Somehow, the matter of conquering an entire world was more or less settled just like that.
The final arrangement was surprisingly straightforward: Kaguya would provide weapons and other material support, Fafnir would assist from the outside whenever necessary, while Rimuru and Ainz would combine their forces and handle the actual conquest.
Even Yuto had no idea what he was supposed to say about a lineup like that.
Tohru, naturally, still wanted to participate.
Yuto rejected her without the slightest hesitation.
She was an employee of the restaurant.
Her job was to stay here and work properly.
What kind of employee suddenly abandoned her workplace so she could run off and conquer another world?
Tohru was understandably devastated by the decision.
"My, what is everyone eating?"
While Yuto was still lecturing the disappointed dragon girl, a soft and gentle voice suddenly came from the rear entrance.
He turned around.
Lucoa stood there with a curious expression.
After Suika, her drinking companion for the evening, had left with the rest of the Gensokyo group, Lucoa had become bored and gone upstairs to check on Kanna, who had stormed off in a sulk earlier.
Now that she had finished visiting the little dragon, she had come back downstairs.
"Lucoa! Come eat with us!"
The instant Tohru saw her, all the gloom caused by Yuto's lecture vanished from her face and was immediately replaced by excitement.
Yuto could only sigh helplessly.
After shaking his head, he turned toward Lucoa.
"Lucoa, we're having sukiyaki. Want to join us?"
"Sure. It looks lively."
Lucoa smiled and walked over.
With every step, her chest swayed to such an astonishing degree that it was practically impossible not to notice.
Ainz, Saitama, and the others shifted slightly to make room for her, leaving the newly opened seat directly beside Tohru.
"Thank you."
Lucoa gave everyone a warm smile before sitting down.
The moment she did, Tohru immediately leaned toward her in an almost clingy manner.
Considering the enormous difference in their ages, Lucoa could indeed be regarded as one of Tohru's elders.
"I really missed you while you were gone, Lucoa!"
Tohru deliberately spoke in a slightly aggrieved tone.
Lucoa's smile did not change.
"Aww, thank you, Tohru."
She reached over and gently patted Tohru on the head.
The gesture looked so natural that it was almost like someone casually petting a particularly affectionate house cat.
"How's Kanna?" Yuto asked helplessly.
Although he was asking, he could already more or less guess the answer.
Kanna had probably spent the entire time upstairs puffing out her cheeks and silently blaming him for everything.
"Kanna-chan was still sulking when I went up, but she's asleep now."
Lucoa smiled teasingly.
"Yuto-kun, remember to comfort her properly later. Otherwise, Kanna-chan might secretly keep holding a grudge against you~"
Yuto helplessly shook his head.
Exactly as expected.
"But Kanna really was the one who did something wrong this time."
Tohru spoke somewhat awkwardly from beside Lucoa.
"She's still a young dragon, though. You can't judge her by exactly the same standards you would use for us."
Lucoa's voice remained gentle.
"But Kanna-chan is already much more mature than most young dragons. As long as Yuto-kun explains things properly afterward, I'm sure she'll understand."
"Then I'll deal with it later."
Yuto smiled helplessly.
He had expected Kanna to sulk from the beginning.
She was still a child, after all.
"All right, let me try this sukiyaki everyone has been talking about. It looks wonderful."
Lucoa picked up her chopsticks and reached toward the pot.
Yuto had already placed a dipping bowl in front of her.
She took a slice of beef, dipped it into the raw egg, and brought it to her mouth.
Her eyes immediately brightened.
"Mm~ Delicious."
This unfamiliar way of eating turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable for her.
At that moment, Saitama happened to glance toward the clock hanging inside the restaurant.
It was already past eleven.
A helpless look appeared on his face.
He quietly set down his bowl and chopsticks.
Everyone nearby turned toward him curiously, although Yuto already had a fairly good idea of what he intended to do.
"Heading out?" Yuto asked.
"Yeah. It's already past eleven, so there's probably no point waiting any longer tonight."
Saitama sighed with faint disappointment.
"Kamisaka, I'll have to trouble you to pass the message along the next time you see Goku."
