"Sit down." It was the first thing that he heard. As Kazuma looked around, he found that this wasn't the room that he was familiar with.
He had been in both Eris's and Aqua's rooms, but this place was completely different; it was hard for him to put it into words, but if he had to describe the room, it was a mixture of his old room, the mansion that he now called home and both goddesses rooms all mixed into one.
"Where am I?" he asked the woman whose voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember who it belonged to.
Wolbach smirks as she looks at Kazuma, she would have liked to talk to him as a friend, but for the moment, she needed to do her job, and knowing Kazuma, she needed to make sure that he didn't take advantage of this moment.
So she messed with his mind to make sure that he didn't do anything while he was here.
"Kazuma, we don't have a lot of time, so let me explain your situation."
"You have beaten the Demon King, but you also committed a lot of crimes."
"But."
"Let me finish."
"Did Eris or Aqua tell you why they kept sending people to that world o what the gods considered that world?" Wolbach waits for Kazuma to answer, but when he doesn't say anything, she decides to continue with her explanation.
"We considered it a lost world, a world where we failed, and the forces of hell were about to win." She can't help but smile as she remembers all of Kazuma's misadventures.
"And then one day, a miracle happened, a man without any talents stole a goddess, defeated the demon king's strongest generals, and fought against machines that destroyed entire kingdoms." she stands up and places her hand on his cheek.
"A crime is a crime, but when placed on the scales of fate, they aren't much when compared t a world being saved." she says to him as she whispers into his ear, causing Kazuma to blush.
"What I'm trying to say is, Kazuma Sato, your life in that world has ended; there is no way of returning you to it, but" She allows Kazuma to regain all of his memories so he can recognize her and as she does this both Eris and Aqua walk into her room.
Both goddesses have tears in their eyes as they cry, but before anyone can say anything, Aqua runs to Kazumas side and hugs him tightly before she begins to cry loudly.
Eris, who normally is the one who can control herself, begins to walk closer to them before she runs to their side and hugs the pair as she finally breaks down crying.
Wolbach can only smile as she looks at the scene in front of her.
"Kazuma," she says to him as she draws the attention of the three.
"As a reward for what you have done, the Heavens have chosen to send you to a version of your world that is in danger of being destroyed, but it's up to you to decide if you want to get involved."
"Now, what I am about to say may sound cruel, but please forget about your friends; they will have to move on. It may not seem fair, but it's how things are and how they always should be."
She turns and looks at both Eris and Aqua, who hide their faces when they notice what she is hinting at, and Kazuma can only smile as he looks at the pair while he realizes what she is hinting at.
"Do I get any information about where I'm going or what I'm going to do when I get there?" Kazuma asks her.
"Sure ."
"This is a story about two heroes that should have never met; in a world that was about to die."
"This is a story of what could have been if things had been just a little bit different in a time when things are changing."
"How does that help me?!" Kazuma complained, and Wolbach couldn't help but smile.
"It doesn't."
"Go live your life." Wolbach says to him as Kazuma blinks and finds himself in a village that he has never seen before.
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They say that it's the end of the world. They say that because of the invasion of the monsters, every kingdom of the world was forced to explore and meet one another.
perhaps if things had been different, then perhaps greedy kings, lords, and emperors would have waged war on those that they deemed weaker than them, but this is not that time.
"How do you plea?" the king's voice echoed through the court. The man hadn't raised his voice, nor did he do anything to intimidate her, but his presence carried so much power that his voice alone made her tremble.
"Guilty." she answers the king, as her breath is taken from her.
"I see." she can hear the disappointment in the king's voice as she notices his glare soften for a second before his eyes harden again.
The doors of the courtroom open, and a man with short brown hair of what looks like Japanize origin walks in, escorted by a pair of guards.
"Your father has served me well all of these years, and it is because of him that I will not give you the punishment that you deserve."
"This man entered the empire without a letter of his lord or whatever he may have lived under. Your fates are now tied."
"You are his punishment, and he is yours."
"Perhaps if he proves his worth, then you may return to your original position, and if you are lucky, then just like your father, he will be awarded a second or even fourth wife for you to learn to live with, get out." the king says to them.
She doesn't say anything as she walks towards the man to who she has been handed; she can see the confusion and shock in his eyes, she can tell that he wants to say something, but he wisely holds his tung.
She has been cast out, meaning that she is above a slave but beneath the commoners, who, at the very least, have a place to live.
They cant even live in the city, she wished that they could at the very least be allowed to live in one of the villages, even if they are dangerous to live in, but no, she is an outcast, and so she has to live outside of anyplace that is considered safe.
The king sentenced her to death even if he never used those words, and the man next to her didn't seem to care.
He is still smiling even as they walk out of the court.
"Kazuma, heard you got married; good job." A man says to the man next to her, who she now knows is named Kazuma, as he walks by.
The man isn't alone; he is accompanied by several people wearing armor or wearing strange clothes, and then she remembers that these people are adventurers, people who risk their lives hunting monsters or exploring abandoned places.
"Yo" Kazuma says to the guards who are standing in front of the teleportation gate, the guards look past him and focus on her; she can feel their gaze piercing her very being.
"What you did was stupid girl, but what do I know about how nobles think." one of the guards says to her before he turns and looks at Kazuma.
"Kazuma, before we open the gate, do you know why the king didn't kill you?" the guard asks Kazuma.
'Because I'm just that charming." Kazuma answers the guard before both guards glare at him, but the guards have a smile on their faces, and their glares soften.
"Arrogant as ever, he knows that you are guarding the outside and keeping the people out there as safe as you can. So he let you go because of it, and that makes you a member of the empire, so don't go running off somewhere else." the guard says to Kazuma.
Behind both guards, a light begins to shine, signaling that the teleporting gate has been activated, an all three men turn to look at her, signaling her to step in.
The moment she steps into the gate, she hears the sound of dry wood breaking beneath her shoe.
As she looks around, she finds that she is in a forest. It doesn't matter what forest she is in; she knows that her fate is sealed because no forest is safe.
"Come on; we can talk when we get home." Kazuma says to her as he walks past her.
they soon arrive at a village that is surprisingly large despite it being in the forest, and she can see another village not too far away from where she is that is surrounded by walls not too far away from where they are.
The village she is in is higher than the other village, so she knows that she is on a mountain somewhere, which is why she can see the other village from where she is.
She doesn't have time to think about anything else as Centaur walks past her without a care; next to him is a Lizardman who is bragging about his last kill; the pair is accompanied by a large white dog that faithfully follows next to a man with white eyes.
"Welcome to the Village of Ex; we call it that because everyone here was something else."
'It doesn't matter what you were, that's what you were; this is a place where everyone can start over, so maybe that's why it grew so fast." Kazuma says to her.
"I'm Kazuma Sato." Kazuma introduces himself to her.