Free City Volun.
Morohan, the mayor who rules on behalf of the local king.
That morning, Morohan received a letter.
The sender is a company unfamiliar to Morohan.
‘The Golden Dragon Company?’
He clearly remembered that it was a company with a huge amount of money.
It had high-quality magic stones but didn’t sell in large volumes, nor did it have any notable achievements.
There was another reason why Morohan took interest in this letter.
“Hmm. Why would they send something like this along with a request for cooperation?”
Morohan looked at the small box sent by the Golden Dragon Company.
The luxurious box was filled with shining gold coins
.
Morohan had been a fairly handsome man in his youth. However, they say that when you get older, your true character starts to show.
Now, he had a thick jaw and a face that clearly showed his unhidden greed.
“Hahaha, I wondered what kind of request they might have—this is absurd.”
The secretaries tilted their heads at Morohan’s mocking expression.
“Mayor, what’s the letter that made you laugh like that?”
“Look.”
When Morohan handed over the letter, the secretaries also looked at it. Soon, they too began to laugh.
“I heard that the Golden Dragon Company is building an amusement park. What a ridiculous plan.”
“Exactly.”
Morohan twirled the ring on his finger as he thought.
Still, something was bothering him…
‘They’re asking to formalize our cooperation in a written contract? And they want approval for an urgent business request that we usually wouldn’t even consider…’
The ownership of the land where the amusement park was built belonged to the Golden Dragon Company.
However, even if it was on the outskirts, it was still technically part of Volun.
Morohan could demand more bribes or refuse the business permit entirely, depending on how he handled it.
‘Well, it’s practically abandoned land anyway, so who cares.’
He glanced over the land’s history—it had once been a rural village with slash-and-burn farmers and a few other residents, but everyone had moved out due to poverty.
‘I feel a bit uneasy about this, but there’s no reason to refuse. It was a deal involving a large amount of bribe in exchange for the abandoned land.’
“I swear, I’ve seen every kind of fool in my life.”
“Yes, that’s right. That gate can only handle 100 people a day.”
“That’s right. That gate has already been verified. It’s an unfinished gate. I’ve tried to increase the capacity several times, but I’ve failed. Haha. What an idiot got fooled by that.”
“Building a huge tourist facility, including a luxury hotel and amusement park, in such a place. How foolish.”
The chief secretary nodded.
“And all within a year, no less.”
“There’s no way a plan like this could succeed. What resort can attract only 100 guests?”
“And that too in that garbage land.”
The other secretaries joined in the laughter.
Morohan looked at the gold coins with sparkling eyes and nodded.
“Well, I don’t have any obligation to stop others from doing stupid things, do I?”
“Quite right.”
“Hmm. They’ve shown sincerity, so giving them a cooperation letter and a business permit wouldn’t be so bad.” Morohan said with a satisfied face.
“In our Free Economic City of Volun, we shall fully support the plan to build an amusement park or whatever it is in Mutrah.”
He said it like he was doing them a big favor.
—Thump
The cooperation agreement and gate access permit were stamped with approval.
Morohan also strictly instructed his chief secretary to take good care of the gold coins sent by the Golden Dragon Company.
* * *
“Gyandpa, did you do as I told you?”
“Yeah, I did that, but still…”
Cherno had a sullen expression.
“Did we really need Morohan’s approval?”
“You said that Moyohan was so greedy, wight?”
Sephiel already knew about Morohan.
‘In fact, I met him a few times in my past life.’
Not just “met”—he was ranked 8th on her ‘Death Note’.
‘That crazy bastard obsessed with young girls asked my father to let me be his lover.’
Fortunately, Wittegar refused because Sephiel knew a lot of secrets.
‘Ugh. Pervert. Just thinking about it gives me the creeps.’
Sephiel shuddered.
‘Anyway, he is someone who will become close to my father in the future.’
Years later, Morohan and Wittegar became partners.
So the two of them joined forces to carry out various development projects and also put pressure on other families within the kingdom alliance.
‘If Morohan finds out that our amusement park project will make money…’
‘Well, you can guess what’ll happen.’
He’s going to throw a tantrum and try to stick his spoon in the pot.
In the Free City-State of Volun, also called the Free Economic Principality, most of the Kingdom Union’s money circulated.
So even though they only collected nominal business taxes—
‘If there is a business opportunity that Morohan sees, he will do all sorts of things, such as forcing you to do business with his company or demanding a huge bribe.’
So Sephiel told Cherno to send a ridiculous, absurd business proposal.
“Make it look completely stupid, Gyandpa! Dwon’t write our real plans in detail!”
But sending a cooperation request with nothing else wouldn’t get approved.
That’s why Sephiel insisted on sending a hefty bribe in advance.
‘Of course…compared to the money we’ll make if the amusement park succeeds, it’s just a drop in the bucket. No, not even a drop. Maybe a speck of dust from a drop.’
Sephiel secretly raised the corners of her lips and smiled with her chubby cheeks.
‘If Morohan goes on a rampage and refuses to open the gate, we’re in trouble. So, this is our pre-emptive strike against future tantrums.’
