"Look! This knob allows the user to decide how cooked they want their waffles to be," Avryl says between two bites as she reads the instruction panel.

Everyone seems very enthusiastic while stuffing their face with the newly produced waffles. It would be a lie to say that the waffles were not delicious, and the pleasant smell covers the wet dog odor that permeates the building. But I still have a sour taste in my mouth since I risked my life for a fucking waffle iron.

At least, watching this thing working is a spectacle on its own. Avryl brought ingredients from who knows where and stuffed them into the appropriate containers. This infernal machine rumbled, I could feel the shakes caused by continuous explosions happening in the mechanical insides of the contraption as it belched sparks and smoke. Odors of oil and metal filled the air. I was ready to see a mess of oil-covered dough with metal shavings in it, but I was wrong. Despite all of this, a set of perfect waffles came out with a ding reminiscent of old microwave ovens. The logic behind using all of those gears and explosions combined with what I assume are various spells to do such a simple task escapes me.

Why not use a simple fire spell over a cast iron plate?

I shrug as I finish my soft and perfect waffle with some maple syrup, "How much is this thing worth?" I would like to sell this piece of crap as soon as possible to escape this weird dimension.

"Between three and four million Credits!" Avryl says with confidence. "But do we have to sell it? I think I am already addicted to this," she mutters as she pours the last of our maple syrup on a fresh set of waffles before eating them. Even Sword seems to enjoy himself, although the waffles look like miniatures in his giant hands.

"Yes, we do have to sell it. A normal waffle iron is not expensive, and we all need the Credits, right?" I say as I look around the rather desolate lounge room.

I get up and stretch. These crappy chairs are uncomfortable, and sitting in them for an extended period gives me cramps. I lean against a wall and-

Something crumbles under my weight, and I fall on the ground. "What the fuck?" I shout as I stare at the piece of dusty concrete that is in my hand.

"I forgot to mention," Avryl says with a wry smile, "But this place has suffered a lot of water damage because of the Water Dogs. Do not put too much force on the walls, or this will happen."

"Fucking hell," I grumble as I watch my clothes dust themselves off. At least the armor set has self-cleaning properties, something that is a requirement in this line of work. "That's dangerous! The building could collapse on us," I say as I look at the drab ceiling with suspicion.

"Worry not, Ian! For the purveyor of this fine base of operation assured us that the structural integrity of this venerable building is not at risk!" Yoshiko explains.

If a sleazy real estate agent says that, then I guess it is true.

...Fuck me. I need to get out of here before something crushes me to death.

I sigh, "Okay, then how about we sell it right now? If I understood correctly, then there should be collectors looking for these kinds of machines, right? This one is in perfect condition, so we should have a lot of buyers."

"True, but it might attract unwanted attention," Avryl says after stuffing her face. I look at the maple syrup-covered Artificer while raising an eyebrow. Nobody would be willing to attack us for a fancy waffle machine, right? I know that this thing is worth millions, but it is bulky and-

I recall the spatial bag used by Sword. His bag looked like it was low quality, but it was still able to transport the destroyed machine. A group of thieves could have some of those bags at their disposal. Now that I think about it, I should look into buying one of those to store my long guns. My shoulders are not sore thanks to the armor, but it is still cumbersome to carry those weapons everywhere. Of course, my main objective should still be the card for the Ley Lines Stations.

It's obvious that we are going to become a target the moment this thing is revealed to the world. From my limited experience, the public order in the DimShop is not too bad. So being attacked in the streets sounds unlikely. But who knows what could stop a bunch of super-powered thieves blinded by greed.

"You're saying that because you like waffles," I say with a smirk to hide the anxiety that began to well up inside me.

"N-No," Avryl says while blushing and looking away before discreetly eating the rest of her waffle with small nibbles.

I survey the area. The 'Alpha Team' is a bunch of idiots, but I would like to believe that they at least have a smidge of competence when it comes to fighting.

…We are doomed. To make matters worse, our base is a crappy building that threatens to collapse at the slightest breeze. Still, I could hopefully escape this shithole before someone attacks if we can sell it fast enough.

"I assume we all need the money, so we should sell it as soon as possible," I say to Yoshiko. "Demon hunting must not be cheap, right?"

"I wholeheartedly agree with your statement, my good Ian!" Yoshiko nods, "Purging the demonic influence plaguing this world does need a lot of resources. I have decided!" she stands up after giving one final look at the machine, "We shall exchange this contraption for a large number of Credits!"

"Okay..." Avryl says with a dejected sigh as she nods and takes a few pictures with what looks like a camera from the 19th century covered in electronics before taking out a Terminal made of polished bronze and typing at a frightening pace.

"There, it is posted. We should-" I can't hear the end of the Artificer's sentence because a loud crashing noise followed by a shockwave makes me fall on my back.

Holy shit, how can that fucking happen? We only just posted the fucking ad, for crying out loud!

...Nicole's PoV...

"Got you!" I smile before downing my third glass of whiskey. "We finally found this bastard!" I say to my sister, who was playing stupid games on her Terminal.

"Are you sure?" she asks without raising her head. "There's no way that this idiot hasn't noticed that we bugged his Terminal. And we still don't know how he disappeared in the first place."

"Who cares, this guy has no way of leaving the DimShop without us. We can use that to our advantage and have him reimburse us, or we can find who he works for and plan from here." I say as I get up and crack my neck. This fucking bastard will learn the hard way why you don't fucking mess with the Farsight family. His shitty blackmail will have no use here unless he doesn’t value his freedom!

"Are you sure he didn't have a card on him? For all we know, he just sold his Terminal or gave it to some random idiot." Mary interjects.

