Adding fresh goddess juice into the lake!
Part 1
“Have you heard? Rumor says that a boss of the demon king army had taken over an old castle which is situated in the hills a short walk from town.”
In the corner of the bar operated by the guild.
I was listening to a man sitting at my table and drinking during the day.
I am not drinking beer though, but Neroid swish.
What is Neroid.
What is swish.
I only tried it out of curiosity since the people told me this was the non alcoholic beverage of choice among patrons…
If you ask me if it was good, I could only answer it this way:
… Erm, I don’t know.
But I know what swish meant.
It’s the texture you feel when you drink it.
This wasn’t a carbonated drink. I don’t really get what the swish texture was, but this feeling could only be described as swish.
I finished the Neroid and place the cup on the table…
“A boss from the demon king army. That sounds bad, but it had nothing to do with us.”
“That’s right.”
The man before me agreed with my negative and irresponsible words.
The number of people chatting in the Adventurers guild was unexpectedly large and I could hear many interesting topics.
For example spotting dangerous monsters at some place so do not take quests from that area.
I had a hard time just surviving since coming to this world, and had never gathered intelligence in this way before.
Collecting information was the most important stage in collecting the flags you had raised.
Gathering and talking about such things in a bar had a feeling of an adventurer, which made me happy.
The man sitting opposite me said:
“Anyway, it’s better not to approach the abandoned castle to the north of town. This is not the capital of the kingdom, so who knows what the boss of the demon army is doing here. But since it is a boss, it is probably a Lord Ogre, vampire, arch demon or dragon. No matter which one it is, it must be a monster that could kill us instantly. The best way is to not take any quest near that abandoned castle.”
Or news of certain monster hating the smell of tangerine juice, so smearing it on you will keep them away.
After thanking that man, I left my seat and returned to the table my party was at…
“…What? Why are you all looking at me like that?”
Aqua, Darkness and Megumin took small mouthfuls of the vegetable sticks in the cup in the center of the table as they stared at me.
“Nothing–? I wasn’t worried about Kazuma joining another party or anything.”
Aqua said as she looked at me with uneasy eyes.
“…? Eh, I was only gathering information, that is the basics of adventurers.”
I took a seat at their table and reached for a vegetable stick.
Dodge.
The vegetable stick dodged my out reached hand.
… Hey.
“What are you doing Kazuma.”
Aqua slammed the table, making the vegetable stick jump in surprise.
When the vegetable sticks were in the air momentarily, Aqua grabbed one and stuffed it in her mouth.
“… Hmm. You looked so happy. You seemed to be having fun chatting, Kazuma. You seemed close to the members of the other parties huh?”
Megumin slammed the table with her fist, and picked up the vegetable stick that was too scared to move and shoved it in her mouth.
“… What is this refreshing feeling? Seeing Kazuma being on good terms with the other parties, the melancholic feeling is mixed with something good… Could this be the legendary NTR…?”
That crazy pervert who was spilling nonsense flicked the edge of the cup with her finger and took a vegetable stick nimbly.
“What is this, what is with you all? Isn’t collecting intelligence in such a place the basics…?”
I hit the table as I spoke and reached for the vegetable sticks…
Dodge.
“………… What is with this dodging—-!”
“St, stop–! What are you doing to my vegetable sticks! No, don’t destroy the food!”
My hand that failed to grab the vegetable stick took the cup containing the sticks instead, holding it high as I prepare to throw it against the wall. But Aqua who was on the verge of tears restrained my hand.
“How dare a mere vegetable look down on me! It’s a bit wrong to retort so late, but why could the vegetable run. Could you please serve food that is already dead!?”
“What are you talking about. Be it fish or vegetable, it taste better if it is fresher right? Haven’t you heard of killing it fresh and serving it on the spot?”
Then kill it before serving it.
I gave up on eating the vegetable sticks and said:
“Hai… forget it, let’s ignore the vegetable for now, I have something important to ask you. I was thinking about what skills to learn after leveling up. To be honest, the composition of this party is too unbalanced. So I’m thinking of making up for our weakness since I have the most flexible job… By the way, what skills have you all learned?”
That’s right, to improve the efficiency of taking harder quests, it was important to consider the teamwork of the party before learning skills.
That’s what I thought when I came to discuss things with them, but…
“My skills are centered around ‘Physical Defense’, ‘Magical Resistance’ and ‘Abnormal Status Resistance’. I have a skill called ‘Bait’, used to taunt the enemy.”
“… Don’t you plan to learn something like ‘2-handed sword’ to increase your attack accuracy?”
“I don’t plan to. It might sound like I am boasting, but my stamina and strength are great. If my attacks land easily, I could easily defeat monsters without taking damage. And it’s not good to hold back intentionally. It should be like this… Attacking with all my might but couldn’t hit the enemy, and being captured as my strength wanes, that is the best.”
“Enough, you shut up.”
“… Hmmmhmm…! You are the one who asked, but to treat me like this…”
I decided to ignore Darkness who was panting with a red face.
I looked at Megumin who tilted her head and said:
“Of course I learned explosion related skills, ‘Explosion’, ‘Explosion Damage Increase’ and ‘Fast Chanting’ et cetera. All the skills to cast the perfect explosion spell. It was the same before, and will of course be so in the future.”
“… No matter what, you have no intention of learning something like mid tier magic?”
“I don’t plan to.”
This fellow won’t do either…
“As for me…”
“There is no need.”
“Eheh?”
Aqua was planning to explain her skills, but I shut her up immediately.
It’s just party tricks, party tricks and party tricks anyway.
And so…
“Why can’t this party get its act together… Maybe I should think about switching parties…”
“!” x 3
My soft mumbling surprised the three of them.
Part 2
A few days after the emergency cabbage hunt quest.
All the cabbage captured back then had been sold.
And the adventurers got their bounties.
“Kazuma, look. I earned a lot, so I tried enhancing the armor I sent in for repair… How is it?”
Inside the incredibly crowded adventurers guild filled with people collecting their bounties, Darkness showed me the armor she got back from the repair shop happily.
If I want to put it simply…
“This armor look like something an upstart son of nobility would wear.”
“… Kazuma is merciless no matter the time and place. Even I would want to hear an honest compliment some time.”
Darkness said with a dejected expression.
How would I know?
Anyway…
“There is someone even more problematic than you, so I don’t have the time. Could you please take care of that pervert who is becoming worse than you?”
“Huff… huff… I can’t, can’t take it! The magic powers from this staff made from manatite, the color and glister… huff… huff…”
Megumin was hugging her pimped up staff and grinding her face against it.
Manatite is a rare metal said to have special properties. Adding it in when making a staff would increase the power of spells.
After strengthening her staff with her earnings, Megumin had been acting this way.
I heard the power of the explosion spell would increase by dozen or so percent.
Why are you increasing the power of the explosion magic that was already over powered?
Instead of doing that, shouldn’t you learn magic that would be more convenient? I had plenty things like that which I wanted to say, but I don’t really want to care about the current Megumin, so I decided to ignore her.
I am already satisfied after collecting my rewards.
Darkness who attracted the monsters who came because of the cabbage.
