The legend of the Crimson Demon clan started from Suqing

#116 - The organization is calling you

The next day, early in the morning, Kazuma and Megumin walked out of their rooms together, full of energy after a good night's sleep.

It must be said that with a beauty by his side, Kazuma didn't feel scared at all, and he was truly grateful for Megumin's efforts.

It's just that it was terribly noisy outside last night.

"That should be it. Quite a few, too."

Aqua wiped the sweat from her forehead, and after purifying the last evil spirit possessing a doll, she looked at the brightening sky outside the window and said, "In the end, I still had to work until dawn."

As expected of an expert at dealing with undead monsters. Such a large mansion, and she solved the evil spirits inside in just one night.

Speaking of which, if she had this skill, why did she even bother going to the construction site in the first place?

However, apart from Aqua, who was still full of energy, Kazuma, Yunyun, and even Darkness looked somewhat tired. It seems there was a reason why it was so noisy last night. Evil spirits are not easy to deal with after all.

How does that saying go again?

There is no such thing as a peaceful life; someone is bearing the burden for you.

Especially Yunyun's resentful gaze made Kazuma feel even more guilty.

But Megumin, like a cat that had successfully stolen a treat, grinned at Yunyun, revealing a provocative smile that made her even more depressed.

During breakfast, Yunyun stared at Kazuma with her red eyes, while constantly stabbing the food on her plate with a fork, again and again, making Kazuma hallucinate that it was a kitchen knife continuously stabbing his body.

…Am I Makoto Itou, or what!?

BEEP——

The sound of the kettle boiling startled Kazuma, but he quickly saw Darkness carrying the tea over.

The group sat in the living room, chatting idly.

Kazuma asked, "Speaking of which, Aqua, what happened to that noble's illegitimate child in the mansion you mentioned? Didn't you say she wasn't an evil spirit and wouldn't harm us?"

At first, when she told him there were evil spirits, he refused to believe it. After all, he couldn't just believe everything she said. But after being tormented so much last night, he couldn't help but believe it.

"Ah, now that you mention it, there was indeed such a spirit," Aqua clapped her hands and said, "Don't worry, she's not an evil spirit, and I always felt like she was the one secretly drinking my bubbly sake."

"No, that's not what I'm asking about."

Kazuma wasn't interested in her stolen bubbly sake.

"But it's strange. When I saw that little girl last night, she was sticking her head into Kazuma's room, peeking, and she kept peeking like that all night… So, Kazuma, what exactly did you do last night?"

Hearing Aqua say this out of the blue, Kazuma's body stiffened.

He thought there were only two people last night, but who would have thought there was an invisible ghostly audience? Wouldn't that mean all the embarrassing things were exposed!?

Darkness also asked curiously, "Yes, Megumin was with you last night, right? What happened?"

"Ahhhhh——!"

Megumin suddenly shouted, her red eyes looking a bit scary.

Then, she approached the idiot goddess and said excitedly, "Aqua, purify her too! Having a ghost in the house just feels uneasy, right? So, this is my once-in-a-lifetime request as a companion, please purify her quickly!"

"Eh, I guess I could…"

"Don't do that!"

Kazuma stopped the two from doing something terrible.

Yesterday, he found a small grave in the corner of the mansion's courtyard. Out of curiosity, he pulled out all the weeds there and sprinkled water to clean the tombstone, revealing the name on it.

—Anna Flantier Estro

Combined with the name of the girl that Aqua mentioned when they first entered, it was clear that the other party was the earthbound spirit of this mansion.

Thinking of saying that the visitor is not friendly?

Please, you are the visitor.

She is the old owner.

Darkness said, "I don't care, as long as it's not an evil spirit, they can exist. Kazuma, what about you?"

"…Me too."

Kazuma said this against his will, while enduring Yunyun's constant pounding.

Afterward, the group went to the guild.

In principle, it would be better to report to the guild, although they didn't take on a quest. But logically speaking, this should be work that the guild must find a way to handle.

Purifying the haunted house in town might earn them some temporary reward.

Hearing that there was money to be made, Aqua immediately agreed.

The group arrived at the guild and explained the situation to the counter lady, who nodded to indicate that she understood the matter after seeing the countless evil spirits on Aqua's adventurer card, and gave them a considerable temporary reward.

—Just like when Kazuma and the others dealt with the large slime before.

Originally, Kazuma felt that they shouldn't accept it, because in his opinion, it was entirely Aqua's fault. If she hadn't set up a magic circle in the cemetery, it wouldn't have been haunted. But the counter lady said it was to be regarded as a reward for purifying the cemetery, so he reluctantly accepted it.

