A few days later, early morning.
Natsuki Subaru was walking down the street.
Yesterday, Rem, who had come with them, sensed that something strange seemed to have happened to Ram.
They were twin sisters and could sense each other's emotions to some extent.
Although she didn't know what had happened to Ram, Emilia decided to return to the mansion early to check the situation.
Roswaal stayed in the royal capital to represent Emilia, one of the candidates, at various events.
They were originally scheduled to return today, but before leaving, Natsuki Subaru planned to go to Satou Kazuma and Aqua's residence to say goodbye.
After all, they were also people who had traveled from another world, like himself.
"It seems Aqua has been quite active lately. I heard she's even putting on shows. I wonder what they're planning to do."
Just as Natsuki Subaru was talking to himself, he suddenly noticed that there seemed to be some strange things on the roadside stalls.
"What, what is this?"
Natsuki Subaru looked at the items on the stall with shock.
It was a row of sculptures.
To be more precise...
They were sculptures that looked like Gundams.
?
Natsuki Subaru's mind was instantly filled with question marks.
He had no idea why he would see such things in this world.
There were even sculptures that looked like Zaku.
However, his confusion only lasted for a second, and Natsuki Subaru already had the answer in his mind.
There was only one person who could create such a thing in this world.
Satou Kazuma.
Natsuki Subaru picked up one of the sculptures. The craftsmanship was incredibly detailed, even more so than the figures in his original world that often cut corners.
"This, where did you get this?"
Natsuki Subaru looked at the vendor and asked, puzzled.
"Young man, you have a good eye! This is the recent work of a certain candidate!"
The vendor explained with a smile,
"These sculptures are of very high quality. Only the best sculptors can achieve this level of detail. It's not easy to get these goods!"
"The candidate you're talking about, is it Aqua..."
"That's right, it's Aqua-sama! Aqua-sama is truly beautiful and kind! She previously distributed food to the common people for free and provided performances, and now she has created these exquisite sculptures. We can all get goods from her, but because there are so many people who want these sculptures! The supply is a bit short of demand now, and even many nobles are vying to collect them."
"I see."
"But hey, young man, are you going to buy one or not? If you're not buying, please don't stand in front of my stall!"
Just then, a few more passersby walked over. Judging from their clothing, they were probably not ordinary commoners.
Without saying a word, they wanted to take all the sculptures on the stall away, offering a price far beyond Natsuki Subaru's imagination.
"What... what exactly is Kazuma trying to do?"
. . . . . .
At the same time, Satou Kazuma's residence.
"Aqua-sama, Kazuma-sama, this collaboration has been wonderful."
Russell sat opposite Satou Kazuma and Aqua, a very joyful expression on his face.
This was all an industry they had jointly launched.
Many of the people in their camp had become Aqua's followers and had become very talented, and handicrafts were one of them.
Satou Kazuma had Elsa and Meili mass-produce sculpture dolls and then asked Russell to help sell them.
In just a few days, Satou Kazuma had earned a lot of money.
This gave them funds to live a life of luxury for a while.
"Oh right, this is one of my research projects. I'm relying on the workshops under your guild to help with production!"
As he spoke, Satou Kazuma handed a drawing to the other party.
"May I ask what this is?"
"This is called a kotatsu. The bottom can heat up. When everyone is too cold to go out in the winter, they can huddle inside to keep warm."
Satou Kazuma said.
"I see, what an interesting thing."
Russell nodded with a smile. After chatting for a few more sentences, he left the place.
"Hey Kazuma, did you just give him that drawing? Isn't that the same as selling that.... how do you say that word, something like an exclusive recipe..."
Aqua's small brain was working overtime.
"You mean a patent?"
"That's right, a patent!! Isn't that the same as selling off the patent?"
"The drawing I gave him is just the production drawing of some of the original parts. To make it actually work, I still need to personally debug it. The core technology is still in my hands."
Satou Kazuma said with a smile.
"I see!"
Aqua nodded.
"Our lives should get better and better in the future, right? After all, your followers are pretty good!"
In order to increase the efficiency of producing sculptures and other handicrafts, Satou Kazuma also recruited a few suitable candidates from among Aqua's latest 'deceived' followers and had them carry out production work under the leadership of Elsa and Meili.
In a sense, this also increased the job opportunities in the slums.
As for Elsa and Meili, no one would have thought that the two who were working so diligently on handicrafts were two once very dangerous top assassins.
To avoid Elsa and Meili's identities being exposed and causing trouble for their camp, Satou Kazuma claimed that they were Aqua's newly recruited maids and had Aqua personally design brand new clothes for them, at least they looked quite different from before.
As for Felt and Old Man Rom...
Although the two of them were also helping, they had not written their names on the church admission forms, and they had not become very talented. No matter how hard Felt tried, the things she made were somewhat tainted with a bit of postmodern art.
But she was still not convinced and kept practicing her handicrafts, even cursing under her breath as she worked, as if she wanted to beat up the tools in her hand.
There was still zero progress.
"Let's make a wine cellar Kazuma! Put those 'children' of mine that need me inside!"
"Of course, as long as the next round of products sell well, we should be able to make a good profit! Aqua, make me a cup of black tea!"
"Gladly - here you go!"
"Yeah, as expected it's just plain water."
Just as the two were fantasizing about the future, there was a knock at the door.
Aqua went up and pushed the door open. Natsuki Subaru appeared in front of her.
"Long time no see, Aqua!"
Natsuki Subaru greeted her very enthusiastically.
"Long time no see..."
Aqua frowned, then turned to look at Satou Kazuma,
"Kazuma, what's the name of that guy who's a super shut-in like you?"
