Part 5
— A sound came from the distance.
"…Zuma….! Kazuma, get up! Kazuma!"
The sound of Megumin lying on me sobbing.
…?
What is happening, my right hand feels warm.
Shifting my gaze in that direction, I could see Darkness down on one knee by my side, holding my right hand with both of her hands. Her eyes seemed to be closed in prayer.
I could feel breathing at the top of my head and looked that way.
And I met the eyes of Aqua who was looking at me.
"… Ah, you finally got up? That child is so stubborn, really."
I heard Aqua's voice and realized the back of my head was nice and warm.
… Oh.
It was Aqua's lap pillow.
When Megumin and Darkness noticed I had awakened, they hugged me tightly without a word.
It was great that they were happy about my resurrection, but this feels embarrassing…!
When Aqua realized I couldn't move because of embarrassment, she smiled deviously.
Damn, I shouldn't had came back to this lousy place, I should had reincarnated back in Japan and lived the life of a rich man's son.
"Hey Kazuma, don't get hung up on being embarrassed. There should be something you want to say to us right?"
Aqua said with a mischievous smile.
Could I change this useless goddess with that cute goddess-sama I just met?
— I said this clearly to Aqua.
"Change."
"How dare you HikiNEET! If you want to see that child so much, I will send you there right now!"
"Stop, stop! Don't rough up someone who just revived, you violent goddess!"
Aqua screamed with veins popping on her forehead, pinning me down with her fist high, ready to beat me up.
As Darkness stopped Aqua while saying 'never mind', I checked my body that was slashed by Jack Frost and got up.
"… Is your body okay? Does it feels weird anywhere?"
When I heard Megumin say that, I patted all over my body.
"It seems fine. By the way, how was I killed?"
Aqua told me:
"You were beheaded by Jack Frost. That was a clean cut. Thanks to that, it was pasted back perfectly and the healing was easy. I restored a bit of your blood, but it isn't enough. If you do any intense exercise, you will feel anemic. So you are banned from vanguard duties. It would be over if you get hurt and bleed again, understand?"
"Beheaded…!"
I was speechless and unconsciously rubbed my neck.
No matter where I touched, I couldn't feel a scar anywhere.
A part of the snow plains was dyed by my red blood. It splattered on Darkness who was besides me too.
Although I was saved by Aqua, but just the thought of dying once still gave me chills.
The winter of this world was a season for monsters who could survive despite the shortage of food.
Which means there wasn't any quest that could be easily completed by novice like us.
… Well, let's call it a day and return to town.
Part 6
We went straight to the guild to collect our bounty after returning to town.
"But getting 12 in an hour. 1,200,000… It was a decent haul, but not worth dying for. That Jack Frost was said to be a special monster. How much is his bounty? To break Darkness' sword in one blow, he seemed stronger than Beldia who was worth 300 million."
"Jack Frost is a monster that doesn't do anything if you leave the snow fairies alone. Even so, the bounty should be about 200 million. As a demon king's army boss, Beldia who was clearly the enemy of humanity has a high bounty because of how dangerous it was. For Jack Frost who doesn't actively attack humans to have a bounty of 200 million; it shows just how strong Jack Frost is."
Hearing Megumin's explanation, I fell into deep thought.
— 200 million.
With that much money, I could clear the debts, buy a house and live leisurely for quite some time.
"…Megumin, could you use explosion on that—"
"Jack Frost can't be defeated by explosion. Although it had a shape of a human, it is still a fairy. Fairies are immaterial, an existence just like mana. If it was an existence like the fairy king, its magical defence would be rather high. Although explosion could deal damage to all sort of existence, it would still be hard to settle it in one blow… Also, I don't want to cast explosion on such a scary opponent."
It's impossible. Looking at the depressed me, Aqua smiled deviously.
"Hmmp, Kazuma, you look rather down. But I wasn't just thinking about prostrating. Here, look!"
Aqua said as she took a small bottle from her clothes.
There was a snow fairy inside.
She didn't release all the snow fairies back then, and kept one.
"Oh! That's smart of you Aqua. Okay, take this thing out! I will crush it!"
As I praised Aqua who was surprisingly smart, I held the bottle up high.
"Wha—! No, this child is for my fridge!! In order to drink ice cold Neroid in summer… No, don't kill this child! I even gave it a name, so you can't kill it! No, no!!"
Aqua hugged the bottle containing the fairy, squatting in defiance unexpectedly.
Damn it, a monster worth 100,000—
But Aqua revived me today. It's a waste, but I will just let it go.
After finishing the errand at the guild, we divided the bounty that was severely lessened by the debts.
It was a bit early, but considering the huge profit we made today, we chose to rent a room in the inn and rest early.
I just revived, so I don't want to push myself too hard.
But… Today's profit was great, but it was just a drop in the ocean in the face of the debts.
With the dim future before me, I thought about my meeting with Eris to escape from reality.
She looked like an alluring beauty from the outside, and her personality was also—
To look so lonely and so because I died. And the goddess asking me to keep it a secret with a smile when she made an exception for my resurrection.
I felt that I had finally met a girl who could be an love interest after coming to this world.
As I thought about Eris' face, the trip to the inn's door was done in an instant.
"Hehe, I have to take good care of this child, and make lots of ice in the summer. And I will sell shaved ice with this child on the road side! I will sleep with it in the hot summer night…! … Nah, Megumin, do you know what this child eats?"
"I don't know what snow fairies feed on. Really, what do they eat?"
"It looks light and fluffy, probably taste good if you dip it in sugar and put it in your mouth…"
The 3 behind me were talking about boring things.
I placed my hand on the door of the inn and turned to face the 3 of them.
And I thought of the elegant Eris.
And I looked at the faces of these 3 again.
"?" x3
The 3 of them looked confused and stared back at me.
"… Sigh."
"Ah!!" x3
I listen to the uproar from the 3 because of my sigh and pushed the door open.