Epilogue
Back at the guild.
By the time I entered the front doors, the celebration had already gone into full-swing.
"You're late, poophead!" Aqua said, coming up to rest an elbow on my shoulder while she lifted her mug for a long draught. After many large swallows, she burped and wiped her upper lip with her sleeve. "Ba-hah!"
This girl is already wasted.
Looking around, I noticed that many adventurers were lurching about as well.
What exactly is the drinking age in this world?
"Ah, there you are, Satou," Alice said, weaving through the crowd. Closely following behind her was Komekko, who was naturally preoccupied with eating a toad leg. "You should hurry, the guild is ready to give you your reward."
"My reward?"
"Yes. For the major part you played in subjugating the general."
Was that so? I know as well as anyone that I really didn't do much, so I don't know where she's getting the 'major part I played' from.
"Ay, Satou! Welcome back!"
"Hey rookie! Nice job out there!"
The adventurers saw us coming and made space for us as we approached the main desk. Some gave me a few back pats along the way.
What was all this about? I am pretty sure I didn't do anything amazing. If anything, most of my memories of the recent battle are painfully cringe.
"Ah, Mr. Satou, we've been waiting for you."
The receptionist called me by name and gave me a warm smile.
The noise level died down as everyone in the guild took pause to watch.
"Ahem. To honor your victory over the Demon King's general, the guild hereby awards you and your party with three hundred million eris! Congratulations, Mr. Satou!"
My mouth went dry.
Did she say what I think she just said?
Three hundred million?!
There was a sudden cheer as everyone shouted their hurrahs.
"Way to go, Satou! You da man!"
"Treat us, Satou!"
"Speech! Speech! Speech!"
My mind was whirring. That was such an insane amount―and it dwarfed the forty million I had been offered to turn a blind eye to the Demon King's doings.
"But―it was that girl with the hair clip who actually captured the general in the end, wasn't it? So why are you giving me such a big reward?"
The final blow had been dealt by Hair Clip Girl after the general had been weakened. That fact was inescapable.
Putting on a neutral smile, the receptionist responded, "As a matter of fact, Miss Matsumoto turned down her share of the reward. She said that defeating this general was your victory and yours alone, Mr. Satou."
I was speechless.
That didn't sound like her.
Why was everyone acting like I was some kind of hero? My overpowered yet somehow still incompetent companions were the ones who put in all the effort. About all I did was stay out of their way.
Was I sure this wasn't a dream? No, no way that was the case.
"Emergency party meeting!"
Pulling my teammates into a tight huddle, I dropped my voice so the guild receptionist couldn't hear.
"Hey, doesn't this seem kind of fishy to you guys? I definitely don't deserve any of the credit for taking down the general."
"We know." x3
"..."
Talk about blunt. Jeez, did they have to all say it together like that?
"Satou, while it is true that you spent the entire battle standing on the sidelines watching while the rest of us worked hard, sometimes the worst player on the team in a sports manga is the one who comes through and helps the team win in the end. It's like that, right?" said Aqua.
"Mghmghmmmmghggghhghbbbmbmbbbghrrrhgg," Komekko mumbled with a mouthful of food, and I caught nothing of what she said.
"I believe you deserve it, Satou," Alice uttered in a dignified manner. "Despite having the lowest level out of any of us, you never backed down once when the general attacked. I thought you were very courageous today."
Her words hit me like a train, and I could feel my pulse quicken.
"Alice…"
No, now isn't the time to feel happy about Alice's rising affection level for me. There was more important business to discuss. I pushed my emotions down and forced my voice to sound normal.
"Look, regardless of all that, with a reward that big, I think the smart thing for me to do is hang up my adventurer's coat and retire. I've begun to realize that I'm not cut out for adventuring. And anyways, I'd just be holding this party back if I stayed. I barely reached a high enough level to upgrade my adventuring class just the other day. Yet switching classes to an Archer barely increased my stats at all."
I am actually set for life here. My stats suck no matter how much I raise my level, and my cheat ability from the gods that was supposed to be overpowered ended up being a bad match for my innate capabilities. So in the end, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't quit while I'm ahead.
The whole reason I came to this world had been to fight the Demon King. Based on what I had seen, though, rather than being a threat to humanity, this Demon King is mostly just a pervert who only causes social disruption. When you think about it that way, there isn't much point in me being an adventurer.
