17. Source of Troubles

Location: Seth's Cabin, Time: a day after Chris' introduction

"Thanks for showing me the way, Kazuma." The white-haired thief girl Chris thanked Kazuma for bringing her to his cabin.

"No probs." Kazuma casually replied.

She looked at what was around and asked, "Though I find it odd that your place is on the outer parts of this city, I thought you would pick somewhere nearer the guild?"

"Two reasons, cheaper land cost and allowing Seth and our resident arch-wizard to do their experiments," Kazuma replied casually.

Chris nodded at the answer. Then she asked something, "Kazuma… how has the two of them fared? You know, after Yesterday's conundrum?"

Talking about this, they recalled what happened yesterday.

—

Location: Guild's Hall, Time: right after chapter 16

"That's quite daring of you Seth. To give Darkness such an item in public. What if some unsavory people noticed?" A sweet voice rang next to him.

"I've got that covered." Seth snapped his finger. A translucent shell shivered around them. "That artifact's camouflage alone already suffices, this soundproof illusion barrier made sure no one could eavesdrop on us. Only a master at stealth and illusions could barely detect this," Seth boasted with hidden meanings.

"Indeed. Your foresight is worthy of applause, Darkness is my good friend and I want any harm to happen to her! Though you surprise me with your barrier." Chris smiled cheekily.

"I know, Eris," Seth said softly.

Chris took a few steps back, immediately, but Seth quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her in. 

Greeting her with a smile, face to face under the barrier, Seth spoke, "It's been a while Goddess Eris."

Chris, who is actually the goddess Eris repositioned herself to a more comfortable position. She smiled warmly, though a hint of uncertainty flickered in her eyes. "Seth, you always find a way to surprise me," She said softly, with a blush showing how unfamiliar she was with such closeness. 

"It's been a while, Seth. I'm glad to see you're doing well," she added. Feeling Seth's attentive grip on her hands, eris couldn't help but remark, "You weren't like this before, you're not usually this bold."

"The reincarnation changed something in me. Now I just want to admire this lovely face of yours." Seth confessed, causing Eris to blush from the flirtation.

She shyly replied, "Don't phrase it like that."

"SETH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" A certain goddess voice was heard.

Oh boy… Seth thought.

"I WILL SAY IT AGAIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HER!?" Aqua screeched loudly, to the point that the whole guild took notice.

Seth annoyedly replied, "Aqua, calm down. I'm just talking to…"

"SETH! YOU KNOW THE RULES! NO FLIRTING WITH *******! WHAT THE!!!" Aqua cut him off, only to find her speech censored.

"Calm down, there were no rules about flirting with ******," Seth replied with his words censored too.

Seth explained what he did, "I added a seal to censor our words because I was afraid that we would accidentally spill sensitive information that might cause us trouble."

"WHEN DID YOU CAST THIS!?" Aqua shouted. 

"When you were dead drunk, after drinking bottles of liquor you secretly bought with 'our' money," Seth answered, to which Aqua stifled.

"BUT STILL! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" 

"Which one, putting a seal on you after wasting our money, or me getting close to Chris right here, right now?" He pulled Chris (Eris) slightly closer. The adventurers around them were fully focused on the show and listened to the couple's quarrel.

"BOTH! BUT MOSTLY ABOUT YOU GETTING CLOSE TO CHRIS! WE ARE BOTH **** YET YOU STILL GOT CLOSE TO CHRIS!" The adventurers gasped, wondering how Seth would get out of this one.

"Why does this matter? We're not together anyway, the others just shipped us because we're stuck with these rings," Seth spoke matter-of-factly, stunning Aqua in the process.

"But, but, but, but…" Aqua stammered, " I DON'T WANT YOU WITH ANY OTHER GIRLS THAN ME!!!" 

HOLD UP! Kazuma, Seth, and Chris (Eris) reacted. "WHOAH!!!" The adventurer roared and whistled in excitement.

 Seth lost his cool, "Aqua! Did you mean what you said!?"

"Yes! Every word!"

"Even the part where you wanted me!?"

"YES!" Aqua declared, then realization kicked, "Why DID I say that!? I, THE GREAT ******* AQUA SHOULD NOT BE BOUND BY SUCH AFFECTION!"

"Yet you have just admitted your feelings for me!?"

"WHAT ABOUT YOU!? HEH! WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ME!? WHY AM I BLUSHING!?" Aqua shouted while blushing.

