I am so sorry.

This was not supposed to take me so long to write. My family went on vacation for a few weeks leaving me with a couple house - all of which have pets in them - to watch. Let me tell you, those animals made it their mission to not let me write. Then finals approached in school, keeping me busy for weeks and leaving me too drained to write anything. Then I went to the doctor to do a simple task of removing an in-grown toenail, only to find out that insurance paid half of the bill, leaving me with an 800 dollar bill to pay. And to top it all off, a major fight broke out in my family, with me as the neutral party trying to mediate the whole damn thing.

So I've been busy, but the chapter's finally done! I hope you enjoy it!

Edit: Want to say a quick thank you to Nanya for telling me what the actual names of Kyouya's party members were. Thank you!

Chihiro Fujimi, thank you for telling me that, but I actually already knew that Arakuremono was more of a definition than an actual name. The problem is that that guy doesn't have a name, last I checked at least, and the only thing listed under him is either "The brute" or "The ruffian" so I kinda made that definition his name as a joke. But again, thank you for saying something.

Chapter: 4

"A drink."

"No."

"Buy me a drink."

"No."

"I said. buy me. A. Drink."

"I said no."

"Child," the single word held so much frustration that Kazuma thought the owner was about to burst, "after the hellish week you've put me through, I deserve something to relieve the unbearable migraine your party has caused me!"

"First of all, the only thing I've done – the only thing! – was separate your head from your body. Second, Aqua can't control her holy aura in any way. Believe me, I've asked her too many times to keep track. Finally, Megumin was the one who dropped you in that pile of manure!"

"Exactly my point! How is a party as incompetent as yours able to walk – let alone take on quests – without sending the entire town into chaos?!"

The rest of the guild looked on in mild annoyance as Kazuma and the head of the former General, Verdia, argued with each other. While many at first questioned the boy's decision to keep Verdia's head instead of throwing it into the Arch-Priests spell like most would have done, most of the members now wondered how long Verdia was capable of arguing with his new owner. Everyday people bet how long the argument would last.

Arakuremono was winning most of them.

"How the hell do you even drink anything?" Kazuma asked, finally remembering he was talking to a head. "Is there even a skull underneath that helmet?"

"Of course not," Verdia scoffed as if that should have been obvious. "My body finished decaying centuries ago, and to answer your question, I do not drink like you would, rather, I convert the liquid into a form that my spirit is capable of absorbing."

"So… you're a ghost that can get drunk?"

Verdia's lone visible eye stared at Kazuma for several moments, before rolling it while letting out a sigh. "Yes, it is possible for me to get drunk, but it would require something much stronger than you humans drink."

"Oh. How much stronger are we talking here?"

"Strong enough that drinking it would kill anything smaller than a horse." The former General replied without hesitation.

"That strong?!" Kazuma asked in shock.

"Yes! Now, if you are done asking me questions involving my drinking habits, buy me a drink!"

"I. Can't. Afford. It!" Kazuma all but yelled, pointing to the meager scraps that made up his breakfast. "I can't even afford a decent meal for everyone now!"

A loud gurgle caught their attention, and both men looked over towards Megumin who was lying, facedown, on the floor. The noise was quickly followed by the Arch-Wizard pitifully moaning, mumbling something they couldn't hear. Aqua was next to her with moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes as the former Goddess stared at the slip that indicated how much debt they incurred due to her spell. Darkness – unlike the others – appeared to be completely unaffected by the situation they were in. Actually… she wasn't doing anything at all, just staring ahead with a blank look on her face.

It was somehow more unnerving than everything else the Crusader has done so far.

"This only proves my point." Verdia said, getting the Adventurer's attention. "Instead of relishing the hard-earned victory of defeating one of the Demon Lord's Generals, your party now suffers from more debt than businesses – even some small countries – incur. All because your Crusader was unable to keep me still for the smaller spells to hit me, and the Arch-Priest failed to control her spell, causing widespread destruction to the outer wall."

"I know that." Kazuma barely restrained himself from yelling that, and with one shaky breath, felt his anger quickly morph into depressed contemplation. "Believe me, I do. Which is why I've been spending the past week trying to figure out how to get us out of it."

