"Ah? Boss, you're actually fighting a boss?"
Huihui was the first to poke her head out.
She moved so fast that Russell suspected she had dumped all her work in Crimson Demon Village onto her best friend and that friend's father, then gone off somewhere to have fun herself.
"Yeah. The embodiment of Ursus's will, the collective manifestation of the Ursus people's will—the immortal Black Snake."
It was an impressively incomprehensible title and naming convention.
The sheer grandeur of it all.
Of course, if people found out that this guy had been brought down by Russell using Gungnir on his ass...
Mr. Heath Ledger spent a year stalking and observing you to play the Joker properly.jpg.
Fortunately, only the Reunion Movement had witnessed Black Snake's humiliating life. So in the chat group, Black Snake still retained a bit of prestige.
At the very least, the girl from Crimson Demon Village had her eyes light up... before letting out a shriek.
"Ah!!"
"Why didn't you call me for something like this?!"
The Crimson Demon Tribe's racial trait was terminal chuunibyou. To them, meals could be skipped, clothes could go unwashed, and magic could go unlearned—but showing off was absolutely mandatory.
The boss had formed a party to fight such an awe-inspiring boss, yet he hadn't called her?
What kind of trash chat group was this?!
"Next time. Definitely next time."
Beneath the Ursus tundra, Russell made a promise to Huihui.
"I'll definitely take you along next time I show off."
"Mm. I just got a brand-new staff. When the time comes, I'll definitely let you see what the Crimson Demon Tribe's number one genius is made of."
Having earned a large amount of local currency by selling food, Huihui rubbed her hands together eagerly.
Her level had risen quickly lately, and naturally, she had poured all her points into strengthening Explosion Magic. She could proudly declare that her damage output exceeded everyone else in the group combined.
Of course, as for endurance, she still ran dry after one shot...
"Okay, okay, I get it."
Russell continued brushing Huihui off, then began to @ Skadi.
"Skadi, how's the location for our base coming along?"
"Mm. Following your requirements, I went to Londinium in Victoria. Because of those Demonfolk, quite a few people there are selling off their properties. But Londinium is still one of the most prosperous cities in all of Terra, so we're a little short on funds."
Skadi sent over the results of her investigation.
When Russell had consulted Valmont about buying a house, that guy had been a bona fide super-rich man, so his standards for housing were clearly high.
"Ugh... not enough money. Tch, damn real estate is profitable."
Russell clicked his tongue, thought for a moment, then @ed Megumin.
"Dragon Sniper... ah, no, cough cough, is Uncle Ryoma still looking for me?"
The Reunion Movement's expenses weren't small either. He might as well take this chance to get Lord Raiden to reimburse him for everything.
Megumin: "..."
Russell might as well have written, I'm coming to mooch off your family, across his face.
Couldn't he at least avoid her?
Pretending a little wouldn't take much time!
Mei, who was having dinner with her father at home, looked at him across the table. After a moment of silence, she spoke.
"Father... Russell is willing to meet you, but he may still charge a fee."
Raikou Ryoma looked at his daughter. She was safe and sound in another world, yet on this land, she could become "a sacrifice to the Herrscher" at any moment.
He needed to find her a way out...
With that thought, the man agreed without hesitation.
"Good! Even if we have to pay another 150 million US Dollars, it'll be worth it."
Megumin had no choice but to cover her forehead.
What kind of legendary sucker was her father?!
The other side hadn't even named a price, and he was already saying they could pay another 150 million US Dollars...
Come to think of it, wasn't ME Corp in the middle of rebuilding?
Where had her father gotten so much money?!
He wasn't really embezzling company funds or swindling investors this time, was he?
Megumin looked miserable.
She felt that before long, she would see a newspaper announcing her father's second imprisonment.
"...Father agreed."
With a sense of helpless melancholy, she gave Russell her reply.
Yes! The money would be arriving soon.
Russell was so happy that he nearly broke into a Bulgarian folk dance right there in his bedroom.
Next, he just needed to torture Old Black Snake, make him drop his gold, then move to Victoria and enjoy life!
Things were getting sweeter and sweeter.
It was just that his skills seemed a little lacking.
