KonoSuba: A Tale of this Beautiful World Vol3

by Dknightodin

The third volume of the series.

3. Chapter 2: The Princess Holiday

Chapter 2: The Princess Holiday

Part 1

The following day was much the same. During that time, me and Kazuma finished up the dragon concept given to us by Irene. Thanks to Kazuma's growing skill in crafting, he was able to forge an impressive-looking dragon. On top of this, he also used his knowledge in threading and needlework to make a silver-colored border to match the dragon's. Then came the day we were all preparing for, the national holiday, Princess Iris' birthday.

"Looks great," I said with a smile; internally however, I was struggling to accept how cool the eyepatch came out.

"It does, doesn't it?" Kazuma looked on proudly at his work.

"A-Any chance you could make one for me?"

"Oh?" He smirked. "Something wrong with yours?"

"N-Not really. I-I just think that as the boss of our thieving band, I should have the coolest attire and accessories; what kind of leader would I be if I end up looking like I'm just another underling?!"

"...listen, I'm glad you're doing such stuff for my sake, but honestly, I think you should quit doing such dangerous things, ok?"

"I'm not doing it for you; I'm doing it for the Masked Thief."

"Which is me."

"You two are distinctly different." I said, avoiding Kazuma's stare. "Anyhow, it's fine; I don't need it now. Since today is Iris' birthday I'll let her have the feeling of being the coolest for once."

Just then, there was a knock on the front door. Irene, who was nearby cleaning, answered it.

"Rain-san."

"Good morning, is Kazuma-dono in?"

Irene glanced at Kazuma; he shook his head.

Turning her attention back to Rain, she answered, "Yes, Satou-sama is currently in; would you like to speak with him?"

"Please."

Moving aside, Irene let Rain in.

She bowed her head in courtesy. "Kazuma-dono, Megumin-dono, how are you two?"

"Rain-san, what are you doing here?" I asked in reply.

Shifting his frowning gaze from Irene, Kazuma spoke. "Yeah, why are you here?"

"I actually came to fetch you all as per Hime-sama's request."

"Wait, really?" Kazuma said, sitting up with a smile.

She nodded. "Kazuma-dono, I just ask that you refrain from causing Iris Hime-sama any issues. Today in particular is a very important day."

"It's her birthday, right; I get it."

"It's her coming-of-age birthday, Kazuma-dono; Iris-sama is considered a woman now. There'll be a ceremony in honor of this. Of course, Iris-sama has requested your presence for it...I doubt you'll refuse anyhow," She said in slight disappointment.

"Aqua and Darkness aren't here, though," I informed.

"They aren't?"

"They're at Wiz's shop. Why don't we go get them?"

"I suppose so. Please, lead the way, Megumin-dono."

With Rain in tow, Kazuma and I headed to Wiz's magic shop. As was the case with major events, the city's streets were filled with people and despite being early in the day, many of them were already merrily drinking and celebrating. When we arrived, we came upon a scene that was becoming somewhat common.

"How many times does Moi have to tell thee both; if thou wishes to be disruptful, do so elsewhere! Moi already has enough issues trying to keep this infernal shop from going under than sparing time playing with thee both. Muscle-Headed Crusader, please tell thee friend to cease her pestering."

Darkness was standing between Vanir and Chris; the former was standing with arms crossed and the latter was staring daggers at the former.

"Muscle-Headed…" Darkness trailed off as she took in the insult, then noticing us, straightened up. "Megumin, Kazuma...Rain-san? What are you guys doing here?"

"Lady Dustiness," Rain replied, displaying the same courtesy she showed us earlier. "I'm here to take you and Lady Aqua to the Palace."

"The Palace?"

"Umu. Hime-sama has requested your immediate presence."

"I see. Then we shouldn't keep Iris-sama waiting."

Just then, the door to the shop opened once more and in came Gren and Yunyun.

"Rain-san," Yunyun said in surprise. "Megumin, Kazuma-san; what is everyone doing here?"

"Yunyun-san, nice to see you again." Rain looked at Gren, and then gave a short nod. "Gren-san."

"Rain-dono," She replied with a deep bow.

"We were just on our way," I said, answering Yunyun's earlier inquiry.

"On your way?"

"Oi," Kazuma interjected, "we should get going now; Iris is waiting for us."

"Wait," Gren interrupted; we shifted our attention to her. "Can you please give something to Hime-sama?"

"Give her something? What did you have in mind, Gren-san?" Rain inquired.

"A gift."

"May I see it?"

Gren nodded, and then after dropping off another box of merchandise, headed to the back of the shop to retrieve it. A couple minutes later, she returned with a cloth-wrapped present; Rain opened it, revealing the dagger Gren bought just days ago.

"I see," Rain said after inspecting the item. "I'll see that Iris-sama receives this, Gren-san."

"Thank you," She said, bowing deeply once more. "I truly wish I could give it to her personally, however…"

Gren was prohibited from ever setting foot in the capital, so a wish like this was pretty much a fleeting dream.

Darkness spoke. "Worry not, Gren-san, I'm sure your feelings will reach her once she receives your gift."

"Speaking of gifts," Aqua interrupted, "I don't have mine with me; no one told me we'd be leaving so early."

"Ah, now that you've said that…" Darkness looked down in mild embarrassment; she also forgot her gift.

"Lalatina-sama!" At the entrance stood Irene, slightly out-of-breath. In her hands were two wrapped items.

"Irene, what are you—"

"Your gifts," She replied through her breaths.

"Oh, thank you." Darkness took them from her. "How'd you know?"

Irene smiled proudly. "It's the intuition of a former maid of the Dustiness house."

"She probably figured it out once me and Megumin left with ours," Kazuma said offhandedly.

Irene's smile quickly dissipated to her normal, stoic demeanor.

"Hey, Darkness," Aqua called out, "can you bring me my gift?"

"Huh, sure?"

As Darkness walked over, Aqua peered out at Vanir, a devilish smirk appearing on her face. The next moment, Vanir's body began to smoke and crack. Seconds after that, Wiz started to whimper worriedly, and soon her own body began smoking as well.

"What's going on?" Wiz said, her body beginning to grow faint.

FWAP! Kazuma slapped Aqua upside her head. "OW!"

"Oi, Darkness, don't bring that over here," Kazuma remarked. "This stupid girl's gift is basically a holy charm."

"Ah, sorry," She replied, stepping out of range.

Chris sucked her teeth. "Almost… Darkness!"

"C-Chris? What's wrong?"

"Come," She replied, pulling Darkness along; outside the shop, the both of them began talking, although Chris spoke in a rather loud and highly aggravated tone.

"Ahem." Rain cleared her throat loudly. "Is everyone ready, now?"

"Sure," Kazuma replied. "Let's not keep Iris-chan waiting any longer," He said excitedly.

I grumbled to myself; why couldn't he be as excited for things concerning the both of us?

After dragging Darkness away from an aggrieved Chris, Rain started her chant for Teleport.

"Me and you will continue this conversation when you get back, you hear me, Darkness?!"

Darkness smiled nervously. "Alright, alright; I'll see you when I get back."

"Humph! Why is it that everyone seems to be betraying me?"

"Betraying?! Wait, hold on, Chris, I'm not—"

The last image was of the aforementioned sticking a tongue out roguishly. The next instant, we were all standing in the familiar courtyard of the royal palace. We began heading in the direction of Iris' room when Rain called out to us.

"Wait, you're all going in the wrong direction. Hime-sama isn't in her room today."

"So where is she, then?" Kazuma asked.

"The throne room," Rain replied. "Come, I'll lead the way."

As we followed, I noticed the bustling halls; the palace was more lively than usual. An army of servants were busy with—presumably—the final touches of the formerly mentioned coming-of-age ceremony. It was an interesting atmosphere that was fairly new to all of us, and so we took the occasional glance as we passed through.

Eventually we came to the throne's room atrium where a set of guards in lavishly decorated armor stopped us.

"These are guests requested personally by Hime-sama," Rain informed, almost as if by instinct.

One of the guards stared at us, and then spoke. "We ask that they leave their possessions here. Items of any kind are not allowed past this point—weapons especially, no exceptions."

"They come bearing gifts for Hime-sama's birthday; is there any way they could bring these through?"

"Negative, Rain-dono; gifts or not, we cannot allow any items through. Worry not, we'll hold on to said items and return them once you leave."

Rain sighed, and then turned to us. "Sorry, but we'll have to do as they say."

Looking to cause as little issues as possible, Darkness and Kazuma quickly relieved me and Aqua of our gifts and handed them over.

"Her staff," the guard added.

Kazuma went to grab it, but I quickly shirked back, holding on to my staff.

"Oi, come on; hand it over."

I held on tighter.

"Hey, don't do this right now. Just give it to me. They'll give it back later," He said, trying his best to get around the defensive curl I put up.

Seeing that he couldn't simply separate me from it, Kazuma became more aggressive in his attempts.

"Oi, stop it! Let go of the staff already!"

"Nooooo!" I yelled as I held on even tighter.

"LET GO!"

"Wahhh! NOOO!"

"Darkness, come and help me!"

Without a second thought, Darkness quickly wrestled with my arms and shoulders.

"Sorry, Megumin, but just give it up; you're causing a scene," She said, trying to wrest me away from the staff.

For several seconds this went on until the two of them stepped away gasping for breaths.

"Why are you so strong?" Kazuma said with an annoyed tone.

"Really," Darkness remarked, "I'm actually fairly surprised you've held on for so long."

"Hehe." I chuckled lightly. I too, was very tired from the scuffle.

"That's it!" Kazuma exclaimed. He threw up his hand, palm facing me menacingly. "Give it to me or I'll take it."

I was going up against Kazuma's Steal; a formidable move, no doubt, but even so, I refused to give in.

"Fine, don't say I didn't warn you! STEAL!"

"..." I whimpered softly as I slowly squatted down.

Of course, in his hands were my precious underwear. Everyone stared in varying levels of disgust and disapproval, the emotions were universally shared and expressions virtually the same.

"Wait, you guys, I didn't—I wanted the staff—the staff, I promise I wanted the staff!"

After sharing a bit of humiliation, the original objective was achieved and I—begrudgingly—turned in my staff.

Finally, we arrived at the throne room; for all our time exploring the palace, this was the first time we had laid eyes on such an illustrious location. As expected, the room was massive; though only a few people occupied it at the moment, it was easily able to fit several hundred. The construction—much like the rest of the palace—was sublime in all aspects. At the end of the room sat a young girl surrounded by two other people. Just before them were two others talking amongst themselves.

"Claire-sama," Rain called out.

"—that's enough, you buffoon," I heard her say as we approached.

The man she said this to was someone I met before; the one known as the Grand Historian and Curator of the Royal Library. He smiled playfully, and then looked in our direction. "Ah, seems like we'll have to cut our meeting a bit short, Claire-chan."

"Although I'm relieved at the prospect, they didn't come here to speak with you."

Once again, he smiled. Turning his attention to us fully, he bowed courteously. "Nice to see you again, Kazuma-dono. Lady Dustiness, Lady Satou, and although I haven't had the...pleasure before, you must be the Lady Aqua."

Aqua smiled, and then stared at him curiously. "You must be some important noble, right?"

"Ah well—"

Claire interrupted. "He's just someone who has an annoying habit of sticking his nose in places it doesn't belong."

Bartholomew-san chuckled. "It's my job to do so, Lady Symphonia. I know it isn't a very endearing job to hold, but someone has to do it."

Claire furrowed her brow and looked away.

Then, Aqua tilted her head, her curious gaze still on him. "For a noble, you sure don't look the part...or smell like it."

"Ah?" Bartholomew-san said in confusion.

FWAP!

"Ah—ow!"

"Oi, you idiot, what's up with you?" Kazuma said after smacking Aqua upside the head. "Stop being rude."

Aqua rubbed her head furiously. "It's not my fault he smells like a pile of wet newspapers!"

I could hear Claire snort lightly as she tried to hold back her laughter, while Bartholomew-san began sniffing himself worriedly.

"I, I shouldn't really smell...I'm sure I bathed today," He said, still sniffing.

"Hey," Kazuma said, getting his attention, "you and me have something to discuss about a certain 'special' book."

Bartholomew-san smiled yet again, however, this time he did so with a hint of nervousness.

"Ahem." Rain cleared her throat, causing us to look at her. "We should finish what we came here for; after all, Hime-sama is waiting."

"Ah, that's right!" Kazuma said, swiftly shifting his attention.

"I'll take my leave, then," Bartholomew-san said. "See you later." He gave a quick wave and saw himself out.

"Good riddance," Claire remarked after he left. She then looked at Rain. "About time you showed up."

"Forgive me, Claire-sama."

"It's fine; I was mostly concerned with Iris-sama's wishes. Aside from that," she said, looking towards the two figures by Iris' sides, "the King and Prince formally want to meet you all. Come, we've kept them waiting long enough; such things are not taken lightly."

With that said, our group moved towards the royals who were locked in a seemingly heated debate.

