Author's Note: So we hit 100+ followers. Nice. Thanks, y'all! Anyhow, here's chapter 5! I've decided to give Kazuma some new skills because I wanted to try and spice things up a little. I've also added a bunch of new scenes in this chapter, so hopefully you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own KonoSuba or any of its characters.

Season 1, Chapter 5: Conflicting Emotions

It was a new day, and I've been thinking.

Ever since that hug from Megumin last night, I've been thinking.

I needed to step up my game and figure out a way to start making money and grow stronger. Aqua was always poor, Megumin's funds were running low, and Darkness... well, Darkness seemed to be doing fine, but the rest of my party weren't. As the leader of the party, I should do something!

Then I realized something. From watching Megumin cast her explosions, Explosion showed up on my "Available Skills to Learn". Which meant that even though I couldn't afford to learn it, I assumed that it meant that I could always learn it anytime I want to in the future. Which meant that all this time that I've been sitting around on my ass doing nothing, I could have been learning skills and then waiting until I leveled up to acquire them!

FUCK! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!

Well, I can't change the past, but I can change the future. Might as well go around town and see if anyone is willing to teach me anything.

I was surprised when I found out just how many people there were that were willing to show me a skill or two for cheap. I guess that with no work laying around, these fellow adventurers were desperate for any source of income just like me. My savings were taking a big hit from these investments, but I'm sure it'll be worth it in the future. I chose to learn the skills that I thought would benefit me the most.

From a Sniper, I learned:

Headshot (5 Skill Points): A passive ability that grants the user a chance to deal 150% bonus damage on each attack from any ranged weapon. Activation is based on luck.

Take Aim (5 Skill Points): Doubles the attack range of any ranged weapon that the user is using. Also increases accuracy. Accuracy increase is based on luck.

Assassinate (10 Skill Points): A single-target active ability that when used, increases the damage of the next attack dealt to the target by 300%. May fail on cast. Success rate is dependent on luck.

Ha! I never knew that there were this many luck based abilities! This is exhilarating!

From a Commander, I learned:

Morale Boost (1 Skill Point): Slightly boosts the overall morale of your party when used.

Shallow Grave (8 Skill Points): A single-target active ability that only affects allies. When used, grants the target the Invulnerability status for 5 seconds. All damage is negated during this period.

I'm not going to lie, Shallow Grave seems like some end game bullshit ability. Seriously, couldn't you man-fight the Demon King with that ability?

Wait a minute. This world's game balance was already shit. Does this mean that there were broken spell combinations...? There has to be, right?

I found what I was looking for from a Knight:

Mana Recovery (5 Skill Points): Restores 10% of your current mana pool.

Shatter Defenses (8 Skill Points): A single-target active ability that when used, the next attack on the target will ignore 50% of its magical and physical resistance.

And there it is! The wombo combo! Assassinate + Shatter Defenses + Literally Anything (Megumin's Explosion?) = Insta-kill! Hmm... the cooldowns on Assassinate and Shatter Defenses are fairly high, so I'd have to be careful on the timing when using them.

I'll fucking take it. If this world wants to fuck with me by sending me a Dullahan, then I'll fuck the world right back with these bullshit skills!

I think that's all for now, my money was running dangerously low. I glanced down at my adventurer's card. Damn it, how I wished that I could actually acquire all of these abilities!

Wait, didn't Megumin say something about changing classes? Hmm... let me think...

That's right! When I stole her panties with Steal (IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, OKAY?), she said something along the lines of "Oh! Handsome Kazuma! When you leveled up, did you change your class from 'Adventurer' to 'Loving Husband'? If so, marry me!"

Okay, maybe that wasn't what she actually said, but I'm sure that it was something close, right?! More importantly, it implied that I could change my class...

I walked to the Adventurer's Guild and approached Luna.

"Hey," I greeted her. "Is it possible to change your class from the one you started with?" I asked.

"Of course!" Luna replied with a smile.. "You're able to change it every time you level up."

Every fucking time? Okay, that just confirms my theory that with enough dedication, you can become straight up over-fucking-powered in this world. Jesus, I wonder what else I've been missing out on? I'm definitely going to have to do more research later on. For now, let's get back to changing my class.

"Okay, awesome!" I excitedly said. "Are there any penalties from changing your class?"

"Not really, besides the fact that you lose all of your abilities and all of your skill points are refunded to you. Depending on which class you change into, the abilities you had before may cost more or less to relearn." She explained.

"Sounds good to me. Can I change my class to anything else?" I asked her hopefully, handing her my adventurer's card.

"Hmm..." She examined it. "Based on these stats, you can only go into the Advanced Adventurer class from your Basic Adventurer class."

Damn it, I was hoping for something more spectacular!

"What's the difference?" I inquired.

"An Advanced Adventurer is the next step up in the Adventurer class series. It is identical to the Basic Adventurer class except for two key differences. First, you gain two skill points for each level, instead of one. Secondly, every ability costs one less skill point to learn."

Wait, so... literally just free skill points then? Not to mention that my Thief skills like Lurk, Detect Enemy, and Steal only costed one skill point to learn. Does this mean that they would be free...?

"That sounds amazing!" I exclaimed. "Can you change it for me right now?"

"Of course!" Luna tapped a few things on my adventurer's card and handed it back to me. "Here you go, Kazuma!"

"Thank you so much!"

I hurriedly took the card back and sat down at a table to examine it. It looked something like this:

Satou Kazuma - Level: 8 - Class: Advanced Adventurer

Skills and Abilities:

None

Available Skills to Learn (16 Skill Points Available):

Nature's Beauty - 9 Skill Points

Lurk - FREE

Detect Enemy - FREE

Steal - FREE

Explosion - 34 Skill Points

Headshot - 4 Skill Points

Take Aim - 4 Skill Points

Assassinate - 9 Skill Points

Morale Boost - FREE

Shallow Grave - 7 Skill Points

Mana Recovery - 4 Skill Points

Shatter Defenses - 7 Skill Points

Just like I thought! This is fucking awesome! I quickly re-learned Lurk, Detect Enemy, and Steal, as they were free. Then I grabbed Morale Boost, since it was free as well. Sweet!

