Free Web NovelChapter 312: 312 KonoSuba 37
I had been spending several days in an extremely peaceful daily life. But the problem was that it was too peaceful.
I was completing requests without any problems, and although the mansion was under construction, it was a bit noisy during the day, but since they weren’t using machines like in modern times, it wasn’t that noisy.
Kazuma and the others were still unmotivated, just lazing around at home and then going to the guild in the evening to drink. Those guys — having too much money was also a problem for them.
Anyway, that was their problem — I needed to solve my own problem first. My level wasn’t increasing very much. Even though I had worked hard for a week, it was only one level increase. Moreover, when I tried to go to Wiz’s shop to buy potions, since I had already bought out all the potions before leaving this world last time, it was certain that the potions hadn’t been restocked yet.
’This is a bit of a problem. Even considering potential, it’s really not increasing much.’
Thinking this wouldn’t do, I decided to release my clones. Instead, I planned to send them to distant places — not touching near the Demon King’s Castle or important villages — to farm experience. Including the sea, of course.
"You all know, but you can’t completely exterminate the monsters, so hunt moderately. If a rare item comes out or you discover one, bring it."
"Understood."
On a rest day, I went to a place a bit away from the village and summoned a large number of clones, sending them across the whole world. They would start farming experience and items on their own.
But then, suddenly, the mansion became noisy. So I went down to the living room, and there, Kazuma was trying to convince his party members.
"What? Defeat a One‑Punch Bear? Are you stupid? You’re stupid, right?! I don’t want to — I have no money problems now, so I’m going to live leisurely, lazing around!"
Aqua, wearing pajamas, was lying on the sofa in front of the fireplace and saying that. It seemed Kazuma had brought back a request for a One‑Punch Bear.
"The villagers are scared! Don’t you have any sense of duty as an adventurer!?"
"Wait — until recently, you were whining about not wanting requests or dangerous things — what wind blew into you!?"
Then Darkness, who had been sitting in a chair drinking tea, spoke.
"One‑Punch Bears are strong, but I think our party can catch them now. A sturdy guy that delivers a heavy, powerful paw strike — right? Good! I’ll definitely accept it!"
Darkness seemed to be excited again. When Darkness said she would go, Kazuma also asked Megumin.
"Darkness needs no explanation! Of course, Megumin will also..."
"At my current level, I cannot be satisfied with something like a One‑Punch Bear."
"Eh? You, the hot‑headed brawler?"
"Do you think I’m a mad dog or a berserker?! Even I have the right to choose my Explosion target... hmph!"
Kazuma covered Megumin’s mouth with his finger and spoke.
"Shh-! Even with an opponent that normally gives you trouble, you can take them out in one shot from a distance, right? Doesn’t that somehow fit with One‑Punch Bear? Maybe it was named One‑Punch Bear because it’s meant to be taken out in one punch. And if you defeat it, your already high fame will surely rise even more, and the number of pages in the Megumin Hero Legend that will someday be handed down will increase, right?"
Megumin, convinced by Kazuma’s words, got up excitedly and struck a strange pose.
"I suppose I have no choice! Now, let’s go! Right now, let’s go!"
At that sight, Aqua, who had been sitting on the sofa, said to herself, incredulous.
"Why is Megumin so light..."
"That’s not something you can say either."
"Ah, Taejin."
I thought for a moment and then spoke.
"Hmm... you’re going to catch a One‑Punch Bear? It would be best not to take it lightly. Although there are differences between individuals, the paw strikes that thing swings have lethal power, each and every one. So you’ll need to be tense."
Then Aqua said to Kazuma.
"You heard Taejin, right? I don’t want to! I’m going to stay and watch the house."
Then Kazuma, finishing preparations to leave with Darkness and Megumin, said to Aqua.
"Hey~ Aqua! I’m borrowing this for a bit!"
"Wh-what! That’s my sacred treasure! Give it back right now!"
"I don’t want to? Anyway, I’m borrowing it! If you want it back, come with us."
Saying that, Kazuma just left with Megumin and Darkness. Then Aqua also, grumbling, quickly prepared and followed. Seeing this, it seemed Kazuma was training his party members according to the situation.
Then, when it became late evening, they returned. They had probably eaten dinner at the guild.
