The villain daughter did all kinds of things

"Tch, stop being so narcissistic!"

Marcy couldn't stand it any longer and, before Emery could speak, snorted coldly:

“You do have some looks, but what kind of beauties hasn’t the young lady seen? If she really had that idea, she could have any woman in Locke City scrambling to get into her bed with just a wave of her hand! You don’t really think your body is worth several million Rons, do you? Even high-quality elven slaves on the black market don’t usually sell for that price.”

"Ah this..."

Yulia scratched her head and thought for a moment, then had to admit that Marcy was right.

A rich heiress like Amelie could have any handsome man or beautiful woman she wanted, so why would she go to such lengths just because she was attracted to someone's body?

So Emerald wasn't lusting after me? She genuinely wanted to be my friend?

But why should I? Do I deserve it?

When Emerald met me, I hadn't yet received Uri's inheritance, so it couldn't have been for the Magic Workshop. But even then, Emerald was already very interested in me and showed me kindness...

Yulia's brain was overloaded; she couldn't understand what else Amelie valued in her besides her beauty.

"What exactly do you want from me, Emerald?"

Yulia is a straightforward person; if she couldn't understand something, she just asked directly:

"Even if you haven't eaten pork, you've still seen pigs run, right? I don't believe that a capitalist like you would develop feelings for someone for no reason other than lust. You must be scheming against me, trying to get something from me, right?"

"Yes."

Emery's expression remained unchanged, and she nodded with a faint smile:

"And I actually told you the answer to this question when we first met—do you remember what I said to you back then? I need some talent for my own startup, and I asked you to recommend a few to me."

"Actually, that was a euphemism. I've been waiting for you to recommend yourself because you're the person I really have my eye on. But you're such an idiot, so insecure! You recommended all the classmates you know but didn't mention yourself once."

"Uh."

Yulia blushed immediately and scratched her head again, still puzzled:

"But back then, besides being fairly pretty, I really didn't have any talents that Emerald would value, right? My specialty was melee magical artifact manufacturing, which is commonly known as blacksmithing. Do you think that kind of skill is enough to get a job at Melson?"

"Hmm... Although I haven't personally witnessed you forging iron, Yulia, given the educational level of the Magic Engineering Academy's branch in a third-tier city, even if you are the best, you are still far from meeting the hiring standards of my family's magic device research and development company."

Emery hesitated for a moment, first giving a fairly fair assessment, then shrugged and smiled:

"But who said I recruited you just so you could be a blacksmith? Don't forget that we only met for the first time that night. I had no idea your specialty was blacksmithing. There was another reason why I saw your talent at first glance."

So you were still attracted to my good looks?

Yulia rolled her eyes:

"To be able to fall for someone at a glance without knowing anything beforehand, I really can't think of anything other than beauty."

"Yes, your beauty is certainly a very important point, but it's not just about beauty."

Emery nodded slightly, looking at Julia very seriously:

"Your cheerful personality, helpful nature, and your immense popularity among your classmates are also qualities I admire—it shows you have the talent to become an idol."

"Idol?"

Yulia looked bewildered.

This world is far behind Earth in terms of entertainment; this is the first time Yulia has ever heard the word "idol."

"This is a word I invented myself, and it has not yet appeared in human language dictionaries."

Amelie took a sip of her juice without batting an eye.

"But soon, this word will become a hot new term, active in every street and alley of the Federation, becoming the most talked-about topic of conversation. And you, Yulia, are the first idol I want to carefully create... well, an idol-style hero, or rather, a hero-style idol."

Chapter 54 Emerald is going to monopolize the idol industry in another world!

Under Marcy's curious gaze, Emery, with her feet crossed, took sips of iced tea every now and then and explained the concept of idols and the work of idols to the two of them.

"It sounds similar to an opera performance, only on a larger scale?"

Yulia seemed to understand, but her eyes were still blank.

"But I can't sing or dance either!"

“Singing and dancing are just the most common means for idols to promote themselves. In fact, people who are good at playing cards or sports can also become idols.”

Emerald seemed to be getting a little hot, so she took off one of her shoes and used her toes to press against the black stockings to absorb the cool air.

This scene made Marcy's breathing quicken and her face flush. Yulia quickly looked away and muttered something under her breath.

"Why did you suddenly take off your shoes while we were talking? What happened to your manners, Miss?"

"Even a pampered young lady can relax at home and in front of friends. I am indeed a bit hot~~"

Emery shrugged nonchalantly, then stretched her leg forward and rubbed it against Julia's thigh-high boots through her black stockings:

"Your boots are so thick, they must be quite hot inside, right? Why don't you take them off and let your feet cool off?"

"Uh... well, that won't be necessary."

