Free Web NovelChapter 313: 313 KonoSuba 38
I thought about stopping Kazuma, but this time, the guild was in the wrong, and Kazuma had every right to be angry, so I just let him be. Instead, I got Luna’s panties back from Kazuma. It would have been a bit much for another man to have another man’s wife’s underwear. Anyway, that day, Kazuma got dead drunk, and I helped him back home.
When the next day came, Yunyun, Cecily, and I went back to taking requests. From that day on, we decided to focus all requests on the reward amount. Plus, since I no longer needed to gain experience, I gave it all to Yunyun and Cecily.
"Wow~ we’re returning early today."
"It’s because we did two requests in a day, and the monsters were few."
"I wish it was like this every day."
Cecily seemed extremely happy that the requests paid more and we didn’t have to kill many monsters, so we could return early. Cecily, I don’t know about other things, but her personal time seemed very important to her. Thinking quietly, there was not a little bit that I had overworked them to gain experience quickly. Because of that, although they didn’t say anything, Yunyun probably also had her own difficulties.
For a while, we took requests and completed them at a relaxed pace like that. Then, on a rest day, while Cecily took Megumin and Yunyun shopping for groceries, Vanir came to our mansion.
"Hey, Taejin, long time no see."
"Welcome, Vanir. But why is your body in that state?"
Vanir’s body was cracked here and there, and earth was falling off.
"Hahaha, there was something ambiguous, so I was experimenting with various things."
That was clearly the barrier that Aqua had cast. From this, you could see how strong a demon Vanir was — even though Aqua is an idiot, she is a goddess, so her divine power is immensely strong. Even with that strong divine power casting the barrier, Vanir, a great demon, despite being her natural enemy, just broke through and came in. Of course, looking at his body condition, it seemed he couldn’t break through intact, though.
"Hey, wait a moment... why was that thing able to enter the mansion?"
At that moment, Aqua, with an incredulous expression, got up from the sofa and was looking at Vanir.
"Ah, so that was a barrier? Because it was such a pathetically weak barrier, I thought it was a failed attempt by some novice priest living somewhere. Oh my, excuse me — it seems this super strong body of mine even went too far and destroyed it!"
At Vanir’s provocation, Aqua, putting her hand to her forehead, approached Vanir and, after glaring at him, spoke.
"Oh my, oh my~ your body is breaking apart here and there, you know. Mr. Super Strong Demon? What are you going to do? I heard you were a Duke of Hell, and yet to end up like this from that level of barrier."
Aqua poked at Vanir’s cracked body and began to mock him. Then, as expected, Vanir also retorted, not losing.
"Hahaha, this body is just a lump of ordinary earth! I have plenty of replacement bodies. As I said earlier, I was intrigued by that flimsy thing surrounding the mansion. I was experimenting with various things. Well, for a barrier cast by a novice priest, it wasn’t that bad. Hmm, for a barrier cast by a novice priest who’s even a human, that is! Hahahaha~!!"
As the atmosphere gradually became more hostile, Kazuma stepped in between them.
"Hey, wait! Calm down a bit."
"Hmph! Kazuma!"
"Huh?"
"What is this thing doing here!"
At those words, Kazuma looked at Vanir.
"Well, you see, this body, which is famous for appraising, came to personally see the goods and trade, in place of that blockheaded shopkeeper. Now, show me the products to sell in our shop. Surely, you haven’t forgotten what I mentioned last time, have you?"
The target Vanir had mentioned at his shop last time was, as expected, Kazuma.
"Ah~ with you two going at it, I couldn’t think. I’ve already made them. I’ll go get them."
Then Aqua asked Kazuma again.
"Surely, you made that thing, the kotatsu or whatever, in order to trade with this?"
"What if I did?"
"With this pest that barely exists by parasitizing on people’s negative feelings? Oh dear, that’s an unfunny joke~? Hehehe!"
"Um... you’re laughing, though?"
Then Vanir spoke.
"We demons are thorough with contracts. You can trust us — unlike those shady groups that gather people with suspicious advice like ’believe and you’ll be happy’ or ’look beneath the feet of the innocent’, and then take their money under the guise of donations!"
This was clearly Vanir knowing Aqua’s true nature and saying it.
"What were their brainwashing phrases? Ah, yes, right... ’God is always watching over you,’ was it? Oh! What is this! This body has witnessed that ’god’! That man who was caught peeping into the women’s bath or bathroom with a warm gaze — was he a god!? Puhahahaha!"
Unable to endure the provocation any longer, Aqua, trembling, jumped back and attacked Vanir.
"Sacred Exorcism!!!"
CRACK!!!
But Vanir was also an immensely powerful demon, so he immediately canceled out Aqua’s attack.
"Flashy Shedding!!"
Vanir, judging that fighting Aqua with his body damaged from breaking the barrier would be difficult, immediately threw his mask elsewhere and tried to create a new body.
