The spring thaw bringing relief from the last lingering chills of winter was almost as much of a cause for celebration as Missy's freedom for the friends upon their return to Axel, but sadly not everything was going quite as smoothly as could be hoped. While the tentative allowance of one demon could be accepted, the fact that Missy had been just one of an unknown multitude had left many people, both nobles and peasants, feeling uneasy. The unease was only compounded as the fracturing Axis Order started to butt heads once again, the warming sun reigniting their holy war.
The more obvious effect of this in Axel of course, was the return of Aqua's mood swings.
Since the trial, she had started to become noticeably more affectionate towards the succubi, treating them as friends and actual followers instead of 'filthy demons' in need of a good smiting. It had kind of been weirding them out more than a bit, so it was almost a relief when tempers started to flare in Arcanletia and her attitude took a turn for the worse, her mood swings becoming more extreme than ever. It may not have been pleasant to deal with, but at least it was more in line with what they expected.
Kazuma and Luna remained her only friends with any knowledge of what was happening and both had independently decided not to push the issue with the increasingly-temperamental , not even Eris had mentioned the civil war brewing in Arcanletia. It wasn't until Royce decided things had gotten beyond salvaging that he decided to bring it to Aqua's attention.
Aqua was bent over a builder in the Eris church, carefully applying magic to his foot that had been crushed by a falling block of stone. If any lesser healer had attended to him, he still might not have walked without a limp again, but for all her problems, she remained one of the best healers in the city. Her community service had been extended indefinitely on account of her repeated poor attitude towards the Eris sect members and at Royce's suggestion so he might best keep an eye on her. "And with that, your foot is fixed. You may thank me now by joining the Axis Order at your leisure. We're even accepting dual memberships now as a sign of good faith." Aqua grinned, puffing her chest out in pride at a job well done and fishing for the form as Royce laid a hand on her shoulder.
The greatful (but not that greatful) young man made his escape, a rushed 'thank you' all he offered as Royce joined Aqua. "How has your day been, dear?" The bishop asked, taking a seat on one of the beds normally reserved for patients.
Aqua huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and puffing out her cheeks. "Horrid. These people are so rude! I haven't gotten more than a simple thank you all day for all of my hard work!"
Royce could only chuckle at that, having become used to her eccentricities by now. "How unfortunate. But I have to be the one to make it somewhat worse now, I'm afraid. Have you heard of the goings on in Arcanletia at all?"
"No? Why? Should I have? It's the home of the Axis Order, so I should have heard if anything was wrong with it."
"Unless your friends were trying to protect you" he pointed out gently, letting that settle in for a moment before sighing. "Have you noticed your mood swings Aqua? Think carefully before you answer."
Aqua immediately opened her mouth to deny any such thing, until she started to think over the past half year. She'd gone from crushing hard on Kazuma to wanting to kill him in almost a moment, only to be sweet to him the next. That, she might have simply chalked up to her being unable to properly express how she felt about him, but then strayed to thinking how she'd act around her succubi. Her first instinctive response was obviously to smite them for being unholy abominations, but no sooner had that thought arisen, then she'd think about how much good they'd done for Darkness and how nice Missy was, even looking up to her almost as much as she did to Marigold. Did the priest maybe have a point? Was she really in that unstable of an emotional state after all? "Um, let's say I did?" Aqua ventured tentatively. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, as an Arch Priestess, or Arch Priest in my case, we both have much deeper connections to our gods than common clerics or priests. You may have come to your class as an adventurer, but you are aware of this, yes?" He prodded, blissfully ignorant, that he was talking to the very goddess she 'worshiped' rather than a 'mere' Arch Priestess.
"Well, yeah," Aqua nodded. She'd had to give her few Arch Priests a small congratulations in the past, so her connection to her most elite worshippers could hardly be something she'd miss.
"Very good. However, as I assume you attained your class as an adventurer, rather than part of the clergy, you may not be aware that when there is division within the church, it causes turmoil within its god? Turmoil very similar to what you've been experiencing yourself?" he elaborated, allowing her to put the pieces together herself. "Indeed, given your divine namesake's smaller number of worshippers, any friction between them may even be amplified."
