Naofumi Iwatani, Megumin, Satou Kazuma. Fanfiction 4. Chapter 4: Chase and Discovery
On the run away from the (in)justice system that wants to take away his antidote for manticore poison, to save princess bitc… Malty after her poison plan went wrong. Kazuma has acquired a new favorite weapon to stun enemies with, the fearsome and abundant potted plants that lay around in the city. The three heroes church has gathered soldiers together with the king to acquire the antidote from Naofumi. Motoyasu has been able to come back to his senses after he went flying. Ren (The sword hero) and Itsuki (The bow hero) have blocked off their own respective side of the city. Can the Iwatani family escape all of this?
"Master Naofumi, the cavalry is right behind us!" Raphtalia yelled from the backside of the carriage as four horsemen rode behind them with swords drawn.
"Can you hold them off for now?" Naofumi yelled back as he took a hard left turn, almost making Raphtalia fall off the carriage, but in return one of the horsemen crashed into a fruit stand.
"I can't hit them from here, but I can fight them off if they try to get on the carriage," Raphtalia answered as she rose back up.
({Snipe}{Steal}) Kazuma thought as he first drew an arrow and fired it at the carriage, before he stole a metal pin from one of the horse saddles.
First Raphtalia was startled by the arrow landing right next to her almost hitting her in the foot, but then she saw that the arrow had a note attached to it.
"BAH!" one of the horsemen yelled as his saddle lost its grip and he slid off to the right and crashed into his neighbor. That was a two for one offer, unfasten 1 horse saddle take out 2 riders.
Now with only one horse rider behind them he was quickly taken out by a potted plant, which gave Raphtalia the opportunity to read the note attached to it. "NO EXPLOSIONS IN THE CITY!" She yelled out as she read the words Kazuma had scribbled down.
"I-I wouldn't do that" Megumin stammered as she looked away a little guilty.
(Why was dad so adamant for mom to not use her magic?) Naofumi wondered as they came to a roadblock.
Naofumi instantly tried to turn around, but then he was cornered by none other than Motoyasu. He now stood in front of them with a bandaged nose clearly ready for battle. He might be an idiot, but he got plenty of stamina.
"Hand over the antidote Naofumi!" Motoyasu commanded as he got ready to attack.
"Watch out a potted plant!" Naofumi yelled making Motoyasu instantly turn around, to nothing.
Motoyasu turned back to face them, now angry at being made a fool of "Ha-ha, very funny" he said in an annoyed tone "OW, FUCK!" He yelled as yet another potted plant landed on his head.
"Maybe you should invest in a helmet, the potted plants seem to have it out for you." Naofumi said in a mocking tone as he tried his best not to laugh.
(There are potted plants all around in this city, mixed with {Steal} I have almost limitless ammo.) Kazuma thought as he readied another potted plant for its tour to Motoyasu's head.
"Oh shut it, if I ever find the person who is throwing these things I will… I will…"
(Die, you would die) Megumin and Naofumi silently thought as they saw Motoyasu go on a tantrum.
"Hand over the fucking antidote!" Motoyasu again commanded, but this time he was on guard for any flying potted plants coming from behind.
"Why would I help that bitch, she can go die for all I care. She got a taste of her own medicine." Naofumi said with a serious expression as he got ready to leave.
"Then I will stop you AHHH" Motoyasu yelled as he tried to take a step forward, but his feet was bound together, which caused him to faceplant right into a potted plant.
"GO FILO!" Naofumi ordered, getting away from the counterproductive spear hero and the roadblock.
"Why do you think he keeps using the potted plants?" Naofumi asked his mother
"Could be he is saving his more important items for later, or he could just be messing with him," Megumin answered as drummed her fingers on her black staff, she wanted to try it so badly.
"Knowing him, it would probably mean he just wanted to mess with him." Naofumi said as they took another turn.
"Stop right there!" a young boys voice commanded, it was the bow hero blocking their path this time.
