Chapter 261: Ichinose: It Was Clearly Me First! (Patreon)

A magus from a long-lived lineage, he was also one of the masterminds behind this Snowfield Holy Grail War.

Even with Ryuuen threatening him, Faldeus's face showed not a flicker of fear.

He simply stood where he was.

His left hand stayed clenched at the edge of his pocket, half hidden. His other hand rose slowly, and he held out an octagonal, cube-shaped gem for everyone to see.

"This belongs to you."

"Now it goes back to its owner."

"Back to its owner?"

Chris had been standing behind the group, content to play spectator. He let out a soft laugh.

He didn't bother hiding his mockery.

"Is something wrong with your ears? Didn't you hear what we just said?"

"What you're holding isn't the only thing you took, you know."

Faldeus's eye twitched, so slightly it was almost invisible.

Without a word, he took half a step back. Under cover of the movement, he slipped the One Ring into his pocket.

Then, perfectly natural, he raised his left hand and showed an empty palm, defending himself without a change in his expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"That man gave me only this one Mystic Code..."

Faldeus drew a deep breath, his words coming a little faster than he intended.

"As for the ring you keep mentioning, I've never seen it."

"The only reason I could turn invisible and slip past your earlier search is the magecraft my family has passed down."

"If you really want compensation, I can trade you the Dioland family's Magic Crest..."

Ryuuen listened to the nonsense, to the way his statements contradicted each other, and watched his hand clamp down on his left pocket almost by reflex. One eyebrow crept upward.

As the hidden hand behind this Grail War, Faldeus should never have been a fool.

Even knowing that one wrong step would doom him, he had dared to move against them. A man like that had no business acting like a clown.

So...

"Is it the ring?"

Ryuuen thought back.

Atsuomi Ayanokōji, the man who had raised a creature like Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, had held on to that ring for dear life. He had been willing to give up the Allspark, an item of obviously greater strategic value, one that could change the balance of the whole world.

Ryuuen narrowed his eyes.

"Ryuuen's instincts are sharp."

Hiyori Shiina nodded slightly from nearby.

She stroked [Rasiel] lightly and added in a gentle voice:

"Earlier, when Mr. Faldeus hypnotized Mr. Atsuomi with magecraft, Mr. Atsuomi showed signs of fighting the spell at the very moment he handed over the ring. That reluctance went well beyond normal."

"And besides..."

Hiyori paused and turned her gaze to Faldeus, who now looked like he faced a deadly enemy. Her tone stayed soft, but she didn't spare him at all.

"As far as I know, Mr. Faldeus, the Dioland family's magecraft is almost entirely about 'assassination' and 'puppetry.'"

"An almost conceptual-level invisibility like that probably isn't within your family's field at all, is it?"

With his lie torn apart in front of everyone, Faldeus's face turned ugly.

His eyes went wide. His once-straight back hunched a little, and his voice came out strained and hoarse.

"Shut up!"

"I'll do anything, as long as you don't take my treasure!"

"My family's Magic Crest, the core secrets of the magic world, every scrap of intelligence from the American government behind me... take it all!"

"Don't take my precious!!!"

Honami Ichinose listened to his Gollum-style ranting and sighed.

She knew very well that in his current mental state, Faldeus was in no shape for a proper conversation.

In that case, they would solve this the most physical way possible.

The girl raised her Y-GUN without hesitation and leveled it at Faldeus.

"Beep—"

Lock-on complete.

She pulled the trigger.

Three deep-blue laser ropes shot out and bound Faldeus on the spot, wrapping him up into a helpless dumpling.

"Mr. Faldeus."

"Every item in your hands was taken from Mr. Atsuomi."

Ichinose watched Faldeus thrash on the ground and explained calmly.

"We have no right to decide what happens to them on his behalf. Let's wait until Ayanokoji arrives and let him decide."

"Until then, I'm afraid you'll have to put up with staying here for a while."

"Straight to Y-GUN restraints, huh... Ichinose is certainly decisive."

