AN: A few quick announcements before the chapter
1. This chapter concludes the material covered by the anime. Everything after this will use material from the movie and light novel. (For those who care about spoilers)
2. This chapter is a bit more steamy than usual, but nothing the original show hasn't done.
3. I want to ask a question to anyone reading this far: How do you feel about changing the rating of this story to Mature? I don't plan to write excessive smut, but I feel the teen rating is limiting what I can do.
Finally, I want to thank anyone sticking with me thus far. I don't like author's notes in general and hate how bloated they are in some stories, but it felt right to put something here.
Have fun reading.
BobAlcove
There was a popular saying in this world which said happiness was a long warm bath after a tiring day. The outdoor hot spring Megumin, Darkness and Yunyun were sitting in was the most luxurious imaginable, and yet they couldn't find any relief from the establishment.
Their thoughts circled around the only missing female of the party.
Like Kazuma had requested, the three of them had been ready to go out and rescue him and Aqua from the clutches of the axis church at the fall of night. Their plan fell through when Kazuma appeared at their inn inebriated with the equally drunk archpriest on his back. Somehow he had managed to not only get out of the confrontation unscathed, but also to become the highest-ranking authority of their organisation in the process.
Pontiff Kazuma Satou.
Celebrations for his election lasted the whole day and had given the goddess ample opportunity to indulge in her favourite pastime. Even shitfaced, wasted and barely coherent, Aqua was practically glowing from happiness until she was put to bed by Kazuma and passed out with a smile on her face. The girls had watched as their archpriest fought and argued against getting tugged in like a fuzzy child, yet anyone who knew the two would notice subtle differences in the interactions.
Especially the insults thrown at Aqua had a lot less venom behind them and Kazuma waited on her bedside to make sure she really went to sleep. Even more concerning was the fact he went straight for a bath without asking them to join. Their party leader just snatched the biggest bottle of wine and left.
The outdoor bath of their inn had three areas. A bath for males and one for females, separated by a third area for mixed bathing. Each side was only accessible through a separate door, since the owners build large wooden walls to avoid unwelcome peeping. Because of the late hour, Darkness, Yunyun and Megumin were the only guests using the women's bath.
It didn't deter Yunyun from doing something she had put off for long enough. "Megumin, I challenge you to a duel!"
The addressed archwizard scoffed. "What makes you think this time would be any different? I always win."
Megumin had proof of this claim in form of her meticulously written duel diary since crimson demon kindergarten. Of course she would never admit to keeping score to avoid looking too attached to their little games.
"Oh, If you're so sure, why don't let me decide the contest?" Yunyun said in a low tone which made Darkness take a better look at the girl. The crusader recognized something in the way she spoke and how her expression changed to a wolfish grin.
"Bring it on, Yunyun!"
"Yes, I'm Yunyun."
The breath of Darkness hitched. It wasn't only the green tracksuit, her mannerisms have changed to mirror their party leader as well. She could already feel similar shivers and the urge for squirming under the predatory gaze.
"The first one is really simple." Yunyun poured two glasses of juice from the nearby refreshment tray. "Drink this whole glass through a straw without your hands, using your chest as a holder."
The busty crimson demon demonstrated the process with confidence, placing the cylindrical object securely between her two mounds and drank with a satisfied smirk. A large splash of a glass hitting water and the accompanying blush of Megumin declared Yunyun as victor.
"Mine was more slippery than yours. It doesn't count!"
"Another one?" Yunyun kept her cool despite being denied her victory. "Fine, the girl who manages longer to stay with her head above water without using hands and feet."
The advantage in buoyancy from a larger breast size and better curves was minimal, but big enough to make a difference against somebody consisting almost only of skin and bones. Several almost drownings later, Megumin glared at her rival with a fiery hate which eclipsed the heat of the sun. Especially since Yunyun went back to using her boobs as holder for a drink to rub it in.
Darkness watched the spectacle with a weird sense of dejavu. Seeing a girl copy the man you were fascinated with to such accuracy made her insides tingle in a confusing manner. Under those circumstances, it became harder and harder to deny claims of her being a hopeless pervert.
Hopefully, her dreams tonight wouldn't contain two masters.
"Ok, last one for the night before you hurt yourself. Who can touch a nipple with the tip of her nose while both eyes are closed?" At this point it was blindingly obvious Megumin was being screwed over by her lack of chest development and Yunyun's newly acquired attitude to exploit her weakness. With a frown she watched as her rival grabbed one of her infuriatingly huge udders with closed eyes and casually lifted the mass to poke herself in the nose with its attached rosy nub.
