Naofumi Iwatani, Megumin, Satou Kazuma. Fanfiction 3. Chapter 2: Reunion
So you guys might be wondering how is Naofumi's life in this world right now, well to put it simply it is mostly shit. The only good points of his life right now is Raphtalia, Filo and Erhard believing him to be innocent of the rape allegations, and supporting him. Naofumi has realized the true position that Melty holds and shunned her, because of his already bad experience with royalty. Currently, he is at the hourglass ready to upgrade Raphtalia's and Filo's class. He is however not allowed to use it by decree of Tra… I mean by decree of the king. The last thing he was going to do today was going to Erhard's store and pick up some supplies, but this is also foiled by the stupid spear hero.
"Stop right there Shield hero!" Motoyasu yelled at him followed by ten guards, his party and Bitc… I mean Whor… sorry, the notes are getting mixed here, I mean Malty.
"What is it now Motoyasu, I am in a hurry so be quick," Naofumi said with a tired look on his face.
"Don't play dumb with me Naofumi, they say that you have been seen forcing yourself on a beautiful woman in an alley. So we have come here to arrest you before you can hurt any more innocent women."
In reality that was just Kazuma and Megumin making out, sorry Naofumi.
"That cannot be true, because Master Naofumi has been with me and Filo all this time, and we just came from the hourglass," Raphtalia explained.
"Yeah! We have been at the hourglass for a few hours now to upgrade our classes, just to be refused by the king." Filo confirmed in her Filolial form.
"See! That story is clearly fabricated or wasn't me. SO LET ME PASS NOW!" Naofumi yelled at the people blocking his path. (How many times must this bitch make my life harder, can't she just ignore me.)
"Hmm, no. You will still have to come with us to confirm your story with the nuns at the hourglass." The stupid spear hero still insisted.
"FINE! Let us go back immediately then and after that, you will leave me alone" Naofumi said as he turned the carriage around and started traveling back to the hourglass.
So when they arrived back at the hourglass Naofumi made a smart move and made Motoyasu leave all his party members outside the building. He also took the initiative for questioning the nuns, as they didn't understand that lying about his whereabouts would mean trouble for him.
"Have I been here for the last few hours?" Naofumi asked the nun simply without telling her why he asked that question.
"Yes" she answered
"Ok, it seems you were telling the truth, after all, I guess you can be on your way." The stupid spear hero said still not completely convinced about Naofumi's innocence.
As Naofumi was about to leave the spear hero behind, he turned around and looked back at the spear hero before he said.
"You know Motoyasu, my father always told me to treat both women and men equally, I never understood why he was so insistent on that before I came to this world."
"Are you saying your father was a feminist, and why are you bringing that up?"
"No. My father wasn't a feminist, he is closer to something you can call an equalist, and I am bringing this up because in this world women are taken at their word, especially by you. If you were to question a normal person's statement about me then you should question your party members the same, even if you are fucking them." Naofumi explained to his stupid rival.
"Pfft, I am a good judge of character so there is no need to question my trustworthy party members the same as strangers, especially when it comes to a rapist like you."
(That statement just proves you are a terrible judge of character and how much Malty has manipulated you.) "sigh, you are hopeless," Naofumi said exhausted as he turned around and left.
He got back on his carriage and started to leave for Erhard's weapons shop, but was again stopped by a group consisting of three men in armor and two mages.
"What do you want!" Naofumi yelled at the group, startling them.
Then one of the men in armor spoke up "Shield hero, we are knights that fought with you in Lute village. We were deeply touched by your resolve to protect the village and our families when no one else would, SO WE WOULD LIKE TO JOIN YOUR PARTY!" this knight was very convincing, but he wanted to test them first.
He pulled out a little metal trinket "Buy this off me for 150 silver pieces and I will consider your request." He said with a monotone voice.
"WHAT! 150 silver pieces we don't have that much." The knight spoke up
"First when you buy this off me I will consider your offer, so you better collect the 150 silver pieces. If you can't do that don't talk to me again." Naofumi retorted in a strict tone to the group.
