Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.
-o-
Chapter 9:
Looking at Taylor's party condition, we immediately help them via Aqua.
Luckily, her healing magic includes lost limb or organ regrowth, allowing Taylor to regain his left sight and two fingers. Although, her healing didn't include restoring stamina as they took a seat on an empty table nearby the entrance with a very exhausted look plastered all over their faces.
Taking a glass of water that I asked from the waitress-san, I offer it to Taylor which he accepts. After he gulped down the content in almost an instant, I ask him the main question. "Taylor, what the hell happened to you and your party?"
"You won't believe it." He managed to said while breathing heavily. Then, after a few seconds, he continues. "We were just taking a simple job of hunting several kobolds a little bit further inside the forest. It all went well in the beginning, but when we managed to complete the quest and let our guard down, we were ambushed by several Rookie Killers." He paused again as he took a deep breath and looks visibly shaken. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he continues. "We could only kill two Rookie Killers by luck, but suffering the wounds you've seen earlier and surrounded without any way out. Then-" He stopped at that as his hand that holds the glass is trembling and causing a rattling sound from the glass.
"Then?"
Gulping down his saliva, he continues. "A young girl whose appearance look similar to Megumin-san, but with bigger chest- Ouch! Why did you do that!?" He was interrupted by Megumin who smacked his head repeatedly with her staff which earns her a smack from my fist.
"Continue." I urged him.
"Yeah, she suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, shooting many advanced class magic to repel or eliminate those monsters, creating a path for us to escape. While we pulled back, she held those monsters at bay alone, telling us to leave it to her and go back to town to recover, but she hasn't back yet, I'm worried of what might happen to her for facing that many Rookie Killers alone."
"Hmph, if she looks like me with probably a padding in her chest, she must be a Crimson Magic Clan member. And Crimson Magic Clan were known as the most amazing clan whose magic users are all high-class just like me, so she's probably fine." She said with confidence despite a rather large swollen red bump on her head(courtesy to my fist) being seen.
If she's as skilled as you are, I don't think she'll last that long out there.
"How long did you take to return here from her last location?"
"Eh? It's about fifteen minutes and even then, we are forcing our wounded body to run back as fast as we can despite our debilitating wounds."
"Aqua, can you fully heal someone even if they only have one third of their body left?"
"Of course, who do you think I am?"
"Then it's decided. Aqua, Darkness, you come with me. Megumin, you stay here, not because you're useless, but you don't have enough mana to cast another explosion for today." I sternly commanded.
"Muu..." Megumin pouted.
"Huh!? Are you even Kazuma!? Hey, you are Kazuma, right!?" Aqua asked exasperatedly.
"I am Kazuma and we have someone to help, are you, an Arch-priest really going to slow me down in my effort to save someone?" I asked in an annoyed tone.
Hearing my retort, everyone who listened to our conversation earlier cheered up.
"Whoa! I knew it!"
"Yeah! Not only he's brave and strong enough to kill a Dullahan, but he's also gallant and heroic!"
"I told you he was a hero all along!"
Ignoring those kind of flattering, I noticed Darkness put her left hand on Aqua's shoulder. "I agree with Kazuma. Aqua, we must hurry up or we'll be too late to save the girl from being ravaged by those savage beasts... And I don't want to miss my chance to be in that position." Darkness, being Darkness.
"Alright, let's go."
-o-
The Forest
"Hey Kazuma, why are you acting so out of character? Did you eat something wrong? Did you get arrogant after beating a Dullahan and gain a backbone from it?" Aqua asked while walking beside me.
"Ha... You are idiot as always, Aqua. Don't you know the real reason for me to look for the girl?"
"Don't tell me!? Are you adding a harem member!?" Aqua asked dramatically while staggering a bit.
This hetaregami...
"What harem member? If I have a harem, I'd be dead first before having my own party consisting of you people as my harem."
"What!? How dare you!"
"Guh, how savage! I knew I was in the right party!"
"Returning back to the main topic, the reason why I want to help her is because if she's dead, we can loot her items. Hearing from Taylor that she might be a high-class wizard should means that she possess a high-grade equipment that will fetch a high amount of Eris for my pocket. And if she's alive and in a pinch, she'll owe us her life and we can ask her any favor we want."
Yeah, dead or alive, the unknown wizard girl would be useful for me.
