Chapter 4: Sisters in Trouble

Part 1

Just as I heard her about to reply, the door to my cell unlocked and swung open. The guard who bound me stood scratching his head apologetically. "Uhhh, sorry," he said. "You were…actually telling the truth."

"I told you as much!" I said angrily. "I'm expecting some form of compensation, you know."

"A-Ah, of course." The man undid the binds and let me out. "Ah, y-you said, you wanted to speak with the prisoner, right? I can—"

"Humph, nevermind, I'm leaving. You can send that compensation to the Satou estate in Axel."

"Wait, Satou? As in Satou Kazuma?"

"Hmm, uh, yeah, why—"

The guard immediately dropped to the ground and prostrated himself. "Forgive me! I didn't know you were part of the House of Satou!"

"Eh…" I cleared my throat. "That's right, I'm part of the House of Satou; in reality, I'm its eldest member, so that means I'm the authoritative figure. Kazuma looks up to me, you know; he gets all his knowledge and advice from me. So, if I told him, you threw me in jail, he'd be pretty angry."

The guard gulped loudly. "P-Please—"

"Aqua-sama."

"—Aqua-sama, don't say anything about this; it was an honest mistake."

"Humph, I'll consider it…if you join the Axis Order." I pulled out a recruitment sheet.

The man looked at me and the form in my hand.

"Well?" I said, nudging the paper closer.

"Hmm." He seemed to be really contemplating this when the option should've been a no-brainer.

"Hey, aren't you gonna join?"

He scrunched his brow; he looked like he was really weighing his options…but it should be obvious.

"Hey, are you really thinking about this?"

The guard scratched his head, pressing his lips tightly in thought. "I…I don't know…maybe being executed would be a mercy."

I quickly grabbed the man and shook him wildly. "You'd rather die than join the Axis Order?!"

He quickly pulled out an amulet in his coat. "S-Sorry, I'm—"

"Ah, a dirty Eris cultist!" I spat on the ground.

-Later that day, evening; back at the mansion in Axel…

"Ha, got you this time, Dark—wha, hey!" Megumin yelled.

Her and Darkness were playing the chess-like game; a 'no-Explosion' rule was in place.

"Ah, seems like you're gonna lose," I said, glancing over at Megumin's failing progress.

She flinched slightly at my mentioning. "N-Nonsense, Kazuma, this is all a part of my plan," She said with a false bravado.

Darkness moved a piece in place; the game was over, Darkness won.

Megumin clutched her head in despair. "Ugh, this is why I like playing against Aqua."

"Speaking of Aqua," Darkness said, "I haven't seen her all day."

Megumin sat up, a more serious expression on her face. "Hmm, I haven't either."

"Irene," Darkness called, "has Aqua told you she was going anywhere?"

"Unfortunately, she hasn't, Lalatina-sama," the maid answered from the kitchen; she was hot at work making dinner.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry," I interrupted. "Knowing Aqua she's probably at the guild having a couple drinks or something; that girl will turn up sooner or later." I was playing with Chomusuke as I lounged on the couch.

"You don't think she went back to Heaven or something, right?" Megumin said worriedly. "I mean, she has been acting pretty down ever since the mission."

It was something that certainly made me think it was a possibility. At her core, I felt that Aqua was the biggest crybaby in the group despite being the eldest; again, it was a distinct possibility.

"Even if she did, Ambrosia-sama will probably send her back down after a bit; she still has a job to do down here. After all, it was a personal task given to her by her own 'oba-sama', so I doubt Aqua would just up and abandon it."

"True," Megumin said.

Just then, the door opened and in came the goddess in question; a thin stack of papers in her hand, her back slumped over, a look of exhaustion upon her face.

"And speak of the devil," I said, glancing over at her. "Where've you been?"

"Excuse me, I've been busy."

"Oh yeah, doing what exactly—and getting drunk doesn't count so don't go saying—"

"I've been trying to find Gren-san's sister!" Aqua quickly retorted.

"Oh?"

She showed off the stack of papers in her hands; they appeared to be fliers for a missing person.

I sat up in surprise. "Oh, Aqua, nice one."

She smiled proudly as she handed one over to me. "Well, what do you think?"

Megumin and Darkness also looked over the fliers in question.

After a moment, I looked up at her. "Oi, I thought this was a 'missing persons' flier, but this is really just an Axis Cult recruitment form, isn't it?"

By the dubious looks on Megumin and Darkness' faces, I could tell they too came up with the same conclusions.

"N-No—of course not!"

Megumin interjected. "No matter how you look at it, Aqua, this basically looks like a recruitment form with a kid's portrait on it and some very minor differences."

"I-I just want everyone to know that the Axis Order is the one spearheading the recovery of this innocent child."

I sighed. "To think that you'd even take moments like these to push your agenda; this is one of the reasons why the Axis Cult is so looked down on."

"Hey! I'm seriously trying to find her; I even got put in jail for doing so!"

"Wait, what?!"

Aqua ignored my retort. "What's the issue with these fliers anyways? So what if they look like recruitment forms."

"It'll clearly have the opposite effect," I answered. "No one wants to associate themselves with the Axis Cult."

"Not to mention, everyone's wary of receiving anything from an Axis Cultist," Megumin explained.

"Especially forms," I added. "Listen, Aqua, just get rid of the obvious things, keep the portrait and info and it should be ok."

"Is this really her?" Darkness said; she was staring at the portrait in question.

"Umu," Aqua answered. "I went and asked Gren-san directly."

We all stared at the picture.

"Who made it?" I asked.

"I did, of course," Aqua replied, proudly placing her hands on her hips.

If it was Aqua, I could definitely see how this could be her work; frankly speaking, the portrait looked more like a snapshot or an image created from a modern printer.

"Is she an elf?" Megumin said; she did so presumably after noticing the pointed ears.

"Umu, Gren-san said that she's half elf."

"Oi, Aqua," I said, getting her attention. "You did all this yourself?"

She smiled as if she were receiving praise. "I had some help from my lovable faithful. I even had some of the kids from the orphanage help out. Tomorrow, I'll hand out the rest of these around town."

"I can help you, if you'd like, Aqua-sama," the maid said as she stepped out with trays of food.

Aqua clasped her hands together in happiness. "Thank you, Irene; I know you're an Eris Cultist, but you can be an honorary member of the Axis Order."

The maid coughed slightly. "I'm humbled."

After we ate, we all went about doing the things that would wind us down. Eventually night came and we went to bed.

-Next Morning

Morning came and as planned, Irene and Aqua headed out to distribute the remaining fliers. Darkness left soon after to help at the school. I, who, for one reason or another, was already awake fairly early decided to relax this day. As I lounged on the couch, the only remaining member of the household came.

"Kazuma," Megumin said, rubbing away the drowsiness in her eyes, "where'd everybody go?"

"They went out to do stuff, why?"

"Just wondering," she said, taking a seat in front of me. "It was quiet, so I was kinda worried." She let herself fall over and was now laying in front of me, her back to my chest. "Say, Kazuma," Megumin said, turning around abruptly, "don't you have anything to do?"

I scoot back a bit; Megumin's face was really close.

"Ahem, not really; just some waiting really. Gotta wait for Holt to message me on the reward, Claire too, and as far as the issue with the shop attendant, gotta wait on the trial."

Megumin stared at me idly.

"What?" I said, growing somewhat uncomfortable.

She smiled mischievously. "…nothing."

I sat up. "You know I'm trying to relax, right?"

Megumin tilted her head slightly, staring at me with innocent eyes. "So, what's the problem?"

"This…really? You trying to play coy with me?"

She smirked slightly, and then looked away.

As I stared at her, I noticed her pajamas tops were riding slightly high; her belly was exposed, revealing a fair bit of skin. More than this, the clothing itself appeared to be slightly tight on her; did she purposely do this to try and seduce me?

"Oi, Megumin," I said with a mildly serious tone; it got her attention.

"Hm?"

"What's up with your clothes?" I said, pointing at them.

She looked herself over, pulling down on the exposed bit. She continued to look, and then, after a few moments, looked back at me. "I think they don't fit."

"They don't…fit? You actually grew?"

Megumin frowned at me. "Of course, Kazuma; what'd you think, I'd stay the same size forever? I'm a girl going through puberty, of course I'm gonna grow a bit." She once again looked over the clothing. "These must be an older pair."

"How'd you not notice?"

"I must've been too tired." She then turned her attention to me. "How about you?"

"How about me, what; notice you growing?"

"No, how about you; haven't you grown a bit too?"

"Ah, oh, well…yeah."

"But your tracksuit still fits you."

"Oh, I fixed it up myself, see?" I showed her the small markings of it being resewn.

"Hmm, you've gotten pretty good at tailoring, haven't you?"

I shrugged. "I do what I can."

Megumin smiled. "I was thinking of gettting rid of these, but why don't you refit them instead?"

"Well—"

"They'd be a good source of experience, if you do."

It was a solid argument…and I didn't have anything to do. "Sure," I said, shrugging once more.

Megumin began to undress.

"Oi," I said, holding the clothes together, "what are you doing?"

"Taking them off."

"I'm gonna hit you."

"Why are you suddenly acting so innocent, Kazuma; you've seen me on several occasions."

She was right, but it didn't mean it was any easier seeing her willingly expose herself.

"Besides," she continued, "It's not like I'll be completely naked."

"You're not wearing a bra, are you?"

"No."

"So you don't mind if your—"

"Do you?"

"That's not the point—why are you making this difficult for me?"

"Because…" Megumin slowly let go of her clothes. She looked away with a slightly remorseful expression. "I want…I just want you to do something to me already." She turned her gaze back at me; her eyes with glowing brightly.

This time, I turned away. "Megumin, I—"

She pressed forward. "Just…something—anything, Kazuma…please?"

"I…I can't." I swallowed deeply. "If I do, I…I know I won't be able to hold myself back."

She grabbed my hand and quickly placed it on her chest. I almost pulled away instinctively, but she held my hand in place.

"Do you feel that?" She said.

It was her heart; I felt it beating strongly. I nodded.

"I feel this way every time—every time, Kazuma. I"—She let go of my hand and hugged me—"I know you're doing this for my sake, so…I'm sorry, but I, I don't know what to do."

"…is…Explosion not enough anymore?"

"It's…different. It's different; it's similar, but…it's not the same." She pulled away and sighed deeply. "I'm sorry to tempt you like this." She looked down despondently.

I sighed as I sat beside her. "You know," I said, "back then, if you presented me with the same scenario…I don't think I would've hesitated. I think I would've found it odd, but…I don't know."

"I don't think I understand; you say you love me, and this is what you want, but…"

"I think it's because of that, that I find it so hard, Megumin. Every time I get the urge to, it's like there's something in the back of my head reminding me that you should be different, that I shouldn't just…think of myself. Sometimes I'm pissed at it…but…most of the time I feel…relieved."

"So…when; how long am I gonna have to wait?"

I smirked; I felt it was kinda odd for a girl to be the one saying such things. I looked at her. "Do you want it to be now? Are you okay with it just being a spur-of-the-moment thing? There's—"

"What do you want, Kazuma; what do you want it to be like?"

"I want it to be a good experience for you," I said seriously. "I want you to be…happy."

"And you don't think it would be if we did it now?"

"No," I replied, looking at her.

"I do though; I think any time would be enough to fulfill that criteria."

"How?"

"Cause it'd be with you; that's all I'd need. All I'd need is for it to be with you, Kazuma, and it'd be the best…I'd be happy."

I felt embarrassed by her sincerity. "Even so…I still think…you deserve better." I stared at her. "But if you feel like you don't want all that then…"

I leaned forward and pushed her down. As I drew closer, Megumin placed her hand on my chest, stopping me.

"I'll…I'll wait," She said, looking away timidly.

"Oh, so now you'll wait; after I got so worked up. Now I can't back down."

I opened her pajama tops and stared at her bared chest; it rose sharply as her breaths became more pronounced. Her rosy nipples were already puffed up in response to my earlier action. I traced my hand along the side of her stomach, up along her ribs, and finally grasped her budding breast softly; she let out a gasp.

"Kazuma," she said breathlessly, "wait."

I ignored her plea and continued. I was curious about her, about her body, and as I thought, I could feel the mental restraint I put on myself slowly start to unravel. I quickly leaned forward and pressed my tongue to her other nipple. Her body jerked under me. I could hear Megumin begin to pant as I cupped my mouth around her breast, tenderly sucking at its perky bit.

"Wait," She said once again, her voice nearly lost under the heavy panting; her hands pressed against the back of my head in contradiction.

I moved her hands and pulled away. Grabbing the hem of her pants, I pulled them off. She wore black panties with a set of red diamond patterns; these were new. I pressed my face to them, my nose taking in her scent; it was an interesting smell, mildly soapy with a tinge of musk. I was so close to her. I could feel myself beginning to slip; if this went on…I pulled away once more, I could feel the dampness on my nose, see it building along the sides of her panties.

"Kazuma, please," She whimpered.

I stared at her. I could hear my own heavy breathing and slowly started to come to my senses. "Do, do you see; is this what you want? If you do—"

"I," she said, breathing ever heavily, "I, I'll wait." She closed her legs tightly. "Look away," She said.

