"Wh... Whoa..."

I stood there for a moment, speechless, staring at the nine-digit figure lined up in my bank book.

Just as promised, Mugen-san had wired 100 million yen into my account. I, a guy who used to make pocket change by nickel-and-diming on net auctions, had become a millionaire before I even realized it.

"One hundred million... One hundred million, huh..."

With 100 million yen, I could do almost anything. I could buy anything. I could go anywhere.

If this had happened a little while ago, I would have been jumping for joy, shouting "Banzai" three times. I would have spent my time calculating how to make this money last a lifetime—telling myself that if I lived on 150,000 yen a month, I'd never have to work a day in my life again.

But now, I had many things more precious than that. Money was important, but it was only a means to an end.

"And there's no time to lose..."

Muttering to myself, I called Mugen-san to thank him and confirm the transfer.

Perhaps because I sounded a bit over-excited, he laughed and told me that if I ever wanted to sell more, he'd keep buying. I told him that if I ever needed money again, I wouldn't hesitate.

Well, everything depended on the Hitotsuzuki. If we could get through this safely, I wouldn't mind selling a few more of the remaining Spirit Stones.

"Oh, right. About the Hitotsuzuki..."

『Yeah, you said it was coming up. What's up?』

"Is there... any kind of strategy or 'walkthrough' for this? This time, our spot will be defended almost entirely by just my group, and I don't want any casualties. I'm planning to have as many Spirit Stones as possible ready, and apparently another Elf is being sent besides Diana..."

I'd received some advice when we met the other day, but the "Globe-Trotter" Hitotsuzuki was supposedly a difficult one. I needed to hear more. At the very least, Mugen-san had cleared a "Globe-Trotter" before.

Ideally, I wanted to meet him in person...

『Casualties? Even if you die, you can revive in that world. If you push hard and fight to the limit, it'll probably be fine.』

Mugen-san answered casually, in a light tone.

Wait, wait.

"I thought you said only I and the High Elf Diana could respawn? I mean, I plan on fighting for real, but if I'm the only one working hard—"

『You've registered them to your Clan, haven't you? NPCs registered to a Clan can be resurrected.』

"...What?"

Come again?

"Of course they can. Otherwise, it would be 'Hard Mode' to an impossible degree. Of course, the respawn point is the Temple, so there's the downside of it taking time to return to the front lines, but still."

"Uhh... is that actually true?"

『Dead serious. When I went back a thousand years ago, I was added to a Clan and died once myself to test it. There's no mistake.』

"Holy crap... Well, thank you."

To be honest, I hadn't registered everyone as Clan members yet. I hadn't placed that much importance on the Clan system myself, but to use a classic excuse, I simply had too much on my mind to keep track of it all.

It would have been nice if that small fairy had told me that registered NPCs could respawn!

But with this, our win rate just skyrocketed... Of course, I didn't want them to die. The plan was still to ensure no one died. There was always the possibility that the specs had changed over the last 1,000 years, too.

And then there was the question of whether I should tell the members. If I told them, and they knew at the final moment that they'd just come back to life, what would happen? Would they lose that "fire in the belly" strength and end up losing anyway?

Maybe I didn't need to think that deeply about it, but if the end result was that they wouldn't die, I might not need to tell them at all. Besides, would they even believe me? "Go fight without fear of death because you'll just respawn"? Hmm. In a double sense, I felt like I didn't need to tell them.

Currently, in that world, my Clan—Artemis—was the one and only Clan.

Those Clan members could return even if they died in battle. What if the membership grew to 1,000? What if those 1,000 people fought with the conscious knowledge that they would revive? If they fought a war where they didn't care about mutual destruction? I could probably take over the world.

Since you respawn at a Temple, you could go anywhere. Infiltrate deep into a castle, kill the royalty, commit suicide, and it would be a perfect crime.

Resurrection was that strong. It was too much power. It might have been just a minor feature back in the game era 1,000 years ago, but in this era, it was a top-tier cheat.

"...I feel like a weight has been lifted. I was planning the Hitotsuzuki defense on the absolute premise that no one could be allowed to die."

『Well, it's definitely better if they don't. Even for NPCs, there's probably a death penalty... uh, I think it was a very slight reduction in stats.』

"Stats? Well, if it's just that much, it won't be a problem at all."

Regardless, not dying was a good thing. More than anything, it was for my own mental health. When Marina almost died against that bear, I panicked for real. I didn't want to go through that again.

『Oh, and about magic—don't you still have 'The Principle'?』

"The Principle?"

『Isn't it in your skill list?』

The skill list... he must have meant the skill section on the Vocation Board.

It was there. It was definitely there. In fact, it had been there since the beginning.

"'The Principle' and 'The Journey.' I've actually been bothered by those two mysterious skills for a while."

In truth, I wasn't that bothered. I'd just given up on things I didn't understand, figuring it was just "fantasy world stuff."

