Chapter 207: The Falna Has Been Deciphered!
After Sena left, Aqua and the others began to come up with crooked ideas to rescue Kazuma.
Megumin suggested that she cast an Explosion outside the city to attract the guards' attention, and then the others could take the opportunity to rescue him.
Aqua, on the other hand, suggested that they not show their faces to avoid being caught, and instead just provide him with a tool that could dig through the jail cell, letting him escape on his own.
Darkness, for her part, had some switch flipped, and was clamoring to go and swap places with him, to take on the "disaster of the jail" in his stead. But she hadn't thought about the fact that, as the daughter of the Dustiness family, even if she did commit a crime, who would dare to arrest her?
And for some reason, even though he had just been arrested for a small misunderstanding, the way they were talking about it, it was as if he had committed a heinous, unpardonable crime and was about to be executed.
"You three, don't do anything extra."
Kobayashi was forced to give them a warning.
If these three were to cause trouble and say some other ridiculous things, causing him to be framed for other crimes, it was truly possible that Sena would sentence him.
But the three of them were huddled together, whispering about something, and they were getting more and more excited as they spoke, which truly made him uneasy.
There was no helping it. He would have to watch them tonight.
He had RyuZU watch Megumin, even following her to the bathroom. Aqua was plied with several bottles of sparkling liquor by him, and the drunken girl was carried to bed to sleep.
The next day.
As he had thought, Kazuma returned early in the morning.
The first thing he did after returning was to run over and cry to him, loudly voicing his grievances.
"Kobayashi-senpai! I... I...! Sob sob sob!"
"You've had it rough, Kazuma-kun."
He could only offer his comfort.
Kazuma's nature wasn't bad. Apart from being a little lewd, shameless, perverted, and sleazy, he could be called a good man.
And just as Darkness had evaluated him, to think that the timid-as-a-mouse Kazuma would make a move on a female adventurer on the street... that was absolutely impossible.
At most, he had just made some lewd hand gestures to scare off a female adventurer who was looking for trouble.
...By the way, that's still pretty vile.
After that, he asked him, as usual, what in the world had happened. And Kazuma, as if he needed to vent, poured out his grievances and told him the whole story.
It was very simple.
The new clothes he had made needed someone to try them on. After Megumin had used Explosion as a threat and had adamantly refused, he had no choice but to go to the street and grab someone.
Under the banner of paying money, he had smoothly found an unlucky person.
But the other party had immediately backed out after seeing the clothes.
Knowing that he might never find anyone else to fall for it, he naturally wouldn'To let her go.
This had, of course, provoked a strong resistance from the female adventurer.
If it had been an ordinary person, they might have given up. But how could he, who believed in gender equality, back down? On the grounds that she had already accepted the commission fee, he had forcibly put the clothes on her.
It was just that, to outsiders, it looked as if he were tearing her clothes off.
So...
"So you were judged to have made a move on a female adventurer on the street, and then you were subdued by the guards?"
"...Yes."
Kazuma lowered his head deeply.
At the same time, he was secretly observing his reaction. If things looked bad, he would immediately cry out about how he had been wronged.
Because he was afraid that his allowance would be docked.
His life creed had already changed. It didn't matter if it was a black-haired, straight-haired, big-breasted older sister or not. As long as he could be kept and eat soft rice, even if it was Kobayashi-senpai, it wasn't impossible!
Even without using [Spectator], he could see through his heart. Kobayashi laughed, dumbfounded. He had a feeling that he had made him even more useless.
To Kazuma's uncomprehending expression, he said, "Forget it. There's no use getting angry, and it's good that you weren't blamed too much. By the way, that female adventurer... did you apologize?"
"Mmm... Mmm... Sena forced me to."
A crystal tear rolled down the corner of his eye.
Although there was an element of faking it to gain sympathy, he, who knew Sena's personality, understood that his night had not been an easy one.
"That detestable prosecutor!"
"...What?"
Kazuma's aggrieved look vanished, and he said indignantly, "The misunderstanding had already been cleared up! It was just because I said she was too forceful and that she definitely didn't have a boyfriend! And then she got angry and forcibly detained me there for a long time!"
