Gate: Thus the Brotherhood of Steel Lyon's Pride Fought in Their Land

Chapter Thirty - Two - Kazuma Sato

Kazuma had saw what happened, and instantly he thought of the more dangerous dungeons back on the world they came from. Thankfully Darkness was taking his far more seriously than her normal pervy attitude. She wanted to be captured and used by monsters and demons absolutely, but she didn't want to be turned into some kind of suit for a small robot. It was kind of funny in the sense that the very thing to get her past the idea of trying to be captured by their enemies was seeing exactly what their enemies had done.

Compared to the things they'd seen in this world already the Devil King had a long way to go in order to match the level crazy and screwed up things here. The raiders could give pointers to the demons they'd fought so far, and of course this medical center was more dangerous than most of the dungeons they'd seen. He looked at Megumin who was holding her pistol. She'd used it, and the shot had caused the small robot to miss them. She had helped far more than she really knew.

"Everything okay?"

She shook her head, "I have to use this," she said as she looked at the gun, "I couldn't blow it away with my explosion spell. If I could have used it then it wouldn't have been so close."

He touched her and she looked at him, "Is this what the dungeons are like?"

He gave a little nod, "Most of the time, yeah," he admitted, "Sure, there's some good stuff too, but most of the time it's being in a cramped place without much of a place to run. Thankful there's not any mimics down here."

"I wanna leave!" Aqua shouted from behind him, "Kazuma, sneak me out!"

He looked at her for a moment, "Aqua, for a moment I want you to pretend that your intelligence score isn't so low, and I want you to think about what you're asking."

"I'm not asking!" she shouted, "I'm demanding that you take me out! I'm a goddess! I deserve to be outside of this place!"

"Shut up," Rory said after a moment, "You're annoying, and you are useless. The only reason you are here is to help with ensuring that those that need to be healed are healed. You can't do that because you're too frightened. You truly are a pathetic excuse for a goddess."

"I am not!" she shouted at Rory, "I'm the goddess of water! I control all water, regardless of where it is! I can even control the creatures that live in it to some degree!"

"Wait, are you serious?" Kazuma asked, "So, you can control squids and crabs and things like that?"

She nodded, "Uh huh!" she exclaimed, "I'm the goddess of water, of all water, and creatures that live in the water are normally under my control."

"So, that means that you could have controlled the giant toads?"

She shook her head, "No," she said looking at him, "The giant toads lived on land. Sure, they could swim, but they're land animals. I can control animals that live most of their lives in water. I guess that I could have controlled the water in the giant toads if I wanted to, but that's icky."

"You could have made our jobs so much easier, by controlling the giant toads, making them sit still, and letting me kill them, but you didn't do it because doing that is icky?"

She nodded, "Yeah, exactly!" she exclaimed, "It's icky. It feels gross when you do that to a monster, It's kind of weird to do it to a person too. I really don't like it, so that's why I mostly just control the water that is out and about everywhere. It's a whole lot easier to do."

Kazuma looked at her, "She's right," he said as he looked at the blue haired goddess, "You are useless. I mean you make so much extra work, and for what? What is honestly redeemable about you? It's difficult to work with you, it's impossible to save any kind of cash with you around because you're constantly going after food and booze that's way to expensive, and the only things that you can do are turn the undead and control water!"

She looked at him, "Don't say that!" she cried, "I can heal people, and I can bring back the dead!"

Megumin looked at her, "I didn't have to be covered in giant toad drool," she deadpanned, "I didn't have to stink like I'd been in the mouth of a giant toad. You could have saved us so much trouble, and you didn't because it was too much work? Yeah, they're right, you are useless."

"No I'm not!" she cried, "I'm a goddess! I can control the water, watch!"

She stretched up her hands and the pipes began to rattle above them. Kazuma heard the sound of the water surging inside of the pipes. The sound of it filled the room they were in, and he watched as one of the sprinkler heads outside of the room popped off. When it did the water didn't merely spray out. Instead it slide out in what seemed to be a form. He saw another Aqua, one made of water, standing there, and looking around. It took three steps before it looked back, waved, and then looked like it was laughing.

"SEE!" she shouted, "I'm a goddess!"

"What can it do?"

She looked at Adam who asked, "What can your water clone do? Can you use it to see things?"

She nodded, "Sure," she said, "I can see everything it can see, and I can have it interact with the area around it, but it is made of water, so it really can't hold anything or use one of those computers that you guys have been using. It can, however travel through the pipes."

Kazuma looked at her, "How long have you been able to do that?"

She looked at him, "Ummm, forever, why?"

