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Emilia returned home that day feeling exhausted but satisfied. "I've convinced Danielle of my skill, and also secured a spot in the Crimson Witches… that's a good start!"
She threw off all her clothes carelessly and jumped on the not-fluffy-enough bed with a groan. "I don't wanna splurge Mira's money carelessly, but I really want a better mattress, ahhh!"
Cynthia chuckled. "Well, the villainess agreed to pay you quite a good salary, didn't she? Just buy one if you want."
Her partner's words successfully convinced Emilia, though there was a hint of doting in her voice that even the raven-haired girl herself didn't realize. She immediately jumped off the bed with a smile. "Alright, that's the first order of business tomorrow, then!"
Suddenly feeling full of energy, Emilia couldn't help but put on some underwear again and hop to the table to start scribbling down some plans. 'That game should be out in a few months, right? And the dungeons will be opened only a week later. So I won't have long to make sure my team is all caught up, ahh, but both of my plans are equally good!'
Of course, the reason she had to bother caring about a team so much in the first place was that Arcadia was not a game that one could solo, no matter how skilled they were.
This was mostly because of the main mechanic of the game being based on 'dungeons', which required a party of five or more to enter.
And given that the changes in the game would slowly bleed into reality thanks to the world will's plot, if Emilia wanted to clear her missions… Arcadia was where she had to start.
Cynthia sighed. "I'm sorry about not making any clear missions this time, but, you know…"
Emilia smiled. 'No worries, I understand. I was the one who picked the more difficult option, after all. Since there's no way to be sure, instead of having misleading missions that might lead us to failure, it's better to keep an open mind and slowly figure things out.'
Cynthia nodded. "Well, since you have a good plan in mind, I'm sure it will all work out."
The crimson-haired girl smiled in response to her partner's words. In her heart, though, she couldn't help but sigh. 'With Danielle being such a tsundere and the heroine being such a stubborn little mule… I'm a little worried.'
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The next morning, Emilia happily ran around the neighborhood mattress showrooms to 'demo' their best goods, but unfortunately, she didn't find one that fit her needs. They were all clear upgrades to the one she had at the moment, but none of them were good enough to justify coughing up a significant amount of all the money she had.
Watching the beautiful crimson-haired girl leave, some of the staff at the shops rolled their eyes, thinking that it was they'd guessed, and the little girl was only having fun with no intention or means to make a purchase.
"Well, at least the stupid little girl had enough sense to take off her shoes."
"And I got a few photos."
"Nice! She was quite cute. Do you think we could use these for advertising?"
"Uh… well, as long as her parents don't find out, it should be fine?"
"Just a few pictures around the store merchandise, then. Got it!"
The two men had no idea that Emilia could clearly hear them even as she'd walked almost twenty meters away.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes. 'Go ahead and try, idiots! Hmph, calling me a stupid little girl and still daring to use my pictures? I'll come check later and make sure you pay!'
Of course, she had more important things to attend to for now, such as her first day as a member of the Crimson Witches.
Despite the fact that the heroine had lost the duel, as Emilia expected, she still showed up to the team meeting.
Neither of them might like it, but Danielle couldn't really reject such a good player when their team desperately needed it, or they could end up losing even the last few sponsors that still had some faith in her team. And the heroine was also not in a position to be too willful, given her less-than-stellar financial situation.
The mere fact that the villainess made things so difficult for everyone involved despite how it could have made things worse for herself made it clear to Emilia how she could have ended up so miserable in the original timeline, though.
"Well, now that everyone is here, let's start our 'new' team's first strategy meeting." Danielle smiled. "Let's have everyone introduce themselves to begin, shall we?"
Emilia didn't pay much attention to each of their self-introductions, as she already knew quite a bit about all four of these girls.
The twin-tailed brunette was called Nico, usually quite a cheerful and peppy girl. She preferred the healer or support roles most of the time.
The dark-haired tomboy by her side was Robin, who usually preferred assassin-type roles, quite similar to the heroine.
Of course, Sylvia was more of a ranger assassin player than Robin's melee assassin preference. In most games, the pool of heroines they liked to pick usually had very little in common.
Danielle herself was a mage, and quite a good one at that. Previously, she'd been somewhat overshadowed by their 'star player', but that was only because she was also focusing on leading the team. In terms of pure skill, Emilia was quite optimistic about her future.
After calmly introducing herself, the heroine was the first one to break the awkward silence. "Danielle… let's not beat around the bush. I lost yesterday's fight, and I'll admit that Emilia is good. But that's no reason to not even offer Dolly a substitute position anymore, right? Given that you don't have even a single one, don't tell me you don't have any empty slots!"
Facing the heroine's sharp amber eyes, however, Danielle only chuckled. "Hey now, arguing with the captain on the first day of the job… you learned nothing from yesterday's humiliation, did you?"
Sylvia almost burst a vein as Danielle's two 'followers' giggled at her expense, but the villainess didn't give her a chance to defend herself.
She flicked one of her overly meticulous hair drills with a smug smile. "Anyway, that Dolly girl clearly told me to fuck off after you ran away in embarrassment. And I really don't want backstabbing bitches like her on my team, you know? Even if the one they usually backstab is an annoying little idiot like you."
"Y-You—! How dare you say that about Dolly?!"
Looking at the two of them arguing endlessly, Emilia almost groaned. 'Hey Cynthia, is this team going to be alright?'
Her partner shrugged. "You're the one who wanted to use them as your starting guild members in Arcadia."
The crimson-haired girl sighed. 'Yeah, but…'
She had no doubts about their skills, having seen their growth and potential for herself in the visions in the void. But if they couldn't work with her later, there was really no point in wasting her time, was there?
'Alright, since there are still a few months left till Arcadia's release, I'll give them until then to see if they have what it takes.' Emilia nodded to herself with determination. 'Otherwise… I can always go a different way, even if it will be much harder.'
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The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr𝒆e(w)𝒆bnovel