Chapter 07.
There were two signs that signed the start of a new day in Axel.
One, a loud explosion in the break of dawn. Made by an explosion addicted crazy loli; which was a sign of the unofficial start of the day. People woke up and prepared breakfast, got ready for work, swept the front of their shops. And second...
A silver glimmer bounced the silver bells inside the belfry. As if on cue bells of the Exel Eris church resounded to sound the beginning of the morning hours of the new day.
second, the morning prayer bells of the Exel Eris church. Those who slept in cried in panic as they searched for their clothes and rushed out not eating their breakfasts. Shops opened and so did the guild.
The city of Axel truly awoke and started off on their new day.
...And so did the small shop on the outskirts of the market district. Where its shopkeeper took out today's work on the counter and flip abacus and shuffle through a pile of papers.
Seeing Wiz doing paperwork for the first time, Kazuma stopped cleaning the window and walked to the counter, curious to find out what she was doing.
"Doing paperwork?"
"Ah, no. I'm planning for tonight."
"Something up?"
"There's been mass exorcism requests last night. And it seems like they're more to handle. I usually perform the exorcism rites and take requests on a weekly basis but it's very rare to get this many requests on one day. I'm afraid something might be happening behind my back."
She glanced at the metronome as she said this, then adjusted it in a favorable position. She nodded as the metronome slightly ticked ominously. Kazuma reached out and stopped the needle. As he did, the eye on the star glinted purple.
He quickly looked away, 'I didn't see that, I didn't see that- Hmm?' He eyed something and picked it up; A name, Lemon Doneck, the man who gave him their mansion for almost nothing. And it was on a list of requests. There were already a dozen names and requests on this list, and it seemed to be one of many.
"Did you take all of those requests?"
"Of course. It's one of my duties after all. As the king of the undead, I have the responsibility to help the wandering souls to descend to the heavens."
Wiz's duty. But it was foremost, a priest's duty to lead the wandering sprits up to the heavens. But everyone came to Wiz for her services. Wiz had the town's spirit exorcism business under her belt. But that won't be an option to save this shop; a trickle from a stream couldn't save a drying river. But even so, unlike those priests, Wiz was...
"Wiz, you're a very reliable, diligent person."
Wiz's face turned bright red as her cowlick twitched here and there. She was caught off guard as she got a rare compliment from another person.
"Eh? Is that so? I'm just doing my job."
Doing one's job. There was something that was so simple yet so hard to do. Like cleaning up one's room, or studying hard to get better grades. ...Or getting out his room and going back to school. It was all doing one's work. It took willpower to do that. And willpower was something that not many people had.
Doing one's work? That was something she should be proud of. But she was very humble nonetheless. Humility even though capable. That was something that took even more willpower. There was a reason for humility being one of the seven virtues.
"...That's also one of your good points."
"Ah, w, well thank you Kazuma-san..."
"Are you going to do it tonight?"
Wiz snapped back to attention as she picked up several notes and drawing depicting broken walls and animal bruises. Her eyes seemed to sharpen as she flipped through more papers and began to organize them... Like a king planning a budget for natural disasters.
"Yes. There've already been reports of several damaged property. And these kinds of things need immediate actions or it can..."
Kazuma nodded at this. He remembered when that bastard girl ghost wanted to 'play' with him and Megumin. And that has been scary enough. But for a ghost intending harm...? That'll be devasting for the entire town. Especially with a bunch of them? ...Bunch of them?
"Speaking of which, how much do you get paid for this?"
Wiz tapped her pen on the ledger as she added sums in her head. She chewed on her lips as she slowly nodded her head.
"The reward? Well, that differs from the situation and the type of spirit. But it usually costs about a couple of thousand Eris per quest."
'Is that too much or less? Considering Wiz, it might be less...'
"Is there something wrong? I know. It might be too much..."
'Well, if she says too much it probably means average. But I'll have to check that out later.'
But the important thing, for now, was that there were a bunch of exorcism quests coming in now. And if Wiz, who dealt with more than a dozen quest like this on a timely basis said that it was a lot, then it was... more than he could think of at the moment. It could help with the loss she made yesterday, or more if he could negotiate with the client.
"No, I was just curious. By the way, can I come along with you tonight? For the exorcism I mean."
"Eh? B, but you don't have to do that. Tonight's going to take longer than usual. It might take all night!"
She doesn't have to worry about that; he remembered when he stood in a line for the entire afternoon and night to get the newest copy of the game he so badly wanted. But of course, he died a week afterward so he never really got to play it... Shame really.
"You don't have to worry about it. It's all my whim. I won't be a burden."
"It's not that. But..."
"Then it's settled then, right? Let's get back to work!"
"Ah, well. Of course."
Wiz hesistantly went back to her papers as Kazuma got back to polishing the window.
A/N 2019, Project Augustus. In courtesy of Sammo909.
Just something trivial, but I never knew the flag of Monaco looked just like the flag of Indonesia until a few days ago. And at the same time, I realized that I mistook the Indonesian flag for the flag of Poland. Yeesh, what a mix-up.
Anyway, back to the subject; OMG! I saw the PV for KONOSUBA SE3 just a few days ago! Looks like the Crimson demon village arc and possibly the capital arc are finally being animated. Oh good. And looks like Kazumegumin shipping is going to be strong on this one. I'm not a strong shipper myself but, I still think they (mostly Megumin) look cute.
Maybe I can get some inspiration & ideas for the Megumin & Yun Yun stories from this Crimson demon village arc. But I should finish this and Aqua's first if anything.
It's great autumn this year; MHA SE4, BEASTARS, Assassin's Pride and Mairimashita! Iruma-Kun. (Nanatsu no taizai is also coming up, but I have to finish SE2 first.) Man, Iruma-Kun. I've waited so long for this. I'm so hyped about this. Now I have to hope Tokyo manji revengers are also going to be animated later. Hopefully sooner. And of course, if [Ability King KK] is still writing, we'll get another [Lumpy Pumpkin Holloween] this year as well!
Well, that's all the rambling for today. Cheers!