But Aqua, not missing that opportunity, at the moment when earth was rising from beneath Vanir’s mask and he was about to revive, grabbed the mask and shook it here and there, preventing him from reviving, and was excited.
"Uhehehe! This is it, this is your real body! Now, what should I do with it? What should I do with it~?"
"Uwahaha! Even if you destroy this mask... hey, don’t try to remove it while I’m talking!"
"Hup, hup!"
"At least after the conversation is finished...!"
I found the situation amusing and watched, but Kazuma barely managed to separate them.
Then, when things had calmed down to some extent, Kazuma finally brought out the kotatsu, massager, backscratcher, and other things he had made from Japan. Vanir took out a small magnifying glass from his pocket and examined and tried out the products.
"Hmm... then shall we begin the trade talk? According to the contract, you’re supposed to pay 1% of the profits, but what do you say, kid? Have you no intention of selling the intellectual property rights themselves? I’ll buy them for 300 million eris."
"300 million??!!!"
Having seen the original, I wasn’t that surprised, but at those words, everyone in the living room seemed surprised at the amount Vanir named.
"As for monthly profit sharing, that would be about 1 million eris per month."
"1 million per month???!!!"
At those words, Kazuma began to seriously worry. Whether to receive it as a lump sum or monthly installments.
"Well, take your time to think about it. This body will go back now, as I’m worried about the shop."
Then Aqua, who had been entranced by the amount of money, snapped back to reality at Vanir’s words about leaving, and poured out abuse.
"This sacred house is getting tainted with stench! Get out! Get out quickly!"
When Aqua wouldn’t let up even at the end, Vanir also, with an angry expression, glared at Aqua, then snorted and just turned and left.
"Hmph!!"
"Hmph!!"
Certainly, even in the Konosuba world, gods and demons do not get along. But unlike other fantasy worlds, it’s not for grand reasons like demons spreading evil or causing chaos that gods dislike — it’s closer to a feeling of simply being natural enemies and thus disliking each other. Perhaps that’s why, even among liches and demons in this world, there are surprisingly decent people — the representative examples being Wiz and Vanir.
Even so, because there are many people who believe in gods, the entire worldview is strongly colored with religion, so it’s not easy to openly side with liches or demons. If you do it carelessly, you could be branded a criminal or become a fugitive.
Anyway, at the news that a large sum of money was coming in again, Kazuma and Aqua were losing their minds.
"We’re back. There was good meat at the market this time, so we bought it. Today, a meat party..."
At that moment, Cecily and the others, who had gone shopping at the market, returned, but seeing the state of Kazuma and Aqua, they forgot what they were going to say.
"High‑grade black tea has arrived, Kazuma~"
Kazuma was sitting leisurely on the sofa, drinking tea that Aqua had brewed. He was relaxed, like a carefree noble with no worries.
"Hmm, it’s just warm water, though?"
"Oh dear, I made a mistake."
"Surely you didn’t purify the black tea, did you?" freewebnσvel.cøm
"I’m sorry, Kazuma."
Kazuma, who would normally have been angry, instead had a very relaxed smile and said to Aqua.
"It’s just a matter of brewing it again. Thank you, Aqua. I’ll drink this as this."
Then he picked up his cup again, took another sip, and said.
"Yeah, water!"
At Kazuma and Aqua’s unusual, greasy behavior, Megumin, Yunyun, and Cecily dropped the groceries they had brought and got goosebumps.
"What is this!?"
"It’s gross!!"
Then Darkness told the newcomers what had happened.
"They’ve been like this ever since that incident."
"It’s like looking at new money. Well, having money is nice. So, let’s keep working hard on subjugation, then."
When Megumin said that, Kazuma, as if to say "what are you talking about," smiled leisurely and spoke.
"Eh? No way, what are you saying? With a large sum of money coming in, why would I go out of my way to work?"
"Ha?"
"We already bought gear, set up tactics, and struggled hard to complete requests, didn’t we. So I’ve decided! From now on, I’m going to live by doing business. I won’t do dangerous work like adventuring — I’ll live a comfortable life."
When Kazuma said that, Aqua, who was beside him, spoke.
"Kazuma, that’s still a problem. If you don’t defeat the Demon King, it will be problematic in many ways."
"Then! Let’s get an even larger sum of money and hire a bunch of skilled adventurers! And then we’ll have them help with the Demon King subjugation! We’ll lead a great army of adventurers and attack the Demon King’s castle! How about that?! Isn’t that realistic?"
"Indeed, that’s it! Kazuma! The plan is to overwork the adventurers by slapping them in the face with banknotes, weaken the Demon King, and then deliver the final blow!"
"Something like that. As expected of the person I’ve known the longest, not just for show~ Nehahahaha!"
It seemed that in their minds, the Demon King was already as good as caught.
Come to think of it, I also had one thing to ask Aqua.
"If I were to defeat the Demon King, what would happen to you?"
"That would be fine too. However the Demon King is caught, I think I would be able to return to heaven."
"Really? Then that’s a relief. Anyway, I should go prepare a meal with what the kids bought."