Yulia was actually tempted for a moment, after all, wearing tall boots indoors was indeed stuffy, but Amelie's gaze on her white-stockinged legs at a certain moment was too aggressive, and she was afraid.

To prevent Emery from continuing to bother her with this topic, Julia quickly cleared her throat and steered the conversation back on track:

"I think I roughly understand what kind of idol you're trying to create, Emerald... but why? Why did you suddenly think of creating an idol?"

"What else could it be? To pass the family's entrepreneurial trial, of course."

Amelie withdrew her foot with some regret and shrugged:

“I remember when we chatted before, I mentioned to you that I’m currently in a special trial. I need to prove my abilities through entrepreneurship, otherwise my family will force me to go back and get married.”

“Yulia, you know me. I’m only interested in beautiful girls like you. I have absolutely no feelings for those stinky men, no matter how handsome, rich, or talented they are. I will never marry a man, so I must pass the entrepreneurial trial.”

"But how easy is it to pass the entrepreneurial trial? Many members of our Melson family have taken the entrepreneurial trial over the years, but less than 5% have succeeded... Why? Is it because those people lack business acumen? No, it's not."

"As a member of the Merson family, one receives an elite education from a young age. Even if one's talent is mediocre, the ability cultivated by massive resources can make them far superior to ordinary people. As long as they can make their first fortune, starting a business should not be difficult given the reputation of the Merson family."

"Yet many people still fail. This is not a matter of talent or resources, but rather because no matter which industry they choose to start a business in, the market has already been occupied or monopolized by the strong. Unless their products are so excellent that they can transcend the times, it is difficult to create a performance that can pass the family test."

“My talent doesn’t lie in new product development, and I don’t have much confidence that I can come up with a groundbreaking product that can outperform all existing products on the market. So, if I want to go through the entrepreneurial trials of my family, isn’t there only one way—to open up a new track and then monopolize that new market?”

"The idol industry is the answer I came to after thinking about it for a long time. Whether I can break free from the shackles of arranged marriage and escape the fate of marrying a lousy man depends entirely on this."

As Ameliet finished speaking, she took Julia's hands and placed them on the table, holding them sincerely.

"And you, Yulia, are the first idol I've set my sights on. Your beauty and cheerful personality are a perfect match for this. You are a very good rough stone. With careful polishing, you can definitely become the best idol and my best money-making tool."

"...So, Emerald, you've been so good to me all this time because you wanted to turn me into your money-making tool."

Yulia seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

This is more like it! This is the kind of capitalist she knows. Why would a capitalist be nice to someone for no reason if there's no profit in it? It's much better to be attracted to her talent as an idol than to lust after her body.

But a faint sense of disappointment lingered in Yulia's heart—so she didn't like me after all? Had I been deluding myself all along?

It's... kind of embarrassing.

Yulia's face flushed again, and she lowered her head, fidgeting with the hem of her clothes rather shyly.

"Becoming an idol sounds great, but... I still want to use my power to help more people, rather than serve a particular person or company."

"No, no, no... You're wrong, Yulia."

Emerald raised one finger and shook it with a smile, while her other hand deftly tickled Julia's palm with her fingers:

"Your work as an idol and your desire to use your power to help others don't conflict... In fact, becoming my idol will allow you to help others better and more efficiently. Your ideals and your work will become one, and you can help your friends while earning money to pay off your debts. Is there a better option than this, Yulia?"

"Hey?"

Yulia blinked.

Hearing that being an idol wouldn't hinder her from helping others and could even complement it, Yulia was truly moved:

"Could you elaborate on your plans, Emerald? For example, what will be my main job after I become an idol? And how will you use me to make money?"

"As an idol, your job most of the time is the same as what you do on a regular day: go around looking for people who need help and then help them."

Emerald seemed to have been waiting for Julia to say this, and snapped her fingers, saying:

"However, while you are helping others, other people will follow you and record the process of you helping others with a magical device that can record images."

"Besides helping others, maybe a few times a month? Yulia, you need to attend some public events like an opera singer, interact with your fans, and perform a few of your special talents—it doesn't matter if you can't sing or dance, you can act out a battle with a monster, or even do some live blacksmithing."

"These are roughly your main job duties, Yulia. How about it? Doesn't it affect your ideal of helping others?"

"Hmm...do you want me to record everything I do to help others?"

After thinking carefully for a moment, Yulia nodded gently:

“That’s certainly not a problem, but…”

Her expression became somewhat wary again:

"Amélie, how are you going to make money? You're not going to use the recordings to get the ordinary people I've helped to pay for it, are you? They're not rich, they can't afford it."

Chapter 55 Julia, Become Emerald's Beast

"Hahaha... That's a rather silly question, Yulia."

Emery couldn't help but chuckle, her black-stockinged feet swaying as she did so.