And when that gentleman heard that the person who purified the evil spirits in the mansion was a member of the Axis Church, he immediately stated that they could use the mansion as they pleased, and wrote in the letter with a very grateful tone—Praise the Water Goddess Aqua.

Looking at the gentleman who had been completely corrupted between the lines, Kazuma only felt that the Axis Church was no different from the indescribable Cthulhu.

So the group moved into the mansion.

With the Headless Horseman defeated, Axel welcomed winter.

Because only very powerful monsters are active in winter, adventurers have no choice but to hide in the town. Therefore, in the common sense of the residents of this world, winter should be spent at home.

Kazuma and his group were the same.

Since living together, Kazuma had seemed very excited, and he didn't know what he was happy about every day.

Feeling a sense of crisis, Kazuma hung a sign on his room door.

[Kazuma and dogs not allowed]

He didn't know if Kazuma's actions reminded the others, but they all hung corresponding signs on their room doors, which made Kazuma jump up and down in anger.

Honestly, he was already very lucky.

If Aqua had summoned a large amount of water to destroy the city walls during the battle with the Headless Horseman, then Kazuma should now be pitifully squatting in front of the stove doing handicrafts to pay back the money. How could he still be able to go out and mess around with other adventurers?

And when Kazuma thought that he would be similar to previous years, just lazily staying at home, spending a boring and tedious winter.

Chris came to visit.

"Yo, hello, how are you guys doing?"

"Chris, welcome."

Darkness thoughtfully prepared tea for her.

"Thank you."

She took the tea and sat on the sofa without any sense of unfamiliarity, looking around the mansion and saying, "This place is really nice. The environment is also very relaxing. You guys really found a good place."

"Is that so? It's not that great, is it?"

Darkness seemed very casual. She was originally a noble lady, and the mansions she lived in were much more luxurious than this.

"Hehe he, is that so?"

Chris remained noncommittal.

As the goddess Eris in disguise, she certainly knew Darkness's true identity.

"Let's stop the small talk here."

Kazuma crossed his arms and looked at her curiously, "Chris, what are you here for?"

"How mean, can't I come to catch up?"

"No, that's not what I meant."

"Just kidding," Chris said with a smile, "Isn't it because Darkness found teammates? So I thought I'd come see you guys… Of course, there are other reasons besides that."

Her expression became slightly serious, and Kazuma and the others also became serious.

"There's a request."

"A request?"

"That's right. But it's not for you, it's for Kazuma."

"…Ah, me?"

While everyone else was surprised and confused, Chris looked straight at Kazuma and said something unexpected.

"—Let's go, there's a request."

What's with this [the organization is calling you] vibe?

Admittedly, what Kazuma couldn't deny was that when he was a young and inexperienced boy, he had also imagined, like a certain unlucky child, that an ultimate beautiful girl would descend from the sky, saying to all his classmates in front of everyone, "Hey, there's no time to party here anymore, the world is waiting for you to save it," and then leave in a helicopter under the astonished gazes of his classmates, leaving behind a legendary tale to be imagined.

But…

The past is the past, and now is now.

"…Sorry, I don't seem to remember having any agreement with you, Chris. I don't know anything about any request."

"W-wait, wait a minute, Kazuma, don't you remember! ?"

Hearing him say this, Chris's expression kept changing. Under the curious gazes of the others, she pulled Kazuma's arm and came to the corner of the room.

"Hey, hey, how can you not remember!"

"Huh?"

When she said this, it made Kazuma also curious. No matter how much he searched his memory, he couldn't find anything about having an agreement with her.

Also, what kind of request is it?

Why doesn't he have any memory of it?

"The Divine Relics! The Divine Relics!" Chris said, suppressing her voice, but still slightly excited, "Don't you remember? To retrieve the Divine Relics of this world! Didn't you promise?"

"Oh, oh, the Divine Relics!"

Kazuma suddenly understood.

He had always regarded Chris as Chris, so he hadn't associated it with the request for the Divine Relics. It seemed that what she said just now was a euphemism.

"Wait a moment."

"What's wrong?"

"I need to correct something. I only said I would accept it back then, but I didn't say I would agree to it, so it doesn't count."

Accept ≠ Agree.

The inequality is solved in seconds!

"What a joke! What a joke!"

Hearing Kazuma say this, Chris angrily pounded his back, scolding, "You didn't say that to me back then! You said you would agree to go find the Divine Relics together, you clearly promised me in person! If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have resurrected you in the first place! Damn it, damn it!"

"But the person who resurrected me back then was Aqua, and I reincarnated as a native of this world. Theoretically speaking, that should be the first resurrection…"

Also, Goddess Eris, you accidentally misspoke again, revealing your secret."