[ Just like that, a week after the attack by the Demon King's army cadres, a peaceful day finally came and went.
Inside the tavern, Aqua slammed her hands on the table, expressing her dissatisfaction: "I've reached my limit, this life of being hounded by debt! Let's take a quest, I want money…!"
Actually, besides Aqua, the last cabbage quest had left their wallets quite full, and Kazuma didn't want to take on any dangerous quests.
Seeing Kazuma's lack of enthusiasm, Aqua finally hugged Kazuma's leg and cried,
"Please, I don't want to work part-time in the shopping district anymore, the manager gets angry if the ice cola doesn't sell out!"
Looking at such a pathetic goddess, Kazuma reluctantly compromised and told Aqua to choose a quest.
But Aqua, who only looked at the rewards, immediately picked the most dangerous quest. Fortunately, Kazuma, who had followed her out of concern, stopped her. ]
[ .....]
〜Projection of All Worlds〜
"So… after the Headless Knight incident, a whole week passed, and you didn't take any quests?! You guys are way too laid-back!"
"And Aqua, you're a goddess! Where's your goddess dignity? You don't do any proper work all day, and working part-time to pay off debts is one thing, but you even get scolded by the manager!?"
The manager probably never imagined that one day a goddess would be working in his shop.
Everyone looked at this laid-back team, their eyelids twitching… When would they ever do anything serious?! They wouldn't forget about defeating the Demon King, would they?
And is this really the beginner's village? What's with all the skull icons on the quest board! There isn't a single easy quest; they're all dark red.
.....
〜Type-Moon World, ██████ Worldline〜
In the 7th singularity, Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia—
Looking at Aqua, who was hugging Kazuma's leg with snot and tears streaming down her face, Ishtar's face was covered in black lines:
"This… I'm truly impressed by this goddess."
It was simply a reversal of heaven and earth; as a goddess, she had to seek help from humans, and on top of that, she was heavily in debt, living a life of working part-time to pay it off.
This was the first time she had seen a goddess who could be so miserable… The current life of debt perfectly matched Aqua's intelligence level.
Merlin's mouth curved slightly upwards:
"This greedy appearance is somewhat similar to a certain goddess."
To choose quests based on rewards, truly worthy of you, Goddess Aqua, not even looking at the danger level… A slight lapse in attention and you almost led the team into a hellish dungeon.
.....
[ Then Aqua saw a quest that was perfect for her: "The water quality of the town's lake is continuously deteriorating, and savage alligators have begun to inhabit it, so a request has been made to purify the water source!"
"As long as the water quality is purified, the monsters will leave, so there's no need to defeat the monsters!"
Kazuma asked a soul-searching question: "Can you purify water?!"
Aqua began to grow confident, tossing her hair slightly: "Who do you take me for! Just by the name and appearance, you should know that I'm a goddess who presides over something!
Kazuma retorted without changing his expression: "The goddess of parties, right…"
"I'm the goddess of water! Haven't you seen my beautiful watery blue eyes and hair!! And a goddess of my level can purify water just by touching it!
However, when purifying the water, monsters might interfere, so Aqua could only seek Kazuma's help.
Kazuma lowered his head in thought for a moment and quickly came up with a method that could both avoid monster harassment and purify the water! ]
[ .....]
〜Projection of All Worlds〜
"Kazuma's retort is so accurate, Aqua, who put all her points into party skills, what else could she be but the goddess of parties!"
"What… she's actually the goddess of water? I thought she was the goddess of idiocy! After all, I've never seen a goddess with such low intelligence."
Everyone from other worlds was stunned, because before, in every sense of the word, they really thought Aqua was the goddess of idiocy!
After all, what kind of goddess do watery blue eyes and hair resemble? Besides idiocy, what else could it resemble? One could only say that if wisdom had a color, it would definitely be blue.
.....
〜A Certain Magical Index World, Academy City〜
Shirai Kuroko slapped her forehead:
"Aqua was so down-to-earth before, I almost forgot she was actually a goddess!"
