Kazuma spoke as if he still didn't understand.
"No matter what, I can't understand a whole kingdom falling for one cup size increase."
"Ah! Kazuma, you're a man so you don't really get it, do you?"
Since there were women present, I whispered quietly to Kazuma.
"Instead of one cup size, think of it as 1cm down there."
"Ahem... I, I understand now."
Kazuma finally nodded as if he understood. That 1cm there is unbearable. Chris approached me and spoke in a tone that still sounded suspicious.
"Okay, I get that the Bust Enhancing Pills exist. But Cassian! How do you know all this? And saying you'll get it for me means you don't have the item yet, so how are you going to get it?"
"The Bust Enhancing Pills are too dangerous an item to be widely known, so I can't go into details, but it's true they will definitely come into my possession."
"How can I trust you?"
"I have nothing to lose! The skills will take time, but I could also pay another thief to teach me. And I could sell the Bust Enhancing Pills expensively to rich people."
"Ugh... Fine! Fine! You must give them to me when you get them!"
I was just planning to give them to her as a gift later, but even if it's for saving the world, thinking of making trouble for people... I misjudged her character.
Kazuma, Darkness, Chris, and I moved to a secluded empty lot behind a building to learn the skills.
"There are various thief skills like 'Enemy Detection' and 'Stealth,' but the one I most recommend is this!"
Chris stretched out a hand toward Kazuma.
"Steal~~~~!"
Light came from Chris's outstretched hand, and a small pouch appeared on her palm. Then Kazuma spoke in surprise.
"Huh? My wallet!"
"This is the theft skill 'Steal.' If successful, you can snatch an item from the opponent."
Chris stopped as she was about to return the wallet to Kazuma.
"Hey, Cassian, Kazuma, want to have a match with me? You've learned the thief skill too, so try to get this wallet back! You're adventurers, right? Then you should know how to take on challenges!"
I knew Chris's scheme.
"I'll leave it to lucky Kazuma. I believe in Kazuma."
Kazuma thought for a bit and then looked at Chris and said.
"Alright! Let's give it a try!"
Kazuma and I learned [Enemy Detection], [Stealth], and [Theft](Steal).
"Chris, I still have more to learn. Teach me [Skill Bind], [Detect Treasure], and [Lockpicking] too."
"Planning to take all my trade secrets? And how do you know thief skills so well?"
"Bust Enhancing Pills! I'll get them for you within half a year!"
"Tch! Fine!"
I was able to learn [Skill Bind], [Detect Treasure], and [Lockpicking] as well.
"Now! Then, let's begin. Kazuma! Try it whenever!"
"Alright! No crying over what gets stolen, right?"
Then Chris showed a sinister smile and pointed to the dagger she had at her waist and said to Kazuma.
"Huh~! The jackpot is this magic dagger, an item worth over 400,000 Eris. And the losing ticket is this stone!"
Chris slowly opened both fists, showing the small stones in her hands. The Steal skill randomly takes an item from the opponent, so the more miscellaneous items someone like Chris has, the lower the probability, making it harder to get the desired item.
"Ah! That's unfair!"
"The probability of drawing the dagger just dropped significantly, huh?"
"Damn it!"
Believing in Kazuma's insane luck, I cheered him on.
"Kazuma! Don't worry too much if you can't get the wallet back! I'll give you that money, relax!"
"Ah! Isn't that too much? You're killing the tension."
"And who was it that tried to unfairly mess with a rookie adventurer first?"
Teasing her with facts, Chris couldn't say much and glared at me with a resentful expression.
"K, ugh... I hate you!"
Chris's reaction was amusing, and it was subtly satisfying to tease her.
'Somehow, I feel like this might become a habit.'
Then Kazuma shouted as if determined.
"Alright! I'll do it! Steal~~~~!!"
Kazuma, feeling something in his fist, spoke with a bright expression.
"Cassian! It's a success for now."
"Oh~ Nice! That's Kazuma for you!"
"Hmm? What's this?"
As Kazuma slowly raised the item he successfully stole with Steal to check, a white pair of women's panties could be seen in Kazuma's hand.
"Oooh~ It's not just a jackpot, it's a mega hit!!!"
Chris's face turned red and she began twisting her body, then spoke in a flustered, surprised voice.
"Hyaaa~~!! Pa, panties, give them back!!!"
"Uwahahahahaha~~~!"
Kazuma grabbed Chris's panties and began swirling them in the air. Darkness, who was watching this, seemed excited, her face flushed, and
"Wh, what kind of devilish act is this! As expected, my judgment was accurate!" she gave her evaluation.
And so Kazuma returned to the guild, having extorted not only his wallet back but all of Chris's money as panty ransom.
Entering the guild, Aqua, Megumin, and Yunyun, who I didn't know when she arrived, were also there together.
"Hey~ Aqua, Megumin, Yunyun."
"Hello, Cassian."
"Yunyun, did you rest well today? Starting tomorrow, let's work hard on requests together. Yunyun also needs to learn advanced magic quickly."
"Yes, understood. I look forward to working with you tomorrow as well."
Then Aqua asked.
"Where were you and Kazuma? And why is that person crying?"
Darkness explained what had happened.
"Ah, actually, she's just dejected because while teaching Kazuma thief skills, not only were her panties taken off, but all her money was stolen too."
Hearing that story, Kazuma panicked and quickly spoke.
"Hey, you! What are you saying!"
