Aqua
– It's been some time since our battle with that strange devil.
Kazuma, the rest of the party and I were summoned to the adventurer's guild.
Really, Kazuma was so troublesome.
Why did that guy keep getting into trouble?
I don't want to fight with Demon King's generals anymore.
Can't I have a little more peace and quiet?
Of course, I still want to return to heaven. I haven't encountered anything good since coming to this world.
"Wow, you really have exceptional talent for useless stuff."
Kazuma mocked me while I was doodling on the table.
"Of course, who do you think I am?"
As the goddess of water, playing with water is but a small matter.
"I don't think anyone will doubt you if you claimed to be the goddess of parties."
I really felt like giving that filthy mouth of Kazuma a holy punch.
But the generous me wouldn't do something like that.
It… It's not because I'm afraid of Kazuma fighting back.
Yup, that's right… Not afraid at all… Not even a little.
Megumin who kept stirring trouble and Darkness who kept saying perverted things gave Kazuma plenty of stress after all, so I should treat him better.
The kids in this party were all unreliable. As a goddess, I had to watch over them.
"… Hey, you're thinking of something weird, right? Why are you looking at me with pitying eyes? It feels so infuriating for you to stare at me like this."
When I displayed my mature side, Kazuma sprouted his nonsense.
It must be because he was too childish and lacked calcium.
But he would become mature in the future.
After all, it's the reason the guild was asking for us–
Megumin
– I didn't do much this time.
I wasn't as bad as Aqua and Darkness, but I did trouble Kazuma sometimes. So, I was thinking of supporting him well this time…
I'm the only normal person in this party, so if I don't pull myself together…
My familiar, Chomusuke, was resting on the table. Kazuma probably bribed it with food, that's why she likes him so much.
"… This fellow gets along well with me, but it hates Aqua. So, it's true that animals will be close to people with a kind heart."
"The kind me was thinking about being nicer to Kazuma who had been troubled so much by everyone, but I just heard something incredible. Are you implying that the holy me doesn't have a kind personality?"
"Yes, and what are you going to do about it?"
Kazuma and Aqua started fighting, making Chomusuke scramble away to its home base–which is my shoulder.
At a corner of the guild, Yunyun, who was planning to work together with me to prove Kazuma's innocence, was eating a set meal all by herself.
Just stop being stubborn and eat with us. You don't keep brooding on our 'rival' relationship.
Kazuma cleared his suspicion of being a spy of the Demon King's army, but he would still need to give thanks to Yunyun who worked hard behind the scenes.
"Ugh… No more…"
A low moan came from the seat opposite of Kazuma.
Darkness was lying on the table with her face blushed and was trembling.
Her face turned red every time an adventurer teased her.
The aristocratic lady was too naive. She seemed like a cool beauty but her emotions fluctuated widely, which made others want to bully her.
… Okay.
I stood up and walked to Darkness's side–
Darkness
– Why did it turn out like this?
Just why?
"Stop messing around! Like I said, including the havoc during the trial, you caused the most trouble! If I had to rank the three of you by how much trouble you gave, it would be you! Megumin! Darkness! If you get it, then don't stir any more trouble before my award ceremony! Just go to that wall and count how many lines there are!"
"Wahhh! Kazuma, you're too mean! I didn't get into trouble intentionally! The flood with Beldia and the barrier at the cemetery–everything I did was for the people!"
"Wait a minute, I should be the one who caused the least trouble!"
I hugged my head and rest it face down on the table, ignoring the squabbling three.
At this moment, someone spoke to me from behind.
"Hey Lalatina! What a cute name you have."
This made me tremble.
"Lalatina-chan~ Let's buy some clothes that suit your cute name! I'll pick some for you!"
I shook even more.
"By the way, Lalatina… It sounds like some famous lady, so eloquent."
Please show mercy…!
After solving the matchmaking issue, another problem surfaced–
I lift my head and stared with teary eyes at the man behind all this.
"Oh, what is it Lalatina? Why make such a scary face; it doesn't suit the cute name you have."
"Ugh…!"
Even my ears were turning red. I gritted my teeth and endured Kazuma's mocking.
He did say he would do something that would make me beg for mercy if I lost…!
Ah, that coward!
I was looking forward to it and he backed off in the end…!
In the end, that Alexei didn't mention anything further.
He had his eyes on me for so long, I didn't think he would let it go so easily.
"Oh, it's about to start. I'll be back in no time, Lalatina."
Kazuma said as he stood up. I picked up the wooden cup near my hand and threw it at him.
Kazuma
"Adventurer, Satou Kazuma-san!"
I basked in the passionate gaze of the adventurers as I stood before the guild counter.
"In honor of your contributions in ensuring the safety of the city, we offer you our thanks. Further to this, we would like to apologize for the false accusation–"
Sena bowed deeply as she said. I received the letter of thanks from her hand.
– This happened a week after the battle with Vanir.
If I really was a spy of the Demon King's army, I wouldn't have sacrificed so much in order to destroy a general of the Demon King's army. And thus, my suspicion was cleared.
Sena, who witnessed my entire fight with Vanir, absolved me from the crime of treason. And I finally received my bounty for taking down the Mobile Fortress Destroyer.
Thanks to that, I could compensate the landlord for his mansion.
Darkness had made a full recovery, and the four of us were summoned to the guild–
"Next, Dustiness ford Lalatina! Your selfless spirit is admirable. To honor your stellar performance which lived up to the name of House Dustiness and to compensate you for your losses, the royal family has sent you a letter of gratitude and a full plate of armor made by a highly skilled smith."