"I’m glad you came back safely."
"Of course — I’m a veteran adventurer now, you know."
Kazuma was smiling and speaking confidently, but from his clothes, which had clear burn marks, it seemed he had finished things with Explosion magic again. Still, it was fortunate that they had become motivated, and Kazuma was stronger than in the original, so I trusted that they would do well.
From that day on, Kazuma’s party not only hunted One‑Punch Bears but also did various requests like goblins, kobolds, and stone golems. Seeing that, Luna was happy.
"The plan worked."
"Huh? What plan?"
"This is a secret from Kazuma’s party. You see, the guild decided to give Kazuma a fan — a cute female beginner adventurer."
"Ah — so that’s why Kazuma is motivated."
"Yes. Kazuma is actually quite vain — he cares a lot about how he appears to others. So the guild decided to use that."
From the story, it seemed that the original Konosuba season 2 had already reached its ending point.
"If he finds out, he’ll be angry."
"Well... even so, it can’t be helped. If we make him take requests like this, Kazuma will grow, and the guild’s situation will improve — isn’t it a win‑win for both?"
"Hmm... I don’t know. I’m worried that he might overdo it and something dangerous might happen."
"You don’t have to worry about that. We’re avoiding giving him anything with a very high difficulty."
It seemed that the guild had judged that Kazuma’s party could handle up to about One‑Punch Bears.
Anyway, that problem was that problem, and now that some time had passed since I sent out the clones, I checked my adventurer card before going to sleep.
’Gasp! Level 99! Surely, the clones aren’t exterminating the monsters of the Konosuba world?’
I was so surprised that I almost said it out loud. So, telling Luna lying next to me that I was going to the bathroom for a bit, I teleported outside the village and gathered the clones. Since I had reached max level, there was no need to gain more experience.
"I was having fun hunting — why did you call me?" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
"I was also having fun hunting."
"Me too."
I calmed the clones down for a moment and spoke.
"Quiet for a moment! I’m at max level now."
Then the clones, hearing those words, began to murmur. The clones also reacted that it was unexpected to achieve this so quickly. Because they are my clones, they knew that even if I took requests and hunted hard, I would level up about once a week.
"So, try telling me once. Surely, you didn’t just hunt so much that the ecosystem would be destroyed, right?"
"No, I went to the desert — strange worms and giant scorpions appeared, so I settled there and hunted moderately, to the extent that they wouldn’t go extinct."
"Same for me. At sea..."
"I was in the jungle..."
I thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Hmm... then in the end, it seems you didn’t restrain yourselves and used your full power, so it ended up like this, right?"
At my words, the clones nodded. Probably, because they were hunting alone, they had no need to worry about others, so they used their full power without holding back, which led to leveling up this quickly. In the end, I would have to say it was the result of me underestimating my own strength. It’s not that I have any complaints. I was just a bit surprised — for me, reaching max level quickly is actually good.
’Well, thanks to the clones, I leveled up easily.’
First, I was collecting the items the clones had brought and putting them into my inventory — there were quite a few useful items and even sacred treasures. Then, I dismissed the clones and returned to the mansion.
Then, when the next day came, I first told Yunyun and Cecily to take one more day off. Because I had things to do. Then Cecily, extremely happy, took Yunyun and went out to play.
I first went to Wiz’s magical item shop. But, for some reason, Vanir was striking an Ultraman pose and shooting a beam at Wiz, causing a ruckus.
"Ahaha... this item, well..."
"Vanir‑style Kill Beam!!!"
ZZZZZZT
"Waaah—!!!"
THUD
"Whoa... calm down. I don’t know what’s going on, but."
Then Vanir sighed and explained the whole story.
"I even specified the items and told her to buy them, and yet she bought a bunch of strange items again... haa..."
From the story, it was obvious. Wiz had bought strange items again, and Vanir was angry.
"So, why have you come? I haven’t been able to stock up on potions yet, you see."
"I’m not buying experience potions anymore, so I came to ask you to save only skill point potions for me. Even normal ones without side effects are fine, so I’d like you to save them for me."
"I see. But it’s a shame. Because the income I can get from you will decrease."
Vanir seemed a bit disappointed that I wasn’t buying experience potions with side effects anymore.
