An: Sh*t, I think I over-describe things. Hmm, I'll try to mitigate it.
Are You a Sinner?
"You hear me?! Bring those neroid barrels and put them in the corner! Tonight, we will celebrate the arrival of such an individual! All on me!"
"Woho! Luna-san's the best!"
"As always!"
After Luna's announcement to throw a party tonight, the crowd gradually calmed down. Finally, they went back to their spots while giving Aqua thumbs-ups. Of course, it would boost her ego and she responded with a pompous look.
Though when the one she wanted to show off to the most wasn't in her sight, she hastily looked around. Impatience filled her heart.
"Kazuma?! Where are you?!"
"Oh yeah! I haven't checked Kazuma-san's yet!"
"Could this be...?"
"Two Demon King's Equals Candidates in one encounter?!"
The guild members almost forgot about Kazuma too, who earlier stealthily escaped the crowd. They frantically looked around the hall.
Luna, who was behind the counter table interfered too. After observing the hall briefly, an auburn-haired figure in the corner caught her eyes and she waved her hand at him.
"Kazuma-san!"
Kazuma, lost in his thought snapped his head up by the call. His sole eye perplexedly blinked.
"O-Oh, yeah, what's up?"
"Look!"
A hand with a card shoved itself to his face, staggering him backwards. Kazuma feels a bit of pain in his nose after being hit by that card. He took a glance at the culprit and sure enough, it was Aqua. Who looked at him smugly.
"That hurts!"
"Hm, who cares, here, look!"
Using her other hand to point the card in his face to show him what she meant. Kazuma stared at the card and nodded, rubbing his nose to ease up the stinging pain.
"It's good."
Aqua/Lvl 1/Arch-Priest [Not enough stats!]
STR: 22/INT: 1/AGI: 23/STA: 23/LUK: 12/HOL: 112
"...Your INT is outrageously low though. But I guess it makes sense."
"What's that even supposed to mean?!"
"You actually need an elaboration?"
"Anyway, now, shower me with praises! Look at these heavenly stats only this Goddess could possess! Hahahaah! You must be filled with awe right now!"
Staring at the contemptuous and ignorant woman in front of him, Kazuma slide his hand through the dining table and put it under his chin. Giving her a deadpan stare.
"Amazing, Aqua-sama. It is a miracle for me to be in your presence."
"... every time you give me compliments, I feel like I was being insulted despite being praised by you. Wait, that doesn't make any sense at all!"
Aqua was thinking hard about his words, Kazuma could only snicker at her silly antics. He then stood up, walking over to Luna, who was waiting to apprehend his stats at the counter table. Transparent curiosity was plastered by her brown eyes.
They were currently staring at him, who has arrived before the table. Not only hers, many pairs of eyes were also staring at his back. Anticipating the result of his card.
"Do you think he would become a Warrior?"
"Nah, with his stature, a Thief would probably be more fit."
"How about a Tamer?"
"What? Who the hell just said that?!"
"Show yourself, you foolish man!"
Ignoring the commotion behind him, Kazuma slid his card onto the counter table, showing Luna the card's entirety. Aqua, whose thoughts lead to nowhere finally gave up and walked over to stand beside him. She too was looking upon his card in curiosity.
Luna inspects the card blankly.
"...Kazuma-san, my eyes are deceiving me, right?"
"...No."
"If so, then. Please explain to me in a way that could be understood as to why your Holy Magic stat is filled with indecipherable words?"
"Umm, well, I guess it has something to do with my eye."
Blankly, Luna reverted her gaze to his covered eye. Kazuma could only reply with a wry complexion, placing both of his hands on the table as support.
"Mind if I ask something?"
"Not at all, Kazuma-san."
"In my utmost sincerity, I'll tell you that I too, have genuinely no idea about this. I'm as lost as you. So could you please treat this as something confidential? Just act as if these words didn't exist and instead treat it as 0. Is that fine by you?"
"No problem."
Glancing at this strange individual before her, Luna continued in her inspection of his strange card. Indecipherable words aside, it's the first time she saw a LUK stat so high from a Newbie. If that was it, she would recommend him to be a Merchant straight away, as his other stats were below average. But of course, considering the Extermination of the Son of a B*tch, she probably recommend something else. After all, as a seasoned receptionist, she knew that stats don't define everything.
However, something caught her eyes.
