The Eris church are more cooperative than ever. Not only were they willing to bless a few swords I had on hand, but they were definitely ecstatic with the generous 100,000 eris donation for the work and convincing the former owner of the haunted mansion to relinquish the place to me instead. Megumin was very hesitant about living in a mansion plagued with spirits that mess with you at every turn. Darkness seemed that way too, but that opinion changed when I saw her trying to smite the ghosts to with her newly blessed sword. I think we all know how that ends.

I, on the other hand, am relaxing in front of the fireplace with a nice cup of tea Darkness brewed before going ghost hunting when I spotted a creepy doll giggling before it took a blessed throwing knife to the face, freeing the spirit and giving me a peace of mind as I went to drink my tea.

"Man," I say to myself. "There are a lot of ghosts in this mansion aren't there."

As if on que, Megumin runs by screaming as more of those ghost dolls chased her, giggling in delight as she was the only who couldn't fight back as she said herself that it was either blow up the mansion or death before using those spells I made her learn. She chose the later.

"Aaaah! Darkness would you at least learn how to swing that sword first before you try and help me?! It would be great if SOMEONE helped me instead!" Megumin looks my direction, but her only response was me sipping more on the tea. She looked as if she wanted to strangle me, but she couldn't as she was too busy running from the ghostly dolls.

See I did go purging the trapped souls with my swords all gung ho, but after the first few days of putting spirits to rest, the rest seemed to come to some unspoken agreement that as long as they don't mess with me, I won't purge them. The occasional ghost would get cocky and try to scare me, but that ended quickly once I got blessed throwing knives involved.

Just then, I hear a knock at the door.

Being cordial, I get up from the couch and stride to the front door as I duck a vase thrown at my head. I was about to open the door when I heard two voices coming from the other side very loudly. I put my ear to the door and listen closely.

"Look I know that you're an Arch-Priest and all that, but do you really think that the guy who lives here is gonna let us stay when he doesn't even know us?!"

"?!"

Oh, some people want to try to live here as well. How precious. I listen some more.

"Well why not?! The place just reeks of lost souls ready to be sent into the next life. Besides, as a reward for the hard work I'll do, they are bound to let live here if we ask nicely."

". . ."

". . ."

I frown as I think that all what sounds to be a stuck up girl who seems to be above a Priest in terms of skill, all that she wants is to live in a nice place rent-free. Like hell I'm gonna let some freeloader take advantage of me. Just as I was going to let them know to piss off when I stopped from opening the door when I heard the man outside say something that left me speechless.

"Look you stubborn Goddess, this idea of yours is flawed. Like when a new video game comes out, but is buggy as hell. Like, what does that head think when you come up with your . . ."

I open the door quickly and am shocked with what I see before me.

There was a plain looking guy who was my height, although I'm slightly taller as he seemed a little bit hunched a bit. He looks like he's wearing a green and black tracksuit and seemed to have a sword at his side (which did not fit with the whole fantasy world), but that's not the issue here. Next to the guy was a woman with blue hair, with a familiar set of blue and white orbs for a hair ornament.

"Heh. . ."

The two stopped bickering as they heard me.

Kazuma's POV

While I was about to berate this no-good-goddess when the door suddenly comes flying open as I see who I believe is the owner of the haunted mansion. He seems to look like the same height as me but slightly taller. Damn those times hunched over the screens as I grinded for exp. He has a chainmail shirt over a looser purple long sleeve, with rugged black greaves over tan loose pants kept together with a sword at his side that looks oddly familiar and finishing off with black boots. He looks more like a real adventurer than I do with my tracksuit.

"Heh. . ."

The lets out the first sound as it seems like a . . . laugh?

"Heh heh heh. . ."

He laughs some more.

"Ha haa haaa"

Ok now he's starting to scare me with that laugh.

Aqua and I take a step back as the guy steps forward. Then again. And again. Okay, now the dude's flat out chasing us.

"Wahhh! Kazuma Kazuma, please make that man stop chasing us. Please Kazuma-sa~~~n!"