Seth grunted before answering, "To me, You're always causing trouble, never taking anything seriously! You drive me crazy! Remember all the mess you created since we came here! I had to fix so many things and did so many things! Just to keep you happy and safe!" His words hung heavy in the air with unspoken feelings.

SETH! Kazuma shouted in his mind.

Seth realized what he had just spoken. His face lost composure. 

Utterly confounded, Seth glanced at Aqua only to find two contrasting expressions: Complete bafflement at their sudden affection and a radiant blush achieved by being confessed by someone she truly loved.

Kazuma found this profoundly odd. Seth and Aqua harbored no feelings for each other, maybe even mutual dislike. Yet here they are.

"WHOOOH!!! YEAH!!! WAY TO GO MAN!!!" A celebratory uproar erupted throughout the guild. Celebrating their declaration of love. Cheers and whistles drowned the guild as they forgot Seth's prior 'attempt' to get closer to Chris (Eris). 

Seth and Aqua stood in the middle of it all. Extremely bewildered and incapable of thinking anything else.

—

"After we got back from the guild, those two didn't even look at each other before returning to their own rooms." Kazuma summarized the following events that transpired.

"Then what about today?" Chris (Eris) asked.

"It went better, after breakfast they had a serious chat. They were still tense, but hey, at least they're not giving each other the cold shoulder."

"What was their conversation about?"

"I do not know."

"?" Eris tilted her head.

Noticing this Kazuma clarified, "Seth asked me not to intervene. And so I did."

"That's very genuine and trustworthy of you." 

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Did you think I'd pry and snoot his privacy? No way Chris! Don't tell me you believed the rumors those crybabies spread about me!? Sure, I would've done it if it was anyone else, but it's different with Seth!" Kazuma retorted defensively.

Chris responded, teasingly and judgmentally, "Forgive me, but with that 'panty' incident yesterday, I couldn't believe so…"

"Ah… about that, I'm really sorry…" Kazuma coughed while avoiding eye contact. 

Seizing the opportunity, Kazuma poured out his thoughts, "I can assure you, they weren't themselves yesterday, I've lived with them for a month and knew they have, uh, I mean 'had' no feelings for each other. I bet that they were discussing their newfound feelings, but since that is a sensitive topic, they wanted privacy."

He took a deep breath before he continued, "I'll respect that, not just because he's like a bro that I never had, but because he is also the reason I could become like this. Without him, I'll be living in the dumps scrapping for survival… You know, I would-" Kazuma monologued while facing the other in a melancholic and thoughtful manner, which he intended to look cool in front of her.

Unbeknownst to Kazuma, Chris (Eris) wore a picturesque joyous face as she listened, If Kazuma had taken even a single glance at her during that moment, his heart would have been captured. 

Her face finally returned normal, still with a smile she replied, "Seth must have been a wonderful person for you to say that." 

"No doubt about it. Still, even if they solved this they could never remove their couple status." Kazuma after saying this realized something, While they fought a lot, they could work seamlessly together and were strangely always the first ones to help each other, though it was mostly Aqua who was the one always getting helped. Maybe they were not that far from an actual couple after all.

"It can't be helped, From the outside, those two make a cute couple," Chris said as a smile blossomed from her. Kazuma noticed traces of sadness from it.

"Now that I think about it, how did you end up with this cabin?" Chris asked, Kazuma hearing this decided to tell her.

—

Location: adventurer's guild approved stable, time: A day after reincarnating to this world

Kazuma and Seth were hanging out near a stable early in the morning. They were cooking breakfast over an open fire while Aqua slept inside the stable. Looking at their rugged lifestyle, Kazuma spoke his mind, "Seth, we can't live in a place like this."

"I agree," Seth replied. At that moment he thought of a solution, "Now that I think about it, why don't we just build a house?"

"Seth, can you build one?" Kazuma asked skeptically.

"Absolutely." Seth proclaimed confidently. "We can go to those authorities who sell lands. As for the tools…" With a flick of his finger, hammers, axes, and other tools materialized on the ground. 

OOH! Seth's cheat! Kazuma gave a thumbs-up seeing it.

*Thud!* But suddenly, Seth collapsed to the ground.

"Seth!" Kazuma rushed to his side to check.

"Ugh… sorry Kazuma HUMPH!" Seth groaned before rolling away and vomiting. 