Now for the hard part. What to choose? What to choose... I'd have to be real careful. I already fucked up by choosing to take Aqua along with me, so I need to make these 16 skill points count!

In the end, I decided on getting what I wanted from the beginning. Assassinate and Shatter Defenses. I had JUST the right amount of skill points to acquire these abilities. It's almost like someone made it so that this would happen intentionally or something.

But that's besides the point. For the first time since I came into this world, I began to feel... powerful. These two spells, combined with Megumin's explosion... well. Trying to survive Megumin's explosion when its buffed by 300% and with your total resistance at 50%... Ha! Good luck with that, future enemies!

To be honest, I felt like that this is it. I could beat anything! It's time to take on those super hard enemies that were on the quest board!

My try-harding days has begun!

KONOSUBA!

The next day, I called Darkness and Megumin to meet up with Aqua and I at the Guild Hall.

We sat down at a table together.

"Alright, listen up!" I addressed them. "I'm tired of sitting around and doing nothing! I'm getting bored out of my mind and I need to make some more money! I'm sure you all feel the same way! I've learned some new skills, and I say we go take on one of those hard quest!"

"Kazuma! I thought you'd never ask! Let's go! Let's go make some money!" Aqua jumped up and down in excitement. "Just think about about it! The bounties that those quests offered... the amount of beer I could buy..." She started drooling.

Seriously? I swear, Aqua has a alcohol addiction. Maybe I needed to get her a therapist before its too late.

Megumin turned to look at me, then suddenly blushed and looked away.

That's strange, that was unlike Megumin. Did this have something to do with last night? Wait a second, why is my face growing hot?

"Uh. Megumin? What's your input? We kinda need your Explosion magic in order to complete these quests," I stammered out. What the hell? Why am I getting flustered?

"If Kazuma needs me, then I'll go!" She said determinedly, looking up and raising her staff. She still wouldn't meet my eyes, though. Okay...

"Great! Darkness! What about you? Are you up for a quest?" I turned to face her.

"Darkness? Hello?" I waved my hand in front of her face when she didn't respond.

"One of those monsters?" Darkness quietly muttered out, blushing. "How hard do they hit? How hard do they hit?! OH! I can already imagine the feeling!" Her face turned into an ocean of pure euphoria as she became lost in her thoughts.

"Okay... I'll take that as a yes, then. Let's go!" I declared confidently.

We walked over to the quest board.

Which was completely empty.

"WHAT?!" I shouted out in surprise. "Where are the quests?! There were like 20 last week! What happened!?"

Luna walked over, hearing my yelling. "Sorry, Kazuma. A newcomer called Mitsurugi Kyouya has been accepting them for the past week or so. I'm afraid he just took the last quest this morning."

"What?! How?!" I exclaimed in shock.

"Rumors are saying that he has an extraordinarily powerful sword called the Cursed Sword Gram that only he can use. Apparently he even killed the Ancient Dragon in one blow, so these monsters were no problem to him! He's been successfully completing each and every one of these quests! What a man!" Luna explained to me with a dreamy expression on her face.

This fucker. That sword sounds OP as fuck. I assume that he came from Earth just like me. Unlike me, however, he actually received something useful. Oh... you think that you take the number one spot away from this tryhard gamer? If I ever get a hold of you...

I smiled evilly.

"Um... Kazuma?" Luna said worriedly, seeing my expression.

Oh shit. I got to learn to control this side of me better. I quickly put on a blank face.

"Hmm...? Oh, my bad, yeah, that Kyouya guy, huh? That sucks. I was really hoping to make some money today..." I said dejectedly.

"Oh! I just remembered!" Luna perked up. "If you want, would you like to go fishing?"

The fuck?

"Fishing?" I asked.

"There's a lake nearby here. The fish there are extraordinary tasty, and the town pays 20,000 Eris per fish caught there!" Luna exclaimed.

"20,000? That's amazing! What do you guys think?" I turned to face the girls, excited.

They all gave me a thumbs up, though Darkness looked to be a bit disappointed.

"We'll go! Thanks for this opportunity, Luna!" I gave her a bright smile.

"You're welcome!" Luna said as she handed me a piece of paper with the details on it. "And do be careful, Kazuma."

Be careful? What was there to be careful of while fishing? I must've misheard her. Anyways, free money, here I come!

KONOSUBA!

"Look at how pretty it is!" Aqua, being a water goddess, squealed in delight when the lake came into sight.

She was right. Even I was amazed. I didn't get to see sights like this back on Earth. I was always in my room, after all.

The lake seemed to be round, the water a deep blue. Beautiful, green trees surrounded the lake everywhere. I could see that our current path lead to a small dock at the edge of the lake.

"That must be our boat," I pointed out to them. Nothing too fancy, but surprisingly not too bad either. It looked to built for a party of four. Perfect.

We reached the dock and climbed aboard. I couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment. I really wanted to test out my new skills today, but it looks like I'd have to wait. I mean, what was I going to do, cast Assassinate on a fish?

I lightly chuckled at that thought. Back to business.

The boat was surprisingly easy to use; the paper that we were given quickly explained how to control it. In no time, we were out in the middle of the lake. The paper also told us how to fish, so we followed it down to the letter.

We put on the bait and cast out our rods.

And then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I didn't realize fishing was supposed to be this boring! What the hell? Back in the fishing games I played, you got like a fish every minute! Where was the excitement?

We all sat down on the deck next to our rods, bored out of our minds.

"Say, Kazuma, are you sure this is the right lake?" Aqua asked me.

"Of course I'm sure! I wasn't expecting it to be this boring either!" I quickly replied back.

