Chapter 24: A Threat Nobody Knows

A few hours earlier, when Kazuma and Darkness had just left for their date.

"Aaaaahhhh... I slept so well."

Aqua let out a long yawn, stretching both arms wide to her left and right. She rose from her bed and slowly walked toward the large window in her room. Opening it, she let the sunlight and fresh air pour in. Outside the window was a spacious balcony, perfect for relaxing.

Aqua stepped onto the balcony, taking in the view of Orario from the highest floor of Twilight Manor. As a goddess, Aqua craved respect and pampering from those around her, wanting them to treat her according to her high status. So, when they acquired Twilight Manor, she immediately claimed the entire top floor as her own.

From the balcony, Aqua could see the massive walls surrounding the city of Orario and groups of adventurers walking along the main road toward the dungeon. She also noticed, perhaps for the first time, just how vast Twilight Manor was, with plenty of unused land behind the building.

As Aqua gazed at the land, a memory of something she had done before came to mind.

"Ooooh... that's the perfect spot for growing vegetables! I still have some seeds from that kind old man who sold them to me back in Axel. Hmm... I'll plant a vegetable garden behind the manor!"

Growl...

Growl...

"Oops... but I'm hungry. Looks like I overslept and missed breakfast. I'll plant them after I eat."

Aqua left her room just as she was, still in her just-woke-up state, and headed straight to the dining room.

"Kazuma... Megumin... Darkness... let's eat together!"

As she walked down the hall, Aqua shouted loudly, calling out to her three familia members. But there was no response from any of them.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Those guys, they're probably too exhausted from last night's party. It can't be helped. Even though I don't want my familia members becoming NEETs like Kazuma, since I'm in a good mood, I'll let them laze around just for today."

With that, Aqua decided to eat alone, finishing off last night's leftovers. It didn't take her long to finish her meal, and she headed straight to the empty land behind the manor.

Aqua pulled out a variety of seeds she wanted to plant. She had all kinds, like cabbages, lettuces, Tranquility Girls, Mandrakes, Dryads, and many other types. Every seed she held was plant-type monsters that only existed in her previous world. Of course, with Aqua's low intelligence, she had no idea what kinds of plants she was about to grow or how dangerous they might become once fully grown. She simply trusted the words of the old man who sold her these plant-monster seeds, believing they were just ordinary vegetables.

Because of the size of the empty plot, it took Aqua quite a while to plant all the seeds she had. She also made sure to water them with water created by her magic and even blessed the plants to help them grow quickly so they'd be ready for harvest soon.

"Aqua... Aqua...!"

Aqua paused her work and turned around to see who was calling her, though she already knew just by the sound of the voice.

"Megumin... why are you so sweaty like that?"

Aqua showed a slightly worried expression as she noticed Megumin's sweat-soaked, smelly clothes. Megumin was also out of breath, as if she'd run around the entire manor.

"Aqua... have you seen Kazuma and Darkness?"

"Aren't they still sleeping?"

"They're not in their rooms. I've searched the whole manor, but they're nowhere to be found."

"Megumin... you're worrying too much about those two. They're adults; they can take care of themselves."

"That's exactly why I'm worried! Because they're adults, I'm afraid they might end up doing something... weird."

"I mean, isn't it normal for a man and a woman to do something like that?"

"Aaaah... Aqua..."

Megumin shouted, clutching her head with both hands, frustrated that Aqua couldn't understand what she was trying to say. Then, Megumin decided to use a little trick to influence Aqua into helping her.

"Just imagine Kazuma and Darkness going off together and enjoying fancy alcohol without inviting us."

"What?! That's unacceptable!! Megumin, let's go wait for them at the front of the manor!"

Megumin easily fooled Aqua. The two of them spent the rest of the day waiting until nightfall for Kazuma and Darkness to return. After a long wait, Megumin finally spotted Kazuma and Darkness coming back, carrying loads of shopping bags.

"Darkness... it seems we need to have a private chat as fellow women,"

Megumin immediately grabbed Darkness's hand and pulled her into the manor, saying just one sentence before falling completely silent.

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[Kazuma's POV]

"Aaaah..."

I sighed as I watched Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness enter the house, leaving me standing outside all alone.

'It seems I've made a pretty big mistake. Even when Darkness snuck into my room and tried to do something with me, Megumin didn't even kick me out of the house.'

'Although I could use my teleportation skill to enter the manor, I'm worried that Aqua would instantly detect my presence and make things even worse. I hope Darkness and Megumin don't end up arguing over this.'

'Maybe I shouldn't have done what I did. If I had just talked to Megumin from the beginning, maybe it wouldn't have come to this.'

'Aaaah... it's so confusing.'

"Teleport!"

I was so overwhelmed thinking about everything that, almost instinctively, I used my teleportation skill. Of course, I didn't teleport into the manor; instead, I appeared on one side of the walls surrounding Orario, a spot where Megumin and I often went to practice explosion magic.

