God's Blessing on this Wonderful Dungeon

By Icura and Special FX

~o~

Chapter 12: Preparations

~o~

Kazuma wiped some dirt off his face while he made his way back toward the church.

He had been training with Alise every morning for nearly two weeks now, and it wasn't getting any easier. Ever since he had shown off and beaten her in that spar, Alise seemed to take that as the cue to ramp up the intensity of the training. Sometimes, the other members of Astraea Familia would even stop by, to 'help out' in the training sessions.

Kazuma was using the term, 'help out', in a very broad sense there.

He was pretty sure that crazy Kaguya girl only came by to slice him up under the guise of evasion training. It wasn't his fault that she had shit taste in titles. None of those gorilla women knew how to hold back against a measly level one adventurer like him, damn it. He had already lost track of how many times he got beaten up badly enough that he had to use his [Heal] spell on himself.

Aside from that one win he had when he pulled out all the stops, it had just been him getting his ass handed to him. Though, in his defense, he wasn't using any magic and only relying on his shoddy sword skills, leading to the unfair bullying by his so-called 'teachers'. Honestly, he felt like calling it quits on a daily basis. The only thing keeping him going was self-preservation at this point. According to Alise, he was actually improving even if it didn't result in a skill showing up. The last thing that he wanted to do was to end up dying to a kobold or something in the dungeon after all.

How embarrassing would that be? 'Here lies Satou Kazuma, killed by a measly kobold. Again.'

Yeah, no.

If he were being completely honest with himself, he hadn't taken adventuring very seriously back in Belzerg. There was never any need to. Here though? It was a different story. From what he heard from Aqua, the god that was preceding over the passing of souls was a real asshole. Instead of being resurrected by Aqua or reincarnating in Japan as a rich mogul's son, he would probably just be…

Well, no use thinking about it since he wasn't planning on dying any time soon. It wasn't like he hadn't been in this kind of situation before, like when Aqua had run off by herself to face the demon king alone. He had fought the demon king fully expecting to not make it back after all, though that had been a one-time thing.

"Yoooo, Kazuma!" An annoyingly shrill voice called out to him, shaking him out of his thoughts. He turned around to find Aqua's favorite new drinking buddy giving him a wave as she approached. "Whatcha doing up so early?"

"Morning," he greeted back. "I was training."

"Huh? Training? You?" Loki had a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," he replied with a frown. "Why's that so hard to believe?"

"You don't seem like the type. Ya seem more like a lay 'bout." She tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "Or a slug, hahaha!"

Kazuma felt a vein pulse in his forehead.

"I don't want to hear that from the resident useless drunk!"

"Uegh!" Loki put a hand over her heart like she had just been shot. "I-I'm not useless! I actually accomplished a lot today, ya know!?"

"Yeah, like what?"

Loki smirked in response before leaning in close.

"Before I get to that, I've got a proposition for ya. Real handsome reward too. Interested? Well? Are ya?"

Kazuma pushed the overly energetic goddess out of his face.

"Aren't you still broke? You haven't gone to beg Finn for some more drinking money already, have you?"

"Why you…! Swindler! Scammer! I still haven't forgiven you for that, ya know!?"

Kazuma watched the red-haired goddess who was throwing a tantrum in front of him with dead eyes. How was it possible for there to be a more annoying goddess than Aqua? He had initially assumed that Aqua was just unusual and that Eris was the norm, but now that he had a chance to meet some more gods and goddesses…

Bless you, Eris.

"Are you going to tell me what you want yet?" he begrudgingly asked. "Unlike you, I have other things I need to do."

Damn it, he wanted to laze around all day too!

"Fine, fine." Loki's expression morphed into a much more serious one as her eyes darted around, as if checking for anyone eavesdropping. "I need you to do a job for me. It's really important. The fate of the city depends on it."

Huh? Was this one of those secret quests that only an isekai protagonist could get? Was this finally the beginning of his real isekai adventure?

"...I'm listening."

She pulled him closer and whispered into his ear.

"I want you to steal me a pair of Riveria's panties. Like you did with Eris."

"..."

This bitch! Give him back his hopes and dreams for a real isekai adventure quest, damn it!

"Hell no! Do I look like I have a death wish!? Do it yourself!"

