A/N: Revised as of 4/16/2024.

"Three, just ahead…"

Naruto whispered from his crouched position behind a thick bush. Clad in his adventuring gear that consisted of all black clothes and a forest green tactical vest, he blended right into the shadowy brush. Aside from his bright blonde hair, of course.

"I see them… W-what's the plan?"

Yunyun asked from her spot behind a nearby tree. Underneath her dark cloak, she wore her usual black long sleeved buttoned shirt, a red tie resting on her chest, and a pink low-cut skirt with a white trim. She shifted nervously on her brown knee-high adventuring boots.

After all, she was finally going on quests with her party member and friend again! She couldn't mess up!

A good distance from the two adventurers seemed to be nothing more than the deep forest. Tall trees that were in the process of turning a bright green as the season shifted towards spring, with vines dangling from the branches towards the various other plant life.

But any trained adventurer would have seen the small protruding eyes within the green.

The Venus Flytrap.

One of the first notable monsters Naruto had encountered in this world. Notable in the sense that unlike the tiny houseplants one would keep on their windowsill, these carnivorous monsters could eat an entire horse whole.

Naruto smiled to himself in remembrance. It almost seemed like it was yesterday when he was all on his own doing durian quests like this.

Their quest, like the one he had taken at that time, was to collect an abundance of fruits that only the Venus Flytrap grew inside of its body. With Spring around the corner, the farmers were requesting the fruits for their crops as they made good fertilizer.

But due to the rarity of the plants themselves, and the even slimmer chance of one bearing a fruit, the quest was not very popular amongst the guild members.

Thus, Luna made a personal request to Naruto and Yunyun to find some fruits. So far, they had found eight of the ten that had been requested.

"I'll divert its attention, you go for the fruit with your magic. Just no fire spells. We don't want to risk burning the fruit."

The shinobi said to his partner before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

A loud roar filled the forest a moment later as Naruto was now on top of the beast, driving a strange looking knife into the plant's skin.

Yunyun watched as her party member jumped off of the plant to avoid a vine lashing out at him. It was almost mesmerizing watching the boy move with such inhumane agility and dexterity. She sometimes wondered if Naruto was even human.

But now wasn't the time for such things. She had to focus!

Drawing her silver staff from under her cloak, Yunyun stepped out of her hiding spot and took aim.

But it proved to be quite difficult as she had to be careful not to hit the center of the plant, else risk destroying the potential fruit. Or even worse, she could hit Naruto with her spell.

"There! Light of SabahhHH!?"

Just as she was about to fire her spell, a vine wrapped around her ankle and yanked her into the air. The silver staff clattered to the floor as the mage held onto her skirt for dear life.

"Yunyun!"

Naruto shouted as he dove towards the Venus Flytrap.

There had been a second one? No, the noise they were making must have attracted another monster.

Still in mid-flight, the shinobi created a Shadow Clone and pushed off of it to change his trajectory towards the girl who was now being lowered towards the second monster's mouth.

Hitting the ground with a thud, Naruto snatched the staff from the floor before springing into the air once more.

Through her teary eyes, Yunyun noticed something fly through the air and cut through the vine that held her up.

Then she started falling-

"Got you!"

-Right into Naruto's arms.

The floaty feeling that came from falling didn't stop there as the ninja carried the now blushing girl towards the earth.

The Venus Flytrap, angered from having its meal stolen away from it, hissed menacingly as the two humans skid to a stop right in front of it.

"Now, Yunyun!"

Naruto shouted while smirking at the man-eating plants, because they were now in the perfect position for the mage's spell.

"Light of Saber!"

Silver staff in hand, Yunyun fired off her Advanced Magic. The thunderous bolt of light magic easily tore through the first plant monster, then directly through the second one that had been right behind.

"I can't believe we got so lucky! One of those Venus Flytraps had two fruits!"

Yunyun exclaimed as she marveled at the pair of glowing seed-like orbs. Each was bigger than the palm of her hand and were deceitfully heavy. She placed them into the bag Naruto was holding that contained their other seeds, and he proceeded to tie it up and sling the sizable sack over his shoulder.

"Right? You did well aiming your spell, Yunyun."

Naruto said and gave his party member a thumbs up.

Yunyun blushed, looked down at the ground and began to fidget with her fingers.

