15. This Knight Seems Off

Location: Guild's Hall

"Greetings, adventurer Kazuma! I heard you're still looking for another member for your party." A Busty armored woman announced.

''Whoa! Um… First of all, thanks for the offer, but you do know about our reputation here, right?" Kazuma replied cautiously. "I know this seems odd but I just don't want another one leaving us right after getting the 'Seth treatment'." 

"Don't worry! I know about it I sort of came specifically because of that." The knight lady spoke confidently, Kazuma noticed a faint blush crossing her cheeks.

"Many adventurers have joined your team, only to quit the very next day! The man who will crush your will, making you want to quit your job and retire immediately!" Her words were laced with euphoria.

Sigh… Seth does overpower them on their own game. But the main cause is that our recruitment asked for those with advanced jobs in what I like to call, a 'beginner's town'. Kazuma retorted in his mind.

This left us with whiny babies spoon-fed by their families to get their high ranking. As payback for crushing their tender hearts, they spread rumors about us out of spite. Luckily Seth did say they were not fated with us to begin with. Kazuma clenched his fist, trying to ingrain their faces inside his mind, if he ever met them again, he'd give'em a piece of his mind.

"Ohh~ Those stories make me shiver! Seth critiqued and made them quit. The worst part~ he wasn't even trying! He just showed them so much expertise making them realize how bad they were! Oh, the things I would do feel such disgrace *Squeel!*~" She answered with 'ecstasy', flailing all over the place.

Did she just shiver? Oh boy, I can tell why she wants to join now Kazuma thought. Trying to get her attention, he decided to ask. "What about me?"

The knight regained her composure, she answered with a shy blush, "You're also quite well-known. The useless perverted guy who only ogles at the girls across the city. Causing the men to hide their girlfriends and wives from you." She was not disgusted at him at all, or actually, she was quite happy.

D*MN THOSE B*ST*RDS! I JUST ADMIRED THOSE MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS FROM FAR! YOU'RE LUCKY THAT YOU LEFT THIS CITY BACK TO YOUR RICH PARENTS! Kazuma clenched his fist, oblivious to the other cues Darkness has given.

Losing steam for a bit, he finally asked an important question, "Sorry, but you forgot to introduce yourself."

"AHH! Where are my manners? You can refer to me as Darkness, I am a crusader!"

Taking that to note, Kazuma continued, "Do you still want to meet him, you know, Seth?"

"It would be my pleasure!" 

With that confirmation, Kazuma stood up from his bar and led darkness to their next destination.

—

Location: Outskirts of Axel City, Seth's cabin

Kazuma and darkness finally arrived at their destination, Seth's log cabin. Darkness found the place to be charming, however, she noticed the war-ridden lands nearby.

"You curious about those holes?" Kazuma explained. "Seth's currently teaching our resident explosion maniac. So they 'occasionally' blow up their surroundings. Don't worry, Seth can revitalize this place with his 'druidic' powers."

"COME ON GIRL! LIFT THOSE LEGS! JUST A FEW MORE TIMES!" a man shouted nearby."THIS IS NOT YOUR LIMIT! The pain is good! it means change for the better, and with it, your body will inch closer to your dreams! NOW WHAT WAS YOUR DREAM!?"

"TO BE ABLE TO WALK AFTER CASTING ONE EXPLOSION!"

"AND AFTER THAT!"

"TO BE ABLE TO CAST IT AGAIN!"

They both turned around to see Megumin haphazardly run across the field, with Seth beside her giving motivation.

"There he is, the man of the hour, Seth," Kazuma remarked, he took a look only to see her somewhat disappointed face.

Megumin finally achieved today's goal and fell to the ground sweating. Seth activated his magic to ease her pain. "As promised, I'll add extras for your dinner," he said, to which Megumin responded with a thumbs-up before passing out.

Kazuma and darkness (whom Seth found familiar) approached from the distance. Kazuma then introduced Darkness to him.

"So you do know about that?" Seth inquired.

"I do! I want to 'experience' how harsh and heart-shattering your words are!" Darkness answered with Fervor.

"OK then? can we see your adventurer's card?"

"Uh… Sorry, but I prefer not to…" Darkness responded, revealing a shy side that surprised Kazuma.

In the end, Seth only had Darkness mention the necessary details from her adventurer's card. 

As this whole event progressed, Seth's expression turned strange. "Tell me honestly, why are you even here? With those stats and skills, you should be able to join better parties. Yet you're here? I know I'm a fine choice, but Kazuma, Aqua, and this girl here?" He pointed at megumin.

"Well… The reason is…" Darkness hesitated to explain, she tried to say something but she couldn't quite bring herself to say them

Sensing her hesitation and the lack of progress, Seth picked up a stick from the ground and chanted, "Harden." A mystical glow coated his stick, making it look metallic. 

He swung his stick and declared like a final boss, "Since you don't want to explain your reason, why don't we get to the point."

Darkness feeling the palpable intent, ecstatically brandished her sword, With pleasure. She thought.

—

A butterfly landed on Megumin, *Achoo!* sneezing her awake. The moment she opened her eyes, she spotted Kazuma spectating Seth in combat with the new girl. She crawled closer and asked, "A new adventurer again, do you think she will quit?"

