Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.
-o-
Chapter 7: Das War Einfach
Standing in front of the quest board is me and my party.
It's been a week since the poor sod of a Dullahan gracing us with its presence while throwing a temper tantrum.
Nothing much really happened in these past weeks.
It's either me and Megumin not heeding the Dullahan's warning and keep blowing shit up around the castle or taking easy quests with good pay like Aqua insisted.
Today is another day with no luck in getting any decent quest.
Well, considering that Dullahan still holed up inside its castle, we're rather lucky to sometimes be able to take a decent quest that popped up before other parties could take it.
And that's why today, my schedule is...
Waving towards me and Megumin who is walking away from the town is Aqua, probably because she doesn't have anything to do today due to not being broke(for now). When we're far enough to see, she suddenly yells out. "Hey Megumin, Kazuma! Try your best to destroy that castle! If you can, along with that stupid Dullahan itself so that we can claim a huge sum of money reward!"
I facepalmed.
"Hmm? Why are you facepalming yourself, Kazuma?" Beside me is Megumin, who asked that question while tilting her head to the side.
"Nothing important, just a natural reflex of my body for something stupid that occurred."
"I see... Anyway, let's go!" She said cheerfully before increasing the pace of her walk.
Pretty sure that we've arrived faster than usual, but-
"What the hell?" I uttered both of our thought seeing this in front of us.
What should be a path to the small hill in front of us, the usual place where our training as Explosion Kameraden occurs, is now replaced by three meters tall wooden barricade decorated with spikes on top of it. Not only that, there's a huge piece of paper right in the middle of the barricade saying "GO HOME!".
I facepalmed. Again.
I can hazard a very, very accurate guess of who is responsible for doing something like this from the event that transpired one week ago. But what made me do a facepalm is actually something different from what others might think.
Before I could yell about the stupidity of this, I spotted Megumin in a stance of pointing her staff at the barricade and huffed. "As if a mere wooden wall like this could stop me." With that, she began to gather mana into her staff to cast her usual spell. Seriously now?
"Stop it."
Puzzled by my command, she arched her eyebrows quizzically and asks. "Huh? Why? Are you saying we should obey it?"
"Nope, it's because why should you waste your precious mana to blow this stupid thing?"
"I get it that this wall isn't worthy to be destroyed by my great spell, but that's the only way to pass, right?"
"Nope, can't you really see that the best solution is right in front of you?" I deadpanned.
Looking at her front as if searching for something from what I said, she finally gave up and decides to directly ask me. "What? You? While I'm sure you can destroy thi-" Alright, why can't she get it?
Holding her shoulders, I turned her body 180 degrees to face the wooden barricade again. "What are you doing Kazuma!?" She complained as she thought that my action is strange and unreasonable. To stop her doing it, I silently point my index finger at a certain location nearby the barrier which Megumin's eyes follow and with that, stopped complaining. "Hehehe, I see, as expected of Kazuma to be that devious." She lets out a creepy laugh.
THWACK
"Ouch..." Rubbing her head in pain, she lets out a groan of pain after I smacked her head.
"There's nothing devious about it, it's just that whoever built this is a moron of the highest degree. Now let's go."
Yeah, the thing is, while that wooden wall is indeed blocking our path to the usual training ground of ours, it only blocks the path, not including grass patches on its side, just the damn path.
So, with a simple solution of circling around the barricade through the grass patch, we passed without much problem.
'Dullahan-san, I wonder who is your boss to choose you as a general for his army?' I mused.
With that, we do our usual routine as Explosion Kameraden: training our ability to blow shit up.
"'Explosion!'"
BOOM!
"Nice explosion as usual!" I paused a bit. "I wonder if that guy is pissed?"
"Hmph, instead of pissed, you should ask if that guy is dead or not. None can stand against the might of my explosion!" As usual, she brags about her greatness.
I could only smile wryly at that.
"Anyway, Megumin, you did offer me to learn explosion before, right?"
Hearing that, her expression turned into an excited one and proceeds to raise her upper body in order to see me. Uwah, that sure surprised me, but then she said in an excited tone. "Have you finally saw the truth and greatness of following the explosion path?"
I do understand her enthusiasm, but I don't even have enough skill point to learn it.
"No, not that. What I want to talk is that I want to offer you something in exchange for giving me a chance to learn your spell."
Yeah, the law of equivalent exchange.
Although it's more like she wouldn't withdraw from our party, so the secret of firearms wouldn't be spilled. Worst case scenario, I could just 'will' her pistol to disappear if something bad happened.
The last thing I want is to cause firearms to be mass-produced in this world and become a reason for the great war just like back in my world.
"Offer me something?" She asked in a puzzled tone.
"Yeah, since you're always out of juice after using one spell and left defenseless for a good amount of time, how about I teach you to use a pistol? I offered Aqua, but she refused saying it wasn't worthy for her to hold the weapon while Darkness..." I paused a little as an image of Darkness shooting a stationary target at point blank range using a pistol, only to miss every shot immediately popped up in my mind. Why am I not surprised? "Let's just say it wouldn't end well if she did use the weapon." I continued.
