KonoSuba: A Tale of this Beautiful World Vol2

by Dknightodin

The second volume of the series.

6. Chapter 5: The Next Steps

Chapter 5: The Next Steps

Part 1

When I woke up the next day, my arms were hurting from climbing the rope. In the days following, the atmosphere between me and Iris became a bit awkward—we would still play and talk, but I would often find her avoiding my gaze and blushing; it would become very troublesome if this girl were to develop feelings for me at such a young age. If she were a couple years older, I wouldn't mind, maybe I would even prefer her over Megumin, but at this juncture I couldn't really muster any such feelings for her; I really did see her as a younger sister, despite what the others may have thought.

Adding to this odd atmosphere was the fact that Megumin also avoided me. She would talk to me when it was warranted, but other than that she didn't really seek me out or show me any affection; maybe she figured something happened between me and Iris while she was asleep. I thought about telling her what happened, but in the end, I convinced myself otherwise; I didn't need Megumin going yandere mode and blowing up the entire palace.

Martial law went on for another two days which meant we stayed at the palace (and in Iris' room) for the same amount of days. The morning after the state of emergency ended, we packed up and were ready to head back to Axel.

"O-Onii-sama, t-thank you for staying…so long."

I chuckled. "Don't mention it; you know I don't mind staying around you, Iris-chan."

She twiddled her fingers, then played with the ring I bought her so long ago. "O, Onii-sama, please don't wait too long to visit again, ok?"

"Uh, sure."

When I turned around, I caught Megumin staring between us with a serious expression; however, when her eyes met my own, they narrowed slightly. She whipped around and walked off.

"Goodbye, Iris-chan," Aqua said, waving happily. "I'll show you some more of my acts when I come back; all I ask is that you treat me to some of that restricted wine royalty drinks, ok?"

"Aqua, stop asking for ridiculous compensation," Darkness said with a frown. "Goodbye, Iris-sama; thank you for your hospitality."

"No, no, Lalatina, thank you for protecting me; truly whenever you're around, I'm reminded why you're our kingdom's shield."

Darkness bowed and all of us left. On the way down the corridor, we met Rain who was on her way to teach Iris her morning lessons; after a brief goodbye, we continued towards the teleport station.

When we came out into the courtyard in front of the palace, I saw Megumin seated on one of the benches, looking up at the sky.

Darkness walked over to my side as we started to approach her. "Kazuma, what's wrong with Megumin, did you two get into a fight?"

I shrugged. "I don't know; she's probably just jealous of Iris again. She'll get over it."

"Stop being so inconsiderate, go speak with her."

"She's the one being inconsiderate; she won't even tell me what's going on with her—I'm not a diviner, I can't tell what she's—" I looked down at my ring briefly; then I realized I needed to touch her ring as well in order for the mind-reading effect to take place. "Don't worry about it; if it's serious enough she'll bring it up, if not, it'll blow over," I said to Darkness.

"Stop being such a coward, Kazuma; I'm sure she's waiting for you—"

"Then why don't you go ask her! Stop bothering me." I pulled away from her and continued past Megumin.

"Kazuma," I heard her call out.

"What's wrong?" I said, stopping and turning towards her.

Megumin got up and walked over to me. "What happened that night I fell asleep early?"

I felt my mouth dry up suddenly. "Calm yourself, Kazuma, she's just asking a simple question; don't give yourself away by acting stupid. N—"

She quickly pressed her finger to the underside of my chin. "Wait," She said.

"W-Wait for what?"

"This isn't the place to have such a conversation."

"Oi, what the hell do you think I did?" Megumin stared at me with unflinchingly. I looked away. "Nothing—"

"I said this isn't the place; we'll have this conversation at home," She interrupted.

I looked at her in disbelief. Did she just give me a stern talking to…who did this loli think she was?

"Oi, I don't know what's got you so worked up, but you need to relax."

"You don't? Really…pfft…unbelievable…" Megumin distanced herself, walking ahead once more.

Upon our arrival back at the mansion, Aqua went to take a morning bath while Darkness was busy talking with Irene. In order to avoid the pending conversation between me and Megumin, I sat in the living room and began playing with Chomusuke. As if she knew this, the inconsiderate owner came over and snatched her away from me.

"Oi, what are—"

"Stop trying to avoid responsibility; we need to talk, Kazuma," Megumin said with a frown.

I sighed. "What about; I already told you nothing happened—"

Megumin tugged on my arm. "Upstairs…please," She said with a gentler tone.

I frowned at her proficient use of tenderness; even though I knew she was giving me a sweet tone to get me to do what she wanted, I still followed.

As I came into my room, I laid down on the bed. Megumin let Chomusuke go, shooing her away, and locked the door.

Before she could question me, I began," I already said nothing—"

"Is that really what you're gonna say…nothing happened."

I sat up slowly, gulping silently. "What do you mean?"

"I'm saying, what happened after I fell asleep; what did you guys end up doing?"

"Nothing, are you serious? Why do you guys keep acting like I have weird feelings for Iris-chan, she's just—"

"A little sister to you? Is that what you want…a little sister…for you to do perverted stuff with—really, Kazuma, you're—"

"Oi, oi, hold on! I don't know what you think happened, but let me start by saying I just want a little sister to fawn over, ok? Not to have some weird relationship with."

"So then, why is it so hard for you to answer the question; what happened?"

"Well…me and Iris just went outside."

Megumin stared at me. "And?"

"And what?"

"Exactly, and what; what did you guys do after you went out?"

I frowned. "We walked around a bit, avoided guards and stuff, went out the hedge maze in the back of the castle—why are so worried about what I did with Iris-chan; don't tell me you're jealous again?"

Megumin crossed her arms. "Really, Kazuma, do you really believe I'd get jealous over such trivial things now?"

"That's exactly what you're doing."

Seemingly ignoring my response, Megumin continued. "Ok, so after you went to the hedge maze, what did you do there?"

"Nothing, we just explored the maze—is this an interrogation, why do I feel like you're interrogating me?"

"Only guilty people feel that way," She replied curtly. "Now go on, you explored the maze together with Iris, and then what?"

"Let me just stop you right there, maybe save some time for the both of us; I didn't do anything to Iris-chan. I didn't kiss her, and I certainly didn't do anything you think—"

"But did you touch her?"

I froze. I knew it wasn't the way Megumin must've been thinking about, but I did touch her in a…not normal way.

"You touched her."

"N-Not the way you're thinking!" I sighed heavily. "Look, me and Iris went to the castle's water reservoir and…"

"And?"

"And we…we…we swam around a bit."

"And?"

Really what the hell, was she just pressing me for answers, or did she actually know something? "And we—" I shook my head. "How much do you know, just spit it out already; or are you just messing with me?!"

Megumin placed her hands on her hips and smirked. "I saw everything."

"This little…You mean you were stalking me." In hindsight, there were a couple clues showing this to be the case, not least of them being the slightly different position of the rope.

"Stalking you; did Kazuma forget what I am to him? Humph, that's right, I saw you rubbing your hands all over her back like some sort of miscreant; if I told this to Darkness, she'd break you in half. Luckily, I'm the only one who knows; so now you owe me two favors."

I began laughing; this sly bitch. "First, you stalk me, now, you're blackmailing me?! And what do you mean two favors?"

"I wasn't stalking you! I-I followed because I was worried about my underling! If you happened to do something with her, I would've cut it off right there! And don't tell me you've forgotten what you did; you made fun of me—of my figure!" Megumin pounced on me, straddling my waist. "If you're so caught up with Iris…I wonder," She said.

She leaned forward slowly.

"Oi, Megumin, what are you—"

She moved past my face and stopped by my ear, whispering in a highly seductive tone. "Can you play with me, Onii-chan?"

"Ahhhh, no!" I yelled, covering her mouth.

Megumin, startled by my shout and the reaction of my bottom half, let out a muffled yell herself.

"W-W-What do you think you're doing?! Don't taint the beautiful words I envision my little sister, Iris-chan say! I already told you you're not the little sister type!"

Megumin pulled my hands away revealing the boisterous smirk she wore. "Oh, but something certainly seems to like the way I say, O-nii-chan."

She giggled as I scrambled to cover my ears. "Stop, stop, I won't ever be able to face Iris-chan if you don't."

"Ohhh?"

"Don't you dare!" I yelled. "I'll drain you every day for two months if you do—don't think I won't!"

Megumin sighed. "Fine…I like being the wife of Satou Kazuma better," She said, playing with the ring on her finger.

I gave a restrained smirk.

Megumin leaned forward once again, this time pressing her lips to mine, kissing me deeply. After a few seconds, she pulled away.

"Oi, Megumin, if you keep rewarding me for things like this, I might start doing them on purpose."

"Who said anything about this being a reward for you?"

I scoffed. "Bullshit, this isn't enough to satisfy you."

She sat back onto my legs. "Oh, so now you know what's enough to satisfy me?"

I restrained my chuckle, letting out a huff.

She slid herself onto my hips; naturally, my body gave her an appropriate response.

Megumin let out a slow breath, then she leaned in again, wrapping her arms around the back of my neck and kissing me.

After a couple of moments, I moved my face slightly aside. "Megumin," I said, my breaths becoming deep.

With her eyes glowing, she smirked deviously. "I told you this wasn't a reward for you, right?"

She pressed forward once more, cutting off my verbal response. Moments later, our lips separated, but our heavy pants still skimmed their surface.

"Oi…Megumin, there's only so much I can take—let's call it here."

She smirked once more, tenderly passing her thumb over my lips, and then laid her head on my shoulder. I began to relax, when I felt her hips move; her lower body grinding roughly on my pants. I winced from the pleasure, gritting my teeth as I held back the impending feeling of release.

Despite, being the one who initiated this, Megumin was also losing herself to the feeling; I could hear her heavy panting in my ear, feel her heavy breaths on the side of my neck.

"Dammit, this girl…at this rate…" I groaned as I grasped Megumin's bottom and pressed her into me.

"Kazuma," She whined, arching her back slightly.

"Dammit!" I threw onto her back and kissed her, Megumin wrapped her arms the back of my neck, I could feel her tongue twist deeper into my mouth.

Finally, I pulled away with a gasp. "Wait, wait, god…"

She tugged on my belt.

"Wait, stop, Megumin," I said through labored breaths, grabbing her hands.

"How long has it been, Kazuma?"

"What?"

"My Explosions, how long has it been, how long have I gone without one?"

"Really?"

"It's either one or the other…though I don't really mind which."

"Oh, so I'm just a substitute, that it?"

She pulled me back down and kissed me sensually. "Only because you never give me the full course."

"…" I couldn't really hold myself back much more; the restraint I had was becoming razor thin. "Who, who taught you all this?" I suddenly asked; I was so curious to know that I unknowingly shared my thought.

"Taught?" Megumin said with a confused expression. "What do you mean, I've just been doing what comes naturally to me."

"R-Really?"

"Well, I mean, I have read some romance novels and some of the books that Aqua's lent me, but other than that…well, even those things don't really go into too much detail. W-Why, is what I do…odd or—"

"N-No, I'm just…surprised, I don't…I'm really surprised."

Megumin looked away slightly, a meek smile plastered on her face.

"Oi, Megumin, if we keep going any longer, I'm probably gonna…"

"Explode?"

"Well, yeah, but…I…I probably won't be able to hold myself back anymore so…"

"Oh, that so?"

"L-Look, don't…" I sat up and sighed deeply.

Megumin sat up as well and pressed a finger to my lips. "Don't worry, I won't force you; I can wait."

"Gah, every time you say that it feels weird; I feel like I should be the one saying that to you, not the other way around. Why do you have to be so assertive?"

Megumin giggled. "Does it bother you?"

"No, to be honest, it's a huge turn on."

Megumin's eyes widened in surprise; her face turning red in turn.

"Whoa, wait, are you really surprised about that? I thought you knew."

"I-I had an idea, but to hear you…say it…it's different."

"Geez," I said, placing my hand on Megumin's head, "you could be so unpredictable, you know? One moment you're the one taking lead, the next you become so timid and apprehensive; I really don't know how to deal with you."

She threw her head into my chest and hugged me. "Hahhh," She sighed. "Guess I'll just have to find some way to get rid of all this tension."

"Oi."

She giggled. "Don't worry, I'll go out with Aqua and Darkness to do my daily."

"Can you really call it a daily; you've been skimping out on them lately."

Megumin leaned back and smiled proudly. "I've been learning restraint thanks to someone."

"Hey, I appreciate you praising me, but let's be real, I'm not exactly known for a restrained personality."

"No one said, it's perfect, but even a little bit is something, right?"

"I guess."

She hugged me once more. "…I love you, Kazuma."

"Umu, me too, Megumin. Now hurry up and go, I need to deal with my own 'explosion' as well."

Megumin smiled, and then, after unlocking the door, left.

Afterwards, I went out with Aqua and Darkness as planned. When I finished casting my Explosion for the day, we returned to the mansion. Irene, who was making lunch, told me (when I didn't see him around) that Kazuma had gone out; he likely went to that café. Because he wasn't around, I was forced to recuperate on my own which meant spending the majority of the time lying on the couch in the living room.