Aqua screams out in terror as she runs with me as we both ran like the devil was after us. Or should I say Demon King at this point.

Just as I was about to die from the running, I see a split in the road up ahead.

Perfect.

"Hey Aqua, there's a split in the road up ahead, lets lose him quick and I'll distract him."

Aqua looks back at me like a messenger from God himself. She gives a firm thumbs up in response.

We reach the split in the road as we depart in different directions. After I get a few meter from the split I turn around with my sword in hand ready to fight for my life, but see that I'm not being chased anymore. I look to the other path as I hear Aqua in the distance.

"Waaaahhh! Kazuma you liar! He's chasing me now~~~!"

Aqua ran like hell as the mysterious guy kept running after her, still cackling like a mad man.

Jake's POV

Oh what fortunate god has blessed me with having that B**** walking up to my doorstep. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Into this cluster fuck of a world.

As the 'fallen' goddess has yet to stop running from me, I make an ingenious move.

I take one of my daggers and threw it up in front of the goddess.

That caused her to jump out of the way as she ran in another direction, this time towards the nearby woods. Perfect.

Just as she ran through the brush of the bushes, I quickly speed up and ran around the trees and jumped into the trees.

Aqua's POV

The nerve of that weirdo! Chasing me. Me, the Goddess of Water. The Lady Aqua who has devoted followers everywhere.

After that stupid shut-in Neet abandoned me to this cretin, he would not let up. He seems fixated on me. I don't know what this guy wants.

Unless. . .

Suddenly a knife gets thrown in my way. I get away still as I try to throw him off in the woods. Hopefully he'll give up and go back to that stupid mansion of his. Even though I want to live in it, it's not worth it if it means asking this guy to live with him.

I turn around and see that he's not there anymore. Good, it seems I lost hi-. . ."

Then I run into a tree.

I start seeing stars as I fall on my back.

"Owie~~~."

I can't get my head straight as the world starts to spin and I can't get my bearings. Just as I was looking around groggily, I see movement in the trees up above. Before I could realize what's happening, the man jumps down from the tree's branches.

"YAAAHHH!"

"Hn!"

I close my eyes as I wait for the inevitable, but to my surprise, all I feel is something that feels like. . .

SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK

"!"

Suddenly there seems to be a squeaking coming from whatever this guy is doing to my face. Before I could say a word, he stops with the squeaking, and then walks a few feet away as he drops two items from nowhere. He then holds up his hand as he whispers something. A magic circle appears under him as he disappears from my sight.

As the world finally stops spinning, I look at the place that he vanished from. Then my attention goes to the items he dropped. One is a mirror and the other is. . .

"?!"

I look in shock as the other item is a marker.

I grabbed mirror quickly and saw what exactly that brute did.

"W-"

Tears start to well up.

"WAAAHHH!"

That brute wrote all over my face and made me look ridiculous.

Jake's POV

"Hah~~~ nothing like a revenge well deserved."

The day couldn't get any better than this. Though that is the least that I'll do if she actually thinks she wants to waltz in on my house and live there. As if.

I used my newly learned Teleport spell that I learned from a passing witch as I make occasional strolls around Axel whenever I'm not busy training or out on quests. She seemed nice from the vibe I got from her, although I wondered why she seemed to be a little ditzy sometimes as she trips on the rare occasions that we meet. She even said she owned a shop selling magic items and other such items. I'll have to remember to go look for it when I get the chance to.

The spell lets me place save points in anyplace I deem fit, though I can only save up to three at a time, so I put the first one at my front door. I was about to walk back inside when I see the same guy that was hanging around that stupid goddess coming up the road and when he saw me, he waved me down.

"Oi~~~! Can we talk real quick about something. I just need to know one thing first."

Well, I guess I can spare a few minutes, so why not.

As the guy walks up to the door again, I notice he seems nervous about something.

"S-so I was wondering, do you know who Aqua is? Like I mean who she REALLY is?"

Ahh, so this is what he meant.

"Well, my dude, I think you're going to get a kick out of this."