"Hmm, I am sure we can arrange something even if it is a lot of money he is asking for, but it will take some time." One of the mages said to the group.
"The next wave comes in 10 days so you better be quick about it or you will be left behind." Naofumi said as he gave the signal for Filo to start dragging the carriage.
/Meanwhile in Erhard's shop 30min before Naofumi arrives
Kazuma had equipped himself with some light armor underneath and had been able to obtain a green mantle with golden borders similar to the one he had back in his old adventurer day. However on the insistence of his wife he had gotten a red "MK" stamped onto his mantle.
His new weapon of choice was a sword that Erhard had given him, Erhard has said: "If Naofumi could wield a sword I would have given this to him, but since his shield rejects anything else than a shield that is not possible, but I think it will serve you well Kazuma." The sword was a black one-handed sword with one serrated side meant for sawing in wood and trees, while the other side was razor-sharp. The handle was 10cm long and the blade itself was 68cm long. It was a perfect fit for Kazuma.
Megumin had obtained herself a little mage hat, which she had spent the whole night decorating to look as much like her old hat as possible, but she added a green "MK" on it. She felt comfortable to travel around in her current set of clothes, but she obtained a second set of clothes for herself and 3 for Kazuma. She was quite tired of seeing him walk around in that stupid green tracksuit all the time.
Erhard did also gift her a staff he had spent a year perfecting as his own little hobby, it was a totally black staff, it was so black it looked like it absorbed the light around it. "The staff looks like it sucks up light, but in reality, it only sucks up mana from the air, which is transferred to the user" had Erhard explained.
Erhard had demanded pay for Kazuma's equipment which was around 250 silver pieces, but not from Megumin. Kazuma did, however, insist on giving him 3 gold pieces for his hospitality and for not screwing them over. Erhard also took the courtesy of learning them how items were appraised and what the exchange of currency was. He still, however, didn't tell them about the harsh treatment their son had been subject to over this last month, thinking that it was better for Naofumi to tell them.
Kazuma suddenly rose up from his chair and picked up his sword and went to the door. "Hey, I will go and buy some food, be back in around 20min," Kazuma said and left.
Erhard curious about the level of Naofumi's parents went to check Megumin's level. This ended up shocking him when he saw that her level was 400. He himself was only level 86, and Naofumi's party were all stuck at level 40.
"S-so Megumin, how are you such a high level, when your son was level 1 when he first arrived in this world? Why did you not train him?" Erhard asked very curious about this very powerful mage.
"Well, you see it is a little hard to explain it, hell I didn't believe it at first either when Kazuma told me, so I don't think you will believe it." Megumin tried to excuse herself from explaining her backstory fearing he wouldn't believe her.
"I have a sense of telling if people tell the truth or not so just try your best to explain and I will listen." Erhard said reassuringly.
"Well in that case, please ask your question again!" Megumin exclaimed with more confidence
"How did you get to such a high level?" he asked
"Well back when I, Kazuma, Aqua and Darkness were adventurers in the same party, I would end up landing the finishing blow on most enemies that we faced, thereby gaining the most EXP." She answered.
"Hmm, ok then over to my next question. Why didn't you train your son so he could gain any EXP and level up why did he come to this world in level 1?"
"After we had defeated the Demon king in my world Kazuma was granted one wish from the goddess Eris, and he wished for a peaceful and safe environment to raise a family with me back in his old world in a country named Japan. Where there hasn't been a war going on for over 80 years now. In this world, there are also no monsters to fight, so you can't gain any EXP thereby you can't level up. The tradeoff was of course that we could safely raise our children."
"WHAT! Kazuma defeated a demon king?" he asked in shock.
"Yes, but our old adventurer party did defeat many powerful enemies prior to defeating the demon king. Our party defeated all the demon king's general together and many high bounty targets. Kazuma died a few times on the way, but Aqua was always able to resurrect him. That was the main reason why he didn't want to live in my old world anymore when Aqua couldn't accompany us any longer." She said with a nostalgic look on her face.
