Who else is excited about Season 3's announcement? I know I am.

The children going on vacation had been one of the happiest moments in Verdia's undead life.

When Kazuma had announced his decision to "get away from all of this" and offered to take everyone else along with him, the former General had nearly cheered out of sheer joy. Of course, he had respectfully declined the offer to go with them, stating that the waters and Axis fanatics of Arcanletia would purify him in seconds.

His dreams of relaxing alone were quickly dashed, however, when he realized someone else had decided to stay behind as well.

"Are you certain you don't wish to join them?" Verdia asked for the umpteenth time, allowing his companion to carry him back to the mansion after saying their farewells to the others.

"Of course, I've already been to Arcanletia before." Clemea answered, tightening her grip around the possessed helmet as memories of that place flooded her mind. "I never want experience that kind of terror again."

The Dullahan couldn't help but snort at the fear in her voice. He was in full agreement with his green-haired companion, but it still sounded ridiculous to be afraid of a town famous for it's hot-springs.

"They sure do know how to leave an impression."

Clemea shuddered once before shaking away the memories. "Anyway, there's no use trying to convince me to go with them, so you better get used to being stuck with me from now on!"

Verdia let out an exaggerated groan at the declaration. "This must be some form of divine punishment for all my misdeeds." He lamented, unaware of the sudden tick that formed on the young girl's head. "My desire of peace and quiet unceremoniously taken away before they even had a chance to happen. Left behind to wallow – YEEEEEEEEOOWWWW!"

The undead's shrieks of pain filled the streets as Clemea pressed a finger, now coated with holy mana, into Verdia's side. The few people who were up and about in the morning looked at what was making so much noise, only to snicker or laugh once they saw the undead's predicament.

"I never realized what an inconvenience this would be for you Verdia." Clemea said with a sickeningly sweet voice. "It must be soooooooooo hard-" and she pressed her finger even harder into the helmet "-for you to deal with someone like me all by your lonesome."

"No! No! No! You misunderstand!" the man cried out, his senses going haywire as both his dark and demonic mana reacted violently to the presence of holy power. "W-w-what I meant was that I'm disappointed to only have so little time to spend with someone as wonderful as you is all!"

"Hmmm? Is that so?" Clemea asked, reducing the amount of force she was applying while still keeping her finger there. She wanted just a little more out of Verdia before she let him off the hook.

"Of course! No one can hold a conversation as well as you do, and let's not forget how wonderful your tea is with an afternoon snack!" The former General felt like he could say more, but it was reeeeeeeeeeeeally hard to think straight with so much pain on his mind.

But his compliments seemed to be enough as Clemea removed her finger and smiled down at the helmet.

"Why thank you Verdia! Anything else you want to say while we're talking about it?"

"Uh…" Verdia looked to the side as he tried to think of something else to say to the girl. "You're… very pretty?"

Clemea stared at him for a couple of seconds before bursting out with a round of laughter. She came close to dropping the possessed helmet in the process, having moved one arm to cover her stomach, before finally calming down enough to readjust her grip. The Greenette offered a genuine smile this time.

"You sure know how to charm a woman, Verdia."

The former General let out a huge sigh of relief. "What can I say? You tend to pick up a thing or two when you live as long as I do." He glanced up with a curious look. "When did you learn how to use holy magic? It doesn't seem like something you would pick-up with your class."

"Normally no." Clemea agreed. "But after the incident with Vanir, it seemed like a good idea to learn a little in case we ran into anymore Generals. Our group seems to run into them despite our best efforts."

"That we do." Verdia agreed.

It couldn't just be a coincidence that Kazuma's band of misfits had clashed, or stumbled upon in Wiz's case, three of the Demon King's Generals in such short time. Some parties would spend years searching and training just to deal with one of them. The undead couldn't decide if it was good or bad luck that Kazuma seemed to run into them randomly.

"Who knows, they might end up running into another General while they're on vacation." Clemea joked and the two of them laughed at such an absurd notion.

They weren't that unlucky.

…

Right?

"I assume it was that useless Arch-Priest of ours that taught you how to use such magic." Verdia stated more than asked, it was basically a given considering how adept that girl was at it.

