Seventeen-nine: They say every game has to end, right?

The way there’s good, the way back’s instant.

Since we’d managed to set up the portal, we figured we might as well stay longer than planned.

Thanks to Muuten’s favor, we’ve been given a house to live in. Though, every day, so many people show up from Goldendoon, claiming it’s a test—can’t they just stop piling work in front of Kyle?

Damn.

People from Mizuho’s side were also taking turns visiting Goldendown, and the members of the Three Great Houses even met with Zaid, Kyle’s older brother, who was left in charge while they were away.

Not public info yet, but word’s getting out—high-ups on both sides are moving back and forth like clockwork. Trade’s starting, and the common folk’re catching wind of it.

At first it was just idle gossip, but over in Mizuho, saltworkers were handed moisture-evaporation potions and told to run experiments. They were making the alchemists in charge of construction study hardening rock elixirs. Some samurai even got legendary-grade stamina potions. Over in Goldendown, they’d started handing white salt—different from rock salt—to select chefs, delivering pure gold lumps to the merchant guild, and transporting the rare two-legged birds to farms.

Especially in Goldendown, everyone knows about the transfer gate linking to the capital. Merchants are already moving in secret. And in Mizuho, the sharp-eyed merchants are scrambling to gather intel.

Meanwhile, the embassy of the Maugaria Kingdom has opened. Word is, Mizuho’s streets are buzzing like never before.

Incidentally, the embassy being established doesn’t mean it’s brand new—just that they’ve designated a mansion near the castle as the embassy building.

That’s where we’re staying. Just temporary lodging until full operations begin.

Naturally, the civil servant candidate for resident ambassador was working alongside us.

Maina, unfortunately, got sent back through the transfer gate to Goldendoon and is now back in school under Zaid’s watchful eye.

Still, she comes over here for dinner almost every evening.

She’s been getting seriously chewed out by Zaid lately, so she’s probably just using this as a break.

She really likes Mizuho food. I do too. Can’t say a thing about it.

Gotta study harder, or Kyle and Zaid’ll yank my transfer gate pass. So it’s good I’m putting in extra effort lately.

Jitarou’s been glued to Mizuho, though.

Well, he’s supposed to be one of Kyle’s guards, so I guess it’s expected. But Kyle’s already got the Holy Knights rotating shifts as bodyguards. He could just go home, right?

Eva’s obsessed with Mizuho’s unique magic system. She’s buried in borrowed books. Naturally, she’s doing it as a guard—set up a desk in the corner of the office.

I can’t help but wonder. I glance over.

“Hey, what’s Camille and Marilyn up to, anyway?”

Eva looks up, closes her grimoire, and rolls her shoulders. Must’ve been staring so long her body went stiff.

Camille’s training with Nobuna’s personal retainer, Chiyome. They’ve got the same rare sigil—kunoichi markings—so she’s teaching her all sorts of stuff, apparently.

Yeah. Makes sense. Having a mentor’s around is reassuring.

Chiyome’s under Nobuna’s direct command—her skills must be top-tier.

Plus, she’s a cat-beastkin, so she’s light on her feet. Camille’s built for speed too. Good match, probably.

The only real difference between them? Chest… eh, never mind.

Marilyn’s been helping out at the healing clinic, tending to the injured. People’ve started calling her some kind of goddess. Seems to be confusing her.

Yeah…

I did hear rumors—through the wind, like always—that Marilyn’s been called a goddess by Mizuho’s samurai.

Just… not the kind of goddess I heard about. "The goddess of the breasts," that was the version I caught.

I get it. But seriously, cut it out.

Another rumor says Marilyn’s portrait’s been going viral behind the scenes—somehow, the outfit’s a bit bold. Feels like there are a lot of perverted gentlemen around here.

Jitarou’s practically throwing himself to get his hands on it. If he manages, I’ll make sure to check it out myself.

…….

Of course, I’m only doing this to make sure public decency’s still intact! Nothing else in mind, I swear!

“Well, if someone’s gonna try hitting on Marilyn, we’ll deal with it.”

“Oddly enough, that doesn’t seem to be happening. People ask for handshakes, maybe, but they line up politely enough. Can’t tell if these folks are real gentlemen or not.”

“Totally.”

I couldn’t help but nod along, deep in agreement.

Evie’s gaze shifted toward me, but I ignored it.

“Lady Nobuna seemed genuinely disappointed that Maina has returned home.”

"Yeah. She was like a little sister to her. Maina was really lonely without her."

Unusual—Maina had grown close to someone other than us.

Wait, no. Lately she’s been pushing herself at everyone, always on the move.

Back when we first met her, Maina used to hide behind Kyle’s back, so shy and quiet. But sometime along the way, she’d changed—less worried about other people’s feelings, just charging ahead.

That’s a good thing, honestly. So I’ve made up my mind—no matter what, I’ll back her up completely.

"Then I’m heading back to mixing. Let me know if anything comes up."

"Got it."

I moved to the alchemy room prepared in one of the guest chambers. I’d considered going back to the Goldendown production guild, but the teleportation gate was too far away—too slow to respond in an emergency. That’s why it’s like this now.

A few alchemists from Mizuho are helping out as assistants. From Mizuho’s side, it was probably just a lucky break if they agreed— but I discussed it with Master Jabil and decided to take them on.

I’m teaching them as much of the alchemy I know as possible, except for a few techniques. They’re all older, a bit awkward to work with, but instead of complaining, they’re practically begging to learn.

Our… no, *my*, Kyle’s, Van’s, and Master Jabil’s wish is for humanity to stand as one, defeat the monsters, and survive.

That’s why we don’t hide any of the techniques needed to do that.

…Unfortunately, we can’t replicate the force-fed alchemy of the Twilight Alchemists, nor can we match the teachers who’ve spent lifetimes amassing knowledge and research.

Honestly, the alchemists of Mizoho haven’t even reached the level of a student’s student’s student’s student of Professor Javir.

Seems they don’t even know about the academic conferences held every few years in the Empire. Just scraping by, barely surviving.

That’s why they’re latching onto the new alchemy method the professor devised—using easily accessible materials.

Our immediate goal? To brew a stamina potion of quality grade five.

Quality grade five, you see, is the middle tier on a ten-step scale. Back before legendary-grade potions were circulating, it was considered the highest quality possible.

That’s how our days went—busy, but not bad.

Maybe we’d gotten a little too used to peace.

Then came the news. A small nation to the south of the Mizoho Shrine Nation had vanished overnight—devastated by a stampede of monsters.

This world reminded us, once again, that monsters still rule.

—— Chapter Six Complete ——

Fixed line breaks and edits from the previous chapter.

Chapter Six concluded!

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Working hard on the book!