"OK, so you have lived a very eventful life together by the sounds of it. Well, that is all I wanted to know, I will not dig anymore. Would you like some tea Megumin?"
"Yes, that would be nice, Erhard." She said with a sweet smile.
Erhard then got up and went over to his teapot to start cooking some tea.
/meanwhile with Kazuma
Kazuma took out his money pouch and looked over how much he had with him.
(Ok so I have spent 3 gold pieces on our equipment, then I exchanged 3 gold pieces to 300 silver pieces with Erhard. Then I left Megumin with 100 silver pieces and 14 gold pieces, so I have 200 silver pieces to shop groceries for. This should be more than enough) he thought as he shook his pouch around and heard the money rustling.
Then Kazuma went down an alleyway he shouldn't have. Three guys jumped out in front of him blocking his path, while 2 other big men blocked the way he came from. Kazuma wasn't very scared of robbers, since the last time someone had tried to rob him, they had run away screaming. Granted they ran away screaming because of Darkness' perverted antics, but they ran away screaming nonetheless.
"Let me just say that trying to rob me will not end very well for you," Kazuma spoke up, sounding almost bored.
"We are not here to rob you Shield hero, we are here to kill you." one of the men said.
(Ah, yes even these people mistake me for my son.) "Well, you are going to need more than 13 people to do so." Kazuma used {Enemy detection} to see all the individuals with killing intent directed at him.
"W-what how did you… I mean what do you mean there are only 5 people here, but we will still be able to kill you." The man retorted.
"Oh please, there are 2 people on the roof ready with their bows ready, 3 people inside that building ready to burst out, and 3 people under this manhole cover." Kazuma said the last part as he slammed his foot down on it incapacitating one of the assassins that leaned his head on it.
"B-but how do you know that, we spent days planning this ambush." The same man spoke again.
"It doesn't matter what he knows, he still can't take on 13 assassins in level 60 alone all at once." Another man spoke up
"ATTACK!". The group yelled in unison
In the one-second, no one was looking at Kazuma he had activated his skills. First, {Concealment} to go invisible for a short amount of time and then stacked it with {Lurk} and started sneaking past the 3 guys blocking his path, as the 2 big guys behind him took up too much space to sneak past. This shocked all the assassins when the man who had once stood right in front of them just vanished into thin air.
"Where did he go?" one man bursting out of the house asked
"What, I saw him standing right there?" another man said pointing at the manhole cover.
(Idiots, if you are going to kill someone just do it, don't wait for a grand reveal to intimidate your target. Worst assassins ever.) Kazuma thought as he got up on the roof behind the two now very confused archers. "He j-just disappeared". "Where could he be?" (Right behind you.) Kazuma thought to himself making sure to not do the same mistake as his attackers.
Kazuma drew his sword and swung it with ease, one slash later and both their heads came off. He took great care in not making anything fall off the roof as to alert the people below to his position. He then picked up one of the bows and some arrows and started to shoot at his confused attackers. "{Snipe} x 10." All the arrows flew with amazing accuracy because of his high luck stat, killing his targets instantly, not even giving the assassins time to react.
(Well, that was easy.) Kazuma thought as he got down to the ground again, with his now newly acquired bow.
Of course, it was easy for him at level 120. The level gap could be compared to 13 ants trying to lift a boulder. Even if he was only level 70 it would still be hard for them to win, since they gave away their element of surprise.
First, he went down in the now open manhole cover and fished up the last although unconscious, last living assassin. After ransacking the man, he tied him up and started looting all the other deceased assassins. He got 5 x smoke bombs, 3 x vials of purple liquid, some money, 4 x berries, and 30 x arrows.
(They didn't have any food other than these berries, but considering these are assassins I shouldn't try them on the off chance they are poisonous.) Kazuma thought after his short murder spree in "Self-defense".
He then started to try and wake up his new prisoner. First, he tried simply splashing his face with water, which only proved effective in making the guy pee himself. Then Kazuma tried using {Freeze} on the man's neck, this only caused him to slightly shiver. Kazuma then thought of the most effective way to wake up a man in deep slumber.
