"Good story."
Kazuma's talent was genuinely high.
Listening to Uchiha Makoto's little story, he was utterly absorbed, as if a flood of strange and unfamiliar knowledge had been forcibly poured into his mind.
It felt as though a brand-new door had opened before him.
Kazuma had no doubt about the power of this move.
A story in which the Fire Country's daimyō spent enormous sums seeking rare tulips—only after many twists and turns finally obtaining a precious specimen—once spread throughout the Fire Country, would instantly ignite the tulip market.
"What do you mean, pricing by the flower?"
"If nobles from the neighboring Wind Country heard that, they'd think I'd fallen into poverty!"
"Bring me another roomful!"
"I want every room in my estate filled!"
This was something even the daimyō himself yearned for.
Those old-money aristocrats who fancied themselves leaders of cultural fashion would never miss such an opportunity.
The Fire Country's nobles would line up, throwing vast sums of money at tulips.
Can't buy them?
Then add more money.
Tulips on the market were still cheap.
If they stockpiled a batch now, once prices rose, profit was guaranteed.
Four or five times returns—
even tenfold—wasn't impossible.
"I understand, Lord Makoto! I'll immediately go stockpile a large quantity of tulips!"
Kazuma said excitedly, his face flushed, as if he could already see a bright future unfolding.
"Too small."
"Your vision is too small."
"Kazuma, your thinking still falls short… let me enlighten you once more."
Makoto shook his head slowly.
Kazuma's mindset was still limited.
Low-buy, high-sell was far too basic.
As long as one grasped the information gap, this kind of operation required no skill at all—anyone could do it.
Tie a dog to the task and it would probably manage just fine.
That wasn't the point.
The real issue was that the profits wouldn't satisfy Makoto.
Tulips were valuable because they were beautiful and rare.
But precisely because they took so long to cultivate and had harsh growth requirements, the total number of tulips on the market was severely limited.
Even if Makoto managed to inflate prices several times over—or even by an order of magnitude—the total volume capped the profits.
That limitation could not be avoided.
If they wanted to truly harvest wealth, they had to push further.
But if tulip prices rose too high, the Fire Country's nobles weren't idiots.
They wouldn't be insane enough to spend money meant for food on piles of flowers.
Worse yet, those sanctimonious parasites might notice the profits and jump in themselves—cutting into Makoto's margins.
Therefore—
Relying solely on buying and selling tulips was absolutely not enough.
"Then what do you mean, Lord Makoto?" Kazuma asked.
"Yes, we should indeed stockpile some tulips and sell them once prices skyrocket."
"But tulips are scarce. Even with speculation, the money we can earn will be limited."
"So what we really need to target…"
"…is the primary market."
"That is, the tulip growers themselves."
"That's our true objective this time—and the secret to making real money."
"But… Lord Makoto," Kazuma hesitated, "tulips take too long to grow, and the conditions are harsh. Large-scale cultivation would require enormous resources. That won't be easy."
Makoto smiled.
He had never intended to make money by actually growing tulips.
That approach was far too slow.
The cycle alone took years.
By the time a new batch bloomed, whatever trend the Fire Country's nobles were chasing would have changed several times over.
By then, the opportunity would be long gone.
That method was stupid.
"Of course we're not planting tulips," Makoto said calmly.
"All we need to do is sign contracts with the growers."
"Pre-agree on the price of the next batch of tulips."
"No matter how high the market price becomes in the future, we'll purchase them at the contract price."
"We can even pay a deposit in advance, as a guarantee."
"In that case…"
"We'll be holding a massive number of tulip purchase contracts."
"And what we sell won't be tulips—"
"—but future tulips."
As Makoto spoke, Kazuma suddenly understood.
He leapt to his feet, excitement blazing across his face.
"Oh! I get it—I get it now!"
"Lord Makoto, once the tulip market explodes, countless people will rush in!"
"But tulips will still be scarce."
"At that point, we simply take out the contracts."
"Someone will definitely be willing to pay extra to buy our contracts with the growers!"
"And then…"
"We can turn the tulip market into a contract market!"
"We don't need to grow a single flower!"
"We just sell the contracts!"
"Hahahaha!"
Kazuma laughed wildly, practically dancing in place, his grin unmistakably deranged.
"Exactly. That's exactly it."
Makoto nodded, equally pleased.
"Hahaha! At that point, we can even work with the daimyō to forge fake contracts!"
"Those people blinded by profit won't care at all!"
Kazuma had already learned to extrapolate.
He'd even come up with the idea of forged contracts.
Illegal?
Sure.
But making money—
there's no shame in it.
That's right.
Once commodity trading detaches from physical goods and becomes purely speculative, madness inevitably follows.
A mere piece of paper—
passed from hand to hand—
could double, triple, or multiply in value several times over.
Anyone would lose themselves in such rapid turnover.
By then, those people would have long lost the ability to think rationally.
They wouldn't investigate growers.
They wouldn't verify contracts.
They'd just buy and sell, convinced someone else would always take over—
until the bubble burst,
and the last holders became the ultimate victims.
If the daimyō helped behind the scenes, mixing forged contracts among real ones was entirely feasible.
When the frenzy ended and the bubble collapsed, those contracts would be no different from blank paper.
And if someone actually tried to come to the village demanding delivery—
Then there would be only one solution.
"HAHAHA!"
"Kazuma, as expected of you—coming up with such a vicious idea!"
Makoto looked at him with immense satisfaction.
Kazuma was clearly reliable—
a comrade who could shoulder responsibility.
Makoto could already envision the future of his village.
Talents everywhere.
A scene of boundless vitality—
everything thriving, everything surging forward.
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