From RE0, Sato Kazuma decided to cheat on food and drink

Perhaps all of this was just a disguise.

Defeating the Bowel Hunter, triggering a miracle, signing a pact with the Great Elf, winning over people's hearts—even the eccentric Borderlands Lordswald seems to pay special attention to him.

"I apologize, gentlemen, but I have some matters to attend to. In that case, I shall take my leave now! I hope we can have more cooperative dealings in the future."

After leaving those words, Russell smiled and left the place.

Kazuma Sato watched Russell walk away, then glanced at Aqua.

It seems that Aqua's actions have achieved good results?

"The next performance is about to begin! Kazuma, come and help out!"

. . . . . .

As night fell, Kazuma Sato led Aqua and the others back to the mansion.

Since it was too late to undo what had happened, Kazuma Sato later chose to join Aqua's group to help her with the performance.

Because of Russell's words, the issue of ticket pricing had to be dropped, and all he could do was set up a donation box next to the venue for the audience to 'voluntarily' donate.

In the end, however, they were not able to recoup much of their investment, not even enough for a meal.

Kazuma Sato sighed somewhat helplessly, while Aqua was humming a song in a great mood today.

After all, I've gained quite a few new followers today.

"What's wrong, Kazuma? You don't seem to be in a good mood today?"

Aqua walked up to Kazuma Sato and asked him.

"The thought of having to tighten my belt for the next few days is giving me a headache..."

Kazuma Sato shook his head in reply.

"Don't worry, Kazuma, everything will be alright once my followers increase! You know, in another world, there's a city full of my followers. It's also known as a hot spring town and earns huge profits every year!"

"It's unimaginable... just how terrifying it would be to have an entire city of believers, and moreover, your believers..."

Kazuma Sato glanced at Aqua out of the corner of his eye.

If they hadn't resorted to deception and fraud, would these people have chosen to worship Aqua?

That person is definitely not mentally sound.

However, Aqua's words just now gave Kazuma Sato a new idea.

Kazuma Sato had previously heard that the kingdom's current environment was extremely harsh, and that the slums were basically a no-man's-land, leaving the people there to fend for themselves.

The trio of Ferut and Jane Hanton resorted to petty theft because they couldn't find any other way to make a living.

Since there is no one in charge there, wouldn't I have the opportunity to renovate it?

Kazuma Sato had previously heard that each candidate basically had their own territory, while he and Aqua currently had nothing except a mansion they had asked McCrotoff for.

Perhaps that place could serve as a good base.

Not only that, Kazuma Sato also heard from Aqua that Russell seemed to have some cooperative relationships with places like workshops.

Perhaps he could bring some of his own inventions into this world? And then have Russell's Chamber of Commerce assist him in production and sales?

This is the most classic isekai (another world) anime/novel plot!

Of course, all of this is predicated on them having sufficient funds.

They can't even afford to eat now!

Should we shamelessly approach Rickert and his team to hint at our funding shortage?

Even if we manage to get the money, it's not a long-term solution.

As Kazuma Sato pondered, he unknowingly returned to the entrance of his residence.

As soon as the door was pushed open, a figure rushed out!

"I've been waiting for you for so long! Kazuma-nii!"

"Oh, Mary? You're back?"

Kazuma Sato looked at the girl in front of him with some surprise.

He had almost forgotten about Mary.

After recruiting Elsa into his ranks, Kazuma Sato sent Elsa and Melie out on missions to exterminate monsters in order to earn some extra money.

After all, although there are no adventurers' guilds or similar organizations in this world, there are still merchants who travel between different towns. Naturally, they are also threatened by magical beasts, so they occasionally hire people to act as guards or find people to clear out the magical beasts along the way.

The rewards for these commissions are generally very substantial!

Melina's ability to control magical beasts, combined with Elsa's super combat power, theoretically allows them to complete various tasks very efficiently.

"Merry, how's the completion of your commission going?!"

Kazuma Sato looked at Melly expectantly, while she took out a huge money bag filled with heavy gold coins.

Not only are the fees for the commissions valuable, but some parts of these magical beasts are also very worthwhile.

"That's wonderful, Mary! You're now one of the top two girls in my heart!"

As he spoke, Kazuma Sato turned his gaze to another person inside the room.

"Hey, hey, hey, why are you looking at Betty like that!"

"I'm afraid Betty might be bothered by what I said."

"What does Betty care about? Betty is so strong and so cute, it's only natural that she's number one in your heart."

