A little bit of an authors note (to skip just read past the first line break). Thank you all for the kind reviews! It really means a lot! To those wondering exactly how strong Kazuma is at this certain point, I can't put a specific number to it or anything with power scaling and all that, but he was slightly weaker than the canon devil king at the start of the fic, and through absorbing the essence of many killed over the past several months, he's now at a level where he could pretty much solo the canon story if we look at strength alone, but not strong enough to currently contend with the big villains of the fic if that makes sense.

And then you also have to remember that Kazuma is NOT sung jin-woo or Goku, he's not some combat god (yet). Though he may have powers, there's physical limitations on how much big flashy stuff he can do before tiring out, along with his mental limitations. He's still a 16 year old who's prone to getting scared, or surprised or whatever. Like when he challenged Hanz and Wolfbach at the hot spring, only to act somewhat fearful of Hanz alone in their fight. (even if he could have beaten him alone).

I'm also not thinking of exact calculations and numbers so forgive me for not being able to answer anything in a descriptive way. But at the very least I hope to keep things consistent (in terms of max power from weakest to strongest) as:

OG Generals

Sanguine

Devil King

Kazuma

Megumin's explosion ;)

Dev the hangry space girl

With that out of the way, whether it helped for some of you to understand things a bit or not at all, let us continue with this episode of whatever this is.

'This…does explain things a bit.'

After being kidnapped and taken to the royal palace, Kazuma was guided by Iris and her two attendants through the many halls and staircases until they finally made it to her room. Moments after walking in, something on her bed caught everyone's eye, causing her to rush over and hide the offending items.

Claire nearly sweat dropped, while the wizard who brought him here only giggled to herself. It was a book of some sort, and on the floor by her bed was a stack of different fictional novels all with overdramatic covers and being named a rendition of 'something something blood' 'blablabla forbidden blabla night'.

'She's totally in her vampire drama phase!'

Kazuma felt the stakes rise dramatically, bringing him here wasn't just this spur of the moment thing. She's been waiting for this. That was why she was so upset at the dinner, the idea of this perfect man in her head turning out to be weak and a fake was extremely upsetting.

'Although that doesn't really explain her comment about not looking at her in the eyes…unless that was just a loose translation by Claire'

Vampire's were known for hypnosis through eye contact, hell he literally did it the other day to onion man. It was possible that she only voiced mild concern, which was interpreted as 'don't look at me you peon'.

'But this can't happen, I'm already in a relationship! And I don't see a girl her age as a partner at all!'

You had to make that clear to yourself, just to be sure

'Oi, you were royalty or something right? Aren't there like laws that would prevent her dating some outsider like me?'

How am I supposed to know, I've never been to the royal kingdom. Also don't think that I did not catch you attempting to use my kingdom as leverage in some petty argument

'Stop that, you keep saying 'your' kingdom as if you can actually rule it from there, and I don't plan on playing the part of Pinocchio, so one of these days you're gonna tell me where it is you slimy old bastard'

"Kazuma? Are you okay? You're looking a little, translucent?"

The wizard tried getting his attention after he seemed to blank out for a few moments. When he came back to reality, Claire was long gone, allowing him to feel a hint more comfortable. Although that comment about his appearance only refired the anger inside.

'Stupid Aqua and her stupid spell, how am I even still here?'

"Huh? Oh me? Pfft yeah I'm doing just fine. Except for the fact that I've been kidnapped and all."

Iris blushed and looked at her wizard attendant to step in.

"You have it all wrong Kazuma! You are a guest, princess Iris's esteemed guest. This isn't kidnapping at all."

"No I'm pretty sure this is a kidnapping. I don't even know your name."

"Ah, my apologies! You can call me Rain."

"Well miss Rain, how is this not an abduction?"

Rain leaned in close as to not allow Iris to listen in.

"This is the first time the princess has done something like this, and as you can see, she has taken a very strong interest in you. She has no friends who will treat her like an equal, so as a favor, could you please play along? I'll see to it that your stay here is as luxurious as possible...also I'd appreciate it if you drop the miss, it makes me sound old."

