Aqua slowly cracked open her eyes to the bright ray of sunlight which somehow found its way into their tiny window just to wake her up at this ungodly hour.

Then her eyes widened in alarm as she couldn't feel her left arm or leg! Did someone attack them at night? A quick glance somewhat calmed her down, because her only attacker was Kazuma, or more precisely, their mutual passion late last night.

They fallen asleep still turned around with Aqua's arm stuck underneath Kazuma's leg, and him using her thigh as a pillow. Which is why she couldn't feel either limb. A quick "Heal" incantation solved the problem, and the goddess carefully freed her arm and then repositioned Kazuma's head on a fortunately available pillow. It made no sense to wake him up so early, as her champion could get really cranky from the lack of sleep.

The summer morning air felt nice on her bare skin, but promised a hot day. As the goddess of water, Aqua could always feel minute changes in weather. She stretched her arms, yawned and scratched a small purple mark on her belly, a sign of Kazuma's over-enthusiastic worship last night. It brought her a smile and she stopped herself from healing the hickey right away.

Sniffing under her arm to make sure she didn't smell too bad, Aqua went about her morning business. Dressed in her usual outfit, and still in the process of brushing and braiding her long hair, she approached the small chalkboard on the wall to check out their plans for the day.

The board had been Kazuma's idea, yet another sign that Aqua made the right choice in bestowing him with her favor. The dark rectangle featured three separate lists: their combined plans for the next few days, and two smaller lists for each of them. This kind of tool was convenient, because Aqua, being a goddess, couldn't be bothered to remember every little thing she wanted or even promised someone two days ago. It also helped them avoid arguments related to previous agreements.

The plans for today included breakfast at the Guild hall (finally, she was getting tired of left-overs), and another giant frog quest. Then in the evening Kazuma wanted to hang out with that Dust guy again, and Aqua (wait, really?) apparently planned to meet with Eris, in her Chris form. Well, it's not like the poor girl had any friends, and they'd been getting along much better lately.

As for Dust, Aqua wasn't too worried. Even if Kazuma got it in his head to visit the succubi (and he swore to her that he would never), the pathetic little demons had no power over him, thanks to the regular consumption of Aqua's holy fluids. She flushed a little at the thought, because Kazuma on his knees in front of her was still by far her favorite position.

Plans for tomorrow included (oh, she almost forgot) visiting her growing congregation in Axel. The local Axis church had only two priests, but now that she was here, Aqua made sure to visit often for both confessions and healing or other miracles. She reluctantly agreed with Kazuma that revealing her identity wasn't the best choice right now, but even as a simple archpriest she attracted many new followers, including two men from their construction crew. They joined right after her accident, and found the Axis commandments to be more agreeable than those of Eris. Aqua made sure to remind the latter of this every time they met.

Later that day Aqua found herself skipping merrily alongside her champion as they headed out of town in search of more frogs. The ugly beasts were multiplying so fast since late spring, they managed to remain the couple's main source of income for the last few weeks, even though the XP gain from the kills quickly became rather pitiful.

Apparently, not many other adventurers were eager to take them on.

Kazuma, though, didn't appear to share Aqua's great mood and had a serious expression on his face, claiming that being careless could get one of them eaten again.

The goddess just rolled her eyes in response and repeated her new favorite joke about Kazuma being "a worrier instead of a warrior", which she was rather proud of.

This earned her a butt slap, at which she squeaked and jumped away. The joke was still on Kazuma though, because Aqua secretly enjoyed this kind of stuff.

Suddenly, there was a deafening thunder ahead and a mushroom like cloud, which they both recognized as an extremely potent Explosion spell.

After a few moments, Kazuma, seemingly ignoring his own advice, took her hand and started jogging in that direction. Aqua had to admit she was curious as well, and it's not like they couldn't just run away if things got out of hand.

At the explosion site they saw a huge crater with no visible remains of whoever or whatever the explosion hit. And nearby two girls were fighting off two frogs at once. Or more like, one girl was fending the monsters off with weak lightning spells, while her companion was lying on the ground.

At this point, both Aqua and Kazuma had enough experience to react right away. A single shout of "Ice the left one!" was enough to clue the goddess in, as they ran up to the frog, with Aqua casting a slightly overpowered "Create Water" right at its throat, while Kazuma used his rather weak "Freeze" to turn the very surface of the jet into ice. Aqua wasn't sure how it all worked, but the result was impressive, with the creature's head completely obliterated.