Hearing my offer, she put her hand on her chin and closed her eyes as if in deep thought. Although it didn't last long as she opens her eyes a few seconds later and gave me a puzzled look.
"Hmm... Do I have to learn a skill for using it?"
Ah, so that's why the puzzled look.
She did say that she'll focus all her skill points to explosion related skill. So it's a no-no if she has to learn 'Infanterie' which took 2 skill points.
Wait a second...
About that skill-
"This is my deduction, but I don't really think so. While there IS a skill related to improve how you use a pistol, I wasn't forced to learn it and I can still use my pistol normally. Though it really improves me after learning the skill. Aside from that, nothing different."
"Ooh, I see... But like you, I'll have to put this on hold for now. Sorry Kazuma, but I think I'll try to learn it later."
"I see, well no need to rush. It's not like we have a dire situation going on anyway." I shrugged my shoulders before helping her up.
Setting herself in a comfortable position on my back, she mutters. "Yeah, you're right."
With that, we're going back to town and pass the stupid barricade again.
The next day is similar, but...
"GO HOME! I HAVE INCREASED THE HEIGHT OF THIS BARRICADE TWICE ITS ORIGINAL HEIGHTS! YOU SHALL NOT CLIMB ANYMORE!"
I facepalmed.
This Dullahan.
Tugging my sleeve, she brought me out of my stupor and points at the barricade. "Hey Kazuma, why do I sense idiocy leaking out of this barricade."
With a deadpan expression, I face her. "It's not leaking out, Megumin. It practically BLEEDS OUT stupidity."
Circling the barrier again, we do our usual training. But unlike our previous training-
"'Explosion'!"
"Fire in the hole!"
BOOOOOMMMMMM! x2
-we did it simultaneously.
"Oooh, that is one great explosion! With my mortar detonated right above the castle because of your explosion, the small explosion from it forming a flower look-alike shape which compliments yours, creating some sort of magnificent abstract painting out of the museum!"
Smiling for my remark, she gives double thumbs up for it. "As expected for my explosion kameraden, for realizing that Explosion is an art."
Was that a reference to N*ruto?
Anyway, dragging her back to the tarp, we ate a Baumkuchen along with a mug of coffee that I brought as an afternoon snack.
Talking about trivial things related to adventuring and improving explosion, we spent our time leisurely before going back.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention.
Few minutes before going back, I launched several mortars at the castle as something to let out my pent up stress from absurdity.
Pretty sure I could feel someone was pissed off by what I did.
-o-
Today, the same shit different day routine of us didn't change.
Despite finally finding another decent quest on the quest board, a simple goblin subjugation, for some reason, our good ol' hetaregami refused it.
"If the quest yields only this much, I'd rather not do it. Because I've been offered a better job yesterday!"
So she said.
While Darkness is nowhere to be seen.
Probably doing some quest with Chris since we barely do any quest recently.
With that, I and Megumin do our usual routine again.
Training/Releasing pent up stress.
"IMPOSSIBLE! HOW COULD YOU CLIMB THIS TALL BARRIER!? BUT THAT ENDS NOW! YOU CANNOT CLIMB THIS ANYMORE BECAUSE I ADDED A POISONOUS WIRES ON TOP OF IT, HOW IS IT!? YOU CAN NEVER CAST EXPLOSION TO MY CASTLE AGAIN!"
We, I repeat, we as in both me and Megumin facepalmed for this stupidity.
Rubbing my temple to ease my headache, I raise my finger up and down with my mouth doing the same to say something, but nothing came out. "You know what? I'm out of fucks to give this idiot, so let's go before he could kill me with this idiocy."
"Yeah, what a fearsome Demon King Army's Boss. For being able to severely injure our mind with his indirect action... He truly is a boss opponent." She remarks.
'You are missing the point, Megumin.' I internally retort.
Nothing much happened afterward except that I lobbed ten more mortar shots than usual to finally settle down my stressed mind.
Looking at me in disbelief, she asks. "Satisfied?"
"Fu~" Taking a deep breath after willing the mortar to disappear, I look back at her and- "Yes, I'm satisfied."
And yes, the reason for her disbelief expression came from the fact that each time I lobbed a mortar, I shout out profanities that would make Rockstar game's protagonists blush.
Returning back to town, I found something I'd rather not found at all.
Right in front of me, nearby the town's gate, a shop is in ruin with Aqua standing in front of said shop with a difficult expression with a large scary looking man standing behind her and there's this good looking guy wearing heavy armor with cape and a sword sheathed behind him along with two pretty looking girl standing on each side.
My Riaju sense is tingling.
I really, really want to yell out 'Riaju just die' but from my experience, this guy must be the good one since whenever there's a problem relating to my party member, the bad one is always from my party.
Just what did she do this time?
Looking back at Megumin behind me, I whisper. "Hey, let's ignore her, okay?"