Megumin who destroyed those monsters with a single spell.
And Aqua who chased the cabbage on her own without caring about these two.
We decided not to split the earnings from the cabbage hunt and collect our own bounties.
The one who suggested that was Aqua whose harvest was only second to mine.
And that person was waiting for her turn to collect the money, but…
“What did you say–? Wait, what is this?”
Aqua’s voice reverberated through the guild.
Hai… I hate this…
As expected, Aqua was arguing with the person manning the counter.
She grabbed the collar of the counter lady and was protesting something.
“Why is there only 50,000 Eris! You know how many cabbage I caught? It’s more than 20!”
“Erm, this is hard to say…”
“What!”
“… What Aqua-san turned in was mostly lettuce…”
“… Why was lettuce mixed in there!”
“Even if you ask me that, I won’t know!”
From their conversation, there seemed to be a problem with the bounty.
Aqua probably realized there was no use in arguing with the counter lady, Aqua put her hands behind her and approached me with a smile.
“Ka~zuma-san! How much did you get from this quest?”
“A bit more than a million.”
“Million!” x3
Aqua, Darkness and Megumin was stunned beyond words.
That’s right, I earned my first bucket of gold from the sudden quest.
The cabbages I caught were mostly high grade cabbage that yield plenty of experience points.
This is the difference in the luck stat.
“Kazuma-sama–! How should I put this, I always thought you are a great person!”
“Don’t push yourself if you can’t think about how to compliment me. Let me say this first, I already decided how to utilize the money, so I won’t give you any.”
After hearing me interrupt her, Aqua’s smile stiffened.
“Kazuma-san–! I thought I would earn a lot from the quest, so I spent all the money on me in the past few days! I estimated I would make a killing, so I owed nearly a hundred thousand Eris in this bar! I can’t pay it off with the bounty!”
I pulled Aqua who was crying as she clinged on me off. I wondered why can’t this girl think things through carefully as I pressed on my temples.
“I don’t care, you are the one who wanted ‘everyone to keep their own earnings’. Anyway, I should find a base for myself. It’s uncomfortable to keep staying in the stables right?”
Normally, adventurers won’t buy a house.
Because adventurers do not seek stability and traveled a lot.
There were few successful adventurers, most of them make only enough to get by, which was one of the reason.
To be honest, it is impossible to take down the demon king with these members, so I am on the verge of giving up.
The job of fighting the demon king army should be left to the people sent here before me who had gotten powerful abilities and equipment.
After all, I had the basic job anyone could take, the weakest job, an adventurer.
And unlike those who had trained to be adventurers from the beginning, all my stats are low, I am really a commoner you could find anywhere.
After adventuring in a safe place to satisfy my curiosity, I would be satisfied spending my days leisurely.
Hence, I am planning to find a small house to rent, and buy if it was cheap enough.
Aqua looked like she was going to cry as she grabbed onto me tightly.
“Why did it turn out like this ahhhh! Please Kazuma, lend me money! Just enough to pay off my debts! I know Kazuma is a boy and you would do sneaky things in the stables some times, so I understand why you want a private room! 50,000! Just 50,000 is enough! Please–!”
“I get it, 50,000 is just chump change! I really get it so shut up!”
Part 3
“Kazuma, let’s hurry and find a quest! One with lots of weak monsters! I want to test the power of my new staff!”
Megumin said suddenly.
Yeah.
“You are right, when we were hunting the zombie maker, I didn’t have time to test out my new skills. Let’s find a safe and simple quest.”
“No, let’s find a quest that can earn lots of money! I cleared my tabs, so I don’t even have money for food today!”
“No, let’s find one with strong enemies! One with monsters that have strong attacks and are tough as nails…!”
Hey, there should be a limit on how disunited a party could be.
“Anyway, let’s decide after looking at the bulletin board.”
Everyone followed my suggestion and moved to the bulletin board.
And…
“… Weird? Why are there so few requests?”
That’s right, the board was usually full of request.
But there were only a few today.
Also…
“Kazuma! Pick this one, this one! A giant bear showed up in the mountains, its name is black fang…”
“Rejected! Hey, what is this? Why are there only high difficulty quests left!?”
That’s right, all the quests left on the board were beyond our capabilities.
As we were filled with doubt, a staff member came to us.
“I am sorry… A boss of the demon army seemed to have moved into a small castle near town… It might had been the influence of the demon army, but the weak monsters in the region had all laid low, resulting in a drastic drop in quests. A band of knights dispatched from the capital would be here next month to take out the boss. But before that, there are only high difficulty quests left…”
When she heard the staff member say that, the penniless Aqua screamed.
“Why—?”
…Even I was feeling sympathetic towards Aqua.
“Really… Why did he picked this moment to move here! I don’t know what this boss is, but it better watch out if it is an undead!”
Aqua complained in tears as she browsed through the employment magazine.
The other adventurers were feeling the same and seemed really down. There were more people getting drunk in broad daylight.
I don’t know why the boss chose to move here.
Frankly speaking, the adventurers in this town were about our level.
There were many parties stronger than us, but their powers were still limited.
This is the first town novice Adventurers visits, a place for the beginners to learn the basics.
In game terms, a demon king boss should be characters that appears towards the end.
We had a hard time fighting toads, there was no way we could take on the boss no matter how many of us there were.
Part 4
“That means before the powerful adventurers and knights from the capital come here next month, we can’t work as usual.”
“That’s how it is… During this period of time when we can’t do quests, I would need you to accompany me like this…”
I came with Megumin to the outskirt of town.
There are no dangerous monsters around town right now.
After the demon army boss came, the weak monsters hid themselves in fear.
I came along with Megumin who couldn’t use explosion spell because we couldn’t take on quests for a walk.
This girl had something she needed to do every day, which was casting her explosion magic.
Would I need to accompany this fellow out here every day for the whole month?
I thought about ignoring Megumin and asked her to go alone, but she countered that no one would be carrying her on the way back.
“Here should be far enough right, hurry up, cast your spell and let’s go back.”
A short distance from town, I rushed Megumin to cast her spell.
But Megumin shook her head and said:
“No, the guards will lecture me again if we do this too close to town.”
“You said ‘too’ just now right? Because it was too loud?”
Megumin nodded to acknowledge me.
Can’t be helped, I felt a bit uneasy without my weapon, but there’s no monsters around anyway.
And so I decided to hike a bit further.
Now that I thought about it, I didn’t have much chances to walk around outside leisurely like this.
My trips outside were usually because of hunting monsters or quests.
Not a casual stroll like this…
“…? What is that, an abandoned castle?”
On the hills in a distance ahead.
A deserted ancient castle was erected there.
It looked just like a haunted house…
“It feels creepy… As if there are ghost residing in there…”
I mumbled to myself…
“Let’s pick that place! No one would complain even if I destroy a ruin like that.”
Megumin prepared the spell happily after she finished.
A breeze blew through the hills that made me felt refreshed.
The chanting of the explosion spell that didn’t fit in with this comfortable atmosphere was carried off by the wind…!
… And so, Megumin and I started our new daily routine.