"Can you guys just leave me alone, I was just going for a city tour today, not a manhunt." Naofumi angered over the effort this city would go through to make his life worse.
"If you hand over the manticore antidote you are free to leave, but if you refuse…" Itsuki said as he readied his bow for a shot.
(Dad don't fail me now) "You are going to miss that shot, and I will get past you Itsuki. I won't even have to lift a finger." Naofumi informed the young archer as he sat back down and ordered Filo to keep going.
"Well, then I will prove you wrong {Meteor arrow}" as he loosed his arrow another arrow hit his bow making the shot miss by a mile.
({Snipe}x5) Kazuma thought after he loosed his first arrow making the bow hero miss. These 5 other arrows would pin Itsuki to the ground, making it simple for Naofumi to travel past him.
As Naofumi passed by the bow hero he couldn't help but mock him "Now that is ironic, the bow hero was defeated with arrows." As he said that Megumin couldn't help but laugh a little.
(I am so TIRED of this.) Kazuma thought as he followed behind from the rooftops.
Naofumi was almost out of the city by this point, but there was still one hero left to stand in his way. Ren was however not alone, but he wasn't with his usual party either. The person that accompanied the sword hero and stood next to now was princess Melty. She was wearing a blue/white dress while her blue hair was made into two pigtails, just like last time they had met.
"I must ask you to hand over the antidote Naofumi." Ren commanded in the same tone just as the two before him.
"I will not help that bitch, and I will get past you Ren." Naofumi threatened.
"Then I have no other choice than to AAAH!" As Ren took a step forward he fell into the manhole, which suddenly had lost its cover. Two seconds later a big splash could be heard from the manhole as Ren belly-flopped into the sewage below.
Kazuma stood a few meters away holding the manhole cover he had just used {Steal} to acquire. (That should be everyone) he thought as he threw the manhole cover away.
"Please Shield Hero, I beg of you to save my sister from the poison that she has been afflicted with." Melty begged with big puppy eyes as tears started to form.
"Why should I save her, she is the reason my life has been so shit lately," Naofumi said as he got ready to leave through the gate, but he was stopped by Melty that got down on her knees and started to cry.
"I beg of you, I do not wish to attend my sisters funeral today, I can pay for it if you want, I can give you 100 silver… no 100 gold pieces for the antidote." She desperately yelled as she was down on her knees crying her eyes out.
Naofumi looked away from the crying princess, it was hard to look at her like that. He didn't get the feeling that she was trying to manipulate him, but she was royalty and she was pleading for the bitch's life. He looked at Filo to get her to start going, but Filo just looked back at him with the same pleading look. Averting his gaze from Filo he now had to look his mother in the eyes, she wore the same pleading look as the two youngest but she didn't say anything. With that look, she silently told him "it is your decision". Reluctantly he pulled out the manticore antidote and presented it to her.
"100 gold and it is yours" he somberly told her.
Without a second of hesitation, she gave him the money pouch as she grabbed the potion. Still teary-eyed Melty spoke "Thank you very much Shield Hero, I will not forget this." Her voice filled with genuine gratitude. She started running away with the antidote in hand.
"Thank you master Naofumi" Filo said as she looked at Naofumi in pure admiration.
"If he hadn't given it, I would have given it to her" Kazuma said as he suddenly appeared inside of the carriage. He was clearly exhausted from the rooftop-race, and he had changed back to his normal attire. They might have attacked him if he wore his mask and black outfit.
"AAAH!" everyone exclaimed at his sudden appearance, except for Megumin.
"Your father has always had a soft spot for little princesses," Megumin informed as she chuckled a little at the thought. "I think you made the right decision," Megumin said reassuringly to her son.
"We will have to wait and see," Naofumi said as he turned the carriage around to go back into the city.
"Hey, Raphtalia do you want to put back the manhole cover before we leave?" Kazuma asked as he pointed to the manhole cover with one hand and the manhole with the other.
