Chapter 32: Gifting this Festival with a Goddess Death Match!

Part 1

Today, the Eris festival has officially started.

Normally, Aqua is the type to wake up really late, but she's up early today, joining the other townsfolk in the market district.

The preparations for stall owners take place in the early morning with the real activities commencing around midday.

Since I sort of promised to help Aqua, she dragged me out of bed to help with the preparations.

I was not alone, she also recruited Megumin.

And also…

"...Why am I helping senpai again?"

"Is it not a kouhai's job to help a senpai when they are in need?"

"I don't think the senpai/kouhai dynamic works that way, senpai. In fact, I think it's supposed to be the opposite…"

Despite her reluctance, Chris was still giving Aqua a hand in setting up her Axis cult stall.

"Darkness would be really useful with this kind of manual labor. Too bad she's busy with her duties."

Megumin said, as she was designing a banner for Aqua's stall. She was using a brush and ink and making some kind of weird calligraphy.

"Don't worry, I have help coming later, a dear follower of mine who runs the Axis cult church in this town. She's just busy doing some black ops right now, but she'll come later."

"Black… Black ops? Did senpai just say black ops?"

Aqua said something suspicious as she monitored the amber berry jams she was planning to sell.

"Nevermind that. Hey, Kazuma, mind telling that takoyaki stall over there to move away from us? They're too close."

"What in the world are you trying to make me do? I'm not some kind of yakuza."

We were situated in the market district's food stall section. There were many festival stalls around town, including clothing stalls, jewelry stalls, and game stalls. It feels like a proper festival.

"Kazuma, that stall over there looks like they're also selling jams. Go over there and intimidate them."

If only Aqua would stop killing the lighthearted festival mood I was feeling right now.

Megumin was in charge of making the banner and Aqua took the task of making the decorations, since artistic skill was her only redeeming point.

Chris and I were left with the manual labor, which included setting up the stall itself. We were given a disassembled stall by the market district committee, but it was up to us to construct it ourselves. Like Megumin said, Darkness is better suited for this job.

My designated duty was simple enough. I used to work as a part-time carpenter, after all. Chris seemed a bit confused about what to do and I had to give her occasional direction.

I felt a bit bad for her, having to work on another goddess's stall during her festival, and told her that she didn't need to force herself to go along with Aqua's whims.

But in response, she shook her head.

"It actually feels good to participate in the festival for once instead of being a mere observer. I can experience firsthand the passion my followers put into the festival preparations. I'm quite touched, to be honest…"

Chris looked around at her followers who were diligently setting up their stalls. She smiled.

"After seeing this, I can't just sit around and take it easy, can I? Along with my followers, I'll do my best to make this the best Eris festival ever!"

"But right now you're helping a rival religion, though."

"Urk!"

I couldn't help but make that little quip, which made Chris lower her head in defeat.

"Aqua, I'm done with the banner."

Megumin stood up from her kneeling position. There was black ink on her hands and on her face from when she tried to wipe the sweat from her cheeks, but got ink on it instead.

Aqua placed down a chibi Aqua bobblehead she was working on and looked over at Megumin's work.

"Welcome to the Realm of the Great Goddess Aqua… Nice, Megumin! Very provocative!"

"Isn't that a bit too much for a food stall?"

I said as I looked at the completed banner. The intensity of it would surely drive customers away.

Not like I expected any customers to come to an Axis-cult sponsored stall.

I agreed to help Aqua but I was never convinced that this idea would succeed.

Aqua will get bored in an hour or so. Then, after she realizes that her stall isn't getting any customers, she'll throw a tantrum and get in trouble with the other stall owners. In that moment, I'll use the Lurk skill and sneak away from the commotion, I thought.

I didn't want to work in a stall the whole time while a festival was taking place.

I also wanted to enjoy the festival.

With Megumin here, it's strange that we're spending this occasion participating in some shady business of Aqua's instead of seeing the sights of the festival together.

It didn't take much longer until we finished the preparations. Around that time, a blonde woman wearing a nun habit approached us.

She gave a small bow to Aqua, then gave us a charming smile.

"I'm sorry I'm late. Intimidating the other stalls took a lot more work than expected. But rest assured, I've thinned out the competition as instructed."

At first glance, she appeared to be a proper, beautiful lady of the cloth.

But she dispelled this illusion of mine after opening her mouth to speak.

First there was Serena, and here's yet another suspicious clergywoman.

"Good job, Cecily. I knew I could trust you with the black ops. Ah, I guess I should introduce you to everyone. Guys, this is Cecily. She's in charge of the Axis cult church here in Axel. She's an important follower of the Axis faith, so treat her as well as you treat me."

"I don't remember giving Aqua any kind of special treatment, though."

"Well… You should! Starting now!"

Cecily, once introduced, came to Megumin's side.