"If I could, don't you think I would!? Come on! It'll be easy for you!" Loki whined. "I'll make it worth your while!"

"Buzz off!" Kazuma shook her off. "Do I look like the type of guy who could be bought off?"

"Absolutely."

"..."

This damn goddess.

Well, she wasn't wrong if he was being honest, but there was no way in hell he was going to risk stealing Riveria's panties. Not after he had seen what she could do at that magic contest a few weeks back. It wasn't like he needed money right now anyway; he had made a killing off of the bets on Megumin and Riveria after all.

"...hey, but seriously, since some of my kids have taken a liking to you guys, here's some words of advice," Loki said seriously, all the humor gone from her voice. "Be careful out there in the dungeon. After the showing from that mage of yours, Evilus has started making some moves."

"What kind of moves?"

"Just a lot of noise."

"Hm?"

"Some merchants we've been watching have started closing their shops early, but they've been living large instead of tightening their belts. Get my drift?"

"They go where the money flows."

"Smart, aren't ya?" Loki regained her smirk. "Might want to stay up here for a while.

"Meh. We'll be fine."

Honestly, how dangerous could a group of guys that called themselves something totally lame like 'Evilus' really be? It wasn't like they were crimson demons after all, now that would have been a totally different story.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya."

-0-

"Kazuma! It finally appeared!" Eris excitedly stated. "You finally learned a new skill!"

"What? Really?" He quickly turned around. "Let me see!"

Did all that god damn training/torture finally pay off!?

"Wha–hang on! Turn back around," Eris ordered. "I'll write it down for you in a second, so just let me finish updating your Falna."

"Ah, sorry," he sheepishly replied before he turned around in his spot on the bed. "Got a little too excited."

"Geez. What if I messed something up? I'm still new to this, you know?"

"It's fine, it's fine."

It wasn't like she was Aqua after all. Eris went back to working on whatever it was that gods do with the Falna in order to upgrade a person's status. Well, actually, he did know, but thinking about how she was drawing on his back with her own blood was more than a little disturbing. He wasn't into that type of play.

After another minute or two, he felt her fingers finally leave his back.

"Alright, all done!" Eris happily replied as she pressed a sheet of paper to his back. "I'll write down what your new skill is on another piece of paper in a second."

Kazuma turned around and accepted the sheet of paper with a curious look on his face.

Satou Kazuma

Level 1

Strength: F-349 - F-354

Endurance: G-237 - G-247

Dexterity: D-542 - D-548

Agility: F-395 - E-401

Magic: C-625 - C-635

Magic:

Adventurer's Magic - Can learn magic spells of any class if certain conditions are met.

Skills:

Adventurer's Secrets - Can learn skills of any class if certain conditions are met.

Hero of Belzerg - Chance to deal a critical blow to boss type monsters based on Luck.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary so far compared to a couple of days ago, but Eris did say that she would need to write it down on another sheet so it was probably under Adventurer's Secrets. Besides that, training with Alise had helped him grind up a bunch of his base stats a lot quicker than what he had been doing in the dungeon. Though, that was probably because they hadn't fought any really strong monsters yet. Still, being able to grind up his stats like this without having to worry about getting killed in the dungeon was useful.

Unfortunately, it wasn't abusable since what balanced it out was that it required far more hard work. Efficiency-wise, for gaining stat points, it wasn't that great. It would probably suffer from diminishing returns as well. Basically, it was useful for low-level noobs, but too useful for high-level adventurers.

Kazuma turned his attention to the second piece of paper which Eris handed over. He had a bunch of skills and magic that he had learned thanks to his adventurer class, so he didn't blame Eris for not wanting to write all of them down every time she updated his status. That would have been a real pain in the ass after all.

However, there was a new entry.

Lubrude Bequia [Adventurer's Secrets] - Increased strength while in combat. Increased endurance and dexterity in the face of adversity. Increased agility and magic when facing a powerful opponent. When all three conditions are met, all stats are further increased.

"..."

Oi. What was with the sudden explosion of text? All of the skills so far had been one-sentence explanations and now it was a whole four sentences?

The explanation was still vague as hell, but just exactly what kind of insanely broken skill was this? It looked like the type of skill that a new overpowered character in a MOBA game would have. The fact that it fell under his [Adventurer's Secrets] skill meant that he had to have learned it from Alise since he didn't spend that much time with the rest of Astraea Familia.