"Kazuma, can I cast Explosion now and blow the fish out of the water?" Megumin asked me while holding up her staff.

"What?! Of course not! Do you want us to drown?" I shouted back.

"Hmpt!" She pouted and looked away. Nice. Looks like she was back to normal now.

"What if I dove down there and grabbed the fish with my hands?" Darkness suggested hopefully, standing up.

"Seriously? You can't even hit a still target with your sword, and yet you expect yourself to be able to catch a fish?" I let out a sigh.

Darkness sat back down and moaned. "Such harsh words~!"

Ugh! If it wasn't for that Kyouya guy, we'd probably be out there destroying monsters right now instead of doing this boring stuff! I was starting to hate this guy more and more.

Wait, I thought about what Darkness said. Catching fish with your bare hands?

I stood up and leaned over the railing.

"Kazuma, what are you doing?" Megumin asked me curiously.

"Well, Darkness gave me an idea with what she said. I'm going to test it out real quick." I replied back to her.

If this works...

"STEAL!" I said while pointing my hand down at the lake.

After a bright blue flash, I was suddenly holding a fish in my hands.

"Guys! It worked! It actually worked!" I yelled, thrilled.

"Kazuma! Did you catch a fish?!" Aqua said in delight, running over.

"Quick! Get the cooler over here!" I struggled to keep the fish in my grasp. It was fighting quite strongly.

Darkness hurriedly dragged our cooler over and I threw the fish into it. It swam quickly for a few moments before calming down.

We all looked at it as it swam. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

"Kazuma, you're amazing..." Megumin quietly complimented me.

"Thanks!" I happily said.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go catch some more!" Aqua urged me on.

"Of course! Here I go!" Things were getting exciting!

I spent the next two hours or so just spamming Steal, somehow getting a fish each time instead of getting like a rock or something. High luck stat, thank you!

For the most part, the girls simple watched, talked, and, on rare occasions, caught their own fish to add to our pile.

Soon, our cooler was full. I sat down and laid back on the boat, recharging my mana. What a wonderful day!

"I think we got enough, girls. Let's head back!" I told them.

They started to pack up our equipment. I was just getting ready to drive the boat back when...

"Kazuma! I think I got a bite!" Darkness shouted at me excitedly, grabbing her shaking rod.

"It feels really heavy! I think its a big one!" She yelled, starting to reel it up.

Aqua and I went over to watch, while Megumin was still finishing up packing her own equipment.

I leaned over the railing. There was a giant, dark shape looming under the water, getting closer and closer.

The fuck was that? That wasn't a fish!

"Darkness! Don't pull that thing up! It's not a fish, you hear me? It's not-" I tried to get Darkness to stop.

"Ha!" Darkness grunted as she pulled back with all her strength, which was a lot.

The dark shape in the water flew out and landed on our boat. I looked at it.

Was that a fucking alligator?!

"It's a Brutal Alligator!" Aqua gasped in fear, clutching my arm tightly.

"Really? Will it bite me? It will bite me, right? This is the greatest catch of my life!" Darkness threw her arms wide open, and started to slowly walk towards the alligator.

Bitch, what the fuck are you on?

"Kazuma, I finished packing up the-" Megumin came around the corner and froze instantly in terror when she saw the alligator.

The alligator took a look around. On one hand, there was a blonde girl coming at him with her arms open wide and a deranged look in her eyes. On the other hand, there was a petite little crimson girl that was basically defenseless. What would he choose? It wasn't a hard choice.

That's right, if he had any brains at all, he would go for Megumin and-

Wait.

"Megumin! Watch out!" I tried to warn her.

I was too late.

The alligator turned and rushed towards Megumin. She tried to run, but the alligator lunged and bit down hard on Megumin's right leg.

"AHHHHHH!" She screamed out in pain, tears immediately filling her eyes. Megumin's blood spurted out onto the deck, staining it a bright crimson red.

"Kazuma! Kazuma! Help me! HELP ME!" Megumin screamed out as she tried to fight against the alligator, bashing her staff on its head to no avail.

The alligator swallowed, taking in Megumin's left leg as well. More blood splattered out.

Megumin screamed again.

What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck. I panicked.

Darkness and Aqua were both in shock, their eyes locked onto the scene in front of them.

My head got heavy, and my eyes got blurry. I clutched my head with my hands.

This can't be happening. This isn't real. This must be a horrible nightmare. Yeah, just a horrible nightmare-

"KAZUMA!" Megumin wailed out as she turned her head and looked at me straight in the eyes, her own eyes slowly growing dimmer and dimmer.

Suddenly, I felt something snap inside of me. A newfound strength was coursing through me.

Megumin was in pain. This fucking alligator was causing her pain. I pulled out my sword.

Protect Megumin. Protect Megumin. PROTECT MEGUMIN!

"ASSASSINATE! SHATTER DEFENSES!" I shouted out, charging the alligator.

Two bright beams of light shot out from my hand and hit the alligator square on.

Its black beady eyes turned and locked onto me.

"Lurk," I whispered as I quickly disappeared from vision.

"Kazuma...? Where did you go? Did you abandon me? I thought you said that you wouldn't... I'm sorry... I said I'm sorry, okay?! I said I'm sorry... Kazuma, please come back! PLEASE COME BACK!" Megumin was screaming nonsense now, her face stained with tears.

Where did I go? I'm right here, Megumin. I'll always be here for you.

"DIE!" I shouted, having gotten into position. Using all my strength, I swung my sword directly down at the alligator's neck.

Like a hot knife through butter.

I quickly pried open the now limp head and took Megumin into my arms.

"Kazuma?" She whispered as she looked up at me.

"It's going to be all right now, Megumin. You're going to be all right." I patted her head, trying to comfort her.

"Kazuma..." Megumin's body went limp as she passed out, blood dripping down from her legs and onto my arms.

"Megumin...? MEGUMIN! AQUA! GET OVER HERE! HURRY UP! CAST YOUR RECOVERY MAGIC! CAST ANYTHING!" I screamed at her.