It's the ridiculously high INT. The highest she has ever seen coming from a Newbie.
89 INT.
Her heart shook.
...If it was put into a perspective, then an average person usually has 10 INT as a Newbie. Nobles, being educated since they were children, have 20 INT. And Crimson Demon, a clan famous for its Archwizard occupants, averaged 50 INT. She remembered the last Crimson Demon who registered, the girl possessed 87 INT.
It was ridiculous. A newbie with 87 INT?
...yeah, that's what she thought. Until now.
'Even though he was a student, isn't this too much? He's not even a Crimson Demon...'
"Luna-san! So how it is?! How impressive is this boy?!"
"A Tamer, perhaps?"
"Subjugate him!"
"Insane! Why would you opine such an outrageous thing?!"
"Kick his a*s! He deserved it!"
"W-Wait! I was just giving out my speculation!"
"Speculation my a*s!"
Luna merely shook her head at her guild members' antics. Yep, that's what this place is always filled with. Vigorousness, liveliness, outrageousness... sometimes, conflicts were formed merely by a word or two. But she could only smile.
"Anyway, Kazuma-san. Your stats are very..."
As Luna deliberately hung off her words, the guild members became silent and turned their attention to Luna. Impatiently waiting for her to continue, by their restless forms.
"...Ungodly. Everyone, a natural Arch-Wizard has been born!"
"HAHAHAH! That's even better than a Warrior!"
"Wait, Luna-san, does that mean...?"
"Yes! Add the barrels of the heart-freezing Crimson Neroid and the Mind-numbing Beer! We'll be partying till we're high as the sky!"
"Best day ever!!!"
"Let's gooo!!"
Luna admit. This is such a good day. The extermination of Leonfart, the appearance of a Demon King's Equal, and now, another one appeared, with an even more outrageous description too!
Kazuma Satou/Lvl 1/Adventurer [Not enough stats!]
STR: 6/INT: 88/AGI: 4/STA: 8/ LUK: 40/HOL: S̶̡̞̙̙̠͗̽̕Ḭ̶͓̄N̴͔̑̀́̾N̴͚̯͇̝̈̋̈́͜͠Ë̷͚̰̂̉Ř̶̤̗̳̋ ̸̤͆̓ͅD̵͎̈̀Ö̶͔̫̞̩̼́̒̆͘Ẹ̵̥͇̾͂Ś̶̼̜N̴̨̛͗'̶̙͓̅͜T̸̢̛͉̭̱̭̓̀͆̇ ̸̫̬̰̍D̶̻͈̕Ĕ̸̫̮͉͓̠Ś̴Ẻ̶͈͗͆R̸̗͉͐͜V̸̮̦̤̙̭̊͆Ę̶̠͖̟̮̇̽̍ ̷͈͉͛͂H̸̼̬̤̥̊Ȍ̵̺͖̿̚͝Ḷ̴̤̣̣̈́̀̓͠Ȳ̸̤͙̜̮̀ ̴̡̳̝̆͋͋S̸͉͇̤̏̅Ą̷͖̞̼̘̉L̷̡͖͇̀V̵̥̞͇̉͊̈́̋̚ͅͅĄ̶̫̮̮͐́͠T̸̑͑̿͌̓͜Ĭ̶̧̛̘̟̂́̄Ò̶̘̭̖͑̚̕N̴̡̲͙̩̔̐̓!̸̨̧̨̣̽̀͘!̴̲̬̺̞͇̆̃̔̌́!̸̧͔̖͒̉!̴̮̉͌͑́/
Keeping his gaze on the card, Kazuma still feels a little bit strange when he saw these characters. But that aside, he felt satisfied, with a little bit of regret. Originally, he was fascinated by the class Arch-Wizard. Immersed in his fantasizing about throwing spells here and there, with mystical natural effects produced by the spells, creating a fantasized image within his head.
But it came again. The Sin Of Greed.
'A set of skills wouldn't be sufficient! How about Warrior's? Berserker's? Archer's? Thief's? Assassin's? Priest's? Crusader's? A mere Wizard's set of skills wouldn't be enough!'
...Yeah.
So with regret, the sin obstructs his will and moves his body as it sees fit. He proceeds to ask Luna to change his class to Adventurer. A weak, bottom-rank class that required all of the stats to reach a certain number to evolve. Well, it's the only class where he could learn all kinds of skills. At the cost of decreasing every stat by one with LUK as an exception.