"The cards have a specific mana signature, and I didn't sense anything even resembling that signature on him. Furthermore, he was wandering around like a lost tourist until we lost track of him." I reply. A smirk creeps on my face; nobody in the DimShop will pay attention to what the locals call 'Strongly worded negotiations', especially when the CMA is involved.

Our authority is indeed non-existent here, but most people should have learned to refrain from interfering with our affairs. I refrain from cackling as I drag Mary out of the bar. The original plan was to leave this idiot to rot and let him despair for an hour or two before finding him and giving him a 'fair' deal in exchange for allowing him to leave the DimShop.

But, as usual with this bastard, things didn't go according to the plan. He was randomly wandering around until we lost his signal, something that should not have happened. It then suddenly resurfaced, and it looks like the target did not move from his current location for quite some time. We can assume that this is his base of operation. Or at least a place where people who are sympathetic to him or his potential employer. I still have a hard time deciding if this bastard is just bumbling around like a clueless idiot or if this is an attempt to throw us off. Either way, he's going to pay what he owes us.

I will make sure of it!

The building is located at a quiet plaza, or at least quiet for the DimShop. It doesn't take long for us to reach the area in question. The building looks like an abandoned ruin on the verge of collapse. A barely legible sign that looks like it was made by an infant hangs loosely above the entrance.

I don't even bother to read what's written on it, I glance at Mary who nods and releases her Veil. We don't know what kind of defenses we can expect, I cannot detect anything, but our previous encounters with this idiot taught me to not rely on standard methods. A large amount of mana gathers in my hand, arcs of yellow energy erupt from the powerful spell as I aim at the door. I have no idea how reinforced this door is, but we'll see soon enough.

"I'm ready," I say to my sister, who nods and slams her new staff on the ground. A silver barrier surrounds me as I slam my hand into the door. The wooden panel is instantly ejected into the building and vaporizes into thousands of small shards. Entire chunks of the entryway have also been ripped off and disintegrated, causing a storm of dust.

This is weird. It was almost like there were no defenses at all. And why does it smells like wet dogs?

"Let's go!" I say to my sister as I run into the building and remove my concerns from my mind.

I use a simple spell to dissipate the dust; it looks like we arrived in a small reception area that has seen better days. We indeed blasted the entrance, but there are clear signs of damage that have been there for quite some time.

"My spell detected four signatures in the next room!" Mary warns as she steps over a pile of rubble.

"Got it!" I nod as I prepare another spell. The lack of defensive measures was surprising, but I can't let my guard down. It might be a trap designed to make us complacent before hitting us with a deluge of powerful attacks when we least expect it.

There is only a single door leading to the next room, so I run towards it- A gigantic hand crashes through the wooden panel and makes my shield groan. The sheer force of the punch makes me skid back a few meters as faint cracks appear on the magical film surrounding me.

Mary flinches as she slams her staff on the ground again to infuse more power into the shield. I nod as two balls of plasma appear in my hands. I only need a second to give it enough power to KO most of the occupants in that room, so- A beam of yellow energy misses me by a hair's breadth. My jaw drops when I glance at where the attack has hit. To put it simply, a circular hole the size of my head had been dug into the ground. It looks like it simply vanished from existence.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" I make a wry smile as I unleash my spells through the door. I can't see the other side since there's a massive amount of dust and debris, but this should do the trick!

A pentagram made of fire appears just in front of my attacks and stops them instantly. The spell explodes and creates even more chaos. I grit my teeth; it looks like our opponents are more skilled than I first thought! It doesn't matter, I'll show them the might of the Farsight family!

"Mary, use a Crystal and help me!" I order and my sister nods. She pulls a Crystal from her pocket and crushes it. The shield that surrounds us both shines briefly before dramatically increasing in strength. That was our most expensive Crystal, and I intend to have these bastards repay me in full!

A deafening noise, similar to thousands of small explosions going off in rapid succession, shakes the building. That noise is somewhat familiar, but I don't have time to think about it in the current situation, so I-

Something knocks out of my lungs. My sister and I are hit by what feels like multiple freight trains. We are sent flying and I cough a bit of blood when we crash into the nearest building. As luck would have it, this one is heavily reinforced. All the remaining kinetic energy has been absorbed by our bodies. The shield endured most of the damage for us, but the protective barrier has lost almost all of its glimmer.

"Fuck, I hope nothing is broken. Mary, Are you alright?" I yell and get an affirmative grunt in reply.

"I'll show them how we do things!" the eyes of my incensed sister glow red for an instant before a beam of superheated plasma emerges from her hand.

"Holy shit, that's fucking hot! Fuck!" an all too familiar voice reaches my ears. "No, don't use your cryo-" the voice stops talking when a miniature blizzard erupts through the cracks on the building.

"That's one way of putting out fires." The bastard says.

Just hearing his voice makes me lose my temper. I fling a variety of spells into his general direction; Who cares if he survives? At this point, I just want to vent.

A massive hunk of metal blocks out the light, I quickly realize that it's a massive club held by an equally massive man. "Sword," the giant says while glaring at us.

We lost without being able to put up much of a fight. We are probably going to die because of a bunch of Credits. I spit on the ground as the other three figures emerge from the almost destroyed building.

"Sword, hold your weapon!" a feminine voice erupts, and the giant grunts before glaring at us.

"Who might you be? Who would dare to assault our humble abode in broad daylight? I wasn't expecting such underhanded attacks so soon." A small Asian woman dressed like she's cosplaying some anime character glares at us. Another woman and our initial target follow her. It looks like the bastard has changed his wardrobe.

"So, who are they?" that piece of shit asks. The bastard's expression changes when he recognizes us.