Edit: This site keeps messing up my formatting and also has frequent crashes. I also wasn't able to send out messages replying to reviews in the last chapter because the site was misbehaving. I'm considering just posting exclusively to Questionable Questing, because I'm beyond frustrated with this site. Let me know what you guys think I should do.
Chapter 26: A Relocation For This Tranquility Girl!
Part 1
"Alright, class, midterms will be at the end of the month, so we're gonna start doing review lessons now. You will also have extended self-study sessions during homeroom."
With my mind preoccupied with the impending demon king army invasion, I didn't even think about midterm exams.
I was sure that I could get a decent grade even if I didn't study too hard, but I didn't want to miss out on potential rewards from doing well on the exam.
At the same time, I had all the dungeon stuff to worry about. I couldn't just dedicate hours of my time to studying. I needed to be efficient about this.
I looked around the class for someone who could help me study.
I saw the guys I talked about Myriad Swords 2 with before… But they didn't seem all that bright.
My eyes settled on the class rep, Konno Lia.
Despite having good grades and being the captain of the naginata club, Konno Lia was a quiet girl who kept to herself.
Keeping her hair in braids and wearing glasses, she was your stereotypical class rep.
After acquiring my target, I walked over to her.
She looked up from her bento, surprised to see me.
"...How can I help you, Satou-san?"
Her eyes and tone of voice told me that she wasn't too enthused to talk to me.
"Ah, Konno-san… Well I need help studying, and since you're the class rep…"
She raised a brow and set her chopsticks down and said,
"...Even though you seem to be paying more attention to classes than before?"
"How did you notice something like that, Konno-san?"
Could it be…? Well… Since I am a starter on the soccer team, I suppose it wasn't too crazy to think that there were girls who were into me…
"You were always slouched over during class, but these days you're actually sitting upright."
I guess that would make it obvious.
"W-Well…! I decided to take my studies more seriously since I missed so much school…"
"Alright, I understand. Go ahead and take a seat."
She gestured to the empty chair in front of her. I grabbed the chair and sat down in front of her.
As she went over the material with me, I found that she actually mentioned a lot of things that I missed.
Even though I was putting all my effort into focusing, some information managed to slip through.
Similarly, it seemed that I also mentioned some things during that she didn't catch.
"...Hmm… This is more productive than I thought…"
Konno-san said, while looking over the new notes she made.
I was also surprised that I learned a lot from reviewing my notes with Konno-san.
"Perhaps it's beneficial for the both of us if we studied again like this, Satou-san."
"Ah, yeah. Sure, that's fine with me."
As I returned to my seat after lunch break ended, I got a text notification from Appuri-chan.
Congratulations! You have established a bond with the Idol-In-Disguise, Konno Lia!
Konno Lia (Idol-In-Disguise), Bond Rank: 1
At Rank 1, Lia views you as a classmate who takes surprisingly good notes. She still doesn't fully trust you as she thinks you have some kind of ulterior motive. She seems to be the cautious sort, owing to her hidden profession.
…Did I really seem like I had an ulterior motive? I just wanted to study!
And more importantly…
What's up with that 'Idol-In-Disguise'?
…
...
During the break, I went to the bathroom and took out Appuri-chan to speak with her.
"...What's with that 'Idol-In-Disguise' thing?"
Since I found out that Wiz was a Lich based on her bond title, I took this matter seriously.
"Hmm… From my scans, it seems that Konno-san is living some kind of double life~! The serious bookworm you know is actually a part-time idol!"
"Seriously?!"
That bespectacled girl with braids who never talks to anyone in class is an idol…?!
…No, wait, it makes perfect sense now.
"I see… So it's like that…"
"...How did you accept it so quickly?"
It's so cliche that it makes sense.
"It makes sense now, so that's how it is…"
"Am I missing something here, or what?"
"Come to think of it, Konno-san also sits in the back of the class, near the windows… Surely, I should have suspected that a class rep like her would have some kind of backstory like that, if she's sitting on the protagonist seat."
"Kazuma-san has been mumbling nonsense for a while now."
Wait a minute... Lia... It was just her first name, but...
She shared a name with this idol I was a fan of.
"Is this that same Lia from Axel Hearts?!"
"It's not good to speculate about an idol's private life, Kazuma-san..."
Perhaps she made a good point. Even if our class-rep was somehow an idol who was exactly just my type...
No, I don't think I can view her normally from now on! She won't be just a classmate to me after I know this forbidden information!
Thinking about this endlessly won't do me any good, so I put Appuri-chan away
Part 2
Since we just finished the nationals tournament, there weren't any practices or games in the club for the foreseeable future, especially with exams coming up. Such was the nature of a college-prep school. I met up with Rin instead and we headed to the dungeon after school.
"I'm so excited to try it out!"
Rin was expressing her excitement the entire way there.
Finally, once we made it to the dungeon, she took the tail accessory out of her inventory and clipped it on the back of her uniform skirt.
"Ta-da! How does it look?"
She gave a few spins, making the tail twirl around. I gave her a thumb up.
"It looks very cute!"
"Yay~!"
Aside from the accessory being cute, the main benefit of the cheat item was to provide the user with a new set of spells.
We went into the first floor and soon we encountered a group of goblins…
"[Bright Arrows]!"
