Chapter 22: Departing From This Fallen City!
Kazuma slowly woke up with a groan, feeling sore in unusual ways. There was something soft and pleasantly warm pressed up against his chest and a mop of long, silky hair brushing against his face and tickling his nose.
"A-a-achoo!" Kazuma managed to jolt himself awake with his own sneeze, his senses coming into sharper focus as he slowly sat up.
"Hmmm… five more minutes…," Aqua muttered groggily, wiping her eyes as she sat up next to him.
The two waking up beside each other was nothing new. They'd been roommates for months back in that old stable that neither of them cared to remember. What was new, though, was the distinct lack of clothing between them. This was technically the second time they'd done this but the first time it was intentional. Memories of a blissful, awkward, wonderful, painful night in which neither of them ended up getting all that much sleep flooded his mind at once.
It was official. Kazuma was no longer just a virgin NEET! Well, he actually hadn't been a NEET for a while but now he wasn't a virgin! And he had a girlfriend for the first (well, second, but that was bringing up too many painful memories) time ever!
That meant several bets that he was definitely going to be cashing in on when they got home.
Kazuma pumped his fist through the aid in celebration of his triumphant achievement, which did not go unnoticed as his girlfriend(!?) finally sat up next to him, bleary-eyed as she brushed her vibrant blue hair out of her face.
She let out a loud, unladylike yawn as she stretched, giving Kazuma a very good, extremely appreciated view of the godlike body that he'd spent all night appreciating in ways that he'd only ever dreamed of before. How had he been so blind to the beauty before him, not even seeing this supermodel of a woman as a woman?
Aqua's eyes lingered over Kazuma and she broke out into a smug grin, covering her mouth with her hand as she giggled mischievously.
"Really, Scumzuma? Are you so desperate that just the sight of my ravishing good looks can put you in such a state?"
…Oh, right. Her personality. Well, he supposed that he could work with that.
"Hey, you're the one who left me like this!" he snapped back at her, grabbing Aqua by the arms and pushing her back into the bed. "So you should take responsibility and take care of it."
"Hmm, maybe I will," Aqua said with a hungry look in her eyes.
Five minutes later, the dysfunctional duo were lying back, sweaty and out of breath. If this was Kazuma's life now, then he could die happy. Not that he had any plans of dying again, it was always pretty annoying when it happened. Not to mention usually embarrassing.
The moment was ruined by a knock at the door.
"Go away!" Kazuma yelled at whatever idiot was trying to interrupt them. "We're busy!"
"I, um, brought you towels," Darkness's voice stammered from the other side of the door. "Cecily said that you might need them, after…"
Kazuma's and Aqua's eyes widened as they stared down at themselves, then at each other, then at the wall just behind them. The very, very thin wall that was all that separated them from the other room.
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
It didn't take long to get packed. They hadn't brought anything with them when they teleported to Arcanletia without any real plans or any idea how long they were going to be gone. As such, it was pretty much just a matter of getting dressed, taking a bath, getting dressed again and stopping for a quick breakfast at the inn's dining room before they were able to make the trek down to the town gate where the caravan they'd be returning to Axel with was waiting. Aqua wasn't sure why they didn't simply teleport back but Kazuma was insisting that since he'd already paid for the trip, they were going.
Speaking of Kazuma, he was checking in with the caravan's wagon master to see where they'd be seated. That left Aqua standing around with Darkness, Zel and Cecily as they waited for him to return. Darkness seemed oddly flustered for some reason, which likely had to do with, well…
"So, how was it?" Cecily asked. "I was kind of worried that you were going to chicken out, no offense, Emperor Zel, but you two were definitely having fun last night. And this morning. And in the bath just a moment ago."
Aqua turned red. She hadn't exactly been hiding her intentions with Kazuma from the girls yesterday but it was still embarrassing. Wait, why was she embarrassed? All love was good, right? She shouldn't have anything to be embarrassed about.
"I understand now," she simply stated, nodding her head sagely.
