With that inspiring comment from our supposed trump card, the meeting broke up.

The Crimson Demon contingent met up with Taylor and co on the way out and seemed to be arguing about the name for their group. I was leaning towards 'Divine Fist' for ours.

I took a quick quest for the rest of the day, we all did. It would look more than a little strange to anyone watching if we went to all that trouble of meeting up first thing, with new people even, and then hung around town apparently doing nothing.

So the toads got a taste of what real Crimson Demons could do, but while Rin might've developed an inferiority complex over the next couple days, unfortunately that's all that developed.

The day of the wedding dawned without any word from Chris' informants. In the anime I used to watch, the heroes would've gotten a last minute tip that let us mass our strength and assault the Den of Evil. No way, no how, would they have wasted time doing a block by block search of the town in the predawn dimness. And they surely wouldn't have to do it in the misting prelude of a rainstorm.

Belzerg, it seems, doesn't believe in dramatic pacing.

Axel wasn't all that big in those days, you could walk all the streets in half a day if you were quick about it. So we checked the properties in town that Alderp was known to own first thing, and came up empty. Now we were sweeping the neighborhoods near the cathedral, which, no surprise, was in the nice part of town. We probably looked like a couple of thieves casing the buildings, and that's not far from what we were doing. What we'd tell the town Watch if they found Chris and I, I had no idea. But so far we've struck out here too.

"Clear, nothing here," Chris whispered as we circled another cluster of townhomes.

"Are you sure we can't just have Aqua do a mass exorcism on the town?" I asked grumpily.

"That would be a last resort," Chris chuckled. "And even she'd need a few tries to clear the whole town. No, we'll have to do this the hard way. I don't want any chance of Maxwell scuttling back to hell, we end him here and now. And that means finding and binding his location first."

"Roger that," I agreed reluctantly as we set out for the next street over. The first bells tolled out, officially starting the new day at the first peek of sunlight. The wedding would start at sunrise, some sort of thing about a new day and a new life together. Personally, I thought starting your marriage sleep deprived on top of being stressed out was asking for trouble. But more than one woman has told me I have the romantic sense of a stone, so who am I to say?

"Team Sword of Inevitable Justice is going to earn their pay after all," I noted as the echoes faded.

Chris was silent for a moment, a glance at her face showed her eyes squeezed shut in pain. "Tell me that's not what they went with, lie to me if you have to."

"I'd never!" I protested softly, then twisted the knife. If I had to be out here miserable, then it was no sin to spread it around. Probably. "But it could be worse. Sokketto nearly got them to go for 'Spear of Intoxicating Agony' instead."

That got a little grunt of pain from her, and a glare that told me I'd pushed my luck far enough.

"One day Aqua's little maniacs are going to gleefully leapfrog over the line, and all I'm going to say is 'I told you so,'" she muttered with a vast lack of amusement.

I'd have asked what she meant by them being Aqua's, they sure didn't worship her as far as I could tell. But then a crawling sensation made its way up my spine.

Just like the manor.

Ahead of us was a two story corner townhome in the tradesman's district, just on the edge of the nicer neighborhoods around the cathedral.

"Found youuuuu…." Chris crooned softly, almost lovingly. Reaching into her pocket, she squeezed her cricket thing three times. Aqua should be on her way, five minutes maybe. Ten at the most, unless she decided to decorate something again. In which case Kazuma would be earning his pay, by getting his divine girlfriend's ass in gear even if he had to drag her by the scarf.

"Nobody's spotted us," I said as we ducked into a doorway to wait.

"Maybe half a dozen inside. Can't be guards, he'd never need any, or servants…"

We shared a look. Not servants, no. But maybe a few snacks to keep him docile.

"What are you waiting for?! The stinky demon to invite you in?!" Aqua shouted as she charged past.

Or she could be on the ball and ready to go right now.

Chris and I took off after the runaway goddess, who had just kicked the door in while priming a spell in her fist.

"SACRED EXCORCISM!" she bellowed, practically rattling the windows, and soft blue light enveloped the townhouse. Instantly, the number of signals dropped to one.