A few hours after we had lunch, Kazuma returned; though he was all smiles, he appeared fairly tired. Seeing Kazuma in such a state, Aqua began pestering him; saying things like, 'why are you making such a gross expression?' and 'why do I smell demonic traces?'. Seems like my assumption was correct. I knew what type of "café" that was and could only hazard a guess as to what type of "services" Kazuma was getting.

"Oi, shut up, you're gonna ruin my mood, ok?" Kazuma said with a scowl.

"I don't want you bringing evil things into this house, ok? I work hard to keep this place free of evil spirits and the like—it's bad enough having that devil come around every so often!"

Kazuma laughed. "Did I hear something about working hard? Please, the couch you lounge on works harder than you. Now outta my way, Imma turn in early."

As Kazuma walked away, I called out to Aqua; she came over, still wearing a frown she gave Kazuma.

"Hmm, what's wrong, Megumin?"

"Can you please carry me to my room; I'm still weak."

She let out a sigh and flicked her hair back pompously. "Alright, if you insist. Though you should really start thinking of some way to repay my kindness, Megumin; my birthday is coming up after all."

Indeed, Aqua's "birthday" was only a few weeks away.

"Uh, sure; I'll get you something appropriate."

"Ah, thanks, Megumin; if only that bum Kazuma could be as considerate as you."

I smiled faintly; such classic Aqua.

The next few days went by without anything of note happening. Kazuma continued spending his time tinkering and occasionally going out, Aqua went out to do the various things she did, and Darkness was preoccupied helping out at the school and the occasional assistance with lordship duties.

I, however, focused myself on studying various things; cooking, Japanese, advance magic theory. Of course, my daily Explosion was something I did if Kazuma was able to accompany me; I didn't want to spend most of my time recuperating so I even bought a few manatite crystals for this purpose.

Speaking of which, since the manatite supplies started to come in, Vanir ended up giving me a large discount; the devil tried to get me to put it on Kazuma's tab, but since I had money of my own, I didn't feel the need to trouble Kazuma with my burden.

"Oof." Kazuma dropped me on the couch and then plopped down beside me.

"Why didn't you use another manatite crystal?" He asked.

I rolled over onto my back. "Cause they're expensive. Anyways, if you're so concerned about me walking back why didn't you just use Drain Touch to give me some mana?"

He frowned. "Next time I'll just leave you there."

There was a knock at the door. Kazuma looked at me.

"Why're you looking at me, I can't even move."

He sighed. "Alright, just stay quiet, maybe they'll leave."

"I can hear you in there, Kazuma-dono!" It was the voice of Iris' instructor/bodyguard, Rain.

"Go away," Kazuma replied. "I'm not taking any other jobs; I'm tired and I wanna rest after everything I've gone through."

"This man…Rain-san, you can come in, the door isn't locked," I announced.

Kazuma glared at me, but I looked away with a negligent expression. Rain entered; another person, wrapped in a robe covering their body, was alongside her.

"Uh, why are you here and who's this?" Kazuma said with a mix of irritation and curiosity.

Rain merely nodded at the figure beside her and the person removed their hood; it was the shop attendant, Gren.

"Sorry, but that mansion is at capacity; I'm not taking any other problem children," Kazuma said, waving both of them off.

"I hope I'm not included in those problem children," I remarked with some anger.

"No, Kazuma-dono, you misunderstand, I didn't come to drop Gren-san off with you; I merely brought her so you could introduce her to Vanir-dono."

"Vanir?" both me and Kazuma said.

"Umu. As per Iris-sama's judgement, Gren-san has been banished from the capital; she instructed me to ask you to introduce her to Vanir-dono."

"Banished, huh," Kazuma said, scratching his head. "Well, it's better than dying." He sighed as he got to his feet. "If it's a request from my precious little sister, there's no way I can refuse."

Rain and I frowned at this impertinent man.

At this moment, the girl, Gren, stepped forward and bowed deeply. "Thank you for helping me." She then, still looking down at the floor, said, "Forgive me for my imposition, but I humbly ask that you continue to do your best to help find my sister." At this remark, she quickly lifted her head with desperation in her eyes. "I-I will of course do my utmost to aid you in any possible way!"

Kazuma lifted a brow, and then looked my way; was he expecting my input?

"U-Um, of course, Gren-san; if we find anything pertaining to your little sister, we'll do our very best to follow up on it," I said.

She bowed again. "I'm most grateful for your kindness."

Then this man said, "Being grateful is all good and well, but how are you gonna repay us for our efforts?"

Even Rain look at him in disbelief; the girl, Gren, however, looked unfazed.

"Satou-sama, I will do anything you ask of me should you find my sister."

"Humph," Kazuma replied. "I'll hold you to that."

Rain cleared her throat loudly. "Also, Kazuma-dono, there's the reward from the Royal Provision and also the bounty from the capture of a Demon King General."

"Oh? Even if he escaped?"

Rain sighed. "The escape was negligence on our part. Anyhow, I forwarded the money to the guild staff here, so just go over and claim it."

"How much was it?"

"Excuse me?"

"How much was it, the amount?"

"I-I don't know; I wasn't told. I was simply given it to transport over here."

"Oh? Can't be helped then. Anyways, is that all?"

"There's also this," Rain said, handing him an envelope.

"What's this; why not tell me since you're here already?"

"The letter inside is a document meant for verification purposes."

"Verification…for what?" Kazuma said, glancing at the envelope, then back at Rain.

Rain sighed heavily; she looked like she was deeply regretting what she was about to say. Placing a hand to her forehead, she said, "It's for your family crest."

"Family…" As if he suddenly understood what she said, Kazuma yelled excitedly. "Family crest; like the one Darkness and Claire have?!"

Rain looked away with dead-fish eyes. "Yes…"

"Haha, you hear that, Megumin; we'll finally get necklaces with insignia on 'em; no need to have to steal—I mean borrow Darkness' anymore."

I gave him a deadpan stare. Well, on one hand it does mean we won't have to burden Darkness with our selfish requests anymore.

At that moment, Aqua came back with Irene.

"Alright, Aqua-sama, I'll go draw—oh, we have guests. Welcome, guests, is there anything I can get you?"

"Don't bother," Kazuma said, "they won't be here long."

As he said this, I felt Kazuma was being a bigger scumbag than usual; really, why did I fall for such a guy?

"Ah, Gren-san," Aqua said, waving at her.

Gren, in return, quickly threw herself to the ground, prostrating before Aqua. "Archpriest-sama, Lady Aqua, I am forever indebted to you; thank you for saving my life!"

"Oi, Gren-san," Kazuma said with arms folded, "careful, that girl you're being so reverent to is an Axis Cultist."

"So what if I am?! And why are you saying it like it's a bad thing?!"

Me, Rain and Kazuma all averted her glowering stare.

Irene coughed. "Since the guests won't be needing any assistance, I'll go prepare your bath, Aqua-sama." She then turned to me. "Megumin-sama will be taking a bath on her own or…"

"On my own or…uh—oh, t-that's right." I cleared my throat loudly. "I-I'll take one on my own."

Irene gave a bow and walked off with Aqua following. Looking at Kazuma, he seemed a little frustrated that Irene didn't ask for his preferences, but simply scoffed lightly.

"I suppose I'll be off then," Rain said. "Goodbye, Kazuma-dono, Megumin-dono." She gave a slight bow, and then walked off through the front.

After Rain left, Kazuma sighed. "Guess, it didn't turn out how we expected it to, huh?" He said, looking somewhat disappointedly at Gren.

She shook her head in response. "It's better than I expected…than I deserve. Sure, I won't be able to see Master Holt anymore, but…"

"But at least you're still alive…maybe in time some things can be forgiven altogether."

"Not to mention," I interposed, "you'll still be able to see your sister."

Gren smiled faintly. "I would hope so."

She didn't say it—she didn't need to say it; we were all aware of the possibility that perhaps there was no chance she would ever see her sister.

"Hey," Kazuma said as he glanced over at me, "I'm gonna take Gren to Wiz's; in the meantime, why don't you draw a design for the family insignia and while you're at it, ask the other two for some input."

I smiled. "I'm surprised."

He raised a brow as he got up. "About?"

"That you would include all of us for something like this; I sort of expected you to do it all yourself."

"I'm kinda hurt that you'd think I'd be so crass as to handle something this important myself. Megumin, this is our family crest; Darkness may not officially be a part of this family, but she's definitely earned a place here."

Kazuma started towards the door with Gren in tow.

"And Aqua?"

"What about Aqua?"

"She's part of the family too, right?"

"…isn't that something we can change while we're there? Maybe I could demote her to servant of the family or something."

I stared at him disapprovingly, and then smiled once more. "It's her birthday soon; don't be so mean."

He waved off the mention as he walked out.

Part 2

"Thank you, Satou-sama," Gren said, bowing her head as we walked.

"Kazuma's fine. And if I'm honest, I didn't think we'd be able to do much to help you. The one you should really be thanking is Iris."

"I've already thanked her for everything; however, words are just words; while I don't think I could ever repay her kindness, I'll continue to find a way to do so in the way I choose to live."

After she said this, we both went quiet while we walked, then after a few minutes, she spoke once more.

"In a way…banishment was the most just outcome; it's both, a mercy and a punishment."

Indeed, though someone's life was disrupted with such a verdict, I was once again impressed by the judgement of my sweet little sister, Iris.

"Um, Kazuma-sama, how is this…Vanir person?"

"Vanir?" I rubbed my chin. "He isn't too bad. That being said, the only behavior I've seen him display towards his employees is something like a slave driver—no, that's not right—he is a slave driver."

Gren looked down despondently. It wasn't a sadness that came from fear or apprehension, rather, one that seem to stem from a sense something forlorn.

"Hey," I said, glancing over at her, "don't worry; I don't believe he'll treat you that way. He only treats the store owner like that."

Gren looked up at me in perplexity.

"Speaking of which," I continued, "the store owner's name is Wiz. She's a sweet girl so she'll treat you well."

"Ah, I, I see," Gren replied tentatively.

"Oi, Gren-san," I said in a slightly more serious demeanor, "if you hadn't saved Iris back there, I probably wouldn't have cared what would've happened to you after the trial."

Though I expected her to look at me with disdain, she didn't; she stared back at me with indifference as if the remark I just made wasn't pertaining to her at all.

I continued. "Don't get me wrong, I know why you did it—and I can't say I don't sympathize with you in some capacity, but if Iris-chan was hurt because of what you did I'd probably let them go ahead with the execution."

She smiled weakly. "You seem to really care about the Princess, Kazuma-sama."

"I do, she's like a sister to me."

"…the things we do for the ones we love, right?"

"…anyways, we're here."

I opened the door and entered the shop with Gren. Oddly enough, there was no immediate greeting as was common. Instead, I found both Vanir and Wiz huddled over various boxes; Vanir, himself, was holding up a large near-translucent crystal in his hands, eyeing it in appraisal.

"This one is near-perfect as well," He said, tossing it into the box near Wiz.

Wiz looked up and saw me and Gren standing quietly by the door.

"Ah!" she yelled, shooting up and immediately bowing. "K-Kazuma-san, I'm so sorry; I didn't notice you coming in!"

Vanir glanced my way, but otherwise kept looking at the other crystal he had in his hands.

"Don't worry about it, Wiz," I said, trying to calm her. "Yo, Vanir, that's the manatite?"

Finally, he turned his attention to me and with a devilish smile said, "Indeed, this is the delivery of manatite from the Demon King's castle; however," he continued, "moi sees thou has brought me something interesting; who might you be, young maiden?"

I didn't really know why Vanir was playing like he didn't know why I was here or who I was with, but I figured it was just "one of those things" he did to satiate the boredom of being a long-lived devil.

"Gren, I'm Gren Hallowitz." She gave a courteous bow. "You must be Vanir-san"—she turned towards Wiz—"and you Wiz-san."

"Mhm, very good, moi sees the brat here has told thou about us. Boy," Vanir said as he shifted his attention, "how was thou's special time with the chirimen's daughter?"

Gren stared at me with shock and embarrassment.

"Oi, don't spout stuff that can't be misinterpreted!"

Vanir laughed haughtily. "Mmmm, two for the price of one; please, continue living such an embarrassing life."

"This piece of…anyhow, she's here as a favor from Iris. I don't exactly know what you want her to do here, but I suppose she'll be working for you, right?"

"Hmm"—Vanir rubbed his chin—"more help is appreciated. Yes, since moi is primarily preoccupied watching over this foolish shop owner, having more hands to do errands outside will be most beneficial."

"More hands?" Then I remembered that Yunyun occasionally helped out around the store—mostly doing trivial tasks for Vanir; maybe that girl will find a friend in Gren—no, it's Yunyun, she'll definitely agree to it if Gren poses the question. "Alright, my part here is done; I'll be off. See ya," I said as I headed back out.

"Ka-Kazuma-sama!" Gren yelled. I stopped and turned to look at her. "Thank you again," She said, bowing deeply.

"…umu, but don't you think it's a bit too early to thank me? I did say I was gonna get your sister back, right?"

Gren looked up in surprise, and then smiled coyly. "Please do, Kazuma-sama; my promise to reward you still stands."

