5 Chapter 5

Darkness was truly looking forward to adventuring with her new party.

She truly couldn't wait to see what subtle cruelties her new teammate, Michael Chaser the Dark Paladin would heap on her. She had always thought mental torture was suppose to be thrown on someone straight forward, but Michael opened her eyes.

Choosing a seating arrangement so his target would be closest to him. Steering the conversation so that he can threaten his victim, striking fear into them before they even realize it. Culminating with him confronting them, giving a message of peace, while surly terrifying them utterly.

If only noble courts were like that! Aaaahhhmm~

Darkness shivered and hugged herself just from thinking about it. Of course, she should confront Michael about his behavior yesterday. He shouldn't scare people like that. Although she would be fine if he turned his anger on her.

Maybe she can do something, to get Michael to focus his sneaky torture on her?

"You're really excited about this, huh, Darkness?" The Crusader's friend, Chris the Thief said smiling, as she was glad for how excited her friend was.

"Hmm!" Darkness nodded enthusiastically. "You should have been there, Chris. Michael managed to make a girl fall unconious with nothing but words. Hmmmmph! It was magnificent."

"Ehahahahaha, I'm glad you're having fun." Chris laughed to hide her worry. While she was happy for her friend, that doesn't mean she wasn't going to scout this Dark Paladin's party out. She needed to make sure he wasn't actually have ill intent toward her friend.

Well, harmful ill intent.

...Negatively harmful ill intent.

Darkness's resilience and preferences sometimes made it difficult to know where the line harmful acceptability was. 

The duo reached the guild, and easily found the Dark Paladin and Arch Priest. Yet the scene they entered on was not one Chris had expected.

First thing Chris noticed was the smell. The delicious succulent smell of steak.

Then there were the crowdedness around Michael and Aqua's table. All the tables around the two new adventurers had other people sitting at their own table, none too subtly glancing the Dark Paladin's table with mouth watering envy. Chris's eye zoomed in on where the delicious food smell was coming from.

A plate of stripped steaks with some barbecue sauce on them. It looked and smell tasty yes. Chris could see even the high class Darkness having a bit of a drool. With a quick use of the Appraisal skill, she could see the food was made from normal ingredients. It's just that it was made with such skill, it almost seemed to have entered the divine realm.

Chris watched as Aqua was writing some stuff on a paper with a dedication she never saw on the goddess before. Because in truth Chris was actually the human avatar of the Goddess Eris. Chris had been born to fulfill the wish, of her favorite follower Darkness to give her a friend. She would usually be able to spend time in the mortal realm as Darkness's friend and to fix problems that her senpai Aqua would have caused, retrieve lost Divine Artifacts, or aid the humans in fighting the Demon King's army in some way. It was something she couldn't do as often now, due to having to take up Lady Aqua's duties since the Water Goddess descended into the mortal world.

Chris knew her senpai was amazing in ability, but she had never seen her this focused before.

"Done!" Aqua shouted and showed the paper to Michael.

After what looked like a quick read from Michael, he pushed the plate toward her.

"Good job, have another piece."

"Yes!" Aqua cheered. The way she let out such a happy moan, made the adventurers around the Dark Paladin's table nearly cry of jealousy. Chris could have sworn she heard some of their teeth grinding together. "Man, Michael, all those centuries you took aside in the timeloops, just to show up Archer in cooking, really is the best decision you ever made."

"Yeah, I am so happy my suffering helped in making your meal." Michael said with heavy sarcasm.

"Hmm, hmm, you should." Aqua nodded, taking her time in chewing her reward. Michael took one of the steak pieces and poped it into his mouth. "Hey!" Aqua nearly cried.

"Relax, there will still be at least the last piece for you, if you get the next question right." Michael smirked.

"Can't you guys make me what they're having? I don't care if I have to pay double the normal price." Asked an adventurer that seemed newly arrived to the situation, arguing with one of the waitresses.