"How's that working out for you so far?" The undead knight knew the answer – the boy had answered it, albeit indirectly, just a second ago, but Verdia was a cruel man, and hearing his owner's despair and annoyance was one of the few joys he had left.

In a fit of anger, Kazuma slammed his fists on the table. "Damn it! This is your fault, you useless Goddess! If you stopped the spell like I told you to, we wouldn't be in so much debt!"

"My fault?!" The accused Goddess cried out, shoving the slip of paper in his face. "How is it my fault?! Everyone would have died had I not performed my spell! I should be paraded around town with everybody praising me, throwing offerings, spoiling me for all that I've done!"

"Have you completely forgotten that it's because of your spell that the outside wall – along with part of the inner city – was destroyed!" Following the shout, Kazuma tried pushing Aqua away, who retaliated by hitting his face with the slip of paper in rapid succession.

Verdia watched on as the two continued to fight, utterly unsurprised at their behavior, but still absolutely disgusted with it all the same.

They were like children pretending to be heroes.

And he lost to them, he lost outright.

I really hope Vanir never hears about this.

KO-NO-SU-BA!

"Who are you?"

A shop owner had asked him that. Everyone knew who he was. At least, everyone knew what he wore.

The question repeated itself over and over in Kyouya's head as he gazed at Gram, leaning against the wall in his house while he sat across from it, one leg flat on the ground while the other was acting as an arm rest. He wore a simple tunic and pants combo while his usual armor rested on a display standing in the main hallway. His two party members had left to go back to their hometown – at his request – to visit their family and friends while he stayed back in Axil to reflect. Verdia Dullahan had been slain, and at no point had he participated in the fight.

All because he didn't have Gram.

Ever since arriving to this fantasy world, Mitsurugi Kyouya had been nothing short of a one-man army. Gram's special abilities – from improving his speed at the cost of some vitality, to increasing attack power and performing pseudo-magic attacks by sacrificing defense – had allowed him to take a multitude of quests after being declared a Sword Master on day one. With a few hiccups on the way. Nothing anyone would remember of course, but it never failed to make him smile remembering the first few weeks of experimenting with the cursed blade's abilities.

Saving villages, defeating swarms of monsters, and defending the innocent had granted him the title of Hero. He did more in one month than most adventurers could do in their entire career. And yet… everything had changed the second Gram was taken away from him.

When the emergency alert echoed through the city with the request that all fighters head out to the main gate. Where had he been? Scrambling through every shop, searching for the one that Kazuma had sold Gram to. A Sword Master could wield any blade to its fullest extent as if it were newly made – being possible with the aid of the passive buffs the class granted.

Not for the first time Kyouya truly wondered what the curse on his blade actually was. Did it only revolve around decreasing one stat to buff another? Or, did it taunt the user by allowing them to gain fame and fortune, only to take it all away and disappear, leaving the person with nothing but what they had gained without its use. If that was true, then Gram was truly a terrifying blade.

Completing a quest, defeating monsters, this house, my clothes, food, my friends, how much is because of Gram? If I did it all again, without you by my side, how far would I have gotten? How much would I have been able to do?

That was what bothered him the most.

I could always talk to Kazuma. Even with Aqua-sama by his side, he still seems to struggle. Despite the horrid rumors that surround him, Kazuma seems to be an honest person.

Kyouya perked up a little at the thought of being able to see the Goddess once more, hopefully under much better conditions this time.

"Just have to clean up first." The Sword Master decided.

By the time he had finished up and put on a fresh set of clothes, leaving Gram and his armor where they were, the sun had begun to set, and Kyouya started the trek to the guild hall where Kazuma's party usually stayed at most of the time.

On the way, Kyouya had noticed how people didn't seem to greet him like they did before. Did they not recognize him without his signature gear? That was as annoying as it was disheartening.

It didn't take long to reach the building where everything started, but the Sword Master was surprised to find Luna standing at the doors, seemingly locking it up for the night.