Just how overpowered was this justice-obsessed girl then!?

Hey. Hang on a second here! Was she actually the main character here? The hero of this world, like from a fantasy story? What other overpowered skills could he steal from her? Was this finally his chance to play out his fantasy of being an overpowered isekai protagonist!?

Cheat ability you say? Who needed that when he could just leech off the main character instead?!

"...it feels weaker than it should be though," Eris suddenly murmured, shattering his delusions.

"Huh…?" Kazuma blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The original skill is probably a lot stronger," Eris explained. "Sort of like when you use [Create Water] compared to when senpai does."

Kazuma frowned.

He was hoping it would be just as strong, given that it had been way harder to get the skill compared to [Create Water], but from a game balance standpoint, it made sense. Still, from an isekai standpoint, it should have been overpowered as hell.

Actually, how much weaker was it?

While he would like to test it, the fact of the matter was that he didn't know how strong the original was. He hadn't even known that Alise was even using it, but from the description, it seemed like it was a passive effect rather than an active one so it probably wouldn't be very visible. Not to mention that only the first condition would have activated in the spars they had which was to be in combat.

Would the skill grow stronger as he leveled up as well? He had noticed that some of his spells were stronger than they were before, probably growing in correlation to his magic stat. He really wished that the status system in this world wasn't so damn vague.

"Oh well. If I learn more passive skills like this, maybe they'll all stack up."

"It's possible," Eris said with a nod.

At the very least, he now knew how to learn passive skills in this world.

Active skills and magic were a different story though; he didn't know if it was the same as the system with the adventurer card, but it would certainly be harder to get people to explain the ins and outs of their skills and spells. After telling them about some of his abilities, Alise and her friends had pounded into his head how rare those skills and spells actually were. For an adventurer to just freely give out that much information would be to expose their own vulnerabilities. Still, he imagined that people would still be willing to do it for money, though that was just for the knowledge; that didn't include the cost to actually get them to train him which would be even pricier, and not to mention time-consuming.

Kazuma flopped down on the bed that they were both sitting on and looked at the ceiling. When was the last time he had ever worked this hard? It was so troublesome that he felt like going back to being a NEET. It wasn't like he could do that though, not when they all still needed to find a way home.

The image of a teary-eyed Aqua resurfaced in his mind.

Damn it. He rolled over on the bed to his side. That useless goddess, making him recall something as annoying as that.

"Save me, Eris," he groaned to himself. "The grind is too much for me."

Eris just chuckled in response as she gently patted his head.

"I have a load of money. Can't I just hire people to do the dungeon diving for me?"

"Would that have worked on the demon king?"

"No…" Kazuma replied without a single hint of doubt or hesitation.

Money had certainly been essential to winning against the demon king, but it hadn't been the only thing. If things had been that easy, the king of Belzerg certainly wouldn't have fielded his daughter, Iris, to the frontlines. In fact, Kazuma probably wouldn't have been isekai'd to Belzerg if that was the case.

In comparison, this world was actually rather easy on its residents. The monsters weren't organized under the leadership of a demon king hell-bent on world domination through various schemes and massive armies. Instead, most of the monsters were concentrated in the dungeon while the monsters on the surface were mostly scattered about, doing their own thing. In that sense, if a person didn't bother with the dungeon, it was relatively easy to live out a safe life. At least, in comparison to Belzerg anyway.

It certainly wasn't safe like Japan.

Still, even though dungeon diving was dangerous, there were certain methods to help mitigate that. Methods that he probably shouldn't have waited until the last minute to get started with. As a former shut-in NEET, procrastination was pretty much built into his system at this point.

"I should go get the preparations for the upcoming expedition." After all, Kazuma couldn't trust the other three to do it for him. Aqua would just forget most of the things, Megumin would skimp out and buy the cheapest things despite their loaded budget, and Darkness would 'forget' stuff on purpose just to make it harder on herself.

"No, I'll do that. I don't have much to do anyway," Eris said. "Just make me a checklist."

"There's no need for you to–"

"Please!" She bowed her head slightly. "While all of you are in the dungeon, there's really nothing for me to do. Can you let me feel just a little more useful?"

