Kazuma, once again, found himself on the receiving end of Luna's wrath. Sure, he and the girls had managed to defeat The Destroyer, but that was just enough for the guards to not arrest him on the spot. As it was, there was still a disgusting amount of money, and something had to be done.
"Billions. You literally shot billions of Eris into non-existence. If I wasn't so thoroughly impressed, I'd be even angrier! As it is, the payout from you taking care of The Destroyer means we'll be able to continue running despite you destroying all of our money." Lune was in a full on rant at this point, pacing back and forth in front of her desk, a sliver of self control the only thing keeping her from strangling Kazuma once he'd explained what happened. "Do you know what the law says I should do with you? Have you executed! As in drag you into the middle of town and lop off your head! The only reason that isn't happening is because I told them that you used it to try and take out The Destroyer with my permission. As it is, we still need to make back all that money." Kazuma's heart was warmed by what she'd done. She'd taken part of a bullet meant for him and made it not only so that he wasn't about to die, but also part of his burden. "And by we, I mean YOU need to make it all back up." And the feeling died as quickly as it came. "You are an adventurer in addition to doing your duties around the guild, so all of your pay here? It's going towards paying off your debt." Kazuma was about to speak up, but was silenced by a death glare that glued him back to his seat. "Anything you make adventuring? Half of that will go back to repaying your debt. Your other sources of income? Since I have no way of tracking them, those you get to keep." She looked down at him as she took a seat on the top of her desk, arms crossed. "Now, I know this sounds excessive, but I had to put all of this through as a 'wartime emergency loan,' which is something we apparently have by-laws for. Normally, it was for if a noble had to borrow a large amount of money from us to fund an army, or something similar. Do you understand how much worse this could have been for you?"
Kazuma waited a moment before nodding, afraid to look her in the eye. It was quiet for a moment before she hopped down, wrapping him in a hug. "You might be an idiot, but you're still one of my best friends. Just, try to pay it all back before somebody forces my hand, please?" Luna pleaded, letting him go. "Now, get out of here, I bet Aqua is worried sick about you."
Kazuma trudged out of the office, almost as if he could feel the multi-billions of debt on his shoulders.
A bubbly, smiling Aqua bounced up to Kazuma, throwing an arm around him before hopping up, forcing him to catch her in a pseudo bridal carry. "Heya handsome, why so glum? We're the big heroes? We saved countless people and people keep buying us drinks!" She emphasized the last part by taking a sip of her own drink, going much slower than she might have when they first came to Belzerg."
Kazuma smiled, leaning down to kiss her cheek as he carried her back towards their friends. She wasn't completely shit faced, but it was obvious she was at least tipsy. "I might be a few Eris in debt. Don't worry about it" he brushed it off, not wanting to ruin her mood.
"Pft, like that will last long. You're great at making money! Give it a few months and you'll knock out any silly debt. Now come on, take us back over to the others! Dust and the guys wanna hear what you did to get rid of The Destroyer and we made them wait for you to tell it!" She exclaimed, pointing towards the assembly of adventurers all smiling back at them.
Kazuma sighed, a small smile finally forming on his face. Sure, he'd gotten himself into trouble, but it was worth it to protect the joy he felt now.
-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-
Not too far from Axel, deep underground, the rumbling of monsters and golems resonate as the demon smiles, his time soon to come.
-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-
The limitations put on Kazuma, thankfully, didn't hit him as hard as he'd expected. Between his estate earnings and cafe chain, he could easily live without working. Paying off his debt was another issue entirely. A week of working at the desk, missions started to dry up. Namely, because, supposedly, one of the demon king's generals had set up nearby. Which meant less jobs for him to take to pay off his own debt.
Megumin and Yunyun strutted into the hall, having just come from Megumin's daily explosion if her smile was anything to go by. "Kazuma, Kazuma!" Megumin shouted, trying to get his attention.
"Yes, I'm Kazuma. What's up you two?" He asked, knowing they wanted a mission and having nothing for them.