In response, she took a slight glance at Aqua before going back to me and. "Yes, let us." Nodding to herself, her grip to my back tightens a little bit before saying. "It's not like I leave her or anything, that's because I'm sure she's going to solve her problem by herself."
"Yes, yes, let u-"
"Ah! Kazuma, help me!"
As if mocking me again, fate decides to become a bitch as it made Aqua noticed us.
What the hell, fate!?
Sighing at an incoming headache I'll find myself in, I walk, no, drag myself toward her.
With annoyed expression, I stare at her. "What did you do this time, hetaregami?" I asked with twitching eyebrows.
"What!? It isn't my fault this time!" She retorts while pointing at the good looking guy.
Great, blaming other people for her mistake. How Aqua-like.
"Yeah, right. If you aren't in the wrong, Ash must be a champion of a pokemon league."
"How dare you to say that to this great goddess Aqua-sama!"
Surprisingly, the one saying that isn't Aqua, but the good looking guy.
What is this?
Someone who knew Aqua's identity?
"And who exactly are you?" I asked with arched eyebrows.
Taking one step forward, he rests his right palm at the hilt of his sword and with wind causing his cape to billow, "My name is Mitsurugi Kyouya! The hero reincarnated to this world by this goddess Aqua-sama to exterminate the demon lord!" Then, he points his index finger at me. "Now that you know my name, it is only right for you to introduce yourself as well."
Another reincarnated person? I wonder how many reincarnated people living in this world?
"Kyouya, why should you introduce yourself first?"
"That's right, it is only right for this guy to introduce himself first instead of you!"
So said from two girls beside him.
"I am Satou Kazuma, that's all," I said in annoyed tone before facing Aqua. "Did you know him, Aqua?"
"Not in the slightest."
From her expression, tone, and quickness of answering my question, I can deduce that she is saying the truth.
"Wha-?" He stuttered before composing himself. "Excuse me, but I am the one whom you gave this magic sword Gram and entrust me in the quest to defeat the demon lord, Aqua-sama."
"Eh, um..." She paused for a bit. "Oh! So you're that guy, huh?" She said in a totally not convincing tone while scratching the back of her head. "Then, why did you trash this place!?"
Huh?
"But, you were being-"
"Wait, wait, just what the heck is going on here?"
My question was answered by the large man behind Aqua.
After explaining in detail of what happened with few times shutting the fuck out of Kyouya to let the man talk, I could sum up what really happened.
- Aqua took a job as a temporary caretaker of this pet shop which paid her around 250,000 Eris for three days job due to the owner, the large man-san, is going on a business to the next town.
Probably why she wouldn't come with us to do the goblin subjugation quest.
- For two days, there's nothing much going on.
- The third and last day, when she was cleaning one of the cages, she, being Aqua, accidentally locked herself up inside and yelling out for help.
- Then, there's this good looking man passing by and somehow heard her plea.
- Finding out that she is the goddess Aqua, the one who reincarnate him to this world, he thought that this pet shop is a slave trading house under the guise of a pet shop.
- Angry at this, he wrecks everything here despite Aqua's plea to stop.
- By the time owner-san returned, he was shocked, to say the least when seeing his store in ruin like this.
And we're back at the current situation.
My only response to this situation is to facepalm in disbelief.
"Mein Gott, this is one of the stupidest shit I've ever see-"
"Kazuma, remember the Dullahan barrier," Megumin interjects from behind.
"Alright, the second stupidest shit I've ever seen, but I digress. It's just a hyperbole, Megumin, hyperbole." Then, I look back at the guy. "So, now that we know the true story, care to pay for the damage you've caused, Hero-san?" I asked in a sarcastic tone.
"What!? Just look at him, he looks like someone who works in that kind of job! And Aqua-sama might be brainwashed for her to almost forgot me!"
I think this guy is entering the five stages of grief, part one, denial.
And he's the kind of person who judges the book by its cover.
AND he's a damn Riaju if those two clingy partner of his is any indication.
"I don't think it's really wise to judge people by their appearance remembering that everything in this world is more than meet the eyes."
"But still-" He tried to retort.
Tried.
"I already told you many times that I wasn't sold as a slave, but why don't you listen!?" Aqua beats me to it.
"Ah, how cruel, for you to be enslaved in a brainwashing magic! But don't worry, I shall free you from the shackle of accursed mind magic right n-" Then, he grabbed Aqua's hand forcefully.
Peering into her eyes, he tries to see if there are really any brainwashing magic cast upon her, but it only serves to creep Aqua out.
Before I could stop his creepy behavior-
"Hold it right there, what are you trying to do with my party member?" A voice suddenly interrupts.
Looking at the source, it's Darkness and Chris, probably returning from whatever they're doing before. Ah, Chris waves her hand this way, how carefree...
"You are?"
"I am Darkness, a member of Kazuma's party and that Arch-priest is also in the same party. What exactly are you trying to do with her?" She asked in a stern voice.
Hearing that, he turns around to look at me. "Your party huh? Hmm, wait a minute, Satou Kazuma... That sounds like a Japanese name and what you wear right now..." Letting Aqua go, he inspects my outfit as if I'm some sort of exotic animal. Then, he nodded to himself. "I see now. It's clear to me."
