Axel was having a headache.

Teruria, being able to see the System panel, was a risk factor that he couldn't manage.

But at the same time, she wasn't someone he could "dispose" of either. Doing that would definitely lead to his doom faster than when his debt collectors arrive.

The most he could do was to restrict her movements, but...

"Wait..." Axel paused, turning to Navi with a questioning look. "You said that thanks to us sharing our mana pool, she's now able to see and interact with the system...?"

[That's not what I said, but still true. Yes.]

"Stop nitpicking!" He grumbled before pushing that matter aside. "Then, wouldn't this mean she could also use the system herself?"

"Huh?"

[Hmm... That's definitely possible too.] Navi nodded after looking at the confused loli princess. [Right now, she's like your proxy. Under the system's eyes, she's no different than you are.]

"I see...!"

Axel's lips rose into a grin.

In his eyes, Teruria no longer looked like a risky individual, but rather, a gold mine!

But of course, if he's not careful in how he "pulls" her, then that in and of itself is a risk too. Thus, he paused for a moment to think before speaking.

"Princess Teruria, do you know how grave this situation is?" he spoke in a deep, intimidating tone.

"Y-Yes!" Teruria nodded repeatedly before explaining herself. "But don't worry! I won't tell anyone, not even mother, I swear!"

"No." But Axel shook his head. "Just a verbal promise wouldn't cut it. Just that wouldn't be enough to gain my trust. After all, at this moment, you have access to all I have, and I can't even stop you if you took advantage of it."

Right.

Since she could access the system panel herself, that meant she could also call the panel, withdraw items from his inventory, or buy from the shop! Whatever Axel could do, she also could!

"That... but the covenant prevents..."

The gravity of the situation, the pressure from Axel, and her inexperience with negotiation all compounded, making her unable to think straight—just as Axel planned!

"Right, the covenant."

Axel then cut to the chase, closing in on Teruria, crouching before her, and pressing down on her shoulders.

"As a normal human, I have no idea of the importance of the covenant to witches like you. However, I could still understand that it signifies something great." He proceeded.

"Thus, I propose something to you. How about helping me in enriching the lives of everyone in this camp?"

"Huh...?"

Teruria thought that Axel was angry at her, but then he turned kind all of a sudden. Such a rapid change caught her off-guard, causing her brain to short-circuit for a bit.

"Help me make money through the shop. In return, you'll receive 25% of your raw profits."

"The shop... the interdimensional Shop..."

"Correct." Axel nodded, holding back a grin as he explained. "All you need to do is..."

And just like that, Axel's first "shop slave" was created.

...

Axel, after his latest bulk-selling of his manufactured items, noticed an anomaly.

The prices of everything he was selling were starting to drop.

In short, his effort alone was enough to alleviate the crippling disparity of the supply and demand for the witches' items.

Although this was good for the witches, as they could buy their necessities at a lower price, this wasn't good news to Axel. After all, this also meant a drop in his profits—and a pretty major one at that.

That's why, as a stopgap measure, he employed Teruria's help.

Her job was simple: to select easy-to-manufacture but high-demand items from the recipe list and buy them. Then, set them to auto-batch craft to make them quickly. This way, Axel could diversify his products and, at the same time, dip his fingers into other untapped markets!

Well, long story short, he just dumped all witchery products' management to Teruria!

This way, he could focus on other markets and see if he could get a major slice of the pie!

"The devil is coming."

Back in the camp, in front of the bonfire's remains, Axel announced grimly.

Such an announcement confused most—but one. Arianne, whose face turned paler than before.

"W-We should evacuate fast!" she quickly suggested.

Although Axel was sure she wanted to take revenge on the devil, her mind was still sound. She knew that she had no winning chance, so protecting Eve became her first priority.

Thus, her suggestion of escaping this instant.

However, that option didn't exist in Axel's dictionary.

"No," he said firmly, explaining the cold, hard truth of the situation. "Considering our movement speed, we'll just get caught up even if we all ran away."

"That..."

Arianne knew that Axel's statement was correct.

In the past, they only escaped successfully because the entire knight order put their lives on the line to let them escape. Without anyone to slow the enemy down, escape was futile.

"Then! Then I'll stay behind and slow them down! That way—!"

"That's a big no too."

Axel quickly shot down Arianne's desire to sacrifice herself.

Firstly, because it's a waste. But more than that... "With the enemy's numbers, one or two... No, even if Eve alone escaped while we all delayed the enemy, that wouldn't work. We're outnumbered by them, after all."

"Then... what should we...!"

Just as despair was hanging in the air, Axel slammed his feet against the ground, gathering all eyes.

"Of course, those scenarios are only if we decided to run away. If we ran, our chances of winning are nil." He explained, but then a small smile crept up his lips.

"But think about it. We have a strong wall and powerful, blessed weapons. Who in here thinks we'll lose to a bunch of goblins and goats?"

"...!"

All of a sudden, life returned to the girls.

"Right, with the giant bows...!""We have nothing to fear!""What devil? It won't even be able to come near our camp!"

They chattered with shaky voices, obviously trying to chase away the fear ingrained in their hearts.

"But of course, the enemy is powerful. At our current state, winning is not a guarantee."

Axel continued, breaking their bubbles—only to supplement them with something else. "And so..."

He waved his hand, causing two dozen swords to appear, stabbing straight into the hard ground. Each of the swords looked absolutely the same. Same design, same blade length, same weight. As if a weapon made for a group.

"These are...!"

Of course, Arianne noticed the unconcealable radiance coming from the blades. She knew what those swords really were at a glance!

"Starting now," Axel continued, watching everyone's expressions, "we will be establishing a new Knight Order!"

"H-Huuuh?!"

At that moment, everyone but Teruria—who knew of this arrangement beforehand—gasped in shock.

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