"…"

I left the store without another word. If I was honest, I didn't really want anything from her. Gren was pretty good looking, sure, but I felt if I asked for something like that it would be an irredeemably scummy move from multiple points. As for her sister, there was still no word on her whereabouts. A couple of days ago, I came to the shop to ask the devil gifted with foresight for a hint as to her location and condition.

I initially believed locating her would be easy if I asked Vanir, but when I did, he simply told me there was little for him to benefit from doing so. Of course, I pressed him for answers and even offered to pay him an exorbitant sum of cash, but even with this, he went on to tell me because there was so little information to go on, he couldn't really get a grasp on where to even start focusing his powers of foresight on.

Since the manatite deposits came in, it meant that in a few days' time I would receive the sum for the sales. I smiled at the thought of finally having a reliable source of income. As I walked through the streets, I stopped at the road leading back to the mansion; I tasked Megumin with coming up with some design for our House insignia, if I went back now it was likely she would still be working on it. With this thought, I decided to head to the guild for a couple of drinks and some food, maybe even visit the wonderful onee-sans at the café a little later.

Upon my arrival, I was hailed over by none other than Axel's resident delinquent, Dust.

"Yo, Dust," I said, taking a seat in front of him.

"Oh, Kazuma," someone else said from behind me. I looked back to see it was Keith; in his hands were two pairs of mugs frothed high with beer.

"Keith."

He took a seat beside Dust, and after he grabbed his own, placed the remaining mugs in the center of the table. Dust promptly took two.

"What brings you to the guild today, oh great, Satou-sama," Keith teased.

I waved him off. "Please don't do that; I'd rather hear it from a pretty girl."

He let out a quick laugh and took a sip from his beer.

"Kazuma needs to be more careful now though," Dust said, putting down an empty mug. "Since he's married to that firecracker mage of his we're all in peril if he gets caught being fawned over by some beautiful girls."

As much as I wanted to laugh off that comment, I felt that, at heart, there was some truth to it.

"Eh, doesn't matter," I said with a smirk, "I get to be fawned over by all the girls and much more in those dreams."

The two comrades in front of me both smiled.

"Say, I'm feeling quite generous today, so I don't mind treating you guys."

"Oh?!" Dust said. "Really, Kazuma, you're the most reliable and best friend a guy can have." He quickly slapped his hand down on the table and whistled at one of the barmaids. "Oi, can we get some service here?!"

I shrunk a bit at Dust's embarrassing behavior; Keith, on the other hand, remained calm…seems he was completely used to Dust's rudeness.

"What is it?" the barmaid who came over said. She had her hands on her hips and her brow was knit in response to Dust's uncouth attitude. "Are you actually going to pay for your food and drinks this time?!"

"Hey, you're in the presence Axel's most notable adventurers; is this how you treat your most valued guests? I'm gonna file a complaint saying that the service is too slow and the attendants here are completely rude."

This guy…

The onee-san merely rolled her eyes and began to take our orders. As we waited, Keith knocked his mug lightly on the remaining one in the center.

"Drink," he said, "if I let you handle everything, I'd feel pretty bad; I'm not as shameless as this guy here," He said, grinning at Dust.

Dust grinned back as he cleaned out his ears with his finger.

I gave a light smile and grabbed the last mug.

"So," Dust began, "how's everything going with those girls?"

"Umu?" I placed the mug down. "Same as always; I have a feeling those girls are incapable of learning."

Dust chuckled. "They're pretty terrible."

I laughed. "Yeah…but not they're not bad company…how about you guys? Taylor and Lin?"

Keith answered. "Taylor took a simple quest to boost his shield proficiency and Lin went…shopping…I think."

"Yeah, she did," Dust replied, resting his head on his palm. "I told her I wanted to accompany her just in case there were some questionable guys who'd try and peek on her while she was trying out some clothes."

Me and Keith exchanged looks.

"I take it she didn't accept," I said.

"She went on about how I was the most dangerous person around; that girl, I just wanted to make sure she was ok."

"Hey, Dust, I never really asked, but you really like Lin, right?"

"What are you talking about, Kazuma? It's not like that between me and Lin; I just honestly worry about her, ya know?"

I looked at Keith who seemed to be quietly drinking; he gave me an unassuming glance, but otherwise did nothing. I shrugged; it wasn't really my business anyways.

A couple minutes later, the first of our order arrived and no sooner than it did, Dust began tearing into the food while simultaneously downing as much drink as he could; it was honestly pretty impressive that he could so. After several more minutes of this, the second half came; by this time, Dust was beginning to sway from drunkenness.

"Oi, Kazuma," he said in an oddly serious voice, "what's up; how come you haven't had any drinks?"

"Ah, well—"

"Oh, I see," Dust replied with a sneer, "planning on visiting the café after this?"

Sometimes I was amazed at how perceptive Dust could be—especially given his current condition.

I cleared my throat. "You know we have a duty to those onee-sans who work tirelessly for our benefit; why would I purposefully skimp out on my obligations to them just for the fleeting feelings of being drunk?"

"Umu, umu, well said. After I inevitably void myself of all this later on, I'll be sure to pay them a visit in apology. Keith, you'll spot me, right?"

Keith sighed. "Drinks and the café? Really, Dust, sometimes I feel hurt by how much you use me; still, as a brother-in-arms, I can't refuse."

Dust grinned. "Really, I think the goddess Eris has blessed me with fine friends such as yourselves."

"You really shouldn't say such things in your state," I said.

Several more minutes went by with us drinking, laughing, and eating. As things were beginning to wind down, Dust, in a drunken stupor, asked me a question.

"Oi, Kazuma," He said, leaning in.

"Yeah?"

"You, you and the loli mage are married now, right?"

"Um, erm, yeah—you know this, what's up, Dust?"

"Well, I mean, if you married her, you like her, right?"

"…yeah, I guess—where are you going with this?"

He waved off my increasing worry. "I mean, if you married her and you like her, you're attracted to her…right?"

Both me and Keith looked at each other before looking back at Dust.

"…yeah, sure, so?"

"So…if you're married, and you like her, and you're attracted to her…have you guys…you know…"

Oh, now I see where he was going with this. "Uh, well…"

Keith smoothly interjected. "Aye, Dust, though I'm pretty curious as well; it's not really our business, you know? I bet Kazuma has already indulged in his fantasies plenty of times." He shifted his attention to me. "I hear that girl is pretty head-over-heels for you."

"Well of course, I frequently have to turn down her advances; sometimes it's too much."

Technically, I wasn't lying. And the effect of such a statement was better than I anticipated.

"Ha! I knew it!" Dust shouted. "Kazuma's a man!"

"R-Really?" Keith said in astonishment.

"Umu, I even had to repel Darkness on a number of occasions—you know on the account of being a faithful man."

Dust sat back with a smirk on his face. "Damn, Kazuma, I'm jealous; even though I know those girls are a handful, they're still easy on the eyes. To think you have them nipping at your heels."

"What can I say; I mean, we have been living under the same roof for nearly two years now."

"Umu, would be a little odd if nothing happened between you guys," Keith said trivially.

"…" I laughed nervously. "Yeah. B-But then, couldn't the same be said for you guys and Lin?"

Keith and Dust looked at each other and then returned the attention to me. "It's a bit different," Dust said, shaking his head. "Kazuma, whether or not those girls' personalities are rotten, they're still girls—"

"And you're the only guy," Keith interjected.

"It's a harem party no matter how you look at it."

"And me and Taylor have no romantic interest in Lin; don't know about this guy though."

Dust shoved Keith lightly.

Feeling that things could probably go awry should this line of conversation continue, I decided to get away while I could. "Ahem, well, I better get going, don't want to miss out on the lunch special of the café."

"Right, right, well then, Kazuma, it's been fun," Keith said. "Thanks for the food and drinks."

"Sure, give my regards to the others."

"And don't be a stranger," Dust remarked. "You know I'm here most of the time, treat me some more; you're rich and famous now."

"This guy…hey, you guys were at the award ceremony; I seem to recall you guys getting a pretty substantial reward, what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Keith said. "I still have some left, Taylor does too, and Lin's out shopping because of it. The only one whose gone through the entire sum was this guy; didn't even take him a day."

Dust frowned. "Money is meant to be spent; it has no other uses. I've done my part while you guys are hoarding your assets like it'll go with you when you pass. Let me tell you something, when I met the goddess Eris, she was practically crying tears of joy of how I chose to live my life."

No, I'm pretty sure Eris-sama wouldn't be crying tears of joy at such a decadent lifestyle; if anything, I'm sure she'd be appalled. Really, this man was basically Aqua in terms of life philosophies.

Keith scoffed. "Please Dust, the biggest tell that your story is a lie is the fact that you're saying you met the goddess Eris; you're definitely going to Hell when you pass."

The both of them laughed.

-Near evening…

As I returned home, I was set upon Megumin.

"Kazuma, Kazuma, look," She said, holding up a piece of paper to my face.

I grabbed it and after looking at it for a couple of seconds, sighed. "Why am I not surprised."

The paper in question was the planned insignia courtesy of all the problem children of this house. The background was a large explosion cloud overlaid with a large knightly shield with the Axis Cult's emblem in the center. The pièce de résistance was the Japanese kanji for "Explosion" placed over the top of everything.

"What do you think people would say if I showed them this?" I said rather calmly.

Megumin's beaming smile slowly faded into a confused expression. "Wha-What do you mean?"

"They would think I was joking with them and that I was impersonating a noble. Listen, on top of the many questionable design choices, I see nothing that could denote my own accomplishments on here."

"W-What are you talking about, Kazuma?" Megumin said, snatching the sheet from my hand. "The kanji!" She said, desperately pointing to it.

Probably because I just came back from that shop, I didn't really feel like getting angry. I patted Megumin on the head.

"Good effort," I said, placing my hands on her shoulders.

"S-Stop!" She shouted. "W-Why are you looking at me with such pitiful eyes?"

I frowned. "Look, I'll handle the main features and see about incorporating whatever I can from…this." I looked at the current design with contempt.

"Hey, you seem to have an issue with the design I made; what is it, why don't you tell me, huh?!"

"Are you dumb; this whole thing's a mess. It looks like it was designed by a bunch of kids…well…"

Megumin grabbed my collar angrily. "Are you calling me a kid?! I hope you know what that would make you, if you are!"

"Oi, oi, calm down; I'm just saying, you're acting like one. Look, we all mature at our own pace and clearly the sense of aesthetics shared between all of you is somewhere around grade school level."

"I don't know what's this 'grade school' nonsense, but I firmly believe you're insulting me again, Kazuma!"

"Hey, hey, you're gonna ruin my mood, just calm down, alright? Where are the others?"

Perhaps choosing to avoid being branded as immature, Megumin calmed herself. "Aqua went out and Darkness should be coming back from the school shortly. Irene is making dinner."

"Alright, I'm gonna go take a nap; wake me up when dinner's ready."

Megumin sighed. "…alright."

When I awoke, the light was already gone, and my room was dark. I quickly sat up, realizing that it was already far too late for me to have woken up by myself.

"Damn that girl, did she forget to wake me…no, she probably let me oversleep on purpose."

I looked around. I didn't really know what time it was; this world didn't have any clocks. Well…accurate timekeeping was sort of a privilege. Pocket watches did exist as I've seen nobles carrying them a few times, but as far as widely available clocks, it was nonexistent; perhaps that could be the next thing I tackle.

As I came out of my room, I could hear the maid speaking with someone in the living room; no matter what, it was odd for her to be speaking with anyone at this time of the night. I activated Lurk and slowly approached the room.

"You shouldn't really do such things," the maid said.

A small voice replied. "Aqua onee-chan doesn't mind; sometimes she leaves some out for me on purpose."

"Anna, that's not…I suppose it's fine then."

The little girl giggled; it was the child ghost that inhabited our mansion. For all the time here, I can't say I've ever really caught a good look at her; she was just as Aqua described her, a cute little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, characteristic of noble descent. Though she was a ghost, I could see her as clear as any living person. She wore a white undershirt with a dark dress over the top, a red ribbon was cutely tied around her head and a smaller one around her neck.

I peeked out to get a better grasp at the conversation. The little girl was tossing back a large bottle of what I presumed to be Aqua's alcohol. How a ghost was able to drink was one of those things I didn't even care to guess; it was as baffling as planted mackerel and flying cabbages. After she was done, she put the bottle down on the ground and climbed onto the sofa; there, she laid down and rested her head on the maid's lap.

For a couple of minutes there was silence; I was considering on returning to my room, however, Anna spoke once more.

"Mommy?"

"Hm?"

"Do you like the onii-chan of the house?"

I stiffened at the question.

Irene chuckled and replied, "Heavens no."

Even though I was relieved, I was still sort of mad that she answered so assuredly.

"No, Anna, I don't like the master of the house. Although he isn't all bad, he's still a terrible man…how he strings poor Lalatina-sama around like that."

My brow twitched. It wasn't like I was purposefully doing something like that to Darkness…that girl just had it in her to keep pursuing me.

"…why do you ask?"

"…I don't want Mommy to get thrown out because she had feelings for onii-chan."

The was silence once more…then Irene gave a weak chuckle. "…don't worry my little one, something like that will never happen."

