Free Web NovelChapter 323: 323 KonoSuba 48
Serena was one of the Demon King’s executives and the sole follower of Regina, the goddess of brainwashing and vengeance. Because of this, all of the goddess’s blessings were concentrated solely on Serena, allowing her to wield far stronger abilities than an ordinary priest and to exercise Regina’s divine authority as well.
Her authorities included brainwashing, vengeance, and curses. With brainwashing, she could turn those who felt gratitude or indebtedness toward her into puppets. With vengeance, she could reflect all physical damage directed at her back onto the attacker. She could also cast numerous curses, the most dangerous being ’Death.’ Simply by pointing at a target with her finger and saying the word ’Death,’ she could invoke instant death—a truly formidable authority.
Unfortunately, none of these were abilities I could steal. Since every authority and ability was a blessing bestowed by the goddess Regina upon her follower, killing Serena would not transfer them to me, because they were not inherently hers. From my perspective, that was extremely frustrating. If not for that, I might have killed her the moment I saw her.
And I had no idea why she had come to our house now. In the original story, she was a Demon King executive who appeared only near the very end. The narrative should still have been at the stage with Rug Craft, the Demon King Army’s intelligence chief; Moguninnin, the explosive demon living in the Crimson Demon village; or the demon Jereshilt.
"I’d like to join the Silver Flash as well," she said.
"Hmm... I’m sorry, but we already have a capable priest in our party, so that won’t work. You’d be better off looking for another party."
"I see..."
"You’ve come a long way. Come in and have a meal before you go."
When I offered her a meal, Serena thought it over briefly, then said, "Then I’ll impose on you for a moment."
She acted polite, but in truth she was anything but. She had a thoroughly rotten personality. The only reason she pretended to be courteous was to make her brainwashing authority easier to use. I had to stay vigilant. If she tried anything strange, I intended to kill her immediately. Even with her vengeance authority, there were plenty of ways around it. I could kill her with a clone or a shadow soldier, or use magic or absorption rather than a physical attack to wear her down.
Still, in the original story she suffered terribly, and she hadn’t been rude yet, so I decided to watch her for now.
When we entered the living room, Kazuma and Megumin were making lighters. The instant Kazuma saw Serena, his face turned red and he asked who she was.
"Huh! Tae-jin, who is she?"
This guy—his girlfriend was right in front of him, yet he still acted like that. Naturally, Megumin didn’t like it and glared at him with a scowl.
"She’s a priest who wants to join our party," I explained. "I turned her down right away since we already have Cecily, but it looks like she came a long way, so I’m going to feed her a meal before sending her off."
"Ah, I see."
"Anyway, I’ll head to the kitchen and make something. Wait here. I’ll make enough for you guys too."
"Thanks!"
"Thank you."
I went to the kitchen and quickly made hamburgers and fries, then brought them to the living room. By then, Serena and Kazuma were chatting happily, laughing together, while Megumin sat beside them with a scowl, listening.
"So I was saying..."
"Hoh-hoh, I see."
In the original story, Kazuma immediately became suspicious, thinking, There’s no way someone would treat me, with my bad reputation, like this. But here, because I had told him she came to join our party, he seemed to let his guard down completely.
"I brought food," I said.
I set the hamburgers and fries on the table.
"Oh~ Hamburgers?"
"Yeah. We had some ingredients left, so I made them."
Kazuma and Megumin had eaten hamburgers before and dug in eagerly, but Serena had never seen one. Unsure what to do, she watched Kazuma and Megumin for a moment before copying them.
"Huh! This is delicious. How can it taste this good? I think it’s the best food I’ve ever had..."
Serena took a bite and exclaimed in amazement. Kazuma and Megumin nodded in agreement.
"Tae-jin really is a great cook."
"That’s right. His cooking is amazing."
Serena was so taken with the hamburger that she stopped caring about appearances and started devouring it, looking as if she hadn’t eaten in days. When she noticed everyone’s eyes on her, she became flustered and said,
"Ahaha, it’s just... it’s so good..."