"Understand what?" Darkness asked, refusing to make eye contact.
"A lot of things," Aqua replied. She would have elaborated but Kazuma picked that moment to storm up to them angrily.
"I can't believe this!" he grumbled.
"What's wrong?" Darkness suddenly snapped to attention.
"Apparently, a few of the horses ran off when that stupid poison slime was running havoc the other day and they haven't been able to find them," he explained, a sour tone still in his voice. "That means they won't be able to bring as many wagons as they planned, which means they don't have enough seats available. Only three of us are going to be able to go. Not counting the overgrown chicken, anyway."
Emperor Zel squawked and hissed at the insult.
"If that's all, then I can walk the whole way," Darkness suggested hopefully, picking up the crate with her busted armor in it. "I can even carry this with me if you need me to."
"Eh, that won't be necessary," Cecily countered. "I don't think I'll be going with you."
What?
"What?" Aqua turned to her favorite priestess. "Why not?"
"These kinds of trips don't really agree with me," Cecily said, clutching at her stomach. "Besides, I've still gotta sign up for a new religion to get my skills back so that I can be your new Priest."
"Oh, of course," Aqua nodded, starting to tear up. "I hope that your new goddess will appreciate you as much as you deserve."
Soon, both girls were sobbing and holding each other tightly.
"There'll never be another goddess for me, Lady Aqua!" Cecily declared. "I'm only doing this for the class bonuses but my faith and my heart will always belong to you!"
"I know," Aqua tried to reassure her while stroking the back of Cecily's head gently. "I know."
Off to the side, Kazuma made gagging motions while Darkness stood there patiently, an unreadable expression on her face. Eventually, ex-goddess and ex-priest pulled away from each other, still wiping away their tears.
"I'll meet up with you back in Axel when I'm ready," Cecily said.
"I'll wait for you!" Aqua replied. "We're not going anywhere, right, Kazuma?"
"Not if I have anything to say about it," he grumbled.
"Alright, then." Cecily took a step back and smiled. "Until next time, my goddess."
"Good luck!" Aqua waved as Cecily walked off, only stopping and turning back to her companions when she was out of sight. "So, I guess we should head out now?"
"Yeah, yeah, just a sec," Kazuma said, turning to the line of wagons preparing to leave and pointing to one of them. "We're on that one. Come on, let's go before they try leaving without us or something."
Kazuma led them to the covered wagon, Aqua, Darkness and Emperor Zel following close behind. A couple of workers took Darkness' armor crate away as they approached to load onto another one before the trio climbed in under the heavy canvas. Their wagon seemed rather spacious as they settled in, with a few boxes and cages. Aqua took a seat on one of the benches sticking out from the wagon's sides, Emperor Zel hopping over and curling up on her lap as Kazuma settled in next to her and Darkness slipped into an empty seat across from them.
"Oh, by the way, we both have something for you," Kazuma suddenly perked up. "Right, Darkness?"
The blonde crusader blinked before sitting up and nodding. "Oh, right, of course."
To Aqua's confusion, Darkness reached a hand to grab something out from her cleavage while Kazuma pulled something out of his pocket. Two folded sheets of paper were handed to Aqua, one mildly crumpled up and the other with a few sweat stains on it. She grabbed the papers and unfolded them, still not knowing what was happening.
A few seconds later, after she'd had a chance to skim through what they both said, the waterworks started flowing again.
"G-g-guys!" Aqua stuttered as rivers of tears flowed down in cheeks, causing Emperor Zel to jump off of her lap to avoid getting his feathers wet. "Y-you didn't need to do this!"
"No, no we didn't," Kazuma smirked.
"It was Kazuma's idea," Darkness said, earning a glare from the party leader. "But I knew as soon as he suggested it that it was what I wanted to do."
Aqua would have pulled them both into a hug but their positioning made it impractical so she settled for just her boyfriend(!?).
"Well, it might not mean anything anymore, but welcome to the Axis Order!" she managed to say. "I'm glad to have you."