"Sure." She said as she got up and got the manhole cover and flung it back on. When it hit you could hear a metallic cling and a "THUD" like it hit someone's head when it was flung back in place.
"Shouldn't you go back on the roof?" Megumin asked
"Eh, it is fine, my {Enemy detection} will go off if someone with hostile intent gets close." Kazuma lazily retorted as he dozed off.
/meanwhile with bit… I mean Malty
The burning had spread all across her body, if she didn't get the antidote soon she would surely die. Problems with breathing had led to her needing to get carried by the two other girls in her party on a stretcher. Luckily for them, she was too focused on staying alive to berate them like she usually would. Breathing hard now started hurting as well. Every breath she took felt like swallowing needles. Then her savior came sprinting over to her with the antidote.
"Here sister drink this," she says as she removes the cork from the bottle, leaning bitc… Malty's head back as she could easily pour it into her mouth.
When the antidote hit Malty's tongue her relief was immediate. The pain faded away in seconds and as soon as she was done drinking the antidote she took in huge breaths of air.
"Ah, that was better. I presume since you have the antidote the shield hero was killed." Malty said with a smug grin.
"Eh, no. I bought the antidote from him." Melty simply informed her sister as she let out a sigh of relief knowing that she would be fine.
"WHAT, HOW MUCH DID YOU PAY THAT MONSTER!" Bitc… Malty screamed at her little sister angry that Naofumi had earned something from her suffering.
"Sister, why are you so mad at the shield hero, he seems fairly nice from what I can tell. I don't believe these rumors you have spread about him." The blue-haired princess said with a little contempt in her voice.
"I swear that man is filled with nothing but malice." She lied as easily as she breathed.
"From what I can tell he is caring and compassionate, he takes good care of his slaves almost like they were his children," Melty said her voice filled with nothing but praise.
"My dear sister you have clearly been deceived by him did you not see that he has nothing but slaves in his party, no one with free will would stay in that party." She continued to lie with no problems, she even enjoyed berating Naofumi.
"There was a woman with him though, I have never seen her before but she was fairly beautiful and she seemed to be a mage from what I could tell." Melty countered with.
"Ah, she is just the wife of a sailor no one important, Naofumi was showing her around in the city." One of the girls interjected with.
"She was quite beautiful, from the looks of it I would say she is younger than Myne." The other girl that had been carrying bitc… Malty continued. "I wonder how her first meeting with her husband must've been." She continued dreamingly.
"It must have been very romantic for her to marry him at such a young age" the first girl argued
As an old-looking woman walked by she started laughing hysterically, but the little group of girls paid her no mind, but Melty got up as she had remembered something.
"Well as the crown princess I have more important business to tend to sister since you are no longer in mortal danger I can leave you with your companions," Melty said as she went over to an awaiting carriage waving goodbye.
(You can call yourself that for now, but soon I will get the title I rightfully deserve.) The princess thought with an envious grin spreading across her face as she clenched her fist together, imagining herself crushing the carriage containing her sister THAT JUST SAVED HER LIFE.
/Back with our heroes
A group of people stood in front of Naofumi's carriage blocking their path, which seems to be the theme for the day. Suddenly one of them stepped forward presenting a bag, this surprised Naofumi at first before he recognized the group. They had asked to join his party yesterday, did they really collect it that fast.
"We have the money you asked for," the young soldier said as he presented the bag.
(They were actually willing to collect the money, hmm they pass for now)"Then you can by some equipment for them, I don't need you to be a burden to me." Naofumi said in a stern tone as he pushed the bag of money back into the soldier's hand.
The group looked a little shocked at first, but then they smiled. "Thank you very much shield hero." He said as he bowed his group following suit.
"Why are you still standing in my way, you got more important things to do, go now!" Naofumi ordered, which they instantly complied with.