...Kazuma groaned inwardly. He jinxed himself!
He must learn how to resist this sin he embodies! Thought he deduced it was only possible by overpowering its will, using light novels as references, he had yet to try it out. So for now, it was merely an idea seeped in his mind.
That strange look Luna shoot him would forever haunt his dream...
This damned sin!
"Hahah! This Sky-bringer Light-blue Beer is amazing! Waitress-san, a refill, please!"
"A-Aqua-sama, your debt is worth over 50,000 Eris! Are you sure you wanted to increase it again?"
"Not a problem-!"
He heard that!
"50,000?! Aqua! You fu-"
Looking at the stomping Kazuma who menacingly strides over to Aqua, who was sitting at the barstool, unaware of how screwed she was, Luna shook her head with a laugh. She was looking forward to the future.
"Aha! It's you, you f*cking pig! Guys! Here! This is the guy who opined a f*cking Tamer!"
"W-Wait, I mean, it was a possibility that he'll be a Tamer! It wasn't even subjective-!"
"Shut the f*ck up and take our beatings, you nuts!"
"Ah-Ah! Nooo...!"
"Tamer my damned a*s!"
...It seems like the commotion within the Guild Hall wouldn't disappear in the meantime.
"So what would you recommend for our first quest?"
With a worn-out and depressed-looking Aqua beside him, Kazuma asked Luna, who was also worn out by the commotion. For the planned party tonight, she was instructing the guild members on which barrels they have to carry. And it could be imagined how tiring it was to instruct a group of barbarous adventurers. But as a seasoned receptionist, of course, she would manage.
"Well, I guess you could try out the Giant Frogs one. Subjugating five giant frogs within three days comes to a reward of over 100,000 Eris. You could also use our service to deliver the corpses. Giant Frog's meat is one of the main menus our Guild served. Though it costs 5,000 Eris per corpse. But don't worry, the value of the corpses would make up for it. One Giant Frog worth over 10,000 Eris."
"So if we use this service of yours to carry the corpses, we would receive 5,000 Eris for every dead Giant Frog? And after subjugating 5 frogs, we will receive 100,000 Eris as the reward for the quest?"
"Precisely."
"They are separated right? And would be combined when I'm done?"
"Correct."
Gazing off to the opened gate of the Guild Hall, which showed the blue sky of this fantasy-themed world, Kazuma contemplated. Right now, he has unironically -57,000 Eris. Yes.
-57,000 Eris.
Noticing Kazuma's staggering gaze, Aqua whined.
"I said I'm sorry!"
"Yeah. Okay."
"You-!!!"
Ignoring her whimpers, he turned his gaze to the sheet of paper on the table. It showed the information of the quest he will partake in.
"Alright, I'll be taking this quest."
"Good luck!"
At a Plain Field...
"...I knew it said that they were big and almost completely immune to physical assaults. But isn't this a little bit too... off-putting?"
Kazuma blankly stared ahead, looking at the screeching Aqua who was covered in slimy juices. She looks really pathetic.
"K-Kazuma!!! Heeeellp! AAAAAHHH! KyaaaAa!"
Though admittedly, it was hilarious when her voice cracked up.
Let's just say because of her ego, she messed up.
Aqua is currently being chased by a couple of Giant Frogs. Running through the plain field while suffering the intensity of being hunted. Those Giant Frogs are over 3 meters in height!
'Poor Goddess.' Kazuma pondered casually.
The quest took place in a plain field outside the town. Just coincidentally. Usually, this place would be as safe as the town itself. Because of the overflowing adventurers Axel produced, the monsters near the town were exterminated long ago. Kazuma found it quite odd that bodyguards merely snoop around the city wall, seeming to not be on guard at all. If not for these frogs, children would probably roam this field, playing without a care about this world.
'Odd. But oh well.'
According to the quest paper, it said that these Giant Frogs were in their mating season. They "visit" human settlements to get nutritious consumption for accumulating nutrition to lay eggs. Which... were farm animals. From local farms.
Ominously, there were some reports where a couple of farmers and children went missing.
And perhaps, Aqua would be the next victim of their vicious, sadistic devouring techniques-
"KAZUMA! YOU A-ASshHoleee-Kyaaaa!!!'