"Wait, there's division within the Axis Order? How come I am only just now hearing about it?!" She demanded, standing up in a rage, only to be coaxed back down by Royce's steady hand on hers.
"Because I asked Luna to keep it from you. I strongly suspect young Kazuma has learned of it too and reached the same conclusion I did. Given how the Axis Order is rather infamously tight-knit, I had hoped the conflict would be a passing thing and you would be fine. Not only had I misjudged the strength of your connection to the Goddess Aqua, it would seem I was wrong about the Order. The information I have received states that the schism has only deepened now, with battle lines firmly drawn on where the sides stand.
"To summarize, on the one side there are the traditionalists who follow the original teaching of Aqua to an honestly fanatical degree, to the extent they've even begun accusing some of their opponents of outright blasphemy. It's reached the point where some of the reformists have been lynched in the street. The reformists, on the other hand, have been much more 'open' in nature. They have offered an olive branch to the Eris Sect and have been overall much more altruistic, stable, and understanding than the Order's reputation would lead one to believe. Their breaking with convention however has led to the more zealous traditionalists taking advantage of the more pacifistic reformists. That in turn has led the more militant ones to seek revenge or at least self-defense. Needless to say, tensions are fast approaching a breaking point and I am concerned how such will affect you, given your unusually strong bond." He finished, sighing and regarding Aqua sympathetically, as he let her soak all of the information in.
"Bu-But, they're still Axis members! They shouldn't be fighting each other regardless!" She cried, tears swelling up in her eyes as she now understood why she'd lost connection to so many followers since last year. "I don't care what they're arguing about, they're still m- I mean, Aqua's children!"
Royce could only nod sadly, closing his eyes for a moment before resting his hand on her head. "If I may be honest with you, Aqua, I don't know if you should get involved. It might do you more harm than good, but I felt you should know what is happening now that it's obvious it won't resolve soon. I can only advise you to reflect on your choices and pray for guidance." Giving her a pat on the shoulder, he left her to her thoughts, the goddess's brain almost shut down from the raw emotion she was going through.
An increasingly-prominent example of those emotions being rage at having this all be hidden from her.
-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-
Aqua stormed straight back to the guild, indignant and holy rage boiling just under the surface. She knew part of her fury might be her followers acting up and messing with her. The things was? She was still furious with Kazuma for hiding this from her. He knew how important this was to her and he'd said nothing!
"KAZUMA SATOU!" She shrieked, slamming open the door of the hall and causing the fun to come to an abrupt halt. Dust and Kazuma had been goofing off, drinking and talking about the last quest Dust had gone on, but that came to a crashing halt as she stormed the hall.
"Good luck, you're on your own!" was all Dust said, running as fast as he could from the blast radius, along with any other adventurer with a lick of sense. Ordinarily, seeing an irate girlfriend berate one of their own would be cause to laugh at another's misfortune, but anyone with eyes could see this was substantially more serious than forgetting an anniversary.
Kazuma couldn't even begin to ask what was wrong before he was knocked flat on his back and getting throttled by the irate goddess sitting on his chest. "Why didn't you tell me my followers were in a damned religious war? This is the worst possible thing that could have happened, you damn hikiNEET! What do you think will happen if they kill too many of themselves off? Where do you think that would leave me?" Her rage collapsed as rapidly as it had built, her head and shoulders slumping as she started crying. "What kind of goddess even am I if I can't protect my followers from themselves?" She choked out, releasing her grip on his throat to wipe her eyes. At the back of her mind, Aqua made a mental note to have words with Eris the next time they spoke. They might have been on better terms, but hiding something like this was almost unforgivable.
Kazuma coughed, massaging his throat, but seeing her pain, he pushed himself up and wrapped her in a hug. Aqua stiffened for a moment before she let herself relax, letting his familiar arms calm her a little. "Do you want to stop them? If you think we can, we'll go with you. You know that." Kazuma suggested quietly, side-stepping the point that she'd been furious at him for.
She didn't verbally answer and nodded her head, not trusting her voice.
"Okay, you go take a nap. I'll rally the troops. I think you're going to find we'll have a bit more help than you'd expect" he assured her, gently getting her to stand back up. "I just need to clear it with Luna and we'll try to leave first thing tomorrow, okay?"