Kazuma face palmed as he stood there, "You could have done this, the entire time?" he asked as he looked at her, "All of the times that we could have used someone expendable to go ahead and do the dangerous stuff, and I had to do that. I had to go into every dungeon, I had to face every possible death waiting, and you could have made a water clone the entire time?!"

Kazuma was more than irritated, he was pissed. Aqua had allowed him to die countless times, and all because she either didn't want to control the bad guys by controlling the water in their bodies, or because she didn't think to make a water clone to walk ahead of them. He looked at her confused face, and even though he was still pissed he relaxed. He had to remember that ultimately Aqua was an idiot. Her intelligence level was so low that she likely just never even considered the fact that she could have been a bigger help.

"Ummm, I'm sorry?" she asked as she looked at him, "I really didn't think about it. I mean I guess if I would have thought about it then you wouldn't have had to die with Hans, huh?"

She had the decency to look ashamed, "I really just didn't think about it. I don't do it too often because it's not something that's flashy and cool," she admitted, "That's why I like doing Nature's Beauty."

She said that, held out two fans, and springs of water shot out from the fans as a flower bloomed from a pot that appeared on her head, "See, that's cool."

"That is the dumbest thing I've ever seen," Rory said after a moment, "You can create an abstract of water, control it, use it, and see all that it can see. That is far more impressive, but you consider doing a simple party trick better than that?"

Aqua looked at her, her face scrunched up in anger, "Yeah!" she exclaimed, "Because doing that gets people to laugh with me and buy me drinks!"

Her entire reasoning for doing what she did was based solely on the fact that she could get drinks. Kazuma wanted to face palm again. How was it that she managed to piss him off so badly. How was it that she drove him so absolutely insane? Everything she did, every single thing she tried to do, absolutely drove him up the wall. Sure, Darkness was a pervert that wanted to be caught by demons, stripped naked, and used like a sex doll. Megumin loved her spell explosion to the point that she wouldn't learn anything else. But at least the both of them understood when to be serious.

Aqua was stuck being a spoiled brat. She was never going to get any better, and he knew it, "Aqua," he said as he tried to keep himself calm, "Why don't you take your water clone, have it go ahead and scout ahead, and let us know what's waiting?"

She looked at him, "No," she said as she folded her arms, "I'm not doing it until she apologizes for being mean!"

He silently cursed and then looked at Rory who seemed to study her for a moment, "Fine," she said as she folded her own arms, "I'll apologize, but only after you admit that you would rather have everyone else in danger because your ego is so fragile that you would rather have someone die than simply help."

Aqua looked at her, "Ummm, no," she said, as she looked at her, "That's not an apology. That somehow makes me look bad, and I don't want to look bad. I want everyone to love me, and they should. I'm the goddess of water. I'm super powerful, cute, and adorable. Plus, I don't have to pad my chest to look like I got a decent set of boobs. How about you, washboard?"

Rory's glare intensified as she gripped her sickle. She began to move toward her, her lip changing color, and once again Sentinel Reeder moved to grab her, "It's not worth it," he said as he stopped her, "She's an idiot, and anything you do to her only proves that an idiot was able to get under your skin. Do you really want everyone to know that an idiot got to you?"

She relaxed, and then looked at her, "He's right," she said as she looked at her, "You're not worth it."

She looked at them, "I'll check it out," she said as she moved toward the door, "Thanks to Emroy's blessing I heal almost as fast as I am wounded. I should be fine, and besides, I can do more than that inferior water clone."

"My water clone isn't inferior!" Aqua shouted as she looked ahead, "Fine! I'll have it look around!"

Within moments they watched as the water clone began to walk forward. Aqua's eyes began to glow blue as the water clone walked, "I'm moving under the door," she said as the water clone began to shrink, "I'll be through in a second."

Once it was gone she blinked and swiveled her to the left and then to the right, "Wait, it's really dark in here. I can't see anything!" she shouted as she looked around, "I mean I don't see a thing at AAAAHHHHHHH!"

She dropped to the ground and grabbed her eyes. She screamed for several seconds, but Kazuma moved toward her. He grabbed her arms and then pulled her close. She wrapped her arms around him, and began to weep for several moments. He held her, feeling guilty that she was hurt. It was surprising, because he didn't think that she could be hurt. He was sure that she wouldn't feel anything from the water clone.

"What happened?"

"There was a really bright light!" she shouted, "It hurt my eyes!"

"A flash bomb," Sentinel Reeder said, "It sounds like they've got flash bombs set up. At least now we have an idea of one of the traps they have in store for us."

