A quick one for everyone, but also what's this? 2 in one day?


"I ran into a thief on my way here, and oh boy you should have heard the things she told me. I learned that you steal women's panties! There's even a rumor that you douse your party in slime for your own sexual amusement! You're so disgusting they call you Kazutrash!"

"Kazutrash!? Who the hell is calling me that?! I want names!"

"M'lady, I swear I will find a way to break his control over you an-"

Getting the chance she oh so wanted, Aqua leapt from her seat and hastily dealt an uppercut that sent him to the floor.

"Gods BLOW! Look you! You broke the cage so you pay for it! It cost me 300,000!"

'Three?'

"Alright alright!"

With Aqua happy and out of the way, Kazuma looked at the pitiful hero with little more than disinterest.

"Well that's that."

"Look here demon. I don't know what spell you've used to make a thrall out of Aqua, but I swear I will break it one day. Now what have you done with my sword!?"

"I'm done trying to make a case for myself, and I sealed it away."

"W-what!?"

"Yeah. Shits scary. I can't have something like that laying around if you're the one who gets to use it."

"Give it back or-"

"Or what? Face it, you're spoiled because of that sword. I didn't have a damn thing coming into this world and I'm doing just fine."

"Because you sold your soul for power you freak."

Seeing the strong reaction he once again had, Megumin stood from her chair.

"That's enough! You harass him anymore and I'll turn you to dust." The way she said that conveyed enough to let everyone know that wasn't an idle threat.

"...I know better than to challenge a crimson demon. But this isn't over Kazuma Satou."

Kazuma sat back down and sighed as he lazily poked at his food. This really was gonna be a lot of trouble if people kept attacking him like this. It's not like it was even his choice in the first place, this just happened to him and he has to pay the price for it? What a load of bull!

"Hey Kazuma, are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah Megumin I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. Is it because they ca-"

"Megumin it's ok, come on, let's get out of here and see if I can't submit my order at the tailor. Then we can try and topple the castle again."

"Oh yeah! I just know it's gonna happen this time, I can feel it!"

"You've been saying that all week…"


"Did you really have to drag us all out here with you?" Aqua asked, annoyed that her relaxation time was interrupted.

"Yes I did! This has to do with my appearance, the most important asset of any adventurer is how cool they look."

"Correct!" Cried out the explosion expert.

"Let him be happy Aqua, Kazuma seems to be quite excited about this."

"Thank you Darkness, some respect and civility!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. This the place?"

The party turned into the tailor shop where on sight, the owner went into the back and brought out a package containing everything he needed, which he carried with him into the changing room.

When he stepped out, his party's eyes all went wide. Not because it leaned too heavily in an attractive or ugly manner, but simply because it was so different to how he looked before, or to any of the other adventurers in the guild.

"So, whatcha think?"

Kazuma was loving it, gone were the days of stringing around a silly umbrella.

"It's kinda…dark?

"I think it's cool!"

"I knew you'd like it Megumin. You're totally into this edgy stuff."

"H-hey i'm not edgy. I just think it looks good on you."

Kazuma's new look was definitely inspired by something he must have played in his past life. Long black leather boots with matching colored tucked in pants. A dark, thick leather vest over a gray dress shirt. Over all this was a long dark overcoat that went down to his calf and black gloves, finished with a scarf of sorts over his mouth and what looked like a sleek, withered, tricorn hat over his head.

'I had to choose something that would cover my entire body. And I mean hey, blood vampire, bloodborne, I'm not reaching with that am I?'

At least it's not bright green

'Oh shut up'


'Months went by and we pretty much fell into a continuous loop. We wake up, eat, go out on kill quest, I absorb whatever we kill, come back, Megumin and I set off an explosion, eat, and head to bed. I mean, I can't complain THAT much but I've been itching for the chance to do something other than just another kill quest for whatever monsters trying to capitalize off of Verdia's death. And if you're listening to me don't you say a word!'

If you wanted something interesting you can always ask. I know much about the world to explore

'Well, like what?'

Hmmm, given the current conditions, the time is ripe for your next true test

'What do you mean test?'

The bounty board quest on snow sprites, the one you've been avoiding. It should still be up there, and for good reason, take it

'Well of course I've been avoiding snow sprites, they're worth an alright amount of Eris I guess, but I don't care about money, I'm trying to get stronger'

Take the quest then, and stronger you shall become

'Look I appreciate the help but absorbing the power of a couple of snowballs doesn't seem worth it at the moment'

Difficult brat, I'm not asking you

'Fine, fine jeez. I'll round up the party.

After explaining to the girls what their next move was, they all seemed ecstatic, especially Darkness. That was all he needed to know that there was more than meets the eye.