Aqua just nodded again, slowly picking herself up and trudging her way up towards their room to try and relax.
Kazuma immediately got to work, rounding up the two friends (not Dust) he could actually rely on to help. Megumin had taken on the role of 'annoying little sister' to him and she was usually willing to help him out, so she was definitely in. Darkness would be a harder sell. The Eris Crusader had become much more competent and focused since Missy had started helping her out, but she was more in demand because of it. Deciding to deal with Megumin first, he went to hunt her down, the loli-mage likely in the target range, messing with Mana Bolt.
Megumin had been painfully opposed to learning any offensive magic (or even more utility magic), but had conceded to learn Mana Bolt after a prolonged, over the top chuuni debate between her and Kazuma. The final selling point? If she could learn to imbue it with explosive mana, she could get away with blowing stuff up without getting into trouble. Given that combining spells (even when one of them was basically 'empty' of affinity like mana bolt) was supposedly one of the more advanced tricks for a mage to pull off, Kazuma was genuinely impressed when it took her only two weeks to get the hang of it. Now her collateral damage risk was down, she had received requests to join a party too, but had been turning them down as 'unworthy of her unleashing her tremendous and hellish power'. Instead, she just spent her time deleting targets on the guild's firing range to get her 'fix' of Explosion on a day to day basis.
"Oi, Megumin. I need you to go and take a teleporter to Arcanletia. Find out whatever you can about what's going on there and then teleport back so you can take us there tomorrow. Are you up for that?" He asked, leaning against the wall practice range, well out of the way of the line of fire.
"Arcanletia? Uhm, sure? Can I use Explosive Bolt on stuff when we go?" She blinked, having been chomping at the bit to get some action beyond blowing up random targets. She might have made more of a fuss at a trivial task, if it wasn't for Kazuma asking her.
"I mean, we're going to be getting involved with the Axis Cult tearing itself apart, so maybe?" Kazuma honestly answered, shrugging.
Megumin just stared at him for a moment, hoping she'd misheard him. "Maybe I don't feel like going after all" she eventually concluded, attempting to turn back to her targets.
"Oh no you don't!" Kazuma's hand landed on her shoulder, stopping her attempt to ignore him. "Aqua's followers are going through a schism and for the sake of my health we're going to help, damn it. Now, are you in willingly, or do I have to get Luna to make it a quest?" He asked, hoping she'd do this for him and Aqua instead of being obligated to.
Letting out a frustrated groan, she slumped dramatically, trying to make it as obvious as possible she wanted to do literally anything else. "Oh, fine. But only because you're my arch nemesis and I can't have you going and getting killed by some fanatics!"
Kazuma just rolled his eyes, materializing a small bag of Eris from his pocket bank for her. "Yeah, yeah. This should be enough for you to take the trip there. Remember, don't get into any fights: Recon, then 'port back immediately. Got it?"
Megumin only huffed, striking a pose as she started to rant, "Of course I have it under control! I am the genius of the Crimson Demon clan! Simple scouting is child's play for an Archmage of my caliber!"
Kazuma rolled his eyes and mockingly bowed, moving out of the way for her to leave the range, a smug smile on his face. Sometimes, it was just too easy to manipulate that explosion obsessed loli.
Once Megumin was on her way, he went off to find Darkness. She had just come back from a mission earlier in the day, so she couldn't have gotten too far. Usually, if she wasn't busy, she could be found with either Chris or Missy. Today he seemed to luck out, as the Crusader was in the bar, hanging out with the succubus.
Since the trial, Missy had started to hang out openly in the hall, no longer needing to worry about being caught. She still tended to keep her wings and the like away though, finding it easier to blend in. To go with the 'human' appearance, she also eschewed the lingerie that composed her work uniform, instead preferring a green and white dress clearly designed to amplify 'womanly' features she lacked and instead serving to just make her adorable.
"Hey, Darkness, need you for a bit of an emergency mission of sorts" Kazuma said, plopping down next to Missy, forcing her to scooch over a bit.
"I just got back this morning though! Are you sure it's important?" Darkness complained, having hoped she could take the day off and relax. Since she'd started getting her 'itch scratched' she had been quite a bit more laid back when not on the clock.