"Well, if you say it that way…" He scratched his cheek.

"Please."

"Alright, fine. Okay, you win. Just stop looking at me like that. It's embarrassing."

"Thank you, Kazuma!" Eris happily replied.

"I should be the one saying that since it's less work that I have to do," Kazuma muttered, but a thought soon came to mind. "Oh, that reminds me. Loki mentioned that Evilus might be getting more active since some shady merchants were making some moves. She didn't tell me which ones though. Maybe you can look into that while we're gone? Don't worry if you don't find anything."

"I'll do some digging."

"But if you encounter anything dangerous…"

"Who do you think taught you how to be a thief?" Eris smirked. "I think it's about time for Chris to make an appearance."

~o~

The sun was setting by the time Kazuma and Darkness made their way to the Flaming Wasp. It was a pub on the other side of the city from where they lived. The angry red wasp logo on their sign didn't make the place seem very inviting, but it was where the Vidar Familia wanted to have their pre-expedition meeting. Personally, he would have preferred meeting at the Hostess of Fertility.

They had cat-girl maids after all.

"This looks like the place, Kazuma," Darkness pointed out. "Shall we head inside?"

"Sure," Kazuma nonchalantly replied as he pushed open the heavy wooden doors.

A gust of cool evening wind swept into the dimly lit pub as they stepped inside. The lanterns hanging from the ceiling was casting a lukewarm, flickering light over the scene. The tavern itself was a maze of mismatched tables and chairs, providing no straight path forward. The walls were adorned with trophies ranging from tattered flags to taxidermied animals. Topping all of this was the atmosphere which was thick with a stale sullenness, one that was stirred when many eyes turned toward them. Most simply turned away after a brief moment, but there were a few that lingered, almost ominously.

It gave Kazuma the same feeling he felt when he had first walked into the adventurer's guild back in Axel.

He scanned over the room warily, taking in the diverse assembly of patrons. There were grizzled veterans with scars as deep as their tankards, unsavory figures who sat in shadowy corners, and even scantily clad Amazons. At the very far end of the pub, he spotted Selenia and Bete sitting at a table. He tapped Darkness on the shoulder and motioned over toward the table before he began to make his way over.

"Oh! Hey, Kazuma, Darkness," Selenia greeted them with a smile when she noticed them approaching. "Thanks for coming."

"Good evening, Selenia," Darkness replied with a smile before taking a seat at the table. "And it's no trouble."

"Yo," Kazuma greeted in return as he took a seat as well.

Bete just grunted in acknowledgment before he took a long drink from his mug.

"Now that we're all here, let's get down to business. We should go over what our objectives for this expedition are going to be," Selenia began as she folded her hands together over the table. "Does that sound good to you guys?"

"Sure," Kazuma answered distractedly while browsing through the menu that had been on his side of the table. "You can go first."

"Alright then. For us, the furthest that we've been able to reach is the 22nd floor," Selenia replied. "So, we'd like to take this opportunity to make a push past the Large Tree Labyrinth area and into the 25th floor with your Familia's assistance."

"The Large Tree Labyrinth?" Kazuma repeated as he raised an eyebrow.

"S'what the floors between 19 and 24 are called," Bete explained with a bit of a drunken slur in his voice. "A whole bunch of pain in the ass poisonous bastards roam around there."

"That's where we think your group can provide us with a lot of value." Selenia took over the conversation. "Antidotes are expensive and the costs can quickly add up. With a healer like Aqua around, those won't be necessary."

"You should still have some as backup," Kazuma advised.

"We will, but if a situation arises where we run out of supplies, we'd like to rely on your teleportation ability for a resupply."

"That's fine with me."

That was pretty much what he had been expecting anyway. He was fine with using [Teleport] like that as long as they weren't going to treat him exclusively as a glorified gofer or taxicab. It was the difference between washing dishes and being a dishwasher; one was a choice, and the other was mandatory work.

As for Aqua, she was going to heal people regardless so there weren't any issues there.

"Great! But what about you?" Selenia asked. "It's only fair for you guys to have your own objectives for this expedition as well."

Kazuma shared a brief look with Darkness.

"Well, aside from traveling deeper into the dungeon and leveling up…" Darkness began. "We're looking for clues."