So you believe me now because that weirdo turned red?

'Hey man, she's a tried and true test of these things'

When they all approached the board, Kazuma finally realized just how sparse it was becoming. As winter rolled around, and with the defeat of the former general, kill quest were filling up the board to the point they were overlapping. Now it was far more manageable, Kazuma and co. (and only sometimes Aqua) quickly established a name for themselves as a reputable party of expert monster hunters. Soon his status as a vampire was second to that of a welcomed hero with the majority of the public.

"Hey this one's new. They're looking for scouts to track the movements of something called a destroyer."

"Not a destroyer, the destroyer." Corrected Darkness. "It is a mobile fortress."

The destroyer is the crown jewel of an ancient civilization, crafted with the sole purpose of its namesake, to destroy. It possess such a dangerous reputation that entire kingdoms evacuate on sight

'What the hell? Something like that is just wandering around the countryside?'

Bah, don't be too scared of that technological terror they've constructed. The ability to destroy a kingdom, is insignificant, next to the power of a vampire lord. If it were to ever appear, I will guide you in dismantling it

Kazuma gulped, then snapped back to reality as Megumin flailed her body around and swung his arms.

"Are you listening to me Kazuma? I'm trying to tell you about the destroyer!"

"Huh? Oh sorry about that, was just thinking about something. Anyways, here's the one. Snow sprite kill quest."

"Hrrrm I wanted to tell you about the destroyer." She pouted.

"This is perfect! I've been meaning to make you take that quest one of these days, I have a little project I'm working on I can use them for!"

"Well at least you're actually coming with us this time."

"Hey don't get mad at me, you're the one who told me I only needed to come with you guys on these quest when I feel like it! I can't be out fighting monsters all the time. A goddess needs relaxation time thank you very much."

'I got no one to blame but myself'


"Why are you wearing that? You look like a bug collector from Pokémon or something."

"I'm gonna use this net to collect them see? Remember the project I was talking about? Snow sprites reduce the temperature of the air around them, by keeping them in these bottles we can make a cooler!"

"What's Pokémon?"

"Not a bad idea except for the fact that we can just freeze things ourselves with magic?"

"I can't waste my precious skill points on something like that!"

"Oh right I forgot, you need to save them up so you can waste them on useless things instead."

"Grrhh!"

"Come on now, let us enjoy this hunt without fighting."

Things went quite smoothly, with Kazuma easily slaughtering the helpless puffs of snow by the dozens with his blood magic.

"Hey Kazuma, I bet I can take out the whole lot with my explosion!"

"Yeah sure go ahead, just don't kill us."

"Alright!"

Use this time to ready yourself

'Ready myself? I'm accustomed to her explosions by now, they don't really shock me anymore dude'

What? That's not

"ExplooooSHUN!"

*BOOOOM*

'See?'

That wasn't what I was referring to

"You good there Megumin?" Kazuma flipped her over and held her upper body.

"Yup…I think I got eight of them. That makes nine total! I went up a level too."

"Not bad, not bad."

'Say Sanwin, this wasn't so bad after all. These guys are actually worth a nice amount of adventurer exp!'

Sang-oo-in you dolt. And the main course is yet to arrive

"Kazuma!"

"What is it?"

"He is here!"

"He? What is he?"

Kazuma noticed that Megumin had dropped her complete weight and closed her eyes.

'Playing possum?'

"Kazuma, there's a reason why no one else took this quest. It's not just cause of the snow."

'I'm starting to get where this is going'

"You've probably heard his name before. Back in the old weather forecast in Japan. The lord of the snow sprites, the epitome of a harsh, brutal winter. The Winter Shogun!"

As if her announcement was his cue to enter, a bellowing torrent of frigid wind tore through the snowy hillside. Shaking the trees, blowing rocks, and freezing any unfortunate critter caught in its wake. When it calmed, true to its name, a pale as winter samurai stood in its wake.

'What the hell?! These idiots! I should!..I should…be in fear of my life, or at least theirs'

So you've finally felt it

'With your power, I can tell the strength of people around me. This winter shogun, it feels stronger than anything I've faced before. No, not even Verdia was at this level.'

And yet

'I feel, good! Just standing here across from it I actually feel pretty good! Like my body can't wait to get at him!'

"-with his brute strength!" finished Darkness, now heavily breathing visible oxygen.

Moving faster than all but one could see, the shogun seemed to slide on the snow and in an instant, close the gap and turn Darkness' sword into a dagger.

A vampire possesses many unique traits

Kazuma didn't stop to hear what Aqua had to say, and leapt straight into the air.