Actually, my real reason for becoming an adventurer in the first place had been entirely different altogether. But then my party somehow turned out like―
"Hey, wait a minute! It'd be troubling if I have another party I was settling into so nicely break up this quickly!"
"This is a problem for me too! I want to reach Elder Brother with Satou, and together we show him the error of his ways!"
"Gmmmmhmmnnm!" Komekko nodded through her stuffed cheeks at Aqua's and Alice's words.
I understood their protests, but when you look at things objectively, this party would be better off without me. Plain and simple.
It's not like this was goodbye. We could still see each other whenever we wanted. Maybe I could find a part-time job as a merchant or something to keep me from getting bored. Come to think of it, when I first registered as an adventurer, the guild receptionist had said something to that effect, too.
I felt a slight tingle when a voice whispered in my ear. "Um, excuse me, Mr. Satou. Sorry, but there is one more thing I must inform you about…"
That same receptionist who had once recommended I learn a trade or become a scribe back then handed me a slip of paper.
"Huh? What's this?"
A shiver ran down my spine when she averted her gaze.
"Well, you see… While we are extremely grateful to you for defeating one of the Demon King's generals, and we don't want to take away anything from that, but―"
"But?" I prodded.
The employee frowned. "Unfortunately, the flood caused by Lady Aqua inflicted widespread devastation on the nearby roads and crops. Many of Axel's merchants and farmers have started to complain. Luckily, the walls withstood the flood this time. Seems they were especially well built. However…"
I looked more closely at the leaf I had been handed.
It read: Reward: 300 million eris.
Compensation requested to cover damages: 340 million eris.
I could hardly find my voice. "D-does this mean what I think it means?"
The receptionist nodded. "We can't expect you to pay the whole share of damages since we understand there were circumstances. So we are only asking for your help with a small portion of the total. Forty million eris to help offset the costs of repairing and rebuilding the roads and reimbursing the farmers."
I looked up at my three companions who had been by my side through so many hardships. Of them, only Alice stood steady, watching me curiously.
Aqua placed her fingers against her temple, as if she were thinking about something. "Alas! For when Satou ordered me to use my spell, I recall warning him, saying, 'Whatever happens next, you better not come complaining to me about it, or I'll just say I told you so!' Well! I told you so!"
Gurk! I did remember that happening, but… Why is this airhead's memory suddenly word-for-word perfect?
Komekko glanced over her shoulder. "Ah! How unfortunate! Had I been there, I would have warned Satou that Aqua's spell was going overboard! But alas! I was out of mana and was not a participant for that part in the battle!"
The pit in my stomach dropped. They didn't even hesitate to pin all the blame on me!
Glancing around, the adventurers who had been cheering moments ago figured out something was up and quietly turned their backs, pretending not to notice.
The receptionist made a quick escape herself, as if she expected me to explode at a moment's notice.
"Well, looks like we will simply have to go find more quests to go on," Alice said warmly while putting on a smile. "Satou, if you would like, I can ask Claire for a little extra money to help you out. I am sure she would not mind. In the meanwhile, we will just have to find lots of strong enemies worth large bounties until we work off the debt."
But I just felt numb.
The Demon King had offered an easy life by making me forty million eris richer. How did I end up acquiring that much in debt instead?
Isn't this the worst possible outcome?
Because now, with this much debt…
…I definitely won't be able to find myself a nice girlfriend!
The Demon King's Theater
"My Lord, our spies have sent word that General Yoshida was defeated by a party from Axel. Rather than being killed, it seems he was captured and is currently being held in jail for the time being."
"That means the nobility will know of our plans soon enough. Those damned lie-detecting magic bells are impossible to deceive."
"If only we had a little more time."
"Our secret plans to start a war with the orcs as an excuse to eradicate them once and for all, not to mention our eventual goal to plant Tranquility Girls in the forest all around Alcanretia where they will hopefully decimate the Axis Cult's numbers… Just like that, up in smoke."
"We still keep eating guerilla attacks from the former king and prince, too. The Devil in the White Suit from House Symphonia refuses to back down either."
The people I had appointed as my generals made their reports one by one around the table while I listened with my head propped up on my elbow.