"Clues…?" Selenia repeated with a confused look on her face.

"Nothing you have to worry about." Kazuma waved it off, though not before shooting Darkness a look. "Our objectives are pretty much the same, so we're good there."

"Oh, okay…?" Selenia tentatively replied, still confused. However, she soon carried on. "Let's talk strategy then. Since our Familia already has some experience in the Large Tree Labyrinth, we'll act as the vanguard while your party provides support in the rear guard."

People actually volunteering to be meat shields? That sounded good to him.

"Sure, that sounds good to m–

"I object!" Darkness suddenly interrupted. "As a crusader, I can't just stand by and let others bear the weight of being in the front lines! Allow me to be in the vanguard as well."

"Hah!" Bete laughed. "You can bark all you want, but can you back it up?"

"Of course!" Darkness replied as she thumped her chest plate. "When it comes to being the vanguard, I won't lose to anyone!"

"All I hear is more–!"

"Bete, shut up. You're drunk." Even as drunk as he was, Selenia's glare was still enough to calm him down. Once he backed down, the captain of Vidar Familia sighed before looking apologetically at the blond knight. "You're more than welcome to join us in the vanguard, Darkness. I'm sure that your sword skills will prove to be an invaluable asset."

"Pfft…" Kazuma had to stop himself from laughing while Darkness glared at him. "Yeah, I don't know about that part."

"Hmm…?" Selenia hummed, not quite understanding what was so funny. "What do you mean by that?"

"W-well…you could say that I'm a bit clumsy with the sword…" Darkness replied as she looked down, her face red with embarrassment. "B-but when it comes to protecting everyone, I won't let you down!"

"I'll be counting on you then," Selenia answered with a smile before she turned her attention back toward Kazuma. "Let me give you a brief overview of our group. Jiruna and Vani aren't here right now, but all of our statuses are level 2, and we're all close-range melee fighters. It'll be nice to have some support backing us up for once."

"For us, we're all still level 1," Kazuma explained. "Darkness is our only melee fighter while Aqua and Megumin are our back line. I can do both, but I'm more suited for scouting and ranged attacks."

"I see. That meshes well with us then." Selenia nodded before she held out her hand. "I'll be looking forward to working with you and your party tomorrow."

"Likewise," Kazuma replied as he shook her hand.

~o~

It's said that half a battle was in its preparations.

In fact, Eris was probably running around right now to retrieve every item on the list for said preparations. If she hadn't volunteered for it, he would have been the one rushing about, especially considering that the other three couldn't be trusted with the task. Now, most would be wondering why Kazuma didn't simply handle it beforehand since he had weeks to do it. Well, the reason for that was simple.

He was lazy. That was it; that was the entirety of the reason. What? That couldn't be the true reason?

Procrastination didn't need a true reason! It was a lifestyle.

Homework due tomorrow afternoon? Isn't there a lunchtime an hour before the class actually begins? Cleaning his room? It'll be done tomorrow, but please check back in a year. As such, that was why a good enabler like Eris was necessary. Still, even though she was taking care of most of the preparations, there were still some things that Kazuma had to do himself, much to his dismay.

That was why he was currently inside one of the Hephaestus Familia's workshops. Or, to be more precise, a private executive room at the back of the building. He had asked Tsubaki about borrowing some of her smithing equipment in the past, and she had been more than willing to oblige. Not because of any altruistic reasons or anything like that, but simply because of her curiosity.

Like any master of their craft, these kinds of people were always looking to improve themselves, and what better way to improve than to steal new techniques for themselves? That was why Tsubaki was still in the room with him, watching intently while sitting out of the way along with one other person.

Not like any of it mattered to him, it wasn't like he was a master smith who wanted to hide his super secret forging techniques or something.

Kazuma slowly lowered the hammer and wiped off the sweat on his brow with his other arm. He was finally finished. It took a while to figure out the right components and the correct composition–especially since this world's available material was slightly different–but he had finally done it. There, sitting in the center of the anvil, was a miniature-sized dynamite.

Tinymite had finally returned!

"...that's impossible."

"Looks possible to me," Tsubaki smugly replied. "Didn't I tell you? But noooo, you didn't believe me."