Five minutes later

"And then she has the gall to call me a pack mule and keeps on insulting my ability."

Kazuma, who I learned in our conversation about a certain someone after introductions, then guffaws at me in what seems like shock.

"Well damn," he replies, "If I was picking for an ability to bring to this world, it definitely would have been that one. I mean, Infinite Storage Dimension sounds broken as hell. You could carry anything with you and it would be right there right where you left it. Way better than the item I got."

"Yeah man, I mean, who'd have thought you could take actual people with you, especially a bitch of a person as her."

"Amen to that, my bro."

Man, Kazuma is such a good guy. I mean he gets where I'm coming from and more.

But back to the main issue here.

"So if I remember correctly, you said earlier before I chased y'all down, you said you needed a place to stay, right?"

Kazuma stiffens at the mention of his living situation.

"Yeah, it would be nice to live in a big and cozy mansion, but without Aqua and her skills as an Arch-Priest, we would be constantly harassed by spirits, wouldn't we?"

I start to think a bit about that. While it is a benefit to have a skilled healer on the team, and while I LOATHE that stupid goddess, she could be essentially useful for the long adventures where we might actually get hurt and could very well potentially die. Then again, could bringing that goddess on the team be beneficial? Kazuma told me that her Intelligence and Luck stat was basically shit and with the way I saw her not even remembering me of all people, she could be more trouble than she's worth.

Then there was Kazuma himself. From our short encounter so far, he's pathetically weak. Not much in the strength and stamina department with hardly anything of note other than his slightly high intelligence and absurdly high luck stat that from what I heard was only useful to merchants.

Unless. . .

With my mind settled, I look back to Kazuma and then both of us see a bawling goddess walking back to the mansion, still with the little prank that I scribbled all over her face. That was only the taste of what I had in store for her.

Then, I hear a commotion back inside as from what I can gather, Darkness seems frustrated from not being able to hit the lingering spirit dolls, and Megumin still running from the dolls with fervor.

I look back to Kazuma and Aqua as I clear my throat to gain their attention.

"Eh-hum, so back to the matter at hand. I am willing to let you stay in my mansion on two conditions. One, Aqua, you are to refer to me as Jake-sama from now on if you want to live in this luxurious mansion. And the second condition is for Kazuma to work hard to be an actual Adventurer, so I'll be helping to whip you into shape, my dude."

Both Kazuma and Aqua look taken back by the request as I smile back with a grin. Kazuma looks nervous, as if wondering if living here would be worth it if he has to put in effort. And the still teary-eyed goddess. . .

"Huh~~~?! Why does Kazuma get a free shoe-in while I have to refer you with -sama? I am a Goddess, so it should be you who should refer to me as Aqua-sama instead."

She seems to be unwilling to even humor me on calling me with the proper honorifics.

"Well then I guess Kazuma is the only one living coming to live here then, right Kazuma?"

"?!"

That definitely got the reaction I wanted.

Complete and utter shock.

10 minutes later

"OKAY, OKAY FINE, I'LL SAY IT, SO PLEASE LET ME LIVE HERE TOO!"

That took longer than I wanted but I'll take it.

Aqua bowed deep on the ground and said, "Would you please let me live here, J-Jake-sa-sama?"

Seems to me that she mustered all the courage and strength of will to say it to. She coughs a little and for a moment, I thought I saw blood too. Nah, that would be overkill.

"Alright then, as a first order of business, how about you deal with all those spirits that won't leave my party alone why don't you."

"?"

That seemed to stop her from bowing as just then, a loud crash reverberated through the mansion as I hear a loud shouting.

Finally deciding to rip off the bandage, I head inside the mansion as Kazuma and Aqua follow behind.

Darkness POV

This has gotten way out of hand.

Not only am I not landing a hit on these accursed dolls, but now this has gotten even worse. Megumin ran for as long as she did, but the spirit dolls eventually got a hold of her. At first, I thought that they just wanted to scare her as she ran.

I was wrong.

