Roa reached out; although Aqua was tightly hugging his right arm, his left hand was free. He directly pulled Megumin in front of him and coldly asked, "How much do you want to borrow?"
Megumin was suddenly grabbed and felt a bit shy, but when it came to borrowing money, she steeled herself and said, "I don't need much, just ten million Eris will do."
Roa turned his gaze to Kazuma and asked, "What about you? How much do you want?"
"Uh, one and a half million?"
"Why do you need so much?"
Roa had always had a good impression of Kazuma, after all, he was the one who could lead such a troublesome team to success, but he didn't expect that he was also deeply in debt.
Kazuma's cheeks flushed, and he appeared a bit shy.
Roa rolled his eyes, not wanting to continue asking.
This guy borrowing money was surely not for anything good. To be precise, borrowing money from Kazuma or Aqua was never a good idea; Megumin was the most normal one among them.
Roa turned his gaze back to the tearful Aqua and continued to ask, "What about you?"
"Thirty million, Roa, give me thirty million, and I'll do anything you want! Really! You have so much money; you can't possibly spend it all, right?" Aqua said with a sorrowful face, her attitude becoming very sincere.
Roa fell into silence for a moment.
He said nothing, released Megumin, pushed away Kazuma's hand that had grabbed him, and silently tapped the table.
The sound of his finger hitting the table echoed crisply in the hall.
Iris looked at Roa, then at the three who seemed to be filled with guilt and regret, her heart filled with compassion, wanting to speak up.
But before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a glance from Roa.
The two exchanged glances for a moment before quickly looking away.
The unspoken meaning was: "What do you want to do?"
"Borrow money?"
"Don't borrow."
"Oh."
Iris withdrew her gaze, remaining silent.
Roa turned his attention back to the three people present.
Even though Roa had five hundred million Eris, this was actually the total savings from his previous adventurer career and a certain demon king's military officer.
It seemed that Roa had easily obtained five hundred million Eris in just a few months, but in reality?
Not everyone was like Roa. He dared to challenge the demon king alone in his prime, and even when facing the seven top officers of the demon king, he could retreat unscathed. If he wanted, he could even wipe them all out.
However, what could Kazuma, Aqua, and Megumin do?
It's not that Roa looked down on them; the three of them were indeed far superior to ordinary people in their respective fields, but each of them had obvious shortcomings.
Once these shortcomings faced extremely powerful enemies, they would be glaringly exposed.
But speaking of which, these guys were quite bold. They had only been in this town for a few days and dared to borrow such a considerable sum of money.
Could adventurers at the beginning really come up with such funds?
It was simply impossible, yet these people still borrowed it, indicating that they were truly fearless.
Roa genuinely did not expect them to ask other adventurers for money.
No wonder he felt that every time he saw Aqua recently, he could smell alcohol on her.
Roa said expressionlessly, "Do you think you are worth that much money?"
Just as everyone was sighing, Roa suddenly changed his tone, "But since you said you would do anything, then it's not impossible."
Roa took out three contracts from his pocket, placed them on the table, and handed them to Aqua, Kazuma, and Megumin in turn.
The content of the contracts was very simple.
They agreed to unconditionally obey Roa's requests; whatever he asked them to do, they would do, even if it meant being treated like servants without any complaints.
The duration was one year.
One year in exchange for thirty million; for Aqua, this was definitely a good deal.
If it were the old Aqua, she would have definitely said, "You want a goddess to be your servant? Aren't you afraid of divine retribution?"
But the current Aqua responded, "No problem! Count me in!"
Aqua jumped up, patting her chest confidently, saying, "I can do anything, like cleaning, moving bricks, painting walls, or even selling at stalls. I'm already very familiar with these tasks; for me, it's a piece of cake!"
The water goddess, coming to this world, had developed such a rich experience; it truly made one feel pity for her.
As if afraid that Roa would go back on his word, Aqua quickly signed her name on the contract.
Seeing that Aqua had agreed so decisively, Kazuma slammed the table and said loudly, "In that case, let me do it too! I don't want to be chased for debts anymore!"
He hesitated slightly when signing his name, glancing at Roa, and then said somewhat shyly, "Um, can I borrow a little more?"
Roa thought for a moment and nodded, "Thirty million for each of you; sign it."
Kazuma breathed a sigh of relief and skillfully signed his name in the bottom right corner of the contract.
Now, only two people remained who had not signed the contract: Megumin and Darkness.
Roa instinctively ignored Darkness; he wouldn't want her even if she was offered for free.
Roa pushed the contract in his hand forward, subconsciously reaching for his glasses, a habit formed from his previous disguise as Pamela.
But this time, he found nothing; he wasn't wearing glasses.
Roa shrugged and said to Megumin, "Megumin, I remember your family seems to be quite short on money, right? The last time you borrowed money, some of it was sent back home, right?"
"Ah, yes, that's correct." Megumin nodded hesitantly; information about her was quite transparent within the team.
After all, before joining Roa's team, she had been living a precarious life.
Roa smiled and nodded, once again extending the contract in his hand. His tone was like a devil tempting her, his eyes narrowed, revealing a radiant smile. The sunny boy softly said, "So, I think you need this, don't you?"
Megumin swallowed hard and reached out her trembling hand to take the paper.
The paper was much better than Megumin had imagined; the so-called contract was certainly not some ordinary paper. It was made of leather, and being a contract, it was naturally quite valuable.