Rin gestured with her hand and a volley of arrows made out of light descended upon the goblins, instantly wiping them out.
"Wow… That was incredibly powerful!"
We tried out the other spells she had, including [Light Beam] and [Bright Spark].
[Light Beam] was a concentrated blast of light that was good at piercing through armor, while [Bright Spark] was an AoE attack that also illuminated groups of enemies, making it easier for allies to hit them.
"Those are all useful spells."
"Of course! They're based on the Magic Tanuki Girl, after all!"
She was probably happier about that fact rather than the effectiveness of the magic.
She could probably wipe out all the monsters on this floor, but I had her stop before we faced another depopulation event. That also meant that I couldn't level up like I wanted, but I could just do that another day. I underestimated how many monsters Rin could take out with her cheat item.
While we were there, we went to the Giant Toad area to check up on the tadpoles.
Only to see that they had grown quite large compared to last time.
They weren't the size of the Giant Toads of old yet, but they were still relatively big.
It wouldn't take too long until the app-users could hunt them again.
With that said, I fulfilled the requirements of the quest.
Quest Completed! You gain 2 Intelligence and 2 Willpower!
I took pictures of the Giant Toads and sent them to the others in the group chat.
Megumin: Humu… My little one is growing up well.
Aqua: Awww~! My little Toad-chan is so big now!
Darkness: I hope they keep growing well…
I had a bad feeling as those girls became too attached to those tadpoles from before.
Hopefully this doesn't become an issue.
Part 2
"Um… I need to get through…"
A guy my age wearing leather armor and carrying an axe said to the three girls blocking the way to the Giant Toad area.
"I'm not gonna let you harm my Toad-chan!"
Aqua barked at the guy, who backed away nervously.
It became a problem.
"...It's always something with you girls."
I asked the guy to step away as I dealt with this pain in the ass trio.
"Kazuma… We can't let these knaves hunt down my cute tadpole!"
Megumin said, her arms moving in a strange fashion as she glared daggers at the guy.
"They're newbie app-users who wanna level up. The demon king army could come at any time this week, so stop being a bother and let these guys pass through."
Besides, when I looked past Megumin's shoulder, I saw that there weren't any tadpoles in sight. The area was now filled with mature Giant Toads hopping around. We'd have to capture Giant Insects now to act as food for them.
"...You talk about your cute tadpoles, but they're not cute, nor are they tadpoles anymore."
I tried to move past them, but Darkness got in my way.
"I won't let you harm my precious tadpole!"
"Like I said…"
It was probably their maternal instincts refusing to believe that their precious babies were now grown adults.
I narrowed my eyes at Darkness.
"Oi… I thought you were looking forward to your yellow tadpole getting big, so you can do some freakish play with it."
"I've gotten too attached to it now. I can't view my baby as an object for my sexual desire now!"
She shouldn't view monsters as objects of sexual desire, in the first place.
"And how about you, Megumin? You've only viewed monsters as sources of EXP, so what made you change your mind?"
"...How dare you say that about my precious baby?"
Megumin's maternal instincts seemed especially strong. Was it because she had a little sister?
"And Aqua… You already have that egg of yours. Aren't you content with that? Not to mention Appuri-chan…"
"I've always wanted a big family!"
For some reason, she winked at me when she said that.
"You girls are so excited to protect those things, but I bet they'll try to eat you as soon as they have a chance."
"My tadpole-chan would never do that!"
"That's right! It'll instantly recognize us as its mamas and will never harm us!"
What kind of fantasy world did they live in?
"Then let's make a bet. If the toads don't attack you, then I'll help you girls protect those toads. But if not, then the app-users are free to hunt them."
"Hmph… Kazuma thinks that this is gonna turn in your favor, but you can't break the bond between a mother and her child! Come on, girls! Let's meet our babies!"
Aqua confidently said, as she led the baka trio.
Megumin smiled at the black Giant Toad with the imperious look in its eyes. Even now, it had a regal quality to it as it looked down at Megumin.
"Hey, it's your Megumama here! I brought some treats for you, your favorite Green Onion!"
She held out the Green Onion stalk to the Giant Toad.
The Giant Toad looked at the Green Onion, then its long tongue slipped out towards it.
"Here comes the train! Choo, choo…"
The tongue quickly changed directions and wrapped around Megumin's waist.
"...Ah."
She got dragged into the Giant Toad's waiting mouth, her legs sticking out.
I thought that would have been enough for the other two, but Aqua didn't seem fazed at all.
"Fufu… You sure raised a bad-mannered child, Megumin! My tadpole-chan would never do that to her mother! Right, tadpole-chan! Now, let's cuddle like the good 'ol days!"
She said the 'good 'ol' days, even though it's only been a few days since she first met her 'Tadpole-chan'.
She held her arms out to the blue Giant Toad, waiting for an embrace.
She got an embrace, alright. A tongue wrapping around her body.
Aqua soon followed Megumin's fate, legs sticking out from the mouth of a Giant Toad.
I looked at Darkness.
"Surely you've learned your lesson, right?'
"...That's why I must go."
"Hah? Didn't you see what happened to the other two? Even if you view yourself as the mother of this Giant Toad, it will attack you without hesitation."
"While it's true that I saw myself as this Giant Toad's mother, those illusions have been shattered."
"Then help me free the other two."