"Why?"

"Why do you think?!" she yelled in frustration. "I need to…relieve myself," She said, almost overcome with embarrassment.

"Wait, you're gonna—"

"Shut up, just shut up and turn away!" She said, kicking at me.

I grabbed her legs and pulled them apart.

"Wait, Kazuma, what are you—"

I quickly thumbed the fabric into the parting of her lips. Almost instantly, I felt Megumin fidget and let out a loud gasp as the dark underwear were now visibly stained, the blemish slowly ballooning outwards across the garment. As I pressed my thumbs upwards, she arched wildly and cried out loudly; a moment later her underwear was completely wet.

"There," I said. "You okay now?"

Megumin nodded weakly, her eyes glazed over with pleasure.

I sighed, and I as I went to get up, she grabbed my arm. "Wait," She said, still panting.

"?"

"Now…now it's your turn." She quickly sat up and reached into my pants.

I winced as Megumin's cooler hands wrapped around my radiating shaft. She squeezed slightly, and then began to pump. With her other hand, she pulled down my pants and underwear, exposing me to the open air. I grit my teeth as her strokes came faster.

"Mmm." Megumin smirked, and then licked her lips in anticipation. "You're almost there, aren't you; you're about to explode."

I threw my head back as the tip began to twitch, a slow leak of cum coating the surface. The next instance, a jet of murky white liquid shot out, followed by several smaller bursts. Megumin slowly kept pumping all the while, my mind hazy with euphoria. As I sat back panting from the excitement, I felt a tingling and warm sensation run along the length of my shaft; Megumin was licking it.

Her tongue traveled its length and as it got to the tip, she closed her mouth around it. In the meanwhile, her tongue rolled around the sides, and as she gently pulled away, pressed itself into the tip.

"Gah, Megumin, what the hell." I threw my head back once more as my hands dug tightly into the couch's fabric. "What the hell…so this is a blow job? It's amazing! Megumin," I said breathlessly, "I, I think…I think I'm gonna"—I grabbed her head—"CUM!"

I felt myself let go into her mouth continuously, each load I could hear her swallow deeply. I let go of her as my arms and body went completely numb. Megumin, in turn, slowly pulled away coughing, strands of the hot liquid slowly dripped from the sides of her mouth and chin. She sat back on the arm of the couch with a satisfied look on her face.

"There," she said, "now, I'm ok."

"This cheeky brat," I thought, but I was too tired and too impressed to say or do anything else.

After a while of "cooling off", I cleaned up my "mess" (being careful to not overlook anything) while Megumin went ahead to take a bath. As I cleaned, Chomusuke came over and watched silently.

"Alright, time to get rid of the evidence," I said. "Tinder." The rag I used went up in flames. "Keep this a secret, ok?" I said to the curious creature; it meowed in reply.

I sat back down on the couch and sighed. Chomusuke jumped onto my lap and curled up.

"Geez, you have a crazy master." I said, petting its head.

Chomusuke purred.

I chuckled. "You probably already know that though, don't you?"

I looked over to my side; Megumin's pajamas were still here. After all was said and done, she headed over to the bathroom just wearing her underwear; it was a thought that began exciting me once again, but as I heard Chomusuke purr, I quickly relaxed.

"Well…" I grabbed the clothing. "The original intention should still stand, right?"

I headed up to my room to find my tailoring kit, Chomusuke followed.

"Alright," I said as I sat on my bed.

I pressed the near-translucent thread to the clothing and it immediately took its color; magic thread, I've used it a couple times now, but every time I did, I was reminded of how awesome something like this would be back in Japan; it was one of the times where this world's tech seemed slightly ahead of my own.

I took a piece of cloth and pressed it to the clothing; this was something called 'Mimicloth', it bore similar effects to magic thread because it used some in its own construction. Both were fairly expensive—usually to the point amateur tailors couldn't afford it, but, well…it wasn't an issue to me.

While under the instruction of Chekera, the tailor of the Crimson Village, these were some of the things he taught me. He told me that using these two things could help cut down on mistakes, frustrations, and most importantly, time when tailoring; after using them myself, I sort of understood what he meant and could see how one tailor could provide service to so many people with little issue.

In contrast, when I visited the Royal Tailor, I didn't really see any of these things; traditional methods, the ones I was more familiar with, were employed. Perhaps it showed the level of expertise these artisans had, that they didn't need the advantage and simplicity of such items.

"There you are," Megumin said, coming into my room; she was wearing a bathrobe. Her hair, still damp, matted to her skin. "Oh, so you're actually fixing it?"

I frowned. "Why, was it simply an excuse to wear these?"

"Of course not," she said, climbing onto the bed. She picked up Chomusuke who was clawing at the side of my bedpost and crawled over to my side.

Megumin lay her back against my own; I could feel the wet strands of her hair drape along the back and sides of my neck. I could hear Chomusuke purr, presumably from Megumin petting her.

I stopped and took a deep breath.

"Hmm, what's wrong?" Megumin asked.

"Nothing," I replied, continuing on my work.

"Hmmm, really?"

"Yeah," I replied casually.

Truth of the matter was…I was feeling less secure around her; because I initiated this time around, the self-imposed limits I placed on myself felt far weaker; I felt like losing myself to her, but what little self-control I had left surprisingly won out in the end.

By the time I finished, Megumin had fallen asleep; she transitioned from sitting to laying down, Chomusuke curled on her chest. I held up the pajama top and admired my work; it was almost indistinguishable from a store-bought one. I looked over at the pants; they would need a bit more work to get them to fit.

I put the clothing down and stared at Megumin; she looked like a different person when she was like this, it was "moe" as hell. I smiled faintly, and then laid down, staring at the ceiling. I felt Megumin's fingertips touch my hand, and then slowly, grasp it.

I quickly glanced over. "Oi, Megumin," I said, trying to get her attention, but she was actually in a deep sleep. I looked down at our clasped hands, I was embarrassed; this was such a clichéd thing to do, and here she did it unsuspectingly. I closed my eyes and gently tightened my grip around hers. "Just for now," I thought, a small smile forming along my face.

-Sometime later…

"Kazuma!" I woke up to yelling of an annoying goddess.

"Uh, what, what's going on?" I rubbed my eyes drowsily and sat up.

"I could ask you that very thing; what are you doing with poor Megumin's pajamas?!"

"Huh?" I looked down; at my foot was indeed, Megumin's pajamas. "I was sewing them; they were small on her." As I said this, I noticed Megumin was nowhere to be seen. "Where is she by the way?" I asked.

"Downstairs with Darkness."

"Ah, Darkness is back too?"

"You two weren't doing anything lewd while we were gone, were you?"

"Tch—what's it to you?" I got out of bed. "What time is it?" I said, yawning as I stretched.

"Almost evening."

"Oh, so you actually did some work today; I'm impressed."

Aqua frowned. "I always do; I'm the most active person—"

"Stop. Did you manage to get through the remaining fliers?"

"Ah, well…"

I knit my brow and crossed my arms. "What happened?"

"N-Nothing! Ahem, since Irene came with me, we decided to change a few things with the fliers."

"Like?"

"N-Nothing significant; I just ended up passing out pamphlets with the fliers instead."

"It seems like the maid helped avoid a train wreck. What was the pamphlet about; was it just another recruitment form in disguise?"

"There's no disguise involved, Kazuma! Anyways, I handed them out with the fliers; it just details the tenants of the Axis Order, how and where you can join, and at the bottom a small box with information where you can turn in the pamphlet to join."

"So it was a recruitment form…" I sighed. "Did you get rid of all of 'em?"

Aqua nodded. "We ended up giving all of them out."

"I can imagine the garbage bins around town will be full of Axis Cult propaganda for a while." I sighed once more. "Alright, come on."

Part 2

"Hey, Aqua," Megumin said as we came down, "can you switch places with Darkness?"

"I don't know why you're complaining, Megumin," Darkness commented, "you were the one who asked me to play with you again."

Aqua answered. "Sorry, Megumin, I'm too tired to play right now. Right now, all I want is a nice warm bath and a drink."

"I'm starting to think you actually live on purely alcohol," I remarked.

"I-I never said it was alcohol!"

"But it is, isn't it?"

"…I'm having a tall glass of milk."

"In a hot bath?"

"So even you admit that having a drink in the bath is refreshing!"

"Sure I do, Goddess of Alcoholism and Drunkards."

Aqua went to choke me, but I somehow managed to hold her back; defeated, she begrudgingly gave up and headed to the bathroom.

I sat on the couch.

"Hey, Kazuma, would you play with me?" Megumin pleaded.

I know what she meant, but the words still sent a jolt up my spine. I could tell I was blushing with how flushed I felt; I looked away in order to hide the most of it.

"You always use Explosion and Teleport; that game is pretty bs." I turned to Darkness. "How the hell do you manage to beat her anyways?"

"A stalwart defense, Kazuma," Darkness replied with a proud smile.

"Darkness just tends to surround my mage and tank all my attacks," Megumin stated offhandedly.

"Ah, so another bs tactic."

"This is why a no-Explosion rule is stupid," she said resolutely. "How else am I supposed to break through such a tough defense?"

"I think that's the point of defense," I remarked. "Anyways, why don't you guys play something else?"

"Actually, Kazuma, can we go out and do our daily?"

"Huh, no, it's getting late; if you use your Explosion spell, we're liable to wake up the giant toads."

Megumin shuddered. "Eh, uh…nevermind," she said dejectedly.

"Giant toads?" Darkness said with a smirk. "I'll accompany you if you'd like, Megumin."

"Umu, go with Darkness; worse comes to worst, only you'll be eaten."

"Nonsense, Kazuma, I'll make sure to guard Megumin with my life; I'll draw their attention to me since I don't have my armor."

"Ah, that's right, Darkness' armor was completely destroyed in the last battle."

"T-That's alright, Darkness," Megumin said rather nervously. "I'll wait till morning."

"A-Are you sure, Megumin?! I know how bad you feel when you don't use Explosion." Darkness was desperately trying to get Megumin to reconsider.

"Eh, no, it's alright, Darkness; recently I've been able to endure going without using Explosion every day."

"Really?" Darkness said in surprise. "What changed?"

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"Well, you use to go pretty crazy if you didn't use it every day; you'd become pretty impulsive."

I interrupted. "You mean more than she already is."

Megumin knit her brow at me, and then turned her attention back to Darkness. "Nothing, I've just learned a bit of restraint is all."

I glanced at her. Almost as if she knew I'd do this, Megumin looked at me out the corner of her eye with a slight frown.

Darkness sighed. "Guess it can't be helped then. Well, I'm off to bed early; I have quite a few things to do tomorrow."

"Oh, the oujo-sama is gonna be busy tomorrow as well?"

Darkness looked at me disapprovingly. "Goodnight," She said as she went up to her room.

I quickly got up. "Well, I'm off—"

"Wait!" Megumin said, grabbing my arm.

"What?" I was feeling anxious.

"Um"—Megumin began to fidget and looked away timidly—"can…can you teach me some more Japanese tonight?"

I relaxed somewhat. "Why are you fidgeting? It's giving me different impressions."

Megumin's face slowly grew rosy, turning an almost full crimson moments later. She clutched my arm tighter and tugged me gently downwards, her mouth meeting my ear. "Did…did you like it?" she whispered coyly.

I pulled away and gulped, sharply turning my face away from her gaze. "Umu," I replied with a short nod.

"Do…you want to…"

I stared at her, her increasingly brightening eyes staring back. I closed mine for a moment and shook my head. "We," I began to say rather hesitantly, "we need to—"

She hugged me, placing her head on my chest gently. "Ok," she said, "I'll follow your lead; you are my leader."

I felt bad for denying her; I wanted her too, but I couldn't tell you why I kept such things at arm's length. It didn't even really make sense to me. Still, I took her up on her offer. Megumin came to my room that night.

-Nighttime

I was anxious as I waited; several minutes already went by when I decided to head to bed. As I was about to completely turn in, there was a knock on my door. Although I was expecting it, her, the knock still surprised me.

I answered quickly with a slightly high tone. "Come in!"

She did. Megumin was wearing her usual sleepwear; this time it was fitted to her, slightly loose, but still complimenting her appearance. In her arms, tightly clutched to her chest, was the notebook; in her hand, a pencil. She quickly rushed over to the bed and climbed beside me excitedly; her actions were in contradiction to the timorous look on her face.

As I stared at her somewhat nervously, Megumin's eyes darted away from mine, stealing glances from time to time. She slowly scoot closer and placed the notebook my lap.

"What an odd girl," I thought; how her actions and personality would swing in ways I couldn't really follow; sometimes she would be timid, as she was now, and other times she would be bold and assertive. Who the "real" Megumin was, I still didn't have a firm answer.

"What," she began to say, though her voice was almost a whisper; she cleared her throat and said in a slightly louder tone, "what are you gonna teach me…tonight?"

I cleared my own throat. Since my mind was aflutter with such thoughts, it didn't take a genius to see how I could interpret such a line as…suggestive. "We'll uh…ahem…review, I guess."

"Umu." She nodded in compliance.