『'The Journey' is exactly what it sounds like: the skill that allows humans to come to the other world to play. Without it, you basically can't travel back and forth. Well, it's standard equipment for players, so you don't need to worry about it.』

"I suspected as much. So that's what it was, huh..."

I was the only one who could use that mirror; I'd tested it on several people, and not one of them could cross.

Mugen-san and his wife said they used some means to trick the spirits into letting them cross, so it was clearly not easy. They mentioned they had to give up their Blessings for it, after all.

『And 'The Principle'—it's a bonus skill given to players while they're beginners. You're getting past the point of being a beginner, so it wouldn't be strange if it disappeared, but since your magic skills are almost completely unpolished, it's probably still there.』

"It's true I've only just started studying magic, but..."

A bonus skill? Was it something that good?

"What is it exactly, in strict terms?"

『There's no such thing as magic in the real world, right? So, while a player is a beginner, 'The Principle' provides a correction to make it easier to trigger magic.』

"Which means?"

『Even you can use powerful magic if you just get the hang of it.』

"Are you serious...?"

I muttered "Are you serious?" for the umpteenth time that day. Between the 100 million yen, the resurrection of humans, and the fact that I might become a mage, I felt like I was exceeding my capacity.

『Ah, if you want, I could teach you magic. I was called a rare genius back in the day, you know.』

"Ooh! I'd definitely like to learn."

Mugen-san said he would personally make time for me.

I've been learning from Shamash-san, but he mentioned it's better to learn magic from an NPC. Apparently, learning from a race that is naturally gifted at magic can be slow going... and in Shamash-san's case, she was so sexy it was hard to focus... No, that's irrelevant.

Regardless, if he was offering to teach, I wanted to learn.

* * *

We promised to meet again in a few days, and I hung up.

Mugen-san might not exactly have been "free," but since he prioritized his business with me, I'll take advantage of it. He was much older, and a senior at my old black company once said you should just shamelessly rely on your elders, so it should be fine.

Next up: shopping.

For now, I was going to buy every single thing that looked useful for the Hitotsuzuki and bring it over. I didn't really know what would actually work. I might prepare something thinking it was great only for it to be useless.

But unless it was something extremely expensive, I could afford to stock up on anything found in a home center. I needed supplies for the support units, not just the front lines. Hey, I had the money.

"Alright. I'm gonna buy... I'm gonna buy everything!"

I withdrew some cash from the bank (an unprecedented amount!) and headed to the home center.

Some things could be prepared over there. There was more timber than we knew what to do with, and stone was relatively cheap. Our dragon and Shamash-san's summoned beasts were a huge help there, since we didn't have to struggle with transporting heavy loads.

But smaller items were better bought in Japan. Screws, nails, and bolts, in particular, were better in Japan in terms of precision, strength, and price. Of course, I could ask Oyakata to make something similar, but that would be a waste of talent. No need to make a master swordsmith hammer out nails.

"Nails, screws, bolts, nuts... wire. Maybe I'll buy some thick binding wire too—"

I tossed them into the cart without hesitation. I didn't know what would be needed. If I just brought them, someone might come up with a brilliant idea.

"Blue tarps. Generators are surprisingly cheap. I'll buy several gas cans, too. And I'll transport kerosene in plastic jugs—"

Blue tarps would be incredibly effective for setting up encampments. Generators had a ton of uses. Lugging gas around was a bit of a pain, but among things you can buy normally, it was close to the strongest resource.

Gasoline itself was even more potent than the generator. I wondered if I could use it to cause a fuel-air explosion, but a quick search made it look difficult, so I gave up. I could give the knowledge to Etowa and have her try it, but there was no need to take such risky gambles.

Kerosene also had many uses. If there was any left over, I could use it for a space heater. Winter was supposed to be coming soon, anyway.

"I'll buy a massive pile of sandbags. And maybe some shovels too—"

Since we planned to build walls of dirt and rock to guide the monsters, sandbags were an absolute must. Of course, I could buy hemp sacks over there, but the ones here were cheaper and the material was likely stronger. And I could use them without holding back.

"They sell construction site lights too. I'll buy these as well—"

Since I bought the generator, we could use them for the nighttime battles. They already had bonfires ready over there, but I'll buy some just in case. They say monsters don't spawn at night, but a battle could drag on into the evening. Between these and Diana's light magic, it should be quite bright even at night.

"And some medical supplies. Or rather, since I lack knowledge, I only know how to keep things clean and protected—"

Basic first-aid tools. Bandages, gauze, clean towels, water for washing, plastic bags, disinfectant. In reality, we would be dealing with wounds, so the most important things were cleaning and stopping the bleeding. In any case, for serious injuries, we would have to rely on magic.

"Rope is available over there, but the materials here are different, so I'll buy a few—"

Once bought, rope could be used for a long time for many things. I ordered wire for the wrecking ball, but maybe thick rope would have been fine too.

"I'll buy some heavy-duty shackles for hanging the wrecking ball, just in case—"

I might need them for the connection point with the wire, so I put them in the basket.