"Your Majesty, I'll go deal with that woman in your place; how dare she make such demands of—"

"Jatis, it's fine, I'll go. Just take care of your sister in my absence; our enemies have grown bold recently and might try something once more."

The Prince, Jatis, bowed. "Of course, Your Majesty."

"Anyhow, we'll speak more on this later; our guests have arrived." The King of Belzerg turned to us with a welcoming smile.

Rain, Claire, and Darkness immediately knelt, followed by myself and Kazuma. Once more, Aqua was left looking at us in perplexity until Kazuma pulled her down.

The King spoke. "Please, rise. Let us speak as the friends we are. You all are indispensable allies to the Kingdom and my family, I do not wish to speak down to you."

Upon making this announcement, me and Kazuma were about to get up when Darkness yanked us down, and spoke.

"Your Majesty, it pleases me that you'd think so highly of me and my friends, however, you are King and we, your subjects; even if you should deem us close friends, it'd be incredibly disrespectful of us to simply act as equals."

He stared at her with slight surprise, and then laughed heartily. "Ah, Lalatina, you remind me so much of your father, Ignis; you're both too stubborn when it comes to matters of etiquette. Very well, if you insist on carrying on in such a manner, I won't try and dissuade you, but be aware, I won't equally press you to follow such rules—at least, not when we're amongst ourselves. Besides, the reason I wanted to meet with you all today was two-fold."

"Two-fold?"

"That's right. I wanted to get a good look at the modern Heroes of Belzerg with my own two eyes and congratulate them. And the other reason is more pertinent to events of today. As I'm sure you're aware, today is my daughter, Iris' birthday. One of her requests was to hold a competition on this very day." He sighed deeply, glancing at her briefly. "Given the dangers presented in the past, I was against it at first—even now I'm still reluctant, however, she's made a good argument for holding such an event. In any case, this is her wish. As her father and King I wish to grant this to the utmost of my ability, and so, I must ask you heroes to protect her during this competition."

"Protect?!" The one who spoke out of turn was surprisingly Claire. "Forgive me, Heika, but you've said nothing of this; aren't me and Rain enough? Even his Highness, the Prince will be alongside Iris-sama. There's no need to involve—"

The King raised his hand, silencing Claire immediately.

"Need I remind you what nearly happened just a couple months ago?" Claire looked down with a noticeably pained expression. "Indeed, I will take no half measures. I don't doubt your strength, Claire, however, I do not believe it'd be wise for me to burden you with the mounting threats against us. More help should be welcoming news." The King then shifted his attention to us once more. "Anyhow, what say you; can I count on you all?"

Darkness spoke for all of us when she said, "Of course."

Then, Aqua echoed her response, but as usual, added her own spin. "Of course we'll protect the princess, Your Majesty, but I'd like a favor in exchange."

Even with the quick glance I took, I could tell everyone was on pins and needles in response to Aqua's comment. Kazuma quickly threw his hands over her mouth causing her to wail in surprise. Interestingly enough, the King stroked his lofty beard and nodded.

"Lady Aqua, what is it you request?" He asked.

"Your Majesty!" Darkness interjected. "Please don't mind her; she was jesting!"

Again, the King raised his hand, silencing his subject's outcry immediately. "Kazuma-dono, please, let her speak."

Kazuma stared at the King in disbelief, and then, frowning at Aqua, slowly let go. Aqua quickly pushed herself away from Kazuma, glaring in response to his earlier actions.

"Your Majesty," she said with a smile and a perfect curtsy, "my request is simple and selfless."

"Very well, Lady Aqua, tell me, what is this request?"

"I humbly ask that the Axis Order be given the same rights and attention in the Kingdom as the Eris Cult."

As soon as she said this, the room erupted into a cacophony of angry voices as nearly everyone present expressed their disdain. "What is this madness?!" "Are you insane?!" "Should I sew that troublesome mouth of yours shut?!" "Aqua, how rude can you get?!" "You must be joking!" The only ones who remained silent were Claire, Iris, and the King himself.

"Silence. Silence!" The King ordered, his booming voice roaring over the noise. The room fell quiet once more. "Lady Aqua," he continued, "I cannot give you a promising answer to such an important issue at this moment, but rest assured, I will give it some thought. Are you ok with this?"

"Certainly, Your Majesty." Aqua curtsied yet again, a resplendent smile cast across her face. "But there's also the other matter of—"

While Kazuma swiftly grappled Aqua, Darkness quickly interjected; I felt this was almost a defensive reaction in order to prevent another odd scenario from occurring. "Tha-Thank you for making time to meet with us, Your Majesty." She bowed to which the King of Belzerg responded with a short, but slow nod.

"Very well. Thank you all for coming, once again. I, unfortunately, have some things I must tend to and so I feel our time must be cut short; forgive me."

Then, he went on his way. After the king exited, a deep sigh of relief came from everyone present...including the royal who was currently seated in the throne, Iris Stylish Sword Belzerg.

"Glad to see you all came," She said with a smile; even if we wanted to, it wasn't like we were in any position to refuse. "It's been quite a while, hasn't it?"

"Umu," Kazuma replied, "it's been a long time."

The Prince let out an audible sound of discomfort. "What's with that casual tone; know your place, you knave!"

"Onii-sama!"

"Tch, how dare he assume such a familiar stance with you."

"Onii-sama, you're being rude; Kazuma-san and the others are my friends."

"Friends or not, they must know their place. I would've thought that spending time with the Lady Dustiness would produce positive results, but it seems like commoners will be commoners."

I felt my blood begin to boil.

"That's enough," Iris said, her voice cold. It startled all of us, even more so, the Prince. "I won't stand for such rude behavior towards my friends; please cease this now, Onii-sama."

"...I...ris…" He looked away pitifully. "F, Forgive me."

She stared at the Prince for a moment, and then smiled, the icy facade shattering in an instant. "I forgive you, Onii-chan."

Prince Jatis looked at her in astonishment, but quickly turned his sight from his sister's intentionally cutesy expression. "W-Well...t-that's good, I guess."

Such blatant acts of endearment mixed with her disarming smiles, was this the same way Iris corralled Kazuma?

"Claire."

Surprised by the sudden announcement of her name, she stuttered. "Y-Yes, Iris-sama?"

"Are the preparations complete?"

"Of course, Iris-sama," Claire said with a respectful nod of her head.

"Good." She turned her gaze on our group. "Lalatina, it seems the preparations for the competition are complete; would you and the others please follow Rain and Claire to the registration booth?"

"Of course, Hime-sama."

"I look forward to seeing your exploits," She said with a genuine smile.

"As do I," the Prince added. "I've heard many stories about you all from my sister, here; I only hope that even a handful of them are true—of course, Lady Dustiness' achievements and skills are renowned, so I'm mostly saying this to the rest of you."

"Onii-sama…"

"Ah." The Prince, noticing his sister's pouting glare, cleared his throat. "Ahem, I mean, the rest of you are heroes, I suppose. Display to me your heroism, then."

Frankly speaking, I was pretty fed up with hearing someone talking down to me and my friends—even if that someone was the Prince of the nation. I stood up and tossed back my cape in one fell swoop. Humph! Everyone was looking at me with shocked expressions—all but those who I felt truly understood; Iris, my underling and Aqua, my…um...a-anyhow!

"Fufufu, worry not, Your Highness; me and my comrades will show to you the combined might of the party who brought down the Demon King and his army. I'll make sure to give you an explosive demonstration of power, brought to you by the foremost genius of the Crimson Demon Clan—in-in fact, I can do it right now if you so—mmmmm!?"

Darkness quickly muzzled my response. "We'll be off now, Jatis-sama!" Darkness said in a high, yet nervous tone. "Alright, everyone, off we go!"

Before I could do anything, I was dragged off by Darkness. Kazuma and the others followed.

After we were far enough away, she let go of me. "What are you trying to do, Megumin?! That was the Prince himself; are you trying to get me in trouble?!"

"You heard what he said; all the slights he had against us."

"That's right," Aqua added. "The only one he sang praises about was you, Darkness."

Kazuma interjected. "Oi, you shut up; you were even more outrageous, you know. But she has a point, Darkness. Say, were you and the Prince romantically involved at some point?"

"What idiotic things are you saying!? Do you even know what kind of outrage such a scandalous relationship would cause? How would I even gain his favour in the first place?"

"By forcing yourself onto him with your seductive body?"

"Don't give me that, you off-the-shelf cretin! Only women of the night do such things! Is that the light in which you see me? Megumin, please, reason with him!"

"I mean, he isn't lying, is he?"

"M-Megumin!?"

"Dustiness-sama!" Rain called out behind us.

In Darkness' state of nervousness, she had unknowingly created quite the distance between us and our would-be escorts.

Part 2

"Pardon, Kazuma-dono, but... Could I talk to you about something important?" We were walking towards our destination when Rain regarded me with a troubled expression.

I wonder what could be weighing down on her mind. Ah, it must be that...

"I'm pained to tell you this, but I'm already married, so I can't accept your confession—"

"What nonsense are you going on about?"

Seems like teasing her will be no fun after all.

After casting a disgusted glare, she once again began. "No, I've been meaning to ask you about Vanir-dono and the shopkeeper in Axel."

"How desperate... I don't think there's anything between them, but I don't think it's wise to go after Vanir."

"Would you quit saying such ridiculous things... Although, I suppose that's fairly good to know."

She wasn't actually planning on doing that, was she?

"No, I meant to ask if Vanir-dono and... Are the both of them...human?"

One of them is a Lich, and the other a Devil from the depths of Hell. If one were willing to cast that aside...

"...They seem human. To a degree."

"What's with that pause... Nevermind, before we left you said something about a holy item—and I could've sworn I saw both Vanir-dono and that lady smoking... In fact, I think I even saw Vanir-dono's body begin to crumble."

Rain said this with nervousness born from stark realization.

Having people know the true identity of that devil and Wiz would probably be troublesome; normally, I would leave such leaks for them to cover up themselves, but since Aqua was the cause of this, I couldn't really live with the likely chances of the issues arising being my fault...even if indirectly.

"Hmm, sounds to me like you need to have your mind checked."

"T-There's nothing wrong with my sanity...but I suppose I might've just imagined such things." She let out a heavy sigh. "Everything has been so busy in preparation for Hime-sama's birthday; it's honestly not surprising that I could have conceived something so odd. Excuse my wild imaginations."

Feeling a morsel of guilt, I steered the conversation to another topic. "So, what's this about a competition? And how come we're all supposed to be signed up for it?"

"You heard Hime-sama; this is her wish." Rain sighed once more. "I admit, the suddenness of it all is a little odd." She slouched over like some office worker after a whole day of work.

"Suddenness? You mean this wasn't preplanned?"

"Well, not exactly. About a week ago Hime-sama requested that such an event be held for her birthday—which is strange in of itself; normally, she wouldn't ask for much."

"Really?"

Rain nodded to my surprised query.

Then, the other person assigned as our escort, Claire, added in with brows knit, "Perhaps it's due to the influence of a questionable individual who seems to stick his nose where it doesn't belong."

"Such a bold claim against the pure me. I only stick noses into things when nobody important is looking."

Claire's expression twisted into something eldritch, but quickly regained her composure.

"I didn't want to believe it at first, but your degeneracy has the ability to rub off onto other people. Iris-sama's errant behavior can not be attributed to anything else."

"Hey, I can't let that slide. I've only been teaching her upright and important stuff she needs to know going forward in life. As a responsible adult, I need to take responsibility to teach Iris who is in puberty about se—"

"What things have you been teaching Iris-sama!?"

"C-Claire-sama, please put the sword away, I'm sure he's teasing you! In any case, Hime-sama wanted us to prepare this competition and fetch you all." The panicked Rain calmed the enraged Claire down, who still looked like she wanted to have a go at me.

All this talk about some competition. Needless to say, if it's what I think it is, I'd be in major trouble.

"When you say competition, do you mean like a fighting tournament?"

"Hime-sama didn't specify nor did His Grace."

When you think of competitions of tournaments during middle ages, you think colosseums, gladiators and fighters. Dangerous people. And with Belzerg being a militant nation there's nothing else that comes to mind.

Claire chuckled to me who was deep in thought. "Why? Would it be a problem, Kazuma-dono? If anything, it would be highly titled in your favor, would it not, Demon King Slayer-san?"

"O-Of course not. I was just wondering if someone as powerful as me should join—"

"Of course you'll participate!" She barked. "Iris-sama wills it. Humph, as if such a thing were even negotiable."

Perhaps it's time to teach Iris about humility.

Then Rain, who watched us bicker, coughed lightly to catch our attention,

"I doubt Kazuma-dono will have much issue with the contents of the competition."

"Really?" Claire and I both remarked in unison.

"If Rain says as much, then... Hang on a second. Why is Claire also surprised?"

To my question, Rain elbowed Claire's side.

"A-Ah, right. Yes, Kazuma-dono should achieve acceptable results in this competition. There is no need to worry."

"Correct, Kazuma-dono will do just fine."

