svetikya #199 - That's right, how can we be regarded as heroes?
#199 - That's right, how can we be regarded as heroes?
This move wasn't as earth-shattering as Explosion magic; in fact, to outsiders, it seemed more like a childish chuunibyou act, especially considering Yunyun was a Crimson Demon.
Everyone was incredibly anxious.
Especially Kazuma Satou, who was starting to regret his impulsive decision to let Yunyun do as she pleased.
If this resulted in the strongest member of the team being taken offline due to death, they would have no way to stop the rampaging and swelling Hans slime.
Waiting was undoubtedly the most agonizing part.
When everything was calm, with Yunyun frozen in a sword-swinging pose and Hans standing with its mouth wide open, cold sweat dripped down Kazuma Satou's face.
What was going on?
What was happening?
Had it succeeded, failed, or had they both been taken out?
"Hey, hey, Kazuma."
"Yes, I'm Kazuma."
"What's going on? Why aren't either of them moving?"
"How am I supposed to know that?!"
Kazuma Satou snapped at Aqua.
However, thanks to the idiot goddess's words, he noticed that, besides the unmoving Yunyun, the big guy that had been heading towards the hot spring—the giant slime clone—had also stopped.
"Yunyun...?"
"Yeah, feels great."
Yunyun lowered her sword and lifted her head, a look of utter satisfaction on her face. Only then did everyone realize that she had just been striking a pose, savoring the afterglow of defeating a powerful enemy.
It was no wonder.
The 'who has the harder life' move was a double-edged sword.
The first time she used it on Ikki Kurogane, it was just an illusion, so it only reduced his stamina; the second time, when she used it on Kazuma Satou for real, she was the one who ended up dying; the third time, when she used it on Winter Shogun, she ended up resisting the entire world. Only the fourth time was she finally successful, and the target was even a powerful member of the Demon King's army, which greatly satisfied her empty heart.
Maybe her life really was hard.
However, this also raised a question: if her life was so hard, would she still have a chance to break fate and become a majin? Would she be hopeless for the rest of her life?
"S-Successful, right? Everyone, we succeeded, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, we won."
"Awesome!"
Getting a definite answer from Kazuma Satou, Aqua couldn't help but raise her hands and shout in triumph.
Yunyun looked at the name of the Poisonous Slime Hans appearing on her adventurer card, and a smile crept onto her face.
Although it was full of twists and turns, she had at least achieved her goal in coming here.
"Speaking of which..."
Darkness looked at the giant slime body, several stories high, and asked everyone, "What should we do with this big guy...?"
"Ah!" xN
She immediately asked the key question.
Megumin looked at the slime, which was many times larger than them, and said, "We were originally planning to have Aqua summon a large amount of water to weaken the Demon King Army's executive, Hans, but..."
"We didn't expect it to become so big," Yunyun also muttered slightly.
Fortunately, Yunyun's move played a decisive role at the last critical moment, otherwise, who knows what would have happened if such a big guy entered the hot spring.
"Ah, it hurts!"
"...Yunyun, what are you doing?"
"Checking if it's poisonous."
"How could it not be poisonous?"
Yunyun touched the giant slime, and her finger was burned by the poison. As expected of a Demon King Army executive, even after being diluted so many times, it was still full of poison.
"...What should we do?"
"Yeah, leaving it here is also a problem... Hey, Aqua, aren't you the goddess who's best at doing odd jobs? You come up with a solution."
"I'm not an odd-job goddess! But don't worry, I'll purify it completely!"
Aqua wasn't angry even after being scolded.
After all, they had just defeated a Demon King Army executive and resolved the crisis in this town. That's right, they were great heroes!
...But how should I put it?
The more complacent they were, the more likely something troublesome would happen. This was probably their fate.
"Defeat the demons! Kill the Demon King! Defeat the demons! Kill the demons! Defeat the demons! Kill the demons!..."
Chants came from the distance.
Torches gathered together, illuminating the crowd moving towards them. It was the residents of Axel, who had probably noticed something was wrong at the source and had come specifically.
"Kazuma, Kazuma, look!"
"Yes, I'm Kazuma."
"Everyone's here to celebrate with us! We're sure to be very popular in this town for defeating a Demon King Army executive!"
"...Is that so?"
Kazuma Satou activated his Clairvoyance, and the expressions on those people's faces felt murderous.
It was probably because they didn't know that they had successfully defeated the Demon King Army executive, but it didn't matter. As long as he told them, he would definitely be popular. That's right, he was the hero who saved this town!
He puffed out his chest.
However—
"Look, it's them!"
"Are you the villains who want to destroy the hot spring? No wonder you caused a commotion in the town, you detestable members of the Demon King's army!"
"That's right, that big, pitch-black thing behind them doesn't look like anything good. It's an evil existence that makes us feel disgusted. Surrender obediently!"