"So, first you steal my best friend and now you take my favorite follower away from me?" Aqua and Kazuma both jolted up in surprise. Neither they nor Darkness had noticed the fourth passenger slip into the wagon while they were distracted. "Maybe teaching you that skill was a bad idea, after all."
"Eri- I mean, Chris?" Aqua said as the familiar silver-haired woman took a seat next to Darkness. "What are you doing here?"
"I have… business… somewhere that this caravan will be passing by," she said.
"What kind of business?" Aqua asked.
"That's not really your concern, anymore," Chris said tersely, folding her arms over her chest. "And I'm not in the mood to chat."
What followed was a long, uncomfortably quiet ride.
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
A few hours after the caravan left Arcanletia, their wagon came to a screeching halt, causing Aqua to fall over onto a drowsy Kazuma's lap and wake him up again.
"Huh, what's going on?" Kazuma muttered as he pushed his girlfriend(!?) off of him, even as Darkness rose to her feet and Chris/Eris reached for her daggers.
The question was met by a piercing howl, followed a few seconds later by one of the caravan's guards peaking his head into their wagon, a desperate look on his face.
"We're under attack by monsters!" he yelled. "You guys are experienced adventurers, right? We need all hands out here!"
Of course. Kazuma had been told that caravans getting attacked by monsters was fairly normal, so it wasn't that much of a surprise. But still, he had been assured that the adventurers hired to guard the wagons would be enough to defend against whatever they were likely to cross paths with. So the fact they were being asked to fight was yet another level of annoyance on this stupid trip. He really should have just forked out the extra cash for a Teleport, instead.
"What kind of monsters," Darkness asked, drooling slightly, as if the howling didn't make that obvious.
"A pack of direwolves!" the guard replied. "And some of them appear to be ridden by Kobold Guards!"
"What?" Chris looked alarmed, which made Kazuma worry. "Those kinds of monsters aren't usually found in this area."
"Things have been crazy since the Devil King's defeat," the guard told them. "Higher-level monsters that were once part of his army have mixed in with local monster populations and spread to areas outside their normal territories!"
Ah, right, of course. This was their fault. Why wouldn't it be their fault? Why the hell did everything always have to be their fault?
"Right, we'll help," Kazuma said, trying not to sound guilty. "Come on guys, let's go kill some wolves or whatever."
Their party disembarked and quickly joined the ranks of the various adventurers trying to form a loose circle around the caravan. Surrounding them was a large pack of gray-skinned dog-men in crude iron armor wielding nasty-looking scimitars and small round shields, dark-furred wolves with ominous red eyes, and gray-skinned dog-men in iron armor riding dark-furred wolves with ominous red eyes.
Kazuma reached for the dagger-sized sheath at his waist. Unfortunately, the katana that Keima had somehow managed to find for him, which he still hadn't come up with a proper name for, was too long for him to comfortably carry around when not in use. He was worried that he'd end up having to get the blade shortened, which may have made the sword more practical but would have put him at a disadvantage due to the reduced range. More importantly, though, was that it wouldn't look as cool. Thankfully, he'd managed to come up with another solution that, if anything, made him even cooler. At least in his own opinion, anyway. The jury was still out on whether or not he was actually cool.
With a flourish, Kazuma drew his katana from the custom-made sheath that he'd designed himself. It should have been impossible by conventional physics, but conventional physics weren't really an issue when Bags of Holding were involved.
"Look at all those big, sharp fangs and claws," Darkness panted beside him, holding a spare sword that someone had lent her. "I may not have my armor but do not worry, for I will still use my body to shield you all even as those vicious brutes relentlessly rip and tear my flesh!"
As per usual, Darkness' demented ramblings somehow managed to bolster the morale of the other adventurers around them and Kazuma could hear cheers about how brave, noble and courageous she was for being willing to throw herself into danger like that. Seriously, how did people not see what she was doing? He'd think it was one of her skills if he hadn't just gone through her skill list not too long ago.
