Chapter 571
Editor : Amethyst00
“Come! Come take a look! A specialty of Lumeria City!”
“Exotic foods from the distant southern continent! From the desert lands of the beastkin!”
“Come see the jewellery crafted by dwarf artisans!”
“This is mithril fabric woven by elves!”
The streets of Lumeria City were filled with countless merchants shouting out their wares.
As the city at the heart of the world and the location of Lumene, it was always bustling with people and traders. But this time, the atmosphere was quite different.
Normally, most merchants in Lumeria City were human.
But now, traders of many races had set up shop.
It was rare to see such a large and diverse gathering of merchants from all over the world.
But this was a special occasion: the Festival of Heroes, a global celebration. With the four Hero Academies gathering to compete, it was only natural that all races would flock to the event.
Where people gather, merchants follow.
So the influx of so many vendors wasn’t surprising.
Even among the same race, conflict is bound to occur when large crowds form.
Let alone among races with different values—disputes were inevitable.
“Hey! Hey! How many times do I have to tell you not to cross over here!” A human merchant shouted menacingly at a beastkin vendor.
“I just left it there for a moment because I have a lot to carry! And I’m clearing it away right now—aren’t you being a bit harsh?”
“Harsh? If you want to do business on someone else’s turf, the least you can do is show some basic courtesy!”
The human merchant irritably kicked over the boxes the beastkin had stacked.
Crash!
The beastkin’s food ingredients spilled out everywhere.
The beastkin’s eyes grew fierce.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Enraged, the beastkin bared his fangs and raised his clawed hands.
The human merchant flinched for a moment at the sight but quickly played the victim.
“Oh no~ The beastkin’s threatening a human!”
Both vendors were running street food stalls.
But beastkin were world-renowned for their culinary skills, so customers barely visited the human’s stall.
To make it worse, the beastkin’s prices were far more reasonable.
The human merchant, who had always profited during festivals by selling at inflated prices, saw the beastkin’s stall as a threat.
As the human merchant cried out, the beastkin stepped back, confused.
“N-No! You started it—!”
“Oh no~ oh no! The foreign merchants are killing off the local traders!”
Just as the human merchant raised his voice to stir up a scene—
“What’s going on here?”
A voice emerged from the crowd.
“What’s the issue?”
Upon seeing the boy with light orange hair, the human merchant smirked triumphantly.
Meanwhile, the beastkin’s expression turned sour.
“Oh, dear student from Lumene! Look at this! This beastkin brute is harassing me, an honest merchant!”
“Y-You started it!”
As the beastkin protested, the student from Lumene—Carl—raised a hand.
“Let’s hear what happened. Could the beastkin merchant explain the situation first?”
The beastkin explained everything.
“Hm. I see.”
Carl nodded, about to hear the human merchant’s side, when—
“Thank you for your work. Please take this as a small allowance.”
“Oh my, such kindness!”
The human merchant slyly handed Carl a pouch of coins.
The beastkin glared at the scene, disgusted.
After hearing the human merchant’s exaggerated tale, Carl nodded again.
“I see. That must’ve been tough.”
“Exactly! That’s what I’m saying!”
“In that case, you should apologize.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I get that you’re angry about losing customers, but that doesn’t justify your actions. You wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t overcharged people. The Festival of Heroes is about unity among races and having fun together, right?”
Carl smiled. The human merchant’s shoulders twitched.
“As a fellow human, shouldn’t you be siding with me?!”
“Heroes don’t take sides based on race.”
“You even took my money pouch—!”
“Huh? Wasn’t that just allowance?” Carl casually spun the pouch on his finger with a cheeky grin.
“You brat! Even if you’re from Lumene, you’re just a second-year! What’s your name?! I’ll file a formal complaint with the Lumeria City Merchants’ Guild!”
The enraged merchant lost his cool.
Even for a Lumene student, being officially reported to the guild could bring serious trouble.
And seeing Carl’s polite manner, the merchant thought he could push him around.
Just as Carl scratched his cheek awkwardly—
“What the heck? Are you threatening a Lumene student now?”
A southern girl with light brown skin—Juen—stepped forward behind Carl.
Folding her arms, she glared.
“Isn’t that Juen Torvina?”
“Top of the first-year magic class at Lumene?”
People began whispering as they recognized her.
The human merchant panicked.
“How bold—threatening the acting president of student council.”
“Wait, that’s Eliza Hergin?”
“The heiress to the Hergin family?”
“Did she just say that student is the acting president of student council?”
Upon hearing that, the crowd gasped.
The merchant turned pale.
“Th-That is, I…”
Eliza looked at the merchant with a bored expression and said coldly.
“Tell the Lumeria City Merchants’ Guild representatives to come to Lumene immediately.”
“Oh dear! I didn’t recognize you! Please, forgive me just this once!”
The merchant threw himself to the ground, but Eliza just scoffed.
“Let’s go, Senior Carl.”
Juen pushed Carl forward, and they left.
Returning through the crowd, Eliza muttered in disgust.
“You don’t even know how to use your own status. So foolish, Carl Thomas. Then again, you’re a commoner.”
“Are you insulting Carl right now? He just doesn’t throw around authority at every chance!”
Juen shot back, only for Eliza to glare at her.
Juen flinched but then raised her chin defiantly.
