Chapter 5 Profiting while others fight
While Sora was looking at the ice plant under the moonlight that was flooding in through the window, his pig father came in with the traitor maid Minan and two other guards.
"Sora, we need to talk."
He said, standing in front of Sora.
"What is it?"
"About the lottery thing."
The pig father glanced at Minan who was waiting behind.
Minan frowned for just a moment-which I couldn't have seen if I wasn't paying attention, and then gave a respectful bow and nonchalantly faced down.
"I heard from that maid. Explain in detail."
"It was just a child's prank, a simple idea."
"And don't you understand that is what I am telling you to explain?!"
The greedy pig yelled. He probably can't resist being teased about a profit scheme.
Sora froze and pretended to be scared. He also didn't forget to cry out some fake tears.
"I understand. I will explain."
"Right, do it quick."
Being urged by his pig father, Sora explained the method.
After making the tickets for the lottery with boards with numbers carved on them, you need to sell them as widely as possible.
Afterwards, you need to make a board with all the numbers carved in it before anyone can make fake boards and then shoot it with an arrow in front of everyone.
The number hit by the arrow will be the winner and 3 arrows will be shot for three prizes.
"Also, you need to keep the price low."
"Why? We will make more profit if we sell it for more."
The pig father was dissatisfied with Sora's price setting.
"If you make it cheap, even commoners can buy it so more tickets will be sold ultimately. But there will still be some which will remain unsold."
Still discontent with the reasoning, the pig father agreed.
"Alright, let's get started immediately. Oi, you maid over there, you are the person in charge. I will leave it to you."
Saying that, the pig father and his followers left the room.
It seems Minan wasn't expecting to be entrusted with the management and so she looked up at the ceiling with a troubled expression. And then, to manage the members, she walked down the hallway with quick steps.
Being left alone in the room, Sora held up the steel water jug to drink as he was tired of talking. And in that shiny surface of the jug, an ear to ear grin was reflected.
"Dance, dance. On top of my palms…… wait, that makes it sound like I am the villain here."
On the following day, the pig father and mother headed out for the capital.
The traitor maid Minan finished preparations in 15 days and started selling the tickets. As she had to spend all her time on it, Sora's attendant was changed but since Minan and the maid head were the only ones with experience, Sora's new attendant was chosen from the newbies.
Sora was allowed to pick his attendant himself so he decided on choosing the new maid called Razette who brought him the ice plant.
As he is always in his room, Razette also had to stay there.
But in reality, no one except Sora knew that Razette was not in the room.
He somehow managed to fool Minan too when she came in to the room bursting with joy from selling all the tickets.
And then, on the 6th day, Minan held the shooting at the center of the city to choose the winners. Despite the tickets being sold out, there weren't many people there to see-Sora heard from Razette and laughed innocently like a child.
"That's all for the report till noon."
"Good work, Razette. You can take it easy for the rest of the day."
As Sora said that, the new maid Razette who got promoted to his attendant immediately sunk on the chair and relaxed.
"I have got muscle pain in my legs now~."
Razette stretched her legs.
"My salary hasn't changed from that insignificant amount even after being promoted to master Sora's attendant~ maybe being an underling was better."
"Really? I was planning on giving you a bonus, though."
"For real? Master Sora banzai! It isn't so bad being an attendant either."
What a free flowing girl.
Sora gave a bitter smile. To which Razette extended her hands and said,
"Will you give it to me now?"
"Later. After the dancer leaves."
Sounds of footsteps came from the hallway. And before long, a knock was heard on the door.
"Enter."
As Sora gave permission, the door was opened recklessly.
"Excuse me."
Minan came in with an elated smile.
Razette averted her gaze from Minan. It seems she has a bit of conscience, being Sora's accomplice.
"Master Sora, this lottery business truly is amazing."
"Congrats."
If you can at least sell a certain amount of tickets, you will definitely make profit. It's a simple gamble and that's the strong point. That's just how lottery works.
"The price of wood this time was high so we couldn't make much profit but I will surely do it better next time."
Minan handed over the register book to Sora.
As Sora had expected, the profit wasn't much. It was proof that everything had gone according to plan.
"Keep it to a limit, alright?"
Taking Sora's advice as a loser's excuse, Minan just smiled happily.
She must be quite happy winning against a 2 year old child.
"Fufun. Well then, please excuse me. I am planning the next lottery, you see."
After she left the room, a loud laughter was heard from the hallway.
"Razette, give me your thoughts about the dancer."
Razette looked at the hallway with pitiful eyes and said,
"My condolences for her, she doesn't even know that her hard work won't be rewarded."
"It does help though, her working so hard makes me not stand out."
Maybe because more people are needed for the lottery preparations, Sora wasn't even being monitored.
"Leaving that aside, I will give you your bonus now. Razette, I will give you all the remaining wood."
"Yay! I will go sell them then."
And after doing a triumphant pose, Razette left the room.
With the occurrences this time around, Sora was only able to earn enough money to support about 20 adults for a month. With a simple trick that might seem like a joke if you see the amount of money first.
First, Sora made Minan acquire 100 boards. After that, she betrayed him and came to listen in on how to carry out selling the lottery with his dad.
And Sora told them that 'they will profit more if more tickets are sold'. But to sell tickets, one needs wood and wood is also used for firewood.
However, the price of lumber had been high from the start. That is because lumber was already gone due to the pig father's tax policy and the stock was running low.
And to prevent forgery of the tickets, there is a need to unify the types of wood. There's no doubt that they will buy and order from several companies.
After all, to make a profit, they need to 'sell it widely'.
If one were to buy up a large amount of lumber which is already low in stock, it is only normal for the price to go up.
And if you know that the prices will rise, the rest is simple. You just need to buy the lumber first.
When Sora met Razette after being betrayed by Minan, he immediately ordered her to buy lumber from the companies.
However, not through on spot transactions, but by future transaction.
With a bond stating that they will buy the wood later at that price. And he did that with several different companies but shifted the time of purchase by a bit each time.
The merchants didn't know about the lottery so they were easy to persuade.
If Minan then went to buy lumber, which was already low in stock now, it will be even lower and price will go up.
All that Sora needs to do then is to sell out the bonds which show that he purchased the lumber. The extra money goes to Sora's pockets and Minan has to buy the pricey lumber.
All the merchants were making fun of Razette when she went to sell the bonds.
After all, for the merchants, it would look like the Clinecelt family raised the price of lumber themselves and are now buying the more pricey lumber too. They won't even imagine that we are having an internal rift.
For you see, Sora is only 2 years old. There's no way he will start a strife for inheritance.
"Half a year more, eh?"
The time limit till the pig parents return to the Clinecelt territory. If they come back, the corrupt government here will be spurred on.
It's a very short period for Sora, who wants to improve the citizens' life even if by a bit during this time.
"We need to aid the weak first."
Sora saw off Razette, who rushed outside the mansion gate, thinking she would be made to work hard again.