I felt the hairs on my neck stand on end when she made this declaration, in a way, this was its own flag; saying things like "never" in such contexts would often mean the opposite was bound to happen.

"…I don't really want Mommy to leave."

"…don't you have fun with the others?"

"…Aqua onee-chan is really the only one I speak to…she's a great onee-chan but…"

I could see Irene stroke her head caringly. "If that's the case…I'll try to stay with you as long as possible."

I smiled at the scene before me; such instances of pure innocence were quite rare…indeed…almost nonexistent.

"By the way, Mommy," Anna said, sitting up.

"Yes?"

"The onii-chan and red-eye onee-chan made a mess on here the other day."

I could feel my soul slowly drifting from my body as I heard this little girl say this; if I could see myself, I know I would have a mortified look on my face.

"Hmm, mess? Did they drop something on here?"

I could see the maid looking at the couch in curiosity.

"Mhm," the little girl said sweetly.

"Th-Th-Th-This LITTLE BRAT!" Then I remembered something else Aqua said about her…'she's a bit mischievous'. If I let this go on, it would become common knowledge that me and Megumin had messed around on the couch. Putting aside the maid, the other two will never let me live this down.

As I frantically thought about what I could do to stop this conversation, Chomusuke rubbed up against my leg.

"Sorry," I said, grabbing the cat in my hands; I, remorsefully, threw Chomusuke as hard as I could.

Chomusuke meowed loudly as it sailed over the couch. Almost instantly, Irene shot up and looked around. To my relief, Anna, the child ghost, was gone. After I made sure Irene was headed back to her room, I too, went back to my own.

-Next Day; late afternoon

Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well. Despite sleeping away most of the day, I was still quite tired. When I came down to get something to eat, I found all the others staring at me.

The resident annoying goddess spoke. "Well, look who decided to finally wake up."

"What are you talking about," I said. "From the looks of it, you just woke up too."

Aqua was still in her pajamas.

"And why are you guys staring at me; quit it, it's annoying."

"We're staring at you cause Megumin told us about how you declined to use the family crest we made."

I frowned. "That thing's a joke; I don't want something like representing me."

"What exactly is wrong with it, Kazuma?" Megumin said with slight aggravation in her voice. "You never told me."

"And you never woke me up like I told you to."

She quickly averted her gaze.

"Listen," I continued, "I'll handle the crest; don't worry about it. And Darkness, why are you so quiet, have you finally become a proper noblewoman?"

Darkness, who was quietly sipping some tea, spat it out in response. "What are you talking about, you imbecile; I've always been a proper noblewoman!"

"That's correct," the maid said, coming from the kitchen. "Perhaps you can learn something from Lalatina-sama about proper etiquette…even if her study is for females."

"Please," I scoffed. "There's nothing proper about her except for the fact that she's clearly a weirdo."

Darkness interjected. "If you want me to fold you in half why don't you just come say that in my face."

"Ah, I forgot, and the fact that she's a proper muscle head."

Darkness shot up and began trying to get a hold of me. As she did, I quickly ran around the couch and hid behind Megumin.

"H-Hey, don't hide behind me!"

"Oh, you think because you're behind Megumin I won't break you in half?!" To my and Megumin's surprise, Darkness quickly grappled her arms around the both of us.

"Ah, Darkness, what do you think you're doing?!" Megumin shouted as she futilely tried to push her away.

Despite Megumin's cries and protests, Darkness continued to tighten her grip.

"Ah, Darkness, wait," I said with shortening breaths. "Megumin's back is too hard; let me and her switch places."

"Hard?! You—Darkness, break him in half!"

At Megumin's command, Darkness' grip tensed sharply.

"W-W-Wait! Ah!"

There was an audible crack and just as I felt it was over for me, she released her grip. I fell to floor like a limp noodle, while Megumin hunched over like an old oba-san with back pains.

Darkness cracked her knuckles. "If you want me to crack your back again, Kazuma, just let me know."

"I'd appreciate it if I wasn't included in these," Megumin said as she continued rubbing her back.

"You know, Megumin," Aqua said, rubbing her chin, "I think the design would've been better if there were more Axis emblems."

"…"

Part 3

As I laid on the couch, Darkness nursed my aching back. Megumin went into the kitchen to help with cooking dinner and Aqua, oddly enough, wanted to help as well.

"This ointment should do it," Darkness said as she rubbed it in. "It's a little something I bought from a shop some time ago."

Even though we had an Archpriest who could immediately resolve such issues, naturally, she refused; citing, both, things I owed her and the fact that the entire situation could've been prevented had I not provoked Darkness. Technically, she was right about the second point and it was only because of this that I didn't force her to heal me…and the fact that I wasn't in top form.

"You know," I began, "you wouldn't have to do this if you weren't so physical."

Darkness stopped momentarily, and then pressed her fingers with noticeably more force. "And you wouldn't be in this condition had you not antagonized me."

I winced slightly. "I was just surprised to see you so quiet; it kinda makes me forget how much of a perverted weirdo you are."

"Are you trying to get me to kill you, Kazuma?"

I glanced back and gave a mocking sigh. "I wonder what Eris-sama would say if she found out I was murdered by one of her most precious—"

Darkness pressed her hands forcefully onto my back in embarrassment.

"Ahhh!" I yelled, whipping around in an attempt to shove her off, but Darkness slipped forward, falling straight onto my chest.

Of course, with my yelling, the others sprinted out of the kitchen.

"Ah, Darkness is trying to have her way with Kazuma! I gotta tell everyone," Aqua said, making her way towards the door.

Megumin quickly grabbed her collar, and then turned to us with a brow raised; she didn't really appear angry, just mildly confused. "What's going on?" She asked.

"I-I was just trying to—"

"She was trying to pin me down and have her way with me," I interjected; I made sure to keep a straight face as I said it.

Megumin shifted her attention to Darkness, her eyes narrowing slightly. Aqua, who was still being held by her collar, looked between us. The maid stood behind the others with her gaze squarely fixed on me; I'm sure she didn't buy my jest.

"M-Megumin, surely you don't believe him!" Darkness quickly turned my way with an angry look on her face.

"I admit, Darkness, perhaps I shouldn't have riled you up."

Hearing me say this, Darkness relaxed a little, however, I continued.

"I shouldn't have said you wouldn't take advantage of my weakened state to have your way with me, but to think—"

Darkness quickly threw her hands over my mouth and shoved my face into the couch. Maybe she didn't realize in her embarrassment, but she was doing a fine job of suffocating me. I kicked my feet in response, then grabbing her arms, activated Drain Touch.

To no one's surprise (perhaps except the maid), Darkness let out a yelp caught halfway between excitement and shock. Using this moment, I pushed her off me and sat up, gasping for air.

"What's wrong with you two?!" Megumin shouted, her eyes glowing. "I leave you alone for a couple of minutes and the both of you are attempting to have an affair in the next room?!"

Darkness, who was rubbing her head after she fell, got up and protested. "M-Megumin, I would never do such—"

"Oh really, you would never? I didn't realize you have such a short memory, Darkness!"

Given Megumin's sharp retort, Darkness let out a small whimper.

"And you, Kazuma," she went on, turning her attention to me, "I know you probably did something to lead her on."

"Huh, I'm injured, how would I even go about following through with something like that?"

"You must really think me dumb."

I looked away slightly. I expected Megumin to lunge at me in response, however, she just sighed and put her hands on her hips.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes," She said rather calmly. Then, Megumin headed back into the kitchen.

The maid glanced briefly at Darkness, and then stared at me before heading back as well. Aqua, who now stood alone, looked at us with a sort of clueless look on her face, and then smiled.

"There's no way you'd ever do something like that, Darkness."

At this comment, she lit up in happiness.

Aqua continued. "You aren't bold enough to."

A moment later, Darkness' expression convulsed between a frown and a conflicted smile.

Afterwards, we ate dinner. Although I didn't have much to say in the table conversation, the others seemingly did.

Darkness spoke about how well the schooling program was going; according to her, if it continued, her father would recommend starting others in the cities throughout the kingdom.

Aqua regaled us about the nonsense she did yesterday with the Axis Cult nun, Cecily; apparently the nun found the garbage bins around town stuffed with Axis Cult pamphlets and went around collecting them, and then reissuing them—quite forcefully—to people passing by.

Finally, Megumin went on to complain about the rejected design for the family insignia once again; she elaborated on how much effort she put into thinking about things that described us. I couldn't really argue with her there; the things she included in the design were pretty much them in detail, however, there was nothing that encompassed me.

Soon after dinner, we all headed to bed. Since I spent most of the day sleeping, I didn't really feel tired. So, I lay in bed playing the handheld.

Suddenly, there was a knock on my door. "Kazuma." It was Megumin.

"Come in," I answered.

As she did, I put aside the gaming device. Megumin was dressed in her usual pajamas.

"What's up?" I queried.

She shook her head lightly as she approached the bed. "Nothing…do you mind if I sleep with you tonight?"

I smirked, and then pat the spot beside me.

Megumin climbed onto the bed and settled in. She drew the sheets up to her neck, and then stared up at the ceiling. Both of us were silent; this went on for the better part of a few minutes, but eventually, she spoke.

"Hey, Kazuma."

"Hm?"

"Are you happy?" She turned to look at me as she asked.

"Am I happy?" I repeated. I closed my eyes for a second, and then nodded. "Yeah, I gotta say I'm pretty happy. Why?"

Megumin shook her head. "I just wanna make sure."

I raised a brow in suspicion. "Hmm, you trying to make sure I'm happy because you did something, right?"

She frowned in reply. "I haven't done anything wrong if that's what you're insinuating."

"Yet, anyways."

"I-I know I cause problems occasionally, b-but you gotta admit I'm the least of your worries."

"Hmm, you think so…"

Megumin's eyes began glowing as she shifted to her side to stare at me. "How am I the cause of your worries?!"

"Isn't it obvious? You're the explosion maniac with a few loose screws."

"Hey, are you trying to pick a fight with me?!"

Yeah, Megumin was the girl with a short fuse and an explosive temper to match, but it wasn't these characteristics that caused me the most worry—at least, not anymore.

"Hey, calm down. Anyways, didn't you come here to sleep, or did you come for a night raid?"

Megumin's eyes widened for a split second, then she smiled calmly. "So, what if I did? What would you do, Kazuma? What would you do if I had my way with you right now?"

Humph, this girl swears she could string me along so easily. I turned on my side and stared at her back with the same expression she was giving me.

"I didn't take you for that type of girl, Megumin." I said this knowing full well if I had told her she wouldn't do something like that, she would've; it would've been as good as a calling her out.

For an instant, she, once again, gave off a surprised look. "There's an interesting one," She said with a more innocent smile. "What do you think of me; what type of girl had you seen me as, and what type of girl do I appear to you now?"

I gave the question some thought in the brief silence that followed. Then, I answered.

"Hmm, back when I first met you; I thought you were a bit strange…maybe joking around with me and Aqua. I think at first glance, before you made your introduction, I thought you were a cute & smart mage with a good bit of talent."

I could see Megumin furrow her brow and the incandescence of her crimson eyes begin to grow in their intensity.

"Why'd your view of me change when I introduced myself? Are you trying to say my introduction gave you a bad impression of me?!"

I looked away, and then quickly posed my own question in response. "H-How about you; what'd you think of me then?"

My quick-witted plan worked and Megumin's anger was assuaged as she pondered for an answer to my question.

"Now and…then…" She mumbled. "Hm, back then I thought you were a very odd person. I believed Kazuma was a trouble-maker and annoying."

"…oi."

Megumin smiled innocently, and then continued. "Now, I believe Kazuma is a sort of reliable person with a good heart who often does questionable things in order to satisfy his more decadent desires."

"…that hardly sounds any better than the first comment—no, in fact, I think it might be worse."

Megumin giggled, and then drew close to me, placing her forehead to my chest. "Even so," she said in an almost whisper, "Kazuma is the man I love dearly."

I couldn't rein in my feelings of embarrassment; why was this girl so adept at working me over like this…I really must be an easy guy.

Still recovering from my vulnerable state, Megumin looked up at me, and with excitement in her voice, asked, "How about now, how does Kazuma see me as now?"

I cleared my throat loudly. "H-How do I see you as now? Well"—Megumin stared at me expectantly—"I…I think that Megumin is…is an odd girl who likes to tempt me constantly."

She smiled. "I used to leave those feelings for you to deal with on your own, but now…" She pressed herself closer to me, her face moving towards me, her lips drawing closer to my own. Then, she stopped, displaying a playful smirk upon her face.

"But now it wasn't any different," I thought; perhaps Megumin didn't start off trying to seduce me, but now it was becoming something quite customary for her to try and pull off.

I backed away and turned around. "Go to sleep," I mumbled.

Megumin gave me no response, and in the silence that followed, I felt nervous. Then, I felt her arm wrap around my stomach, her head press against the top of my back.

"Oyasumi, Kazuma," She whispered into my ear.

I shivered in titillation; the feeling of goosebumps pocking my skin happening in tandem. I gulped as silently as I could and tried to calm myself down; my breathing slowing as a result, my eyes closed firmly.