"N-not at all! If I hadn't let my guard down… Naruto-san would have defeated both of them easily. Not to mention you didn't even use all of your strength…"

"Oh, you mean Kurama's power? What would be the fun in that? Next time, I think I'll tie a Nido-Rabbit foot on my back and only use kicks to fight monsters! I'm sure that'll make things more interesting… Hehehe."

The shinobi snickered to himself after suggesting something rather alarming.

"...Is Naruto-san actually human?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

Yunyun averted her gaze when Naruto looked in her direction, then tilted his head when she feigned ignorance.

Shrugging, Naruto used his free hand to draw his new weapon from its holster on the side of his leg.

A black kunai with a red cloth grip, made to order from Kazuma who had recently learned the Blacksmithing skill.

A wave of nostalgia washed over the blonde every time he looked at the amateur craft. While not the best quality, it was still perfect in Naruto's eyes as it reminded him of Konoha.

He wondered how everyone was doing back home…

Naruto shook his head and smiled fondly. He had already accepted that this was his new life; his new home.

The shinobi turned to his companion, who in turn smiled at him shyly in response to his own grin.

Naruto was having a wonderful time.

Kazuma was not having a wonderful time.

All he wanted to do was sleep under his newly made kotatsu to stay warm, and his party members threatened to do something so cruel as to toss him outside if he didn't go questing.

Kotatsu and all.

What was wrong with wanting to stay inside while it was cold? It's not like they were short for cash. He could live off of his share of the bounty from Vanir's defeat for at least a year, maybe even more if he kept making kunai for Naruto.

Perhaps he should just quit being an adventurer and become a merchant. He had the luck stat for it. Luna had even suggested it when he first became an adventurer and everything.

Besides, Naruto was here. Let that guy defeat the Demon King.

It was safe inside his mansion and under his kotatsu where it was warm.

"Whyyy!? Why do we have to go outside when it's still cold! Can't we wait until it's a little warmer? We can go on a quest tomorrow if it's warmer, right?"

"Now is a more important time than ever to go questing. The temperature is rising, so the weaker monsters are coming out of hibernation. Naruto has been doing quests this whole time, shouldn't we follow his example?"

Aqua and Darkness bickered to Kazuma's right.

What a troublesome duo, those two.

Kazuma found himself agreeing with Aqua for once though and came to her aid.

"There's no use reasoning with that woman, Aqua. Darkness can't afford to take it easy inside, she doesn't want her hard muscles to get soft."

"Ah, you're right Kazuma-san. Darkness's hard muscles must be twitching at the thought of going on a quest right now."

The boy said, and a baffled sound that could have been mistaken as a hiccup escaped Darkness's mouth. The knight's ears burned bright red as Aqua nodded her head in agreement.

"M-m-m-my muscles aren't hard! Don't look at me with such pitiful eyes you two! Ugh… Why do you both get along so well during times like this?"

Darkness complained while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Not that I care what that man has been doing or anything, but hasn't he been spending too much time with Megumin's friend? He should be spending that time making it up to me after what he did."

Aqua said with huff, her arms folded under her chest.

Putting aside how the goddess was contradicting herself, Kazuma shrugged.

"They are party members, and those two are quite the pair. It makes me kind of jealous."

Just the fact that Yunyun was a capable mage with a good personality to go with her good looks…

Kazuma turned to his left where his party's mage was muttering to herself, a dark expression on her face. But surprisingly, it wasn't pointed towards him. Usually the short fused mage of his party had a sixth sense for those types of thoughts.

It seemed she did sense the boy's gaze, as Megumin looked up and gripped her staff tightly.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening. I'm trying to come up with a new opening line for my Explosion magic for the next time Naruto and I have our showdown. May thy flame combust all that is evil and orange…"

"Ah, I see."

Putting the tiny curses to his left to the back of his mind, Kazuma sighed.

Yup. Maybe he really was better off becoming a merchant.

"Ah! Is that… I knew it! I could smell that putrid scent from a mile away! Quit harassing those good people, devil scum!"

Aqua suddenly shouted and took off running towards a house on the side of the street.

A man wearing a suspicious mask looked up from what he was doing and smiled pleasantly.

'Great… now Aqua's all riled up.'

Kazuma thought upon seeing Vanir, who seemed to be in the middle of helping a local housewife hang up her laundry.

Naruto had filled them in on Vanir's situation, and while it was nice that the former Demon King General was no longer a threat to humanity… Well-

"Fuahaha! Who let their rabid priestess loose? Moi would think thy would rather be slothing around than step outside where decent people roam. Ah, here. Let moi hang that for you."