"Ah, Megumin! I didn't expect to see you here! Say, I told you to visit me after I set up a new church in this town, but you never visited, not even once! Well, I'll forgive you since you're such a cutie~!"

Cecily rubbed her cheek against Megumin's. She had Megumin trapped in a tight hug.

"Do you know this woman, Megumin?"

"She's an acquaintance of mine who helped me with all sorts of things before I came here, to Axel. For her to come here… It seems that I have a lot of stalkers. But at least this one isn't as obsessed with me as Yunyun is."

"Ah! That reminds me, I also saw Yunyun-chan the other day! To encounter the two of you Crimson Demon lolis within the span of a few days… This must be Aqua-sama's reward for my hard work in spreading the Axis cult gospel!"

"Hey, where are you touching?! This lolicon… Please don't show this NTR scene to my man over there. I feel bad for him."

Don't mind me.

Part 2

After the introductions were done, Cecily began setting up her own stall, which was next to ours. There was some time until the crowd of festival-goers fill the streets, but Cecily still worked fast.

"Now, now, Cecily, don't work yourself too hard. Don't you remember the teachings of the Axis cult? There is no need to overwork yourself to meet a deadline. If your work is just as important to someone else as it is for you, even if you slack off, they will do your part of the work for you even if you don't ask them to."

"How could I forget the doctrine of Aqua-sama?! Very well, I will pace myself from now on!"

I was initially impressed by Cecily's work ethic, but Aqua ruined that impression in an instant.

"Senpai's followers sure are… er… interesting…"

Chris only had this to say after she observed the exchange between goddess and follower.

"By the way, could it be that Cecily-san is aware that senpai is a goddess…?"

"What makes you say that, big boss?"

"I don't know, just the way she looks at senpai makes me feel that way, I guess."

Chris's words reminded me of something.

I've heard news from Alcarentia about how the hot springs Aqua purified that time when we faced the giant poison slime, Hans, actually turned into holy water due to her powers.

This holy water is useful for a religious city like Alcarentia for ritualistic purposes, but they also sold well as a means to fight or deter undead.

After all, most parties don't have a priest among their ranks. And since undead are pretty common mob monsters in dungeons and such, having a vial or two of holy water is a necessity.

When I thought about what Chris said...

It wouldn't surprise me if someone from Alcarentia put two and two together, that the Arch-Priest who could pull of a feat like turning every hot spring in the city into holy water is none other than their very own goddess, Aqua.

"Hm? What are you guys talking about?"

Megumin got curious about what Chris and I were whispering about.

"Say, Megumin, what really is your history with Cecily?"

"Well, it's an interesting story. But if you don't mind listening, I guess I can tell it. First I guess I should start telling from when I was in the Crimson Demon academy…"

"Excuse me, is this stall open?"

Just as Megumin was preparing herself to tell a long tale, our first customer arrived.

There's no appointed time for when the stalls open. If a stall looks like it's done setting up, the customers will start forming lines.

This was the case with the neighboring stalls since a few minutes ago. Somehow, we managed to attract a curious straggler among the early birds.

"Can you come back later? I was about to tell a story about how I first learned explosion magic…"

"We can hear your continued explosion story another time, Megumin. Welcome to the Axis cult stall, sir. Would you be interested in these amber berry jams?"

"A-Axis cult?! Er… Actually, maybe not…"

"My first customer! Goddess bless you! Welcome to my fabulous stall! I suppose you were attracted by Megumin's exciting banner?! By all means, please look at our goods!"

"I couldn't really read the banner from afar since the writing was so esoteric… Now that I look closely… G-Goddess Aqua?! So this really is an Axis cult stall?! What's an Axis cult stall doing in the Eris festival?!"

This man was rightly apprehensive.

"That's right! This is the stall of the benevolent Axis cult! Now, please take a look at these jams. Look at this wonderful blue color that glows like a gem when light hits it. Don't they resemble the glowing eyes of an Axis cultist when they spot an undead?"

"...That's a weird analogy, but they do look pretty."

This guy gave the impression of a gullible sort.

"Yes, yes. How about a taste test, dear customer? You're an out of towner, aren't you? I can tell because your clothes look weird! Here, say ahn~!"

"Um, I'm a devout Eris follower and heard the festivals in Axel were very grand so… Mph?!"

In the middle of his sentence, Aqua shoved a spoonful of jam into our first customer's mouth.

"... A-Amazing! There's a pervasive sweetness that melts in your tongue! It tastes… Sort of like honey. Then when the sweetness subsides, you get the mild taste of the berry's jellied juices…!"

"Fufun. Is this not an impressive product? This jam was grown from the magic seeds of ground pixies, you know?"

"S-Such a rare thing! I'll buy it! Please let me buy it!"

He emptied his wallet to purchase a dozen jars of jam.

