15 Confrontation

Looking around, Kazuma pointed at himself. "Do I know you or something?" Thinking back for a moment, Kazuma stared at Shinrei's face seeing if he could remember him from anywhere. Suddenly Kazuma had a shock. "Wait! Are you someone I knew before I got reincarnated?"

Putting his hand against his head Shirei didn't even know where to begin with this mess. The thing about Konosuba was that reincarnation is a common thing, so there are gods and goddesses messing around. Even Kazuma himself was caught up in it and is living with the one who reincarnated him.

The real issue, however, was that technically even the reincarnation of this world isn't real. They are part of the original story. Even then, they don't make much of a splash in the world. At least to the extent that Shirei would have to step in and do something about it."Kazuma, I'm going out on a limb and guessing that you've read novels before, right?"

Hearing the weird question in contrast to his own, Kazuma nodded his head. "Of course, who hasn't." Placing his hands together, Shirei tried to ease into it. "Ok, so you also know how sometimes a novel will have some meta things in them? Like a person being reincarnated and thinking, it's like an anime or something?"

Trying to understand where Shirei was going with this, Kazuma continued to listen. "Ok, so just imagine that-" Suddenly, Shirei stopped talking as Asami intervened, shutting Shirei up. "Ok, this is just sad to watch." Walking over to Kazuma, who was still on the floor, she bent down and looked him in the eye. "Your world is fake, and you're not a real reincarnatior, ok?"

Shirei coughed as he looked over at Asami with a look that just screamed 'WHAT THE FUCK'. On the other hand, Kazuma, who had listened to Asami and Shirei, both started piecing things together in his head. "Asami, what the hell you didn't have to say it like that!" Hearing Shirei screaming at her, Asami yelled back.

"You can't spare his feelings if it takes a hundred hours to explain it!" While the two bickered, Kazuma suddenly spoke, causing the two of them to go silent. "So… What you're saying is I'm the main character in a novel, right? So the fact that I'm stuck with a useless goddess and that all my teammates?"

Shirei sighed as he nodded his head. "Ya, it's all a shtick written by your Author." Not knowing how he would react, Shirei felt slightly bad. On one side, he had to tell him so he doesn't get in the way, but on the other hand, his reality just got shattered. "Thank God!" Letting out the biggest sigh of relief, Kazuma leaned back on the floor and looked up.

"I knew this all trashy to be true. I mean, seriously, everything is so cliche!" Asami, who heard Kazuma, almost started laughing hearing Kazuma talk bad about his own Universe. "Well, shit, you took that better than I thought you would." Kazuma stood up and looked over at Asami. "Of course, I did. I've had to deal with so much crap since my arrival here that barely anything surprises me anymore."

Nodding her head, Asami clapped her hands together. "Preaching to the quire on that one. I mean, seriously, what kind of people come up with these stories. It's even worse when I learned I wasn't even part of it. If it wasn't for Shirei arriving, I probably would have died without making much of an impact in life."

Seeing the two of them getting along despite how Asami basically body-slammed Kazuma to the ground, Shirei had no words. "Well, I'm glad to see you two are getting along so well, but Asami was here for a reason." Bringing the focus back inwards, Asami stopped talking, and so did Kazuma.

"Where here searching for a possible reincarnatior or maybe transmigratior who doesn't belong in this world. We don't know who they are, but they're somewhere in this city. I also heard something about a guy named Muri." Listening to them, Kazuma's eyes started to light up. "Oh, so you guys are like bounty hunters!"

"Nowhere not bounty hunters."

"Ya Kinda."

Both Asami and Shirei gave two different answers as he just shook his head. "Well, if you're talking about someone suspicious, that bastard Muri is definitely a top contender. I thought I hated Mitsurugi, but that Muri…" Clenching his fist Kazuma started punching the air in front of him.