Both of them began to sport forced smiles.

I remembered something important. So that's how it is. These two had experienced my awesome display of power some time back. Despite the time that passed they were still cautious and afraid of the threat I posed.

To the two of them who seemed nervous, I smiled innocently. "I see. Well, if you say as much, I will have to live up to expectations. Coincidentally, will you two be participating as well?"

"E-Erm, no... We'll be the ones enforcing the rules and protecting Iris-sama. Who knows what dangers lurk."

"Who do you think will protect the Princess? Royal Guards were proven ineffective in a certain incident."

I honestly don't know if they were challenging me or dissing me. Hopefully, they haven't forgotten the trouble and anguish they caused me way back then.

"...That's a shame. I'm still looking forward to the score we're yet to settle."

And surely, both of them stiffened up, and began to shiver, eyes averted.

"N-Now, I'm sure we can settle this like civilized people. It happened a long time ago, I'm certain you're a person who can find forgiveness in such minor follies, surely! Let's all forget about it, okay?"

"T-That's right! Nothing good comes out of dwelling on the past! Look towards the future!"

With makeshift excuses, Claire and Rain tried to play my suffering off.

"I guess you're right. I should look forward to buying said potion to use it myself."

"L-Let's not get hasty, Kazuma-dono—"

"Hasty, you say? I'm being generous by giving you a heads-up, and you're talking about hastiness?"

"There's nothing else we could've done! You simply wouldn't leave! We were doing what was required to keep Iris-sama safe! Right, Rain!?"

"A-Actually, I don't have the authority to use such an item, I merely delivered the potion on Claire's behalf…"

Finding herself with a knife stuck in her back, Claire's composure shattered. "How could you say such a thing!? Rain, no need to jest, both of us deliberated on its use and you agreed wholeheartedly!"

"I merely echoed your sentiments, Claire-sama! Never have I agreed to the plan—"

I watched on as the situation devolved into a match of dumping responsibilities. These people, who were trying to convince their would-be assassin against killing them, certainly weren't putting up much resistance. Though, their self-preservation was surely impressive.

After moving through the crowded capital streets, we arrived at a small makeshift booth. Though the section was cordoned off by city guards, there were still many people present.

"Oi, are all of these people here for the tournament?"

"It shouldn't come as a surprise," Claire replied, her no-nonsense demeanor having returned. "After all, the prize pool for the top winner is several hundred million eris."

Money. Of course. Thanks to my position in life and our party's string of recent successes there wasn't much need for it… However, the massive debt incurred from our last city-saving encounter was still rather fresh in my mind; should something else like this happen we could very well find ourselves sleeping in the stables once again.

Regardless, whether or not I felt like participating, it didn't seem like I had much of a choice in the matter. I took a look at the groups of people present; the vast majority looked like real adventurers and hardy individuals. I really didn't like my chances.

"Kazuma Kazuma," Megumin said, tugging on my sleeve to get my attention.

"Hm, what's wrong, Megumin?"

"You're not planning on signing up, right?"

"Huh? Well, I mean"—I scratched my head—"I don't really feel like it, but—"

"Good," she said, cutting off my response, "don't worry about it; me and the others will take care of it."

"Huh, wait, White-suit said I had to participate."

Megumin smirked. "That's right, she said you had to participate—and you will be...by cheering us on. Besides, Claire and Rain aren't here."

Taking a glance, I saw that this was indeed the case. Of course, the point of them coming along was to simply bring us here; having accomplished that there was no need for them to have stuck around.

I felt myself smirk as well. Megumin's shrewd nature is something that would often slip from my mind given the more outstanding occurrences of her childish and impulsive behaviors.

"Alright, I'll be cheering you guys on from the sidelines then."

She gave me a proud smile, and then struck a pose. "Worry not, I'll be sure to make our leader proud and give the crowd a performance of power they've never experienced."

With her little act done, Megumin sped off to the booth window where Aqua and Darkness were waiting. I no longer had to worry about the dangers of being directly involved in such a dangerous event.

"Oh, hey! Kazuma-san!"

Turning towards the familiar voice, I saw Dust's new acquaintance, Kirby. The beautiful onee-san he was speaking to back then was with him as well.

"Kirby-san, what are you doing here?"

"I heard about this tournament thing going on; me and Anne decided to give it a shot—by the way, this is Anne," He said, pointing a thumb her way. "Anne, this is Kazuma-san; he's the one who defeated the Demon King over here."

The girl, Anne, bowed courteously, and with a gentle voice, said, "Nice to meet you, Kazuma-san."

The yellow tank top she wore was perhaps better suited to warmer weather, but at this moment—in my mind—I thanked her for wearing it; the view it offered was, by default, wonderful, the fact that it revealed even more of her bountiful chest was more than I could ask for… Umu, my next visit to the cafe could do with a bit of a change up.

"Kazuma-san, is there something wrong?"

I quickly replied before it became painfully obvious what I was doing. "A-Ah no, I was just...wondering— about the tournament."

"Ah, is Kazuma-san entering?"

"Uh, well—"

"Of course Kazuma's gonna enter, Anne; right, Kazuma?"

"Uh—"

"Well, he is a Demon King Slayer; it would be a—"

"Wait! Hold on! I'm not signing up."

"You're not?" They said in unison.

"That's right, I'm not."

"Really? Why?" Kirby asked.

"Come on, Kirby-san, if I participated, it wouldn't be fair to everyone else." I couldn't tell 'em I was...cautious...of the other entrants.

"Ahh, that's right; Kazuma-san is on another level."

"How gracious," the girl, Anne, said with a bit of awe.

"Hmm, it's a bit unfortunate."

"What is?" I said.

"I was starting to look forward to seeing you in action."

I smiled, trying hard to hide the hint of nervousness and shame I was feeling. "M-Maybe some other time. You know, evil never rests, so there'll probably be some chance that you'll get to see me do my thing one day. A-Anyway, how'd you guys get here? Did you manage to use the Teleport Station before it closed?"

The two of them exchanged looks, and then Kirby spoke.

"Erm… yeah."

"Oh, you're pretty lucky, then."

"T-That's right," Anne said, hastily butting in. "Kel… I mean, Kirby's always been pretty lucky."

"I have? I mean—I have." He cleared his throat, and smiled pridefully. "My luck has always been something I could count on."

A kindred spirit. If I was on my own—or unburdened by such trouble-causing companions—perhaps I could say the same. Well…even with all the misfortune they cause me…

"Ah, by the way, Kazuma, if you're not participating in the tournament, why are you here?"

"Oh, well maybe you don't know, but today's the Princess' birthday; I've been asked by the King himself to protect her during the event so…"

"You're the Princess' personal bodyguard?!" Anne said in astonishment… perhaps a bit too much…

Really, was it that surprising to believe?

"Of course," I replied with a smirk. "Me and the Princess are quite close, you know? She's something like a younger sister to me."

"That so?" Kirby remarked with an oddly serious expression.

As he rubbed his chin, Anne posed a question.

She asked, "Doesn't the Princess have an actual brother though?"

To people living in Belzerg these things would be rather obvious, but I remembered that Kirby—and assumingly, Anne—are newcomers; to them, such questions could be fairly normal to ask given the context.

"Ah, well, yeah, she has a brother."

"Right, what was his name again?"

I had an innate disdain for the First Prince and the tone of my response may have shown it. "Jatis."

"Ohhh, Prince Jatis. Hmm, Kazuma-san, you must be more powerful than the Prince, no?"

I don't really know how she could make such a leap given the reality of it, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel prouder than it perhaps should've.

I waved off the compliment to feign humility, but I could still feel the wide grin on my face as I did. "No, no, the Royal family is really strong; there's no way I'm stronger than any of them."

Just then, I noticed that the crowd of people thinned considerably—no, maybe it was better to have said, they relocated. As I looked around in confusion, I overheard one of the groups speaking amongst each other.

"Hey, quick, come on! There's this Archpriest doing some magic tricks! Really crazy stuff; she made the Eris statue nearby spit out a bunch of coins and some nobleman's cape start dancing!"

"Wait, magic tricks?" That was definitely Aqua! What was this girl doing? I quickly turned to Kirby and Anne. "Sorry guys, I have to go; I'll see you around!"

"Ah, wait!" Anne said.

But I had already dashed off in pursuit of the other group. Though it pained me to break away from people who valued my contributions I couldn't allow Aqua and the others to start something in my absence.

-Elsewhere…

"Aqua Aqua, do mine, do mine!" I said, excitedly showing her my cape.

"Not now, Megumin. For my next trick, I shall make the Eris church down yonder disappear."

As the crowd guffawed in awe, Darkness—who was busy compensating the nobleman—quickly grabbed Aqua and pulled her off to the side. "That's enough, Aqua; you've already caused enough trouble."

"Trouble? What are you talking about, Darkness? I made that statue of Eris infinitely better by catering to her true cause."

"Well...I guess having it spit out gold coins isn't too bad."

"Gold?" Aqua snorted. "That isn't gold, it's Fool's Gold."

"Fool's Gold?!"

"And that nobleman's cape was embarrassing; making it walk and talk made it far more interesting to pay attention to."

"It ran off! I had to pay him for it! Please stop."

Aqua stared at Darkness for a couple seconds, and then sighed. "Fine, Darkness, I was getting bored anyway."

"Oi! There you guys are," Kazuma, who pushed past the crowd, said. "What trouble are you causing now?"

Aqua snatched her arm free from Darkness, and crossed them vexedly. "Why are you guys always talking like I'm the root of problems around here?!"

"Cause you are," Kazuma retorted.

"I'm not causing any issues; all I've done was have the Eris statue spit out some coins and help breathe some life into some nobleman's attire! Completely harmless stuff!"

Kazuma knit his brows. "Fine then. Since you guys are done registering let's get out of here; I don't wanna be blamed for another one of your acts of stupidity."

-At the Capital Home…

"Um… Kazuma? This uh...thing has gotten pretty...big…" I stared at the enormous tree in the backyard as Kazuma came outside.

The trunk itself was around a meter in diameter and the canopy, full of blood-red leaves, eclipsed the sunlight casting the entire yard in an eerie twilight.

"Wha—How, how is it getting this big?!"

Interestingly enough, the roots, which were as thick as I was wide, long since penetrated through the small pot that held it and were now firmly buried within the side of the mansion and, presumably, within the wall.

"Is… Is it too late to chop it down?" I posed the question as Kazuma stared at it in disbelief.

"Hey, Kazuma, do you have some herbicide? There's some roots—WHAAA?!" Aqua yelled. "What is this thing?! It's so evil! SACRED—"

"Hold on!" Kazuma said, quickly restraining her.

"What do you think you're doing, you brainless hikiNEET?! Let go before I—"

"Shut up! Doesn't this thing grow from absorbing evil energy? Why is it this big?"

"How am I supposed to know about something this disgusting?! Now let go of me before I knock some sense into you!"

Just then, Darkness came outside. "What's going on? Why are you guys making such a ruckus?" Her attention was focused on Kazuma and Aqua, but quickly shifted to the highlight of the moment. "Goodness… Wha, what is this?"

"Darkness, help me destroy this ugly thing," Aqua said, trying to shove Kazuma away.

"Oi, don't you dare, Darkness!"

She looked between them in confliction, and then stared at the tree. "Is this the plant you bought?"

"Yeah, that's right; it's the plant I spent money on!" Finally, Kazuma broke away from Aqua. "Listen! If it turns out this thing is actually bad, I'll let you guys destroy it—I'll even help, but for now, the only thing it's done is grow."

"Asking a goddess to overlook such suspicious acts... If I keep doing you these unsavory favors, people are gonna begin to think I'm a lousy goddess. …Hey, why are you guys looking at me like that?"

After setting aside the issue of the enormous flora growing in the backyard, we ate lunch.

Kazuma wiped his mouth after finishing and began. "Hey, I wanted to ask, did you guys get any info on what's happening with this tournament business?"

In response, Darkness finished her portion and answered. "As far as the content goes, no. But, we were told that it's supposed to be happening sometime this afternoon."

Kazuma frowned and with slight bewilderment, remarked, "So, they gave you a time, without information on your opponents?"

After cleaning up a second plate, I sank deeper into my chair. "What difference does it make? Whether we're fighting a Demon King's General or a chump off the street I'll make sure to end them in one go!"

"Don't even joke about such things. And you do know hitting someone with Explosion will likely kill them, let alone all the people on the sidelines."

"Ah, I forgot Kazuma will be in the crowd. I understand, I'll look for you and try to let it off in the opposite direction."

At my words, Kazuma extended his hand and activated Drain Touch. "It'd be better if you don't do it at all, otherwise—"

Darkness interjected. "Kazuma, there's no need for that… Megumin, how about you don't use Explosion this time? Aqua and I will be with you, so there's no need for you to do something so destructive; you could rely on us more. Isn't that right, Aqua?"

Darkness turned towards Aqua who had been noisily slurping on an iced drink and elbowed her. "...?! Ah?! I mean, that's right, Megumin; you could totally count on me. Just try to make sure you've asked Darkness or Kazuma first, alright?"