Minutes went by as we reviewed prior lessons, but the tension was still in the air. As time went on, Megumin drew progressively closer to me; first, we were shoulder to shoulder as she looked down at the notebook; then, minutes later, she began slumping closer to it; till finally, she was lying on her stomach, hands under her chin. She kicked her legs childishly as I continued to teach.

"She looks slightly bored…is she…expecting more? Oi, Megumin."

"Hmm?" She replied, looking up at me.

"You bored?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Why?"

"Ah, well, you sorta look like it."

She sat up. "Nope, was just paying attention; it's a lot to remember, especially the combinations you guys use to make words. Kanji seems easier."

I grinned. "Really? I find Kanji harder; it's more of a memorization thing."

"Hmm…you probably don't know this Kazuma, on the count that everything is just sorta translated for you, but our language is mostly like Kanji; the symbols just mean different things and mixing them produces different words and meanings."

"Really? Hey, Megumin, can you write your name down?"

"In Japanese?"

"No, in your own language."

She did so. I stared at the symbols and noticed that they were very similar with little to no variance between them.

"Hmm, never really noticed before, but you're right; the symbols are very similar to each other."

Megumin smiled once more. "Seems like the student has surpassed the master."

I grinned in response. "Hey, I never said I was a master at anything; I'm not as pretentious as someone who calls herself 'Master of Explosions'."

"It isn't pretentious if it's true, Kazuma."

I chuckled. "I wonder how'd you be if you never learned Explosion magic."

Megumin's smiled immediately evaporated; in the silence, she looked down in deep thought.

"Hey, did I say something I shouldn't have?"

She shook her head slowly. "I kinda wonder too…what if I never met you as a result…you and Aqua…"

The air felt tense again, but it was in complete opposition to the reasons earlier. I closed the notebook and placed it to the side.

"Time to sleep," I said, gently guiding Megumin down towards the bed.

She, seemingly still contemplating the thought, was startled by my action, but quickly accepted it. She stared at me with eyes full of worry as I pulled the sheets up to our shoulders.

"Oyasumi, Megumin."

"Oyasumi…Kazuma."

I stared at her as she slowly closed her eyes; a few moments later, I too, closed my eyes and fell asleep.

-Hours later…

"NO! NO! PLEASE, NO!"

I quickly woke up. "Oi, what the hell, Megumin?!"

"Kazuma?" she said breathlessly. The next instant, she threw herself into my chest, hugging me. "Kazuma," She sobbed, tightening her embrace.

"H-Hey, what's up with you? Why is she crying so much; did she have a nightmare?"

"What's going on?!" Aqua yelled as she burst into the room; Darkness was right behind her.

"Megumin, what are you doing here?" Darkness queried.

"Kazuma, did you—" Megumin jumped out of bed and ran over to them, she hugged them as if they were about to disappear. "Megumin…"

"I'm so glad you guys are ok," she sobbed. "I'm so glad I met you guys; please, don't…go." She sunk down; whatever happened in that dream caused her unimaginable grief, of this much I was certain.

I walked over and gently placed my hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's ok, it was just a bad dream; we're all here."

Despite me trying to console her, Megumin kept crying.

"There, there, Megumin," Aqua said as she pet her head, "we won't leave you." She hugged her back, Darkness did too, and soon I felt compelled to do the same.

After this, we all agreed to sleep together for the rest of the night. Luckily, this calmed Megumin, and after sobbing for another hour or so, she was fast asleep along with the others. I stayed awake a while longer, thinking what sort of dream she could've had that caused her such grief. She cried about us not leaving her, so maybe it something of the sort; Megumin was wary of such things, even when we first met her, it would be no surprise if her nightmare did entail such a scenario.

-Next Morning

When morning came, I awoke to find Aqua and Darkness already downstairs; Megumin was still asleep.

"Kazuma," Aqua whispered loudly as I was coming down the steps. She motioned me over.

"What?" I said, stretching as I yawned.

"Me and Darkness were thinking about Megumin, maybe we should all go out on her daily and have a picnic."

I thought about it. "Not a bad idea, sure."

"Everything's done, Aqua-sama." Irene came out of the kitchen with a large box wrapped in cloth.

"Thank you, Irene."

"Lalatina-sama, I've also packed extra meals for you; please don't forget to eat them, they were made with special attention."

Darkness nodded. "Thank you, Irene."

The maid turned towards me and stared silently.

"…oi," I replied in discomfort.

"Ah, forgive me Satou-sama, I was staring at the large spider perched on—"

I quickly batted at my head in a panic.

"—oh no, forgive me, that was just your destroyer-like eyes."

I sucked my teeth. "Should I go wake Megumin?" I said, turning to the others.

"Umu," Aqua replied.

"We'll wait for you at the usual spot," Darkness said as they began to walk off.

The maid turned to me and said, "I'll tend to the garden, Satou-sama."

I watched as she disappeared out the front door, and then headed back upstairs. Megumin was still sleeping, her expression serene, but the rim of her eyes still rosy from all the crying she did.

"Oi, Megumin," I said, rocking her gently.

"Kazuma." She woke slowly and smiled weakly as she saw me.

"Hey. You wanna go do our daily?"

She nodded just as weakly.

"Alright, go get dressed."

She sat up and looked around. Once she got up, Megumin grabbed the notebook and pencil from the nearby table and stumbled drowsily down the hall.

After I got dressed, I headed out to the living room to see if Megumin was around, she wasn't. "Oi, Megumin, you done?!" I yelled.

"Almost!" I heard her yell back.

"I'll be out front!"

When I stepped outside, I caught Irene cleaning the small gravestone of our resident spirit.

"Hey, you know that's my job?"

"Nonsense, Satou-sama, this falls under my purview." She stared longingly at the gravestone.

"Oi, are you her mother?"

Irene turned slowly towards me, her eyes seem to say, 'are you an idiot?'.

"I only ask cause she's supposedly the byproduct of the previous lord having an affair with the maid."

"…I think I've seen her," She finally said.

"Who?"

"The little girl. She's a kind soul, if not a bit unruly." I caught a glimpse of a smile before it suddenly disappeared. "She…she's unfortunate." Irene stood up and donning some work gloves, went to tend to the garden.

"Kazuma," Megumin said as she came out.

I turned to her. "You ready?"

"Umu," she nodded. "Goodbye, Irene," Megumin said as we walked by.

She bowed. "Be safe, Megumin-sama."

We were quiet while we walked. Eventually, after we were past the city gates, I spoke.

"So, what happened last night; what'd you dream about?"

Megumin looked away, tightening her grip on her staff. "I, I don't wanna talk about it."

"That bad, huh? Ok."

Silence came over us once more, then Megumin spoke. "I"—she walked closer to me—"I…I'm happy that I met you guys."

"Umu. Hey, you don't have to say anything if it bothers you that much, you know."

She lowered her head. "It was…"

I grabbed her hand. "Don't worry about it; I'm here—we're all here, so you don't have to think about it anymore, 'kay?"

She nodded silently as I caught the faint smile from the corner of my eye.

"Hey," I continued, "if you're gonna call yourself Master of Explosions, this one better not be any less than 100 in score, got it? Otherwise I'll tell everyone you're just a joke mage with delusions of grandeur."

I felt her grip around my hand tighten. As I looked over, her solemn expression was gone, replaced by glowing crimson eyes and a rowdy smirk. "Nothing less, of course," She replied, the smirk turning into a beaming smile.

I couldn't help but grin.

When we arrived, Aqua was already seated on the drawn-out cloth; she was happily eating away at the homemade sandwiches and snacks while Darkness stood looking out at the scenery. Despite the many craters and holes, the surrounding area was still quite nice; the sounds of birds chirping, and the noise of the nearby stream completely contrasted the reason why we came out here. If I was a bit honest, I felt kinda bad having Megumin destroy such a scene.

"You've really done a number on this place," I commented as Megumin stepped forward.

She answered without looking at me. "What are you talking about, Kazuma, this place is better thanks to my Explosions."

"Really?" I said with a highly sardonic tone.

She pointed out in the distance; I looked. There, where she was pointing, was the sight of small creatures drinking from the edge of one of the craters. As I continued to look, I saw more of the same around the landscape; birds and flying creatures made nests in the large open lips in the sides of the manmade cliffs, other creatures made their homes in the collapsed piles of rock, and even flora began to bloom in the overturned mounds of earth. I guess even something as destructive as Explosion could bring about life in some capacity.

"Hey, won't your Explosion end up killing these creatures though?" I said as I thought about it.

"Such is the way of life," Megumin replied chunnishly.

Really, this girl…

"Now watch," she continued, "I'll make sure this is a perfect Explosion."

I still felt kind of bad for the wildlife as Megumin walked ahead, but I more strongly believed that her relief from such a terrible night was more important to me. As we waited, Aqua got up and stood next to me and Darkness. Megumin was standing a couple meters ahead of us silently. She looked back and smiled, then, looking ahead, thrust her staff into the air, and yelled, "EXPLOOOSSSION!".

Afterwards, I gave Megumin some mana. We retreated to the shade of the tree where the picnic blanket was at. I also made sure the tree was a normal tree; I didn't feel like going through the trauma of being nearly strangled once again. As we ate our meals, I glanced over at Darkness who had a sort of remorseful look on her face; I had to imagine she felt sad she wouldn't be hovering off the ground as a tree vine strangled her…hopeless.

"Kazuma, Kazuma," Megumin said happily, "how was it, how much do you give that Explosion?"

"Hmm," I rubbed my chin, "I'd give it a perfect 120 points." Megumin beamed at me. "However, due to your total lack of regard to the wildlife in the area, I'm gonna deduct 20 points."

She wore a sad expression for a moment, but then smiled once more. "Umu, fair assessment, Kazuma; next time I'll be more careful."

"I heard the construction companies are making a killing on fixing all the damage you create, Megumin," Aqua remarked, nonchalantly stuffing her face in the process. "Hey, Kashuma," She said with swollen cheeks full of food.

"Swallow your food, you idiot; you're spraying it all over me!" I said, shielding my face.

Aqua frowned at me, but she swallowed the food in one gulp. "I was saying, maybe you should take advantage of this and start a construction company."

"Oi, what exactly do you think I am, a con artist?! What you're describing is fraud."

"It-It technically isn't since you're not the one causing it," Aqua argued.

Really, this goddess was shameless.

"Are you really a goddess?" I protested.

"Of course I am! I'm just trying to give some suggestions; you're always blaming me for spending 'your' money, but every time I give an idea, you're always so quick to turn it down." Aqua, seemingly growing bored of the discussion, turned away to grab some more snacks.

"I wouldn't have an issue with it if everything you suggest isn't a crime or just flat out stupid."

"Whatever, it's not my fault you can't understand; you're just a hikkiNEET with little understanding of the world—everything you suggest comes from your computerized experiences."

I glared at the pompous idiot who was spewing nonsense; I wanted to punch her.

"Kazuma," Darkness finally said; we turned our attention to her, "you've said you wanted to start a business, right; so maybe something like what Aqua is suggesting isn't a bad idea."

I gave it some thought. Being an adventurer was a tough life; lately I haven't died, but it didn't mean the world wasn't trying its damnedest to try and do so. Being a merchant was likely a more rewarding and peaceful lifestyle suited to me, but for some reason I felt a strong aversion to accepting this…perhaps it was my gamer sense of competitive spirit preventing me. When I said nothing in reply, Megumin spoke.

"We still have to defeat the other Demon Kings, Darkness, remember?"

"That's right," Aqua, the goddess of cons and fraud chimed in.

The reminder seemed to sour my mood. "Oi, just because there's that pending questline doesn't mean I have to be tied down to only one route; if I wanna become a merchant or businessperson, I'll do it, ok? Anyways, enough about that; let's just enjoy the mood."

After another hour or so, we packed everything up and headed back to the mansion. Upon our arrival, we entered and took our place in the living room; despite having rested for the last couple hours we were still somehow tired.

"Satou-sama." The maid came over.

"What is it?" I replied, opening one eye as I laid on the couch.

She stuck her hand out, at the end was a letter.

I sighed deeply, and reluctantly, took the letter. Opening it, I found a familiar handwriting; it was the writing of my lovable little sister, the Princess of Belzerg, Iris. I quickly sat up. Megumin, on whose lap I was lying on just moments ago, noticed this and asked, "What's wrong, Kazuma?"

"Iris-chan," I answered happily.

"Iris?" both Megumin and Darkness said simultaneously.

"Umu," I replied, as I quickly read over the brief letter. "…ah," I said in a somewhat disappointed manner.

"What's it say?" Megumin queried.

I lowered the letter. "The trial is being held tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Darkness said with some surprise.

"That's so soon," Megumin commented. "I suppose she wants you to be present?"

"Likely as a witness," Darkness added.

"Eh, yeah," I replied.

"We should all go," Megumin stated. "If saving her is the objective, it'll be easier to provide a solid defense with more people."

Thinking back to my own trial, these three were likely to screw things up if I brought them along; however, Megumin made a good point. If it was only me, defending this girl would be pretty tough, I knew close to nothing about her, and everything I did, would just end up furthering her criminality in the eyes of attending.

"Alright."

"I guess we should head out?"

