The afternoon classes continued. As expected of a Japanese high school, the schedule was light—after just three classes, school was dismissed, followed immediately by club activity time.
When the final Japanese literature class ended, the black-haired female teacher in a white lab coat—Shizuka Hiratsuka—gathered her lesson materials and addressed the class.
"That's all for today. During club activity time this afternoon, the various school clubs will continue recruiting new members. If you're interested, go take a look and join something you like. High school is much more meaningful when you participate in club activities. All right—class dismissed."
Before leaving, Hiratsuka paused and cast a deliberate glance toward Yukino Yukinoshita, who sat near the back.
As for Luo Yu, after packing his bag, he politely declined several girls' invitations to go check out clubs together and left the classroom directly.
Clubs held no appeal for him—just as he had said at noon. He was in a hurry to get home and make money.
After returning home without any detours, Luo Yu opened his inventory and took out three massive Gilded Greatshields.
As greatshields, their weight was substantial, and their size imposing.
Setting all three down, Luo Yu picked one and placed it in front of him. He then took out a dagger and began carefully scraping the golden material coating the shield's surface.
"Oh! There really is gold!"
Examining the blade, now dusted with golden flakes, Luo Yu nodded with satisfaction.
"And the layer is pretty thick too. We're rich—Ranni!"
On the sofa beside him, Ranni, seated in her small doll body, shook her head helplessly.
She truly hadn't imagined that the king who once cut down gods across The Lands Between would become this excited over scraping gold from a shield.
Different worlds changed people in unexpected ways.
As Luo Yu's movements grew more practiced, he finished stripping the gold from all three shields in just over half an hour.
Looking at the container filled to the brim with golden powder, he nodded approvingly.
"Not bad. When I checked my inventory earlier, there were quite a few items that could be sold, but compared to those, these Gilded Greatshields were the most useless. Consider this recycling."
As for the remaining metal from the shields, Luo Yu had no intention of wasting it. It could be repurposed to forge tools or other equipment.
Back in The Lands Between, he had learned a great deal about smithing from Smithing Master Iji and Hewg at the Roundtable Hold.
As for forging flames, simple fire incantations would suffice.
Without delay, Luo Yu began chanting a fire incantation. With one hand, he used magic to envelop the gold, slowly heating it, filtering out impurities, and fusing it together.
Next came shaping and cooling.
Before long, the golden powder had been refined into two long, solid gold bars.
"Two kilograms of gold in total," Luo Yu said after weighing them. "That's a lot."
He checked the current gold price on his phone and nodded with clear satisfaction.
"Nice. If I can sell these smoothly, that's at least twenty million yen. Ranni, tonight's plan is set—we'll look for some kind of underground black market."
Ranni looked at him calmly.
"My king, do you know where to find such a place?"
"Not yet," Luo Yu replied, shaking his head without concern. "But since I need to explore this world's supernatural circles anyway, it's just a matter of timing. Meet the right people, and the path will reveal itself. Worst case, I'll ask at a legitimate gold shop tomorrow."
After storing the gold bars, shields, and various materials, Luo Yu began preparing dinner.
As time passed and the aroma of cooking filled the room, an unfamiliar sensation surfaced within Ranni's thoughts.
She wanted to taste the food her king had made.
Unfortunately, she no longer possessed the ability to eat.
Since the Night of the Black Knives, she had not taken food even once. If not for watching Luo Yu, she might have nearly forgotten what eating even meant.
Sensing her gaze, Luo Yu stirred the food in the pan and turned to her with a smile.
"My cooking skills are still limited, but once I finish crafting your body, I'm sure I'll improve quickly. When that day comes, I'll cook for you properly."
Meeting his eyes, Ranni spoke softly.
"I understand. If it is your promise, my king, then I believe you. I look forward to that day."
After making two simple dishes and finishing dinner, Luo Yu quickly completed the homework assigned by the school. Then he took out several thick tomes of sorcery and began his research.
It wasn't until ten at night that he finally stretched, put the books away, changed into a dark outfit suitable for going out, retrieved the Carian Regal Scepter, and left the house.
Once outside, he summoned Torrent, settled Ranni upon his shoulder, and began tonight's operation.
Mounted on Torrent, Luo Yu naturally did not forget concealment.
A concealment spell layered with an assassin's footwork incantation rendered both rider and steed soundless and unseen as they moved through the streets.
As night deepened, many beings that did not appear during the day began to surface.
After casually eliminating two hostile spirits that turned their attention toward him, Luo Yu looked toward the rooftops of distant houses.
"It's not just cursed spirits and wraiths," he said quietly. "There seem to be other things as well. Yokai, perhaps?"
"Yokai?" Ranni asked softly. "Are they special creatures?"
"Yes—beings from human folklore. Almost anything can become one: cats, dogs, tigers, birds. As for the two that just passed over there, I'm not sure what they were."
He clicked his tongue lightly.
"Hopefully they're harmless. Otherwise, between cursed spirits, ghosts, and these things, this world won't be much safer than The Lands Between."
As he spoke, Luo Yu suddenly sensed multiple distinct presences gathering to the east.
"Humans—but humans with special abilities," he said, eyes narrowing. "Looks like we've found them. Torrent, turn right."
Torrent obeyed immediately, making a sharp right turn at the intersection and picking up speed.
Before long, Luo Yu arrived at his destination—a brightly lit bar.
"A bar, huh. Operating this openly… let's hope this is the right place."
He dismissed Torrent, lifted the concealment spell, adjusted his clothing back to normal, and pushed open the door.
The moment he stepped inside, every gaze in the bar turned toward him.
Quite a crowd, indeed.