Aqua's battlecry was met by a roar of rage from the second floor, followed by a crash of splintering wood as Maxwell dropped through the floor like the world's creepiest anvil. Trailing smoke and leaving crumbly, scorched bits on the dining room table he crushed on landing in the main room as we burst out of the entryway.

Kazuma hadn't been idle, he had worked out a version of his grenades that used a waxed cardboard container to minimize the shrapnel while leaving the stunning and concussion effects. I'd planned on using them to subdue anyone who didn't stand aside like sensible folk when divinities duked it out, and the horrifying hell spawn got to be the test subject.

"Duck and cover!" I bellowed, heaving the pair I'd brought through at his feet and diving back through the doorway. Chris did exactly that, remembering my explanation of what to expect.

Aqua…didn't.

"EEEEE!" spake the goddess, clutching at her ears with eyes squeezed shut as she blundered into a wall.

"EEEEE!" spake the demon, hunched over and scrabbling at his face, form seeming to shift at random in places with additional fingers or joints as he writhed.

United in shared trauma, both devastatingly powerful beings were out of the fight until somebody recovered first, no telling who.

By the time I rolled to my feet, Chris was already moving. In one long, arcing leap she was at Aqua's side, grabbing her by the shoulders and pointing her at Maxwell.

"Straight ahead! Three meters! Sacred Exorcism!" she barked in her ear, somehow making herself heard over the incredible ringing in her ears Aqua had to be suffering.

Her superior sniffled, eyes angry red, puffy, running like a faucet. "O…ok!" She did her thing again, this time in a much smaller area.

Maxwell was just coming around, eyes open and even more murderous than before, fixed right on me as he blurred into motion, talons extended for my face. I'd barely started moving when he froze solid barely a pace from my tender flesh.

For a long moment we matched stares, me panting like I'd run a marathon, as the seal expanding on the floor bound him in place. Pale blue light filled the room, growing brighter every second until it was casting hard shadows on the walls behind us, too painful to look directly at like the electric arc at the center of a spotlight.

Then, like a switch flipped, it was gone. And so was Maxwell.

"Is…?" I swallowed, and tried again.

"Yeah, he's done," Chris replied first, grimly satisfied. "That was his real body, not a shell." She patted Aqua on the back, "You did good, boss."

"That's the truth," I agreed shakily. Our silhouettes were still there, showing us frozen in time in outline at the moment the purification bleached all the surrounding paint on the walls and varnish off the floorboards. And the dye from the front of our clothes.

"You'd better double my bubbly then," Aqua sniffed, her eyes already back to normal like nothing happened. Cheating Goddess of healing.

"Fine, drinks can be on me," the thief agreed while leading her to take a quick look upstairs. I stepped outside for a second to get some air. So I was the first to see the goddamned dragon drop out of the sky and land in the street.

Bright white scales, with piercing blue eyes that looked at me like there was a mind behind them, impassively observing me freeze in shock. First at what I was seeing, and second that I wasn't dead. Again.

"Hey! Subaru!" a voice called, snapping me out of my stupor. Jerking my head up a bit, I saw a blond man sitting astride the dragon's back like he belonged there, a spear slung across his back.

"DUST?!"

"None other! I'm here for you lot, but especially your ladies! We've got problems my man!" He looked us over, "And not just with your laundry soap. What the hell?"

After an entrance like that finding Aqua and Chris was no problem, they had come piling out of the house pretty much as soon as the first words left his mouth.

We loaded the pair aboard the impossible combination of Dust the delinquent and a white dragon, symbol of holiness, purity, and power, and once I swung aboard as well we surged skyward.

I've only ever flown once, in my old life. A short hop to Sapporo with my parents, crammed in with 500 other people and a window the size of a piece of notepaper for my twelve year old self to look through. Nothing like this.

The silence except for wind noise, the totally open and unobstructed view all around us. The terror of falling off and plummeting to my death on the cobblestones hundreds of meters below. Probably followed by a humiliating conversation with Eris.

"What happened?" Chris asked as we leveled off. "Alderp can't have enough guards to give you guys and a Crimson Demon war party trouble."