Kazuma nodded towards the stairs, where Aqua was hopefully relaxing in their room. "Have you heard about the schism in the Axis Order? Aqua just found out today and nearly killed me for keeping it from her. We're going to go help mediate it in Arcanletia. I want you to come along because… well…"
Darkness sighed, leaning on her elbows with an understanding smile. "You want me along because a noble might make even fanatics think twice and as a meatshield in case it doesn't?" she asked, having become more than slightly numb to how Kazuma tended to 'use' her. That said, she did still consider him a friend. After all, he was at least direct about it and were it not for him she'd still be without missions and likely pent up to hell.
Kazuma immediately bowed in apology, not a trace of shame in his voice. "Yeah, you got me. So, will you help?"
Darkness rolled her eyes, leaning forward enough to pat his back, the impact nearly knocking him face-first into the table. "At least you're honest! Of course I'll come with you."
Missy raised her hand, feeling left out. "Can't I help? I'm actually learning a bit about magic when I have some free time."
Kazuma brought his hands up in an X, shaking his head firmly. "Absolutely not. We're going to the holy capital of the Axis Order. Sure, you follow Aqua, but they're really not likely going to care and that's talking about the nicer ones!" He patiently explained, making it clear that it would be incredibly bad for her health if she were to go along with them.
All the wind in Missy's sails is gone after that point was made, the succubus deflating in boredom. "Bah, I wish I could get an adventure card like you guys already and go out with you. Besides, I want to pay Aqua back for what she did for me in the capital."
Kazuma chuckled, patting the succubus's head. "I mean, maybe someday. Pretty sure that's going to take a few years before the kingdom is ready for that kind of change."
Missy stuck her tongue out at him, waving his hand away playfully.
"Alright, we're going to leave in the morning. Megumin went to do some recon and will teleport us when she's ready. Go pack up and be ready to go." Kazuma nodded to Darkness and left them to hang out and get ready, his own preparations thankfully miniscule. Most of his gear he was able to keep in his Pocket Bank, or was kept bagged up in his room since he didn't go out that often.
Now he just had to get Luna's permission.
Approaching Luna's office, he didn't even knock on the door before she told him, "Come in, Kazuma."
"How did you know it was me?" he asked, stepping into the room and taking a seat.
She pointed to a simple orb on her desk, smiling. "Found this in Gerald's old garbage. It lets me know who's at the door so I can decide if I'm 'not here'" she teased.
"Useful. Did it tell you why I'm here though?"
"Oh, no. That I heard from Aqua as she was crying. I heard her and checked up on her. I'll give you a week, and yes, you can take Megumin and Darkness. I'll bill it using the discretionary budget as a peacekeeping mission so you all even get paid" she finished with a smirk, patting the stack of paperwork next to her.
"Wait, you can do that?!" Kazuma exclaimed, confused that she was just going to charge the kingdom like that.
Luna's smile was downright gleeful. "Obviously! The whole guild network was set up to respond to threats the kingdom either can't, or is too busy for. If you look into it, there is actually a lot of leeway with what we can set up as an 'emergency mission.' Attempting to resolve a civil-war within a city most certainly counts as an emergency, don't you agree?" she chuckled, letting Kazuma realize that he might just have been under-estimating his boss.
Kazuma laughed, slapping the desk in excitement as he grabbed her hands and shook them in gratitude. "And this is why we all wanted you to be the guild leader!. Thanks Luna."
She waved him off, not needing the thanks. They were her friends and the guild was getting paid, so it literally wasn't a problem.
Preliminary preparations complete, Kazuma went to handle the trickiest part of the whole affair. Dealing with Aqua.
Opening the door to their room, he found her curled around a pillow, laying on the bed. She had stopped crying, but it was clear it was more because she was out of tears to shed than having come to grips with her followers being torn apart. A kind of useless goddess she might have been, but the idea of her followers hurting so badly clearly troubled her greatly. He didn't even say a word, silently packing up their gear for the morning. She wouldn't be in a good state of mind to worry about packing, so he just took care of it.
Once done and changed into his pajamas, Kazuma decided to call it an early night. Slipping into bed, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, comforting her.
Aqua's tormented grimace slowly gave way to a small, contented smile as she fell into a deeper sleep within his arms. While she liked holding him, this was good too.