"Yeah, I think it'd be a bad idea to be late for something like this."

"So, back to the family estate?" Darkness queried.

"That's right."

Aqua perked up upon hearing this. "Oh, we're going back; good, there's still a bunch of wine and drinks I haven't even tasted…and-and it'll be good if we could save this girl, of course!" She tacked on after seeing my face. "Ahem, I'll give the greatest defense, just leave it to me."

"Didn't you say you wanna save this girl?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"

After nearly getting assaulted by Aqua, I packed my bags (the others didn't have to since they bought most of their necessities last time) and we all headed to the Teleport Station.

"Oh, what's this," Aqua mocked. "not gonna order a carriage this time?"

"Shut it," I grumbled.

After the teleport, we arrived in the capital. It was still the early morning, just before noon, so we decided to get a light brunch and take in the sights. As many times as we've come to the capital, there were still so many places we haven't visited. As we passed by a familiar shop, Aqua stopped.

"What's wrong, Aqua?" Darkness said, turning to look at her.

Aqua stood quietly, pressing a finger to her chin as she squinted at the shop to our side. I looked over.

"Oh no…"

"That shop," she said. "It's giving off a disgusting scent; it seems familiar…but I can't quite…put my finger…on it." She furrowed her brow in deep thought.

Yes, the shop in question, the shop this useless and troublesome goddess was seemingly interested in was, of course, the "Devilishly Good Magic shop".

Part 3

"We should keep going," I said rather casually.

However, Aqua was already walking towards the shop.

DING!

"Ah, custom—"

The penguin devil and the so-called goddess looked at each other in surprise, and then pointed in unison.

"It's you!" they shouted.

"Why you…I knew I smelled something rotten!" Aqua yelled. "Look, Kazuma," she said, glancing at me while pointing. "They're even in the capital now; I knew it, I should've exterminated you when I had the chance! SACRED HIGH—"

I smacked her stiffly behind the head. As Aqua turned around to yell at me, Zereschrute ran over to Megumin and hid behind her leg.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Don't think I'll defend you, I'm no friend of devils either!"

"P-Please, Crimson Demon-san, I simply wish to sell my wares; I've done nothing wrong."

It was hard to refute this claim and once again the goddess of unfairness and instigation was attempting to purify this devil. As Aqua endeavored to get a clear shot for her spell, I tugged on her shoulder.

"Oi, just leave him alone," I said. "It'll be troublesome for me if he gets purified; he's the one handling the money we're getting from the manatite sales."

"You expect me—a goddess—to let this cretin live?!"

"Hey, stop causing trouble, will ya? This devil is at least trying to be useful, unlike you."

Aqua gasped and then grabbed me tightly by my shirt. "You take that back! How dare you say a devil's more useful than me, you ingrate!"

After wrestling free from Aqua's grip, I turned to the devil who was still trembling behind Megumin.

"Hey, did the money come in yet?" I asked.

Zereschrute shook his head tentatively. "It'll likely be a while; manatite isn't easy to mine, you know."

I sighed and then turned my attention to the items around the shop. "Oh!" I said as something caught my eye. "What's this?"

Zereschrute, who was shaking uncontrollably a moment before, walked out proudly from behind Megumin's leg and crossed his stubby flippers.

"Ha, I see it's caught your attention; that's an item known as a 'Torment Stitcher'."

I looked at him blankly. "Should I even ask what it does?"

The item looked like a monster plant in a game from back on Earth; it was a pretty old game with a plumber who traveled through many worlds to save a princess.

"Heh." Zereschrute smiled proudly. "It's an item that'll prevent death."

"Oh, that's—" I curbed the excitement I briefly felt. "What's the catch?"

"Huh, what are you talking about; there is no catch."

"Wait, what? You mean if you use this item, you won't die?!"

Aqua interrupted. "Why do you need some stupid item, Kazuma?!" She then pompously pressed her hand to her chest, presenting herself. "Did you forget I can revive you?" The self-serving goddess then smiled cluelessly.

"Shut up, you moron; this thing prevents death—meaning I don't have to die."

Megumin stared at the devil and then at the item, then at me. "I don't know, Kazuma, it sounds like one of those things that are too good to be true."

She was right, and upon giving it a second thought, I pressed the devil shop owner for more details.

"This thing has no downsides, right? Nothing like coming back with one eye or becoming an undead, or-or—"

"Of course not! The Torment Stitcher prevents death by latching onto the afflicted's wound and then using the fibers of its body to completely restitch the wound, no matter the severity."

"That's it?"

"Yes, that's it."

I scrunched my brow together in doubt; frankly speaking, the item was too good to be sold in a shop like this. I once again questioned the devil selling it.

"So there's no other side effects?"

"I already told you, human, no—"

"Does it cause pain?" Megumin interjected.

Zereschrute went silent, coughing lightly seconds later. I narrowed my eyes on him. Seeing this, he coughed once more.

"W-Well…yes."

"Aqua, you can go ahead and purify—"

"W-Wait; it's true the plant causes extreme pain to the host; however, I wasn't lying when I said it'll heal whatever wound no matter the severity."

"Wait," Darkness said. "E-Extreme pain? K-Kazuma, I think we should buy it—j-just in case Aqua isn't around when something bad happens."

Me and Zereschrute stared at Darkness in disgust.

"So, it's some sort of symbiotic creature?" Megumin said, staring at the item from a slightly closer range.

"It's…um, yeah, you could say that."

I stared menacingly at the devil.

He quickly corrected his statement. "It-It's a sort of lower demon; a plant found where arcana density is fairly thick."

I sighed deeply. "Just what the hell are you selling; isn't something like this liable to get you targeted by priests?"

The little devil frowned. "I'm selling a most useful item that can help save a person's life—"

"While causing a massive amount of pain the process," Megumin added casually.

"It-It isn't my fault it grows in Maxwell-sama's territory! Anyways, you aren't obligated to buy just as I'm not obligated to host pets in the store!" He said exasperatedly, pointing at Aqua as he did.

"You!" I held Aqua back as she was about to pounce.

Zereschrute immediately retreated to the safety of Megumin's back once more.

"Stop instigating her," I said, pushing Aqua back forcefully.

Zereschrute coughed once again, as he retook a formal stance. "A-Anyways, I'd be willing to sell it to you for cheap."

"Why would I wanna buy something like that?"

"That disgusting little thing is useless," Aqua said arrogantly.

Oh, the irony…

She continued. "With me around, Kazuma won't have to worry about getting hurt or dying."

"W-Which is why we should buy just in case—"

"Shut up, Darkness," we all said at the same time.

She staggered backwards and clutched at her chest as she fell to her knees panting heavily.

"I can understand the apprehension you might have; however, the problem is easily solved. All you have to do is rip the plant out once the wound is stitched closed; you'll even net some experience points for doing so."

The last bit piqued my interest, glancing over at Megumin, it seemed to pique hers too.

"You can get experience points just from ripping this thing out?"

Zereschrute nodded. "You can even use it several times; all the plant requires a bit of blood and it'll be as good as new, ready to perform its duties."

"Thinking about it, I could probably grind some levels doing something relatively low effort. How come more people don't do something like this?"

"Eh, well, the plant is fairly rare on the surface; it'll dry up without a source of arcana."

"Arcana?" It was the second time I heard Zereschrute mention it.

"Ah, that's right, you probably don't know human, but devils and beings from hell produce arcana."

"It's the antithesis to my divine, pure, and holy mana," Aqua stated, her tone growing more self-absorbed towards the end.

"I see. So, how exactly would this thing gonna be able to live in our mansion, if I, say, bought it?"

"You needn't worry; Vanir-sama lives in the vicinity, even the trace amounts of the arcana he exudes would be enough to sustain the plant."

"No, Kazuma, I refuse to let something like this exist around me; it's disgusting, it's like having a small imp stare at you while you're doing your business in the bathroom."

"Or like having Kazuma stare at you while you walk around clad skimpily in your nightwear," Darkness added excitedly.

"Oi!" I turned back towards Zereschrute. "How much would it be—if say, I was interested."

"Hmmm…" The devil seemed to be seriously contemplating the price. "At 10 million—"

"Okay, bye, I'm leaving," I said, turning away.

"N-No, wait, wait!" He yelled, running after me.

I stopped.

"Five—"

I kept walking.

"Three!" Seeing me continue to walk off, he finally yelled, "One!" painfully.

"One million?" I said, turning around.

He nodded with a regretful look.

"Why, you were just offering it for ten; why would you sell it for so low?"

"Truth of the matter, it's quite…illegal."

I turned around and began to walk away. The devil grabbed me by the hem of my pants.

"Wait, wait, human, please, take it off my poor flippers."

"Why the hell would I buy something illegal?!"

"It-It's not…well…not yet—it could be any day now, but for now, it's not."

For now, he says. I sighed deeply. "300,000."

"Three hundred—"

"Oi, this thing is shady as hell, there's no way I'm gonna spend more money on something so uncertain; 300,000 or you can keep your plant."

"…ugh, fine, human; you drive a hellish bargain, you'd make a fine devil."

I didn't really know if I should take such words as a compliment; I felt I shouldn't.

After buying the item, we left the shop.

"K-Kazuma, can I hold it?" Darkness said with an overly excited expression.

"No, you'd probably just hurt yourself—"

"Never, Kazuma," Darkness said, her voice and face completely serious; for a second she threw me off guard…but then she continued. "You really think I'd inflict self-harm?"

I almost thought it was a trick question. "Uh, yeah, you always do; everything you do is to somehow inflict some unjust injury on yourself, you masochistic weirdo."

Darkness looked like she wanted to hit me, but the stupid expression on her face told me she was wrestling with the lewd thoughts running through her mind at the moment.

"Such an odd-looking plant," Megumin said, staring at it.

"Purification!" Aqua yelled out of nowhere.

Amazingly, I dodged her outstretched hand and shoved the end of the pot into the top of her head.

"Oww!" She rubbed her head viciously, tears dotting the corner of her eyes.

"Oi, you idiot, what do you think you're doing?! I just paid 300,000 for this!"

"Kazuma, that thing's pure evil, I can sense it!" She yelled, pointing angrily at me.

"Listen, even though it causes extreme pain"—Darkness was audibly panting—"the benefits it brings can't be understated."

"Fine then," Aqua said with arms crossed," as long as that thing's around I'm not healing you; I refuse to heal you, Kazuma, you hear me!"

"Umu…guess I'll just look for an Eris—"

"K-Kazuma-san, I was just joking, you don't need to go looking for another healer!" Aqua yelled, pouncing on me with tears in her eyes.

Since I purchased the weird plant creature, Torment Stitcher, we headed to our home in the capital to drop it off. In the rear of the manor there was a small garden-like area; in this area, there were several sections to plant stuff in, but all of them were either empty or occupied with the remains of long-dead flora. In the center of the area were several seating arrangements complete with a small round table; it appeared to me that this may have been a place used to entertain guests.

"I really don't get her," I said to Megumin and Darkness; I was placing the pot the creature was in into one of the available sections, "she befriends another monster without any reservation, but immediately tries to destroy one that arguably has great benefits."

"I agree," Darkness said in a serious tone. "This plant has nothing but benefits going for it."

Me and Megumin glanced at her disapprovingly.

Megumin interjected. "Perhaps it'll grow on her, but you gotta admit, the Tranquility Girls are much cuter than this thing."

"They also prey on people," I retorted. "In any case, if we could somehow find some way to farm experience from this thing, it'll be worth than more than I paid for it."

Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my shoulder tightly; even without looking at it, I already knew who it belonged to.

"No, Darkness, I'm not using you to farm the experience."

"W-W-Why though?! I-I mean." She cleared her throat, and then continued with a serious voice. "Kazuma, right now you're the weakest out of all of us." I frowned. "As such, I'd be more than happy to help you increase your levels in preparation for the fights against the other Demon Kings…umu." She nodded, satisfied with the batch of bs she just spouted.

I shrugged her off. "Maybe if I get desperate, but for now there's no need; so stop bugging me about it."

Darkness backed off with a flustered expression, a quivering smile growing on her face. Ugh, there really is no saving this one.

As Darkness headed back into the house, Megumin looked at me.

"What?" I said.

"Are you really gonna do that to Darkness?"

I scoffed. "Of course not, but I know she won't stop asking if I don't say something like that."

Megumin let out a breath of relief.

Of course, I really didn't plan on using Darkness as the host for this thing, but…I mean…we'd both be benefitting from such a plan so…it wasn't really bad, right; I wasn't being depraved in thinking it would be sensible…right?

"Hey, Kazuma, we're still going out to eat, right?" Aqua said as me and Megumin walked back into the house.

"Yeah; there's no food here and I'm too tired to make something at the moment."

"Right then, since you and Megumin showed me some place last time, how about I pick the restaurant this time?"

"I refuse."

"Huh—why?!" Aqua wailed.

"Your tastes are too expensive."

"Hey, aren't you like a middle-aged man hogging all the money he has?! We've got plenty so it should be alright to splurge a bit."

"Oi, did you forget you spent 26 million on alcohol alone, you damn squanderer!"

"And you seem to keep forgetting you broke my bottle of expensive wine; like I said before, spending that much was a mercy!"