As if sensing his ridicule, Aqua suddenly screamed out. Unfortunately, the frog manage to catch up and devoured her entirely. He could see her spasming left leg, hanging off the mouth of the frog.
"Hmmphhph! Hmph Hmph Hmph Hmph!"
"Alright, alright. I'll go."
Deciding it was enough misery for Aqua today, Kazuma not-so-apologetically ran towards the devourer and stab its back with the short sword he borrowed from the Guild's treasury. Seeing it wasn't enough as it still tightly sealed its mouth, Kazuma moves forward, extorting extra effort to push the sword. Once the stabbed sword almost sliced the frog half-wholly, it faltered, falling on its right side.
Despite its almost-perfect immunity toward physical assaults, they apparently "hate" metal, which in reality was their weakness. So metal weapons could easily finish them off. Like his borrowed sword.
It was easy because its focus was entirely on Aqua. It stood still too.
"K-K-Kazuma! Y-You meanie! Waaa-!"
Boom!
Suddenly, another giant frog appeared. It hopped at an alarming speed, having Kazuma and slimy Aqua as its destination. With his rational thinking, of course-
"Whoops, gotta retreat. Another one coming. Good luck!"
"You-!!!"
"Sorry Aqua! You're already slimy! A little more wouldn't change anything!"
The process was repeated.
"D-Damn it! T-These damned frogs! How dare they devoured me, a Goddess?! Seeing me as a mere prey?! Mere lowly monsters dared to do such a thing to me?! Aaaah!"
Kazuma could only look Aqua in pity. It seems like she was turning insane-
"RAAGH! Go to hell! God Blow!"
"Wait, you idiot! It wouldn't work!"
In thoughtlessness and recklessness, Aqua charged to a bunch of Giant Frogs. Her hand was shining white, with white particles revolving around them. Looking absolutely mystifying, if not for the upcoming occurrence.
"Oi Aqua! You can't handle one so why are you running towards a bunch of them-!"
Boink!
Her mystifying-looking fist was absorbed by its slimy, bouncy skin. Kazuma could only sigh when Aqua dumbfoundedly looked up to her approaching doom. A helpless, stupid smile plastered on her slimy face.
"W-Well... w-wow! C-Cute! G-Giant Frogs l-look-"
Gulp!
She was engulfed. Again.
In the end, The Sin of Greed was enraged by the event and forced him to move. With inhumane manoeuvres, Kazuma successfully rescued Aqua by assaulting the frog by penetrating the head with his short sword, instantaneously killing it. But it seems like a Giant Frog wasn't enough to sterilize its enraged state, so he went to kill the bunch surrounding it.
He ran away from the Giant Frogs with sobbing, slimy Aqua in hand, who was clinging onto his tracksuit. With a body that feels like it was about to break apart by the backlash.
'Seriously, this Sin is so troublesome!'
Not that he minded the bestowed force though. It matched with what he needed, so Kazuma didn't reject it.
"Y-You meanie! Meanie! Evil! Bastard!"
"It was pretty funny though."
"Waaah! I-I stink! Like fish! So disgusting!"
"Sad."
Well, at least he learned something today. That when killing Giant Frogs, he must aim for the head. For instant kills.
And with that, their quest was completed. Aqua as the "Vanguard" and Kazuma as the Finisher.
...
Aqua/Lvl 3/Arch-Priest [Not enough stats!]
STR: 24/INT: 3/AGI: 25/STA: 25/LUK: 12/HOL: 116/
SP: 4
...
Kazuma Satou/Lvl 12/Adventurer [Not enough stats!]