Arisu Sakayanagi pressed her pale cherry lips together and teased softly. "It's for the best, though. If the ring's pull grows over time, and he took it out and tempted greed among our own ranks, that would be bad news."

Ryuuen gave a noncommittal snort and strode forward.

He picked up the Dimensional Matrix: Shangri-La, which had fallen at Faldeus's feet, without a shred of ceremony.

He tossed the square gem in his hand a couple of times, then turned to Hiyori.

"Speaking of which, Shiina."

"Take a look for me and see what those magi outside are actually thinking."

"I'm curious whether they really believe their half-baked tricks can beat Servants."

Ryuuen sneered. "Far as I can tell, apart from Tine, this dump has barely any enemies worth over a hundred points."

"Don't tell me they count that giant spider in South America as part of their regular forces?"

Hiyori thought for a moment. She didn't refuse. It was a simple lookup for her anyway.

She extended a hand, and the pages began to turn.

She soon had her answer from [Rasiel].

"Hm... it looks like this decision came from the combined influence of both factions outside."

Hiyori paused, rearranged her words in her head, then explained in orderly fashion.

"First, the Mage's Association side."

"They can't tolerate the danger of someone like you, Ryuuen, who could drag the whole magic world down with him at any moment. So apart from the students in Lord El-Melloi II's classroom, nearly all the magi are quietly backing Faldeus."

"They plan to wait until this is settled, then ask Francesca and her Servant to cast a massive illusion that rewrites the common sense of every ordinary person in Snowfield, to avoid the risk of the mystery leaking out."

"The U.S. government, on the other hand, wants exactly the opposite."

Hiyori looked up. "They intend to use Ryuuen's information-spreading technology to expose the secrets of the magic world to the public and thin out the density of 'mystery.'"

"They believe America is already weak in magical foundations, so if they can reverse-engineer Decepticon technology, a world without magic will benefit them most."

"Heh. Borrowing a knife to kill, going with the current..."

"And even if the plan fails, they can use it as leverage to squeeze something good out of the Mage's Association."

"What a beautiful abacus."

Ryuuen curled his lip in distaste, and a vicious light flashed in his eyes.

Clearly, he was already calculating how to turn the tables once this mess ended: how to squeeze a hefty "emotional damage fee" out of the Mage's Association and the American military, then bolt back to the factory.

Chris, for his part, didn't seem very interested.

He turned his head and looked with idle curiosity toward the center of the distant battlefield, where blinding flashes and violent roars kept erupting.

"Looks like only Enkidu, Hippolyta and Berserker Jack are left over there?"

Chris rubbed his chin. "No Master support, and they've still held out this long against our siege... These Servants have a bit more gold content than I expected."

Ichinose sighed helplessly at that.

"Aside from a few classmates, everyone else's firepower is just too weak to do direct damage to a Heroic Spirit at Enkidu's level."

"Without gear that's been heavily upgraded with S Points, an enemy who's basically a hexagon warrior on the stat panel is hard to deal with."

"All we can do is wear his HP down bit by bit with teamwork."

Arisu Sakayanagi propped her chin on one hand and chimed in thoughtfully.

"If I remember right, Enkidu is a divine weapon, so he can draw mana straight from the earth to resupply himself, correct?"

She looked at Chris.

"Inside this [Mountains-and-Rivers Map], if you wanted to, Chris, cutting his mana link to the earth should be a matter of lifting a finger."

"Of course..."

The girl paused and smiled. "Doing that would go against the whole point of the training that Kei Karuizawa and the others talked about."

Chris gave a slight nod and was about to agree.

But out on the battlefield, the situation had already changed.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka saw the surroundings fully swapped out for the scroll space. He knew the outside world was cut off and that stalling any longer was pointless, so he acted decisively.

He cut straight into the center of the fight and appeared right beside Hippolyta.

No wasted words. He summoned his Minion.

"ZA WARUDO!"