"Hmm, you tested them to see if they were willing to give you the money, based on their expressions I would say they thought they would be buying something worthless, but were relieved to see you wanted them to buy their own equipment." Kazuma correctly observed it had been hard getting away with things as a kid when both parents were this observant.
"Do you always know what is going on?" Naofumi said in a little mocking tone.
"I simply observed and deduced the most likely scenario, dear Watson" Kazuma said in an attempt to sound like Sherlock Holmes.
"Weren't you supposed to be covert" Naofumi pointed out annoyed at his father's antics.
"So where are we going next?" Megumin asked interrupting the two squabbling boys.
"I guess we can go and see the hourglass, maybe you two can deduce more about it than me since you are isekai veterans," Naofumi explained.
"Ok, you two can go make a distraction and I will go inspect the hourglass," Kazuma said very intrigued about this hourglass.
As they came close to the building with the hourglass, Kazuma left the carriage hidden by the effects of {Lurk}. The building containing the hourglass was pretty straightforward so finding it was no problem. Getting close enough to touch it was the problem. It was surrounded by plenty of nuns which seemed to be in prayer by it. The plan was to get Megumin to make a commotion in a peaceful way by making her sing. In the meantime Naofumi would lazily stroll around the building, stopping when either he was back in the carriage or Megumin stopped singing.
(I am a little tempted to go and listen to her, but this hourglass is more intriguing) Kazuma thought as he snuck inside, getting the last glance of his wife about to sing.
The most surprising part came over Naofumi as he was about to take a lap around the building. First, he didn't think much of it, he had heard his dad listening to plays of his mother singing, but when she started singing he started crying.
(Why am I crying?) Naofumi questioned himself as he listened to the soft singing of his mother. That was right she had sung to him when he felt alone, scared or anxious. She had been there singing him to sleep. Hearing her voice again ripped away from the little doubt he had about them not being his parents. It was without a doubt truly his parents, they had come for him. The feeling of being alone in this world that had gnawed at him faded even further away as he let his tears flow down. He listened attentively as he could feel all his worries disappear. Even if it was just for a little moment, he was at ease. The singing made him feel like the carefree child he once was, it felt good.
A crowd began to gather around Megumin, she was used to a large group of people when she performed, so this little group was nothing. They listened attentively to her sing, but they also watched her in awestruck by her beauty. As more and more people flocked around Megumin to either hear her wonderful singing or just get a glance at her not one of them tried to touch her. The audience was very respectful and kept a reasonable distance, both in respect for the performer and the other spectators. Among some of the newcomers at the end of her first song was a few curious nuns that had come from the building to listen.
Kazuma couldn't get past any of the nuns to reach the hourglass, they were huddled to closely together. However, the moment Megumin had finished her first song and started to sing another some nuns from the outside came in and gestured for others to follow them. This gave Kazuma an opening to get close to the hourglass, but at the rate the nuns were leaving he would soon be alone with it, giving him the perfect opportunity to examine this strange object.
"Come she wonderful." One of the nuns said prodding her sister to tag along.
"I have never heard anything similar before." Another nun said quickly convincing two of her fellow sisters to go outside.
"Hmph, I will go get the pope, this disturbance must be taken care of quickly." An older nun mumbled to herself as she saw everyone else leave before she herself rose. Rather than walking towards Megumin, she walked the opposite way.
(I will have to be quick) Kazuma thought as he went up to the hourglass. He could instantly feel his skills stopped working as he touched the hourglass.
(Lucky all the nuns left before I touched this thing, I think I would be in a lot of trouble otherwise.) he thought as he got a prompt up before his eyes.
Welcome Hero of ERROR. You have a class upgrade available, would you like to ERROR, UPGRADING CLASS. UPGRADE COMPLETE.
(WTF just happened, it seems my stats have increased minimally, hmm I see this time in the top right corner now. So I am recognized as a hero, but what will happen when the wave hits?) He pondered this until he heard some hurried walking coming down the halls.