"Go to sleep, Kazuma," I thought to myself. Taking some deep breaths, I was finally able to come down from the excitement and anxiousness I was feeling. As I began to force myself to sleep, I felt Megumin snuggle closer to me, causing my anxiety to flare up once more.

I peeked over my shoulder and saw that she was already fast asleep; her previous action being a benign act of comfort and innocence. Realizing this, I sighed and quickly set myself to sleep.

The following week and a half went by. I set aside time to make the design for the family crest, but apart from this, we pretty much went on to do the usual activities we often did. Since I finished the plans for the insignia, I decided to wake fairly early to take it to the registry office in the capital.

"You're awake early," Darkness said as I came down to the living room. "Planning on doing something?"

"Gonna head to the registry office."

"Ah, so you finished the crest?"

I smirked proudly. "Of course."

"Mind if I go with you?"

"Huh, don't you have to teach at the school?"

"I only help out, Kazuma; I'm not a full-time teacher. You know as well as anyone that my calling is for adventuring."

"Right…adventuring. Well, I don't mind. In fact, I could use your help with the process; now that I think about it, I don't actually know how to go about doing this."

Darkness smiled. "Leave it to me, Kazuma; as a noble, such matters are part of our everyday."

"Well, at least you're useful in those aspects."

Of course, Darkness' face went flush. "I-I'm useful in other things too!"

I crossed my arms in doubt, then again, Darkness was the best meat shield around, so I guess she was technically right.

"Lalatina-sama," the maid said.

We both turned to her. "Yes, what is it, Irene?" Darkness replied, the embarrassment she wore mere moments ago, gone.

"Are you headed out?"

Darkness nodded. "Umu, I'm going to registry office with Kazuma; something wrong?"

"Not at all, I was simply wondering if you wanted me to pack you some lunch."

Darkness smiled lightly. "That won't be necessary."

Looking at the maid, she seemed disappointed by her oujou-sama's answer. She quickly recomposed herself. "I-I see. Well, in any case, I shall have something prepared for you upon your return, is that a good compromise?"

"Umu, thank you for your continued service. Even as a maid of another house, you still serve me with diligence and faithfulness; I'm glad."

The maid's cheeks went red as she lowered her gaze in timidity; it was honestly an odd expression to see her display, completely foreign and perplexing to me.

Leaving that behind, Darkness and I went on to the Teleport Station. I was seriously considering learning Teleport since I had the required skill points but doing so would require quite a bit of effort on my part; it was advance magic, so I'd have to memorize the complex chants in order to use it. Since this was the case, I held off on learning it; I could learn other skills—more skills, for the same cost.

"What's with the serious look, Kazuma?" Darkness asked me as we walked. "Are you upset at Irene?"

"Huh?" I said, coming to my senses. "Oh, no, I was just thinking about something."

"Oh, I thought maybe you were upset about her not giving you much attention."

"What do you guys think I am? I'm not a guy who cries for attention. No, I'd say I'm quite the opposite, I'd be fine if you guys gave me less attention."

Darkness raised a brow. "It doesn't seem that way; whenever you step in front of a crowd you always seem to want to showboat—especially in front of women."

I scoffed. "Darkness, what good is a reputation if you can't exploit it? Listen, I've worked hard to raise my reputation to where it is now, if I don't exercise the fruits of that labor, it'd be the same as someone not using the gifts they're born with, a waste."

"For some reason, I can tell you'd make a good statesman, Kazuma; honestly, that worries me."

"Pfft, I've been subjected to horrible mistreatment every step of the way; if I finally get the chance to change a few things around here, it'd honestly be for the better."

Darkness sighed.

"By the way, where are the other two?"

"Huh? Oh, Aqua and Megumin?"

I nodded.

"They both headed out for Megumin's Explosion."

This was good, having them out of the way would certainly make things go smoother.

As we walked through the streets of the capital, Darkness smiled.

Glancing over at her, I said, "You seem happy; something good happen?"

She looked over at me, confusion momentarily adorning her face, then she smiled once more. "Yeah, I think you could say something good happened."

"Oh? What?"

Darkness looked away slightly, the tips of her ears going red. She quickly raised her head with a proud look on her face. "I-I finally get to show you my worth as a noble."

"Ah, so that's it; you finally acknowledged how useless you can be?"

"Th-That's not what I meant! I mean I finally have the opportunity to show you my knowledge on such matters."

"Huh, ah, so that's what you meant. You know, Darkness, you are pretty useless most of the time"—I could see Darkness begin to show a desperate and panicked expression—"but there have been times where I don't think we could've got past our issues without you."

As I said this, the panic she had instantly left, a placidness overtaking her, a serene smile gracing her face.

"Kazuma," she said, turning to look at me with smile, "why don't we go somewhere today?"

"Hmm, like a date?"

"N-N-Not like a—"

"Sure, where do you wanna go? Is there an inn somewhere we can—"

"S-Stop saying such…things." Darkness looked down despondently. "You know you don't really mean it."

"What are you talking about? I totally meant what I said."

Darkness quickly looked up in bewilderment. "You, you can't be…serious…are you? Wha-What about Megumin; are you guys having issues?"

"Huh, no, well, I meant what I said, Darkness; doesn't mean I can follow through with it though. I told you before anyways; you're definitely my flavor for the type of body I like in a girl."

"B-Body…" Darkness mumbled, her face turning red. "So…if…I changed my personal—"

"Don't," I said firmly. "As much as your fetish ruins you for my ideal type, I don't want you to change; unfortunately, that's what makes you, you." Darkness stared at me in awe. "…that, your freakishly hard muscles, and your obscenely large boobs."

After being roughed up by Darkness, we continued to the registry office.

"Ka, Kazuma, why don't we get some breakfast?"

I glanced at her. "Hmm, Darkness is really insisting on this date thing. I mean, taking a girl out to eat is a date, right? I'm pretty sure. I am with Megumin though…but it's not like I'm doing anything wrong, me and Darkness are just gonna get something to eat together. Plus, Darkness has been asking for something like this for quite some time." After sparing the thought, I replied. "Sure, don't see why not; I know a place near the palace."

"This isn't some ploy to try and see Iris-sama, is it?!"

"Relax, there'll be time for that later."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Let's just focus on getting something to eat; now that you mentioned it, I am pretty hungry."

The restaurant, being near the palace, was one of refined taste and atmosphere; in truth, such a place would've been better visited for dinner, but my past experiences with it urged me to come at this time.

Entering, we were greeted by a host. "Welcome to Sange Bleu, will it be just the two of you today?" He said, looking between us.

"Umu," I replied with a nod.

Suddenly, he showed a look of surprise, and then quickly bowed deeply. "Forgive me, I failed to recognize arguably the two most important individuals in the kingdom—besides the royal family, of course."

I gave an arrogant smirk. "Well, such mistakes can be overlooked with…a bit of gratitude. Ahem."

The host smiled nervously. Ye-Yes, of course. Let me see if the best seating is available." He quickly ran off.

I turned to Darkness who was silent all this time. "Hey, why are you quiet, I definitely thought you would've said something."

"Hm? Why? I mean, you're right. I know of Sange Bleu; this is a restaurant which serves only the highest echelons of society. For them to not recognize the Dustiness family heir is infuriating; it's only right that they give some sort of reparation for such an affront."

Ah, yes, it was slightly surprising to see Darkness displaying such wayward behaviors; when I first knew her, she was ridiculously stubborn when it came to the abuse of her status, now she made little effort to reign in such habits.

The host returned and with another bow, lead us to a seating arrangement out on the balcony.

"Here you are," he said, putting an arm out towards the seats. "Please, let me know if there's anything not to your liking."

Even before he left, our waitress arrived. In stark contrast, to say, the guild, the female waitresses here wore a suit-like attire; it was one of the things I could say I didn't like about this place. Though, from time to time, there would be the occasional big-breasted onee-chan who would serve me, so it wasn't all bad.

"Good morning, my name is Astera, do you need a few minutes or are you ready to order?"

Darkness spoke first. "I'll have the special monarch veal with a side of blue salad, little seasoning, please. A glass of water for the drink."

The waitress quickly jotted down the order, and then looked to me. "And you, sir, what will you be having?"

I quickly glimpsed the menu in front of me. "I'll have the…poached dragon eggs with Beluki sliced ham, some of the blanche steamed rice, and a side of the 12-grain toast."

"Drink?"

"Oh uh, a bit of Neroid Water."

"How would you like the ham cooked?"

"Uhhh, seared?"

"Very well, will there be anything else I can get the both of you?"

Darkness answered. "No, I believe that'll be all, thank you."

Our waitress bowed, and then left, grabbing the menus in the process.

As we waited, I took a good look of where we were at; the balcony seating gave a good view of the city and the palace nearby. The morning sun was barely over the horizon; it gave this the feeling of the clichéd romantic getaway. When I looked back, Darkness was staring at me with a sort of embarrassed look.

"Oi, what are you getting all flustered for?"

"W-What are you talking about, it's just a bit hot out here."

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. "Right."

"…still, this is one of the few times we've gone out together, you know…just the two of us."

I raised a brow in intrigue, and then sat up. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"It's…quite nice, actually."

"Yeah, it's not bad. Quiet without the other two here."

"I feel it tends to be that way whenever we all aren't together, right? That time I was gone was the same I bet. And the other time when Aqua was away."

"Umu. Now that I think about it, that week when Megumin took off felt similar as well. I guess having one of you guys missing makes the whole thing kinda…I don't know…off."

Darkness smiled. "Do we mean that much to you, Kazuma?"

"Well…I think if one of you left permanently it would get boring, but the occasional calm it brings is by no means bad."

In response to my answer, Darkness frowned; however, it was brief, a more solemn expression replacing it. "Kazuma, I believe it would be very different if you were the one to leave though."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

She gave off a feeble smile. "I feel we would definitely drift apart if it weren't for you; I really think you're the one that holds all of us together."

In the light of such praise and honesty, I couldn't help but blush. I cleared my throat. "I suppose someone has to; you guys wouldn't be able to find anyone to take you in, if I didn't."

"I think you're right," Darkness said; the sad look she had was still present.

Why did this girl choose to be so agreeable at this point? It made it really difficult to not take pity on her.

"W-Well, I think—"

"Your food and drinks, Master Satou and Lady Dustiness," the waitress announced. She placed our plates in front of us, the drinks slightly off to the side. "Please let me know if you need anything else, I'll be nearby."

I peeked out at Darkness as we ate; I never noticed it before, but her table manners were quite refined. She ate with the sense of grace I expected a pampered noble to eat with.

"Heh."

"Hmm?" Darkness looked up from her meal. "Something funny?"

"Ah, I just noticed that you're definitely a nobleman's daughter."

She put down her utensils. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, just noticing Lalatina-sama's table manners; the finesse she shows is astonishing," I mocked.

Darkness furrowed her brow, her face growing red in the process. "Would you stop! I-I can't help it; it's not my fault that I grew up being taught the etiquette that befits a noble!"

I chuckled. "Calm down, I'm just saying, I find it somewhat soothing. Megumin and Aqua pretty much scarf down their food with little thought."

"O-Oh…I, I see. Ahem, well, thank you, Kazuma."

"Of course, Lalatina."

She blushed in embarrassment.

Part 4

After finishing our meal, we proceeded to the registry office. Since it was my first time going, Darkness was the one leading; had she not been present I probably would've asked at the adventurer's guild.

"Haaaah." Darkness sighed heavily as we walked. She wore a wide smile. "The day is beautiful, isn't it, Kazuma?"

"Eh, I suppose it's not bad. Hey, Darkness, you sure we're going the right way; it shouldn't take this long to get to the office, right?"

"Of-Of course we're going the right way!" She shouted back, fidgeting anxiously as she did.

I stared at her suspiciously.

"W-Why are you looking at me like that, Kazuma? *gasp* Could it be that you're thinking of doing questionable things to me?"

"Does your brain get smaller the more muscle you gain?! I just have a sneaking suspicion that you're taking the scenic route on purpose."

The angry look on Darkness' face quickly disappeared as she turned away from me in a panic.

"Oi."

"Ahaha, look Kazuma, don't those clouds look—"

"Oi, would you quit wasting time?!"

"Ah-Ah…sorry," She mumbled apologetically.

Eventually, we made it to the registry office. As we entered, I instantly recognized two people standing in line.

"Oi!" I shouted.

The red-robed mage and her blue-robed companion looked back at me.

"Ah, w-what are you doing here?" Megumin said anxiously.

"That's the same thing I wanna ask you."

She swiftly averted her gaze.

"Next," the clerk said unenthusiastically.

As Megumin went to step forward, I grabbed her collar. "Oi, I wanna know what you're doing here; I came because I was gonna register our crest. So, what reason do you have for being here?"

Megumin began to fidget nervously, then out of nowhere, she yelled, "Do it, Aqua, it's up to you!" She tossed a roll of paper at her.

The accomplice goddess grabbed the roll and ran towards the next open window. "I wanna register this crest—"

"No, she doesn't!" I yelled, wrenching Aqua away by her hair.

"Ahhh, stop it, you stupid NEET!"

"Quit resisting, you're making a scene!" I glanced over at Megumin and saw that she was at another window with another roll in her hand. "This girl actually made copies?! Darkness, don't stand there, get Megumin!"