"She never said it has to be my own!" Megumin thought and pounced on Yunyun with the desperation of a woman backed into a corner. Evidently, it was very tricky to hit a small target like an erogenous zone when you can't see. She hit it alright, just not how she wanted it if the pointy pink thing between her lips was any indication.
Any attempts to rectify this mistake was thwarted by a very strong grip, turning into cradling the smaller girl in place. "Oh my aren't we bold? If I'd known you were interested, I would have made a move sooner. How about it Megumin? Should we share Kazu?"
It was kind of hard to talk for Megumin while having her mouth full. "Who would want that guy, let alone only half? What's your sudden fascination with Kazuma?"
Megumin would later realize she had defeated herself by asking the question and giving Yunyun the verbal sword to cut her down. "Kazu is helping me to become a better person. I wouldn't mind him making me a woman as well. Let's all become adults together, Megumin!"
Yunyun finally released Megumin's mouth from its bouncy confinement, only to be taken once again when she did the unthinkable and sealed her offer with a kiss. She wasn't bold enough to use tongue, but the excitement was nonetheless enough to make Megumin pass out.
Not a second too soon.
"I did it… I actually beat her…" the voice of Yunyun had lost all bravado and she stumbled all over her words. The confident daredevil had reverted to a blushing and stuttering bundle of nerves close to hyperventilating.
Darkness watched flabbergasted. "What is going on? You're nothing like before!"
"Isn't it great?! It's really hard to stay in character! Kazu always mentions a ton of things I could improve on."
The results of training for less than a week with Kazuma were truly frightening. Even if it's just for a short duration, Yunyun could completely change character to something truly dangerous. Darkness felt a stab through her chest at the thought of how much effort Kazuma put in to help this girl. She wasn't blind to the fact how much he had supported her by making an amazing sword, but personal lessons seemed a lot more intimate.
From all of them, Darkness always had felt she had the weakest connection with their party leader. Recent development aside, Aqua knew him the longest and the best, shown by all the inside jokes and references nobody else understood.
Megumin found a connection with Kazuma through her explosion magic, always going on private strolls together and rating her performance by a metric nobody else understood. He also adored her cuteness, even if they couldn't get him to admit the fact.
The only one not having anything was Darkness. Quests didn't count since they all went together and there wasn't really much else to bond over. This was her fault to some degree, because Kazuma always told her what he considered the only good trait of his crusader.
The incredible lewdness of her body.
Several times, he had said verbatim she personified his ideal woman in body type and looks. A circumstance she could use to her advantage right now. Beyond a simple wooden wall was the mixed bath, a place Kazuma surely had chosen for his washing under the small hope beautiful women would join him. As soon as his hopes had been dashed, his attention must have focused on the side for woman and the possibility for peeking. Maybe he was looking at them right now, lusting after their bodies and fueling his perverted fantasies.
Why not stoke the flame?
Darkness slowly got out of the water to sit on the edge, puffing out her chest and posing for her imagined audience of one. Her composure broke from two hands grabbing from behind and applying soap to her curvy body as fluffy white foam.
"Let me help you wash your back." Yunyun breathed sweetly into her ear and smeared another helping of slippery sud from behind with only using her lathered up chest.
"This girl is unbelievably dangerous!" Darkness thought and stifled a moan from the risque touch.
"My invitation extends to you as well, you tasty little morsel."
Yunyun's innocent expression was gone once more. Part of her training had been extensive review of material through the black crystal ball. Said material ran the gamut of genres, but had one thing in common to a certain degree. It contained copious amounts of beautiful women acting sexy, some more raunchy than others.
Yunyun had a better idea what Kazuma liked than anyone.
"Darkness will rue the day she challenged me!" Yunyun thought while fondling the outrageously large rack of Darkness spilling between`out her fingers, before suddenly pausing mid-squeeze and drawing a blank on her reasoning for doing this to the crusader. "Why am I still in character? What's happening to me?"
Sudden and distinguishable giggling of a large female group from the mixed bath garnered their immediate attention. The implication spurned them into action, positioning themselves at the wall to catch a glimpse. Darkness simply used her finger to poke a hole through the wood with Yunyun following suit with a small fire spell.
What they saw made their blood boil. Kazuma had told them about the succubi following him to Arcanretia and helping out, but their presence around him was a constant thorn in their sides. Luckily, they couldn't see him among the thirty naked demon bombshells crowding the wall towards the men's bath.
It was a surreal feeling to peek at peekers.
"Hey Darkness, are they watching Kazuma bathe?"
"Looks like it."
"I thought so."
The wall between the women's bath and mixed area exploded by spell and sword.
KONOSUBA!
"You keep really loud company."
"You get used to it eventually."
The men's side of the hot spring was currently occupied by only two people. Kazuma Satou, a young man who wouldn't miss the opportunity for a relaxing hot bath for anything in the world, and a former general of the devil king, Hans the deadly poison slime.
