The next morning.
I made my way to the guildhall, the lazy black furball, Systie, perched on my shoulder. The moment we stepped inside, a thick scent of liquor hit my nose, almost making me stumble. The whole guild was buzzing with adventurers drinking and enjoying themselves, even though it was still early morning. I just shook my head at the lazy bums and scanned the room, looking for Arya and Lily, but they were nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, little boy!" a half-drunk adventurer called out, waving a hand to get my attention. "Your red-haired friend was here earlier. Is something wrong with her? She ordered some drinks, but after checking the mission board, she grabbed a mission and bolted out like she was being chased. The girl didn't even pay for the drinks!"
Wait, Arya forgot her drinks, even though she ordered some? That didn't seem like her usual behavior.
I thanked the adventurer for the info and headed toward the noble district, Systie casually licking her paw on my shoulder. As I navigated the crowded streets, an idea popped into my head. The noble district was full of wealthy families, and what better way to pass the time than to, well, 'borrow' a few valuable trinkets along the way?
'You worthless human, can't you control yourself just a little?'
'Shut up and stop reading my thoughts, you stupid cat,' I huffed back, but the cat just taunted me more. It had no idea how noble of an act stealing from the rich was.
I smirked to myself and muttered
Before long, I found myself surrounded by dusty tomes and leather-bound volumes. I was about to leave—books weren't really my thing—when something caught my eye: a book with an unusual title. 'The Tragedy of the Trio Battle League.'
Curious, I quickly pocketed it. A story about the tournament I was about to enter? Maybe it had some useful information.
Satisfied with my find, I visited a few more mansions, helping myself to some shiny trinkets before making my way to the largest mansion at the center of the district. It was Arya's house (damn her, enjoying all this on her own!).
I cursed internally and sneaked in through an open window. I was making my way down a long, marble-floored hallway when I heard a familiar voice echoing from one of the rooms. The tone was… strange.
"Bow down before me, for I am the holiest of the holy. Bringer of peace and purifier of all evil, heed my call, oh great Terra-sama, and guide these evil spirits toward the light!"
I froze, desperately holding back the mocking laughter that was threatening to come out.
'Human, what is that!? Are all people in this world weird?'
'Believe me, I'm thinking the same thing,' I said to the cat while hiding my face in second-hand embarrassment. The dialogue was so corny, I had to make sure my ears were functioning properly. Shaking my head, I peeked through the slightly open door to find out which great person was uttering such ridiculous nonsense.
To my surprise, standing in the middle of the room was none other than the princess of the country, striking exaggerated poses with a blissful look on her face. She was the exact opposite of how I saw her when we first met. I thought that her whole thing was being strict and composed but apparently that wasn't the case.
A small book was on the floor in front of her, and she was glancing at the book every few seconds before spewing more corny nonsense. My eyes quickly drifted towards the book. It was a manga, in which a black-haired, red-eyed child wearing a large witch hat was screaming: EXPLOSION.
'Of all things, where did she find a 'Konosuba' manga?' She was practically drooling over the characters and was so lost in her own fantasies that she didn't even see me enter the room.
'This is too good,' I thought, grinning mischievously. Silently, I crept up behind her and whispered, "Boo."
Lily screamed and jumped in the air, a cute 'kyaa' escaping from her mouth. Spinning around, she found me snickering at her. Her eyes went wide in shock, and instinctively, she swung her staff at me, bonking me on the head.
"Ouch!" I yelped, rubbing the sore spot.
Her face flushed bright red as she realized it was me. She quickly shoved the book behind her back, looking as flustered as someone caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
"H-how much did you hear?" she asked, glaring at me with wide, embarrassed eyes.
I grinned, savoring the moment. "Oh, not much. Just, 'I am the holiest of the holy. Bringer of peace and purifier of all evil'—"
Before I could finish, Lily bonked me again—this time harder—with her staff.
"Shut up! You didn't hear anything!" she shouted, swinging her staff like a madwoman.
