Following the directions given by Miya and Akitsu, not long after Kaito and his group arrive at the southern part of the town of the beginning. On there, they found a lot of players acting as street vendors selling a dropped item or their own crafter equipment, as it seems to be a marketplace for players.

After walking around for a while in the area, they finally found the person they are seeking. To make sure they didn't get the wrong person, Kaito even asked the system to confirm her identity with her profile, which made Kaito and her group stand in front of her grounded stall for a while-- full of low-quality equipment that should be crafted by herself along with some potions.

...

Meanwhile, Lisbeth aka Shinozaki Rika herself also confused with Kaito's group behavior. After all, Kaito's party has been standing in front of her stall for a while without buying anything or even saying anything. Lisbeth also notice the whole group seems to look at her face as if they recognized her, which made her wonder if she had met any of them in real life.

The boy itself looks like the same age as her, but after digging deep into her memory-- Lisbeth was sure that she never met him in real life-- or any older woman in that group. Lisbeth believe if she had seen them, she will remember them. Kaito's appearance after all quite unique and attractive, being a blonde-haired boy looming with confidence-- and those older woman also looks like those model on television.

...

"Anoo... All of you have been looking at my goods for a while. Do you have something you are interested in?" Lisbeth asked the group of players in front of her politely. 

Hearing her question, Kaito quickly realizes his mistake probably made a misunderstanding and explains his purpose, "Ah, sorry. Actually, we are here looking for you."

"Do you know me? Have we met before?" Lisbeth once again asked, wondering if the blonde guy really knew her.

"Not really..." Kaito who had no idea how to explain his reason then continue said, "Let me repeat our purpose for coming here, we are here looking for you"

"Alright, I am here. What do you want from me?" 

"Well, first off. Can I ask you what is your name?" Kaito asked with a curious tone.  Even though Kaito already know her name, he needs to pretend, considering their circumstances as a stranger.

"My name is Lisbeth." She introduced herself by putting a hand on her chest, showing she is not afraid of him. She also decides to close her stall temporarily, there are no customers who want her badly crafted equipment anyway.

"How about you, blonde boy?"

Ignoring her nickname, Kaito also quickly introduced himself, "My name is Kaito and all woman behind me is my party members... Nice to meet you"

"Great." Lisbeth nodded and then with looks of scrutiny she asked, "Now we have passed the introduction phase, Kaito-san, what do you need from me?" 

*Cough*

"I am here wanted to offer you a good deal" Kaito decides to directly say his intentions since he is not good at lying on the spot.

"Huh? A deal?" Lisbeth tilted her head in confusion.

Kaito nodded then quickly explained, "We can fund your blacksmith career, provide all blacksmith material you need and even protect you whenever you need protection."

"W-What?" 

"In exchange, you will become our affiliated blacksmith, someone repairs our weapon and made custom equipment for us. Of course, we will still pay for our order and we won't limit you to selling your equipment to others." 

...

Listening to their master's explanation, All of the girls also become confused since Kaito never told them about the whole deal with Lisbeth. They thought that Kaito just wanted to order weapons for them to use, not literally cooperating and funding her career. Still, they believe in Kaito's decision and decide not to question their master-- for now.

On the other hand, Lisbeth who hears the deal truly feels surprised... Because she really doesn't lose anything on this deal and is aware Kaito just said the truth. As an apprentice blacksmith, Lisbeth does really need time, a lot of money, and a lot of material to raise her skill level.

Someone supporting her dream for free in exchange for becoming their affiliated blacksmith wasn't a bad deal at all. She doesn't even mind if they ask her to make their equipment for free for such a good deal.

...

"This deal is way too good... Do you really trust my ability that much?" Lisbeth asked with doubt.

Kaito who can't explain the reason just shrugged and answered with a serious tone, "Let's say, I have an eye for good people. I think you have the potential to become the best blacksmith in this world and I really mean it."

"..."

Hearing Kaito's words to her, she can't help but feel touched-- as no one recognized her talent before. At this moment, Kaito successfully made a good impression on her-- way too much that actually made her blush.

On the side, the girls looked at their master with deadpanned expressions, as Kaito just broke his promise. In their eyes, Kaito just flirting with Lisbeth-- and it does work very well without even realizing it. Once again, they were reminded about how terrifying their master was to capture a girl's heart and feel they need to teach Kaito a lesson about his charm.

...

"I-I agree... But only with conditions." Lisbeth answered after calming herself down. She would be a fool to reject such a good deal, but she knows that she needs insurance.

"Say it." 

"First, Promise that you will always answer my call. Second, if there is a request that I deem unreasonable, I can refuse it without breaking our deal." Lisbeth stated. 

"We are okay with that." Kaito agrees without hesitation.

"Then, I will agree with this deal"

To show her trust, Lisbeth then opened her hood, revealing her brown hair color and pretty face openly in front of Kaito.

Kaito smiled, and to show his goodwill-- stretch his hand to offer a handshake "Welcome to the team, Lisbeth-san. Happy cooperation"

"Happy cooperation" Lisbeth quickly accepted the handshake, solidifying their cooperation deal.

...

After that Lisbeth decides to follow Kaito's group (or party) traveling around that day to discuss furthermore their deal and learn about her new friends. Kaito obviously didn't mind, he also helped Lisbeth complete all the quests she can't do alone and the girls were surprisingly also helpful toward her. To be honest, he knows this action probably affects the future of this world greatly-- but nevertheless, Kaito believes the impact would be minimal since Lisbeth herself belong to one episode focus character.

Kaito didn't know that other group members also approach and befriend other important characters on their own, which actually made an enormous impact on the future plot.

