Where there are people, there is strife.
Strike that.
Where there are people, there is commerce.
When commerce develops to a certain degree, it gives birth to capital.
As the young lady of a villainous capitalist family, Kaguya understood very well just how powerful capital could be.
So then—could one become a capitalist within a horror game?
There was indeed potential for such an operation.
First, each instance seemed to have quite a large number of players. So many players—it would be a waste not to make use of them.
Kaguya had received an elite capitalist education from a young age. The people of the world fell into two categories: those who could be utilized, and useless trash who couldn't.
If she could exploit a vengeful spirit, then why not make use of the players as well?
Taking risks yourself and painstakingly completing missions solo was the most foolish choice. A true capitalist should control and integrate everyone, using all the players to clear the game.
I, Kaguya Shinomiya, shall become a capitalist in this horror game!
Of course, that was a long-term goal to be pursued gradually and developed slowly.
For now, she would set a small target—like making a hundred million first.
Knock knock.
A gentle rapping came at the door.
Kaguya turned toward the sound. "Come in."
The first customer had officially arrived.
"Excuse me."
A girl who appeared to be a high school student pushed open the door and entered. This horror game apparently didn't recruit elementary or middle school students, and no elderly people had been spotted either.
"I'm Kiyono..." The girl briefly introduced herself, then timidly glanced at the cow spirit beside Natsuki. "Is it really possible to exchange for food from you?"
"It is." Kaguya gave a slight nod. "You've heard the exchange rules, I presume?"
"Yes, I have." The girl nodded hastily, then produced an item from her pocket. "One glass of milk, please."
Capitalists typically started out as small merchants.
The exchange rules were simple.
One mystery box item for one glass of milk. Fair pricing, honest dealing for young and old alike.
Though the mystery boxes produced all sorts of random junk—even things like instant noodles or bottled water—such items might prove useful in special circumstances.
Standing for so long had grown tiring, so Natsuki was now sitting on the hospital bed. The cow spirit sat beside him, their shoulders touching, looking rather intimate.
Out of boredom, Natsuki curiously examined the item.
[Item: Blood-Stained Eraser]
[Usage: Erase]
[Type: Consumable]
[Effect: Guaranteed to erase one wrong answer on an exam. This item has limited remaining uses; please use sparingly.]
[Note: A top student coughed up blood and collapsed during an exam. With bloody hands, he reached for the desk—"Help me up, I need to delete my browser history..." Sadly, all he managed to grab was an eraser.]
"Um, can this eraser be exchanged for food?"
The girl asked timidly.
A blood-stained eraser looked like nothing but a worthless item. She was worried whether she could actually trade it for food.
"No problem." Kaguya accepted the eraser, then turned her gaze. "Amamiya-kun, if you would."
No matter what the item was—even if it were just a pack of tissues—Kaguya would make the exchange.
The most important thing right now was building their reputation.
After all, milk could be produced with just a couple handfuls of chives. This was a guaranteed profit with zero risk of loss.
Natsuki nodded. "Leave it to me."
"Hold on." The beast-girl spirit, who had just begun to relax, sensed something was wrong. She side-eyed Natsuki. "Human, what are you planning?"
"We're doing business, obviously." Natsuki stated matter-of-factly. "Others trade items, we provide food. Pretty normal, right?"
The beast-girl spirit ground her teeth. "I mean what are you planning to do to ME?!"
"Please don't ask such obvious questions." Natsuki sighed, then turned. "Fujiwara, come feed her the chives."
"Coming!"
"..."
The beast-girl spirit felt the world go dark before her eyes, trembling with rage... well, she couldn't actually tremble right now.
Shameless!
What utterly shameless humans these were!
Toying with her was bad enough, but they still weren't satisfied—now they were treating her like a money-making machine... How could humans be so dark!
Moments later.
A glass of milk appeared out of thin air.
"Thank you."
The girl's face lit up with joy as she thanked them repeatedly. She quickly drank the milk, then—under the vengeful spirit's blood-red glare—timidly bid farewell and left.
Other players began filing into the ward one after another to trade with Kaguya. In no time, she had collected quite an assortment of random mystery box items.
Like a rather dubious marker pen.
[Item: A Totally Innocent Marker Pen]
[Description: This pen has been used by a certain someone to draw tally marks for so long that it has gained special power. While holding it, you can draw the Chinese character for "correct/proper" (正) in a single stroke.]
[Note: How many strokes does the character 正 have? If you practice enough, you can write it in one stroke.]
Besides that, there was also a strange red string—when both parties tied it around their fingers, if one person moved their finger, the other person's finger would move along with it.
A special skeleton key that could open anything except locks.
A Travel Frog—a consumable item. Send a frog out traveling, and it would mail you back local specialties. The chances of receiving insects were extremely high.
A Hilichurl Mask—when worn while sick, a strange song would echo in your ears: "Big Hilichurl got sick, Second Hilichurl came to see, Third Hilichurl gathered herbs, Fourth Hilichurl brewed the medicine..." In short, there were all kinds of items.
The trading continued steadily. Both parties were quite satisfied—except for poor Miss Spirit, who tearfully ate her chives in despair.
"I kind of feel like we're going too far," Chika Fujiwara whispered.
Chika had always been kindhearted. Seeing the teary-eyed spirit who looked like she was about to break down, even she felt a twinge of sympathy.
"It is a bit much," Natsuki Amamiya agreed with a nod. He quickly thought of a solution. "Here's what we'll do—go tear a strip of cloth from the bedsheet."
"Huh?" Chika looked puzzled. "What do we need cloth for?"
"We'll blindfold Miss Spirit." Natsuki's tone was completely serious. "I saw a news story on Twitter before about a farmer who put VR goggles on his dairy cows, simulating a pasture under blue skies and white clouds. The cows' milk production increased by twenty percent."
Seeing the beast-girl spirit glaring at him, Natsuki spoke with sincere earnestness. "We don't have VR goggles right now, so we'll have to make do with a cloth strip. Just bear with it—you can imagine a barbecue feast in your mind."
The tears in the beast-girl spirit's eyes flowed even more freely. She swallowed the chives in her mouth, her voice trembling. "You can't do this... you can't bully a vengeful spirit like this..."
Meanwhile.
Another player timidly approached. She was a newbie who had only participated in one game before. The item she'd gotten from her mystery box had already been used, and now she had nothing, hoping to beg for food.
"I'm sorry, but no."
Kaguya Shinomiya refused coldly.
A merchant was not a philanthropist, much less a bleeding heart.
If she gave away milk just because someone begged, what would all the players who had traded items for food think?
"However, you can exchange for food in other ways." Seeing the dejected, despairing expression on the girl's face, Kaguya shifted her tone. "Intelligence you've gathered, anomalies you've noticed, or completing small requests for us—any of these can be traded for food."
There was no doubt about it—reputation was also a form of power.
If she wanted to become a capitalist in this horror game, quietly developing in the shadows wouldn't work. Right now, she needed to build her name.
"Intelligence..." The girl's eyes lit up. She hurried to say, "I know some information related to the real world. Can that be exchanged for food?"
"Yes. But please don't try to deceive us with false information. The consequences would be severe."
"It's real." The girl spoke excitedly. "I met an old woman before who told me that most vengeful spirits in the real world are formed from humans after death. But there are exceptions—people who died with strong attachments but kind hearts don't become malevolent spirits. Instead, they become something like white guardian spirits."