Free Web NovelChapter 328: 328 KonoSuba 53
Because Darkness was acting like this, I had no choice but to take drastic measures.
"From the next request onward, Darkness will only use the holy sword Arondight and wear her old armor. You can’t get too excited. The armor I gave you, store it carefully and only use it when we assault the Demon King’s castle."
"Ahaha... got it."
Darkness scratched her head, looking embarrassed.
"And I’ve also obtained items for the rest of you."
I handed the mages black robes with cool patterns engraved on them. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"They’re robes enchanted with flight magic — not extremely fast, but they provide quite high magic resistance. In an emergency, you can quickly get out of the way, so they’ll greatly help your survival. Moreover, once you get used to them, you might be able to cast magic while flying, so you could use hit-and-run tactics. But flight consumes mana, so don’t overuse it."
"Ooh, I’m flying in the sky!!"
Before I even finished speaking, they were testing the robes and causing a ruckus.
"Sigh..."
As I sighed, Aqua and Cecily came over with expectant faces and asked,
"Don’t we get anything?"
I handed each of them a ring.
"They’re rings that let you deploy a magic barrier by consuming mana. Priests need survival skills too, so I prepared these."
"So with this ring, I won’t get covered in slime anymore?"
"That’s the idea."
"Wow~ thanks!"
Aqua and Cecily were also overjoyed to receive the rings. I gathered everyone and said,
"I know you’re all happy to get items, but don’t get overconfident. Don’t forget that the place we’re challenging is the Demon King’s castle. Overconfidence could cost you your life in an instant."
"Understood."
For the next several days, we practiced getting used to the items while doing requests.
Then a strange rumor reached us. The goddess of brainwashing and revenge, Regina, had apparently changed her image to a goddess of教化 (edification) and retribution, and was gathering followers. On the surface, it seemed like simple wordplay, but it appeared intended to soften the harsh image of "brainwashing" and "revenge." And this was clearly Kazuma’s idea.
What was interesting was their method of gathering followers. Using vast funds, they approached poor people through charity, drew them in as followers, then provided them with jobs. And by producing modern goods and selling them to merchants, they expanded their religious order.
On the surface, it was a religious group, but in reality, it was no different from a corporation. Still, they provided their followers with food and shelter, paid regular wages, and their image gradually improved among the people, making them a rapidly rising new religion. Of course, the head priest was Serena and the vice head was Kazuma, but Kazuma was probably handling all the operations.
"Wow... for a cult to grow like this... Kazuma really has skills."
Cecily, who had only known Kazuma as trash, was amazed. Darkness and Yunyun added,
"I know. Since it’s a religious group performing acts of charity, the kingdom couldn’t say anything to them, so it seems they haven’t been sanctioned."
"Come to think of it, I heard that many merchants and workers are gathering where the Regina Church is building a temple between Axel village and the Crimson Demon village."
"Really?"
Then Aqua, sounding jealous, snorted and said,
"Hmph! Regina was always just a big-breasted, gloomy good-for-nothing. Her power can’t compare to Eris or me — she’s far beneath us."
Aqua seemed to know the goddess Regina. But the others, not understanding what Aqua was talking about, just dismissed it as her usual delusion that she was a goddess. And from the conversation, it seemed the goddess Regina was busty.
Anyway, we ignored all that and steadily raised our levels. Nerimaki and Darkness still hadn’t surpassed level 50, but if we continued like this, it seemed possible within a few months.
Thanks to our hard work, Aqua also began to lose weight. As she started controlling her power, her unnecessary aggro decreased, though she still caused accidents sometimes. But since I kept checking on her, I was able to contain any major incidents early.
"Ugh... this is way stricter than with Kazuma..."
"Well, you cause a lot of accidents, so that’s how it is. But once we settle things with the Demon King, you can return to Heaven too, so hang in there a little."
"Hoo... I have no choice..."
Cecily also complained about having no free time, but since everyone was working hard and I gave them one free day a week, she didn’t say much.
One day, a rumor spread that the Regina Church had been attacked by the Demon King’s army and suffered heavy damage. The temple itself hadn’t been completed yet, but the followers’ quarters were mostly destroyed, and there was considerable loss of life. This appeared to be retaliation for Serena’s betrayal of the Demon King’s army over money issues. Consequently, various villages issued emergency requests and were recruiting skilled mercenaries to prepare for the Demon King army’s attacks.
"Should we go help?"
I gathered my party members and asked, but their reactions were mixed.
"Let’s just leave them alone. I think it’s better to let that cult perish. Besides, that vice head dumped adorable Megumin."
"Hear, hear!"
From their tone, Cecily and Aqua seemed opposed because they feared the Regina Church growing would reduce the Axis Church’s standing.