Using the Time Stop of his Stand, The World, Ayanokōji had Venom and the Parasyte work together and forcibly tore the Girdle of Ares, the belt she used for her Jenga-style stacking, off her body.

The instant time began to flow again, Hippolyta, stripped of her core Noble Phantasm, hadn't even reacted when Kouenji Rokusuke's lightning strike landed together with the beam of Amasawa Ichika's [Metatron].

An instant kill, with no suspense at all.

Hippolyta's Spirit Core shattered on the spot and scattered into a sky full of golden motes.

Then, with their hands finally free, everyone poured all their firepower into the last one standing, Enkidu.

It had to be admitted: Enkidu was an opponent who could drive anyone to despair.

As a divine weapon, he could draw mana from the earth to sustain himself, and he also held [Wisdom of the People], a counterpart to Goldie's Gate of Babylon, which could conjure endless weapons at will for all-around barrages.

In an ordinary Holy Grail War, he had no fear of being ganged up on in any form.

But that fearlessness rested on two conditions: that no enemy was anywhere near his strength, and that nobody had items with bizarre rule-based effects.

It was like the FGO event where even Goldie had to bow out obediently when Waver, possessed by Zhuge Kongming, teamed up with Lancelot and Diarmuid to gang up on him.

Though in a sense, Goldie did seem to agree to exit rather a lot...

So now, what Enkidu faced was exactly that kind of unreasonable dump-truck tactic.

On one side stood Ryūji Kanzaki with the Door-Door Fruit, popping up out of nowhere. On another, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka with The World's Time Stop. And in the rear, Suzune Horikita running Crazy Diamond for unlimited sustain. It was a downright shameless support system.

Even for Enkidu, breaking through a barrage-filled sky, getting past Amasawa Ichika with her [Metatron] and Nanase Tsubasa swinging her angel's halberd [Michael], and then reaching the healer in the back, Suzune Horikita, was close to impossible.

He could only fight a cramped, defensive battle under the endless firepower and surprise attacks he couldn't fully guard against.

In the end, Enkidu sensed his mana flow turning sluggish and prepared to stake everything. He would turn himself into the [Chains of Heaven] and unleash his Noble Phantasm, "Humans, I Hope to Bind the Gods with Chains."

Nanase Tsubasa seized the split second of his casting windup and decisively unleashed her angel's power.

"Michael: Close!"

A rule of the same conceptual level descended. Through the Chains of Heaven themselves, it extended a seal over the very act of "Enkidu transforming himself into the Chains of Heaven."

His Noble Phantasm was blocked in an instant and even jammed, and he simply couldn't fire it.

And so,

with Kouenji Rokusuke pouring out everything he had, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stabbing him in the back during a perfectly timed Time Stop,

Enkidu could only let out a helpless sigh. He dissolved into a sky of light particles and followed his dear friend Goldie.

In the next moment, with both great Servants gone, only two high-scoring hostile targets remained in the whole Mountains-and-Rivers Map that the Black Sphere's radar could pick up: Berserker Jack, and the Death Devil watching the show from afar.

As for Berserker Jack,

he could split into endless clones without weakening any single body, as long as his mana held, and he could even merge into a Noble Phantasm of a demon form with special effectiveness against humans.

The problem was that cloning burned through mana, and the demonic form only did maximum damage in a crowded city full of negative emotions.

Now, forcibly swapped into the [Mountains-and-Rivers Map],

unable to reach his Master Flat, and forced to fight on nothing but his own remaining mana...

Berserker Jack very sensibly chose to raise both hands and surrender.

Was he joking? If he kept resisting, this pack of ravenous wolves might get the idea that he could split infinitely and decide to pin him down and farm him like an EXP bag...

And if he really exited here for such a stupid reason, Flat outside would lose his Servant and never get to lift the Grail.

That would be more than a little awkward.

Luckily,

none of these students, who already had a steady way to farm points, really needed the trivial amount he was worth.

As things stood, using the huge pile of points they had saved in the Type-Moon world to upgrade their gear at the Mysterious Merchant's was obviously the more important job.