"Excuse me," he called out, startling the woman in the process.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but the guild isn't…" Luna paused the second her eyes landed on him, she leaned forward, squinting her eyes in the process, obviously recognizing him, but not completely. "Mitsurugi Kyouya?"

"Man, I really didn't think it would be that difficult for someone to recognize me." Kyouya said, although, it was more to himself than Luna.

"Oh I'm sorry!" the woman gave a polite bow, quickly rising with a smile. "Is there something I can do for you? There aren't any high-end quests yet to take, but I'm sure it will take only a few more days until that changes."

"Actually, I was just coming by to see if Kazuma was here." Kyouya explained. "I wanted to talk to him about something."

"Ah, well, you see…" Luna glanced back at the guild. "I suppose it would be alright," she whispered, turning back to him. "Kazuma is inside. When you've finished talking with him, give him this key and tell him to lock up every door." Handing the key to Kyouya, Luna waved him goodbye as she left the area.

Kyouya looked down at the key, then to guild, and silently wondered why Kazuma of all people would lock up the building. "At least I know he's here."

Opening the door, the Sword Master was greeted with mostly silence and darkness. For the first time, he realized, the old doors of the guild creaked, like that of a high pitch whine whereas the follow-up echo reverberated in a way that reminded Kyouya of a monster growl. It was then that he wished he brought a weapon along with.

He heard footsteps from behind, and whirled around to confront whatever was approaching – silently praying he didn't walk in on an extermination quest that Kazuma's party decided to deal with. The first thing he saw was a simple lamp being held by an all-to-pale hand. Following the hand to an arm then to a neck and eventually the head, Kyouya's own face paled as his vision landed on a ghostly face with piercing red eyes that seemed to look into his very soul.

Kyouya let out a very loud and very startled scream.

The face screamed back, however, it too sounded startled instead of frightening like he imagined it would.

"Oi! What the hell are you screaming at, Megumin?!" Someone demanded, immediately followed with the guild lights coming on, revealing to Kyouya the petrified form of the Arch Wizard he met earlier that week, clad in her pajama's.

"It's not my fault!" the girl yelled, pointing a finger at Kyouya. "This person comes inside, without any warning, and immediately screams in my face!"

"Damn it, who are you talking about?" The door leading to the staff area slammed open, where Kazuma stormed out with the Crusader looking over his shoulder.

"Ah, Kazuma." Kyouya greeted, relieved to have the lights on. "I actually came by because-"

"Hold on," the party leader interrupted, striding past him to a nearby table where he deposited a few items. Kazuma then turned, and squinted his eyes just like Luna did earlier. "You look familiar, do I know you?"

"It's me! Mitsurugi Kyouya!" He exclaimed. Identity crisis aside, Kyouya was wearing that armor from now on just so people recognized him because this was getting ridiculous.

"Oh, right, what do you want?"

"I…" two sets of curious eyes, and one that was growing more annoyed by the second, dismayed Kyouya from bringing up his reason for being here. "Can we talk in private?"

"What do you wish to speak with our leader about?" Suspicion creeped its way into Darkness' voice as she took a protective step in-front of her party leader.

Megumin followed suit. It was probably for the best she didn't have her staff on hand. A full powered explosion would wipe out the entire guild, but without one… well… the guild should be repairable.

Before anything else could be done, both girls cried out when Kazuma grabbed their ears and gave a firm tug down. "Would you two knock it off! I can take care of myself just fine, besides, I've already beaten this guy once."

"But-!" Megumin tried to protest, only for his hand to quickly cover her mouth.

"Megumin," the party leader started, "just once, listen to me. I'm fine. Just take Darkness, and go finish repairing the generator with Aqua. Now, be a good little girl and ru-OW!" Kazuma screamed in pain as the Arch-Wizard bit down on his hand.

"I'm not a little girl!"

"Then what would you call someone who's an entire head shorter than you!"

"Still growing!" she countered.

"Fine! Don't listen to me! What else is new?" Eyes flaring with anger, Kazuma began walking towards the bar. "This party's going to be the death of me."

"Should… should I come back another time?" Kyouya asked, feeling incredibly awkward.

"Umm…" Darkness eloquently replied, scratching her cheek, looking far less intimidating than she was a second ago.

