Chapter 873: Not Doing Anything Tonight?
When returning to Axel, Eiji stopped by Wiz's magic item shop to meet with Barnier.
The human and demon discussed many matters.
By the time their conversation concluded, evening had already fallen.
Remembering that Darkness was still waiting to be "conquered" back at the villa, Eiji didn't return to the mini Demon King's Castle in the suburbs, instead heading straight for the noble villa where Kazuma and the others lived.
The moment Eiji entered the villa, he froze.
"What happened here?"
The living room was dimly lit by an oil lamp, barely illuminating the spacious area.
Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness were gathered around the sofa, taking turns saying something to the person curled up there as if trying to comfort them.
The one curled up like a baby was none other than Kazuma Satou.
When he'd returned in the morning, he'd been full of vigor, boasting about how he would defeat a hundred monsters today. But now, looking at him in the evening...
Well, he'd completely shut down.
"Kazuma died again today," Darkness explained as she approached Eiji upon his return.
Though she appeared somewhat awkward with a strangely bright gleam in her eyes, she managed to maintain a decent composure in front of others.
"?"
Eiji was shocked.
How could he still die with all that equipment?
"Boss!!!"
Noticing Eiji's return, Kazuma let out a heart-wrenching wail and clung to Eiji's leg.
"Waaah! It's so hard! It's too hard! Why did I have to get stuck with a teammate like Aqua?!"
Wow.
Eiji had been about to say, "I gave you so many good items, how can you still be this useless?"
But hearing this mournful cry that sounded like a cuckoo weeping blood, Eiji's expression softened, and he patted Kazuma's head sympathetically.
"You must have suffered so much!"
"Waaahhh...!"
Kazuma Satou couldn't hold back anymore and burst into loud sobs.
"So what exactly happened?" Eiji quietly asked Darkness.
"It was like this..."
Darkness sighed in frustration.
When Kazuma returned in the morning, he wanted to take on a guild quest to test out his newly acquired equipment and show off to everyone.
He also wanted to gain some experience - he was only level 13, still far from the level 40 that Eiji required.
They accepted a "Drive Away Running Lizards" quest, which involved chasing away the spring-mating Running Lizards from outside the city. This monster species had the habit of attracting females through running. When spring arrived, you could see the entire species running around the plains outside the city, with the fastest one winning the right to reproduce with the Lizard Princess. This caused great trouble for passing merchant caravans and adventurers, prompting the guild to issue this quest.
Excitedly equipped with the new gear Eiji had given him, Kazuma set out with his teammates.
Everything was going fine at first - Kazuma formulated strategies and coordinated from the center, Darkness acted as the tank to draw aggro, and Megumin finished them off with her Explosion magic.
Then Aqua grew restless. With nothing to do, and wanting to prove she was useful too, she cast a spell to attract monsters.
Kazuma accidentally got caught in the monster aggro and died under the iron hooves of dozens of Running Lizards.
His body was trampled into minced meat, and they barely managed to resurrect him.
"I-I was just trying to help!"
Aqua pouted with a hurt expression and came over, protesting incessantly to Kazuma.
"After all, it's because you mocked me, saying I'm completely useless, that I couldn't hold back!"
"Shut up!"
Kazuma suddenly jumped up, pointing at Aqua's nose as he angrily shouted.
"What's wrong with me saying you're useless! You third-rate idiot goddess! If you were actually useful, why would I have died in the first place!"
Emmmm.
Although Aqua's troublemaking was somewhat understandable, Kazuma's point seemed valid too.
Eiji showed a very complicated expression, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Don't mind them, our party always has these kinds of issues. They'll be fine in a couple of days."
Megumin spoke with the air of someone who had seen it all before, completely unfazed.
Though her complexion was rather pale - she had been one of the witnesses to Kazuma's death scene and had vomited on the spot. Even now, just thinking about it made her face alternate between green and white.
"I-I ended up resurrecting you anyway!"
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have died! You useless goddess!"
"Waaah! You said the forbidden words! I'm ignoring you! I don't care about Kazuma anymore! I'm running away from home!"
Aqua ran out of the villa crying and quickly disappeared from sight.
"Aren't you going to chase after her?"
Eiji glanced at Darkness and Megumin beside him.
Kazuma was still furious, so why weren't the two of you going after her?
"It's fine. Aqua has run away from home a few times before, but she always gets lost in town and gets brought back by kind people."
Darkness said this as if it were completely normal.
"That's right. Aqua can even get lost going out to buy groceries. She can't possibly leave Axel. At worst, she'll come back tomorrow morning because she's hungry."
Megumin also agreed nonchalantly.
"Wow."
Eiji let out an utterly emotionless exclamation.
This party was several times more chaotic than he had imagined!
"Here, Kazuma, let's play some games!"
Eiji took out his student handbook and handed it to Kazuma Satou.
Inside were several single-player games he had downloaded, originally intended for killing time when bored.
"Boss, you're the best!"
Kazuma was immediately moved to tears and began struggling with the game characters while holding the student handbook.
"Hey, boss, why is your photo album locked?"
"You actually want to peek at my photo album?"
Eiji's gaze immediately turned dangerous.
That contained some really incredible stuff!
Not only were there plenty of swimsuit photos, but there were even some risqué pictures. Especially when singing with Freya, Eiji couldn't help but take more photos to enjoy later. He wouldn't even show them to his senior sister, and you dare to peek?
"Duang!"
Kazuma's eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
Megumin looked over in disbelief.
You're such a great boss!
Evening.
After finishing his bath, Eiji familiarly opened the bedroom door.
The girl on the bed trembled slightly at the sound.
There was the rustling sound of clothes being removed by the bedside, then a corner of the blanket was lifted, letting in a draft of cold air.
Soon after, Darkness felt a warm body enter the bed.
Then he reached out and flipped the unprepared girl over, pulling her into his embrace face-to-face, their bodies pressed tightly together.
Darkness felt her heart pounding violently, quite looking forward to tonight's developments.
What kind of play awaits tonight?
Let me see what you've got!
But after waiting for a while, she didn't see Eiji do anything to her.
"Um..."
Half an hour later, she finally couldn't help but speak up.
"What's wrong?"
"To-tonight... aren't we going to do anything?"
"Sleep."
Eiji looked at her raised eyes, shifting left and right, flushed with embarrassment, and let out a light laugh.
Then he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
Darkness felt a sense of loss for quite some time.