"Ah—oh, right!"

Unsurprisingly, this attempt to stop them, devolved into a small scuffle between us, in the end however, me and Darkness managed to stop them.

I stared angrily at the two girls knelt before me; we were stood in the alleyway beside the office.

"I can't believe you were gonna do something like that behind my back!" I yelled at Megumin.

Even though I expected her to be more submissive in this circumstance, she wasn't, and fired back just as angrily. "Y-You never even really explained what was wrong with our design—Darkness, I can't believe you would defend him; he rejected the emblem we all made together!"

Darkness looked away with a mildly remorseful expression.

"Hey, you forget that I wasn't even present for that; I even told you I'd be the one to choose in the end!"

"You never said such things, Kazuma!"

"Why am I a part of this?!" Aqua yelled. "It's my birthday in a couple days, treat me better, you all need to treat me better!"

"I was planning on getting you something nice," I interjected, " but now I think you'll get what you deserve, nothing!"

"Ah, d-don't be like that, Kazuma!" Aqua yelled as she grabbed onto me. "I-I'm sorry! See? I apologized, now get me something!"

I pushed her away, and then crossed my arms, my gaze darting between them in frustration. "Ugh, you two are an endless source of trouble for me, you know?"

Megumin looked down with a frown on her face, a second later, she looked at me with a glimmer of remorse. "If you're so insistent on turning in your own design we should all have a look at it at least; you even said this was something that involved all of us, right?"

I sighed, and then retrieved the paper from the satchel. Megumin took it in hand and as she stared at it, Aqua leaned in to get a closer look, Darkness joined in as well.

After some silence, Megumin let out a sigh. "I admit, it's a decent design, however, it lacks the punch ours had."

"Don't be an idiot," I retorted, grabbing the paper back from her. "Sure, an insignia is supposed to look cool, but it's gotta have a meaning anyone looking at it can understand; if we used your design, the only people who would know what it meant would be us and the other cheat-item users from Japan. We'd be a laughingstock."

"Exactly what about the design would make us a laughingstock?!" Megumin said, her eyes starting to glow from her increasing anger.

I could feel my brow twitch; I was growing tired of this conversation. "Alright, let me explain this to you; the design I made is simple, but says everything anyone needs to know about us. Did you notice the sign in the back—what it means?"

Megumin lowered her gaze to ponder on it, but I answered without giving her much time. "It's the sign of the Mark of Proof; anyone who see our crest will know without a doubt that we've slayed a Demon King; there's no greater mark of respect or glory than that. The rest, the magic staff, sword, shield, and winged staff pretty much represent us. Look, I know it isn't flashy, but we need something like this; unlike white suit's or Darkness' family, we don't have a long-standing history, our greatest accomplishment should be upfront where anyone can see and acknowledge it, get it?"

Megumin's face softened at my explanation; she looked at Aqua and Darkness, both stared back at her, and then at me with a similar look.

"What?" I said.

Megumin smiled. "You actually thought it through."

"Oi."

She giggled. "Ok, sorry, I doubted you; you're right."

"I didn't see any Axis emblems on there though," Aqua mentioned. "At least Megumin's design had one; I want an Axis emblem on there!"

"You obviously weren't listening; the last thing we need is an Axis emblem," I replied irately.

"What's wrong with having one—or a couple?!"

"Tch, I'm not even gonna entertain an explanation." I turned around and headed back into the office; the others followed. After waiting in line once more, we finally reached an open window.

"How can I help you today?" the clerk asked with a raised brow; it seems our earlier fiasco had left some bad impressions.

"I'd like to register a family crest."

"Ah, ok, here you go," He said, handing me a stack of forms. "Please fill those in. Once you're done, you may turn it in."

With this said, we stepped away from the window and headed to a nearby bench.

I sat down and cleared my throat. "Here you go," I said, holding out some portions for the each of them; however, the girls all looked away, Aqua trying to blow a tune as she turned away.

I quickly grabbed on to her.

"No!" She yelled. "I don't wanna!"

"Oi, stop it, why do you always have to throw a fit?!"

"W-Well then," Megumin said, tilting the rim of her hat down, "I'll see you two—"

"Oh no you don't!" I quickly grabbed on to her with my other arm.

Of course, the two of them struggled as hard as they could to get away.

"Stop struggling," I said angrily, "you're making me look bad!"

"I don't wanna fill out forms!" Aqua sobbed. "I hate filling out forms!"

"No one likes filling out forms, now shut up and do your part or I'll make sure to register you as the family pet!"

I shoved Aqua's portion into her chest, and then turned towards Megumin who was still trying her best to pull away.

"Oi," I said, yanking her close.

Megumin stared at me worriedly. "I-I just remembered, Yunyun said she wanted to go somewhere—"

"Shut it; weren't you the most vocal about your role in all this? Here's your chance to prove yourself. If you can get through the monotony of filling forms, then I'll acknowledge your tenacity."

"W-Why do I need to prove myself to you; haven't I done so on many occasions already?"

"Fine." I let go of her.

Megumin stumbled back slightly, and then looked at me in perplexity. "Fine?"

"It's alright," I said, setting the forms aside. "Perhaps I expected too much from you. You can go ahead and play while I handle all of the grown up—"

Megumin snatched away the stacks and furiously penned away at the questions before her.

I turned to Darkness but saw that she had already grabbed her own portion and sat down; I seemed to forget that she does this on a fairly regular basis.

"Oi, Darkness."

"Hmm?" She looked up from the forms.

"You don't have to do so many, after all, you have your own house."

"It's alright, Kazuma; I don't really mind it." After she said that, she returned her attention to the forms, though she wore a faint smile on her face.

Nearly an hour passed by the time we finished; Megumin and Darkness passed me their stacks.

"Oi, you done?" I asked Aqua; she was hunched over the forms with a frustrated expression.

"Almost." As she said this, Aqua seemed to focus more; she really seemed to be taking this seriously.

"Something stumping you; can't say I'm really surprised. Here, I'll help you—oi." Looking at the paper, I could see most of it was undone; an assortment of drawings lined the margins of the forms. "Is this what you've been doing all this time?!"

"I told you I don't like doing forms," Aqua squealed. "Why are you making do things I don't wanna?!" She said, beginning to sob in the process.

"You think any of us like doing this?!"

"Darkness does."

The mentioned oujo-sama looked around panickily.

"Darkness," Aqua said, grabbing her hands, "won't you do this for me? My birthday is soon, you can do this for me, right?!"

"Oi, stop pushing your work on others!" I yelled. "If you keep acting like this, I'm gonna put a toad in your performance pot."

Aqua latched on to me and began shaking me as she wailed loudly. "Why are you always so mean to me, Kazuma?!"

"Gah, let go!" As I tried to pry her from me, I was met with stares from nearly everyone present. "Argh, ok, shut up, stop crying!"

Aqua instantly stopped and pulled away with a proud smirk.

"Damn upstart goddess…" I took the remaining forms and divvied them up between me, Darkness, and Megumin. "Don't think I'm letting you off with this," I remarked as the rest of us started on the papers.

Several more minutes passed but we finally finished; I returned with the stack of papers. "Here, all done."

"Ok sir," the clerk replied as he grabbed the stack. "After we review the information, we'll send a notice to your home; it'll contain the permits for your insignia. Now, is there anything else I can do for you?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm good, thanks."

Having finished what we came for, we all thought on what to do next as we toured the city. As different suggestions were tossed around, Megumin finally posed a question that caught my attention.

"Kazuma, what ever happened to the reward Master Holt promised you?"

"Ah, that's right."

Master Holt promised me a couple things for the successful completion of the Royal Provision. I let it go on account of what happened to Gren, but I still expected him to follow through on his promises.

"You know," I said, "why don't we go ask him; it's been a while since then."

And so, our next destination was the Royal Smith's. Upon arriving, there were sentries posted at the door; it didn't take much guessing as to why this was the case. When we entered, we saw a male attendant seated behind the counter; in stark contrast to his predecessor, he showed no enthusiasm for the job and showed us no attention when we came in.

"Hey," I said, after standing around for a few minutes.

At this, he looked up from what appeared to be a book he was reading and glanced at me. He frowned slightly and then sighed. "Is there something you need?" He asked in a mildly irate tone.

I could feel my brow twitching.

"Yeah!" Megumin interjected. "You could show your customers some attention! Someone with more respect had to leave for you to be here; the least you could do is show the same amount of effort she put in!"

The boy, slightly taken aback by Megumin's outburst, cleared his throat. "S-Sorry," He mumbled in embarrassment. "What can I do for you?"

Seeing the boy's submissive attitude, Megumin relaxed. "We're here to see Master Holt," She explained. "Please tell him it's Satou Kazuma."

"R-Right, please excuse me." The boy disappeared into the familiar setting below the shop.

When he was gone, we all turned to stare at Megumin.

"What?" She said, staring back at us in reply.

None of us said anything, we merely smiled.

After a few minutes, he returned. "The Royal Smith will see you. Please, follow me."

Going through routine, we followed him through the winding underground passage to eventually arrive at the forge. Up ahead we could see the figure of a skinny man working tirelessly over an anvil.

"Master Holt," the boy said, "the guests are here."

Holt, in the middle of his swing, stopped; he turned around and smiled.

"Thank you, you may go."

The attendant nodded, and then left.

"Kazuma-dono, forgive me; I know I promised you a number of things and I've yet to deliver on them."

"It's not that big an issue; I still want you to teach me smithing though."

"Of course; I can deliver on everything I promised you. In fact, I sent a letter out to you just a few minutes ago; I was actually hoping to see you soon. I just…I wanna know…is…Gren, is she alright? I heard she was spared execution thanks to your efforts."

"Uh, well, yeah, she's alright. She's uhh, banished, from the capital; so, she won't be able to…well…"

"Umu." Holt nodded; his smile shrunk slightly. "I understand." He took a deep breath, and then placing his hands on his hips, smiled widely once more. "She's fine, so that's more than I can ask for. Kazuma-dono, you all have done me a great favor; thank you. I'll do my best to repay you in the fashion I know best; please, hand me your weapons."

I handed over Chunchunmaru, Megumin, her staff, and Darkness handed over her sword.

Holt looked at Aqua, and then at me. "Does your Archpriest not wield a weapon?"

"Uh no, she—"

"I've no need for mortal equipment," Aqua interrupted pompously. "I'm a bonafide goddess. So using such things will only prove to hinder—"

"No, as you can see, she's clearly delusional; giving her a weapon would only prove to be a hazard to the rest of us."

"Why?!" Aqua sobbed as she pounced on me.

Holt chuckled. "I see."

"Actually, can you do something else for Darkness?" I questioned.

"Darkness?"

She replied. "Ah, oh, that'd be me; that's the name I go by when I'm adventuring."

"An alias; not a bad idea, Lady Dustiness. I hear that adventuring can be quite dangerous to those of noble heritage."

"Well…"

"It's not as bad as you think," I interjected.

Holt laughed. "I see, I see; well then, what of this request, Kazuma-dono?"

"Oh, well, Darkness is terrible when it comes to hitting anything; if it's literally not throwing itself at her blade or…well no, that's about it."

Unsurprisingly, I could hear the heavy pants of our party's resident pervert.

I continued. "I was wondering if you could make some armor for her instead."

"Hmm"—Holt rubbed his chin—"…yes, I don't see why not."

"So, are you gonna upgrade our weapons?"

Holt smirked. "More than just an upgrade Kazuma-dono. I figured something out shortly after you left the Coronatite…and after I learned of Gren being spared. Pardon the pun, but I learned of the spark your weapons were missing."

I raised a brow in intrigue.

"Are you enchanting our weapons?" Megumin interposed.

"Humph, not quite; enchanting is done by an Enchanter, someone skilled in magic. I know a little bit, but nowhere near enough for me to enchant items. However, that isn't needed if the materials used in the construction of such items are already imbued with said effects."

"So, the Coronatite," I queried, "it was being used by you?"

"Uh, no. Well, not for my personal use. The Coronatite was mostly used for the project the crown needed it for, but I was allowed to keep several shards of it. This is all I'll need to fulfill what I'm aiming for."

"So, you're gonna use the shards to give our weapons a flame attribute?"

Holt smiled. "Yes, but that's just the beginning. You see, while I was feeling down, I thought about my goal, what I wanted to achieve; ever since I've become the Royal Smith, that goal has been to create a weapon on par with those wielded by heroes, divine weapons. I was always stumped, the closest I've ever come to that goal was in making the first Prince's blade, but every weapon since then has been subpar."

Subpar? This man had the nerve to call his works subpar, but I suppose it was that way with people who were masters of their craft.

Holt continued. "I realized something. There are, in this world, materials of legendary status, some mythical, some even thought to not exist, all difficult to acquire, maybe even impossible. I want you, Kazuma-dono, to acquire these materials. If you do, I promise to make you items on equal footing to those of the divine."

I couldn't lie, the sound of having such a powerful weapon made the gamer in me giddy with excitement, but the rational side of me thought giving me such a task after all I've done for him was quite obnoxious.

"We'll do it," Megumin answered resolutely. Her eyes were aglow in crimson; the excitement she felt, transparent.