The penniless Aqua was working hard every day.
Darkness said she would return home to train.
The idle Megumin went to the abandoned castle to cast her explosion spell daily without fail.
It might be a cold evening with icy rain.
Or a lazy afternoon after lunch.
Or a refreshing morning when she went for a stroll.
No matter the time, Megumin would cast her spell at that castle every single day…
And I watched Megumin’s spell every day, and was even able to judge whether the condition of the explosion spell was good or bad.
“‘Explosion’–!”
“Oh, that seemed pretty good. The impact of the explosion could be felt through my bones, followed by the air tremor that followed immediately after. It is strange that the abandoned city remained intact but… What an explosion!”
“Great explosion! Kuku, Kazuma understands the way of the explosion more now. Your comment today hit the mark and was poetry like… how about it? I am not talking about this casually, Kazuma do you want to seriously consider learning explosion magic?”
“Yeah– the way of the explosion is interesting… But from the composition of our current party, there is no need for 2 wizards. But when I retire from adventuring and have left over skill points, it would be interesting to use them to learn explosion magic.”
Megumin discussed such things with a smile.
Just like this, we talked about how much points we could give the sound of the explosion: Like even though it wasn’t too loud, but the pitch was great, and chatted about the way of the explosion.
Part 5
After we continued our explosive stroll for a week, in the morning.
“Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare your combat equipment and report to the main gate of the city ready for combat!”
The familiar emergency broadcast could be heard through the entire town.
After hearing the broadcast, we put on our gears and rushed on scene.
A lot of adventurers were gathered at the main gate. When we reached the scene, we saw an intimidating monster standing before us, and we could only stare at it blankly.
Dullahan.
A monster that brought despair and premonition of death to men.
After turning into an undead, it’s physical strength was stronger than it was in life, and possessed unique powers.
The knight in black armor standing at the front gate held its head on the left side of its body. Before the eyes of the gathered adventurers, it presented its head that was covered fully in its helmet before everyone.
The head said in a distorted voice.
“… I am a boss of the demon king army, and had moved into a castle nearby recently…”
As it spoke, the head started trembling…!
“Every day every day every day! The crazy idiot who comes to my castle to cast explosion magic, where are you—!”
This boss of the demon king army was seriously angry.
The yell of the Dullahan seemed to be suppressing its anger until it couldn’t hold back anymore, making the adventurers around me chatter.
Or rather, everyone present doesn’t seem to get what was happening.
Anyway, the reason for the emergency summon was probably the dullahan before us who was going mad from fury.
“… Explosion spell?”
“The one who knows explosion magic is…”
“If you talk about explosion spell, it would be…”
The gaze of the people around us naturally fell on Megumin besides me.
… Megumin who was the center of attention turned her head sharply at a girl wizard standing beside her.
Affected by her action, I looked at that girl. Everyone else was also influenced and stared at that girl…
“Huh? M, me? Why are you all looking at me? I couldn’t use explosion magic!”
The girl wizard who was being framed denied in a hurry.
… Wait, could it be… the abandoned castle where we cast explosion magic every day!
Could it be…
I peeked at Megumin besides me who was sweating.
This fellow noticed too.
Finally, Megumin sighed and walked forward with an annoyed face.
The adventurers reacted to her movement and opened a path to the Dullahan.
The Dullahan standing at the main gate of town.
Megumin stood about 10 meters from the Dullahan and faced him.
With me in the lead, Darkness and Aqua also followed behind Megumin.
Aqua who would attack aggressively whenever she saw an undead probably thought the sight of an angry Dullahan to be mad and was watching what would happen expectantly.
“So it’s you…! You are the moron who cast explosion on my castle every day? If you knew I was the boss of the demon army and want to challenge me to a fight, then enter the castle! If not, then just hide in town and tremble! Why are you bothering me with such evil means? I knew there were only low level adventurers in town! I wanted to leave such minor characters alone, but you can’t catch a clue and come boom boom boom with your spells every day…! Is there something wrong with your head?”
He was probably irked by the daily explosion magic, the helmet of the Dullahan trembled with rage.
Megumin was intimidated and was a bit scared, but she still flicked the cape she wore…
“I am Megumin. As an arch wizard, I have mastered explosion spells…!”
“… What kind of name is Megumin, are you mocking me?”
“No, that’s not it!”
Even though she was retorted by the Dullahan when she introduced herself, Megumin composed herself and continued:
“I hail from the crimson magic clan, the elite wizard of this town. I cast explosion magic continuously in order to lure you, the boss of the demon army out…! As I planned, you came to town alone after being tricked, your end is near!”
Seeing Megumin pointing her staff at the Dullahan excitedly, I was standing behind her and whispered to Darkness and Aqua.
“… Hey, this girl actually said that. She was playing around, saying she will die if she doesn’t cast explosion magic every day, so I brought her to the area around that castle. When did it turn into her plan?”
“…Yeah, and she used the chaos to declare herself as an elite wizard of this town.”
“Shhh–! Don’t say that out loud! She hasn’t used her explosion spell yet and a bunch of adventurers are backing her from behind, so she is adopting a strong position. She is still talking, so let’s see how it goes!”
Megumin probably heard what we said as she maintained her posture of pointing her staff at her opponent as her face turned red.
For some reason, the Dullahan accepted what she said.
“… Oh, a member of Crimson magic. I see. So that weird name wasn’t a lie.”
“Hey, if you have any comments about the name my parents gave me, spit it out!”
Megumin became angry after hearing what the Dullahan said, but he paid her no heed.
Or rather, he wasn’t bothered after seeing the adventurers of the entire town gathered here.
As expected of a boss of the demon king army, he probably didn’t think anything about us rookies.
“…Hmmp, forget it. I didn’t come here to mess with peasants like you all. I am here to investigate something. I will be staying in that castle for the time being, so don’t cast explosion spell anymore. Understand?”
“That is like asking me to die. Those of the Crimson magic clan need to cast explosion spell once every day, or we would die.”
“Hey hey, I never heard of this before! Stop bullshitting me!”
What should I do, I want to see Megumin and that monster chat some more.
I looked at Aqua, she was happily watching Megumin messing around with the Dullahan.
The Dullahan placed his head on his right hand and shrugged.
“You don’t plan to give up explosion magic no matter what? Even though I had taken the side of darkness, I was a knight before and have no interest in slaughtering the weak. But if you continue to bother me with such things around the castle, I have my way of handling things too.”
The Dullahan emitted an dangerous aura, making Megumin took a few steps back.
But Megumin had a cocky smile…!
“We are the ones being bothered alright!? Because of you staying in that castle, we couldn’t even do our work properly! Hmmp… You can only act high and mighty now. We have an expert that deals with the undead here! Master, I leave it to you!”
After throwing out big words, Megumin left everything in Aqua’s hands.
… Hey.
“I guess it couldn’t be helped–! I don’t know if you are a demon army’s boss or what, but you are unlucky to come here when I am around. You are an undead, but you chose to come out in broad day light when your power are weaken, you are just asking to be purified! It’s all you fault that I couldn’t take on quests as usual! Okay, are you ready to face the music?”