What clear?
I feel like something stupid is going to happen because the tingling of my Riaju sense is being overridden by another tingling in my idiot sense.
With wide eyes, he points his index finger at me. "Just like me, you came from Japan and your 'gift' must be a magic that brainwashes her! Also, that attire proves that you must be a nazi sympathizer and thus act like them! Truly a disgraceful kind of human!"
Never in my life, I'd want my instinct to be wrong.
I'd really like to do a double facepalm, but settled to groan instead cause I'm too tired with his weird logic.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, First, this uniform is a WWI uniform of German's soldier, not the Nazi ones. Second, don't call me a nazi sympathizer, while their weaponry and uniform are cool, being called one is another thing. Lastly, I didn't brainwash anyone, even if I could brainwash this hetaregami, I'd brainwash her to be smarter."
"Hey!" Aqua yelled out.
"Be it WWI or WWII or Cold War or Modern times, all Germans are Nazis and you can't hide the truth from me."
"Wow, just how fucked up the content of your mind? If Germanic people heard that, I won't stop them from killing you if they want to." I sarcastically remarked.
"Anyway, since you and this man must be colluding together for brainwashing your party member to follow you, I shall have them free from your mind binding and join me in the effort of defeating the demon lord!"
He didn't even listen to me, did he?
Alright, a simple knock to his head with my rifle's butt should be-
SLAP
Huh?
Something amazing just happened.
Darkness bitch-slapped his face.
"Just how far do you want to disgrace my party member? First, your action creeps my party member. Second, you accuse another without trying to listen to his reasoning. And third, you intended to harm my comrade. Do you really think a crusader such as myself will let you do something like that?"
"Kyouya!" x2
Both of his followers shouted out.
"Hey, what about my ruined shop?" The man behind me muttered.
Poor guy, he was completely ignored.
"Guh, for your brainwash to be this strong to corrupt a gallant and valorous woman such as her as well-"
Tuning out of his nonsense rambling, I turn my face to Megumin on my back. "Hey, do you think you can get down? I think I have to do something before this stupid guy does something weird."
"Ah, I already recovered enough to stand since we returned to town, so sure, go ahead."
This girl too...
"Hey, you fourth grail war caster Gilles de Rais wannabe!"
"What!?"
That got his attention.
"You keep blabbering about I brainwash this and that, but do you even have any concrete proof?"
"I need no prove, you fiend. I shall have you free all these fine maidens from the spell you bound them."
"As expected for Kyouya! I knew you were the one destined to be mine!"
"No, he's mine!"
There's those two arguing as well.
"What? Are you challenging me to a fight?" I get to the point.
If my word can't get to him, maybe my bullets can.
"Yeah! If you lose, you shall free them of your brainwash or I have to eliminate you and never to return to this town!"
"Hey, what if I win?" I asked in an annoyed tone.
"Hmm? That will be impossible, but if you somehow do in one in a million chance, what is your demand?"
"It's really simple actually, just pay the damage of this poor guy's pet shop and don't show your annoying face around my party again."
"Hmph, fine."
With that, we walked away from each other and face each other in the middle of the empty street with ten meters of road separating us.
"Alright, Satou Kazuma, I shall challenge you to a duel!"
BANG!
Before he could charges forward, the sword he drew flew from his hand after announcing the challenge and fell to the ground with a thud.
BANG! BANG!
"GAH!" He shouted in pain as he's trying to stand his ground by kneeling.
"Kyouya!" x2
And now there are two holes appeared on both of his knees.
Without wasting any time, I launch my body forward and deliver a roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him out.
"Next time, don't bring a sword to a gunfight." I dramatically declared, only to sweatdrop afterward as I realized that he couldn't hear me, courtesy of being unconscious. Turning back, I look at Aqua. "Hey Aqua, can you heal his wound? Only the one caused by my firearms since I don't wanna wake him up early after all."
"Are you really sure?" She asked with a puzzled expression.
"Yeah."
Actually, I have another goal.
For Science!
As she cast her healing magic at his wounded knees, I saw two rounds that were lodged inside slowly floats out of the hole before the wound closing slowly. By the time the healing finished, a sound of two rounds that fell on the ground with a 'ping' snapped me back to reality.
Yes, my goal is to see how Aqua's healing magic affect the gunshot wound.
One of the biggest questions about healing magic effect to gunshot wound is that will the round came out of the wound before sealing up? Or will it stay inside the victim's body? Or will it disappear?
Right in front of me, my first theory proved to be the one.
"You coward! How could you attack Kyouya like that!" The green haired one shouted out.
"I wished you die getting kicked by a horse!" The red haired one cursed.
Ignoring them, I took his sword.
Imagine the potential.
Me holding this sword in one hand with a pistol or sawed off shotgun in the other while wearing a red trench coat and bleached my hair white.
"What are you doing Kazuma?" Aqua asked in a puzzled tone.