Activating {Lurk} and disappearing into the shadows he got out of eyesight, just before the pope came around the corner with the head nun behind him. They both looked pissed off as they fast-walked down the corridor towards the exit.
"They dare to break to ritual, the young are so easily deceived," the head nun said as she tried to keep up with the pope.
"I will see what this disturbance is, and then I will get rid of it," the pope said as he approached the exit, but when he pushed the door open letting the sound of Megumin's singing in he went silent as he just wanted to listen for a second.
"Sir, hey sir," the head nun said as she nudged the pope, bringing him out of the trance.
"Uh, ah, yes, of course, stopping this nuisance. MAKE WAY FOR THE POPE!" he commanded as he raised his voice catching the attention of all the nuns in front of him, and some civilians. They quickly made way for the pope allowing him a clear line straight for Megumin.
"STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" he commanded as he stood in front of the singing Megumin disrupting her song as she stared back at him with an annoyed look.
"What is the big deal, why are you interrupting me?" Megumin said in an annoyed voice.
"You aren't allowed to disturb the hour of praying by the hourglass, our nuns need silence when this ritual is taking place." The pope said while wearing a resolute face.
"It is fine, her voice is beautiful." One of the nuns said as she butted into the conversation.
"You dumb child!" the head nun yelled as she smacked the nun that spoke up in defense of Megumin. "Haven't you learned that devils can lead you astray, with dirty tricks like this."
The pope saw an opportunity and he took it. "That is right, my divine deduction has deduced that this little girl is nothing more than a devil behind a mask, her mission here is to lead you all astray and bring you into your demise. She might look beautiful, but I can see the fires of hell burning in her eyes." He spoke up with so much conviction in his voice that everyone listening to him believed him as he said it.
Just like that, the crowd of people that had been staring at Megumin in pure bliss and awe of her beauty was now staring daggers at her. Megumin didn't like this, she knew what could happen if a mob of angry fanatics thought she was a threat to their religion.
(Hopefully, they aren't on the level of the crazy Axis cultists.) she thought as she recoiled from all the death stares she received.
"Begone devil or you will be vanquished from existence," the pope said as he raised his arms up in a threatening fashion making Megumin recoil, while.
(This is sure to scare the living shit out of that little brat, while I gain admiration from the public. Win-win.) The pope thought to himself as he saw how both the crowd and girl reacted to him. With that, he turned away from Megumin and gestured for the other nuns to follow him back inside, as he listened to the angry mob starting to berate her.
(Splendid, now the nuns that went outside during the ritual feel ashamed of their actions, while this mob will take care of the little brat.) He thought to himself as he contently walked back inside.
In the meantime Kazuma reappeared in Naofumi's wagon, lightly nudging him as to make him aware of his presence. At first, Naofumi was a little surprised when he turned around to see a man dressed in almost only black clothing with a black and white mask. He almost punched him, before he realized that it could only be his father that had snuck back into the carriage.
"Dad since when did you change outfits?" He questioned as he lowered his fist and returned to look at the road.
"No time for that now, we need to go and pick up your mother. For some reason, I got the feeling she is in trouble." Kazuma ordered.
As the carriage turned around Chomusuke woke up from all the ruckus and clawed herself onto the first thing she could. In this case that was Naofumi. When they got into hearing range of what should have been Megumin singing they instead found themselves listening to Megumin being berated by the crowd. For every second that pasted the crowd got more and more agitated
"Go back to hell where you came from!" A middle-aged man with yellow teeth and bald head yelled as he readied his arm to throw an empty bottle of wine at her.
"Leave this town!" a young girl yelled.
Megumin would gladly have left if they would have given her space to leave, but apparently the crowd that had been keeping their distance before, all wanted to come as close as they could when it came to insulting her. She could have probably forced her way out of this situation, but she was much stronger than these civilians and didn't want to hurt them. She was still a little rusty on when it came to explosion magic, but Kazuma had prohibited the use of it in the city so that was also off the table regardless. There was one option left.