Darkness dropped onto her knees. "This is all my fault... If I hadn't pulled up that Brutal Alligator..." She shoved her face into her knees.

Aqua broke out of her trance and quickly rushed over. She put her hands onto Megumin's leg.

"It will be alright, Kazuma! When it comes down to healing, my recovery magic is second to none! You can trust me, Kazuma! Heal!" Aqua declared confidently as her hands began to glow green.

My legs suddenly felt weak. I slowly went into a sitting position, carefully laying Megumin down. Aqua was still healing her.

If Aqua could dispel Beldia's Death Curse that easily, then I was sure that Megumin was in good hands.

My body suddenly felt heavy, and I couldn't move a single muscle. It seems that the hours spent casting Steal combined with casting Assassinate and Shatter Defenses together at the end was too much for me to handle. Is this what Megumin feels like after casting her explosions?

Megumin! Stay awake, Kazuma! You have to stay awake! Megumin needs you! Megumin...

I felt my eyes close slowly.

KONOSUBA!

When I woke up, I was laying down on solid ground next to the dock. The memories of my fishing trip came back to me.

I quickly sat up and looked around. "Megumin? Where's Megumin?!" I yelled, not seeing her.

"Oh, Kazuma? You're awake? How are you feeling?" Darkness's voice rang out of inside the boat.

She came outside, carrying the cooler with the fish we had caught.

"I'm fine! Where's Megumin?" I repeated my previous question.

"Megumin will be fine." Darkness assured me. "Aqua carried her back to town already. Megumin is probably still asleep right now."

"Thank god," I said as I slowly stood up.

If it hadn't been for Aqua's healing... No. I don't even want to think about the other possibilities.

"Let's go back to town, Kazuma. Are you strong enough to walk?" Darkness asked me worriedly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Let's go." I told her.

It was quite on the way back. Darkness and I were walking side by side, with Darkness carrying the cooler.

"Hey, Kazuma. I want to say that I'm sorry..." Darkness broke the silence.

"Let me guess, because you pulled up that alligator?" I spoke softly.

"Yeah... I'm really sorry..." Darkness looked down in shame.

"No, hey, that's okay. Everything worked out in the end, didn't it?" I tried to comfort her.

"That was only because you were there, Kazuma. If it hadn't been for you..." Darkness stopped walking.

"I'm useless. I can't ever hit any of my attacks. I couldn't protect Megumin... I've failed as a Crusader." Her voice cracked as she spoke.

Was Darkness about to cry? Where was her masochism when I needed it? What to do, what to do...

Then an idea popped into my head.

"Morale Boost!" I turned away and whispered quitely so that Darkness couldn't hear me.

Then I turned towards her and tried comforting her again.

"Look on the bright side! We caught all this fish, didn't we? Megumin is all right. We should celebrate tonight! As long as we be more careful next time, I'm sure that everything will work out fine!" I spoke encouragingly.

Darkness looked up at me. "You're right, Kazuma. You're amazing, you know that? Catching all of our fish, and saving Megumin. You're really amazing. I didn't even know that you could cast Assassinate and Shatter Defenses!" She gave me a warm smile.

"Uh, thanks. I picked up those skills yesterday." I stuttered out, unused to seeing Darkness like this. "Come on! Let's hurry up and meet with the others!" I tried to change the subject.

And so we walked on. We were almost at the Guild Hall when this random dude wearing blue knight armor approached me. I couldn't see his face that well since he was wearing a helmet. He had two girls following behind him.

"Are you Satou Kazuma, the leader of Aqua's party?" He asked me.

"Yes I am, and you might be?" I replied back, suprised that he knew who Aqua was.

"My name is Mitsurugi Kyouya, the hero sent into this world by Aqua to defeat the Demon King!" He declared proudly.

Getting cocky now, are we? Wait...

"Did you just say that your name is Mitsurugi Kyouya?" My eyes darkened.

"Hmm... yes, why?" He seemed confused.

This fucker. This fucker was the one responsible for taking all of the quests. He was the reason why I went on that boat trip. He was the reason why Megumin almost died...

The anger, fear, and frustration I felt today all came back to me. It was currently all focused on this Kyouya fucker.

"Anyway, the reason why I approached you is to ask you for something." He began. "I never thought that you'd somehow manage to bring the Goddess Aqua herself down with you! And even though you bring her down, you don't even treat her right! That's right! I've been told about how much you mistreat her! Making her sleep in a stable, taking away her alcohol, and just today, I saw that you made her carry some random girl home on her back! It should be you carrying Aqua-sama home on your back instead! Have you no shame?" He questioned me.

Have I no shame? I worked my ass off to get to where I am today, and you, you fucker with a BS sword that's probably never been through a single hardship since you got here, you're asking me if I HAD NO SHAME? You fucker.

"Your point being?" I said through gritted teeth, trying to suppress my anger.

"Turn Aqua-sama over to me. I'll give her a much better life than you ever will! She'll get all the beer she ever wants!" He declared with a smug look on his face.

You're asking me to turn over the person who saved Megumin's life? Are you fucking crazy?! I swear, as long as I live, you'll never beat the Demon King, you hear me!? YOU'LL NEVER BEAT THE DEMON KING, BECAUSE I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!

Woah there, calm down. Kazuma. I know that this is hard for you, but you need to calm down.

"Not a chance. Leave. Get out of my sight." I said to him, once again trying to suppress my rage.

Kyouya walked closer to me.

"Sorry, but I can't do that. I can't leave Aqua-sama in such a pitiful state." He started to say. "I challenge you to a duel! If I win, turn Aqua-sama over to me. If you win, I'll listen to any one request that you might have. Of course, all weapons are allowed." He casually glanced down at his sword.

A duel? A duel to the death?! Something inside me was straining the break free.

"Kazuma? Are you okay?" Darkness said to me, noticing my expression. "We should just ignore him. Come on, let's go." She said worriedly, grabbing my hand.

