Chapter 2
"Himself."
Outskirts of Axel, West.
Unknown.
"You're so late!"
"..ngh…"
"DON'T 'NGH' ME! Answer properly!"
"Affirmative, Aqua-sama, I will certainly, clearly and properly declare why such a minor being like me was late to answer before your very presenc-"
"Argh! What are you saying you dumb!"
"Tsk, as I, an intellectual, couldn't bear such a short-sighted validity as you."
"As my father, the esteemed one said to this humble self. "Arguing with a smart person is hard, but arguing with a dumb person is impossible."
"Wow, Kazuma. I know it's bad but damn, you're really merciless."
Chris's voice coming from the kitchen ringing through the room. And he merely snickered. The sky blue-haired woman before him stares forth blankly, but he could see the frustration and extreme confusion within her eyes, cluelessly scratching her hair slowly.
Agony, misery, perplexion, everything is within.
He snickered once again.
"K-Kazuma, please, stop."
"As thy proclaimed, "Answer properl-"
"STOOOP!"
Welp, there she goes weeping. Well, he couldn't say she was genuinely weeping, it's just that her attitudes are so twisted she became actually stupid. Or other reasons? He doesn't know.
See? Not even a minute and she already turned into her normal self.
Ah, here she goes agai-
"Why are you late?! Just answer with a simple reason!"
He sighed and pointed at the girl Chris brought with them with his index finger.
"Well, your Majesty, the sole girl there-"
"YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?!"
"Wow, relax would ya? To think you got swayed by mere an intellectual's words… you should've been ashamed."
"...Screw you Kazuma. Anyway, who's this… girl?"
"U-Umm… I…"
Megumin, this so-called "Sole girl." Nervously looks down, fidgeting in her place. Of course, Chris just had to come out from the kitchen at the same time, such a timing. He had to say, this partner of his is really impressive.
"Well, Aqua-dono, this girl named Megumin will be our new companion. Our team lacked a mage so why not recruit a Crimson Demon?"
"Hmm… that's thoughtful of you, well, I don't mind having a new company, and Crimson Demon is pretty promising at what they are good at. Welcome, Megumin!"
She didn't seem to complain when Chris formally answered her question. What a weird woman.
Anyway-
As twisted as she is, she's not entirely bad. Having a good 'sense of justice' is one of the reasons he could still stand her as his companions. Other than the fact that she's literally a goddess and her ability as a priest is pretty much second to none. He couldn't deny those facts.
Though he often doubts her title as a goddess. But it wasn't wrong that she was indeed the one who 'guided' him when he was in… Limbo? He couldn't be precise to describe such an odd place and situation.
So yes, as bad as she is, she is technically a goddess.
It's just because of her goddamn attitude!
"Thank you…"
"Why are you so nervous? Relax! It's not like we're going to bite you. Well… except for a certain gu-"
"Chris, shut up. Megumin, don't listen to her."
"What? You wanna go?"
"What's with you?! I didn't do anything wrong earlier!"
They all just giggled. Is this amusing for them? While he doesn't mind the one from Megumin, he could feel the ridicule within Aqua and Chris's giggles. Oh? So they want to play this way, huh?
"...Chris, I just remembered that I recently upgraded my Steal skill, do you wanna help me to demonstrate it?"
"You upgraded it? Nice, and of cou-!"
A second, and she stopped. Silence engulfed the room as her face distorted. And all he did was smirking, shooting an amusing look to his partner.
Aqua could only tilt her head, clueless as always. What an airhead she is.
"...Pervert."
"Said the girl who often got swayed in the face of drin-"
"Alright! Alright! I apologize…"
"That's the Chris I know!"
He nodded in fondness, such an understanding partner he has, what a lucky person he is! He decides to ignore the look she sent him and turns to Aqua, who's still cluelessly looking at them.
Simultaneously, Chris decides to go over to Megumin and introduces her to the base so she could be familiar with it.
"Hey Aqua."
"Yes, pervert?"
Hoh?
"Honestly, I suddenly crave alcohol… hmm… ah! Yesterday, I find a stash filled with them in a room-"
"NOOOO!"
Two looks full of resentments pointed at him,
and he just snorted. Who told them to insult a person based on unintentional accidents? It's not like he could control a skill based on luck or fulfil all the needs that airhead wanted.
He shrugged his shoulders and went to his room. He feels kinda tired.
He left the room, leaving a weeping Aqua, unaware of changes of a certain person that will occur no one expects.
Laying on the mattress, he used his hands as his pillow and stared at the ceiling, countless thoughts running through his head. Heart conflicted and ideal shaken.
With nothing particular in mind, his thoughts suddenly came back to what he had undergone.
He arrived in this world with Aqua, the crybaby light blue-haired woman earlier, and they were… lost. With nothing in mind about this brand new world, they wander around and find the guild. And from there they… suffer. Well, not completely suffering, but they still suffer, so it counts as suffering.