The Thief nodded. "Yeah, she was really happy that someone else wanted to learn how to use it. Although, she had some conditions for doing it."

Verdia turned himself just enough so he could aim a questioning look at his companion. "What could she have possibly demanded from you just to teach something like that?" He saw Clemea make a face and began to suspect what it was. "It was something ridiculous, wasn't it?"

Instead of replying with words, the Greenette merely pulled out a fan, very similar to the ones Aqua used, and muttered out a quick "Nature's Beauty" causing a small stream of water to spew forth from the fan.

Verdia watched the water dissipate into a tiny rainbow and glanced around at the couple of people who clapped at the display. "I see." Was all he could mutter, a very noticeable amount of amusement coating his words. "So you finally mastered that party trick, huh?"

Clemea was trying her best to will herself into becoming invisible but raising the tiny fan to hide her blushing face did not work as well as she wanted it to. "Please don't tell anyone about this."

Let it be known that Verdia had tried his absolute best to maintain his stoic demeaner for the girl's sake, trying to keep it at a gentle teasing, to help her keep some dignity, but the meek way she begged was far too much for him to handle.

He erupted into a fit of laughter that echoed throughout the town.

The Greenette truly wanted to die at this moment, begging whatever deity was listening to just strike her down to end this embarrassment.

"I-I-I promise – no! – I swear I won't tell the others about this." Verdia finally wheezed out after a few more minutes of laughter.

Despite his reassurance, Clemea still didn't feel better about the situation. Granted, it was her fault for showing the new skill in the first place, but she didn't realize how embarrassing it would feel until after doing so. Still, she was grateful for his understanding.

"Humiliating skills aside…" the former General continued, smirking at the groan he heard above him, "I still feel the need to question your decision to stay here. Are you certain you wish to spend this vacation stuck in a mansion with a talking helmet as your only companion? It isn't too late to grab a horse and catchup with the others."

Clemea hesitated to answer right away because he wasn't entirely wrong in that regard. While she enjoyed his presence very much, not to mention his wonderful stories, the lack of noise would likely drive her insane. Even still…

"… I don't mind. Especially if it's you keeping me company."

Verdia blinked. His mind momentarily going blank as he registered her words, allowing an overwhelming amount of warmth and comfort to fill in the empty space that his heart would have been. For the first time… for the first time in centuries he felt at peace with his life.

"You are too kind to someone like me."

"Don't get sentimental on me now, Verdia." The Thief teased. "We still need to figure out what to do to keep ourselves occu – wait a minute!"

The undead was about to ask what she had in mind only to be surprised when the girl raised him up so they were eye-level with one another. He was slightly concerned seeing the excited gleam in her eyes. "Uh… should I assume you came up with something?"

"Yes!" The girl confidently declared.

"…"

"…"

"… and that would be?" Verdia finally asked.

"We're going to go on our own vacation trip! Back to my home village!"

The possessed helmet blinked a few times, processing the suggestion, and finally understood what she just said. "Oh! That does sound rather exciting."

Clemea nodded enthusiastically. "Right? It'll be great! I'll finally be able to introduce everyone there to you!"

Verdia found himself blinking once more. "Do they know about me?"

"Of course, I've mentioned you a couple times at least in the letters I send them. They probably know you as well as the others by this point." She shrugged a little. "Unless I forgot to do that for whatever reason, but it shouldn't be that big of a deal if I did."

He wanted to smile at her enthusiasm, but Verdia wanted something clarified before he let Clemea's joy get out of hand. "I meant do they know I'm undead?"

This time it was the girl's turn to blink in surprise, allowing the silence between them to stretch on for several seconds as the question repeated itself in her head.

"…I think so?"

Verdia sighed. "Are you absolutely certain you want to bring me along? People don't normally associate themselves with undead like your group has, and the fact this town has accepted my presence is a testament to their own insanity more than anything."

Clemea frowned at him and lowered the possessed helmet back down to his previous position to continue their walk back home. "Give yourself some credit, Verdia. You're an awesome person to know, and once they get over your … uh … lack of body, I'm sure everyone back home will love you."

She was too kind to him, so how could he not be a little optimistic after such generous words?

