Glory for This Adventurer!

1

I was standing before a ridiculously scary-looking door, like the entrance to some final boss's chamber in a video game. I'd teleported to the lowest level of the notorious dungeon using my spell, and now the Demon King and I were standing in front of the room where the vampire progenitor resided.

I didn't sense any monsters on this level. There hadn't been any here, other than the vampire, when Vanir, Wiz, and I had come here before. Meaning it was the perfect place for me to face the Demon King.

The man in question, having been teleported here along with me, jumped back as far as he could. "Where are we? I was sure you'd try to take me somewhere you'd have plenty of friends… Hrm. Judging by the moldy smell and the dense mana everywhere, we must be in some sort of dungeon."

"Bingo. The bottom level of the dungeon reputed to be the deepest in the world. You've got two ways out of here: walk all the way to the surface…or teleport."

"I think I'll be heading home to my castle, then," the Demon King grumbled.

"What? Did you imagine that the Demon King wouldn't be able to use a spell as simple as Teleport? I won't be stuck in this putrid labyrinth one moment longer…" Just as he was about to activate his spell, I said, "Of course I knew you could use Teleport. But is the Demon King really going to run away? Is the ultimate bad guy going to flee from a one-on-one confrontation with the hero?" I slowly shook my finger at him.

After a very long pause, the Demon King said, "I see. I don't know where you learned what you know, but you've clearly done your research on the Demon King. You're right: If I was to run away from a direct challenge to single combat, I would immediately cease to be able to call myself the king of the demons.

However, O man so weak that he was immediately killed by my minion! You lack anything resembling the strength needed to face me. Go do some training and then come back when you're serious. That boy with the magic sword might be a good baseline to aim for." Then he laughed at me, a sort of snort, and a sneer came over his face.

I simply said to him… "I'm an Adventurer."

I tried my best to give him a smile provocative enough to match his sneer.

"An Adventurer…?"

"That's right. The very weakest class."

Maybe the mana was just that thick down here, or maybe there was some sort of fluorescent moss growing on the walls, but this deepest level of the deepest dungeon wasn't pitch-black but instead glowed with a constant, soft blue-white light.

"You're an Adventurer? Not an Advanced Class, not a front-rower, not even a wizard, but a piddling Adventurer? And you think you—" "—can go toe to toe with the Demon King? You got it, buddy. C'mon. Even if a goddess's powers have weakened you a bit, you'd never run from a poor, weak Adventurer, would you, Your Majesty?"

The Demon King's face twisted. For a second, I thought I might wet myself at the sight, but I couldn't just let him go running home. It was time to make use of the one skill I'd really cultivated as a shut-in in Japan: pissing people off.

The king, though, took a deep breath like he was calming himself down and said, "I won't rise to your bait. I haven't lived this long by being impetuous. You tell me you're an Adventurer, but so what? Let me guess. This is what you have in mind. You contribute nothing to your party's combat strength anyway, so you teleport me here and buy time by challenging me to a fight. Meanwhile, your party members pick off my minions, who will be left without the blessing of my powers."

Why the hell was he such a good guesser?

But he wasn't done yet. "Then, when you've bought your friends enough time, you'll escape somehow, presumably by teleporting again, and when I teleport back to my castle, your party will surround me. How's that? Sound about right?"

He began preparing to teleport back home.

I was a little impressed to see he hadn't wasted all those years of life, but this wasn't the time to be admiring him. Instead, I pulled out a card and showed it to him.

"Hey, slow down, man. This is my Adventurer's Card. I know it's kind of dark down here, and we're not exactly standing right next to each other, but you can at least make out the LEVEL, STATS, and CLASS fields, right? Seriously, check out these stats. I'm not one of those middling Adventurers, see? Oh, no. These are some trash-tier numbers. And you're seriously running away from me? You can dress it up however you like, but from where I'm standing, it feels like you're scared I might actually beat you. And you call yourself the Demon King? Look, man, I'm serving myself up on a silver platter here, and you're trying to escape?"

I saw a vein pulse on the Demon King's forehead. After a very, very long pause, he said, "Don't test me, boy. If the mood took me, you would become little more than a stain beneath my heel."

"'A stain beneath my heel'!" I parroted. "That's the kind of phrase I'd expect from a third-rate mini-boss. Seriously, what a letdown! Demon King, my ass! It turns out you're just a scared old man who's running away from the weakest-possible opponent with his tail between his legs!"

The echo of the Demon King's teeth grinding bounced off the walls of the dungeon. "It's no use," he said. "If you're just a sacrificial pawn of the weakest class, all the more reason not to waste any time with you. You're all talk, boy.

Now, farewell!" he spat and then began to intone the Teleport spell…!

"You missing any generals lately? I probably had something to do with it.

Beldia, Vanir, Hans, Sylvia, Wolbach, Serena. I think that was the order I went in.

And then there was that strong guy defending your castle—didn't catch his name. If you want to keep calling yourself the Demon King, surely you'd better at least get revenge for your cronies?"

The Demon King stopped chanting, looked at me, and snorted. "That's the worst joke I've ever heard. Know this, fool: You were not even able to buy time for your friends! Cursed Lightning!" he cried, abruptly unleashing a spell in my direction.

Oh, shit! I was gonna— "?!"

"?! …Ahem! Heh, that was a close one… A sneak attack from the one and only Demon King… Who would have guessed? Lucky for me, when you're as good as I am, you can read an old man like an open book. You can see exactly what attack he's about to use. Pfft-heh-heh-heh!"

That time I actually did wet myself a little. If my Auto-evade hadn't activated by sheer luck, I would definitely have been missing my head right about now.

Instead, the Demon King's black lightning bolt had passed through the thin air my head had occupied an instant before.

I backed up a little, instinctively, out of sheer terror. The Demon King, though, didn't even change positions after casting his spell; he just cocked his head. "…?

Oh, so you used a skill to dodge me just now? One can't normally 'see' lightning magic coming. Ugh, you're turning out to be something of a nuisance…" He sighed, then started striding forward, cornering me.

Shoot! Hold on! I need to prepare myself…! "Wait—!"

"Hmph. What other little games do you have in mind? Not that any of them will help you. Old I may be, but killing a single Adventurer could never so much as…wind…me…?"

"...?"

He'd closed the distance in an instant and grabbed me by the chest, but then he froze. I started to hear a crackling from the hand he was holding me with, as if it were burning, and then it started to smoke.

"Hrrrrraaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!"

He let go of me in a hurry, plunging his hand into his robe and writhing. I took the opportunity to put some space between us, but I also noticed I was missing something. Something very important that normally hung around my neck.

"What is this?" the Demon King demanded. "Some protective charm? Do you have a ward against curses?! Grrr… You play the lowest tricks…!"

