In that day’s bonus area, we were once again given the right to bring back seven items.

Minori chose textbooks. That made three subjects now.

Once we had all the second-year high school textbooks, it might be worth moving on to reference books or third-year textbooks.

Though I had no idea whether our deserted island life would really drag on that long.

Chiyu chose an additional controller for the game console I had bought.

The console came with controllers that could be split apart for two-player games, so thanks to Chiyu, we could now play with up to four people.

I matched Chiyu’s choice and picked a party game.

It was a game based on moving around a board, with all kinds of extra elements added on, and had been one of the standard games to play with friends ever since I was little.

Shouko and Shion chose portable showers.

In other words, we would be bringing back two more.

I had felt the same way, but apparently they were convenient enough that we settled on eventually getting one for everyone so we could wash more efficiently.

For girls, repeatedly scooping up hot water with a bucket might be a lot more work than I realized.

A lot of the members of our party had long hair too, so their hands might get tired before they managed to rinse everything clean.

Now, that left Roa and Yumekai.

Roa, the maid, chose a printer to go with the laptop we had brought back the day before.

Being able to copy textbooks and documents, print data we made on the laptop, and all that sort of thing would definitely make things easier, so that one was something everyone had decided on together.

I could make paper cleanly with my Crafting Ability, so that was no problem.

The problem was the ink, but since we could keep coming to the bonus area, we could just bring more back when it ran out.

Yumekai declined to choose again this time, so we picked a tablet PC.

Part of it was another step toward secretly giving her something she wanted, and part of it was that having one would not hurt.

So that meant the selections were complete: textbooks, controller, game software, portable shower, portable shower, printer, and tablet PC. Seven items in total.

“...Up to now, we’ve been prioritizing things I can’t make with Crafting Ability, but maybe it’s about time we started choosing things we can’t make because we don’t know whether we can get the materials.”

Right before we finished choosing, I brought it up with everyone.

“Mm. We can’t get metal, so I still can’t ask So-kun for underwire bras.”

Chiyu said that with a little nod.

“Clothes too. We don’t have the materials to begin with. I mean, linen and wool and cashmere are all amazing, but still.”

Shouko followed up.

As blossoming high school girls, maybe they felt frustrated that they could not enjoy the fashion they wanted with the materials we currently had.

The world was not full of people like me, who thought it was fine as long as I did not look too sloppy.

“If cotton or silk were added as one of the two choices, the range of clothing Sousuke could create would probably expand considerably... But if that still hasn’t happened after a few more days, I think we should consider bringing back that sort of clothing directly.”

Minori seemed to agree too.

“In that case, food would be good too. Sousuke—everyone probably wants to eat rice sometimes, so we could pick a large bag of it and bring that back.”

Shion offered an opinion very much like a head chef.

“In that case, I believe Master’s room should be made more splendid. As for a size appropriate to the master of the mansion... setting that aside, I would at least like him to have a large and luxurious bed.”

“Mm. Agreed. Let’s buy a bed worthy of a harem king. Generating one is also acceptable.”

At Roa and Chiyu’s remarks, the girls’ faces reddened.

Yumekai’s cheek twitched.

“...Uh, we can talk about the room size later. If we end up getting more companions, we won’t have enough rooms, so I might rebuild the whole house into something bigger.”

“I don’t know about harems, but Kuno really does spend all his time doing things for the other members and barely ever does anything that benefits himself. I’ve never been inside, but from the floor plan, your room is the same size as everyone else’s, right?”

Yumekai said.

“Hehe, that’s true. He made it with his own ability, so you’d think he could act more like a king if he wanted to, but Sousuke never did.”

“Well, that’s just like Sousuke.”

“...Yes. I think part of why we were able to trust Sousuke was precisely because he made everything equal as a matter of course.”

I decided not to think they were praising me too much.

If I had been a member who joined later, and the leader’s living space alone had been privileged despite him calling us “companions,” or if the leader alone had been enjoying better treatment, I probably would have felt distrust.

Because I treated myself the same way I treated everyone else, we had been able to build relationships without making people feel pressured.

Now that they said it, that did make sense.

It had been unconscious on my part, so being praised for it still made me feel awkward.

“I do believe this mansion reflects Master’s kind heart... However, now that the party’s unity has become certain, I also believe the leader has the right to receive treatment befitting a leader.”

At Roa’s statement, the girls all nodded.

Equality was better until everyone became close, but when it came to running an organization, maybe it was better for the leader to look like a leader and be given a suitable position.

“...Well, I guess making my room a little bigger wouldn’t hurt. I’ll think about it.”

Besides, to be honest, the current bed was a little cramped when it came to nighttime activities.

The closeness that came from that narrowness was nice in its own way, but there were times when it felt cramped too.

Personally, a room large enough for a bigger bed sounded pretty good.

After all that, our time in the bonus area ended.

Then we were sent to the ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) white space.

◇

A pure white space with a floating blackboard, desks, and chairs prepared for us.

The eighth day has ended.

An event will now be announced.

An event...!

Tension ran through everyone.

Last time, it had been an event where only the one person who secured the sphere of light could obtain a Right to Return, but...

About Events

Events are projects held irregularly.

Please note that the contents and rewards may differ for each event.

The event to be held this time is Party-versus-Party Event A.

About Party-versus-Party Event A

Period — From the morning of the tenth day after the end of the ninth day, until all matches are complete.

Contents — Only parties consisting of five members may participate.

Participating parties will compete in a round-robin tournament.

Reward — Only if a party wins every match, every member of that party will be granted a Right to Return.

“Huh? Huh? Then this time, five people can get a Right to Return? Isn’t that a great deal?”

Shouko said that, but...

“No, Shouko. It only happens if they win every match, so there’s a higher chance no one gets one at all.”

“Oh, right...”

Exactly.

In the first event, there had been at least some intent to give the reward to one person.

This time, however, it was showing us the possibility that no one would get anything.

With forty transfer participants, the maximum number of parties that could be made was eight.

If it was a round-robin where a party had to win every match, that meant defeating the seven groups other than your own.

In other words, anything other than seven wins in seven matches meant no reward.

Of course, it was unlikely that all forty people would divide neatly into eight parties like that.

“...It appears these events are meant to make transfer participants compete against each other.” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The party function had been introduced to encourage unity, but the events were incorporating player-versus-player elements.

If this transfer to another world was an experiment, maybe they were testing what would happen if transfer participants were divided into multiple factions and then given the same objective.

Prepare one hero party and entrust them with defeating the Demon Lord.

Or prepare multiple hero parties and only reward whichever one defeats the Demon Lord first.

Maybe they were using us to test which method was more efficient for saving a world.

I might have been overthinking it.

“Mm. Either way, this is a chance for five people to obtain Rights to Return. We have no reason to let it slip away.”

“It may not be my place to say, but I believe this party has an advantage over others.”

“I think so too. There probably aren’t many parties with this many useful abilities gathered together.”

Yumekai said that.

I agreed, but I did have a concern.

I should probably ask the mystery blackboard about it later.

Details of the event will be announced at the end of the ninth day.

...So the plan was to keep the specifics hidden until the last possible moment.

For now, I supposed the transfer participants were meant to aim for five-person parties, or if they already had large groups, discuss how to split up and who would participate.

If we were going to ask questions from our side, first came the two-choice question.

Question. Which is necessary for your lives going forward?

Homeroom teacher / Assistant homeroom teacher

“............Huh?”

Every one of us doubted our eyes as we stared at the phrase written on the blackboard.