The voices came from his audience, the two women who had been sitting down in chairs the whole time while watching the entire creation process. The smug woman was obviously Tsubaki Collbrande, the owner of this room and captain of the Hephaestus Familia. However, the other woman was not part of her Familia and someone that he hadn't been familiar with until now.

With short, wavy blue hair and a pair of slim glasses, Asfi Al Andromeda looked just like any other corporate researcher, even replicating the tired and disbelieving look of one. Wearing a tan cloak that covered her entire body with only a bit of her light brown outfit showing in between the middle slit, she gave off the impression of one who was often taken advantage of by corporate headquarters. Though, that was essentially what happened since she actually was the vice captain of the Hermes Familia. Basically, not quite the leader, but in a position to inherit the workload.

Truly, someone that fit the impression of a corporate crony, but there was no doubt in his mind that she was who she said she was: an alchemist. After all, chemists were the disposable lifeblood of the modern biotech company and the primary source of any zombie apocalypse.

"That isn't possible," Asfi muttered in an aggrieved manner. "All he did was just put the ingredients on the anvil and hammer it once. After a flash of light, the product was finished. It doesn't make any sense."

He didn't get why she was making such a big deal of it.

"I mean…I can't make armor or weapons with my blacksmithing skill," Kazuma pointed out. "Just repairs and small stuff like this."

"How can you call this small?!" Asfi held up one of his earlier creations, a lighter. It was actually the one that caused Tsubaki to go out and grab Asfi from the Hermes Familia's home. "You don't just 'blacksmith' flammable liquid! It even has translucent material that you can see through to know how much fluid is left!"

Asfi was tempted to open it up and see how it worked, especially since it could conjure a small flame at will with only the flick of a thumb. She had to hold herself back though, since she hadn't asked for permission yet. She had initially wanted to know the process of creation, but after seeing how Kazuma worked, all it did was spawn more questions. It shouldn't be possible to just 'hammer' in the complex mechanisms and tiny gears for the 'lighter' to work.

"By small, I actually meant size-wise," Kazuma commented. "It fits in your pocket, right?"

"Yes…" Asfi replied, just before she shook her head. "Putting that aside, this discovery is enormous. Do you understand what this means? Adventurers wouldn't have to carry around flint or find…"

The words that Asfi continued spouting went into one ear and out the other.

In all honesty, Kazuma was a bit disappointed. When Tsubaki had asked if she could bring another expert in to take a look, he was all for it. However, the reality was far different than what he had expected. Since the skills from Belzerg weren't the same as the skills here, it was impossible for them to replicate his process. That meant mass-producing the product or selling the patent wasn't going to work. Not unless he could figure out the process in a far more regular way, similar to how it might have worked on Earth.

However, seeing as how he was a NEET back then, it was completely impossible to know that scientific process.

Actually, that wasn't one hundred percent true. It would have been possible if he had spent his time on the internet learning about all those processes, but if he did, when would he actually ever get to use that knowledge? Never! Who would trust a dropout in a chemistry lab? No one, that's who. It was far more productive to look up glitches and exploits on the latest game he was playing than something that might or might not be useful in the future.

Did he regret it now that he was in a situation where it could have actually been useful?

Nope, not really.

"Okay, look," Kazuma said, interrupting Asfi during her rant that somehow even made Tsubaki look sleepy. "If you want to try your luck at figuring this out, I don't mind. I can make a few of those if you have the ingredients for them, but I'm not going to start mass-producing them since that's just a hassle."

"Don't worry, I understand. With my mystery skill, there are items that only I can produce despite my Familia's efforts," Asfi said. "But I believe these devices are simple enough. Especially with this translucent material. What do you call this?"

"Plastic."

"Yes, plastic. It's translucent, but more durable than glass. It can hold liquid unlike wood and is much lighter than iron. Not only that, but it can be made to be flexible and stretchable." She held up the other item he had made which looked like a deflated balloon. "What is this called?"

"A condom."

"Yes, 'condom'. This can be used as a protective covering to prevent skin contact with poisonous spores that are particularly hazardous in the middle floors."

Kazuma said nothing, only staring on with a sour expression.

"It would work better if there were finger slots so it wouldn't be like a webbed hand in between the digits. Increasing the size would elevate the comfort level for–"

Tsubaki–unable to hold it in anymore–burst out in laughter.

