Three days after the Destroyer was destroyered…

"You really bought this place?!" Megumin was running about excitedly staring at all the rooms and furnishings.

"That's right," Kazuma said. "My old place is gone and so I didn't have much choice."

Megumin stopped and gawked at him. "You didn't have any choice except to buy a mansion?!"

He shrugged. "Eh, I could have gotten something cheaper, but I figured, 'screw it.' I'm probably going to get eaten or blown up or stepped on someday. I might as well enjoy myself while I can."

"Kazuma," Darkness said sounding worried. "I know we make a good deal from our adventures, but can you really afford this place?"

"Satou Industries is about to go international, so it's fine."

"Those silly card games make enough to pay for a residence like this? Kazuma, just how much eris do you have?"

"Don't worry about it."

Megumin dashed back up to him. "Hey Kazuma, how many rooms does this place have?"

"Around fifty, I think."

"Wow, I bet living all by yourself in a huge house like this would be reeeeaaaaallly lonely, huh?"

Kazuma narrowed his eyes. "Nope, not even a little bit. I'm a hard core NEET. Living alone is my default setting."

"Oh, come on! You're a guy and a massive perv! I bet you've always dreamed of having a beautiful woman living with you!"

Kazuma paused to consider it. "Huh, you know that might be kind of fun."

Megumin got an excited smile on her face.

Kazuma turned to Darkness. "You want to live here? You can stay rent free and I'll pay for food and all the necessities. But you will have to dress up like a maid and call me, 'Master.'"

"M… M… Master?!"

"Yes, just like that. And I already have a maid outfit in your size."

"Hey! What about me?!" Megumin demanded.

"Sorry, I don't have anything sized for grade schoolers."

"Fireball!"

XXX

Fortunately, Darkness was able to block the fireball and they managed to put the flames out before the mansion caught. After a spanking, followed by a great deal of whining and pleading, Kazuma agreed to allow Megumin to live with him. Darkness also agreed to move in once Kazuma lied and told her he was joking about the maid outfit and having her call him master.

So, the party all started living together peacefully in the mansion. Darkness' family was even nice enough to send them some high-quality crabs and wine as a housewarming gift. (Megumin was not allowed to drink any and had to settle for avocado juice.) The three party members began living together, and it was surprisingly pleasant.

It was two days after Aqua had been hauled off to interrogation. Kazuma had been out almost the entire afternoon. When he returned, he was very obviously in a foul mood, but refused to explain the reason why. After the three of them had dinner Megumin went back to her room. Kazuma asked Darkness if he could have a word with her and led her back to his room.

"W… What is it you want t… to talk about Kazuma?"

"I need your help to deal with a bunch of criminals."

Darkness blinked. She was caught completely off guard not just by what he'd said but with the grim way he'd said it.

"Is this a mission from the guild? Shouldn't Megumin be here?"

Kazuma shook his head. "This has nothing to do with the guild. In fact, this is a covert operation no one can know about, not even Megumin. This has to be done it total secrecy."

"Why?" Darkness asked in obvious confusion. "Even if it's not a request from the guild a lot of criminals have bounties on them, like Black Tom. If we're fighting people outside the law, why do we have to do it in secret?"

"Because these guys have connections to the local authorities. I spent the whole day talking to the city guard about what these guys are doing. They wouldn't lift a single finger to help. They kept going on about how they weren't doing anything illegal and so it wasn't their concern."

Darkness frowned. "You're saying the city watch is corrupt? I can't believe that!"

"Well it's true! That's why you and I need to take care of this in secret. If the guards find out, we'll probably be arrested."

"Kazuma, are you sure these people are criminals? My family has a great deal of influence with the guard and local authorities. I can't believe they would do nothing if there was evidence of criminal activity here in Axel."

"I wouldn't be asking for your help if there was any other way."

"What exactly are these men guilty of? Are they thieves? Smugglers? Blackmailers?"

Kazuma shook his head violently. "Worse! Way worse! These guys are the lowest of the low! They're scum who have no respect for others or for the laws of civilized society. They're a disease that poisons everything they touch. And if we do nothing, they're going to spread their filth not just to Axel and Belzerg but to lands all over the map! Darkness, these guys are a bigger threat than the Devil King's generals or even the Devil King himself!"

Darkness sucked in a breath. She could hardly imagine what sort of criminals could be even worse than the Devil King. Immediately she pictured twisted and perverted scenes of helpless young women being kidnapped and used like animals. She imagined secluded basements and hidden rooms where girls were bound and forced to perform all sort of indecent and perverted acts for the amusement of vile clients. The very thought of such depraved acts had her feeling tingly and hyperventilating.

"I… I understand. Th… Then as a crusader, i… it's my d… duty to assist you in bringing these men to j… justice."

Kazuma stared at her reaction. He opened his mouth to comment, seemed to reconsider, and shrugged. "As long as you're on board, cool. Now hold on a minute."

His room had a large walk in closet. He entered it and went searching about for a while. He came out with a number of items and laid them out on his bed. They included a familiar pair of black cat ears and tail, a wig, a domino mask, a leather corset, a short cape, leather shorts, and thigh high boots. Every item was a matching shade of black and would fit Darkness perfectly.

"Since we need to keep our identities secret, you'll need a disguise. Oh, and we should use code names. I'll be Shadow and you can be Naughty Kitty."

Darkness' jaw dropped as she gawked at the 'costume.' "K… Kazuma! Why do you have all these things?!"

"Don't worry about it. Oh, and don't ever go into my closet."