"Well… I suppose I'll just have to do my best to earn their favor." Verdia's excitement soon shifted to confusion as they approached the gates of their mansion. The reason for said confusion being a girl standing just outside, screaming something towards the building while occasionally gesturing towards a wagon filled with various food items. "Clemea, who is screaming in front of our house?"

"I…" the Thief was hesitant to answer despite knowing who it was, taking a few seconds to ponder whether they should sneak back in rather than go through the front, but she was certain this situation called for direct intervention. "Yunyun!"

The Mage jumped in surprise and slowly turned towards the two of them. There was an adorable blush on her face, and she was huffing a little from the shouting. Yunyun looked between the two of them and the house a few times before focusing on the pair.

"Eh?"

KO-NO-SU-BA!

"Just rip it off already!"

"W-w-w-what do you think I'm trying to do! She's not exactly making this easy for me!"

"Are you insane?! Look at her! She's so easy she's practically begging you to take it off!"

"E-e-easy?! I-I-I am not easy!"

Kazuma screamed with everything he had, ready to rip his own hair out at this point. Was it so too much to ask for nothing strange to happen during their vacation? Was the universe just hellbent on making everything difficult for him?

It must be, because that would be the only explanation as to why there was a giant herd of Hawkites currently charging towards the caravan they were travelling with. Why were they running towards them someone may ask? Because apparently they were able to sense hard and durable objects, and were coming after them to jump over whatever object that was at the last possible moment.

What the hell was wrong with this world?!

Kyouya's armor had been one of the suspected items that met the Hawkites requirements, and it had been stripped off and placed on a mannequin, ready to be tossed off once the second object was taken care. However, that second one was attached to a very stubborn Crusader right now, who was doing her very best to prevent Kyouya and Kazuma from taking it off her.

"Darkness would you please stop being so stubborn and let Kyouya strip you right now?!" the Adventurer demanded, trying to keep the woman's arms away while the Sword-Master worked to take the armor off.

"C-c-c-can you please not word it like that?!" Kyouya begged, his face shining bright red at this point. "This is already difficult enough to do as is, your words and Darkness' squirming is making this almost unbearable!"

"You two are horrible!" The Crusader yelled back, her face just as red as Kyouya's while trying desperately to keep her masochism under control and failing miserably. "Y-you're just using those creatures as an excuse so you can strip me and lay me bare in-front of everyone like some kind of trophy!"

"Darkness please!" Kyouya cried out, unable to stop a few images from forming in his head at her words. He was going to need to dump a cold bucket of water on himself before going to bed tonight, that's for sure.

The struggling woman suddenly went still beneath the Sword-Master, giving the two guys enough time to remove the remaining pieces of armor and place it on the second mannequin. Kazuma quickly tossed the armor-covered items out of the wagon, causing the hawkites to change course and charge towards the armor instead. This allowed the caravan to get away from the herd, and once it was obvious they were in the clear, a resounding cheer echoed throughout the wagons.

Kyouya himself breathed out a sigh of relief and looked down towards Darkness, planning on thanking her for cooperating in the end, only to frown. She wasn't looking at him, and her face conveyed pure embarrassment that hadn't been there a moment ago. The Crusader glanced at him, then down to his waist, and then quickly away, somehow becoming even redder in the process.

He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, only to realize what the problem was. His body had reacted to her words and she had noticed - or rather felt it in this case - that reaction. Kyouya practically leapt off his friend, the apology he wanted to make stuck in his throat and unable to escape as his hands moved down to cover himself.

Darkness didn't say anything as she sat back up. In-fact, she was still struggling to look him in the eyes. "I-it's alright…" she eventually managed to mutter while moving to take a seat, probably understanding that he wanted to say something right now but couldn't. "I know you didn't mean anything by… by…" Darkness couldn't finish the sentence, once more glancing at his waist before turning away with a squeak.

Kyouya bowed his head in shame, moving to sit across from his friend. "T-thank you." He stuttered out, silently wondering how he was supposed to look at Darkness again without things becoming awkward.

"…I'm sorry."

The Sword-Master looked up in surprise. "What?"

"I'm sorry." Darkness repeated, reaching up to bring her ponytail forward, playing with the hair to keep her trembling hands occupied. "If I wasn't… so bad at keeping myself under control, you wouldn't be in this situation right now."

