A/N: Alright, let's get to this chapter! As a small note, there are going to be some spoilers for Volume 15 and 16 in this chapter in case that bothers you.

Albedo furrowed her brows in frustration. What could a genius, unrivalled throughout the continent, such as her possibly be vexed by?

Well, it was nothing other than trying to grasp what her lover was thinking.

In Albedo's eyes, there was no true way for a lowly being such as herself to fully comprehend the thoughts of a Supreme Being, but given how deeply she was in love with him, she considered it a failure if she could not gleam even a small fraction of his thoughts.

Normally, Suzuki Satoru would be thinking of random banal crap whenever Albedo was thinking like this, but today, he was actually deep in thought about something.

Unable to contain herself any further, Albedo piped up, "Is something wrong, Suzuki-sama? Is the food cold? I'll get the waiter and-"

"Eh? N-No, Albedo," Suzuki said, waving for her to sit down.

They were on one of their 'dates' so to speak. Well, they already spent most of their time together, but he had heard from some of the other guild members back in the day who were married that it was necessary to do so to keep the 'spark' alive. He had chosen this restaurant as it was considered to be first-class, with delicacies on par with the food in the Golden Shining Pavilion Inn.

Once he reached there, there was the question of what to order. His attention immediately went to one thing- the new Ignonick meat steak. The head chef of this place had found a new seasoning technique given that Ignonick meat was more widely available and so easier to experiment with. This was all told to him by Albedo because he still didn't know how to read this nation's language aside from a few letters.

He didn't need to hesitate to order it, but he didn't eat it and ended up staring at it (drawing Albedo's attention) as he thought something- though they had decreased the price of their meat, their sales had not risen as expected. He saw meat grown from his ranch on many neighboring tables. What, then, was the reason that less people were buying it?

"Well, I just saw last night's report," Suzuki said. He didn't understand many of them despite his attempts, however, he was able to understand some of the basic summaries and figures displayed on the reports. "Sales of meat have been falling, and so decreasing the cost has overall cost us money. I could throw more into the Shredder but... Oh!"

"Hmm?" Albedo asked.

"Uh, I think I already figured it out," Suzuki said.

Using common sense, as prices fell demand so also fall. But he was reminded of a story by one of his superiors while they were chatting with one another. Apparently, they had decided against buying an imported watch because the brand was now releasing them at a discount.

Of course! Ignonick meat was usually considered a luxury. As it became cheaper and more commonplace, it would be seen as a 'peasant's dish' so to speak. It would appear that Suzuki had already saturated the market.

The words of Blue Planet came to him then. "Did you know, they're saying that this new asteroid coming close to the Earth has enough metals to be worth over 145 quadrillion yen. Don't let that fool you though- it can't have more money than the whole world's economy, after all. It only states those exaggerated prices assuming you're selling at current prices, as you sell more, the price will drop."

This was a basic enough lesson for anyone trained in business, but Suzuki Satoru had only been taught up to the Fifth Grade at best. As he was now essentially the CEO of a large company in his eyes, he had to learn things like this.

It was then that he actually took a bite of the steak and found that it was rather enjoyable. Well, for some people there were things more important than taste. For the wealthy, paying a lot for an object was often a matter of pride. In the few encounters he had had with the nobility of this world, this seemed to be true here as well as in his own world.

It was especially true for jewelry. For example, an engagement ring.

Albedo wore a ring that they had found in the Minotaur Sage's vault- Suzuki had handed it over to her without much thought but she kept it on her ring finger, most likely imagining it as a wedding ring for herself.

It was actually something that had been bothering Suzuki in the back of his mind- at some point along their relationship it would be assumed that he would propose to her. For that, he would need a ring- and given his newfound station in life, it would have to be quite rare or expensive. Most likely both.

He had often heard that the idea of spending three month's salary on an engagement ring was just propaganda made by the DeBeer's Megacorp, however, it appeared to be a custom in this world too. And even if Albedo would be happy with any old ring, he thought that he owed it to some extent to make something spectacular for her.

"As expected of Suzuki-sama, to have figured out the answer to his own question so easily!" Albedo said.

"Uh, yeah, right," Suzuki said.