>>>>>

[Focus on second group: Non-combatant members]

While Kaito's group and his new member Lisbeth get known to each other, not far away from their location, there is Inn where Erina and her group (non-combatant) reside. Unlike the Kaito group who always actively traveled outside, the second group always stayed inside the Inn practicing their skill-- except for Yuu who actively go outside to provide resources for them.

Thankfully, they could rent a kitchen inside the Inn to practice their cooking skill... So Erina and Arato have been staying a lot inside the kitchen. Their room was also soundproof for some reason, so Uta also tried her best to raise her singing skills too-- that apparently also exists.

...

"How it is, Uta-san?" Erina asked as she just offered their newly made soup to Uta.

"Mmm..."

After taking a few spoons from the soup, Uta quickly give her evaluation, "This soup is much better than the previous attempt, but I think the potato is a bit too mushy. I also think the broth is a bit salty. 6/10" 

*Sigh*

Hearing Uta answer, Erina can't help but complained, "Hopefully we could get better ingredients on the higher floor... I am really not satisfied with the quality of these ingredients."

"It can't be helped. The potato itself say [Decent Potato]. Of course, the taste wasn't great. The salt itself called dropped from a monster, it tastes slightly different from normal salt, as it got a bitter taste on it too" Arato commented, also annoyed by the situation.

"Not to mention we need to keep grinding level of our cooking skill so we could proceed the ingredients better and faster for some reason." Erina also complained.

"Yes. This game mechanic is really annoying, Erina-sama" Arato adds more complaints. 

"..."

Uta who realizes both of them complaining again (they do it a lot and it's annoying for her to listen) decides to divert the topic, "Anyway, it would be better if we could buy a house for us to live together. We can't keep renting the Inn kitchen forever" 

Erina agrees with Uta but she knows their current condition is not possible, "But a house would cost a lot of money... And except Yuu-san, none of us have a good combat ability" 

"Ah... That's true! Perhaps, we could ask Yuu-san to get more money enough to buy a house?" Uta suggested.

."..."

Hearing Uta's suggestion. Erina stared at her with a deadpan look and quickly reprimand her, "Uta-san... We should already be thankful to Yuu-san that she didn't complain about us. She's the only person who gives us resources to keep us stay here without being exposed to danger outside of the town"

"Aha-haha-ha... I just kidding, you know?" Uta apologized.

At that moment, Arato who thought of something suddenly raised her hand, "Actually I got an idea, Erina-sama" 

"Idea?"

"How about selling our dishes on the street, perhaps opening a stall? We could earn money that way and in the future, we would have enough money to buy a house after saving a lot of our profit" Arato explained.

Hearing Arato's idea, Uta stood up and said with excitement, "I like it! But... how do we do that? I have never sold anything before, and do we need to build the stall ourselves?"

"Sigh... Despite being the oldest one here, Uta-san you are not the brightest here." Erina shook her head.

"Correction, Yuu-san is the oldest one here--- Ouch!"

...!!!

Before Uta was able to retort Erina completely, a clean hit suddenly hit her back and made her almost fall to the floor. Because of their intense discussion, they didn't realize Yuu have come back from the outside and just happen to hear Uta's outrageous statement about her.

"It's rude to say about a woman's age, Uta-san" Yuu said as she let out a breath.

"It's hurt, Yuu-san! My HP bar just dropped!" Uta throws a tantrum, but none of the girls help her as it was completely her own fault. 

"Welcome back, Yuu-san." Ignoring Uta's painful expression, Erina greet her and asked, "Are you okay? How is the result?"

"A lot of it. Don't worry. We can rent this place for more than one month." Yuu answered proudly.

Hearing her answer, Erina smiled and sincerely said, "Thank you. We promise to give you a taste of our best dishes"

"No problem" Yuu nodded and take a sit on the chair in the kitchen. Arato who is quick on the initiative prepared a portion of soup for her to taste, which she gladly accepts and consumes.

Meanwhile, Uta who just recovered said with excitement, "Speaking of dishes, Yuu-san. We are just talking about opening a stall on the street to earn some money. What do you think?"

"Mmm... Good idea." You nodded while having bliss as she tasted the soup. Compared to the food in this world that barely has a taste at the current time, Erina and Arato's dishes are like food from heaven.

"But is it possible to open a stall aside from NPC?" Uta asked again which Yuu responded with a nod again.

"Yes. We can rent space from NPC not far away from this location. A lot of players also sell their goods there... Become a street vendor that sell various items."

"Renting huh? Do we need to hunt a monster first..." Erina murmured.

Yuu naturally understand this group problem and quickly added, "Don't worry. I have enough money to rent after hunting a lot of monsters"

Hearing what Yuu just said, Uta become excited and quickly hug her, "Yuu-san! You are our lifesaver!" 

"We owe you again, Yuu-san." Erina said with an apologetic tone, but Yuu just smiled and answered, "It's okay. I wanted to do this too."

...

Even though Yuu is the only one who earns money and material in the group, she doesn't mind at all doing this for her friends. Yuu is aware none of the girls aside from her group have a talent for fighting with swords, so it's better for her to do it anyway. (A/N: Yuu has lived hundreds of years and experienced a lot of wars in her world)

In return, the girls do their best to friend with Yuu, and because of that, her experience in this world has been one of the happiest moments in her entire long life. After all, not only there is no need to be afraid of her own power, but she also meets a lot of people who genuinely wanted to be friends with her.

...

After Yuu did tasting her soup and having a good rest time, all of the Erina group went to the marketplace area together in order to rent a space for them to use to sell their dishes in the area as they have planned. Unfortunately, Erina and her group didn't meet Kaito's group as they were already leaving for the next village with Lisbeth.

Renaxan

The chapter would be shorter if I decide to tell, instead of showing everything lol. I could split this chapter into 2 but I feel awkward of doing so.