"...Now, I've gone back to seeing this thing as an object for my desires again!"
Darkness drooled, before jumping in front of the yellow Giant Toad.
However, instead of sticking its tongue out to capture Darkness, the Giant Toad held its arms out and welcomed Darkness in.
"...Eh?"
A heartwarming sight of the Giant Toad embracing Darkness ensued.
"I see… Well, I guess Darkness actually successfully tamed her toad."
Maybe it was because Darkness was the scariest one out of the three, the Giant Toad's self-preservation instincts activated and Darkness accidentally tamed it.
"T-That's what I wanted at the start, but…"
Darkness was left confused, since she abandoned her maternal instincts and was fully prepared to enjoy some slime play.
As for the other two, they were slowly being consumed by their respective 'children'.
Eventually, I cut open the toads with Chunchunmaru and freed them.
"Wahhh… My dear tadpole-chan!"
Aqua cried over her dead baby.
"...Why does Darkness get to keep hers? Kazuma, kill her baby as well."
"What are you saying?!"
Darkness said, as she was still being embraced by her toad.
Aqua, tears still running down her face, stood up and nodded along with Megumin.
"Yeah! It's not fair if you're the only one who's happy! Kazuma, cut that toad in three parts, so we can all share!"
What am I, King Solomon?
"There will be no toad killing today. I've never heard of a monster being tamed like this, so let's keep it alive and forbid the other app-users from killing it."
If monsters could be tamed, it would be better to study the method behind it. We also needed to tame Mary, after all, so any insight we can learn is helpful.
Part 3
Now that I got rid of the obstacles, I moved the girls out of the way and let the new app-users into the Giant Toad area.
Then, I asked the girls to stick around, so I could gain enough EXP to level up.
"Oh, you're gonna go the Wizard route next, huh? Hopefully you can learn explosion magic someday!"
Megumin said, when I told them about my plan.
There was also the task of relocating Mary to the fourth floor.
On the way there, we set about grinding EXP from the monsters on the second floor.
This time, I didn't have to funnel all the EXP to Megumin, considering the amount she got from the previous times. She was actually a higher level than me now, as she was at level 13.
I also had the objective of learning all the Warrior exclusive skills possible before taking on the Wizard class.
"Appuri-chan, how many Warrior skills have I yet to unlock?"
"Hmm… Well, there's the [Shield] and [Double Attack] skill. You can also spend skill points to increase your [Strength]."
It seems I didn't unlock a shield skill last time, even though I made one out of ice, because it was exclusive to frontline classes like Warrior. And because of my low potential, I couldn't make good use of the ability to spend skill points to raise stats.
"I'll try to unlock those skills, then."
When we came across a group of ghouls, I didn't hide behind Darkness this time, baiting them to attack me with their paralyzing claws.
"...Guhh?"
They let out confused moans as I created an ice shield, their claws sticking into the ice. I finished them off with Chunchunmaru, trying my best to attack twice in quick succession.
"You unlocked the [Shield] and [Double Attack] skills!"
[Shield] Skill Rank: 1, Passive Skill
You are proficient in using shields. You won't suffer a stealth penalty when equipped with a shield. You also won't suffer a spell failure chance when using shields.
[Double Attack] Skill Rank: 1, Active Skill (5 mp)
Attack rapidly with a weapon twice. The second attack is made with 50% of your weapon accuracy.
Next, Megumin collected the claws, telling me that she'd have her dad make more grenades out of them.
"...When is it my turn to grind up some EXP?"
Aqua complained, seeing how Megumin and I both had our turns soaking up EXP for ourselves.
"I did that with you in the beginning, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but not recently!"
"Listen! Your character archetype is that of an EXP sink! You're one of those clearly bait units that already have maxed out stats from the start, and your only role is to punish noobs who don't know any better and use you just because you're strong! Meanwhile, Megumin and I are clearly late game units that need as much EXP as possible!"
"...I don't get your analogy at all! Why does it matter if I already have max stats! It's not fair if I'm the only one not getting EXP! Darkness can't even land an attack and she gets more EXP than I do?"
"Why am I getting caught up in the insults, too?"
Darkness muttered, as Aqua put her on the spot for no reason.
"Even if you get skill points, you're just gonna spend it on stupid party tricks, aren't you?! Megumin and I actually have a use for our skill points, so let us have the kills! I especially need skill points because I only get one per level up!"
"First I lost my baby, now I'm getting yelled at by Kazuma… Sniff…"
"I'm not falling for your crocodile tears."
I ignored Aqua on the way to the Rookie Killer area.
While we were there, we checked up on the monsters who moved back in. We expected a hostile welcome after we killed half the population, but when we went up to a goblin camp, they stood up and welcomed us with open arms.
"Gobu, gobu!"
Translation: We're so happy to see you again, friends!
"Oh? Why are these little ones so happy to see us?"
Megumin said, as a group of young goblins came over to her with happy smiles on their faces. Megumin patted them on the heads.
"...Don't develop maternal feelings for these goblins, too."
She glanced away from me, already getting swept up by the cute smiles of the children.
An elderly goblin walked over, supported by younger goblins. He had wrinkles all over his green face and had quite a long beard. I suppose he was the tribe elder.
"Gobu, gobu… gobu…"
He then bowed his head to us.
"What's he saying, Kazuma?"