Vanir laughed and taunted Aqua before helping a blushing housewife hang their last bit of laundry. Wiping his hands on his pink apron, Vanir bid his company adieu before facing Aqua in the street.

"Now that poor woman's clothes reek of demon stench. What's your game? Are you trying to seduce the local housewives for some nefarious scheme?"

Aqua pinched her nose in disgust while questioning the Arch Devil.

"Moi is simply aiding in their daily rituals to take part in the local gossip. Ah, moi heard thou was spurned by a certain man in a rather flashy manner. Fuahaha! Moi can see with moi's all seeing eyes the look on thy face when the toad appeared! Priceless!"

Vanir responded and started cackling maniacally, causing the priestess to quiver in anger.

"...Here, let me help you get that devil stench off those clothes! Create Water! Oops, that seemed to startle you. You moved out of the way so fast! Are you scared of getting a little wet? Puhehehe!"

Aqua shot out a spell, and Vanir quickly sidestepped the projectile to avoid the holy water as it soaked the hanging clothes.

"Fufufu… Scared? Moi simply didn't want to get thy gross goddess liquids on moi suit."

An ominous aura seemed to radiate from Vanir, his smile no longer present.

"Be careful, Kazuma. I know Naruto and Wiz say he's harmless now, but that suspicious mask… Ugh. I should have been the one to get taken over back then!"

Darkness said and moved into a defensive position in front of her teammates.

"I can blow him up this time, right Kazuma? An Arch Devil… I can smell the experience points."

Megumin said some pretty alarming things, and Kazuma swore he saw the letters "EXP" in the little girl's eyes.

Seeing the disgruntled look on the housewife's face who was seemingly oblivious to the killer intent that was oozing from the masked man, Kazuma decided things were starting to get out of hand and stepped in.

"Alright alright, we wouldn't want to start a fight in the middle of town. Aqua, Vanir doesn't seem to be doing anything evil right now. In fact, you're the only one causing trouble for that poor woman. So calm down and apologize and I'll buy you some bubbly after our quest today."

Kazuma said, and Aqua's widened before she turned away in a huff.

"Humph! I'll let you off the hook this time, devil!"

The goddess sneered, apologized to the housewife for getting her clean clothes wet, then scuttled off towards the adventurer's guild. Her motives couldn't have been more obvious.

"Ah, boy with self-esteem issues who is jealous of his friend's recent developments. Moi has been meaning to have a word with thee. Care to talk about business with this humble devil?"

Vanir suddenly offered with a slight bow, prompting Kazuma to blink in surprise.

Business? With him? What kind of business?

Come to think of it, Vanir had an overpowered foresight ability. Wouldn't he make a powerful ally in the business world?

"Hah! Our fearless leader is aiming to defeat the Demon King himself! Aside from the various forms of sexual harassment he's dealt, adventuring is in that man's nature!"

"That's right! Our fearless leader has defeated not just one, but three high bounty targets! Although he hasn't been the one to deal the final blow, and kind of relied on Naruto the last two times…"

Megumin and Darkness both claimed while gesturing to their "fearless leader".

Honestly, were they trying to praise him or insult him? Kazuma really wanted to make those two suffer his Steal skill out here in public.

"You girls go on ahead with Aqua. I'll catch up in a bit."

"!?" x2

For some reason, his party members were surprised by his words. So he reassured them that he'd still go on the quest today, so the two eventually relented and followed after Aqua.

Vanir watched while rubbing his hands together in a very business-like fashion.

Now then, time to see what this troublesome devil had to offer.

Later That Night…

Naruto and Yunyun stepped up to the doors of Kazuma's mansion.

They'd bumped into Kazuma's party at the adventurer's guild upon their return and were invited over for dinner.

The shinobi had originally planned on wearing his casual outfit, but given its current state from the other night, Yunyun offered to help him pick out an outfit for the occasion while mentioning something about "always wanting to shop for clothes with a friend". He didn't really get it, but it seemed to make the girl happy which was good enough for him.

Naruto wore a pair of burnt orange pants and a black buttoned up shirt. Yunyun had advised against the pants, but the blonde insisted that orange was non-negotiable. He already missed his orange jumpsuit, which Maria absolutely refused to return, and his adventuring gear was all black and green. So the orange pants felt just right with him.