I know that this kind of way of thinking and act is more befitting to a crook rather than a hero, but can you honestly blame me? I have a small amount of money on me right now and I also really need a lot of connection in this new world if I want to survive, so this is the most reasonable approach because at the most least, someone even more evil than me might do something like this and that kind of thing if they saved the girl.
"I knew it, there's no way Kazuma would act like a hero."
"How could you think like that, Kazuma!? But that kind of thinking... If I were treated that way, it's mmpphh! Kazuma, I think you're turning me o-"
Tuning out of something I'd rather not hear from Darkness, I march forward with flashlight in my left hand and MP18 in my right one, ready to pump any stupid creature who has any weird ideas to my party full of hot lead.
Walking a little bit further and we saw the place, not because of Taylor telling me the precise location, but due to the destruction of its surrounding such as several charcoals from burnt down tree, few ice spears nailing a Rookie Killer to a tree, a circular area where there wasn't anything but black scorch mark on the ground, and several uprooted trees which suggests something like tornado passed by earlier.
Is the girl Taylor mentioned did all of this?
If so, damn, I think what Megumin said might be right that we don't need to help her and she could survive by her own.
BAM!
My train of thoughts crashed as a loud crashing noise can be heard close by.
Keeping our guard up, we approach the source of that noise to find...
"O the great lightning from above
Grant unto me thou might
So that thy enemy may be smitten! Thunderbolt!" A feminine yet stern voice resounded.
*Crackle* ZA-BOOM!
A giant bolt of lightning suddenly fell from the sky, zapping the poor sod of a Rookie Killer who couldn't dodge out of the way, completely turning it into a Rookie Killer barbecue.
Standing before the charred corpse of a Rookie Killer is a girl wearing black robes and a cloak, underneath the cloak, she wears low-cut blouse and ultra-short pink miniskirts while she wields a silver staff still pointed at the direction of the Rookie Killer's corpse and keeps a short sword sheathed around her waist.
Probably noticing our presence, she turned around to face us and it's rather unsettling.
Why? Perhaps you'd like it if a pair of glowing red eyes staring at you at nighttime in the forest. Although, her face is pretty and really looks like a certain Arch-wizard who is in the adventurer's guild doing either dinner or rest.
"What are you people doing here!? It's dangerous to be hanging around at this place, especially this late! There's many Rookie Killers around here!" She shouted at us.
We could say the same to you, girl.
Though, I didn't blurt that out-
"I should be the one saying that." -yet.
Hearing my statement, her eyes went wide before her panicked expression turned into a frown.
"Just because I'm looking like this doesn't mean I can't handle them."
"Sure you can, but I'm asking you to return with us back to the town, it's already this late and you'll die if you keep this up. Anyway, those people you've saved already returned and healed, there's no reason to stay here much longer." I retorted back.
"Huh!? They did!?"
As expected, that riled her up.
"Yes, they did. And let's go back before more of them came..." Just as I said that, a rustling can be heard nearby-
"""GRRRRR..."""
"Fucking dogs." I swore.
Few minutes of swearing and gunfire destroying the quietness of the forest, we managed to kill around four Rookie Killers that attacked us.
Keeping our guards up for five more minutes, we finally confirmed that there's no longer any Rookie Killer coming through one of my skill.
"Let's go back quickly, god knows how much of them are going to attack us if we stay here too long." I urged.
The girl immediately puts touch her chin with one of her hands in a thoughtful manner.
"Understand, live today, fight tomorrow."
"Whatever floats your boat, then." I shrugged my shoulders in response to her statement.
With that, we went back to the town uninterrupted.
-o-
Axel, Nighttime
Arriving in front of the town's gate, we were planning to return to the guild to share the information and confirmation of this girl's survival.
Another case where there's a keyword named 'were'.
"Um, can we separate here?" The girl asked, stopping us in our track to the adventurer's guild.
Looking at her with puzzled expression, she replies: "I have an urgent matter to do, so I'm going to part here. But before that, can I ask your name?"
"Sure, I'm Satou Kazuma, this blue haired good-for-nothing Arch-priest is Aqua-" "Hey!" Aqua interjects. "-This Crusader who looks like an animal in heat when she blocked those Rookie Killers' attack is Darkness." Hearing that, Darkness' face flushed once more. "As expected of Kazuma, never knowing the time to tease a maiden." "Shut up," I quipped.