We had to give him a box to carry all of it.

"I'm impressed… I didn't know senpai was such a good salesman…"

"That's what you get for doubting my skills."

More like the quality of the product was so good, it can sell regardless of the sales pitch.

"Just leave the sales to me!"

Aqua placed her hands on her hips and lifted her head high.

"If that's the case, then what do you need our help for? Can we leave already? You only needed us to help set up, right?"

"That's not true, Kazuma! We will eventually get a long line and I need as much man power as I can get!"

"But you already have Cecily. Why does she have a separate stall, anyway?"

"She's selling some souvenirs from Alcarentia, traditional Alcarentia sweet buns! They match well with the jam!"

I really didn't see why they couldn't just sell the bread and jam in one stall.

After our first customer, more and more people started trickling in.

Word of mouth spreads pretty fast, especially in a festival setting like this.

Just like Aqua predicted, soon, we needed all the manpower we could get just to deal with the line of people.

Maybe Aqua surprisingly has a talent for business?

"Hahaha! Look at all this Eris we're getting! I guess this is why they call this day the Eris festival! We're rich, we're rich!"

Aqua exclaimed after the line has finally been dealt with.

She was admiring all the Eris coins we earned, tucked into our cash register.

I didn't know why she was so excited about the money, though. It's not like we were in need of money these days.

"Making money… T-That's not really the reason for this festival…"

Chris weakly mumbled as Aqua began counting the cash, needing to start over again once she lost count midway.

"The sweet buns have also sold very well."

Cecily came in to report her earnings.

"Of course they did. All according to plan. People would rather spend their money in different places during a festival, right? Because it feels like you're splurging money if you spend all of it in one place. If we sold the bread and jam in one stall, those poor cheapos will think 'Ah, I can't spend too much'. But if it's in a separate stall, it'll create the illusion that they're properly managing their money and not just splurging it all in one place. And if you buy jam, of course you have to buy bread to eat it with, and there just so happens to be a bread stall conveniently close by. Aren't I a genius, or what?!"

I looked at Aqua as if I were looking at her for the first time.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm impressed, Aqua."

"Heh, so you finally realize my greatness? Let's continue to milk the Eris out of these unsuspecting fools."

She held out her hand. I shook it.

"Aqua and Kazuma make quite the scumbag pair when it comes to business."

Megumin said, her expression seemed to say 'I should have known'.

"Senpai, please stop doing these kinds of shady things in my festival…"

Chris, with a tired expression on her face, said this.

Part 3

After about a couple of hours, Darkness came by.

"Hello, everyone. How are you enjoying the Eris festival?"

She was wearing her usual OL outfit that she wears when she's not adventuring.

She has no concept of street clothes whatsoever. If she's not wearing a combat bodysuit, she overdresses for the occasion.

"The day is going great, Darkness. I've made a tidy profit. See, the Axis cult can run a better festival than the Eris church! We should have our own festival in this city!"

"Er, I'm happy for Aqua, but why does Chris look a bit depressed over there?"

"Ahaha… Don't mind me."

Chris was understandably dispirited after helping out the Axis cult essentially try to upstage her own festival.

"Hey, Aqua, can we take a break? You can have Darkness help you now that she's here."

I saw this opportunity to leave the work to Darkness.

"I… I only came by to check up on everyone! I still have duties to attend to! The Axel police force is short in manpower and…"

"Please, Darkness, save me from this…"

"...I-I guess I can help out for a bit."

Darkness reluctantly accepted once Chris desperately insisted.

Megumin elected to stay behind. She was catching up with Cecily. I still didn't know their history, but they were getting along quite well.

I was a bit worried, though, since Cecily seemed to be one of those characters.

As such, Chris and I enjoyed a bit of a break as we toured around the streets, taking in the sights of the festival.

It was mentioned before, but I had just now begun to notice the Eris cosplayers wandering the streets.

Normally in Japan, girls would wear yukatas and such to the festival, but in here, for the Eris festival, the girls will dress in the likeness of Eris-sama.

When I brought this up with Eris herself, she smiled slightly.

"The belief is that if the women were to dress in the likeness of the goddess Eris, then she will be encouraged to come down to the mortal realm and enjoy the festivities without worrying about hiding her identity."

"Did you start this rumor yourself?"

"Nope. I already had this Chris disguise. And if I were to really come down here in my Eris form, I'd be discovered immediately. Goddesses have a certain aura that her followers will instantly recognize."

"That's not how it was when we went to Alcarentia with Aqua, though."

"That's because senpai doesn't have her full goddess powers and form right now. It wouldn't be fair if assistant-kun actually had a real goddess in his party, you know?"

So not only did I get a useless goddess as a cheat, her only redeeming points, her goddess abilities, were actually heavily nerfed?

"I want a refund."