After Megumin addressed her as master, Aqua cheerfully stood before the Dullahan.
The adventurers gulped nervously as they wonder how things would develop. Under the eyes of the masses, Aqua extended her hand out at the Dullahan.
Seeing that, the Dullahan offered its head to Aqua excitedly.
This is probably the way for the Dullahan to expressed that it was ‘watching seriously’.
“Oh, impressive, you are not a normal priest, but an arch priest right? But no matter what, I am still a boss of the demon king army. I have not fallen so low that I would be purified by a low level arch priest in a place like this. I have my ways of dealing with arch priests too… But I will start by torturing this girl of the crimson magic clan!”
As Aqua was preparing to chant her spells, the Dullahan moved and pointed its index finger at Megumin.
The Dullahan then shouted!
“I shall predict your death! You will die one week from now!”
As the Dullahan cast its spell, Darkness grabbed Megumin’s collar and hid Megumin behind her.
“Huh? Da, Darkness!”
As Megumin screamed, Darkness’s body glowed with a faint dark light.
Damn, she was hit, was that a proclamation of death?
“Darkness are you alright? Does it hurt anywhere?”
I asked in a hurry, but Darkness stretched her hands a few times to confirm it.
“… Yeah, I didn’t feel anything.”
She said casually.
But the Dullahan did shouted.
She will die one week from now.
As Aqua was touching the cursed Darkness everywhere, the Dullahan announced delightedly.
“That curse won’t harm you now. My plans were a bit foiled, but since the camaraderie among adventurers is so deep that it must hurt more… Listen carefully, girl of the Crimson magic. If this goes on, that crusader would die in a week. Hmmp, your important companion would be tortured by the horror of heath in the mean time… That’s right, this is all your fault! In the following week, you will see the pain of your companion and regret your actions! Hmm hahaha, you should have listened to me obediently!”
As Megumin’s face was turning pale because of the Dullahan’s words, Darkness shouted as she trembled:
“There, there is such a thing! That means you had cast a death curse on me, and I have to do as you say in order for you to release the curse! That’s what you meant right!”
“Huh?”
The Dullahan didn’t get what Darkness was saying and reacted plainly.
I didn’t understand what she was saying too… And I don’t want to understand.
“Ugh…! Just a mere curse, don’t think you can make me submit…! I won’t yield…! But, what should I do Kazuma! Look at that Dullahan, look at his evil lusty eyes under his helmet! No matter how I see it, he wants to bring me back to his castle and do as he please if I want him to release the curse. A pervert that wants me to do hardcore pervert play!”
The pitiful Dullahan who was accused of being a sexual deviant pervert in public said:
“… Huh?”
How pitiful.
“Even if you can do what you want with my body, you would never have my heart! I am going to become a female knight imprisoned in a castle and let the henchman of the demon king do unreasonable things with me! Ah, what should I do, what should I do Kazuma! This situation is more thrilling than I expected! I don’t want to go, but I have no choice! I will resist to the very last moment, so don’t stop me! Well then, I will be back in a jiffy!”
“Huh huh?”
“Stop right there, you can’t go! Look how troubled the Dullahan is!”
Darkness was in a hurry to leave with the enemy. When I grabbed her collar from behind, I could see the Dullahan breathe in relief.
“An, anyway! If you have learnt your lesson, stop casting explosion on my castle! And the crimson magic girl! If you want me to release the curse on that crusader, then come to my castle! If you can make it to my room at the top of the castle, I will release her curse! But… my minions are everywhere in the castles and it’s full of undead knights. Can you rookie adventurers make your way to me? Hmm hmm hmm, hahaha!”
After saying his piece, the Dullahan laughed loudly as he rode the headless horse parked outside the gate and went in the direction of the castle…
Part 6
This development was too cruel and made the gathered adventurers stand stiff with a blank face.
I was the same.
Besides me, Megumin’s face was green and she was trembling while gripping her staff hard.
She planned to head out of town alone.
“Hey, where are you going. What do you plan to do?”
I tugged on Megumin’s cape and Megumin struggled to go as she replied without turning her head:
“I am responsible for this incident. I will head to the castle and cast explosion on that Dullahan directly to dispel Darkness’ curse.”
There was no way Megumin could do it alone.
… That’s why.
“I will go with you. If you met some minions and use your spell, it would be the end. I accompanied you all this while and didn’t realize that was the castle of the boss too.”
Megumin made a heavy expression when she heard me. In the end she drooped her shoulders and gave up her original plan.
“… Well, let’s go together. But he said there will be a bunch of undead knights. If that is the case, weapons would be useless. My magic would be more practical… So you have to rely on me when the time comes.”
Megumin said with a smile.
From the name undead knight, it should be an enemy wearing full armor.
In the face of such foes, my cheap weapon would be useless.
But I still had other ideas.
“I can use my ‘Detect Enemy’ skill to search the monster in the castle and conceal myself with ‘Hide’ and sneak in. Or we can visit the castle everyday and defeat the enemy on each level one day at a time before coming back. We will reduce the enemies’ numbers slowly… Since the time limit is one week, this plan should work.”
Megumin probably felt there was hope after listening to my suggestion and cheered up. Megumin and I turned and looked at Darkness.
“Hey Darkness! We will definitely break your curse! So don’t worry…”
“Sacred Break Spell!”
Just when I was encouraging Darkness.
Aqua’s spell interrupted me and Darkness’ body glowed faintly.
Darkness then looked as if she missed a chance for something and was down; in contrast, Aqua was happy as she said:
“With me around, breaking the curse of the Dullahan is easy! What do you think? I look like a priest sometimes right?”
“…Huh?” x2
… And to think Megumin and I were debating so passionately, give my effort back to me.
Part 7
A week after the demon king army attack incident was resolved peacefully.
“I want to take a quest! It’s fine even if it is a bit hard, let’s take a quest!”
“Huh…” x2
Megumin and I expressed our displeasure when we heard Aqua say that.
Except for Aqua, our wallets were very full.
And there were only high difficulty quests left, I don’t want to go out of my way to take these jobs.
“I am fine with it… but it’s not enough with the firepower of me and Megumin…”
Darkness glanced at Megumin and me while saying this.
Even if you look at us, Megumin and I had no reason to force ourselves to take a dangerous quest.
Looking at how disinterested we were, Aqua cried out loud.
“Please I beg you–! I don’t want to work anymore! The store owner gets mad if I don’t sell all the croquette! I will work hard! I will do my best this time–!”
Megumin and I looked at each other.
“Alright then… then take a look and see if there is any quest that looks fine. We will go with you if the quest isn’t too bad.”
Aqua rushed to the bulletin board after hearing us say that.
“… Kazuma, shouldn’t you take a look too? If you leave it to Aqua, she will probably pick an incredible quest…”
“… You are correct. But I won’t complain even if the quest is a bit hard…”
After listening to Megumin and Darkness’ comment, I had an ominous feeling.
I came to the bulletin board, and stood behind Aqua who was thinking about which quest to pick.
Aqua didn’t realize I was behind her and browsed the quest seriously.
Finally, she tore a paper from the board.