"This bitch…"

"I don't even understand why you're so upset; we have plenty of drinks to choose from now and not to mention you'll only end up having to spend a fraction of what you already owe me."

I wanted to choke this shameless goddess so much, but against my wish, I held back. "Oi, Darkness," I called out.

"What is it, Kazuma?" She said, standing at the top of the stairs.

"Hey, don't you have any suggestions for a place we could eat?"

"Hmm…" Darkness placed a hand on her chin as she thought. "Several," She finally replied.

"Umu, good, pick one and let's go."

"Hey, Kazuma," Megumin said, "I'm surprised we're heading to another restaurant after what happened last time."

"Oi, are you intentionally trying to set up flags?"

"No, no, just genuinely surprised; I thought you'd be against going out after that."

Well, to be honest, Megumin wasn't wrong in her assumption; however, I felt it was unlikely something like that was to happen twice in a row and in such short time. And frankly speaking, even if something were to happen, I'd immediately run away using my 'Escape' skill.

Sure, that would mean leaving the others to fend for themselves, but I was just one person, they were three; on top of that, they were much higher level than me. That's right, if I stayed behind in such a scenario, I would only prove to be a hindrance to them.

Luckily, the place Darkness chose was a relatively upstanding establishment; it wasn't very classy, but neither was it very casual; simply speaking, it was as I imagined a restaurant should be. Heading back to the manor after we ate, Aqua complained about the meagre selection of drinks the restaurant offered.

"Why are you complaining; you're just gonna drink something else once we get back," I remarked.

"That's besides the point, Kazuma; we paid—"

"I paid."

"My performance gave us a hefty discount!"

It was true; Aqua, dissatisfied with the drinks, assembled many wine glasses and played out a symphony that captivated the hearts and attention of everyone in the restaurant. Even I was surprised.

"When are you gonna start performing for money? If you did something like this for a living, we'd all be better off, and you could live that luxurious life you always wanted."

"I already said I don't do my performances on demand; besides, if you say it like that it makes it seem like I'm showing off my talents on the simple whims of others. Plus, why bother, I can just simply live off the riches you bring."

"…" I made up my mind to throw away her rock collection once we got back to Axel.

On our way back, we stopped by the markets and bought some ingredients for tonight's meal. When we finally returned to the Dustiness family manor, it was already nearing the evening. I set about prepping the meals while the girls went to take their baths.

I settled on making something simple, a chicken broth; of course, getting the vegetables to boil was the most time-consuming process. The solution I came up with to deal with this madness was simply tossing the veggies into the boiling pot, and then pressing down on the lid for a couple minutes. There were occasions when they would still be alive when I removed the lid, however, as my experience in cooking grew, those occasion became less frequent.

I leaned against the counter opposite the stove and sighed. Tomorrow was the trial; on one hand, I'd likely be able to see Iris again, but on the other, this was a serious case. Whether this girl lived or died was dependent on how well me and the others were able to defend her. There was also the problem of not knowing who would oversee the trial itself.

I huffed once more, crossing my arms. Frankly speaking, I felt the store attendant's fate was out of our hands. Outside abusing the authority of my house, I could really see no other way to stop whatever judgement was going to be passed on her. As I resolved myself to letting providence have its way with her, I remembered the words the Spymaster of the kingdom said to me. Her life might not have mattered much to me, but to someone else, it did—and it wasn't like I was apathetic to what was occurring, however, if I was honest, I didn't know her.

Other than seeing her when I went to visit the Royal Smith, I never once saw or thought about her—hell, even when we I did see her, I merely thought of she was a background character. She was pretty, but besides that, there was nothing more I could really say or feel about her specifically. Were it not her having a younger sister, I probably would've just let the system handle her case.

Was I wrong for feeling this way? Surely, I couldn't be; her choices were her own, the consequence as well. It wasn't like she was being framed like I was during my own trial.

PFFFF! The sound of sizzling water boiling over snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Ahhh, that was pretty good, Kazuma, thanks," Darkness said as she leaned back in her chair; we were done eating.

"The vegetables were mushy," Aqua complained. "Felt like I was eating a soggy potato chip."

"This useless…ah, next time I'll make sure there's less water content in your meal, Aqua-sama," I said with an overly sweet tone.

Aqua stared at me for a second, and then smiled. "Good, about time you got serious with my meals."

"Umu, umu, next time I'll make sure they're as dry as the surface of a salt flat."

"I didn't think it was too bad, Kazuma," Megumin commented. "Maybe left it to boil a little bit, but at least it was edible."

I don't know if this loli was trying to make me feel better, but her comment just seemed to aggravate me more.

After the meal, Aqua and Darkness went up to their rooms while me Megumin slept in hers; my bed was still broken from the encounter with the assassin, I'd have to get it fixed at some point.

As Megumin changed behind a small set of byobu, I laid on the bed reading a book.

"Ohhh, I definitely thought you would peek," Megumin said with a small teasing smile; she was wearing a set of red silk robes.

'At what exactly', I wanted to say, however, I didn't really feel like sleeping out on the couch. That said, I was momentarily surprised by how stunning she looked in such simple attire—even if I didn't show it.

Interested by my lack of response and attention, she continued. "Hmm, what you reading?" She asked as she climbed into bed.

Megumin lifted the book slightly, getting a look at the title: A Guide to the Laws and Rules that Govern Us.

"Really?" she queried. "When'd you get this?"

"After my trial," I replied, still keeping my eyes on the book.

After that botched witch hunt, I swore to myself that I would never be put in such a situation again. Well, that was half the reason, the other half was making sure I could use said laws to defend myself, my property, and valuables against my party mates; that being said, I just started reading it.

"I see. You're actually concerned about the trial tomorrow, aren't you?" Megumin smiled. "If you're so concerned, you should've just asked me, I know a bunch about the legal system."

I glanced at her with a blank expression, and then went back to reading the book.

"Hey!" she yelled. "What's with that look?! If you got something to say, then say it!"

I frowned. "Did you forget how 'useful' you were during my trial?! Thanks to you and Aqua I almost ended up being executed—if it wasn't for Darkness, my head would be rolling into a basket at the end of that day."

When she heard my retort, Megumin quickly shrunk. "I-I may have…underestimated…some things."

"Anyways, go to sleep; you don't have to stay up because I am—I'm more suited to sleeping late than you are."

To my surprise, Megumin complied. She snuggled into the side of my arm and closed her eyes. Maybe because she abided by my order so readily, I immediately felt sort of tense. I glanced over at her, and as I did, she said, "Goodnight, Kazuma; don't sleep too late."

-Next morning

"Kazuma." I heard Megumin's voice and felt myself being nudged.

"Ugh…is it morning already?" I said drowsily opening my eyes.

"Umu, but the trial shouldn't be until the afternoon."

"So why are you waking me again?"

"I made breakfast for all of us; if you keep sleeping Aqua's gonna eat your share." Megumin left the room as she said that.

I threw my arm over my eyes; even through the curtains light still poured in. As I came downstairs, Aqua was already lounging lazily on the couch. Megumin was at the table studying Japanese.

"Where's Darkness?" I asked, taking a seat across Megumin.

"Huh, oh, Darkness is exercising in her room."

"After eating? Wouldn't that upset her stomach?" I asked, grabbing my own plate of food.

"She didn't eat much. She said she had to 'burn off some stress'."

"Hmm, I sort of pictured that being something that catered more to her fetish."

Megumin shrugged. "For all we know, Darkness' method of training and exercise could very well play into her fetish."

Silence fell as ate my breakfast, Megumin continued studying.

"You're surprisingly studious, Megumin." I leaned back in my chair.

"Not really," she replied, looking up from the notebook, "I did the required amount of studying during school, but really I only look into things that interest me."

"Should be a short list then, right?" I said with a half-mocking smirk.

Surprisingly, Megumin smiled back. "Umu," She replied.

"…well, I'm headed back to bed; wake me up a little closer to the trial time."

Megumin gave a short nod, her attention still fixed on the notebook. The lack of notice she gave me irked me some, but at the same time I wasn't so petty as to cause a scene because of it. As I walked back up to Megumin's room, I heard the chair she was sitting on slide back. Her eyes still fixed to the pages, Megumin followed closely behind me.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing?"

Without even glancing my way, she answered just as seriously. "Heading back up to my room."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Are you serious right now?"

"Of course."

"You wanna sleep too—"

"No."

"…what's up with her? Are you gonna keep studying?"

"…maybe."

I was starting to grow agitated. "Ok, guess I'll just sleep in my own room then."

Part 4

As I turned around, Megumin did the same and continued following me.

"Oi," I said, my brow twitching.

Finally, Megumin lowered the book so that only her eyes were visible; even this being the case, I could still tell she was smirking behind the covers.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

She raised the book ever slightly.

"…whatever, do what you want. I'm going to bed."

And so, she did, she kept following me; and despite me saying so, I was still bothered by it. As I entered my room and stared at the fractured bed, I sighed deeply. If I had my smithing tools, I could put something together to fix this issue temporarily.

I felt Megumin tug on my sleeve.

"What is it?" I said in a fed-up tone.

She lowered the book to show a childish smile. "Ok, I'm satisfied now, you can sleep in my room."

Really, this girl…

"Ah, so you were bothering me for fun, huh?" I turned around and grabbed her cheeks, pulling on them.

"Ahhh, Kashuma, wait, I'm sorry, ah, ah—you're hurting me—it hurts!"

When I let go, Megumin shoved the notebook into my chest.

"What?" I said, grabbing it. "Want me to teach you? Sorry, but I already said I'm—"

"Just hold it," She retorted as she rubbed her cheeks.

I folded the notebook and shoved into the top of her robes; unexpectedly, the notebook unfolded and slid down, catching on her loose belt. As Megumin fumbled to withdraw it, the book slid out and fell to the floor.

She looked up at me, frowning. "Why didn't you just hold it, like I asked?!" Megumin said, angrily picking it up.

"I did. Just didn't expect it to slide down like it did."

"Hey," Megumin said with a stern voice, eyes glowing, "just what are you trying to say?"

I averted my eyes.

"Hey, look at me! If you got something to say about me, then say it!"

"Oi, oi, let go of me—don't make me cast Drain Touch on you!"

Hearing this, Megumin finally let go, but her angry expression remained. "Really, Kazuma, you could be…such a…jerk…" She looked away, the anger present earlier giving way to a more solemn look.

I sighed. Such a self-conscious girl; Megumin could be so fragile at times.

"S-Sorry," I mumbled, looking away slightly.

As I glanced over, Megumin was looking at me with a pout. She grabbed on to my arm and laid on it.

"I'm not satisfied with just a verbal apology; you'll, you'll have to make it up to me somehow."

How suggestive, but I believe that's exactly how she meant it, going by her reddened tips of her ears.

"S-Sure."

Later that day, near the afternoon, Megumin woke me once again.

"Kazuma, wake up; it's almost time for the trial."

"Ugh…the trial." I sat up, wearily rubbing my eyes. "Darkness and Aqua, what are they up to?"

"Waiting downstairs."

"Right. Give me a few." I plopped back down.

"Kazuma!" Megumin yelled as she shook me.

I groaned in protest, lightly batting away her arm.

"Kazuma, come on, we're gonna—"

"Just give me a few, I'll be up…just a few." I said, dozing back off.

"You already slept so much; really, you could be ridiculous sometimes, wake up!"

Eventually, Megumin succeeded in waking me and the four of us were walking down the road towards the city plaza; it was the site of any public showings or ceremonies. When we arrived, there were already a bunch of people waiting for the trial to get underway. Amongst the attendees was a black-haired beautiful—if all too rigid—onee-san.

"Kazuma-dono," She said with a mildly surprised expression.

"Yo, Sena-san; why are you here so early?"

She knit her brow in bewilderment. "What are talking about, Kazuma-dono, the trial was supposed to start a couple minutes ago."

Darkness interjected. "So, what's wrong?"

Sena turned towards Darkness and cleared her throat. "Well…from what I've heard, Lady Dustiness, it's being decided who will preside over the trial."

"So late?"

"Well, it was supposed to be the King himself, but now the Prince and Princess are debating which one of them should be it."

"What happened to the King; why'd he suddenly change his mind?"

"I'm uncertain."

If I had to guess this was probably Iris-chan's doing; since I asked her to go easy on the shop attendant, she probably took it upon herself to make sure she was the one in charge of overlooking the trial. As the crowd and the officials started growing antsy, she made her appearance. Alongside her was Claire and Rain, a platoon of imperial knights flanking their sides.

"All kneel, her royal highness is in attendance!" Claire barked.

At the order, all the citizenry and officials knelt, the action spreading through the crowd like a wave. Even we knelt, except for the ever clueless one.

"Oi, you idiot, kneel," I said, grabbing Aqua's arm.

"Don't wanna, the floor is all dirty."

"Oi, hurry up and kneel, you're gonna attract unwanted attention!" I whispered harshly.

"The floor has tiny pebbles; it's gonna hurt if I kneel."

"Oi, Darkness, you grab her other shoulder," I said as I took hold of Aqua's arm.

"No, wait, let go of me!"