The lightning girl seemed to be almost out of mana and in danger of being eaten, so at another clue from her champion, Aqua buffed him up with "Increase Strength", " Increase Speed" and a quick "Blessing" just in case. This, in Kazuma's own words "gave him ten seconds of being awesome", as the young man took out his sword and sprinted to the second frog, getting between it and the girl and easily catching its tongue in his free hand. Before the shocked animal had any time to react, Kazuma casually jumped up and stuck his sword it its throat, finishing the battle.

Aqua smiled and clapped her hands at his antics (she had to admit, his technique greatly improved over the last couple of months, even without the help of her Blessing). Then the goddess approached the fallen girl to check what's wrong.

The girls were called Yunyun and Megumin, and with names like that, of course they turned out to be Crimson Demons. The small one, Megumin, attempted the grand introduction, but severe mana drain barely allowed her to move. Yunyun wasn't much better, and as Aqua couldn't do anything to replenish their mana, the only choice was to wait.

Apparently, leaving them just lying on the ground was not an option and so someone had to carry Megumin all the way to the town.

That someone turned out to be the goddess herself, after a few of Kazuma's usual "gender equality" comments. Aqua seethed, but had to agree before he threatened her with the damned "rock-paper-scissors" game. Even despite the fact that Aqua still had more strength and stamina points than Kazuma, she promised herself to make him sleep on the floor tonight. Maybe after some over the clothes action. Maybe under the clothes. Okay, she really had to find a way to punish him without also punishing herself.

Halfway to the town, Yunyun stumbled and Kazuma had to support her weight a little. Aqua covertly glanced at his face to see if touching another girl so closely tempted him in any way. His face didn't show anything out of ordinary though and the girl just appeared embarrassed by the whole situation. Still, Aqua should have probably kissed Kazuma after the battle or something.

After arriving at Axel, they went to cash in the reward. Apparently, Megumin's explosion killed three frogs at once, of which she boasted from Aqua's back several times. Yunyun quietly, but insistently added that she had been the one to herd them together. In any case, five killed frogs could get them a reward right away, if they temporarily formed a party, which was a matter of simply touching their adventurers' cards at the same time and saying the words out loud.

If Luna was surprised by their increased numbers, she didn't show it, just checked the cards and counted the money. At this point both Crimson Demons recovered enough to walk on their own, and everyone agreed to head to the bathhouse. While none of them were covered in slime (this time) they still were dirty and sweaty.

At the women's baths, after they all disrobed, Aqua got the proper look at the two girls, not for the reasons probably featured in Kazuma's fantasies, but rather as a healer. As Yunyun and Megumin watched confused and embarrassed, she approached and cast several Heals at each of them, which dealt with an assortment of bruises, scratches, visible scars and even a couple of cracked ribs. Two wizards alone hardly made for a balanced party, which was likely the reason for all the injuries.

Afterwards, as they sat on the bench together, she had to ask.

"It doesn't look like you've been to a healer in a while. Why's that?"

The girls exchanged a look and Yunyun finally answered.

"The other adventurers usually only help their party members, and the local Eris priests never seem to have the time or mana for us."

"What about the Axis order?"

"Oh, sorry, of course, you are an Axis priest, sorry. It's just, people say weird stuff about the order, and we heard this town only had two Axis priests anyway."

Aqua smiled mysteriously.

"Well, next time go to the Axis church, they have a new archpriest, you know!"

Megumin smirked.

"Is it you?"

Which made Aqua's smile bigger. Suddenly, Megumin winced and touched her knee, which made Yunyun give her a worried look.

Aqua's professional pride was at risk, if the girl she just healed was still in pain. Ignoring Megumin's slight flinch, she put her hands on the small shoulders and concentrated real hard.

"Sacred Heal!"

Thankfully, the three of them were the only ones currently at the baths, since what resulted was a blinding flash of white light signifying the loss of almost a third of Aqua's huge mana reserve. As it happened with complicated cases, information poured into the goddess's mind. It seemed like Megumin suffered from malnourishment so severe, most of her organs were in danger of shutting down. An old improperly healed knee injury, which was the reason for her initial discomfort, barely registered to Aqua, though her divine spell healed that too.

Afterwards, the girls just stared at her in shock. Then Megumin looked down and gasped, her eyes welling up as she touched the two small, but noticeable mounds which appeared on her chest. Overall, her whole body was covered in a new layer of barely defined, but healthy muscle and the necessary amount of fat.

Yunyun was covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes getting misty as well. Then she pointed a finger at the confused goddess.

"Y-you are actually Lady Aqua!"