"Oh, I thought you'd be bothered by the term 'young girl.' So you've already admitted to being a young girl?"

"Ugh, this is so annoying! You idiot Kazuma!"

Kazuma Sato looked at Merry, while simultaneously glancing into the room:

"Hey, where's your sister?"

Kazuma Sato was somewhat concerned about whether Elsa would return.

After all, only Aqua and Beatrice knew that he had recruited Elsa into the team, and he hadn't figured out how to introduce her to the others yet.

Kazuma Sato couldn't imagine what the consequences would be if Felt found out about this.

"My sister is back too, and she's chatting with Felt!"

"Merry said with a smile."

"what?!"

A sense of foreboding washed over Sato Kazuma, and he quickly went inside.

But at that very moment, Elsa was confronting Felt.

"Hey, what are you doing here?!"

Ferut crossed her arms and stared intently at Elsa.

"Sigh, such intense hostility, such a sharp gaze~ Great!"

Elsa, however, wore an ambiguous smile as she looked at Felt.

"Lord Kazuma, who is this?"

Hambari, standing to the side, looked at Elsa and asked in a low voice.

Elsa possessed an extremely alluring face, which was rather striking.

Earlier, when Elsa clashed with them, Jane Hanton and her two companions had already gone to another cabin to wait for orders, so they didn't know what had happened or Elsa's true identity.

Only Felt and Rom, who had previously had direct contact with her, knew very well that the person in front of them was Elsa, the Bowel Hunter, who had almost killed them.

"This is my older sister, Elsa!"

After hearing Hambari's words, Melly, who was standing to the side, spoke to herself.

"After spending a night with Kazuma-nii last time, my sister decided to follow in his footsteps~ because there are many things that only Kazuma-sama can do for Elsa-nee! Even though we went out to carry out Kazuma-nii's request, my sister still misses him!"

"Wow."

Hambari's face showed a hint of shock, then he turned his head and gave Sato Kazuma a meaningful smile.

"As expected of Lord Kazuma!"

"Thank you for using such easily misunderstood language to explain."

Kazuma Sato reached out and rubbed his temples.

"You scumbag! What's going on? Why is this dangerous guy here?"

Felt's gaze immediately shifted to Kazuma Sato.

The latter's brain raced, trying to figure out how to explain what was happening:

"If I said this person just shares the same name and looks exactly like the previous Elsa, would you believe me?"

Do you think I'm an idiot?

"You can be."

"Damn it!"

Just as Felt was about to launch a fierce attack on Kazuma Sato, Aqua spoke up from the side:

"Elsa is now one of my followers!"

"what?"

Felt's face showed a hint of surprise, her mouth slightly open as if she wanted to say something, but she didn't. Then she turned to look at Elsa.

"You bastard, I'll be watching you! If you dare do anything out of the ordinary, I'll kill you!"

Felt's reaction surprised Kazuma Sato.

He had initially thought that Ferut might overthink things, but to his surprise, she was much calmer than expected after hearing their words.

"Oh, Ferut, you actually don't object to her joining us?"

"What am I objecting to? You're the ones making the decisions anyway, and considering what you've been doing lately, I don't care."

Ferut shrugged.

Earlier, Felt had also learned about Aqua and Kazuma Sato.

In her eyes, although these things sound very unreliable, it cannot be denied that many poor people did have food to eat today.

None of the other candidates cared about the situation in the slums, which made Ferut somewhat unhappy.

And today, Aqua and the others' actions truly brought warmth to the people in the slums.

Ferut, who was born in the slums, also strongly identified with Aqua and the others.

"If there's anything you need to do later, just call me."

Felt clapped her hands, a nonchalant expression on her face, and said to Aqua.

"So, it turns out there really is something I need your help with! Elsa, Melie, you should come and help too!"

"Oh? What?"

"There's another perk for the audience today: we're giving away Axis Order merchandise! But because of the tight schedule, it'll take Russell's workshop some time to produce them, so we can't ship them out right now. We'll have to get to work too!"

Aqua's eyes seemed to be flashing with a fiery light; she was full of energy right now!

"Let's help out too!"

Jane and the other two also raised their arms and shouted.

"Honestly, I just can't do anything with you guys."

Kazuma Sato smiled and shook his head.

Although some things happened today inexplicably, the outcome seems to be pretty good.

Perhaps, my life in this other world is finally about to get back on track?

"But before that, to celebrate the great success of today's event, let's have a cocktail party!"

"Good! Good!"

"Long live Lady Aqua!"