There it was. He'd pulled it off my neck and thrown it disgustedly on the ground.

It was the Crimson Magic Clan charm Megumin had given me long ago.

It was just a simple amulet containing a hair from each of my friends, and yet… "Hey, that's a cherished possession! Don't go throwing it on the ground!"

The Demon King huffed. "What the hell is it? My hand nearly got burned black! What in the world is in that thing?! Is that…a blue hair?" he asked, gazing down uneasily at the charm.

"That little thing is packed with goddess hairs," I informed him.

"A f-f-fine thing to make me put my hand to! Hrk! That's right—I don't have time to be meddling around with you. I see I was wrong to take you for a mere small fry, but I don't care! I have to get back before my minions are—!"

Geez, all that and the old bastard still didn't want to stay and fight me? Well, I had a skill that I hoped would actually work on him in his weakened state.

Please, Lady Eris, grant me the fortune to take something good!

"Steal!"

"?!"

Ah, Steal. It was the very first skill I'd learned, and it had served me well all throughout my time here. I looked to see what I'd gotten, and… "Aw, fail."

"..." I was holding an embroidered handkerchief of what seemed to be handmade cloth. I tossed it aside, and the Demon King scrambled to grab it.

"Prized possession?" I asked.

"My daughter handmade it for me, and…er, ahem. It's nothing."

Feeling a pang of conscience to have inadvertently stolen something so personal, I pulled out my sword and brandished it at him. So much for Operation: Draw Him Into a Fight by Stealing His Most Prized Possession. It was time for a new strategy!

"First you launched a surprise attack on me, trying to get rid of me easily, and when you saw I was tougher to beat than you expected, you tried to run away.

Are you really the Demon King? Man, I got this magic sword ready just to help me slay a real Demon King, and I have to waste it on you? This suuucks!"

The king glanced at the weapon I was holding. "I see it actually is enchanted. I grant it's quite an impressive piece, but I don't think it's suited to attacking, exactly."

"What do you mean? This thing's a magical masterpiece. My villain of a friend found it when he was looting the body of a dead adventurer. No one knows who made it, but it's got a real history. It should be more than enough to take care of some chicken-livered old— Yikes!"

Maybe all my needling had finally gotten to the king, or maybe he was still miffed about how I'd treated his daughter's gift, because he shouted: "Very well! If you're so eager to die, then let me send you to the next world with all haste!"

And then the Demon King attacked me!

"Stop right there! After all those insults, now you run away? You coward!

What was it you called me earlier? Chicken-livered? Now who's the chicken?!"

I could hear the Demon King shouting from a distance, but he could say whatever he wanted. Using Ambush to hide among the dungeon's gloomy shadows, I nocked an arrow in my bow… "That was a dirty trick, blinding me with paltry magic like that! What happened to having a proper fight? Show yourself, boy!"

I saw him off in the distance, searching high and low for me… Deadeye!

"Hrgh?!"

My arrow hit the Demon King square in the temple, causing it to whip to one side.

When he had attacked me, I'd used Create Earth to blind him and put some distance between us, but I guess I'd also pissed him off. First he'd lost his temper; then he caught an arrow in the temple, so you'd think that would have done the trick. But instead, he pressed a hand to his arrowed skull and ground his teeth, wobbling slightly. "S-so that's where you are…! I suppose you won't be satisfied until you've had your miserable fun with me…" Gah! That arrow had barely scratched him! Was this one of those things where only magical weapons could hurt him?

I worked my way deeper into the maze-like dungeon, desperately trying to keep him from getting too close. If he got a hand on me again, there was a good chance I was done for. I seriously doubted I could bring down the Demon King with Drain Touch, and I wasn't about to get close enough to find out. Hell, even if my arrow had hurt him a tiny bit, I would run out of ammo long before I did any serious damage to him.

"Don't you feel pathetic? After all that big talk! At least the boy with the magic sword fought me face-to-face! And that Crusader! What are they to you?"

My Sense Foe skill alerted me that he was definitely getting closer. His aura felt big enough to crush a bug like me. I reached into my item pouch, pulled out a paper cylinder, and retrieved some lantern oil. As I backed away, I scattered the fuel on the floor like a fuse. And then I said two words: "Set Trap."

"There you are!" the Demon King, catching my murmur, shouted. The hallway we were in branched out in several directions, but now he was coming straight for me.

I'd learned the Set Trap skill from a friendly Army Ranger. It increased the potency and effectiveness of traps set even by total amateurs—perfect for an underhanded schemer like me. As the Demon King rushed toward me, I stood up, no longer making any effort to hide.

"Draw your sword, boy! I'll finish this in the blink of an eye!"

As discreetly as possible, I struck my lighter, then dropped it on the oil. As soon as I saw it catch flame, I took a big leap back.

"Explooosion!!"

"?!"

No sooner had I spoken than the dungeon resounded with a blast that shook the stone off the walls and floors and sent rock shards flying through the air. My homemade Tinymite at work!

"…! What? What the hell?" the Demon King sputtered. Everything below his left knee was a mess. Shit, it had done even less damage than I'd anticipated.

This wasn't actually a magic spell, though. Was that why it hadn't really hurt him? I'd thought it would at least tear off a leg.

I backed away from the Demon King, who'd dropped to one knee from the injuries. To cover for how shaken I was, I started running my mouth again.

"Heh! Did you think I was just an ordinary Adventurer? I told you, I've been involved in the demise of a bunch of your generals. Naturally I can use a simple spell like Explosion."

"Liar! That was nowhere near the power of Explosion! That blast didn't even seem to be magical in nature! What did you use, an exploding potion? You really will sink to anyth— Hey! Get back here!"

Without waiting for the Demon King to finish, I set off running through the dungeon halls. The king came after me, dragging his leg as he went. Aqua might have weakened him, but he obviously still had way more physical stamina than I did. Even with the injury to his leg, I couldn't put any more distance between us. Who'd designed the bottom floor of this dungeon anyway? If I just kept running around willy-nilly like this, I was going to hit a dead end eventually, and then I was really screwed.

I dug through my item pouch until I found my last stick of Tinymite. Dammit, if only it hadn't made Megumin so mad, I could have made a few more of these… But it had been hard enough to find a couple of minutes when she wasn't looking to craft even these few sticks.

If I could give the Demon King one more good hit with the Tinymite, maybe it would weaken him enough for me to go in with my magic sword and finish the job… But then I felt it.

A hair-raising presence behind me. I knew what it was, and it wasn't good.

The aura wasn't as strong as when Megumin used her Explosion, but the Demon King was trying to invoke some sort of magic, something powerful.

I turned to see him holding his hand up in my direction. Was this something I might be able to survive if my Auto-evade activated? No, no, I couldn't just trust to luck like that. If it didn't activate, I was probably going to die, right?