"...Well, in any case, we should all probably get some rest before the competition."

"Really?" Kazuma interposed. "You guys are actually going for the prize money, then? Isn't the whole thing a cover for protecting Iris?"

"Of course we're going for the prize money," Aqua replied matter-of-factly. "Who'd be dumb enough to get into a competition without any reward?"

Darkness spoke. "While protecting Iris-sama is indeed the most important part of this, Kazuma, don't forget that this is something she's personally wished for."

"That's right." I added myself to the conversation. "If we don't give it our all, it'd be an affront to Iris."

"You're definitely an exception to that," He said with knit brows.

"In any case," Darkness continued, " I'm sure she's expecting much from us."

"That's probably a pretty big mistake."

I glared at him. "I'll have you know that we're more than capable of taking on anyone."

Kazuma slumped over with a sigh, hand under his chin. "If that were even remotely true, we wouldn't have as many issues as we had. Not to mention, I wouldn't have to clean up after you guys half as often." He threw a glare in return. "Now that I think about it, how do you guys plan to win?"

"Are you insinuating something?!"

"There's no insinuation; I don't think you guys are well-rounded enough to beat a normal team."

I slammed my palm on the table. "Normal… Like an opponent labeled as such has a chance against us!"

"Aren't you getting full of yourself, you crummy hikiNEET?! Do you really think you're the reason for our string of victories?" Aqua flicked her hair pompously.

Kazuma looked off to the side. "Maybe I should sign up."

"Wha—No, that's unnecessary!" I yelled.

Kazuma raised a brow.

"I-I mean, we'll be fine." I cleared my throat. "I'll show you we can do this."

He sat up and stared at me suspiciously. "Is that really all you wanna show me?"

"Huh?! Y-You seem to be under the impression that there's more to it than this; let me assure you that isn't the case."

Kazuma continued to stare at me, and then, after what seemed like an eternity, let off a heavy sigh. "So, this is just about proving yourself to me, huh? Alright then, if that's the case, show me some good teamwork; one that doesn't involve making a giant hole in the ground… or for that matter, a localized disaster, or a questionable dip in my reputation," Kazuma said, shifting his view from me to Aqua and Darkness.

-A few hours after lunch…

KNOCK! KNOCK! "Megumin, it's time to wake up." It was Darkness.

I stirred awake with a stretch. "I'll be right out."

After straightening out my robes and grabbing my staff, I headed out to the living room where Darkness was waiting.

"Where's Aqua and Kazuma?" I asked.

"Kazuma was waking Aqua last time I checked."

The echo of Aqua's wailing could be clearly heard from where we stood. Trading looks, Darkness and I went to check what was going on.

"Come on already, you've slept enough!"

"I can't help it!" Aqua said. "My body always knows how many hours of sleep it needs; I can't go against instinct."

"Don't give me that crap! I know you're just being lazy. Now hurry and get up!"

"What gives you the right to say such things, you pesky hikiNEET?! Someone who lives such a sedentary lifestyle wouldn't know about the need for purposeful sleep."

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting, you hag?! Now come on! Don't make me give you mud therapy!" Kazuma latched onto Aqua and began pulling her off the bed.

"Ahhhh, stop it! I don't feel like it anymore!" Aqua wailed, her arms wrapped tightly against the bedpost. "I'm sleepy and my stomach hurts!"

"You can't even get sick! Stop being stupid and let go of the post, you idiot! Weren't you eager to compete in this?!" Kazuma yelled as he pulled on Aqua's legs.

"D-Daarknesss! Megumin! Help! Get this goddess-defiling NEET off of me!"

"Oi! Don't joke around! Even if I were, you wouldn't even make the list!"

"Aqua," Darkness said as we calmly watched the both of them try to repel the other's efforts, "we should really get a move on; the tournament's going to begin soon."

"I don't care! I don't—"

I interrupted. "Aqua, I hope you didn't forget what's at stake here."

Suddenly, both Kazuma and her stopped struggling.

"What's at stake?" They said.

I smirked proudly. "Our reputation as the party who defeated the Demon King and his army."

Aqua knit her brow. "Like I care about—"

"And money."

Part 3

"When is this thing starting?! Didn't they say it was soon?!"

Kazuma frowned as we stood amongst the crowd of participants. "Oi, would you can it? A few minutes ago you were clinging to the side of your bed like your life depended on it."

"When did a hikiNEET like you become so sensible?! Stop acting responsible and go back to being the carpet-dwelling weevil you usually are!"

"C' mere!"

While Kazuma and Aqua began fighting, a woman stood up on a set of crates and spoke. In her hand was a voice-amplifying magic device. "Excuse me! Will those participating in the competition please move through the gates?"

Suddenly, the crowd slowly churned to life as people began to part with each other. The sound of voices giving farewells, laughs, and encouragement could be heard mixed with the noise of mass migration.

Aware of the situation, Kazuma shoved Aqua away from him, and straightened himself out. "Ugh... Guess this is it... Go and do your best." He quickly looked at me. "Except you. You just stay behind Darkness and go for—"

"I understand." Kazuma stared at me dubiously, and stuck his hand out. "I-I said I got it!"

"Don't worry, Kazuma," Darkness said, "I'll make sure to keep things in check."

"Hey, you don't have to say it like I'm some sort of loose cannon!"

Darkness smiled wryly.

"Oi, you, try not to be useless," Kazuma said, pointing at Aqua.

Before she could retort, Aqua was pulled along by Darkness. "Alright, Aqua, let's get going," She said with a smile.

As we approached the gate, Aqua looked back, and in her final act of defiance, stuck her tongue out at Kazuma.

A few minutes of walking later, we arrived at an enclosure with several large tents in it. The same woman who gave the instructions earlier appeared on a stage near the entrance.

"Everyone, please listen!" She said, speaking through the amplification device once more.

The crowd, who were busy taking in their surroundings, shifted their attention to the lady in question.

"Welcome to the first-ever, Royal Belzerg Competition. If you'd take a look around, you'll notice there's a number of large tents; these will be your quarters. Now please take a look to my right. On it, you'll find your group name if you signed up with others or just your own name if you registered solo. Now," she said, "please turn your attention to the pot in front of me."

We did so.

"In this pot are the names of each contestant as well as the name of your group. I will call out the names I pull, and I want that individual or group to come up. These are name tags. You will place them somewhere on your torso where it can be easily seen. If you are in a group, both tags have to be displayed at all times during the competition. Failure to follow this rule will mean immediate disqualification."

There were some murmurs of discontent amongst the groups. Despite this, the lady went on to call names and pass out the tags; after nearly an hour, everyone present had one.

"Now then, since everyone has their name tags, we'll move on to the second half." She cleared her throat calmly, and then went on to explain. "Perhaps the most astute of you would've noticed, but there aren't nearly enough tents for all of you."

Mentioning this caused everyone to look at the tents in question; indeed, a mere glance would have revealed that to be the case.

"As such, the first thing that has to be done is allocating these quarters."

Almost instantly I tensed up. Several others from the surrounding groups did the same, their eyes darting from one target to the next in anticipation.

"Selections will begin shortly, however, I need all of you to move to the other gate on the far end and through the pathway. See you all on the other side."

Once she finished, the atmosphere grew thick with tension. Even as we were herded through the pathway, people continued to look suspiciously at one another; they were sizing each other up, and I, myself, did the same.

Eventually we exited out into the main plaza of the capital. The configuration was set up in much the same way the award ceremony was, the majority of it being cut off from the rest of the capital. On the sides, and behind the barriers, were the crowds of people looking anxiously for all of this to start, the nonparticipants and witnesses to the soon-to-be ensuing chaos.

I instinctively looked for Kazuma, but the sheer number of people made this all but possible. In my search for him, I noticed at the top of the steps and sitting upon a throne was Iris. To her side was the First Prince and right behind her were both Claire and Rain. I, with my strong aptitude to magic, saw a light sheen reflecting in front of Iris; it was a barrier, and a powerful one at that.

Suddenly, Iris stood up. "Everyone, thank you for coming!" She said. Needless to say, her voice was also being amplified. "I created this competition to find powerful individuals to help serve our Kingdom in its future, but mostly, because I wanted everyone to share in the happiness I feel today. Even if we're competing against each other, we do so on friendly terms. So, as someone important to me once said, gg have fun!"

The look on everyone's face expressed the same things... I really had to wonder, what was that man teaching Iris?

After Iris said that odd phrase, she sat down once more.

"Everyone!" The instructor onee-san was back, this time standing on a raised platform behind the physical barriers surrounding the plaza. "The first phase is about to begin. Please prepare yourselves, it will be a wide elimination round. Elimination will be counted as incapacitation, forfeiture, or the removal of name tags. The last fifteen groups to avoid this will advance to the next stage. Also, don't worry about damages to the surrounding area; once we begin, the entire area beyond these barriers will be spatially separated from the rest."

"Wide area-of-effect spatial magic? Only an Archmage would be capable of such a feat… Even then, to be able to separate such a large area…"

As these thoughts crossed my mind, the onee-san yelled, "Go!" announcing the start of the round. In an instant, we were assailed by random combatants, and those too were attacked by others until the whole plaza was reminiscent of a war torn battlefield. Spells of all kinds flew in different directions, arrows from bows, clenched fists into faces and bodies; it was a veritable free-for-all, nothing about this suggested safety or teamwork.

"Ahhh, what's going on?!" Aqua wailed from behind the safety of Darkness.

I stared at the carnage happening around us and noticed something startling. "No… No one's...dying."

Darkness and Aqua looked around, and seconds later, came to the same realization. I had no idea what type of magic would be able to prevent death on such a large scale, but whatever the case, this was good; it meant we could fight our hardest without having to worry about ending the lives of others.

"Darkness!" I yelled as an adventurer closed in on her.

Darkness quickly threw up her guard, but in that split moment I noticed the man wasn't going for an attack.

"The tag!" I yelled.

She tried to veer away from the man's outstretched hands, but it was too late—he was already too close.

"Gotcha!" He shouted happily, his hands making contact with the bottom of her armor.

BAM! The top of my staff crashed upon the adventurer's head with a resounding bonk. Even though death was not a possibility, I felt a shred of guilt as he collapsed to the ground.

"M-Megumin…don't you think that was little…"

"N-No time to worry about that!" I replied, keeping a sharp lookout. "What to do?" I wondered.

The cacophony of noise and the stress of everything around us made it difficult for me to think.

"Darkness! Megumin! Do something, you two!" Aqua yelled.

"Ahhhh, what to do?! Explosion! That's right, I'll cast Explosion! I'll blow everything away! Wait, no, I—"

"ME-GU-MIN, why are you just standing there?! Help us!" Aqua's shrill screaming broke me out of my thoughts.

"Ahhhh, forgive me, Kazuma! EXPLO—"

A blast echoed throughout the plaza, but it wasn't from any spell; it came from a horn blown by one of the organizers. "Round one is complete!"

"Com...plete?" The first round was over? "Huh?!" I shouted in astonishment.

Complete?! B-But I didn't even get a chance to do anything significant! My chance at an amazing performance was snatched right from under me.

I heard Darkness and Aqua sigh in relief. Then Darkness turned towards Aqua and me. "We made it," She said, smiling.

Yes, 'we made it', but I didn't want to—not like this.

I let out a disappointed huff, and then listened as the organizer—who was now a man—spoke.

"Congratulations to you all who are victorious. You've earned the right to continue in the competition as well as the right to your own quarters. To those of you who were collecting tags, please hold on to them. Now, if you all would, please return to the previous area."

I was still stunned at the brevity of the round; it all happened so fast. Were hundreds of people really eliminated in a matter of minutes? After we made it back to the previous area, the attendant told us we were free to choose our tents and take an hour rest. Because I was still in deep contemplation over the last round, I found myself running into Darkness' back.

"Ah!"

"Ow!"

"Megumin."

"Um, sorry."

"What's wrong, Megumin? Do you have to use the bathroom?" Aqua asked.

"N-No! I… I was just… nevermind. We should pick our tent."

"Right," Darkness said in agreement.

Although they appeared to be simple structures on the outside, the inside of these tents were anything but. They used similar magic to the "instant house" magic item—though not quite to the same extent. In spite of this, it was large enough to fit several people in it. If I had to give a number, I would say half the remaining contestants could comfortably fit in one, around twenty or so.

"I call dibs on the largest room," Aqua said as soon as we stepped in. She quickly browsed the selection of rooms, and occupied the one she deemed to be the largest. "I'm going to take a nap. See you guys later."

The door to the room closed shut before we could say anything.

"Megumin," Darkness said, turning to me.

"Hmm?"

"We should get some rest while we can, no?"

We didn't even get a chance to do much, so what was the point in resting? Despite feeling this way, I shrugged.

"You can rest if you'd like, Darkness. I'm going to do a bit of investigating."

"Investigating? What are you going to investigate, Megumin?"