"HELP!" Megumin didn't scream in fear, but more yelled as to both silence the angry mob that surrounded her and to alert Naofumi and/or Kazuma that things hadn't gone as planned.
As the middle-aged man threw his bottle at Megumin it was suddenly intercepted by a green air shield produced by Naofumi. While a potted plant knocked the man out, as it hit him in the back of his head. As the crowd looked around in confusion their eyes landed on Naofumi as he jumped in-between the crowd and his mother. While a young child still tried to look for the person that threw the potted plant at his father, he was not successful in this.
"Why do you protect this devil?!" a younger man yelled at him.
Naofumi took a quick look back at his mother a little confused, did they really mean his mom looked like a devil. "This is no devil!" He retorted as he looked back to the crowd.
"What do you mean she clearly ensnared these young men to her unnatural voice and beauty, she can't be anything else than a devil!" A middle-aged woman screamed out her anger fueled by jealousy, making the crowd nod and murmur in agreement to her.
"I AM ALREADY MARRIED!" Megumin screamed with all her might as she revealed her ring, the little gem on it flaring red just as her eyes did. That statement was incredibly insulting to Megumin, she stared at the woman in pure anger as her arm was raised over her head while she clutched at her black staff.
"HOW DARE YOU THINK, HOW DARE YOU THINK I WOULD BE UNFAITHFUL TO MY HUSBAND!" Megumin yelled as she pointed her black staff at the woman making her recoil in fear.
The crowd that was surrounding Megumin and Naofumi looked on in shock. As thoughts started to roll around in their heads.
"Are you married to the shield hero?" a woman asked out loud without thinking over what she said.
"EWW, NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT!" both Megumin and Naofumi yelled out in unison as the thought itself disgusted them to their core. The disgust they displayed was not fake, the crowd could tell that much. It almost looked like they both were about to throw up. One person did throw up in a potted plant, but no one saw that.
"But the pope said he deduced she was evil!" Another person yelled after Naofumi and Megumin had calmed down.
"Yeah he is right, the pope wouldn't lie about something like that!" half the crowd cheered on in agreement.
"Let us just leave, crazy fanatics is impossible to convince, trust me, I have experience." Megumin leaned in and whispered to Naofumi as she saw an opening in the crowd they could leave through. Which they promptly did, which the crowd only realized when the little boy looking for his father's assailant pointed it out.
"Hey look they are leaving!" He screamed out as he pointed at them, getting everyone's attention.
"Yeah, get them!" a man said as he raised his loaf of bread threateningly to muster the mob mentality to an attack.
"Didn't the pope order her to be banished?" a female questioned before the mob could muster any courage to attack the shield hero and the "devil" beside him.
"YEAH LEAVE THIS TOWN!" a very familiar male voice rang out, completely shifting the target of attacking the two people before the mob to insulting them out of town.
Naofumi and Megumin quickly seeing the opportunity that the person from the mob had given them ran to the carriage.
"Filo goes for the exit of this town, don't slow down until we are out of sight from this mob." He ordered as he took hold of the reigns, while Megumin sat herself down into the carriage beside the sleeping Chomusuke and some tarps.
"Got it master!" Filo confirmed and she took off at a blazing speed as soon as she saw Megumin had taken a seat. The sounds of the angry crowd quickly fainted away as they traveled down the streets of the city. Giving Filo the opportunity to slow down and take more controlled swings as she dragged the carriage along.
"STOP!" a clearly bruised Motoyasu exclaimed as he once again stood in front of the carriage.
"WHAT NOW?!" Naofumi yelled in clear annoyance.
"I can't let you leave this city before you hand over the antidote!" He said as he took a stance in front of the carriage.
"We just gave it away so leave us alone, and move out of the way."
"I am afraid I can't do that since you also need to apologize to the princess for your behavior," Motoyasu said not budging an inch.