“… Good.”
“Good your head! What quest are you taking!”
I snatched the client request from Aqua’s hand.
‘– Hunting manticore and Griffon– manticore are fighting for territory. It is dangerous to leave them alone, please hunt both of them. Bounty is 500,000 Eris.’
“You idiot!”
I shouted as I returned it to the bulletin board.
It was right to follow her. I was almost dragged down by her to take on an incredibly dangerous quest.
“What, we just need to let Megumin give them an explosion while they are together to settle it in one shot. Why are you so timid…”
This fellow was planning to let me take on the task of getting these two dangerous monster to gather at the same spot.
How about taking this quest and letting her do it alone. As I was thinking it over, Aqua tugged my sleeve excitedly.
“This one! Look at this one!”
Listening to what Aqua said, I took a look at the request form she was pointing at.
‘– Lake purification–The lake which was one of the water sources for the town had been polluted. Brutal alligators had moved into the lake. Request for someone to purify the lake. The monsters in the lake will leave after purifying the lake, there is no need to fight the monsters *Requirement: Priest with purification magic. Reward is 300,000 Eris.’
“… You can purify the lake?”
Aqua snorted and said.
“Idiot, who do you think I am? From my name and appearance, you should be able to tell what portfolio I had as a goddess right?”
“Aren’t you the goddess of banquets?”
“As if you HikiNEET! I am the goddess of water alright! Didn’t you see my beautiful blue eyes and hair?”
I see.
Earning 300,000 by just purifying the water, it’s a great deal.
Not needing to fight meant it was worth it.
“Let’s take this one. Or rather, wouldn’t you alone suffice if it is just purifying the water? You can hog all the rewards this way right?”
But Aqua didn’t agree with me.
“Well… I think the monsters will harass me while I am purifying the water right? Before I finish the purification, I hope you all can protect me from the monsters.”
So that’s the plan.
But from the name brutal alligator, isn’t it an alligator type monster?
That sounds dangerous…
“By the way, how long would the purification take? 5 minutes or so?”
If it was just a short while, we could wing it with Megumin’s explosion magic.
Aqua tilted her head and said:
“… About half a day?”
“That’s too long!”
Fending off monsters with such a dangerous name, who would want to do that.
As I was planning to put the bulletin back…
“Ahh! Please, I beg of you–! There is no other quest that is as good! Please help me Kazuma-san–!”
I was planning to stick the paper back on the bulletin board, but Aqua entangled my right hand and begged me for help. Looking at her, I thought of an idea.
“… Nah, how does the purification process work?”
“… Hmm? To purify the water, I just need to touch the water with my hand and continuously cast purification magic…”
I see, she needs to touch the water.
I had an idea, but that way…
… No, wait.
“Hey Aqua. I think there is a way to purify the water safely, you want to give it a try?”
Part 8
There was a large lake some distance from town.
This lake was one of the water source of the town, there was a stream flowing out of it straight into town.
The lake was besides a mountain, and water flowed endlessly down from it into the lake.
I got it now.
As stated in the request, the lake waters appeared a bit murky and showed signs of stagnation.
I thought monsters prefer clean water, so that wasn’t true.
As I looked over the lake, I heard a timid voice behind me.
“… Nah… Are we really going to do it this way?”
Aqua sounded really uneasy.
My plan was flawless, what is there to worry about?
Aqua spoke:
“… I felt like a captured rare monster that is going to be sold…”
… The rare monster was locked in a steel cage, hugging her knees in the center as she spoke.
I plan to throw Aqua along with the cage into the lake.
In the beginning, I was planning to let her stay inside the cage some distance away from the cage. But since purification required contact with the waters, the plan had evolved into this.
As the goddess of water, Aqua could stay in the bottom of the lake for an entire day without breathing and won’t be uncomfortable.
From what she claimed, even without purification magic, there would be purification effects just by immersing Aqua into the lake.
That was her godly nature. No matter how lousy of a goddess she was, it was still impressive.
Darkness and I had already moved Aqua’s cage to the side of the lake.
It was a steel cage, an equipment we loaned from the guild.
As some of the request include capturing monsters, these items were meant for such quests.
We didn’t come here to throw the useless goddess into the lake, so we don’t need to carry it too far.
We just need to put it by the lake so Aqua could come into contact with the water.
This way, she would be fine even if the brutal alligators attacked her while she was purifying the waters.
It was a cage meant to transport captured monsters anyway, it should be able to keep Aqua who was inside safe.
I heard from the guild staff that the monsters would leave the lake after purification was completed. But just in case they refuse to leave Aqua after that, we attached a strong chain to the cage.
Because the cage was heavy, we dragged it here using the horse we borrowed from town.
In the event of an emergency, I intend to use the horse to drag the cage to escape.
The cage had been lowered into the edge of the lake, soaking Aqua’s feet and buttocks in water.
Next would be maintaining the current situation as the 3 of us wait in the distance. Aqua hugged her knees and said softly:
“… I feel like a tea bag being drained of its flavor…”
Part 9
The purification device… Correction, Aqua had been placed in the lake for 2 hours.
There was no sign of any monsters attacking her.
Darkness, Megumin and I stayed on land about 20 meters from Aqua to watch over her.
I yelled at Aqua who was soaked in the lake.
“Hey– Aqua! How is the purification going? Is it cold staying in the lake? Give a holler if you want to go to the rest room! I will let you out of the cage–!”
I yelled from afar, and Aqua yelled back.
“Purification is proceeding smoothly! And I don’t need to go to the rest room! Arch priest doesn’t go to the rest room!”
Aqua said something idols in the old days would say.
I was worried about her since she had been in the water for quite a while, but she seemed to be doing fine.
“There seems to be no problems. By the way, Crimson magic clansmen don’t need to use the washroom either.”
Megumin said without me asking.
You and Aqua were always eating so much, where did all that stuff go… I felt like retorting.”
“As a crusader, I also don’t… need to go… Ugh…”
“Darkness, don’t compete with these two. For Megumin and Aqua who insist they don’t need to use the restroom, I will accept a quest that can’t be completed in a day to confirm if they really don’t need to use the washroom.
“Don’t, don’t do that okay? The crimson magic clan really don’t use the washroom! But I apologize, so don’t do that… By the way, the brutal alligators are not coming, it would be great if things ends peacefully like this.”
Megumin said something that definitely raised a flag.
And as if on cue, ripples appeared somewhere on the lake.
In term of size, it was about the same as alligators on earth.
But it was a monster after all, so there was some difference with earth’s alligators.
“Ka, Kazuma–! Something is coming over! Nah, lots of things are coming here!”
Seemed like the alligator of this world moved in a group.
— 4 hours since purification began–
Aqua simply soaked herself in the water in the beginning and use the passive skill of the goddess to purify the lake. But she probably wanted to finish the purification sooner and head back, so she had been chanting purification magic nonstop.
“‘Purification’! ‘Purification’, ‘Purification’–!
A large group of alligators was surrounding Aqua’s cage and gnawing at it.
“‘Purification’! ‘Purification’–! The cage is creaking! It’s creaking! The cage, cage is making weird sounds!”