"D-Don't say that. Senpai has been useful in a lot of ways, hasn't she? And she tries her best in her own way. Just like right now."

"I still can't see her as a goddess like I do with Eris-sama, though."

"Er… I guess I should say thanks? But rather than having you see me as a goddess, or even as your big boss, I kind of envy the closeness you have with senpai."

We've been walking for quite a while, so when we found a bench, we sat on it and resumed our chat.

"In terms of having close friends, doesn't Chris already have Darkness?"

"That's different. Darkness is friends with Chris, but reverently worships Eris. Even so... I'd rather keep the relationship we have now. Or so I say, but things have been kind of awkward ever since she found out I was the infamous silver haired thief…"

"I thought that was already resolved?"

"Relationships don't completely reset, but that's how you know that what you have is sincere."

"I honestly don't see what the big deal is. I really didn't think Darkness would take it to heart."

"Her sense of justice and responsibility that was already so great grew even more after you guys became the heroes of this land. The same can be said about Kazuma-kun, no?"

She giggled. Chris was wearing her street clothes today, which was comprised of a light coat jacket that was suited for warmer weather, a simple blouse, and a skirt that just covered her knees.

It was a simple, girly outfit that differed from the thief gear she usually had on, yet still gave her the impression of a tomboy.

"She got mad about Chris keeping a secret the last time, so… Have you considered telling her about your other big secret?"

"I've considered it from time-to-time, but how do you bring up something like that? Imagine finding out that your best friend was the goddess you've prayed to since you were a child."

"Yeah, that's kind of a difficult thing to wrap your head around."

"But I guess I can't keep it a secret forever. Don't you have any secrets you keep to yourself for the sake of keeping the status quo?"

I thought about how I was keeping the whole Maouko business to myself.

"I guess I can sort of understand."

"So assistant-kun really does have a secret? What is it? Something scandalous? You're not cheating on Megumin-san, are you?"

"Why does everyone keep assuming that?!"

Chris only giggled after I couldn't help retorting.

Part 4

As we kept walking around town, not in any real hurry to return to Aqua's stall, we came upon an interesting sight.

"Step right up! One night with the popular bishoujo priest, Serena! If thou wishes to bid, then please form a line!"

By the side of the street, there was quite an elaborate stage. Serena and Wiz are both standing on the stage while Vanir, with a megaphone-like device, addressed the audience, which was entirely comprised of men.

"I bid 400,000 Eris!"

"600,000!"

"1,000,000!"

The same guys who always complained about not having enough money to feed themselves were displaying an impressive amount of wealth.

"Is that the highest thou can go?! One night with this beautiful priest who has captured everyone's hearts! Even though she looks innocent on the outside, she is surprisingly skilled in all sorts of things in the bedroom! Or would thou rather have this beautiful poor shopkeep who has awakened the protective instincts of the men in this town with her helplessness and doe-eyed expression? Moi will start the bid for the poor shopkeep!"

"2,000,000 Eriiissssss!"

As I wondered how in the world Vanir is getting away with this suspicious operation out in broad daylight, I looked at the two women on stage.

While Serena seemed to have resigned to her fate long ago, Wiz still looked very nonplussed about her surroundings.

"W-Wait, Vanir-san?! Are you really selling me off?! No, you can't do this!"

"Maybe thou should have thought of that before buying those useless products the other day! The least you could do is sell off that corpse of a body of yours! Ah, dear customers, that was just an expression, she's not actually a corpse…"

I sighed at the commotion and curiously looked at Chris to see her reaction.

When I followed her gaze, I saw that she was staring right at Vanir.

Then, I remembered.

These two had a confrontation before.

"I FINALLY FOUND YOU!"

This is the first time I saw surprise on Vanir's face.

That's right. He can't use his divination on goddesses.

He probably saw a future where I'd come over to watch his little performance, but he wouldn't be able to see a future where Chris finds him and attacks him in front of an audience.

Which is what's happening right now.

"Gyyaaaa!"

"Eh?! W-What is thou doing here?! Has thou been chasing moi all this time?! Has thou fallen in love with moi?!"

"Shut up! I'll purge you!"

The audience was left stunned as Chris seemingly teleported with the flash step skill. She appeared in front of Vanir.

She took out her magic dagger, which was glowing, and swiped it at Vanir, aiming for the mask.

I thought for sure she'd hit him but he bent back at an unnatural angle and dodged the attack.

She carried the momentum from the swiping attack and lunged down with the blade, but Vanir spun away from the follow up, kicking his legs out.

His movements were pretty creepy.

"O-Oi, what's happening here? Isn't that Chris? Why is she attacking that pimp... I mean, auctioneer?"

"I don't know… I always thought Chris was a normal girl but maybe she has some screws loose in her head?"

I have to stop Chris before she adopts one of Megumin's nicknames.

"Bind!"