The issue was that it was hard to find a ring worthy of a level one hundred entity. Would Albedo prefer something which looked good- or something that was valuable in battle? In Yggdrasil it was completely possible to make any item look like anything- so it would normally be possible for Suzuki to do in Yggdrasil, but not here. The more he strained his mind, the more he thought something like a cash shop item, such as a Shooting Star Ring would be appropriate.

Shrugging these thoughts away, he took another bite out of the steak. Again, it was nearly as good as anything he had ever tasted.

"This simply will not do," Suzuki Satoru said as he finished reading the next stash of papers.

Albedo could hear the disappointment in his voice. Did this mean that she had made a mistake somewhere? "Suzuki-sama, what's wrong?"

Suzuki leaned back in his chair. "Everything is going good. And that is precisely the problem."

Everything was going good- they were getting good prices and gold for their Ignonick meat, the Kingdom's government was practically dancing to their tune, and many reforms that Suzuki wished for were being passed.

But- because everything was good- and because they weren't being challenged- there was little opportunity for growth. What was it said? 'Need is the mother of invention?'

Well, there was nothing that they needed. As such, their organization would stagnate. Many companies of Suzuki's world had grown large but ultimately collapsed because they had refused to innovate.

Then again, it wasn't just true for the organization as a whole. There was also something wrong with how Suzuki was doing things. Perhaps it had been the abundance of happy times with Albedo- but he had stopped taking many things seriously as well. He wasn't training aside from the XP gained by the monthly strike against that monster which could be summoned within Necropolis- he had brushed aside this concern many times before with the answer of 'There is little I could do to get XP anyway' given how many creatures he would have to kill. However, he remembered the Demon Tree.

It was entirely possible that there were similarly powerful creatures or entities out there in this world. If so, not only could they be a valuable source of XP, but they would also be potential threats to him and Albedo. Against someone who was truly strong, Suzuki Satoru knew that he stood no chance.

This had to change. There had to be something that he could do- if only he tried hard enough. He had a new sense of respect for Touch Me- someone who could strive to improve himself despite being the victor.

"We won't grow if we continue to simply dominate others without any resistance," Suzuki said. It was against powerful foes, after all, that lessons could be learnt. "That is true for both people as well as for organizations. For example, while our profits are high, we should look into investing into other products. Or else, we will end up rotting and decaying."

Albedo's eyes lit up and her wings began to beat faster. "Oh, Suzuki-sama, I have the most perfect idea for a new product line we can sell!"

Suzuki was quite surprised- it was rare for Albedo to have an idea like this for something new on her own. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she was an NPC created with preprogrammed features, but she had trouble thinking of new ideas or of things outside the box so to speak. True, she was a genius of unrivalled intellect, but that was mainly limited to domains that had already been explored. It was hard for her to come up with things that were entirely new.

"Oh? What is it then, Albedo?" Suzuki asked, quite excited to know what this new product was.

Albedo pulled a bottle out of her inventory. Suzuki at first thought that it was a wine bottle- but the fluid inside was nearly as clear as water. "Albedo- what is this?"

"It is Suzuki-sama's bathwater!" Albedo explained proudly, rubbing the bottle against her face.

"Hngh!"

"This is absolutely a premium product!" Albedo said excitedly. "We can talk about all of the health benefits of drinking this! I'm sure the product will simply fly off the shelves!"

"ALBEDO!" Suzuki cried out.

At last, Suzuki had been able to convince Albedo that it was a bad idea to sell people's bathwater, and Albedo agreed when he told her that it was 'far too special' for public consumption.

But good grief though, to think that Albedo had been taking his bathwater all this time... and how long had it been since she had been doing so? Was she... drinking his bathwater?

A part of him didn't want to know the answer.

As it was, later on, while both of them were in bed he began tracing his finger on her skin mindlessly, thinking of what his next possible move should be.

The bathwater idea was a bad one, but surely there had to be something else that they could innovate in? His mind drifted away before seizing upon a distant memory- that of a sword imbued with runes that he had seen in Osk's house.

Runecraft... come to think of it, at that time, he had been thinking that it might be a good idea to try and find out whether or not more advanced runecraft techniques existed in this world. He had never been able to find out whether or not such classes existed in Yggdrasil, but the fact remained that it was possible it was a hidden class not easily accessible.