"Are you asking me to be her friend or to be her mate? Even I have limits!"

"W-what!? What are you thinking about? The princess has no such desires I assure you. She has simply taken an interest in you because of your unique situation is all."

"Uh huh." Kazuma's eyes darted to the stack of novels.

"I understand how that looks, but rest assured the princess only wishes to interact with you as a friend."

"Even if, it's not like I can stay here long, I have to get to my team within a few days or I'll start getting thirsty, and it's not like I have anything interesting to talk about anymore."

'A little lie here and there won't hurt'

While his curiosity to stay in the castle was strong, there was too much that could go wrong in such a situation. The last thing he wanted was to raise the ire of the royal family.

Rain nodded sadly then spoke to Iris. The two conversed for a moment before she returned to give her response.

"In truth, I actually just wanted to get back at that girl who threw her drink at me…I was a bit jealous. You four, you all looked like such great friends, I don't have anyone like that, so just for a couple days, could you stay with me? Her majesty says."

Kazuma found her depressing face to be somewhat cute. Just cute enough for him to take the risk. It was only a few days, what's the worst that could happen?

"Alright, I'll do it."

Her immediate elation put a smile on his face. Even Rain seemed to let out a held breath at his answer.

"The princess is glad to hear that. Then I will join Claire in getting the forms ready to make you an official guest."

She bowed, then promptly left. Leaving the two alone in her bedroom. Something that made Kazuma feel a certain way.

'Is this a good idea? I mean yeah I have a great reputation but I'm still a vampire! What if this was all a farce and I wanted to make her a thrall?...hmm'

He quickly shook his head of all those thoughts, probably manually inserted by Sanguine.

'What am I thinking about? Making her a thrall would be out of the question! But on the other hand…nope, get a hold of yourself man. This isn't the time!'

Iris smiled, was she seeing right through him?

"You won't have to worry about that, my father, brother, and the general have been 'investigating' the ruins of both Elroad and Brydle for years now. They are rarely ever home. As long as nothing bad happens here, you won't be seeing them. Just treat me the same way you treat your friends, please?"

'God her actual voice is beyond adorable! I wish she used it more, even if she has no idea what's actually going on in my head'

"And then, can you believe it, she cannonballs into the water! When the only thing she was wearing was this towel! So then, acting all high and mighty she stands up right?"

"Right!?"

"And she's completely naked!"

"Naked!?" A third voice rung out from the entrance to her bedroom. Claire had randomly barged in.

"Oi, what are you doing here?"

"How dare you question me! I have come to let the princess know that you are now an official guest of the palace, and I come back to such uncouth stories! Just what are you telling her!?"

"Anyways, after that, we start chit chatting some more when she starts to get closer to me! Mind you we're both practically nude right?"

"Right!?"

"Hey! Are you two listening to me!?"

"Then she reaches out with her hand, and grabs onto my-"

"No! Stop this at once! You cannot be saying these things to the princess!"

Claire jumped in between the two to put a stop to whatever he was about to say.

"Oi, I was getting to the good part and it's not even that bad, besides, Iris is totally liking it."

"Iris? Calling the princess by her first name, how dare you!"

She gripped on the handle of her sword.

"Claire enough. I asked him to. Don't interfere."

"But princess!"

"Alright whatever, guess that story will have to wait for another time."

"Mmm! But I wanted to know what happens!"

"Hehe, don't worry, I got another crazy one. When me and Darkness had a fight, hand to hand."

"You and Lalatina fought in a battle of strength!?"

Iris leaned in like a child learning their favorite heroes were about to fight in some crossover.

"Oh yeah, I beat the snot out of her."

"Impossible! Even for a vampire, to think a peasant could match the strength of Lady Dustiness, it's ridiculous."

"Yeah well you're royalty and your sword could barely cut her hand."

"A testament to why it is impossible that you could have beaten her!"

Kazuma couldn't help but give her that look he would give Aqua whenever she says anything that, by all means should lower his intelligence stat.