I opened my mouth to retort, but then stopped; even though I was apprehensive about taking on such a task, there was no time limit on when it needed to get done, so, accepting it wouldn't really be too troublesome.

"Excellent!" Holt said happily. "Here's what you guys are going to need; first, this." He briskly walked over to one of the workbenches in the room and after rummaging through an assortment of papers, withdrew one. "Here it is," He said, handing me the rolled-up paper in his hand.

I unfurled it and as I began to examine its contents, the others gathered around me.

"What is this?" I said, looking up from the sheet.

"It's a list of the needed materials and their possible locations."

"Locations?" Megumin queried. "I thought you said some of these probably don't exist,".

"Indeed, most, if not all of these locations are mere guesses; however, please believe me when I say I made no small effort in putting together this list. These are legendary materials that any craftsman would love to try their hand at working with; as such, I made it some time ago, during my earliest years as a smith."

"So, you've been updating it ever since."

"That is correct. As you can see, some of the more recent materials don't really have much information to go on, so their whereabouts isn't something I could really speculate on. Kazuma-dono, I realize I'm asking for a lot, but please help me achieve this; I'm not asking for charity, you'll benefit greatly from something like this. I give you my word as the Royal Smith, if I can't make you an item worth the trouble, I'll renounce my position and give up the craft."

All of us stared at Holt in disbelief.

"Oi, that's going a bit—"

"It's not. What I ask of you is a…well, an almost impossible task; I won't put you guys through that trouble if the item I make with all the materials isn't good enough. So, I leave it up to you; if you decide to go through with it, please keep me updated on your progress. Also, for every material you bring back, along with the upgrades and the lessons, I'll throw in a skill up potion or something of equal value."

I was astonished, and by the looks of it, the others were too. What Holt was offering was beyond mere compensation; this man was offering his livelihood for the chance to make something amazing. I was humbled by the lengths he was going in the pursuit of his craft.

"Anyhow," he continued, "I'll get started on the upgrades and the armor. Kazuma-dono, I promised you a lesson. Come back tomorrow morning and we'll get started."

I put away the materials list, and then nodded.

"Ok," Holt said with a satisfied smile. "Is there anything else you need from me?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so," I replied, looking to others as I did.

"Umu, and how about the rings; is everything fine with them?"

Me and Megumin gave them a cursory glance. "Yeah, I suppose they're ok, but with how often you ask about it I can't help but feel a bit nervous."

Holt laughed. "Sorry, I'm just happy with how they came out; I want to make sure there's nothing wrong with them."

"Ah, well, I can understand that." Of course, anyone who made something they were proud off would want to make sure the thing in question was good or doing well.

"By the way…"

"Hmm?"

"Have you got any word on Ferris, Gren's sister; I heard you were doing some searching for her."

"Ah, no, nothing yet."

Holt sighed deeply. "…I see."

"Oh, you probably wanna know what Gren's been up to, right?"

Holt straightened up, and then scratched his head, a nervous smile adorned his face. "If, if you don't mind."

"She's in Axel working in a friend's magic shop."

Holt, once again, sighed—this time in relief. "I see…if Gren's with someone Kazuma-dono calls a friend then I don't have to worry. Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Umu."

After we gave our farewells, we headed back up top. As we came to the surface, the shop attendant was waiting.

"Umm!" He said loudly. "I'm, I'm sorry, please forgive my rude behavior!" He gave a sharp bow.

"Hey, it's fine. As long as you—"

"Not you!" He snapped at me. The boy then turned his eyes to Megumin. "I-I mean you…miss." His eyes darted away from her every couple of seconds, his ears growing red, and his body shifting every so often; this boy was clearly smitten with Megumin.

Megumin stared at the boy with a raised brow. "If you're truly sorry, you can start by respecting those I associate myself with."

The shop attendant panicked at her reply, however, Megumin continued.

"What's your name? Someone who doesn't even know how to introduce themselves isn't worth knowing."

"Orrin!" He yelled nervously; his voice nearly breaking. "Orrin Belladeux!"

"Humph"—Megumin struck a pose—"Belladeux-san, my name is Satou Megumin! The number one mage of Axel, the Crimson Annihilator, Vanquisher of the Demon Army, and Master of Explosions!"

I would've thought seeing Megumin give such a bombastic display would turn the boy off to her, but he seemed to grow even more ecstatic after her display.

"Oh, you're one of the heroes who defeated the Demon King and his army! A-Amazing! These must be your companions, but surely, a beautiful and smart mage like you would be the mastermind behind your party's multiple victories."

All of us stared at Megumin, who now began to grow red in slight embarrassment. "Of-Of course."

I narrowed my eyes but said nothing; perhaps Megumin noticed this because she quickly corrected herself.

"Of-Of course, I was a big help in whole scheme, but my companions here were invaluable. This is our Archpriest, Aqua." Aqua smiled and waved. "Our Crusader, Darkness." Darkness gave a nod. "And our, ahem, party leader, Kazuma."

"Yo."

"P-P-Party leader?! He's the leader?!"

"Oi."

"Yes, he's our party leader; I realize he doesn't look like much"—I frowned—"but I assure you, he's better than he looks."

The shop attendant looked at me with a discerning eye; he looked wholly unconvinced.

"Oi, what's your problem? You know I'm a high-ranking noble, right? I can have you picking up garbage off the streets by tomorrow morning!"

"Tch."

"This little…"

"M-Megumin-sama, please come again; I-I can see about getting you some nice deals on some staves since you're a mage."

Megumin raised her brow slightly. "These staves are quite nice…but I've no need for any; the one I have is the absolute best."

"The one…I don't—ah, you must've left it with Master Holt. I see, well, if it's a staff made by the Royal Smith then—"

"It wasn't."

"Huh?"

"Even if the Royal Smith were to make a brand new one, it wouldn't be topped anyways," Megumin remarked with a smile. "Anyhow, I believe our business is done here."

"W-Wait!" The boy panickily set himself between us and the door. "M-Megumin-sama, if-if it isn't too much…c-can I take you out to eat?"

Megumin stared at him in mild confusion.

"A-As a means of repayment!"

"Eating, huh?" She looked over at me with a questioning expression, and then smiled faintly.

In return, I gave a light shrug.

She turned back to the anxious boy. "Very well, Belladeux-san; when do you want to do this?"

"Um-Um, how does t-tomorrow sound?"

"Umu, tomorrow's fine; see you then."

Part 5

Megumin and Aqua made conversation as we made our way back to the Teleport Station; they walked slightly ahead while I trailed behind them. Darkness, who was silently walking alongside them, slew to my pace.

"Everything alright?" She asked.

"Hm, sure, why?"

"You look a little sad."

I frowned. "I'm not sad; why would you think I'm sad, cause another guy asked Megumin out?"

"Ah, well…"

"I don't really mind; Megumin doesn't seem interested in him anyways. Knowing her, she's likely accepting because of the free meal."

Darkness stared at me in surprise.

"What?"

"Uh—ah, nothing. I just, I expected you to be…somewhat…jealous."

I looked down as I briefly recalled my first traumatic betrayal. "I…I'm…" I sighed. "Megumin—you guys, you guys are free to do what you want; I'm not the type of guy who likes to tie someone down…"

"…"

"Besides…I'm gonna be doing the lessons tomorrow so Megumin would've probably ran off to do something anyways, even more so now that she doesn't have her staff; you know she can't sit still."

Darkness smiled. "Want me to accompany her; that way it'll be an outing with friends, I can even bring Aqua along."

I subconsciously gave her a hopeful look, then realizing this, quickly looked away. "If-If you don't mind—she shouldn't, right? I-I mean it's just a free meal for her, right?"

The smile on Darkness' face grew until she finally giggled. "Don't worry, I'll look after her."

I cleared my throat, regaining my composure in the process. "T-Thanks, Darkness."

Along the way, we passed by the Dustiness estate when I suddenly remembered.

"Ah, wait!" I yelled.

The others turned to look at me.

"What is it, Kazuma?" Darkness asked.

"T-The plant I bought, the Torment Stitcher; I never took it home."

Aqua sneered. "Good, I hope that ugly thing is dead."

"Shut up! I spent a good amount of money on that thing; even if I don't use it, I don't want it to go to waste! We gotta check."

Having said that, we made our way to the estate and entered the small garden area in the back.

"Huh?"

To our surprise, the plant was still alive; strangely enough, it appeared to give off a more oppressive aura then before.

"Why?!" Aqua wailed. "How is this stupid thing still alive?!"

"Weird," Darkness commented as she scratched her head.

"Didn't that devil say something about the plant needing arcana to live?" Megumin questioned. "I don't sense anything evil around here for it to draw on, do you, Aqua?"

Aqua, who was pouting angrily with her arms crossed, shook her head. "The only evil thing I can sense around her is this ugly abomination."

"Kazuma, maybe it's better to leave it here than to take it to the house," Megumin suggested. "I mean, it seems to be doing fine here."

"Hmm, ok. But, if this thing's fine doesn't that mean there's a high-ranking devil around? Aren't they the only ones capable of releasing arcana?"

Aqua answered. "Anything from the stupid place devils and their ilk come from exude that disgusting stench."

"So basically, anything from Hell exudes arcana."

"Not exactly." Megumin clarified. "Anything from Hell can release Arcana in trace amounts, but only powerful monsters and devils release it any discernable quantities."

I didn't like the implications; the plant was growing because there was a powerful monster or devil in the vicinity; however, our so-called goddess wasn't picking up anything. Unfortunately—or perhaps, fortunately, I had nothing else to go on, so I dropped it; even if we were able to identify the culprit, I didn't feel like going up against another powerful enemy anytime soon.

Deciding to leave the Torment Stitcher at the estate, we continued to the Teleport Station and returned home.

"Welcome home," the maid said as we took our places in the living room. "Lalatina-sama, the lunch I promised to make is nearly done; forgive me, I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

"It's fine, Irene. Say, Megumin, about tomorrow, do you mind if me and Aqua tag along; I don't have to go to the school."

Aqua interrupted. "Ah, I was planning on helping out my faithful servant, Cecily, but I'm sure she'll understand if I told her I was invited out to eat."

Megumin finally answered. "I don't mind; I think it'll be better if you guys come along anyways."

Darkness gave me a quick glance and a smile. This girl…

"Hey, Kazuma," Aqua said as she began playing with Zell, "shouldn't you be putting more effort into finding Gren-san's sister; you were the one who promised to find her in the first place."

I crossed my arms in frustration. "I can't really do anything at the moment; there's nothing to go on, so I'm waiting on more information."

"…I just don't want us to be too late, you know?"

The mood in the room suddenly grew a bit somber.

"Look, don't worry about it too much; we're doing our best, right? No one can really expect more from us."

"Satou-sama," Irene said, coming back from the kitchen, "a letter arrived while you were at the capital; I believe it's from the Royal Smith."

"Oh, right, he did say he sent one. It's fine, you can toss it; I already met with him."

She gave a silent nod, and then returned to the kitchen once more.

"Well, I'm gonna go take a bath," Aqua announced. "Megumin, Darkness, wanna join me?"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Darkness replied.

"Umu," Megumin agreed with a nod.

"Right then, I'll go heat up the water," Aqua informed; then she took off with the oversized chicken, Zell.

Darkness got up from her chair and stretched. "You coming, Megumin?"

"Yeah."

Darkness then proceeded to the bathroom, however, Megumin stayed seated beside me.

"Hey, aren't you going?" I asked.

She looked at me with a solemn smile. "You aren't gonna peek on us, are you?"

"Aqua's in there; any excitement I'd feel would be completely ruined by her."

Megumin giggled. "Kazuma."

"Hmm?"

"Are you ok with tomorrow; I'm not going because I—"

I raised my hand in interruption. "It's fine. I'm gonna be gone for a while and you'd likely get bored if you stayed here, so I don't really mind."

"You, you don't?"

I closed my eyes briefly as I stared up at the ceiling. "This means something, right?" I said, showing her the ring on my finger.

I could see Megumin look down with a faint smile, her eyes glowing slightly.

"Umu."

"Then I don't have to worry; besides, Aqua and Darkness will be with you so…"

She smirked. "And here I was thinking maybe you completely trusted me."

"O-Oi, it's not—"

Megumin placed a lone finger on my lips, and then stood in front of me. "I love you," She said, then leaned in and kissed me.

After a few moments, she broke away and smiled. "Try to be a good student and learn something tomorrow; I know you're not too fond of such things."

Then, while I was still stunned from what happened, she left.

I took a deep breath, shaking free of the feeling I had. I was then, suddenly, overcome by the feeling of fatigue, so I laid down on the couch. As I did, Chomusuke, who was sitting on the floor, jumped onto my chest and curled up.

"Ah, what are you doing here?" I said, calmly petting her. "Sorry 'bout what I did to you a while back, but the situation called for it."

In response, Chomusuke bit my finger, but quickly let go; she casually snuggled into the underside of my mantle.

"Ah, you're tired too? Alright, let's get some rest."

When I woke up, I heard Aqua yelling excitedly.

"Ah, ah, be careful Megumin, you almost died!"

"Shu—I got this—woah, where'd that come from?!"

"Ahhh, no, Sir Willheim the fifth!"