"As I told the others dear customer, that dish was made by Mr. Chaser, the Dark Paladin over there, himself. We can have the our chief make you one, if you'd like." The waitress looked like she had said this excuse for so many times, that she didn't even react when the adventurer mutter how it looked like the one at Michael's table looked better, but order a plate of steak strips anyways.

Chris was starting to contemplate if she should try to steal one of the steak pieces to see if they were that good. There were only three left. No, two now that Lady Aqua ate one.

Almost as if sensing their presence, Michael looked in their direction, and waved Darkness and Chris over. Aqua tried to steal another piece while Michael was looking away, only to have her hand slapped.

"Yo," Michael greeted them. "We're nearly done here, then we can go finish up some kill quest we have up. And whose this?"

"Hello~, I'm Chris the Thief. So, you're the Dark Paladin, Darkness kept talking about since yesterday." Chris said cheekly.

"C-Chris, I didn't keep talking about him. You'll give the wrong idea." Darkness adorably stutter.

"Haha, hopefully nothing bad." Michael stopped to rethink that statement, before glancing at the Crusader. "Maybe it's better if she didn't say anything altogether."

"Hmmph," Darkness shivered and hugged herself. "Ordering me to be silence just so I could be used as a meatshield, before we even headed off. You really start off strong."

"What? No, I mean..." Michael sighed, thinking that correcting her was a waste of time. "Nevermind." He then turned to Aqua. "So, last question before we go, 800 words minimum. Why shouldn't you use travel expenses on booze? Go."

"B-but, isn't beer travel expenses?" Aqua looked fearfully confused.

"I dunno, is it?" Michael raised an eyebrow and pointed to the paper in front of her. "So," he turned to Darkness and Chris who took a seat at his table. Chris sitting to Michael's side and away from Aqua, while Darkness sat next to Aqua, curiously glancing at what the Arch Priest was writing. "Darkness," he said getting her attention. "Why do you tell me about your previous experiences before this party?"

"Ah, you wish to hear of my noble exploits, very well then." Darkness began regaling Michael of her life as an adventurer, then some of her travels with Chris, with said thief chiming in every once in a while. 

"Thus before I would join the front lines, and face the Demon King's, undoubtedly degenerate, army I was advised to get some experience as an adventurer."

"I'm feel more sorry for the demons." Michael muttered.

"And what about you?" Chris asked. "As a Dark Paladin, I'm guessing you have some experience with demons?"

Truthfully, she had another motive for seeking out Darkness's new teammates.

One was to check on Lady Aqua. Once she heard she was chosen as one of the objects for the reincarnator to bring to his new world, Eris worried that the reincarnator gained the power to control her. Eris was told that that likely wasn't the case due to Michael Chaser's wording, although the higher ups seemed shifty when she asked what that wording was before telling her. Eris understood that Aqua was...unique to work with, but their reasoning was really weak.

The second reason she came with Darkness was to get a measure of who Michael Chaser was. The man's file was sealed to anyone of low divinity. Meaning a relatively young goddess like Eris couldn't discern his character. It was something that Eris had never heard of. She supposed the Demon King and his allies would find it difficult to get a read on Michael through divination, but why the special treatment?

She knew nothing on the reincarnator other than his second power that he wanted was teaching, that his class indicated some negativity within him, and that he isn't quick to violence, but will use other means to show his displease. Thus Eris as Chris was here to see what he's like.

"Yeah, I have some experience slaying demons." Michael said nonchalantly.

While Chris didn't have access to any of her scared power (which thankfully mean Lady Aqua didn't recognize her, although that might be because she was focused on her paper), she could sense lies in what he said.

"Truly?" Darkness asked. "But didn't you only get an Adventurer Card two days ago?"

"Did you think I did nothing before I got the Card?" Michael said with a teasing smirk. "I had my own adventures before coming to Axel. Let's see...One time, my friends and I were fighting evil ship captain and his crew, and my friends and I got separated..."

The story he told them sounded...well, epic. Yet, Chris couldn't help but think that the events of trying to protect a Divine Artifact from a Sailor Hero who wanted to use it to change the world sounded familiar.