"Damned if I know! One minute we're squared off in between Alderp's thugs and the Dustinesses, the next most of the bastard's…I dunno what they turned into!" he shouted over one shoulder. "Just got horns, claws, and all kinds of bullshit and lost their damned minds! Rin sent us to find you, I was hoping you knew!"

Aqua sucked in a breath in realization, probably the only time ever she beat Chris to the punch. "Stinky Max! There were some low level demons there with him at the house!"

Chris and I both stiffened in horrified realization. More than once, I had wondered what kind of person could willingly serve someone like Alderp. I could understand the ones who were trapped one way or another, but the ones who did his bidding without complaint, even gladly?

But if Aqua was right… we'd been wrong about where the rest of the staff was that night, the survivors weren't the ones that Maxwell and Alderp hadn't gotten around to yet.

They were the ones who signed up for the ride. The ones who were just like him, but never had the power to indulge their whims like he could. And who, when promised more power than they'd ever had in their lives, seized it without worrying about the consequences.

"Damnation! We're all fools, with their master dead they lost their orders and just followed their instincts!" she snarled, pounding one fist on her thigh.

Axel isn't that big, as the dragon flies. We were over the cathedral in less than two minutes. For too many, that was too long.

What did it look like? …Well in another life I'd have thought I wandered into a Doom level. Not that that means anything to you gremlins. So let me set the scene.

Demons, demons everywhere.

Some of them were circling below us, casting magic on the defenders below. Some roamed the grounds, others threw themselves at the guests in groups of twos and threes still on their feet out in the courtyard. Thankfully I didn't see any signs of the demons coordinating. Basically they seemed to be attacking whatever they saw first, and not worrying about much else.

There was a clear space in front of the main doors, with maybe a dozen figures keeping it that way. Soketto and Bukkorori spun back to back, taking turns casting and recovering, hampered more than a little by the close quarters and needing not to fry the other survivors. Or level the town trying to save it. Their position at the top of the cathedral steps helped, letting them angle their shots down into the courtyard rather than risking the walls, or neighborhood outside.

The ditzy fortune teller raised her wand and bellowed a "Cursed Lightning!" I could just barely hear even at our height at a group of demons with a twirl of her skirts and baleful cackle as she cast. Three demons vanished in a strobe flash of pure blackness.

"Light of Saber!" her partner called, frying the last two in the group while doing what looked like an eight year old's image of a kung fu kick before releasing his spell.

Meanwhile, Yunyun had apparently gotten enough XP from our adventure to get her Advanced Magic, because she sent a Cursed Lightning forking into a flying cluster foolish enough to hover while they primed spells, then followed up with a stream of intermediate fireballs into the survivors like a red eyed hailstorm. She turned the fireball stream on the grounded demons next, relentlessly pounding whichever looked most threatening. The smaller splash from her spells meant she could risk closer shots than her clan mates, letting one group of survivors break past their enemies once she cleared them an escape route to join the group at the steps.

"We can set down there!" Dust pointed at a recently forcefully expanded intersection that was several streets from the main gates, beginning to descend.

"Forget it! Chris barked. "Just take us down and we'll get off ourselves. Stay up here with Aqua and let her do her thing!"

"Fair enough, here we go," Dust agreed equitably, and his dragon folded its wings. We fell straight down like a homesick stone, bile rising in my throat as we hurtled towards the open street.

At what felt like several seconds past the last possible moment, the wings snapped back out and open, my vision graying out while my stomach and all points south tried to keep right on going.

For a tiny sliver of an instant at the bottom of the dive we were motionless relative to the ground, and in that moment Chris pounced and tackled us off the dragon's back. We dropped maybe three meters to the cobblestones as the others sped skyward in a zoom climb, trading away all the energy from our headlong dive.

We on the other hand went bouncing and rolling along the street, but between stats and Chris' featherfall skill we were quickly rolling to our feet, already at the run. I could hear the sounds of the battle in progress just around the corner.

"Come on!" Chris shouted, and we sprinted towards the fighting.