Darkness asked, as she was blushing while surrounded by goblins. Of course, for a masochist, perverted freak like Darkness, she viewed the goblins like an idol or celebrity.
"He's thanking us for getting rid of the other tribes. They have enjoyed more resources and acquired more land thanks to us."
"Well, I'm glad these guys benefited from our little genocidal stunt there!"
Aqua said, while cheerfully shaking the goblin elder's hand.
Was she really a goddess, or a demon in disguise?
The goblins offered us their food, but we weren't really interested in whatever qualified as goblin food. Megumin, however, did take our share and stuffed it into her inventory.
"...Don't call me if you get sick from eating that goblin stew…"
Aqua said, making a gagging sound as she looked at the pot of purple sludge Megumin stored away.
"I'm not picky with my food, unlike you spoiled kids."
For Megumin's sake, I just hoped that the namesake wasn't a reference to the ingredient used for the stew.
Once we made it out of the Rookie Killer area, we sought out Mary.
We went to her usual spot. When we saw her relaxing against the wall, Darkness brought out a pot with dirt in it from her inventory. When Mary saw the pot, she looked up at me with an unimpressed look.
"Um, what's that?"
"It's your moving van. We're moving you to the fourth floor."
"No, thank you."
She resisted the order right away.
"It's a pain in the ass to go all the way here. There's a teleportation circle on the floor above, so just behave and come with us."
"...This wall was where I was born in, and you're asking me to leave, just like that?"
She was like a stubborn old man refusing to leave his residence because a tsunami was on the way.
"Look, you don't have a choice, so just come with us already."
"No means no! If you uproot me, I'll tell the next human that comes here that a guy named Satou Kazuma forced himself on me!"
"Then I'll just kill you!"
I took my sword out after she gave me such a crazy threat, but Megumin placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Didn't you say that you'd try to make a bond with this girl? Why are you so eager to kill her?"
"Oi! You don't know how scary it is to have people think that I forced myself on a plant girl! That's like people thinking that Darkness got off on being played around with by a tentacle monster!"
"That did happen with the Ropers, though."
"C-Can we not talk about that?"
Darkness said, blushing as Megumin reminded her of that incident.
"Hold on, this little one has been pretty cooperative this whole time, right? Why is she resisting us now?"
Aqua said, showing that unusually high intuition of hers.
Mary's eyes flew around the room, trying to avoid our gazes.
"N-Now, now. Is it that weird that I don't want to leave my home? This NEET-looking guy over here seems to know what that's like…"
"I'm not a NEET anymore."
Did I really give that kind of impression on people, even after all this time?
When I thought about it, Mary did seem to understand a lot of Japanese lingo. One of her previous victims must have taught her those things.
This wasn't my first time noticing this, but it was the first time I seriously thought about it.
And combined with her suspicious attitude…
I looked at the ground beneath us.
"Alright, start digging down."
"Wait?! Didn't you hear me last time?! My roots are connected to the wall, where the hidden treasure room was! There's no point digging beneath me, right?!"
I made an ice shovel and handed it to Darkness, who started digging up dirt. Mary started panicking the deeper Darkness got.
Like she said, there were no roots underneath her, but…
Eventually, we came across a skeleton wearing steel armor. The whole thing was covered by green, sticky mucus.
Mary glanced away as Darkness brought the skeleton out.
"Hmm… This mucus… Ah, maybe that's why the dungeon isn't absorbing the skeleton right now."
Aqua said, while studying the mucus.
Since the mucus belonged to a monster that was still alive, the dungeon left the corpse alone instead of converting it to biomass.
"Oi, didn't we make a deal that you wouldn't harm any app-users?"
I figured that she was hesitant to leave because she didn't want us to separate her from her snack.
"I didn't! This is an old corpse! You can tell by looking, right?!"
Certainly, there was nothing there but bones now.
"...Then why did you keep this around? And why were you so intent on hiding it from us…?"
Mary's face went red. I didn't even know a plant like her could blush. What kinda pigmentation allowed for that?
"W-Well, he was my first time, so… I wanted to keep a little memento of him!"
That could be easily misinterpreted.
…Well, maybe not.
"Um… Kazuma, this guy seems to have a cheat item."
Darkness said, kneeling down to grab a dagger belonging to the corpse.
"Don't touch my beloved's dagger!"
Another easily misinterpreted sentence was uttered.
"Wait, can't we just resurrect this guy?"
I said, looking at Aqua.
"We can try, but his soul has probably moved on by now."
Aqua tried to use resurrection magic, but like she said, it didn't work.
"He died in peace, after all."
Mary nodded to herself, as she lovingly gazed at the corpse.
"...I don't get it. You said he was your beloved and you're strangely protective of him. Why'd you kill him, then?"
A dark look instantly covered her eyes.
"At first, my beloved was a loser, lonely, virgin otaku who didn't have any luck with women at all. As such, he was determined to change his life with the app and didn't fall for my usual tricks…"
Mary winked and made a hole with her thumb and pointed finger, inserting her other pointer finger in it.
"So I just seduced him and we fucked~!"
Our jaws collectively dropped after hearing that.
"S-Saying such a thing so blatantly!"
Megumin blushed as she covered her face in shame.
"...Don't you have any manners, girl?!"
Aqua said, wagging a finger at Mary, who just stuck her tongue out at her.
