Upon returning, Kaito confirmed everyone's rewards and identities. Just as he had thought, everyone obtained a domain skill based on their sin and an upgrade to another one of their skills upon completing the sin trial.
Each person's identity was:
Sloth, Mashiro, whose trial apparently took place in her own world but without Kaito's existence, basically the original Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo anime.
Envy, Megumi, entered some version of Spider-Man, witnessing what hidden envy can lead to until it finally explodes. Though Kaito wasn't sure which version of Spider-Man it was.
Wrath, Kirito, entered God of War where his mission was to prevent Kratos' wrath. After failing to do so, his mission changed to defeating Kratos, with the added difficulty that simply being near him turned opponents into people blinded by rage.
Lust, there wasn't much to say about this one. Chika entered Shinmai Maou no Testament where she needed to complete a mission while resisting the lust caused by the curse. She failed, and in the end not only needed Kaito to calm her lust, she basically handed her mission over to him and even added another one.
Greed, Yukinoshita. Yukino acted rather mysterious at first, wanting to hide where she had been. After a while Kaito managed to get it out of her that she wasn't trying to be mysterious at all, she was simply embarrassed. Of course, what noble-born girl wouldn't be embarrassed to admit she had been producing and helping sell drugs in Breaking Bad?
Pride, Hikigaya. Interestingly, this situation was quite similar to Mashiro's, where he saw the original version of his anime, where he often sacrifices himself to solve problems, something most people consider pride disguised as kindness. This made him realize that his personality had actually changed quite a lot. As for what changed, let's just say that a blonde girl constantly bothering him and telling him his plans were idiotic had something to do with it.
Lastly, Gluttony. This one remains unknown since the Gluttony card was not in Kaito's possession.
Furthermore, he has been unable to find them using "Negative", so it seems that person has no issue being under his command. They'll probably meet in the future.
After recounting all of this and sharing information about the current situation, mainly with Kaguya who handled most of those matters in the real world and Ai who handled them within the territory, Kaito went to sleep.
...
With only two days until the next mission world and three until he disappeared, which almost certainly meant something would happen to him after returning from the next Tower world, Kaito wasn't overly worried and simply decided to spend some time with everyone.
Or perhaps he was so worried that he wanted to spend this final time with the people he cared about?
Only he knew the answer.
"So that happened." Kaito nodded in understanding.
At that moment, he was in Mashiro's room telling her some stories for her comics when Mashiro told him about Sorata awakening a system along with everything that happened afterward.
'I should tell Kaguya to keep an eye on that' he noted mentally.
But he didn't say it aloud. Instead, he simply wrapped his arms around Mashiro affectionately from behind.
"Are you okay?"
Mashiro stopped drawing and leaned back against his chest before answering.
"I'm fine." She nodded naturally. "I've killed people before."
Curiously, Mashiro's personality meant she never really viewed either Gaia or the Tower of Worlds as games. As a result, she already knew what it felt like to kill someone.
"But this wasn't just anyone this time, right?"
"...He was." Mashiro thought about it for a moment. "At what point does someone you know become just another person?"
"...I don't know" Kaito replied.
"Will you become one someday? A stranger to me?" she asked with a trace of fear.
"Never" Kaito answered immediately.
"Good." Mashiro smiled in satisfaction and remained leaning against his chest for another ten minutes, simply resting peacefully while sinking into her own thoughts.
Kaito looked at her face, completely expressionless while her mind wandered, and smiled.
"What is it?" Mashiro asked after a while, noticing his gaze.
"Nothing." Kaito smiled. "It's just that my girlfriend is really cute."
"...I see." Mashiro replied in her usual monotone voice, but her face was red, causing Kaito to smile even more, which only deepened her blush, creating a loop.
"Kaito" Mashiro said, wanting to change the subject.
"What is it?"
"Why did Barry become Flash because of lightning? It's unrealistic." She pointed at the drawings she was making based on Kaito's story.