As someone that played video games in his old life Kazuma knew what flash bombs were. He'd played old third person shooter games that used the cheap trick to disorient people and cause them to get shot in places where there were people hiding. He felt bad for Aqua for multiple reasons. The first of which was that she had absolutely no experience with them. Sure, she was a goddess, and she likely knew about them, but he doubted that she she actually had ever experienced one.

He'd only experienced the ones in video games, and that was enough to know how disorientating they could be. His normal response of giving her hell didn't really feel right here. It wouldn't be right to make her feel bad about something he himself would have a difficult time dealing with. Although he wasn't sure about how she was holding onto him. There hadn't been anything remotely close to potential awkwardness in a sensualized manner between them since before he was reincarnated. That had been before she had opened her mouth and made him feel horrible about trying to save a girl from getting ran over.

Since then the closest that he could say she felt like was an annoying, and bratty, sister. That was pretty much what he thought of her. She was, for all rights and purposes, a bratty sister. He was used to her, and he had grown to like her, but there was absolutely no attraction there. So it was weird that she was holding onto him like she was expecting him to comfort her more than he was doing. He looked at Megumin who looked like she was trying to figure out if she wanted to be angry with Aqua or concerned for her.

Luckily it was the blond headed elf that made the first move, "Close your eyes" she said to Aqua, "Close them tightly."

Aqua did as she commanded, and then the elf looked at Lelei, "Can you cast a minor healing spell?"

Lelei moved closer to her, and she softly chanted. When she did a soft green glow covered Aqua's eyes for a moment. She moaned softly, and Kazuma felt her rub against him in a way that he was going to have to talk to her about. He wasn't interested in her like that, and if she was trying to hint at that then she was mistaken. The moment passed, and Aqua opened her eyes. Her clear blue eyes darted around for a moment, "Oh, thank goodness I can see!"

She then growled and stood up, her face full of determination. They watched as she closed her eyes again, "I'm forming the clone again, and I'm going to force it up whoever set that trap's butt and make them explode!"

"Ummm, Aqua, isn't that more icky than controlling a giant toad?" Darkness asked as she stepped closer, "I mean, I applaud the fact that you are thinking like a fiendish demon, but that doesn't sound like the kind of thing for a goddess to do."

"They made me blind!" she shouted, "Blind! My loyal followers would lose all faith in me if I couldn't see them!"

Kazuma wanted to point out that most of her followers would lose faith in her if she didn't promise them riches, or at least provide them a life where they could run away from their problems. The entire Axis order was insane in a way that defied all logic and sense. They were guaranteed to be completely and totally insane when it came to getting people to join their religion. Of course all of that seemed to come from Aqua, and maybe that was how it made sense. She wasn't completely there either.

He didn't want to point that out to her though. Right now he was good with her just scouting ahead for them. He was about to put his two cents in it when Aqua let out a small scream and opened her eyes. She looked straight at him, "Nope!" she said as she shook her head, "I wanna leave right now!"

She didn't try to tell them what she saw, she didn't wine, she just looked at him, "I want to leave, and unless we're leaving I'm not leaving this room!"

He began to say something, but it was Megumin that stepped closer, "What did you see?"

She looked at her, "It was… Megumin it was horrible. I'd never seen something so terrible in all of my life!" she exclaimed as she looked at her, "I just want to leave here and get a bottle of something strong so that I can forget about it forever!"

That told him more than he had expected it to. If she wanted something strong to drink it stood to reason she wasn't that traumatized. It sucked that he was actively able to determine that, but their quests had allowed him to create something of a scale. That scale was how traumatized that Aqua actually was. A level one was something that could be smoothed over with some fried giant toad, a mug of ale, and a good nap. A level ten took two weeks of hard drinking, eating everything that contained sugar in two different houses, and ordering the most expensive snow crab to eat as well.

Even after that she would likely never repeat whatever it was that traumatized her again. For it to be a single bottle of strong booze put it on about a level three. Something that after getting good and hammered she would be back to her old self by the next day. It also meant that whatever was through that door likely wasn't as bad as some of the stuff they've faced before. Likely it ranked somewhere between the undead chasing her, and having a giant toad attempt to eat her. If that was the case then she would be fine after getting drunk. So, when they left he would need to buy her a bottle of decent booze. Maybe there was a bar somewhere in Good Neighbor that would have something decent for her.

He looked at Darkness who studied the door between them and whatever laid beyond. His blond headed crusader stood, readied herself, and stepped to the door, "I shall investigate," she said simply, "As the one who can tolerate the most damage, and with the blessing of Eris I will be able to withstand most attacks."