"Just go talk to him for all I care!" Megumin grabbed the Crusader by the arm, and dragged her back towards the door. "And I don't care, for your information!" she added at the last second, though, Kyouya suspected it was aimed towards Kazuma rather than him.

"Right…" he looked over towards the bar where Kazuma now sat with a purple helmet next to him, and finally decided to ignore everything that just happened, and finish what he started.

"I actually came here to ask you a question." Kyouya said after making the small trek over. "Oh, and before I forget," he fished out the key Luna gave him and set it on the counter between them, "You're supposed to lock up the doors tonight."

"Wonder why she didn't give it to me in the first place," Kazuma mumbled, just loud enough for the Sword Master to hear. "So," he glanced over to him without fully turning, "what did you – the Hero of Axil – want to ask me?"

That… something wasn't right with that question. Kyouya narrowed his eyes minutely as he analyzed the sentence. It was phrased to be a subtle insult towards him, but the way it sounded… "Are you alright?"

"The boy is just upset that his party is in debt now."

For the second time that day, Kyouya screamed as a red eye appeared within the purple helmet to look at him.

"Stop yelling!" the helmet shouted.

"Damn it Verdia, why the hell would you tell him that?!" Kazuma picked up the helmet – did he say Verdia?! – to glare down at the object, who returned the look with one of its own.

"What purpose would it serve to not tell him, hmm? Everyone in the guild knows about it. Rumors around town about this are spreading quickly as well. It's only a matter of time before people are openly talking about 'the slayers of Verdia and their immeasurable debt.'" Kyouya got the distinct feeling Verdia would have been making hand gestures if he still had a body.

"Are you really the Verdia Dullahan?"

The arguing stopped, and now both boy and head were looking at him as if he was stupid.

"Who else could I be?" the former General grunted.

"Well… it's just… you don't look anything like I expected."

"Of course I don't!" Verdia jumped out of Kazuma's hands and onto the counter, turning to send another glare at the leader. "This child robbed me from my body, and instead of giving me an honorable death, he decides to keep me as some kind of trophy!"

"And I'm regretting every second of it."

"At least that is something we can agree on."

"Should I come back later?" Kyouya asked for the second time in a short while.

"No, hold on, just give me a second." Kazuma picked up Verdia, and took all of two steps before calling out, "Hey, Aqua! Come out here for a second!"

"Ne, ne, what is it Kazuma?" The Goddess walked out, clad in her old work clothes, and gave a startled yelp as Verdia came flying towards her, screaming the entire way. She caught the former General, and he immediately began to cry out in pain.

"Ah, ah! Hot! Unhand me this instant!"

"Do me a favor and watch him for a little bit," Kazuma requested, ignoring the pleas, "but don't use any magic on him."

"Heh," Aqua smirked with a dark gleam in her eyes, and lurked back into the darkened corridor with a horrified undead yelling out for mercy. The door slammed shut seemingly on its own.

Mitsrugi Kyouya had watched the event transpire with wide, terrified eyes. Having never seen that side of his beloved Goddess before, Kyouya was understandably shocked. "Is… is that normal?" How long was it going to take before he got to his original question?

The party leader sighed happily, plopping down next to the Sword Master with a grin. "Oh, you have nooooooo idea. Verdia is an absolute bastard. And being undead, Aqua can barely resist the urge to use one of her spells on him. Just being near her is painful for him."

"Well that's… interesting.

"More like a pain in my ass." Kazuma said to himself. "Anyway, what did you want to-?"

"You told me Aqua-sama was the perk you chose to take to this world, correct?" Kyouya was not taking any more chances. "Not any form of weaponry or bonus ability?"

Kazuma raised an eyebrow, "Yeah…"

"So, all of your accomplishments are your own, right?"

That same eyebrow twitched. "Are you going somewhere with this?"

"I…" and for a good long moment, Kyouya hesitated to tell him. Kazuma was a total stranger. The only common thing they shared was being from another world with Aqua-sama being the one who sent them here. Even then, there were still-

"Are you going to ask your question or just stare at me all night? If it's the later, I'm going to grab a drink."