"You think you can make money by charging those poor people you've helped? In that case, my business will probably end up losing everything, not even my underwear."

"Don't worry, Yulia. I'm a businessman, not a robber. I have no interest in those poor, low-quality customers. You don't need to worry."

"So how exactly do you plan to make money?"

After thinking it over carefully, Yulia felt much more at ease, but she became even more curious.

"Simply put, it can be divided into three main methods: advertising endorsements, merchandise, and film production."

As she spoke, Amelie picked up a few glistening cherries and put them into her little mouth:

"I'll tell you about the movie later. We'll talk about that when we have suitable material. There's no rush now. The first way I'll make money is through advertising endorsements and merchandise."

"Yulia, you're quite famous in Locke City now, aren't you? Many people know you, this kind and beautiful young mage, and they have a good impression of you."

"At this time, if you always carry a small item with you when you help others, such as taking out a makeup box to touch up your makeup after helping someone, or slightly rolling up your sleeve to show your watch to check the time, then the makeup box and watch you use will definitely attract attention."

“The poor will probably just make a few comments, but if the children from rich and middle-class families admire you, they will likely buy the same products as you. That’s what idol endorsement advertising is. We can charge a fixed advertising fee from the product manufacturers, or take a commission based on sales.”

"Similarly, if I made high-definition images of you in various cute or charming poses and printed them on towels, pillowcases, and hoodies, and even released dress-up dolls based on you, could those who really like you and have spare money resist buying them? They couldn't help it."

“Young people from middle-class families who have both time and spare money are the main targets of my idol project. Anyway, even if they don’t spend their money on us, they’ll just spend it on extravagance or even do bad things, so I might as well make money off them, right?”

"Hmmmmmm..."

Yulia puffed out her cheeks, clearly showing how much she was interested.

In fact, Yulia really wanted to agree immediately, but she had secretly vowed in her heart never to join any company or organization, and to save her strength to help others, rather than serving only a few.

While Emerald's proposed plan fulfills Julia's desire to help everyone, it will ultimately cost her her freedom. That much is irrelevant, but Julia still has one last hurdle in her mind; she needs to overcome one final hurdle to fully convince herself to join Emerald's entrepreneurial project.

Ameliette certainly saw this, and had already thought of it.

That's why she made many seemingly unnecessary arrangements before; now it's time to reap the rewards of the seeds she planted.

"Although your ideals may seem a bit silly to people like us, I have always respected them."

Emerald stopped shaking her black-stockinged feet, placed her hands on her skirt, sat up straight, and looked at Julia with the most sincere gaze and tone:

“I know you’re still unwilling to lose your freedom to join a company or organization, but what I want to tell you is this: we humans are social creatures. No matter what we do, organized action is more efficient than individual action, and the same applies to helping others.”

"You must have experienced this when you were fighting monsters, right? Those monsters aren't much stronger than you in terms of raw power, but they use all sorts of disgusting abilities to suppress you ruthlessly. Meanwhile, other mages of similar strength can easily win by using the power of magical artifacts."

"The magical artifact cloak you got is really powerful, but there aren't enough of them. Putting everything else aside, just look at those two battles you fought against the Metal Bone Vulture and the Ghost Pig during the Demon Tide invasion. If you had had a magical artifact that could cast dispel spells back then, the battles would have been completely different, wouldn't they?"

"Furthermore, you don't even have a decent communication magic device. You should remember when you fought the Shadow Pig, right? You were initially badly bullied by the Shadow Pig's abilities, but Senior Judy shared information about the Shadow Pig with you in time, so you won easily in the next battle."

"The same principle applies to fighting and helping others."

“Countless people in Locke City need help every day. How many can you find by just hovering in the air and looking and listening? Are the people you find really the ones who need help the most right now? What if there are others who need your help more, but die because you didn’t find them in time? Like that restaurant that was attacked by arson?”

“I know you’ve worked very hard, Yulia. But some things are just too difficult to do well by yourself. If you want to help others more effectively, then joining my startup program is the best option.”

"I will equip you with the most advanced magical artifacts, so that you can handle most situations with ease and you will no longer be suppressed despite having the advantage in strength... This applies to both combat and helping others."

"I will also assemble a professional support team for you. They will collect all the intelligence in the streets and alleys of Locke City at any time, and locate everyone who needs help. Then, based on the urgency of their difficulties and their distance from you, they will sort them out and plan the most efficient rescue route for you, so that you can use the same resources to help more people."

"Moreover, when your fame reaches a certain level, other like-minded mages will surely join us and use their magical powers to help everyone."

“A single spark can start a prairie fire. As long as you, Yulia, persist in your dream, one day the power of mages will no longer serve only the rich and powerful, but everyone will be able to get help from mages whenever they need it.”