"Well, what do you think is going to happen now?" Naofumi asked the idiot in front of him.
"HYAH!" Motoyasu roared as he spun around and cut the pot flying towards his head cleanly in two, for a split second he felt a sense of accomplishment until he was covered by the regurgitated breakfast of Kazuma. "WTF IS THIS, IT STINKS OH NO, IT'S STILL WARM"
Kazuma quickly followed up his first attack with another potted plant throwing Motoyasu off balance making him slip in the puke. It was ALMOST as they felt sorry for him as they traveled past the now temporarily incapacitated spear hero.
"Now he almost looks as disgusting as that bitch's personality, they will make a perfect couple," Naofumi said out loud, making Filo chuckle.
When they reached the gate they apparently hit a bump in the road, because the carriage shook a little bit as if they passed over something. When they looked back it was just the same manhole cover they had put back after their encounter with Ren. Raphtalia you swear she heard some faint screaming this time, followed by a splash but there wasn't really any reason to investigate that right now.
"Hee-hee x 5, ah that was gold." Kazuma laughed loudly as he appeared in the carriage now again wearing his adventurer outfit. He quickly received a smack in the head from Megumin. "Hey what was that for?"
"You told me that you would watch over me so you deserve it for failing utterly, plus you startled me so I couldn't help it," Megumin said as she sat back down.
"I was investigating the hourglass remember, but thanks to you I was able to see how it works. The nuns surrounded it and without your singing, I wouldn't have been able to get close enough. Apparently I am also a hero" Kazuma explained as he started to pet Chomusuke.
"What kind of hero did it deem you as then," Naofumi asked clearly intrigued at the revelation.
"Well, you see I think it is broken," Kazuma answered while his face grew slightly redder.
"No, no, please tell oh great HeRo what did it say," Megumin said with a big smug grin emerging on her face.
"It has to be broken because there is no other explanation."
"And why is that?" both mother and son asked while wearing the same evil grin, making Kazuma back off a little.
(Yeah, you are definitively mother and son) he thought as he finally relented the answer. "It called me Hero of error, but it said the error like your computer would say if something was wrong with it."
"Oh, so in other words what you are telling me is, "kazuma executable" has stopped working." Naofumi mockingly said as he chuckled to himself, everyone else other than Kazuma didn't get the joke, but he was just wearing a tired expression.
(My son mocks me, I thought this was the one place I could show him the reigns, but here he is just mocking his old man.) Kazuma thought to himself as he slumped over and fell into Megumin's lap face first. "I will be taking a nap, I haven't run that much in forever." He said, his words barely audible from Megumin's thighs.
Megumin being used to giving him a lap pillow when he was tired, and feeling tired of today's events herself started to gently caress his hair.
/2 hours later at the inn in Melromarc
"My head still hurts," Ren complained as a Tersia tended to his wounds.
"I told you we should have come with you," Tersia said as she put a little bit more pressure on his wound that she perhaps needed to, as a way to get back at him.
"By the way, you still stink of sewage." Welt unnecessarily pointed out to him.
"I know, but I got dumped three times into the sewage just a few hours ago, and apparently three separate washes aren't enough," Ren said in a defeated tone as he sipped his beer.
"It is your own fault for falling in that manhole cover in the first place, didn't Bakta tell you to be more aware of your surroundings," Welt said making himself laugh from pointing that out to Ren.
"Yeah, yeah, can just talk about something else," Ren said as he angrily took a huge sip of his beer.
"Hey I am just trying to lighten up the mood, it isn't my fault you timed coming up so bad" he again laughed while slapping his hand on his leg, while hysterically laughing.
"Yeah, you should have been more heroic like me," Motoyasu said as he stood up with some rags on him since his clothes were drying. He also smelled better than Ren, but he still smelled faintly of puke.
"Watch out potted plant!" Itsuki yelled as he pointed towards the roof.
