Chapter 91: The Vance Stock Surge, and the Sword Emperor's Tears

Sword Emperor Regulus's study was flooded with thousands of magical telegrams floating in midair.

Across three three-dimensional magical screens mounted on the mahogany wall, green bar charts and revenue figures danced at the speed of a nuclear detonation. Grain exchanges, iron-ore auction houses, and stock markets across all seven great empires were sending in an unbroken stream of urgent buy orders.

Lucian walked into the room, still with a few streaks of flour dust clinging to the hem of his ash-grey cloak, not yet brushed clean.

BOOM!

Regulus slammed both hands down on his desk, eyes brimming with tears. The Sword Emperor, a man once known for splitting a sacred mountain in half with one blow, was now trembling, pointing at the magical screens, shouting through overwhelming emotion.

"Lucian! You're a genius! A once-in-ten-thousand-years economic prodigy!"

Lucian dropped into a leather chair, pressing both hands to his forehead.

"Dad... calm down and just tell me what the hell happened with that flour-sack counting book?"

Regulus grabbed a stack of commercial telegrams and threw them down in front of him, laughing and crying at once.

"Reports are coming in from early-adopting estates. Several Grand Dukes, Earls, and Lords have begun auditing their stewards, and some have already dismissed corrupt staff. They say the grain-audit and cash-flow methods may save a meaningful share of their annual budget!"

Regulus struck his own chest, voice trembling.

"Those estates are flooding the market to buy the arcane accounting software produced by your factory! Vance Commerce stock has spiked eight hundred percent across several international exchanges since the reports spread!"

Lucian slumped back in his chair, eyes fixed on the ceiling, muttering through the collapse of his entire worldview.

"I wrote about counting flour sacks just to bore them into stopping... Why did every lord on the continent turn it into a national governance manual?!"

Regulus didn't wait for his son to recover. He pulled a thick, dragonhide-bound legal document from a drawer, already signed and stamped with his own blood seal, and slammed it down in front of Lucian.

"I've decided! Fifty-one percent of the controlling shares in House Vance's entire publishing conglomerate and international banking network... I'm transferring the whole thing into your name today!"

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Lucian shot up out of his chair.

"What are you doing?!"

Regulus wiped his eyes and clapped his son hard on the shoulder.

"Take it, so you've got a little extra pocket money for candy! You're the next Chairman of the Board of House Vance!"

Ting! Ting! Ting!

A cascade of brilliant chimes exploded through Lucian's mind. A dim black Unified System v2.0 notification flooded his entire field of vision with radiant gold text.

[OFFICIAL CLASS EVOLUTION!]

'Merchant' Class (Lv.4)

→ SUCCESSFULLY EVOLVED: [CONTINENTAL OLIGARCH] LV.1!

[NEW CLASS POWER: 'LIQUIDITY MANIPULATION']

• Effect: Within markets where House Vance controls relevant capital exposure, the Host can influence liquidity and may trigger a localized crisis when modeled reserve, counterparty, and withdrawal conditions are met.

[HOST'S LEGAL NET WORTH:]

• Sufficient to outright purchase 3 small kingdoms and fund the Holy Knight Corps' entire payroll for 50 consecutive years.

Lucian stared at the 51%-share transfer contract, then at the words "Continental Oligarch."

He picked up the quill, hand trembling faintly, and signed his name in the corner of the document with the resigned expression of a man signing his own retirement dream's death warrant.

Click.

Sylvia walked in carrying a tray of hot chrysanthemum tea. She set the cup down beside the transfer contract, her silver ears twitching, a gentle smile curling her lips.

"Congratulations to the new Chairman of the Board of Vance Commerce. Does my monthly salary go up along with the conglomerate's market cap?"

Lucian shot her a sharp look.

"No. You're now an accomplice to a global-scale financial fraud."

Sylvia smiled and bowed to accept her orders.

Rustle.

The study door opened slightly.

Lady Valeria stepped in, dressed in an elegant black silk evening gown, carrying a plate of freshly baked butter cookies. She walked over to Lucian's chair and gently ran a slender hand over her son's hair.

Valeria leaned down to look at the signed contract, a satisfied smile spreading across her face.

"Well done, my darling."

She took a sip of tea, her tone light, but carrying the weight of an entity who'd once wiped three kingdoms off the map.

"Now... officials from the Emperor down to the Pope will think twice before trying to audit our family's taxes without a lawful warrant."

Lucian sat in his chair, soaking in the warmth of his mother's hand.

He looked at the mountain of guaranteed banknotes stacked on the table, and suddenly registered a bitter irony: his original goal, upon being reborn into this world, had simply been to make enough clean money that his family wouldn't get hauled in by the Tax Bureau.

And now, he hadn't just erased that risk entirely — he'd turned his own family into the largest creditor holding the lifeblood of an entire civilization.

Coo... coo...

A magical carrier pigeon with a pristine white silk ribbon flew in through the window, landing on the edge of Lucian's desk.

It dropped a gold-trimmed envelope, sealed with a tiny snow-rose brooch pin.

Lucian picked up the letter and cut the envelope open.

Princess Eleanor's slender, elegant handwriting appeared on the page, faintly scented with white rose.

'To Chairman Lucian Vance!

The Student Council President requires your presence at the Royal Library at exactly 8:00 p.m. tonight.

Subject: 'Semester budget audit and resolution of a three-thousand-gold sausage debt.'

Do not be late.

Eleanor.'

Lucian folded the letter, leaned back in his leather chair, and let out a long, faint breath.

"Just escaped Dad's accounting office... and now I'm the Princess's accountant too."