* * *
Sephiel also gave Cherno some advice.
<People are going to like this kind of thing?>
<Yup.>
Her next suggestion? Thrilling amusement park rides.
A fake high-speed train that runs on rails using magic stones, sky swings that spin at insane speeds, and so on.
<What kind of idea is that? People… would…..>
Dangerous ride? Sephiel could guess what was being said.
<Why is someone riding a worthless machine that can’t even fly?>
<……>
That’s right. Dragons can fly.
Sephiel realized that again.
<Well, Gyandpa can turn into a real dragon and fly in the sky. But humans can’t really….>
<Wouldn’t riding a wyvern be more fun?>
<Gyandpa, normal humans can’t ride wyverns…..>
There were also ideas like beauty salons for noble ladies, luxury skincare rooms, aroma oil experience courses…
Sephiel’s ideas were endless.
‘Yeah, well. Since you didn’t raise me properly, I’ll take these ideas as compensation.’
Sephiel thought with satisfaction.
Cherno, who was half-doubtful at first, reviewed it from various perspectives.
In the end, he nodded in agreement that Sephiel’s words were right.
<But there is one problem left.>
<What is it?>
<I swore not to use my power as a dragon for business purposes.>
<Yeah…>
<With my ancient knowledge and magic, these things wouldn’t be hard to create. But that feels like cheating, doesn’t it?>
<Oh my.>
Sephiel laughed, pulling on Cherno’s collar.
<You can just hire someone with money to do it.>
<Pay who?>
<Gyandpa, of course! Pay ywourself!>
<…….>
<I’m telling ywou! Ywou need expyert help, and Gyandpa is the expyert. So give him a salary!>
<Ha… So you’re saying the owner of this trading company—me—and the Duke of Remdragon—also me—should hire… myself?>
Noel, who had been listening, had a dumbfounded expression.
<It sounds like wordplay, but… it actually makes sense.>
And so, the business started progressing at full speed.
It’s not like Cherno didn’t have any talent for business in the first place.
So Sephiel stayed in Volun for a month.
There, she helped come up with various business plans and gave advice.
‘As expected, my grandfather was actually quite capable.’
With Sephiel’s little help, things progressed quickly.
No, rather, there were many times when Sephiel was surprised at how competent Cherno was.
And finally, today—the groundbreaking day arrived.
Once the first shovel hits the ground, the project is basically halfway done.
That’s something she remembered from her previous life.
Anyway, thanks to all that, Sephiel has been very busy every day.
‘Of course, they respected my nap time and didn’t make me move around too much—considering I’m still a baby.’
Sephiel has been staying at Cherno’s mansion in Volun.
‘I found out that my grandfather lived in Volun.’
Cherno said he only comes home once every few years. He usually stayed in his mansion in the center of Volun.
‘Now I have my own room in that house, too.’
And now, it was time for the final stage of the project.
“Hmm, construction is going well and everything is good. But I think there’s one thing missing.”
Noel’s words at the end were unexpected.
“Hmm, what’s missing?”
“For a business to succeed, a ‘symbol’ is absolutely necessary.”
Sephiel’s ears perked up while she munched on a snack beside Cherno.
“A symbol?”
“Yes. Well, for example, blue ribbon cosmetics. Those cosmetics that are popular in the capital. All of those products have a blue ribbon logo as its symbol.”
“We have a symbol too!”
Sephiel clapped her small hands.
“The golden dragon that looks like Gyandpa.”
“Um, but that’s a bit….”
Noel tilted his head.
“A golden dragon symbol… isn’t exactly cute.”
“…….”
Sephiel imagined it—A fearsome dragon, its claws bared, glaring from every corner as if ready to eat tourists.
‘Yeah, that’s a bit too much.’
Cherno nodded, as if he had imagined something similar.
“Yes. We need a symbol that feels family-like and familiar. Something really cute would be even better.”
Their gazes naturally landed on Sephiel.
“Why, why?”
Sephiel blinked her big eyes with long lashes, holding up a new snack.
“Let’s go with a pink raccoon and a silver raccoon.”
“Alright. I’ll call an artist and have them design a concept sketch.”
“Hmm. Good.”
“Then, we should change the name of the amusement park. The ‘Land of the Golden Dragon’ seems a bit off now…”
Cherno had the same thought.
“Let’s call it ‘Sephiel World!”
Thud—Sephiel dropped her cookie.
“No,” Noel said.
“Miss Baby is too noble. We can’t have just anyone calling her name.”
“That’s true.”
And so, the name they ended up with was…
<Fantasy Raccoon Land.>
That became the official name of the amusement park.
Other than that, the project went smoothly without any major issues, except for Cherno yelling at the artist who designed the symbol, saying,
“Make it look more like our little raccoon! It must be just as cute as the real person!”
‘And just like that, Raccoon Land has been building up nicely since the groundbreaking.’
By then, Sephiel also felt proud and happy, as if she had done something worthwhile.
‘I wonder what kind of amusement park it’ll turn out to be.’
And once it’s done, she’ll get a lifetime free pass.
Sephiel chuckled.
* * *