They have nothing! So first, they have to find a job. Getting one alone is pretty difficult, fortunately, and coincidentally there's a construction site near the guild. And the requirements weren't complicated either, so they immediately visited the site and joined the team.
For? Living and… getting adventurer cards.
They were so lucky because the people there were all respectful and none of them were twisted. While he suffered slightly, it seemed that the goddess had fun showing her 'cool tricks' with the locals. And he was unironically glad about it.
No matter how much he wanted to deny it, it is an undeniable fact that Aqua is a goddess. And with her near-perfect appearance, it's not unlikely that she could get harassed by the locals. She did have powerful abilities, but she's dumb. They could just restrain her with some ropes with cowardly ways and… the details are omitted.
He admitted, from such a consequence alone, he wanted to get strong back then. So at least they could defend themselves in this foreign world. He could outright abandon her, as she was excessively annoying back then, but he couldn't.
He just… couldn't. He was the reason why she's here, and he had this sense of responsibility. Within this world, it is such a naive perspective but he is genuinely felt fortunate that he chose it.
Why? Because he felt no regret.
His parents said that as long as you follow your heart, you'll regret nothing in your life.
Maybe it was his conscience? If it is, then he is glad.
Fast forward a week, and that's when he met Chris in the barstool furnished by the guild. They quickly became friends and she offered him help.
With an exchange of a favour.
She gave him some skills and enough money for them to live for a while, yeah, he didn't know how she even knew it. And he… Well, do something with her.
And she proceeded to tell him all of… those.
Considering that Chris was kind enough to help a foreigner like him, of course, he had nothing bad in mind. For such a small price, it was insignificant to what she had done to him.
That's what he thought.
She mentioned how she had to steal from nobles and proceed to describe the aristocrats.
When Chris told him about the missions that required him to steal from those kinds of people, he reacted like most people would. With a shocked look and shaking stature, he said that he needed time to consider.
But no, what made him shaken the most was how Chris described those aristocrats.
Indeed, social standing is even more influential here.
And from there on he knew that this world would be a shithole.
That's when this instinct appeared, the instinct that wanted him to kill the twisted ones. It might sounds odd but it's really occurred.
What is this... instinct?
Days go on, and it becomes more powerful.
It's so... bizarre.
He tried to ignore it, really, he is. But 'instinct' it's like a sixth sense, and while he could ignore such a thing most of the time. Sometimes, as a human, it's so hard to not do what it indicated him to do.
He became frustrated, and finally, he decided to gave in. To just followed what it wanted.
By inviting himself to Chris's missions.
And... it ensued.
On a side note, Chris only steals items when she goes on her missions. As he said, she's too kind to even hurt a person. Although in certain circumstances, she di- no, she had to kill people, but only a couple of them.
But he?
He… lost himself. He actually just... lost. It's hard to describe such a feeling. Lost, unconscious, he felt oblivious to what he did. It felt like seeing himself in a third perspective.
And it's frightening.
Excuses were made to get away.
"I need to pee for a moment."
"Something's left behind! I'll get it, you go."
"I need to buy something."
Get away for what?
Every time Chris had successfully stolen the items, he always parted ways with her. It did result in her getting concerned but she got used to it afterwards.
And it's obvious what he did after they parted ways.
Correct, he got rid of them from the surface of the world.
How did he do it? Even he himself was perplexed, but there were these… breezes passing through his ears. And he just… knew what he had to do. For the first 3 months, that's it.
The rest? Unbelievably, it was all done by himself. He got used to it.
Scary, huh?
Of course, the news of a silhouette rushing out of the mansions and dead nobles and bodyguards were found afterwards spread everywhere. And at night, nobles, twisted ones specifically, always tremble in fear and would dispatch more bodyguards.
How did he know? He discovered it by seeing it with his own eyes. And the details are omitted.
Some scared, some cheered, some furious, and some just indifferent.
And, inevitably, she will eventually find out.
2 months later, and she found out about it.
He… rather forgot about it. Well, to summarize it, it made their missions more… uhh... bloody.
And surprisingly, Chris could pull through. Impressive of her. As he said, she is a strong person alright.
"Goddamnit…"
As time goes on, this instinct is getting difficult to control. And the scariest thing is… Again, himself. He felt something was missing within himself.
Mitigated emotional reactions? He swears he didn't have such a thing. Well, that's before this 'instinct' appeared. Is it eating his emotions? It's scary if he thinks about it.
But as he lives with it, it isn't… scary as he thought. Yeah, when it involved killing them, he literally became apathetic as he killed them. But they deserved it! On the other hand, he was terrified, because, at the end of the day, he is a human with conscience, but on the other hand, he is actually inclined.
Imagine feeling guilty for such people. How fucked up is that?
And by now, he doesn't even know anymore if what caused him to kill them was this instinct or his own consideration. Imagine isn't able to diverse your own actions and someone else's.