"You're doing better at least." Kyouya offered, and she really was in all honesty. "It's been so long since you've… gone crazy like that that it took me by surprise is all."

Darkness gave him a small smile, quickly looking down at the floor of the wagon. "You must think I'm rather weird at this point."

"I don't!" The teen answered rather hastily, and the Crusader looked up in surprise. "Sure you may be… a little odd at times, but besides that, you're probably the most amazing woman I've ever met in my life."

The woman blushed again at his words, and Kyouya himself did the same.

"Do you think this counts as a confession?" a voice piped in from the side, and the two teenagers whipped their heads around to gaze, horrified, at Kazuma. The Adventurer was watching them with a contemplative look, attempting to decipher any hidden meaning behind the words just uttered. He turned towards Aqua. "I think it's as close as he's going to get to an actual confession."

Aqua was looking at the two increasingly frazzled teens with far more scrutiny than anyone thought was possible from the Goddess. She eventually let out a sigh before turning to Kazuma. "I think so too. It's not the worst he could have done considering this is the first time he would have confessed to a girl. Although…" the Arch-Priest aimed a teasing look at the Sword-Master "it must be embarrassing to do so after she got a good look at his second sword."

"C-c-c-c-confession?!" Kyouya screeched, firmly ignoring Aqua's last comment. "That wasn't a c-c-confession! I… I was just complimenting Darkness is all!"

Kazuma made a face as he considered the other teen's words. "Yeah, I could see it being a simple compliment…"

Kyouya felt himself relax at his friend's agreement…

"…if…"

…only to feel every part of his body tense at the follow-up.

"...you didn't say it while looking at Darkness with those stupid lovey-dovey eyes of yours."

"MY EYES ARE NOT STUPID!" Kyouya cried out, his brain simply unable to process anything that was going on right now. He was basically operating on autopilot right now, and unfortunately for him, Kazuma was beginning to pick-up on that."

"So… that was just a compliment you gave her?"

"Yes!"

"It wasn't a confession you just made, correct?"

"Yes!"

Kazuma barely spared a moment to suppress the smirk he wanted to display before asking his last question. "But you do want to ask her out at some point, right?"

"YES!" Kyouya screamed, breathing heavier after shouting so many times in a row. It took far longer than it should have for the Sword-Master to realize what he had just said, and when he did, Kyouya could do nothing but stand frozen in place. Far too afraid to do anything else right away.

Kazuma, meanwhile, had turned back to Aqua with a satisfied look. "Now that was a proper confession if I've ever seen one."

The Goddess gave a small pout at being unable to be the one to drag the words out of Kyouya herself. "I guess it counts. It's too bad the others are in another wagon; they would have loved to watch this."

"I want to die. I want to die. I want to die." Darkness continued to mutter that line while in some sort of trance, hiding her face behind both her hands to avoid looking at anyone at the moment.

Kyouya wasn't doing any better, switching between glaring at an annoyingly smug Kazuma, and stuttering utter nonsense towards Darkness. Admittedly, there was a small, oh so terribly small, part of him that was glad that his feelings were known to the Crusader. It was just unfortunate that they had been delivered in such a… unique way. Well, at least no one else had heard him.

"Oi! Mr. Wagon man!" Kazuma suddenly called out.

"Hmm?" the man driving the cart pulled aside the curtain to peer inside. "What is it?"

"Do you think you'll be able to arrange a celebration tonight?" The Adventurer jerked a thumb in Kyouya's direction, who was frantically waving his arms in a desperate attempt to dissuade Kazuma from continuing. "Our friend here just confessed to the woman he loves."

"Did he now?!" the wagon leader perked up with excitement. "Say no more! I'll inform the entire caravan so we can throw a proper party!"

Kazuma clapped his hands together and thanked the man in an almost sing-song voice.

"We're having a party tonight!" Aqua shouted in child-like glee, relishing the thought of getting drunk on all sorts of new alcohol the caravan was sure to offer. She turned towards the despondent Sword-Master with a big grin. "It's a good thing you finally told Darkness how you feel. Now you get to go out with her at the town and we get to party tonight as well!"