STR: 17/INT: 99/AGI: 15/STA: 19/ LUK: 40/HOL: S̶̡̞̙̙̠͗̽̕Ḭ̶͓̄N̴͔̑̀́̾N̴͚̯͇̝̈̋̈́͜͠Ë̷͚̰̂̉Ř̶̤̗̳̋ ̸̤͆̓ͅD̵͎̈̀Ö̶͔̫̞̩̼́̒̆͘Ẹ̵̥͇̾͂Ś̶̼̜N̴̨̛͗'̶̙͓̅͜T̸̢̛͉̭̱̭̓̀͆̇ ̸̫̬̰̍D̶̻͈̕Ĕ̸̫̮͉͓̠Ś̴Ẻ̶͈͗͆R̸̗͉͐͜V̸̮̦̤̙̭̊͆Ę̶̠͖̟̮̇̽̍ ̷͈͉͛͂H̸̼̬̤̥̊Ȍ̵̺͖̿̚͝Ḷ̴̤̣̣̈́̀̓͠Ȳ̸̤͙̜̮̀ ̴̡̳̝̆͋͋S̸͉͇̤̏̅Ą̷͖̞̼̘̉L̷̡͖͇̀V̵̥̞͇̉͊̈́̋̚ͅͅĄ̶̫̮̮͐́͠T̸̑͑̿͌̓͜Ĭ̶̧̛̘̟̂́̄Ò̶̘̭̖͑̚̕N̴̡̲͙̩̔̐̓!̸̨̧̨̣̽̀͘!̴̲̬̺̞͇̆̃̔̌́!̸̧͔̖͒̉!̴̮̉͌͑́/
SP: 11
(After every fight, I would show these damned stats. To keep track of things. If you don't mind)
...
"Congratulations on completing your first quest, Kazuma-san! It would be 273,000 Eris. Including the payment of our delivery service and the debt, the reward of the quest and the Giant Frogs!"
"Yes, thank you."
With the sun replaced by the moon, it seems like Luna was off duty. Instead, the one who served him was the staff member from the barstool.
Aqua immediately ran off to the public bath as soon as they arrived in the town. Whining on the whole way.
"By the way, from the current atmosphere, it seems like the party was delayed...?"
"Ah, yes. Unfortunately, the anticipated event has to be delayed by a sudden call from the upper echelon. Luna-san was ordered to go to the Capital to take care of things. I apologize for the inconvenience."
"No, it's fine. I was just curious. Oh yeah, here's the borrowed sword."
The staff member looked at the sword and nodded, taking it.
"Oh, alright. Well, then. Good night, Kazuma-san."
"You too."
Different from the previously cosy and lively atmosphere shown by the Guild Hall this morning, it was currently empty. Filled with comfortable silence. With night wind occasionally passing by through the gaps of the building.
Stuffing the pouch into his pocket, Kazuma whiffed the chilly, night wind, while standing in front of the threshold of the Guild Hall. It feels adequate.
When he looked up to the sky, his eyes widened.
"...So mystifying."
It was filled with countless stars. Countless mystical wonders and countless glints. The sky isn't blank, it was filled with multiple, wondrous cosmic colours. Purple, blue, black...
The moon brightens them up even more with its illuminating light, simultaneously beautifully lightening up the roofs of the buildings surrounding him.
It's stunning.
"Hey, you blocked off the entrance."
A squeaky, feminine voice suddenly rang out, snapping him out of his daydreaming. He took a glimpse of the culprit and blinked.
A black cat, leisurely napping on top of a hat. It has bat wings and a weird cross-shaped mark on its forehead. Its eyes were yellow, peering through the gaps of its half-opened lids.
"...What are you looking at?"
He lowered his gaze and saw a crimson-eyed girl, who was staring at him in confusion. Two black bangs trickled from her hat, reaching her collarbones, and framing her pretty face. Despite her petite figure, she looks admittedly perfect. Fair skin, heart-shaped face, pink lips, a perfectly pointed nose and big crimson eyes. One of them was covered by an eye patch. Kazuma and the girl blinked at their similarities.
She wore a normal-looking collar on her neck, he doesn't know if it could be considered normal. Sporting a gold-trimmed dark brown cloak over a red dress with a similar attachment, although it possessed some sort of gold zigzag motive on the lower part. Complementing them is a hat, funky-looking hat, which the cat was napping on.
With mismatched stockings, orange boots and a staff in hand, she looks like a hazardous wizard.
For a moment, they just stared at each other. A sole green eye met its opposite, a sole crimson eye.
'...Sloth?'
An intruding thought and the cat suddenly jumped on its paws, staring at Kazuma with wide-open eyes.
"Chomusuke?"
The girl snapped out of the staring contest and called out her pet in worry, feeling the sudden movement of her hat. The cat just kept staring at him, specifically his covered eye, in curiosity and interest. He too, showed the same emotions from his sole eye.
"To think Chomusuke took interest in someone else... What's your name, oh my fellow eye patch user?!"
Looking at the girl who dramatically flung her cloak aside as she pointed her index finger to him, Kazuma had a deja vu.