"Ah, Satou Kazuma-san, I apologize for my rude behavior earlier in the forest and I owe you one for helping me, for that, I shall repay this the next time we crossed path!" With that, she dashed away faster than any Italian soldier upon facing superior opponents.
Did she has an important thing to do?
Ah well, whatever it is, at least my goal was achieved.
"Hey Kazuma." Aqua called out.
"Hmm? What is it? We're going to get back to the guild if that's what you're wondering we'll do."
"No, why didn't you ask her name?"
...
"Err... Let's just hope we crossed path again later so that we could get her name." I muttered with a wry smile, causing Aqua to sneer at me in annoying manner.
Wipe that smug off your face, you hetaregami, it triggers me as bad as a Japanese being considered Chinese by uneducated plebeians.
Continuing from that, we proceed to return to the guild.
Inside the guild, the first thing that greets us is Taylor's party with expectant eyes.
Did they already know that we've returned from afar?
"Kazuma-san, how is it?" Taylor immediately asked.
"Calm down, I'll tell you about it."
Taking 15 minutes of our time to explain all of it, they sighed in relieve that their savior didn't end up like in most cliched plot of a heroic sacrifice or something like that and would really like to meet her again later. I share that sentiments as well. Though, I wonder why Megumin kinda seems surprised when I described the girl as when I asked her later, she said that she might know her, but probably not since Crimson Demon Race kinda looks similar to each other.
After that, there isn't much notable thing going on except them and some adventurers that happened to be in the guild at that time to thank me for my efforts and treat me for the dinner that night.
And with that, another strange day passed in my life in this strange world.
-o-
The Next Morning
After doing my usual thing, my group decided to look for a good quest that fetch a good amount of reward like we usually do, which is rather too many and yet...
"Killing one hundred Rookie Killers, raid type quest. Hey, what's a raid type quest?" I asked while rubbing my chin.
While I do know what Raid is in the game and all, the fact that this world functions similar yet so different from many games I played, it should be normal for me to ask this since if there's a quest to gather flying cabbage for huge reward, who knows how much absurdity this world could offer?
"Raid, huh? Although I've never been in one, it's a quest where multiple party joins in a huge group which consist at least six parties and at most ten parties to engage a very powerful monster or if it's in the capital of Belzerg, against monster's assault to the city." Darkness explained- "Though, I'd really like to join in one of it one day so I could experience enduring barrages of assault from many monsters or being used as a scapegoat if the raid fails, ehehe..." -and both ruining my mood.
"Let's move on, eliminate sixty Demonic Treants that appea-"
"NO!" x3
The three of them shouts in unison.
Fair enough considering what happened last time.
[Ahahahaha! Burn! Burn! Burn!
Sacred Create Water!
RUNNNNN!]
Yeah, I don't want to go through that again.
"What's this? Investigate the incoming Mobile Fortress Destroyer, quest cancelled. Huh?"
"Ah, that's a recent quest due to the rumors that Mobile Fortress Destroyer is coming to this town." The receptionist lady, Luna-san answered as she passed by us.
"Mobile Fortress Destroyer?" I tilt my head in confusion at that name.
"You don't know? It's just like its name, it is a literal walking fortress with the capability to destroy anything opposing it. Possessing a very high magical resistance and almost invulnerable to any physical attack, there's nothing that could defeat it up until now." She explained.
"Wait, couldn't you just kill it's user? I'm pretty sure even if it's indestructible, it's user should be not and one day he/she will need to leave the mobile fortress for a bit and that's when you can perform the assassination to end this problem, right?"
"It isn't that simple." She wryly smiled.
"Why?"
"Never once the creator leave that destruction incarnate at any point despite many high-ranked Thieves and Assassins tailing it for over many years. It's rumored that he's a crazy man who wants to destroy the world with that machine."
What. The. Fuck?
Why does a villain in this world so cliched?
Out of all things like world domination, money, rule, he chose a nihilistic path? And for some fucking reason, he almost succeeded if this keeps up.
Wait a minute...
"Hey, that poster doesn't imply that it'll come to us, right?" I asked in cold sweat. Remembering shits I've gone through and dealt with, this is not a paranoia. Probably.