While I was moving the groceries that the kids had bought to the kitchen together with Darkness, Megumin was lecturing Kazuma.
"Defeating the Demon King with the power of money... I cannot accept that! I cannot accept it! What do you think the Demon King is? The Demon King is an existence that you defeat at the end of a final battle, after his hidden powers awaken or something! And yet you say what? You’ll hire skilled adventurers to defeat him! Blah blah..."
But Kazuma’s mind was only on how to spend the money — it seemed he couldn’t hear Megumin’s words at all.
And so, several more days passed. We, as always, were taking requests at a relaxed pace in the royal capital, and Kazuma and the others, unable to resist the pressure from Darkness and Megumin, decided to go catch tuna — a light request. For your information, in the Konosuba world, tuna appears on land. So there was no need to go out to the open sea.
Our party, naturally, completed the requests safely and arrived home early, but Kazuma’s party still had no news. So I looked around the construction site — the exterior of the bathhouse was almost complete, and the interior had a little left.
I was looking around the construction site for a while, and when it was getting close to evening, I was about to go buy groceries. But Yunyun and Cecily came out of their rooms and said they wanted to have a drink, so we decided to just eat at the guild today, and were about to go out — when a mail carrier came and handed a letter to Yunyun.
"Oh, it’s from Father."
"Really? Then shall we read it before going?"
"No, I’ll read it there. Everyone is outside with me, so I can’t make them wait."
"What if it’s urgent?"
"Surely not — I think it’s just a letter asking how I’m doing."
Yunyun said that, so I didn’t push any further, and we moved to the guild together. But the atmosphere at the guild was a bit strange.
"Did you hear? Starting next year, you can’t catch tuna."
"The Crazy Widow blew up the entire terrain, they said."
"I was looking forward to the first tuna, too."
From listening to people’s conversations, it seemed Kazuma’s party had caused a big accident. So I looked around — I saw Kazuma’s party sitting at a table in a corner of the guild’s dining hall, their heads bowed, emitting an aura of despair. Cecily, seeing that, spoke with an expression of being troubled.
"Ugh... I don’t really want to approach them, but we should drink with them at times like this, right?"
"Right. This is when true friends comfort them."
Honestly, seeing them like that, I didn’t want to approach them either, but with Cecily and Yunyun saying this, I decided to join them for now.
"Seeing you all like this, it seems today’s request was quite rough, right?"
"Taejin... today was zero points..."
"Huh? Zero points?"
Then Megumin, immediately understanding those words, began to argue with Kazuma.
"Ha?! Zero points? Today’s Explosion was at least 120 points, I’ll have you know!"
Then Kazuma began to pour out everything that had built up today.
"Even being generous, it’s zero points! You’re saying you used Explosion magic because you almost had the tuna stolen by a monster — if you blow up the tuna itself, it’s pointless!!! Stop that and learn useful advanced magic like Yunyun!!!"
Then Darkness tried to calm Kazuma down.
"Kazuma, you’re going too far with your comrade."
"You reek of fish. You got eaten by a tuna the moment you engaged, didn’t you. You were so excited that your attacks were landing now with the necklace you got from Taejin, but weren’t you being too careless!?"
But Aqua was more worried about the money leaving than that.
"Hey, this incident isn’t going to cost us more money, is it? We worked so hard to earn it..."
"Well said. Because of this incident, we won’t be able to catch tuna for a while, and the loss is huge — we’re going to have to pay compensation. We need to earn money — if we run a deficit, what are we supposed to do! Honestly, I’d be better off just doing business. All the money we struggled to save up is meaningless. If this keeps up, we’ll become poor again."
"Oh, come on... we still have money coming from Vanir’s shop, and..."
"Honestly, that’s my money, not yours!!!"
"Eh... Kazuma, are you going to abandon us?? Wah~ Kazuma is trying to abandon us!!!"
Aqua, crying, was grabbing and shaking Kazuma. Seeing this, Kazuma also looked quite pitiful.
"Now, now, everyone calm down. It’s probably because you haven’t taken a request in a while. You’re just rusty. Won’t it get better next time?"
"Right! It’s probably because you haven’t taken enough requests, so you’re rusty. Everyone will get better again."
When I cheered them on, Aqua, as if she had never been crying, agreed with me, full of fighting spirit.
"Yes, that’s right — we’ll get better if we work hard again!"
"Right! Let’s forget about today and try hard from now on."
When everyone suddenly became like that, Kazuma rubbed his forehead and sighed deeply.
But then, suddenly, Yunyun, with a shocked face, was holding the letter her father had sent her, her hands trembling. It seemed the contents of the letter were not ordinary. Cecily, seeing that from beside her, asked Yunyun.
"Huh? What’s wrong all of a sudden, Yunyun."
"This is ridiculous! It says I have to have a child with Kazuma..."
Ehhhh~~~~!!!!???
At Yunyun’s words, everyone sitting together was extremely surprised and quickly stood up from their seats.