He had already moved beyond being a mere landlord. He was now in the ranks of the gentry or capitalists, so he ought to pay more attention to his image. At the very least, he needed to look presentable.
It would be nice if he had a new skill set.
Russell thought about it.
Oh, for new skills, just go claim the reward from that earlier mission.
The Prompt Device suddenly spoke up.
"Ah?"
Russell froze.
...Did you forget? You closed out a mission page before. The reward for that mission was a Skill Card.
Seeing Russell's goosehead expression, the Prompt Device felt a headache coming on.
"That mission was—"
Dark Currents in the Northern Frontier. The Northern Frontier where you live is always filled with undercurrents. Seek out the source of those currents, then defeat that long-lived being. Only then will you truly gain a foothold in the Northern Frontier. Reward: Skill Card x1.
Note: May you draw a skill that isn't quite so abstract.
Men Reinforce Their Kidneys, Women Enhance Their Breasts
This world was full of surprises everywhere.
That much had to be admitted.
After Russell announced that he had gotten another Skill Card, portals from all over opened once again.
Unlike last time, Naruto did not come.
That was easy enough to understand.
After all—
That guy had scratched out a Causality Law: Thousand Years of Death last time.
If he came over, he would definitely receive some strange looks. That would be awkward.
But in exchange, Valmont came.
The man, whose daily routine consisted of robbing people and occasionally searching for talismans, casually arrived with his talismans and decided to sit foot-to-foot with Zhuge Liang for an entire evening of conversation.
"Oh, pal, this is your latest haul?"
Compared to Huihui, Mei, and Skadi's solemn expressions, he appeared extremely relaxed.
There were probably two reasons. One was that he did not care much about supernatural abilities to begin with, casually tossing talismans and masks around.
The other was likely that he did not know what terrifying thing had come from the previous Skill Card.
"That's right. Mm, what this thing produces depends entirely on luck."
"If you're lucky, you might draw a Personal Skill like Golden Rule, one that ensures you'll never have to worry about money again."
Russell still did not make a move.
Whenever he played games before, he always had to hit pity.
He felt that if he scratched the card himself, something rather terrible might happen.
"Mei, do you want to try?"
After thinking it over, Russell looked toward the little rich girl whose presence was honestly a bit too faint.
Megumin quickly shook her head.
"My luck... isn't very good."
Russell looked at Skadi again, but Skadi still wore an expression that said she would never coexist with lucky bastards.
"Should I do it?"
Valmont looked eager to give it a try. He was very interested in the Golden Rule Russell had mentioned. If he could get a similar skill, he wanted to acquire a few more talismans and trade them with Russell.
"I think I can try too."
Huihui was equally serious.
Her reasoning was quite simple.
—She felt that scratching this card carried a sense of destiny being decided.
Hostility immediately flared between the two.
"Rock, paper, scissors!!"
"Rock, paper, scissors!!"
"Rock, paper, scissors!!"
After three tense and exciting rounds of rock-paper-scissors, Huihui emerged victorious.
"Let's make this clear first. If you scratch out something like Naruto's, I'm docking your pay."
After thinking it over, Russell, who had always been exceptionally inhumane when it came to not treating people like people, said this to the chuunibyou patient.
"I've seen similar special cards for drawing skills back in my hometown. Mm, they were called skill books. The broader and more powerful an ability is, the easier it is to produce. Naruto's situation was clearly an exception."
Huihui was brimming with confidence.
Reversing cause and effect.
That was an extremely noble and rare power in any world.
And its effect just happened to target Chrysanthemum Terrace. That was probably the only copy Naruto had drawn.
What qualifications did she have to draw the same ability as Naruto?
"If I draw something similar, I'll eat the card itself!"
The girl declared this with complete confidence.
That was practically raising a flag, making Russell's heart skip a beat.
Could it be another absurd skill?
He wanted to change his mind and let Valmont scratch the card instead, but Huihui was astonishingly fast. Surrounded by the others, she put on her goggles—last time, the glare had nearly blinded her—then with a single swipe, she scraped away the card's entire coating.
A faint golden light erupted in an instant.
Before you continue