"Oh? Could be it that you're scared?" Kyouya taunted me.

You motherfucker. I swear...

"Very well. I accept. Get ready." I declared, shaking Darkness off and unsheathing my sword. My mine went into overdrive. I was ready to unleash everything I had at this pathetic excuse for a human being that I saw in front of me.

I turned to face Darkness. "You go on ahead to the Guild Hall. Turn in our fish and meet up with the other girls. Maybe have a celebration or something. I'll join you later."

"But..." Darkness was hesitant.

"JUST GO!" I raised my voice.

She ran off.

"Hmpt, very well. Let's get this duel started." Kyouya said as he unsheathed his own sword.

"3" He began to count down.

I'm going to fucking kill you, you hear me?!

"2"

I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!

"1"

I let loose.

All the time that he spent shit-talking gave me enough time to come up with a plan. Obviously, my own sword wasn't going to cut it, even with Assassinate and Shatter Defenses.

So I threw it at his face.

"What are you even doing, throwing away your weapon like that?!" Kyouya asked as he dodged it easily.

Good, he was distracted. This was all the time that I needed.

"Assassinate, Shatter Defenses!" I quickly unleashed my wombo combo.

"What did you do? Why do I suddenly feel so vulnerable?" Kyouya's eyes widened.

And now...

"STEAL!" I yelled with my hand outstretched.

I did it. I fucking did it. The Cursed Sword Gram was now in my hands! It was raised high above Kyouya's head. I'd only need to bring the sword down, and it would be all over.

Murder. That word suddenly popped into my head. Did I really want to kill Kyouya? Could I live with the fact that I've ended another human being's life?

YES! Something inside of me shouted out, urging me on.

Regret. A second word went into my head. Think about your actions, Kazuma. They have consequences. Even though it was a duel, I doubt I could get away with no punishment.

I might be taken away from my party.

And that would mean that I would've left Megumin behind.

I can't do that. No, I ABSOLUTELY cannot do that!

And with that thought, I managed to get that thing inside me under control. My mind cleared out, and I could think calmly again. Why did I want to kill him, anyways?

Ah, that's right. I got too angry over the thought of almost losing Megumin. I let my emotions take over. I needed someone to be responsible, I needed someone that I could blame for all my troubles.

Well, that certainly wasn't healthy.

"Wait! We can talk about this! Put the sword down! You win the duel, okay?! I'll leave!" Kyouya yelled, suddenly scared.

I see. Without your sword, you're nothing, huh? You have no actual experience fighting, no actual experience in using your skills. You just pull out your sword and take care of everything without learning anything. Pathetic.

You don't deserve to die by my hands. I wouldn't want to get my hands dirty by taking out such trash. I'll set the sword down over here-

Wait, what the fuck? Why did the sword suddenly feel like it weighs 1000 pounds? Oh shit! It's coming down on his head! I could feel my entire body being dragged down with it.

Wait fuck, this isn't what I wanted! Kyouya has Assassinate and Shatter Defenses on him right now, he'll never be able to survive a direct hit!

"What are you doing?" Kyouya was frozen in fear.

Seriously? You can't even move out of the fucking way?! You are really a useless piece of shit without your sword, aren't you?

The sword was coming down too fast for me to stop it. It was going to cleave right through his helmet at this point if I didn't do something!

Using all my strength, I managed to twist the sword sideways so that it was now horizontal. That was all I could do. It was going to hit him unless he could manage to dodge it.

BOP!

The sound of metal hitting metal. He didn't even try to dodge it. Well, fuck.

Kyouya collapsed, a nasty dent in his helmet.

OH SHIT! I rushed over and put my hand under his nose. He was breathing normally. Just unconscious, then. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Kyouya!" The two girls he had with him rushed over to his body, shaking him.

I walked over and re-sheathed my own sword that was laying on the ground. So, I won the duel, huh? I had an idea.

I went over to the Cursed Sword Gram. I started to drag it along with me.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" One of the girls shouted at me.

"Tell your leader there," I struggled to talk. Fuck, why was this sword so goddamn heavy?! "that my request for winning the duel is that I'm taking his sword with me."

"What?! You can't do that! That sword means everything to him!" The other girl screamed at me.

"Well too bad! Tell him it's for his own good or something! Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to head out." I grunted while continuing to pull the sword along with me.

"We do mind!" The two girls stood up, preparing to... Actually, I don't know what they were preparing to do. Charge me? Tackle me? Call me names? I mean, I wouldn't mind getting tackled by two cute girls, but I needed to hurry up and get to the Guild Hall! Maybe I can scare these girls off somehow...

"I yearn for true gender equality," I began. "I have no trouble fighting anybody when it comes down to it, be it a man or woman! If you want to fight me, then come! Just don't be surprised when I dropkick you right in your stomach!"

They gasped in surprise, stopping dead in their tracks.

Cool, it looks like they got the message. Now, time to take this stupid ass sword to its destination.

KONOSUBA!

I arrived at a blacksmith shop.

"Hey, do you guys buy swords here?" I asked the man at the counter.

His eyes widened when he saw what I was carrying. "I'd have to appraise it first."

"Here you go," I used the rest of my strength to heave the sword onto the counter.

"This is sweet," he said in awe, his hands moving over the smooth metal. "So many precious metals... amazing craftsmanship... yeah, I'll definitely buy this! How much were you looking for?"

"Actually, I want you to melt it." I requested.

"Melt it? That'll take some work. I'd have to break apart the sword into its individual pieces, which would probably take me at least two hours. I would get a lot of valuable materials from it, but I can't offer you nearly as much money if you were to just sell it to me as is."

Money didn't matter to me right now. The fish that I caught today should be more than enough to cover me for a few months. What mattered to me right now is that I see to it that the sword gets destroyed. But there was a new problem. I thought that melting the sword was only going to take a couple minutes! I never knew that you needed to break up the sword!