"He thinks he's so great! Just cause he has god-like looks and is powerful. At this point, Darkness is hanging out with him more than her teammates, and he's even getting chummy with Meguimen." Hearing that, Shire's gaze changed as they listened to what Kazuma just said. "Ok, that's definitely not normal. A character named Muri was not in the original."

Hearing that, Kazuma stopped punching the air and looked at Shirei. "Wait, seriously? So that guy a real reincarnation?" Asami looked at Kazuma strangely before speaking. "I thought that's why you told us about him." Kazuma's eyes slowly shifted away from everyone else's as he began to sweat. "Gosh dammit, Kazuma. Can you at least tell us about his abilities?" '

Knowing it was just in Kazuma's nature, Shirei didn't hold anything to him as Kazuma jumped at the chance to skip the topic. "Uh, well, kinda. Apparently, he can summon swords or something. No one has really seen him use it since everyone who has is uh… Dead. Anyway, whenever he fights, there are a bunch of weapons leftover and eventually, they all just disappear."

Writing all this down as a mental note, Shirei tried to think of any powers he could remember like that. 'I mean, the name 'The Weapon's Vault' makes sense now, but I can't remember an ability that would let someone do that.' Eventually, Shirei stood up from the chair and looked over to Asami. "Well, looks like we're going to have to pay him a visit ourselves to figure it out."

Asami nodded her head as she cracked her neck and prepared to head out. "Wait, can I come along!" Seemingly overly excited, Asami looked at Kazuma with narrowed eyes. "Why because you want to see us beat him up or something?" Hitting the nail directly on the head, Kazuma played it off. "What, of course not! I just want to make sure you know the way to get there."

"Really?" Still not believing him, Kazuma stumbled for a moment. "Look, I am willing to let the whole body slamming thing slide if you just let me come along. Otherwise, as a true advocate of Gender Equality, I'll have to do the same to you." Asami's gaze turned slightly dark as she smiled at Kazuma. "You can try it, but don't blame me If I break your arm."

"Ok! Asami, it's fine, and Kazuma, just doesn't do anything stupid ok?" Breaking the conflict up, Shirei was worried there for a second. Kazuma was stronger than the average person thanks to his skills, but Asami would have absolutely destroyed him. Eventually, all three of them left the shop where the crowd had disappeared, and Wiz was waiting.

"Oh, are you done talking?" Looking at Kazuma with a worried expression, Asami laughed while speaking. "Yup, don't worry, he forgave me entirely. In fact, he was going to buy me a few drinks later today, right Kazuma?" Putting her arm around Kazuma's shoulder intimidatingly, Kazuma nodded. "Yup, don't worry, Wiz, we're all friends…"

Being as klutzy and air-headed as she was, Wiz didn't suspect a thing as she smiled. "Okay, then I'm glad. I have to open the shop now, so I hope you all have fun." Shirei, Asami and Kazuma all walked away casually and once out of view, Asami let go of Kazuma and had him lead the way. In all honesty, even Shirei felt bad for how he was being treated by Asami.

'I guess even the advocate of Gender Equality can't hold up to a girl who will kick his ass at a moment's notice.' With Kazuma leading them through the city, eventually, they reached the house Miru lived in. Like Kazuma, he lived in a mansion, but it was a lot bigger for one. In fact, almost an entire portion of the block they were on was reserved specifically for the mansion.

"He's usually here when he's not doing missions at the Guild." Opening the gate connected to the wall surrounding the mansion, Kazuma led the two of them up to the front door. Kazuma was prepared to knock, but Asami stopped him and looked at him like he was stupid. "We might have to use force to bring this guy down, and I would appreciate it if you didn't let him know we were coming."

Opening the front door slowly and quietly, Asami was the first to peer inside. The main hall of the mansion was empty without a soul in sight. The mansion was quite big and was very stylized to the point Shirei could imagine seeing it on a TV program back on earth. Seeing that Asami entered with Shirei and Kazuma following behind. As they stood there, they could hear the distinct sound of laughter coming from one of the rooms down the hall.