"...How about you try to find the reason in yourself?"
He shot him a look.
He was the one who had gotten carried away, and,仗着 he hadn't committed a crime, had provoked the other party with an arrogant attitude, had been rude to her, and had then been counter-killed.
What?
You ask how he knew?
After spending so much time with him, he knew his personality inside and out. He didn't even have to think to know what kind of reaction he would have.
"But it's so strange."
"What is?"
"When she came back, her expression had suddenly changed, as if she were a different person. That expression... that's right! It was the shyness of a girl in love!"
"Er..."
"Kobayashi-senpai, do you know something?"
"...You'd better not ask."
He patted his shoulder with a grave expression. That pained, despairing, and terrified look... it was the first time Kazuma had ever seen it.
Although he didn't know what had happened, it was definitely a taboo that could not be mentioned.
Kazuma engraved this in his heart.
While the two were chatting happily, Aqua and the others also walked out of their rooms, their eyes heavy with sleep. When they came to the living room and saw him sitting on the sofa, they showed no concern or even a greeting.
"Wait! I'm back! Isn't anyone going to welcome me?!"
"Ah, welcome back, Kazuma."
It was Darkness who had given him a perfunctory greeting.
Kazuma was dumbfounded.
He had just gotten out of jail, and from under the thumb of that strict royal prosecutor, at that. You could say he had been reborn.
But his companions were just too cold!
For those who knew, he had been in jail yesterday. For those who didn't, they would have thought he had just come back from the succubus shop.
Aqua covered her mouth, snickered, and mocked, "What, what? Don't tell me the perverted Kazuma wants to be comforted? And you were only arrested by the guards for harassing a female adventurer on the street."
"What did you say?!"
He was so angry he rolled up his sleeves, ready to cause trouble.
Megumin also took the opportunity to backstab him. "Isn't that the case? I heard about it. Even though she wasn't willing, you still insisted on forcing her... You scumbag."
The loli had been holding a grudge against him for a long time.
After all, she was always the one who was hurt and tricked. On the surface, she was his dedicated model, but in reality, she was just a convenient tool. If she didn't take the opportunity to kick him while he was down, how could she vent this resentment?
"..."
Kazuma pursed his lips, speechless.
Being blamed by the person who was often persecuted... he really didn't know how to argue.
Darkness, on the other hand, comforted him. "Don't be disappointed, Kazuma. Actually, when you were arrested, everyone was trying to come up with ideas to save you."
"R-really?!"
"Mmm. Like casting an Explosion outside the city, sending you escape tools, or stirring up public anger in the town."
"Everyone..."
Kazuma was incredibly moved.
He thought of his various vile acts in the past. He, who had been branded as "Scumbag Kazuma," actually felt a shred of shame.
He wiped the corners of his eyes. "If you had done that, you would definitely have been arrested."
"It's fine. In the end, we'd just say you were the one who ordered it."
"...Eh?"
Kazuma's movements froze.
Darkness said in a gentle voice the most heartbreaking words, "As long as we say you ordered it, the crime will be pinned on your head, and our punishment will be minimized."
"Y-you three...!!!"
He roared.
He really didn't know if they had wanted to save him or to harm him.
Fortunately, they didn't do such a stupid thing.
'But... it must have been senpai who stopped them.'
He thought.
With these idiots' way of doing things, it was really possible they would have done that. Since last night had passed peacefully, it proved that he had stopped them.
As expected, only Kobayashi-senpai is reliable.
...Except for his taste in equipment.
"Alright! Since Darkness is back, and Kazuma-kun has returned safely, let's go do a quest for the first time in a long time! In the name of the party!"
"Yeah!!!" x4
The group cheered and rushed to the Adventurer's Guild.
On the way, Megumin was yelling about wanting to do a high-difficulty quest, like subjugating a One-Strike Bear, or, if not, taking out a Hydra.
Darkness's return had given the loli a strong sense of confidence, and she looked as if everyone else was just a nobody.
To be honest, she was just asking for a beating.