Kazuma pulled out his sword and aimed it up with the man's crotch. (I am so sorry for what I am about to do sir, but I do not have freshly baked pancakes nearby so this is my only option.) Kazuma thought as he prepared himself for what he was about to do. Kazuma took in a deep breath as he drew his sword back for then to plunge the sword in the man's private parts, this proved very effective at waking the man up.
"AAAA, FUCK, SHIT, AAAA, HEYP EEE HEEYP EEE-." The man screamed as someone has just stabbed him in the di… oh yeah.
Kazuma smacked the man to shut him up, this proved surprisingly effective. "SHUT UP! I have some questions for you, if you answer truthfully I will make sure you don't lose your son." He said as he pointed at the man's bloody nether region.
"If you don't want to answer any questions, you can join your comrades." Kazuma said as he gestured to the bodies strewn around. "So what do you chose?" Kazuma asked in a scary tone.
"I-I-I c-choose t-to ah-answer." He was able to utter while under a lot of pain.
"Ok, why did you guys want to kill the shield hero?"
"W-w-we were hah-hired to ki-kill hi-him" the assassin said while starting to shed some tears from all the pain.
"Who hired you?" Kazuma asked in an angry tone. (No one harms my family and gets away with it)
"Someone fr-fro-from the chu-church of the three heroes" the man said now gaining more control over his words as he got more accustomed to the pain.
"Well, could you recognize this person if you saw them again?" Kazuma asked as he looked at his prisoner with part pity and part hate.
"Not on their face, but I can definitely recognize their voice." The man said without any sign of a lie.
"In that case I will hold up my end of the bargain" Kazuma said as he picked up the guy and started running back to the weapons shop.
"Ouch, this HUrts you know" the man complained.
"Says the man who tried to kill me." Kazuma retorted without showing a shred of compassion.
"Fair enOOUGH" he yelped out.
/Meanwhile in Naofumi's carriage
"Remember we are going to pick up the supplies from Erhard and then go train, and only after that are we going to eat." Naofumi told the girls.
"Understood master Naofumi" both girls retorted without a second of hesitation.
When they could see Erhard's weapons shop, Naofumi took notice of a man carrying another seemingly bound one into the shop. Naofumi got on guard, but didn't tell the girls what he saw until he could see the trail of blood that the 2 men had left behind.
"Girls I just saw a tied up man being carried into Erhard's shop, and as you can see one of them was clearly hurt. Get ready for a battle we might have to handle some bad people."
They both nodded at Naofumi and went to into battle stances. Raphtalia drew her sword, while Filo transformed into her girl form to get the reigns off her, then back again to her Filolial form. Naofumi took the front ready to open the door, or bust it in if need be. He then opened the door slightly and started hearing voices.
"Are you guys going to kill me, you promised to heal me if I told you everything, I SWEAR THAT IS ALL THAT I KNOW, PLEASE PUT DOWN THE KNIFE!" a man cried out desperation.
This was enough for Naofumi to drag the door open as hard as he possibly could. He then ran inside the room with Raphtalia on his right side and Filo on his left. As his eyes took a second to adjust to the light, he could hear the girls gasp in shock. When his eyes finally could take in the details of the room, he saw a tied-up man with blood coming from his crotch. The next thing he saw was Erhard holding a kitchen knife, with a concerned look on his face, but then he saw something that truly shocked him. He saw a man with brown hair, and if it hadn't been for a few wrinkles he could have sworn he was looking himself in the mirror.
"WHAT!?" All three of them exclaimed when they saw Kazuma. Filo and Raphtalia because they thought they saw double, and Naofumi was shocked, because he couldn't believe what he was seeing. They all just stood there dumbfounded before the silence was broken.
"Good you are here son, Erhard told me you are able to cast healing magic. Quickly or else we won't be able to reattach his member." Kazuma said pointing at the tied up man sitting in a puddle of his own blood.
This got Naofumi out of his trance as he looked at the man in obvious pain with a pale face, because of his blood loss. "{First Heal}" he chanted as a green aura enveloped the man. The man regained color to his face and passed out from the relief the healing spell granted him.