"Do I deserve to be a hero?" Kyouya blurted out.

The silence that followed was near deafening to the Sword Master as the fellow adventurer looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"…What?"

Well I've already started, might as well see this through. "This world is a dream come true for me. There wasn't much in the other world – our world – that I could do. I wasn't that good in school, sports, or anything else really. And even though I played video games quite often, I wasn't exactly top rank in that either."

"Yeah, I can relate." Kazuma reached behind the counter and grabbed two mugs, already filled with something Kyouya couldn't identify off the top of his head, and handed one to him. "That doesn't explain why you think you don't deserve to be a hero."

"Because despite doing everything a hero in a game would do, I've only done so because of Gram. That blade has carried me this far. What I'm saying," Kyouya paused to take a swig from the mug, only to cough half of it out when it started going down the wrong pipe.

Rolling his eyes, Kazuma sipped his own drink before continuing where Kyouya left off. "What you're saying is that you're questioning yourself as a hero because you have – what you consider – a cheat item that is allowing you to bulldoze your way through any and everything standing in your way. Am I on the right track?"

Kyouya blinked. "Yes. That is exactly what I was getting at."

Kazuma scoffed. Go figure. "Don't worry about any of that."

"But-"

"Mitsurugi, let me stop you right there." Kazuma slammed the mug on the counter, causing some of the liquid to slosh out of the object and onto the counter. "Ever since me and Aqua got here, we struggled for a long time to make enough money to survive each day. We slept in stables because staying in a hotel would cost as much as two days' worth of work. Sure, we splurged a little on dinner, but we wanted a good meal after working so hard. It wasn't until a couple weeks passed that we decided to take on a kill quest – the giant toads if you were wondering."

"Oh yeah, those things were annoying to deal with."

"Right? Anyway, things didn't work out at all, so we decided to put out a notice to ask people to join our party." He took another drink and shuddered. "Megumin was the first to join after we waited half the day for someone to show up."

"Is she the Arch Wizard?"

"Yeah, stop interrupting. She joined us on that kill quest, showing off her Explosion magic immediately."

"She knows Explosion magic?"

"Do you want to hear the story or not?" Kazuma glared at him. "If you do then shut up and listen."

Kazuma went on to explain everything. Megumin's refusal to use any form of magic other than Explosion. Darkness being an unreasonable masochist who was incapable of hitting anything with her sword. The hardest one to explain to the guy was Aqua's intelligence – or lack thereof as was the case.

The story continued to describe all the quests his party barely completed. The giant toads repeatedly came up, making Kyouya cringe every time. Verdia's first warning due to Megumin's magic, and his subsequent assault when said warning went completely ignored. Then, it finally came to an end as Kazuma explained that his party was staying at the guild for the night while the stables were being cleaned up.

"Wow," Kyouya finally said, his mug now empty after listening through the whole story. "I'm… sorry."

"Nice to hear someone say that for once." Kazuma muttered, his eyes having glazed over halfway through the story. "So do yourself a favor, abuse the hell out of Gram. Relish in every victory against supposedly impossible odds. Bath yourself in the attention people will give you. And enjoy the title hero, because I don't think there are many people who can."

Kyouya breathed in a deep, regretful lungful of air. He was a lot more grateful for what he had after hearing that story. "I suppose you're right. It would be pretty selfish of me not to use every tool to its full use, wouldn't it?"

"Not exactly the point I was getting at, but sure, go with that."

"Well…" he stood up and smoothed down his clothes, "thank you for everything tonight. Is there something I can do for you?"

Kazuma scoffed. "Not unless you have 40 million Eris to spare."

"No. I definitely don't have that." Kyouya smiled and turned to walk away, but an idea came to mind that made him stop. "But… there may be something I can do for your party."

KONOSUBA!

"Kyouya, we're back!" Both Clemea and Fio – Kyouya's party members – called out as they entered the shared house. After spending a full week at their village, catching up with old friends and family, they were eager to see their party leader.

"Kyouya?" Clemea called out again when there wasn't a response, her green bangs swaying back-and-forth as she looked around.