After Sena finished, the knight next to her presented a new set of armor to the blushing and trembling Darkness.
– Megumin's explosion took out the masked devil, Vanir.
Darkness suffered life threatening injuries from the explosion and lay unconscious in the crater. Of course, her armor was ruined. Still, thanks to Aqua, she is almost as good as new shortly afterwards.
"Congratulations, Lalatina!"
Someone shouted. Darkness shivered suddenly.
"Great job, Lalatina!"
"That's our Lalatina!"
The cheers of 'Lalatina' made Darkness cover her face from embarrassment, and laid her face down onto the table again.
"This…! This feeling of humiliation is not the 'overboard demand' I wanted…!"
Darkness moaned weakly as she laid on the table.
Something that'll make Darkness beg for mercy in tears…
I only made good on my promise.
"Hey Darkness, I think Lalatina is a cute name! I'll punish Kazuma who spread this name out as a joke–have more confidence in your name, Lalatina!"
Aqua meant no harm, but her words stabbed Darkness like a knife.
Megumin, who intentionally sat beside her, was trying to hold back her laughter as she gently shook Darkness's trembling shoulders.
– The 'overboard demand' was to spread the name Lalatina.
And so, Darkness was teased by adventurers every day. But that wouldn't last long.
"– We'll now present the prize money to Satou-san!"
Sena continued. The rowdy guild became silent.
"Adventurer Satou Kazuma and party! Not only did you defeat the Mobile Fortress Destroyer, you even took down the Demon King's army boss, Vanir. In merit of your accomplishments–!"
Sena had a gentle expression; her stern and cold face during the trial was nowhere to be found.
"After deducting your debts and compensation for the landlord's mansion…"
Sena gave me a piece of paper.
"I present to you 40 million Eris as reward!"
She then passed a heavy bag to me.
The moment I took the bag, loud cheers erupted inside the guild.
The adventurers showered me with well wishes and asked me to treat them.
Before we knew it, the entire guild was in a festive mood.
Leaving that place to the goddess of parties Aqua and Megumin, and left the guild together with Darkness.
– The debts had been cleared.
That might be so, but Darkness and I weren't that happy.
… We had somewhere we had to go.
We had to inform someone of the news that Vanir had been defeated.
Vanir said before that he was visiting a friend in this city.
This friend had the special skill of becoming more impoverished the harder she worked…
This impoverished shop owner must've been Wiz who was a Demon King's General just like him.
Which meant we killed Wiz's friend.
He was targeting Aqua, and, being adventurers,it was only natural for us to defeat him. That said, it still didn't sit well with us.
We came to a corner of a deserted alley.
The sign of 'Wiz's Magic Item Shop' was displayed right before us.
"Kazuma, let me tell Wiz about this. It wasn't for long, but we shared a body and wrecked havoc together. I can't accept the way he liked to toy with humans, but I don't think he had a bad nature… I don't know why he hated Aqua that much… Anyway, it might not be appropriate for a Crusader who serves the Goddess Eris to say this but–I didn't really hate him."
Darkness said as she looked into the distance.
She said, 'wreaked havoc together'.
So, she did have fun that time.
But now that it has come to this–
We opened the door and entered the shop.
"Welcome!"
After hearing Wiz's calm greeting, I painfully imagined what kind of expression she would make after this.
– I discovered a new employee wearing an apron in the shop.
He was tall.
His mouth was opened wide and he looked kind–!
"Hehehe… Welcome! The girl who gave an embarrassing monologue while looking into the distance in front of the door, I want to tell you something too. I don't hate you, but devils like moi have no gender, so I can't accept your embarrassing confession… Oh, my, that's an intense swell of dark emotion! It's delicious indeed. Hmm, why are you curled up in a ball? Did you really think you defeated moi? Hahaha!"
The masked shop employee stood confidently before us.
I patted the shoulder of Darkness who was hugging her legs and burying her face in her knees.
Wiz then came out from behind the counter.
"Oh, welcome, Kazuma-san! I heard your false accusation was cleared after you defeated Vanir-san! Congratulations! All that's left are your debts, right? But no problem, Vanir-san is very proficient in making money…!"
I raised a hand to cut off Wiz who was chattering happily.
"I did clear my name–but what's with this guy? How can he be doing so well after taking a blast of explosion magic? Isn't his existence itself a cheat? He's not hurt at all!"
Vanir looked surprised.
"What are you saying? Even moi didn't make it out unscathed after taking such a grand attack. Look closely at this mask."
He pointed to the forehead of his mask.
Looking at it carefully, a 'II' was written on it.
"Because of the explosion spell, I lost a life. I'm Vanir MK II now."
"Are you picking a fight?"
I was enraged. Wiz rushed over to stop us.
"Vanir-san was already planning on resigning from the post of Demon King's General. Coincidentally, he was 'defeated', giving him a new lease of life. Vanir-san is no longer maintaining the Demon King's castle barrier; he's a harmless existence now."
Wiz smiled happily, she was very pleased to see her old friend.
Is… Is he truly harmless now…?
Would it be safer to summon Aqua over and destroy it once more?
As I thought about that-
"Boy who came from a faraway place, the one who's weak and yet wants to defeat the Demon King. This devil that can see through all things prophesize that soon, you and this whimpering girl will face your greatest crisis ever. The crisis will be so grave that you will regret your own helplessness. You will prosper in the field of business… Art you interested in listening to moi proposal?"
Vanir declared dramatically as the corner of his lips opened in a smile–