"There’s more, so eat as much as you want."
"I will. Thank you for the meal."
Just like that, Serena polished off two hamburgers and cleared the fries as well, then wrapped up the remaining hamburger to take with her before preparing to leave.
"Thank you for the meal. I really enjoyed it."
"If you’re nearby and hungry, stop by again. I’ll make more for you."
"Thanks."
Just then, Kazuma, who had been thinking quietly, spoke to Serena.
"If you don’t have anywhere to go, how about joining our party? It’s not Tae-jin’s party, but we’ve made something of a name for ourselves too."
This was unexpected. In the original story he was suspicious from the start, but here, he must have liked Serena enough to try recruiting her on the spot. Megumin jabbed him in the side and said,
"We already have a priest. Didn’t you even ask Aqua first?"
"What’s the problem? Serena seems like a good person, and with two priests we’d get twice the buffs. Honestly, I think our party could use another normal person besides me."
"What did you say? Are you saying we’ve been abnormal this whole time!?"
"Well, yeah. Let’s be honest. Darkness is a serious masochist, Aqua’s intelligence is... lacking, and you’re a explosion maniac."
When Kazuma laid out the facts, Megumin couldn’t deny it. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"Th-that may be true. But you’re not normal either, Kazuma. You’re a huge pervert!"
"I told you last time—that was because of the aphrodisiac you guys fed me!"
The atmosphere was getting tense, so Serena stepped in to mediate.
"Wait, let me think about it."
"Please! Please! I hope you consider it favorably!"
Kazuma clasped Serena’s hands, his eyes sparkling. With no suspicion this time, he was actively urging her to join. The situation was completely reversed from the original story.
"Uh... sure."
After Serena left, the others returned from shopping, and Megumin told them everything that had happened in exhaustive detail. Naturally, Aqua was shocked and furious.
"What!? I’m the priest here, and you want to bring in another priest!?"
"Yeah. I met her today. She seems nice, she’s beautiful, and she’s got a great figure—no, I mean, talking to her, she seemed really normal."
"I’m against it. Don’t you trust my abilities!?"
"Aqua, you’re always busy running from monsters, so wouldn’t it be good to have another priest?"
"How can you say that!? Absolutely not! I said no!"
Aqua vehemently opposed it, afraid her position would be diminished. That part, at least, was the same as the original story. Since things were already diverging, I decided to give them a hint.
"By the way, she was wearing unfamiliar priestly robes. Which god does she serve?"
"Now that you mention it, you’re right. Her personality doesn’t fit the Axis Cult, and it’s not Eris Cult attire either... Are there other religions here?"
When Kazuma asked, Cecily answered.
"Well... other than the Axis Cult, they’re all heretical cults. Though I have heard there are a few minor faiths with only a handful of believers."
"I see. So Serena belongs to one of those minority religions?"
"Obviously a heretic."
As expected of a devout Axis follower, Cecily didn’t hesitate.
Starting the next day, since we were resting, I spent my time cooking at home. You might wonder why I didn’t just duplicate dishes from my inventory, but that only works if I have an original to copy. So I tried to make as many different dishes as possible. The same went for desserts.
Because of that, the house was constantly filled with delicious smells, and the others started gaining a little weight. Aqua, who lounged around the house every day, was the worst.
"Tae-jin, what tasty dish are you making this time?"
"It’s German. Schweinshaxe—roasted pork knuckle."
"I’m already drooling. Slurp~"
"I’m glad you enjoy my food, but aren’t you eating too much? This is your fourth time today."
"It’s fine, it’s fine. It goes down easy with alcohol, and I share it with the others in the living room, so don’t worry."
Fine, maybe. But I could see her cheeks filling out, and that was dangerous. Drinking with it would make her gain weight even faster, yet she said it so casually. I let it slide. She wasn’t my girlfriend, and I didn’t want to nag her about dieting. As long as she didn’t get so fat she couldn’t walk, it wasn’t my concern.