"Of course. Leave it to me."
Yuto nodded with a smile.
"Great! I'm counting on you!"
Saitama immediately perked up again, the disappointment in his expression replaced by renewed anticipation.
He stood from his seat.
"Saitama, are you sure you're full? It didn't look like you ate very much."
Rimuru looked at him curiously.
Although Rimuru had not deliberately been watching Saitama throughout the meal, he had happened to notice the bald hero's dipping bowl several times.
It had remained surprisingly clean and mostly empty.
That meant Saitama had barely eaten.
"Oh, I already ate earlier, so I wasn't that hungry to begin with."
Saitama raised one finger as he explained, his usual blank expression remaining unchanged.
"I see."
Rimuru bobbed his slime body slightly up and down.
That was more or less his version of nodding.
"Well then, see you later, everyone. I'm heading out."
Saitama smiled, gave the group a small bow, and then turned toward the entrance.
He walked straight to the door without hesitation, and before long his figure had disappeared into the night.
"Ahh... When Saitama and Goku fight again, I wonder which world they'll use."
Rimuru stared toward the entrance and sighed.
"Honestly, no matter where they go, it sounds disastrous..."
Ainz's skeletal body stiffened slightly.
He suddenly remembered what Nazarick had looked like after Saitama and Son Goku fought there that night.
The entire area had resembled a city after being subjected to a massive missile barrage.
Ruins everywhere.
"As long as they don't come back to Nazarick."
Ainz muttered quietly.
"Yeah~ Same here. Please don't come to my world either..."
Rimuru sounded equally uneasy.
Yuto could not help laughing at the two of them.
"By the way, Kamisaka-kun, did the Yuuki family invite you to their banquet next Monday?" Kaguya suddenly asked.
Yuto looked at her with mild surprise.
"Yes. Asuna came to invite me herself. Are you going too?"
"Mm."
Kaguya nodded.
"Asuna invited you as well?" Yuto asked with a smile.
The corners of Kaguya's lips curved slightly as she gave an elegant nod.
"Eh?! Miss Kaguya... you're attending too?"
Erina, who had overheard their conversation, looked genuinely shocked.
"What's wrong? Why are you so surprised?"
Yuto did not understand her reaction.
Erina quickly composed herself and drew in a breath before answering with unusual seriousness.
"Of course that's surprising. With the Yuuki family's current standing, even inviting families and corporate groups from the middle tier of high society would already be rather difficult."
She glanced toward Kaguya.
"But if Miss Kaguya has agreed to attend..."
Erina's expression became even more serious.
"Then the status of that banquet will immediately rise to an entirely different level. A large number of the country's most influential families will probably attend voluntarily simply for the opportunity to establish a relationship with Miss Kaguya."
Yuto listened carefully before nodding in understanding.
If that was the case, then Kaguya's decision to attend truly was a major event.
"It's nothing."
Kaguya smiled faintly.
"Asuna is my friend, after all. I'll simply treat it as attending a banquet for a friend."
She gently hooked a strand of hair beside her cheek and tucked it behind her ear.
There was an inexplicable trace of delight hidden in her eyes.
However, she quickly lowered her gaze, clearly unwilling to let Yuto notice it.
"Then, Erina, will the Nakiri family be attending?" Yuto asked.
"Well... the Yuuki family did send us an invitation, but Grandfather hasn't responded yet."
Erina answered honestly.
"Our family's industries are too far removed from theirs, so there wasn't much reason for us to attend."
She paused.
"But now that Miss Kaguya is going, I'll remind Grandfather about the invitation when I get home."
Erina made no attempt to conceal the practical reasoning behind her decision.
Admitting that the Nakiri family would attend primarily because Kaguya was going almost made them sound like followers trailing behind the Shinomiya family.
But that was simply how powerful family groups developed.
Smaller families attached themselves to larger ones.
Large families, in turn, depended upon even greater powers.
True independent development...
Rarely existed within relationships like these.
A family without any powerful protection behind it was extremely vulnerable.
"Sounds good. Then I guess I'll see you all at the banquet."
Yuto smiled.
"Mm."