"A few things," I replied, pulling back the front flap out of the tent. "I'll be back before the next round."

"Ehhh? Megumin!"

-Meanwhile…

While I waited for the competition to resume, I visited one of the food stalls. The image of what just happened was still fresh in my mind. It made me recall the insanity that was the battle between the Demon King's daughter, Arateia and the forces of Belzerg. I shuddered slightly. Despite the amazingness of it all, I still count that time as one of my most traumatic; thoughts related to it could do nothing but uncover these tender scars.

"Excuse me, sir, are you in—Kazuma-dono?"

"Rain? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same; aren't you supposed to be participating in the tournament?"

"Eh...ahem… Say, isn't Iris supposed to be with you?"

"Don't try to deflect my question, Kazuma-dono. You were supposed to be part of the competitors, what happened? Did you suddenly get cold feet?"

"D-Don't be ridiculous… Have you seen the participants? How could you ask me to fight against such people?"

"So it is an issue. Having defeated the Demon King, normal adventurers should be something akin to fighting Neroids, wouldn't they?"

I cleared my throat loudly. "You said it yourself, Rain-san…"

Rain knit her brow. "You know Hime-sama is looking forward to seeing you fight?"

"She is?"

"She is."

Ah, my cute little sister was expecting grand things from her brother. I couldn't really let her down—especially not on her birthday.

"Then here, give her this; tell her it's from her favorite brother."

"...What is this? Is it a half-eaten crepe?!" Rain quickly tossed it into a nearby bin. "I see. Guess I'll have to tell Hime-sama and his Highness that her esteemed…'brother' and hero is unwilling to display his prowess for them."

"Oi, oi, come on, you know better than to blackmail me. Should I remind you that you and White-suit have—"

"No, no, it's fine!" Rain retorted nervously. "Please forget what I said." After a moment, she let out a deep sigh. "Hime-sama is expecting your participation though...quite eagerly might I add."

Her saying this gave me a feeling of both happiness and dread. "T-Then tell her to expect her brother to make an appearance soon."

"Kazuma-dono, I don't think you understand; the tournament has already started. How in Eris' name do you think you'll be able to participate?"

Oh… She made a good point.

I cleared my throat once more, and then put on a confident grin. "D-Don't worry about it; just leave it to me."

"...Haaaah." Rain sighed once more. "Very well, Kazuma-dono... I'm also amazed you allowed your party members to take part without you."

"Actually, they were pretty adamant about it."

"They were?"

Well, one in particular…

"Anyway, what are you still hanging around here for? Aren't you supposed to be protecting Iris-chan?"

"Hime-sama… And you're right, I should get back." She walked over to the crepe vendor and ordered one made of strawberries. After receiving her order, she turned to me and said, "Have a good day, Kazuma-dono; Hime-sama will be watching closely."

Rain walked off leaving me alone once more…or so I thought. I had purposely chosen this quiet spot in the marketplace so I could gather myself, but it seems the spot was more popular than I originally believed.

"Kazuma-san?"

"Ah, um, Anne-san, right?" She smiled. "Funny running into you again; I thought you were with Kirby."

"Oh no, I decided to watch from the sidelines." She giggled. "You see, Kazuma-san, I'm not a very good fighter. I feel if I went with Kirby, I'd only hold him back."

Despite her saying this, I couldn't help but notice her physique. Although I wouldn't put it on the same level as Darkness', it was still quite toned, suggesting she exercised quite regularly or enjoyed some arduous activity.

"Oh? By the way, he never mentioned how good of a fighter he is. I still can't believe he managed to take out so many."

Anne smiled again, but seemed closer to a sneer. "Still nowhere near your level of prowess I assume?"

"Eh, well…" I scratched my head and smiled stupidly.

I wasn't used to such praise, and to be honest, it felt nice. It felt nice to be acknowledged as a powerful and notable individual...especially when it came from such a pretty lady.

"Kazuma-san."

"Hmm?"

"Do you have a significant other?"

…...Huh?

-Back at the tournament grounds…

"Such a strong-looking bunch," I thought to myself.

The remaining contestants all looked like seasoned adventurers—and they likely had to be, they survived that chaos. Well...a few of them. Scanning through the ones outside their quarters, I found one who appeared to be quite weak. While the majority of men here sported some kind of scar or manly feature, this one barely appeared to be outside his teens. That being said, I wasn't stupid; looks could be decieving. I, myself, was a fine example to this old adage.

I decided to approach the man.

"Excuse me."

"Hmm? Oh, you're… A little girl. How'd you get in here? Did you wander away from your parents?"

I desperately held back my urge to correct his wrong impression.

"…...I'm one of the participants. My given name is Megumin. What is yours, stranger?"

"...Megumin?"

"What's with that pause? Do you find something strange with my name?"

"Ah, n-no… You must be a Crimson Demon. My name is Kirby," He said, pointing to the tag on his chest. "Plum Kirby. Nice to meet you, little—um, Megumin-san. Erm, is there a reason why you're talking to me?"

"Of course. I simply wanted to ask how do you feel about the competition?"

"The competition?" He said, rubbing his chin. After a few seconds of this, he shrugged, displaying a playful smile. "I'd hardly call it a competition."

He lifted his hand, revealing the fistful of name tags bursting through his fingers.

Needless to say, I was shocked at the sight, but immediately recomposed myself. "H-How… How many do you have there?"

"Huh, uh… Hmmm, I'm not really sure, but I stopped counting after twenty."

"Twen...ty… Huh…"

How was this possible? How could I misjudge this man so much? Were the others similar?

I silently gulped. We only managed to take one person down in that entire time… And even then, we forgot to grab his name tag.

"Hey, Megumin-san," Kirby-san said, in the momentary lapse.

"Twenty… Twenty tags… O-Oh, yes?"

"You know...we're technically enemies."

"…I-I'm aware."

He stared at me with a raised brow, and then smiled once more. "Such things don't matter to you, huh? Say, did you happen to sign up with some other girls?"

As I was about to answer, I stopped. The point of me coming over to do this was to gather some information on who we were going up against. If I shared information on our group, it could put us in a precarious position.

"...So you're choosing to stay silent. I see." He nodded. "Not a bad decision. But, hey, could you answer me this, at least?"

I raised my brow in acknowledgment.

"How many tags did you get?"

I felt a shock run up my spine. "I... I-I guess you could say I forgot to keep count," I replied, trying my hardest to show my best grin.

"...that so?" He continued to stare at me with a serious expression, and then sighing, relaxed some. "Seems I'll have to be on the lookout for Megumin-san in the future."

"R-Right! Well, I'll be on my—"

"By the way…you're an Archmage, right?"

"I am," I replied succinctly.

"An Archmage from the Crimson Demons… Must mean you're pretty skilled; the fact that you're standing in front of me tells me this much as well. Can I just ask you this? What's the strongest magic you—"

"EXPLOSION!" I answered without hesitation. "Explosion… The best and most powerful magic. There's no need for anything else."

"...E-Explosion? As in—"

"As in the Explosion Spell."

"From the family of Explosion, right? Like Blast or Deto—"

"Explosion!" I yelled, pointing my staff at him.

With arms held in defense, Kirby-san stepped back. "E-Explosion, I get it…" He smiled nervously, quickly clearing his throat thereafter. "W-Well, Megumin-san, we should probably get some rest before the next event. I'll see you later."

As I stared at him, Kirby-san waved, and went on his way.

-Elsewhere…

"E-Excuse me?"

"You have someone important to you, don't you, Kazuma-san? You must," Anne said, pointing at my hand.

I peered in the direction. Ah, the ring… So, that's what she meant…

"Uh… Yeah… I'm a married man." Still felt a bit awkward to say that...

For some reason, Anne's face lit up with an even greater smile. "Really?!" She drew her face dangerously close to my own, and asked, "What's she like, your wife?"

Close, this girl was too close. I was feeling my nerves jolting from the tenseness. In spite of the fact that I lived around a bunch of females, it didn't help; not that I expected it to. Besides Megumin, the other two didn't provoke any such feelings...hell, even Megumin normally didn't. Fact of the matter is, I was still just as vulnerable to a pretty girl as I've ever been.

"Uh…" How could I describe Megumin in a way that didn't embarrass me? "She's uh, um…"

"Forget that. How does she look?"

"How does she—"

"Yes! How does she look?!" She asked in a desperate tone.

Uh-oh... My weirdo sensor was going off. I backed away a bit. "Um, Anne-san, any reason you wanna know that?"

"Ah? Oh, well…" She began twiddling her fingers, and then quickly hid them behind her back.

I raised a brow in suspicion, and then realized exactly why this beautiful woman was so adamant.

"Ah, so Anne-san is interested in girls, I see. It's a bit of a shame—"

"N-No!" She yelled, flailing her arms wildly. "You numbskull, where'd you…"

…

"I mean… Ahem… That's not it, Kazuma-san."

This behavior… This sharp outburst… It reminded me so much of a certain false Priest I once lodged with; the stupid front she showed to everyone around her.

"Hey, Anne-san...if that's even your real name, you wouldn't happen to be part of a Devil King's Army...would you?"

At me saying this, she froze, her eyes widening in shock. A moment later she giggled, saying, "Oh, Kazuma-san, you have such an odd sense of humor. Of course not."

No, of course not...just like Serena, an agent of the Demon King wouldn't just tell me. Drawing from that past experience, I decided to ease up on the questioning. Even if I found out the truth, I was in a bad spot. The fact that I chose such a quiet place meant that, should this turn into a fight, I'd be going against a Demon King's General...by myself…

I laughed along. "Haha, of course not." And then I turned away.

"Kazuma-san," Anne said in a deathly sweet tone, her hands grasping my shoulders. "Just to be clear, if I were a Demon King's General—which I'm not, do you really believe I'd simply allow you to leave?"

I stiffened up, and laughing nervously, replied, "It's a good thing you're not then, Anne-san, right?"

This was a bad situation—no, a terrible situation, but…

"You see, Anne-san, if you were, then it'd just mean you'd be alone with the hero who slayed a Demon King." I felt the grip on my shoulders weaken. "That's not to mention all the Generals who served him as well. I mean...if you were—hypothetically speaking—a Demon King's General, this would probably be a pretty bad situation for you."

…

"Ahahahahaha!" Both of us started laughing, then I felt her grip tighten once more.

"If I were a Demon King's General, that'd just mean I'd have to kill you before you had a chance to retaliate," She said, still in the midst of our laughter.

I replied in kind. "Ah, Anne-san, that'd be a pretty stupid move. After all, you'd be assuming it was just us two alone."

…

Laughter broke out between us once again, but it was apparent there were hostile intentions hidden amongst it.

She patted my shoulders roughly, our uneasy laughter continuing.

"Oh, Kazuma-san… What a good roleplayer you are; I often imagined what an encounter between an agent of a Demon King and the hero would be like."

"Ah, so that's it. Anne-san simply wanted to roleplay. If that's all, you could've just said so."

With her laughter dying down, she replied, "I was too embarrassed to ask. Really, Kazuma-san, for a married man you sure lack tact."

"Oi." I chuckled a bit. "Well, I'd say the same...if you were a Demon King's General."

…

We stared at each other, and then once again, laughed. This time, however, it was fairly tame and charged with hostility.

"Well, Kazuma-san, I'll be on my way. Thanks for humoring my little act."

"Umu." I gave her an overbearingly sweet smile. "No problem, Demon King General, Anne-san."

She laughed haughtily, and then walked off.

Part 4

After waiting a couple minutes to make sure Anne was gone, I walked around the marketplace. I stopped at fairly crowded booths, making small talk with the vendors and guards. Then, as I headed back to the tournament grounds, I made various twists and turns to make it difficult to track me; of course, I had no idea whether this was effective or not, but I've seen it plenty of times in manga and TV shows back in Japan.

When I finally got back, the second round was about to begin.

If Anne was a Demon King's General it'd mean that Kirby was probably one as well. The girls were in trouble, but more importantly, so was Iris-chan.

I knew that in a straight fight, there was nobody who could beat her, but with two Demon King agents out there, if not more, a surprise attack could prove effective, as past events had clearly shown.

I needed to get this information to Claire. Despite my strong feelings against her, I knew—at the very least—she had Iris' wellbeing in mind.

As this was going through my mind, the sound of her voice rang out in my head.

"Kazuma-dono, what are you doing here?"

Was I really that desperate to find her?

"Kazuma-dono!"

Her voice sounded louder, like it was nearby… No, right beside me.

"Hello, you! I'm speaking to you!"

"Huh? White-suit?"

"What are you doing here, Kazuma-dono?"

"Nevermind that," I said, pulling her through the crowd. "Boy, am I glad to see you."

"W-What's that supposed to mean?" She said with a squeak in her voice.

When we finally got clear of the viewing area, Claire snatched her arm away. With her usual affectionless tone, she said, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be participating in the tournament, you unscrupulous fool!"

"Forget about that," I said, looking around anxiously.

"What? How could I possibly do so?!"

"I have something important I need to tell you."