"Ah, it did indicate that our town is in its path, but it somehow veered away from us, so we're saved and the quest was taken down immediately." She cheerfully explained before taking down said paper.
Phew, is this my Luck working?
If it is, it's not just a flavor text indeed.
"Although..." She trailed after rolling the poster and pocketed it.
"Although?"
"While it is fortunate that the death machine would not come at us, the staggering amount of monster assault and appearance in these days after the vanquishing of the Dullahan still bothers me." She said while wiggling around a little bit.
Hey, hey.
"Uh, you don't imply that our victory against that Dullahan was the reason behind this, right?" I asked in a lightly joking tone.
"What? Of course not! We are grateful for that and even if it does, it's still better than that Dullahan going into the town and murdering everyone."
"Ah, that's good then." I breathed out in relief at that statement.
At least being a 'hero' has it perks eh?
"Well then, I have to go now." She said while taking a glance at the counter which is filled with many people queuing, indicating the reason of her needed absence from us.
"Yes, sorry for taking your time." With a light bow and apology, I sent her off.
Now then.
"Hey Kazuma! I'll show you my greatness through this quest!" Aqua yelled excitedly while waving around a quest paper in her hand.
Taking it from her, the quest is about defeating a Zombie Maker in the grave nearby.
Oh hey, the reward isn't much, but the prospect of meeting undead type of monster, while scary, will be useful in the future for reference as I can't exactly use my encounter with those Undead Knights and Dullahan as a reference, being a one sided massacre on my part and I can finally see how this heal-only support goddess like Medea Lily from Fate Grand Order could be used as an offensive unit like Xuanzang.
"An Undead again? Well, if my greatest explosion spell could obliterate the army of that Dullahan who was known to be undefeatable, a mere zombie couldn't stand a chance!" She proudly declared.
"Yeah, if that spell hit those zombies." I quipped.
"Touche." She replied.
"Ah, the prospect of being assaulted by those filthy undeads, the creature who is a direct opposite of holy and purity made me shivers..."
"Please, for the love of god, could stop thinking about those things that only popped up in hentai doujins, Darkness?" I groaned.
"Hentai doujin[1]?" She tilts her head at that while Aqua giving me a disgusted look.
"Forget it, let's get to the mission."
-o-
Nighttime, Axel's Cemetary
"I'm starting to regret my decision, can we go home, please?"
While muttering that, our resident stupid goddess slowly takes a step back which earned her a smack to the head and being dragged by her collar.
"Oh come on! You're a goddess for god's sake! A mere undead shouldn't scare you away, right?" Saying that in a taunting manner, I turn to her, only to find her mumbling 'this is scary, this is scary, this is scary' over and over again. "You're kidding me."
As if that wasn't bad enough, a loud noise of explosion can be heard from nearby.
Turning to Megumin, she stared me back. "Just because I like explosion doesn't mean I like desecrating people's final resting place, you know." She muttered irritably.
"Let's go, it might be someone in danger and in need of help!" Darkness yelled as she runs toward the source of the noise.
"Wai- Ah, damn it, let's go." I sighed while dragging the still shell-shocked-goddess-for-whatever-reason along.
Following Darkness' lead, we arrived at the scene not unlike what happened with that Crimson Magic Clan girl again.
Trees either being burned or lying down on the ground while many craters with rising smoke or icy spikes in it, but instead of the Crimson Magic Clan member, we found a mysterious figure clad in a wizard robe facing twenty or even more Rookie Killers.
"'Freezing Field!'" The mysterious figure shouted as the ground below them starting to freeze and spreads outward to those Rookie Killers' position.
Ignoring the expanding field of ice, those Rookie Killers charge forward, intending to kill the mysterious figure.
Knowing that she's probably not an enemy, I released the safety lock in my sub-machine gun and took an aim before sho-
'GRAAAA-'
The howling and advance of those Rookie Killers stopped when their paws touched the expanding ice field.
Why?
Because all of them are now encased in an icy prison.
Following that, the mysterious figure chanted again. "'Shatter!'"
One word, just with that simple word, a loud noise akin to glass breaking resounded throughout the grave as those twenties Rookie Killers that were turned into living sculptures seconds ago now becomes a frozen mincemeat on the ground.
Also with that, the ice field disappeared.