...

The edge of the battlefield.

Chris saw Suzune Horikita and Nanase Tsubasa dismiss their angel and Stand, then walk back side by side at the head of the group.

He waved a casual hand, a trace of regret in his voice.

"Shame, really... one of you has an angel built for rule control with no use for swordplay, and the other has to stand way in the back playing healer."

"All that sword technique I taught you didn't really show any results from the special training this time."

Suzune pressed her rosy lips together, unbothered by the teasing.

"It's no big deal. As long as I know where I've improved."

She lowered her eyes to the phantom still in her hand, her gaze firm. "Once I've saved up enough points to fully evolve [Sandalphon], I'll try forcing the Zanpakuto that hasn't awakened yet to fuse with it."

"After all... I only need the strongest sword in my hand."

Nanase Tsubasa, beside her, thought for a moment and lowered her eyes. She asked, a little shyly:

"Um... [Michael] has a really strong conceptual ability in team fights."

"To handle tougher enemies later, I'll probably focus my next upgrades on the angel."

The girl looked up at Chris, eyes full of hope.

"So I might need to adjust the sword techniques I learned from Senpai a little, so they fit better with Michael's fighting rhythm... Is that all right?"

Chris waved a hand, completely unconcerned.

"Whatever the technique, it was made for real fights in the end."

"Rigid forms are the most pointless thing. As long as it works, modify it however feels natural to you."

"Speaking of which..."

Chris swept his gaze over the group gathering around him and frowned slightly.

"Are we missing people? The headcount feels off."

"Or did something happen to someone during the brawl, and Crazy Diamond didn't get to them in time?"

Kei Karuizawa hurried over when she heard him and explained.

"Nobody got hurt, don't worry about that."

"Apart from Ryuuen and the others, who went off to get rich off the military with the [Allspark], most of the rest of us have been farming points inside the dream barrier built by Tsubaki Kuruoka's Servant, Pale Rider."

Karuizawa paused, then went on.

"The monsters in the dream are practically endless, so you can farm all you like. But Pale Rider's and little Tsubaki's mana are limited, and they need time to recover."

"So Ichinose split everyone into groups and set up a rotation, so Tsubaki wouldn't overdraw her mana and wear herself out."

"Kamuro, Shiraishi, Amikura Mako and the others are still in Pale Rider's dream barrier working hard on points right now."

Ryuuen had just come back carrying Shangri-La. He snorted in contempt at what he heard.

"Going by the book... your efficiency is still too slow!"

"After what those self-righteous magi outside were about to do to us, I wouldn't even be overdoing it if I burned half their countries' military reserves to farm points."

Ryuuen's face was pure arrogance.

"I don't care how the politicians and magi clean up the mess afterward."

"If I don't farm a few hundred, a few thousand points here, I'd be insulting all the patience I've shown!"

Akane Tachibana, standing not far from Chris, listened to Ryuuen's terrorist-grade declaration and rubbed her temples helplessly.

She thought it over, then spoke up in the cautious tone of a student council secretary.

"Actually... if all we want is to farm points, the Chainsaw Man world might suit us for a large-scale operation."

"In that world, a devil only truly dies once Chainsaw Man eats the concept it represents. Normally, even if we kill them, they just keep being reborn between Hell and the human world."

"That gives us room to farm points in an endless loop."

Tachibana paused, and her tone turned serious.

"But there are quite a lot of primal devils and Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Hell. Going there would mean risk and opportunity side by side."

Arisu Sakayanagi's delicate brows lifted slightly, and she sounded a little wistful as she answered.

"If Senpai Tachibana says so, then we really could send some people over there."

"After all, this world has far too few steady sources of points."

"Apart from the giant spider Ort far off in South America, which is still worth hunting, the True Ancestors and Phantasmal Species with slightly higher scores outside Snowfield are scattered all over the world. The time cost of tracking them down is far too high. It's simply not worth it."