"Things might be bad between us and Kazuma, but they’re still citizens of the kingdom. We can’t just ignore them. I think we should step in."
"Right. Rather than criticizing Kazuma, we should think about the people attacked by the Demon King’s army."
Darkness, despite being a masochist, had a proper knight’s sense of justice. And kind-hearted Yunyun also agreed.
"Hmm... I’m not sure. I’d like to help, but... the way he dumped Megumin still bothers me..."
Nerimaki neither agreed nor disagreed.
"I’m with Nerimaki. Then, it’s up to you, Megumin."
I said that, effectively handing the decision to Megumin. Everyone’s eyes turned to her. Flustered by the attention for a moment, Megumin began to think.
"Hoo... let’s go! If the Demon King’s army is gathered, we can help Darkness and Nerimaki grow quickly. And I can brilliantly add this exploit to a page of my heroic legend."
Megumin sighed deeply and spoke.
"Then it’s decided."
We quickly prepared and moved to the Regina Church’s location. It was situated on a plain not far from Axel village, so by carriage, we arrived in a day.
There, a large Demon King army force and the people were facing off. The mercenaries and Regina Church followers had hurriedly built wooden stakes with sharpened ends to defend themselves. Using my [Clairvoyance] ability, I confirmed that the executives commanding the Demon King army were Wolbach and a black-haired beautiful woman I’d never seen before.
As we entered the formation, people recognized us and cheered.
Wow wow~!!!
"We’re saved! Silver Flash is here!!"
"That’s Kurohime, the famous beauty!"
"The strongest mage, the Crimson Magic User, is here too!"
"The Mad Widow is here too? So the rumor that she joined Silver Flash’s party was true. And the rumor that the vice head dumped her... whisper whisper..."
"I know, right. Whisper whisper..."
Yunyun and Nerimaki were a bit embarrassed by all the attention. Megumin also tried to strike a cool pose as she got off the carriage, but upon hearing the epithet "Mad Widow" and the rumors about her and Kazuma, her expression turned fierce and she glared at the people. The people quickly averted their eyes from Megumin. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"Can I blast them? Can I?"
"Calm down."
I quickly stopped Megumin as she raised her staff and took an Explosion magic stance. But then, hearing the commotion of our arrival, Kazuma came running and greeted us cheerfully. He was wearing a priest’s robe adorned with various flashy accessories.
"You guys came!"
"Hmph! We’re just here because we accepted a request. Don’t act like we’re friends!"
Aqua, thoroughly offended, said that and turned her head away. In a way, I understood why she said that — Kazuma had abandoned her too. Megumin didn’t even look at Kazuma and said to me,
"Taejin, we’re tired from coming a long way. Let’s rest a bit and then quickly finish the request."
"R-right."
Given the mood of our party, I just raised my hand slightly to greet Kazuma. To be honest, I didn’t like how flippant Kazuma was, but I didn’t dislike him so much that I couldn’t greet him. Kazuma also sensed that our party’s mood wasn’t good and didn’t say anything more.
Among the mercenaries was the magical sword user "Mitsurugi Kyouya." He approached us and greeted us.
"Long time no see, Goddess. And everyone — Silver Flash and the Crimson Magic User. We saw each other briefly in the royal capital, but this is our first time talking, isn’t it? Nice to meet you. Huh! You are..."
Kyouya was surprised to see Cecily.
"Long time no see, Mitsurugi Kyouya."
"Ahaha, nice to see you..."
Kyouya smiled awkwardly and exchanged greetings with Cecily. He already knew Cecily. In the original story, he had gone to Arcanletia to find a skilled priest, met Cecily at the Axis Church, and tried to recruit her. But Cecily, finding Kyouya exactly her type of pretty boy, started spouting nonsense about "Are you trying to pick me up?" and clinging to him, so Kyouya got fed up and gave up on recruiting her.
But Cecily suddenly linked arms with me and said something strange to Kyouya.
"Let’s keep our relationship as a memory, Mitsurugi-san."
"Did... we even have a relationship in the first place..."
Kyouya was flustered by Cecily’s words but then pulled himself together and began speaking seriously to us.
"Anyway, that’s not the important thing. There’s something you need to know about the Demon King’s army. I came to tell you."
"What is it?"
"It’s about one of the executives commanding the Demon King’s army — a woman with the ability to make enemies within a certain range extremely strong. Because of her, we’ve been struggling quite a bit."
"Oh no, it’s the Demon King’s daughter. Those guys came with serious intent."
At my words, Kyouya and my party members were also shocked.
"What? Is that true?"
"It’s information I obtained before. I’ve heard that the Demon King’s descendants have the ability to strengthen allies around them. If it’s a woman, it’s probably the Demon King’s daughter. I guess they thought the Regina Church would become a threat and came to crush them before they grew?"
