"Shichen, what's wrong?" Darkness came running over, excited, carrying a bag of big bananas.
"Help me pry this little girl off me," Shichen said helplessly. It was only because she was a kid—and kind of cute. If it had been a man, he would've kicked him away.
"What's with this little girl?" Darkness still hadn't figured it out.
"She's an Axis follower."
"Another Axis follower? Alright, got it."
Darkness stepped closer, crouched a little, and pulled a pendant from her chest—a small charm.
She held it up in front of the girl's eyes. "Sorry, I'm a follower of Eris. If you want to recruit that man, you'll have to ask me first…"
"Ptooey!"
Before Darkness could finish, the little girl spat to the side, looking disgusted.
The charm was a symbol of Darkness's Eris faith.
The girl might not recognize the charm, but Darkness's words were enough—Axis followers hate Eris followers most.
The girl immediately let go of Shichen, picked up her shopping bag, and hurried off.
"Uh…" Darkness stared after her, dazed.
Then the girl turned her head back and spat again. "Ptooey!"
She then jogged away.
The whole scene left Shichen dumbfounded.
Frieren even more so—she finally, fully understood why everyone was so afraid of Axis followers.
"Don't take it to heart, Darkness. You know Axis and Eris don't get along… This is Axis headquarters. You'd better put that charm away…"
"Mmm~"
Shichen was about to console the stiff, frozen Darkness when she let out a little moan.
She even shivered.
Shichen fell silent.
He'd almost forgotten—Darkness had her own issues.
"Are you… excited?" he asked blankly.
"I am not!" Darkness shot back at once.
"Heh—then don't expect me to 'feed' you your supplements for a while."
"What? You can't! I really wasn't! Please don't! I've already been left hanging for half a month. It actually kind of feels nice, but if possible…"
"Forget it—you asked for it. You actually got turned on by a little girl's disgust. What if you start feeling that way toward men?"
"That's impossible," Darkness said, suddenly serious.
"Yeah? We'll see how you behave."
"There's… still a chance to make it up to you?"
"Depends on how you do."
"I understand!"
"Shichen, can you put me down? I still need to buy grapes," Frieren chimed in right on cue.
"Oh, almost forgot." Shichen set her down.
She didn't mind, and with small steps headed for the grape stall.
While everyone shopped for fruit, no more Axis believers came over. Maybe the little girl had warned the others there was an Eris follower here, so no one approached.
But that shouldn't be it. If they knew Darkness followed Eris, they'd be itching to cause trouble.
More likely this spot was just less crowded, and the little girl happened to be shopping.
Once Frieren and the others finished buying what they wanted, Shichen didn't linger and led everyone back.
Outside was still too risky.
On the way, as they passed a narrow alley, a cute little girl ran out, and right behind her came a burly, fierce-looking man who grabbed her.
"Eek—help! Please, sirs and madams, save me!" the girl cried to Shichen's group. "This man is terrifying—and he looks like an Eris follower! He's going to force himself on me and drag me into a dark alley…"
"Heh-heh… Hey, you over there— you're not Axis followers, right? Hahaha! If you were strong and handsome Axis believers, I'd be scared and run. But since you're not, I won't be polite! I'm blessed by the Dark God Eris. If you get in my way, I won't go easy on you~" The burly man's words were scary, but his tone wasn't.
"Ahh, how awful! But it's fine—I happen to have a few Axis Church application forms!" the little girl said, pulling out some papers. "Just sign here to join the Axis Church, and we can scare this evil Eris follower away!"
"…," Frieren looked to Shichen.
"Let's go," Shichen said, pretending he hadn't seen a thing.
"Hey, don't just watch someone die! It's fine—just sign and join the Axis Church, and Aqua-sama will grant you unbelievable superpowers, making you strong and handsome! Then I, an Eris follower, will definitely run away in fear!"
"That's right, that's right! And once you join, you'll get all kinds of perks—like becoming super talented, or being very popular with undead monsters!"
The two of them were doing a rehearsed routine; their goal couldn't have been more obvious.
Shichen shook his head and sighed. "Darkness."
"Yes."
Darkness showed them her charm. "As you can see, I'm an Eris follower. And you dare call Eris-sama a 'Dark God' in front of me—"
"Ptooey!"
Before she could finish, the girl and the man both spat into the alley and turned away.
Axis believers really are all the same.
Shichen was used to it by now. He glanced at Darkness—at least this time she was acting normal.
That pleased him a bit. Looked like he could reward her with a soak in the hot springs later.
"Let's go. We should head back early. It's really not wise to stay out."
"I think so too."
"Move, move."
On the way back, they ran into plenty more of that nonsense.
"Congratulations! You're the one-millionth passerby on this avenue! We're giving you a commemorative gift—sponsored by the Axis Church! To claim it, please fill out this simple form. Don't worry, it's just borrowing your name for a purely formal enrollment."
"Aiya, long time no see—it's me! How have you been? You forgot me? We went to the same school! Same grade, same class! You really don't remember me? Do I look different? It's all thanks to joining the Axis Church! Don't you want to become like me?"
"…Enough. Let's just Teleport back to the inn," Shichen said, fed up.
"Should've done that earlier. What is wrong with this town? It's ridiculous," Megumin griped.
"It's the Axis Church, after all," Yunyun said.
"Fine."
"I won't let you badmouth them like that!" Aqua protested.
"Zip it." Shichen flicked her on the head and brought everyone straight back to the inn.
He'd wanted to walk the city more and mark all the locations, but that didn't seem necessary anymore.
Back at the inn, Shichen relaxed a lot and plopped onto the bed.
It was a Western-style inn with no tatami. The bed was fancy and big enough for four or five people.
He'd booked three rooms, each with its own hot spring bath.
Megumin shared with Yunyun; Frieren and Aqua shared with Shichen; Darkness had a room to herself.
She needed to get up early to train, and no one wanted to be woken up.
Of course, that also conveniently let Shichen… make other plans.
Megumin and Yunyun went straight to their room, Darkness as well. After a short while, Shichen got up to leave.
"You two go ahead and use the hot spring. I've got something to do."
"Huh? You're not bathing with us?" Aqua asked.
"Me?" Shichen glanced at Frieren.
"Why look at me? If you want to bathe, bathe," Frieren said, reading her manga without lifting her head.
"I'll pass. Maybe tonight."
"Alright."
Shichen left, masked his presence, and went straight to Darkness's room.
As expected, she was already soaking in the bath. Pale skin glowed above the water; despite the steam, two round mounds were clearly visible.
The key points sat right at water level.
"Shichen?!" Darkness lit up the moment she saw him.
"Mm." He looked at her.
"I-I'll help you get your clothes off, okay?"
Even though she asked, Darkness didn't wait for an answer. She stood, came over, and helped him undress.
Water dripped onto the floor, pat-pat.
Before long, Shichen gently pushed aside the bright-eyed, squatting Darkness, went to sit at the edge of the bath, and dipped his legs in.
The water was on the hot side, but just right.
Splash.
Darkness jumped into the bath, faced Shichen, and kept moving closer.
This time, Shichen didn't stop her. He lay back, gazing up at the blue sky.
Darkness was beyond words.
~~~
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