But, if it existed in this world it could mean one of two things. One, that Runecrafting was an ability unique to this world. Two, that it had existed in Yggdrasil but no one had ever managed to unlock that system. Or possibly some Players had found it out but no knowledge had ever reached his guild.

It meant though that there was potentially a wellspring of knowledge that neither he nor any other player had tapped into. If he could go ahead and obtain that power...

"Oh?" Albedo moaned as he was aimlessly flicking his finger over her chest, or so he thought. It turned out that his motions were not as aimless as he had presumed.

"Suzuki-sama," Albedo said. "Are you tracing out that symbol for a reason?"

"Hmm?" Suzuki said. He hadn't even thought about what he was doing quite honestly, but now that he paid attention to it, he was tracing out a rune on top of Albedo's skin. "Oh, that was just a rune that I had heard of." He didn't even know if that was an actual rune in the world- the rune he was thinking of was based off another game's system.

"Ah- is it important in some way?" she asked him.

"Important? I mean, I've been thinking of expanding our wares... and Runecraft seems to be the ideal place to start but I can't be sure," Suzuki said. "Did you notice the symbol somewhere?"

"Indeed- it was engraved on the blade of a dagger I had seen recently," she said.

"Oh? And where is this dagger now?"

Albedo shifted uncomfortably and had a pained expression on her face- as if she was expecting a scolding, and not the kind she would've liked. "Ah, forgive me- I might have overlooked something."

"Um, Albedo, I'm sure it's all fine," Suzuki said. If anything, he was consistently worried that he might end up doing something dumb with disastrous consequences- thankfully nothing of the sort had happened yet.

"I had a chance to obtain the dagger in question- though I had not thought it was of any importance. Forgive me," she said, bowing her head. It was not made any less awkward by the fact that she was still completely naked.

"Relax, Albedo, I don't think I've ever mentioned Runecraft in detail prior to this," Suzuki said. "So I don't think it's a problem if you missed it- it couldn't be helped."

"But that time in the Empire- with Osk- I had seen Runes before! I should've noticed them," she said.

"Relax, Albedo, it's fine," Suzuki said. "We should focus on trying to find where the book is right now. Do you have any idea where it could be?"

Her head shot up. "Ah- I don't know if he managed to sell it or not- but I do know the person who was going to sell it if you'd like to meet him."

"Sure," Suzuki said. However, he had by now recovered enough for another round. Perhaps he should deal with that urge first before he went on to business. "Albedo- get down on all fours for me would you?"

Phillip was frustrated.

Here he was- someone who had purportedly obtained a rare treasure.

But he had no way to sell it.

He had gone to the Magician's Guild- and though they were able to verify that it was Runecraft and possibly valuable- they quoted a price that to Phillip, was quite low. As such, he resolved to go around looking for a buyer himself.

But that unfortunately meant that he was still sitting in the cheapest inn in E-Rantel. Everything about it ticked him off- the smell, the mold, the rats, and the other people he was forced to share the place with.

A fresh wave of ire came over him. Why was it so hard to get this done? In the stories, whenever adventurers found secret treasure, they were always able to sell it off and then live their lives in luxury forever after. Was it always this difficult to sell what they had though?

Could it be that he would never get a price higher than what the Magician's Guild and that shopkeeper had quoted? If so, he had not really landed upon anything that was quite that rare?

No- it must've been that they were trying to swindle him. Yessiree, that had to be the answer and not-

His thoughts were interrupted as there was a knock at the door. Odd- he wasn't expecting any visitors and he didn't think that his roommate would have come in by now.

"Come in," he muttered lazily.

And then the door opened to reveal a sight he would never have thought he would be able to see aside from in his dreams. Albedo walked in, in all her splendor.

He had been lazily coaxed upon his bed up till now but now he bolted right up, trying make himself look a little presentable. Not for the first time, he regretted living in this kind of squalor.

Behind him walked in a man he had seen before but never interacted closely with- Suzuki Satoru, the Adamantite adventurer who was technically his boss.

Initially he had thought that one of his wildest fantasies had come true when Albedo walked in, but now that he was in tow... it could rapidly become one of his most terrible nightmares instead.

He had a good idea of why the two of them might've come in to visit him. And it wasn't good- they had likely found out that he and Louise had been skimming part of the Ignonick meat they were supposed to sell. Would they sell him out to the authorities? Or would they instead decide to take justice in their own hands?