"What else do you think? To the victor goes the spoil, right?" I stated in a matter of fact tone.
"Scum! Don't you dare to take Kyouya's sword! Only he who could use that sword!" The green haired one yelled yet again.
"What?"
"That's right, as much as your chuuni imagination wants to run, you simply can't. Only he himself could use it."
Sighing at the revelation, I put my Luger back into its holster. "How unfortunate, but I'll take it anyway."
"What!? Thief! Brute! Give it back!"
Ignoring them, I urge my party to get back at the adventurer guild.
On our way back-
"Hey Darkness, why did you stand up against that prick? I thought you'd like someone like him."
Hearing that, her face turned red, not her usual blush, but anger. "What are you saying? That guy is a no go." She paused before turning red again, now it's her regular blush. Ah, that can't be good. "That's right, if it's a Sadist or Savage, I'd like it, but the same could not be said with a psycho."
I knew it.
-o-
The next day.
It was both funny and scary to describe what's going on before me.
Despite yesterday's stupid shenanigans about barrier and Gilles de Rais v2.0, I couldn't help to find the spectacle before me, unnerving, to say the least.
Because the stupid barrier that was erected here is nowhere to be seen and no notes either.
Just what is going on here?
Asking Megumin's opinion on this-
"Well, this probably means that pathetic Dullahan finally gave up and allow us to do as we please."
Not really helping.
"Megumin, I think you should cast it quickly and get back to town, my instinct told me something not great is going to happen if we stay any longer." I cautioned her.
She just nodded at that.
It seems like she understood the severity of this situation. Or probably not having many people backing her from behind... Whichever is it.
After a quick 'boom' on the castle, we went back early.
By the time we're back in town, it's in the middle of the afternoon.
Deciding to spend our time in the adventurer guild until Megumin recovered enough to walk by herself, we do just that.
Opening the door to the guild, we were greeted by the usual sight of Aqua doing what she does best besides her healing spell.
Partying.
Holding a mug in her left hand while performing party tricks, she attracts a lot of attention from adventurers inside. And from her blushed face, I'm pretty sure she's drunk as well.
If anyone asking me to describe this hetaregami in three keywords, it'd be Party, Idiot, Craziness.
Wasting any money she had to throw a party and put everyone's tab on her, she lives her life lavishly as if there's nothing to worry about tomorrow.
When I asked her about wasting money, she casually replied: "Huh? Are you dumb? Money exist to be spent! It is only right for us to spend them as it's their purpose, right?"
While I can't exactly refute that statement, I can't agree with that either.
Because when she ran out of money, she either tries to goad me into lending her some money or forcing me to grab a dangerous quest with a huge sum of money.
Why can't this hetaregami live a little bit frugal?
Ah crap, she's looking at us.
"Kazuma-shan!" She stutters while calling us out.
She's drunk alright.
Ignoring her antics, I proceed to walk pass by her to put Megumin down on a chair before sitting myself down right next to her.
Ordering a simple sandwich and a cold neroid swish as our lunch, we decided to rest ourselves until Megumin recovered enough to at least walk on her own.
While enjoying our lunch, we watch Aqua's party trick into play.
It's amusing, to say the least.
Just like a clown.
I wonder if this is the reason why she could earn her money through working as a saleswoman promoting what she sold by her party tricks.
Musing about that, I didn't realize someone slams open the door and walk toward me until Megumin shook my shoulder.
Ah shit, it's the fucking Riaju again.
"Didn't our deal involve you to not meet any member of my party? And that includes me, by the way. What the heck do you want?" I asked in an annoyed tone.
Luckily I have already finished my sandwich else it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth when seeing him again.
Kneeling down on the floor at my remark, he looks up to me. "Forgive my rude and bigoted act yesterday, my eyes were clouded in rage to the point I can't even see things objectively." He paused while looking down. Clouded by rage? Are you serious? Then, he looks up again. "I know what I did right now is a shameful act as a knight for going back to his promise, but-" Throwing down his body, he performs a dogeza in front of me. Why do I feel that I got everyone's attention by his action? "Please return my sword! I'd do anything for you to regain back the treasure that Aqua-sama entrusted to me." He begs. And from his tone and all, it seems that he is really serious and sincere in apologizing to me. Probably because he thought I possess his sword.
And that's the problem.
"Sorry, even if I do have your sword, I'd rather not ask you to do something for me."
Hearing my dry remark, his expression turned from distressed into despair. "Please! Name what your wish! A high-grade equipment? A large sum of cash? A life debt?"
"It's not like that, but you see, I don't have your sword." That despaired expression turned into dumbfound as he could only utter a 'Huh?' dumbly as a response.
"Yeah well, since I couldn't use it anyway, I decided to sell it to the blacksmith in this town."
"NO! ! !"
Without any fanfare, he dashed out of the guild in panic.
"What do you know? Turns out he isn't as an asshole as I thought he'd be." I muttered in amazement.
Really now, I thought he'd be crazy and strangle me to death for what I did to his sword. I'd do that if I were him, though.