"WHAT, WHERE!" Motoyasu screamed out in terror as he turned around to see nothing, regaining his composure he turned back around while looking angrily at the bow hero that had just fooled him.
"Yes, that was certainly very "heroic" of you." Itsuki mockingly said as he got laughs from everyone else in the inn.
"Hmph" Motoyasu angrily huffed as he sat back down taking a long good sip of his own beer.
"Itsuki you can't talk much either you got taken out by another archer, and you are supposed to be the bow hero." Ren pointed out.
"Yeah, that was embarrassing." The bow hero somberly said as he also joined the two others in the act of drinking away their problems.
"If he is sneakier than Itsuki, stronger than Ren and smarter than Motoyasu, what kind of person is he?" A girl named Rishia asked. "I wonder if he is a gentleman." As she said those words Kazuma was laying in the carriage, face planted in Megumin's thighs while lightly groping her ass, so maybe not.
/Meanwhile in Erhard's shop
"Hmm, so he had to leave the city, well that doesn't matter we will find him regardless." The young leader of the knight/mage group said as he heard the news from Erhard.
"You better be quick about it or else the wave will take him without you," Erhard said with an undertone of encouragement.
"If you don't mind me asking who is the new guy?" he asked in a whisper as he pointed over at Suwon that was sweeping the floor.
"Well, he is the new helper around here until he either moves on to another city or wants to take his job further here." Erhard simply said out loud so everyone could hear.
"Do you trust him?" he asked as he looked over at the shabby looking dude, that was sweeping the floor with a somber look on his face.
"Yeah, for now at least," Erhard said with a stoic look on his face as he gave thumbs up to Suwon.
"Well, we will be off then." The young leader said as he strapped on the new equipment and their rations for the travel.
"Farewell soldier, farewell," Erhard said as he waved them goodbye.
"Do you really trust me?" Suwon asked, fearing what the true answer might be.
"Shouldn't I?" Erhard asked with a warming smile on his face.
"Well, I mean I am an lv 60 assassin, aren't you afraid of me possibly killing you?" Suwon said as he stared at the floor.
"I have seen that look on many adventurers before when they have lost someone they loved. That more than anything can drastically change how someone live their life, and you young man should learn that people might be stronger than what they look." Erhard said as he pointed his smiting hammer at him gesturing for him to get back to work.
"Well, at least I can get a new start, I just wish my sister could always get the same chance," Suwon said as he looked out the window while continuing to sweep the floor.
"Sometimes that is just life, come on now don't do a half-assed job on the floor," Erhard ordered the young man quickly bringing his thoughts over on only sweeping the floor.
Well, that was this for this chapter. I hope you liked it even if it took much longer than expected. I have an exam coming up very soon, so I will continue this after February is over. The reviews so far are amazing to read, I have some favorites that I would like to mention.
Calderoneric758: I don't know why, but this story makes me laugh, scream in terror, and wanting to see if Kazuma taught Naofumi about gender equality.
This one certainly made my day when I first read it.
I also loved how this got so much more attention after u/foxgir made some fantastic fanart and posted it on reddit. That really gave this fanfiction some great traction, the guy who linked the fanfic in the comments even got a silver, so I will just think of it as my own.
Have a little Feith: Man, this chapter was fun to read, no sarcasm intended. I laughed at the plants being chucked at Motoyasu. It came out of nowhere, so it was amusing. Also, is that woman who chucked water at Bi- I mean, Malty Aqua? Because that would be amazing if it was, shows the Godmother is still looking out for her Godson.
Thank you very much for this one, I loved to read this one. I just took the trope of someone being hit in the head with a potted plant while I was reading some Donald Duck stories. So I felt I had to put it in.
Now to the most important comment
T-B-R: The story is a bit rough, but overall I like the idea.
I would really like to get some tips on how to make it better to read. I hope you don't take this as me hanging you out I just really want to improve, and these comments let me self-reflect. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