Suddenly I heard her gasp loudly. When I looked up, Claire was holding a hand over her mouth, her face a light shade of red.

"K-Kazuma-dono, y-you dog… Just what type of woman do you take me for? I'm a lady of House Symphonia," Claire remarked, correcting her posture with sharp mannerisms.

"Huh? What are you—"

"A man with common blood, even if they are acknowledged by the royalty, isn't suitable for our House."

Hearing her say this made me wonder just what kind of absurd criteria must you even fulfill?

"Are you serious?"

"Quite. In fact, you could do with a bit of it yourself, being wedded to Megumin-dono and all."

"Maybe it's time to reconsider that polygamy policy of yours."

"A-As if I'd ever consider you a candidate for marriage!"

"Then I guess we're both in agreement."

The shocked Claire stared at me like she lost more than just a piece of her pride, but true to her nature, she quickly recovered.

"What's the purpose of this, then? Why did you drag me out here alone?" Then her eyes widened once more. She took a step back. "You… You don't mean to try and finish me off?! I'll have you know that House Symphonia—"

"Just shut up and listen for a moment."

Claire cleared her throat, and placed a glaring gaze upon me. "Go on, Kazuma-dono, you better have a good excuse."

"I do. I have reason to believe agents of the Demon King are targeting Iris."

Claire stared at me in shock once more. A moment later, her expression changed to one befitting a disciplined royal retainer.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, not entirely," I replied, prompting a disappointed look on her face. "But, I have a strong feeling about it."

There was silence between us, the sounds of cheering and shouting going on in the background; the second round had officially begun.

"Very well," She eventually said. "I've no reason to doubt you on such matters."

"Glad we're on the same page. Now, where's Iris?"

"His Highness and Rain are currently with her. I'll sound the alarm and lockdown—"

"No. There's a chance you could push them into acting."

Claire bit her lip. "Tch... You're right. Honestly, that's surprisingly perceptive coming from you."

"Is this really the time for such cheap comments?"

"Hm, apologies, Kazuma-dono, you're right. We must get to Iris-sama immediately."

As Claire turned, I replied, "No."

"What? What are you talking about?!"

"You go."

"I don't understand. What are you going to do? Are you planning something outrageous?!"

This aggravating woman… Why did she have to be so disagreeable?

"Do you really expect me to run to Iris' side without some sort of plan? Look, go take care of Iris; I'll try and expose the Demon King's agents in the meantime."

"A distraction then?" Claire fell silent.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. Just that my opinion of you might be slightly skewed."

What was this woman talking about?

"Is that all? You can reconcile your feelings for me later, White-suit, just make sure you don't end up useless like last time."

"You!" Still slightly fuming from my remark, Claire took a deep breath. "...Good luck, Kazuma-dono."

After she disappeared into the city, I turned towards my immediate concern.

-The second round…

"Aqua, remember, all you have to do is pump enough water and we'll be able to win this round."

She displayed a proud smile. "I got it, Megumin. As the Goddess of Water, something like this is child's play! There's no way we can lose this."

"Aqua, d-don't say such things! You're definitely raising a flag!"

"Stop talking like Kazuma. That hikiNEET always gets the wrong idea!"

As Aqua walked up to the event grounds, I thought about the event itself. To our luck, it had nothing to do with combat, this round was all about doing manual labor.

As the announcer had described it, the first round doubled as a way to whittle down the large number of contestants and test our strengths. The ones who passed this culling were apparently good enough to be assets to the future of the Kingdom…or so it was said.

While the first round's event was chaotic and intense, the second was the complete opposite by comparison. One simply had to use whatever means to drain a large tank of water into an empty basin.

This is where the tags from the first round came into play. Items, or more precisely, tools were available for purchase by using them. Since we failed to acquire a single tag, we were left to use the default tool, a hand pump.

Essentially, victory was decided by moving the most amount of water in the shortest amount of time. Luckily, we had our secret weapon.

Aqua cracked her neck and knuckles loudly as she stood before the rickety pump. Then, she fell into silent concentration.

…

Before the murmurs grew too restless, Aqua opened her eyes and yelled, "Behold the power of a goddess!"

…And nothing happened.

The momentary lapse of mutterings and hushed whispers started up once more, and then began growing in intensity.

"Aqua, what's going on?" I said, staring at her frantic expression.

"Ahhhh, I-I have no idea! I know I gave it my all!"

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble causing everyone to look around in confusion.

"W-What's happening?" "Is it an earthquake?!" I heard a few people say. I too wondered, but not a moment sooner, the answer presented itself.

The handle at the top of the pump shot clean into the sky as a jet of water blasted through its tiny valve. Seconds after this, the entire floor beneath the pump, along with Aqua, gave way to the torrent. Without a doubt, the entirety of the tank was cleaned out. The mass of water that ascended to the heavens, quickly came down with its goddess in tow.

"Whaaaaaaaaaa────────!"

SPLASH!

"Erm…" The announcer stared pitifully at Aqua who sat crying in the large tub. "Ahem… Judges, what are your scores?"

The panel of judges, which consisted of some manual laborers, looked amongst each other. After muttering something in private, they looked back at the announcer.

The first judge held up a 5. "The method she used was quite a spectacle. I enjoyed it… But most of the water ended up on the floor and not in the designated area. I give her a 5 out of 10."

The second judge nodded in agreement. "I agree with the first judge. Also, she broke the pump and made a large hole in the ground as well. I give her a 4."

Ugh… We're in a pinch. There's only a single judge left to make his call, and we only have 9 out of 30 possible points.

Everyone looked to the final judge, who then raised her sign. "11 out of 10."

"11!? Who could possibly—C-Cecily Onee-san?! What's she doing here?!"

"Wait, who are you?" The first judge said. "Where's the other judge?"

"What are you talking about? I'm one of the judges," She said happily.

"No you're not!" The second judge retorted. "Hey, someone get this woman out of here!"

As the guards began to encroach on her, Cecily onee-san quickly got to her feet and angrily yelled, "Who here is more qualified to give grade to Aqua-sama's miracles?! No one, that's who! Only a member of the Axis Order could understand the beauty of what just happened!"

"Axis Cult?! You're an Axis Cultist?!" The first judge said incredulously.

"No wonder she's a nutcase," The second remarked, pressing a palm to his head.

This wasn't looking good.

Cecily Onee-san went on, the guards slowly trying to surround her. "You all are judging these gracious acts by your own meaningless standards! You should all just shut up and be happy that Aqua-sama's blessed waters have rained upon your heads! Blessed, I say! You've all been blessed and didn't even pay a single eris! Cough it up! Cough up the money you rightfully owe us!"

Finally, the guards pounced on her.

"Ah! Ah! Stop! Don't touch me there, you heathen!"

"S-Shut up! I'm not touching you anywhere!"

"Ah, molester! Someone help! I'm being violently molested by a group of burly men! Heeelp!"

…

Even though I wasn't linked to this situation, I couldn't help but feel embarrassed, and brought the rim of my hat low.

In the whole commotion, Aqua made her way back to us, all the while still sobbing intermittently.

"Uhhh, well..." The announcer coughed quietly. "We apologize for that interruption. Since the final judge has gone missing, I'll go ahead and give group 'Devil Slayer' 5 points as well, bringing their total to 14."

"14 points?" I groaned in disappointment.

Meanwhile, Darkness, who was fairly silent all this time, rubbed her chin in thought. "14 points, huh? That's pretty low. It seems unlikely that we'll be able to continue at this rate."

As I prepared for defeat, the next group came up. Their chosen walked up to the large hole, and then glanced back at his companions. Shifting his view to the tournament announcer, he posed a question.

"Umm, what am I supposed to do?"

Right, destroying both the reservoir and the pump made it seemingly impossible to continue.

Upon the realization, the announcer turned to one of his colleagues and began discussing the alternative. After a few seconds, he turned to the bewildered contender.

"Contestant, please use the hole in place of the tank. The objective remains the same, move the water from the hole to the basin as fast as you can."

"B-But there's no pump and we don't have enough tags to afford a tool!"

"Apologies. Since the default tool was destroyed, we'll provide you with an alternative."

A moment later, a staff member came with a small wooden bucket and placed it in front of the contestant.

"A bucket?! Are you serious?! This is unfair! The other teams had a pump at least; we're getting shafted! The group that destroyed all this should be disqualified."

This bastard!

"Hey!" I yelled. "You got a problem with us?!"

He turned towards me. "What was that, you runt?!"

"Runt, huh? Why don't I show you exactly what this runt's capable of?"

As I prepared to display my awesome powers, I was stopped by Darkness.

"Sir," the announcer said, "you're being timed, you know?"

"What?!"

I sneered. "You better get on your way before you end up losing to this runt."

Seemingly spurred on by my taunt, the man went to work draining the hole. After what amounted to several minutes, he finished. The length of time he took was easily several times our own, but the quality was miles ahead.

5, the first judge gave… 5, the second…

"Ah, Darkness, this seems bad," I said, squeezing my staff in anticipation.

"I give him a 4. Although he managed to complete the objective, he did so way too slowly. If this were a plot on my farm, half my crops would've died from lack of water."

Although I felt the oji-san was exaggerating, I silently applauded his decision.

The tournament announcer spoke. "Team Wraith Hunters and Team Devil Slayer are both tied for points, which means a tie breaker event."

A staff member brought over a pot with several papers in it. The announcer dug his hand into the pot, and withdrew one of the small slips.

"The tie-breaking event will be...Rock-paper-scissors! A classic game which requires ample luck and foresight. Alright teams, please choose your contestant."

I sighed. "Rock-paper-scissors… If only Kazuma were here."

Aqua tossed her hair back pompously, and then crossed her arms. She stuck her chest out proudly and wore a smile to match. "If it's an event dealing with luck I have this in the bag, you guys. Don't worry, Goddess Aqua will resolve all your troubles."

Oh no, if Aqua was getting involved with this...

"Alright, teams, I hope you've made your choices. Please have your chosen participants take the stage."

"Blessing." Aqua buffed herself.

"Sorry, buffs are not allowed!" The announcer revealed. "Please, choose another participant."

"HUH?! Wait! No one said anything about—"

"Alright, team Devil Slayer, please make your selection quickly."

Guh… Between myself and Darkness I would probably count myself luckier...if only by a bit, but to be fair, our luck wasn't anything to write home about; if our opponent was even remotely average, they'd have us beat.

"I'll be one to fight for this team's honor!" A man wearing a devilishly cool mask and dark attire said.

"Ka—" I quickly held my tongue, but that was undeniably Kazuma… No, it was the Masked Thief of the Silver-haired Thieving Band.

"Who's that weirdo?" Aqua whispered to us.

Darkness and I exchanged looks, and then took a few steps away from Aqua.

"What's Kazuma doing here? Did you call him over?" She asked.

"No, of course not. I'm as surprised as you are."

"That idiot. What's he thinking dressing up like that in the capital; he's a wanted criminal."

Despite this being true, I could note the smile on my face and the warmness in my chest.

Before I noticed, Kazuma was standing face to face with the other group's choice.

"Ha, you're pretty unlucky to have matched up against me," The man said with a grin.

Kazuma said nothing, he simply replied with a grin of his own.

"This will be a best of five. Contestants ready? When I give the go ahead, please present your choices. Ok, here we go! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

…

"Rock and paper. One point for team Devil Slayer."

Our opponent was visibly discouraged. Frowning, he commented, "Beginner's luck."

"Ah, must've been," Kazuma replied, his grin still present.

"Scissors beats paper; another point for team Slayer. Just one more and team Slayer takes the game. Ready? …Shoot!"

…

"Oh, both drew 'rock'. No points. Ready?"

Rock, paper, paper, scissors, rock, scissors, scissors, paper, rock. They kept going, but there was no winner, Kazuma continued to draw. In spite of this, the small smirk he sported just minutes earlier was now a full-on smile. In contrast, the other team's guy was clearly upset, gritting his teeth in response to Kazuma's expression. Finally, he snapped.

"This is bullshit! He's clearly cheating! There's no way anyone would draw so many times in a row."

"Ah, really?" Kazuma queried. "Don't you mean, there's no way someone couldn't score a single point so many times in a row?"

"Guh! Bastard, you think you're such hot shit? Hey, I call cheats on this guy. Someone check him; I refuse to play until you do."

The announcer sighed. "Normally we'd accept that as meaning you forfeit; however, we're a bit surprised as well."

With a nodding gesture, a staff member came up to Kazuma and used a magic item that detected abnormal statuses and buffs. After passing it over him a few times, nothing happened. Shrugging at the announcer, the staff member left the stage.

"Nothing malicious has been found. It seems our contestant is just really lucky."

"What? That's impossible! Come on! Clearly, there's something wrong with your device; I'm sure it's busted or something."

In order to satisfy the contestant's issue, a staff member checked Kazuma again, this time with another magic item…and again, they found nothing.

"Sorry, your opponent appears to be playing with a full deck. So, with that said, let's get this over with. Contestants ready? ...Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

"Dammit!"