I was about ten meters away from the Demon King. This was definitely bad.

The incantation was way longer than the one for his lightning spell earlier!

"I'm tired of playing around with you. I'm getting too old for this sort of thing, you see? I thought I would save my magic for when I got back home, but, well… Let's just say you won't be able to dodge this."

Shit! Crap! Sonofa—! Whatever was coming, it was going to be big.

Quick! Did I know any defensive magic? I reached into my pack and grabbed Megumin's gift, the extremely high-quality manatite.

"Try this on for size! Inferno!"

"Create Earth!!"

I drew every bit of MP out of the manatite and channeled it into creating a gigantic wall of earth right in front of me!

"Hrngh! Arrrgh, that's hot!" I heard the Demon King cry from the other side of the barrier. It saved me from the flames, and it must have reflected them back at him. It really was a great wall, no shortage of soil. Just what you'd expect from high-quality manatite.

Wait… Hang on.

Maybe with one of these things…!

"Just how churlish do you intend to be, boy?! First you play your silly little tricks, and now you want to block my way with dirt? Are you planning to entomb yourself? I'm done playing hide-and-seek. This time, I—" I took out another piece of manatite.

"Create Earth Golem!!"

"This time…I'm…going back to my castle…for…" The earth started to squirm and form itself into a humanoid shape. With my usual level of magic, I could only create puny golems, but with this crystal on my side… "You… You can even do that?"

By using all the MP from the manatite, I created a massive golem. Taller than the Demon King, big enough to fill the passageway.

I peeked out from behind the golem's foot and gave my best smirk. You haven't seen hide-and-seek yet, I thought.

"Round two!" I cried.

"You little—!"

2

"Coward! The Demon King would turn his back on me and flee?! Stand and fight! Have you already forgotten what you said to me a few minutes ago?!"

"You bastard! You dirty, rotten—!"

We raced through the dungeon. He was suddenly "it."

"Mwa-ha-ha! Some Demon King! Your generals were way stronger than you!"

"Silence! Cut a guy some slack! I'm not a young man anymore! I'm supposed to hang back and strengthen my followers, not fight on the front lines! And you know my powers are weakened right now!"

Maybe even the Demon King wasn't equipped to fight a gigantic golem, or maybe he was afraid of leaving himself open to my attacks while he did it, but whatever the reason, he turned tail and fled, dragging one leg as he went.

You might think I had the advantage here, but I'd minimized the golem's period of activity in order to make it as big and as strong as possible. It wouldn't live long enough to help me if this fight went on for very long. I had to settle this before that happened… "Take this! Deadeye! Deadeye! Deadeye!"

"Ouch! Argh! Hrgh! Wh-why, you…!"

The golem chased after the Demon King, while I took potshots at him with my bow and arrow from between the golem's legs. All they did was scratch him, but it was enough to make him lose his cool. Combined with my taunting earlier, the Demon King really wasn't thinking straight. If he'd simply teleported my golem somewhere else, it would have been all over for me.

Uh-oh. I was all out of arrows. My ideal scenario would be to use the golem to smack the Demon King around a bit, then finish him off with my last stick of Tinymite and my magic sword when he was weak enough, but… "Hff… Hff… I've had enough of this."

Suddenly, the Demon King stopped running. "Did you really defeat my generals? Yes… I suppose you must have… After all, you have me dancing in the palm of your hand, even if you did have to use underhanded methods to make it happen."

What, so we were monologuing now? Was he trying to buy time until my golem expired? I planned to use the creature to give him something to think about for as long as I had control of it.

"How did they do?" he asked. "Did they perform as well as a Demon King's generals should? Surely they at least gave you a bit of pain."

"Let's see… Beldia, I grabbed his head with Steal, and then he was purified out of existence while he was busy stumbling around. By the way, that old castle he lived in ended up saddling me with a lot of debt—thanks."

The Demon King took a deep breath, his golden eyes glittering like a bird of prey.

"We blew away Vanir with Explosion, but for some reason he's still around to work in Wiz's shop. He's doing fine, in case you were wondering. And he's swindled me out of more money than I care to think about…" My golem reached toward the Demon King.

"Hans almost ate me up, and so did Sylvia—um, in two totally different ways.

Oh, then there was Wolbach. She struck me as the one half-decent general you had. The last one, Serena, she made me a Regina follower and then killed me.

So you could say your generals put me through a lot."

"...I see it's not easy being you, either…" The Demon King sighed. I guess the old guy had had his hands full with that lot, himself.

"Create Earth!"

Suddenly, a massive amount of earth appeared in front of the Demon King— as much as I'd gotten using an entire manatite crystal all at once. The pile blocked my golem's hand before it could reach him.

"Wait… Don't tell me…" "Create Earth Golem!" the king shouted, and now his pile of dirt started to writhe and assume humanoid form. Granted, his golem was a good bit smaller than mine.

I know I'm not one to talk, but can the Demon King do anything?!

"Hrm. This is no good. I've used a substantial amount of my MP. I have to hand it to you, boy. I've defeated swordsmen with swords and wizards with magic, turning each adventurer's specialty against them. But I've never met anyone who fought with methods as strange as yours."

He sounded genuinely impressed, but I had other things on my mind. I had the bigger golem, but this definitely showed the kind of power he had!

"I believe it's my turn now. You do come up with the most interesting ideas, though. I wonder what you'll think of next?"

His golem, boosted by the Demon King's ability to strengthen his followers, smashed my golem into dust.

"Welcome to round three, boy!"

"Goddammit!"

3

"Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! That's right, run! Don't you want to try conjuring up another golem? Who knows—you might win this time!" Somewhere behind me was the Demon King, his gleeful voice bouncing off the dungeon walls.

So he could create golems, too? No fair!

I had three more manatite crystals in my item pouch, along with a single stick of Tinymite. My only other weapons were an enchanted blade and my beloved but weirdly named katana.

"You know perfectly well that if I made another golem, you'd just pulverize it again! You're a bad, bad person! No wonder those generals liked you so much!"

I shouted back as I ran through the gloom of the dungeon.

"What?! N-now, hold on! They were a pain in my neck, too, I'll have you know. Beldia was always forgetting his head in the bath, Vanir wouldn't stop playing nasty tricks on my soldiers to get those bad vibes he loves so much, Wiz would simply walk off with the castle's war chest or some priceless heirloom and then sell it off, claiming she was practicing for when she opened her own shop…" He was talking faster and faster, as if he wanted to be sure he got it all out. "As for Hans, if you want to eat something from the stockpile, say so already! Don't go in there and pollute it with your poison body! Sylvia needs to stop trying to 'merge' with me at every available opportunity! Even Serena never stopped trying to solicit donations around the castle. I guess Wolbach was the only sensible follower I had…! I beg you, don't imagine I'm the wellspring from which they flow!"