I took out my mithril rope and threw it.

"Aha! Assistant-kun, that's right, help me capture this devil! Let's take him down together! Wait, why is that rope heading towards me? Gack!"

Chris couldn't react in time as the rope bound her.

"...Kazuuumaaaa-kuuuun."

I heard a terrifying voice from the normally cheerful Chris.

That's because the rope I bound her with took on a perverted shibari pattern.

I don't understand why my skills always have a perverted side effect when used on girls.

At least I didn't steal her panties this time.

…

…

Vanir got rid of the crowd as we took the tied up Chris to Wiz's shop.

Since she had no intention to calm down, I didn't let her out of her bindings.

"K-Kazuma-kun, explain yourself! Why are you siding with this devil! ...Come to think of it, your thieving mask looks just like his… It can't be…!"

She struggled even more with her bindings.

We took Chris to the backroom area of the store, where Vanir and Wiz lived.

I haven't been to this area of the store before, but there wasn't much to see.

Wiz and Serena stayed at the storefront to deal with potential customers.

I also thought it would be a good idea to limit the amount of people around Chris, so she wouldn't feel so intimidated.

It wasn't making much of a difference, though.

Vanir looked at me with a thin smile.

"I should have known that thou would somehow be associated with this stalker goddess. Thou is truly the keeper of mad dog goddesses."

"This one is actually pretty normal compared to the other one. She just acts this way around you, I guess."

"Ah, is this the thing thou calls 'tsundere'?"

"I think she just straight up wants to kill you, Vanir."

I looked pointedly at Chris's murderous eyes.

"W-What do you and this devil plan to do with me?!"

She glared at us suspiciously as she continued to squirm and wriggle in her bindings.

Her face was flushed from the exertion.

Hm?

This behavior…

It seemed familiar.

"Relax, we're not going to do anything. I'll release you once you promise not to hurt Vanir."

"Yes, thou must relax thyself around moi! Moi is a friendly devil! Moi who is adored by the neighboring housewives and small children! Moi who is relied upon to fend off the stray Neroid who sometimes rummage through the trash and rubbish!"

This guy was too far removed from what an Archduke of hell should act like.

Part 5

"...Am I really supposed to believe this? I thought that the Devil who attacked the town before has already been defeated by Kazuma's party?"

"Well, it turns out that certain Devil survived Megumin's Explosion. Also, he came to an agreement of sorts with this town's officials to settle down here. He doesn't cause anyone harm, so they don't have any problems with him."

"So this Devil was actually given permission to live in this town?! How come I wasn't aware of any of this?!"

"At the time… I guess Eris-sama was still dealing with her superiors in heaven for allowing me to reincarnate more than once in this world and wasn't here when that whole commotion took place. Sorry for the problems I caused."

"A-Apology accepted. Still… Am I really supposed to believe that we can trust this Devil?"

It took a while to get Chris to calm down.

I had explained the situation to her, while constantly reminding her to keep an open mind.

"Thou can trust moi! I don't seek to harm humans! Why would one cause harm to their main source of food and entertainment? As long as humans are multiplying, that means that there are more livestock for Devils to feed on! And as long as humans are happy, the negative emotions they will produce will taste all the more sweeter!"

"I should really kill this Devil after all!"

"Now, now. I'll only let Chris out of my Bind if you promise not to attack Vanir."

"...Fine. I'll agree to a ceasefire for now."

I used Drain Touch to deplete the mana in the rope until they fell down.

Chris gingerly stood as she rubbed her wrists.

"That pattern… It was unintentional, right?"

"Yeah, the Luck stat affects my skills in mysterious ways."

"Don't blame the aspect I govern! It's assistant-kun who is using his luck in perverted ways!"

She was still a bit testy but at least she wasn't hostile anymore.

"If somebody else told me to trust a Devil… Sigh, why do I trust you so much?"

She weakly smiled at me.

"Hmm… Moi can't read the mind of this maddog goddess, but moi can still taste the emotions from thou… Thou shame in having to tolerate the presence of a Devil within your reach… As well as the curious emotions I tasted from you when you were captured… It's all very delicious! The most delicious negative emotions I've ever had!"

"Kazuma, I'm not going to kill him, but can I give him a good pounding?"

"By all means. He can take it."

"Moihahaha! Yes, yes! Give moi more of these feelings of shame and indignation!"

"Stop running away! Why are you so damn flexible?!"

I excused myself before I could get caught in the middle of the conflict again.

I left the backroom and came to the storefront. Wiz and Serena were at the counter.

"Oh? Is Serena working here in the store now?"

Her eyebrow twitched.

"Please don't give Vanir-san any strange ideas…"

Wiz looked behind her worriedly at the sounds of fighting from Chris and Vanir.

"Are those two going to be alright? They seem to be fighting?"