Aqua screamed in the cage, but we couldn’t blow them away with explosion magic either, so we couldn’t do anything about it.
“Aqua–! Tell us if you want to give up–! If you want to give up, we will drag you along with the cage with the chain–!”
I had been shouting that towards the cage for some time now, but Aqua refused to abort the quest despite being terrified.
“I, I don’t wanna! Giving up now means wasting the time I spent so far, and not being able to collect the bounty! ‘Purification’! ‘Purification’–! … Waahhahhh–! There was a cracking sound! The cage made a sound it shouldn’t be making!”
Aqua screamed in tears while the brutal alligator that surrounded her didn’t even look at us.
Darkness mumbled to herself as she looked at the situation over there.
“… Staying in that cage seemed rather good…:
“… You better not go there!”
— 7 hours after purification began–
The battered cage was alone in the lake.
There were bite marks all over the cage after the brutal alligators attacked it.
The purification was probably done, so the brutal alligator left the cage and moved upstream.
The sound of Aqua chanting purification spell couldn’t be heard anymore.
Or rather, about an hour ago, we did not hear Aqua who was surrounded by the brutal alligators make any sound.
“… Hey Aqua, are you alright? The brutal alligators had left for some other place.”
We approached the cage to check on how Aqua was doing.
“… Sniff… Ugh… Hic…”
If you were so terrified and cried while hugging your knees, you should have given up the quest earlier…
But it was hard to blame her under the circumstances.
“Good girl, the purification is done, let’s go back. I had discussed with Darkness and Megumin, we won’t take the reward this time. The 300,000 is all yours.”
The shoulders of Aqua who buried her face between her knees trembled.
But she didn’t want to come out from the cage.
“… Hey, it’s time to come out of the cage, all the brutal alligators are gone.”
When she heard me, Aqua said something softly.
“… Directly like this…”
…?
“What did she say?”
“… She said, the world outside the cage is scary, so bring her back to town directly like this.”
… Seemed that after hunting toads, this quest had left deep psychological trauma in Aqua’s heart too.
“Do Na Do Na Do– Na– Do– Na–…”
“Eh… Hey Aqua, we are already back in town, can you stop singing that song? We are gathering a lot of attention just by dragging a battered cage with a woman hugging her knees inside. And it’s safe back in town, it’s about time you come out.”
“Don’t wanna. This is my holy realm. The world outside is scary, I don’t want to come out for now.”
The horse dragged the cage with Aqua who refused to come out inside.
We completed the quest safety and returned to town. Under the gaze of the townsfolk, we head for the guild.
Because Aqua who don’t want to come out and walk, our speed was slow despite the horse helping to drag the cage.
But aside from the psychological trauma, there was no damage worth mentioning.
Although I wanted to try out my equipment and spells, it was still great to finish the quest leisurely.
Completing the quest without any issues was great…
Maybe it was because I raised a flag with my thoughts.
“God, goddess-sama! Isn’t this goddess-sama? What are you doing in such a place!”
A man suddenly shouted and rushed to Aqua who shut herself inside the cage and grab the bars.
And amazingly, the bars that held up to the bites of the brutal alligator was bent easily by this guy and he offered a hand to Aqua.
Ignoring Megumin and me who were dumbstruck, the unknown man reached for the speechless Aqua…
“… Hey, don’t act familiar with my companion and touch her. Who are you? If she knew you, why would Aqua not have any reaction?”
As the man was about to take Aqua’s hand, Darkness stopped him.
Unlike her envious eyes when she saw Aqua surrounded by brutal alligator, Darkness was now a shield protecting her comrades, a proud crusader.
… It would be great if she always act this way…
The man glanced at Darkness, sighed and shook his head.
His demeanor seemed to be saying he didn’t want to create trouble but he had no choice.
The man’s attitude clearly pissed off Darkness who doesn’t normally show her emotion openly.
As the tension rose, I went to Aqua who continued to hug her knees and refused to leave the cage despite the situation and whispered:
“… Hey, it’s someone you know right? He called you goddess-sama just now. Go and handle that man.”
After hearing what I said, Aqua made a ‘what are you talking about?’ face and…
“… Ah! Goddess! That’s right, I am a goddess. And? What problems do you want this goddess to settle? You guys are really helpless!”
Aqua finally came out of the cage.
Did this girl really forgot about being a goddess?
After exiting the cage, Aqua tilted her head at that man.
“… Who are you?”
She didn’t know him.
… No, she probably did.
Because the man opened his eyes wide in surprise.
Aqua probably just forgot about him.
“Why are you saying this goddess-sama! It’s me Mitsurugi Kyouya! I received the sword Gram from you!”
“…?”
Aqua still tilted her head, but I finally got it.
His name might sound like the protagonist of an anime or manga, but since it was a Japanese name, he must had gotten a powerful weapon from Aqua and came here before me.
That man who seemed to have a strong sense of justice had a head of brown hair and was the cool type.
He was wearing armor that looked expensive and glowed in blue brightly. On his waist was a sword in a black scabbard.
Behind him was a beauty with a long spear that was the warrior type, and a pretty girl wearing leather armor with a dagger on her waist.
This fellow claiming to be Mitsurugi was about my age.
To describe this man in one sentence…
He looked like the main character of a manga.
“Ah! Yes yes, there was such a person! Sorry, I totally forgot about you. I sent a lot of people here, so it couldn’t be helped if I forgot!”
After an explanation from Mitsurugi and I, Aqua finally remembered.
His face was a bit awkward, but Mitsurugi still smiled at Aqua and said:
“Eh, it’s been a while, Aqua-sama. As your chosen hero, I had been working hard every day. My job is Sword master. I am already level 37… Oh right, why is Aqua-sama doing here? Or rather, why were you locked in the cage?”
Mitsurugi said as he stole glances at me.
When Aqua sent him to this world, she made up something about him being chosen by the gods and is a hero, those irresponsible words.
She didn’t remember this person existed, which showed how irresponsible her words to Mitsurugi was.
So in Mitsurugi’s eyes, I was the one locking Aqua in the cage?
… Well, normal people would think so.
Even if I told him she was the one who didn’t want to come out, this guy wouldn’t believe me.
Even me who saw it with my own eyes won’t believe there was such a weird goddess.
I told Mitsurugi what happened to Aqua and me after transporting to this world…
“… Preposterous, this is too illogical! What are you thinking, bring goddess-sama to this world? And you locked her in a cage and threw her in the lake for this quest?”
Mitsurugi grabbed my collar in righteous fury.
Aqua restrained him in a hurry.
“You, what are you doing? This is nothing, I am living every day happily, and am not angry about being brought to this world! And I can go back after defeating the demon king! Today’s quest was a bit scary, but it was resolved smoothly. No one was hurt and the rewards is 300,000. 300,000! And everyone said they will let me take all of it!”
Mitsurugi looked at Aqua with pitiful eyes after hearing what she said.
“… Aqua-sama, I don’t how how this man talked you into this, but you are being treated too illogically. After such a sacrifice, you only earned 300,000…? You are a goddess! For a goddess to be treated this way… By the way, where do you stay at night?”