"Ah, s-sorry, Aqua."

"Ugh, could you guys be any louder?" I complained as I rubbed my face groggily.

"Kazuma, you're awake," Megumin said, shifting her attention towards me. "There's some leftovers in the fridge if you're hungry."

"What time is it?"

"It's around evening."

"Did you guys eat dinner already?"

"Umu; Irene made some earlier."

"By the way, where's Darkness?"

"Oh, she and Irene went out to buy groceries."

"So late?"

"Well, they've been gone for some time, so I assume they're probably out doing something else."

"Well, if it's her, I don't think I have to worry."

"Kazuma!" Aqua yelled.

"Huh, what is it?"

She offered the controller to me. "Can you get past this level for me? Me and Megumin have been trying for hours and Sir Willheim the fifth died; now his son, Sir Willheim the sixth must avenge him."

I raised my brow, and then smirked. "Sure, let me show you just a glimpse of my abilities; Sir Willheim the sixth will avenge his father."

-A few minutes later…

"Ugh, I forget how good you are at this," Megumin said as I passed the controller back to Aqua.

"Hmm, I'm getting a bit rusty; back in Japan I would've cleared something like this a lot quicker."

"That just means that perhaps the hikkiNEET is becoming a sensible adult," Aqua commented offhandedly; her attention was mostly on the game.

"Oi, do you want Willheim the sixth to visit his father early?"

"Ah, don't take out your insecurities on poor Wilheim; he's already lost his father, why do you have to threaten him as well?"

This girl…I feel she's more nurturing towards a fake character than me. "Whatever. I'm gonna eat." I got up and headed to the kitchen. Using the prototype microwave, I heated up the leftovers; however, the appliance was still largely unfinished and produced near-scalding temperatures for whatever it reheated. This being the case, I used Freeze to cool down the bowl of food and went about eating it as I watched Aqua and Megumin to continue to play the game.

After I finished, I took a bath and headed to bed. Normally I'd stay awake till the early morning, but seeing as I had to be up early, I reconsidered. I sort of expected Megumin to visit me again tonight, but she didn't; maybe she didn't want to keep me up; in a way, I was kind of relieved.

-Next morning

Kazuma was already gone when I came down for breakfast.

"Megumin-sama." Irene called out to me.

"Hmm, oh, morning, Irene."

She gave a slight bow in reply. "I've made you some breakfast; it's a light meal since I hear you would be going out to eat later."

"Ah, yeah, thank you." I took a seat at the table where I saw Darkness rifling through several sheets of paper.

"What're you doing, Darkness?"

She sighed. "Assessing the student's answers; making sure they got the questions correct."

"Grading?"

"Uh, yeah, I suppose," She answered, appearing somewhat stressed.

"Your meal, Megumin-sama." Irene placed the plate and the accompanying utensils in front of me.

"Thank you," I said offhandedly; I then returned my attention to Darkness. "Are you gonna be busy today?"

She glanced up from the papers and gave me a reassuring smile. "No, I'm almost done. I'm just slightly concerned; some of the children don't seem to be retaining the knowledge from the lessons."

I smiled back, and then began to eat. "Darkness, you really like children, don't you?"

"Hmm? What's with that question, Megumin?"

"Oh, nothing in particular; I just find that you're really caring towards kids."

Darkness giggled. "You're the same way with Komekko though, aren't you? You see, I don't have any siblings, so taking care of children makes me feel like an older sister."

I shook my head. "I act like an older sister, you act like a mother; it's really sweet, Darkness."

As I said this, Darkness lowered her head sheepishly, her face growing slightly red in the process.

"I, I see…I don't really know what a mother is like…I have very faint memories of my own." She showed a saddened expression.

"I'm sure your mother is happy to have raised a daughter like you, flaws and all. Sorry to have reminded you of—"

"No, it's fine," Darkness interrupted, wiping away a single tear; she then gave me a vibrant smile. "Thank you, Megumin."

"Are we really gonna start by going out to eat?!" Aqua shouted as she barged into the dining room. "I think we should do a little shopping before we do."

"Shouldn't we leave it for later?" I questioned, finishing the remaining bits of food on my plate. "Aqua, you buy the most things, by far; who's gonna carry all of it?"

"Ah, that's a good point; we'll make your date, Belltruce-san, carry it."

"It's not a date, Aqua; I'm just accepting an invitation to a meal."

"I'm pretty sure that's what a date is."

I began to feel myself grow hot. "N-Nonsense, a date is an outing between two people who care for each other, so clearly, this isn't one."

"Hmm, I guess that's a fair point. Hey, should we invite more people; Darkness, how about inviting Chris and why don't you invite Yunyun, Megumin? Maybe I can invite Cecily."

"Please don't."

Darkness offered a suggestion. "How about Wiz?"

Aqua frowned in response. "Ugh, I guess I can have her tag along."

"Alright, I'll go and see if I can find Chris," Darkness informed. "She's a pretty busy person though; I wouldn't be surprised if I can't find her."

"I'll come along then," Aqua announced. "With my all-seeing eyes I'll be able to help you track her down."

"Alright, I'll get ready and then try to see if Yunyun's around. Try not to take too long, ok?"

Darkness and Aqua nodded; afterwards, they headed out.

"I've heated the bath, Megumin-sama," Irene informed.

"Thanks, Irene; you're really helpful. I feel kinda bad that there isn't anything I can do for you in return."

"It's unnecessary, Megumin-sama; I'm a maid. My job is to provide you with ample service and comfort; sometimes I feel I don't do enough."

I shook my head. "In my opinion, you do more than enough. I've never had the opportunity to be looked after by someone; my childhood was one of poverty."

"I see. Megumin-sama, I'll continue to do the very best I can to provide you with a positive experience; should the day come when I'm unable to serve you for any reason, I'd like you to leave you with a shining example of good service."

"I appreciate your dedication, thank you."

Irene bowed.

Soon after, I entered the bathroom. I felt a soft and warm feeling press against my leg and ankle and saw Chomusuke had entered with me.

"What are you doing here?" I said as I picked her up. "Do you want to take a bath with your master?"

She meowed in reply, peddling her feet against the open air.

"Very well. As my familiar it's only correct to keep you clean; after all, people can assume things about a person if their familiar is shabby-looking."

Several minutes later, after I finished bathing, I stood in front of my mirror checking myself. Though it was still summer, today was a particularly chilly day and with the climate control box set to cool the air, my room was colder than expected; as such, I was wearing a bathrobe.

I examined my hair for a couple of minutes, and then smiled; it was getting longer, in fact, it had already grown several centimeters since first acquiring the mansion. What used to be neck-length hair was now nearly shoulder-length; the majority of which draped along my neck, accompanying the two locks of which now rested upon my chest.

I touched my bangs; they too were slightly longer, almost long enough to occlude my sight; perhaps I should trim it a bit. I'll get Kazuma's opinion, and then make a decision.

I quickly brushed my hair, and then got dressed in my standard attire; this wasn't a special occasion so there was no need for anything flamboyant or flashy, my adventuring robes would do the job just fine. I flicked my mantle, the mantle that Kazuma tailored for me, and smirked at my reflection.

"The Crimson Annihilator, the Master of Explosions, Genius of the Crimson Mages, Megumin is ready for action!" I glanced over at Chomusuke who was staring curiously. "How do I look; are you impressed by your master's charm?"

"Meow."

"Umu, of course. Aesthetics is an important part of a Crimson Demon and my attire is amongst the coolest. I'm leaving now, so try to behave; don't give Irene a hard time. She's nice, ok?"

"Meow." Chomusuke purred against my leg.

I gave her a brief scratch behind the ears, and then picked her up and exited my room. As I reached the living room, I placed her on the floor.

"Have a good time, Megumin-sama," Irene said with another bow.

"Thanks. See you later, Irene," I said; then I exited out the front.

As I walked slowly through the city, I thought about the places Yunyun would frequent; there was Wiz's, where she would often help out, and then there was the adventurer's guild. She would often be there accompanying that thing; I spared a thought of Yunyun falling for it, but quickly shook my head; knowing Yunyun, it wouldn't take much for her to fall for such attempts.

I wouldn't say Yunyun was an easy girl, rather, her level of naiveté made it quite simple to get her to do things she would otherwise never consider. It was plots and suggestions like this that made that thing dangerous for Yunyun to hang around; it was quite adept at such scheming.

RING! The bell above the door rang as I stepped into the shop.

"Oh, if it isn't the silly demon girl with an affinity at tempting the boy who refuses to get physical for purely sentimental reasons."

I frowned but could feel the embarrassment slowly seep from me. "Is Yunyun here?"

"Megumin?" Yunyun said, stepping out from one the shelves.

"Yunyun, I knew I'd find you here." Another girl stepped out shortly after. "Gren-san."

"Ah, Megumin-san, nice to see you again; is Kazuma-sama with you?"

"Hmm, no, Kazuma's out. Yunyun," I said, shifting my focus, "are you gonna be busy; I wanted to know if you'd like to accompany me for an outing."

"Umm…" She looked at Vanir, and then back at me.

The masked devil gave out a hearty laugh. "Hmm, moi sees. Worry not, future leader of the joke clan of joke mages, thy aid was sufficient today; with thou new friend's assistance and the foolish shop owner out of the way, moi is sure to have a successful day. Just make sure to take that box of manatite with thou; Zereschrute is in need of that stock."

Yunyun nodded with a stupidly bashful look on her face.

I looked around and noticed that Wiz wasn't in; given her lack of presence and the fact that Vanir had pointed it out, it was safe to assume Aqua had probably gotten her to come along.

"Alright, come, Yunyun; the others are waiting."

As I turned around and began walking out of the store, Yunyun scrambled to pick up the box, and then rushed after me. "Bye, Gren-san, Vanir-san!"

I heard Gren reply with her own farewells.

After we got some distance from the store, Yunyun asked, "Where are we going, Megumin?"

"To find the others, after which we'll have you and Wiz teleport us to the capital."

"The capital; why are we going to the capital? Just what's this outing for? Is this another one your schemes to get Iris-sama out of the castle?!"

"No, this has nothing to do with that. Today all we'll be doing is hanging out, and then going to get some food with some guy I met yesterday."

Yunyun dropped the box, a dismayed expression adorning her face.

"Oi, Yunyun, you—"

She quickly grabbed my robes and shook me fiercely. "W-What happened; did you and Kazuma-kun break up already?!"

I was slightly startled by her outburst, but I regained my composure and pushed her away. "No, you dumb girl, I was merely offered a free meal; how could I refuse?"

"D-Does Kazuma-kun know about this?"

I nodded.

"He, he actually agreed?"

I nodded once again.

Yunyun sighed in relief, picking up the box there after. The sound of shattered materials rolling around could be heard.

"…"

I sighed. "Don't worry, I'll cover the costs."

"N-No, I couldn't ask you to—it's my fault so I'll—"

"Oh shut up, I already said I'll cover it, so stop."

"B-But I'm fairly certain these are high-grade manatite crystals; they'd be pretty expensive to cover for."

"They would be, if they were intact, but obviously that isn't the case anymore. Just take out the ones that are broken and put it in your bag."

"T-That's stealing, Megumin!"

"How? I'm married to guy who owns those crystals; they're practically mine."

"I, I don't think that's how it works though…"

"Oh, stop fussing and just do it; if anything, I'll ask Kazuma to overlook it."

Yunyun, with much difficulty, did as I told her. Luckily for the both of us, there weren't many that broke.

"I, I don't feel good about doing something like that," She commented.

"Why are you still going on about something so unimportant; look, Aqua and the others are—"

"Ah, Megumin-chan, my sweet little Megumin-chan!"

I quickly pivoted and began walking away, seconds later, I felt someone crash into my back and lift me off the ground.

"Oh, how I missed this beautiful, soft body!" She said, rubbing her face into my back.

Such comments could only belong to the questionable onee-san I had the misfortune of knowing, Cecily-san.

"Ugh." I struggled to break free from her, but she held on to me with, as usual, ridiculous strength. "P-Please let go of me, Cecily onee-san."

She gave a disconcerted sigh but complied. "Yunyun-chan, it's good to see you as well; come, give your onee-chan a hug."

Yunyun laughed nervously. "No, no, as you can see, I have my hands full with an important package."

"Took you long enough," Aqua said as she walked up with Darkness, Chris, and Wiz.

"Umu. I see everyone is here. We should get on our way to the capital; Wiz, Yunyun, will you two do the honors?"

"I have no problem doing it, Megumin-san," Wiz replied, "but who will go with who?"

Everyone looked between each other, but I gave a swift answer. "Wiz, you'll teleport, Aqua, Darkness, Chris, and Cecily-san—"

"I refuse," Cecily said succinctly. "I refuse to be away from you any longer, Megumin-chan! I don't want to be away from such a beautiful little girl!"

"Ugh, Axis cultists are such a pain to deal with. Cecily onee-chan, can you please just go with Wiz; we'll literally see each other in just a moment."

Cecily sighed dejectedly. "Fine. It's not all bad; I'll be with Aqua-sama during the duration of the journey."

"Alright, see you guys in the capital."

A moment later, they were gone.

"Alright, Yunyun, our turn."