After they caught Megumin, they seemed to turn from giggling to full on laughing as the dolls stopped in the air around her as they suddenly fell to the floor. Then she started to laugh as well.

"Heh heh heh heh Ha hahahaha~~~~!"

Now Megumin looked back at me, except instead of the usual crimson red eyes I'm used to have turned white as the white of her eyes turned black, leaving nothing but a desolate, cackling Megumin with the scariest eyes that I have ever seen.

Just as I was about to turn to flee, hoping to go find a Priest to help exercise this now possessed Crimson Demon when Megumin appeared instantly in front of me, still cackling like a mad woman. I prepared to hit her with the flat of my blade as to not hurt her as in the moment, I forgot about the dolls I was chasing around as they start to swarm me.

Then everything turned to black as I screamed.

Kazuma's POV

All three of us enter the mansion with a hurry as we hear a girls' scream and when we got to the living room, we were in shock.

A small, petite girl was standing over another woman wearing armor as she was tackled in by these creepy, porcelain dolls as the little girl cackles like a mad woman when she turns around and faces us.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?!" I shout with fear lacing my voice and portraying on my face. Suddenly, Aqua jumps in front of us as she holds up her hands facing the charging girl and the downed woman.

"SACRED EXORCISM!"

A bright light engulfs both girls and the spirits in the room all but vanish into the afterlife. After the light dies down, the formerly charging girl stumbles as Jake catches her and picks her up bridal style and proceeds to carry her over to the couch by the fireplace.

Jake's POV

After that goddess saved my party members from certain doom via spirit possession, I turned back towards the duo as Aqua huffs as she looks at me with a gleeful smile.

"Well then, Jake-san," she says, "Now that I saved your friends' lives, that means that I can stay here right? Right?! I mean it's only natural that you would house such a being after such a . . ."

"Keep up that pompous attitude and you can kiss living here goodbye."

Aqua stills as she lowers her head and gives an apologetic bow and proceeded to walk out of the room, probably to search for the rest of the lingering spirits.

Kazuma comes out of his stupor after witnessing all that. He shakes his head as he sighs.

"Man, shit went from zero to a hundred, then went right back to zero. Why do I feel like I just got myself into more trouble than its worth?"

I shrug as I reply, "Well with how my party members act all the time, something tells me that this won't be the last."

We both look at each other before sighing as well.

The next day

"What do you mean there was a reward for purging the spirits in that mansion?"

I look at Luna-chan as she explains that someone put an anti-spirit barrier in the graveyard that was causing spirits to move to the nearby mansion instead.

"What kind of idiot would put a barrier like that in a graveyard?"

And like that my answers were proven as Aqua who was standing behind Kazuma who is behind me looks the other way, whistling as to not be suspicious.

Suspicious to me.

After a little thre-, I mean goading from Kazuma did we find out that Aqua put it there because after a run in with a Lich who was sending lingering souls to heaven and Aqua wanted to do it instead. Of course, she got tired of walking in the scary graveyard that she decided that a barrier made sense to keep lingering souls out.

After an agreement, we did not accept the reward and instead donated it to the local Eris church, much to Aqua's dismay over that fact.

Much time has passed since our new party added its two new members. I managed to whip Kazuma in proper fighting shape, well sort of.

At first, Kazuma would try to hide from me as we began with simple endurance and strength training. He said something about being a shut-in gamer who can't do anything strenuous.

Sounds like a little bitch in need of the basic essentials: much hard discipline and a good diet.

After two weeks of much headaches and some quests, Kazuma is now in a somewhat decent shape as he can at least not lose his breath over simple push-ups and sit-ups. Slow progress, but definitely an improvement.

When a month had passed, Kazuma can now do chin-ups and keep up with my 20 kilometer runs, although I limited to 20 then my usual 50. Throughout the time we trained, I got to more about Kazuma and he got to know my natural hate for most people, but with all my faults and his, we formed an unlikely friendship.

That also led to an. . . unexpected visit to a certain shop.

One day when Kazuma and I were talking during our runs around the town.

"A what?!"

