Chapter 128: The Third World-Crossing
In this world, there is a group of people called adventurers.
They fight monsters that threaten the safety of the people day and night. They live a life of "drink today for tomorrow we may die," earning money just to eat and drink. That's the kind of people they are.
But even for such unplanned adventurers, when winter comes, they will also hole up in their inns and live a leisurely life. This is because the weaker monsters mostly hibernate in the winter, and the ones that are still active are all very difficult to deal with.
The town that Kobayashi and the others use as their base—Axel—is a town where novice adventurers gather. Therefore, the adventurers here are not much stronger than ordinary people. For them, doing a subjugation-type job in the winter is no different from suicide.
...Actually, all of the above is just an excuse.
The reason he and the others weren't doing quests was purely due to laziness. After all, a warm bed in winter is just too tempting. On top of that, their savings were very large. To go and work in the freezing cold outside would truly be looking for suffering... except for a certain perverted knight who wanted to experience the pleasure of being frozen to the point of near-death, the entire party was living the life of useless people in the mansion.
It's not like they were short on money!
200 million Eris was enough for them to squander for several years. Even if they were in a hurry to defeat the Demon King, there was no rush. Not to mention, the Demon King's army was most likely also preparing for winter.
And this led to a problem.
—They were too bored!
Staying at home... one or two days was acceptable. A week would become annoying. A month, and you'd feel uncomfortable all over. After all, this was not a modern city. The backward other world had no computers, cell phones, or game consoles. So they quickly got tired of it.
He didn't know about the others in the party, but in any case, he had had enough.
So—
"Let's cross over!" he decided.
The things he had brought back from the world of Akame ga Kill! had been completely digested, and his strength had also grown a little. Furthermore, it was now winter and the party had no activities, so his desire to cross worlds was stirring again.
First, he went to find Aqua.
He needed to recharge the ring every time he crossed, which he found very inconvenient. If some accident were to happen, causing the ring's energy to be insufficient and unable to be replenished, wouldn't he be unable to cross back? He'd have to find a chance to get Aqua to modify the divine instrument.
He arrived in the main hall of the mansion and saw Aqua lying lazily on the large sofa, enjoying the pleasant afternoon by the warm fireplace. With her eyes slightly closed, quiet and at ease, she exuded a special aura, making one feel a sense of admiration.
Seriously, only at times like this did she look like a goddess... if she wasn't hugging a large bottle of sparkling liquor.
The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. A goddess hugging a bottle of sparkling liquor... that feeling was as jarring as seeing Guan Yu riding a bicycle. It left one rather speechless.
"Wake up, Aqua! Wake up!"
He pushed her shoulder and shook her head, waking her from her drowsiness.
"...Kobayashi?"
She looked at him, her eyes sleepy and a little hazy, not understanding why he had woken her up.
"Aqua, charge my ring. I'm preparing to cross over."
"Cross over?"
Hearing this, she immediately perked up.
She had been looking forward to this for a long time. It wasn't that she wanted him to do anything, but that she could get benefits from it. For example, the two bottles of sparkling liquor from last time. To show his gratitude, he had not fooled her; he had bought the very expensive, high-grade kind, which had allowed her to drink to her heart's content.
That was why she was so spirited now, and at the same time, she was looking at him with an extremely expectant gaze.
"...What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Ahem. I say, Kobayashi."
She cleared her throat and said pretentiously, "My divine power is very precious, you know. And injecting divine power into a divine instrument is also very hard work. Under normal circumstances, I would absolutely not waste my divine power on others. But if the subject is you, it's not impossible. It's just..."
"Just?"
"Shouldn't you offer some tribute to the goddess who pampers you so?"
With that, her hands began to rub together.
—The fly rub.
That excited and expectant look, with a莫名 strange, sleazy, and perverted aura... My judgment that she looked like a goddess just now was wrong. She doesn't look like a goddess at all!
"You want a tribute?"
"Yes! Sparkling liquor would be best!"