XXX

It was after midnight when they set out. Kazuma was also in 'disguise' though this only included a domino mask and a black cape. Otherwise he was dressed the same as always. Darkness was wearing the 'costume' Kazuma had so thoughtfully provided for her along with one addition. On her hands were the magical gauntlets Kazuma had gifted her months ago. She had planned to bring along her enchanted broadsword, but Kazuma had insisted on using the gauntlets instead. He said he wanted to try and avoid killing anyone if possible, and that since no one had ever seen her fight with gauntlets it would further help keep her identity secret. Darkness found it a bit odd that he would be so concerned with the welfare of men who were worse monsters than the Devil King, but didn't question it. Along with his usual weapons Kazuma had also brought along half a dozen containers with kerosene.

Darkness found it quite exhilarating to be dashing through the streets in the middle of the night in clothing that revealed so much of her body. Every time they spotted someone and had to race to an alley or side street her heart would pound. She would never admit it, but doing all this with Kazuma was quite thrilling. And when she'd catch him giving her extended sideway glances, she would feel especially… tingly. Eventually, Kazuma led her to a nondescript warehouse on the edge of the merchant quarter. There were a pair of bored guards chatting with one another. Light could be seen spilling out the windows, so there were probably men inside performing nefarious acts.

"So Kazuma, what-"

"It's Shadow. We need to maintain our aliases, Delta."

"Delta?"

"Oh, sorry, wrong cat girl. Remember that your name is Naughty Kitty, got it?"

Her cheeks blushed. "Y… Yes. So, Shadow, what now?"

"I'm going to sneak in the back, spread kerosene everywhere so that I can burn down their whole rotten operation. You just knock out everyone and drag them outside. Got it?"

"K… Shadow, are you sure we can't go to the authorities? With my family's name-"

"No," said with certainty. "We can't risk it. Their merchandise is set to go out tomorrow. We have to take care of this ourselves, now."

"Merchandise? What exactly are they involved in?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know. Let's get started. Vanish." Kazuma disappeared.

Darkness took a deep breath, steadied herself, and rushed towards the criminals. When the guards spotted her, they didn't raise an alarm or even reach for their swords. They both just stared wide eyed, mainly at her bosom.

"Woah! Who are you, hon?" One of them asked.

"M… My n… n… name i… i… is NAUGHTY KITTY!" She yelled her alias out and leapt into battle. She clobbered the guards, knocking each out with a single punch before they could even draw a sword. Then lowering her shoulder, she smashed in the locked door.

Inside there were a half dozen men moving wooden crates. None of them were armed. They all came to a halt to stare at her.

"I am Naughty Kitty and I've come here to bring you to justice!"

The men didn't react. They just continued to stand there gawking. When Naughty Kitty leapt in and started punching them, they didn't even put up a fight. A couple tried to run but she took them all down with a single punch. She dragged them all out into the street and then went back in to search but found no one else in the building. For such a dangerous criminal organization they'd proved surprisingly weak.

As she waited for Shadow, Naughty Kitty noticed one of the boxes that had been dropped had cracked and was partially open. Being curious, she wrenched the lid completely off and had a look inside. She was shocked by what she found.

Reaching in she pulled out a neatly wrapped deck of playing cards. Tearing open the pack she saw, 'PokeHero' written on the back. She flipped the top card over. There was the image of a busty red-haired woman in armor. Written below the drawing it read:

Avenger. Attack 95. Defense 5. Hit Points: 80. Special Ability: 50% damage bonus versus monsters. She began flipping through the other cards to find they were all similar, but not quite the same, as the HeroMon cards. It was at this point when Shadow appeared in the room. He had the final jar of Kerosene open and was spreading it all over the crates and floor.

"Shadow! What is all this?" Naughty kitty was waving the cards about.

He came up to her and poured the last of the kerosene into the open crate and the cards inside.

"This is a cheap knock off and theft of intellectual property! Anderson and Wally Merchants were planning to flood the international market with these crappy copies of my cards! I told them it was trademark and copyright infringement! Those bastards said they had every right to steal my game so long as it wasn't exactly the same. The stupid guards even agreed with them. People who try and corner the market by stealing someone else's idea are the lowest of the low!"

Naughty Kitty's jaw hung open. "Didn't you tell me this game comes from Japan? Didn't you just steal the idea from someone else too?"

"Don't worry about it."

She shook her head. "You can't burn down someone's building just because they're making a product to compete with you! Open and fair competition is what the marketplace is built on! You can't just go around destroying your competition because you can!"

"You've never heard of Amazon, Disney, or Microsoft, have you?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Did you get all the people outside?"

"Yes."

"Okay then. Create fire." From his fingertips a small stream or fire ignited the cards he'd just doused. They burst into flames and turned into an instant bonfire. The fire spread along the trail of kerosene and the entire room was almost instantly made an inferno.

"Shadow!"

"Time for us to get out of here!"

Without much of a choice she followed him and escaped the building.

XXX

The next day there was a brand new wanted poster in the Adventurer's Guild. It depicted a catgirl with a massive set of titties and mask. Below the image it read:

WANTED

NAUGHTY KITTY

FOR ASSAULT, BURGLARY, AND ARSON

DEAD OR ALIVE

REWARD 1,000,000 ERIS

The talk in the guild was all about the catgirl criminal who had burned down a warehouse belonging to some of the most respected merchants in Axel. A great many were eager to try and find her. An outraged Darkness was glaring at Kazuma. When she spoke, she made sure to keep her voice low.

"You've made me a criminal! I can't even turn myself in as that would disgrace my family!"

"I'm really sorry, but you know on the plus side HeroMon is now pretty much guaranteed to be the number one card game for boys all over this continent!"

She narrowed her eyes. "Kazuma…"

"Hey, I'll make it up to you. I'll let you borrow the outfit any time you want."

When she punched him and sent him flying across the room everyone in the guild hall was surprised, but had a good laugh.