I looked at the clock. 6 P.M. Could I spare two hours? Not really. Would it make the girls worried? Probably.

But was it worth it to see the sword get destroyed? Definitely.

"Melt it, I'll stay and watch you." I replied to him.

"I mean, sure, if that's what you want. We should settle on a price first. How does 500,000 Eris sound?" He offered me.

DUDE OKAY! I wasn't expecting to receive this much money for it, but hell yeah I'll take it! It almost made me regret not just selling it to him straight up, because who knows how much money I would get then?!

Nah, it wasn't worth it. If I just sold it to him, then there was a chance that Kyouya could buy it back. I couldn't take that risk.

"You've got a deal!" I replied happily.

"Sweet! Here you go," He handed me the money while taking the sword. "You sure you want to watch me melt the sword? It'll be pretty boring." He questioned me, a bit confused.

"I'm sure," I declared.

"Alright then. Come with me to my workshop. Grab a seat, this is going to take a while."

He walked through a door in the back. I followed him quickly.

I watched him as he broke the sword into pieces.

I watched him as he tossed the pieces into the furnace.

I watched as the pieces slowly turned into a red hot liquid.

I watched him as he poured out the liquid into his casts.

I watched as the sword became nothing more than just metal in a workshop.

I watched through the entire 2 hours of the process.

I enjoyed every single second of it.

I walked out of that shop happier than I had been in a long time. How do you like that, Kyouya? How are you going to take the number one spot away from me now, huh?

I smiled as I made my way to the Guild Hall. The sky was getting dark, I should really hurry.

I passed by a wine shop. I looked down at the bag of money I was holding.

Hmm... I should go pick up a gift for Aqua, seeing that she saved Megumin's life. Also, I was in a great mood right now.

So I walked in.

The store itself wasn't that big, but holy mother of god were there choices. So many different brands and types of wine were displayed throughout the shop. Oh my god, how was I going to choose? I didn't even know what kind of wine Aqua liked! I wandered around aimlessly.

A staff member came up to me. "Hey there, you look a bit lost. I don't think I've seen you around here before. Is this your first time here?" He asked me politely.

"Uh, yeah. I'm don't usually drink alcohol, so..." Actually, I would never drink alcohol again. Never again since that night...

I felt myself shudder at that memory.

"In that case, would you like some recommendations?" He offered me.

"Yes, please! That would be great!" I happily replied.

"Well, this section that we're currently in is the white wine part. White wines usually have a light, sweet taste. We also have red wines over here, fruity wines over there, sparking wines over there..."

My head was spinning again. What the hell? Why did the world of wines have to be so complicated?!

"...and if you look over there at our display case," he pointed to the front of the shop. "Those are our specialty wines. You won't find them anywhere else!"

"What about that one that's standing taller than the rest?" I pointed at the wine bottle in the center, raised higher than the rest.

"Ah, I see that you're a man of culture as well. That's our limited edition wine, its made with a special secret ingredient. We make a unique version each year. It's quite expensive, but it is by far the best wine we have in this store."

"Huh." Maybe I should just buy one of those.

"You want to know a funny story about that wine?" The staff member said to me with a smile.

"Sure, why not?" I replied.

"Everyday for the past month, this same blue haired girl would walk by our shop. She would always stare at that wine for a few moments before going along her way. We even caught her drooling at it every now and then!" He said with a light chuckle.

A blue haired girl? Aqua?!

"One day, the staff was having a party, and we opened up one of those special wines. It just happened that the girl stopped by again, so we invited her in to give her a sample. You should've seen the look on her face when she tasted it! It looked like she was in heaven! The manager offered to sell her a bottle at a discount, but it turns out that she couldn't afford one. Man, the look of longing on her face as she left that day... haha! I don't blame her, the wine is really spectacular. Personally, I do think that we charge a bit too much for a bottle, but don't tell the manager I said that!" He winked at me.

Yep, that definitely sounded like Aqua, alright! Cool, looks like I found the perfect gift!

"So how much is one of those limited edition wines, anyways?" I tried to sound causal.

"They're 200,000 Eris." He replied with a slight grimace.

Oh. Holy shit. 200,000 Eris? Do I it? Fuck yeah I'll do it! Aqua saved Megumin's life! I could never thank her enough for that!

The manager offered her a slight discount, huh? Maybe I could haggle a bit and get a discount too...

"Would you guys take 150,000 Eris for a bottle?" I asked hopefully. Luck stat, don't fail me now!

"You seem like a nice guy, so if it were up to me, I'd say yes. But I don't have that authority, so let me go get the manager for you. Sit tight!" He rushed off.

In no time, he came back with the manager.

"Are you the person that offered 150,000 Eris for one of our limited edition wines?" The manager asked me.

"Yeah, that's me. How about it?" I inquired.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that. You know how rare these are, right? I mean, after we sell off the rest, that's it. We'll never make anymore. I can do 180,000 Eris a bottle, though." He offered me kindly.

Okay, that was good, but not good enough. Let's see how far I can push my luck.

"What if I buy two bottles for 300,000? I've got the money right here," I held up my coin pouch.

The staff member that was helping me leaned in and whispered something in the manager's ear.

"Hmm. It appears that we've only got two bottles left. I might as well let you have them and be done with this year's limited edition wine. Very well, you've got a deal." He decided.

"Sweet! Thank you so much!" I exclaimed, handing him the money and taking the two bottles.

I exited the store. Damn, what an impulse buy! It'll be fine, I thought to myself. I still had 200,000 Eris left plus my fish money. I went to my inn real quick and hid the extra bottle of wine where I knew Aqua couldn't find it. I'll probably give it to Aqua some other time. Or maybe I'll give it to Megumin. Who knows? All I know is that I won't be drinking it.

Damn it, stop bringing up that painful memory, Kazuma! I may be grateful to Aqua, but that doesn't mean that I wanted THAT to happen!

