Author's note:

Hello there, readers. It's been almost four years since I uploaded The Promise, my first-ever fic. It's insane how fucking fast time flies by. This story has been in the drafts ever since I finished writing The Promise. So in other words, it's been sitting on my computer for three and a half years. I was never able to work up the motivation to write it since the scale of what I want to do is soo large. This isn't going to be a one-shot or a short story. This is my attempt at making a sequel of sorts to the original light novel. And I didn't have the confidence that I have the story-telling skills to pull this off and quite frankly, I still don't. But I figured with the return of the Konosuba anime, I should at least try, even if I end up not finishing it. Keep in mind, I haven't written anything for almost two years now, so I'm a bit rusty. But I tried my hardest to keep the gang in character.

As you saw in the summary, yes, this is the continuation of The Promise so if you haven't read that yet, I highly suggest you go do that.

Now, without a further ado, enjoy!

My name is Satou Kazuma. I'm the valiant hero who defeated the Demon King one on one.

I still remember so vividly, the constant hardships of life, having to deal with my problematic teammates and clean up after them. I long for the days when I can finally sit back and relax.

"Pick up the pace, Kazuma!" A voice right by my ear said.

But reality was cruel.

Reminiscing about the past, I couldn't help but scream out-

"Ahhhh! Save me Aqua-sama! I'm sorry I stole your wine! I'll buy you the most expensive bottle you can find, so please, save me!"

The condition of our party was… well, as expected, bad. Our crusader was lying on the floor with a satisfied look on her face, our archmage was on my back, unable to move due to using her dumb magic, and our archpriest stood far away and was entertained by my misery.

Really, just how could a party like this have so many notable achievements?

"Pfftt… Hahahaha! Tell me, just how long have you been in this world again, Kazuma? I genuinely thought after such a long time you'd be able to defeat at least one Giant Toad without any help!"

This bitch!

I don't want to hear that from a dumbass who's too scared to enter the battlefield!

"A-Aqua! I know you like seeing Kazuma suffer! But save that for when I'm not on his back! I don't want to get eaten again!"

Aqua puffed out her chest like a child.

"I guess it can't be helped then! Hey, you NEET, don't think I'll let you off easily! I'll be dragging you off to the capital to get the finest wine we can find!"

All this for a single bottle of wine, did this useless goddess forget the amount of trouble she caused me?

Megumin as well, shouldn't you be trying a little harder for me? Aren't we in a happy romantic relationship filled with sexual tension? How could you do such a thing?

I'll remember to cast freeze secretly on this loli's bath and cook Emperor Zell.

But before that-

"Ahhh! Aqua-sama!"

Before I knew, Aqua rushed towards the Giant Toad that was chasing us and began powering up her attack.

From the looks of it, she was going to attack with God Blow.

"Ever since I came back from heaven, my powers have returned to me fully! Don't think I'll forgive you for the amount of pain you've caused me!"

She said boldly to the toad.

That's right, she's a full-fledged goddess now! She was nerfed before but now she can definitely kill it!

I believe in you, Aqua!

"God Blow!"

Her glowing fist crashed into the Giant Toad's stomach.

…

…

…

"Hey, what exactly happened to your god powers?"

Ignoring me, Aqua looked up slowly at her sworn enemy.

"Toads really are cute-"

And was devoured instantly.

After saving the useless goddess, I gave Megumin enough mana to walk and headed to the adventurer's guild to report while the other two went home to shower.

As usual, Aqua was crying after such an experience.

"Kazuma."

"I'm Kazuma."

"...Aqua is a goddess right…? All the evidence points to yes, but I'm just trying to confirm it."

"Yeah, as hard as it is to believe."

"Eh… How should I put this, isn't she kind of useless?"

I stopped walking and stared at Megumin.

"You're just now realizing?"

"Well, I mean, I feel a little bad. We've all seen how powerful she really is. But even though she's a goddess, she still can't do anything to a mere Giant Toad."

You really shouldn't talk since you're not much better, you one-trick pony.

On such a rare occasion, I actually empathize with Aqua. Isn't it messed up? An attack from a full-powered goddess did nothing to a Giant Toad, this world really is unfair.

"Well, I promised to go to the capital with her. That should cheer her up."

Megumin gave me a small smile.

…?

Why am I feeling all giddy?

The effect this girl has on me is really concerning.

"When are you guys going? It's not like we have much to do so I'd like to come with."

"Uh… Not sure, whenever Aqua wants, I guess."

"Is that so?"

She said with a cheerful tone.

What's up with her today?

It's like she's a pure and innocent maiden.