"To think a plant has more experience than me…"
Darkness got depressed after hearing this shocking news.
"Well… You did say you could grow reproductive parts before…"
"It's just an imitation. I can't get pregnant, or anything. My beloved certainly tried, though~!"
How desperate was this guy?!
Is what I'd say, but if I was still a NEET and came across the same situation…
Let's not think too deeply about that.
"So you seduced him… And then what?"
I said, urging Mary to continue.
"I couldn't trick him into staying and becoming my food, but he did donate some of his life force whenever he came over. And we'd go at it like Horned Rabbits, of course~!"
"We don't need to hear about that part."
"No, keep going."
Darkness got over her depression pretty quickly and was interested now.
This time, Mary crossed her arms and pouted.
"Hmph… His visits became less frequent. Then, one day, he came over to tell me he got a girlfriend… Well, I got so mad that I controlled one of my vines, stole his dagger and used it to stab him…"
"...Can a cheat item user be killed by his own weapon?"
"Apparently, his cheat item was a dagger that can damage anything, regardless of resistances or rules. I guess the user can also be killed in this way."
What kind of stupid loophole is that? Even if the ability was at half power from being used by someone else, a cheat item that could be turned against the user so easily is just useless. Also, why would he tell a monster what his cheat item does?
Furthermore…
This Mary was a yandere, huh?
"Maybe we should just kill her?"
I said, coming up with a verdict after hearing all that.
"Wait a second?! I never killed anybody after you ordered me not to! I'm a changed woman!"
She brought that up again.
Well, she did have a point. And she was still potentially useful to us.
"Fine, but I'm taking this dagger…"
When I reached for the dagger, a vine whipped out to smack my hand away.
Mary and I both stared at each other.
"...Do you actually wanna die?"
I said, while drawing Chunchunmaru.
"I'm not gonna let you take this keepsake from my beloved!"
"It's not a keepsake, more like a murder weapon, right?! Besides, if you truly loved him, then you wouldn't have killed him!"
"I loved him so much that I killed him before he could move on to some bimbo!"
She was a true yandere.
Before I could retrieve the dagger, she withdrew her vine and pressed the dagger against her skin. Then, she somehow absorbed it within her.
"The only place my beloved's dagger should be in is inside me!"
She said another misleading statement.
I tried to use [Steal, but somehow, it didn't work while it was inside her. Maybe it was some kind of ability of hers.
"...So, what should we do, Kazuma? Do we trust this thing or not?"
Aqua said, as she kept a cautious eye on the monster.
"I don't want any other app-users getting harmed because of her…"
Darkness said, showing a surprising amount of concern over the other app-users.
"I say we should just kill her and sell that cheat-item."
Of course, Megumin was only thinking about money.
"Hah… Let's just go with the original plan and move her to the fourth floor."
The other girls ended up nodding, since that was what we decided on, anyway.
"I'm not gonna let you separate me from my beloved!"
"You can bring that skeleton with you, how about that?"
"...I guess that can work."
Mary said, as if she had any leverage in this. What a prideful monster.
And so, we planted her roots in a pot with soil in it and gave Darkness the cumbersome task of carrying her. Rather than go through the diverging paths and the desert area again, we just retraced our steps to the first floor.
I had the others go on ahead, since I wanted to make use of my [Solo Leveling] skill and get as much EXP as possible, grinding monsters by myself.
When I reunited with the others, I was only 40 EXP away from leveling up.
Then, we used the teleportation circle and went to the unexplored fourth floor.
"This seems like a good spot."
Mary said, pointing to a wall.
"There isn't a hidden treasure room behind this wall again, right?"
"Not this time. There's just a good pathway to the mana source on this wall."
We let her step out from the pot and make a new home on the wall. We also dug up a new burial ground for her 'lover'.
Without her noticing, I grabbed the guy's wallet before Mary could bury him. She did say that he had a girl he was seeing. The least I could do was let her know that he didn't just abandon her.
I also pocketed the 7,000 Yen that was inside.
I mean… It's not like he'd have a use for it anymore.
"Ahh… The mana on this floor is quite tasty…"
Mary let out a satisfied sigh as she leaned against the wall, resting the back of her head against the surface.
"How long is it gonna take for you to scout out the floor?"
I said, while watching her roots digging through the stone walls.
"Hmm… I'm gonna need about a day. But if you just want info on the nearby surroundings, I can give you that now."
"Sure, go for it."
"Up ahead there seems to be a flock of Magic Cabbage…"
I fought some Flying Cabbage before and made a stirfry out of them with my [Cooking] skill. Was this Magic Cabbage a similar breed to that?"
Mary explained further.
"Magic Cabbages are similar to Flying Cabbages, however, they don't use their leafy wings to fly. They are capable of using wind magic, which they can use to hover. They can also use those winds to attack from a distance."
Whereas Flying Cabbages could naturally fly and use their flight to gather momentum and slam themselves into foes, these Magic Cabbages were more like long-ranged mages.
Knowing this, I set up an Ice Shield beforehand and we advanced to the area where the Magic Cabbages were.
It didn't take too long to find them. It was quite a surreal sight, seeing cabbages float on something like miniature tornados. The cabbages also had small, beady eyes, although it was impossible to ascertain how their anatomy even functioned to allow for such a trait. I couldn't even find a brain or an optic nerve when I was cooking them.