With Shirei moving first, he gestured for Asami to follow him as they made their way towards the room in question. As they got closer, the sound of laughter grew until eventually, they were right outside the door. "Hold on a second. I know those voices." Hearing three voices in total, two were laughing while another was talking.

Recognizing the first two voices right away, Shirei opened the door without prompt. At first glance, it was a rather large room. With three couches stationed around a large coffee table, it gave a great view of the fireplace. Along with that, a large window behind the main couch let light pour in from outside.

Sitting on the couch in the middle, Shirei could only assume Muri, who in all honestly did look like a generic Main Character. 'Hold on actually. He looks like Kirito from SAO.' Sitting next to Muri were both Darkness and Meguimen, who had just noticed Shirei and the others walking into the room. "Eh! Kazuma, what are you doing here?" Looking surprised, Darkness watched as Kazuma gave her a condescending look.

"What am I doing here? We had a mission to do today, and you guys bailed on Aqua and me!" Kazuma's yelling pierced both Darkness's and Meguimen's ears as they flinched. "See, but we have a good reason for it, Kazuma! Muri said he might let us join him on his next mission." Hearing Meguimen Kazuma's eyes narrowed even further.

On the other hand, Muri, who was sitting there silently, stood up with a smile. "Well, that's rude of you bursting into a person's house like that, Kazuma. I was just getting to the best part of my story." Just listening to his voice Shirei and Asami began to understand why Kazuma hated him so much.

It was like he was violating you with his words alone. Everything he said just sounded so weird. "Kazuma, I'm going to need you to deal with Darkness and Meguimen." Keeping his eyes on Muri, Kazuma looked over at Shirei and nodded. Walking over to the couch where the two of them were, he grabbed them by their arms and began dragging them out the room.

"Hey, Kazuma, that hurts!" Meguimen complained while Darkness looked at Kazuma with a flushed expression. "Kazuma, how could you treat me so roughly... You're acting like I was a wife caught cheating on her husband." As Kazuma continued to walk towards the door with an unamused expression, Muri, on the other hand, was staring at a hole in the back of Kazuma's head.

Continuing to sit on the couch, he moved his finger slightly, and in response, a yellow gate like a portal opened next to his head. Launching out of the gate like a missile, an Iron Dagger looked as if it was to hit Kazuma directly in the back of his head. Before Kazuma even realized what had happened, the sound of a pulse-like gunshot sounded from behind him.

Turning his head just as they left the room, he saw Shirei had drawn what looked like a sci-fi pistol from his side and had just shot something. Looking down at the ground, however he realized what had shot. An Iron dagger with a hole blown clean through it was lying on the ground where he was just walking. "Did he just try to-"

Before Kazuma could even say anything, Asami walked over to the door and slammed it close. "Trying to kill him just cause he took away your company? A little bit rash, don't you think." Putting his gun back in its holster Shirei didn't bother being polite as Muri narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" Shirei smiled in response but didn't answer his question.

"I guess I should have realized from Kazuma's description, but I didn't think you would have the Gate Of Babylon." Hearing Shirei say the name of his ability, Muri's composure broke as he looked at both Asami and Shirei in confusion. Meanwhile, outside of the room with the door closed Kazuma let go of both Meguimen and Darkness.

"Why did you two have to get mixed up with someone so dangerous!" Scolding them both Darkness and Meguimen didn't even have time to try and make an excuse. But as he was talking to them he spotted someone walking down the hall dressed in a butler's outfit. "Who is that?" Stopping his rant short Kazuma looked over as the boy dressed as a butler got closer.

"May I ask if you are all Master Muri's friends? I came here because of all the noise." A boy with a muscular build and short black hair with gray eyes looked at all three of them. Kazuma immediately shook his head feeling something was off. "Yes, we are! Muri is having a meeting at the moment so we're just waiting out here. Who are you exactly."

The boy corrected his posture as he gave a short bow. "I am Master Muri's butler. You may call me...."