Roa's gaze flickered, and he nodded.
If Iris's words were to be believed, it could be reluctantly accepted.
However, Roa really couldn't understand why the old king would allow this girl to run around so recklessly.
Iris saw that Roa still had a contemplative look on his face and puffed up her cheeks, saying, "Brother, Iris came all this way to find you. Can't you at least agree to this small request?"
Darkness listened for a long time and finally understood the context, realizing what had roughly happened.
As a noble, Darkness naturally couldn't just watch Iris act recklessly. He wanted to persuade her, but seeing Iris's determined expression, he couldn't bring himself to say anything against her.
Recently, Iris had become quite strange.
She seemed to be stubbornly doing her own thing, running around the capital every day, wandering aimlessly with Claire.
Every time he tried to persuade her, she would put on a facade of compliance, promising not to do it again, but the next day she would go back to her old ways.
The old king was quite troubled by this.
Iris's reputation had changed; she was no longer the demure and virtuous girl she used to be, but had shifted towards a more mischievous personality.
In the end, Roa agreed to Iris's request to stay in the group.
She became a temporary member of the team.
Regarding Iris's information, Roa took the opportunity to share a few words with everyone present.
"Iris is very strong, you know. I bet even a dragon wouldn't be able to defeat her!"
Upon hearing this, three of the four people present brightened up; the implication was obvious.
Despite Roa's impressive strength, he usually kept it hidden, engaging in small schemes behind the scenes, which left him in constant debt.
Speaking of debt, the thirty million Eris owed by the group had not been repaid at all.
The five million Eris they earned could not possibly be used to pay off Roa's loans, which meant that although the four of them seemed to be working hard, the actual rewards they received were quite meager.
Now that Iris had joined the adventurer team, she could be considered a temporary fighter.
With a future hero in their midst, their adventures would become much simpler.
This was how everyone thought, so they did not refuse Iris's joining.
Thus, Iris naturally became a member of the team.
Aqua took the opportunity to suggest that since Iris had joined the team, to celebrate her inclusion, Roa should treat everyone to a feast.
Roa scoffed, realizing that the useless goddess was clearly up to something.
However, some people just loved this kind of thing. Iris tugged at Roa's sleeve, her doll-like face looking at him with eager eyes.
"Is it okay?"
The girl was in desperate need of friends. Even though she had acted recklessly in the palace, she still had very few people she could truly call friends.
She wanted to take this opportunity to get closer to everyone.
Under Iris's gaze, Roa found it hard to refuse.
Seeing this, Kazuma Satou immediately said, "Don't worry! Our captain is never stingy. He's super rich; how could he possibly be unwilling to spend a little money? Right, Captain Roa?"
"Uh, is that so?" Iris turned her gaze back to Roa.
Roa nodded slightly, his expression unchanged. The young man said, "Since everyone wants to treat Iris to a meal, fine, I understand your intentions."
Kazuma Satou quickly interrupted Roa, his expression unusually serious as he said, "Captain Roa, don't you know our financial situation? Even if all three of us pooled our money together, we would only have five million Eris. Is that enough to treat a princess?"
Iris blinked in confusion. The girl had a very limited understanding of money; after all, as a princess, how could she possibly be short on funds?
It was said that when Iris needed money, she could just find the old king, act a little spoiled, and receive millions in pocket money.
For instance, right now, Iris had a considerable amount of Eris in her pocket.
Kazuma Satou was unaware of how much money Iris had, but even if he knew, he probably wouldn't dare to trick a little girl out of her money.
Seeing that there was a meal to be had, Aqua, adhering to the principle of squeezing out whatever they could, teamed up with Kazuma Satou to present facts and reason to Roa, determined to get another meal out of him.
Roa couldn't resist the two of them, and with Iris curiously watching, he felt that if this continued, it might turn into an argument.
It was just a meal, and this time it was only for a few people in the team. Although he knew that Kazuma Satou and Aqua had ulterior motives, Roa still agreed to their somewhat unreasonable request.
However, at the dining table, Aqua seemed to genuinely believe that Roa had more money than he could spend, and she asked at the table, "Um, Roa, can I ask how much money you have right now?"
Roa, who was eating, put down his spoon, his expression unchanged. He glanced at Aqua and casually replied, "Five hundred million Eris? Tsk, that's just a little bit."
"F-Five hundred million?"
Kazuma Satou, who had been eating, was so shocked that he nearly choked. His eyes widened, and he grabbed Roa's hand tightly.
Megumin also quietly put down her utensils, and three of the four people looked at Roa with shining eyes.
No need to say more; they were definitely thinking of borrowing money again.
Sure enough, the next moment, Aqua trembled all over, suddenly lunging at Roa, hugging his waist and rubbing her head against him.
"Mr. Roa! Lord Roa! Please help me out! I'll do anything!"
Her tearful plea left Roa speechless.
"You want me to lend you money, right?"
Roa pressed down on Aqua's head as she tried to get closer, pushing the self-proclaimed goddess's face away and gazing into her watery eyes, suddenly smiling.
"But I'm curious, didn't you already borrow money from me before? Why are you thinking of borrowing money from me again?"
At this point, Aqua paused her movements, and Roa keenly noticed that whether it was Aqua, Kazuma, or Megumin, they all averted their gazes, looking guilty.
Roa frowned and asked, "You guys didn't go outside to borrow money, did you?"
Although Roa covered everyone's meal expenses, logically, there shouldn't have been that many expenditures.
But was that really the case?