Free Web NovelChapter 324: 324 KonoSuba 49
After that, we went on without any particular incidents. One day, our party finished a request and came home early to rest. Then suddenly, Aqua returned home, threw herself onto the sofa, and began crying pitifully.
"Waaah~~!! Everyone is so mean!!"
Seeing that, Cecily, Yunyun, and Nerimaki tried to comfort Aqua.
"What happened?"
When I asked Aqua, she told me what had happened at the guild today. Apparently, everyone’s attention was focused solely on Serena. Aqua tried to use her party trick skills to turn the attention back to herself, but no one paid her any mind. In the past, they would have clapped and cheered, but now no one did.
"Aqua, you wanted attention?"
"Sniff, it’s not exactly that, but before, when I performed, everyone enjoyed it. Lately, they’re completely indifferent, and it makes me sad!"
That sounded like exactly that to me.
"Anyway, I’m feeling down, so hurry up and make me something delicious!"
"How did the conversation turn out like that? And dinner is soon, you know?"
"I told you, I don’t care about that!"
"Hmm... fine. I had something I was planning to make today anyway, so I suppose it doesn’t matter."
Today’s dish was kaymak, a Turkish dish. It’s made by gently heating high-fat milk and letting it set, so it takes some time. I had been preparing it since morning. Now it was just about ready, so all I had to do was go to the kitchen and scoop off the solidified kaymak.
I poured honey over the kaymak I had scooped, served it with baguette, and poured out the leftover milk from making the kaymak.
"Oh~ it turned out well. Delicious."
I sat down and tried it too. It had turned out quite well. Using magic to maintain the right temperature seemed to have been a masterstroke.
"..."
The others, after tasting the kaymak, were momentarily speechless with astonished expressions, then all gasped in admiration at the same time.
"Wow... this is incredibly delicious. I think it’s the best dessert I’ve ever had."
"You’re right. It’s really delicious. How does it taste like this?"
"I can understand why Aqua is gaining weight..."
"See! When the food is this good, how can I resist!"
Judging by their reactions, it had turned out extremely well, so I gave some to Luna and Helen in their room as well.
"It’s so delicious."
"I agree, it’s really tasty."
After that, I went back to the living room, but Aqua had already eaten all the remaining kaymak.
"Hey! That was for when Kazuma and the others come over."
"So what? You can just make more."
"That’s the problem — I can’t make more right away. It takes half a day or more to make that."
"Really? Then let’s just keep it a secret..."
This girl’s gluttony was getting worse. Her waistline was too.
Then one day, a courier came to the house and handed Cecily a letter.
"Hmm? A letter? Oh, it’s from the church. Let’s see... Zesta received an oracle, and the content of the oracle is ’Give me food’..."
As Cecily looked baffled, Yunyun asked,
"I guess even the Axis Church gets oracles like that?"
"That’s probably not it. It seems he mistook his own hunger for an oracle. Because of that, the followers are offering food to the church. Apparently, he sounded very desperate. And since they’re telling even the priests working outside to provide support, it probably means they want us to send money. You can ignore this."
"Eh? Is that really okay?"
"Yeah."
That Aqua — her desires were now affecting even her followers. Seeing this, the Axis Church followers were pitiful creatures. With a goddess like that.
Aqua herself seemed stung by Cecily’s words, sweating cold in the corner.
"But isn’t that dangerous? The Axis Church will spend a fortune buying food. Won’t their finances be a problem?"
"Well, I don’t think it matters? There was a commotion before because of an oracle saying ’Offer sweets,’ but nothing happened. Believe it or not, Arcanletia’s hot spring industry is quite profitable."
"Really?"
That gave me an idea. I immediately teleported to Arcanletia and went to the Axis Church headquarters. The church members were all busy making food, and delicious smells wafted from everywhere. I had a meeting with Zesta right away.
"You are Silver Flash, who works with Cecily. Nice to meet you. What brings you here?"
"I heard about the oracle. So I thought if you need it, I could supply ingredients at cost. Since I have a connection with Cecily, I couldn’t just ignore it. Besides, I have a subspace bag, so I can prepare large quantities."