Kazuma stood incredulous. Looking at the pile of nauseating barf beside him He couldn't help but think, He almost threw up at my tracksuit, if he did, I'd make him wash it. 

"Don't worry," Aqua who had just emerged from the stable, chimed in casually. "Seth can create stuff out of nothing, but the bigger, stronger, and more stuff he creates, the more dizzy he gets."

"Besides, how could you barf? you usually know your limits," Aqua added.

"New world, my limits got recalibrated, lower than usual, didn't know UEGH!" Seth explained between gags.

Absorbing it all, Kazuma spoke, "Seth, we will test out your limit later, We can't have this happen again; your puke stinks."

Seth gave a thumbs up, and with that acknowledgment, Kazuma picked up one of the axes.

"Can I test it?" he asked.

Seth nodded, so Kazuma let it rip on a nearby tree.

*THUCK!* a deep cut appeared on the tree, a single chop took 20% of the 1-meter-thick trunk.

*Whistle* Kazuma complimented.

"Let me try," Seth said as he stood up wobbly, he picked up another axe and did a relaxed one-arm swing.

*SLINK!* The tree leaned slowly.

Oh no… Kazuma and Seth thought simultaneously.

"TIMBER!" Aqua shouted excitedly.

*CRASH* The tree fell and rolled down the hill.

A constable, minding his own business nearby, suddenly found himself faced with a rolling tree. It narrowly missed him, but he looked up at Kazuma and the rest. 

"Um… I can explain sir, this is purely an accident." Kazuma began to explain.

Sadly the constable activated his magic signal, causing the nearby city garrison to gather.

"SOLDIERS! APPREHAND THESE THREE! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" The constable shouted.

"EHH! WHAT DID WE DO!?" Aqua shouted.

"Damaging public property and attempted murder!"

—

"Bless the heavens Seth came in clutch. He smooth-talked us out of a trip to prison, while I covered Aqua's mouth before she made it worse. Ultimately, they decided to punish us with mandatory construction work for a set period, which conveniently ended yesterday." Kazuma recounted. 

Chris (Eris) giggled at their misadventures. "Oh, Kazuma! I don't know if I should feel sorry for you or not."

"Luckily the garrison gave us more details on how to buy land and such. The existing houses for sale are too expensive so Seth decided to build our cabin from scratch. We had to chop the woods and gather the rocks ourselves, anything else could only be bought, or… spew- I mean crafted out from Seth." 

Chris smiled and said, "I'm happy that you're having fun around here."

*BOOM!!!* a gigantic explosion erupted, reaching toward the clouds and stopping Kazuma and Chris from their conversation.

"YES! YES! YAAAS! I DID IT!" a shout of exhilaration echoed. It was from their resident arch-wizard and explosion enthusiast, Megumin. She was walking towards the cabin, albeit very poorly and almost falling, but still walking nonetheless.

Megumin joyously shouted, "KAZUMA! SETH'S TRAINING WORKS! I'M STILL DRAINED BUT I CAN FINALLY WALK! YOU DON'T HAVE TO CARRY ME ALL THE TIME!" 

"Hey Guys! Sorry for the wait!" Darkness exclaimed as she arrived at Seth's cabin. Not in her crusader suit, but in casual, yet also luxurious clothes.

Noticing this, Kazuma inquired eagerly, "So they approved it? They will sell Seth's books on our behalf?" 

Darkness smiled proudly as she handed him a glowing contract "Of course! This matter was approved by the kingdom. The payment will be in royalties with Kazuma managing the earnings. This deal extends to all of Seth's future books." 

Kazuma grinned with joy, I know Seth's gonna leave us to do his godly duties, but as my cheat, he has given me the perfect solution: MONEY! Continuous ever-flowing money! If the royalties stopped coming, Seth would just write more books! Ahh the cheat of earning money while lying flat… Kazuma giddily thought.

Then, Kazuma remembered something and quickly asked. "Have you checked Seth's other endeavors?" 

"I haven't." Darkness replied, "He mentioned he collaborated with a magic item craftsman and sold their creations at a local shop in Axel. Today's the day he will introduce me to them. He also told me they are quite eccentric but also hold potential. If this meeting goes well then another business venture could be on the horizon."

"SETH! WHY DID YOU CUT YOUR FINGER OFF!" Aqua's cries of panic were heard behind the cabin. The group immediately rushed there, what they saw was shocking.