"They're not going to kill each other, don't worry."

"T-That's not really reassuring…"

While these two were here, I asked them about what they were doing with that 'auction' earlier.

"Vanir-san explained afterwards that he wasn't actually planning to sell our bodies. He just predicted that you'd come across our stage, take pity on us, and then buy us so we wouldn't end up having to spend the night with some strange men…"

That scam artist devil was targeting me this whole time.

"After all, despite Kazuma-san's rough exterior, he has a good heart."

"Yes, Wiz-san, I've come to see that despite his tendency to act like a scumbag, he has a solid set of principles."

These nee-chan types looked at me as if I were a small child who was behaving well.

"Well, I hate to leave you with Chris, but I should probably get going now. Aqua will throw a tantrum if I don't come back and help out with her stall. Geez, it's just one goddess problem piled on top of another."

"Actually, about that…"

Serena said, smiling uneasily.

"...What now?"

"I just received word from my master, Regina-sama, that she's coming here to the festival to pay a visit. She wants to speak with you, too. So… Well… That's another 'goddess problem' for Kazuma-san to deal with… Haha…"

…

…

Aqua was pretty livid when I came back.

"Kazuma, where in the world were you?! And where's that kouhai of mine?!"

"She's preoccupied with a certain Devil. And it seems like Darkness is working hard in our stead, anyways."

"Hm? Oh, she met that Devil? I hope she gave him a good smacking."

She didn't seem too concerned.

I took my place beside Darkness. She glanced at me.

"Kazuma and Chris ditched me with their work while they went off to have fun… Ah, this feeling of abandonment…"

After seeing the usual display from Darkness, I thought about Chris's behavior when she got captured.

I leaned over to Aqua and whispered,

"Hey, I have a question about goddesses…"

"Hm? Kazuma is finally interested in joining the Axis cult? By all means, you're welcome to join! Even if you said insulting things about my religion in the past, I'll forgive you! Cecily, do you have any Axis cult registration forms with you?"

"Of course I do."

I stopped Cecily before she could pull out a form.

"No, stop it with the pushy recruitment tactics already! Seriously, who's the insane person who came up with those, anyway?!"

"Urk…"

Megumin groaned and hid herself, for some reason.

"Anyways, about goddesses… It's true that the followers of a goddess will adopt some traits of the goddess they serve, yes?"

Aqua nodded her head to my question.

"Yep. That's absolutely right. For example, my followers share some of my artistic skills. They also share my burning hatred for the undead and the Devil King's army and their eyes will glow blue when they are in the presence of these enemies!"

They also shared her tendency to cause all sorts of problems.

"The more devout the follower, the more they can adopt the goddess' traits. It might even be possible to develop a hidden personality that the goddess themselves might not be aware of."

"Aqua, as usual, has a lot of knowledge about weird things."

"Hehe. Compliment me more!"

She interpreted my thinly veiled insult as a compliment.

I looked towards Darkness again. She noticed me.

"W-What is Kazuma looking at me like that for?"

"Darkness, let's pretend that you're a female thief who got captured by a wicked Devil and a comrade you thought you trusted. How would you react?"

"...! Such a scenario! A wicked Devil you say?! And a comrade has betrayed me?! Captured… Tied up… Unable to move… A female thief who has been captured…! Kyaaa! My comrade…! W-What do you and this devil plan to do with me?!"

So, it's really like that after all.

Even that last part was the same.

With this little mystery solved, I went back to helping Aqua with her stall.

We finally ran out of stock as the sun started to set.

"Thanks for the hard work, everyone! Even the sweet buns have sold out!"

Aqua was in an appreciative mood as we cleaned the stall.

"That was quite fun. I didn't think we'd sell so many."

Megumin had a satisfied smile as she counted the Eris in the cash register.

"This amount of money… Hey, Aqua, since we don't need any more, how about donating your earnings to the local charity?"

Darkness made this reasonable offer.

"Hah?! You mean the charity that is sponsored by the Eris church?! Now why would I do that?! If I'm going to donate to any charity, it'd have to be an Axis cult sponsored one!"

Hearing Aqua's words, Cecily included herself into the conversation,

"Then why don't we build one? Using the money we earn in this stall, we can build our own Axis cult orphanage."

"...! That's a great idea! Those evil doers of the Eris church are taking poor children without a family and poisoning their minds with the teachings of the Eris cult! Curse them! We'll rescue those children, Cecily!"

These two were a dangerous combination.

I didn't feel like intervening, so I left that for Darkness to deal with.

Meanwhile, I felt a tug on my sleeves. It was Megumin.

"Kazuma, Kazuma. The festival really gets going around nighttime. Wanna see the festival together with me?"

Part 6

I went to sightsee the stalls with Chris earlier, but we hadn't visited any of them.