Ah, being the Demon King is such a pain. Why do I have to deal with all these problems?
I really wish I could be relaxing in bed right now with an ice cold drink.
"Sigh. The solution is obvious, isn't it?" I said, halting the discussion.
The generals all looked up at me.
"General Shoto. You have the cheat ability of being able to resurrect anyone that's died, even if their body was destroyed, without having to be there physically. That dumbass Aqua can't compete with the likes of you. As our secret weapon, your job remains to stay behind in the castle where it's safe to resurrect our fallen bosses as many times as it takes. Besides, you're too young to be in battle; I may be the Demon King, but even I won't send children out to fight on the front lines.
"General Yamaguchi. Your cheat of providing an experience boost to everyone in your party has been invaluable. It's totally broken in the same way as the old Demon King's cheat to buff all his subordinates. Thanks to you we have all been able to grind our levels to this extent. In the whole world there might be only one or two adventurers who have a level as high as anyone in this room. Now it's crazy to me that your level is as high as it is but you still can't shake that fear of talking to girls, however that still leaves fifty percent of all the adventurers and knights who still oppose us I can leave to you.
"General Kobayashi. The cheat you have is frighteningly similar to a general from the previous Demon King's era who caused me a lot of trouble. Luckily for us, your Rubik's Cube of hypnosis has led to us being able to find and steal this many divine treasures. I'm sure that Eris hates me though for interfering with all her hard work… I'm scared to even try teleporting to heaven anymore... Anyways, as the only woman among the seven generals who reincarnated from Japan, you're our ace against the orc lord. I'll be counting on you when I am ready to begin my war with orcs.
"General Watanabe. Where would we be today without you and your silver coin that predicts the future and writes a different option to choose from on each side? Sure, it comes with the drawback of there being no indication as to which of the two outcomes is the good outcome and which is the bad. However, since my luck is my one good stat, that is of no concern. So long as you listen to me, we're bound to always pick the track that leads to the good ending.
"General Matsuoka. I looked everywhere for someone who had the power to cancel out opposing divine treasures. It's the sort of thing that's a staple in manga stories. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be anything that convenient. Yours was the closest I managed to find: a magical debuff that swaps your opponent's best and worst stats, throwing off their game. The stronger the foe, the more they are crippled. It has worked unexpectedly well against the cheat users who have opposed us, especially that one sword guy.
"General Takano. There are no gimmicks or tricks regarding your grimoire that lets you read the mind of the person you are targeting. The way you used it before joining my army just to get women to fall for you was really creepy and annoying, but it has been useful now that we have you as our recon specialist.
"And finally, First General Yasaka. Now that you too have mastered Explosion magic, you will be able to stand on even footing with the firepower of the Explosion Maniac and my cute little sister. Your bloodlust for humans is super scary though so please try to keep that under control from now on. Even if you're still upset about losing to her, I'll always consider her my cute little sister who I care about very much, so I refuse to let you kill her. Same goes for the Explosion Maniac. For personal reasons I also cannot allow you to bring harm to her. Although, nobody seems to know where Megumin has been for the past eight years; maybe she will continue to stay out of our way?"
I had listed the names and main traits for each of my generals in turn.
It was the sort of thing that gamers like me would go crazy about, having all that exciting worldbuilding dumped in one huge piece of exposition. Being the Demon King did come with its perks.
I mean, it all sounded cool when their abilities were listed out like that. In reality, however, each and every one of my generals had caused me headaches in some way or another with their various problems and quirks, just like my old party members always did.
I paused to push those painful memories aside.
Now everyone waited with bated breath to hear what I would say next.
"Normally in games and stuff, the Demon King waits in his castle until the hero and his party defeats his generals one by one, right? That backwards plan just gives the hero and his party a chance to grow and become stronger with each encounter, until finally, they are capable of defeating the powerful Demon King.
"But I'm not an idiot like those chumps. There's no reason to stick to a script that's a losing formula. So a hero has seemingly sprung up, and has already defeated the first boss? Big deal. I'll just throw all the rest of you at him all at once before he has the chance to get any stronger. I don't care what cheat ability that good for nothing goddess whose only use is cleaning toilets gave this guy. It would take an army to stand up to a party composed of nothing but the Demon King's cheat-using generals. This upstart and his party are going down."