On rounding the corner a four armed demon, fire engine red and puffing steam, turned towards us and away from the pair of nobles it was trying to disembowel.

The minute its back was turned they rallied and jumped it, running it through with a rapier and blasting it with a lightning bolt that staggered it in its tracks.

Making it easy meat for Chris, who danced outside its hasty slash of claws before neatly severing the tendon connecting the right bicep, making that arm useless. Unable to defend itself on one side, she mercilessly pushed her advantage, as I piled in behind her to circle around its other side. Not that she needed the help, even with her full powers locked. The next two slashes disabled the other arm on that side, but the next instant the mage fried it again, putting it down for the count.

"Good timing, strangers," the swordsman greeted us, giving a quick flick to his lightweight ceremonial rapier's blade to clean it. "Could definitely use the help…"

Like all the people I had seen, he was in his court wear instead of something that could stop more than politely worded insults. But given he was still on his feet despite being in the middle of a demonic incursion… well say what you want about the nobility of Belzerg, I have over the decades. But never claim they can't fight. The overlap between their highest ranking families and their collection of epic badasses is pretty much total.

"Call me Leon, this is Martin, my aide. I assume the rest of your party is en route?"

"We hope, should be any minute." I agreed. "But…"

A thunderclap from further in caused me to jump, and remember where we were.

"Nevermind, that way!" There was another trio still fighting, and picking up survivors as we rolled the horde up towards the steps sounded like as good a plan as any. This time I led the way, our wizard unleashing another lightning strike.

No two demons seemed to be alike, our next targets had one that was shaggy and horned while being built like a centaur buffalo, along with another that was some sort of snake with arms that seemed to be shooting spikes from its chest, and the last that was a more traditional horny…er ram horned devil, soot black with paws rather than the usual hooves.

The snake thing spotted us first, unleashing a series of thumb thick spikes as long as my hand at us. Auto Dodge took me clear, and Leon actually parried one somehow judging by the metallic ring I barely heard.

"I'll keep this one busy! Go get those two tanks!"

The others peeled off to tangle with the two bigger threats, the snake was 'only' a meter taller than me and at least twice as heavy. Skills trumped size any day, what really had me worried was the brownish plates that covered it. Top level Monks, the Priors, had access to a really cool skill that let you wrap mana around your fist and turn it into basically an energy blade. But I wasn't even level ten yet, the days I could go Dragonball on someone were years away.

I thought I could still bypass them, at least a little. It cut loose another string of shots but I was able to duck under and tuck into a roll, coming up with my skill primed and ready. I'd taken Vibration Strike, only a little bit because it sounded cool, ages ago and never had any use for it because it wasn't anything like the name suggested.

Instead of some sort of ultrasonic cutter or one hit shattering the target like a champagne glass in front of an opera singer, it was more like an outward focused, miniature explosion in my palm. Not enough to blast a hole through something directly, even a grenade had much more bang, but the idea was to blast a sort of scab off the inner surface and send it hurtling through the squishy bits the armor was protecting. The stiffer and more brittle the material was the better it worked. Totally just the thing for the blubbery Giant Toads I spent most of my time fighting.

But rock was great, and metal worked ok, so something like a bug's carapace…

Apparently wasn't impossible. The demon staggered, writhing and favoring the side I'd hit. I scooted forward on the balls of my feet, not letting it get any distance, and followed up with a sweep kick to knock aside the scythe tipped arm it tried to gore me with. As long as I stayed inside its reach, right in its ugly face, I should be golden. As soon as I had another shot charged up, I hammered that one in too, though it twisted aside at the last moment and some of the strike spilled across its other side where I'd been looking for something vital. I didn't have the faintest idea where this thing kept its heart and lungs, or even if it had them, but unless I wanted to waste time pounding it into hamburger I…forgot about the tail.

Like a bullwhip the coils it had been moving on unfurled and snapped across my arms I'd frantically raised to block, knocking me back several meters and back into its spike shooting zone. The guards kept me from breaking anything, but the bruises were going to be amazing. I could feel an oozing sensation, maybe from a pressure cut, inside my left guard, but then the chest plates right over it's ribs swung open as I regained my footing and the demon didn't even take aim so much as just blasted in my general direction.

