After my eyes recovered from the dizzying glare, I found myself standing in a familiar place

The throne room of the demon king.

With the body of slain demons littered across the hall.

My sudden reappearance seemed to have left everyone in shock ——

“Kazuma, you’re…back…right…?”

Darkness and Megumin had their greeting cut short with a wince

Now that I look closer, Darkness suffered severe injuries.

Even though they didn’t look life threatening, but I can already imagine the fierce battle that must’ve taken place

Megumin and Yunyun both looked shell-shocked, but otherwise unharmed.

Across them, Mitsurugi was on the ground, tended to by his two companions.

The rhythm of his chest meant that he was still alive.

“Um…”

Now standing by my side, Megumin pointed at the goddess Eris and asked timidly, “That…who is that person?”

Eris didn’t know how to react as I pointed to her.
“This…is Eris-sama herself. Brought here as my reward for defeating the demon king.

“Ah!?” x3

Megumin, Yunyun, and Darkness let out a surprised yelp and two of them backed away slightly.

While Darkness kneel down.

“She…Eris-sama! You look just like the scriptures say. Just…just like…?”

Facing Eris, Darkness slowly raised her head and looked up with a suspicious gaze.

Eris tried to avoid eye contact with her faithful

Just then

“Whyyyyy————!”

“Ah! How did you come down here by yourself!”

“Eh, senpai?! What are you doing here? This is against the rules!? You can’t come down here without permission you know!?”

When she heard our voice, Aqua broke out in tears

“Wahhhhhh! Ka-Kazumaaaaaa! Wahhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Wahhhhhhhhhh!”

“You just get more and more annoying by the day! Get a hold of yourself! I was going to get you right after this, why did you do this you idiot!”

The familiar sight of Aqua bawling like a baby put Megumin and Darkness at ease as they both exhaled with relief

“Um…! I don’t really understand what’s happening, but if the priest is back then she can save Kyouya!”

“Right, he’s badly hurt!”

“The demon king army! The demon king army is back! The demon king’s daughter is leading the charge!
Yunyun’s yell covered up the two other voices as she spotted the oncoming horde from the balcony.

Not this again.

But, we’ve accomplished what we set out to do, it should time to retreat.

“Okay, stop crying, I was just joking around, let’s hurry up and get out of here! We can’t stay here any longer, we can talk about this later…”

“Wahhhhhh! Owahhhhhhhhh!”

“That, um…. Darkness…? Why, why are standing so close to me…”

“You…look a lot like a friend of mine”

While Darkness was eyeing Eris with great suspicion and Aqua continued crying, Yunyun and Megumin…

Oi, wait a…!

<Explosion!>

Megumin ran to the balcony with the bag of manatites in hand and was unleashing her explosion magic upon the remnants of the demon king army.

“Megumin!? Wa-wait, What are you doing!?”

<Explosion!> <Explosion!>

“Stop! Megumin, stop it! Your nose! Your nose is bleed!”

Yunyun managed to restrain Megumin just as I reached the balcony myself.

As I peered over, I saw the demon king army overcome with panic and its soldiers scattered in all directions.
There was one being shielded by the other monsters…I guess that must be the demon king’s daughter.

“Wahahaha! I am the demon king Megumin! Those who dare to approach my castle will taste the might of the world’s strongest explosion magic! The fools who have gathered here! I will have

“Megumin! Calm down Megumin! We did manage to defeat this demon king, but what do we if another one comes along!?”

That’s right. I truly hope to never go through this again.

――Time to go。

“Yunyun, please cast teleportation magic for us! I don’t have enough for you guys.”

“Eh…ah…! I should have enough to do it twice…! But…right now…”

Teleportation magic can send up to four people at a time.

Including Eris, we have 9.

“Looks like it can’t be helped. Kazuma, hurry and use this!”

Megumin, the one who single-handedly repelled the demon king’s daughter and her army, wiped her nosebleed as she passed to me her staff.
“Oi… stop messing around”
“After I received that valuable gift, I wanted to reciprocate with something equally valuable… but, it seems like someone doesn’t believe in such customs.”

“Eh?... Is this about me? Are you talking about me!?”

“Everyone, gather up please, I’m about to use teleport magic to take us home!”

“Could you please heal Kyouya before we go! His pulse is getting weaker and weaker!”

“His breathing is getting weaker too…!”

“Eris-sama, have we met before…?”

“Nonono, we never met before okay!? Oh…What do I do about this mess…”

<Teleport!>

Eris, Mitsurugi, and his two cheerleaders were sent away, leaving the five of us in the room.

“Wahhhh…together…together…”

Aqua’s bawling had subsided into sobbing by the time Yunyun put her hand onto Aqua’s shoulder

Megumin stood beside them and was wiping blood from Darkness’ face.

Then,

<Teleport!>

After the flash of light from Yunyun’s spell faded, the quietly sobbing Aqua remained in this room.
 “Eh? What’s going on!? Why didn’t you teleport with the rest of them?”

“Wahhh, I refuse, because I want to be together with Kazuma…!....together…”

Aqua was still crying as she explained herself

“You…! You, what do you want, we’re almost out of time…!”

“No, that’s not it! It’s not like that, listen to me!”

Aqua frantically tried to string words together while suppressing her tears.

“I wanted to say something! But not in front of Eris, that…that…”

“What is it then! Did you even have something to

With a slight panic setting in, I hurriedly tried to get Aqua to voice whatever she was holding back, but she remained quiet while tears streamed down her cheeks.

At the same time, I picked up the sound of something running towards us.

There might be a secret passage leading to the throne room.

Aqua finally spoke as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“…Umm, Kazuma”

“What is it, spit it out! It’ll be a disaster if we stay any longer. Unless you plan on throwing a welcoming party?!”

Aqua shook her head
“Well…okay, I… I really am not a bit bright am I?”

“That’s what you wanted to say? Then yeah you’re an idiot”

Aqua winced at my retort

“…fine then. I won’t say it after all then.”
“Okay what is it!? Please hurry up! I can hear footsteps getting closer now!”。
The noise of the approaching raid grew louder by the second.

Inside the throne room, the only one left were myself and

Aqua, who slowly raised her head and

Just like that, showed me a divine smile

“Kazuma, thank you for bringing me to this world.”
……

It felt as if the noise from outside faded away

This was truly unbelievable

I never would have thought this would be possible

That there would be a day, when my heart would be moved by this person.