"Oi, watch where you put your feet!"

"I'm sorry!"

Megumin huffed as she pushed YunYun's foot away from her stomach and turned over to face away from her. They were in their party's room, lying feet to face on the bed. "Forget about it. Just go to sleep and don't kick me again, ok?"

"I won't…"

Megumin sighed happily at the quiet. It stayed like that for a short while, silence dominating the room, apart from the noise from downstairs the creaking of the Guild Building. Then the silence was shattered again.

"Hey, Megumin?"

Megumin groaned and rolled back over, hesitating as she saw the weird look on YunYun's face. The girl was exhausted, and it showed. Honestly, Megumin couldn't believe that she was still awake.

"What do you want?"

YunYun frowned slightly, her tired eyes looking incredibly sad. "Do you really not like me? I thought we were going to be rivals, like the great heroes of legends... I wanted to be one with you… "

Megumin's heart jumped into her throat. What a question. Did Megumin even have an actual answer to that? She knew that YunYun would never have been confident to just outright say something like that when she was fully awake. Maybe she could just ignore it and pretend she fell asleep?

She caught YunYun's eyes and knew that she couldn't just ignore this. Sighing, she sat up and looked over at the girl for a few moments. She looked so… sad. Megumin knew that YunYun didn't have many friends, but did her not liking the girl really have that big an effect on her?

She didn't even really 'not like her'. It was more that she was just mildly annoyed by the constant challenges to a duel that YunYun made, and the fact that her boobs were bigger, and that Izuku had seemed more impressed with her magic than Megumin's…

But, wasn't she the one that started challenging her to duels? Every day when they were kids, duel after duel so that she could eat? And it wasn't really YunYun's fault that her boobs were bigger, Megumin knew that, and Izuku probably just liked the variety of spells that YunYun cast without collapsing…

She sighed. "YunYun?"

The girl perked up slightly, but Megumin could tell that she was incredibly groggy, still. "Yes, Megumin?"

Megumin looked down. "I don't… not like you. You're fine, you just annoy me sometimes. I'm really sorry if I ever made it seem like I actually hated you or anything like that… I guess."

She had scrunched her eyes up at that, not knowing what YunYun's reaction would be to that. She hoped she wasn't angry with her or something. Although she would kinda deserve it.

She heard a soft sob come from YunYun and opened her eyes quickly to see YunYun lying on her back, asleep, a relieved smile on her face. Megumin wiped her face at the sight, wiping off… the drop of water that leaked down from the roof! That was it!

She definitely wasn't crying as well! And anyone that said otherwise had a free ticket to explosion town. She was about to speak again when she realized that YunYun was finally out of it, snoring softly.

Turning over, she pulled the covers up around her and drifted off to sleep.


"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

" Izuku! Turn him off! Please!"

Izuku ducked under the arm made out of clay as Golem-Might swiped at him, yelping as he dragged Aqua out of the way of the other arm flying at her head. "I don't know why he's doing this! I only showed him my memories of him being a hero!"

Aqua looked confused as well. "Then why has he gone all Frankenstein's monster on us!?"

Izuku, panicking, just shrugged, pulling Darkness out of the way of one of the Golem's fists. She seemed kinda upset about that, something he didn't really understand. "You two get out of here! I'll try and turn him off!"

Aqua nodded and sprinted right for the door, knocking over Nevarth as she barreled through it. Izuku dodged to the side as Golem-Might broke the table he was hiding behind, his smile never fading.

"I AM HERE!"

Izuku flinched and scrunched his eyes up as another fist almost hit him, but froze in surprise when it was stopped, a sharp crack hitting his ears. He opened his eyes to see Darkness standing in front of him, breathing heavily.

"You pack quite a punch, Mr. All Might sir! A pity you can't keep up with my durability; you would have been an excellent sparing partner!"

Izuku saw what Darkness was referring to: a large crack spreading up Golem-Might's arm. It creaked again and Izuku saw the middle finger from the hand that hit Darkness fall to the ground, shattering on impact.

Izuku's eyes widened. "Darkness! I totally forgot that he's made of ceramic! Just let him punch you and he should break himself!"

Darkness nodded, letting out a joyous cackle as she spread her arms wide, allowing Golem-Might to attempt to attack her without resistance. "Of course! Pummel me, you magnificent creation! Pummel me until you break!"

Izuku gave her an odd look as she did so, only making her squirm more, a hot blush coming onto her face. She knew that this boy had darkness (hah) hidden within him! Telling her to use her body as a shield and then judging her for doing so! What contradictory actions! She loved it!