Anyways, I looked at the clock in my inn. 8:30 P.M. I should really get going now. Time to find out how much money we actually earned today!

Alright, Guild Hall, here I come!

KONOSUBA!

"KAZUMA!" Megumin tackled me the second I walked in, drawing some attention. "Where were you? I was so worried!" She sniffled.

"Woah! You ran pretty fast there, Megumin! I take it that your leg's all better now?" I asked, surprised at how fast she recovered.

"Yeah, its completely healed now, thanks to Aqua. She also told me what had happened. If it wasn't for you and Aqua's healing..." Megumin started to lightly cry into my chest.

"There, there," I lightly ruffled her hair with my right hand. "It's all right now. Come on, let's go."

I lead her back to the table where Darkness and Aqua were sitting at.

Aqua spoke up first. "Well, Kazuma? What do you think? Look at my recovery magic on Megumin! I'm not useless now, am I?" She smugly declared.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." I couldn't let her get too full of herself, now. I pulled out the wine and handed it to her. "Here. My token of appreciation."

Aqua's eyes instantly lit up upon seeing the bottle, no doubt recognizing it instantly after a month of starting at it daily.

"Is this what I think it is?" She said in awe, carefully taking it into her hands.

"Try to not drink it all at once," I said with a smirk.

"Thank you, Kazuma! Thank you so much!" Aqua gave me a big smile.

No, you're the one I should be thanking for saving Megumin's life! Wait a second, why did I care about Megumin so much? Wasn't she just my party member?"

Or was she something more?

I quickly shook my head, clearing my thoughts. I turned to Darkness.

"Didn't I tell you to celebrate? I thought you guys would have at least eaten dinner by now." I said after I looked around, not seeing any dirty plates or a bill tab.

"Ah! I wanted to wait until you showed up, Kazuma! We've all been waiting for you for the past 2 hours! Where were you, anyways? I tried to search for you after I turned in the fish, but I couldn't find you anywhere!" Darkness exclaimed.

"Ah. Uh, thanks. I was out doing some business..." I smiled when I thought about the sword again. "Nothing you guys should worry about. Anyhow, you said you turned in the fish? How much did we get?"

Darkness smiled as she held up a giant coin bag, filled to the brim with money. "Well, I wanted to wait until Kazuma was here to you tell you all... that we EARNED 9 MILLION ERIS!" She screamed out in delight.

"9 MILLION ERIS?! HOW?!" I yelled in surprise. Did I hear her correctly!?

"Kazuma, that's amazing!" Aqua and Megumin both exclaimed at the same time.

"Well, it turns out that most of the fish that Kazuma caught were actually females with tons of roe inside them! So not only did we get money for the fish, we also got money for the roe as well! Apparently, this species of fish's roe is super valuable, selling for up to 350,000 Eris a kilo!" Darkness explained happily.

"Amazing! Absolutely amazing!" I yelled out. Having high luck was amazing!

I took the money from Darkness and looked inside. Holy hell. I've never seen this much money before! The tryhard life is the best!

"Kazuma, Kazuma! Let's throw a party! Can we throw a party?" Aqua asked me excitedly, swaying a bit from side to side.

It looks like she was already a bit drunk. Damn it, Aqua!

"Kazuma's going to throw a party?" A member at the bar said out loud.

"Really? I wouldn't be surprised, he just earned 9 Million Eris, after all!" Another member gushed out.

"Sweet! Looks like I won't have to pay my tabs tonight! Thank you, Kazuma!" Another person assumed.

Normally, I would've gotten pissed off at these assumptions, but today I was in a good mood. Plus, I saw this as a chance to get on the people's good side. I took out a million Eris and laid it on the table.

I stood up. "Alright, listen up!" I addressed the crowd. "To celebrate me and my party earning 9 million Eris, I'll officially throw a party! Everyone's tab is on me!"

I raised a fist in the air. "Tonight, we feast!"

"WOOOOO!" The crowd let out a loud cheer as the party started.

Welp, there goes a million Eris, but fuck it! I still had 8 million left! Tonight, I'm going to unwind and enjoy myself after today's stressful events!

It was a fun night.

Aqua was using Nature's Beauty and slowly savoring her wine, Darkness was having drinking contests with other adventurers, and Megumin was talking to people about her explosions, everyone was having a good time!

Besides the fact that I was keeping a super hard lookout as to not accidentally consume any alcohol, I had a lot of fun as well. It was the first party I'd been at, and hosted by myself, nonetheless!

At around midnight, I was way too exhausted to continue. It looked like everyone else felt the same way as well, so we disbanded and each went our own separate ways.

I crashed into my bed at the inn, and Aqua did the same.

"Say Aqua," I said in the darkness.

"Hmm...?" She groggily replied, cuddling the special wine bottle next to her face.

Damn, she already drank half of it?! What happened to savoring it? Whatever, that doesn't matter. I wanted to ask her about something important.

"How far does your recovery magic go? I mean, could you use Resurrection or something so that even if we die, you could still bring us back?" I asked seriously.

"As I said before," Aqua proudly replied. "My healing magic is second to none! As long as they are still alive, no matter how grave the injury, I can help them recover!"

"However," Aqua's tone was suddenly solemn. "Once they're gone... then they're gone. No magic is powerful enough to bring someone back from the dead." She finished.

"Oh. Thanks, Aqua. Goodnight." I turned over to sleep.

"Goodnight, Kazuma." She replied.

What she said just made my heart ache more.

I was this close to losing Megumin...

KONOSUBA!

"Kazuma?" A voice called out.

What? Who's there? Did something say my name?

"Kazuma?" The same voice called out again, a bit louder this time.

I opened my eyes and sat up groggily. What's going on? I could only see darkness around me. Was this a dream?

"Kazuma, are you there?" The voice quivered slightly as it spoke.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I glanced at the clock. 3 A.M. What the fuck? Who the fuck is at my door at fucking 3 A.M?! Damn it, my head is so foggy right now that I couldn't even tell if I knew the voice or not!