"Oh~ is that so? What a relief. Lady Aqua has helped us. We were worried because Arcanletia had run out of ingredients, so this is perfect timing. Then I’ll leave it to you."
I managed to sell a considerable amount of ingredients to the Axis Church. Of course, they were copied with my [Material Copy] ability.
"If you need more, I’ll come again."
"Could you sell us more in about four days?"
"Of course. Then I’ll come again in four days."
"Thank you. I’m relieved we can get ingredients this cheaply. When you go back, please tell Cecily that we’re grateful for her help with the church."
"Got it. I’ll tell her."
Following Zesta’s instructions, everyone was busy moving ingredients and then going back to cooking. I didn’t think this was a bad thing. Because the Axis Church got cheap ingredients, which was good for them, and I made money, which was good for me — it was a win-win.
You might ask, "Why not just make gold bars and sell them instead of going through all that trouble?" But there was a problem with that. As I’ve mentioned before, if too much gold or money enters circulation, the world’s economy collapses and causes great chaos. So while small amounts were fine, for large amounts, I needed methods like this.
"Cecily, I stopped by the Axis Church earlier. Zesta said to tell you thank you."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"I don’t really know?"
"You don’t? Hmm... maybe because of the donation I sent before? Anyway, got it."
"Oh, right! And I got some oomu slime powder, so let me know if you need it."
"Oh~ really? Okay. I’ll tell you if I need it."
I had made a lot of money from the Axis Church, so I decided to provide this kind of thing as a service using [Material Copy].
The next day, Aqua came home crying again.
"Waaaaah~~!!!"
"Again?"
There was no answer, but it was obvious. Probably the same thing as yesterday. This time too, Yunyun, Nerimaki, and Cecily comforted Aqua.
"Where are the others?"
"Kazuma is at the guild, busy talking with that woman (Serena). Megumin and Darkness went to use Explosion magic, I think."
"I see."
"Anyway, hurry up and make me something delicious."
"Yes, yes."
Today, I just made her chicken burritos, and she ate them eagerly.
"Hmm... hey, do you think maybe people are avoiding you because you’ve gained weight?"
At my words, Aqua stopped eating for a moment and fell into thought.
"You really think so?"
"Maybe because you’ve gained weight and your looks have declined compared to Serena, that’s why. And if your followers saw you like this, wouldn’t even their remaining faith disappear?"
"Guh! That would be a problem..."
I had planned to just leave her alone, but she kept demanding delicious food, so I brought this up because it was annoying. She had also gained a lot of weight and was becoming unpleasant to look at. One strange thing was that even as she gained weight, her clothes transformed to fit her figure — probably because even her clothes were divine.
"I also think Aqua should go on a diet. I’m a bit worried about your health."
Nerimaki, looking concerned, said that while looking at Aqua.
"Fine! Starting tomorrow, I’m on a diet! You just watch, Serena! I’ll show you that when this Aqua-sama sets her mind to something, there’s nothing she can’t do!"
The next day came, and Aqua sat glued to my side, silently gazing at me with hazy eyes, drooling. This girl, left like this, looked like she was about to eat me alive.
"Changing your habits too suddenly might be hard on your body. How about I make something simple with fewer calories?"
"YES YES YES YES!!!"
Aqua shook her head vigorously, as if she’d been waiting.
"You’re spraying saliva. Anyway, wait a minute."
I went to the kitchen and made Vietnamese spring rolls using lean meat and vegetables. This time, I made a modest portion, only for Aqua.
"Munch munch, huh? Why is this all? Isn’t there more?"
"No. I made this just for you."
"Ahh..."
Aqua looked extremely disappointed.
"More importantly, exercise would also help your diet a lot."
"I’ll just try to manage with what I eat."
Aqua hated moving around. Judging by her behavior, it was going to take a long time to lose weight.
By dinnertime, I had the meal ready. Kazuma and the others came home with Serena. Serena naturally had dinner at our house. Aqua and Megumin still didn’t like Serena, and Kazuma was watching Serena eat with a pleased expression.
"Noodles today?"