With Megumin, she didn't hesitate at all to drag me to a takoyaki stall.

"The takoyaki looks good… Mmn, it tastes good, too.".

"Then I'm glad I didn't go all yakuza on this stall, like Aqua wanted me to."

"Isn't Kazuma hungry after a day of work? Why don't you eat?"

"I guess I'll eat something. How about that yakisoba over there?"

I purchased two yakisoba sets. We took our food and sat at a bench across from the stall.

After wolfing down the yakisoba, Megumin wanted dessert. We browsed around until we came across a shaved ice stall.

"T-The explosion girl?! ...W-What do you want?"

Megumin still carried a reputation for being volatile.

"Oi, want me to blow this stall up?"

And for good reason.

"Eeeek! I'm sorry! W-What would you like?"

"Hmm… Ah, how about this lovers combo?"

"C-Coming right up!"

The stall owner frantically prepared the shaved ice for us.

I felt sorry for the guy, so I gave him a big tip.

It was an unwritten rule that wealthy adventurers should tip well and stimulate the local economy, after all.

"Here's the lovers combo…"

He gave us a plastic bowl filled with shaved ice, pink syrup, strawberries and romantically themed decorative toppings.

We both stared at the bowl.

"...This is… Kind of not my style."

Megumin said while staring pointedly at the heart shaped chocolate resting atop pink frosting.

"Yeah, this is a bit too much, but it'd be a waste to throw it away."

"Oh? If you two aren't going to eat that, mind giving it to me? I love sweets~!"

I heard an unfamiliar sing-song voice.

Without us noticing, a little girl with violet hair and eyes had appeared beside us.

She wore loose, violet robes that matched her hair and eyes. She held a doll in her hand, but carried it not in a careful way, almost letting it drag across the ground as she walked.

"Sooo~? Can I have it if you guys aren't eating it?"

The little girl said in her cheery sing-song voice, swaying excitedly as she eyed the shaved ice.

We had the little girl sit with us. After tossing the doll on the bench, she sat down, took the bowl of shaved ice, then started digging in.

"Thanks for the food~!"

I expected her to immediately dig in like Komekko would, but this child seemed to have good manners.

She ate at a moderate pace and displayed good table manners.

"Say, little girl, are you lost? Where are your parents?"

As expected of an elder sister, Megumin's instincts easily surpassed mine.

"I'm not lost. I'm an abandoned child."

"Ehh?!" x 2.

Megumin and I both exclaimed.

"Or I guess it'd be more appropriate to say I was banished?"

"That's awful…"

"I mean, I am a fallen goddess, after all."

"That's… Eh?"

I did a double take.

"Um… What did you say your name was again, little ojou-chan?"

She smirked and said,

"My name is Regina. Nice to meet you."

My body stiffened.

She leaned over to whisper to me.

"Now, now, don't be so scared. We're allies now, remember?"

Her words relaxed me a little.

Serena described Regina as the goddess of manipulation and vengeance.

Even if we were allies, my body couldn't help but get tense.

"Megumin, why don't you buy some more sweets for Regina-chan?"

I gave my wallet to Megumin, who didn't hesitate to bolt to a food stall.

"Your lover is pretty charming. So that's your type, huh?"

Regina said with a knowing smirk.

"Err… Regina-sama…?"

"Just Regina is fine. You can even call me Regina-chan, boya."

"Oh, uh, ok."

I stumbled over my words, not really sure how to respond.

I didn't know how to deal with Regina, especially since I had very little information about her to work with. I was still caught off-guard by her sudden appearance. She's completely dictating the pace, but there's nothing I can do about it.

"I'll go with Regina. Err… So, what did you want to talk about? You came here to talk to me, didn't you?"

"That's part of why I came here. But I also wanted to see what the Eris festival was like. It's not bad, but the festivals they used to throw for me back in Noise were much more lively! Well, maybe that's just my personal bias speaking."

"Now that you mention it, Serena mentioned that your home base was in Noise…"

She nodded while licking the back of the spoon she ate the shaved ice with.

"Yerp. Not only is it my base of operations now, it also used to be my country. In the same way that Eris is worshipped here in Belzerg, I mean."

I was really curious about the country of Noise and how Regina was tied to it, but the atmosphere around her made me hesitate to broach the subject.

"Oh, that's right. Did you tell your party about Maouko yet?"

"Well…"

In that moment, I caught a glance of Aqua and Chris walking towards us.

I didn't know what the relationship between these three goddesses were, but I didn't want to take the chance.

However, before I could use Lurk, Aqua, who is perceptive only in the most inconvenient times, spotted us.

"Oh, Kazuma, is that you? Who's that little girl with you? Wait a minute…"

Aqua and Chris both froze when they saw Regina.

In turn, Regina simply waved her hand.

"Yo."

"..." x 2.

Aqua and Chris both remained still as they stared at Regina.