"...Anyways, so I'm holding her up while she's as wet as fish, and get this she's moaning all the while and totally has a-"

"No! Princess! Don't listen any further! Cover your ears!"

"Alright, last one, then I get to ask you something."

The two laid on her large bed deep into the night, still conversing and gossiping.

"O-okay. What does it taste like? Blood I mean."

"That depends on who I'm sucking it out of. Darkness taste more like a fine wine, and Megumin taste really sweet, almost like a juice and less like a wine."

"Hhh!" Iris kicked her legs up like a school girl at the idea of him biting and sucking big sister Lalatina's blood.

"Alright, now I wanna ask something."

"Yes?"

"So like, what's the big deal with- mmm."

"Kazuma?"

"Shit! I mean crap! I mean, Imma shut up now."

"...?"

"A-anyways, what's the deal with the eastern kingdoms. What happened to them? You know, apart from being destroyed and all."

Iris still wasn't sure what noise he just made or why in Eris's name he made it, but she decided to ignore it for the best.

"Well, we use the term eastern kingdoms to refer to all the kingdoms that are, east of Belzerg. But only the kingdom of Tera is truly in the far eastern part of the continent."

"Yeah, I guessed that. Elroad and Brydle pretty much border Belzerg. Meanwhile Tera is about a six month trek."

"Mhm. Father told me that an army invaded from the ocean and destroyed the entire kingdom of Tera, along with the surrounding civilizations. Not long after that, Brydle and Elroad were burned to the ground. Our forces were too busy on the frontlines to even realize before it was too late."

"Holy hell. So is that why they're investigating? To find out how they were defeated so easily?"

'That's not exactly a mystery. You'd need an entire army of Japanese with cheats to hold off just Dev alone. I don't even want to know what it would take to stop all five of them together'

"No, that's not what they're trying to figure out. You see, their entire population, went missing."

"Missing? You sure they're not just ashes in the wind? They're probably just ashes in the wind."

"Maybe, but father was adamant that there's more to it. Especially since there's no remains at all, he believes they were taken into the demon army."

"So he's thinking they were all either brainwashed or turned into undead."

"Exactly."

'So the Tyrant attacked the kingdom of Tera, razed it to all hell. Then made his way to Brydle and Elroad, turned their entire populations into more forces for his army, then attacked the Devil king's castle and took up shop. That leaves only one thing, why did he stop there? If all five of them came over they'd crush the kingdom like it was nothing. Don't tell me this Tyrant is a total shut in NEET!'

"And then that's when other demonic armies started to attack the castle as well, trying to claim the throne for themselves."

"Yes. By that time, we already considered that the war might be over. We pulled most of our troops from the frontlines, leaving small teams to report everything that happened. It wasn't until an attack on the crimson demon village that we once again realized the very real threat the new regime of demons poses to us."

Kazuma was astounded by her rather mature way of speaking and acting when the topic switched. When he briefly mentioned school, she did say that she has classes of her own. Natural for a princess of such a powerful kingdom.

'Should I tell them? About the Tyrant? About Dev? Maybe not. It's been kinda peaceful so far, and something tells me that if they learn more details, like the fact that they stole a world ending weapon from the crimson demons…they'd do something stupid like launch an all out attack'

"No more about that stuff, it's my turn!"

"Oh, yeah sure go ahead. I got what I needed anyway."

"Tell me more about this place you call school."

Kazuma grumbled to himself on reaction.

"That, my dear princess, is a can of worms."

The next couple of days passed like snails. As he found himself woken up way earlier than usual, and going to 'sleep' past midnight as him and Iris discussed anything and everything under the sun.

If Kazuma actually needed to sleep, this would have taken a toll on him by now. Luckily for him, he was no less a vampire in his blood double state, meaning as long as his actual self was doing fine, he would remain here.

All the worse for Claire and Rain, who have been dealing with the brunt of his influence on their perfect princess. As in her classes, she has been showing a slow downtrend into 'despicable thought processes' that are apparently dishonorable for a princess to have.