"S-S-SON!?" The girls stuttered out in clear confusion.
"What are YOU doing here!? HOW ARE YOU HERE?!" Naofumi exclaimed still shocked by the sight of his father.
Then Naofumi suddenly received a little smack in the back of his head. Not hard enough to do any real damage, but enough to sting a little and grab his attention.
"Really! That is the first thing you say to your loving parents, when you have been gone for over a month. We have been worried about you." Megumin yelled at Naofumi with watery eyes, filled with tears of joy at seeing her son again.
"W-WHAT PARENTS!?" Filo exclaimed.
Filo turned back to her little girl form, as she frantically looked back and forth between her master and the two new people she had never seen before, totally ignoring the bound man sleeping on the floor. (I guess I can see it.) Filo thought to herself, as she rested her gaze at Kazuma.
Raphtalia just stared intently at the woman who had just attacked her master, totally ignoring what she said. She got into battle stance ready to attack. Naofumi saw this and put his hand on her shoulder, "Yield Raphtalia! That is my mother you are pointing your sword at." He commanded her while giving her a stern look.
In return, Raphtalia got really nervous and instantly sheeted her sword as she hid her face in embarrassment. (I must have made a terrible first impression. Does she hate me now? Will master Naofumi leave me behind now?) Raphtalia thought as she looked at a corner in the shop.
Megumin then jumped up on her son and gave him a bear hug. Despite her petite frame, she was very strong. "Hhhey momh youh are crushing me." Naofumi barely managed to utter under the pressure of his mother's hug.
"Why do you and your father have an innate ability to ruin moments," Megumin said in an annoyed tone as she released her son from her death grip, and wiped away her tears.
"Well, are you two done now? We kind of have somewhat of a big conspiracy on our hands." Kazuma gestured at the tied up man sleeping peacefully.
"Case and point" Megumin pointed her new staff at Kazuma as she said it, which made Naofumi give out a little chuckle. Grabbing the attention of both girls in the room.
"Did you just laugh master Naofumi?" Filo asked clearly surprised by seeing her master laugh for the first time.
Naofumi's chuckle brought Raphtalia out of her catastrophe thinking, and she started looking at her master in pure astonishment. "It is the first time I have heard you laugh master Naofumi." She smiled as she said that.
Kazuma took a closer look at his son's face after that statement. The boy had usually always been happy, joyful and trustful, at least the last time he saw him. However, now his son gave off more an aura he recognized far too well. "Yeah, being summoned to another world isn't as fun as most media makes it seem, tell me about what happened son." Kazuma said with a knowing look.
"I don't think you can relate to what I have been through dad," Naofumi said with an exhausted tone remembering all the shit he had been through.
"Pfft, try me, son," Kazuma said confidently
"OK then. When I arrived in this world everyone looked at me like I was inferior to all the other heroes."
"Hmm, so you arrived in a new world, and the people you arrived with were seen as more capable, but they are pretty much useless and you clean up their mess all the time." Kazuma guessed with a lot of confidence in his voice.
"Yes, how did you know that?" Naofumi looked at his father in pure shock of his extremely accurate guess.
"Well you are not the first one in the family to travel to a fantasy world," Kazuma said with a smug smile. "But please continue, let us see if there is more I can relate too."
"Well, I got like this after I was betrayed by my so-called party member. At first, she looked like a beautiful woman that really wanted to join my party, but I later came to understand that she is a coniving little bitch. Get this, first, she took all my equipment and armor and then she claims that I raped her, but nobody other than Erhard here believes me to be innocent. So now this whole town hates me"
Tears started to form in Naofumi's eyes as he said it. It was good for him to be able to talk about it, and he felt that if anyone would believe him it would be his parents. This cold front he had been holding up was good to let down when he had his parents there to comfort him. The feeling of being alone had been tough on him
"I can only relate partially to that Naofumi," Kazuma said with a concerned look on his face. "Women have blamed me for sexual harassment, and people disliking me, but I was overall respected in my town. I have had a party member that spent all my money, but Aqua was just mostly useless. She didn't try to make my life harder or make people hate me on purpose, well, most of the time at least."