His hand went for the enchanted dagger- he didn't know how well he could do against two Adamantite adventurers, but he could at least hope that he might have a fighting chance with the dagger.

"Ah, greetings," Suzuki said. He waved his hand and then a chair appeared out of thin air in front of him. And then another one came as well. "I suppose you won't mind it if we sit down?"

So they weren't looking to kill him? "Um, no, of course not."

"Apologies for this sudden intrusion," Suzuki said. "But I had heard that you had happened upon something interestingly rare and valuable. It is of some interest to me, and I wished to inquire further."

It took Phillip a moment to wrap his head around what Suzuki was saying. Ah right- the dagger and the book!

"Ah, yes, of course," Phillip said. He pulled the dagger out of his pocket, and then turned to take out the book from where it was hidden underneath his bed. It wasn't the securest of hiding spots, but when you were someone like Phillip, you made do with what you had.

"Hmm..." Suzuki said as he turned the dagger around in his hand. "Ah, quite interesting. Where did you happen to find this?"

Phillip opened his mouth and then instantly closed it. Should he be honest with how he got it?

His mind raced to find an alternate answer but couldn't possibly conceive of a lie that would be believable and so he just decided to speakt he truth.

He of course admitted the fact that they had stolen some of the Ignonick meat, but when he got to the part where they encountered the dragon, Albedo, for the first time since she had entered the room, shifted her expression. He had initially been quite worried that a lady of her stature would find it uneasy to be in such a lowly establishment- but if she was perturbed, she did not show it. However, the mention of the dragon did seem to get to her.

"Ah, a dragon? And what happened next?" Suzuki asked.

Phillip got to the part where he had chased it off with a rock, and as could be expected- it didn't look like they believed him.

"Look, Satoru-san, I know that this might be a bit hard to believe, but that is what happened," Phillip said. "It is what happened- and you can ask my friend Louise who was there with me."

"Suzuki-sama, his words are hard to take at face value," Albedo said.

"Indeed, but..." Suzuki said as he used [Mana Essence] and [Life Essence] on Phillip, seeing that he had no mana and a miniscule health bar- indicating he was likely weak. "...but if he had to lie, wouldn't he lie somewhat more believingly? His story is so crazy that no one in their right minds would spin a yarn like that." He then turned to Phillip. "Could you lead us back to the spot where you encountered this dragon?"

"Uh, yeah, sure..." Phillip said. He then shifted uncomfortably in his seat, unsure of how to voice what was on his mind.

"Oh? Is something the matter?" Suzuki asked. "Were you busy doing something before we interrupted you?"

"No, that isn't the issue," Phillip said. He opened his mouth but closed it again. "I don't wish to be presumptuous though- regarding this incident, if I were to help you- what would the payment be?"

"Payment?" Suzuki asked. Albedo flinched next to him, but a wave of his hand quieted her.

"Yeah, this isn't really in my normal duties and is kind of dangerous so..." Phillip trailed off.

"Right, right, sure, we'll think of a suitable... how does two gold coins for this trip seem?" Suzuki said while stroking his chin.

Phillip had to resist the urge to saying "Yes" too soon as it would seem he would be too desperate. "Ah, alright, that seems reasonable enough. When are we leaving?"

"Immediately," Suzuki said as he created a [Gate] in the room.

"So it was around here," Phillip said.

Suzuki frowned- this place was a bit off the trail wasn't it? Why would they camp out here? Granted, his monsters should have cleared out the forest but he couldn't have too many of them on patrol given there was a risk of them being discovered. This was one of the few 'blind spots' so to say in their patrols, but had Phillip and Louise just stayed on the path they wouldn't have run into this kind of problem.

Suzuki voiced this concern to Phillip, who simply replied that they were inexperienced and thought that this was a better place to camp. Suzuki couldn't really think of an argument to say against that.

"And the dragon ran away somewhere in that direction," Phillip said.

Suzuki could see no trace of any footprints, but there were large trees knocked over. That could've easily been done by any kind of magical beast of course. Unfortunately he had no tracking abilities and neither did Albedo. However...