Boy, he really had had it rough. I was almost starting to sympathize with him —but still I pulled out the stick of Tinymite I'd stashed while I was running.

As a member of demonkind, the Demon King was only significantly affected by magical attacks. But the same didn't go for Earth Golems…!

I turned back and pitched my Tinymite at the golem. In the same motion, I raised my hand…! "Kindleeee!!"

"?!"

I blasted the explosive I'd thrown at the golem with a fire magic spell. There was a loud boom, and then its torso vanished in a cloud of dust, leaving just the legs still plodding along. A bit of debris even fell from the dungeon ceiling, and I briefly worried that it might cave in. Had the blast been that big?

"Wh-why, you…" A piece of the demolished golem smacked the Demon King right in the face.

I grinned as triumphantly as I could manage and said, "That wasn't Explosion I just used. That was Kindle."

"I know that! Because that's what you shouted when you used it! No Adventurer could possibly use magic as advanced as Explosion anyway!" Now he was really mad. He resumed chasing me.

Geez, he was supposed to be the Demon King. Didn't he know that was the oldest trick in the Demon King handbook?!

Three more pieces of manatite. What should I do with them? Should I face him right here and now?!

While I hesitated, the Demon King reached out his hand.

I grabbed one of the manatite crystals. "Lightning!"

"Cursed Lightning!"

I sent a lightning bolt with the full force of an entire manatite crystal streaking toward the Demon King. But he sent dark lightning back and hit me in the right shoulder.

"Hrrrn!" the Demon King hissed. "Grrrrr, you do know how to handle yourself!

I'll give you that much, boy!"

"Ow, ow, owwwww! My shoulder! There's a hole in my shoulder!" I pressed a hand to my shoulder and looked at the Demon King, my eyes brimming with tears. He was holding his right thigh and crouched on the ground. But his injury didn't look that bad, whereas I had a freaking hole in my shoulder.

This was bad. No way was I going to survive a fair fight. Only one thing to do…!

"Another game of hide-and-seek? I tire of this, boy! Cursed Lightning!" Still leaning his right knee on the ground, the Demon King stretched out his hand and unleashed his deadly magic.

Ugh, this was no good. How could he use such powerful spells back-to-back without even chanting? I dropped the hand I'd been pressing to my shoulder, almost unconsciously pulling out my magic sword and holding it more or less in front of me.

Where it took the full brunt of the Demon King's magic and, with a dull sound, shattered into a zillion pieces.

"Ahhh!"

"?! So… Escaped again, have you? You have the luck of a demon…" Brought to the brink of despair by the destruction of the weapon I'd been counting on, I grabbed the now-empty scabbard and threw it at the Demon King, crying, "Luck, my ass! If I'm so lucky, why the hell would any of this be happening to me?! Arrrgh! Damn Dust for giving me a POS magic sword to lug around!"

"Y-you really should show a little more appreciation for someone's gift… But look, you didn't really think you could stop a spell like that with a run-of-the-mill magic sword, did you?" The Demon King seemed genuinely puzzled. I ignored him and drew the katana from across my back. The Demon King said, "Now, at least, I've sundered your last hope. How many manatite crystals do you have left? And how many of those lightning bolts can you conjure? I take it you can't use advanced magic. If you could, you'd have hit me with a serious spell by now, not some intermediate magic like Lightning. What do you have there? What do you mean to do with that lifeless hunk of steel? It's not even enchanted."

"It's Chunchunmaru."

............ The Demon King came to a halt in spite of himself. "It's what?"

"I said: It's Chunchunmaru. The name of this sword is Chunchunmaru. Not 'hunk of steel.' Chunchunmaru. And after I use it to beat you, I think maybe I'll donate it to a museum or someth—" "Cursed Lightning!"

"Yikes!" My Auto-evade caused me to dodge out of the way of the Demon King's attack.

"You miscreant! You knave! Never in my life have I been so mocked!"

My plan now was to piss off the Demon King until he ran himself out of MP.

This might have been the first time my weirdly named sword had ever actually helped me. I put the sword on the ground—it wasn't going to do any damage to the Demon King anyway—and placed my hand against my shoulder instead, intoning, "Heal!"

"You can even use healing magic?" the king said in exasperation.

"Heal! Heal!" I cried, almost weeping from the pain in my shoulder. The wound was too deep, though, and I couldn't do anything about it with my magic. Instead, I pressed my hand to my shoulder again and turned my back on the Demon King once more.

"You truly do nothing but flee, don't you? It's time for you to learn when to give up. You've done well for an Adventurer. I mean it. As a show of respect for you, I might even see fit to let you go. You've still got some manatite, don't you? I'll give you just long enough to perform the Teleport incantation."

I ignored the Demon King's very attractive offer, turning the corner of the hallway, where I crouched down, sliding to the floor with one hand still against my shoulder.

This is really, really bad. It won't stop bleeding.

Maybe it was time to teleport my way home… What should I do now? Had I bought enough time for the others to defeat the Demon King's bodyguards back at the castle? Anyway, heck, I'd lasted this long one-on-one. Together, the others would have no problem with him.

As for me, I had to stop this bleeding, and soon… "Say, boy. I haven't yet learned your name. In a final battle such as this, I feel obliged, as the Demon King, to know the name of my opponent. Won't you tell me?"

Shhf. Shhf. I could tell he was coming my way by the sound of his leg dragging along the floor. I took out another chunk of manatite. "Heal!" With the wound on my shoulder finally closed, I shot a question back at the Demon King. "My name's Kazuma Satou. What's yours?"

I felt lethargic. Maybe I had lost too much blood. I knew I had to get up, but I couldn't summon the strength.

I heard the Demon King whisper: "It's Yasaka." And then I… ...…?

"Yasaka? Yasaka the Demon King? I kind of thought your name would be, y'know, scarier."

At that, the dragging sound went quiet. I guess the king must have stopped moving. After a long moment, I heard him chuckle softly. He was around the corner, so I couldn't see his face, but he sounded truly, deeply amused.

"My name is Kyoichi Yasaka. Kyoichi Yasaka, the Demon King."

...…What?

"I'm sorry, um, could you explain that to me? I mean… What? What?! You're Japanese? You're human?"

I was starting to lose it, but the Demon King sounded like he was really enjoying himself. "I shouldn't think so. No, I'm very much a member of the demon tribe, and I have no connection to any place called Japan. Although I've heard rumors of a land by that name. And what about you? Do you not share your name with the great hero?"

…?!

"Hey, quit trying to confuse me! What, you think it'll stop me from finishing you off? That's dirty."

"I wouldn't be so sure I'm the one who's about to be finished off. Heh-heh!