"Yeah, I'm definitely patching up that armor when we make camp for the night," he muttered to himself before turning to Aqua at his other side. Was she shadowboxing? What, was she planning to fistfight the wolves? "You joined the Eris Sect to get your powers back right?"
"No, no she didn't," Chris grumbled.
"No, but don't worry," Aqua said confidently, which made Kazuma worry more. "I've got this!"
Aqua rolled her shoulders back, popped her neck, then cracked her knuckles and charged forward just as the first direwolf made a break for them. She drew her fist back, clearly getting ready for one of her usual God Blows. As if those were ever useful against anything that wasn't undead.
"Dragon!" Aqua's fist was suddenly engulfed in intense flames that burned with an unnatural might. "Blow!"
Aqua's fist went flying as the massive wolf more than three times her size pounced, the flames forming into a massive set of jaws that struck the monster head-on. Everyone watched in stunned silence at the smoke billowing from where the direwolf had just been sent flying into the horizon, becoming a twinkling star before vanishing entirely out of view.
"Hah, take that!" Aqua cheered, celebrating her victory.
"Watch out!" Kazuma yelled as he spotted another direwolf trying to sneak up on her from behind. He, Darkness and Chris all ran forward but before any of them could reach, the direwolf lunged and…
…and was met with a roundhouse kick to the face that sent it crashing into the ground.
"Better luck next time!" Aqua taunted the fallen beast. "You've gotta get up pre~tty early to get one in on me!"
There was definitely something not right there. Kazuma supposed that Aqua did, tend to just brute strength-ing her way through combat with her maxed-out Strength stat, but this wasn't that.
"Aqua, what did you do?" He asked her accusingly.
"Hey, check out my new skills!" she replied happily before turning to where a kobold riding a direwolf was charging on one of the other adventurers fighting nearby and cupping her hands together like she was about to do a flippin' kamahameha. "Dragon Surge!"
Sure enough, a big ball of fire shaped like a Dragon's head flew out from her hands as she thrust them out, striking the armored canine and knocking it off of its mount, which took a spear to the neck at the hands of the man it was about to attack.
Those definitely weren't Priest skills. Those weren't Priest skills at all.
"Aqua…" Kazuma tried not to grit his teeth as he held his hand out to her. "Show me your Adventure Card."
"Sure."
She happily pulled out the card and handed it to him, Kazuma snatching it out of her hands and examining it closely. Darkness peered over his shoulder to get a look as well.
"The hell's a Dragon Monk?" he shouted as he double-checked to make sure that he didn't misread what he was looking at.
"My new class," Aqua said as if she was stating the obvious.
"New class?" Kazuma growled.
"Of course," Aqua smiled obliviously. "I've never heard of it before, which means that it must be super rare."
"Wait, weren't those the skills that the dragon we fought for the golden apples used?" Darkness let out a shiver of delight, likely at the memory of getting hit repeatedly with those attacks.
"Oh, yeah!" Aqua said as if she just then realized it. "I must have gotten it from him. I'm going to have to thank the Great Ladonis if we ever see him again!"
Kazuma reluctantly handed the card back to Aqua. "You're supposed to be our healer! What are we supposed to do now if you're a frontline DPS unit!"
"Weren't you listening?" Aqua asked as if he were the crazy one here. "Cecily's going to take over Priest duties after she picks a new patron goddess for her abilities."
"What? I didn't agree to that!" Kazuma yelled. "I'm the party leader! Why does everyone keep recruiting new members without asking me?"
The battle raged on around them as the two bickered over Aqua's class change, the caravan's fighters slowly gaining the upper hand. It helped that Emperor Zel had come out at some point and petrified several of the direwolves before stopping to eat one of the ones that Aqua had killed. Kazuma tried hard not to watch as the cockatrice dug its heads, both of them, into the fresh carcass like a vulture. He was not going to be cleaning the blood off of Aqua's pet's feathers after this.