"Right." Kyouya muttered, collapsing onto his seat, his legs unable to support his weight anymore.

"Kyouya…" a meek voice called out.

The teen almost didn't hear it amidst Aqua's excited ramblings to the Wiz, who was still unconscious at this point, and even though he did, Kyouya considered ignoring it in favor of knocking himself out. However… there was no way he wasn't curious what the person had to say. So, with a heavy sigh, the teen looked over at Darkness.

The woman was still hiding her face, but she had parted a few fingers to be able to look at him. "Did you… did you really mean that?"

At this point there was no way to take back any of the words he had said. Kyouya knew it would be possible to try and play it off and blame Kazuma, but right now, he didn't have the energy to do anything more than to be completely honest.

"Every word."

With that confirmation, Darkness finally parted her hands, allowing the Sword-Master to see the small smile on her bright red face. "Then… I wouldn't mind if… we…"

Kyouya stopped breathing for a second as a newfound sense of excitement surged throughout his body. Maybe this wasn't how he had planned on asking her out, and how anyone could plan around Kazuma's devious nature was beyond him, but the Sword-Master wasn't about to let the opportunity go to waste.

"Do you want to get something to eat when we arrive? I'm sure there will be plenty of new things for us to try at the town."

Moving her hands to her lap, Darkness gave him a wonderful smile. "I would love to."

KONOSUBA!

Clemea considered herself to be many things. Some of those things being an expert with a short sword, an adept poison maker, and a beautiful dancer. Not that anyone knew that last one as she had yet to perform in front of an audience yet. Another thing the woman prided herself on was her ability to start and maintain a conversation.

It had been a skill slowly developed when she and Fio had been travelling together with Kyouya due to the fact the Pinkette was unable to say more than a couple of words to their leader for the first couple months. Clemea almost laughed thinking about the childish crush they had on him back then. Things had changed so much in such a short amount of time…

…she was getting distracted. Where was she? Right, being great with conversations. Why was Clemea thinking about that right now? Simple. All of those skills she had developed over the course of a couple of years seemed to be absolutely useless when it came to Yunyun.

The woman loosened her grip on the reigns of their rented wagon to glance back at the crimson-eyed girl. Said girl was fiddling with the hem of her skirt awkwardly, trying to avoid looking directly at Verdia, who sat across from her with is singular eye apparently closed. He wasn't taking a nap, that much she could tell, but whether he was staying silent to avoid conversing with Yunyun or to avoid making her uncomfortable Clemea wasn't sure.

She let out a quiet sigh and focused her attention back forward, flicking the reigns so the horse would speed up its pace back to a steady gallop.

"Yunyun, can you hand me something to eat?" Maybe Clemea would be able to think of something once she had a snack.

"S-sure!" the well-endowed girl yelped before reaching into the large pile of food, the very same food she had brought this morning, and pulled out a decent sized apple. "H-here y-you go!"

"Thanks." The Thief took a large bite out of the fruit and hummed pleasantly at the sweet taste. Clemea opened her mouth to take another bite, only to pause to look down at the red fruit and then back to the large pile next to Yunyun. An idea suddenly came to her.

"Why did you bring so much food to our house anyway?"

"Ah…" the magic user turned towards the items and felt a fresh wave of embarrassment wash over her. "I wanted to challenge Megumin to a duel, and I thought she'd agree if… I…"

"Bribed her?" Clemea finished, laughing when Yunyun nodded. "That's one way to do it. So, what kind of duels do you and Megumin usually get into?"

"Oh! We rarely do similar challenges." The Wizard started, slowly beginning to relax. "It can vary from simple things like holding our breath underwater or an eating contest to more… extreme things."

The Thief arched a brow. "What do you mean by 'extreme'?"

"Megumin usually does it!" Yunyun was quick to explain, feeling her ears burn when both Clemea and Verdia chuckled at that. "But… she's issued challenges like killing the most monsters in a set amount of time or causing the most destruction with one spell."

The former General let out a snort and spoke for the first time in several hours. "Now I wonder why she would issue a challenge like that?"

"There does seem to be a pattern depending on who is making it." The Thief added, taking a quick moment to wave at a passing cart before focusing back on the conversation. "Does Megumin issue challenges that she knows she'll end up winning?"