That name does garner interesting responses from a great many of you, though." He paused. "Do you wish to know where my name comes from? And wouldn't you like to find out why my troops and I are attacking humanity? It is our greatest secret, one your people have never managed to figure out." He laughed again, as if from the bottom of his heart.

Wait. What was going on here? Why did this seem just like the prelude to a final battle in some game or manga?

"I never mentioned an interest in knowing. Why would you tell me any of it?"

"Because every one of your strangely named confederates who has come before you has been eager to know. You humans tell and retell the story of a great hero who became the Demon King. But wouldn't you like to know the truth? The reality no one else is privy to?"

"Um, okay. Maybe you could, uh, tell me, then? I mean, about your name and, like, why you're attacking humanity and stuff?"

"If you wish to know the truth, then defeat me in battle!"

Damn dirty sonofa—!

"Mwa-ha-ha! Did I get under your skin? I'm sure you must be infuriated now!

I got the last laugh! That brings the bile down a little."

He might've been old, but he sure wasn't mature!

"Ahhh, it's been a long time since I last properly proclaimed myself like that.

In the past, I've only ever spoken my name to those who were about to die. But you, I shall permit to leave with the knowledge. A gift, to the only person ever to push me so far in battle."

And then the shhf, shhf started again, coming ever closer.

If I didn't teleport out of there, he was going to finish me off. I had one piece of manatite left. And I definitely didn't have enough MP personally to even use Teleport. If I was going to get home, I would have to burn this crystal.

"Hey," I called to the Demon King, "are you planning to head right back from here? Just remember, if you go back to the castle, my friends will probably be waiting for you. I'm sure it's been long enough for them to deal with your bodyguards."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," he replied. "Against the likes of them, my minions are probably all dead by now… So after I've either killed you or sent you running home, maybe I'll just relax here for a while. Then I'll find a few good, powerful monsters down in this dungeon to serve as my new bodyguards, and by the time I've had a break and returned to the castle, my daughter should be getting back with the rest of my forces in triumph."

Shoot, I hadn't thought about the possibility that his daughter would return at this worst of all possible moments. Maybe I should run back home, get my things ready, and then teleport back here with some adventurers from Axel.

No, that would never work. I didn't have the MP to come back here, and I was down to my last piece of manatite. Sure, I could get some MP from one of the other adventurers with Drain Touch, but when the town was right in the middle of a battle for its very existence, could I expect anyone to come with me if I showed up begging them to defeat the Demon King with me?

Shhf. Shhf.

I could hear the king dragging himself closer again.

So what would happen if I went home without beating him? When my three troublesome teammates saw the Demon King show up with a fresh batch of monsters and without me, would they do what I'd told them and run home?

I could say with complete confidence: They would not do what I had told them.

Maybe I could ask the king to take them a message for me. You know, tell them that it had ended in a draw and I'd gone back home. But I guess it would be asking a lot to expect them to believe him.

And that left… "Say, um, if I asked you to take me back to the castle with you, could I count on you to teleport us?"

"I hardly think I'm obliged to stick my neck out quite that far. But I do see a great deal of potential in you. How about you become one of my generals? That would involve me taking the liberty of putting a curse on you to ensure you couldn't betray me, but if you'll submit to that, I would take you back with me."

It figured.

No, wait! I could let him put the curse on me, then just have Aqua break it, right?

No, wait… If the curse made me unable to betray him, I'd probably end up telling him all about Aqua's powers or something.

Shhf. Shhf.

I sat there, listening to that sound get closer. And then I pulled out one particular item. My Adventurer's Card, dirty and worn with long use. In my other hand, I held my last piece of manatite.

Shhf. Shhf.

Hrm… To be honest, I didn't like this. This wasn't what I was built for. Let the guys who were dying to be heroes handle this stuff. You know, someone who wanted to go down in history. Or even one of those overpowered hero types.

I was just a NEET who wanted to lay around drinking, then sleep till noon the next day; be waited on hand and foot by beautiful ladies; and generally lead a totally dissolute life. This wasn't my bag.

"Done chanting Teleport?" the Demon King said, and I could hear his dragging leg getting closer. "I said I would let you go, but there's no guarantee I'll be able to hold off until the instant I actually see your miserable face."

They're all gonna be upset with me… But if I didn't do this, they were going to fly off the handle and do something stupid…again. With that thought in mind, I brought a finger to my card. The shhf, shhf was practically right next to me.

"Hey, don't turn that corner, okay? I want you to just listen to me for a second. Promise me you won't get angry. We know we've got a draw on our hands here, right? What I want you to do is send me back to your castle first."

I heard the leg-dragging stop abruptly.

"Just send me back, and I'll gather up my friends and go home. You can take a rest or a breather or whatever you want. Or just come straight back to the castle. I promise we won't lay a hand on you."

For a moment, the dungeon grew very, very quiet. Then I heard: "Heh-heh… Ha-ha-ha! A draw? What are you talking about? I think you're under some kind of misapprehension. You've lost. Letting you escape is merely a whim on my part!"

With that, the Demon King came around the corner…and stopped cold.

Because he saw the glow of an Explosion spell hovering between my palms.

"......A draw. Yes, I see. Very good, Adventurer. I shall send you back to my castle first. Will that satisfy you?"

"'Fraid not. I told you not to turn that corner. 'Just listen,' I said, and 'promise me you won't get angry.' Now that you've seen this, I can't trust what you say anymore. What if you teleport me into a pit of lava? Then I'd die, and I wouldn't even get anything out of it, right?"

The Demon King swallowed heavily, never taking his eyes off the glow in my hands. "Yes, you're right. What should I do, then? You know that if you unleash that spell from such close range, you're as good as dead. Even if you were at a safe distance, you'd bring this dungeon down on your own head. That's why you didn't use that spell before, isn't it?!"

Well, more or less.

"Tell me, how is it that an Adventurer who can't even use advanced magic can wield a far, far more powerful and complex spell like Explosion? What are you?"

"Good question. Gosh, even I'm not too sure sometimes. Like, am I…their guardian? Lover? Keeper? Master? Friend? Party member? Cohabitant? Man, none of those labels quite fits."

I was really fretting, but the Demon King just kept looking at that light, sweating bullets.

"See, I know a girl who loves this spell. She uses it at least once a day, and I'm always there with her. Day after day after day after day, hearing the incantation and seeing the gestures, until even I picked them up."

The light between my palms was getting so bright and hot, you'd think it would burn me. If I let my concentration slip for a moment, it would explode. I was pretty impressed to realize Megumin controlled something with this sort of power every single day.

"At point-blank range, a pathetic weakling like you would be incinerated without a trace. But I am the Demon King. Some Adventurer's Explosion simply cannot defeat me in a single blast, you understand?"

"You sure about that, now that Aqua's weakened you? It'd at least bring this dungeon down on your head—isn't that what you said? You might survive the spell, but how about being buried alive?"