Above the eyes, there was a small, green crystal. Mary explained that these were the source of the Magic Cabbage's wind magic.
"Alright… Darkness and I will tank the first wave of wind magic. Then Megumin will attack and I will follow after. Aqua, make sure to support us."
"Can't I join Megumin for the follow up attack as well?"
Aqua said, clearly bored with just supporting us all the time.
I was about to deny her, but I remembered something from my MMO days, when I was a guild leader.
The healer and support roles had a high-turnover rate because it was a thankless job. Nobody praised you if you played perfectly, but everyone shits on you if you make one mistake.
Then, my protege at the time, DarkAngel, proposed an idea.
"Why not let the supporters take on a DPS role on non-boss fights as well?"
I learned that even if it would mess up with their class builds to take damaging spells, sometimes keeping up the morale of the guild was better than min-maxing stats and raid roles.
And so, after DarkAngel's advice, the healer role became more popular in our guild.
After that it was the tanks who kept bitching, but those guys whine no matter what, anyway.
Case in point, Darkness.
"Sure, go ahead, Aqua."
"Eh? Really?"
She said, not expecting me to agree.
"Yeah, but I trust you to heal and support us anytime we need it."
"You got it!"
Once everyone agreed to their roles, we attacked the Magic Cabbages.
They all turned to us simultaneously once they sensed us, beady eyes watching us alertly.
The green crystals above their eyes glowed as the tornados helping them hover intensified in its spinning motion. The tips of the tornadoes pointed to us and expanded to release a spinning drill of wind. It was a large-scale attack as they all focused their power to try and wipe us out at once. I wouldn't have been able to dodge it, and if I didn't have my ice shield, I would have been torn to shreds.
Darkness was able to tank the damage with her armor, although she suffered some cuts on her face. Aqua quickly healed her, before following Megumin on the follow up attack.
I trailed behind them as the tertiary attacker. Megumin and Aqua already took out a lot of the cabbages, with Megumin blowing them up with her staff and Aqua punching them to smithereens.
There were four more cabbages remaining.
I took this time to make use of my new skill.
"[Quick Draw, [Double Attack]!"
Within half a second of me drawing the blade, the two cabbages in front of me were already sliced in half, as the skill allowed me to release two attacks, whereas an ordinary human would only have time to do one.
The last cabbages were some distance away. They could fire their attacks before I could get within range.
I sheathed Chunchunmaru and created an ice spear.
"[Flash Attack]! [Side Slash]!"
With a high-speed movement, I just barely managed to reach the cabbages with the spear and cut them down in a wide-arcing slash that destroyed the remaining cabbages. The wind they were charging up was released into a harmless gust.
"Don't wreck them up too much! We can cook them up later!"
Megumin said, even though the ones she blew up were scorched black.
Part 4
"Kazuma-san, you gained a level! You also have two Skill Points to use!"
I didn't spend the last skill point from my last level-up yet, primarily because I didn't know what to spend it on, and I wanted to see if the Warrior exclusive skills were worth leveling up.
In the end, I decided to just max out [Signature Weapon, since I had enough to put it to max rank, anyway.
[Signature Weapon] Skill Rank: 5, Passive Skill (MAX)
Assign two of the weapons in your inventory as your 'Signature Weapon'. These weapons gain 15 durability and 4 weapon damage. These weapons won't be destroyed even if they fall below 0 'Durability', but you can't use them again until you fix it.
Aside from that, I could also now switch to the Wizard class after leveling up.
"You have switched to the Wizard class!"
"I don't feel any different."
"...Are we really gonna do this bit again?"
Appuri-chan wasn't playing along this time.
I already got what I came for, and we didn't want to explore the rest of the floor without waiting for the results of Mary's scouting assignment. We could just rely on Mitsurugi's intel again, but like with the diverging paths, there were certain obstacles in the dungeon that even he couldn't inform us about.
And so we used the teleportation circle to the first floor.
"Hehe… Kazuma, cook those cabbages for us!"
Aqua said, since I had the [Cooking] skill. She also didn't want to do any work.
"Sure. Everyone's invited."
Darkness seemed surprised by my invitation.
"...Is it just me, or is Kazuma a lot nicer now?"
I shared a glance with Megumin, who gave me a small smile.
"You must be imagining it, filthy whore."
"Even that lacked the usual vitriol! You said it like you didn't mean it!"
I sighed and rubbed the back of my head awkwardly.
"...I mean, I don't think I ever really meant any of those mean things I said to you before."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I mean, I know for a fact Darkness isn't a whore. I mean, you're a total virgin, right?"
By that definition, she can't be considered a 'whore'.
"That's somehow even more cruel than just outright calling me a whore!"
I wasn't even trying to be mean, though. Am I just naturally an asshole?
I'm sure a lot of people would say, 'Yes, you are'.
We took the train to my place, with Megumin and Aqua consoling the depressed Darkness.
I looked around at all the people on the train. There were teens our age, families with young children, elderly folk, office workers and college students. The demon king army could make their move any day now. I imagined what would happen if the Giant Poison Slime appeared near this train, crushing it and all the people within.
I didn't think I could live with myself if I allowed that to happen.
"...Do you girls think we should really keep the public in the dark about the demon king army?"