"Wait, who is Aqua?" Naofumi asked in confusion with this new name he had never heard before being mentioned.
"Well to put it simply she is your godmother, she insisted A LOT on that. Just so you know she takes the god part of that title VERY literally." He said trying to make him understand him.
"Wait, I told Darkness she could be his godmother." Megumin suddenly said.
"What was she going to do if we died in Japan?" he asked his wife
"Why would you trust our son with Aqua?" she asked a little worried about her husband's judgment.
"Well, she did show great care for Zell, so I thought she could also take care of our son if need be, plus she can get to him if we died in Japan, on account her being a Goddess."
"Fine, I get it. Now please Naofumi please continue." Megumin said in a defeated tone.
"Yeah, I will continue. So out of all the heroes, the spear hero, named Motoyasu has to be the worst one, he has this hero complex. He is too self-absorbed in his point on how the world works, to even reason with. He is either conspiring with Malty to make my life miserable, or he is too stupid to realize he is being manipulated"
"Hmm, yeah that sounds very familiar to Mitsurugi, let me guess he also challenged you to a duel where the price was one or more of your party members." Kazuma guessed with great accuracy again.
"Yeah, and that bitch princess cheated and made me lose, and then claimed she didn't do anything." He said as he clenched his fist together and got angry from just remembering that incident.
"But luckily the foul play was called out by the sword and bow hero, and then I could return to master's Naofumi's side as his slave," Raphtalia informed them in a cheerful voice.
"I don't like the spear hero, he creeps me out and he called me a fat bird," Filo stated with clear disdain in her voice.
"They keep calling you master Naofumi, and they talk about being your slaves, care to explain that to me Naofumi?" Megumin asked her son with a look that felt like she was trying to stare straight through him.
"Well, after being betrayed and no one wanting to party up with me because of my reputation. I also didn't trust anyone, so if I got a slave I could be certain of them not betraying me. That is why they call me master Naofumi." He explained so everyone could hear. "I love them like my own children" Naofumi whispered so that only Megumin managed to hear him.
(My son is all grown up already, it feels like it was just yesterday he was being an Otaku living at home.) She proudly thought to herself wiping away a few proud tears.
"Ok, now that I have explained my situation, how are you not the least freaked out about getting here. It sounds like this is natural to both of you."
"Well, that is because it is." Both his parents said in unison.
"I am going to give you the speed course here to explain it as quickly as possible. I was once an adventurer like you, until I defeated the demon king and got your mom pregnant. I then wished to be able to raise my family in Japan, and the rest is history."
"Wait what, repeat that demon king part again." Naofumi said not believing his shut-in dad capable of something like that.
"When I was about your age I defeated the demon king, as a reward the goddess of luck Eris granted me one wish. I then used that wish to live a peaceful life back in Japan and raise a family with your mother."
"Why have you guys never told me about this then?" Naofumi asked clearly annoyed that his parents didn't prepare him for something like this when it was a possibility.
"Would you have believed me?" Kazuma asked rhetorically.
There was a moment of silence as Naofumi realized the truth behind his father's words. Of course, he wouldn't have believed him, he would have sounded like a nutcase. Naofumi then gave out a big sigh in response.
"Exactly, good to see that you have more common sense than your mother," Kazuma said with a smug smile.
"Hey, it was a big shift for me to travel to Japan, I didn't know how your world worked. Chomusuke only had to focus on living as a lazy cat while I had to be a mother and an actress." Megumin excused herself with.
"Now that you mention it, mom, how is that cat still alive? Isn't she older than me, don't cats only live 20 years or something close to that?" Naofumi asked now very curious about his parents' past.
"Chomusuke is the goddess of violence and sloth," Megumin said nonchalantly like it was a common fact and not big news at all.
"How many goddesses have you two befriended, and why haven't any of them done anything to help me?" he angrily asked, pissed off that he had been going through so much shit by himself, when gods and goddesses actually existed and they were close family friends.
