“But you had fun, didn’t you?”
✦ ✦ ✦
…That wasn’t fair.
“Well… Yeah. I guess.”
“I thought so.” Eris was smiling, as if she thought I should be impressed with her.
Aw, Chief… You’re so cute.
“Your friends haven’t given up. Wouldn’t it be lonely if you just retired to the afterlife all by yourself? That’s why I want to make sure you’re ready to jump back into the fray whenever my senior goddess resurrects you.”
I appreciated the sentiment, but there was a problem. “The thing is, that’s not going to happen. I made it absolutely, positively crystal clear to her: If anyone died, she was supposed to stay back where she was, not go running over to them.” So… “So I guess you cast all that magic on me for nothing,” I almost whispered.
Eris, though, nodded confidently. “Oh, I see. Anyway, let’s continue, shall we? Haste!”
It was like she hadn’t heard a word I’d said. Did all goddesses refuse to listen to people?
No sooner had I had that thought than a voice echoed around the white room, a voice I absolutely should not have been hearing.
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“Kazuma! Kazumaaaa!!”
✦ ✦ ✦
It was Aqua, ignoring what I had told her to the bitter, bitter end. What did that idiot think she was doing, prancing through the middle of a battle? If she died, no one would be coming back to life! Did she even understand that?! And after I’d warned her as forcefully as I could to stay back. And when she’d acted so scared of the Demon King…
✦ ✦ ✦
“Kazuma, we’re in trouble in more ways than one! Megumin’s started chanting Explosion!”
✦ ✦ ✦
That made me sit up and take notice.
I turned to Eris, who was grinning openly. “Why does she never listen?”
“No idea. Don’t you think that’s part of what makes her lovable?”
I didn’t think she was lovable, and I did think that when we got home, I was going to lecture her until she burst into tears.
Eris, however, looked at me and said, “Kazuma, do you know you’re smiling?” She sounded as if she couldn’t be having more fun if she tried. Well, this was a pickle… She always seemed all kinds of vulnerable as the chief, but in her goddess form, I found Eris leading me around by the nose. And it killed me that I could never seem to say no to her when she smiled.
✦ ✦ ✦
I finally stood, smacking myself on the cheeks to pump myself up.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yeesh, what does that idiot take me for? Gotta admit, though, I’m impressed she was able to pull off a resurrection in the middle of a battle,” I said, walking toward the door back to the real world that had appeared in the middle of the room.
“And Darkness is still fending off the Demon King and his bodyguards all by herself. Hee-hee! Even the arch-fiend and his personal troops aren’t sure what to do about her toughness! I wish you could see how annoyed the Demon King looks right now,” Eris said, giggling.
✦ ✦ ✦
Well, yeah. Our Crusader had enviably high defense if nothing else. She was definitely the toughest in Axel—maybe in the whole world.
✦ ✦ ✦
I kept trying to tell myself that if Darkness could show some guts at a moment like this, so could I. But the thought of the enemy we were fighting still brought a sigh to my lips. “The Demon King, huh…?”
This was a real battle with a real final boss. First, we’d dealt with all those generals, and now this… Why did it always have to be the most powerful enemies for me? That stuff about my Luck being high must have been a load of nonsense…
As I reached the door, I turned to see Eris looking at me expectantly, her fist clenched in front of her chest. I said, “Just to be clear, you know I don’t have a plan, right? I can tell you exactly what’s going to happen if I rejoin that battle. But… Hey, I’ve come this far. Might as well show up for the finale.”
I doubt I sounded very inspiring, but Eris gave me a serious look and said, “Let me offer you just one piece of advice, then. My senior goddess is with you in this battle. You might not believe it, but she’s a real goddess with powerful abilities. She can even temporarily weaken the Demon King’s powers.”
“She can?! Geez, that almost makes her sound like a real goddess! …But wait, that moron never said a word about that.”
“I think m-maybe she forgot about it…”
……Was Aqua really a goddess with actual, powerful powers? I did remember one time she’d threatened to “seal” the lower half of my body with a seal so powerful, no human being would ever be able to undo it. And she’d used a seal, too, after Chris had stolen the divine necklace from Iris. So maybe…?
“So it sounds like the Demon King’s most dangerous ability is that he can boost the stats of any monsters around him. Can she nerf that, too?”
“I’m afraid not. She can only weaken the Demon King’s physical traits, his Magic Resistance, his Magic Power, that sort of thing… But speaking of lowering his Magic Resistance, I’ve got a hint for you. You can use Teleport, right, Kazuma?”
Bingo!
“With the king’s resistance lowered so that even my magic can work on him, I could teleport him right to the Axel police station! And then all the adventurers in town could dogpile on him!”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant! Remember that a detachment from the Demon King’s army is attacking Axel right now! The battle is still open at the moment, but if the Demon King was to appear there, the detachment would be strengthened, and the town would be annihilated in an instant.”
Shoot, I’d forgotten about the siege on the town…
“So what am I supposed to do?” I asked.
Eris raised her pointer finger. “One of your Teleport destinations is the bottom of that dungeon, right?” She looked at me like this should make perfect sense, like a kid who thinks they’re being really clever.
Ah! I was supposed to dump the Demon King at the bottom of the dungeon and strand him there!
“So I take him to the bottom of the dungeon and just leave him to die! Ooh, Lady Eris, you’re a nasty one. I think it’s a good plan, though.”
“No! That’s still not what I meant! There might be plenty of monsters down there, but the Demon King could easily bend them to his will. It would be no trouble for him to waltz out of that dungeon. And that’s why I want to ask you for a little favor, Kazuma…”
I had a bad feeling about this.