Ugh, I'm so tired right now from all that partying. I needed to sleep and get my energy back. Sleep... I laid back down again, thinking that maybe whoever was at the door would just go away.

"Kazuma!" It called out again, urgently.

It began to knock slightly at my door.

For fucks sake, man, just let me fucking sleep! I got up and slowly walked over, preparing to give this person a piece of my mind.

I opened the door. "What the hell is wrong with you-"

"KAZUMA! Thank goodness!" I was suddenly interrupted when the person suddenly rushed forward and hugged me tightly.

This feeling... I've felt this feeling before... Megumin?! I looked down.

It was Megumin, all right. Except that this time she was wearing nothing but her pink pajamas. Damn, she looked cute!

"Uh... Megumin? What are you doing here? You do realize that is 3 A.M., right?" I asked her, slightly annoyed.

"Sorry... I just really needed to see you..." Megumin whispered softly.

"What? Why? Do you need something? Are you hurt? I thought that Aqua had healed you fully!" I said to her worriedly.

"No! No, it's nothing like that. I just had a nightmare, that's all..." She shook slightly into my chest.

Ah, a nightmare, huh? I can relate. A nightmare is why I stopped drinking alcohol, after all...

I wrapped my arms around Megumin and returned the hug. "Would you like to tell me about it? Sometimes it helps." I suggested gently.

"I thought that I had lost you, Kazuma! I dreamed that you got eaten by that alligator... I could see the blood, Kazuma... It was so vivid... It seemed so real... Kazuma, I was so scared! I was so scared!" She started to cry uncontrollably into my chest.

I pulled her closer into me, my hand gently patting her back in an attempt to calm her down.

"When I woke up, I didn't know what to do. I remembered that you were the one that saved me, but the dream seemed so real... I needed to make sure that you weren't gone, Kazuma. So I came here..." She explained, calming down slightly.

"It's all right, Megumin. It's going to be okay. It's just a dream, after all." I whispered softly, trying to not wake Aqua up.

"I was just too scared, Kazuma... I thought that you were gone... I thought that you had left..." She said while sniffling.

"Hey, look at me." I used my hands and carefully lifted her face so that she could see mine. "I won't go down that easily, Megumin. And I won't ever leave you, I promise. I'll always be here for you." I started to stroke her soft red hair.

"Kazuma..." She finally relaxed into my arms, breathing contently.

We held each other like that for a while, which gave me some time to think.

What I had just told her... oh shit, didn't that kinda sound like a love confession?!

And this intimate way that we were holding each other... wasn't this something only lovers did?

We stop probably stop doing stuff like this. Yeah, Megumin was too innocent and sweet.

But I'd be lying to myself if I said I wanted to stop. There was another part inside of me that wanted to continue, wanted to go further on with Megumin.

What's with these conflicting emotions?! This is BS! AGH! It's making my head hurt like hell!

So I stopped thinking about them. I'll revisit them another day when it wasn't fucking 3 A.M.

For now, even though I relished the feeling of holding Megumin in my arms, I really wanted to fucking sleep.

"Do you think you'd be okay now, Megumin? Are you fine with making your way back to your home? I'll see you tomorrow." I said to her, lightly loosing my grip.

Megumin only tightened her own grip on me. She tilted her head up and looked at me in the eyes.

"Kazuma... Can I... Do you think that I... Do you think that I can sleep here with you tonight?" She asked me bashfully, looking away.

"Wha-?" I sputtered out, caught off guard by her question. "Megumin, I don't think that's a good idea." I replied quickly.

"Please?" She looked me in the eyes again. "I don't think I can handle being alone tonight..." Some tears started to form on the edge of her eyes.

Oh shit, Kazuma! Oh shit! Oh wow, those red eyes were really pretty... I could get lost by just starting at them... Wait no!

Alright now, Kazuma. Listen up! All you have to do say no. It's very easy, right? Just two letters, n and o. Ready? Alright, here you go, just say no-

"Yes. Sure. Come on in." I said. Wait. Did I SERIOUSLY just say that?

FUCK!

Maybe Megumin didn't hear me...

"Thank you..." Megumin said quietly as she silently pushed past me and walked next to my bed.

FUCK x2!

"Mmm... it smells like Kazuma..." Megumin mumbled to herself as she climbed into my bed.

FUCK x3! OH BABY A TRIPLE!

I eyed the floor. Maybe I could sleep down here for tonight.

That's right, I take one step towards that bed and there would be no doubt that the FBI would suddenly appear in this world and I'd be fucked!

"Kazuma..." Megumin was lightly patting the empty space next to her. "Hurry up... I need you."

Jesus fucking Christ my brain is going haywire! This is a trap, right?!

I took a step forward. No FBI.

Another step forward. Still no FBI.

Fuck it, YOLO!

I rushed forward next to the bed before I could change my mind. I glanced over at the sleeping form of Aqua.

This was going to be tough as fuck to explain to her tomorrow.

I climbed into bed next to Megumin.

She gave me a small smile as she hugged me tightly, as if she was afraid that I'd suddenly disappear.

"Goodnight, Kazuma." She whispered sweetly into my ear as she snuggled her head onto my shoulder.

"Goodnight, Megumin." I replied back. I wrapped my left arm around her body, pulling her close. She felt really soft...I could get used to this!

If a cute girl was going to sleep next to me, then I'll enjoy this moment as much as I can!

I closed my eyes, preparing to sleep.

There was just one problem.

Megumin was way too fucking close.

She felt way too warm and way too nice.

Her hair also smelled really good.

This was too stimulating for some virgin like me.

All of my exhaustion suddenly left me. My mind was wide awake. I couldn't sleep.

FUCK x4!

Author's Note: I know I skipped the scene where Kyouya asks for his sword back and the scene where Beldia comes back. These scenes will be in the next chapter! Thank you all for the support on this series!