Stop it, you're making me feel weird.

"Are you doing this on purpose? Whatever you're doing, stop it."

"Hm? Oh, It's nothing."

No, it's definitely something.

"You don't usually act this girly. Wait no, is girly the right word…?"

"Oi, how about you tell me what exactly you mean by that?"

"Nothing. I meant nothing, Megumin-san."

Megumin stared daggers at me-

"You better sleep with an eye open tonight."

"Hoo? Is that your way of suggesting a booty call?"

and immediately blushed after hearing my counter tease.

"T-That's not what I meant and you know it!"

This girl is too simple, you shouldn't get this flustered after what we've done together.

"But do you want to do it? If you do then… I'll be inviting myself over tonight."

No, what am I saying? Getting embarrassed is totally normal.

"Ah… L-Let me… think… about it…?"

The two of us shyly made our quest completion report and went home afterward.

"Kazumaaaaa, hurry up! I'm hungry!"

"Shut up, you bitch! We'll eat when I'm done cooking!"

Today was technically my turn to prepare dinner but after learning the cook skill, I've slowly turned into the house cook and now, meals are largely my responsibility. I would've complained about that but in turn, the girls took care of everything else, like cleaning and laundry. Plus, Megumin sometimes offers to do the cooking. So in reality I'm secretly doing a little less.

For today's dinner, I'm going back to my roots. That's right, I've decided to try making sushi with Giant Toad meat as the side dish. Admittedly, it's taking a little longer than I want. But what can I say?

You can't rush perfection.

Ever since coming to this world, I've never had a single piece of sushi. I've eaten other Japanese meals, but not sushi.

The cook skill was a true blessing for me. Not only was I good with ingredients, I could also cook anything I wanted as long as I knew of said food. So I could cook meals from Japan any time I wanted.

With those three being gluttonous idiots, the amount of food I needed to prepare was more than I anticipated, and I had to make sure I made enough to satisfy everyone. Not to mention I had to hand-make every batch of sushi.

But it was worth it to share my culture with the girls, especially Megumin and Darkness since they seem to be fascinated with my world.

"Kazumaaa!" The ungrateful blue thing yelled from the living room.

Maybe I should make a little less.

As I masterfully carried four big plates of food and set them on the table, Darkness, and Megumin stared curiously at the contents of today's dinner.

"I've never seen such an interesting combination of ingredients before. Is this something from your world, Kazuma?"

"Yep, what you see here is sushi, a classic Japanese dish that's enjoyed by all! I'm quite proud of how tonight's meal turned out."

Megumin picked up the piece of tuna and inspected it.

"Is this why you went fishing yesterday?"

"That's right."

In preparation for today's dinner, I deliberately went fishing in the ocean yesterday with Axel's fishermen to catch the freshest tuna I could. Since I was considered the hero of Belzerg despite my questionable reputation, they more than welcomed me to join them.

As expected, due to my high luck, I caught the most tuna and was allowed to pick three of them to bring home for free.

When I teleported home I froze them to kill any harmful parasites.

All in all, it was a success.

"Now, enjoy your meal girls! I've poured my heart and soul into it."

As we ate, I noticed how silent Aqua had been.

I took a look at what she was doing, but all she did was stare at her plate with a thoughtful look.

Ah, I completely understand. It's been a long while since you've had any sushi after all. Feeling nostalgic is totally normal.

"Nee, Kazuma."

"Yes, Aqua?"

"Why do I have three pieces of Otoro sushi while you guys have four?"

Whoops, seems like I overestimated her.

"Ah, that. I ran out of tuna, so, unfortunately, one of us had to sacrifice."

That's right.

It definitely wasn't me getting my revenge on her for complaining and being annoying the whole time I was preparing.

"But the tuna on your plate is obviously bigger than mine."

"You're imagining things."

Why does she always pick these times to be perceptive?

"Aqua, I don't mind giving you one of mine." Darkness said.

"I'll take up your offer then!" Aqua said as she happily took one of Darkness' Otoro sushi.

This greedy bitch.

Have you no shame?

As I was about to continue eating, I saw from the corner of my eye that Megumin was already finished with her meal and sighing with satisfaction.

"Haaa… As expected of Kazuma! That was delicious! You need to show us more dishes from your world!"

I was in disbelief.

"Stop eating so fast you idiot! It's bad for your stomach!"

After finishing our meals, we took turns taking showers and went to bed.

Although I was slightly disappointed Megumin didn't invite me to join her, it couldn't be helped. We just had our first time not long ago, so she probably wanted a break from those activities for at least a few more days.