"Do you think he went on a quest?" Fio asked as the two of them went down the main hallway.

"His armor is here, so I don't think so. Maybe he's asleep?"

"Do you smell that?"

Clemea sniffed the air, and her cheeks grew pink at a thought. "Maybe he wanted to welcome us home with a meal."

Fio frowned at that. While it would have been really sweet – not to mention romantic – of Kyouya to do something like that he didn't know when the two of them were returning. That, and the man has never shown any form of cooking prowess since the day they've met. "Let's go look."

The two girls walked a little further through the house, passing a glass case that proudly displayed Gram, confirming that Kyouya wasn't on some kind of quest at the moment, and finally walked through the archway into the kitchen. There they saw a large pot sitting on the oven with a lid clamped on. Considering it was the only thing in the area, it had to be the source of the heavenly smell.

"What's in there?" Fio asked curiously as Clemea took the lid of and sampled the contents.

"Rabbit stew," her friend answered while moving towards the cupboards, "but its missing a little… something." She pulled out a few spices and immediately got to work. Minutes later, Clemea was doing another taste test, and smiled in satisfaction. "I think it's ready!"

"Intruders!"

There was a flash of red and yellow before the two friends found themselves being pinned to the ground. Clemea would later describe the feeling as being 'similar to a mountain crushing her' while Fio herself only stayed down because she didn't know how to handle what was happening. Kazuma would get a real kick out of that.

"Identify yourselves!"

"And we may you show mercy!"

"We live here!" Clemea thrashed under her assailant's grip in a futile effort to get loose, settling down soon after once she realized it would do her no good.

"Eh?" Fio heard her assailant question.

She figured now would be a good time to talk. "Mitsurugi Kyouya owns this house! Clemea and myself are his party members, and we live here with him."

"Oh. Megumin, didn't Kyouya say his party members would be arriving back in town soon?"

"He did, I just didn't think that would be today."

Both girls felt their attackers release them, and immediately they stood up with Clemea taking a defensive position while Fio stepped behind her.

"Now it's my turn to ask questions!" Clemea glared, but that quickly turned into a frown as her eyes scanned the two in-front of her. "Wait a minute. Have we met before?"

"Have we?" the blonde woman repeated the question while glancing down towards the girl in the red witch dress. "They do look familiar, Megumin."

"We have, but it was a while ago." Megumin replied. "Don't you remember Darkness? It was the day we brought Aqua back from that lake mission. Kyouya broke the cage she was sitting in, he yelled at Kazuma, Kazuma beat him, and then these two started yelling at Kazuma. It was a weird day."

"Oh yeah." Darkness offered an apologetic smile as she scratched the side of her cheek. "Ah, sorry about that. We didn't know you two would be coming back today."

"Apology accepted!" Fio happily said, much more relaxed now that everything was over.

Clemea held out an arm. "Hold on! That still doesn't explain why you're in our house!"

"We live here now." Megumin replied simply. She offered them a shrug and gestured behind her. "If you want to know why, just ask Kyouya. He's out in the backyard with Aqua and Kazuma."

"Fine, I'll do just that!" And with that, she stormed off, leaving behind Fio who stood there awkwardly with the other two girls.

"So…" she racked her brain for something to say, bouncing back-and-forth on her heels just so she wasn't standing as still as a statue. "Would you like some help getting dinner ready?"

"Nature's Beauty!"

A crystal clear stream of water emerged from Aqua's fans, and gently watered the recently tilled earth beneath her feet. She hummed a simple, joyful tune to herself as she moved across the yard, watering every seed that Kazuma and Kyouya planted. Said teens were off to the side with Kazuma leaning against a shovel, the shirt of his tracksuit tied around his waist with Kyouya next to him kneeling down. Dirt covered his shirt, a basket full of weeds was next to him, and he wiped some sweat off his forehead.

This had to be the happiest he's been in a long time.

"Looks like the garden is coming along great!" the Sword Master looked up with a large grin on his face.

Kazuma nodded with a small smile gracing his own lips. "Yeah, Aqua's party tricks might not be good for much, but it definitely has it's uses. That water is as pure as water gets. Those plants will grow as fast as these weeds do."

