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Darkness stood proudly before the door leading to the Demon King’s chamber. Mitsurugi was behind her, followed by his spear wielder, his Thief girl, and then Yunyun, Aqua, and Megumin.
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First, Darkness would bust down the door and immediately use her Decoy skill to draw the attacks of the Demon King and any guards in the room. That would give Mitsurugi and Yunyun, our chief firepower, time to take out the opposition. The spear wielder would look for any targets of opportunity, hitting the nearest enemies, while the Thief played a support role for everyone else. Aqua would use healing magic from the rear guard on anyone who got hurt while Megumin would bide her time at the tail of the formation. (She’d already done about as much magic as she could do in a day; I’d convinced her to bring up the rear by telling her she was our trump card.)
If it looked like the Demon King was too strong for even Darkness to deal with, Yunyun and I would get everyone out of there with Teleport while Darkness held the line and let Mitsurugi and Yunyun handle the king on their own.
And if it looked like the battle was going to run long…
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“You really are underhanded, aren’t you? From your fight with me to that ambush you sprang a few minutes ago…do you have something against fighting with honor? I gather you’re spreading the word that you beat me, but it sort of eats at me to have been subjected to such a pathetic fighting style.”
Mitsurugi could criticize all he wanted. I stuck to the shadows of the door. “Underhanded? I prefer the term prudent. And listen, there are some fights you just can’t afford to lose, even if you get labeled a dirty, rotten scoundrel because of how you win them. Say, for example, the final battle for the fate of humanity that we’re about to jump into!”
I’d taken off the armor; it was hard to move in anyway. I had my enchanted sword out and ready and my bow and my beloved blade—complete with silly name—across my back.
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If the battle looked like it was going to run long, I would let everyone else go in first, activate my Ambush skill to keep myself hidden, and then infiltrate the room a few minutes later. Then all I would have to do was find a moment when the Demon King was open and give him one good Deadly Backstab.
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“Um, he only mentioned a couple of battles, but I think you’ve played dirty in pretty much all your fights, right?” Aqua said.
“Shhh! Do not say such things, Aqua. He is trying to look his best before we venture into battle with the Demon King.”
“Yeah, what if you ticked him off? I wouldn’t put it past him to teleport out of here all by himself and ditch us.”
They were whispering behind me, but the fact was, I had been thinking about ditching them…
“All right, everyone, lend me your ears,” Mitsurugi said, standing in front of the door. “It’s incredible that we’ve come this far together. And now, as we stand on the cusp of the battle for the fate of humanity…”
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As Mitsurugi started giving some sort of speech, Aqua tugged on my sleeve. “Kazuma, hey, Kazuma, are we really doing this? We’ve managed to get pretty strong, kind of in spite of ourselves, so couldn’t we find some other way to make money? I have to say that a get-rich-quick scheme like defeating the Demon King doesn’t really match up with your prudent, cowardly MO, Kazuma.”
I wanted to ask if she was making fun of me, but I could see on her face that she was completely serious—and pretty worried.
“Who was it who brought up the entire idea of taking down the Demon King? When we get back to the mansion, you and I are going to have a very long talk.” Yeah, earlier, when it had been just the two of us, my resolve had wavered, but now I was sure: When we got back, I was going to lecture her until she cried. “Anyway, you can say what you want, but you really want to go back to Heaven, right? Okay, then let’s blitz the Demon King so you can go back anytime you want, and then we can live it up and have some fun. We’re going to do it carefully, though. If we pretend to be all strong and powerful at a moment like this, that’s a death flag for sure. And I know you have a history of saying stuff that sets off death flags, so watch it, okay?”
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I was remembering what Aqua had said the night she left.
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“Look, Kazuma, it doesn’t matter to me anymore. I really don’t care, so let’s just go home, okay? I went to see Emperor Zel again, and I’ll listen to whatever lecture you all want to give me, as long as I have some delicious wine to drink while you do it. So… So let’s go home, okay?”
I had half a mind to tell her not to plan on ignoring my all-important lecture.
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“I wish I could go home…”