A/N:
Hi everyone, zapdosmaster145 here! Thank you for reading Aquasuba: Beyond Journey's End (Name TBD)! This marks the end of Volume 1. Coming up next: the debt arc!
Actually, this is an announcement that I do not plan to continue this story beyond this point. No debt arc, sadly.
I wanted to write a fanfiction where Komekko and Iris come into their own as adventurers once they are old enough, and this was the result. My goal was to explore ways they are similar to Megumin and Darkness respectively, in not only personality, but their ways of being and roles as characters as well. Especially the way Komekko and Iris can almost deliver the exact same jokes as, but in a slightly different way from, their counterparts. Like Komekko running out of mana when she gets hungry, for instance. Oops, explaining a joke is the fastest way to ruin it, so I better not go into any further detail than that.
But with that ending note from Demon King Kazuma, I have successfully written myself into a very tight corner. How is Satou and his party going to manage if Kazuma comes at them with all of his overpowered generals and their cheats all at once? Your guess is as good as mine!
But Satou is the hero, and his party is pretty stacked too, so I'm sure he'll figure out a way.
Still, if I did have the motivation to continue this into another 16 volumes, there would be plenty of fun to be had.
Let's see―it will start turning cold soon in Axel, making Satou seek a place to live in and get out of the stables. I suppose he'll discover the succubus cafe sooner or later, and meanwhile some catastrophic plot device on par with the Mobile Fortress Destroyer might be enough to delay the Demon King and his generals from ganging up on this up-and-coming hero right away like Kazuma intends.
Then Satou and the gang will surely stop the catastrophe in a way that plunges him even further into debt and leads Sena to arrest and prosecute him as a potential terrorist or spy for the Demon King. The Symphonia Family, Claire to be specific, will be the one pressing charges, and when Alice is the one to stick her neck out for Satou when things look grim, I think you all know where I'm going with this.
Eventually, to take a break after the wearisome ordeal in which Satou is cleared of his charges, they'll take a trip to Alcanretia and subsequently to the Crimson Demon village. Komekko cannot avoid her fate and must face her past demons after all, pun intended. During the ongoing siege of the former Demon King's castle by Prince Jatice, light will be shed on Komekko's history. For what reason does she hide the existence of her familiar, the powerful demon that gives her so much physical strength and even more mana than usual for a Crimson Demon, but who in return takes a great toll on her body such that she is constantly needing more food - Hoost? When the time comes, will she finally be able to trust Satou with the secret she has been guarding this whole time?
Shortly thereafter, Alice will suspiciously cease openly talking about her fantasies of reforming and marrying the Demon King as the debt situation gets shifted back into focus. Satou will find it concerning the way her mood slowly darkens and she seeks out ever more dangerous quests with larger and larger bounties. Then, suddenly rumors will begin circulating that the former princess of Belzerg is due to be wedded to Lady Claire Field Symphonia, and Satou will have to sort everything out and learn Alice's―no, Iris' full heritage.
And so on. Right, also, the Demon King and his armies have begun a campaign persecuting the orcs recently, so in a couple months a certain orc will arrive in Axel asking to live among humans for protection and desiring to become an adventurer, which will cause quite a stir.
Hair Clip Girl and her party will continue doing their best to defeat the Demon King the "correct" or traditional way. Although Tsumugi's first impression of Satou left a lot to be desired, her misunderstanding about her hair clip's ability and the constant looming anticipation of knowing she could use her one command on Satou at any time will slowly but surely corrupt her heart. In a romantic way, that is. She will fight it for a while. Eventually, though, all the time she spends constantly thinking about him will change her thought patterns from "Should I command him to admit to his crimes and turn himself in to the police?" to "Should I command him to go on a date with me or to fall in love with me?" before she even realizes it.
And many more adventures lie in store for Satou and his party on their road to confronting the Demon King.
The field of Tranquility Girls growing in the forest outside Axel will become a kind of attraction over time. Daring adventurers or curious other folk will come out to visit, and Komekko making a daily trip to the forest and back will become a part of the local scenery.
Keen-eyed readers may have noticed there was never any mention of Alice wearing her trademark headband with grapes. (This is because I forgot to include them in her introductory description - strikethrough) This is because Iris' grapes sacrificed themselves to save her from the Demon King's daughter's trump card back during the battle for the capitol while Kazuma and the Demon King were duking it out in the deepest corner of the world's highest level dungeon.