"And it's a win for team Devil Slayer!"

Upon winning the challenge, Kazuma returned to us...where Darkness promptly pulled him off to the side.

"What's the meaning of this, you imbecile?!" She whispered harshly. "Do you realize what you're doing?"

"Hey, would you relax?"

"Are you really asking me to do something so impossible?! What am I supposed to say when they come for your head?!"

Using his girliest voice, Kazuma replied, "Don't hurt the man I'm madly obsessed with."

Unsurprisingly, Darkness grabbed him by the neck.

"H-Hold on, Darkness," I said, butting in between them. I turned to Kazuma. "Kazuma, why are you here? Didn't I say we could handle this ourselves?"

Suddenly Kazuma brandished a serious expression. He took a quick glance at Darkness, and then put more distance between us and her.

"Listen," he said, "Iris might be in trouble."

"Huh?!"

He quickly covered my mouth.

"Shhh…"

I nodded, and he slowly let go.

"That's not all. There might be a Demon King General here. I'm actually pretty sure about it."

"What?!"

"Oi! Shhh!"

"Sorry… Actually, Kazuma, I think I know who it is; I might've met him already."

"Wait, really?"

I nodded. "His name is Kirby, right?"

Even though the mask covered his face, I could tell the expression underneath was genuine surprise.

He smirked. "Honestly… That's right, his name is Kirby. There's another person with him though; she's going by the name, 'Anne'."

"Anne? Hmmm… No, I can't say I've heard her name before."

"Megumin," Aqua called out with a sweet tone to her voice.

I looked back to see her waving me over.

"One sec, Kazuma."

When I walked over, I was pulled into a circle with a rather nervous Darkness.

"Aqua, what—"

"Shhhh! Not so loud, Megumin." As she said this, her eyes darted over to Kazuma. "Do you know who that guy is?"

"Umm…"

"I have a brilliant idea," She said with gleaming eyes. "You know how we took on this competition for money, right?"

"Well, I mean—"

"Instead of doing something so difficult, a great opportunity presented itself. You see, that man is none other than the most wanted criminal in the Kingdom, the infamous Masked Thief. I say we capture him."

Both Darkness and I glanced at each other.

"Ehhhh…"

"Erm…"

"What's wrong with you two? Do you have any idea how much he's worth?! If we capture him we can forget about that stupid debt and this tournament."

"Well, about that, Aqua," Darkness said, nervously rubbing her arm.

"What is it, Darkness? You should be the first one to agree with my plan."

"Well…"

Seeing Darkness struggling, I decided to lend a helping hand.

"I refuse."

Aqua stared at me with an astounded expression. "Huh?! Why?! Darkness, help me reason with her!"

"A-Actually, Aqua, I think we shouldn't."

"What? Darkness, you too?! Seriously, what's gotten into you? Are you both experiencing some sort of unhealthy attraction to that criminal? I thought the only seedy male you both were attracted to is Kazuma."

"D-Don't make it sound like I have some odd interest!" I stammered. "You know I've always had an admiration for the Silver Haired Thieving Band. For one of it's prominent members to show up before me is something akin to a dream."

"Well, wake up! That man's a criminal… And worth a lot of money, so if you two won't help, I'll capture him myself. That also means I'm taking the bounty." After she said this, she glanced at us. "...Are you two really not gonna help me with this?!"

Before Darkness or I could answer, a loud horn sounded, marking the end of the second round.

Like the round before it, we were ushered back to the waiting area, this time however, with Kazuma in tow.

As we were walking back, Aqua placed herself behind Kazuma, no doubt in order to catch him. I wanted to do something to stop her, but I didn't know what. As I was wracking my brain for an answer, Aqua spoke.

"Hey, mister, thanks for the help back there," Aqua said with an overly sweet smile.

And for some reason, Kazuma played along. "Ah, don't worry about it, madam. Helping those in need is my primary mission. To do what must be done in order to protect those who can't, even if it may straddle the line between lawful and criminal."

"Fufufufu." Aqua chuckled haughtily. "To think that we'd be fortunate enough for someone so upstanding to help us. It almost seems too good to be true. Mister, why don't you enter our tent? I'd like to make you some tea in gratitude for your help."

"Ah, I don't know. I'm really busy, so I should be going."

"Nonsense," Aqua said, pushing Kazuma into the tent.

The moment we stepped in, Aqua threw him to the ground, pinning him under her.

"Hahaha! Got you, you criminal scum!" She cackled.

"Argh, wait!"

"Save your breath. If you think you can dissuade me from turning you in, you have another thing coming. Darkness, get me some rope; I know you must've brought some with you."

"W-Wait!"

"Didn't I say save your breath?!"

"But my pocket!"

"What about it?"

"The jewel worth billions of eris is—"

Kazuma had no time to finish before Aqua dug into his pocket. A second later she retrieved an odd-looking stone.

"Huh, what's—"

PLOP!

Aqua fell over, stiff as a board.

Part 5

"Ugh, can't believe that idiot actually tried to capture me," Kazuma said as he massaged his wrist.

The situation was as such, Kazuma and I were standing some distance away in another room while Darkness was busy trying to calm Aqua down. After her attempt to capture the "Masked Thief" failed, Kazuma wasted no time in tying her down. Since the skill, "Bind", could be dispelled, he did so manually.

"Where'd you even get that paralytic stone from?"

"I have it on hand just in case things get a little messy."

I shook my head in mild disbelief. "You know, you're starting to tarnish the view I have for the Masked Thief."

Suddenly, Aqua's voice shattered the meagre perception of calm in the air. "MEGUMIN! MEGUMIN! Get your butt in here! MEGUMIN⸻!"

"Hey," I said as I stepped into the room, "no need to be so loud, you know?"

Aqua thrashed about wildly, trying to break free from the chair she was confined to. "GET. ME. OFF OF THIS!" She flailed about once more, before she slumped over out of breath. "Why are you guys doing this?! Where is that thief?! ARRRRGGHHH!"

She kicked about once again, only to be out of breath seconds later.

"Calm down, Aqua," Darkness said, trying to assuage her apparent anger.

"Shut up, Darkness! ARRRGGH!" And yet again, Aqua began kicking around violently, however, after a few more minutes passed with no change in her position, she stopped. "*sniff* *sniff* you guys… you guys are mean… How can you do this to a goddess? Have you two no shame?"

"Well, I don't really subscribe to any denomination."

"And well… you know I'm a follower of Eris, Aqua."

"AHHHHH!" She thrashed around, yet again. "If you two don't untie me from this thing, I'll make sure to curse the both of you as well as that idiot, Kazuma!"

"Wait, you know it's Kazuma?"

"Of course I do! There's no way a stinky NEET like him could hide his misgivings from the eyes of a goddess! If you two understand that, then come and untie me already!"

Darkness and I exchanged doubtful glances.

"Well, I suppose there's no reason not to," I remarked.

I walked over and undid the binding around her.

To our genuine surprise, Aqua got up and calmly massaged her arms… then she cracked her neck… then her knuckles...loudly.

"Now, where is that hikiNEET?"

Almost as if by fate, Kazuma walked in. Upon seeing Aqua free from her binds, he froze.

"Ahem… I-I see… you're free… I was coming to do just that."

…

Aqua cracked her knuckles once more… And then, as expected, pounced on Kazuma.

"Ah, come on! Get off me!"

"What's with this stupid get up?!" Aqua said, trying to pull the mask from Kazuma's face. "Did you finally give in to your secret tendency to play dress-up?!"

"S-Shut up, I don't— Wait. You know it's me?"

"Like I told those other two, there's no way you can hide secrets from me. Who do you think you're dealing with?"

…

Aqua grabbed him by the collar. "Why are you looking away like that?!"

Perhaps sensing the same from us, she turned and saw Darkness and I carrying the same expression.

"W-Why do I get the sense you guys don't see me as a goddess?!"

…

A few minutes later, we were all sitting around the tea table in the living room area.

"And so that's the gist of it," Kazuma said, finishing his explanation.

"If that's the case, why didn't you inform anyone?!" Darkness replied with slight frustration.

"I did. Weren't you listening? I told White-suit about it. The whole point of me coming over here was to let you guys know that there's another agent of the Demon King here."

"I understand that, but how come you didn't have Claire sound the alarm?"

"You two are birds of a feather, you know that? I didn't want to cause a panic, first of all. Also, when the alarms are sounded it's easier to slip through the resulting chaos."

Darkness frowned. "I feel like you're speaking from experience."

Kazuma averted her gaze. After a gentle cough to calm the rising tension, he went on. "You see, Megumin, this is why I didn't wanna say anything."

"H-How dare you!" Darkness sat up, and slammed her palm on the table. "To think you would even think about hiding such vital information from me! I thought we were companions, Kazuma."

"It's exactly because of this that I was thinking about not telling you; I knew if it had to do with Iris-chan you would fly off the handle."

"Like you're one to talk," Aqua remarked, taking one of the cookies set on the table.

"S-Shut up, no one asked you."

I interjected. "Alright, you two, let's set that aside for now. Kazuma."

"Yeah?"

"What is it that you have planned, then?"

"Hmm…" Kazuma looked down and rubbed his chin in thought. "I was hoping that Claire would get things ready to go once we have those guys in place. Basically, I'm looking to stall for time."

Darkness sat back with a contemplative look on her face. "...It's really risky. There's a good chance they might attack before things are set up."

"I'll take responsibility should it happen."

Darkness let out an exasperated sigh. "You don't get it, Kazuma. Should things fail, Iris and the royal family will be in grave danger; it's not something you can just wave off as 'taking responsibility'."

"Do you really think I'll let something bad happen to the one who affectionately calls me her Onii-chan? Besides, you should really learn to trust Iris' abilities. Unlike you guys, I have no doubt she'd be able to send whatever threat she faces, running."

…

Seeing our stoic expressions in response to his slight, Kazuma replied coyly.

"S-Sorry… I'll behave."

"In any case," I said, "the choice seems obvious; our only course of action is to confront them… After which, I'll hit them with Explosion."

"No, you will not," Darkness interrupted. "...Atleast, not in the city."

"It should be fine. Remember, there are multiple barriers in place."

"I doubt any of those could take an Explosion spell," Kazuma replied.

I chuckled with pride.

"That wasn't a compliment," He remarked. "In any case, we shouldn't worry about it too much. We're not really in the position to take on a Demon King's agents."

I stood up slowly, catching the gazes of my companions. "Fufufu, did you forget the name of our team? Our history? Our names and titles? Who, if not us, is more capable of taking out the Demon Kings and their lackeys?"

"Iris, the royal family, your kinsmen? Anyone but us?"

This man just had to go and say such things.

"W-Where did your sense of pride go?"

Suddenly, Aqua slammed her fist on the table, shifting our attention.

"If some agent of a nobody Demon King is taking my chance at the reward money, I'll have no choice but to bring down my divine wrath as punishment."

"See, Kazuma? Aqua has the right attitude."

"She probably just wants the bounty on them."

"…What's this slanderous comment you're going on about. Unlike a certain NEET, my intentions and actions always line up with those of the divine."

"A heavenly mandate, huh? Where have I heard that before? Anyway, I doubt there's any active bounties placed on them."

Darkness nodded. "There isn't much information about the Demon Kings of other territories—at least, none that I know of."

"See? Still motivated?"

Aqua quietly grabbed another cookie before speaking once more. "If you think I'm motivated by such simple things, you've no idea what's going on in my mind."

Kazuma frowned. "You're right about that."

With a proud smile, Aqua replied, "Of course. It's no surprise mortals like yourselves would struggle to understand the divine—even less, a no-good hikiNEET like yourself."

"...Hey, Aqua, I got you another rock." Kazuma retrieved a clothed item from his pocket and placed it on the table.

She gave a childish smile upon hearing this, but immediately shifted to a more discerning gaze as she looked upon the familiar stone.

"Kazuma, that's enough of that," Darkness remarked, moving the paralytic stone aside. "Are we really leaving the safety of the Royal Family to chance?"

He shifted slightly, gazing upon his tea cup with a contemplative stare.

"Honestly, even if we got directly involved, there isn't much we can do."

"So, it seems I was right; that's exactly what you're saying." Darkness stood up. "Kazuma, I'm a subject of the crown. I can't sit back quietly while I know there's a threat to Iris and His Majesty. A-Also, I can't let you guys get hurt; my ability as a Crusader would be put into question."

As we looked at Darkness in reverent awe, she cleared her throat, and continued.

"I… I should probably go alone."

"Oi, oi, hold on; there's no need to be so hasty about it, Darkness. I never said anything about not doing something. I'm just laying out the things for what they are. If we're going against such a dangerous group, we're unlikely to be able to stop them by ourselves; even I can understand this. It's the whole reason why I sought out White-suit's help."

"I, I suppose that's true. S-Still," Darkness protested, her face turning red. "I-I should probably just go and fight them to test their strength. Don't worry, I'll be sure not to get captured. E-Even if I do, I'll be sure to wring them of all their shady methods—"

Kazuma and I both let out exasperated sighs.