"[Raise High Wraiths]!" he said. Several shadows appeared- they looked like three people fused together, constantly shifting between forms of animals and humanoids and all sorts of strange fusions in-between. The grass nearby lost its moisture and Suzuki could see Phillip shiver in response to the aura they emanate. It was not something he had intended, so he would give him a proper apology later. "Scour this forest- we are looking for a dragon. It can't be hard to find."

The High Wraiths disappeared and Phillip seemed to be more at ease. The auras of fear that the High Wraiths would emanate would cause quite a stir, and a creature as large as a dragon-

"-over there!" Albedo said, pointing to a region of the forest where a huge flock of birds had suddenly risen out of. It also looked like several trees had collapsed.

"Alright, let's get going then," Suzuki said.

"Understood!" Albedo said. With a flick of her wrist she summoned her War Bicorn Lord and mounted it.

Suzuki opened another [Gate] and motioned towards Phillip. "We can take it from here, that should take you back to your room."

Phillip glanced at the [Gate] and then took in a deep breath. Was it worth the risk to try and do this...?

"If you don't mind, may I come along with you?" Phillip asked.

Both Suzuki and Albedo were surprised at this question of his. "Ah, we wouldn't be able to protect you while you're with us."

"I-I'm willing to take that risk!" Phillip said.

He wasn't sure exactly why he was going ahead with this- the thing was that he had a sinking feeling that if he went back through that [Gate] all the way back to his room, a life of continued mediocrity was all that awaited him. And above all, he did not want to return to that. "And... you might need me to make sure that it's the same dragon and all!"

Suzuki scratched his chin and said, "Very well then. But again, you do so at your own risk."

Phillip nodded- thought a part of him was wondering whether or not this was a good idea after all.

"You'll ride with me then," Suzuki said. "[Summon Undead 9th Tier]!"

A nightmarish-looking steed emerged from the ground. It had two pairs of glowing red eyes, and its head was elongated with a mouth containing many sharp teeth as pointy as that of a carnivore's. It was covered in dark armored which was engraved with crimson runes (these were only cosmetic from what Suzuki remembered) and although it looked far more frightening than Albedo's War Bicorn Lord, it had only a fraction of its strength- however this was partially compensated by the fact that it could cast a few spells.

Suzuki remembered a part of the lore regarding the beast. There was a quest in Yggdrasil- 'The Taming Of Catastros'. It was an undead horse which had grown powerful throughout the ages and none had tamed it as it grew wild. Wherever its hooves fell, grass did not grow and only nightshade and hemlock would blossom in its wake. It was a beginner level quest only, but still one that he remembered as it brought back memories of when he had just first started playing the game.

Phillip gulped. He had thought- or rather hoped, that he would be allowed to ride alongside Albedo. He didn't know this but no one aside from the summoner could ride the War Bicorn Lord- though interestingly enough Suzuki had found that Albedo could carry prisoners on it if she chose. How was the distinction between prisoners and riders made? It was difficult to tell.

"Strap yourself in," Suzuki said as the horse reared its head and they rocketed off towards the direction of the disturbance.

Decem Hougan stretched his arms as he stifled a yawn. He was currently being served by the women of his harem and wondering which one of them he should take to bed tonight.

He was the king of the elves- one of the most despised ones to have existed in history. History told of many terrible kings and among them Decem would easily found himself on the very top. On the face of it, it would seem that he was not that bad. Machiavelli, were he to analyze him- would conclude that he had only two flaws. First, that he fancied himself to take any woman that he desired, married or not. Second, that he had started an unnecessary war when he had kidnapped that woman from the Theocracy and assaulted her- a war that continued on to this day.

However, these two flaws resulted in the fact that he was widely despised amongst the populace of the elves. Of course, none came even close to him in power level and so he had had no rivals to his throne. As such, even if he did not actively subjugate his people like the worst of tyrants- unlike them, he would never be overthrown and he would live for millennia, meaning that he could cause far more damage in the long run than any other despot could.

He had never bothered to assist any of his soldiers in fending off the Theocracy's forces- finding it to be a far better idea to simply send out his children in the hope that they would awaken their hidden potential.

To his great dismay, at best, his children could ascend only to the Realm of Heroes. None had even come close to his strength, a matter that greatly frustrated him.