The Demon King went quiet again. I must have lost a lot of blood because I was feeling light-headed.

I need to get this over with.

"Do you not fear death?" the Demon King asked.

"Of course, I do," I said. "I'm shaking in my boots. I've died a bunch of times already, and that only makes it worse."

Yes, dying was scary. Frankly, I felt like I might burst into tears at any moment.

The thought that I might not see any of the others ever again just about broke my heart. But… "If you simply allow me to die, I'll take my enigmas with me to my grave, depriving humanity of the knowledge. Don't you want to hear how I got my name? And why my army—" "Nope. Don't care."

But… Those girls probably figured I'd manage something.

"...…Cursed—" The Demon King started to intone another spell, but I didn't let him finish.

"Exploooosion!!"

I unleashed mine instead!

4

My body felt light and floaty. It wasn't very reassuring.

Come to think of it, I couldn't see or hear anything. But I did feel like there was a voice calling me from a great distance.

I sort of, kind of turned toward it. Just by wishing to approach the voice, I found myself drifting toward it. It felt like floating, but, like, the way you would in a dream.

Whatever it was, it was a weird sensation.

As I headed in the direction I felt like I was being called from, I finally saw a bright light.

"Welcome to the Great Beyond. I am Aqua, the goddess who shall guide you onto your new path. Kazuma Satou, you died on the lowest level of a dungeon.

It can't be easy for you to hear this, but your life is over."

...… I was back in a room I was already thoroughly familiar with. I thought I'd drifted into the light, but for some reason, Aqua was there. And so was Eris, right beside her.

If Aqua was here… Did that mean I'd successfully defeated the Demon King? I was really curious to know what had happened after our battle. Had she been sent back here the moment I beat the bad guy?

"Hey, Aqua, what happened after I teleported away with the Demon King?" I asked, but she didn't look up, didn't make eye contact. For that matter, her bangs hid her face and made it impossible to see her expression.

"You have…several choices."

She sounded like she was reading from a script.

"You can be reborn as an infant in this world."

"Hey, Aqua, before I make any choices, you've got to tell me what's going on here. What happened to everyone? Hey! Look at a guy when he's talking to you!"

Aqua continued to ignore my attempts to interrogate her, going on robotically:

"…Or you may be reborn as an infant in the peaceful land of Japan."

"Listen to me, for crying out loud! I'm asking you what happened after I left! If you keep ignoring me, I'll jam my fingers in your nose and make you look at me!"

At last, Aqua raised her head. Her voice was shaking.

"Or…you can live p-peacefully in Heaven, where you won't have to deal with any un-un-m-manageable party members, or go deep into debt, or be arrested, or…or have anything else awful happen to you…!"

Now her shoulders were shaking, too, and big, fat tears started to roll down her cheeks.

…Wow, she's seriously ugly crying.

Eris placed a hand gently on Aqua's heaving shoulder. Aqua buried her face in Eris's chest and sniffled loudly.

Seeing Aqua like that, I found myself feeling oddly philosophical. The way she was reacting, I guess it meant I couldn't come back to life anymore. I mean, I'd been ready for that. Couldn't really complain now.

In fact, I'd thought it would make me more upset, but I found myself surprisingly calm. Was it because I'd done what I set out to do and then arrived at this point after accomplishing my goal?

My goal… My goal was to get her home, back here.

I looked down and realized the lower half of my body was transparent.

Aqua continued to sob. Eris held her and patted her head, then said to me, "You've done well, Kazuma. The others were able to defeat the Demon King's bodyguards, and then they simply waited and prayed for your success. And the instant you defeated the Demon King, Aqua showed up here. That was how everyone knew you'd succeeded."

That brought me a rush of relief.

"Now, with the battle over, they're tending to their wounds…although with my senior goddess disappearing so suddenly, it's been somewhat chaotic…" Oh yeah… This meant I wouldn't have the chance to tell everyone I'd died down in that dungeon. Shoot. What if Megumin and Darkness went on a journey to try to find me? For that matter, what if everyone I knew in Axel joined them? This could turn into a whole thing.

Uh… Everyone would want to look for me, right? It wasn't just, you know, wishful thinking on my part, was it?

Shoot! It really sucked to be torn away from everyone else without getting to say a word to them. Still, I was glad I was just a spirit here, without a proper body. Otherwise, I might have been crying as sloppily as Aqua.

I guess maybe my thoughts showed on my face, because Eris gave me a sweet smile.

"Ahem. Kazuma Satou. As you died in the process of defeating the Demon King…I've been instructed to offer you something else, above and beyond the usual postmortem options."

Aqua looked up suddenly at that.

Eris held up a finger, smiling pleasantly. "First: You can choose to live a life of ease in Heaven, as already described to you." She held up another finger.

"Second: You can be given a physical body and return to Japan. In that case, you would be provided with an endless supply of money for the duration of your life, an ideal spouse, and— H-hey, Aqua! Y-you're very close…! Your face is very close to mine! Please don't get so excited!"

Aqua rubbed her tears away vigorously and listened intently to what Eris was saying. Eris, meanwhile, cleared her throat and continued.

"And the third option: You can be given a physical body and return once more to this world."

Aqua's face absolutely lit up.

…Geez, what was she looking so happy for? What a jerk, acting like she already knew what I would pick.

Okay, so maybe it was a little soon to be going to Heaven still. But that thing about going back to Japan, that was tempting. Eris had said I would have enough money to spend the rest of my days living it up. And what was that about an ideal spouse? She seemed to mean that if I went to Japan, I could spend my entire life with no constraints, no work, no ridiculous problems, an adorable wife… "So. What would you like to do?" Eris asked me with a little smile.

How could I even hesitate about that question now? How I had suffered in that other world! Outrageous creatures, half-baked inhabitants. A bonkers place in which decent, sensible people weren't just rare, they were practically nonexistent.

If I went back there, I was pretty much guaranteed to continue suffering. It hardly took a moment's thought to know that. Without a second's hesitation, I replied:

"Send me back. Back to that awful, stupid world that I hate."

Eris grinned.

"Okay! Now that that's decided, we've got to get back to everyone posthaste!

Eris, use that power of yours to do that thing and send us back to the Demon King's castle! I'm sure everyone is worried about me, what with how I disappeared so suddenly. We've got to get back right away!"

Eris, though, knit her brow. "Um, Aqua… I don't quite know how to tell you this, but now that you've come back safely to the heavenly realm…well, we need you to run things for Japan. I don't think you can afford to play around in this world anymore…" Aqua grabbed Eris by the shoulders. She shook her head hard, her eyes filling with tears again.

"I'm s-sorry, Aqua, but I can't help you, even if you cry at me…! Oh! Stop that, please! Please stop trying to pull my pads out! Look, I'm sorry, but even that won't get you anywhere!"

