There is a rabbit named Hayrn.
No matter how you looked at it, this was just an ordinary, adorable little white rabbit.
Not one of those head-hunting Bhopal Bunnies.
Just a perfectly normal rabbit.
Except its eyes were purple rather than red. Just like Edda's.
And that made sense — because its true identity was Edda, from 4,000 years ago.
Edda of the Six Edda Houses, the Megalopolis line… a beautiful woman who was an ancestor of the Megadia family.
A beautiful woman whose inner self was a lewd old man.
He held the legendary job Relic, the Alchemist, and was known as an alchemist.
At the time, the country Hayrn belonged to could have collapsed at any moment.
Just as he was about to cut his losses, his assistant Raada betrayed him.
He was stuffed into a rabbit's body and sealed away.
Incidentally, Raada would go on to use Hayrn's original body for over 4,000 years.
Even Raada was eventually defeated by Wof, and that body now belongs to Nexia.
Of course. Hayrn knows absolutely none of this.
Hayrn owns a lab.
To keep that lab running smoothly, she needed materials.
The quickest way to gather those materials was, of course, money.
And so, the Hayrn Trading Company was born — originally established for the sole purpose of collecting funds.
And the Hayrn Trading Company had powerful backing.
The Tasan family.
There was the cooperation of the Kodaksan Trading Company, a subsidiary of the Tasan family that Wof had connected them with.
On top of that, an able female merchant named Akindula had been dispatched as an assistant chairwoman.
And just like that, the Hayrn Trading Company got started.
Their product was the exclusive right to sell "Light Orbs."
This was one of the Relics belonging to Riv of Torquetam.
They had taken a simplified version of the Light Orb and turned it into merchandise.
It was exactly what it sounded like — a sphere of light.
It floated gently and glowed. Walk, and it followed.
That was all it did.
But it sold like wildfire, primarily to delvers.
Even that much was a godsend for delvers who had been relying on lamps and torches until now.
Dungeons weren't always bright places.
If anything, the deeper you went, the more darkness held sway.
And this Light Orb? It never ran out.
The price was only five thousand oro. There was no way it wouldn't sell.
And the customer base expanded beyond delvers too. The next largest group was women.
Hydrangea aside, there weren't many places with streetlamps.
With a Light Orb, you could walk safely through dark streets at night.
Anyway, it sold and sold and sold.
The lab went into automatic production mode, and nearly several thousand were made every day.
Naturally, a lot of knockoffs and imitations popped up too, but their quality was so poor they were weeded out in no time.
Those who tried to resell them were also swiftly dealt with by the mysterious Tenbai Slayer.
Thanks to the explosive sales, the Hayan Trading Company's name spread beyond Hydrangea in the blink of an eye.
Having the Kodakusan Trading Company's shops as the only point of sale wasn't enough, so branches were opened left and right.
In Hydrangea, it was no longer unusual to see people walking around at night with Light Orbs floating beside them.
This had spread to other cities, towns, and villages as well.
And so, the Hayan Trading Company had sold enough that its reach now extended across the entire continent.
Its scale had long since outgrown being just a single small trading company.
Hayan was the president of a trading company so great it would leave its name in the annals of continental history.
You could even call him a hero without exaggeration. And so, he got carried away.
In fact, he got spectacularly, transparently carried away.
First, for the purpose of PR, he formed the "Hayan Girls."
They performed for a limited time, but at that point it was incredible. The popularity was off the charts.
Then he launched them in earnest.
The members were the previously hugely popular Juicy Tusan and Syu Tusan.
Port Drew and Anstancilu. Akindura firmly refused, however.
And then there was a new member.
"The Undying White Rose Princess," Shiro White Weiss Blanche Album Sefido.
She's "the Dancing Princess of Water and Wind," Loliif.
"Why are there two First-Rankers...?"
"They showed up when we held auditions."
That's how it went. Needless to say, they were hired on the spot.
The popularity of "Hiyarn Girls" was nothing short of explosive.
Riding this wave, Hiyarn moved their headquarters out of the second floor of the warehouse.