No problem, I always have my trusty right hand.

In fact, I offered to take a shower last for a reason.

Feeling refreshed, I plopped down on my bed and started sleeping.

But that didn't last long as I heard a tapping noise on my window.

I begrudgingly went to my window and opened it.

"Oi, do you know how late it is?"

"W-Wait, why are you being so hostile? I told you I was coming tonight, didn't I?"

Hanging there right by my window, was my trusted Big Boss, Chris.

"Haa… Come in."

I shut my window after Big Boss entered my room.

"So? What's the plan?"

"S-Straight to business are we? It's almost like you don't want me here."

"Come on, that's obviously not true."

Chris sat down on my bed and swung her legs.

"How are things going with Megumin? I hope you haven't been too hard on her with how… active you can be."

"H-Hey, you make it sound like I force her to do things with me. At this point, you should know how gutless I am."

"E-Eh…? On paper that sounds like a good thing, but it's a little pathetic at the same time…"

"Watch out, Big Boss, I can feel my Steal activating."

"Don't! I'll give you divine punishment if you do!"

A few days ago while I was at the adventurer's guild, Chris told me we were going on another thieving trip.

"Ahem… I've done a bit of research on this noble. His name is Adouze, and he has quite a dangerous divine relic called the incapacitation ring."

"Hmm, what does it do?"

"As the name suggests, the ring can incapacitate any living thing. When using this ring, the user thinks about who or what they want to hinder and the reason they want to. If the ring deems it reasonable, the subject in mind will be instantly incapacitated for five minutes."

"That doesn't sound that dangerous. As long as the ring deems it unreasonable, any user wouldn't be able to do anything bad with it right?"

"Well here's the problem, the ring is very easily influenced by the user's mind. So what is considered reasonable and unreasonable is different depending on the user."

Ah, I see how this thing can be dangerous now.

I'll give Aqua a good smacking for carelessly giving dangerous items like these to Japanese reincarnates.

"Unfortunately, I still don't have enough information about the noble's mansion to be confident that we can navigate it efficiently. So you'll have to give me a few more days."

"No problem Big Boss. Now that I'm the hero of Belzerg, the free time I have is now infinite. So we can do this any time we want."

As we talked, the door to my room opened-

"K-Kazuma, I was wondering if you wanted to sleep together tonight… Ah."

Standing at my door, was Megumin.

Ah.

"M-Megumin! This isn't what you think it is!"

"That's right! There's nothing scandalous happening here!"

Chris and I panicked as we tried to explain ourselves to Megumin.

"Calm down, you two. You'll wake up Darkness and Aqua. I've been with Kazuma long enough to see an obvious misunderstanding when I see one."

M-Megumin!

"This is why I love you!"

"Ehhhh!?" Chris exclaimed while blushing.

"A-Aren't you supposed to be really shy when it comes to these things?! Why are you suddenly so straightforward?!"

Seems like I got a little too excited.

"I-In any case…! I'll leave you two to it! I was just here to talk to Assistant-kun about a job! Goodbye!"

Chris flung herself out the window without waiting for a reply.

Ara, what a shy maiden.

It's cute seeing a goddess act so bashful.

I turned to Megumin.

She was as cute as ever, wearing her pink pajamas with a slight blush on her face.

I've been conscious of her for a while now, ever since we first went to the Crimson Demon village. But it's really alarming how far I've fallen for this girl.

"She sure left quick. I was going to ask her if I could join you guys as well." Megumin said.

"I could ask her for you the next time she visits."

She slowly walked over to me and gently hugged me.

"So? What's the job?"

Ah, this is bad.

I might've finally become a man a while ago.

But I'm still a virgin at heart!

Calm down, Kazuma! You've already done the deed with her, there's no need to feel nervous!

What's she doing here anyway? I thought she wanted to take a break from the sexual stuff! Did she come here to tease me and leave me hanging again? She should know how bad that is for my heart by now!

As I was overthinking things, I heard a small giggle coming from my chest.

"Calm down, Kazuma. I've only come here to sleep. Nothing more, nothing less, alright?"

"No, hold on. I remember you talking about doing it this afternoon."

"T-This guy! I've changed my mind, alright?! And it's already quite late, so I don't want to get up to anything for tonight!"

That's so cruel, Megumin-san.

"So? You haven't answered my question."

"A-Ah, Chris was just telling me about this ring-"

True to Megumin's words, we didn't do anything.

But thankfully due to my session in the shower, I was able to last through the night.

So there you go! It's just the prologue but I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any thoughts feel free to leave a comment!