Ah, yes.
'Chuunibyou.'
"H-Hey! Stop staring at me with that look and answer!"
"Oh, ehem, sorry."
Putting aside his usual blank gaze, Kazuma coughed.
"Anyway, I-"
But when he wanted to respond, a sudden intrusion from a gurgling sound could be heard from her lower part, her stomach, specifically, as if silencing him.
For a moment there, the already silent Guild Hall became even more silent.
...
...
...
"Gugh! T-This feeling!"
It seems like it was too embarrassing for the girl to handle, so she kneeled, clutching her stomach with her gloved hands, keeping her head lowered.
"Do you wanna eat?"
"I, Megumin, the sole Crimson Demon, do not need food- Gugh!"
Another gurgling sound rang out, but it was louder than before.
Kazuma nodded, so her name is Megumin. A bit weird but it's passable. At least he could pronounce it without any difficulties.
Surprisingly though, she continued.
"-as i-it was merely mortal needs- Urgh!"
An odd 'Ugu' sound gurgled, it was even worse than before. Kazuma started to get worried.
"-S-So! T-Thank you for the attention, but I have to decline- Kuh!"
"...Just eat. I'll pay for it."
"I-I- Argh!"
In the end, Kazuma was forced to carry her to a nearby bench and placed her there, receiving an embarrassed look from her.
The previous staff member, noticing their presence hurriedly come over. She formally bowed and offered.
"Hello there Kazuma-san, Megumin-san, what do you want to order?"
"It is ok for us to dine at this time though?"
"Oh, the Guild Hall is always open for its members, so you don't have to be worried."
The waitress gives him a reassuring smile, relieving Kazuma from his concern. Megumin, as if already knows it beforehand, merely took the menu from the waitress and start to examine it. Her expression shows that she cannot wait any longer.
"I want fried frog thighs and a Crimson Neroid!"
"Alright! How about you, Kazuma-san?"
"Make them two."
The waitress nodded, striding over to the back of the barstool to prepare the food. And accordance with what Megumin hoped for, it merely took 30 seconds for the waitress to come back with the food.
Kazuma was impressed.
"Enjoy!"
When the waitress was out of sight, Kazuma started to inspect the food curiously. This is the second time he ate otherwordly dishes. The first time was this morning when a kind Adventurer paid the food for him. It was a smoked-lizard-shaped hamburger steak, something like that. The taste was great!
But currently, he was more focused on one thing.
"...How long it has been since the last time you eat?"
"...3 days."
Kazuma faltered.
Contradictory to her figure, she eats like her life was dependent on it. Shoving fried frog thighs from one to another, stuffing her face with as much meat as fast as possible. From his view, it was such a comical scene.
Kazuma took a bite of his own food and blinked. It tastes amazing!
He especially loves the drinks here, they are good. Unbelievably, good. Especially the cold neroid drinks, they taste like carbonated drinks.
Awesome!
Taking a sip of that, Kazuma let out a satisfied burp. A good 'ol drink after a day of hard work. It feels the best!
"Are you gonna eat that?"
Staring at his food with the eyes of a predator, Megumin glanced at him snappingly.
"And someone said she doesn't need food."
"T-This is different!"
Taking a couple of thighs, Kazuma gave it to her anyway, out of pity for her lack of food for 3 days. Megumin mumbled a thank you and continued to feast upon these fried frog thighs.
After she was done with her feast, she started to fully focus on the person beside her. A quite tall individual, with an eye patch covering one of his solemn green eyes. Auburn hair, with his considerably yellow-ish skin, which surprisingly makes a quite attractive combination. He wore a strange outfit and an even stranger pair of "boots".
Megumin is confused.
"Are you new here?"
"Yeah, just register today."
After taking a sip of his drink, Kazuma answered.
"What's your name again?"
"Didn't the waitress say it?"
"I want a proper introduction!"
"...If you say so."
Straightening his back to make a proper impression, Kazuma then started his first introduction.
"My name is Satou Kazuma."
"...that's it?"
"Yeah? Are there things I was supposed to say?"
Megumin just stared at him strangely.
"Let me show you a proper one!"
With her satiated hunger, she energetically stood up and started to make some strange moves. With a left hand flapping her cloak and a staff in her other hand pointed to the roof, Megumin then quickly make a pose by quickly moving her left hand to her face, which covered half of it, merely showing her sole crimson eye to her "audience".