Come springtime, a certain crusader with exceptional durability and a bone to pick with the Demon King is bound to appear as Alice predicted. No doubt her assistance will be quite handy against the generals who are doggedly chasing Satou around, trying to finish him off before he grows into the threat the Demon King thinks he is.
Indeed, about that same time, for the first time in over eight years, the residents of Axel will hear a familiar BOOM! in the distance, announcing the return of what was once a part of the daily scenery. Satou will be very confused by the noise, and then all the more confused when Aqua, Komekko, and Alice all become giddy with excitement and rush out of the town to go locate the source of this strange phenomenon without explanation.
That covers most of the points I have envisioned happening between now and the final showdown. A showdown between a NEET playing the role of Demon King who has learned practically every adventuring skill there is, and his alter-ego going around using the same name while playing the role of the hero. This too-rich-to-know-what-to-do-with-himself Demon King has used his money acquiring rare potions that permanently raise the drinker's ceiling for a given stat, granting even someone with poor stats the capacity to become quite strong, so the battle is sure to be a fierce one. One whose outcome will be decided by the strength of the bonds forged across time by two different parties which each shared a certain goddess in common.
But zap, what about the backstory of Kazuma and his party? How did Kazuma become the Demon King? What happened to everyone? You didn't explain any of that!
I know many, if not all of you are wondering these or similar questions. Sorry to disappoint, but Kazuma's rise to becoming the Demon King and the resulting fallout were never the important points of Aquasuba. Kazuma becoming the Demon King is the setting for the story, not the plot. This is why I never addressed it. Aquasuba is the story of new Satou and his party.
Furthermore, I cannot confidently say I have a good story in mind that chronicles the events leading to Kazuma's party breaking up, with he himself ascending to the role of Demon King. At least, not one that I think would be satisfying to the majority of the Konosuba fans that I imagine being my audience.
To put it another way, I have a backstory in mind, but I don't think everybody will like it. And I couldn't stand the thought of making my readers angry.
If I had explained how Kazuma becomes the Demon King early on in the story, it would have definitely alienated many readers. Let's face it. He's scummy and everything, but nobody would say Kazuma is evil. What could it possibly take to push him that far? It's probably best left to the imagination. In fact, I bet most of you could come up with a better story for how it happened, or give a list of reasons why it would be OOC for Kazuma to do something like that in the first place. A few reviewers have already done so.
I don't claim that my version is the best or most likely explanation for how Kazuma could come to that point, or if that's even in character.
So, with that having been said, if you still really want to know what my vision for the story is, well, keep on reading this author's note. Aquasuba is over so I do not mind opening up everything.
Ready? Here goes. It goes without saying, but spoiler warning for the Konosuba light novels.
Let's start where Konosuba ends, at the epilogue of Volume 17. No, even further back, to when the Demon King tries to manipulate Kazuma by dangling his motive for being at war with humanity in front of him like a carrot on a stick. Kazuma doesn't take the bait, and kills the Demon King.
As you know, Kazuma is returned to life, everyone escapes the castle together, and the story ends. And there have been countless discussions about what happens after that, how are all of Konosuba's loose ends tied up, etc., which I love talking about but don't have time for addressing today.
Regarding Aquasuba, let's start with Megumin's and Kazuma's next move upon returning home victorious against the Demon King. I did have a scene I wrote depicting this that I have not published, which sets up their fulfillment of the promise they made together before setting out to chase the runaway Aqua. To be brief, they did the deed. I'll come back to this later because it drives Megumin's absence from Komekko's life in Aquasuba.
Shortly after the death of the Demon King, the important event that is the Belzerg celebration and public recognition of the Hero who slayed the Demon King takes place. You'll remember back in Chapter 7 that Chris told the story of Iris kidnapping Kazuma. Here's my thoughts: Iris has grown ever more selfish and mischievous since she last saw Kazuma during the incident where he tried to stay at the castle indefinitely and was kicked out and memory wiped by Rain and Claire. We see Iris' personality changes across the Vanir, Dust, and most especially Selfish Busters spinoffs, as well as her fascination with the legend of the Dragon Knight. By the time Belzerg throws its celebration, Iris has become a hero herself after thrashing the Demon King's daughter. So, proud of her great accomplishment, she eagerly seeks Kazuma's approval for her good deed and knows with all her being that nothing stands in the way of them getting married.