"Well, when it comes to Flash, everything is predestined. He's a time traveler, so most things that happen to him are paradoxes.
It wasn't really lightning. In fact, the context doesn't even matter because it was actually the Speed Force and has nothing to do with the storm or the chemicals. More than that, the lightning itself is actually a future Flash who is going to die and travel into the past."
Mashiro frowned after hearing the explanation, barely understanding any of it.
"Overcomplicated."
"Yeah, people who like time travel stories tend to enjoy overcomplicated things."
"Do you like them?"
"A little."
"Explain."
Mashiro immediately decided upon hearing that.
"Alright, look. It all started with Reverse Flash when he..."
...
"That's concerning." Kaguya said after hearing Kaito's information and immediately beginning to analyze it. "Although I haven't heard anything about it. Sorata may be one of the first cases. We need to determine whether it's simple chance or if there are triggers such as intense emotions or some kind of omen that occurred in Gaia."
"I'll leave that to you then."
"Wait!" Kaguya called out before Kaito could leave.
"What is it?"
"Come here." Kaguya stood up and offered him her seat at the desk.
Somewhat confused, Kaito sat where she indicated.
Immediately afterward, Kaguya sat sideways on one of his legs.
"What are you doing?"
"W-well, there's no other chair, so ignore that detail." She blushed unmistakably. "There are a few things I want to show you."
With that, Kaguya grabbed several documents she had clearly prepared beforehand and began explaining them to Kaito.
"Look, ever since you gave me access to the summoning towers, I've been summoning quite a lot of workers. After all, the expansion of the territory requires more labor. But the gold obtained through conquest far exceeds what's needed for summoning.
Thanks to this, our workforce is twice what we actually need, allowing us to build faster, with less effort, and giving everyone more free time. You could say we're the best bosses on Earth." Kaguya laughed softly at the irony.
"According to my analysis, with our current gold and a gradual increase in our current development speed, even if we only used the demon summoning tower, it would already be enough to keep us at the forefront in terms of power. Even more so if we include the other races not only from our territory but also from the territories we've subjugated.
The Black Forest situation is under control for now with the support of Princess Luna, Sonya's clan, and the one subjugated by Kaguya. We're preparing for a full offensive once we stabilize the lower-level zone and obtain the rewards.
The Sacred Forest's overall level isn't particularly high. In fact, if we follow your plan, it seems we won't even need to fight.
And although the other continents still require more detailed investigation, their overall level doesn't seem especially high either. With the natural gradual increase of our forces, even if we did nothing we'd still keep winning.
Also, thanks to Lala's technology, our territory is so secure that not even a nuclear bomb could destroy it, and..."
Kaguya continued explaining for a while while Kaito listened.
"Are you okay?"
"Huh? Me? Yes, why?" Kaguya asked in confusion.
"It seems like too much for you to handle alone. Shouldn't Ai be here and you be on Earth?" Kaito asked, somewhat worried that he might have given Kaguya too much to do.
"It's fine, I'm not alone. I have Ai with me. I'm only still here because I need to finish a few things. Maki handles her share by managing my territory and several others while helping out from time to time. Yukinoshita, who joined yesterday, seems excited to help and is quite capable.
Not only them, but we can also summon units that handle work like this, which lightens the burden considerably. It's really not much of a problem.
Of course, major matters are still handled by sub-lords, so don't worry."
"I guess that's fine. Even though I don't know much about this, I can help, so don't hesitate to ask. I wouldn't want you all to end up suffering because of me."
"N-not because of you. Everyone has their role in a territory. This just isn't the role where you're needed. Besides, even though we handle most things, we still need your approval for most decisions, so you are doing your part in the administration." Kaguya quickly denied before blushing and leaning slightly closer. "T-thanks for being concerned, though."
But suddenly, as if realizing something, she blurted out, "Wait! This isn't about me, it's about you. The point is that the territory's situation is fine. Even if you didn't push yourself so hard, we'd still be okay, so, um... this... please take care of yourself."
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)