"I certainly hope so." Kyouya chuckled; that quickly turned into a grunt as he worked to pull out a particularly stubborn weed. He sighed, and stepped away when his fellow adventurer decided to just simply dig out the thing.

"Once they do start to grow, Megumin can cook with a little more variety." Kazuma motioned for Kyouya to restart his efforts once he dug out enough dirt. "She'll be happy to hear that."

"She'll probably want you to help her out." Kyouya carefully said, trying his hardest not to glance up to gauge the other teen's reaction. "I'm surprised she even allowed Darkness to help her, she doesn't really trust anyone else but you to help her."

"Yeah, but it's not that surprising." He placed the shovel aside, and started helping to clear the area faster. "Darkness likes to cause accidents, you can't cook to save your life, and Aqua's… well she's Aqua. I'm the only one who won't burn, flood, or destroy everything she hands something to."

"… I'm not that bad." The Sword Master muttered dejectedly, disappointed in both the lack of reaction, and the mild insult – even though there was some truth to it.

"Kyouya!"

The yell startled him to his feet. Whirling around, he saw his livid party member storming towards him with anger radiating off her in waves.

"Clemea?" he sputtered, completely thrown off by her attitude.

"Oh hey, looks like your friends are back." Kazuma said matter of fact, unfazed by the woman's anger.

"Clemea, is there something-?"

"Inside. Now!" She ordered as soon as she was within arm's length of her party leader. "You have some explaining to do!"

Kyouya was then dragged back towards the house, he looked back helplessly towards Kazuma who only shook his head in response.

"Just tell them everything." The Adventurer advised, having no other advice at the moment.

"Who was that." Aqua asked, pausing her spell to look at Kazuma with a questioning tilt of her head.

"One of his party members I guess." Kazuma shrugged, and went back to work on the weeds, only for someone to tap his shoulder not even a minute later. He looked up to see Darkness, her face covered with something red with some of it mixed in her hair as well. "Did you do something to ruin the meal?"

The Crusader's face seemed to become even redder as she said nothing, but nodded in response.

"And Megumin wants me to help her after telling you to get out?"

Again, nothing but a simple nod.

Kazuma sighed, standing up while wiping off the dirt and grass off his shirt and hands. "Alright. Do you mind finishing up the yard?"

"Sure," she finally spoke, her voice sounding oddly strained.

"Great." Despite it all, Kazuma found himself smiling as he walked towards the house where he was sure to find a flustered Kyouya explaining why there were an extra four people living in his place along with a fuming Megumin who would be muttering to herself about how she knew Darkness would mess something up until he arrived.

But they had a nice roof over their heads, the promise of food on their plates, and even though the crippling debt would be difficult to deal with, Kazuma felt like this good-for-nothing world was finally giving him a break.

"This is humiliating." Verdia couldn't find a better word to describe being used as the head for a scarecrow. He was a damn General! He fought legions of warriors without hesitation on a daily basis not long ago. And now he was nothing more than object meant to scare birds away from plants.

"Would you rather I cleanse you instead?"

The all-to-innocent question awoke a sense of terror within the Dullahan as he glanced over towards Aqua as she slowly stalked her way towards him, a dark gleam in her eyes and an unnaturally wide smile on her face.

"NO!" he cried out, trying in vain to control the amount of fear that leaked into his voice. "There is no need for that. I'm perfectly fine with this arrangement."

"Mmm." Aqua pouted, and puffed out her cheeks in childish disappointment.

Verdia breathed out a sigh of relief with the Arch Priest turned back to continue her previous task.

I really hope Vanir never finds out about this.

And this is the chapter where the story events begin to diverge - albeit slightly. Verdia's alive despite being nothing more than a head, Kyouya is more involved by inviting the group to live in his house for the time being, but that debt is still lingering over Kazuma's head. How this changes things remains to be seen.

In regards to updates, I hope more than anything it won't take almost another three months to make the next chapter, but this family in-fighting is a huge problem right now, and it kills my motivation when I spend an entire day dealing with it. But never fear, I will do my best to get the next chapter out!

See you later, and have a wonderful day!