They constructed a massive building in the heart of Hydrangea.
A tower of desire and ambition — the Hiyarn Trading Company headquarters building, looming over Hydrangea.
The First-Rank delver who oversaw the construction was Tsuchiha, "He Who Mastered the Earth."
The first thing Hiyarn did in that building was...
...gather up as many cute girls and beautiful older women as they could find.
And then the daily rager parties began.
Akindura would later recount:
"Nightly party after nightly party — honestly, I wish they'd stop. But since they actually work during the day, I couldn't really complain. Anstancilu just looked bored whenever they couldn't hit their quota, though."
Their quota?
"It's hanging up that rabbit."
The fact that they actually worked was exactly why he couldn't push back harder.
And that only invited more of Hiyarn's selfishness.
"Hiyarn Girls — nationwide rollout!!"
"What exactly does that mean?"
"We'll create local Hiyarn Girls! Each branch will form its own Hiyarn Girls group!"
Later, Akindula would recount.
"I actually thought it was a good idea. The PR effect was phenomenal, and the Hiyarn Girls merchandise was selling like hotcakes. Ticket sales for the live shows were going through the roof, too. Various issues, of course. As for scalping, the Templar Buyers were thoroughly dealt with by the Templar Slayers."
But there were also questions.
"This doesn't feel like the Hyran Trading Company anymore... how should I put it? This has become an entirely new business. Classification-wise, it'd be entertainment. But it's neither a band nor a theater troupe... I wasn't sure what to do about it."
It was the birth of an entirely new form of entertainment.
As for participating as a founding member?
"No way!!!"
And so Hiyarn's "Hiyarn Girls★Project" was a tremendous success.
But naturally, those who flocked to this unprecedented success existed.
However, with the Tassan Ducal House backing them, nothing could be done.
That was precisely why Hiyarn ran wild.
Having become the nighttime emperor who surpassed even the Night King, Hiyarn was invincible.
And so, sitting in an unnecessarily imposing black leather chair, he thought.
"Huh? Couldn't I take control of Hydrangea?"
The moment he realized it was possible, Hiyarn took action.
Later, Akindula would recount.
"We should have stopped him sooner. The problem was that we kept letting him go whenever he said something weird."
Using enormous sums of money, he bought up everything Hydrangea had to offer.
Hydrangea's land. Shops. Mansions in the noble district, and so on.
Everyone thought someone should have stopped him, but in the end, it was born anyway.
The Heyarn Trading Empire.
"Wahahaha! The golden age of my reign is HERE!!!"
The world was truly in the Heyarn era.
Later, Akindura would reflect:
"I thought something was off about the whole thing. But the work was solid, and the results spoke for themselves. Both 'Light Sphere' and 'Heyarn Girls' were massive hits. Even I, as a fellow businessman, have to respect that. But I also had mixed feelings. It's only natural for a trading company to grow through commerce and become a major house. But that kind of growth happens gradually, over years or even decades. Sure, there are cases where a sudden hit product accelerates things. But... building not just a castle, not just a kingdom, but an entire empire overnight — that's abnormal. I had a feeling it wouldn't last long. But the chairman's power was extraordinary. I actually grew alarmed that this domination might persist. If it did, I — as secretary and vice-chairman — would share the blame. But walking away would be irresponsible too. All I could do was watch from the sidelines."
By the way, would you rejoin as an original member?
"Absolutely not!!!!"
The Heyarn Trading Empire had finally begun.
It seemed as though glory was all but guaranteed.
But it had only been a mere three days since its founding. Suddenly, a mysterious ship crashed into the top floor of the headquarters building.
The boy who emerged from the ship punched Heyarn without a second thought.
And so the Heyarn Trading Empire fell after just three days of existence.
Later, Akindura would reflect:
"I should have just punched him."
And thus, evil was vanquished.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
The time has finally come. December 16. Tuesday.
The comic adaptation of this work begins.
It will be starting on Square Enix's Manga Up!
The art is by Okada Samurai.
We sincerely hope you'll enjoy it.