Useless Goddess Interlude 3

It's been about an hour since I got on the carriage to Alcanretia.

"Say, Cecily, it's really boring out here."

"I feel the same way, Aqua-sama. Let us head back."

Cecily instantly replied.

"Normally, I would've agreed with you instantly, but we can't do that now. Otherwise, the people of this world will continue suffering under the Demon King."

I did seriously consider going home for a moment.

"As expected of Aqua-sama. But I understand why you would find this journey tiresome. Why don't I talk to the driver and call for a little break?"

"… We can't do that, Cecily. We haven't traveled very far from Axel. We already set off late, so if we keep taking breaks like this, Kazuma will catch up easily."

Cecily brought me to the pick up point, but she had to bring quite a substantial amount of luggage from the church, so we couldn't catch the earliest carriage.

"I'm sorry, Aqua-sama. Good women take a lot of time to get ready."

"It can't be helped. There are only good women in the Axis Cult, after all."

In order to make myself seem like a good woman, maybe I should purposefully be late whenever I'm leaving the house in the future.

"Still, this carriage is moving quite slowly, don't you think? Back when I traveled to Alcanretia with everyone, we didn't have the time to admire the scenery like this."

Cecily, who was looking out the window, let out a smile upon hearing my words.

"That's because this is the carriage tour meant for sightseeing. Ah, look over there, Aqua-sama! There's a herd of crabs over there! They are using their tough shells to protect themselves from predation and the heat of the sun! It's not breeding season yet, so they are probably competing over territory."

"You are knowledgeable, Cecily… Wait a minute, this is a sightseeing tour? But I want to get to the Demon King's castle as fast as possible."

The crabs interest me, but I feel like this isn't the time to be looking at them.

"Aqua-sama, there is a reason why I choose the sightseeing carriage. High-end sightseeing tours usually shell out for strong bodyguards in order to ensure the safety of their high paying customers. If something were to happen to an Archpriest as skilled as Aqua-sama, it'd be a loss for the entire world. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, so let's take it easy for this journey."

"I see. Well, having strong bodyguards is a good thing. Let's take our time, then."

As expected of Cecily, she's amazing.

"And the Axis Cult will be paying the bill, so it's fine to go with an expensive carriage."

"That's good. It's nice to ride inside an expensive carriage, they don't make my butt hurt."

Just then.

"Dear customers, we'll be stopping the carriage for a while. It seems like a band of ogres are hunting the crabs right now, so we'll stand by here until they move along."

Looking over at the driver's words, I noticed several ogres chasing after the horde of migratory crabs.

"Say, Cecily, aren't ogres supposed to be man-eating monsters?"

"I suppose ogres too occasionally find themselves in the mood to have some crab meat."

… …

"I kind of feel like dining on crab too now."

"What a coincidence, Aqua-sama, I feel like I'm in the mood for some crab too. After all, a whole herd of crabs is right in front of us."

We gave the driver a meaningful glance, and rolled his shoulders with a wry smile.

"With that many crabs out there, I'm sure the ogres won't get angry if you take one or two with you. We have some fairly skilled adventurers in the other carriage, so, what do you say to getting a little closer and grabbing a crab or two?"

Hearing the driver's idea, I thought of an even more inspired course of action.

"There's no need for us to get close. I'll get the crabs to crawl over with their own legs."

"Aqua-sama, might you care to enlighten your humble servant Cecily on what exactly you intend to do?"

As I prepared my spell, I responded to Cecily.

"I plan on luring the crabs over here."

"Aqua-sama, that doesn't tell me anything about what you're about to do. It's just my priest's intuition, but I have a bad feeling–"

I completed my spell and let it loose before Cecily could finish her sentence.

"Using this spell brings back memories! We'll have a great harvest today! False Fire!"

"Not a great harvest!"

Cecily screamed.

And the horde of crabs, and the ogres that were hunting them, came charging towards the ball of blue fire I shot above my head.

"Waaaaaaah! This development brings back memories too, but Kazuma-saaaaan!"

"I can't help but like this part of you, Aqua-saaamaaaaa!"