Ryuuen showed little interest. Wandering the globe hunting monsters was clearly grunt work he had no taste for.

He tossed the [Dimensional Matrix: Shangri-La] he'd just taken from Faldeus to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was walking toward him. Then he turned and pointed at Faldeus, still firmly bound where he lay by the Y-GUN's laser ropes.

"Here. Your old man's beloved treasure, that ring, is in that guy's pocket."

"Decide for yourself whether you want it."

Ryuuen snorted. "Personally, I think that thing is kind of cursed. It even got to a cold-blooded animal like your old man."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka caught the matrix and frowned slightly.

He glanced at Faldeus, following the direction of Ryuuen's finger.

Ayanokōji shook his head decisively.

"No need... the outside world can't affect the inside of this [Mountains-and-Rivers Map] anyway."

"As long as it stays in this space, nothing in here will vanish because of the Black Sphere system's cross-world restrictions."

"In that case, just lock him up in the Map like Little Peanut. It doesn't matter."

Ayanokōji's tone was strangely flat.

"When we're all fully prepared and actually need that power, it won't be too late to take the ring then."

"A stealth ring that gets frightened into showing itself by drifting snow... I don't think it's worth the risk of mental contamination."

Ryuuen watched Ayanokōji step past Faldeus and walk straight toward the Mysterious Merchant.

His eyebrows rose slightly.

It wasn't that Ayanokōji's cautious decision surprised him.

It was simply that he hadn't expected the guy to hear every word of their little chat from the edge of the fight, while fighting Hippolyta and Enkidu in a high-intensity multi-front battle!

"Looks like a Parasyte, a parasite that evolves with its host's body and even shares the load of the brain's computing, isn't as useless as I thought."

Ryuuen remarked offhandedly.

Then he started walking too, following toward Oriana.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had already bought a [Metro Man Serum] from the Lady of Clockwork, stacking another boost onto his already freakish body, and had finished upgrading all his basic gear.

Ryuuen took over the Lady of Clockwork's shop interface without any hesitation.

Thanks to the generous "military supply aid" from the great U.S. military, Ryuuen was swimming in cash.

He immediately upgraded the [Sianweistan] on his back to the top tier, then pushed the core [Genos Template] all the way up to "Lightning Form."

Arcs of electricity flickered dangerously across his armor as it upgraded.

He was now just one step away from the final "Multi-Core Form."

Kouenji Rokusuke, on the other hand, had a compatibility problem between his own soul and the [Hogyoku] it had fused with.

To fix the rejection, he'd spent points converting himself into a Bleach-style spiritual body.

What points he had left were only enough to buy a Zanpakuto capable of Bankai from the Lady of Clockwork and to push his reiatsu up to Gotei 13 captain level, just barely.

As for the [Thunderclap Fruit] on him,

it belonged to the team, and it wasn't something Kouenji Rokusuke had bound to himself.

So of course he put his own property first.

Still, in Ryuuen's eyes, none of that mattered.

As long as his plan went off without a hitch, he wouldn't be short on S Points for some time.

By then...

never mind the Beta Box and White Swan Gundam. Even if he casually revived Hirata Yousuke and Yamada Albert, who had died in the exam, he'd still have more than enough.

As for an item like the [Thunderclap Fruit], extremely versatile and a strategic-level tool he could safely hand to teammates for support, he didn't think it needed any stingy spending of points on upgrades.

Right now, Arisu Sakayanagi, Honami Ichinose and the other girls were also finishing their gear upgrades at the Lady of Clockwork's stand, one after another.

But compared with Ryuuen and his two partners, who had all but claimed the American logistics stockpile for themselves and were throwing money around,

the girls had to follow Ichinose's rotation rule to give Pale Rider time to recover the mana for her dream.

So their point income wasn't exactly generous.

Most of the girls had only managed to upgrade their items back to their original "normal level."

Only a few, those with early rotation slots or those who had grabbed plenty of kills on the battlefield, had pushed their gear further, even reaching the level of reversal and qualitative change.

