Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Zach, the club members, and the rest of the class had worked diligently in crafting, supplying materials for, and spreading the talismans around the city. The reason why it had been going so smoothly was due to one particular reason.

They had such an easy time gathering all the materials they needed because Zach funded the operation out of his own pocket. The students didn't mind. It made their work a lot easier. Zach also didn't mind. Everything the others did with his money was counted to his grades.

The problem came when that money started running out. He could ask for more from his parents. But he didn't have to.

He gathered the club members in the club room. He sat them down for the first time in a couple of days.

Dukiel, Anerias, and Violina looked at him curiously. With how well things were going without any complications on the horizon, why had he gathered them?

"There are two reasons why I gathered you here today. Two problems, to be exact."

"..." They looked at him silently, waiting for him to continue.

"We need an alternative to the anti-underworld energy potion for us to start treating the citizens of their poisoning instead of just alleviating the symptoms with the talismans. I've been working on that. But that's where the second problem comes in."

"..." The others looked at him worryingly.

"Money." One word was all it took for the others to understand. Even Violina, a fellow ducal scion, was amazed at Zach's wealth. It was a wonder that Zach was first bringing this up now.

"You already have a solution to these problems, don't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have gathered us here," Dukiel pointed out.

"Naturally. We'll start charging people!" Zach announced with a decisive fist into the air.

"What?"

"Like, for the talismans?"

"I don't think that's going to go well."

All three of them reacted negatively.

Zach was a little disappointed.

"Then, do you guys want to take over or at least share the financial burden?" He asked.

"Selling the talismans you said? Sounds like a great idea!"

"Tell me what to do."

"Sorry, my allowance isn't that big."

With reality thrust in their faces, the three of them quickly changed their tunes.

"That's what I thought." Zach nodded smugly.

"Okay, the plan isn't to just sell the talismans I'm making right now or back-charge the ones we've already graciously donated to the city."

"Then, what is the plan?" Nessa asked.

All four of the club members in the room slowly turned to the door at the sudden addition of a dearly missed voice.

"Nessa!" Violina was the first to stand up, not counting Zach who was already standing. The others soon followed her up and over to embrace Nessa in a group hug. It was a little difficult for Nessa to reciprocate properly since she only had one arm, but she did her best.

"Did you wake up just now? Why are you already up and about? How are you feeling?"

"Yes. The physician told me to stop wasting time and space and get out of there. And I'm fine. I feel a little lopsided like I'm always leaning to one side. But other than that, I'm fine." Nessa had been thinking about how to answer questions like how she was doing.

She had lost an arm. She wasn't doing well. But she was physically fine, or as fine as she could be. But she wasn't getting that arm back. It sucked. She wasn't fine.

But that wasn't the kind of answer people wanted. They wanted to hear that she was doing okay.

So, she settled for that.

"..." Unfortunately, her playful answer hadn't quite found its audience.

"I guess you'll have to walk around with a sack of potatoes strapped to your bare side from now on." Zach broke the slightly awkward silence.

"Or I get used to it—Hey! A sack of potatoes? My arm was not that heavy!" Nessa shouted at Zach, outraged.

"Who knows? It's not like we can weigh it and compare, can we?" He shrugged like there was just nothing to do about it. There was no way she could prove her arm didn't weigh as much as a sack of potatoes.

"Zach, tone it down—" Violina tried to intervene.

"Ha! You bastard! I still have this one. Bring out a scale right now and let's measure it."

"To be honest, you were a little lopsided even before you lost it, so I don't think it will be accurate."

"Oh, you're itching for a beating, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but it seems like you can only give half a beating so maybe lower that arm and let someone else do it. You've already lost one. What's stopping you from losing the other?"

"Pfft—Haha!"

"Hehe."

Nessa and Zach burst into laughter while the others stared at them dumbfounded.

Nessa wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Damn it, Zach, you really don't know how to treat patients," Nessa chastised slightly as she tapped him on the chest while walking past him and sitting down, slightly out of breath.

"Didn't the physician declare you healthy and all that?"

"Yeah, yeah. What's this about robbing the poor people you've given underworld poisoning?"

"I'm not robbing anyone, at least not anyone who can't afford it. A lot of different people got poisoned. It's safe to say that almost everyone with an average body in the city at the time was affected by the underworld energy in some way."

"Yeah?"

"Meaning, all the different classes in the city. Rich merchants. Nobles from the city. Middle-class families. Lower-class citizens. All of them were affected equally.

Money and status didn't matter. They've all been reduced to messy, vomiting patients."

The others frowned. Was Zach explaining the details of his plan or was he talking shit about the citizens of Basilia?

"Don't you think those rich merchants and nobles are feeling absolutely horrible right now?"

"Isn't everyone?"

"Well, yeah. But in addition to being poisoned, they've also had to realize that they're the same as the lowly beggars they look down on. Don't you think they would do anything to get rid of that feeling? And if it also helps with the underworld poisoning, there's no telling what they might pay."

The furrows on his club members' brows deepened.

"Are you saying we cater to the rich and just let everyone else suffer?" Four of them were nobles. Dukiel was the only commoner. Surprisingly, he wasn't the one who had asked. It was Violina.

"No, of course not. I'm saying we use some clever marketing strategies to suck the money out of the rich like the greedy leeches we are." Zach smiled.