"Yeah, vongole pasta."
Serena said while eating the pasta.
"Wow... I can see why Taejin has two wives. You cook well, you’re strong, you’re very handsome, and you always take good care of everyone around you. Anyone would fall for you, wouldn’t they?"
Luna and Darkness looked pleased to hear that. No woman disliked having her husband praised. But this time, Kazuma’s expression subtly changed. This guy, even though he had Megumin...
"You flatter me. Cooking just turned out that way because I worked hard at it as a hobby, and being strong just happened because I’m an adventurer who worked hard at requests."
"I see."
"Oh, right. And starting today, no snacks. Aqua is on a diet."
Everyone seemed to agree with that, as no one objected. But Aqua herself kicked up a fuss.
"What did you say??!! No way!!! Having a snack and a drink before bed is my only joy..."
"That’s probably the thing that makes you gain the most weight."
"What? Is that true?"
"Yeah."
Aqua had always lived by her own rules and seemed never to have been on a diet before.
"Ahh... but I can’t give that up..."
Then Kazuma said, frustrated,
"Exercise!"
"Yeah, Kazuma’s right. You need to try to move your body as much as possible. That’s how you lose weight. So starting tomorrow, you should follow Megumin and go watch her cast Explosion magic or something."
At that, Aqua looked displeased but agreed.
From the next day, Aqua went for walks with Megumin and Darkness to watch Explosion magic. Aqua grumbled, but she had decided to lose weight, so she went along. On the promised fourth day, I went to Arcanletia again and sold more ingredients. freewёbnoνel.com
As for Serena — whether because of Kazuma’s persistent courtship or because she wanted to get closer to us — she ended up joining Kazuma’s party. Aqua and Megumin openly showed their discomfort, but Kazuma pushed hard, saying that if they didn’t accept Serena, he would quit the party and just run a business. So they were forced to accept. Serena thus started living in the room next to Kazuma’s. I wondered if she had already been brainwashed.
Anyway, since she was a new member joining the household, we held a welcome party. Aqua and Megumin were sulking a bit, but Kazuma was in a very welcoming mood.
"Welcome to our party~!"
"Thank you."
"Welcome... ahem..."
Darkness also tried to welcome her but, feeling the glares from Aqua and Megumin, coughed awkwardly.
The next day, with a new member, Kazuma’s party started taking requests at the guild. Since it had been a while since they’d done requests, they started with something easy — hunting Giant Toads.
By evening, they returned with good expressions. Now that Darkness could land attacks, and Kazuma had his experience, they seemed to have finished the request without trouble. They had grown strong enough to handle these simple requests.
"Today was good. We’ll slowly take on higher difficulty requests. Let’s all do well tomorrow too." freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Kazuma was the most excited, full of enthusiasm, probably because Serena had joined his party.
"I didn’t do anything today. Sorry."
"No, no, it’s because the request was easy. When we take on harder requests, you’ll definitely do great things."
As Kazuma reassured Serena, Aqua snorted and said,
"Hmph! With me around, she’ll do great things, sure."
Just then, someone came to the house.
"Oh~ Wiz, it’s been a while."
"It’s been a while, Taejin. Actually, I managed to get a lot of point potions. Vanir said he needs money because he’s expanding his business with Kazuma, so he told me to sell these quickly."
Wiz had pulled a small cart, on which was a box full of potions.
"Ah, I see. Thanks. By the way, have you eaten?"
"No, not yet..."
"Then eat before you go. I was just about to serve dinner."
"Thank you."
"I’ll pay you for these first."
I paid her and put the point potions into my inventory, then went to the living room with Wiz. Wiz then stared intently at Serena. But Serena, seeing Wiz, broke out in a cold sweat and quickly turned her head so Wiz couldn’t see her face — but it was no use.
"Huh? Huhhh?? It’s Serena. Long time no see!"
Wiz recognized Serena and was very happy to see her. Kazuma asked Wiz,
"Huh? Wiz, you know Serena?"
"Yes, of course I know her. We— mph!"
Serena, extremely flustered, quickly covered Wiz’s mouth.