"Hmm... I see. Is this what they mean by ’like the Demon King’s army’?"
It was hard to explain the details about the Regina Church, so I glossed over it like this.
"By the way, isn’t the kingdom sending support?"
"The vice head requested support, but the mood wasn’t good after hearing that the kingdom’s army was busy and would be delayed. But you guys coming has cheered everyone up."
"That’s good to hear. But I’ve heard you’re quite skilled — even you had a hard time?"
"Yeah. I’m embarrassed to say this, but the executives’ coordination is so good, and powerful magic kept flying at us, so I couldn’t even get close and was busy dodging. If I didn’t have my companions, I might not have survived."
Kyouya had two female adventurers as companions. I’d thought they were just background characters who only spoke lines, but it seemed they were both helpful and skilled in their own ways.
"So here’s what I’m thinking — how about we fight together in coordination?"
"Okay, let’s do that. But our party just arrived, so we need to rest and resupply first."
"Then I’ll find you a spot. It’s a bit sad to say this, but quite a few mercenaries have run away, so there’s space. You should be able to stay comfortably."
This Kyouya — talking to him, he didn’t seem like a bad guy. He didn’t act arrogantly about being strong.
’Did what happened with Kazuma make him come to his senses?’
Guided by Kyouya, we set up tents in an open area and rested for a while. Of course, I had prepared for this — I quickly set up large tents and stoves I’d brought from the modern world, and arranged folding cots neatly.
"Rest when you can. You can sleep if you want."
"Got it."
"Okay."
I also took out snacks so they could eat something light. After resting a bit, Aqua and Cecily went out to heal the wounded. I was called to a place with a large tent for a strategy meeting. There, not only Kyouya, but Kazuma, Serena, and several experienced-looking mercenaries were talking around a large table with a map spread out.
"You’re here."
As soon as I arrived, Kazuma explained the plan.
"So while we hold off the main army, we’d like you to take down the Demon King executives along with Mitsurugi’s party. Your party and Mitsurugi’s party are the strongest among us."
"Hmm... to be honest, our party is preparing to assault the Demon King’s castle. The reason we came here is to earn a lot of experience points from the main army. So let’s do this — Yunyun, Mitsurugi’s party, and I will go after the executives. The rest of my party will hold off the main army."
Hearing that our party was preparing to assault the Demon King’s castle, everyone was momentarily speechless. Breaking the silence, Kazuma asked,
"Is that okay? These Demon King army executives are incredibly strong, you know..."
"Trust me. Yunyun and I will be enough."
"Alright, let’s do it that way."
Kyouya, who had been listening, said,
"So each party will take one executive. Got it."
"Then we’ll start the operation tomorrow. Tell your party members and get a good rest tonight."
With Kazuma’s closing words, the strategy meeting ended. I returned to the tent and informed my party members.
"You’ll be fine on your own without me. Since you’ll be facing the main army, Darkness, don’t get too excited and go too deep. Think about the party members following you. If you get too far from them or push too deep, the Demon King’s army won’t miss that chance and will target the mages and priests."
"Got it."
"Nerimaki, from a safe position, try to take down as many enemies as possible, but don’t overdo it and use up all your mana. That could put you in danger. Always fight while keeping track of your mana."
"Understood."
"Aqua and Cecily, stay in the back, watch the overall situation, provide buffs and heals. If something goes wrong, quickly gather the party members and withdraw from the battlefield. Got it?"
"Ah, got it."
"Okay."
"And Megumin, wait with Aqua and Cecily. If too many enemies swarm Darkness, use Explosion magic to reduce their numbers so Darkness can hold the main army stably."
But Megumin didn’t answer immediately. She paused, then asked me,
"By any chance, do you know which Demon King executives are here?"
"One is the Demon King’s daughter. The other is the pink-haired female executive we saw in the Crimson Demon village."
Hearing my explanation, Megumin suddenly bowed her head and made a request.
"If that’s the case, I’d like to fight the Demon King executive instead of Yunyun. Please."
I knew why Megumin was saying this, but I asked anyway.
"Why? Your one-shot is powerful, but if it turns into a melee, it could be dangerous for you."
"That’s because when I was young, I saw that Demon King executive use Explosion magic, and I pledged myself to the path of Explosion. So I’d like you to understand. This is very important to me."
I glanced at Yunyun. Yunyun smiled and nodded.
"Alright. Let’s do that."
I stood up and continued,
"Let me make this clear — think of this as a preliminary battle before the Demon King’s castle. We don’t know how many Demon King army forces and strong enemies await us there, so I want you to focus and give it your all."
"Got it."
"Understood."