"But don’t worry. I think I might be able to find a new business partner now."
Hearing those words, I immediately thought of Kazuma. Probably, the clever Kazuma had made such a proposal to Vanir. With this, Kazuma’s party would not have to worry about money. Of course, I was also worried that it might actually make them even lazier, but I decided that it was fine now. They weren’t children — unless it was something serious, I decided not to nag.
"Vanir, have you eaten as well?"
"Of course — my body is earth, but I can eat as well."
At those words, I took out two lunchboxes and gave them to him.
"Share this with Wiz when she wakes up. She often goes hungry because she can’t do business, so I bring her food sometimes."
"Oh~ thank you. I’ll do that."
I handed him the lunchboxes like that and returned home, then thought about where to spend the points I had accumulated. First, I passed on skills related to magic and martial arts. That’s because I already have [(EX) Weapon Efficiency], [(EX) Swordsmanship], [(EX) Divine Martial Primordial Array], as well as [(EX) Mana Efficiency], [(EX) Silent Casting], and [(EX) Omega‑class Magic] abilities, so spending points on them would be pointless.
So, after picking and choosing, I decided to spend on thief‑class skills and archer‑class skills. Because thief‑class skills have many original skills in the Konosuba world, and archer‑class skills can raise my [Sniping] ability. I also considered raising priest‑class skills, but priest‑class skills can have their power sufficiently raised with the abilities I already have, and more than anything, they are skills based on faith, so spending points on them would be meaningless no matter what. Because there is no way I have any faith. If I watch Aqua, even any faith I might have had would disappear.
So first, I raised my [Sniping] skill from SS rank to SSS rank, and invested evenly in [Steal], [Enemy Detection], [Treasure Detection], [Stealth], and [Danger Detection], raising them all from D rank to A rank. Even after spending like that, there were still many points left, so I saved them for now. Because now the only way to earn points is through potions, so I didn’t know what would happen later.
"It’s roughly sorted out now."
Once I finished spending my skills, it was past lunchtime, so I prepared snacks for the construction workers who were resting after their meal, and also helped with the construction work to pass the time. When evening came, I went to the guild for the first time in a while, partly to pick up Luna as well. At the guild, Kazuma’s party had also finished their requests, it seemed, and were sitting at a table drinking beverages and Shuwa Shuwa. But Kazuma himself was nowhere to be seen.
"Ah, Taejin! Welcome. You’ve come to pick up Luna?"
Aqua spotted me and waved, greeting me, so I also joined them.
"Yeah, I came to pick up Luna. You guys look like you just finished a request, huh?"
"Right. So we’re about to have a drink."
"But Kazuma is nowhere to be seen?"
Then Aqua pointed somewhere, and when I looked, at a place that wasn’t the regular bar but a place selling expensive drinks with a bartender, Kazuma was sitting and talking with some woman.
"Oh~ did Kazuma get a girlfriend?"
"A hikikomori? No way. Anyway, she’s a fan."
"Really? Well, you guys are famous adventurers in Axel village now, so."
At those words, everyone seemed to feel good. Megumin also spoke, acting superior.
"Fufu, of course. Thanks to our splendid exploits, we’ve become famous in Axel village as well! If anything, I think it’s not too late."
"Yeah, you’re famous. As the ’Crazy Widow’."
"That’s..."
When Megumin couldn’t continue, everyone giggled.
"Anyway, take this."
I handed Megumin an item. It was a glove with a red gem embedded in the back of the hand, a glove with a similar function to the mana‑saving bracelet I had made for Yunyun. It was one of the items the clones had brought.
"What is this? This beautiful glove!"
Megumin, seeing the glove, was excited. It seemed the design appealed to her chuunibyou sensibilities.
"It’s a glove that can store mana. I got it in the royal capital. It’s slightly inferior to Yunyun’s, but the amount it can store is quite large, so now you won’t collapse even after using Explosion magic."
"Oh~! Is that so! Thank you!"
Actually, I had intended to give it to Yunyun, but Yunyun’s level had also risen a lot, and thanks to the bracelet, she no longer lacked mana, so I just gave it to Megumin. Then Megumin, excited, put on the glove and began striking all sorts of poses.