"What?" Asfi looked at the other woman in annoyance. "What's so funny?"

"That's not what it's used for."

"How do you know?"

"He told me earlier." Tsubaki leaned over in her seat to whisper into Asfi's ear. "So, what it's actually used for is…"

As Tsubaki continued to explain, Asfi's cheeks began to redden.

"No, that can't…" Asfi murmured. "Is it really? How…? So that's…"

With darkened cheeks, Asfi turned her gaze over to Kazuma who was doing his best to look at everything but them. However, by the time that Tsubaki finished talking, she had regained her composure, tempering her blush.

"...the usefulness of such an invention cannot be denied," Asfi finally said in conclusion. "Despite my initial instinctive reaction, there is no denying its usefulness to society."

For Asfi, the utilization of such a product was clear.

With a far lower risk of unwanted pregnancies, it would alleviate the burden on struggling families and overcrowded orphanages, leading to fewer children who fall in between the cracks. She knew many members of Evilus that she had personally detained or killed had been raised in such unhappy environments, taking out their anger on the city as a whole for their misfortune.

Few people would have thought of such products due to the inherent connotation associated with intense intimacy. Even she had been initially repulsed, but thinking logically about it had shown how reasonable it truly was. If anything, this one item, if it could be manufactured on a wider scale, could change the world. The idea and concept were just that revolutionary.

"Provide me with enough samples and information, and I will do my utmost to uncover its method of production," Asfi stated with confidence, though it wavered at the end. "...but are you sure that this can be reproduced?"

"Positive," Kazuma replied. "My skill can't make anything that's completely unique."

Or at least, something that couldn't be reverse engineered. Though, whether Asfi could figure out the secret of plastic was beyond him, especially since he didn't even know how it was made on Earth.

Then again, plastic existed in Belzerg. Nobody had batted an eye when he had invented condoms and lighters, though the royalties he made off of them were really good. At least, until he sold the patent to Vanir. Maybe Eris would know something about it? There was Aqua and her status as a goddess for Japan, but with her intelligence stat, he doubted she actually knew anything.

"What about your newest creation?"

"Not for sale," he quickly answered. "It's for my own use only."

With that said, Kazuma snatched it off the anvil and pocketed it.

There was no way that he would explain the use of tinymite or let it be reproduced; it was his secret weapon after all. Despite its miniature size, it packed a wallop like actual dynamite. It would have been cool to use it as part of his regular arsenal, but if Megumin caught wind of it, she would throw them all away. That was why it could only be used as a last resort. If she knew that he had them again, she might start searching through his packs and pouches again, and that would become annoying real quick.

"I see." Asfi nodded in response. "That's understandable. We all have creations that we'd like to keep to ourselves."

"Alright, my turn then!" Tsubaki declared as she stood up and grabbed a damaged chestplate from the table. "Show me how you would repair this armor, Kazuma."

Kazuma's eyes glanced down towards the dented chest plate that Tsubaki had placed in front of them and then back up toward the shirtless woman looking on with excited anticipation. It reminded him of a kid watching a magic trick or something along those lines. He honestly didn't see what the big deal was; it wasn't like she couldn't replicate what his [Blacksmith] skill did, but he had to humor her for letting him use her workshop.

Kazuma raised his hammer and brought it down on the dented armor. There was a small flash of light, and then he was done. The chestplate was as good as new.

"...honestly, no matter how many times I see it, I still can't believe it," Asfi muttered. "It's more like sorcery than 'blacksmithing'."

"I know, right!?" Tsubaki excitedly replied. "We need to test it more. What's the limit for repairs?"

"Well, actually, I was going to get go–

Tsubaki then grabbed the chestplate and ripped it cleanly in half with her bare hands as if it were a piece of paper instead of solid metal. Kazuma had to blink a few times just to make sure what he was seeing was real. Just how freaking strong was this girl!? Were all the girls in this world gorilla women like Darkness!?

"Kazuma, see if you can repair this," Tsubaki said as she placed the two halves of the chestplate back on the anvil in front of him.

"...yes, ma'am."

~o~

Author's Note:

SFX: The expedition is finally here, surely nothing will go wrong.

Icura: Blah, blah, games, blah, blah, time, blah blah, post anyways.