She shuddered as the stump of Golem-Might's arm crashed into her chest again, the hand long since shattered, and promptly collapsed in on itself. That seemed to be the final straw, cracks spreading all over the Golem until it let out a large 'CRACK' , the multitude of pieces falling to the floor.

Darkness shivered as the attacks stopped, breathing deeply, her face flushed red. She stood there for a moment, staring down at the pile of ceramic pieces, then laughed. Turning to Izuku, who was dusting himself off, she sprinted over to him and grabbed the boy by the shoulders.

"You must make another! That was exhilarating!"

Izuku just looked at her weirdly and pried himself from her grasp. "Why would I do that? Obviously, it didn't work as I intended! I'm going to have to figure out what went wrong before I try again."

Darkness hummed. That wasn't an 'I'll never make one again', but it did mean she would have to wait. "Well, I hope you are quick in your investigation! A brute that will pummel me relentlessly until he falls apart, with no worries about my safety or their own… truly you have created a masterpiece!"

Izuku shook his head. "Look, Darkness, whatever this whole… 'thing' is, I need you to tone it down, OK? At least in public. I know that you enjoy fighting, but you make it sound like you're obsessed or something."

Izuku turned away from the girl and moved over to the broken Golem, picking up a piece and thinking. Why would a Golem infused with All Might's memories start attacking people at random?

Wait a second… it wasn't All Might's memories that Izuku was implanting into the Golem. It was his own memories about what All Might would do in these situations. And all of the memories of All Might that Izuku inserted into the Golem was him saying his catchphrase and fighting villains.

So basically saying "I AM HERE" over and over again and punching people. Well. That explained a lot.

No wonder he went crazy.


The next morning was much quieter than the one before.

Seeing as they didn't have to be up absurdly early to prepare for an attack on the town by a swarm of wild, flying cabbages, which Izuku still had trouble believing were real, no matter if he had fought them or not, they all got to sleep in a bit.

Or at least, the girls got to sleep in a bit. Izuku was in the habit of rising early to prepare for school and tend to any lasting injuries before his mum woke up. Which, while tragic and definitely something he'd have to talk to with a therapist about one day, meant that he always had extra time in the morning.

And now that he didn't have to tend to any injuries (thanks Aqua!), he was able to spend even more time learning about Belzerg, and the magic that he now possessed! It was wacky and crazy, and he loved every second of it.

Except maybe that bit where Golem-Might V1 almost caved his skull in. Or that time when the Ogre almost killed him by caving his skull in. Or when Durza threatened to do horrible things to his first proper friend in this world.

Ok, so there were up and downs. A magical rollercoaster of adventures. But hey! He was still alive, his friends were OK, and he was getting better with his magic every day! His practice with |Dawn| was going well too!

He wasn't going to be winning any swordmaster trophies anytime soon, at least not without a teacher, but his skills with a sword were workable. Especially when he used |Powered| to make up for the lack of physical strength he still had to worry about.

Maybe he should start drafting up a proper exercise plan soon? Dempton would probably hook him up! He might have to pay the man for it though, or enchant another piece of his gear.

He hummed to himself as he pulled out his adventurer card.


Izuku Midoriya: Artificer of Axel, The Shadeslayer

LVL 6 - Artificer

Skill Points Remaining: 28

Attribute Points Remaining: 6

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 45

Endurance: 50

Intelligence: ?

Wisdom: 25

Charisma: 30

Luck: 20

Abilities: Natural Craftsman, Infuse Magic Item, Create Golem,

Spells: Skill Bind, Firebolt, Summon Tool, Farsight, Powered, Reflect

Magic Items: Digital Pocket Watch of Luck


His biggest issue right now was strength.

Even with his magic, his body still seemed to charge right into battle with a sword drawn long before his mind could play catch-up and ground himself. He would either have to become a bigger threat in melee range, or break that habit if he wanted to live past his 15th birthday.

He looked over at Aqua as the girl mumbled something in her sleep, something about Demons. He didn't catch what it was she said exactly, but she seemed very worried about Demons in her dream.

She fell silent a few moments later, clutching onto an empty glass bottle like a teddy bear. Izuku shook his head at that, wondering how such a young goddess could be so addicted to booze already. Izuku hadn't even seen booze before coming to Belzerg!

Darkness was sleeping soundly, her armour shed in favour of her plain black jumpsuit. She still had her sword next to her bedroll, but he knew that as she was now, she probably wasn't going to be hitting anything (or anyone, more specifically).