She couldn't be blamed, after all, Aqua was someone who didn't care about working part-time with Kazuma to earn money and sleeping in stables.
She even had no integrity, capable of occasionally kneeling down, hugging legs and crying, living a life burdened with debt… Any normal person seeing such an Aqua would forget that she was a god.
Misaka Mikoto's mouth was slightly agape:
"She can purify water just by touching it, she's a proper large-scale water purifier!"
She never expected Aqua, as a deity, to possess such a trait; she had truly underestimated her before.
.....
[ The scene shifts. Not far from the lake, Aqua sat in a special cage with a wronged expression, hugging her knees, her voice a little timid: "Um… do we really have to do this?!"
Kazuma turned his head and glanced at her: "What's wrong with the foolproof plan I came up with?"
Aqua's heart was filled with unease: "I feel like a rare monster that's been caught and is about to be sold…"
Her unease was justified because Kazuma and Darkness worked together to throw the cage containing Aqua into the lake, and a sturdy iron chain was locked onto the cage.
Aqua, sitting with her legs hugged, had her toes and buttocks immersed in the lake water. Kazuma and the others waited quietly under a distant tree.
Aqua, hugging her knees, felt somewhat numb: "I feel like a teabag whose essence is being extracted." ]
[ .....]
〜Projection of All Worlds〜
"Hahaha, Aqua's strange analogy is too vivid."
"Does anyone remember that Aqua is a god, yet Kazuma locked her in a cage and unceremoniously threw her into the lake?"
Everyone couldn't help but chuckle. It must be said that Kazuma treated Aqua as if she weren't a goddess at all, and perhaps not even a human.
.....
[ After two hours passed like this, Aqua's panicked voice suddenly came: "Ka… Kazuma, something's coming!"
Purple-skinned alligators began to appear on the lake surface, staring at Aqua with glowing red eyes, as if looking at prey. And the few people on the shore still watched everything calmly: "A whole bunch of them came!"
As the alligators continuously gnawed at the cage, after several hours, Aqua, who initially only wanted to purify the lake water with her inherent abilities, was now wholeheartedly chanting purification magic!"
"Purification—!!"
"Purification—!!"
"Purification—!!"
The alligators outside kept crashing into the cage. Aqua's desire to purify the lake water grew more urgent, and she continuously used purification magic.
The alligator bit the cage and performed a death roll. Aqua spun continuously inside the cage, her voice filled with panic: "The cage… the cage is making strange noises!"
Kazuma shouted at Aqua: "If you want to give up, just say so! We'll use the chain to pull you and the cage away and escape!"
Aqua refused without thinking: "No… If I give up now, won't I get the quest bounty?!"
So, after Aqua continuously used purification magic for several hours, the sounds quieted down, and the lake water became incredibly clean.
And the battered cage was left alone by the lake. The cage, gnawed by the savage alligators, had teeth marks everywhere.
"Quest completed! Let's go back."
A total of 7 hours had passed from the start of purification until now. Aqua was now expressionless, her eyes vacant, looking as if she had been broken.
"...Just leave me like this…" Aqua hugged her legs and buried her face between her knees, her shoulders trembling slightly: "The world outside the cage is so scary, just take me back to town like this…!" ]
[ .....]
〜Projection of All Worlds〜
"I admire Aqua's spirit of valuing money over life, even though she's a goddess; she truly stands out!"
"Putting everything else aside, this cage is really sturdy; it managed to withstand the alligator monsters' gnawing for so long!"
Seven hours…!! Everyone looked at Aqua on the screen with some pity. Although her intelligence was a bit low, and her luck was also a bit low, it shouldn't be this bad!
A perfectly good goddess was now completely broken, and she would probably have a lifelong psychological trauma from alligators.
Kazuma had clearly asked her if she wanted to give up, but Aqua refused, choosing money over life. One could only say, truly worthy of you…
.....