My abrupt topic change surprised the others, who all turned to me.
"Well… It'll cause a big panic if they find out, right?"
Megumin said, tilting her head as she pondered the outcome.
"They're gonna panic anyway once they see a big poison slime coming to attack the city."
Beldia and Vanir were one thing, since they were within the range of human size proportions. Their appearances were also grounded enough in reality that one could be convinced that it was cosplay.
But a slime that is the size of a building? There was no explanation around that.
"Certainly… It would be better if at least the authorities are prepared to handle the threat of the invasion. Right now, they have no clue that there's even danger."
Darkness said, starting to see it from my perspective.
I didn't want to tell the government or any authorities involved about the app, because I was frightened about what they'd do to me. I was worried they'd treat me like a test subject once I showed them my powers, or that they would mishandle the situation once they were informed about the other world.
But the alternative of having people die needlessly was worse than those fears. The closer the danger approached, the more I realized that now.
"So, what are you gonna do, Kazuma? Hold a press conference and announce that we're super heroes who fight the demon king army?"
Megumin was excited about that prospect, but I just shook my head.
"...Nothing public like that. We'll have to take a discrete approach."
"Hm… Well, I trust Kazuma. And you were the first hero to defeat a demon king general, after all. They couldn't even do that in the other world."
If Aqua herself approved of my plan, then I pretty much had the goddess's approval. Although her word might not hold much sway in heaven anymore after I took her with me.
"I'm sorry for taking away the only good thing about you, Aqua."
"...What does that mean?"
She stared at me in suspicion when I didn't elaborate.
When we got to my place, the others went to the living room to relax, while I got left with all the work. Well, it was probably better that way, considering I was the one with the [Cooking] skill.
As much as I would have liked to use this skill more, there was no way I was eating most of the monsters I had encountered so far. Anything with intelligence was a no-go for me. Even the Giant Toad meat was pushing it, but at least it was animal-like, and they caused me so much trouble that I didn't even care about harvesting their meat and cooking them.
I made cabbage rolls this time, stuffing the cabbage with ground meat.
You gained 30 exp! Your Stamina improved by 1!
Just like last time, there were some bonuses gained from cooking the monster parts.
"Fufu… Time for your meal!"
Aqua took out the egg and placed her hands over it, casting a blue light over the egg.
"...Hopefully the baby doesn't inherit your intelligence."
"Even if you think I'm dumb, a monster having an intelligence score equal to mine will be potent regardless!"
That was doubtful, since even the Rookie Killers could probably outsmart Aqua. That wasn't really a fair comparison, though, since they also outsmarted me a few times.
Part 5
Although Darkness went home after the meal, I asked Megumin to stay behind.
That was because I wanted to invite her family for dinner, like we discussed.
"I want to do this before the Demon King army starts attacking."
It wouldn't be good if her family was starving or still in need during a crisis scenario. It was better to make contact and build trust between our two families now.
"...Thanks for doing this, Kazuma."
The grateful and gentle look she was giving me made my heart start beating faster.
"Y-Yeah, it's no problem."
My parents didn't have time to cook a proper dinner for everyone since they were busy with work, so the plan was to order takeout. The food was still hot when Megumin's family arrived.
Since Megumin said that her dad was a wannabe military contractor of sorts, I expected a burly, tough-looking man. However, perhaps owing to their poor background, instead I saw a scrawny middle aged man. Although he did have a gruff appearance, he had a very humble air about him now, probably because he was a visitor in our home at the moment.
"Thank you for inviting us…"
He said, bowing as he entered our home.
My mom tactfully took over.
"It's no problem at all! It seems that our children get along, after all!"
Megumin's mother spoke next, giving my mom an elegant smile.
…And let me just say that Megumin wasn't exaggerating about her mother's beauty. She looked like she could have been a famous actress in another life.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Megumi's mother, Yui."
"...! Mother! I told you to call me Megumin from now on! And you're Yuiyui, dad is Hyoizaburo and this little one is Komekko!"
The aforementioned 'Komekko' was like an exact clone of Megumin if she was younger. She looked up at me with a curious look.
"...Mama, is this nee-chan's sugar daddy who gave her 60,000 Yen last time?"
We all went quiet at that, unable to process what she said.
Yui-san… Or, I guess, Yuiyui-san, just chuckled as if she didn't hear what her youngest daughter just said.
"The food smells delicious. Is that curry I smell?"
My mom blinked, before shakily smiling.
"Oh, um, yeah… Let's head into the dining room."
How else was she supposed to respond to that?
Aqua was already there, along with Kazuto. I understood Kazuto's impatience to eat, since he was a growing pre-teen boy, but what the hell was Aqua's excuse?
"Took you guys long enough!"
"And who's this?"
Yuiyui-san asked, as Aqua was clearly not related to us.
"This is Aqua-chan! She's Kazuma's friend from abroad who needed a place to stay, so we're letting her stay here!"
She was a freeloader, in other words.
Yuiyui-san stared at Aqua, before turning to her husband.
"...Our daughter has some competition, I see…"
"This is gonna be tough…"
They were whispering something suspicious to each other.
Thankfully, we moved on to eating the food before a dangerous topic could be brought up.
"Oh, mama! They gave me a full bowl of rice!"
Komekko said, thoroughly impressed by the moderate amount of rice in her bowl.