"Natsuki Subaru, my name is Natsuki Subaru! Haven't we only not seen each other for a few days!"
Natsuki Subaru shouted excitedly.
"Oh oh, right right right, Subaru, I was just kidding!"
"It doesn't feel like you're kidding at all..."
Natsuki Subaru looked at Aqua speechlessly.
If it were someone else, Natsuki Subaru would of course believe that it was a joke.
But with Aqua...
She really doesn't seem like someone who can remember things.
"Subaru, it's been a long time since I've seen you. What's wrong?"
Satou Kazuma asked.
Satou Kazuma had been busy with his own affairs recently, and there had been basically no communication with Emilia's camp.
Crusch's camp had also extended an invitation to Satou Kazuma and Aqua, but Satou Kazuma had refused.
After all, acting with a human lie detector was a bit risky.
"I'm just here to say that Emilia and I are going to return to the mansion first. It seems like something unexpected happened there."
Natsuki Subaru said.
"Unexpected?"
"I don't know what it is either. It could be a leaky roof or seeing a mouse or something. After all, Rem can only sense Ram's emotional fluctuations. She doesn't know exactly what happened. I don't think it's a big deal."
"Can't you just have Roswaal go back and take a look? Can't he fly?"
Satou Kazuma asked.
"Roswaal said he has political matters to deal with and can't go back with us."
Natsuki Subaru shook his head.
"Seriously, how come Roswaal is never around whenever something happens?"
"There's no helping it."
After chatting for a few more sentences, Natsuki Subaru said goodbye to them. He needed to hurry back and take the dragon carriage back to the mansion with Emilia and Rem.
He heard that dragon carriages have been hard to rent lately. He didn't know what was going on.
"Hey, Kazuma, let's have another party tonight! It feels like it's been a long time since we've had one!"
"Didn't we just finish drinking yesterday?"
"Then by tonight, it'll be about twenty-four hours! A day feels like a year. It's like I haven't had a drink in a year!"
"Seriously - but if that's the case, then let's drink for another night!"
"Yay!"
. . . . .
In the evening, everyone returned to the mansion.
Cups and cups of fine wine were placed on the table, along with all kinds of delicacies.
"Cheers!"
Satou Kazuma raised his wine glass high and said with a smile to the people in front of him.
Although too many things had happened along the way.
No matter what, his life was finally getting back on track.
Nothing unexpected should happen now, right?
After Satou Kazuma finished speaking, he closed his eyes in enjoyment, preparing to drink the fine wine in his cup in one gulp -
Hot hot hot hot hot!
Satou Kazuma spat out the liquid directly. The burning sensation made his tongue go numb.
What's going on? He was clearly drinking chilled fine wine, so why did it taste scalding hot?
And there was no aroma of wine at all, just a taste of... tea.
Satou Kazuma looked at his cup in confusion.
He was clearly holding a wooden wine glass, but why did it turn into a teacup, and the liquid in the cup was steaming, it was clearly a cup of black tea.
Wait a minute...
Could it be...
Satou Kazuma raised his head, his eyes meeting those of another person.
Russell was looking just as confused, and his whole body was soaking wet.
Russell had been through all kinds of storms, but what had just happened caused his brain to crash for a moment.
He had tea splashed all over his face by Satou Kazuma.
What, what's going on?
"Why did I have to set a FLAG!!!!"
"Kazuma-sama? This is..."
Russell was confused, trying his best to think about whether he had offended Satou Kazuma in any way.
Could it be that his identity had been exposed?
That shouldn't be. He should have disguised himself perfectly, right? He had always been contacting them as a merchant.
Was he dissatisfied with the profit sharing of the cooperation?
Before he could ask, Aqua, who was next to him, also looked at Satou Kazuma excitedly, calling out his name with all her might:
"Kazuma, Kazuma!"
She also realized that something was wrong.
Time had been reset!
"Ahhhhhh! The wine, that sip of wine! I spent a lot of money to buy that child!!!! I didn't get to drink it!!!!"
Aqua cried and wailed at Satou Kazuma, her eyes full of sadness.
"Isn't this the time to focus on that?"
Satou Kazuma said with a frown.
Life had been going too smoothly lately, which had led Satou Kazuma to forget about the existence of return by death.
This was a power belonging to Natsuki Subaru.
After Natsuki Subaru died, the timeline of the entire world would reset.
This also meant...
Natsuki Subaru had just died!
Had something happened to Natsuki Subaru?
Earlier, Natsuki Subaru had said that something had happened at the mansion, which was probably related to that matter.
"Um, Master Russell, we have some things that need to be dealt with urgently! Let's talk about the other cooperation matters in a few days."
"Oh, oh."
Russell had no idea what was going on, but filled with doubts, he had no choice but to leave the place first.
Not long after Russell left, a series of very urgent knocks rang on the door.
Satou Kazuma and Aqua opened the door together. Standing in front of him was Natsuki Subaru.
His face was pale, and the fear had not yet left Natsuki Subaru's face. His heart was pounding, as if it wanted to jump out of his chest.
"Subaru, you experienced—"
"Don't say it, don't say it!"
Satou Kazuma reached out and covered Aqua's hand.
He knew very well that if Aqua said anything related to return by death again, he would probably die again.
Satou Kazuma didn't want to experience the feeling of his heart being crushed again.
He had died more times in this world than Natsuki Subaru.
"Um..."
Natsuki Subaru's breathing was rapid, but he nodded vigorously.
"What exactly happened over there?"
"It, it's the Witch Cult! The Witch Cult!"
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