"Oh ho?"
Seeing her like this, he got a little angry and also said pretentiously, "Aaaah, my throat is so dry. If only I had some sparkling liquor to drink. The best would be the kind that nobles specially buy, with a special logo, priced at several hundred thousand Eris, and is also super rare... or something."
"...Eh?"
"Hey, Aqua. That super-expensive, high-grade sparkling liquor... was it tasty?"
"Wh-what are you talking about? What sparkling liquor? I don't know what you mean."
She was dumbfounded. At the same time, her eyes darted all over the place. Her guilty look was laughable.
He wouldn't let her off the hook. He scolded, "Stop playing dumb! You drank that entire bottle, didn't you? You don't even repent for your mistakes! And you still want a fee? Then give me back the divine power of faith that I worked so hard to get!"
"No! I don't want to! Anything that enters my body is mine! I'm absolutely not giving it back!"
She was extremely resistant.
She was particularly stubborn when it came to faith, even though she was the kind of idiot who would casually waste divine power on party tricks.
This woman...
He pinned her down on the large sofa and continuously kneaded her cheeks with both hands, using so much force that the idiot goddess repeatedly begged for mercy.
"I get it, I get it! I don't want a tribute anymore! I don't want a tribute! Let me go!"
In the end, the goddess yielded to his tyranny.
The disheveled Goddess of Water puffed out her cheeks and glared at him with watery eyes, as if silently condemning him for being her most loyal believer yet treating the goddess of his faith so brutally, yet showing no remorse at all for her own goddess-disqualifying act of demanding tribute from a believer.
After all, this was Aqua.
Repentance is impossible. She will never repent in this lifetime. She's not qualified to be a goddess, so she can only pull rank and take small advantages to barely get by.
The weeping Aqua charged the ring.
But he didn't cross over immediately. Instead, he first went to Wiz's shop to pick up the skill point potions. The twenty bottles from last time were not enough, so he had lavishly ordered another twenty.
Coupled with the skill points he had gained from leveling up during this period, he had finally saved up 50 points and unlocked the strongest human offensive magic—Explosion.
Oh, by the way.
Explosion magic, Blast magic, and Burst magic are three independent and special types of magic, so learning it does not require any prerequisites. However, unlike Megumin, who had maxed out her Explosion magic, he would need to chant an incredibly long incantation to use it. It couldn't be easily used in a fierce battle, which was a bit of a pity.
After that, he said goodbye to the other members of the party.
For Darkness and Megumin, he used the usual excuse of "having to go back home for family matters," and smoothly gained their trust and understanding. As for Kazuma, there was no need to lie; he told him directly that he was going to cross over. At the same time, to prevent any accidents, he handed over the check for their savings to him for safekeeping. Unlike Aqua and the others, who spent money recklessly, the most Kazuma would do was go on a spree at the succubus shop. And with 200 million in savings, he couldn't possibly spend it all before his "essence" ran out.
After all arrangements were made, he could cross over.
"RyuZU, do you want to come with me?"
"Yes. I am your attendant, Master Kobayashi. Naturally, I must follow by your side. Besides, you are as weak as an insect. If I'm not careful, you might get hurt. I must naturally care for you as if you were an infant."
"Hey, hey, hey, don't look down on me. I've learned Explosion magic, you know."
He complained slightly. But her usual sharp tongue, on the contrary, made him feel at ease. The vast majority of his success in other worlds was thanks to her. Of course, he didn't feel ashamed about it.
It couldn't be helped; that's just what happens when you have a weak stomach.
"Well then... I leave my fu(li)ture(fe) in your hands, RyuZU."
"...Master Kobayashi."
Her cheeks flushed slightly as she turned her head, not daring to look at him. He let out a light laugh and took the initiative to take her slender hand, their fingers intertwining as they stood close together.
He closed his eyes, then opened them again.
"—Cross!"
The scene changed, and they appeared on a train—a speeding, runaway, out-of-control steam train.
(End of Chapter)