This proposal was, naturally, strongly rejected by Kazuma.
The party's setup looked perfect, but every one of them was a problem child. For something that could very well lead to an accident and his death, he wanted no part of it.
When they arrived at the guild, they found that there was still a quest to subjugate a Manticore.
Curious, the group went to the counter to ask for the reason.
Luna said with some distress, "Actually, there were two Manticores outside Axel. After one of them was subjugated, the other one went berserk. Many adventurers have already gone to subjugate it, but have all returned empty-handed."
"Don't tell me... last time, we didn't..."
"No. The guild didn't investigate clearly. It's not your fault."
Even though she said that, he and the others still felt that the responsibility was on their side.
As for accepting the quest, Kazuma said they could try.
One, they had experience, and even if it didn't work, they could just have RyuZU make a move. Two, the Manticore's fur was useful; his right-hand glove was made of it.
On top of that, the reward was very high. The group set their sights on the berserk Manticore.
Axel's Suburban Plain.
"Kazuma-kun!"
"—Snipe!"
The party's sniper, Kazuma, stood on high ground, drew his longbow, and shot an arrow.
Relying on his super-high luck, he easily hit one of the Manticore's eyes.
"Screeech—"
With a high-pitched screech like an eagle's, the Manticore, its left eye injured, circled in the air in pain. He seized the opportunity, and with a flick of his right hand, several threads shot towards the sky and wrapped around its wings.
A hard pull!
The Manticore, which had lost its balance, was immediately pulled down and fell to the ground. Its wildly flapping wings instantly kicked up a cloud of fog that obscured their vision.
Seeing this, he took the opportunity to rush up and, with one blow, beheaded it.
The whole process was clean and neat.
"Ooooh!!!" x4
As he held up his longsword, the party members also began to cheer.
This was the first time they had defeated a powerful monster with their own teamwork, without relying on RyuZU's strength.
Today was a day to be remembered.
"But... the Manticore subjugation quests are over."
"Ah."
The two Manticores were a male and a female. They had come to the resource-rich and smoke-free beginner town of Axel to reproduce.
It was precisely because of this that they had been indiscriminately capturing livestock from the pastures as a food reserve, and it was also because of this that they had been bountied by the Guild, and finally subjugated by him and his party.
One could only say that all things are preordained.
Last time, they had taken advantage of the male's absence to sneak attack and kill the female. They had thought the remaining male would leave, but they had underestimated its loyalty to its love. It had not left, even in death.
Unfortunately, they had not found any eggs.
They probably hadn't been fertilized yet, and had been subjugated by them while they were still in the preparation phase.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have been bad to take one as a pet and raise it as a mount.
To soar in the sky... if not a dragon knight, it would be nice to be a Manticore knight.
Having successfully subjugated the Manticore again, his and his party's fame had spread even further, and it was even more fervent than before.
After all, without comparison, there is no harm.
Many adventurers had gone to subjugate the Manticore and had all returned empty-handed. Only he and his party had succeeded. That in itself said a lot.
The next few days were a little quieter.
One must have a tense and exciting adventurer life, but one must also have a slow and relaxed useless-bum life.
At the request of the entire party... mainly Aqua and Kazuma... they temporarily suspended their adventurer activities and quietly waited for the arrival of spring.
...That's how it should have been.
One day, as he was lying with his head in RyuZU's lap, enjoying a leisurely afternoon, Aqua rushed out of her room in a flurry.
"Kobayashi—!!!"
"Wh-what is it?"
Under RyuZU's slightly resentful gaze, he couldn't help but sit up straight.
Aqua was waving a very familiar-looking parchment scroll in her right hand. She proudly stuck her little nose in the air, puffed out her chest, and said in a loud, proud voice, "I, the great Goddess of Water and Wisdom, have successfully deciphered the 'Falna'!"
"...Huh?"
He gaped in surprise.
He actually hadn't had high expectations of her. After all, it was something created by a god from another world, an existence on the same level as her.
If it were that easy to decipher, then wouldn't the gods of the other world be too unimpressive?
He hadn't expected happiness to come so quickly!
(End of Chapter)