Yunyun, on the other hand, wore a black sleeveless dress with pink frills that lined the ends. She wore black heels that clinked on the pavement as she paced nervously. A pink handbag hung from her shoulder.

Actually, weren't they a little overdressed for this?

"This is the first time I've been invited over to have dinner at a frie-s-someone's house before…! Should I have brought gifts? What if they send me away because I didn't bring gifts! I should go back and-"

Yunyun muttered to herself about gifts and gestures.

"It's okay, Yunyun. I don't think they're expecting gifts… Probably."

Naruto tried to reassure his friend, but wasn't all too sure himself due to his own lack of experience in this department. Should he have brought a gift or something the last few times he'd come here?

At that moment, the door opened and a certain goddess peaked through.

"Ah, no gifts I see. Sigh. I'd even be okay with a bowl of ramen. Why don't you come back and bring some?"

Aqua said and let out an exaggerated breath.

"Put it on my tab. You're pretty good at doing that."

Naruto responded while rolling his eyes, and Aqua was about to argue when the door was opened fully to reveal Darkness who was wearing a dress of her own.

"Welcome, Naruto and Yunyun. Glad you both could make it to dinner."

The Crusader wore a dress with a white top and goldenrod yellow bottom that drooped to the floor. Her hair was tied up in a loose bun and she wore makeup that was giving the shinobi major flashbacks to the events in the Dustiness manor.

Now in full view, Aqua was revealed to be wearing a tight blue dress that sparkled in the light that was spilling out of the mansion. Her lavender hagoromo floated around her arms and neck. She wore dark blue heels to match her outfit.

"Oh~? What's this? Is my divine beauty in this dress leaving you at a loss for words? If you apologize for that time then maybe I'll-"

"Nope, not at all. I don't feel anything, actually."

Naruto cut Aqua off and gestured for Yunyun to walk inside before stepping into the building himself.

Aqua simply stood at the entrance, mouth agape as Darkness led the two newcomers to the dining room.

Kazuma sat at the end of the table with his eyes closed, hands clasped together with his elbows rested on the cloth. The boy was wearing a crimson red tuxedo with a white undershirt, a bright red tie was tucked neatly underneath.

Megumin was seated to her party leader's right, and she was wearing a sleeveless black dress with black arm sleeves that went up to her elbows. Upon seeing Yunyun, the girl smiled coyly.

Kazuma opened his eyes and smiled at his guests.

"Good evening, Uzumaki-san. I welcome you and your party member to my mansion. Please, sit."

The host said and gestured to the open seats at the table.

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto sat at the opposite end of the table from the guy. Given the vibe Kazuma was giving off, the shinobi decided to play along.

"Thank you, Satou-san. What, if I may ask, is the occasion of this meeting?"

Naruto asked as the others took their seats, with Yunyun sitting to the shinobi's right and Darkness taking a seat next to Megumin.

Before answering, Kazuma snapped his fingers and Aqua entered the room with a bottle of wine.

The sound of wood cracking in the fireplace could be heard as Aqua delicately poured each person a glass of wine, besides Megumin and Yunyun who got juice. The goddess then poured a glass for herself before finally taking a seat next to Kazuma.

Clearing his throat, Kazuma raised the wine glass and peered into it before finally speaking.

"We've been through a lot, you and I. Both from far away places, staring with nothing but the clothes on our backs. It's been hard at times…"

The teen said and trembled in remembrance, with Aqua patting his back in sympathy.

"I remember waking up in the middle of those cold harsh nights in the stables, wondering if I would make it to the morning. Only to put my life on the line in order to make ends meet at the guild... But no more."

Kazuma suddenly stood up and extended his arms, a maniacal grin on his face.

"I made a deal with Vanir! I'm RICH! From this point on, I quit being an adventurer! Say goodbye to those life threatening situations! Ahahahaha!"

"!?" x3

It seemed the words that came out of their leader's mouth was news to them too, as Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness all stood up in unison.

"What!? You made a deal with that filthy devil? Wait, how rich? Are you still going to pay to let me live a life of luxury though?"

"What do you mean you 'quit being an adventurer'!? You lazy man! What happened to telling Naruto to his face that we were the ones who were going to defeat the demon king with a cool speech!?"

"I thought we were inviting Naruto to our party! What was the point of me wearing this uncomfortable dress…?"

The three girls all screamed while shaking Kazuma left and right, but the boy continued to laugh without a care in the world.