Interestingly, Serena also dropped by occasionally to eat. Since we had plenty of food, I didn’t mind.
"Oh~ meat today!"
"Yep. Pork leg."
"Thanks for the meal."
Then Aqua glared at Serena and said,
"Hey. Aren’t you coming over too often?"
"Tae-jin said I could come anytime I was nearby and hungry."
"That meant once in a while, when you happen to be nearby!"
"Well, I’m staying nearby now, and honestly, eating alone gets lonely. Since things turned out this way, I figured I’d take you up on the offer a bit more."
"Wow~ shameless!"
Kazuma stepped in to calm Aqua down.
"Tae-jin’s cooking for research or whatever, so there’s plenty of food. Don’t be so stingy about sharing a meal. It’s better if we all eat together."
"Hmph!"
Aqua had been prickly lately. The appearance of someone threatening her position clearly bothered her.
"Ugh... I ate too much... It was so good I couldn’t stop."
Aqua patted her stomach. Kazuma looked at her with exasperation.
"You... you’re getting fatter. Shouldn’t you start dieting? You lounge around all day, drinking and eating Tae-jin’s cooking. You’ll just keep gaining weight. If you keep this up, you won’t be able to run from monsters."
"When have we ever worked hard on quests? We just sit around all day wondering what to make next."
"Hmm... you’re right. It has been a while since we took a quest."
Kazuma actually conceded to Aqua’s point.
"But if a new member joins, maybe we’ll get motivated..."
He glanced at Serena. He obviously had an ulterior motive. This guy couldn’t hide his intentions. Aqua and Megumin both scowled. In my view, Kazuma was digging his own grave.
And rumor had it that Serena’s reputation in town had improved dramatically lately. She was healing adventurers at the guild for free, and with her beautiful appearance and unfailingly polite demeanor, her popularity was rising daily.
I already knew why she was acting that way. For Serena to use her brainwashing, the target had to feel gratitude and indebtedness. All this kindness was groundwork. She had probably brainwashed several people already.
But I planned to keep watching. She hadn’t harmed anyone around me yet, and I could deal with her anytime. Besides, I was honestly curious to see how things would play out between her, Kazuma, and the others.
Eventually, our party decided to start taking quests in the royal capital again. I told Luna, Helen, and Kazuma’s group as well.
"It’s been a long break. Let’s get back to it."
"That’s right. Sitting around is just making me gain weight."
Yunyun and Nerimaki were full of energy, but Cecily wasn’t.
"Aww~ I want to rest more..."
Why were all Axis Cult members like this?
Anyway, we resumed quests. Everything went smoothly as usual. With Nerimaki leveling up, we hardly faced any dangerous situations anymore. We stuck to profitable quests, so we could usually return home before dinner.
"Ah... I’m hungry. Is there anything to eat..."
We had returned home, washed up, and were resting when Aqua kept circling around me, complaining that she was hungry. It wasn’t even mealtime yet.
"Are you asking me to make something?"
"Yes, yes, yes!!!"
Aqua answered with exaggerated enthusiasm. Anyone would think I’d been starving her for days.
"Hmm... but mealtime is soon. Eating now is a bit..."
"Come on, meals are meals and snacks are snacks!"
"Fine... I’ll make something simple as a snack."
"Yay~!!"
I fried some vegetable croquettes and set them in the living room. Aqua cheered and immediately started wolfing them down.
"As expected, Tae-jin’s food is the best!"
"Don’t eat too much. We still have dinner later."
Kazuma and the others, curious about the taste, each tried one, but Aqua finished the rest.
"Wow... after eating all that, how are you going to eat dinner..."
Even Kazuma was dumbfounded watching her.
"Come to think of it, hasn’t Aqua gotten really chubby? Maybe you should exercise...?"
Megumin finally couldn’t hold back and said it to Aqua.
"It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m still slim..."
Aqua said that while grabbing her stomach—and when a handful of fat came with it, she was so shocked she quickly let go.
"Ahahaha, I’ll lose it later..."
"..."
No one had anything to say to that.