Taking all those facts together, that she has become increasingly willful since meeting Kazuma and joining Megumin's Righteous Thieves group, has become an expert at sneaking out of the castle during times of heightened security, (and might I also say thanks to Kazuma's inflated ego upon being heralded by the country as its hero and entering his most popular phase with the ladies yet,) Iris has come up with a way to carry out her own little version of the Dragon Knight's legend with her beloved. Thus, during the night of the party, she sneaks with Kazuma to a place where they are alone and whisks him away from the castle, seeking adventure and romance.
Kazuma is swept up in her scheme without realizing it until it's too late. Realizing the predicament he is in, he does an outstanding job of restraining himself around Iris when she declares her love for him, but being chased by the knights led by Claire and Jatice themselves, he doesn't really have much choice but to lead Iris around for her own (and especially his) safety. (Come to think of it, the lich Keele's story is also similar to this one.) They spend about a week on the run before Kazuma convinces Iris to go back to the castle, but his reputation is completely tarnished by that point as there is no getting around how bad it looks, even though he didn't lay a finger on Iris (which took all his willpower). His beef with Claire and Rain doesn't help him out either.
So by this point, despite Iris' attempts to smooth everything over, Kazuma is placed irrevocably against Claire and Jatice who, driven by their personal vendettas, will stop at nothing to see him executed. After he escapes using Teleport, Megumin, Darkness, and the reluctant Aqua, believing his innocence, set out to find Kazuma and get his "crime" repealed.
Thus, alone and on the run, Kazuma's luck winds up with him encountering the Demon King's daughter for the first time. Seeing her as his only chance for survival when the entire Kingdom of Belzerg is hunting for him, they find a way to make an alliance between the two of them that helps them both reach their goals. Thus, under Kazuma's leadership, the reduced forces of the Demon King's armies quickly turn the tables on Belzerg once again, and on a whim, Kazuma declares himself the Demon King during an encounter with Claire and Jatice.
Which is how the civil war starts. Factions split among groups of nobles and adventurers between those who support Kazuma (or simply benefit from a power struggle), which includes the Dustiness house, and those who support Prince Jatice, which includes his father the King and also the Symphonia family.
However, when Kazuma finally reunites with his party members and the truth is revealed about his relationship with Megumin, the Demon King's daughter throws a wrench in things by seducing Kazuma right in front of Aqua, Darkness, and Megumin to further her own agenda. Offended by his infidelity, Darkness does her thing, and Megumin - doesn't get angry because she knows Kazuma so well by this point. They just want to rescue him like a damsel in distress from the threat that is the Demon King's daughter. It is Aqua who goes and gets angry in their stead, the reason being that she believes it was Kazuma who killed Emperor Zell.
At the climax, Aqua curses Kazuma with the mother of all curses: impotency. (In Volume 15, Chapter 5, Part 3, she threatens to do this to Kazuma when he asks her age, so Aqua having this power does have some precedence in the LN's were she to get angry enough.)
And that, dear readers, is what I came up with as Kazuma's motivation for truly assuming the role of the Demon King. Aqua has taken away the thing he values most, and in his rage he will stop at nothing to get her back for it. That starts by taking the initiative and using the Demon King's daughter and her forces to overthrow the capitol which is wholly unprepared for his underhanded tactics.
And so from there the Demon King continues building up his forces using the adventurers who rally to his side and their cheats. He'll need them as he prepares to do what it takes to reach his ultimate goal: to kill a goddess. To wipe out every single one of her believers and thereby cause her to disappear.
Oh, and he hates the orcs too, so he wants to wipe them out as well, but that's for a different reason that I don't think I need to explain.
So, yeah, that is how Kazuma became the Demon King in Aquasuba, his reasons for turning to the idea of Tranquility Plants as a counter-Axis cult tactic, and his motive for separating himself from his party members that ultimately led to the party disbanding. In Aquasuba's story summary which begins with the line mentioning history repeating itself, the Demon King's war against humanity is really just an outburst from being slighted by a goddess. Once again, everything is all Aqua's fault.
