"Remember that good stuff I promised you earlier? It's ready."
Sitting in the carriage, Ron André stared out the window in boredom before suddenly speaking to the empty air.
A mass of shadow rose from beneath the carriage and condensed into Yuna's mature form in front of him.
Leaning back lazily with one leg crossed over the other, she tilted her head.
"What exactly is it?"
"You can think of it as a kind of… long-range magic-casting tool," Ron said. "Like an alternative staff."
"And it doesn't need mana to activate. Even ordinary people can use it."
"Seriously?"
Yuna narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't believe something like this at all.
But since it was Ron saying it…
She only doubted it a little—deep down, she was already inclined to believe him.
"We'll stop by the cultivation base first, then head to the private lab. I'll show it to you there," Ron said with a grin. "You can try it yourself."
"Fine."
Yuna shrugged, looking indifferent.
Then her eyes suddenly lit up as she remembered something.
"What about the ride you promised me? You said it'd be lighter and faster than the Element Vehicle."
"Oh, that?"
Ron nodded seriously.
"I forgot. Next time for sure."
"...Hmph!"
Yuna lightly kicked him in annoyance before dissolving back into the shadows.
Illya's schedule was already packed.
Just producing the items Ron had prioritized took up most of her time.
On top of that, she still had her own experiments to run.
So naturally, Ron had to prioritize the most important projects first.
As for Yuna's personal vehicle—
That had been pushed far down the list.
Besides, she already had something to play with.
Recently, her puppet body stationed in Tansen City had been training Ron's guards.
And during her free time—
She'd been driving the bus around the outskirts like a maniac.
Ron had heard of people getting addicted to driving before.
But seeing it firsthand—
And in another world, no less—
It was a first.
Because of this, strange rumors had started spreading within Tansen City:
A steel beast had appeared on the outskirts.
It didn't attack anyone—
It just ran wildly across the fields.
And strangely enough…
Whenever it spotted people, it would immediately turn around and leave.
Most witnesses only caught a glimpse of its silhouette before it vanished in a cloud of dust.
The incident had even put the city patrols on edge—
Until Yuna, somewhat embarrassed, admitted the truth to Ron.
After Ron clarified things with the city officials, the matter finally died down.
"My new ride—don't forget again."
Yuna's voice suddenly whispered in Ron's ear.
A shadow surfaced behind his head, her face appearing close to his ear.
The warm breath made his ear twitch instinctively.
"Yeah, yeah… got it."
"Such a perfunctory answer."
Yuna rolled her eyes.
Then, her expression turned sly.
"By the way… have you and Nora been doing anything at night?"
"When we bathed together, she still seemed pretty inexperienced."
She grinned.
"Do you have some kind of problem in that department?"
"I'd like to hold my great-nephew sooner rather than later."
Ron's face darkened.
He shoved her face away with one hand, pushing her straight back into the shadows.
"I'm perfectly fine. Go ask Nora tonight if you're so curious."
After some playful bickering, the carriage soon arrived at the suburban convent.
Before even stepping inside, Ron spotted a large notice posted at the entrance.
The words "War of the Gods" were written prominently.
He chuckled and walked in.
After looking around, he asked a nearby nun:
"Where's Sylvie?"
"Lady Sylvie is holding matches at the Tansen City convent this morning," the nun replied respectfully. "She'll return here in the afternoon."
A true master of time management…
Ron couldn't help but think.
After watching a few matches, he quickly lost interest.
Just as he was about to leave, he noticed a ranking board posted on the wall.
Out of habit, he looked at the bottom first—
But strangely…
Sylvie's name wasn't there.
What?
With her skill, she didn't even rank last?
His gaze moved upward—
Until he finally found her name… in the middle of the rankings.
And her score wasn't even bad.
"…Cough."
The nun beside him noticed his reaction and quietly explained:
"Lady Sylvie is our leader… we have to give her some face."
Ron immediately understood and couldn't help but laugh.
Thinking about Sylvie's actual skill level—
He suddenly felt deep respect for the other nuns.
You've all worked hard…
Getting Sylvie to win even a single match was probably harder than winning streaks themselves.
And yet—
They still had to carefully maintain her ranking at a respectable mid-tier level.
Just imagining the effort involved made Ron shudder.
Still—
At least Sylvie finally got to experience the joy of winning.
So… congratulations, I guess.
After that, Ron made a round through the cultivation base to check on things.
Compared to before, the base had expanded several times over.
With over two hundred nuns managing it—
They were already at their limit.
The staff that allowed ordinary people to use the Plant Manipulation Spell—
It was already in development by Illya.
Ron planned to test the first batch here in the City of Chaos.
If successful, it would then be introduced to Tansen City as a second trial.
If that worked—
He'd no longer have to worry about the large-scale production of Chameleon Radish.
In the end, the core problem remained the same:
There simply weren't enough mages.
If everyone could use magic—
Things would be much simpler.
But then again…
If that were the case, this world probably wouldn't be as peaceful as it currently is.
After finishing his inspection, Ron boarded the carriage once more and headed toward the private laboratory.
The element gun had already been completed.
All that remained—
It was for him to inspect it.