The two day trip back to Axel was uneventful. They returned through the main gate about an hour before sunset.

Bounties weren't paid out at the adventurer's guild, but rather at the city's main guard house. After two days travel on top of a wagon the body of Black Tom was by now frozen solid. Darkness being as physically strong as she was carried it into the guard house under one arm. This got them quite a few confused looks, before they explained what was going on. Kazuma heard some of the guards talking about some really big raid that had recently taken place. He didn't pay attention as he was more concerned with getting rid of the frozen corpse they were carrying around. Eventually they were directed downstairs to the station morgue where the body's identity was confirmed, and the bounty paid out. Kazuma and Darkness each pocketed two and a half million eris.

That finally done they returned the carriage and set out for the guild hall. It was time to celebrate! It turned out Black Tom had been a level forty warrior. Taking him out had earned Kazuma enough experience points to jump all the way up to level eleven. He also gained three more skill points. He already used two of them on Fire Arrow and One-Handed Fighting Style. As effective as Snipe was, Kazuma figured having an offensive spell might come in handy someday. (Sadly, Fireball was an intermediate spell and so not available for an Adventurer. One Handed Fighting Style, as the name suggested, made him proficient using any weapon with a single hand. Not just swords and daggers, but he could use it with anything else that only required one hand to wield; axes, maces, clubs etc. He could have gotten Swordsmanship or Dagger Use, that would have given him a larger bonus, but this would allow him to improve with either and also with anything else he might suddenly pick up. Plus, he could always learn those skills later if he needed to.

This left him with one available skill point. He intended to keep that open until he could talk to Chris again to pick up another Thief skill. So, he was headed to the guild hall having killed a dangerous bandit who'd been over thirty levels higher than him, collected a nice fat paycheck, gained three levels, two skills, and having formed a permanent party. He and Darkness had definitely earned a celebration. Kazuma didn't plan to brag about what he'd accomplished. Though if anyone asked…

As they approached, the guild hall was sounding pretty raucous with shouts and cheers audible half a block away. The guild hall tended to be loud most nights, but tonight it sounded like there was a real party going on. Since he was already in a mood to drink and have some fun, Kazuma was eager to join in. As soon as he entered the very first thing he saw was a blue haired goddess standing on a table chugging a bottle of wine as people crowded in and cheered her on.

Kazuma stopped in his tracks and gawked up at her. "What the hell?"

"Is something wrong?" Darkness asked.

"Yes, definitely, if people are cheering on that moron something has to be wrong."

Darkness followed his gaze. "Who is she?"

"Her name is Aqua."

"Aqua? She was your first partner, correct? She abandoned you for a Swordmaster named Mitsurugi?"

"I guess Chris told you about that?"

Darkness nodded.

"She must love sharing my high points," Kazuma muttered. "Yeah, well Aqua is a drunk, lazy, moron who really does believe she's an invincible goddess. She couldn't even deal with a giant toad without getting swallowed by it. So, I have no idea how she can be this popular."

As he watched he saw Mitsurugi wander about with a mug in his hand. His steps were a bit wobbly. Everyone near him was slapping his back and obviously congratulating him.

"What. The. Hell?"

A harried Megumin came by struggling with a tray full of drinks. She spared Kazuma a quick look. "You want anything? It's free drinks for the rest of the night, thanks to our hero." She nodded over in Mitsurugi's direction.

"What did he do?"

"Oh not much," Megumin said with a snort. "He just killed one of the Devil King's generals, that's all." She then hurried off to deliver her drinks.

Kazuma stood there frozen in place. What the hell?!

XXX

He sat down with Darkness to have some free ale and he heard the story from other adventurers.

People knew that one of the Devil King's generals had moved into the area. It seemed he'd taken up residence in a nearby abandoned castle. The king had promised to send a detachment of high level knights to deal with the problem, but it had been weeks and there was still no word about them. So Mitsurugi had taken it upon himself to deal with things. He'd led his party into the castle. Apparently Aqua had cleared the way of minor undead with her holy magic and allowed Mitsurugi to fight the general, who was a dullahan apparently, and destroyed him in a one on one duel with his magic sword.

"Of course, he did," Kazuma muttered beneath his breath. "That's like a boss fight for every single RPG ever made."

This had apparently happened a couple of days ago. So, as he was fighting for his life in the snow against Black Tom and his thugs, the idiot goddess and her idiot boyfriend were literally storming the castle. The blond jerk was now everyone's hero and the moron was his number one support. No one could stop talking about how amazing they were and about how brave and courageous. It made Kazuma want to puke.

Are you all blind?! He wanted to scream at them. She's a fraud! She's lazy and stupid and worthless! Where is this amazing priestess you keep talking about?! I sure as hell have never met her! And the guy she's with is an arrogant bully and a tool! He's as blind as the rest of you! But they all just kept drinking and cheering and celebrating.

And the worst, the absolute worst part of it, was hearing the news that the king had awarded Mitsurugi three hundred million eris! Sixty times what he'd earned taking out Black Tom! That really put everything into perspective. He'd been really proud of his accomplishment. He'd expected to get to brag to people about it. (At least a little bit. If they asked. Or if it somehow slipped out during conversation.) It had certainly seemed impressive just an hour ago. Now it had been reduced to inconsequence.

In this world Black Tom was the equivalent of a local gang leader. This general was like an international terrorist wanted in every country. There was no comparison. Kazuma sat there drinking his ale and stewing as he continued to hear the cheers for the two of them.