"Kazuma, you're the one that looks like an A-hole right now if no one knows any better." Megumin sweatdropped.
"Megumin, you do know what he did yesterday, right?"
"Please, I already said that if no one knows any better." She retorts.
By the way, Katsurugi? the guy somehow didn't notice Aqua and the same can be said to her. Probably because one is in panic and the other is too drunk to notice anyway. It's for the best these two doesn't meet, cause the last thing I want is the repeat of yesterday even if it'll be more subdued now that he's calm and not deluded.
Not long afterward, we decided to leave the guild for a walk in a town when Megumin finally regained her energy enough to walk normally.
Visiting various places, we waste our time doing just that until evening.
After having the usual dinner, we went separate ways(except for me and Aqua for obvious reason).
As per usual, after-party Aqua slept earlier than usual while I 'train' my craft.
The current status of my party is:
Aqua: Arch-priest, level 14
Darkness: Crusader, level 17
Me: Militärbeauftragter, level 20
Megumin: Arch-wizard, level 20
It's rather weird that I'm just a level 20 adventurer when I was able to slain more than a hundred of those Demonic Treants, but apparently, those creatures only yield more experience points when they were purified by holy magic instead of physical attack, which is why Aqua's 10 level leaps isn't really surprising while back then, I only gain three level rise.
For my stats, it seems like some of my stats' growth is slowing down.
Since level 15, my magic stat only grew a little from C+ to B- while my physical stat, while not as fast as magical ones, it's relatively steadier across the board(STR(C-), AGI(C+), SPD(C+), VIT(D+)).
Meanwhile, I've gained several new skill during the last two weeks of nothing much happening.
- CQC: Close Quarter Combat, a passive skill that allows- The rest is self-explanatory and I used this against that Mitsuragi? guy before. Cost: 3 Skill Points.
- Efficiency II: Any object that was created will cost 25% less mana for the next time it'll be made with added 2,5% reduction per object, maximum reduction limit: 50%. Cost: 8 Skill Points.
- Grenadier: Passive skill that will improve user's skill with explosives. Cost: 3 Skill Points.
While Explosion skill came up on the learn-able skill list, I simply don't have enough skill points to learn it nor great mana capacity to effectively utilize the powerful spell.
Tonight, I'm going to create a weapon more overkill than a rifle loaded with the K-Bullet!
"'Creation!'"
-o-
"Party~ Party~ I love to party~"
Humming beside me is Aqua.
It's pretty early in the morning and from the sun's position, I think it's probably around six.
Today, we woke up a tad bit earlier. I don't know her motivation, but I woke up due to this tingling feeling of wanting to shoot something with my new weapon.
Speaking of a new weapon, strapped on my back with a sling isn't my usual MP18 or Gewehr 98, but a rifle that is slightly longer than my own height.
Entering the guild, other adventurers only sparing a single glance to me and my new weapon. Probably because they're too used to seeing me carrying a weird weapon(in their eyes).
Spotting Megumin who is munching her breakfast that consist of a steak, salad, and a glass of some sort of juice, I and Aqua sat down next to her.
While still munching her meal, she turns her head to me. "Oh, itsh ish kashuma an Akua, you're rasher let?"
"Swallow your meal first, I couldn't understand the latter part of your sentence," I said while grabbing a menu to choose my breakfast.
Hearing that, the next thing I heard is an audible 'gulp' from beside me, signaling that she finally did just that. "You're later than usual Kazuma, what's up?"
"It's not like I'm late, you're just too early. There's barely ten adventurers here." I said while looking through the menu, trying to choose the best meal for my breakfast.
Taking a glance to her back, she confirms my statement with her own eyes.
"Waitress! Fried toad legs as usual!" Aqua cheerfully ordered.
"Yes!" The waitress responded.
Arching her eyebrows for a few seconds, she turned back and cut into her steak again. "I see... Then, what are we going to do today?" She said before taking putting a bite-sized cut up of a steak into her mouth. Hmm, that looks tasty.
"It's the usual, right? If there's decent quest, we take it, if not, we'll train." Then, I put down the menu in my hand before raising up my index finger. "Waitress, one steak, and salad please!"
"Yes!" The waitress responded.
After that, nothing much happened except Darkness joining in and eating our breakfast together.
When it's done, we decided to look for a quest.
"Well, today I'm going to hold a party, so I won't be joining you."
Now I knew her motivation for waking up early.
Fine, we still have Darkness.
Just as we finally stood in front of the quest board with many selections of quests, an alarm rang.
"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare all your equipment and gather at the town's main gate ready for battle–!"
What is it now?
"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare all your equipment and gather at the town's main gate ready for battle–! Especially Satou Kazuma-san and his companions, please head to the scene as soon as possible!"
"Aqua, did you do something this time?" I asked with twitching eyebrows.
"Why do you blame me for almost every problem happening?"
"Technically, all problems we've encountered were caused either directly or indirectly by you."
"Muu..."
"Anyway, let's quickly handle this problem."