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
It felt strange, actually being able to hit the enemies that she tried to attack. Darkness found it exhilarating and was glad to be of use as more than just a human shield for her allies. Almost enough to make up for the sheer frustration and disappointment that came from not getting hit nearly as often in battle.
She could imagine the ferocious wolf before her lunging and snapping its steely jaws tightly around her arm, digging in with its fangs and tearing her flesh as she forced it off of her. The phantom pains sent a chill up her spine just thinking about it. But instead of the ecstasy she anticipated, her borrowed sword plunged down into the beast's skull, cracking bone and killing the direwolf instantly. She didn't even get so much as nibbled, much to her disappointment.
Perhaps she should try 'accidentally' tripping and dropping her sword next time? No, that could potentially lead to someone else getting hurt, which was the last thing she wanted. It seemed that she was just going to accept that she wouldn't be getting hurt as much in battle as she was used to, as painful as that idea was.
She heard a cry for help and turned to see a spearman facing off against two kobolds. Perfect. If she could draw their attention to her then the beastmen would be able to double-team her and, if she was lucky, at least one would be able to get in a solid hit. She activated her Decoy skill and let out a bloodcurdling cry as she charged toward those nasty, filthy brutes even as she imagined them tearing off her clothes, pinning her to the ground and-
-Darkness tripped and the sword she'd been using flew out of her hands. She hadn't even done it on purpose. A seemingly random patch of ice had suddenly formed along the ground in front of her. She quickly pulled herself up and looked around to see what had happened but before she could get to her feet, a pair of jaws clamped tightly like a beartrap around her ribs and she found herself getting tossed through the air like a chew toy.
Finally!
Darkness smiled through grit teeth as the blissful agony coursed through her. She couldn't just sit there and enjoy the pain, though. It was a fight, after all, and there were people who needed her protection. So she twisted around and punched the giant wolf in its face. However, that just made it crunch down even harder.
Even a masochist like Darkness had limits.
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
Aqua uppercutted a kobold with enough force to break its neck. She was no stranger to melee combat, God Blow was one of her go-to skills, after all, but now that she was actually in a class that specialized in it, she found that her combat prowess had increased exponentially even if her Attack stat was technically lower than it had been before. She was wiping the floor with these monsters in a way that she only could have done against the undead before.
It felt nice to be useful, especially with how useless she'd felt during the fight with Hans. Before she could get too wrapped up in her own badassness, though, she heard it.
A bloodcurdling scream pierced the air and she instinctively turned to where it had come from. She may not have ever heard that particular noise come from that woman's mouth but she'd recognize that voice anywhere. She wasn't sure that she even wanted to know what could have made Darkness of all people make that noise but whatever it was, she knew she had to help. So, she took off running in the general direction the scream had come from and it didn't take her long to spot it.
That wasn't a direwolf. The silvery fur was too bright and those icy blue eyes were completely the wrong color. Oh, and the fact that it was as big as an elephant compared to the only cow-sized direwolves was also a pretty big indicator.
It couldn't have been anything other than a Fenrir, the strongest wolf-type monster in Belzerg. Well, actually there were a few things that it could have been but it probably wasn't a shapeshifter or something that could create illusions, so a Fenrir was the most likely option. More important than what it was, though, was what it had clenched in its jaws as the monster shook its head.
That was clearly Darkness, who seemed to be alternating between screaming in pain and moaning in ecstasy. On the surface, that seemed like typical Darkness behavior, though something felt off. Aqua didn't have time to figure out what was bugging her, though.
The rest of the adventurers gathered around Aqua, having wrapped up killing the rest of the monsters that had ambushed the caravan. She found Kazuma standing to one side, sword drawn but hands shaking, while Chris was crouched at her other side with twin daggers gripped backward.
"This could be a problem," Chris said. "Fenrir's are extremely high-level monsters. Even veteran adventurer parties struggle against them."
"Well, it's a good thing that we have the party who took down the Devil King with us!" the caravan's head of security declared triumphantly, holding his ax over his head and rallying the rest of the gathered adventurers into a cheer.