Kazuma shushes me as he looks around as he makes sure that no one is looking our way before he pulls me in a two-man huddle as he whispers again.

"You heard me. A shop worked by succubus' who can give you the most pleasant dreams all for a little bit of your life essence." Now that sounded like a too good to be true offer.

I mean lets be honest, Megumin is cute and all, but with her personality and one track mind, she can be a nutcase. Darkness is all about that masochistic life and I'm not touching that with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole. And Aqua is a no brainer. Literally no brains at all.

With that in mind, I ask Kazuma for more details.

In front of Succubus Shop

Now that I'm here with Kazuma, I can safe to say that I'm a little nervous, but excited as well. Never in my life did I think that there would be a place where you could have the most erotic dreams of your life. With much courage and determination, both of us men enter the shop.

All I can, is that this place reeks of sexual tension. The moment I stepped foot in the place, I got a slight chill run down my spine as I look to my right and see a few succubi eye me like I'm some sort of candy and they want to eat me. Well the feelings mutual as I am escorted to a nearby booth as Kazuma is lead to another as I'm handed a sheet of paper.

"Welcome to the place where all your sexiest dreams come true~. Just fill out this form to your hearts content~."

The alluring succubus then leans forward and nibbles on my ears, sending shivers down my spine. With that little tease out of the way, I look down at the sheet and fill out the basic info like name and occupation, but when I got to the details part, I stop short.

I really have no clue on what to put down. I mean, I like girls and all, but I never once thought to put down any sort of thought on what I'd do if I had a sexy dream. I did one time wanted to ask a girl out in middle school when I was an exchange student in America when I stayed with family there, but I found out later that she had a boyfriend whenever I attempted to ask her out. After that, I just assumed that girls would never be interested in me so I kept mostly to myself.

I waved down a nearby succubus and asked, "Hey, is it possible to have a random dream instead of a specified one?"

The succubus looks at me with interest as she coyly replies back, "If we did that, then it would only be based on what your heart desires and we'll roll with it. Does that help?~" She ends that with a bite to her lips as she eyes me, or more specifically, my body.

I shift uncomfortably for a moment before looking back at my paper again.

"That helps, thank you."

She winks at me as she saunters off with a sway to her hips.

I gulped as I eye my paper more intensely as I decide to either let my heart decide, who I write down whatever I deemed fit. With that in mind, I begin to write as a thought came across my head that gives me some inspiration on the dream I'll get.

Later at the mansion

Kazuma and I come back after the succubus shop and see that when we got to the dinner table was a huge assortment of giant crabs.

"What's all this for?" Asked Kazuma as I sat down, eying the crabs with a mighty hunger.

"Well, Darkness' family sent some Red Marbled Crab to us as a house warming gift for taking care of her daughter, and they even sent some quality wine to go with it too." Aqua replies as she's rubbing her face whilst holding the bottle.

Well, I never knew people were so generous with such a simple act as letting a meat shield of a party member welcome in our home. I crack open a leg and dip it in some sauce nearby as I take a bite.

. . .

Dear fricking gods all over, this is the best crab I've ever eaten.

Kazuma seems to be in the same boat as we both eat crab leg one after the other. Then, Aqua busts out a miniature grill whilst asking Kazuma to light it with a TINDER spell, she goes on about a great way to drink the wine as she boils the wine in crab guts and takes a hearty drink.

Everyone, me included, takes a gulp at the wondrous idea. Unfortunately, I am not aloud alcohol until I turn 15, at least by this world's standard. Plus, I remember that the succubus said NOT to get loaded with drinks as that would cause the dream to mess up. I look over to Kazuma and saw he was tempted to try it before he stopped himself, more than likely remembering the onee-san's words as well.

With my belly satisfied, I get up and tell everyone that I'm heading out to walk off the food as I wasn't tired yet. Kazuma does the same as he says he'll join me as well.

The actual reason both of us head into town was so that we could stay a night at the local inn for only 1,000 eris a night. We would have stayed in the mansion, but after some thinking on both ends, decided that would be a big mistake as not only do we live with women, but one of them is a sensitive goddess who would probably put a stop to our pleasurable dreams.