Maybe he could enchant her sword for better accuracy until he was able to make her put some points into swordsmanship? Or maybe he could just practice with her in swordplay. He was getting better without putting skill points into it, why couldn't she? Something for him to think about later.

Megumin and YunYun were still fast asleep as well. They had taken the bed, which Izuku was fine with. He was glad that no-one had claimed it for themselves. Instead, the two girls shared it.

He hoped that they could find a way to work together in his party. He wanted both of them to stick around, so he hoped they could patch up their relationship enough to work together. He knew how bad a one-sided relationship could feel, and he wouldn't wish that on anyone else.

Shaking his head, he tore himself out of his ruminations. He had stuff he wanted to do this morning, or at least research how to do, before he had to take Megumin out to let off an explosion.

He stood up and tip-toed out of the room, re-locking the door after he left. He headed downstairs to the foyer to see Luna already up and wiping down a table.

She gave him a sly smile as he entered her line of sight. "Ah, Midoriya! What brings you down here so early? After your party's success yesterday I expected you and your girls to be, uh... incapacitated for the majority of today."

Izuku just shook his head silently, before he realized what she had meant by 'his girls'. "Wait! That's not what we're like! They're my friends and party members! I've only known most of them for a few weeks, maybe a month! I'd never do something like that so quickly!"

Luna just laughed. "I know, I know, you must forgive a girl for wanting to get some teasing in! I will say though, there are quite a few people who seem to think that you're building some ultimate battle-harem."

Izuku's face went bright red as he sputtered, waving his hands in front of him, shaking his head. "WHAT?! That's insane! I would never try and disrespect any of my friends like that!"

Luna raised her eyebrow at him. "Disrespect? What are you talking about? It's very common for powerful and famous heroes like yourself to participate in polyamory. In fact, the last Artificer we had in Belzerg was rumored to have more girls by his side than Axel has in its entirety."

Izuku froze at that, trying to wrap his head around that thought. There were at least 1500 people in Axel! And just over half were women! How could one man be with almost 800 people?!

He bowed to Luna, shaking a bit. "Thank you for the warning, I have to go now!"

Luna gave him a confused look as he sprinted out of the guildhall at top speed, steam shooting from his ears, his face redder than a tomato. She hummed to herself.

"What a strange boy."


Izuku gulped in air as he finished his run.

He had decided to start with working on his cardio before moving on to building muscle, and he thought that going for a run around Axel's walls was a pretty good start. The exercise also helped him clear his head from what Luna told him about.

While he trusted his party, he did have to admit that he didn't really know most of them well on a personal level. Definitely not enough to do… thatwith them! And definitely not all of them! Sure they were all very pretty, but Izuku didn't want to creep them out!

Whatever. He didn't want to think about it right now. His legs burned, his lungs were screaming at him, and his feet were throbbing. AND he still had to take Megumin out for her daily explosion!

Man, if he kept this up he would be running marathons in no time flat.

He arrived at the guildhall to see a rowdy crowd of adventurers already chowing down on breakfast and (probably) alcohol, preparing themselves for a day doing quests. Izuku noticed the bright blue hair of Aqua seated on the other side of the room and smiled, glad that he didn't have to climb the stairs and wake the girls up.

He headed over to the quest board and hummed to himself as he looked through his options. There were less than usual, but still a fairly good selection. He hadn't eaten before running, so he made sure to order a small plate of food when a barmaid passed him, then he sat down to read the quest papers.

There were a few good ones, including one to clear a lake of pollution, which Aqua could probably do fairly easily with enough protection. There was also one to hunt a pack of Goblins! That seemed simple enough!

Taking the piece of paper off of the board, he rushed over to Luna to accept the quest, before heading over to his party to tell them.

He noticed that Megumin and YunYun seemed to be treating each other better. Megumin didn't even steal anything from YunYun's plate today! Maybe YunYun joining the party would be good for their relationship? Izuku was glad that he could help if that was the case.

Darkness noticed his approach first and smiled. "Ah! Izuku! I see you have brought us a quest to do this morning! What is it that we shall be fighting today? A black fang? A white wolf? Maybe a One-Punch-Bear?"

Izuku shook his head. "Nothing like that sorry, still trying to recover mentally from being thrown around by that Ogre. I'd prefer to do… less stressful quests until I feel a bit more confident in my abilities."

Darkness froze as he mentioned the Ogre, before nodding. Izuku could see Aqua and Megumin shiver uncomfortably in the edge of his sight, and YunYun looking confused. He would explain to her later.