Aqua squirmed and cried as we pressed her into a kneeling position.

"S-Stop being so stubborn you moron!"

"Aqua," Darkness said, "if you keep doing inappropriate things like that, we'll be the next ones on trial."

She didn't seem to pay attention, the troublesome goddess was rubbing her eyes as she sobbed away; she said some nonsense about her knees hurting, but I tuned her out and looked up happily at my little sister who was now sitting upon a throne in front of us.

"All rise!" Claire yelled and everyone did, Aqua still sobbing lightly. "Bring in the accused."

On cue, two guardsmen escorted the shop attendant, Gren, into the plaza and onto the central platform before Iris.

"Gren Hallowitz, you stand accused of crimes against the state, treason. What say you in your defense?"

Gren closed her eyes and stepped forward. "I'm guilty."

The crowd instantly howled and booed at her declaration.

"Wait, dammit, if she just goes ahead and says she's guilty we won't have an opportunity to defend her."

"Guilty…" Claire repeated in an uncharacteristically regretful tone. She sighed deeply. "Very well…Hime-sama will now—"

"Wait!" Aqua yelled.

"Oh no, if this idiot says something—"

"It's true that she totally betrayed the nation by selling secrets to the Demon King's Army, but she did it for arguably something more important than her countrymen, she did it for family, that's right, she betrayed the kingdom for her sister!"

There were loud murmurs throughout the crowd as some struggled to condemn her in light of the new information.

"Settle down!" Claire yelled; the plaza's whispers subsided. She then turned to Gren. "Do you really not have anything to say in your defense?"

Gren hung her head low. Everyone could see that her spirit was gone, the poor girl was defeated.

"Oi," I shouted, "are you really okay with this? Are you really ok with leaving your little sister alone in this world?! She was kidnapped, right?! That's why you did it—for her, right?!"

The shop attendant perked her head up at my instigation.

I continued. "If you did it for her, then at least say so! All of us did something to help you out, don't waste our efforts!"

Everyone's eyes were on me, even Gren turned to look.

"You…" she began to say, then went quiet. The shop attendant closed her eyes firmly, and then sharply turned back towards Iris. "Please, let me fight for my right to live."

Iris, who had a serious look on her face all this time, finally relaxed and gave a demure smile. "The stage is yours, Gren-san."

"Thank you, Hime-sama," She replied, bowing her head deeply.

And so, the trial went on in earnest; there were multiple "witnesses" trying to defend Gren—not least of them being us, but regardless of whatever statements we threw out, Sena, picked them apart. Even though she was just doing her job as the kingdom's prominent prosecutor, it was still irritating to see her shooting down every attempt at absolving this girl of her crimes.

Frankly speaking, Gren was doomed. Unlike my trial, this girl actually did the crimes she was being accused of. On top of that, the ones defending her had practically no knowledge of her as an individual; it was going just as I thought it would.

Finally, after much back and forth for what seemed like a couple hours now, Claire spoke.

"Enough!" she yelled. "Hime-sama will now pass a verdict according to the evidence and testimonies." Claire leaned in as Iris whispered into her ear, she nodded a couple times, and then pulled away once Iris had done so.

"In light of the staggering amount of evidence against you, Gren Hallowitz, the crown finds you—"

BOOM!

A loud explosion rung out, but it wasn't like the spell, this explosion was much like that of a smoke bomb going off; and indeed, off to the side of the plaza a large smoke cloud appeared. Almost everyone turned towards the disturbance and in that split second, a grey blur shot past me.

"Assassin!" I heard someone cry out from behind me.

"Assassin?!"

It all happened within seconds; as the knights tried to assemble into a protective formation around Iris, they were quickly dispatched by several waves of precise dart attacks to the small openings in their armor. Rain, who was stunned by the sudden attack, met the same fate as the knights. Claire instantly dashed in front of Iris only to be shot with darts as well. Maybe five seconds had gone by, but Claire, Rain, the knights, they were all incapacitated.

As powerful as Iris was, she was still a little girl, and because of this, she froze for a split second; this, however, was all the assassin seemed to need as she leapt into the air with daggers drawn.

"Iris!" I yelled.

Even if I wanted to do something, it was too late.

"DIE!" the assassin yelled. Her daggers sunk into flesh and a loud cry could be heard throughout the plaza. She quickly darted back and jumped into an opening in the square.

Me and the others quickly ran up to Iris.

The girl, Gren, lay bleeding in Iris' arm; she took the blow for her. "Thank goodness, you're safe…Hime-sama."

"W…Why?" Iris said, tears building.

"It's my fault…for putting you…in danger," she answered weakly. "Please…don't tell…my sister."

"Heal." Aqua nonchalantly cast her spell on the dying girl, once again oblivious to the mood.

"…" All of us stared awkwardly at each other given the sudden lack of urgency.

Aqua quickly healed everyone else from their paralysis.

Claire shot up. "That bitch!" she yelled in anger, then noticing Iris next to her, quickly covered her mouth. "F-Forgive me, Hime-sama!" She quickly turned to Rain. "Rain, take care of Iris-sama. You all," she said to the knights that were stumbling to their feet, "restrain this girl; she's—"

"Innocent," Iris interrupted. "Gren-san saved my life; she took the stab that was meant for me."

"…that, that so? Ahem, well…you guys keep an eye on her then. I'm going after that impertinent wench; I'll not be made a fool of twice." With that, Claire ran off in the direction the assassin was last headed.

As I was about to focus my attention on my dear little sister, Iris, Megumin ran past me; she headed in the direction Claire went, and consequently, where the assassin was.

"Oi, Megumin!" I yelled, but she continued running, pushing past the crowd and chaos that was now ensuing. "Dammit, that girl!" I quickly turned towards Iris. "Are you ok?"

She nodded.

"Good. Darkness, stay here with Iris. Aqua, come with me."

"Do I have to; it seems like you're about to do something really stupid and dangerous."

"Why is this goddess such a letdown. I might need you in case one of us gets hit by those poison darts."

"It's fine; if you die, I can revive you, remember?"

"Oi, oi, now's not the time to make such stupid remarks; what happens if Megumin dies."

Seemingly aware of the raised stakes, Aqua gave a troubled look, but sighed. "Ah, ok." She placed her hands on her hips, smiling. "You guys are utterly hopeless without me."

"Sure, now let's get going! Darkness, take good care of her!"

"Y-You don't have to tell me that!"

Me and Aqua ran down the street, it wasn't hard to tell where the assassin went; she left a trail of paralyzed troops in her wake.

"Heal! Heal! Heal!" Aqua said as we ran by.

"This is ridiculous; just how many darts does she have?!"

Finally reaching the city gates, I could see three figures in the far distance; even without using Farsight, I could tell who they were.

"Aqua, give me some buffs and find cover; if you're hit, it's over."

"What is Kazuma saying; did you forget my hagoromo protects me from all abnormal statuses?!"

Ah, that's right, Aqua's raiment is a sort of divine relic. "Even so, this is the one time we don't need you drawing aggro." Aqua frowned at me. "Just sit back and wait till one of us needs healing or something."

"…fine." Aqua said with crossed arms. She cast all her buff spells on me; once she was done, I took off towards the hill in the distance.

-Meanwhile, on the hill…

"Ah, to think you'd chase me all the way out here," the assassin known as Nora Black said; she smiled mockingly at us.

Claire, who I stood besides, quickly withdrew her blade. "I thought of taking you back alive, but now I think I'll kill you; your crime of attacking a royal is unforgivable."

"Hmm, a shame that girl got in the way."

I spoke up. "Why'd you attack the princess anyways; something like that just seems suicidal in nature. Have you gone that crazy since the last time we defeated you?"

"Such a mouth of you, little girl. I already achieved my objective," She said wryly.

I knit my brow in confusion, and then a split second later realized. "Claire-san, attacking Iris was just a distraction."

Claire's eyes widened in surprise. "You wench!" She pulled her blade up in a readied stance. "Spill it, what's your true aim?!"

Nora smirked. "Guess what they say about the Crimson Demons is true. Anyways, I don't have time to play round with you two—"

"Drain Touch!" Kazuma appeared from behind the assassin with arms outstretched, however, the reflexes of this person were almost inhuman; she dodged at the last second and spun around kneeing Kazuma in the center of his chest. The next second, she darted off to the side, breaking our surround on her.

"Kazuma!" I yelled worriedly, but he stood up rubbing his chest mildly; seems like he was buffed by support magic, which meant Aqua must've given it to him before he came after me or she's somewhere around here.

As the assassin, Nora, stood cautiously pacing around us, Claire shot forward and began an aggressive assault. Although, I expected her to have some skills in combat, her display exceeded my expectations; she was fighting on more than equal footing against this assailant, in fact, her aggression was pinning the assassin down.

"You cur, you think you win against the might of the Symphonia family; there's a reason I was chosen to protect her highness, Iris-sama!"

"Tch—how annoying!" Nora yelled as she was pushed back.

As the two were fighting, Kazuma ran over to me.

"Oi, what the hell are you thinking—just what exactly did you think you could do by coming over here?!" He whispered loudly.

"I'm gonna hit her with Explosion of course!"

"You idiot, you'll probably end up killing Claire in the process…" Kazuma held a contemplative look for a moment.

"I wasn't gonna use it while she was close by; it's a Crimson Demon's talent to find the opportune moment to steal the spotlight, after all."

"You're getting in the way by being here! What would you do if she targeted you first, or Claire was incapacitated?!"

As if she suddenly grew aware of the danger, she quickly averted my gaze. I placed a hand on her head, matting down the signature hat she wore.

"K-Kazuma what are you—"

"Don't be so reckless," I said. "You can't revive like I can."

Once again, Megumin averted her gaze, but a light blush could be seen as she did.

"Alright, if you're looking to steal the spotlight, we'd better have a plan."

I said this, but from the looks of it, Claire didn't appear to be needing help anytime soon.

"You're just an assassin, you think you could defeat someone like me, a knight in the service of the royal family, preposterous!" Claire roared.

As I heard her say such flag-worthy lines, I felt a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach; I wish she wouldn't say such things.

As if spurred on by the lines themselves, Claire was hit with another paralyzing dart in the arm. The sword in her arm fell to ground as Nora pounced forward in a stabbing motion. Instinctively, Claire threw up her arm to block the stab, granting her another wound and yet another incapable arm.

"Shit, where's Aqua; she's supposed cast Heal at a time like this," I thought, looking around frantically.

"What's wrong, Kazuma?" Megumin queried. "What are you looking for?"

"Aqua, she's supposed to be around here somewhere…dammit, that idiot. I told her to support us with healing."

"I'll go find her," Megumin announced.

"Alright, hurry."

As Megumin ran off back down the hill, I turned my attention to Claire who was now kneeling before the assassin's daggers.

"Time to finish you," She said.

"SNIPE!" The arrow whizzed past the assassin's face as she shifted to the side. At the same moment, Claire shot up.

"You!" Dust flew into the assassin's eyes causing her to recoil, in the same instant, Claire tackled her to the ground, driving the dagger deep into her chest.

"You…" Nora said weakly, blood trickling from the sides of her mouth. "To think someone like you…would use such an underhanded trick." She coughed as she bore a bloody smile.

"Like I said, you underestimate someone under the employ of the royal family; I don't care what I have to do to protect her…Iris-sama is worth casting aside even my own ideals."

"That's why I can't stand you nobles…always spouting nonsense; my only regret is that I couldn't kill more of you…and your damn princess…"

Claire's eyes widened; her nose flared. "You scum, cease your talking!"

Nora laughed, itself turning into a violet cough spewing specks of blood all over Claire's face and white suit, but Claire stared unflinchingly at the at the assassin pinned under her.

"What…did that hit a little close to home?" She mocked, breaking out into another coughing fit.

"I said, cease speaking." Claire's voice was low and her hand trembled as it grasped the hilt of the dagger.

"Oi," I said, approaching her slowly, "what are you gonna do?"

"Kazuma, we're back!" Megumin yelled as she came over the crest of the hill with Aqua.

Aqua was rubbing her eyes groggily which meant this lazy bum of a goddess was actually sleeping in such a tense scenario.

I frowned, and then turned back to Claire. "So, what are you planning to—"

"I can't take her back to the capital, Kazuma-dono; she's too dangerous."

"So…you're gonna kill her?"

Claire remained silent.

"Aqua, heal her."

"Who, Claire-san or—"

"Claire obviously, you idiot!"

"Don't call me an idiot; it's an honest question. Besides, the assassin looks more injured than Claire-san!"

I rubbed my temples in frustration. "Just…heal Claire."

Aqua did.

"I'll take care of this one," Claire said as she grabbed her sword beside her.

"No wait," Megumin interjected. "Let me."

We all turned to stare at her. Nora laughed once more, though her coughs and breathing were much weaker than a couple minutes earlier.

"Oi, Megumin, what's up with you; why are you so—"

"Don't misunderstand," Megumin interrupted, "I take no pleasure in killing, but I think hitting her with Explosion might be the quickest and cleanest way to get rid of her, even if I don't think she deserves it."

We stared amongst ourselves, Megumin made a good point.

"Megumin-dono, are you sure?" Claire queried. "Can you bear the weight of killing someone?"