"Half the party," Kazuma corrected him before trailing off into a mutter. "And that was more of a fluke than anything."
That was when Aqua's precious darling boy ran up in front of them and issued a defiant crow at the gigantic wolf.
"Huh? What, no! You might-"
Whatever Kazuma was about to say was cut off as Emperor Zel spread its wings out and his eyes flashed. Thankfully, he'd made sure to stay in front of the adventures so that none of them got caught by its petrification gaze. Unfortunately, the Fenrir itself seemed to resist the magical attack and was merely stunned, leaning away from them as its muscles tensed up.
"Oh, crap," Kazuma muttered as the people around them cheered and prepared to run into battle.
"What?" Aqua asked, growing concerned from his concern.
"I didn't think to give Darkness any status resistance skills when I had her card," he explained slowly, "and I doubt that freak would have learned any on her own."
Aqua's eyes widened and she hastily looked up just in time to see a hint of gray stone clutched in the Fenrir's mouth before the sudden excess weight, combined with the stiffness of the wolf's muscles and joints, caused the monster to start tilting forward.
"Everybody, run!"
They barely had time to get out of the way before several tons of fur and fang began to fall towards them like a tree that had just had an unfortunate run-in with a lumberjack. Aqua and her friends had just barely made it out of the way before the Fenrir slammed into the ground with enough force to send them flying just from the shockwave.
As Aqua and the others picked themselves up from the dirt, the Fenrir did the same and rose to its feet. Thankfully, it had decided that trying to hold onto a life-size human statue was a bad idea and released Darkness from its jaws so that she rested awkwardly on the ground. Even more thankfully, she was somehow still all in one piece after that. It seemed her high Defense stat applied even when stoned.
"Attack!" someone yelled and most of the adventurers either charged with their weapons drawn or started launching spells at the giant beast. Aqua, for her part, ran up beside where Darkness had been left and jumped up.
"Rising Dragon Fist!"
She was carried up by the momentum of her flaming uppercut, punching that stupid mutt in the jaw hard enough that she knocked it over onto its back. It seemed that was enough for the Fenrir, which turned as it got up again and ran, patches of ice spreading behind it with each step.
"Yeah, take that, ya scaredy cat!" Aqua called after it before turning to the others. "Heh, that was easy."
"Don't jinx it!" Kazuma snapped at her. "Besides, what are we supposed to do about Darkness, now! Thanks to that birdbrained bird of yours, she's been turned to stone! Now, if she were naked or something then I'm sure that she'd want us to set her up in the middle of town square so that people could ogle her or something, but unfortunately she isn't and that isn't even a sexy pose. Oh, and we need our tank back. And our friend, I guess."
"That's alright, I can just-" Aqua cut herself off, remembering once again that she couldn't use healing magic. "Why the hell did I pick a monk class!? Kazuma, why did you let me pick a monk class?"
"I didn't!" he yelled back. "That's entirely on you!"
"Ahem, excuse me," the head guard stepped in. "Thank you all for your help. If we bring your friend back to camp then our healer should be able to fix her up, right as rain."
"Thanks," Kazuma gave him one of those polite Japanese bows which, thanks to the many, many Japanese men and women (mostly men) that Aqua had isekei'd into this world, was a well-understood gesture. "Of course, now we've got to drag her fat ass back-"
"Oh, there'll be no need for that! I'm here!" A hand shot up from the gathered crowd and several adventurers stepped aside to a man dressed in so many layers of ragged old coats and cloaks that Aqua couldn't really make out much but his shaggy green hair full of dirt, twigs and leaves. He stumbled forward towards them, adjusting his glasses that looked like they were just a bunch of sticks tied together as he took a closer look at Darkness' stoned form. "Drew Idmec, at your service. Ah, yes, petrification. Nasty business but I should have something for that."
Aqua and the others watched as the man proceeded to start rummaging through his pockets for whatever miracle cure he had that could turn rock back into flesh. Then he rummaged through his other pockets. And then some more pockets.