Auto Dodge only takes you so far. I tried to tuck and roll out of the path again, but that scattershot approach worked in the demon's favor, two of its shots scored. One piercing my right calf with a sensation like liquid fire racing up my leg, the other digging across my back where the light armor deflected it but couldn't stop it.

I went down in a heap, maybe two meters in front of the thing.

For whatever reason, it didn't finish me with another salvo right then and there as I lay gasping and trying to figure out why my leg wasn't working. Instead, it slithered over the short distance and raised a sickle arm to do the job. The chest plates were closing up as it did so, and in a sudden inspiration I got my good leg underneath me and primed one last strike. At full stretch I could just reach a spot right under the spike launcher, and I threw everything I had into this one. Whatever it was using, compressed air, water jet, living spud gun, it wasn't going to appreciate having a scab of armor blasted through the middle of it.

There was a 'crack' like a thick tree branch breaking, though muffled by the layer of muscle and scales. The snake demon settled back on its coils, then toppled with a clatter on the paving stones. Where I'd weakened the armor it split at the impact, leaking some kind of nasty slurry in a puddle around the corpse.

I looked around, for what felt like the first time in forever. Thieves like Chris supposedly always knew what was going on around them, and my class got a lesser bit of that too, but it wasn't like I could do much else. My leg and back had both gone numb, and while on one hand I was grateful, on the other that probably wasn't a good sign. At least it made tying on a bandage easier if it didn't hurt every time I flexed that calf.

My partymates had finished off their opponents while I was busy, Chris was extracting her dagger from the temple of the bison looking one while our new comrades checked that the winged demon was dead by stabbing it until it quit twitching.

"I thought you were just going to keep it busy, idiot!" she barked when she saw me.

"I did, killing it counts!" I protested. "Not that that was my plan. I hope one of our new friends is a priest, though."

"No such luck, two swordmasters and an archer," Chris said, rolling me over and slapping a pad of cloth from her belt on the gouge in my back I hadn't been able to reach.

Dust picked that moment to come blasting over the perimeter wall, just clearing the rooftops. With his spear in one hand and the other laid on his mount's neck, he looked like the cover of a fantasy novel as he skewered a pair of flying demons on his way past and a blast of fire incinerated several more, causing the rest of their air support to follow him into a chaotic, swirling melee while the pair twisted and looped above and sometimes around the cathedral spires.

Chris looked at me, and I gazed back. Not into the depths of her eyes, but in puzzlement and mounting dread.

"If he's there…where the hell is Aqua?!"

"Not here. Come on," she growled, pulling me to my feet.

One of the more wounded rescuers leaned on me, and I on him, as we got moving again. The numbers seemed to be thinning, but I didn't see any other pockets holding out besides us. A crackling storm of light devouring lightning opened a path well to our left, and our group took the chance to get into the cleared lane and hobble as fast as we could go, the archer whose name I hadn't learned and wizard I was having trouble remembering focusing on our flanks while the fighters formed a rearguard.

We were maybe 20 meters away at that point, but it felt like that in kilometers as we hobbled our way to safety. Standing on the bottom steps directing the defenders was a tall, blond and blue eyed man in battered court attire, nearby was an equally blonde woman in what used to be a white wedding dress.

Darkness had looked worse than I'd ever seen her, and I'd seen her get eaten and nearly incinerated. Her dress was a torn mess, the skirts ripped and bloodied, the sleeveless top equally spattered with who knew what. One elbow length glove was red almost along the entire length, the other missing completely, and her hair was pulled back with a piece of string instead of whatever gaudy thing a duke's daughter would normally have on her wedding day.

Chris peeled off to speak to the Duke, and the others joined the line. Meanwhile I heard an all too familiar voice cry out as we injured dragged our way past the line of fighters.

"There are hurt people, so I'm un-hurting them! Why are you being so mean!"

"Because you can't 'un-hurt' them faster than the demons are doing the hurting! We need the demons gone, THEN we can get with the healing!" another, truthfully not much less high pitched, voice shouted back.

