Chelsea didn't take long to make her decision.
By the next morning, as the first rays of sunlight streamed through the window, she had already been successfully recruited by Souta.
The conditions of his offer?
He planned to gradually establish a divine kingdom on Earth, aggressively develop religious culture, and launch a crusade against the Empire—essentially a religious takeover from within.
Chelsea's eyes lit up at the idea, showing immense interest.
She even suggested that once the time was right, Souta should recruit all of Night Raid—have them listen to the divine will and become warriors of God.
She herself might even end up as a saintess of the new church.
With such a high status, shaping the world to make the people truly happy would become much easier.
Sure, she didn't understand politics, but—
Souta said that in anime worlds, there were tons of brilliant strategists.
The system's random selection process meant he couldn't directly choose them, but...
He could just buy invitation tickets and handpick the right people!
Once he saved up enough points, he could invite a political genius to help with nation-building.
Lelouch Vi Britannia.
So, to hell with both the Revolutionary Army and the Empire!
After reading the Akame ga Kill! manga, Chelsea had realized...
The original way of saving the country was absolute garbage.
In the end, only Akame and Najenda survived.
Everyone else? Dead, crippled, or completely dehumanized.
Souta's proposal was a much better alternative.
So, after only a brief moment of hesitation, she decided to switch sides—leaving the Revolutionary Army behind.
Only a fool would stick to the original, the bad end.
She died horribly in the original story!
On the Road to Jellock
The dry earth was cracked, barren hills stretched far and wide, giving the entire landscape a desolate feel.
A merchant caravan moved along the main road, the creaking of wooden wheels and the snorting of horses mixing in the air.
At the center of the convoy was a luxurious-looking carriage.
Inside it, Souta, Kurumi, and Chelsea sat comfortably.
After Chelsea showed Souta the currency of this world, the three of them never had money problems again.
With his matter-creation ability, Souta could mint perfect replicas of the world's currency.
As long as they didn't overdo it, small-scale money creation wouldn't cause inflation or draw suspicion.
Hiring a high-class carriage?
Inside the carriage, Chelsea pulled back the curtains, sticking her head out to look.
On the distant horizon, the silhouette of a large city was coming into view.
Souta glanced at her and suddenly warned:
"Chelsea, be careful.
If you stick your head out too far, you might lose it."
Even with her usually cheerful personality, this comment made her face twitch in annoyance.
Sitting beside Souta, Kurumi took one look at Chelsea's exposed neck, then covered her mouth and giggled softly.
"Souta is right, Chelsea-san. You should be more careful."
"...You two are too much!"
Chelsea sighed in frustration, then yanked the curtain shut and instinctively touched her own neck.
Getting reminded about her beheading so often was starting to mess with her head.
She was beginning to develop paranoia, constantly thinking—
"Could this person be planning to decapitate me?"
"Could I get my head chopped off in my sleep?"
"Should I start wearing a neck guard?!"
"If you had joined the group earlier, I could've taken you to the Baccano! world to drink the immortality elixir. Then you wouldn't have to worry about it," Souta remarked.
He pointed to his own head, smiling.
"For example, I'm completely immune to beheading. Even if I were reduced to dust, I'd still regenerate."
"You're immortal?" Chelsea looked at him in surprise.
"Yup. Ageless and immortal."
Souta then casually suggested,
"Once you save up enough points, you could buy a travel pass and go to Baccano! yourself."
Chelsea suddenly felt a deep longing.
The multiverse was truly fascinating—the idea of achieving eternal youth and life so easily was mind-blowing.
Even Souta himself couldn't help but reflect on it.
In some worlds, even powerful emperors couldn't live past 10,000 years.
Yet in others, a random bystander could gain immortality just by drinking something.
Truly, each world was a unique reality, governed by its own set of rules.
"By the way," Chelsea suddenly spoke up, "we're almost at Jellock."
At first, Kurumi had offered to use her shadow teleportation to reach the city faster.
But Chelsea—unable to navigate within the shadows—would have gotten completely lost.
So, they had no choice but to take a regular carriage.
Since they weren't in a rush, they didn't mind the extra travel time.
Chelsea reviewed her intelligence reports and explained:
"Path of Peace started in Jellock a few years ago and has completely infiltrated every aspect of the city.
At this point, I don't think anyone here doesn't believe in it."
"A war-torn world is perfect for religious expansion," Souta mused.
"Of course, it also depends on the era's context."
Chelsea glanced at him.
"Have you finalized your plan to take over this religion?"
"Only a general outline for now," Souta admitted.
"The overall doctrine will remain unchanged, but I will become the new divine figure.
Once I successfully replace their god, the new faith will naturally flow toward me."
Chelsea frowned slightly, analyzing the difficulty of such a task.
"That seems nearly impossible."
"Not really," Souta said confidently.
"All I need to do is display miracles occasionally and have Path of Peace's leader publicly endorse me.
Once that happens, their belief will gradually shift."
Thinking about it, Souta suddenly felt curious about Path of Peace's current leader.
A half-human, half-Danger Beast hybrid?
How exactly was he born...?
Considering that Danger Beasts in this world were all monstrous, he couldn't help but wonder...
"Just how did that... reproduction process work?"
"Well," Chelsea admitted, "the leader of Path of Peace does have an insane level of influence over his followers."
She looked at Souta suspiciously.
"Do you really think you can convince him to go along with this?
You're basically asking him to lie to his devoted followers."
Souta smiled confidently.
With my negotiation skills, there's no way I'll fail."
Souta pulled open the curtain and gazed at the looming city ahead.
Then, he turned to Chelsea and casually asked:
"By the way, how many people live in Jellock?"
Chelsea thought for a moment.
"I'm not sure of the exact number, but it's at least 200,000."
Souta made a mental comparison.
For a pre-industrial era, a city of 200,000 permanent residents was definitely large.
Not as massive as the Empire's capital, but still an impressive urban center.
His anticipation grew.