Kazuma looked at her, "While it's a good idea, it's flawed," he said after a moment as he got up, "Take care of Aqua, keep her from trying to do anything stupid like go back on her own, and I'll check it out."

He looked around them, "What?" he asked after a moment, "It really makes the most sense. I'm the only one that can pretty much become completely undetectable if I want to. I can go through, not be noticed, and disarm whatever traps I can find. Sure, I gave Aqua a hard time about the water clone thing, but she's as subtle as a bull in a china shop."

He stood and moved toward the door, looked back at Megumin, and he gave her a smile, "Just wait for me for a few moments, okay?"

He then stepped out into the hall. There were no sounds, and he began to move slowly. Using lurk was going to be exactly what he would need to do if there was an issue. He wasn't stupid enough to attempt to take on whatever was in here. Paladin Jefferson had said it was kids, and maybe he was right. Kids could be a nightmare. Hell, the other kids in his school back in his life in Japan had made his life unbearable. It had been all he could do to just get through the day.

Eventually he decided to stop going outside, stop dealing with people, and just become a full time gamer. He originally thought that he might make a living off of doing Let's Play videos. There were people that made some serious bank doing it, and he figured that his gaming ability was fairly good enough. But, the same reason why he stopped going to highschool was the same reason he didn't try to do the videos. He was afraid. Afraid of being made fun of, afraid of being laughed at, and afraid of being hurt all over again.

Being with Megumin, Darkness, and Aqua had helped him realize that there were way worse things than being made fun of. Dying was certainly up there. That was something he got to experience over and over again. He'd honestly lost count of how many times he'd died doing so hairbrained thing that Aqua wanted done. But right now, this was his idea. He was going to make sure that things were clear, and he was going to undo any trap that he came across. He was going to be the one to make sure that everyone else was safe.

Once that was done, and once they finished getting this place set up where people could go in and out of it with no problem he was going do his best to get the fuck back Axel and live a life of ease. Maybe he could talk Megumin into wearing a maid's uniform and bring him some hot food and cold drinks occasionally. Okay, that was a little much, and he knew it, but damn it he could dream a little.

Besides, what guy could say that they didn't want to see the girl that they loved wearing a cute maid's uniform? There was something amazingly sexy about it. Then again, it could just be that he thought she'd look cute that way. He neared the door, breathed out, and touched it, "Lurk."

Instantly he became hard to notice, almost like a shadow, and he moved through the door. He looked around, and saw the cameras that were scanning the area. He moved quietly, keeping track of how much time he was using. Eventually he would have to come out of lurk, and when he did he would need to be somewhere that was out of sight. As he moved he began to see the various traps that had been set up. Trip wires of course, but there were also motion sensors that were lined up and down the walls.

He quietly used disarm traps to make sure that all of them were completely disarmed. The bulk of the traps seemed to be set to make things explode. Oxygen tanks, and other things were wired with simple explosives. It wasn't much, but then it didn't have to be. As he disarmed the traps he realized that all of them had been designed the way a child would make one. They were held together in the simplest terms, and yet they had been done with precision accuracy.

That was likely due to the robots that they were using. He moved toward a nurses station and moved into it. He closed the door and looked to see a dried out husk of a nurse. He moved closer and saw that the camera had been disabled. He could see a place on her uniform where it looked like something had been stabbed into her. He stepped back and looked at her again before seeing her name badge. It was Nurse Brightburn. He looked in her hand and saw a small thing that looked like an old cassette tape. He looked at it, and then looked at the terminal next to her.

There was a slot to put it, so he did. The terminal activated, and it indicated that there was a single voice recording. He pressed it, and waited for a moment.

"God forgive us," Nurse Brightburn said, her voice sounding pained, "God forgive us, the bombs dropped, but we're safe down here. Well, we were safe. The children, they've gotten used to the sedatives. Dr. Braun is gone. He left a couple of days before the bombs dropped. He said that he was part of an experiment that this one was helping to support."

He heard her sniffle, "I was so dumb," she said, "I should have fought harder to make sure that they wouldn't be awake. I should have fought against Doctor Braun, but I was afraid… The children, they're using the speakers, they're crying out. I'm trying to help them, but I don't think that there's anything I can do now. I'm the only one left. I won't leave them. Everyone else abandoned them, but I can't. I can't do it. I'll wear the sins we've committed, and I'll stay here. Maybe, just maybe I can make things easier on them."

The tape ended and he looked at her. She'd stayed with them, and the kids had gone completely insane.

"Sorry," he said as he touched her, "I'm sure that you tried your best."