No matter- he would continue to make children until one of them reached his standards. He took a good look around the women serving him and settled upon a women whose breasts were just the right size in his opinion and had the right kind of firmness that he enjoyed. Hopefully she would bear a child that was worthy of being his heir. He could not for the life of him remember what her name was even though she had served him for over a decade. There was truly no point in remembering the name of weaklings.

As he extended his hand to fondle one of her breasts an alarm in his head went off.

There was someone... someone had intruded near the treasury. He was quite annoyed by the interruption to his enjoyment- was this simply an idiotic servant who wandered where they shouldn't have? If that was the case, he would break their spine in two with his bare hands to teach them- and all the others, a lesson.

He got up, paying the shocked expressions of his concubines no heed as he teleported right away to deal with the intruder.

To his surprise, there was no one there. At least, there was no one that he could see. An intruder could very well be invisible, five feet away from him and he would be unable to see it.

If that was the case, this was not a simple case of a servant wandering where they shouldn't have. There was an actual thief here.

Decem, as an elf who stood above all others, had a wide repertoire of spells which included those of the Tenth Tier. Unfortunately none of them were specifically designed to see through invisibility. That was not to say that he had no options at all to deal with this kind of scenario.

[Tremor Sense] was a spell of the the Fourth Tier which would let him sense tremors in the ground- and as he cast it he became further confused as he could not feel anything aside from a few ants in the soil.

Was that it? Had he simply been mistaken about there being someone here?

He was about to leave when he decided to dash ahead and take a look inside his treasury himself. It was there that he met a site which made his blood boil.

Two objects were missing- one was the Miracle Seed and the other was the Aegis of Gaia. Two objects which had been left by his father.

He punched the wall in rage- tearing a hole clean through it with his strength.

How dare they!? How dare anyone wander into his treasury and take what was rightfully his? What were heirlooms from his father?

He could not personally use either of those magical items in question, but it was the principle of the issue that bothered him.

Those objects were priceless- having been left by his father, one of the Eight Greed Kings themselves. They were irreplaceable. They would be considered national treasures if they were present in any other country.

When he found the thief- he would tear them limb from limb!

But where were they? Where were the thieves?

"Show yourselves!" he screamed in vain as there was no answer- whoever had stolen from him had long since escaped.

He would end up taking out his residual anger on his servants- killing five of them before his anger somewhat simmered down.

"...did you get it?"

"I was nearly discovered while taking it, but yes... I got them..."

"...and how did he react?"

"...I did not stick around to witness it, but he sounded extremely angry..."

"...do you think that he will make a move?"

"Against whom? There is no one from his point of view to move against..."

"...ah. Yes. But is the plan the same? To use him if the Frost Dragon Lord fails?..."

"...don't joke with me. 'Dragon Lord?' He was nothing compared to That One..."

Everyone in the room halted their speech. Although there was no chance that they were being overheard, the fact remained that the mere whisper of That One was enough to send a shiver down their spines.

As a matter of fact, the reason they met in such secrecy and spoke in such hushed voices was entirely due to fear of That One.

"...could he defeat That One?..."

Words of the vampire had reached them regarding that necromancer's strength- though that necromancer may exceed all of them, the question as to whether or not they could use him to challenge That One still remained.

"...only time will tell..."

"Oops!" Princess Renner said. "I'm so sorry Climb!"

"It's- it's really nothing Princess," Climb said as Princess Renner got up. "Hmm..." He noticed that there was a small bit of makeup on her cheek- it surprised him because as far as he knew, she never wore makeup. There was hardly any point given how beautiful she looked on her own... but he guessed that it wasn't too abnormal for a girl her age to want to experiment with such things.

As it was he tried hard to suppress the feeling of something rising down below. He flexed his arm- he had learned that moving a muscle was an easy way to suppress it.

As it was, this was the third time this week that Princess Renner had accidentally landed on his crotch. Thank the gods that no one had been present when these incidents had occurred.

But, it was quite a lot recently. There was no way that this could've been on purpose, now then could it?

No- he was likely just overthinking things again. Princess Renner's mind and soul were as pure as the new fallen snow, after all.

A/N: Thanks for reading guys! If any of you manage to get the Catastros reference, good on you! Also, I will still try to get Suzuki to show off some new summons of undead and other spells as well- I kind of regret not dwelling on that power level period he was in for a bit longer, but looking back I don't really regret it.