I watched them struggle for a moment, then said, "Hey, you two. Uh, I've got a question." I scratched my cheek with a semitranslucent finger. "I think I remember being told that if I beat the Demon King, I could have any one wish I wanted, right?" (I was really directing the question at my precious, precious Eris.) That stopped the two of them in mid-scuffle.

"Eris," Aqua whispered, "what do we do? I figured there was no way he'd ever defeat the Demon King, so I told him he could have one wish, just to give him a little push. I know his kind. He might ask to become a god or say, I want the entire universe or something…" "G-gosh," Eris whispered back. "I don't know if even Kazuma would… But I could imagine him asking to spend the rest of his life surrounded by a harem consisting of every imaginable type of woman…" Did they think I couldn't hear them? And anyway, what was going on here?

Had it been a BS offer all along? You really couldn't trust these deities!

A harem with every imaginable type of woman was a tempting idea, but I already knew what I wanted.

"I want my cheat. The one I didn't get when I came to this world the first time."

Eris giggled at that. "That wish, we can grant. You're right. The Demon King may be defeated, but there are still plenty of dangerous foes in this world.

You'll need a boon of your own…" She was grinning mischievously. I suspected she already knew what "cheat" I was going to ask for.

"Oh…" Aqua reached out toward me anxiously but then drew back. I guess after everything she'd put me through, even she couldn't bring herself to actually ask me to take her instead of some OP gimmick. Did that mean she realized how much trouble she'd caused? Maybe she'd matured more than I'd realized.

"What ability do you wish for, then? Or what powerful item? Perhaps incredible strength? Or inexhaustible intelligence?" Eris listed the options, sounding more and more excited. Beside her, Aqua was unusually quiet and downcast. It was funny; she normally didn't hesitate to demand exactly what she wanted. If she'd always acted this demure, my life would have been a lot easier.

To Eris, I said:

"Does a goddess count as a cheat?"

That made Eris smile from the bottom of her heart. And Aqua's face lit up brighter than I'd ever seen it before.

"Eris! Eris!! Hurry up and resurrect Kazuma! Come on! We'd better pick up the pace before everyone finishes their first aid and their rest and decides to go back home!"

"Yes, yes, I understand. But I'll need you to lend me your power, too. We're about to try to resurrect an annihilated physical body, after all… All right, Kazuma. This is the most exceptional of exceptions. It won't happen again. So please, cherish your life from now on…" "Yeah, he gets it, he'll be careful, now come on! Eris, we have to hurry!"

"Yikes! Aqua! Argh… All right, here we go…!"

""Resurrection!!"" The two goddesses used their power in unison, and a tremendous heat filled my body. Suddenly I could feel the weight of my physical form. I put my physical feet on the ground and felt a pleasant chill.

At the same time, though, the two who'd brought me back to life looked away in a bit of a panic.

…?

"A-Aqua! This is all because you were in too much of a hurry to bring him back! Quick, conjure up some clothes or something…!"

"Aw, don't blame me! I was just eager! …Oh no! Look, Kazuma's excited!"

I was naked as the day I was born.

"J-just a second—we'll give you some clothes…! Come on, Aqua! You hand them to him. You've seen him this way before, right? Lots of times…" "Don't make me do it! I feel like he'd jump me! Kazuma always used to be so cute, but somewhere along the line he grew up…" "Shut up and give me something to wear already! How long am I supposed to stand here in my birthday suit?!"

5

When I'd finally gotten some clothes on, I turned once more to Eris. Aqua stood beside me, looking ecstatic.

"All right," Eris said. "This time, my dear senior goddess, you can return to the heavenly realm anytime you wish. Though I don't suppose you'll be interested in doing that for a good long while." She grinned.

Aqua, pleased as could be, and definitely no more capable of learning than she'd ever been, said, "Eh, I guess. It's just, you know… What's that old saying?

All's well that ends well! If I hadn't said what I said, we probably never would have beaten the Demon King. Hold on… Does that mean Kazuma was technically guided by a goddess to defeat the Demon King? And I helped weaken him, too. I really acted like a true goddess this time. In fact, I think you could almost say I was the MVP of our quest to slay the Demon King!"

…Okay. Too excited.

"All right, listen, don't get ahead of yourself. I'm the one who defeated the Demon King, remember? You understand that? Me, the hero, Kazuma. I'm going to go down in history. You're just a useless runaway goddess who needed someone to come save you. I mean, what are you even talking about?"

"Hello? Are you forgetting that you're just a good-for-nothing NEET who could never have defeated the Demon King without my powers? I think that merits a bigger share of the bounty for the king. Let's see… I think about ninety percent would be appropriate! And now that I can come back to the heavenly realm, that means I have access to all my usual rights and prerogatives as a goddess. If you don't treat me well, I really will show you divine punishment!" Aqua brushed some hair away from her face, looking thoroughly confident despite the ridiculous things coming out of her mouth.

Eris was listening to our argument, looking as if the whole thing amused her.

Aqua, still flying high, chirped, "I wonder if Megumin and Darkness and the others got so worried that they started crying when I suddenly disappeared from right in front of them! We'd better hurry back and tell everyone it's all right!"

"Very well, Kazuma. If you would be so kind as to formally repeat your wish for me." Eris put her hands together, partly like she was thanking me for defeating the Demon King and partly like she was praying. But with that gorgeous smile on her face, I still felt like she would make a pretty good main heroine.

Whereas, in contrast… "Say, Kazuma, when we get back to town, I think this calls for a nice, cold Crimson Beer! I'll thank you to cast your best Freeze spell on my mug. Ooh, I can't wait to see Emperor Zel again. I'll bet he's a magnificent dragon by now!"

I looked from Aqua…to Eris…and back again.

"…? What's wrong? Why the weird look? I mean, your face always looks weird, but it looks extra funny now. Want me to cast Heal on it?"

...… I told Eris what I wished for…!

I felt dizzy for an instant, and then I was standing in a familiar place: the Demon King's chamber, where I'd been until not long before. As if to prove it, the Demon King's bodyguards lay on the ground all around me.

Everyone else in the room looked up, startled, when I suddenly materialized out of thin air. And then:

""Kazuma! Welcome…home…?"" Darkness and Megumin said in unison, trailing off even as the words came out of their mouths.

I took a good look at them all. Darkness was seriously wounded. It wasn't life-threatening, but it showed what a tough battle it had really been. Megumin and Yunyun both looked pretty shocked, but neither had any obvious injuries.

Mitsurugi, though, was lying on the ground nearby, his two girlfriends practically clinging to him. I could see his chest moving up and down, so I assumed he was at least alive.

"Um…," Megumin said, slowly and hesitantly. "That person with you…who's she?"

She pointed at the goddess Eris, standing beside me.