"We need a mission deserving of our status as Crimson Demons!" Megumin proclaimed, weakly striking a pose despite how exhausted she was.
"Uh, what she means is, do you have any missions we might be able to take tomorrow, Kazuma?" Yunyun added, embarrassed from her friend's outburst.
Kazuma shook his head, shrugging. "Not one. A demon general set up locally and we have almost no missions now. The few we do have were low end missions for the less experienced adventurers."
Megumin made a noise of disgust, slumping dramatically. "How else am I to properly dispose of my mighty power then?"
"Not my problem, you explosive brat. No jobs, means no jobs. Until that general is taken care of, it's going to keep going that way" he laid it out, uncaring for the likely explosive response.
Aqua, thankfully, came to his rescue, dashing in and hopping up on the desk, leaning back against Kazuma. "Hey! How's the desk today?" She asked, her own shift having been painfully dull without adventurers going out in danger.
"Probably even more dead than your day. At least you had training accidents to deal with" Kazuma lamented, wrapping an arm around her to pull her closer.
Megumin made a noise of disgust, "Ugh, you two are so sickening."
"I think it's sweet!" Yunun disputed, clasping her hands together.
"Jealous?" Aqua smugly asked, wrapping her arms around Kazuma's head, coincidentally giving him a face full of boob. He wasn't about to complain.
"Alert, alert, a Demon King General is approaching Axel. All adventurers to the main gate, immediately!"
"Oh come on, two emergencies in one week?" Kazuma griped, hopping over the desk, dragging Aqua along with him as the group ran out, most of the hall joining them.
"Do you think they decided to attack because they thought our defenses might have been weakened?" Aqua asked, nearly tripping over herself in the bustle of rushing adventurers.
Megumin scoffed, finding that idea ludicrous. "They'll be in for a rude surprise if that's the case! Kazuma made sure of that."
"Oi, no setting up flags like that" Kazuma shouted, not wanting her to give them bad luck.
Once outside the gates, they could see the army, lead by what clearly had to be a dullahan, based on the fact it was carrying its head.
"Axel!" The being shouted, making sure he could be heard even from across the fields. "I am the general Beldie. Some of you might know that I recently moved into the area. I assumed, 'oh, they're all low level, I'll just leave them be.' Apparently, one amongst you didn't agree with that. I have, for the past week, been dealing with an explosion, every, single, day, rocking my castle and destroying my forces. The one day I didn't have to deal with such, the damned DESTROYER stepped on half of my castle! Now, as a former paladin, I have some mercy." Kazuma was already glaring at Megumin, largely zoned out as even Yunyun looked angry at the short Archmage. He knew he should have looked into whether the castle was an okay target. "If the one who has been doing these unprovoked attacks steps forward and begs for mercy and apologizes, I will let the matter drop. That seems fair, no?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake-" Was as far as Kazuma got, knowing exactly how Megumin was going to respond to such a blatant challenge.
"I refuse!" Megumin had, in the scant second it took Kazuma to even get his own complaints out, take a dramatic pose on top of a cart. Her staff was out, eyes aglow.
"Oh, for crying out loud. A Crimson Demon?" Beldia groaned, realizing that he'd effectively come for nothing.
"Yes! It is I, the prodigy of the Crimson Demons, Megumin! And I shall continue to use my Explosions, regardless of how much you beg!"
"You crazy girl, I don't care if you use your explosions, just do it somewhere other than where I'm living!" The undead shouted back, pointing an accusatory finger at her.
As the two continued bickering, Kazuma let out a pained sigh, leaning into Aqua. "Oi, Aqua, how strong is your turn undead?"
"Hmmm not as strong as you're hoping. He's a pretty high level undead, so he'd have to be weakened a bit first. I could probably take out all his soldiers easily enough though."
Kazuma was glad she'd become, well, not necessarily smarter, but a bit more mature. That and more able to intuit what he wanted. "So, sneak attack you think?"