"Ouch! Hey, stop! That hurts!" I said, dodging her as best I could. I tried to use
"Just a few more hits! I'm sure hitting you on the head enough times will make you forget!" she yelled, charging at me like some kind of crazed maniac.
"Stop, stop, I like 'Konosuba' too, okay? So stop hitting me!" I shouted, holding my hands up in surrender. After a bit more persuasion, she finally stopped, though she continued to glare daggers at me.
"No one must ever know what you just saw," she said, pointing her staff at me threateningly.
"Not even the redhead?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Somehow, I didn't believe that Arya wouldn't notice her loud, corny dialogue.
Lily hesitated for a moment before sighing. "Well… Arya already knows. But you better not tell anyone else."
After making me swear to secrecy, she began asking about my opinion on the book. I couldn't resist teasing her a bit, but I gave her an honest answer.
"It's funny! I laugh out loud every time Kazuma and Aqua suffer the consequences of their own actions."
Lily nodded at that, finally relaxing a little. After some more small talk, I asked, "Where's Arya?"
"Probably in the garden," the princess answered as we both made our way toward the garden.
In the garden, Arya was standing next to her mother, Hestia, and was staring intently at the mission paper in her hand.
"This mission… does it have anything to do with PLAGUE?" Arya asked while tightly gripping the small wand in her hand.
"Arya, I know you want to take this mission, but the plague spreaders are like ghosts. They are minions of a sacred beast and are immune to all magic and physical attacks other than purification magic. You can't do anything to them."
"I know, but Lily can purify them, and I want to know how they suddenly popped up near our city," Arya said, her eyes not leaving the mission sheet in Hestia's hand.
In the end, Hestia just sighed and returned the mission sheet to Arya, saying, "Just be safe and please don't start a forest fire."
Arya nodded enthusiastically and gave her mother a hug. That's when her eyes landed on us.
She immediately rushed over and shoved the mission sheet in my face.
"Junior, we are doing this mission," she proclaimed without even asking for my opinion. I quickly read the mission sheet:
---
Eradication Mission
A few plague spreaders have been spotted in the forest outside Chandola. Hunt the monsters.
Reward: 10,000 cents per kill.
---
I was not interested in taking the mission—it sounded dangerous—but the cat atop my shoulders had a different opinion.
'Human, we need to join. Plague spreaders are linked with the skill of the Plaguelord. I think this PLAGUE organization is messing with a sacred beast's skill,' she informed me, causing a chill to run down my spine.
The mutated rats that we faced in the dungeon flashed before my eyes. The monster was part of some lab experiment of PLAGUE. Facing a monster equal to, if not stronger than, that beast wasn't very appealing.
I glanced at Lily, hoping that at least she would oppose this mission, but in a cruel twist of fate, she was the most excited to take this mission—more excited than even the redhead!
"I have a purification skill. I will send all those evil beasts toward the light!" she screamed out loud while twirling her wand with stars in her eyes.
"Fine, I will join too, but in exchange, you have to take part in a team battle between me and a crazy priest," I said, and immediately Arya raised a question.
"What crazy priest?"
"There's this priest called William who lives on the outskirts of Chandola. He caught me while I was trying to steal a blue crystal statue of Terra-sama. We fought for a while, and in the end, I defeated him. Frustrated, he challenged me to a team match. If I won, he would forget everything that happened and might even gift me the crystal statue. But if I lost, he would expose me in front of everyone."
'Hm, that's a lie!' the cat screamed in my head.
As if I didn't know that! I was lying because both Arya and Lily had no idea about the talking cat. There is no way I could tell them I have a goddess's pet on my shoulders and the priest wants to take it away.
Arya listened to everything I said and nodded while saying, "Team battles are the best, I'm in."
Lily, however, gave me the most judgmental look anybody has ever given me.
"You are worse than Kazuma, but I will still help."
That statement made me want to scream, 'You are mistaken, I am trying to cover up the mistake of a stupid cat,' but I swallowed the statement and just shook their hand.
The team was ready. Now we just needed to train and level up so that, hopefully, we could beat the priest's team. Let's just hope that we will be alive to face them in 10 days.