"Hah! Chah! How is it?"
"Ye-yeah, cool."
And to Darkness, I handed a necklace. That necklace was a necklace with a plain blue gem embedded in it.
"This is..."
"That’s an item that increases accuracy. It increases it quite a lot, so I think you’ll be able to land attacks now."
"Oh~ is that so? Thank you, Taejin."
Actually, it wasn’t an item that increased accuracy that much, but I had taken two accuracy‑related items among the items the clones had brought, combined them with an [Item Fusion Ticket], and then reinforced their durability. Since Darkness is also my wife, I thought I should take care of this kind of thing, so I made it.
"Should I put it on for you?"
When I said that, Darkness blushed and nodded slightly. So I put the necklace around Darkness’s neck.
"Ooh~ looks good! But what about me — don’t I get anything?"
When Aqua said that, I handed her an intelligence ring. It wasn’t a very good ring — just a ring that increases intelligence by about +10. Aqua’s intelligence is so terrible that a value of 10 might be meaningless, but still, I thought it might reduce her trolling a little, so I gave it to her.
"It’s an intelligence ring. It increases intelligence."
"Why are you giving me an intelligence ring of all things? You gave the others things they needed... Surely you’re not saying I have low intelligence, are you!!!???"
She usually doesn’t think things through, but she was very sharp about this. I scratched my head at those words and spoke.
"No, I just gave it to you because it was leftover. Anyway, you already have many sacred treasures, and your abilities are high, so you don’t really need other items, right."
"Hmm... I suppose so. Anyway, thank you."
I somehow managed to convince Aqua, and we just moved on, but Megumin and Darkness had noticed that I was lying and were desperately holding back their laughter.
We were chatting about this and that, and were about to order some food, but Kazuma showed no sign of coming at all, so Aqua grumbled.
"That guy, using this chance to tell that newbie adventurer all sorts of things? Today, because of that strange lich, Darkness struggled, and I cried, and Megumin didn’t even check whether Kazuma was alive before turning everything to ash, but still. I don’t know how much longer he’s going to keep that up."
Then Megumin and Darkness spoke.
"He’s a rare character — Kazuma’s fan — so just leave him be. The truth will come out soon, and he’ll lose interest."
"Right — he’ll definitely come back crying. Then let’s all kindly beat him up together."
At that moment, the woman, ’Fan #1’, who had been sitting next to Kazuma, stood up and went somewhere. Then Kazuma also began to stand up and come toward us. It seemed the conversation had finished.
"He’s finally coming. Huh, no? Where’s that guy going?"
We all stood up, wondering what was happening, and went to where Kazuma was going. There, that woman, ’Fan #1’, and Luna were talking about something.
"Honestly... at first I heard it was a simple job to give a NEET some motivation, but at this rate, it’s not worth it! That person grabs me every day and talks about the same thing over and over! Other adventurers make fun of me, saying I have bad taste in men... so I want extra pay~"
"Even if you say that, we told you from the beginning that it was a high fee including that. That party causes problems, but they also clear difficult requests. So we can’t just let them slack off..."
"I understand that, but even so..."
They were talking like that for a while, and when Kazuma suddenly appeared, the two were extremely flustered.
"Ahaha... Kazuma, how much did you hear..."
"Everything..."
Kazuma, learning the whole truth after hearing their conversation, trembled, even shedding tears. We, watching secretly from behind, had no choice but to desperately hold back our laughter.
"Pfft! Kazuma is trembling a lot, isn’t he!"
"Pfft — we shouldn’t laugh. Instead of befriending a newbie adventurer, this is how it ends."
"Snort... well, let’s all kindly beat him up together."
While Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness were giggling like that, Luna and Fan #1 began to appease Kazuma, not knowing what to do.
"Ah, well... Sato Kazuma? It’s a misunderstanding — you see, this was by order of the guild higher‑ups... um, well, Kazuma, I’ve thought this for a while, but..."
"Ah, haha... I was just following a request, you see... but it’s true that I admired Kazuma, and that..."
(Simultaneously) "Kazuma, for some reason, gives a good feeling!"
Then Kazuma, who had been trembling, couldn’t hold back and raised both hands, using his skill on them.
"Steal!!!"
"Kyaaah!!!"