Like... what?
And the consequences of such a thing?
It's countless.
Death.
Demise.
Screams.
Agony.
Misery.
Sorrow.
Blood.
These things constantly appeared in his mind. And what's make it more terrifying is the lack of reaction from himself.
He was just a mere teenager, could you blame him?
It's just one of them. And he rather not talk about the others.
He's not in control of himself. Of his actions. Of his mind.
How has he hadn't gone insane yet? How has he hadn't killed himself yet? Break down yet? Ends it all yet?
He felt like something was not… him. And it worried him. But as time went by, something terrifying occurred.
He… got used to it.
He honestly doesn't know anymore.
But… above all.
He understood one thing.
Death is awaiting them, and they should tremble like they were supposed to.
Judgement will come upon their existences. And no one can save them.
They shall deserve the upcoming events. They shall be tortured within the deepest hell! And they shall be burned with the hottest flame known to all!
No mercy shall be given upon them.
LET THEM HAVE A TASTE OF WHAT THOSE PEOPLE HAVE TO GO THROUGH!
10x MORE! 100x MORE! 1000x MORE! 10000x MORE! 100000x MORE!...
"This world is unfair and twisted. And why? Because these people exist. They shall be punished by the King of Hell, until the end of time. There's no redemption deserved for such people. As they said, "Life is unfair." So who said death isn't? But it's the opposite, while life is unfair to those who are kind and honest, death is unfair to those who are evil and krooked. Of course, there's a twist.
While a few kind and honest ones within life will receive unintentional help from their surroundings, the evil and twisted ones within death will receive additional punishment from the resentful victims that suffered in their hands.
HAHAHAHAHA!"
Within the darkness, a pair of sharp green glints punctured the dusk that existed in the room. Dark ambience surrounds a laying figure on the mattress, and they strangely cease from existence, leaving a sleeping brown-haired teenager alone in the room.
And finally, the room turned peaceful.
A few hours later.
"Hahahaha! Insignificant! As I, the sole wandering Crimson Demon, found you adequate before my very presence! Bow before me!"
"Hmm… not bad, not bad."
"Uhhh…"
When he was out of his room and entered the dining room, he found Megumin standing proudly on the dining table, a shockingly elegant looking Aqua observing Megumin, and Chris who looked out of place.
What now?
"Ahh! Kazuma, finally, I was worried I might go insane by now."
"Eek!"
"What the hell was that even supposed to mean?"
They simultaneously glanced at him and his form was exposed by them. Hair in disarray, green eyes hazy, with a plain dark-grey shirt and a pair of black trousers. He looks pale and he sure as hell looks like a mess.
"Hmm… you look messy, Mortal. Begone before me."
"...you want a scolding?"
"NO! Give mercy!"
With sheer words, she immediately removes her mighty façade and turns to the Aqua he knows. And he just sighed, this girl, unironically, might be more complicated than even the Screw Loose, Chris. Sometimes she might go riot against him, and then she would scramble to him and apologize, but then she would do something reckless and mess up, and then she would demand him to fix them.
A complex girl, this Aqua.
Huh, talking about 'girl' he hadn't properly introduced himself to the new teammate he will probably work with for the next few years…
Or even for the rest of his life. It's not impossible, is it?
And as if she was reading his mind, Chris smiled slightly and brought Megumin to him. They only work together for 5 months! And yet she already has such an instinct. Maybe there are unknown reasons why they are partners.
Huh, now that he looks closer, this Crimson Demon is so… short.
Like, really, short.
He is the tallest one in the group, with Aqua reaching his neck and Chris reaching his shoulders. But this girl!
Her height only amounted to that of Chris's ears!
"My name is Megumin, thank you for saving this poor self, I shall be indebted to you for the rest of my life."
It seems like she's an intelligent person. She knows manners better than those dumbasses at the corner of Axel. Chris has good eyes.
How did such a respectful mage ended up in that situation?
"My name's Kazuma Satou, and no need to be formal, we will be companions anyway, it might even be possible that we will be companions for life!"
Huh, strange. This girl suddenly blushed, what's up with that? A nudge from Chris with her elbow and she whispered to him with an annoyed look.
"Pick your words carefully."
"Huh?"
A few seconds, he just stared at the Crimson Demon in confusion. She just looked down, hiding her flustered complexion from anyone.
In the background, Aqua burped like a frog, she has been drinking a dozen bottles of alcohol. An experienced, and extreme drunkard she is.
...
...
...
...Ah.
It seems like his mind's only worth so much. Of course! Goddamnit. Of course it sounds like a vow in a marriage. What a coincidence! Oh my go-
"Ah! I-I'm sorry, I don't mean it that way. Trust me, I just wanted to tell you that it might be possible that the four of us will be together forever."
Now, even Chris was blushing.
He sighed, why did they catch it in such a way?
Today will be one hell of a day.