Megumin looked down as she was asked that. "Like, Like I said, I don't find gratification in doing so, but…the things she's done…those are things I can't forgive."

Besides nearly killing me and Iris, I couldn't see why Megumin would be so resolute in being the one to handle the finishing…blow.

"Oi…you just wanna do this for the experience points…don't you?"

Megumin stiffened at my remark. She pulled down her hat to cover her face. "Of-Of course not. I-I simply believe that Explosion would be—"

"Oi, quit your lying you glory hound! This was your plan from the get-go, wasn't it?!"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just making sure—"

I didn't let her finish, quickly pouncing on her and pulling on her cheeks.

"Ah, ah, Kashuma, wait, don't—ahhhh!"

In the end, the assassin passed away before anyone of us could deal the killing blow; in a way, I felt this was the best outcome for us. Despite her being an enemy, Aqua did her rites and burial. The rest of us sat some distance away waiting for Aqua to be done.

"I…I should've hit her with Explosion," Megumin said remorsefully.

"You're saying such things; you want me to hurt you again?"

"Please don't. I'm just saying, if I did it, we wouldn't have to deal with a burial. Even though I felt nothing but contempt for that lady, she was still a person…she died slowly…"

I knew what Megumin meant and I kinda felt the same way. It was a tougher pill to swallow when your enemy was human. I may have not been able to do such things, but Megumin would've; Explosion made sure the aftermath of such actions was practically nonexistent, the smoldering crater being the only evidence.

I sighed. "Well…she brought it on herself. Being an assassin, she must've known it would've ended like this for her one day…right?"

Megumin shrugged. "Maybe…"

"There, all done," Aqua said as she came back.

"Alright, let's head back," I said. "Yo, Claire!" She was sitting some distance away but got up when I called out to her. "We're headed back!"

"Then I'll go back with you all," She said as she walked over.

And so, we made it back to the capital which was now under some form of martial law. The plaza was completely cleared of civilians and only guards patrolled the streets.

According to the information Claire received from the guards, the King immediately declared martial law once he was notified about the assassination attempt. Iris was quickly escorted back to the palace along with Rain, Darkness, and the shop attendant, Gren. This being the case, we swiftly made our way to the palace as well.

"Iris-sama," Claire said as we entered her room.

"Claire, Onii-sama, Megumin-nee; are you guys alright? Claire, whose blood is this?"

"We're fine, Iris-sama and don't worry about the blood; things got a little rough, however, I prevailed."

Although Claire wiped the blood from her face earlier, the blood on the white suit was practically impossible to remove.

"What of the assassin?" Rain asked.

Me, Megumin, and Aqua stared at each other, however, Claire replied matter-of-factly. "She's dead."

"…who did it?" Iris asked. "Was it you, Claire?" She said, looking at the blood on her bodyguard's clothes.

Claire nodded silently.

"…I see; it must've been hard for you—"

"Not at all," Claire replied curtly. "She attempted to take your life, Hime-sama; I have no sympathy or remorse for such criminal scum." As Iris looked at Claire in shock, she added, "Let's not forget that she also killed many nobles. Someone like that isn't deserving of my sympathy, Hime-sama; forgive me if that startles you."

"N-No, I'm blessed to have such loyal retainers; t-thank you, Claire."

"Where's Gren-san?" Aqua asked.

Rain answered. "Ah, the shop attendant? She's in a separate room; although she protected the princess from harm she was still under trial when the attack happened. As such, we're keeping a close eye on her."

Part 5

Such a thing was to be expected; even if Gren did just save Iris from assassination, she was still technically a criminal until formally pardoned, but given the turn of events, Gren's freedom was more than likely.

"Glad to see all of you are ok," Darkness said as she came in from the balcony area.

"Ah, Darkness, what happened after we left?" I asked.

"The capital was almost immediately put into martial law."

"Lalatina escorted us back," Iris informed.

I smirked. "Ah, Lalatina, it's good to see that head of yours is good for something other than—"

"Kazuma, one more word and I'll show everyone in here what good your head is!"

"…so, now what?" Megumin said amidst the growing silence.

A quick rapping on the door was heard; we all turned to it.

A female voice on the other side spoke in a desperate tone. "Your highness, I'm to inform you that the prisoner, Wulf Sylban, has escaped; orders from the King and Prince are for you to stay in your room."

Claire walked over to the door; hand gripped around the hilt of her sword, she opened it slightly.

"Lady Symphonia." On the other side of the door was a female knight; likely one of the imperial knights throughout the palace.

Seeing this, Claire relaxed, letting go of her weapon. "What happened, how did—" She stopped, and as she seemed to recall something, placed a hand to her head. "Damn it," she cursed under her breath. "What a travesty."

"That was her objective," Megumin mumbled.

"Damn it," Claire said louder. She sighed deeply, and then continued. "Do you know where he is now—where he went?"

The female knight shook her head. "Forgive me, Lady Symphonia, I do not."

Claire placed a hand to her forehead and rubbed it angrily. "Rain, please look after Iris-sama." She then turned to Iris herself. "Forgive me for leaving so soon, Iris-sama; however, I must gather more information."

Iris shook her head. "It's ok, Claire, do what you must."

Claire nodded in response, and then left with the female knight.

"Since there's a known agent of the Demon King wandering around, I'll stay here and sleep by my little sister's side."

"You want me to beat you up!" Darkness yelled. "Stop saying such absurd things."

"And please stop calling Iris-sama your little sister," Rain added.

"And there's no way I'm letting you sleep alone with Iris," Megumin remarked.

"Yeah, we already know how you're like around lolis," the ridiculous goddess of parties and rumors commented.

Iris giggled. "I, for one, wouldn't mind Onii-sama's company."

"Iris!" Megumin, Darkness, and Rain yelled in their own ways.

"Alright fine," I said, "but I don't feel ok leaving Iris-chan alone while someone dangerous like that is running around; at least let me sleep in her room."

"Absolutely not!" Rain said resolutely.

"You're the most dangerous person here!" Darkness remarked.

"What's the point of leaving you to sleep in her room if we just rejected the idea of letting you sleep in her bed?" Megumin said, her eye's glow growing in intensity.

"Knowing you, you'll definitely crawl into her bed at night and do weird things to her," the inappropriate goddess of sundries and toilets voiced.

"Oi, I don't like that you guys see me this way; when have I ever done anything that warranted that type of thought about me?"

"…"

"Hey, come on, don't stay silent, I wanna hear about these so-called things I do to little girls! Right now all of you are just seeking to ruin my pure relationship with my lovable and adorable little sister, Iris-chan!"

"I can't really explain it!" Darkness said loudly. "However, I get this weird feeling when you look at little girls, Kazuma!"

"Hey, are you sure it isn't just you?"

"I haven't said anything because of Kazuma-dono's peerage, however, if Dustiness-sama is saying something, I will too," Rain interjected. "I get the same feeling of distress when Kazuma-dono comes to see Iris-sama; it almost feels like a suspicious older man giving candy to a helpless child while inviting them into a dark alleyway."

"Whoa, hold on, what's up with that type of imagery!"

"It's true," Megumin said. I turned to her in surprise.

"This fuckin' wench, I'll pull on her stupid hair and face till she runs out of tears…"

Megumin continued. "I got weird chills when I first met Kazuma, like all my hairs were standing on end. Little did I know, my instincts as a Crimson Demon were warning me of what was to come."

"Why are you saying such misleading things!"

"What exactly about what she said is misleading though?" the extra member of our party said; what made it worse was the fact that there was no malign intention behind her query.

"Oi, oi, that's enough! You're gonna make Iris-chan think I'm some sort of deviant!"

Iris laughed happily. "Is it ok for Onii-sama to sleep here if everyone else does too? I wouldn't mind."

The girls looked at each other in contemplation.

"I'll sleep on the bed with the princess!" Aqua declared.

"Then-Then, I'll sleep on her other side—if you'd allow it, Hime-sama," Darkness stated.

She nodded; her bright smile still present.

"I'll sleep with Kazuma on the couch," Megumin said, glancing out at me with a mildly angry face.

"I'll…I'll sleep here…on this chair," Rain said in a whisper-like tone. Her face was almost as red as Megumin robes; thinking about it, she must've been embarrassed to sleep in Iris' room; Rain wasn't around Iris unless it was for professional reasons.

Even though our sleeping arrangements were settled, it was still the early evening, much too early to sleep—especially for me. So, because of this, we decided on getting an early dinner; however, as an extra precaution, only select individuals were allowed to bring her food and/or drinks.

"Really?" I said to Rain; we were standing outside on the large veranda.

"Umu, it's a normal precaution in times like these," She replied.

Indeed, such steps were common even in my own world. During attempts against a leader's life, said individual would likely be put in a safe room and access to them was heavily regulated. Things like food and drinks would be closely inspected for poisons or explosives and even common things like radios, cellphones, or televisions would be denied—I've even heard stories of seemingly benign items like toilet paper or pens being rejected.

"Kazuma-dono," Rain began, "if it isn't too much to ask, could you bring the food and drinks?"

"You want me to bring it?"

"As much as I believe leaving Kazuma-dono with Hime-sama is a bad idea, I also believe you'd be the last person to try and harm her."

"If I even could," I thought, not that I'd ever want to.

"You don't have to go alone, in fact, I wouldn't recommend it, given the circumstances."

"I'm not saying you guys are being too cautious, but do you really think someone who just broke out of prison in the capital would march into the palace where both the King and Prince are? I mean, that's not even counting the imperial knights."

Rain sighed. "You can never be too cautious with matters like these, Kazuma-dono. In fact, I heard that assassin got away earlier, she came back and even made an attempt on Iris-sama's life."

She was right. Even if such things were unlikely, they weren't impossible. Wulf's objective in the capital was to obtain information on the royal family; if he could eliminate even one of them, such a thing would prove to be boon to the Demon King of the North; a successful invasion into the Kingdom would then become a very real possibility.

"Hmm, if you guys are worried about poison and stuff like that, I could bring the ingredients from the kitchen—"

"No, it has to be from outside; I know it sounds ridiculous, but if someone were to try and poison the royal family they would do so from our stock of food and ingredients. Drinks would be little more difficult since it would require sullying a variety of elements, water even more difficult since it can be conjured by magic."

Again, it made sense.

"Alright, I'll go by myself; I'll leave the others here just in case things get hairy. If I don't come back by night, just wait till morning to put out a search; Aqua will most likely be able to revive me."

"Wait, Kazuma-dono are you sure; I always heard you quite spineless with matters like these."

"Oi, I wanna have word with the people spreading these baseless rumors."

After relaying the plan with the others, I made my way to the market district. Despite, martial law being in effect, the markets and forums were still bustling with people. That being said, there were many more guards present; two for every four stalls I walked by and more around the perimeter. At first, I thought the amount was overkill, but thinking about it, the market district was probably the easiest place for an escapee to hide in.

Maybe because I realized this, I picked up my pace and gathered the ingredients in no time. There were so many things I wanted to get, but I was only one person, I could only carry so much. Ultimately, I wanted to cook for Iris, so I got things that would've made for a new experience for her. After paying for the things, I quickly headed back to the palace; to my relief, nothing unusual happened.

When I returned, there were a pair of female knights standing at the beginning and ending of the corridor leading to Iris' room and another set standing at the sides of the door.

"Name and purpose," one said sternly.

"Satou Kazuma, I went to buy ingredients for dinner."

They glanced at each other and then back at me. The same knight spoke once more. "Satou-dono, mind if we look at the bags; we'd like to check them for dangerous items."

I knew they were just being cautious and doing their jobs, but I was already searched coming into the palace grounds, palace proper, the entrance to the wing, the corridor leading to the room, and now at the door; even a guy like me, a man with infinite amounts of patience, would start to get annoyed.

"Hey, I've already been searched all the way over here, can you just let me go inside; Iris-sama is waiting for me to cook her meal."

"Satou-dono, forgive us, but we must ask that you comply; if you really are a servant of her highness then you'd see the value in doing so."

I couldn't get them to budge on the request, then again, they were elites; such an attitude was expected of them. Begrudgingly, I complied. After they painstakingly searched every item in the bag nearly half an hour passed.

"Thank you, Satou-dono," She said. Then she turned towards the door and knocked. "Hime-sama, Satou-dono has returned with ingredients for food, may we let him in?"

A small voice replied from inside. "Yes, please do so!"

At the behest of the princess, I was let in. I half expected everyone to be sort of mad at me for taking so long, so I steeled myself for the explanation, but as I came in, everyone was watching Aqua perform her party tricks with faces full of surprise and merriment. Even Iris-chan was staring at the act with the same enthusiasm and awe-struck eyes that she had when I told her stories of my adventures.

"Amazing, Aqua-sama, amazing!" Iris said clapping loudly.

Aqua smiled proudly, giving short bows.

"How did she do that? I don't even think magic could replicate such a thing," Rain commented in bewilderment.

I sighed. Even though I found this goddess' ability to responsibly distribute her points lacking, I had to say, the few times I've actually seen Aqua using her party tricks has left a great impression on me…as much as I hated to admit.