"Our little agreement finally got the axis cult off my back, and all I had to do was sign up with them. Who would have thought?"
"It's kind of pointless to convert someone who has already joined."
The two exchanged a quick smile and Kazuma sunk deeper into the warm water with rosy cheeks. The young man had his fair share of booze over the day, although not to the extent of his comatose archpriest. At first, he had been surprised how easy it was to talk with one of the devil king's top dogs, but maybe this was just the alcohol talking.
Hans was a completely different beast than Wiz and Vanir. While the lich and devil weren't doing anything particularly evil, the slime was supposed to poison the local water source in Arcanretia for the devil king, but stopped after news about the defeat of his evil army reached the world. As a result, almost all remaining troops in service of the devil king had deserted and scattered throughout the world.
The tight security at the gates was the only reason why Hans remained in the city. Although he had no real interest in joining the axis church, having a membership on paper was enough to be beneficial for both of them. The former general had a lot of connections and would surely meet some of them during his travels. He could spread the word about what had occured and maybe convince some of them to join the axis cult. Once he was back in Axel, Kazuma planned to talk with Wiz to convince her as well.
He needed as many high-profile members as possible joining the cult to make his new rule of peaceful coexistence with evil beings seem legit. If they truly believed in the teachings of Aqua was almost irrelevant so long they behaved themselves marginally better than bloodthirsty monsters.
"You're a strange guy, Kazuma Satou. Beyond this thin wooden fence is a mixed bath with dozens of hot babes yearning for your body and you sit here with me deep in thought. I figured you were the type of person to jump at every opportunity for some action."
"It seems that way, huh?" Kazuma took another big gulp from his wine bottle. "A word would be enough to make them all bend over backwards to fulfill all my fantasies."
His body began to glow blue and burst into flames. Where once was a small skinny guy, now sat a ten foot demon with silver scales and blue fire all over his body. Hans had to back away to make room for the massive creature and stared at Kazuma with a healthy dose of fear. As a non-devil monster, the slime lacked the ability to sense his demonic nature. He was present at the church when Kazuma proclaimed his demonhood, but power ranged massively between the different kinds although they shared the same species.
The voice out of the behemoth sounded like gravel rumbling in a burning furnace. "This is what they want. None of them would give me a second glance otherwise."
The sight of a sloshed hellspawn could have elicited laughter, if Hans hadn't been so scared of getting killed in retaliation. An archdemon wasn't any less intimidating when it slurred the words. "It's to be expected, I guess. Nobody ever cared about worthless Kazuma Satou."
The fearsome devil transformed back into the plain-looking brown-haired teenager. His oppressive aura remained with Hans unable to see the creature in front of him as human anymore. Curiosity beat his survival instinct for one final question.
"Do you want to become the new devil king?"
Kazuma had to think about the question. It would make sense to take over, given his new heritage and seat of power in the world. One of the greatest oppositions, the axis church, were already under his control so taking a few steps further to get the rest shouldn't be more difficult.
Still a lot of work for no real benefit.
"I want a simple and carefree life."
Definetly not what Hans had expected to hear. "Ok, uhm… I still have to pack for my departure tomorrow… "
The slime left in a hurry. Kazuma was equal parts glad and sad about the reaction of the battle-hardened demon general. He wasn't looking forward to getting the same treatment from his friends should they find about his devil form.
"Kazuma?"
The voice of his archwizard startled the hell out of him. Crimson demons must have some ninja blood in them, considering how often she managed to catch him unaware.
"Why are you here?" he asked Megumin nervously and averted his eyes from her naked body, hoping she didn't see his transformation.
"A board was loose in the fence and I'm small enough to fit through the gap."
"You know that's not what I meant." Kazuma stood up, careful not to flash Megumin his little friend. "It doesn't matter, I was done anyway."
Petite little hands grabbed him by the forearm with surprising strength. The way she pulled him back, there was absolutely nothing blocking the sight to his full frontal nudity. They looked at each other as the seconds passed, him in confusion and her with determination.
"Kazuma, I care about you."
With her hand around his naked arm, Megumin felt an unmistakable tremble run through his body. Kazuma had to sit back down in the water, not trusting his legs to carry him any longer.
"Are you alright?"
"Just surprised is all. You're the first person to say that to me."
His reaction made Megumin very happy. Kazuma himself hadn't changed despite all the changes happening to him. The all powerful devil was still getting flustered by something so small like a harmless show of affection.
"Whatever you become, you always stay Kazuma." Megumin said with a smile and handed him a washcloth. "Could you help me wash my back?"
"Yes, I am Kaz… what?"
