[After leaving the northern ice fields, you are now 14 years old. It seems the time spent in the ice fields was longer than you had anticipated, causing you to forget the most important time for a teenager: the school years. Therefore, after returning to Chernobog, you wasted no time in applying to a nearby institution named Lymen Institute.]
[Lymen is an ordinary middle school that is very popular among commoners. Of course, when you first decided to enroll here, many people wanted to object to your opinion. Among them were members of the Rostov family, who traveled to your manor to try and persuade you to change your mind, as well as other nobles you didn't know who interfered in your life.]
[But when they saw that you still insisted on studying here, citing the reason that it was closest to your manor, and that they didn't care about grades and were willing to accept a student like you who was two years older than the others, those people finally relented and left. Without you knowing... the Rostov family had secretly sent Natalia to study at the same institution as you.]
[Natalia is two years younger than you, but she is only one year behind you in school. The reason being that you hadn't enrolled anywhere for the past two years, so Natalia willingly deferred her own enrollment for a full year just to be in the same grade as you. Of course, you know full well that what she did came from the orders of the Rostov family, which only made you dislike them even more.]
[And even though Natalia is not in the same class as you, because of her extremely high academic genius, she was placed in Class A, unlike you who are in Class C. But she always comes to visit your classroom and calls you "big sister" in front of everyone, without caring what anyone thinks.]
[You know that what Natalia is doing now is what her parents ordered her to do. But no matter how much you want to ignore her, with her pure smile and a demeanor that doesn't seem fake at all, you can't help but soften every time you see her greet you.]
[Of course, Natalia's school life at the beginning was not as easy as anyone thought. There were bound to be many obstacles and problems. First of all, this school was not a high-class school like the ones she was used to. This meant that some of her actions or words might displease some students who disliked nobles.]
[It seems that during the two years you were away, quite a lot has happened in Chernobog. From what you've gathered, it seems the nobles have started causing major problems by cutting workers' wages, laying off some workers and replacing them with machines. But that's not as despicable as them intentionally hoarding food to drive up prices, causing widespread hardship.]
[Although children at this age are not very knowledgeable about politics, since they are commoners who have heard or seen the perspectives of the upper class towards them, it is only natural for them to feel dissatisfied with behavior that feels like being treated as servants. As for the words adults often say, forbidding them from associating with nobles, for children at this age, those words are often seen as just warnings meant for scary-looking adults. Since they have the opportunity to compare themselves with nobles in the same school, under the same conditions, how could these children let that opportunity slip by?]
[Because of that, the students often find various ways to try and take advantage of Natalia, hoping to overcome their own inferiority complexes.]
[It wouldn't be strange if these students who hate nobles ended up with an unpleasant fate in the future, should the Rostov family find out what they dared to do to their only daughter.]
[That is one of the reasons why you don't dare to push Natalia away and often tell her to stay by your side during lunch break to prevent bullying. Of course, you, as a noble yourself, also have to face bullying from them. You just choose to retaliate directly by bullying them back in a way that no child would ever dare to mess with you again. It also seems you've gained a fan club from some of the students, though you don't understand how punching a boy bigger than you makes you look cool.]
[After school every day, you, figuring you might as well, since you have the opportunity to talk to Natalia without anyone interfering, wasted no time in taking this child on a tour around Chernobog to let her get to know the world better. You did this by taking her to various places, letting her try unfamiliar foods, and also explaining the differences between commoners and nobles, using images of the slums and the inner city to show her the stark contrast between the two worlds. Of course, at first, Natalia was very confused and shocked by what she saw. Even though this child is smart and appears calm and composed like a high-born noble, when faced with things that are difficult for her age to understand, it's no wonder she was so shocked she couldn't do anything and couldn't even hold back her tears.]
[As for the reason why Chernobog has fallen into such a state of stress, it might be because of the recent news that the Ursus army has withdrawn its forces from the Higashi border. Although it wasn't officially announced, you can guess that Ursus has already been defeated by Higashi in the war.]
[That would have a huge impact on all of Ursus. The violent situations between nobles and commoners you've encountered are just a small part of it. But there's also the cost of living, the reduction in workers' wages, and the severity of the market economy that the nobles are trying to disrupt even more. Just the grief from losing important family members is enough to make the townspeople sad, but the problems from rising prices caused by the nobles have plunged the entire city into even deeper despair.]
[You thought that if this situation continued, it would not be good. Forget about famine, just the current dissatisfaction of the townspeople might be enough to escalate into a civil war.]
[It was then that you decided to regrettably halt your food research, which was halfway through, and instead devote all your time to experimentation to create an invention that would change the current situation.]
[Another year has passed. You are now 15 years old. Your research has succeeded in an unexpected way. You have successfully created your greatest masterpiece: the Food Molecule Generator, which can produce food indefinitely, with the condition of exchanging various things around you, whether edible or not.]
