(TL Notes: Change "Real World" to "My world")
"Hello! Welcome to my world."
As soon as Souta and Kurumi appeared in the room, the lively and cheerful Chelsea immediately approached them with a friendly greeting.
Of course, despite how naturally she acted, she was actually quite nervous inside.
After all, anyone who could create such a mysterious "Friends Group" system must be an incredibly powerful figure, right?
Being around someone like that—who wouldn't be at least a little bit on edge?
Souta turned his head toward the voice, and the moment he saw the girl dressed in a British-style uniform with headphones on, he instantly recognized her identity.
He flashed a smile and held up his system phone, proving that he was the real deal.
The calm and easygoing tone of his voice made Chelsea let out a small sigh of relief.
At least he didn't act all high and mighty—he seemed like someone she could get along with easily.
She then turned to Kurumi, a hint of astonishment flashing in her eyes.
"And this must be Tokisaki Kurumi, right?"
Kurumi nodded with a warm smile and politely introduced herself.
Since Chelsea had already familiarized herself with the nicknames in the group, it didn't take long for her to match their names to their faces.
After a few exchanges of small talk, they had already started getting familiar with each other.
Chelsea looked at Souta, then said with a bit of surprise:
"The group leader is... different from what I imagined."
"Not mysterious enough? Not imposing enough? Yeah, I've heard that one before."
Souta let out a small sigh of helplessness.
"Just to be clear—this system wasn't created by me. If anything, I'm in the same boat as you—I was just randomly chosen."
Chelsea was a little surprised.
"You didn't create this thing?"
Hearing Souta's straightforward denial, Chelsea was caught off guard.
So, she had miscalculated—Souta wasn't some powerful mastermind, just an ordinary person like her who happened to get dragged into this system.
Chelsea glanced at the system phone, then suddenly asked:
"By the way, can you actually see my system phone?"
"Yeah, why?" Souta raised an eyebrow. "What makes you ask that?"
"Well, I just finished an assassination mission before meeting you guys—um, you do know I'm an assassin, right? I remember reading in the group announcement that your world has information about us."
At first, Chelsea wanted to hide her identity, but then she remembered that the group already knew everything about her, so she dropped the idea.
"Anyway," she continued, "right after the assassination, I transformed into a cat to escape, and this system phone just stuck to me."
"No matter how much I shook it off, it kept sticking back.
But what's weird is—the guards who saw me didn't react at all.
So I was wondering... is the phone invisible to other people?"
Souta was surprised by this detail.
That was something he had never thought about before.
Thinking about it, though, it made sense—Chelsea was an assassin, and if her phone suddenly vibrated or made a sound during a mission, it would be a death sentence.
Surely the system wouldn't have such an obvious flaw?
However, Souta suddenly recalled something—back in the Monogatari world, he had thrown his phone at Dramaturgy, and the big guy had dodged it.
That meant the phone was visible... which contradicted what Chelsea just said.
Souta mentally asked the system:
"System, can other people see the system phone?"
[If a Friends Group member actively intends to show the phone, others can perceive its existence.]
"Wait... so if I use it as a weapon to hit someone, does that count as 'intending to show it'?"
[Using the system phone as a weapon will automatically disable its concealment.]
"What about using it as a hidden weapon?"
[Hidden weapons are still weapons.]
"Then what happens when we're using the phone normally—like when we're texting? How do others perceive it?"
[It looks like you're poking at thin air and randomly laughing to yourself—like a crazy person.]
Souta scratched his cheek.
That was one hell of a savage response.
Luckily, he usually used his phone at home, so no one had ever thought he was crazy.
He quickly relayed the system's answer to Chelsea.
"So that's how it works," Chelsea mused, curiously fiddling with her phone.
"But still... using it as a throwing weapon? That's actually a great idea. Thanks for the tip!"
...That's the only thing you got out of this conversation?!
Meanwhile, Kurumi walked over to the window and peeked outside.
The buildings in the city mostly had flat square bases with large domed roofs, somewhat reminiscent of Byzantine architecture.
"Now this feels like a proper fantasy world..."
She murmured with mixed emotions.
So far, she had traveled to three different worlds—Baccano, Dragon Ball, and Altair's world.
But every time, her setting was either a ship, a plain, or a modern graveyard.
That's not 'another world' at all!
"Oh? Kurumi-san, are you interested in this world?"
Chelsea moved closer and naturally struck up a conversation.
It seemed like she had a knack for getting along with anyone.
"For me, this really is an alternate world. The architecture feels fresh and unique."
"This world isn't all that great, though..."
Chelsea glanced at the emaciated citizens wandering the streets and shook her head.
"Anyway, never mind that. So, what exactly did you guys come here for?"
"To gather faith," Kurumi replied.
Chelsea blinked in confusion.
"Yes. There's already an established religion here called Path of Peace. Our goal is to take control of it."
Kurumi then looked at Chelsea and asked:
"Do you know where the Path of Peace is located?"
"Oh, Path of Peace... Yeah, it's a pretty big religion that started growing recently. The Revolutionary Army has been trying to win them over. As for their location..."
Chelsea thought for a moment.
"I think it's somewhere in the western lands of Jellock—really far from the Empire."
Then, she tilted her head and asked:
"But why do you need faith? You guys are from another world—you can't just start a cult here, can you?"
"We're not creating a cult—we're literally collecting faith. Faith, for those who ignite the divine spark, is something tangible—it can be gathered and transformed into godly power."
Souta followed up with a smirk:
"In other words... as you can see, I'm a god."
Chelsea stared at him.
"You don't look like a god at all."
"Being a god and looking like one aren't the same thing. So, can you take us to Path of Peace?"
Chelsea shook her head.
"I have to report back to the Revolutionary Army first... Oh, wait!"
Her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Group Leader—you know the future of this world, right?"
"You can just call me Souta. You're asking if the Revolutionary Army wins?"
"Yeah! Does the Empire get overthrown?"
"It does. The Revolutionary Army takes over."
"But unfortunately... you don't live to see it."
"Because your head gets chopped off and put on a pike."
"You died a horrible death."