Of course she didn't follow the plan, I should've known. Probably jumped off right behind us and wandered off. There, right up against the cathedral doors, was Aqua. A semicircle of people was laid out around her as she went from one to the next. Or had been, because Kazuma had her by the collar and was flailing the other arm at the ongoing hellscape around us.

"Fine! You'll see! I'll take care of this in no time!" Aqua pouted, looking away from him. She stood and shook his grip off without any effort, then spread her arms wide.

"Answer my call! May heaven's favor shine upon those who despair. May all that threaten them be banished from my sight!

SACRED EXCORCISM!"

As impressive as what she'd done at Maxwell's was, we hadn't seen anything yet. A blue mist, thick as the morning fog in fall, rose from the flagstones. It glowed with light you could only call holiness made manifest, and a spinning seal circle sprang from the goddess to encompass everything inside the walls, and more than a bit outside them.

The glow brightened, and brightened again. Shielding my eyes, like all of us were, I couldn't say what happened next. Only that the light leaking through my eyelids was enough to start being painful.

And then it stopped, and all was silent.

"There! Happy now?!" her voice echoed against the suddenly empty courtyard.

The surviving flyers outside her spell broke away and headed for the horizon at top speed.

Dust didn't pursue, he'd just finished his pass at them and by the time he got turned around to give chase they'd have enough of a head start to probably get clear. Seeing he wasn't going to push the issue, once the demons got outside the town walls they started to climb.

Of course, he didn't really need to.

"Wait for it," Bukkorori advised, letting his own spell fade in his hands.

"Next you'll be teaching fish how to swim…" Megumin scoffed as she tracked her prey, visible over the rooftops but shrinking quickly in the distance.

A baleful crimson glow around her staff lit the landing in front of the doors. The baker's dozen demons started turning north, flapping towards the Demon King's domain. Once they steadied onto their new path, probably certain they were home free, Megumin did what she does best.

The Explosion spell ripped free, glowing rings collapsing to send it on its way almost too fast to see. In the few seconds between its launch and arrival they tried to scatter, for what good it did.

When the spell went off below the cloud cover the shockwave blew a hole in them kilometers wide.

Of the demons there was no trace.

"HAHA! Witness True Power!" the Megumenace crowed, before falling into Yunyun's arms.


The inside of the cathedral proved not as much of a war zone as its grounds once those inside unbarred the doors, but there had still been some fighting inside judging by the scarring and scorch marks by the handful of broken windows and a massive bloodstain near the doors.

While a Dustiness retainer helped me limp inside, I spotted Darkness bustling around shifting and stacking pews to make an open space.

It shames me to admit it now, but if you asked me before that day I'd have given good odds that being mind controlled by Alderp or someone like him would be one of Darkness' many, many fantasies. Either I did her a disservice, or the real thing wasn't what she wanted after all, because even I could tell she was focusing on a mindless distraction now that the fighting was over.

Hopefully the tarp covered mound I spotted in a back corner gave her some peace.

Not long afterwards a priest came by and hit me with a Cure spell for the venom in my wounds, then handed me a piece of wood and shooed me outside to be with the rest of the walking wounded and wait for another priest to finish the job later. As I hobbled off, someone else was being laid down in my spot. I hoped they appreciated me warming up the cushion for them.

As I made my way down the steps I saw Aqua kneeling about halfway down the row of people laid out along the perimeter wall. Some covered with tarps, spare clothes, or whatever else could be found. Others, still technically alive, but not long for the world. One by one, she would lift an edge for a moment, reach her hand in, then lower it and move to the next.

"Aqua! What do you think you're DOING?!" Last rites were fine and all, but there were plenty of people who still needed…

And then someone at the far end of the row, the first one she touched, started to stir. And the next.

One by one, the fallen roused. By the time the goddess brushed off her skirt and washed her hands with a little bit of conjured water, all of them were moving, some even sitting up and throwing off their improvised shrouds.

Then Aqua bounced past me with a sunny smile and not a care in the world, waving a hand over me while skipping towards the open doors where the wounded that the local priests thought they could save waited for care.