Kazuma blankly stared forth.
"My name's Megumin! The sole, wandering Crimson Demon who was searching for her most rightful path of Explosion! I, who will be the strongest. I, who will be the greatest! Born from Yuiyui and Hyoizaburoo, I, the elite Archwizard from the renowned Crimson Village, shall show the world the greatness of my Explosion Magic!"
...
...
...
An awkward silence once again engulfed the hall.
Even though Megumin was used to this sort of reaction, for some reason, his sole, blank green eye makes her quite nervous. Tipping her hat, she sat back on the bench, waiting for Kazuma to respond.
Kazuma, on the other hand, was on the verge of waging war.
'Sloth! That's Sloth! And a demon variant race! A demon variant race! Possess them! Possess them!'
'Are you an idiot?! I just met her, you f*cking idiot! Shut up!'
'POSSESS THEM! POSSESS THEM! THEY'RE YOURS!!!'
Kazuma understood now. Why this sin was called a punishment.
Its forceful nature towards its host to do as it pleases. Although Kazuma partially agreed with its previous demands, he definitely does not agree with this one. So when it started to act up, he uncovered the idea that seeped in his mind, which was to fight back its will.
...It works quite well, shockingly.
But damn it was exhausting to overpower its will. He doesn't really know if he could hold on any longer. These ringing thoughts and an urge to move his hands...
'SLOTH-!'
Weirdly, the intruding thoughts suddenly extinguished. Kazuma blinked. But a soft, furry feeling from his thighs woke him up. He looked down and saw the black cat, leisurely curling up on his lap.
"That's weird. Chomusuke actually napped on someone's lap?"
He glanced at Megumin, who stared at the spectacle in perplexion. When she saw his gaze, she replied with her own crimson eyes that were filled with curiosity.
"Why is your eye has an eye patch on it?"
"Right back at you."
"Hm, my limitless power would bring devastating destruction, capable of razing down everything, making an insurmountable amount of disasters which all cannot fathom nor handle. A seal has to be inaugurated upon my eye to ascertained that any of these won't happen."
"...I might have believed you if that 'ugu' sound didn't gurgle out, interrupting me rather rudely."
Megumin went silent.
"...Fine, I admit, I made that up. Thought it was a cool concept so..."
She showed a sheepish look, pulling her eye patch to show a completely normal eye behind it. Kazuma shook his head.
"You know, you shouldn't talk to strangers like this. Being over-familiar with them, who knows what sort of intentions they had on you."
"Hey! I'm a seasoned Adventurer, you know?! Do you think I would misjudge someone I talk with?"
"Wait, how old are you, anyway?"
"13."
Kazuma paused.
'This Sin is a f*cking paedophile!'
Doesn't matter what sort of standards this world possessed, and no matter how many times they were told to him, his current common sense would win. As a Japanese, Kazuma learned that the age of consent is 17 years old. So no matter where he is, deep down, he would always use this concept to act.
"...So you're a loli?"
"A loli?! Are you stupid?! One would become an adult when they turned 13!"
"Oh."
Well, that's... different.
In this kind of circumstance, Kazuma feels conflicted. If he doesn't accept the notion, it means he is shallow. But if he did, then this conscience forged through his experience in Japan would act up.
'...You know what? I'll do it like I always did. I accept it.'
And handle it, the way he sees fit.
"Anyway, now that I showed what lies behind my eye patch, it won't be rude for me to ask yours, right?"
"Well, it's not like I would mind but... you're sure? It's quite creepy actually."
Despite uppercutting an adventurer to death, Kazuma still felt a little creepy when he recalled the form of his right eye. It's really weird.
"Just show me!"
"Alright. Don't regret it later though."
"I won't!"
Slowly placing his hand on the leather eye patch, Kazuma slowly but surely moved it above his eye. After it was done, he sighed, staring at Megumin with both of his eyes.
A green eye. And a black eye, with a red dot in the midst of it.
The cat on his lap tiptoed on its paws and looked up, showing its emotions through its meows, flapping its bat wings rather vigorously. Megumin, on the other hand, gaped. Staring at Kazuma before her in astonishment and shock, with a little bit of envy and awe.
"S-So cool! I'm so envious!"
"...What?"
He dumbfoundedly replied.