"And there's three side dishes and a main dish on top of that?!"
Hyoizaburo-san was equally ecstatic, trying to refrain himself from eating too much.
"Please help yourself and don't hold back!"
My mom said, as Megumin's family was treating this normal dinner like it was a feast.
"And now, here's dessert!"
Komekko blinked and turned to her mom, looking confused.
"Mom, what's a 'dessert'?"
I almost felt like crying when I heard that.
My mom brought out some cheesecake and Megumin's family looked like they were in near-tears, too.
"Is this what heaven tastes like?"
Hyoizaburo-san said, as he held his cheek and chewed slowly, his mannerisms were like that of a highschool girl enjoying some after school treats.
"You sure eat good every night, Kazuma."
Megumin noted, as she enjoyed her cheesecake as well.
Aqua shrugged and said,
"Well, it's not always like this…"
I closed her mouth before she could answer and whispered into her ear.
"Oi… Did you forget that this was supposed to be a ploy to feed Megumin's family? Of course we don't eat like this every night…"
"Why are you getting mad at me? Megumin was the one who asked the question, and she's in on the plan, too."
"How would she know? She doesn't live here, like you do. You have no excuse…"
Yuiyui-san noticed Aqua and I huddling together to talk and sighed.
"Hah… This is really going to be tough, after all… In any case, Megumin, you should still stay the night with Kazuma-san."
Yuiyui-san said something that made all of us look at her.
Megumin was in the middle of chewing on a cheesecake, when she replied.
"...You mean, like a sleepover?"
"Oh, you silly daughter of mine! You should know that nothing's free in this world. For blessing us with this meal, you should treat Kazuma-san well tonight, isn't that right?"
What kinda messed up logic is that?! Should I call child-protective services after all?!
Thankfully, my dad took charge and defused the situation with a chuckle.
"Ah, you shouldn't joke around too much, Yui-san! And to clarify, my wife and I just wanted to befriend your family, since our children are friends. Please come over for dinner as many times as you like, no strings attached!"
"Well! If it's like that, then I can't turn down your offer!"
…That night, I learned that this Yuiyui-san was quite the scary woman.
Meanwhile, her husband was clearly not in charge of the family at all, as Hyoizaburo-san was just meekly chewing on his cheesecake when his wife tried to sell his daughter off.
Part 6
The next day, I took Mitsurugi aside after school, taking him to the station for the weekly smoothie bonus.
You gained 1 'Stamina' from drinking the smoothie!
Then, I told him what I decided with the group yesterday, about informing the government about the demon king army and the app.
"Satou… Is that really such a good idea? There's a reason why none of the app-users have done that."
"Because they wanna keep playing the heroes and don't want the government to interfere with their immature, egotistic power fantasies?"
"That's not the case…Well, there are probably some who are like that…"
He couldn't deny it after what we saw during the soccer nationals tournament.
"I thought about it while looking at the people around me. Can you, in good conscience, risk the safety of the people, just because we're not sure how the government would react? It's not even a given that the demon king army will open a portal around here. What if they attack a place where there's not many app users to defend it?"
Mitsurugi sighed, slowly sipping his strawberry smoothie.
"Fine, you make a good point. How are we gonna contact the government, though? It's not like we can just walk into the diet building."
"Why not?"
"Because we'd surely get arrested?! Why would they believe what we're saying, anyway?!"
"We can just show them our powers."
Besides, Aqua told me that the app-users and the other-worlders were treated as super dimensional beings. Weapons from this world can't hurt us, even if it's a gun or a warhead. We were like Saiyans coming to Earth for the first time, the power levels were just too far apart.
That meant that even if the police started firing on us, the bullets would just bounce off us. That could even be a good way to convince them.
"Fine… And I assume you asked me because you don't want to risk the girls being harmed?"
"Sure, let's go with that."
It was more like I didn't trust them with diplomacy at all, and Mitsurugi was way better at that kinda thing.
That was also why I didn't want to go alone. I didn't have the kind of people skills Mitsurugi had.
"Alright, well… When should we go?"
"Considering the demon king army can attack at any moment, as soon as possible. Ah, but first we should look into getting some suits."
They wouldn't take us seriously if we went in with just school uniforms on or street wear, after all.
"Yeah, that's a good idea."
"And of course, you're paying."
"Why me?!"
"...I'm just a low level adventurer, and you're really gonna make me pay for an expensive suit? What happened to that dragon loot you got?"
"Fine, it's on me… You sure are convincing, Kazuma. Are you sure you really need me to come with you?"
"Of course. You'll be the Nappa to my Vegeta."
"...You know, I actually started reading the Dragonball manga and I'm up to the saiyan arc, so I know you just insulted me there."
Busted.
"Humu. It's a good thing you're heeding my advice, Mitsurugi."
"You sure are patronizing…"
We went into a formal clothing store and had suits fitted for us. I ended up with a dark gray suit and a green tie, while Mitsurugi opted for a navy blue suit with a red tie.
We looked at our appearances in the mirror, before heading out of the store, side-by-side.
I adjusted my tie as I glanced at Mitsurugi beside me.
"Ready to raid the diet building?"
"...You make it sound like we're terrorists… But yeah, I'm ready."
And so, we headed to the National Diet Building in Chiyoda.