Leaving me standing frozen in shock. As dad said, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Someone barked at me in turn, and I got moving. It took me at least a minute to realize I didn't need my improvised crutch anymore, my leg was good as new.

To think we had had someone like that doing masonry. A man could weep.

The same retainer who summoned Lalatina what seemed like months ago found me during a water break around noon. By that time cleanup was well in hand, and those of us who were formerly wounded were organizing the supplies for the masons while they debated how to go about the repairs.

"Duke Ignis requires your presence and your companions'," he said quietly. "I believe it is good news," he added at my look of horror.

"Now?" I asked, looking down at the dusty, stained heavy linen pants and black t-shirt I wore under my usual gear. I wasn't exactly dressed for a party, like all of us here.

"Yes. He wishes you to come as you are. i In his words, after the events of today no signs of honest labor could be considered an insult."

Put like that I couldn't argue, and finished my water in one gulp before gesturing for him to lead on.

I was the last one shown through the door behind the altar of the cathedral, into what looked like a meeting room judging by the huge round wooden table and sideboard. Loaded with iced and hot tea along with a tray of sandwiches I couldn't help noticing. It had been a long time since the piece of cheese and leftover dinner roll that morning before going demon hunting.

"Welcome, welcome. Please help yourself. We all have a great deal to discuss," the duke absently, waving vaguely at the table before going back to his discussion. Of all people, he was paying close attention to Kazuma as he stood in his only slightly less filthy outfit.

I wasn't about to argue with that order, so I joined the other guests around the food,

"Dust, chew." Rin quietly snapped at her party mate as I walked up.

"It's onion duck! Do you have any idea what that costs? I might get a level just from one sandwich!" He hissed back.

"And it might be the only one you get if you upset our host. Behave, as much as you can," Taylor rumbled after swallowing a bite of his. He noticed me then and nodded a greeting. "Subaru. Some pretty hot work Chris found for us, eh?"

I snorted. "As the lady herself. I don't see her though."

"She's with Lady Lalatina, last I heard," Rin said, shaking her head sadly. "And the Crimson Demons were on their way out when I showed up," she mentioned offhand.

I sighed, a weight settling in my chest. I'd hoped to talk to Yunyun, but if she went home already…

Well, at least I knew I could send a letter without it getting burned, that counted for something.

"Ladies, gentlemen, if I might ask for a moment," our host raised his voice slightly as he came over, Kazuma sidling up and grabbing a sandwich for himself.

"Besides my family and Chris, you five are the most intimately acquainted with this affair, and alongside her earned the greatest honors. The line of House Dustiness would have ended here had you not stepped forward. A debt I cannot leave unacknowledged, still less unpaid."

That said, for what Chris told me later was probably the second time ever, a sitting duke bowed to someone who wasn't royalty. The first being to the Crimson Demons who just left.

"If you have a request of my house, either speak it now or hold it in trust for a future need. We shall honor it."

Kazuma spoke first. "Our agreement is more than enough, your grace. Thank you."

Pondering just what that meant, I missed what Taylor asked for. Knowing that too nice for his own good idiot, he probably just asked for a better sword or something.

Rin said she'd take the IOU, and as for Dust…

"I…" At that moment I could practically feel the strain it was causing him to choose against asking for enough beer to float a battleship. After an epic struggle played across his face, he squeezed his eyes shut and ground out. "I…just want a better life. For Faitfore. As long as she's taken care of."

And as for me, "I believe I'll take the trust as well, your grace," I said as calmly as I could, mentally thanking Kazuma for telling us the right title.

"Done. And for you, young 'Dust' I believe I can do much better than that, if you would remain behind for a moment." I could almost believe he was trying not to laugh, but surely not. "And to you, Kazuma, Rin, Subaru, and Taylor. Again, my deepest thanks. May Holy Eris guard your steps."


That night the guild hall was bustling, even more than usual as the beer flowed freely courtesy of the late Lord Alderp's seized assets. The very late lord, rumor had it by Lady Lalatina with her bare hands.