"Cement, concrete... I'll try buying this too. It's heavy as hell, though—"

It might not be directly related to the Hitotsuzuki, but it would be useful for something. We were building the Knight Order's dormitory anyway.

"I've heard tabi boots are easy to move in. It would be interesting to get a range of sizes—"

I wouldn't say footwear performance was directly linked to combat power, but there was no doubt it had a corrective effect.

"Duct tape and vinyl string. These will have uses too—"

...The amount had become staggering. It was enough to fill a whole rental truck. The bill exceeded 500,000 yen.

"(I should have used mail order...)"

I thought to myself, but it was too late. The store was in a festive mood, with even the manager coming out. There were probably very few individual customers who bought enough to clear out a shop like this.

* * *

I rented a truck and hauled it all home.

Two people from the store even came along to help, so the unloading into my backyard finished relatively quickly. After the home center employees left, I moved the cargo to the other world.

Since it was faster than carrying everything to the second floor, I moved the mirror down to the first-floor living room and moved all the products through from there.

I was glad my mother was away at her day job. It was exhausting work, but for the rest of the shopping, I could just use mail order.

"Now then, I'd like to take a break, but I'll get the online orders in first."

The wire for the wrecking ball was already ordered, so I bought the other items.

"This one, and click."

I ordered 50 cut-resistant shirts—something I'd debated buying for a long time but ultimately hadn't. Since excellent leather armor was available in that world, in terms of pure defense, there might not be a reason to buy them in Japan.

Scientific power was actually higher over there in some ways, so if I could get my hands on magical armor, that would be better. But still. I wanted to do as much as I could. Especially when it came to safety you can buy with money. Besides, magical armor isn't exactly easy to come by.

I bought a crossbow. I'd bought one before, but even a weapon like this could be of some help. The new recruits should be able to handle it. I might give it to Oyakata as a sample to mass-produce and sell. Though, in a world where ballistae exist, a crossbow might not be that impressive.

Furthermore, I ordered a compound bow. I chose the one with the highest draw weight: 80 pounds. I didn't really know, but I figured the stronger the better. The users might all be women, but they were hardcore warriors. They should be able to pull it. If not, I could have Schelo-san use it.

Finally, I ordered a few more items. I also clicked on the things I planned to sell when Efta arrived.

* * *

For the next few days, things passed in a blur—packages arriving, giving instructions for the construction work, and refining our strategy.

I also held a magic study session with Mugen-san.

It seemed the true essence of magic was "reproducing chemistry on the spot using mana." In other words, if you understand the process of combustion, you can produce fire; if your knowledge is vague, the fire won't manifest. Essentially, being able to cast powerful magic depended on the accumulation of that kind of knowledge.

Mugen-san explained that the game was originally marketed as "a game where you could actually learn things," which contributed to its popularity. I'm starting to understand why there are so few mages in this world.

So, the ones who study hard become the strongest mages, huh? Knowing that, I felt like I might actually have a shot at this. The reason I was able to use fire-starting magic immediately was apparently because I understood the principles of fire and still possessed "The Principle."

Still, when it comes to actual chemistry, I'm completely clueless. I think I had a chemistry class in my first year of high school, but I have absolutely zero memory of it. Mugen-san showed me a few useful spells—or rather, chemical equations and experiment videos—so if I can wrap my head around them, I should be able to use them.

Heheh. I can already see the looks on everyone's faces when I suddenly start busting out high-level magic.

* * *

On the fifth day of this frantic pace, with only about three days left until the Hitotsuzuki, the wire finally arrived.

After nearly dying while hauling it into the other world (it weighed 50 kilograms), I rolled it all the way to Shello-san's house (since the wire was coiled, it could be rolled).

The wrecking ball itself had already been completed by Oyakata, and the crane pedestal was more or less finished as well. All that was left was to conduct a test run and polish things up before the main event.

It was around that time that 'that man' finally arrived from Marishela.

As we were busy digging up the soil of the plains, a small airship descended from the sky toward us, its heavy bass engines rumbling. It was a flying ship equipped with a modest propeller and sails of questionable utility.

So this was the "magic tool" they mentioned. It was more of a vehicle than a tool, but I suppose the Solo family's wealth could buy just about anything. With this, a trip from a distant city would indeed be a breeze.

"Hey there, Efta-san. Long time no see. I should have expected as much—owning an incredible ship like this is just like you."

Efta, with his silver hair fluttering, stepped down from the boarding hatch, and I called out to him.

"It's been a while, Jirou-san. Rumors of your Knight Order have reached all the way to Marishela, you know. I hear you've even started up a shop."

"Whoa, you're quick with the info."

"It's my business to be... More importantly, where is Henrietta-neesan...? She told me she'd kill me if I didn't make it in time, so I literally flew here—"

Efta looked around nervously, searching for Hetty-san.

Man, Hetty-san was terrifying. Kill me, he says...

Actually, my own sister used to say similar things to me... I guess that's just how older sisters are...