Seeing that there's no threat(monsters), we approach her slowly. "Who's there!?" The mysterious figure yelled at our direction.
"We're just adventurers!" I shouted back while still approaching the mysterious woman(from her voice).
"Hey Kazuma, is it really wise to approach her like that? Shouldn't we keep our distance so that in the worst case scenario, I could cast my spell?" Megumin whispers those dangerous thoughts.
"Shh, we have to show a good faith. She might be a good person who fights those monsters for quest or something."
"What if she's evil and going to kill us all?"
"We'll cross that bridge when the time comes, now cease this dangerous discussion, she could hear us."
Looking at us and in return, we finally saw her appearance, she's an adult woman with a pair of huge ti- I mean tracts of land and straight brown hair with the fringe covering her left eye.
Staring dumbly at each other for a second, we were nicely interrupted by a sudden appearance of two Rookie Killers leaping from the bushes behind her, probably waiting for the right time like when she's distracted right now to strike after seeing what she could do to its fellow.
"Tch!" I clicked my tongue as I unload my bullets upon the one attacking from her left side, but unable to turn fast enough to shoot the one in the right.
Everything went to a slow motion as the other Rookie Killer opens its jaw, showing us its sharp teeth lined up in its mouth as if a paper shredder machine that will tore her flesh to shreds. She could only widen her eyes as this happens.
Strangely enough, while I feel panic began to rise, I also noticed that she didn't even feel in danger if her expression is any indication. Because while her eyes widen, I think it's her surprise to the noise my weapon caused and even then, I think it's more of a curiosity than surprise and she probably knew there's two Rookie Killers behind her, but not minding any of them.
The phrase 'only time will tell' was never this intense like this, but when its jaw is close enough to chomp a large part of her right shoulder, another surprising thing happened.
BZZZZZTTTTT
As if she was surrounded by a glass tube with running electricity, the Rookie Killer bounced away after ramming head first into it and enjoyed the taste of being electrocuted as it wriggles on the ground.
"'Earth's Punishment'"
SHRAKKKK!
The loud sound of flesh being torn can be heard as a lot of stalagmites erupted from the ground, impaling the paralyzed Rookie Killer in a way that would make Vlad The Impaler proud.
"What are you all doing here!?" She chides us without even sparing a glance at the dead Rookie Killer.
We, who were awestruck by her magic performance could only gape while she's chiding us with the same thing the Crimson Magic Clan girl said yesterday.
What the heck is going on?
Is it like in the video game where after defeating a certain boss, you'll encounter a stronger ally to be recruited into your party? Nah, probably not since that should means the Crimson Magic Race girl from yesterday is in our party by now.
Though, the one who was snapped out of the stupor first is... Surprisingly, Aqua.
"LICH! LICH! I'm going to purify you, LICH!"
Shouting those words like some punks shouting profanities, Aqua charges forward to the mysterious woman, genuinely surprising her as she staggered backward.
"'TURN UNDEAD!'"
And thus the spell of undead slaying was unleashed from Aqua to the woman with great effect, her physical body turned blurry and transparent as if she's going to disappear any moment.
Could this lady over here actually being a Lich? I know it's a stupid question to ask, but seriously? Liches in my image is an undead with the appearance of icy blue skeleton wearing robes or chains around their body and looking like, well, dead man walking instead of a run of a mill attractive lady(Monmusu)[2] notwithstanding). While being lost on my own musing about lich and all, Aqua looks at me and yells out why am I standing like a moron and not helping her. So to save myself out of the hassle of being yelled out again by this annoying goddess, I decided to approach her slowly with the others following behind me.
"Burn this sight of I, the greatest and purest and kindest and- Ouch! Why did you hit me in the head!?"
"Because if you talk too much, this lich would recover and either run or obliterate us all just because of what you did."
"Oh right, then taste this, 'Turn-"
"Wait! Please wait a second! I won't try anything strange, I swear!" And thus, the lady pleads pathetically.
"Huh!? Do you really think I would believe your fake plead, lich!?" And thus, the (lol)goddess retorts.
"Aqua, stop and just prepare to cast it when I said it." I said while pulling her back. Standing in front of the lich, I might have doomed myself if she turned out to be those kind of villains who pulls a lot of crocodile tears schemes to kill the hero or escape from narrow situation such as this, but seeing the firsthand how Aqua's healing works, I could justify myself even if I receive mortal blow. "Now, who are you and what are you doing around here?"