"And well, because I traveled around a lot, I ended up picking a couple of skills that have nothing to do with the Card." Michael finished his tale.

"Ah, I see." Darkness happened to be looking at the plate with two pieces of steaks.

"Hmm?" Michael noticed and brought the plate toward the Crusader. "You want one?"

"Ah..." Darkness looked surprised.

"Hey, that's mine!" Aqua rose up from her exam when she felt her food threatened.

"No, you don't get one till you finish. Also Darkness is our teammate, we don't want to seem selfish, right Aqua?"

Ah, there is that menacing smile Darkness mentioned. Thought Chris.

"You're still upset I spend all our money yesterday, aren't you?" Aqua accused with watery eyes.

"Moi? Perish the thought." Michael smirked.

Chris eye twitched as Michael's use of gratuitous french reminded her of one of the Demon Generals.

"Ah, to be involved in another person's abuse, this is definitely new territory." Darkness said mostly to herself, as she thought deeply on this new experience before her.

"Eat the meat, Darkness." Michael order.

"Yes, sir." Darkness happily complied.

"No! My meat!" Aqua cried.

"Oh," Michael turned to Chris just remembering her. "Sorry, I promised Aqua the last piece." He actually looked apologetic.

"Chris, I can share my piece with you." Darkness offered.

"Nah, it's okay, Darkness you enjoy that." Chris said smiling, before a mischievous look came to her. "Say Michael, have you ever fought a Thief before?"

Michael turned to her, his body stiff and ready to move. "In a way, yes."

"So, you know we thieves we have things we are proud of," Chris said casually as she readied her Skill. "Such as our ability to Steal!" It was a harmless joke, using her skill to steal away the last piece of steak.

"Chris!" Darkness shouted scandalized.

"My meat!" Aqua had a look of shock at that moment, then turned into a look of joyous relief. "Yay~ The meat is safe!"

Chris's joke that didn't land as her skill got interrupted.

"Eh?" Chris felt her hand sting a bit, as her skill stopped midway, with Michael's hand hovering over the plate, the steak unStolen. It was one thing if the Skill fail, but the Steal skill doesn't stop midway. That's not how the skill system works!

"Now, now, Chris~" Michael's challenging grin met her. "I told you I fought with thieves before. Did you think I was bluffing or bragging?"

Chris stood up and took a few steps away with her shoulder shaking. Michael stood up as well anticipating what's about to happen.

"You know, I was gonna return the food after that, since it was just a prank, but now..." Chris answered Michael's grin with one of her own. "It's a matter of pride as a Thief."

"You know I heard that the Steal skill works based on Luck. Do you think you have enough of it, Chris the Thief?" Michael said with his arms spread open, the plate with the last steak piece visible for all in one hand.

"Dammit, if it's a matter of stealing, then I could have done that too!"

"Damn right, as a Thief don't underestimate my Steal skill!"

"Screw the Steal skill, there are more way to steal than just a skill!"

Suddenly many of the adventures that were sitting down, stood up joining Chris in the challenge of stealing the last piece of steak.

"Waaaah! What are you all doing, that's my food!"

"So, do you think you can stop all of us from stealing that piece of meat, Michael the Dark Paladin?" Chris said challengingly. At least, she now knew he was a bit of an otaku. Then again most reincarnators are, so it wasn't much. 

"Aqua," Michael didn't break eye contact with Chris. "You have until you finish your paper to save the last steak. Either you finish it and I will make sure you get the piece, or someone here will manage to take it. I suggest you write quickly."

"Aaaaaaah," Aqua starting writing with lightning speed.

The drag of her pencil on paper was the background noise to this soon to be epic fight.

And as if the moment between experienced warriors agreed about came, the Adventurers rushed forward and Michael ran back.

"Steal!" Dozen or so voices shouted, none of them succeeded.

"Get the meat!" Some adventurer shouted. 

Aqua cried as she wrote. Darkness panted ecstatically at the chaos.

Royal Prosecutor Sena came later when rumor of a sexual harassment event happening at the guild circled about.