, Lilka’s was dead center, and Plura profited the most. We began by matching our results against those three to determine the accuracy of the experiment.
I then headed towards the student council room. The Kendall siblings were together with our now revived Food Court members.
“You really saved us by lending those tables and chairs.” I started by thanking Jean and Maria.
“I took a look near the end. It must have been unimaginable that the nobles formed a queue, yes?” Maria replied.
“Both the one-plate lunch and the new confection were the talk of the town... Anyway, looks like you got here a little late. What were you doing?” Jean asked as he lowered his voice.
Can you not put it in a way that makes it sound like I’m scheming some manner of conspiracy at every chance that I get? At any rate, I went on to explain the aim of the experiment I was doing together with Fulsig.
“What a thing to do... You thought that far ahead from the very beginning?”
“It’s just insurance. It’d be best if things end without having to put it to use. There was that incident in the morning, though,” I said in as composed a manner as I could.
The Carlests intended to interfere with us, but the situation turned out more like prodding a snake out of a bush. We ended up pulling in quite a number of customers thanks to the brand-new treat in the courtyard.
“The culprit was never caught. That really is strange. The patrols around the school gate are supposed to be reinforced by the guards of the upper-class district under the cooperation of the guilds. So how did an outsider get in and out without permission...?” Jean said.
“Wait, hang on. If you think about it carefully, it’s entirely possible. You listening? The one charged with paying the expenses of the upper-class district’s guards is the guilds. And...”
“I get it now. The Culinary Guild is the largest of all guilds, so you’re saying it’s the executives of said guild,” Maria concluded.
“You have a point. There are bad rumors going around about the Carlests. They pestered the former Dreyfan umbrella companies in cruel ways to absorb them all in as their own. So if the culprit wasn’t caught...” Jean added.
So that’s how it’s set up? Both the legal organization behind public safety and the illegal organization behind the violence joined together. It was entirely possible. There would be quite the strong connection between them, too.
The Carlest siblings recognized us as a clear threat yesterday evening. That’s why they sent someone to get in our way the next morning. But that meant...
“So the parents have come into their children’s fight...”
✦ ✦ ✦
After regrouping with the others, we headed to the student council room. Everyone was making a fuss in front of the ranking table.
The multi-colored rankings had taken on the form of three stacked colors. The one in the center was a blue bland. This was of course the shops of our Food Court that managed to bite into the upper ranks.
I verified the numbers placed beside each of our shops’ names. There was nothing out of the ordinary here. Everything lined up with our own account books.
“Among the independent companies, we’re lined up right at the top, huh?” Dargan commented to Plura.
“These are the results based on our abilities. There’s nothing to make a fuss about.”
Below their names, there was a single unreliable blue line in the middle of a red band. The Weinders placed just around the lower third. We managed to get this far just from our share from the Food Court as well as the fee we charged the Pluras for our recipe and honey.
The glares of the silvers who placed below me were terrifying, though. Don’t worry, I’ve made sure that all of you will keep your honor. Please believe in my sense of self-preservation.
“Me, Shirley, and Ruston all placed better than last year too. Weinder, you probably could’ve placed better if you took some earnings from the one-plate lunch as the company which offered the idea, couldn’t you?”
“It’s fine. I’m not interested in the rankings.”
I had the state of the Food Court’s operations passed to Euphylia through Alfina and Louisa. The Weinders’ true goal here was a practical show of the stock system. The experience of managing and gathering multiple different companies to work together was also beyond valuable for getting ready for the formation of my general trading company. The only problem was that our members were far too talented for a proper sample.
“Oh, come on... Well, whatever. Anyway, what do you think of that?”
Lilka lowered her voice. The fraud we were most wary of didn’t happen. To us, at least.
However, the three top names on the list were exactly the same as yesterday — three companies under the Carlest umbrella.
“We monitored the Carlest-related shops. I would estimate they had 20 to 30 percent less customers than yesterday. Especially the Boulbernie company, being in direct competition with Plura. It wouldn’t be all that strange if Plura actually surpassed them in terms of coins,” Jean muttered.
I see, so it’s padded by 30 percent. That just happens to match the results of our experiments.
The prime minister’s grandson then entered the student council room, accompanied by three noble students. Shortly after, they called on all participants to enter. I exchanged looks with Jean, and we entered the room.