Rushing toward the front gate, I saw every citizen of Axel running around in panic toward their home before closing everything and adventurers are running toward the announced position with a grim or despair expression painted upon their face.
"Is this going to be the day I die?"
"I don't wanna die yet!"
"Even if I'm going to die, I'll die protecting the citizen of this town!"
Those kinds of morbid talk among adventurers happened.
What's going on here?
Soon enough, our question was answered.
Hook, line, and sinker.
Riding a headless horse is the Dullahan from before, but what made those adventurers scared to death is the fact that the green plain behind him is now a sea of black. And no, it's not his dark aura, but a crazy amount of undead warrior of all kinds blot out the scenery of the plains before us.
Alright, time to commence plan 'Let's Kill The Dullahan'.
Taking a step forward, the Dullahan raise its sword up high, followed by his undead army. "My name is Verdia, one of the demon king army's boss! I came here with my army of death to punish two impudent adventurers from before for what they did. And if any of you try to hide them or they try to escape, I shall unleash my undead army to this town to make an example to not anger someone far more powerful than yourself!" It declared while releasing an oppressive aura as if to prove his point. "But! Because I still retain a small bit of my honor as a knight back when I was still a human, if you come out right now, I shall mercifully grant you a painless death and spare these innocent citizens from death!" He added.
That declaration sure made everyone riled up as they're trying to look for 'two impudent adventurers'.
Though, they could only find one.
And even then, they didn't exactly find her as she gallantly walks toward the Dullahan and struck a pose in front of it with her left knee slightly raised, her left hand barely covering her face but her eyes and her right index finger pointed at the Dullahan. "My name is Megumin, an Arch-wizard from Crimson Magic Clan! And Verdia the Dullahan, you have fallen into our trap!" She declared.
While she's doing that, I already positioned myself above the town's gate with my stealth skill active and set down the bipod of my Tankgewehr M1918 before aiming at the Dullahan's weak point.
"Hoo? Do you think I'll fall for that again when right now I don't see any of your companion around? Don't be a f-"
Bye-bye.
DOBAHN!
KA-CHINK!
Right before the Dullahan could finish its sentence, a loud noise resounded through the plains.
Followed by its body falling down from its steed- If you look closer, it's actually just its armor without anything inside laying on the ground.
Is that it?
Apparently, it wasn't only me who shared this sentiment.
From the fearful whispering of adventurers to some sort of excitement from the undead knight to turn into a silence, it really says something about the situation.
Even Megumin could only stare blankly while blinking few times at the pieces of armor in front of her while still in her pose.
Ten seconds.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
No sign of the Dullahan being alive(as much as being an undead is considered alive anyway).
"""EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?"""
That day, be it young, old, boy, girl, man, woman, living, undead, warrior, etc united in screaming at the absurdity they've faced, namely-
Demon King Army's Boss was killed in such anticlimactic way.
To Be Continued...
A/N:
Phew, the seventh chapter is done. As per usual tradition, the title means That Was Easy, mirroring what in the f*ck happened in the end of this chapter and yeah, Kazuma and co. continues to mess things up. Although it's rather unfortunate for Darkness to not join the shenanigans lately, but it's something that I'll rectify later. Anyway, if you're asking about how Kazuma and Megumin to have the same level, it's because, in those two weeks, they're not only blowing shit up around Verdia's castle, but sometimes do real quest while employing the boring, yet practical tactic from Kazuma about her using Explosion to eliminate their enemies as much as possible and the rest will clean up those who managed to survive. Now, for the terms and references:
- Explosion Is An Art: A quote made by Deidara from Naruto(He's an explosive maniac like Megumin, but less zany and crazier)
- Baumkuchen: A German variety of spit cake. It is a traditional pastry of many European countries throughout, and also a popular snack and dessert in Japan. The characteristic rings that when sliced resemble tree rings, and give the cake its German name, Baumkuchen, which literally translates to "tree cake". It's also rather popular in Japan as Baumkuchen where it is called baumukūhen (バウムクーヘン). It is a popular return present in Japan for wedding guests because of its typical ring shape. It was first introduced to Japan by the German Karl Joseph Wilhelm Juchheim. Juchheim was in the Chinese city of Tsingtao during World War I when Britain and Japan laid siege to Tsingtao. He and his wife were then interned at Okinawa. Juchheim started making and selling the traditional confection at a German exhibition in Hiroshima in 1919. After the war, he chose to remain in Japan. Continued success allowed him to move to Yokohama and open a bakery, but its destruction in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake caused him to move his operations to Kobe, where he stayed until the end of World War II. Some years later, his wife returned to help a Japanese company open a chain of bakeries under the Juchheim name that further helped spread baumkuchen's popularity in Japan.
- Riaju: A Japanese term for a fulfilled person in his life. Typically used by otakus to describe people who lead busy social lives, spend all their nights hanging out with friends and getting drunk and stuff, and people who have positive relationships with a significant other.
- Ash Being Champion: It's a metaphor for impossibility cause no matter how good Ash became in the Pokemon series, the writer or studio just love to make him always lose in any pokemon league(barring Orange Island, it didn't count) be it from circumstance or pulling out Deus Ex Machina enemy at him.