Like Ichinose and Suzune Horikita, who got along well with Tsubaki Kuruoka and had been given a bit of special treatment in the dream by the little girl.

Like Arisu Sakayanagi, who had borrowed from generous Goldie and had a big pile of points come in.

And like Amasawa Ichika, a glass cannon who suited this kind of monster-sea tactic best, mowing down the small fry.

People like Nanase Tsubasa and Kei Karuizawa had rotation slots later in the order. They missed the best farming window, ended up a hair short on points, and couldn't fully upgrade their angel or magical girl gear.

But the one who was truly heartbroken right now...

wasn't any of them.

It was Orianna, the Lady of Clockwork, who had spent the entire day watching the revenue come in, only to find that her back-end commission came to a few dozen points.

These people really never bought anything new! They just upgraded everything with S Points!

Sigh!

Life is hard. Clockwork sighs.

Oriana hugged her little metal automaton, her face showing a rare, dejected look.

Luckily, Honami Ichinose was the team's acknowledged kindhearted saint. Even facing the Lady of Clockwork, a mechanical being made entirely of metal, she could still sense the girl's low mood.

The girl didn't hesitate. She walked up to comfort her, trying to patiently hear out what was troubling the other girl and help solve it.

In the middle of this warm little interlude,

Ryuuen suddenly seemed to remember something important. He strode up to Chris and asked:

"Come to think of it, you took the points from those two big monsters, Ishtar and Heracles."

"Your [Beta Box] should be fully repaired by now..."

He fixed his eyes on Chris, gaze burning. "Can it be upgraded further?"

Chris glanced at him and answered frankly.

"It can be upgraded further, yes."

"But the conditions for going higher look similar to the [Blank Card Box]: I need to find something new containing divinity or higher-dimensional energy to serve as the 'garnish' and the 'sacrifice.'"

"Also, I read the system prompt. Once an upgrade changes its nature, I can't be sure it'll still support the original Beta Box's side-effect-free 'giant-sizing' for everyone to share."

Ryuuen grinned, indifferent.

"As long as it makes me stronger, who cares whether anyone else can use it? We're not kids anymore. Not everything can be shared forever."

"I'm upgrading for myself to begin with! With the final exam right around the corner, I'll take every bit of strength I can get!"

Ryuuen squeezed a fist wrapped in lightning armor, brimming with confidence.

"With my current setup, as long as I don't go looking for death by provoking monsters like Ort, this world is basically my private playground!"

"Right now, what matters most to me is having a path to keep upgrading!"

Chris didn't commit either way, but he didn't object either.

After a moment's thought, he spoke up and laid out the next arrangements.

"Do what you like. This world has no more value worth keeping us here anyway."

"Next, I plan to teleport Tsubaki Kuruoka, Ichinose and that batch into the Chainsaw Man world."

"Devils are running wild there right now, which suits their practice and point farming better."

He looked at Ryuuen. "What about you, Ayanokōji and the others? Staying here to enjoy your playground for now, or coming along with the main group?"

"I won't be going with you..."

Ryuuen shook his head and turned Chris down with a relaxed look.

"It took me forever to find a perfectly legitimate excuse to go wild on the magi factions here."

"If I went to the Chainsaw Man world, I'd have to find a new excuse and reason to start a fight."

"Too much trouble."

"And totally unnecessary."

"The three of us are strong enough already."

"Even if that Second Magician really can't hold himself back and jumps in, and we can't beat him, getting out in one piece shouldn't be a big problem."

Nearby, Honami Ichinose had just learned the reason for Oriana's sadness and finished soothing her.

She walked over in time to catch Ryuuen's statement, and like Akane Tachibana, found herself briefly at a loss for words.

But she had just made a solemn promise to Oriana.

That she'd lead everyone to work hard farming points, and once they had enough, they'd definitely visit her stall often.

Now that Chris had suggested going to the Chainsaw Man world to farm... even Ichinose privately thought it made sense.