It was also probably the reason that Iris had an evil smile on her face, as she sat across from him in their strategy game.

'Why you! All of a sudden you wanna act all smug'

"Let's see how you deal with this!"

"Teleport."

"What!? That isn't fair at all and you know it."

"You lose again!"

"Yeah right, that counts as a win for me in my book, since I didn't have to resort to cheats!"

"Seriously, you're like a child…"

Moments after celebrating her win, Kazuma noticed Iris's mouth beginning to quiver as she remained silent. Soon her smug façade began to fall apart.

"Iris? If me complaining is that-"

"No! It's nothing."

"Oh yeah, tonight is it huh. I mean it's not that bad. I'm not going to be gone forever. Just think of it as me going out to get more stories to share with you."

"Yes, I suppose."

"Don't look at me like that, I promise I'll come back, and then we can have more fun nights and play more games, and I'll even bring something cool like Aqua's Gameboy I told you about!"

Iris tried and failed to put on a smile.

"I still don't like it. I used to have someone like you, my brother. But, the way we were raised, it's like we don't even know each other anymore! And now, now you're my big brother! And you're leaving me too! I just wish you could be with me forever, but I know that's too much to ask."

"Wait, hold up, hold your horses, hold the phone, what was that again?"

"B-be with me forever?" She said while blushing.

"No not that, the part about me being what?"

"I said, you're like my brother now."

"Again."

Iris was confused by now, but saw no harm in it.

"You're my brother now."

"Say it again but in a cuter voice."

This time Iris couldn't stop her cheeks from turning red, and her hands instinctively came close to her chest like she was begging.

"Y-you're my big brother."

And it was at that exact point in time, that Kazuma had made the decision he would live a double life within the castle for the rest of eternity.

-The night of Kazuma's abduction-

"Oi, will you guys stop poking me already! It's the real me you idiots."

"But we saw you get taken away!"

"That was my blood double, didn't you think it was weird that I couldn't use spells to back up all the hype I was putting on?"

"Wait, this is really bad isn't it?" Darkness said, shooting a worried look at Kazuma.

"Bad how?"

"If a man like you is allowed to interact with princess Iris, no good can come of it!"

"So you have chosen death is that it?"

Megumin stepped in and lowered Kazuma's fist.

"Come on Darkness, it's not like he's in any danger since it's just his clone right?"

"Do you trust him after the way the young royal princess latched onto his arm like that?"

Megumin stood quit for a few moments then turned towards Kazuma.

"Ahem, Darkness is right Kazuma, there's the possibility of making the family angry or you getting involved with the wrong noble. It's best if you just undo the spell."

"What!? That's all it took to convince you!? I get you're the jealous type but to be jealous over a twelve year old!? I thought you were supposed to be mature and all!"

"Th-that's true as well, I am too old to be bothered by such a little girl. N-not that I'd be bothered over something like that involving you or anything."

"Megumin! Don't let him fool you! He's trying to make a case for something he has no business being in!"

"Darkness if you don't shut up I'm putting you to sleep! And making Megumin carry your ass!"

"Wait, you called me the jealous type didn't you? Don't think you slipped that one by me!"

"So you're both jealous and slow. Good to know."

"Hh!? Darkness, aid me in taking this vampire and shoving him into a coffin where he'll never bother anyone again."

"One, two, hell, I'll take all three of you bitches!"

"Aqua! An undead is trying to take your alcohol!"

Aqua's plastered face rose in an instant.

"WhA!? tUrN UNDEAD!"

"WUAAAAAAGH!"

Kazuma, still in a cold stupor and barely conscious, felt something soft enter his mouth, prompting him to bite down hard, he swore that heard a small cry of pain.

"Nnnnmm, oh yeah, that's the stuff. Wait who-!?"

"Shhh, it's me. We're in your room."

Kazuma turned his head erratically to get a sense of his surroundings. Like the small crimson demon said, he was laying down on his bed, with her sitting up, hand cupped over her neck.