- All Germans Are Nazis: It's an unfortunate stereotyping to modern Germanic people due to the existence of Nazi in their country during the WWII era. While this stereotyping isn't prevalent anymore(cause, I'm pretty sure all Europe would rather forget Hitler than to remember him by calling all German people Nazis and the fact that the European Union really relies on Germany), there are still some pricks or pussies out there in the internet who really likes to call Germanic people this either for trolling or for the lols. Actually, let me tell you that this is one of the greatest insults to them and if you ever had any thought about calling Germanic people this, I'd encourage you to call them out right in front of their face instead of using the power of anonymity granted by the internet and see what happens.
- Fourth Grail War Caster Gilles De Rais: A Fate/Zero reference, this guy is a nasty piece of work, that's all I'm gonna say, just google it and you'll know why.
- Sword, One-handed Firearm, White Hair, and Red Trenchcoat: Reference from Dante in Devil May Cry series.
- Tankgewehr M1918: The Mauser 13 mm anti-tank rifle (German: Tankgewehr M1918, usually abbreviated T-Gewehr) was the world's first anti-tank rifle—the first rifle designed for the sole purpose of destroying armored targets—and the only anti-tank rifle to see service in World War I. Approximately 15,800 were produced. During the First World War, the onset of static, trench warfare saw the rise in the use of armor plate for personal defense, and the development and use of armour-piercing ammunition to counter this. Both Britain and Germany used high-powered rifles, such as elephant guns from their African colonies, for this purpose. The first use of armored fighting vehicles (tanks) was by the British at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette in September 1916 and were followed by the French. By June 1917, the German Army faced the Mark IV tank and found that the standard armour-piercing 7.92 mm K bullet was no longer effective. This prompted the development by the Germans of a heavy-calibre and high-velocity rifle as an anti-tank weapon. The Mauser Company responded with the 13mm T-gewehr and began mass production at Oberndorf am Neckar in May 1918. The first of these off the production lines were issued to specially raised anti-tank detachments. The rifle was a single-shot bolt-action rifle using a modified Mauser action, with rounds manually loaded into the chamber. The weapon had a pistol grip and bipod, but no method of reducing recoils, such as a soft buttpad or muzzle brake. This could cause problems for the shooter with repeated firing. The iron sights were composed of a front blade and tangent rear, graduated in 100-meter increments from 100 to 500 meters. The rifle was operated by a two-man crew of a gunner and ammunition bearer, who were both trained to fire the weapon. Due to the tremendous blunt force of the recoil, it was designed to be shot in a static position, either prone or from inside a trench. The armour-piercing hardened steel cored 13.2 x 92mm (.525-inch) semi-rimmed cartridge, often simply called "13 mm", was originally planned for a new, heavy Maxim MG.18 water-cooled machine gun, the Tank und Flieger (TuF) meaning for use against "tank and flier", which was under development and to be fielded in 1919. The rounds weighed 51.5 g (795 gn) with an initial velocity of 785 m/s (2,580 ft/s). At 100 m an armor plate 22 mm thick could be pierced.
Type: Bolt-Action Rifle
Caliber: 13.2mm TuF (.525 Caliber)
Action: Bolt Action
Capacity: 1
Review Response:
- IncognitoSandwich: Well, I'll try to censor less about my reference next time and if anything, I put up an explanation for some reference I made in the A/N.
- ArmantusCumPinnae: I won't say anything or else it'd be a spoiler, mein freund. Also, ain't volksgrenadier is just a grenadier, but instead from military, it's a civilian in conscript?
- RedSS: Glad you liked it! Also, I wonder why you keep calling Kazuma Kaiser lol.
- PotatoZiriki: I follow the LN(primarily) and anime.
- TheMysteriousOtaku: Of course, I can't pass a good joke like that. It's a funny as f*ck movie.
- MysticSpider: The bounty is separate, 100k is just for completing the quest, 20k per goblin slain.
- tsun: Heh, there you go.
- XxPokemonMasterxX: Huh? What exactly is your question, kameraden?
- TheGreatHazelnut: Thanks.
- Ultra6man: Well, he did 'will' every the spent cartridge, but the bullet lodged inside his enemy? Nay. About vehicle, let's just see about that later while elemental magic won't be added to his bullet cause he can't learn magic at all(except Explosion for a morbid reason).
- Judgment of the Arbiter: Your welcome, mein freund!
- T51b Moridin: Yeah, lol.
That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and favs my story, I'll try my best to write this story to your and mine's satisfaction.
P.S. To Germanic reader out there, please correct my words or terms about German if I'm wrong since I'm still learning about your language. Tschüss!
P.S.S. To anyone who is also a Troper there(TVTrope dweller), if you like this story, I hope you might put this up in the fanfic recs or if possible, make a trope page! Although, I also recommend the same to Radiant Crimson by PRONTO3000 as it's one of the 10% worth getting killed and resurrected by Aqua fic(In my opinion).