However, that wasn't the main point. The most important thing was that Roa could quickly produce three contracts, indicating that he had long been plotting something.
But so what?
Even if she knew that Roa had ulterior motives, what choice did she have?
Thirty million Eris was an astronomical sum for Megumin, and all it required was just one year of her time.
One year, thirty million, with food and lodging included—where could she find a job with such good benefits?
After hesitating for a moment, although her rational mind told Megumin that beneath Roa's sunny smile lay a significant trap, she still took the contract and wrote her name down stroke by stroke.
At that moment, only Darkness had yet to sign her name.
Darkness secretly glanced at Roa and did not see him pull out another contract from his pocket.
Roa slowly addressed everyone, "In that case, let's proceed like this; you will start as servants."
Darkness, who had been waiting for Roa to speak, was momentarily stunned, seemingly unable to accept this reality.
Before Roa could finish his sentence, Darkness interrupted, anxiously exclaiming, "Um, Roa, aren't you forgetting someone? I haven't signed my name yet!"
Upon hearing this, Roa smiled, the corners of his handsome face lifting into a charming grin.
But everyone knew that when the young man showed such a smile at this moment, it was somewhat sinister.
Yet, looking at the boy's exceptionally good-looking smile, Darkness felt her heart race a little.
Roa noticed Darkness's change but maintained his expression. The young man gazed into Darkness's eyes, which were large and watery; for some reason, he felt that there was a hint of allure in those eyes.
Being stared at by Roa was quite pressuring, and Darkness quickly couldn't hold it anymore and averted her gaze. However, she still mustered the courage to say, "I also want to join your team. Megumin, Kazuma, and Aqua have all joined, so I want to join too."
"You think this is some kind of benefit? As I said, if you write your name on the contract, you must obey my orders for the entire year."
"Orders, you say? In that case, please let me join. If I am forced to be a servant due to debt issues, and if I am called into a room for some unavoidable reason, I will definitely be asked to do such things, right?"
Roa's expression darkened, and Iris, who was nearby, caught the key phrase and suddenly looked up to ask, "What kind of things?"
The girl's clear and flawless eyes flashed with curiosity.
Being interrupted by Iris made Darkness suddenly realize that there was still a child beside her.
Darkness hurriedly stopped the topic; she had purely let her masochistic tendencies take over and had overlooked the fact that Iris was still there.
The blush on Darkness's cheeks deepened, not just from shyness but also from embarrassment.
Yes, Darkness now felt very embarrassed.
She slapped her cheeks a few times with her palm and rubbed them vigorously, as if trying to dispel her earlier perverse comments through this method.
Darkness was quite concerned about her image in front of Iris, after all, she had seen Iris grow up since she was little. Now, suddenly making such a somewhat perverse statement made her feel a bit ashamed.
If it were just Roa, that would be one thing.
The young man was no longer the sacred figure she had once imagined; during their time together, Darkness could see that he was a very normal male.
He was not the perfect noble knight that Darkness had envisioned.
So, after keenly realizing this, Darkness began to gradually let herself go, and by now, she was basically unreserved, which was why she had shown such a side earlier.
As for whether the team members would have any objections, they were all problematic children themselves; perhaps perverts attract perverts, or one could say that there is a mutual understanding among perverts. In any case, everyone was quite tolerant of Darkness, as long as she didn't pull any strange stunts, they would just turn a blind eye and let it pass.
Realizing that she had just let something slip, Darkness hurriedly changed the subject, adopting a serious expression as she said to Iris, "Iris, since you've decided to join the team, you need to protect yourself. The outside world is very dangerous, and human hearts can be quite terrifying."
The change of topic was quite abrupt, but Iris did not pursue it further. Darkness listened seriously as Roa explained his experiences.
Perhaps in Iris's heart, Darkness held a significant place.
Seeing that Iris did not press the issue, Darkness breathed a sigh of relief and began to speak freely.
Roa listened to Darkness imparting her so-called experiences to Iris and couldn't help but smile.
Many of the things Darkness mentioned, she had never experienced; they were all fabricated.
A lot of what she said seemed reasonable, but in reality, they were useless.
A sheltered young lady was trying to teach a girl as innocent as a blank sheet of paper.
What a daring teacher and a willing student.
Roa had no interest in listening to Darkness's grandiose claims, so he directly interrupted her, reached out, grabbed the back of Darkness's collar, and with a slight lift, effortlessly picked up the knight, who was entirely made of steel and muscle.
Roa said irritably, "Stop misleading others; you're still a fledgling and dare to talk to Iris about these things."
Darkness, being lifted, struggled symbolically for a moment. Seeing that Roa had no intention of letting go, she expressed her dissatisfaction, saying, "Hey, Roa, what do you mean by that? I've been an adventurer for three months now; isn't it a bit disrespectful for you to say that?"
Roa sneered, "With your little tricks, do you think a regular adventurer couldn't easily deceive you?"
It was just that Darkness's world was relatively peaceful, and people were still quite simple. After all, this was a comedic anime, and it wouldn't feature overly cruel realities.
But if thrown into the world of "Mushoku Tensei," such a young lady would likely be completely taken advantage of.
This was no joke; the world of "Mushoku Tensei" was quite realistic.
The background was Central Europe, and the darkness of that era was not to be underestimated.
Take his and Rudeus's mother, Zenith, for example.