I felt like telling Mitsurugi not to keep saying goddess by the side of the road, but he seemed to be on the verge of losing it, so I decided to shut up.
For a first meeting, this guy is really rude.
He doesn’t understand Aqua at all.
Hearing Mitsurugi say that, Aqua was a bit frightened and answered timidly:
“With everybody, in the stables…”
“Huh?”
Mitsurugi grabbed my collar with more force.
Hey, that hurts!
Darkness grabbed Mitsurugi’s hand at this moment.
“Hey, watch yourself and remove your hand. You had been unreasonable all this while. This must be the first time you met Kazuma, there should be a limit to how rude you can be.”
Darkness who was usually quiet when she wasn’t spouting nonsense had gotten angry.
On a closer look, Megumin had picked up her upgraded staff and seemed to be chanting explosion magic… Wait, stop it you!
Mitsurugi let go of his hand and observed Darkness and Megumin excitedly.
“… Crusader and Arch wizard? And… They look rather good too. Seems that you had great luck in finding companions, but that doesn’t make sense. Don’t you feel ashamed in letting Aqua and these two excellent members sleep in the stables? You mentioned your job is the weakest adventurer right?”
From the way this guy described it, my situation seemed great.
From the people who didn’t know us, I seemed so lucky.
I whispered to Aqua:
“Nah, nah, isn’t staying in the stables the norm for adventurers in this world? Why is this guy so mad?”
“Well, I think he was granted a powerful sword when he was transported to this world, and completed a bunch of high difficulty quest from the beginning. He probably had no worries about money… But that is the usual case for people with special abilities or equipment.”
A flame of anger burned in my heart after I listened to Aqua’s answer.
The guy who didn’t undergo any hardship because of a powerful sword gifted to him, why is he acting so high and mighty to me who had to work hard from the very start?
He didn’t realize my seething anger and said to Aqua, Darkness and Megumin with a sympathetic smile:
“It must have been hard on you all so far. Please join me from now on. Of course, I won’t let you all sleep in the stables, and will buy the full set of premium equipment for you. The balance of the team is great. I am a sword master, my warrior comrade and you as a crusader: along with my thief comrade, this arch wizard and Aqua-sama. What a perfect combination, it’s a match made in heaven.”
Ara, it didn’t include me.
Well, I don’t want to join this guy’s party anyway.
After hearing Mitsurugi’s proposal, my 3 companions started talking among themselves.
Mitsurugi might be a self centered hero, but the terms he offered wasn’t bad.
And compared to acting alongside me, going with Mitsurugi offered an easier route for Aqua to take down the demon king.
The demon king needed to be defeated before Aqua could return to heaven.
Although I only thought of her as a complementary gift for moving to this world, but heavens would probably allow her to return if she finished the job of defeating the demon king with another hero.
I thought Aqua and the others would be moved with such excellent terms, so I strained my ears behind them to listen. In the end…
“It feels wrong. He is so bad that it made me cringe. And he was the one doing all the talking with his narcissistic tendencies which frighten me.”
“What should we do, for some reason I am unable to physically accept this man. I prefer active people over passive ones, but somehow that guy makes me want to beat him up.”
“Can I cast my magic? Can I throw an explosion spell into the face of that elite putting up a front who had never went through any hardship before?”
Ara, their perception of you were rather negative, Mitsurugi-san.
After that, Aqua tugged my sleeve and said:
“Nah Kazuma, let’s hurry to the guild okay? I might be the one who gave him the powerful sword, but I think it would be better not to get too close with such people.”
To be honest his action was infuriating, but it would be best to leave as Aqua suggested.
“Well– My companions don’t seem keen to join your party and the opinion is unanimous. We still need to report the completion of the quest, so we will take our leave…”
After finishing, I lead the horse dragging the cage and prepared to go.
…
“… Could you please move out of the way?”
I said in an annoyed tone to Mitsurugi who was blocking my way.
What should I do, he is the type who doesn’t listen to others.
“Excuse me, but Aqua-sama is the one who bestowed this sword to me, and seeing my benefactor who granted me power fall to such a state, I couldn’t simply ignore it. You couldn’t save the world, the one to defeat the demon king would be me. It would be better for Aqua-sama to follow me… You said you chose Aqua as the item to be brought along to this world with you right?”
“… Yes.”
Going by the cliché developments of manga, I could predict what would happen next.
This guy would definitely…!
“If that is the case, how about making a bet? You chose Aqua-sama as the ‘thing’ to be brought along with you right? If I win, you have to give Aqua-sama to me; If you win, I can promise you one thing, anything.”
“Okay, I accept! Take this!”
Just as I predicted.
I was almost at my limits, and attacked without saying anything more.
I moved my left hand out of the way and used my right to swing my sheathed sword at him immediately.
The first to move wins, there is nothing unscrupulous about it!
And a high level sword master with a powerful sword challenging a novice adventurer with weak gears was the unscrupulous one!
Mitsurugi didn’t expect me to attack the moment I answer him.
“Eh? Wait! Hold…!”
Mitsurugi seemed to be in a panic, but as expected of a high level adventurer.
He drew his sword and braced it horizontally to fend off my sword.
As the sword in my right hand was about to hit Mitsurugi’s sword, I reached out my left hand…!
“‘Steal’–!”
The moment I yelled, I felt the weight of a sword in my left hand.
Oh, I hit the jackpot.
The sword Mitsurugi was planning to block my blow with disappeared from his hands.
“Huh?” x3
I wonder who uttered such foolish sounds.
Probably everyone present except for me.
With my stealing skill working together with my attack, Mitsurugi who couldn’t do anything was hit hard on the hard by me.
“Scumbag! Scumbag scumbag scumbag–!”
“How dirty! You are the worst, scumbag! Can’t you fight honorably?”
Mitsurugi’s two female companions lectured me.
It was music to my ears.
Although it was with the scabbard, Mitsurugi was still hit by a rather heavy sword on the head and laid on the ground with the white of his eyes showing, it was pretty comical.
I announced to the two followers who were protesting.
“No matter what, I won. This guy said he will promise me anything if he lost right? Then I would be taking this sword.”
After hearing what I said, one of the follower became agitated.
“What? What absurd thing are you saying? And only Kyouya could use that magic sword, the magic sword will choose its owner. It had chosen Kyouya as its master! The blessing of the sword won’t work on you!”
After listening to the girl’s confident words, I turned towards Aqua.
“… Is that true? I can’t use this spoils of war? I was thinking that I had finally gotten a strong piece of equipment.”
“It’s true. Regrettably, the sword Gram is the exclusive weapon of that unpleasant guy. It bestows one with arm strength beyond the human limits when equipped, and the sword is a sharp weapon that can cut through steel like a vegetable. But in Kazuma’s hands, this would just be a normal sword.”
So there was such a thing…
But since I got something great, I should take it with me.
“I would be on my way then. Tell that guy when he wakes up that he was the one who wanted the duel, so no complaints… Alright, let’s go to the guild for the bounty, Aqua.”
After finishing, I turned to leave. Mitsurugi’s female companion raised their weapon against me.