(But really, the true mastermind is Prince Jatice who set everything up to play out this way! Hopefully the truth eventually reaches the light and everything gets resolved in a good ending!)
Aqua, by the way, is too stupid to realize what Kazuma is up to. She just accepts her role as a goddess whose job is to find a hero capable of slaying the new Demon King all over again. Her hope is to find a person who lets her do as she pleases like Kazuma so she can continue to play around in the mortal plane some more. Thus, under these circumstances she meets our new hero, another Satou, who has the misfortune of sharing the same given name of Kazuma.
Darkness, as has been somewhat revealed, did not put up with Kazuma pulling the stunt he did. Like Iris explained, she stormed the castle all alone and fought her way to him. By the by, because teleportation magic exists in this world, there is no reason it should take Darkness two entire years to make it back to Belzerg every time she challenges Kazuma. Nobody brought up this plot hole before now but I'll explain it anyways. It is because Darkness is Darkness that it takes her so long to return every time - to enjoy dragging out every monster encounter she has along the way.
Megumin's case is quite different. For you see, this author's last card he is holding tight is that the one night she spent together with Kazuma has resulted in a child. It isn't convenient or safe to be carrying the child of the Demon King, so around the same time Darkness first storms the castle, Megumin returns home to the Crimson Demon village to get Yunyun's help with setting up a place she can live in the mountains in hiding. Megumin used a Crimson Demon embellishment with Komekko when she said that she was leaving to "train" on her own, but the truth is quite different. She gives birth in secret and raises the child somewhere the Demon King can't find her, and the chief of the village alone knows the truth.
Anyways, there you have it. The lore you've all been waiting for. I told you it was gonna be crazy. Well, feel free to disregard it if you think that's just too out of character for everyone. In the end, it really doesn't matter to enjoy Aquasuba.
To be blunt, I made everything up as I went along, especially during the first half of the story. In my defense, I did not think everything through beforehand. I had to improvise with what I gave myself in the early chapters that I thought sounded cool at the time.
Anyways, moving on to less pressing issues, what am I as an author planning to do with these various girls who are striving for Satou's attention? You need to know who you ought to ship, after all. Komekko's trust in and feelings toward Satou will grow tremendously when she reveals Hoost to him. If she is anything like her big sis, his acceptance of her most vulnerable part will inevitably lead to what else but love.
As for Alice, she certainly has plans of her own. Is she capable of reforming Kazuma like she hopes, and when the time comes, can she actually pull it off? Or, will she grow to realize that the friends she has now are just as precious to her? Indeed, will she perhaps even realize that her feelings for her Elder Brother were not what she thought they were? As a wise man over on the Konosuba discord once said, "Part of why Iris latched on to Kazuma so strongly was because she had no friends. There's no reason that once she widens her social circle and matures a bit, she wouldn't grow out of her crush and become interested in someone else…"
Buuuuut…
I don't like the idea of shipping my OC with Iris or Komekko. To avoid any appearance of a self-insert character being shipped with two minors, I absolutely won't allow it, so I'll just spoil it now: Hair Clip Girl wins in the end!
Yup, I'm not kidding, by the way. I specifically designed Tsumugi to be perfectly suited to Satou's tastes (and vice-versa). She's a year older than him so Satou will dig that, and he's got the (from her perspective) bad boy exterior who is actually a nice guy on the inside which it turns out is also her type; so once they get over their animosity and Tsumugi accepts that she is in love with him, she'll start making her moves. Especially once Satou starts gaining some clout and recognition as an adventurer capable of dealing with the Demon King and his generals. Oh, the dilemma when she has the power of her cheat to make him do anything she wants - she could make him fall in love with her or go on a date with her just by snapping her fingers! That power is a scary thing for her to possess, how will she manage…
Well this author's note has certainly dragged on and on. It may be far from perfect, but I had a blast writing and crafting Aquasuba, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Thanks to everyone who has favorited/followed and reviewed. Story stats and reviews are important to attract more readers, so please do so if you are so inclined! And anyways I really want to know everything you liked and disliked about my story too. Finally, feel free to PM me or come join the Konosuba discord linked in the Konosuba subreddit where we can chat at length about all the interesting things there are to discuss about this Wonderful World!