As Eliza flexed her fingers ominously—
“Now, now, let’s all calm down.”
Carl placed both hands on Eliza’s shoulders from behind.
“Let go.”
She brushed off his hands with irritation.
Carl raised his hands innocently and shrugged.
“I did that on purpose, you know.”
“…What?”
“Merchants are the kind of people who would risk their lives for money.”
Carl, from a family of alchemists with ties to commerce, knew how merchants operated.
He even belonged to the merchant club, and most of the 1st and 2nd-year students used his distribution network for supplies.
“With a historic festival like this, the guild wants to cash in big time.” Carl shrugged.
“But the Festival of Heroes isn’t just a competition. It’s about unity and shared celebration.”
He remembered Leo’s words.
Leo had said he wanted to create a festival everyone could enjoy.
Carl paused.
The Lumeria City streets were filled with people of all races.
‘Yeah… kind of like Godthrone from Dweno’s world.’
A city of harmony and mutual aid, now lost to history.
‘Maybe Leo really does want to create a world of unity.’
Not just to avoid division in the face of danger—
‘But to pass down that unity for generations to come.’
“Division and conflict often start with the smallest things.” Carl shrugged again.
“No one likes being ripped off at a festival, right?”
“…I guess?”
“You just give them a little allowance, and it’s done.”
Juen and Eliza looked confused. Carl clicked his tongue.
“Typical noble girls…”
“Did you just call me naive?”
“You’ve got guts, Carl Thomas.”
Juen glared and shook him, while Eliza smiled coolly.
“Anyway! Even with fair pricing, they’ll make huge profits. We can’t let them ruin the festival with price gouging! My father, head of a small business family, always said: if you want a festival everyone can enjoy, the first thing to do is crack down on scams! Elena agrees, too.”
Carl clenched his fist.
“A guild merchant picked a fight with the proxy of council president—Elena will use that to pressure them hard. Honestly, the reason we even had time to come to Lumeria City before the final prep was to create a reason to crack down on them.”
“Just find any excuse to pressure the merchant guild.”
“Me?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
“Think of something.”
“Can’t Hark just say a word and end it?”
Carl glanced at Hark, working beside them.
“The Lumeria City mayor isn’t a king. He can’t order the guild around. We have to persuade them using softer methods.”
“What kind of ‘soft’ methods?”
“Pick a fight. Or nitpick over something.”
“That’s not exactly soft…”
Carl sighed at their supposed diplomacy.
‘Yeah… who in Lumeria would dare resent the heirs of Zeron and Rigard? I’m different though.’
As a commoner, Carl found it risky to get on the wrong side of the powerful guild.
Carl shrugged after explaining everything.
“Now I can step back and let Elena and Hark tear the guild apart.”
“So that’s why you brought Juen Torvina and me?”
“Yup. I figured the moment something happened, you two would respond in ways that’d make the other side regret it. Plus, since it’s Hark and Elena’s initiative, the fallout won’t touch you.”
“So you used me, huh? Clever.” Eliza smirked, surprisingly satisfied despite being used.
‘I thought he was just getting bullied.’
“Anyway, since we scored some cash, shall we go eat something tasty?”
“Haha!” Carl grinned, and Juen mumbled.
“Senior Carl, you look really happy.”
“Of course! I’m finally free! Once the Festival of Heroes starts, I’m free from that nightmare workload!”
“But that’s only temporary.”
With Elena having already marked him as a high-potential asset, Carl’s future was obvious.
Even after the festival, he’d be worked to the bone.
Carl grinned brightly.
“Hey, with my grades, 3rd year isn’t even an option. Serving as proxy of president for my final moments at Lumene is actually a pretty lucky break!”
‘He’s actually happy about getting expelled?’ Juen looked incredulous.
‘But… with his grades, 3rd year would be impossible.’
She felt worried.
Carl had said his goal was just to survive first semester.
Now he’d lasted to the second semester of second year—he had to be satisfied.
But to Juen, it was still a shame.
Low mana levels for a Lumene student.
Mediocre magical talent.
Though skilled in alchemy, he had many flaws as a magic student.
Even so, his abilities outside grades were impressive.
‘There has to be a way I can help him.’
As Juen paced in frustration—
Eliza quietly watched Carl’s back.
After thoroughly crushing the merchant guild representatives, Elena muttered seriously:
“No matter what we assign him, he always pulls it off. He’s really all-purpose.”
Stroking her chin, Elena’s eyes sparkled.
“Leo. How can we get even more work out of Carl?”
In the student council office, Elena asked with a serious look.
Leo, reviewing documents, replied:
“That’s Carl’s decision to make.”
“There’s an easier way. I have acting chairwoman authority, you know.”
Elena beamed, but Leo just smiled back.
“No.”
“Why not? Wouldn’t it be nice for your best friend to be around?”
Elena narrowed her eyes.
Leo answered calmly.
“If all you see him as is a useful junior to boss around, then maybe.”
“So he’s more than that?”
“You need better judgment.”
“…What?”
Elena looked offended.
She’s always composed—but not in front of Leo.
After staring at him a moment, she scoffed and twirled her hair.
“So you think Carl can make it to 3rd year on his own?”
“Who knows? But our school motto is about overcoming limits, isn’t it?”
Leo smiled faintly.
“If anyone can overcome his limits and achieve undeniable success—it’s Carl.”