"Maybe, but what kind?" Aqua asked, unsure herself.
"Hmm… keep them busy for a bit. I'll go ask Wiz. She's probably right behind the gate, if I had to guess. Can't afford to be seen by a former co-worker, right?" Slinking away, he left Aqua to enjoy the show. It seemed his instincts were fairly spot on, easily finding the litch only slightly inside the town, just out of sight. "Oi, Wiz."
Wiz jumped slightly, having been too focused on Beldia and Megumin shouting at each other. "Ah, Kazuma! You scared me! What are you doing back here, shouldn't you be getting ready to fight Beldia?"
"I am. What are his weaknesses?" Kazuma asked, cutting straight to the point.
"Kazuma! I can't just tell you that! We were co-workers for years. Even if he always rolled his head to try and see up my dress." At that reminder, she went quiet before grinning evily, Kazuma joining her. "Holy magic and water. You get him wet first and Aqua should be able to blast him off the face of the earth."
"Perfect. Thank you Wiz. I'll stop by later and balance your books again as thanks!" He shouted back as he ran towards the mess at the gates. Wiz grumbled, feeling she wasn't that bad with money, but knowing that history had proven that false.
Sliding back up to Aqua, the two loud mouths were still hurling insults at each other, no end in sight. "Alright, you're basically his hard counter. Drop a ton of water on him and then do your thing."
"That's it? Doesn't that seem a bit too… easy, for a general?" Aqua asked, tilting her head.
"Hmm… at this distance you might miss… Oi, Darkness!" He half shouted, getting the Crusader's attention.
"Yes?" Darkness asked, not looking away from the childish insults being flung.
"I need you to challenge that idiot to a duel or something. Get him as close to Aqua as you can so we can take him out" Kazuma instructed her.
"That is heinous! You want me to use the guise of an honorable duel to lure him into a trap? Truly, your depravity knows no bounds" she chided the merchant, smiling fondly at his devious mind.
"Yeah yeah, just go do it."
"Very well. For my country, I shall." Darkness unsheathed her sword, stepping forward from the masses so she could be more easily seen. "This is clearly going nowhere. Both of your prides know no bounds. Instead, come fight me in a dual, you foul beast. Let us settle this as true warriors. Or perhaps, you've forgotten what honor was like since your death?"
The baleful eye of the undead swung to Darkness, glaring at her before noticeably smiling. "Ah, a Crusader. I remember being so foolish and honorable as you are. I suppose that would be acceptable. I'll defeat you, slay this foolish child and then I shall be satisfied. Have at thee, oh righteous warrior." The dullahan goaded, stepping down from his horse, marching straight towards Darkness.
Kazuma watched nervously, holding Aqua's hand. He was just waiting for the undead to get closer, they'd only have one good shot at this. Aqua was fidgeting in his grip, wanting nothing more than to erase this blight upon the earth from existence. The crowd was silent as the two fighters began to circle each other, waiting for the other to act first. As they circled, he could see Darkness slowly getting him to move closer. No more than fifty feet away at this point, Aqua shouldn't be able to miss. "Now!"
Aqua let go of his hand, clasping hers together as she shouted, "Holy, Flood!" Before anyone could properly process what was happening, a deluge of water fell upon the combatants, sweeping both away. Beldia's head became separated from his body, winding up at the foot of Kazuma.
Aqua cracked her knuckles with malicious intent, glaring at the head as Kazuma reached down to pick the panicking general up. "Hey, hey, now, we can talk about this! No need to get even more violent, right? I was going to spare you town and everything!"
Aqua had already been 'charging up' her holy magic, her hands glowing ominously. "I think not. Sacred Exorcism!"
The clouds above Axel were torn apart as a pillar of holy energy crashed down before the assembly, smiting Beldia's head and body in one fell swoop. The forces he'd brought to bear weren't even in the blast, but the holy energy was enough to erase them, sending their souls on to the afterlife.
It wasn't with a bang that the general fell, but with a whimper.