Erina nodded.
Her thoughts, however, remained unsettled.
She had never expected the Yuuki family to possess enough nerve to invite Kaguya in the first place.
There had not even been any rumors about such an invitation circulating through upper-class circles yet.
Leveraging the influence of a greater family to strengthen one's own position was certainly a normal method of expanding power.
But...
If an ant attempted to borrow the strength of a tiger...
Was it not afraid that the tiger might accidentally crush it beneath its paw?
"Although, if that many major families are going to be there, won't I end up feeling awkward?"
Yuto joked.
"I don't know much about all those aristocratic manners."
In truth, he did not care about those so-called great families at all.
To him, the prestigious families of the ordinary world were not fundamentally different from random strangers he happened to pass on the street.
Kaguya covered her mouth and laughed softly.
"You're worrying too much, Kamisaka-kun."
She shook her head.
"You don't need to take that kind of banquet too seriously. Honestly, they're usually rather boring."
"As for etiquette... don't worry about it."
Kaguya smiled gently.
"Just behave exactly as you normally would."
Then, still wearing the same pleasant expression, she added,
"I promise no one there will laugh at you."
Her tone was so easygoing that the words almost sounded like a casual joke.
Erina, however, immediately sensed something slightly wrong.
She discreetly glanced toward Kaguya.
The young lady still wore a perfectly graceful smile.
But then her eyes shifted ever so slightly in Erina's direction.
Kaguya had noticed her looking.
Erina's heart instantly tightened.
Even though their interactions had always appeared perfectly friendly on the surface, she had never been able to completely relax around Kaguya.
After all...
This was the daughter of that Shinomiya family.
And before long, she would almost certainly become its next head.
With someone like that...
Taking every pleasant smile and gentle sentence entirely at face value could be extremely dangerous.
Erina hurriedly looked away.
Her heart was pounding much faster than before.
Only then did she realize that Kaguya had been completely serious when she said those final words.
Erina's imagination immediately began running wild as she pictured the banquet next Monday.
If some clueless young heir from one of those prestigious families genuinely laughed at Yuto...
Kaguya would retaliate, wouldn't she?
She definitely would!
"Hahaha. Well, hopefully that's true."
Yuto laughed casually.
"I'll just find myself a quiet corner and stay there."
He did not think much about what Kaguya had said.
He simply assumed she had been joking along with him.
"I'm full."
Fafnir suddenly set down his bowl and chopsticks.
Then he stood up.
His destination was obvious from the gaming headset resting on the nearby table.
"You're starting again already?"
Tohru sighed helplessly.
Fafnir completely ignored her and headed straight toward the headset.
Ainz immediately followed.
There was nothing at the table that he could eat anyway, and continuing to sit beside a steaming pot of delicious food was nothing short of torture.
The only reason he had joined them in the first place was because playing games alone would have been boring.
Now that Fafnir was returning to the game...
Why would Ainz remain behind and continue suffering?
"Looks like Fafnir has finally found a new hobby besides making cursed artifacts."
Lucoa laughed.
Her words caused Fafnir to stop halfway down the aisle.
He slowly turned around.
"Hmph. Don't underestimate me."
Fafnir pushed up his glasses.
"Do you honestly think I've simply been wasting all this time playing games?"
His voice became increasingly serious.
"You're all wrong."
Everyone looked toward him.
"I've already developed several new ideas for curses using this gaming headset. If I can engrave cursed inscriptions directly into the game's code, then every player connected to the system could become one of my test subjects."
A dangerous gleam appeared behind his glasses.
"This time... perhaps I can create an entirely new form of curse that has never existed before."
He paused dramatically.
"For example, using the internet to place an instant-death curse on every human in the world—"
THUD!
"Stop saying terrifying things like that! Just play your games normally!"
Before Fafnir could finish announcing his grand vision, Tohru slammed a fist directly into the top of his head.
Blood immediately sprayed from Fafnir.
Everyone watching twitched at the corners of their mouths.
Yuto slowly shook his head, no longer certain what he was even supposed to say.
Perhaps...
In a certain sense...
Tohru had just saved the world!