Chris cried pitifully, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"He said just returning the wallet wasn't enough, so I begged him to give back the panties, saying I'd give him as much money as he wanted, but he said I should set the price for my own panties... sob sob..."
"Hey, wait a minute! It's not a lie, but make it sound better!"
"Otherwise, he said he'd pass down these panties as a family heirloom for generations! Sob sob..."
The female adventurers nearby were looking at Kazuma as if he were trash. Knowing the original story, I knew Chris was deliberately getting revenge by speaking loudly and making Kazuma out to be a pervert. So, looking closely at Chris's face, she was covering her face with both hands pretending to cry, but I could clearly see the corners of her mouth raised.
'She's covering her face pretending to cry but she's actually laughing. To try to label someone a pervert just because you lost a match... Her personality is really bad.'
Kazuma hadn't done anything wrong. He just won an unfair match splendidly. So I decided to save Kazuma, differently from the original.
"Wait a minute! Isn't that too much? What did Kazuma do wrong to be treated like a pervert? Chris, stop pretending to cry! If you're trying to get revenge on Kazuma through a public opinion battle, we can do the same to you."
I stood up and clapped loudly twice.
Clap clap!
"Everyone, please pay attention for a moment!"
Everyone in the guild looked at me.
"Oh~ the future hero!" "Kyyaaak~ He's handsome." "Marry me~"
Huh? Marry me? Anyway, I got their attention.
"Right now, an adventurer named Kazuma is being unfairly labeled as a pervert."
I pointed at Kazuma. And I spoke.
"Because a thief named Chris is telling the story of what happened earlier by cutting out all the context, the rookie adventurer Kazuma is being unfairly treated."
People began to murmur.
"Rookie adventurer Kazuma, who came to Axel Town from afar with the dream of being an adventurer, had no money, so he worked hard at construction sites, barely managed to buy one sword, and at level 1 with no skills, he leveled up by getting eaten by Giant Toads."
"That's right! That friend's party members were always covered in strange liquid. So that was toad slime." "Keu~ brings back memories!" "Ugh, that's pitiful..." "I'll buy you a drink next time, hang in there!"
Aqua shed tears and patted Kazuma's back to comfort him. Kazuma looked at Aqua with a dumbfounded expression.
"The points he gathered through such blood, sweat, and tears—Kazuma, being a rookie adventurer, didn't know where to allocate them and was worrying. That's when an adventurer named Chris appeared."
I pointed at Chris. Chris was flustered.
"Chris said she would teach skills in exchange for one Chuwachuwa and began persuading Kazuma with sweet words. Unfortunately, Kazuma fell for it and agreed to buy Chuwachuwa and learn skills."
People began to focus more on my story.
"Under the pretense of teaching skills, she took the rookie adventurer Kazuma to a deserted empty lot where no one goes. Then, using the thief skill Steal, she robbed Kazuma's wallet. And she said: 'This is the skill called Steal. If you're an adventurer, you should experience things like this too! Learn Steal and try to take your wallet back.'"
"That's just preying on rookies." "To think such people still exist." "It's the end of the world."
"Kazuma thought, 'I've been had!' but there was nothing he could do. Having no choice but to get his wallet back, he used his hard-earned points to learn Steal. As he was about to use Steal, Chris unfairly picked up small stones and began mocking Kazuma, saying 'These are the losing tickets.'"
"How awful!" "Wow~ devilish!" "She's not even human!"
"But Kazuma didn't yield to this. Praying to the goddess of luck, Eris, he attempted Steal on Chris. Really, really fortunately, he couldn't Steal the wallet, but he managed to Steal Chris's panties. And the rookie adventurer Kazuma really taught Chris a lesson. As you heard earlier, he said she should set the price for her own panties. In the end, Chris had no choice but to give her wallet and entire fortune to Kazuma while crying."
"Wow~ Kazuma is cool." "He turned the tables on her." "That kind of person deserves it!"
"And now, whether it's unfair or not, Chris is using her status as a woman to make an issue out of the stolen panties, trying to make Kazuma out to be a pervert again, pushing him into a crisis."
Then Chris flared up and spoke.
"That's a lie!!! You're distorting the facts!"
I smiled and asked Chris.
"What part is distorted and a lie?"
"That is..."
As Chris hesitated, I didn't give her time.
"You can't say, can you? Because it's all true! And there's also a witness. Darkness!"
When I pointed at Darkness, Darkness was momentarily surprised and answered.
"Huh? Me?"
"Darkness is a knight, right? And a follower of the Eris faith."
"Huh? Uh, yes."
"As an eyewitness who watched everything, on your honor as a knight, is there any falsehood in what I said?"
"Ahem... No. But..."
I quickly cut off Darkness's words.
"So who's the bad one here? The rookie adventurer Kazuma who was unfairly labeled a pervert but was lucky? Or Chris, who tried to prey on a rookie and got a taste of her own medicine?"
People began to curse at Chris.
"Because of women like her, us good female adventurers get a bad reputation." "Wow~ Making a man into a pervert is nothing to her, how scary." "Live righteously! Eris is watching!" "Sorry for the misunderstanding, Kazuma~!" "Even a devil would cry and leave."
Chris couldn't take it and ran out crying for real.
"Calling me a devil! Uwaaaah~~~~"
"Wait, Chris~!"
Darkness hurriedly followed after Chris.
'Huh? Wait! Darkness shouldn't leave now. What happens to Kazuma's party now?'