For those of us who earned the right to be called a 'lord', there was a trait we always shared

He didn't realize it, but his own aura began to leak out, emanating as a bleeding crimson from seemingly, his entire being.

It was simple, almost obvious, something that you're feeling for the first time

As the distance became smaller and smaller, Kazuma's heartrate increased, his mind slowly went instinctual, and blood formed around his arms into his spells.

The unfiltered, unrefined, never satisfied, lust for power.

Kazuma clashed head on with the snowy samurai, who blocked his giant bloody fist with an ice katana.

He flipped backwards to dodge a slice at his head as it countered.

Aqua watched in complete disbelief as Kazuma skittered around the shogun like a master thief, using a combination of tendrils and self made platforms of blood to move his body in strange angles to avoid being diced.

"Crimson Venus"

Kazuma placed a hand on the shoguns front armor and seemed to blast the samurai a good 20 feet as an orb levitated from said hand and into the sky.

The winter warrior only got angrier as it stood to its feet. Though as it approached once more, it was struck through the arm with a piercing red spike. It switched its attention to the sky as it was forced to block and parry a storm of sharpened spears that rained from the floating orb.

Using the opportunity, Kazuma got low and sped towards the distracted shogun, grabbing one leg with a tendril, he pulled as hard as could, flipping it off balance as he collided with its mask with an enlarged crystalized arm of hardened blood.

The strength of the impact forced a small indent into the snow the monster now laid on.

"Kazuma…I can't believe it! You just defeated one of the strongest monsters in all the land!"

"...GWOUOOUUUUGHHHH!" Waiting for the moment Kazuma turned his back, it shot up and made an attempt to grab him.

The girls watching gasped in terror, before a long, thin pike raised from the floor, easily shooting through the spirits armor and leaving it suspended above the ground. They watched carefully as the glowing blue eyes lost their light, and the aura of howling winter died down to silence.

Whatever was left of its physical body slowly disintegrated into crimson dust as it flowed into Kazuma's body.

"Vlad's impale…ment..ugh" Kazuma fell limp onto his face after standing just long enough to confirm the danger had passed.

"Kazuma!"

Vlad's impalement is what you called it? That ability you used is special, as there is no limit to the amount of mana you can pour into the attack to strengthen the rising spike. You accidently put all of your remaining magic into it

'So this is how Megumin feels huh?'

You have great amounts of mana, but not infinite

"Kazuma, come on talk to us!"

'This is a nice view' Was all he could think as Megumin laid on top of him, trying to elicit a response of some sort.

"If this is the treatment I get maybe I should lose mana more often…'

"Kazuma you're okay!"

Megumin gave him a deep hug he physically couldn't' refuse. Not that he would even if he could.

"Oh come on Megumin, Draku-neet here is just dealing with mana exhaustion. Nothing serious."

"I know…but we've been on so many missions now and I've never seen him go down once."

'Huh, I never thought about that. I'm starting to build up a reputation with my strength aren't I?'

"Well, thanks for worrying regardless Megumin…AND DON'T CALL ME DRAKU-NEET!"

"It's amazing you can still yell like that without any energy." Aqua joked back.

"Oh…Not only did I do nothing but get in the way…I didn't even get to use my body to shield an attack, or feel his strength…or anything!"

"You come unscathed from an encounter with one of the strongest monsters around and it makes you cry. Only darkness ladies and gentlemen."

"I am NOT crying!"


The guild lit up in amazement at Luna's proclamation. Kazuma and his party had managed to defeat the terrifying winter shogun! The Odachi that Kazuma had on his hilt, or was that an oversized katana?, was the color of harsh winter. The shoguns personal blade, a trophy any adventurer would be proud to have.

'Not only did my level go up a ton, and my vampiric power actually grow a fair bit, but now I have this sick ass sword!'

"Say Kazuma, you get to name it now right?" Darkness asked.

"Oh yeah huh? This thing didn't have one before now that I think about it. But I mean come on, the whole ice thing going on, its a no brainer! I'm calling this sucker Winter's Howl! And then when I get my next sword and can dual wield, I'll call it something anime related like Masamune or something."

"Interesting choice."

"You know Darkness, if you ever want me to, we can spar and I can use it on you."

"Really!?"

"No."

"H-!?"

"For this amazing feat, Kazuma's party will receive one hundred million Eris!"

'Huh? Only a third of Verdia's bounty? But this dude was like ten times as strong!'

The winter shogun is not perceived as a grave threat due to its honorable and forgiving nature

'Yeah well I guess WE were the ones who attacked its children in the first place…'

"Hey Kazuma! You gonna stand there all day or are you gonna dig in!?"

"How did you already order that much food!? I don't even get hungry and we just got the announ- oh screw it, whatever, move over cause that looks good!"