"It's that wretched traitor goddess!"

"Kazuma, get away from that thing! Her fallen goddess germs might contaminate you!"

"...Your words really hurt. It's been such a long time and you greet me like this?"

Regina put on a faux-tearful face as the other two goddesses glare her down.

I had to do something before this could escalate.

"Um… I don't know what your histories are with each other, but if we can all just calm down…"

Aqua took hold of my collar and started sniffing me.

"What have you done to Kazuma? Did you brainwash him?! This guy is an idiot who will go along with whatever a cute girl tells him, so I know that you probably targeted him!"

"That's right… Kazuma-kun is the type of man who says 'A cute girl can't truly be evil. Let's trust her'. So surely this dark goddess has already taken advantage of him!"

"I really don't get where your impressions of me are coming from!"

I shook myself from Aqua's grasp and said this.

"I guess you didn't tell them about our deal, boya? I didn't expect you to be the secretive type."

No, I'm more like the procrastinating type.

I shouldn't have kept delaying on telling them. Now I have this mess in my hands.

"Kazuma, step away from this dark goddess! Eris and I will take care of her!"

"...Senpai, please don't yell my identity when we're out in the streets like this!"

Aqua and Chris surrounded Regina, who remained seated. She simply smiled confidently and lifted the doll in front of her, as if it were a shield.

The air was tense as these goddesses were on the verge of fighting.

"Hey, if you three fight now, you'll cause a huge commotion…!"

I nervously glanced at the festival-going crowd behind us.

"Tch…!" x 2.

Aqua and Chris reluctantly backed away.

"Thank you, boya. I know that forming a partnership with you would be worth it."

Regina said, as she smirked at the others.

"Oh that's it, you smug little…! God Blow!"

"...! Buwahhh?!"

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Aqua went ahead and gave a little girl a right hook to the face.

The force of the blow sent Regina flying to the ground.

"Ouch! Are you freaking crazy?! What the hell did you hit me for?!"

"Eh? Oi, I thought for sure you'd block that! Wait, Kazuma, don't look at me like that! I know for sure that she can block my God Blow!"

I slowly backed away. I don't want anything to do with this messed up situation…!

A crowd started gathering once they saw what Aqua did.

"I always thought that Aqua was crazy but…"

"To think she'd actually hit a defenseless child like that…"

"Someone call the police!"

The people around us naturally assumed that Aqua was in the wrong here.

:"W-Wait! Don't trust this little girl! She's evil! Literal evil in the form of a little girl! Kazuma, back me up here!"

A teary eyed Aqua started pleading with me to save her.

"Owie… Nii-san, please take me to the hospital. It's really starting to hurt…"

Regina was going all out with the theatrics as she held her afflicted cheek.

She was even calling me 'nii-san' while looking up at me pitifully.

My protective instincts can't help but awaken.

"Aqua, please apologize to Regina-chan."

"Hah?! So Kazuma has been brainwashed after all?! Oi, Eris, back me up here! Let's take this lying goddess down and save Kazuma!"

"I told you not to call me that! But I agree with senpai, let's take this vile traitor goddess down together!"

Chris drew her dagger and pointed it at Regina.

"Oi, you two! I'm not brainwashed or anything! Why are you two so hostile against Regina, anyways?!"

Aqua was the one to respond. She said,

"We don't expect a mortal to understand! This is a matter between goddesses! Not like that thing is even a goddess anymore! She's a dark goddess, one who has fallen to the temptations of sin! And when goddesses and fallen goddesses meet each other… It becomes a battle of life and death…!"

"Senpai is right! And the dark goddess Regina wasn't originally a little girl, so don't be fooled by her charms, Kazuma-kun!"

That makes me sound like a lolicon!

"...What are you two doing?"

Just before anything extreme happened, Darkness appeared, along with the Axel police.

Even after being forced to work at Aqua's stall, she's back to working for the town.

"Err… Darkness, this isn't what it looks like…!"

Aqua said, while waving her arms around in a panic.

"Oh? So Aqua didn't punch this child on the face while yelling 'God Blow' and Chris didn't just take out a weapon and point it at this same child?"

"..." x 2.

"...You two, come with me."

Darkness took out a pair of handcuffs.

"You're making a big mistake, Darkness! Kazuma, tell her!"

"Darkness, wait! W-We're friends aren't we?! Don't do this!"

"I'll hear what you have to say in the police department. Kazuma, you're coming, too. Hm? Where did that little girl go?"

During all this, Regina had already slipped away.

…

…

A/N: Due to the requests of some readers, I won't do the next chapter preview titles anymore, as they tend to spoil the contents of upcoming chapters. On another note, I'll have a much lighter academic workload this summer, so I should be able to update more frequently. Thanks for sticking around despite the long wait between chapters.

-BoringBone