“You you you, hold it right there!”
“Give Kyouya’s sword back. We won’t acknowledge your win!”
And so, I lift my hands and wriggled my fingers before the 2 ladies.
“It’s fine if you want to bring it on, but I believe in gender equality, a man who dares to use drop kicks against girls. Don’t think I will hold back against you two! I should say that since you are girls, I might humiliate you in public using my ‘Steal’ skill.”
The two girls looked at my hand, worried about their safety in some ways, and backed off with an uneasy face.
“Ugwahhh…” x3
My companions looked at me with scornful eyes which pricks me.
Dragging the borrowed cage with us, we finally made it back to the guild.
Since we decided all the rewards would go to Aqua, I left the task of reporting the completion of the quest to Aqua and the others while I returned the borrowed horse. I took my spoils– that magic sword to a certain place and reached the adventurers guild a bit later than the others.
…… But…
“Wh, Why–!”
Aqua’s loud voice could be heard from inside the guild.
Does this girl want to create commotions everywhere she went?
I entered the guild and saw Aqua grabbing a staff of the guild with tearing eyes.
“Didn’t I tell you, the cage I borrowed from you wasn’t damaged by me! It was that Mitsurugi guy who bent the bars! Why do I have to pay for it!”
I see, that guy did bent the bars in an attempt to save Aqua without getting the full story.
And Aqua had to compensate for that broken cage.
Aqua insisted for a moment, but she probably gave up, taking the reward and came to our tables with heavy footsteps.
“… The bounty this time, after deducting the compensation for the broken cage, there is only 100,000 Eris left… They said the cage was made from a special process and material, so it cost 200,000…”
Seeing how dejected Aqua was, even I felt a little sorry for her.
Meeting Mitsurugi was an unexpected disaster for Aqua.
“Next time I meet that man, I will definitely give him a god blow! And get him to cough up the compensation for the cage!”
Aqua sat on her chair and pinched the menu hard and said through her grit teeth.
As for me, I don’t want to ever see him again.
… As Aqua was grumbling grudgingly.
“So that’s where you are! I had a hard time finding you, Kazuma Satou!”
We were just talking about Mitsurugi when he showed up with his two female underlings at the entrance of the guild.
Shouting my full name which I never told him, Mitsurugi rushed to our table and slammed both hands down.
“Kazuma Satou! I asked a female thief about you and she told me everything immediately. She said you like to strip woman of their panties. Other than that, your interest is to cover girls in slime. Lots of people are talking about you, devilish Kazuma.”
“Hold on, who is the one spreading this, tell me properly.”
I know who the thief was, but the problem was the other parts.
Spreading such rumors from somewhere and adding the title devilish before my name…!
As Mitsurugi closed in on me with a serious face, Aqua stepped before him.
“… Aqua-sama. I swear to you, after getting my sword back from that man, I will definitely defeat the demon king. So please join me and form a party pu ah…!”
“Ah! Kyouya!” x2
After being punched by the silent Aqua, Mitsurugi flew out.
Mitsurugi’s two female companions rushed to the fallen Mitsurugi.
Mitsurugi showed a baffled face, not understanding why he was hit. Aqua took large steps towards him, grab his collar and said:
“Compensate me for the cage you destroyed! It’s all your fault that I had to compensate for that cage! Because that cage was made through a special process and material, it cost 300,000 okay, 300,000! You hear me, pay up!”
Didn’t you say the cage cost 200,000 just now?
Mitsurugi who haven’t even stood up after being sent flying by Aqua’s punch remained seated as he forked out the cash.
After getting the money from Mitsurugi, the satisfied Aqua picked up the menu once again.
Mitsurugi composed himself, watching Aqua who was calling for the waitress happily with a menu in hand as he said to me begrudgingly:
“… Even though I was defeated in that way, it was still my loss. Although it is shameless and selfish of me to say this after promising to do anything you wish… But I beg of you! could you return the sword to me? That sword wouldn’t be of much use to you, it is just sharper than normal swords if you wield it. That’s the most you could get out of the sword… How about this? If you want a sword, I can buy the best sword in any shop and give it to you… Could you please return it to me?”
He said himself that it was a selfish request.
No matter how useless, Aqua was still the gift I was bestowed with when I came to this world, something I should get when I make up my mind to come to this world.
In other words, the thing I gambled was of equal worth with Mitsurugi’s sword.
But if you ask me whether Aqua’s worth was equivalent to the magic sword, I could only refuse to answer.
“Using me as a prize without my permission, and asking for your sword back by offering to buy a good sword in exchange, there’s no way this deal would work! Or do you think my worth is equal to the most expensive sword in a shop? Insolent fool, insolent! I am a goddess after all, to use me as a betting chip, what the hell were you thinking? I don’t to ever see your face again, shoo. Hurry up, scram!”
Aqua held the menu in one hand while waving the other, gesturing for Mitsurugi to leave as she said it out loud, which made Mitsurugi turn pale.
It couldn’t be helped, who asked him to create trouble and then do this, no wonder Aqua got angry.
“Please, please wait Aqua-sama! I am not looking down on your value…”
As Mitsurugi was explaining, Megumin tugged Mitsurugi’s sleeve.
“…? What is it little girl… Hmm?”
After getting Mitsurugi’s attention, Megumin pointed at me.
To be precise, she was pointing at my waist.
“… Just a heads up, the sword is no longer with this man.”
“!”
Mitsurugi noticed after hearing Megumin say that…
“Sa, Satou Kazuma! Where is the sword? You you, where did you take my sword to?”
He was breaking out in cold sweat as he pressed me for an answer.
I replied in 3 words.
“I sold it.”
“Damn you–!”
Mitsurugi rushed out of the guild in tears.
“… What is with that guy… Speaking of which, he had been addressing Aqua as a goddess all this while, what is up with that?”
After Mitsurugi left the guild.
That commotion drew the curious eyes of many adventurers. Under these circumstances, Darkness asked.
… Right, the word goddess was mentioned so many times, it was normal for her to ask.
No, should I use this chance to tell both Megumin and Darkness?
I looked at Aqua who had a face saying that she knew what I wanted to say as she nodded.
Aqua then showed her rare serious expression to face Darkness and Megumin.
Darkness and Megumin also noticed that Aqua felt different, and was listening carefully to her…
“I had never told you this before, but I decided to say it… I am Aqua. One of the patron goddess of the Axis cult, goddess of water… That’s right, I am that goddess Aqua…!”
“… So you had that dream?” x2
“That’s wrong! And why did both of you say the same thing together!”
… So it turned out this way…
At this moment.
“Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare all your equipment and gather at the town’s main gate ready for battle–!”
The familiar emergency public announcement sounded out loudly.
“Again…? There are so many of these emergency summons recently.”
Can I not go?
I knew I probably can’t, but after that incident with Mitsurugi, I felt so lazy…
As I rest my face lazily on the table.
“Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare all your equipment and gather at the town’s main gate ready for battle–! Especially Satou Kazuma-san and his companions, please head to the scene as soon as possible!”
“… Huh?”
What did the broadcast just say?
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