Breathing in relief after hearing my question, the transparent lich looks at me before quietly answering with sobs.
"I am one of the demon king's army boss, Wiz the lich and I'm here to eliminate those rookie killers."
"Alright Aqua, cast it, peace and money, here I come." I commanded.
"Wait! Please wait! Let me explain myself for a bit!"
"Yosh, let me exterminate her and we'll drown in golds afterward! Cast 'Turn Und-'"
"Uuuuu please, I swear for my honor as the demon king's army boss I won't do anything bad and I never intended to do anything of the sort, so just please listen to me!"
Ah shit, we made her cry.
Stopping Aqua from finishing her chant which ended up in her spouting profanities at me and something along the line of making sure that if I were in any sort of mortal or grave injury, she would significantly slow down the healing time so that I can 'enjoy' the pain longer, she relents and stood behind me again, glaring at the sobbing mess that is Wiz the lich.
Looking at her closely, she really is a beauty, but at the moment, that beauty is quite ruined by her apparent childish sobbing mess condition she acquired after all we did to her. Even I could feel pity coming out of Darkness and Megumin from behind.
After giving her the chance to explain herself that she was living in Axel all along and actually becoming some sort of monster repellant out of the fact that stronger monsters were all scared like rats before a cat while weaker monster considers that she won't bother with them was the only reason why Axel is a beginner's town. Formerly an adventurer, now a retired one after becoming lich, she opened a magic shop in town which was confirmed by Darkness about its existence and occasionally wandering around to hunt dangerous monsters that threaten the town or pacifying the dead people's soul. Basically rather than lich, she probably closer to the angel of death or grim reaper rather than lich. Although, her magical prowess obviously shows that she fits the bill of being called a lich. Also she hates Beldia, that's why we're going to spare her much to Aqua's chagrin.
"What the hell is wrong with you, bakazuma!? That's a huge amount of money you let go! Blablabla-" I tuned out after just two sentences she spouts out of her mouth. Talking to her at this current mode won't work as she won't listen to anything I say.
Anyway, setting my gun's safety lock, we decided to return back. Though, I feel like I missed something.
-o-
Around the Same Time Kazuma and Co Returned Back.
In the middle of the night, a man wearing long black coat and a wide brimmed hat stood in front of the town's gate, inspecting it a little bit before mumbling to himself, not noticing three Rookie Killers sneaking behind him to try to get their meal.
Or so they thought before they leap for the kill.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three shots, three holes on three Rookie Killer's spot between their eyes with blood leaking out of it.
The man who was originally inspecting the gate now stood with his hat dropped and a pair of pistols in both hands, still giving out smoke out of their barrels and revealing his face, a white haired man with shoulder length hair and an eyepatch on his left eye.
Spinning both gun a little bit, he then quickly puts them back to their holsters strapped on his legs before picking up his dropped hat.
"Good grief, what an annoying pest." He grumbled to himself before entering the town.
To Be Continued...
A/N:
Okay, I'm suck at updating and shit, but I'll just state two things why this fic got delayed as long as heck : University's Term Exam and Fate/Grand Order, nuff said. Raising Shinsengumi! and Melt is hard enough as is along with the pesky things called exam added to that really do the magic trick of delaying this fic that much and with Fate/Grand Order English's release coming on 25th June and inbound Summer Event, I doubt I'll be updating soon, but expect me to update because at the time of the writing, I already poured my next chapter idea so that will help me work on it as soon as I get the break from all this stuff. For the references :
[1] : Self explanatory or if you really don't know which I very doubt, it literally means perverted fanarts a.k.a porn manga made based on an existing series or sometimes original ones.
[2] : Monmusu or Monster Musume or Monster Girl or more known as Monster Girl Encyclopedia is about all kinds of monster you can imagine being fetishized into fapping material. Just google it, but don't shit on me because that's mostly NSFW.
For this chapter, I have no commentary or summarizing the chapter as usual, but I'd like to at least thank you all for passing the 100 comment and over 200 favorites and followed as that is not a small number to me at all. So thank you for the support, guys and I'll try harder at making this fic greater or at the most least stay great as it is. That is all, I'll see you all in the next chapter.