"We originally planned to let you sleep it off but, I wanted to talk to you before tomorrow."

'I still can't believe my blood double held up after that'

"Talk? About what?"

"I wanted to say thank you, for keeping your word and doing this with us. I know we aren't the most cooperative team, and how you want to protect me, but we're still your team, we have to do this together."

"I'm still not exactly sure how I feel about this, I don't know what we're going to encounter or what's gonna happen when we're out there. But if our party was destined to lose, it probably would have happened a while ago let's be honest."

"Yeah…by the way, Aqua's spell undid your blood double right?"

"O-obviously. My whole body went unconscious...is that why you woke me up?"

"Don't get so full of yourself!...maybe, only a little just out of curiosity."

"...soooooo, did you wanna like uh, cuddle?"

"I'm sorry what was that? I can't understand you, I'm too slow."

"Ghk!"

Megumin, pleased with Kazuma's face, stuck her tongue out at him and stood up, but when she reached his door she turned back slightly.

"I'm going to miss Axel, but I think I'm more excited to see what trouble we get up to going forward. Goodnight Kazuma."

She silently closed the door.

After his initial annoyance wore off, all Kazuma could do was smile and rest his head, letting his consciousness fully immerse in his other self.

'...That, my dear princess, is a can of worms'

Morning, and this time, Kazuma had to admit, he felt a bit off. Maybe it was because everyone was actually smiling and warm. Or maybe because the vibe kept making it apparent that this was going to be his last time in this living room for a while. In his home.

The longest he's been away has only ever been a couple days. Like with Arcanletia or the crimson demon village. And now there's the possibility that he will be an actual adult by the time he comes back…well, chronologically an adult anyway.

"Kazuma! You eating with us?"

"You know what Aqua, yeah why not?"

The four sat together at their dining table, joined by their jet black cat, hungry faces all around as a full breakfast was revealed by their lovely priest.

'I was, really planning on going alone? God I'm stupid'

"Dig in everyone!"

Megumin, Chomusuke and Darkness went right to work stuffing their faces. Kazuma, as he usually does when he decides to eat, only took a few bites here and there. Since flavors were almost non existent, and everything felt room temperature in his mouth, he had to really focus to enjoy what he could. But sharing a meal next to the girls, was all the enjoyment he really needed anyway. It was rare that they could all come together like this without at least a small amount of their usual bickering.

Though looking back, even those times were rather fond.

'Wait, why am I going about this like if we're gonna be changing our dynamics all of a sudden? It's still gonna be these three idiots, just in another setting…damn, I really have been getting too easy recently'

As they continued to earth, they discussed some of their favorite moments to happen over the past months. Like Kazuma rising from the dead and destroying Verdia, Aqua knocking out that jerk Mitsurugi, Megumin making a painting out of the sky with the biggest explosion anyone's ever seen, or Darkness standing up for the team against actual royalty!

"I wonder what awaits us in the east…hopefully strong enemies."

"Never change Darkness. But something tells me you're probably right. We all ready then? Aqua? Megumin?"

Both girls nodded at him. Thanks to Kazuma's ability to seal things away, they realized they could 'pack' away all of their necessities, such as large amounts of beer in Aqua's case, within Kazuma's pocket dimension. Of course this also means he has complete control over it, something that was somewhat daunting as well.

"Alright…guess this is it then, let's head out so I can lock the place up."

Each adventurer filed out to the front, making sure to get a good look at their mansion. They all made sure to say their goodbyes to the townspeople beforehand, and as of this moment to a certain spirit girl.

"Everything's good to go. Not sure when we'll be back but, hopefully we'll all be a hundred levels stronger right?"

"Obviously."

"Right!"

"Of course."

Kazuma locked the gate behind them, not sure if he would be tearing up or not if he wasn't dead.

"Goodbye Axel."

And with that, Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin, Darkness and of course their little demon pet, steeled themselves for their next big adventure, the next chapter in their book of stories. Their

Journey to the East

Begins!