"Naofumi, you know Chomusuke is back in Japan, probably being lazy, because that is the main source of power she draws from in our home," Kazuma explained
"Well, what about my godmother, Aqua was it?" Naofumi asked still pissed off about not getting any help.
"She mainly focuses on dealing with the dead people coming from Japan, and it is Aqua, don't blame her for being as useless as she is." Kazuma chuckled a little as he explained that goddess' incompetence.
"What about this Eris, wasn't she supposed to grant you a peaceful life in Japan with your family, then why did I get transported here and treated like less than shit?" Naofumi yelled as he looked his father straight in the eyes, yearning for an answer.
"Now that right there is a good question. Perhaps the gods deemed my wish fulfilled since both my sons were grown up. But I still feel Eris' blessing of luck around me, so she definitely hasn't abandoned us." He told his son in a reassuring manner.
"hee-hee no, I don't want more cake grandma." Everyone suddenly shifted their gaze towards the tied up sleeping man at the floor talking in his sleep.
"Oh yeah that reminds me, this man is a member of an assassin group that mistook me for you son, they were planning to kill you. They were apparently hired by someone from a Church of some kind."
"Hmm, the only church that I know with any merit in this kingdom is the "Three heroes church" but would they really order such a thing?" Erhard said while stroking his beard.
"Well, this guy told me someone from that church hired him and his group of assassins. They were all close to level 60."
"Wait, dad, you killed 12 assassins in the level 60 range, I am only level 38, while Filo and Raphtalia are stuck at level 40, how high of a level are you?" Naofumi clearly shocked by this revelation asked.
"I am level 120." He bluntly stated like it was no big deal.
"Your mother is level 400 Naofumi, so your father is very weak compared to her, but they are a literal power couple regardless. I am myself only at level 86." Erhard said with clear admiration in his voice.
"L-lev-level 400!" Raphtalia stuttered as she looked on the petite woman with pure veneration.
"Wow," Filo said dreamingly as she walked up to Megumin to take a closer look. "You look so cool."
"Heh, of course, I am the crimson demon that singlehandedly brought the goddess of sloth and violence under my control," Megumin said as she dramatically twirled her staff around, taking clear joy in being admired by someone so cute.
"Hey! Possible conspiracy on our hands here, stop going off on so many tangents and focus, PLEASE!" Kazuma pleaded as he gestured on their prisoner.
"Yes, sorry Kazuma." Megumin apologized as she hid her face behind her new mage hat.
"We should wake him up, so we can interrogate him further, any wake-up alternatives."
"We could administrate pain to his private parts, that makes most people wake up instantly" Raphtalia suggested.
"No, any other suggestions." Kazuma immediately said after hearing her suggestion. (It would be unfair to stab him there twice.) he thought
Erhard then went over to his desk and pulled out a flask, he removed the cork and put it under the man's nose. It proved effective in waking the man, without making him scream out in agony.
"Smelling salts, very effective to wake up people. Maybe you guys want one or two flasks of this. It can wake up even the deepest sleeper." Erhard proudly proclaimed when he saw his product working.
"Where am I" the failed assassin looked around to have his eyes fell on Kazuma which made him freeze up in terror. "Please don't torture me anymore, I will tell you anything just please no more."
"What is he talking about dad?" Naofumi asked accusingly.
"I might have stabbed him a little in the baby maker to wake him up," Kazuma answered trying his best to look innocent.
"Really dad, that seems a bit much don't you think to just wake someone up?" Naofumi asked in a tired tone.
"Yes!" Kazuma quickly answered his son. Kazuma then shifted his gaze back to their prisoner, wearing a mischievous smile as he said. "Now start talking" Kazuma commanded.
The assassin just nodded as his face went pale, from realizing this was the shield hero's father and they had just tried to kill his son. (I am so fucked!) He screamed inside his head when he realized what lengths a parent would go to for the protection of their child, and he had just tried to kill him.
"Wait, there is a better way to secure correct information from him," Naofumi said.