"Not this time, she's different," Kazuma replied.

"How can you tell."

"From my guess, she likes the 'struggle', and they have been dueling for more than an hour, yet look at her." Megumin could see Seth sitting on a stool, slowly swatting and dodging darkness' strikes. Darkness was sweating and gasping for air, caused by her constant failed attempts at striking Seth, yet no sight of despair was on her face.

"Darkness! This has gone on for an hour! Your defense is impenetrable, but your offense is non-existent! I am moving my stick and body very slowly, just an inch a second! Yet you still haven't managed to hit me at all! Lady, I'm not even lifting my leg! Look! I'm still sitting on my stool, unmoved like a sitting target! Yet your sword can't go even straight!" Seth complained in frustration.

"AUHH~ Forgive this crusader!~ I am hopeless! If you want to, why don't we go back to testing my defense~, you know, by hitting me again?~" Darkness spoke with a questionable expression.

"No," Seth answered with a deadpanned face. She squirmed a bit from the denial. 

Seth noticed that Megumin was awake, he turned towards her, "Megumin! You're awake, ready for your magic lessons?" Seth exposed his back towards Darkness, yet he was still able to block her effortlessly.

Megumin replied, "I am, but you sure about doing this while, who was she?"

"Just call her Darkness," Kazuma added.

"While darkness still fights you."

Seth materialized a chair and used wind magic to place Megumin on her seat, "Don't worry, I don't think she could. It's been an hour and I barely broke a sweat." Seth said while swatting darkness sword strikes like a fly.

Darkness expressed delight from such disrespect and honesty. Oh, the neglect!~ she thought, He views me as nothing more than an afterthought while I struggle with all my strength! HOW DISAPPOINTING OF ME!~ A perverse delight colored her expression.

"I have confirmed that you have now mastered the way to control and fine-tune your explosions. By using half of your usual mana, you can cast an explosion with 80% of your previous power. Based on my calculation, if you were to cast your advanced spell with your entire mana, your explosions would be 160% more powerful than your usual."

Megumin eyes twinkled, and said, "Yes, you're right! I haven't told you but I have been secretly training and unleashing my full-powered explosion outside your training time. AND YES! My explosions are now two times bigger and more destructive! You truly are a master of the explosive arts!"

Seth chanted a spell that covered Megumin's whole body for a second and happily spoke, "Looks like my hypothesis was right, your mana reservoir increased by five percent since you started working out. What do you think about this happy little progress?"

Megumin nodded and added, "It usually takes me three hours just to barely move my legs, but now it took one!"

"Good, good… since you have grown that much, it is time for me to teach you something new." Seth looked thoughtful for a minute before answering, "I've decided, We will now delve into the art of directing the force of your explosion. As you know, explosions typically radiate in all directions, but we aim to focus that energy in a singular direction. so instead of the explosion dispersing in all directions, we channel it exclusively to one side."

"Wouldn't that weaken its power?" Megumin inquired.

"On the contrary," I explained while blocking Darkness's strike, "It amplifies it. I never mentioned reducing the explosion's destructive power itself. By redirecting its destructive force to a single direction. It will force all the power to concentrate and merge with that one direction. This redirection effectively doubles the explosion's impact as one direction will receive all the power whose direction you denied."

"I see! That's possible." Megumin wrote them down in a tiny notebook.

Kazuma who watched from the sideline found it intriguing. On one side Seth is teaching Megumin with care. Yet on the other side, he is completely overpowering darkness, blocking all her sword strikes without a second glance.

Now that I think about it, where's Aqua? Kazuma wondered.

—

Location: Axel City's tailor shop

Inside one of the tailor rooms, "PLEASE DOOR! LET ME OUT! I ALREADY FINISHED THAT STUPID CLOAK!" Tears streamed down Aqua's face as her fist pounded on the door.

The door glowed, and an automated voice that sounded like Seth replied, "Request denied, the cloak product has only been completed 98%"

"That's just a few more stitches, just the flapping corners!" Aqua cried in despair.

"Yes, just finish it so you can leave." the door replied tiredly.

"JUST LET ME OUT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! IT'S BORING HERE!"

"Lady! I'm just an enchanted seal on a door, following what Master Seth told me to." However, its words fell on deaf ears as Aqua continued to strike the door.

"AAGH! YOU LEFT ME NO CHOICE! I CAST PURIFICATION!" a blast of light covered the door.

The door sizzled. "LADY STOP IT!" a burnt seal emerged from the door glowing ever menacingly.

Aqua didn't care and continued, "MAKE ME! *deep breath* PURIFICATION!!!" 

The seal on the door couldn't take it anymore, it declared, "You leave me no choice…" 

the door pulsed a shockwave, pushing Aqua back to her seat.

she skidded right next to her workbench. She tried to stand up but noticed that her butt and chair were glued on the spot. Not allowing her to move at all.

Her almost finished cloak floated elegantly on her workbench, beckoning her to finish her work.

 "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! THIS IS ABUSE!" She shouted.

threads and sewing needles landed on her hands, and an order was heard, "Do it."

"NOOOO!!!"