Naruto nervously scratched his cheek. Did Kazuma finally break? He really did feel bad for the guy, having to deal with those three all the time.

Yunyun looked back and forth between Naruto and the rowdy group as if to ask if they should intervene, but the blonde simply shrugged.

This was honestly a daily occurrence with these four.

Seeing as they weren't going to stop anytime soon, Kazuma took action. He used Drain Touch on Megumin, which shocked the girl enough to make her jump back in surprise. He then proceeded to use Freeze on Darkness's slightly exposed chest, causing the woman to squeal and let him go to cover her bosom.

"Of course, Aqua. In fact, we could simply hire a powerful group of adventurers to defeat the Demon King for us to get you home. Just imagine: defeating the Demon King while at home sipping on the kingdom's finest wines."

Kazuma whispered into Aqua's ear.

. . .

"My my, your suit has gotten so dirty, you silly boy Kazuma-sama! Oh, your wine could use a little topping off! Please, allow me!"

Aqua, her demeanor making a complete one-eighty turn, patted the teen's tux and proceeded to top off his glass of wine.

'On second thought, he's doing quite well with these three.'

Naruto thought while smiling wryly. Although he was curious about this deal Kazuma was talking about.

"Fufufu… Anyways, as I was saying. You've been a true friend to me, Naruto. Which is why I'd like to extend this offer to you too."

Kazuma said and walked over to the shinobi's side of the table before extending his hand to his fellow male.

"What do you say? Shall we become business partners?"

"Nah, I like adventuring and fighting. I also plan on defeating the Demon King one day too, once I become more well-known in this world. Can't do that from home, now can I?"

Naruto responded as if it were the obvious thing, but Kazuma didn't seem deterred in the slightest.

"Heh… I thought you'd say something like that, you are a shonen protagonist after all. Which is why I came up with this!"

Kazuma said and pulled a piece of paper out of nowhere then placed it on the table in front of the shinobi.

On the paper read: "Ingredients List".

Skimming through the list, Naruto's eyes widened. Griffin talons, Salamander eggs, Kraken oil!? A lot of these ingredients came from powerful monsters in the encyclopedia Luna gave him.

"Peaked your interest, huh? Well let me tell you how this will all work, my friend. I'll come up with ideas for merchandise and make an ingredients list, you go on a dangerous quest to retrieve the parts I need to make the items, and Vanir will take care of selling and distributing the merchandise. It's a win-win for all of us, don't you think?"

Kazuma proudly explained while nodding his head in satisfaction.

Naruto pondered on the offer for a moment. This certainly wasn't a bad deal at all. He could still go adventuring with Yunyun, complete quests, and make a bunch of money on the side by helping Kazuma get ingredients.

But did Kazuma really want to give up being an adventurer?

Naruto looked at his friend, who was clearly seeing dollar signs while looking at the ingredients list and remembered their conversations while sitting in their shared jail cell.

The look on Kazuma's face when admitting he wanted to become a hero.

Maybe I'd like to become a hero or something…

Naruto looked at Megumin and Darkness who were watching the scene play out with slightly disappointed expressions.

"...I'll accept your offer on one condition."

The shinobi said and stood up, and all eyes were on him.

"Name it!"

Kazuma said and was basically frothing from the mouth at this point.

"You have to come with me to get the ingredients."

Naruto said and extended his hand out, to which Kazuma was about to grab when he realized what his friend had said.

"...Huh? Why? Are you worried about those two? They can just go with you on your quests! I just want to stay at home where it's safe-"

"Oh, well if it's safety you're worried about. I'll protect you. Free of charge!"

"But I'm weak! I have the weakest class and the lowest level in my party! I'll die for sure!"

"I'll train you! Free of charge!"

Kazuma tried to give out reasons as to why he couldn't go, but Naruto kept interjecting while offering a solution every time.

"But… But… My sanctuary!"

–Eventually, Kazuma begrudgingly agreed to join each hunt for ingredients and everyone happily ate the dinner that was provided by the Dustiness family.

Megumin argued with everyone who continued to refuse her alcohol, which always resulted in Naruto playfully ruffling the girl's hair much to her annoyance. She eventually took out her frustration on Yunyun and nearly pulled the poor girl's top down before being restrained by Naruto and Kazuma.