He was not jealous! There was no way he could be jealous! He just didn't understand how this situation was possible. How could the exact same person who got swallowed twice by toads and was always crying and whining suddenly be the center of so much love? And how could her loser boyfriend be the hero of the story? He could hear people saying that maybe he was the one. That maybe he would be the one to bring the Devil King's reign of terror to an end. It didn't seem possible. It didn't seem fair!

"Kazuma," Darkness was sitting across from him sipping at her drink. "Why are you so unhappy? It's been many years since one of the Devil King's generals tasted defeat. This is something to celebrate." Her cheeks tinged a bit. "In truth I wish I could have been there."

"In hopes of helping save the day or of being tied up and tortured?"

Her cheeks got darker and she fidgeted in her seat. "S… Still this is a great accomplishment. You should be happy about it."

"Sorry, not going to happen. If that waste of space is one of the saviors of the world then that only proves this world is doomed." He downed his ale and called for another.

He was waiting for it when the crowd around his table parted a certain blue haired female staggered over to his side.

"You! You're Kazuma! The (hic) shut in who dragged me here. Hey. Hey. Hey, how are you still alive, huh? I thought you'd be dead for sure without me there to save you all the time!"

He stared up at her. Everyone watching was amused and laughing. "When did you ever save me?!"

"You (hic) should be grateful shut in NEET!" She stuck a finger in his face. "Me being here is all your fault. You should say you're sorry! I want to hear you say you're sorry!"

He gave her a savage grin. "Yes, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ever met you."

She gave a drunken nod and took another swig from the bottle of wine she was holding. "Good, I'm glad you're sorry." She then staggered away.

Kazuma sat there blinking. Did I win that or did she?

A fresh beer arrived, and he started drinking. About a minute later the crowd surrounding his table parted again. A figure in blue plate armor strode up to his table, swaying a little from side to side. He slammed a fist down and leaned over Kazuma.

"You! You're the guy who brought Aqua-sama here! It's because of you that she's suffering!"

Kazuma looked past him to where said idiot was dancing on top of the bar.

"You need to apologize for what you did!"

Kazuma grinned. Well it worked once. "Fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ever met her."

Despite being a bit unsteady he appeared more aware of things than Aqua. He looked startled for a second. Then Kazuma felt Mitsurugi grab him by the collar and haul him up to his feet. "You scum!"

Everyone burst out laughing and cheered. If this were a school ground he was sure they would be chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' No one was stepping in.

"Apologize for what you did!"

Kazuma grinned back. "Go and fuck yourself."

Then suddenly Darkness was standing there, looking as serious as an F on a report card. She grabbed Mitsurugi's wrist. "Let go of him." She didn't yell, but those words were not a request.

Kazuma could hear the crunch of metal and see the steel gauntlet start to crack.

Mitsurugi hurriedly let go and yanked his hand back. Darkness released him and took a step forward to get between him and Kazuma.

"Who are you? This has nothing to do with you! It's between me and this guy!"

"I am the crusader Darkness and Kazuma's partner. Anything that involves him involves me. You are being very rude right now and I think you should go."

From the crowd came a chorus of 'oooooohhhs.' Everyone was watching the sudden standoff. Mitsurugi rubbed his wrist and looked about at everyone staring. Kazuma knew there was no way he would back down with everyone watching.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get an apology from this pig for what he did to Aqua-sama."

"Then I guess you'll be taking up residence here because that's not happening."

"You heard him," Darkness said. "You are not getting an apology."

"I am." He took a step forward.

Darkness held her ground.

Mitsurugi shifted his eyes from her to Kazuma who was standing behind her. "Are you really going to just stand there and hide behind a woman?"

"Yep." Kazuma took a sip of his ale.

"You're a coward!"

And that was when Darkness punched him.

There was no warning. She just drew her fist back and clocked him square in the middle of his face. The great hero Mitsurugi, slayer of the Devil King General Beldia, was sent flying five feet. His nose was flattened and streaming blood. He landed completely unconscious.

"I apologize," Darkness gave his prostrate form a slight bow. "I don't believe in committing violence against fellow adventurers. But there is a limit to how much rudeness one can forgive."

There was a momentary silence as everyone stared. The one single voice cried out.

"Holy crap! Darkness managed to land a hit!"

More voices spoke.

"Did anyone have today?"

"Check the pool!"

"Damn it! I had it for two weeks ago!"

From behind the bar someone brought out a huge blackboard with dates and names scribbled on it. As this happened Darkness's face got very red.

Kazuma wasn't paying attention as something occurred to him. He set down his mug and grabbed the wooden chair he'd been sitting in until Mitsurugi messed with him. He set it down in front of Darkness.

"Oy, hit this."

"What?" She turned to him in confusion.

"I want to see you hit this chair."

She began to twist from side to side. "I see, you want to humiliate me even after I defended you. You truly are savage."

Kazuma sighed. "No. I just want to see if you can hit this chair."

She shrugged and put a hand on the hilt of her broadsword. "We'll have to go outside; it wouldn't be safe for me to start swinging my sword about in here."

Kazuma shook his head. "Not with a sword. I want you to punch it."

"Excuse me?"

"I want you to punch this chair as hard as you can."

She blinked. "Punching inanimate objects is not the sort of behavior a proper crusader should perform in public."

"Not a problem, you're not a proper crusader."

She gasped and hugged herself. "So cruel!"

Kazuma rubbed a hand across face. "Just punch the stupid chair already."

She shrugged and finally did as he asked. She connected and smashed the defenseless chair into kindling. As soon as he saw that Kazuma had a wide smile on his face.

People near the bar saw it too.

"Did anyone have money on her hitting a chair?"

"I do! I do!"