Chapter 222: H&T Corporation

“Eh”

I didn’t understand what Tina was saying.

“This 500 billion spina is my savings for Halt-sama.”

My mind froze, so Tina politely explained it once again.

So I didn’t misheard it, apparently.

Tina had worked hard and saved a fortune of 500 billion for me.

“If Halt-sama needs it, I can transfer this whole amount to you.”

“N-No, I don’t need that! T-that kind of fortune…”

Even if I belonged to nobility now, I spent my entire life of 17 years in an ordinary family in my previous life.

My sense of money was that of the commoners.

I got a feeling that I might go crazy if somebody suddenly gave me 500 billion, such a huge fortune.

That’s why I refused, but —

“I-is that so…”

Tina was depressed.

“Ah, s-sorry, Tina. I’m super happy that you worked hard for me. Really, thank you so much.”

Thoroughly flustered, I apologized and thanked Tina while gently caressing her head.

She did it for me, after all, even if it was a bit too much.

I couldn’t just treat it dismissively.

It was only right that I should appreciate her efforts as much as I could.

“Y-yes! I will do my best for Halt-sama!”

Tina smiled.

I was glad, it seemed like I wasn’t mistaken.

“Well then, I will keep the money for now like before, but if Halt-sama needs it, please do tell me. If the amount is less than what you saw earlier, then it is possible to withdraw the funds immediately.”

“Y-yeah, got it. Thanks.”

Wait, I wonder, if Tina withdrew the entire amount, would it affect the economy of this world?

The price of commodities was relatively the same as my previous life, but the population was only a hundredth of my previous world.

That’s why the circulating money was quite few.

In terms of value, Tina’s 500 billion should be the same as my previous life’s 500 billion. However, in terms of the world’s economy size, Tina’s money should account for a bigger percentage of this world’s economy. I felt that it would be a bad idea if we were to simply withdraw her entire deposits.

I only studied very little about economics, so I couldn’t really explain why it was a bad idea.

However, my intuition told me that it’ll be bad.

“By the way, Tina, how did you save so much?”

“How do you think I saved it?”

Tina smiled teasingly. She probably had something she wanted to brag about.

Whenever Tina did something while keeping it a secret from me, she would return the question ‘how was it done’ back to me.

She would then give me some hints, enjoying the process until I arrived at the answer.

“...You hunted high-ranking monsters and sold the raw materials?”

“Yes, I also did that. However, you can’t get 500 billion spina just by hunting dragons, the supreme monsters of this world. Hunting monsters is an inefficient way of earning money.”

No, if a single dragon could fetch 50 million, I think it’s efficient enough…

“Ah, let me explain first that the premise is that S-rank guild cards function a bit differently from normal guild cards of lower ranked members.”

“How is it different?”

“Only S-ranked guild cards can deposit and withdraw spina from whichever guild it is.”

Hm? I don’t really get it.

Based on Tina’s words, it would mean that she could deposit and withdraw her money from the Adventurer Guild, Merchant’s Guild and even the Artisan’s Guild with the guild card that she has.

However, I couldn’t get the connection between this and earning money.

“Here’s a hint. The richest people in this world, what kind of people are they?”

“Richest...Royalty and nobility, I guess.”

“Indeed. The people who hold great fortune should be the royalty and aristocrats of the respective nations. However, if you view this in terms of the world, then merchants should be the ones who predominantly own the currency. Even the royalties and nobilities had to purchase commodities from the merchants, after all.”

Oh, so that’s how it is.

...So?

“So, how is that connected?”

“Here’s another hint. Kana-sama, the Sage who came with Guardian Hero Haruto-sama in the same time era, possessed a cheat skill that could summon commodities from the other world where Haruto-sama came from.”

Yeah, I also benefited from that skill a few times, so I knew about it.

Kana used her cheat skill [Amazonist] to freely summon foods and weapons from their original world. By the way, spina was needed for the summoning.

It was only natural that we’d miss the previous world’s food after months of living in the Isekai world.

During those times, I would give Kana some spina to get me some cup ramen.

The previous world’s weapons didn’t really work against the monsters, and the effectiveness was too poor, so Kana mostly used that skill to summon food.

“Products imitated from the foods that Kana-sama summoned a century ago are now currently circulating here in this world.”

“Oh, so thanks to that, the cuisines here became more delicious, generally speaking.”

I got my memories of being the Guardian Hero back, so I could also remember the situation of this world a hundred years ago.

A century ago, I didn’t encounter food delicious enough for me to loudly declare it’s tasty.

However, there are a lot of delicious foods available in this world at present.

“That is correct, and the most popular among them is mayonnaise.”

Mayonnaise is now the second most popular condiment for people in this world after pepper.

The sales are said to be quite good, too.

“So that’s how it is…”

Ah! W-wait, perhaps —

“The person who popularized mayonnaise in this world — was that you, Tina?”

“Fufu, that’s correct, Halt-sama.”

Tina patted my head.

Lately, I’ve been the one who patted her head most of the time, but Tina used to pat me on the head like this in the past.

It had been a while, but it made me really happy.

Back to the story, so Tina was the one who popularized mayonnaise, huh.

— Then, Tina was already ahead of me when I initially planned to use mayonnaise to make a fortune back when I transmigrated here.

It was a bit frustrating, but if it’s Tina, then it’s fine.

“So using the sales of mayonnaise, you were able to get the money that you showed me earlier.”

“Yes — but that’s not the only reason.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Do you know the H&T Corporation?”

“Of course.”

I knew it, naturally. It’s the biggest trading company in this world, after all.

It was said that about 40% of the commodities being distributed in this world are sold by H&T.

“So, what about it? Are you selling mayonnaise through that company?”

“...Haruto and Tina Corporation.”

“Hm?”

“As I said, H&T is the initials of Haruto and Tina.”

“— Huh?”

“I created that.”