I gestured at Eris, who was looking anxious and a little confused. "I think you all know her by name. This is the famous goddess Eris. She offered me a reward for defeating the Demon King, and I figured, well, I worked hard enough for it.

So why not?"

"""What?!""" Megumin, Yunyun, and Darkness all exclaimed, backing away.

Darkness promptly fell down on one knee. "E-Eris, my lady! It's true—you look exactly as you're depicted in your churches… Exactly… Huh?" She lifted her head and took a good look at Eris's face. The goddess averted her eyes.

And right then— "How could you do that to me?!"

A pillar of light appeared, and Aqua came flying out of it.

"Gah! Shit, you can come down here on your own now?!"

"M-my senior goddess! What are you doing? You can't come to a world outside your jurisdiction without permission! Don't blame me if you aren't able to get back to the heavenly realm again!"

Aqua, however, was crying noisily. "Waaaaaah! Ga—Gazumaaaaa!

Bwaaaaaaaah! Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

"You just never stop causing trouble, do you?! I left you there because you let it all go to your head! Aw, for— I was gonna go get you after a while! How can you be such an idiot?!"

Megumin and Darkness looked genuinely relieved to see Aqua, waterworks and all. Then we heard two new voices:

"Hey! I don't really get what's going on here, but if we've got a Priest now, then Kyouya needs help!"

"That's right! He's really hurt!"

They were almost interrupted by Yunyun, who shouted: "Oh no! The Demon King's army is teleporting back here one unit after another! Wait… Is that the king's daughter over there?!" She was looking out from the balcony and appeared very worried.

Shit! Were they back already? Well, we'd done what we came to do. It was time to show ourselves out.

"C'mon—quit crying and let's get the hell out of here! Grrr… They're already here, and there's nothing we can do about it. We'll figure out how to handle this later…" "Waaaaah! Bwaaaaaah!"

"U-um, D-Darkness? Your face seems to be very…very close to mine…" "Apologies, my lady. I was just thinking you bear a striking resemblance to a friend of mine…" So Aqua was still weeping, Darkness was still obsessed with Eris, and somewhere in the middle of it all, Megumin started chanting a spell.

Huh? Wait—!

"Explooosion!"

Megumin, with the satchel full of manatite on her back, let off an explosion from the balcony.

"Megumin?!" Yunyun exclaimed when she noticed her friend beside her.

"Wait, what are you doing?!"

"Explosion! Explosion!!"

"Stop! Megumin, stop it! You've got a nosebleed! Blood is coming from your nose!"

I came out on the balcony to stop Megumin from attacking the Demon King's army, but from that vantage point, I could see the troops below had been thrown into disarray by the sudden series of magical explosions. I saw someone running away in tears as monsters covered her retreat. That must be the Demon King's daughter.

"Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! I am the Demon King Megumin! Conqueror of this castle and the world's strongest Arch-wizard! Any fool who dares approach my castle shall be blown into oblivion by my unstoppable power!"

"Megumin, calm down! We didn't defeat one Demon King just to have another one pop up!"

She was so right. I desperately didn't want any more trouble coming my way.

Well, it looked like it was time.

"Yunyun, get Teleport ready. I'm out of MP."

"Huh? Oh! I only have enough magic left to use it maybe twice… But here we've got…" Teleport could transport up to four people at a time, but now that I'd brought Eris here, we had nine people.

"I see there's no choice. Take this, Kazuma." Megumin, enjoying a brief, but much-needed break from cowing the Demon King's daughter and her forces with Explosion, wiped her nose furiously and handed me a chunk of manatite.

"Hey, uh, try not to overdo it, okay?" I said.

"Well, after getting such a rich gift from you, Kazuma, I feel I must repay you somehow. Although a certain someone doesn't seem very bothered by any of this."

"Wha—? Oh…! Who, me? Are you talking about me?!" Darkness exclaimed.

What was she saying anyway? That the castle itself was repayment for the manatite? I felt like I was getting a lot more than I'd given. Wait… What was I supposed to do with a castle full of monsters anyway?

"Okay, uh, all right, everyone, gather over here, please. I'll use Teleport to get us out of here!" Yunyun said, and the others clustered around her.

"Hold on! Heal Kyouya first! I think his pulse is dropping!"

"He's hardly breathing…!"

"Lady Eris, I just can't shake the feeling that you and I have met somewhere before…" "N-n-n-no, we definitely have not! Oh, but I don't know what I'm going to do now…" With everyone chattering excitedly, Yunyun activated her first burst of Teleport.

"Teleport!"

Eris, Mitsurugi, and his two friends were swept away, leaving five people in the room.

"Ohhh… Sniff… Sniff…" Yunyun put a hand on Aqua's shoulder; the goddess seemed intent on sniffling for as long as possible. Megumin lined up beside them, followed by Darkness, wiping some blood off her cheek.

"Here I go again," Yunyun said. "I'll see you in Axel, all right, Kazuma?" And then she shouted, "Teleport!" and disappeared.

For some reason, though, Aqua was still there, sniffling away.

"Huh? What's going on? Why didn't Teleport work on you?"

"B-because I didn't…sniff…w-want it to! Hic!" Aqua wiped her nose.

"Oh, for—! Even at the very end, you have to act like a brat, don't you?"

"N-no! That's not it! Hear me out!" Aqua said quickly, her eyes still full of tears. "There's something I want to say! Just maybe not…in front of the others…" "I can't believe you! This isn't the time for that kind of talk! While we're standing here, the enemy is pouring in! Who knows when they'll show up?!" I shouted, but Aqua, tears still hovering at the corners of her eyes, didn't look like she was going to say anything.

Not far away, I heard someone (or maybe several people) bustling around.

They hadn't taken the trap that Aqua and I had used to get here but must have come up the stairs or whatever it was you were supposed to do. I was definitely on edge as I waited for Aqua to say whatever it was she was going to say. She wiped her tears and began, "Hey, Kazuma…" "What? Get it out already! Look, I'm sorry for leaving you behind, but I really did plan to come get you eventually!"

Aqua, though, shook her head. "Um… Look, even I know… Well, I know I'm not the absolute smartest person in the whole world, right?"

"Uh-huh. I might say you're probably one of the dumbest. What's your point?"

Aqua gritted her teeth for a second at that, but then her expression softened again. "Well, since we both agree on that… I won't try to find the perfect words.

I'll just put it as simply as I can."

"Seriously, what is it? How many ways can I tell you to hurry up?! Listen, you can hear footsteps outside!" And indeed, from the other side of the chamber door, we could hear a loud thudding coming closer. I was pretty much panicking already, but Aqua gave me her most beatific smile and said:

"Thank you."

…I never, in my whole entire life, thought a day would come when my heart would skip a beat because of her. But here we were.