[The Food Molecule Generator is the greatest invention you have ever created, and it could be a technology that could change the entire world. Unfortunately, it is still only an alpha version. That is, it can only change the composition of common things into simple food. For example, putting a blank piece of paper into the machine can turn it into transparent bread by separating the toxic or useless molecules from the paper and changing them into edible molecules through the transformation of their matter via your blood circulating in the machine, until it can truly turn all the paper into transparent bread slices.]
[As for the taste, because your tongue cannot taste like a normal person, you cannot prove what it tastes like. So you have to find someone to test it instead, and that is Big Brother Grovasel. Of course, you tried eating it first and found that these things have no negative effects or poison on the body. On the contrary, this transparent bread provides even more nutrients than meat, perhaps because it is extracted from your blood circulating in the machine.]
[When you had Grovasel, Auntie Helen, and Yelena try it, they told you that this bread tasted better than any bread they had ever eaten. This made you decide to consult them about your desire to distribute this flour to the townspeople.]
[Grovasel immediately disagreed. Although he was proud and happy that you, who were like his little sister, wanted to help the struggling townspeople, he was worried that your actions might conflict with the interests of the nobles, which could put you in danger. Even though Ludy was known as a princess and the prince's fiancée, with the current situation in Ursus where the royal family's reputation was declining, who knew what those foolish nobles would dare to do.]
[Ludy understood Grovasel's concern well. She told him to calm down, because what she wanted to do was not to distribute food to the townspeople for free, but to sell it to them at the same price. Since the townspeople were currently suffering from price gouging and severe wage cuts, her solution was to sell everything at the original price. Although it seemed like an indirect attack on those nobles, they probably couldn't do anything, since what she was doing was just trading like a normal person.]
[Grovasel immediately said that she was underestimating the greed of the nobles. No matter how small the matter, those nobles could always find a reason to attack her. And with the current situation where the nobles were putting heavy pressure on the royal family due to the defeat in Higashi, the prince's right to vote might not be enough to stop them if she were to ask for his help.]
[You immediately shook your head in disgust, saying why would you have to ask for help from that guy? If it wasn't necessary, you wouldn't want to do something like that, since there was already someone more suitable for the job.]
[Curious, Grovasel asked who that person was. You confidently replied to Grovasel...]
[That person is your own teacher!]
At the Chernobog Research Institute
"Please, Teacher!! Please be my sponsor!" Ludy begged, hugging Kal'tsit's leg with tears in her eyes, like a ten-year-old begging a fat, round, blue cat.
"Sigh..." Kal'tsit, who was reading a report in her hand with an emotionless expression, let out a soft sigh before turning her deadpan eyes to Ludy and speaking to her with incomprehension.
"Why do you think I can help you with that, when the Rostov family would be a better choice this time?"
"I know that very well, Teacher... but judging by their personalities, this cooperation would be impossible if I didn't tell them about the existence of the molecule generator. Their greed is what worries me the most. That's why I think you, Teacher, would be a better option."
Kal'tsit narrowed her eyes. She placed the file she was reading on the table before asking with a serious expression.
"Ludy... do you really want Babel to be your sponsor?"
"Absolutely not!" Ludy refused immediately. Babel was the organization her teacher belonged to. Although she had never seen it or been there herself, Ludy had heard from sources that Babel was created by Theresa, the princess of Kazdel. If she let someone of that level be her backer, she'd surely be accused of being a spy or a traitor.
"I just want you to help me find someone who can handle the transportation—no! Just someone from an organization who has the ability to transport large lots of goods from other places to here is enough! That's all I ask!! They can be from any country, as long as it's not Yan or Victoria."
"..." Kal'tsit, upon hearing this, thought for a moment before replying.
"If it's that... I do have someone I can recommend to you."
"Really?! I love you the most, Teacher!"
"...Stop hugging my leg. It's dirty."
Several days later. At the Chernobog mobile city shipping district.
A large transport truck, with many shipping containers attached to its rear, was present. Before long, a woman sitting next to the driver jumped down from the truck and walked straight towards her. At the same time, she looked down at the document in her hand and read it aloud with an unnatural smile.
"Hello... are you the Ludy Manfred Gustav who ordered from us, Penguin Logistics?" The woman with the strange smile was a Sankta with blue hair, just like Ludy. She seemed emotionless even when she was smiling. But Ludy didn't pay much attention to that and spoke.
"That's me. You must be Mostima, the delivery person from Penguin Logistics that my teacher recommended."
"Haha... it's truly an honor that the princess of Ursus knows my name. I hope you don't mind that I didn't greet you with proper respect," Mostima said with a playful smile, but for some reason, the smile she showed now made Ludy feel indescribably annoyed.
Ludy tried to suppress her annoyance before turning to look at the other woman who had gotten out of the driver's seat. She was a very beautiful, black-haired Lupo woman.
"You must be Texas. Nice to meet you, I—"
Grab!!
"Eh?" Before Ludy could say anything, she was suddenly embraced by the other woman, leaving her completely stunned. Mostima, seeing this, couldn't help but show a surprised expression as well.
Amidst the confusion of both parties, only a single whisper came from the mouth of the Lupo girl.
"...I'm so glad I found you."
"Uh... I'm sorry, but do we know each other?"