"Oi, that's enough, you hopeless pervert."

Darkness shuddered lightly.

"Anyway," he continued, "I don't want any harm to come to Iris—o-or the others," He quickly added. "Ahem... When the time's right, we'll make our move. Until then, we just have to keep watch and hope that White-suit can carry out her part."

"Hmm…" Darkness stared at me. "Are you okay with this plan, Megumin?"

I glanced down in thought before turning a brief gaze on our leader. "I trust Kazuma. Despite everything that's happened, he always comes through in the end, right?"

"Don't forget you also have a goddess helping you guys out," Aqua chimed in. "It's not like it's all thanks to this NEET. After all, if I never brought him over who could say what the situation would be. In a way, you could say it was all through my divine intervention that the Demon King and his army was defeated."

While I understood what Aqua was getting at, I couldn't—with any fiber of my being—come to agree with it. Needless to say, Kazuma stared at her with knit brows.

"I know this goes against you're nature, but how about you stop saying stupid things. If anything, you and your insane cult are responsible for the vast majority of hardships this world is facing."

"H-How can you say such things?! And leave my beloved children out of this; they've done nothing wrong!"

Kazuma snorted as he held back a laugh.

"What?! What's so funny?!" Aqua yelled, leaning towards Kazuma's face. "I demand to know what a thieving, disrespectful, blaspheming NEET like yourself finds so funny!"

Kazuma leaned back as Aqua continued to lay on the pressure. Finally, he snapped. Kazuma leaned forward causing Aqua to quickly shirk backwards.

"I'm not a NEET, you bitch! And it's probably a good thing you can't have actual children otherwise… Wait, can you?"

"*Sniff* *Sniff* WAAAHHH⸻!"

"Oi, Kazuma, that was kind of harsh," Darkness remarked.

I agreed. "Yeah, wasn't that a bit over the top?"

Kazuma looked away. "...Erm, well… S, Sorry."

"Good," Darkness said. "...N-Now could you please say some similar things about me?!"

Before we could say anything else, a loud horn rang throughout the tourney grounds.

"Would all participants please make their way to the assembly area; the third round is about to begin!"

We traded glances prompting Kazuma to shrug.

"I guess we continue until the right moment shows itself," He explained.

We gave a nod of approval, and then made our way to the aforementioned place.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by the sight of a much smaller group. Going by simple deduction, the third round was likely to be the last before the semi-finals. As I was thinking about this, the tournament announcer spoke up, silencing the talks between the other groups of contestants.

"Welcome, everyone. The third round is about to begin shortly, so I'd like to quickly tell you what's in store for you all. Like the round before, this round will be a bit unconventional. While a direct confrontation isn't in store, the competition will still be fierce."

The announcer stepped to his side, putting on display a large thing with a cloth draped over it.

"I'm sure all of you are rather curious as to what's under the covers. Let me show you."

With a sharp tug, the cloth rolled off the item, revealing it to be a hulking mass of…

"Adamantite!" He said. "Yes, this is what the third round is all about. A test of strength."

"A test of strength?" "What were we supposed to do with it?" "Are we supposed to carry that somewhere?!" "Are we gonna smash something with it?"

The contestants and—admittedly—myself began to wonder.

The announcer grinned. "No, the third round is quite simple in its request, but the task...is not." We all looked around in slight perplexity before the announcer uttered his next words. "Destroy this massive ore by whatever means available to you."

I needed no reason, no task, no order. For me, it was instinct, as natural as breathing, as easy as it is for Crimson Demons to learn magic…

"EXPLO—mmm!"

"I knew it!" Kazuma said as he cupped his hands over my mouth. "I knew you couldn't resist, you crazy girl!"

With my struggling, I somehow managed to separate myself from him.

"I won't deny it!" I yelled. "It's true, I find it difficult to resist using my Explosion magic on such a suitably hard target." I grasped my staff amorously. "Hah, the thought of something so undeniably dense being pulverized by a massive force. I-I won't hold back!"

Without another word, I was assaulted by Kazuma and Darkness.

"No, please, stop it! I gotta…"

"Oi, quit being a nuisance!"

"Please, Megumin, don't use Explosion in the capital!"

Amidst our struggle, the announcer concluded his explanation for the next round. "Whichever team manages to break the largest amount in a single strike, wins."

Hearing this, I grew even more fervent in my defiance. "Let...me...goooo!" I said, kicking wildly.

"Would you quit it? I'm almost starting to think dealing with you is as bad as Aqua."

"How exactly do you intend to deal with this without my Explosion spell?! This round was practically made with me in mind."

"Guh… Ok, we're gonna let you go, but using Explosion is the very last option. I'll try to find another way."

I groaned in frustration. To have them take away my moment to shine…

"F-Fine!"

Kazuma and Darkness released me.

Like the times before, we were moved from the waiting area to the staging area. While we were moving, I tugged on Kazuma's sleeve.

"Kazuma, look," I whispered.

"...Kirby."

"That's him?" Darkness queried.

I nodded quietly.

Aqua stared at him peculiarly. "...Umu, my Goddess eyes tell me he's trouble. I can sense the degeneracy he gives off; it reminds me of a certain impertinent NEET."

"Oi, if you're pickin' a fight, just tell me."

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Nothing...yet; let's keep a low profile, for now."

Before long, the round was under way. The various groups sent their strongest mages and fighters to demolish the towering mound of near-impenetrable ore… But as expected, all of them had little impact; the greatest of these contenders merely breaking chips and slivers off of the adamantite amalgamate.

After each team was done with their try, the piece(s) that fell off were taken up to a scale to be weighed. One after another, they made their way on to the stage, and then picked up the tiny shards that their mightiest attempts bore.

It was one of the last groups' turn, and as their chosen participant came before the adamantite, they cheered him on. One of them, perhaps the leader of their group, stood a little ways back with a slight smile on his face, arms crossed.

He glanced over and saw me staring, prompting him to smile even more.

"You might want to stand back. You and the others might find this event to be unfortunate, but for Renner and our team, we couldn't ask for anything better."

I raised a brow as he turned his view back to the stage.

The contestant, Renner, was standing several meters from the massive ore.

"Hey," he said, towards the tourney announcer, "you said we could try and demolish this thing by any means necessary, right?"

The administrator nodded. "That's right. Like in the other rounds, barriers have been put up to protect everyone outside the stage area."

"Meaning, there's no need to hold back."

Once again, the announcer nodded.

"Alright. You might want to get behind one of those barriers then."

Taking the contestant's advice, the tournament announcer ran behind one of the barriers, and spoke excitedly into the amplifier in his hands. "Oh, looks like this participant has something of a surprise. Everyone, brace yourselves; it seems like we're in for something spectacular!"

The man withdrew a wand and pointed it at the adamantite. He began to mutter something under his breath, a spell…

"BLAST!"

BOOM!

A concussive shockwave buffeted against the magical barrier in front of us and quickly dissipated. When the dust cloud cleared, a sizable piece had been blown off the large deposit.

Though the mage looked slightly spent, he and his team were congratulating each other wholeheartedly.

Some helpers came and quickly weighed the piece.

"15.0 kg"

And large enough to just barely fit in my palm…

It was, undoubtedly, the largest piece any of the teams had managed to shear off.

Given Kazuma and Darkness' insistence on me not using Explosion, I wasn't sure how we'd be able to surpass this. I grasped my staff tightly, and whipped around.

"No," Kazuma said before I could even speak.

"B-But we'll easily be able to beat that if I do!"

"Don't worry… Or do you think I've been standing here without a plan?"

Kazuma tapped on the blade sitting on his waist.

"Chunchunmaru? What are you gonna do against adamantite?"

Though the weapon bore a cool name which exuded respect and fear, I struggled to understand how it could damage something as dense as the previously mentioned ore.

Kazuma sighed. "Don't worry, you'll see once it's our turn."

Although, I was apprehensive at first, seeing Kazuma say such a thing so confidently instilled me with the same. I turned my attention back to the event, to see another set of participants come down from the stage in disappointment.

"From his exemplary performance in the first two rounds, our next contestant is one who's been making waves all through the tournament. The one-man-army, Plum Kirby!"

"It's him!" I said, slightly louder than I probably should have. "Kazuma," I said, regulating my voice this time, "what do we do?"

"Nothing. I already explained this. Just make believe you don't know anything about him, ok?"

Darkness interrupted. "And if he does anything weird?"

"Just relax. What good does it do us to pick a fight right now of all times?"

She let out a worried sigh. "...You're right."

"Of course I am. Now shut up and keep a low profile."

After Kazuma's snappy remark, we turned our attention to the man on stage.

Kirby walked up to the rocky target, and silently placed his hand on it.

"What's he doing?" Darkness said curiously.

We stared on in perplexity, the audience doing the same.

After a moment, Kirby stepped back and sighed, placing a hand on his hips. "Ha~~~~~h… What a hard target."

He stepped forward, and placed the end of a fist on the surface, lining it up.

"He's gonna… Seriously?" Kazuma said in surprise.

"HAA!" Kirby's voice echoed loudly as he threw a blurring punch into the adamantine mass.

BOOM!

The impact made the audible sound of an explosion with an accompanying shockwave.

Everyone started in astonishment. The entire plaza was silent at the incredible display.

Seconds passed with Kirby still holding form. Then, he slowly retracted his fist from the surface and breathed in deeply.

"FUUUUCCK, that hurts!" He threw himself on the ground and rolled around holding his hand.

"Ehhhh? How embarrassing," Darkness said with the same deflated feelings everyone now bore.

One of the groups who was standing near us, erupted into laughter, the entire plaza following suit soon after.

"Seriously, what did he think was gonna happen?!" "What an idiot!" "Hahahaha, I can't believe he actually punched it!" "All that set up for nothing!" "Oh man, and here I was thinking something epic was gonna happen."

The laughing went on…

The announcer walked up to Kirby with a faintly worried smile. "Hey, are you ok?"

"Ah… Yeah." Kirby stood up, shaking off the pain from his reddened hand.

"Well, aside from the dramatic build up, I think it's fairly clear how you did this round."

CRRRAAAAAAACK! BTOOOM!

The adamantite was now half as large, as three giant pieces fell onto the floor.

The entire plaza went silent once more.

The announcer looked back speechlessly.

"Don't you need to weigh that?" Kirby said with a playful smirk.

"Uh… N-No, I think…it's fine." The announcer cleared his throat, and then spoke into the amplifier. "Um, what a surprise everyone...right? W-Well, it seems like Mr. Kirby continues to exceed expectations. Let's give him a round of applause."

Since the crowd was stunned by the event that just unfolded, the claps came in awkwardly.

Kirby left the stage, and then caught my shocked expression.

"Megumin-san, there you are."

"K, Kirby-san," I said, trying to keep my cool, "not bad."

"Ah, thanks," He said with a chuckle. "I kinda messed up a bit. I sometimes forget how hard adamantite is." He glanced over at Kazuma who was just as stunned as everyone else. "Kazuma-san?"

"Uh—what? No! I-I'm not this Kazuma you speak of. My name is… Um… I'm—"

"He's the Masked Thief of the SIlver Haired Thieving Band!" I interjected.

"Huh… Really? Hmm…" Kirby rubbed his chin, and then shrugged. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Masked Thief. Are you part of Megumin-san's group as well?"

"Ah, y-yes. I've formed a temporary partnership with them."

"I see. Well, I hope to see what you guys have in store, especially you, Megumin-san." I smiled tenuously. "Anyway, I'll be around. See ya."

After he gave his farewells, Kirby saw himself off.

"226.3 kg!"

Although the announcer said it wasn't necessary to weigh the slabs, they went on and did so anyway; the largest of the pieces was the previously mentioned weight and required several members of the tournament staff to carry to the scale. Setting aside the weight, the sheer volume was large enough that a single person could barely carry it.

"What just happened?" Kazuma said in confusion. "I mean… I get that he's someone strong, but…"

Suppressing the slight excitement I felt from such an impressive display, I could sympathize with the way Kazuma felt. A man just made a veritable wall of near-impervious metal explode using his fist… Honestly, I was kind of envious at the thought which helped take the edge off.

"Kazuma, Kazuma," Aqua said, timidly pulling on his sleeve. "We don't have to continue doing this, right? We still have plenty of money left over, right? Even if we don't, I wouldn't mind turning a blind eye to you and that unscrupulous devil's dealings for a couple months, so let's go home."

"O, Oi… She might be right though."

"Kazuma!" Darkness said in a loud whisper.

"Hey, calm down, I was just saying… We might be… No, we definitely are in over our heads with this one. But… Iris-chan is in danger. I can't forgive myself if I—as the big brother she looks up to—just abandoned her."

Darkness scoffed. "That declaration leaves much to be desired, but at least your heart's in the right place. We need to stop him in order to save everyone."

"Right. Yeah, everyone else too."

As I stared at this man, I could feel the affection I had for both him and his alias, waver. Really, what was wrong with me, falling so deeply for him?