"What is that?" Kazuma questioned looking intrigued for a more efficient way to collect information from their prisoner. He isn't lazy, he just likes to find the most efficient way.
"We could give him a slave crest, then he wouldn't be able to lie or disobey us without receiving severe pain." His son explained
"I TOLD YOU I WILL TELL YOU ANYTHING ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING JUST DON'T DOING ANYTHING MORE TO M… "clonk" The assassin screamed out as hard as he could before he got whacked in the back of the head with a black staff.
"SHUT UP, stop pleading so the whole street can hear, and just talk, you idiot," Megumin said in a tone so menacing and commanding that the assassin just started talking.
"I became an assassin at the age of 14 when me and my sister had no other option, I was named Suwon by my sister. After reaching level 60 we joined an assassin group that called themselves Deadly Red. One week after joining we got the mission to kill the shield hero from a person dressed in clothes belonging to "The three heroes" church. She was supposed to be up on the roof with another bowman while I got the shit job in the sewer. I got eager to get out of there when we were about to spring the surprise attack, but then I got the manhole cover slammed in my head. I woke up to the shield hero's father stabbing me in my privates and I seeing everyone around me laying there dead. That is all I know from the plan before and after I PROMISE!" Suwon explained without breathing in once before he was done explaining everything he knew
"He isn't lying," Erhard stated without any trace of doubt showing in his voice.
"Hmm, I trust Erhard on this one dad, he knew I was innocent even after no one else believed me to be, plus it adds up with what that woman said about the church being virtuous on the outside, but conniving and manipulating on the inside," Naofumi said.
"I trust your judgment on Erhard, but who told you about the church being like that, not that I can't relate to a church having crazy followers," Kazuma said as both him and Megumin shivered at the thought of the crazy Axis cultists.
"Some mysterious woman came up to me and told me that, and after that, she went away, but after what I have heard today we should be on guard for the "Three heroes church" and of course the royalty."
"But master, I don't think Melty is like her elder sister, she seemed genuinely interested in the Filolials. She also talke…" Filo tried to defend princess Melty before Naofumi interrupted her.
"All of the royalty is just manipulating assholes who are always looking for a way to make my life harder, so I will not trust Melty! Malty was also nice, to begin with, but just wait and see and she would have betrayed us at some point!" Naofumi yelled back in anger at Filo scaring her.
"Naofumi that is not how you talk to a child," Megumin said as she embraced Filo like a mother would embrace her own child while reprimanding her son for talking like that to her.
"I-I-I didn't mean to… I mean… I am sorry Filo, I just got so angry and lost control, I am not angry at you, I am angry at the royalty for mistreating me." Naofumi said as he saw how scared Filo was and the menacing look his mother was giving him.
"It is alright Master Naofumi." She quickly turned around her head to tell him, but then she sunk her head back into Megumin's embrace.
"Are you afraid of me now?" Naofumi asked seeing how quickly she returned to his mother's protective arms.
"No, I love you master Naofumi, but I just feel so safe by her, I can't explain it, it just feels righhht." Filo explained as she fell asleep in Megumin's arms.
"She is really cute," Megumin said as she held her, running her hand tenderly through her golden blonde hair.
Everyone went silent and just looked at Megumin taking care of Filo for a second before Kazuma silently declared that they should all get some sleep. Erhard offered for them to sleep in his shop, in light of the assassination attempt. He brought them some blankets and pillows before he went to bed himself. Megumin slept with Filo and Raphtalia, while Kazuma watched over their prisoner for the rest of the night, while Naofumi went to bed in another room. Kazuma got bored through the night so he spent some time pestering Suwon, to spend the time. When daylight arrived everyone was up except for Suwon and Kazuma.
That is all I have for this chapter. The new semester just started so I needed to get that week inbox before I could finish this chapter. Hope it turned out good, I love the reviews I have gotten so far, people seem to enjoy it. I gave them high levels in this world, because of how much they have done in their old world before. I also wanted the reunion to be as messy as possible, but also sweet. I hope you liked to read it. The next chapter can take more time than this one did since my semester just started so be patient.