After checking in separate rooms do our nights get better.

Well, one of us that is. . .

Jake's Dream

I find myself lounging on the sofa in front of the fireplace with a bottle of booze, sipping while staring at the flames. The nice heat of the flames warm my body as the alcohol leaves a tint of red on my cheeks, yet I don't feel that drunk in the slightest. I seem to be wearing a robe and nothing else, with my manhood hidden by the robes belt.

As I was about to take a sip from the bottle, a pair of hands wrap around my eyes, temporarily blinding me from seeing my latest guest.

"Guess who~~~?" a sultry tone of a familiar voice reverberated through my body as I think for a moment before asking, "Is it the only woman for me?" My answer was given as the hands disappear from my face as they slowly wrap around my neck this time, one hand drawing circles on my chest. I hear a sweet giggle as I turn my head and look into the eyes of my beauty.

Megumin stares back at me, with nothing but love and desire for me and me alone. The petite, young girl then walks around the sofa recliner with a sway of her hips as she wears nothing but a towel, covering her most private areas well. She then climbs on top of me, straddling me on my lap as I stare into her eyes. I'm about as ready as I'll ever be as I grab her chin in a charmingly way, we both lean forward as we were about to embrace one another in a most deep, and passionate gesture of affection.

Suddenly, tears drop down from my face as I stop the approaching kiss, and as if on que, the walls start to melt around me. Both Megumin and I snap out of our stupor as we both look around, Megumin being more startled then I, but that changed when a voice rang out, reverberating around the room.

"Did you already forget about me and found another girl to have fun with? How heartbreaking."

The walls then start to crumble as shadowy hands come out of the cracks, reaching out and stretching towards me.

I get up and grab Megumin's hands as I drag her with me and both of us start running towards the front door. We run through the halls as it seems that the reality itself was falling apart, fragments dropping and shattering like glass.

I finally reach the front door as I grabbed the handle and flung the door wide open.

Just to see a black haired girl who seems to look similar to Megumin, only with brown eyes instead of crimson. She was dressed in a typical high school uniform with a beige sweater with a white undershirt, dark blue skirt with thigh high stockings with formal brown shoes. Her face seems to be dripping with tears, mimicking my own as she leans forward and whispers in my ears.

"Why did it have to be this way, Jake-kun?"

I awoke with a gasp as I was sweating profusely all over my body. I hear a noise to my left, and with a quick pull from my I.S.D., I bring out Dark Repulsor and aim it at the assailant's throat.

"?! Wait wait wait, don't kill me, I'm only doing my job?!"

I soon realize that I was aiming my sword at one of the succubus' from the shop as she shivers in fear. She seems to be on the small size as she wore a thong leotard that barely covered her naughty bits, has white hair with little horns protruding from her head, with little wings to go along with it. I put my sword back in storage before I put my hands on my face, feeling tears that seemed to already be coming down.

I break down in small sobs, causing the succubus to change from afraid to concerned.

"W-why? Why did it have to show. . . her? I thought that it was supposed to be a nice dream, not a complete nightmare."

The little succubus looks nervous as she explains, "Well, you did put down whatever your heart's desire, so I followed the instructions like it said. I do not know why the dream crumbled, other than assuming that your heart seems to be holding some sort of attachment to someone else. That could be the only explanation I can give you. I'm sorry." She bows her head in apology.

I wave her off as I clear my throat and wipe off the tears. "It's fine," I reply to her. "You were only doing what you succubi do. Look, I need some time to think about what happened, so could you please leave? I'll pay for any fee for the trouble."

The succubus shakes her head. "No it's fine, I just need to make sure that that you'll get a refund for the trouble I caused you. You have a good night then." And like that, her wings spread further out as she flies out the window in a hurry, becoming a speck in the night sky.

I close the window and plop right down on the bed. Facing away from the window and looking at the bare room before my eyes drift to a close with on last thought on my mind before sleep took ahold of me.

Yui-chan