She really couldn't bring herself, at a moment like this, to say something contrary and insist everyone stay.

After a moment of inner struggle,

Ichinose took a deep breath and still warned Ryuuen in earnest:

"Jewel Old Man, Zelretch, normally won't really interfere in the present world because he's busy observing parallel worlds, and that spider called Ort probably won't cause any trouble as long as nobody provokes it."

"But... Hiyori already said it clearly when she checked the intel with [Rasiel]."

"This world is very special. It has countless corresponding parallel worlds, all tightly linked together by what's called 'Human Order.'"

Ichinose looked grave. "If you go too far and turn this place into some irreparable Singularity or Lostbelt, and the Counter Force of Human Order steps in directly... that would definitely not be good!"

Ichinose hadn't even finished.

Ryuuen waved a hand impatiently and cut her lecture short.

"Obviously I know that."

"I'm just farming points. When I've got an easy way to get them, why would I be stupid enough to poke the planet's will and make big news?"

"Go on, go on, stop worrying! You're so long-winded!"

Ryuuen shot her a look.

"Even if you don't trust me, don't tell me you don't trust Ayanokoji and Kouenji, two guys so rational they're almost cold-blooded?"

"..."

Honami Ichinose opened her mouth, then thought hard about how the three of them usually behaved.

She had the strong feeling that... none of the three looked like people who would hold their moral line at a critical moment!

But with things said and done, there was no point arguing further.

She could only turn to Chris with a helpless look and ask tentatively:

"Senpai, before you leave... Why don't you leave some people behind in the [Mountains-and-Rivers Map] after all?"

"If it's only you in there, I just won't feel at ease. And with our own people inside, whether it's collecting monsters into the Map as spare points or giving support at a critical moment, it's insurance either way."

Ichinose wore an expression that clearly implied "I'm thinking of the big picture."

Chris didn't respond right away.

He turned and glanced at the Death Devil, who had been treated like air by everyone for quite a while.

"Strictly speaking..."

Chris rubbed his chin.

"Someone is going to be living in this [Mountains-and-Rivers Map] for a while."

"If I bring dangerous monsters in too... that might not be great, right?"

"That's exactly why you need to bring people in to keep an eye on things!"

Before Chris could answer,

Ichinose cut in urgently.

"That way, we can manage the monsters we're keeping as reserve points."

"Besides, Hiyori Shiina needs lots of points to upgrade her gear too, doesn't she!"

"With her [Rasiel] and its near-omniscient effect, once she saves enough points to reach reversal or evolution, the reversed effect will surely be incredibly powerful and help everyone a lot!"

Chris looked at the expression on Ichinose's face, which seemed to say "someone has to go in, and I really want to go."

Before Chris could answer,

Suzune Horikita, who had just spent the short lull meeting Horikita Manabu and confirming his problem was solved, had finally put her mind at ease and come back to the group.

She happened to overhear the discussion and volunteered right away:

"Take me, Nanase and Karuizawa in with you!"

Suzune analyzed coolly.

"None of our three has any urgent need to upgrade our gear right now, so going with you, Chris, makes perfect sense."

"Ichinose, if you're not in a hurry, you could stay and lead the rest of the class."

Karuizawa saw her chance and nodded cleverly.

She looked at Ichinose with a sincere, even sympathetic expression, appealing to both emotion and reason.

"Yeah, Ichinose."

"Tsubaki is just a child, all alone in a foreign world. She's bound to be scared and anxious."

"If Horikita leaves too, she'd be all by herself in the Chainsaw Man world without even a familiar big sister at her side..."

"That would be way too sad, wouldn't it?"

Watching the two of them play off each other,

Honami Ichinose pressed her lips together slightly and took a deep breath.

Reason told her she couldn't argue back, but emotionally...

She stared blankly at Chris, then at Suzune Horikita.

In the end, she couldn't hold back that indescribable sourness, and it rose in her chest again.

"But... I'm the one who suggested it first..."

How is this any different from being cuckolded right in front of her?

So cruel!