Aqua quickly became intoxicated from the wine and began to show the group some magic tricks, one of which involved an olive from one of their drinks disappearing and then reappearing in someone's mouth. When Aqua refused to tell them how it worked, Naruto pranked her by performing a magic trick of his own that involved a cloud of smoke and a baby toad landing on top of the mortified goddess's head.

Darkness happily ate her food while watching the others, seemingly enjoying her time. Although she quickly became the target of the group's teasing, which resulted in some minor wrestling matches.

Yunyun, after recovering from Megumin's sexual harassment, also seemed to be having a wonderful time and managed to add to a couple of the conversations.

It took a little pressing, but Naruto managed to pull Kazuma out of his grumpy shell. The two began to discuss some of the potential items to make and where they would need to go while enjoying the latter's kotatsu.

When Alcanretia was brought up as a potential place to visit, Naruto and Megumin quickly shot that idea down in unison. The two looked at each other and nodded their heads in understanding, knowing exactly what they'd find in such a place. Though Aqua seemed adamant they visited the place that was the headquarters of her cultists.

As Naruto and Yunyun were leaving, Darkness pulled the shinobi to the side and gave him a container with some leftovers.

"Thank you, Naruto. We've been kind of worried Kazuma would become a bum, especially with that kotatsu of his."

The female knight said and the two turned to the small table that was placed in the center of the living room, and the small mop of brown hair that was sticking out of it. Megumin, who was sitting next to the guy, was poking his head with her finger.

"...That guy might seem like a lazy bum on the outside, but I know he wants to help people just as much as any adventurer."

Naruto said while smiling wryly before giving a short wave goodbye. He was one step out the door when a shrill voice sounded out from inside the mansion.

"Waaait! Are you going to bring snacks, or maybe pack us lunch when we go?"

Aqua, who was long thought to have been passed out on the couch by the firepit, ran towards the front door with a hint of desperation in her words.

Naruto cocked his head to the side at the strange request when it dawned on him. Aqua had asked for ramen earlier… Was she perhaps…

A sly smile creeped its way onto the shinobi's face.

"Aww… Is poor little Aqua-chan developing ramen withdrawal syndrome?"

"Ramen with-what? Absolutely not! The great me would never fall into such a state like that Lich! You probably put something into her ramen to make her go crazy like that. Stealing underwear and playing with women's hair in the middle of the night wasn't enough for you, huh? Puhehehe-Ack!"

Aqua retorted out of reflex, and instantly regretted her words when Naruto let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Oh well, I would have brought some on our first quest together if you did. But I guess my ramen isn't good enough for the great Aqua-sama. Come on, Yunyun. I'll make us Food of the Gods style ramen for an after party meal!"

Naruto proclaimed and started walking off, much to Aqua's dismay.

Darkness cocked an eyebrow at this.

"Eh? But we just ate a full course meal. You can't possibly be hun-"

Growl...

Yunyun's face became beet red when her stomach growled audibly enough to cut Darkness off.

"I-I-I'm sorry! The food Darkness's family provided for us was wonderful! I-it's just… Naruto-san's ramen is… rather good."

The shy mage stammered, her words getting lower and lower as Darkness stared at her in amazement.

"I-I see… Ramen, was it? I haven't heard of something like that in the noble world either. I'd love to try it some time."

Darkness said with a hopeful smile, and Naruto nodded his approval with a satisfied hum.

His ramen was a far cry knockoff from Ichiraku ramen, so he could use a couple more taste testers for a more diverse pool of opinions.

After saying their proper farewells, Naruto and Yunyun took off.

Darkness closed the door and walked to the dining room to start cleaning up.

"Oh yeah, even Vanir said something about Naruto's ramen. Something about trying to get the guy to sell it, but was refused. Curious…"

Kazuma pondered aloud from his place under the kotatsu. If even Vanir, an Arch Devil with all seeing eyes, was interested in Naruto's ramen…

"Wiz said it's really good. Didn't you and Aqua have trouble with her that one time because of that stuff? I wonder if he placed a curse on it to make the consumer lose themselves."

Megumin got up and dramatically reached out with her hand while gripping her heart with the other.

"Ugh… Don't remind me of that traumatizing experience."

Kazuma groaned and fully ducked into the warmth now that Megumin was out and couldn't complain.

But he was getting more and more curious about that ramen. Was it really that good?

A/N: School kicked my butt last week. End of term, which meant crunch time. -_-'

Anyways, next chapter is the start of the new arc!