With Duke Dustiness having a reputation as being a good sort for high nobility, plus his daughter being appointed as acting lord of Axel, no one was worried about 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss', and everyone had even more reason to celebrate the end of the bad old days.

But that didn't concern me, steering clear of the high and mighty has been a great move so far. The heir to a village was already more than I felt able to handle. Rin had told me my target was still in town after her comrades left, and there were only so many places she'd be…

And speaking of the Demon, there she was. Steadying myself, I walked over to Yunyun's table. For once she wasn't alone, drinking with what everyone called Dust's party even though he was in no way the leader. Approaching from the front this time, even I can learn, I waved to get her attention.

After a moment Rin saw me and gave her a nudge. She started, looking up from her mug in surprise. After a moment, with a little wobble in her step, Yunyun came over. Though she looked like she'd rather be anywhere else.

That made two of us.

"Hey, can we have that talk?" I shouted above the noise and pointed outside.

The archwizard nodded, and followed me from the noise and chaos inside into nearly as much of both outside. The town square outside was basically one big party too, but the adventurers were going extra hard at it.

Sharing a look, we wandered a little further up the street until the background died down.

Deciding that this was probably as private a place as she was willing to go with me right now, I straightened to attention and then gave a full 90 degree bow. "I'm sorry, Yunyun. I was an idiot and would've gotten everyone killed if not for Eris' favor." So, so much favor. With any luck she'd never know how much.

Holding my position, I waited for her reply. Just as I was beginning to worry and my back was starting to ache, she sighed.

"Y-you idiot. I didn't want you to grovel. N-not much," she said the last part more softly, but I could pretend I hadn't heard it. "I want y-you not to do it again. Having you back that clown over me was even worse than dealing with those two airheaded harpies."

"There's…nothing I can say to that," I agreed, straightening.

"And I-I…I'm sorry too. About what I said i-in the Dragonfly. You did let me down, but I did too. Let me down. I could have stopped things. Wanted to, so much. B-but I couldn't, and then when you wouldn't stand up either…" Her eyes glowed past her lashes as she stared at the street. Long lashes, but I didn't think they had much makeup here. "And when everything went wrong, all I could think of was that we didn't have to be there. None of it had to happen. And I'd never been so angry in my life. Then when you got us out of trouble by some miracle and that idiot wanted to take us back up…" she trailed off, stuttering as she got more agitated and her fists clenched in memory, breathing ragged.

Then she slumped, the tension leaving her with one big released breath. "I, I didn't mean it," she whispered.

Trouble that I had a big hand in causing, I didn't say but certainly thought very loudly. What I did say was, "I was a shitty partymate. Will you give me a chance to be a better one?" I held my breath as she looked back up at me, eyes still ablaze.

After a second that felt much, much longer, she nodded. "Ok. Friends?"

Letting out a relieved breath, I nodded. "Yeah. Gladly, I was ready for this to be the end. The last couple of days I've missed having my favorite fire starter around."

She flushed and ducked away. "Me too, s-so let's not do this again, m'kay?"

"Deal." We shook on it, and I looked behind her at the ongoing party in the square. The priests were going to make a fortune curing hangovers tomorrow, assuming they weren't too far gone themselves. "Maybe not tomorrow, but the day after? There's got to be something left on the board after your clan happened to the local wildlife."

"Sounds good," she agreed. She walked past me with a lighter step than coming here, turning to look over her shoulder. "D-dust is paying for drinks, and I want to t-take him up on it before he comes to his senses." Snorting in agreement, I couldn't blame her. Cats would sooner fly I'd think, and followed her.

When we walked back in, Rin raised her mug at me, mouthing 'you owe me'. Raising a hand to acknowledge her, I could only agree. She and all of her party had been nothing but true friends since I came to this world. So as I walked up to the table, I hopped up on a spare bench and bellowed, "Dust is getting this round! Let's give him a hand!"

Like any good friend would do.

AN:

True facts, we find out in his spinoff novels that Dust is not only a former dragon knight from a neighboring kingdom, but the youngest to get the title in living memory. Meaning there were two Standard Light Novel Protagonists in Konosuba all along, Dust had just become a little…special by the time we met him.