Ah, ah? 嘞?
Kazuma Satou and Aqua were dumbfounded. They never expected that they, who were clearly great heroes who had saved the town, would instantly become the Demon King's lackeys who were being denounced.
"W-Wait, everyone!"
Surrounded by a large group of Axis Church members, Aqua stood up and said loudly to everyone, "That's enough! Fine, in that case, this lady will reveal her true identity! All you devout Axis Church followers here, my name is Aqua! That's right, it's Aqua, the water goddess you worship!"
"...We're doomed."
"This guy is just making things worse!"
Yunyun and Kazuma Satou twitched their lips.
She really didn't learn her lesson. She had been cursed and cried so loudly the last time she revealed her identity, and now she dared to do it again.
The latest novel is first published on 69shuba.com!
And the result...
"Stop talking nonsense, you rude fellow!"
"Just because you have blue hair and blue eyes doesn't mean you can pretend to be the goddess Aqua. Be careful of divine punishment!"
"Dunk her! Put her in a pig cage and throw her into the hot spring! Since she says she's the water goddess, she'll be fine even if she's thrown into the hot spring!"
The Axis Church members cursed her angrily, and even threw stones at her.
"D-Don't, stop it! Stop, stop it! And don't make me soak in the hot spring here, I'll be scalded to death!"
"Look! She's definitely a fake goddess! A goddess wouldn't be scalded to death by a hot spring!"
"Whyyyyyy!"
Aqua wailed.
No wonder they say the Axis Church members are all crazy. The goddess clearly doesn't have such abilities, but they've fabricated all kinds of abilities for her... Aqua can't even stand a little pain, let alone being scalded.
But even so, she would rather be hurt herself than fail to save this town.
How should I put it...
It's hilarious!
Yunyun and Kazuma Satou covered their mouths and snickered.
Darkness then stood up and shouted to everyone, "Wait, everyone! This is a misunderstanding, we actually..."
"Don't listen to her! This guy is an Eris Church member, and even took out her Eris Church necklace on the street to show off! Maybe she's just an Eris Church member who deliberately came to cause trouble in order to suppress us! That's right, Eris Church members are like that!"
"What!?"
"She's actually an Eris Church member!"
"Unforgivable!"
The Axis Church hated demons the most, but the Eris Church was a close second. Self-identifying as an Eris Church member in front of Axis Church members made her an incurable idiot.
Stones continued to fall on the perverted female knight, causing her to squirm in delight, and she even took out her Eris Church necklace to be hit even harder, making everyone even angrier.
Honestly, I really hoped she would have taken out the Dustiness family's keepsake instead of the Eris Church necklace that attracted hatred.
Yunyun, who was carrying Megumin on her back, couldn't bear it.
The kind-hearted her quickly stood up and said to everyone, "Wait, everyone! We're not bad people, we just stopped all this!"
"You... red eyes and black hair, you must be a Crimson Demon!?"
"Eh? Y-Yes... I'm a Crimson Demon."
"The Crimson Demons are our allies, of course we'll trust you! Thank you for your hard work. You look so tired, and even your companions look exhausted. It must have been hard dealing with those guys! But it's okay now, we're here to help! Okay, come over to our side quickly!"
Two people rushed out of the crowd and dragged the two of them back, ignoring Yunyun's resistance.
Not just the two of them.
Even Yunyun, who was watching the show from the side, was inexplicably dragged over by an older sister. The Axis Church members surrounded the three of them in the middle of the crowd and protected them.
What's going on, this sense of security!?
The Axis Church members were all crazy people, but they were really protective, and their cohesion was really something else. At first, Yunyun was quite disgusted with these hopeless guys, but now it seemed like it wasn't all bad.
It's just a pity that no matter what Yunyun and the other two said now, the Axis Church members wouldn't listen, and unanimously believed that Kazuma Satou and the others were the Demon King's lackeys.
The two sides continued to pull and tug.
Until the town's guard arrived and threatened to 'treat anyone who continued to make trouble as subverting the country', the farce gradually subsided.
Yunyun had seen the leader of the guard who arrested them before. It was the older sister who had arrested Jesta before and almost had her underwear pulled off by Cecily.
She was very kind to Yunyun, who had come to deliver a letter, and warmly welcomed Yunyun and the other two Crimson Demons. After Kazuma Satou and the other three went to the guard station, took out their adventurer cards as evidence, and explained what happened, they were quickly released.
"Waaah... Waaah waaah..."
Aqua had been crying non-stop since leaving the guard station.
"I tried so hard... I'm the one who saved the hot spring... Why did they still throw stones at me... Waaah... Waaah waaah...!"
That's the taste, that's the taste.
This always happened when they gained an advantage. Honestly, they were already used to it.