Yunyun blinked, taking some time to think back on all of the duels she's had with her friend over the years, letting out a gasp once she realized they were right. "She has! So that's why I have such a hard time beating her…"

You just realized it now? Both Clemea and Verdia collectively thought, sharing an amused look with one another.

"Maybe you should pay attention to what kind of challenge she issues from now on." The Greenette suggested. Megumin probably wouldn't be happy if she found out they were sabotaging her chance at victory with her rival, but Clemea honestly just felt bad for the well-endowed Wizard at this point.

Plus, the Arch-Wizard deserved it after getting so cocky with her new fighting skills.

"Or you could just issue your own one-sided challenges." Verdia suggested, levitating a banana over to snack on. "Just don't fight her and you should be fine."

Yunyun winced remembering the way her rival had pinned her to the ground. That certainly wasn't something the Arch-Wizard had been capable of back home. "Where did she learn how to fight?"

"Me, unfortunately." Clemea groaned, knowing she was at least partially responsible for that. So far it was probably her greatest regret in life. That, and fawning over Kyouya for as long as she did.

"She had a great teacher then." The Wizard complimented with a smile, only to frown when Clemea scoffed in response. "Did I say something wrong?"

"What? Oh! No!" the Thief quickly apologized. "I just didn't teach her that much is all. Megumin just dumped a lot of points into fighting skills that she wouldn't have had access too if I hadn't brought her to that stupid dojo."

Maybe she should spend invest a few points in that class as well. If Megumin – with her child-like body – was able take on veterans, what would she be capable of splitting her points between the Thief's movement skills with the Fighter's combat ones?

Something to try out later I suppose.

"Oh…" Yunyun mumbled, her paranoid brain still whispering that she had said something wrong. The girl tried to shake away the thoughts but they persistently held on, trying to sway Yunyun into coming up with an excuse to leave and be alone once more. These weren't her friends after all, and yet they had still invited a near stranger to join their personal vacation. Which led Yunyun to the original question that had been plaguing her since this journey started.

Why?

Why did they bother inviting her to their trip in the first place? So much so that she decided to voice her question. Although, she wished she hadn't once Verdia gave an answer.

"Because you looked pathetic."

"Verdia!" Clemea called out, wanting to admonish him for being so blunt only to hesitate because that had been the reason they were doing this in the first place. Still, he could have been a little gentler, and she made certain to convey that thought with a stern look.

The Undead felt himself turning sheepish underneath her gaze, and only felt worse seeing the unshed tears Yunyun was trying to hold back.

"Look…" Verdia started with a far softer tone, "maybe it's not my place to ask, but during all of your duels with Megumin did it even cross your mind to just hangout after them? Perhaps share a meal or something else the two of you could do?"

It hadn't, and Yunyun was very surprised at the fact that it never did. Would things have been different if she had tried to do something so simple? "Do… do you think Megumin would have said yes if I had done that?"

"I cannot say for certain," Verdia admitted, "but if you wish to form any kind of bond with people then you should at least try to spend time with them."

Finishing his advice, the former General levitated himself over to the front of the wagon to give the young Mage some space. Hopefully, and Verdia knew this was a long shot, Yunyun would be able to gain some experience making friends at Clemea's village, especially if they were as friendly as the Greenette made them out to be. Though, he couldn't help but worry, thinking about all the ways it could go wrong.

His thoughts were interrupted when something nudged his side, causing the undead to glance over towards the grinning girl with a questioning look.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," Clemea shrugged, "it's just nice to see you being so sweet to someone, even if you did nearly make her cry in the process."

The man merely grumbled in response.

Letting out a soft laugh, the girl reached over and picked up the possessed helmet, earning herself a string of protests that stopped as soon as she placed him on her lap.

"Comfortable?" She asked with the cheekiest grin she could muster.

"…Yes." Verdia said, very reluctant to do so. "Care to explain why you have done this?"

Once more she shrugged. "Eh. You were starting to pout, and I didn't want to deal with it."

"…I was not pouting." The undead finally muttered, earning another laugh from his companion.

"Of course you weren't." Clemea said with a fond grin, moving one of her hands to pat the top of Verdia's head. "Oooooof course you weren't."