Darkness rubbed her arm, looking down. "I, uh, of course. I could see why you would want to take it easy. As boring as that may be, I will not complain about you getting stronger! What shall we be fighting then?"

Izuku plopped the piece of paper onto the table, smiling. "Something important, but fairly easy for a party of our quality! There's a large group of goblins that have set up camp on the crossroads half a day's travel from Axel that have been ambushing traveling merchants."

Megumin puffed out her cheeks. "But before we go save a bunch of rich, stuck up scam artists, you're going to help me do my daily explosion, right?"

Izuku nodded. "Of course I will! I was just telling you what we were going to be doing this afternoon so you guys can prepare! I have some stuff I need to do after me and Megumin get back anyway, so you all have plenty of time. But we do leave tonight!"

After getting nods of acknowledgment, he waved his hand to Megumin. "Alright then! Lets get this over and done with."

Megumin jumped to her feet and followed after him, spinning her staff over her head as she did so.


One massive explosion later, and Izuku and Megumin were on their way back to Axel.

Izuku rolled his shoulders as he looked over to the girl, smiling at the content look on her face. She was currently being carried by a small, amorphous golem made of mud and rock. It might sound disgusting, but she was basically being carried on a flat surface by a Golem that could act like a car's suspension and keep her flat no matter the bumps and dips in the road.

Izuku honestly couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this before! Now he didn't have to carry her every day! He'd named the Golem 'Hakobu'. It was simple, but it made sense. Plus, no-one here knew Japanese but him and Aqua, so they'd just think it was a cool-sounding name.

Definitely not just a lazy way of explaining what the Golem did. Definitely not.

"Hey, Izuku? Darkness told me about how the Golem you made last night went crazy and tried to kill you. This one isn't going to like, suffocate me or something? Because it's all gooey and made of mud and I'm still all floppy from using |Explosion| !"

Izuku shook his head. "Nope, this one is totally safe. A mindless drone meant only to carry you and follow my orders. It's basically just a homemade Slime with a platform on the top. Hope you like Hakobu, cause he's going to be carrying you back from now on. No more piggybacks for me."

Megumin pouted, and sighed. "He's alright, but the rock platform is a bit uncomfortable. Is he only able to have the rock or can I give him like a pillow on a plank of wood for me to lie on?"

Izuku shrugged. "Not really sure, to be honest. You can always try it and see if it works. You're able to give Hakobu orders as well because you're in my party so he'll listen to you. Just don't make him fight anything alright? He will most definitely lose."

Megumin nodded. "Gotcha. No fighting for the Mud Machine Hakobu!"

There was silence for a little bit as he and Hakobu moved towards Axel. Megumin was always pretty drowsy after using |Explosion| , so she was happy to take a quick nap as they travelled back to Axel.

They reached the front gate, so Izuku made Hakobu stop, then softly shook Megumin awake. "Megumin? I'm going to be outside the city walls until we have to leave for the Goblin camp. You guys get ready tonight and I'll meet you here at sundown."

Megumin rubbed the sleep out of her eye, yawning. "What will you be doing all day? You got some artificer-y thing you want to keep secret from us or something?"

Izuku chuckled. "Something like that, actually. It's a surprise that I'll be working on for a bit. Trust me, you'll like it!"

He gave Hakobu a mental command to find the other girls, and watched for a moment as the Golem and the Mage moved into town, before turning and heading out towards the forest, pulling his journal out and flipping to a page covered in math's equations.

This project would take a lot of work, but by the end of it, it should help cut their costs by a lot, and make his party happy. And to make his friends happy, he'd do almost anything! He collected a few large rocks and put them in a pile, before using |Create Golem| on the stack.

They rose from the ground to form a vaguely humanoid shape, and stood tall above Izuku's head. Nodding to himself, he used |Summon Tool| to summon a large woodcutting axe, and handed it to the golem.

"Alright dude, we're going to need a lot of wood for this project, so could you start chopping some tree's down for me please? Cheers. Once I've rested for a bit I'll make another Golem to help you."

The Golem, of course, said nothing in return, and instead started moving towards some of the larger trees and started to slam the axe-head into the side. This project would save them massive amounts of gold in the future, so it was definitely worth it!

As the first tree fell, Izuku smiled to himself. He might have to cut down a bunch of trees, and make many more Golems, but dammit, he was the Artificer of Axel now!

And he was going to build his party the best goddamn house he could!

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