Leaving the others to enjoy Aqua's performance, I walked out to the terrace where a large grill was at. Though I thought it would be primitive, I was wrong; it was comparable to grills back in Japan. In fact, this appeared to be very similar to the stove tops used for the food stalls around the various places throughout the kingdom.

After a couple of hours prepping and cooking everything, the food was done. When I walked in to tell everyone, they were playing cards which Aqua conveniently brought for her stupid tricks. Rain, on the other hand, was fast asleep on the chair she chose as her sleeping arrangement.

"Oi, food's ready," I said.

"One second, Kazuma," Megumin said, "it's just me and Iris now."

"I don't get it," Aqua complained, "why do I keep drawing the lowest possible numbers; someone's cheating here!"

"Megumin, I thought you said you had to draw pairs; how come you have just single numbers?" Darkness queried as she looked over Megumin's hand; it seems like they were playing poker.

I sighed as approached them. "Darkness, pairs are the second worst winning hand you can get."

"Ha, ha!" Megumin said, slamming her hand on the bed. "Straight! Let's see your hand Iris."

Iris, who was covering the bottom half of her face with the playing cards, dropped the cards lightly onto the bed. "Royal Flush."

"W-W-Wha—how?! Kazuma, how'd she get that?!" a panicked Megumin yelled.

I laughed. "That's some good luck you have Iris-chan, maybe me and you should play next; I'll absolutely win you in poker."

"Sure, Onii-sama, we have all night, after all," She replied with an innocent smile.

"Alright, let's eat."

"Kazuma," Darkness interjected, "the princess can't go out to the balcony during a time like this."

"Ah, I, I see," I said somewhat dejectedly.

"Lalatina, it should be alright with all of you here protecting me."

"T-That's right," I reaffirmed. "If anything happens, I'll take responsibility."

Darkness looked at us dubiously, and then sighed. "Ok."

As the others tore into the food, Iris stared curiously at it. "What is this, Onii-sama?"

"Yakisoba, a special food from my home country."

"Yaki…soba?" Iris stared at it for a couple of seconds and then bit into it. As she chewed quizzically, a smile sprung up on her face. "Mmmm, thish ish sho gewd, Onii-shama."

I laughed heartily. "I'm glad you like it. Here, let me show you trick." I pulled out a piece of bread and slicing it in half, pressed some of the yakisoba into it. I handed it to Iris. "Yakisoba bread," I said.

She took it excitedly and bit into it without hesitation. "Onii-sama, this is so good; I never knew such a simple addition could make something taste so great."

"Alright, eat your fill; there's plenty to go around."

"Really?" Aqua said. "Then let me get seconds; I demand seconds as a tribute—as compensation for healing you and reviving you so much—it's the least you could do!"

"Oi, stop it, you idiot; that's for Iris-chan—you had enough!"

As Aqua and I struggled against each other, Iris laughed.

After dinner, Darkness and Aqua decided to tuck in early. Me, Megumin, and Iris stayed up playing poker; as expected, I won most of the times, Iris was close behind me in ranking, leaving Megumin to be at the bottom of the board; something she wasn't too keen on.

"Ah, that's enough of this game," Megumin complained.

"You're just upset cause you keep losing," I said.

"It-It's not that, it's just this game involves no skill, just luck; it caters to your strengths, Kazuma."

"Hey, stop making excuses; Poker is actually a game with an incredibly high skill ceiling, alright. Back in my country there would be regular tournaments with huge prize pools. In fact, I'm pretty sure Elroad has a similar game."

"Whatever, why don't we play Adventurer's Gambit."

"So what, you could just use Explosion—no way, that game is stupid."

"So a game I'm proficient at is suddenly stupid, but a game that relies on luck, isn't?"

Iris giggled as she saw us squabble.

"And what are you laughing at, Iris?" Megumin said.

"Nothing, Megumin-nee; I can tell you two are happy."

Megumin looked away slightly while I snorted in laughter.

"Maybe you need glasses, Iris-chan."

"Ah—just what aren't you happy about?! I'm the one who should be unhappy!"

"What are you talking about; you got a perfect, powerful, and rich man, how could you be unhappy?"

Iris giggled once more.

Megumin sighed, and then smiled. "No, you're right; there's nothing for me to be upset about. I'm tired so I'm going to sleep; don't stay up so late."

Her acceptance caught me off guard, but before I could question it, Megumin was already lying down on the couch with the blanket drawn over her shoulders.

"Uh…ahem—aren't you tired, Iris-chan?"

"Hmm, no, not yet."

"Well, is there anything you wanna do?"

"Hmm…" Iris pressed a finger to her chin. "Why don't we go outside?"

"Outside; that's a bit dangerous to do right now, no?"

Iris gave me a saddened look, one that was filled with disappointment; as her caring older brother I couldn't live seeing her so dejected.

I looked around at the others to make sure they were asleep; after confirming it to be the case, I whispered, "Ah, it's ok, we'll go out—but only for a little while, ok?"

Iris smiled brightly when I said this, nodding excitedly.

As we got up to head out from the balcony, I looked at Megumin closely, making doubly sure she was asleep.

"Going by her relaxed breathing, I'm pretty sure she's actually asleep. Good. No one should know I was out with Iris then."

I tiptoed my way past Rain and met up with Iris out on the terrace. To my amazement, she had already formed a makeshift rope using the tablecloth and some blankets.

"Come on, Onii-sama," She said as she climbed over the balcony's edge.

I ran over as she slid down, quickly looking to make sure she safely descended. When I did, she was already at the bottom. Iris looked up with a wide smile, waving at me to come down. I looked at the cloths turned rope and gave them a hard tug; they'd hold my weight.

I smiled as I vaulted over the railing; this reminded me of the time I broke into the castle with Chris. As I came to the bottom, I moved the line near the wall; the white marble, and the light of the full moon would do well to conceal the near-white blankets and tablecloth.

"Alright, let—" I cut myself off as my Enemy Detect went off; two entities, must be a patrol.

I quickly grabbed Iris and pulled her over to small hedge barrier nearby.

"Onii—"

I shushed her, pointing at the corner.

The two guards appeared.

"Shit, this is bad, I hope they don't notice the rope…"

I sat tensely waiting for the guards to go by. To our luck, they didn't. As I let out a breath of relief, Iris giggled quietly.

"Hey, that could've been really bad if they found us or the rope." Thinking about it, it was kind of worrying that these "elite" guards didn't notice the cord dangling down from the balcony.

"I know but isn't this exciting?" She said with a smile to match.

I grinned. "Hmm, it kinda is…"

After laughing to ourselves, Iris got up and tugging on my hand, said, "Onii-sama, I've got a secret place I wanna show you."

"Alright, alright, lead the way."

Dodging more patrols along the way, Iris led me into the back of the palace where a large hedge maze was. These sorts of things were very common—almost to the point of being clichéd; however, as we ran through the maze, Iris made an abrupt turn into a dead end.

"Uh oh, you lost your way, Iris-chan, don't worry, let Onii-chan—"

Seemingly ignoring what I was saying, Iris ducked down into the corner and crawled into a small opening disappearing completely.

"Oi, Iris, where'd you go," I whispered loudly. I ducked down and looked at the last spot I saw her. She quickly popped her head out, our faces mere centimeters apart. Of course, I was startled by the abruptness of her action and fell back.

She giggled once more. "Come on, Onii-sama, it's this way."

I got on my stomach and crawled through the branches. The passage was tight, and I almost got stuck; it was the perfect place for someone like Iris to escape to. Eventually, I made it out to the other side where Iris was waiting. Walking over to her as I brushed off the leaves all over me, Iris pointed. We somehow ended up in an underground cavern and were standing on a cliff overlooking a massive deposit of water.

It was beautiful and despite the depths of the pool, the water was a bright aqua-green.

"Wha, what is this place?" I asked, captivated by the magnificence of such scenery.

"This is where we draw our water from; it's the source of our healing baths. Supposedly it leads to a spring near Alcanretia."

No, this was likely the case; I've never seen water this pure outside of whatever Aqua purifies herself.

"If this is the water reservoir, doesn't that mean this place isn't very secret?" I posed.

Iris shook her head. "No one outside some very select people, Father, and Jatis onii-chan know about this place, and now you, Onii-sama." She smiled, turning my way as she mentioned me.

"Right, keeping the knowledge of something this important tied down to a few people would make it fairly easy to identify anyone who might do something to it…"

"Do you know why it's this color, Onii-sama?" She said.

"Uh, probably cause of how pure it is, right?"

She shook her head once again. "You're sort of right, but the water is dense in mana because the rocks that surround the reservoir are almost pure manatite. Since the water itself runs through passageways in the rock, the reservoir contains high levels of mana. Come on," She said, tugging on my hand once more.

"Whoa, wait, where are we going?" I said whilst being pulled along.

When we reached the edge of the pool, Iris let go of my hand and began to undress.

"Oi, oi, Iris-chan, what are you doing?" I said, looking away.

"I always wanted to swim in here," She replied.

"Are, are you sure that's a good idea; isn't this what you guys use for drinking water too?"

She giggled. "This water has a self-purifying effect, small amounts of contaminates are fine, Onii-sama, come."

I thought about how someone later on might be drinking Iris' bathwater. When I looked towards iris, she was in her underwear. The blue ribbon that was normally tied around her flowing white dress was now tied around her chest.

"Oh man, if anyone saw this I'd be immediately executed." Really, I could think of no way to talk my way out of this should someone see the scene before me.

I didn't really know why, but I felt extremely self-conscious about undressing in front of Iris; it wasn't like I was doing it in a perverted fashion with any lewd undertones. Iris-chan was my cute little sister who wanted to take a swim with me, her reliable older brother; there was nothing I should be ashamed about.

Telling myself this, I stripped down to my underwear and entered the water. It was really cold.

"Gah, this is…cold—aren't you cold, Iris-chan?"

"Hmm, nope," She answered as she frolicked in the water.

After a few moments my body became wrapped in a gentle warmth and all my fatigue and tenseness melted away; the effects were very similar to bathing in the royal baths. As I relaxed and laid back, Iris swam over to my side.

"Onii-sama…"

"Hmm?" I said, opening one eye. "What's up, Iris-chan?"

"Umm," Iris was squirming slightly in the water.

I quickly sat up. "Oi, do you have to use the bathroom?!"

"No, no!" she replied just as quickly. "I-I was wondering if Onii-sama…if Onii-sama could…wash me."

"…come again?"

"I-I was wondering if you could wash me, Onii-sama—the waters are purifying enough that running it over yourself would clean you; there'd be no need for things like…soap…" What started off as a rushed explanation, slowed into an embarrassed whisper.

I began to feel tense once again. "Ugh…well, s-sure, I can wash your back."

"Umu," Iris said; she looked just as nervous.

Both of us swam over to the edge where the water was shallower. Iris sat down in front of me and hugged her knees.

"Um"—I coughed loudly—"Just running the water over your back should be…fine, right?"

"Um-Um…it'd be…better if Onii-sama…scrubbed—a bit."

I breathed in deeply. "Calm down, Satou Kazuma, there's nothing wrong with this, you haven't done anything questionable; your lovable little sister is simply asking you to wash her…there's nothing wrong with a request like this…right—of course not!"

I dipped my hand into the water beside me and pressed the scooped water to Iris' back. She flinched, her shoulder twitching slightly. Her skin was soft and seemingly iridescent in the reflection of the mana-rich waters. As I continued to repeat my earlier actions, I stopped; for some reason, I felt guilty. I felt I was doing something wrong—but I wasn't; I wasn't doing anything questionable, just running water over Iris' back. Sure, she was several years younger than me, but I wasn't doing it in some weird lustful way. I was doing it with the same sentiments a father had washing his child daughter…even so, I still felt…guilty.

"Onii-sama?" Iris queried.

"Huh, oh, um…this should be enough, right?"

"Um…" She nodded.

"Alright, let's head back before anyone notices we're gone."

I got up. Iris did too, turning towards the pool's edge. In that moment, I froze; her clothes, being wet, clung tightly to her child body; the things the clothing was supposed to mask, freshly exposed. When Iris noticed what I was staring at, she ducked down and covered herself in embarrassment. I quickly averted my gaze.

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to—I just sorta forgot—"

"It-It's…ok," she mumbled. "It's…fine…if Onii-sama…sees."

"Wh-Wh-Whoa, what is this girl saying; there's no way something like this is ok!" I briskly turned my back to her. "H-Hand me your clothing, I'll dry 'em with Tinder."

A couple seconds later, a hand reached past my shoulder; tightly knit in its grasp was a pair of frilly white panties and a long, blue-laced ribbon, both sopping wet.

I quickly set about drying them with Tinder; since the mana was dense in the cavern, I didn't have to worry about running out of any. After several minutes of this, both of our clothing was dry. I reached my hand over my shoulder, handing Iris her clothing back. She took it meekly from my hands and after another couple minutes walked over my side.

"All-All done…Onii…sama." Even in the blue-green glow of the cavern, I could see Iris' deeply flushed face.

I had already finished putting on my own clothes, so when she came over to me, we were ready to head back. We retraced our path back to the rope. Maybe due to my luck, there were no guards we had to evade on our way back.