"Strange, I know I should have some somewh-Ouch!" Drew hastily pulled his hand out of one pocket, a golden hairpin sticking out of his finger. He hastily pulled the pin out and nursed his bleeding finger as he went back to rummaging with his other hand before he suddenly stopped. "Wait, hold on, that's what I was looking for."
He pulled out the gold hairpin again and pressed the tip against Darkness' stony shoulder. To Aqua's surprise, it pierced through like she was made of flesh and, a second later, she was. Darkness let out an indecent moan as the man removed the gold needle and took a step back.
"There we go, problem solved."
"Huh, what happened?" Darkness asked as she looked around at the gathered crowd. She blushed as she realized that almost everyone there was staring at her, half-naked in her torn dress.
"Something stupid, like always," Kazuma muttered as he reached his hand out. Darkness' blush seemed to deepen as she let him help her back to her feet. "Remind me to patch up your armor when we get back. Hopefully, my smithing skill should be high enough to at least get it usable again."
"Well, at least we all managed to make it out of that in one piece," Aqua sighed in relief as she wrapped her arms around her friends' shoulders. "And hopefully that'll be the hardest fight we'll have to deal with on that trip."
"I told you not to jinx it!"
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
In the next exciting chapter of God's Blessing, God Knows: The Ascendance of This Scarlet Chimera!
Elsie stood up, rubbing her aching bottom as she took in her surroundings. The room was very room-y, both in the sense that there was a lot of room in it and in that it was very much like a room. Sylvia had a few fleshy tentacles waving about between Elsie and the stairway leading back out to prevent her escape. In front of Elsie was a large stone door set into the wall with two massive chains-like patterns carved into it. Next to that was a podium with what looked like an old Sintendo Famisys controller. Keima may have been a Play Field fanboy but their mom had an old Famysys that she'd pulled out a storage and tried a few games on. Though, she'd quickly given up on those. Why were 'retro' games so dang haaaaard?
"What's a swirly?" Sylvia asked with a note of morbid curiosity.
Keima woke up to the sound of an explosion. That was nothing new so he closed his eyes again and tried to go back to sleep. It was barely even sunrise, after all. But then he realized that Megumin was still sleeping soundly on the armchair across from him with Chomusuke curled up on her lap and he shot up to his feet.
Author's Notes: Ah ha! You thought that martial arts dragon was just a one-off joke, but no! He was there to set up Aqua getting reclassed into an advanced Monk class! It was fun seeing people guess what her new class would be and all the guesses I saw were for other caster classes that would leave her in the same role in the party as she had before. But where would be the fun in that? One reader in particular suggested she become a Druid, which I thought was a fun idea and led to the creation of Drew. I have no plans for that character moving forward, though. He was just there to heal Darkness from her petrification and likely won't show up again.
The combat here was mostly filler that I made up on the spot yet somehow managed to escalate into a full-fledged boss battle that I ended up having to scale back into what you just read. I ended up making a Kobold Hero armed to the teeth with stolen cheat items but not only was it too much for the party to deal with right now but also would have overlapped a bit too much with what I have in store for that half of the party to deal with before they finally get back home.
I'll probably be focusing on the Crimson Demon party for two or three chapters in a row because I'm trying to advance the story in roughly-chronological order, which means that I won't be able to get back to this half of the party until after Sylvia's been dealt with with that will only take about a day in-universe while Kazuma, Aqua and Darkness' trip home will take comparatively longer.
Also, as I mentioned last time, this story is going to get put on hold along with the rest of my fanfics, meaning no more chapters until January. In the meantime, I'm going to try and plow through an original Super Sentei/Power Rangers-inspired story titled Pseudo Rangers, about a group of college kids who accidentally steal superpowers from the mob! I'm looking forward to working on this project even if it's probably going to take a lot out of me. For more news on that, you can hop into my discord using the invite code in my bio or DMing me for a link. Otherwise, I'll see you all next year!