Right now, I needed a quiet place, far from the noise and people, so I could reflect on all my mistakes.

When I arrived, I spotted a woman. It was Shakti Varma, the overseer of the War Game from yesterday. It didn't take her long to realize that someone had suddenly appeared behind her.

She quickly turned around, aiming the spear she held at my face, stopping just in front of me.

"Who's there? State your identity!"

"Calm down... calm down... it's me, Satou Kazuma from Aqua Familia."

As soon as I revealed my identity, the woman in front of me let out a sigh and lowered her spear.

"So it's you... what are you doing here?"

"Ughh... I'm just looking for some fresh air."

"Don't lie... it's unlikely anyone would come all the way to the city walls just for fresh air. I'm currently on patrol, searching for the culprit behind the crazy mage who keeps using explosion magic every night. Anyone who comes here is definitely worth my suspicion."

She didn't believe my excuse, which was fair since I was lying to her.

'But wait, it seems she mentioned something I can't ignore.'

I tried to reflect on what the woman in front of me had said. After a few seconds, I realized she was looking for Megumin.

A cold sweat broke out on my forehead, and all the hairs on my body stood on end. I didn't know why she was trying to find Megumin... Ughhh, deep down, I knew—it was probably because she wanted to catch Megumin for disturbing the peace in Orario. But I couldn't let her realize that I had any connection to the mage who caused explosions every night.

"Ughh... actually, I was kicked out of my house. I came here to be alone, but I didn't expect anyone else to be here."

I tried to divert her attention away from the topic of the crazy witch and shared what I was actually experiencing.

"Kicked out... why were you kicked out?"

"Well... it's a bit of a problem... it's about some girls in my Familia."

"I see. Well, I can't say much when it comes to issues involving your Familia members, but if you've made a mistake, don't forget to apologize to them. Poor relationships among Familia members can destroy the Familia itself."

"Yeah... I'll apologize to them tomorrow."

"Suit yourself. You said you wanted to be alone here? Then go ahead and do as you wish; I'll continue my patrol."

"Yeah, thank you very much."

Although the woman seemed quite cold on the outside, she was actually very caring and willing to listen to me. Besides that, she worked as a guard for this city. She was truly different from the female royal prosecutor in my previous world, who never wanted to listen to me and always tried to throw me into prison.

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[3rd POV]

In a spacious and dimly lit room, a goddess named Ishtar sat on a red throne. Her appearance was incredibly revealing; she wore nothing to cover her upper body, not even a garment to wrap around her big breasts, as if it were too much trouble for her. She only had a single piece of fabric draped in a way that barely concealed her nipples.

In front of her stood over ten Amazoness warriors, arranged neatly in two rows.

While slowly taking a drag from her cigarette, Ishtar suddenly spoke to all the Familia members standing before her.

"I want the adventurer named Satou Kazuma!"

"Huh? For what?"

One of the Amazoness warriors standing in front of Ishtar raised an eyebrow, her expression filled with confusion and suspicion. She couldn't understand what her goddess was thinking. This was Aisha Belka, a beautiful young Amazoness with purple eyes, matching the piece of fabric she wore to wrap her huge breast, while her upper body remained completely exposed. In contrast, the lower half of her body was covered only by a slightly transparent purple cloth, allowing everyone to see what lay beneath.

"Whoosh... Oi... oi... Aisha, why are you questioning my decision?"

Ishtar exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke while gazing at Aisha. Although Aisha was a member of Ishtar's Familia, she was under the influence of Ishtar's charm, making it impossible for her to disobey Ishtar's orders, even when they contradicted her own feelings.

"Kidnap him; he has incredible potential. I'm sure I can use him in my plan to defeat Freya."

"Ishtar-sama is so terrifying."

"Ishtar-sama shows no mercy at all."

All the Amazoness warriors present in the room were very excited, except for Aisha, when they heard the plan to kidnap a new adventurer in Orario. Moreover, this adventurer had recently made a splash throughout the city with his stunt in the recent War Game.

"So, how should we go about kidnapping him?" a fat Amazoness with a face like a toad asked Ishtar.

She was Phryne Jamil, the captain of Ishtar's Familia. Despite her huge body, she stood a towering 2 meters tall. Any man who looked at her would likely be traumatized and suffer from PTSD. Moreover, she often boasted with confidence that her beauty surpassed Ishtar's and that she could make all men fall in love with her.

"Do whatever you want, but don't do it in public!" Ishtar replied to Phryne's question curtly.

"Hehe, then the dungeon is the perfect place to do it."

Phryne grinned widely, already imagining what she would do once she captured Kazuma.

"And also, Phryne, don't touch him! If you ruin him, he won't be any use to me!" Ishtar warned Phryne not to entertain any strange ideas.

"Tch, Ishtar-sama, it's so unfair of you to accuse me like that! I wouldn't do such a thing!"

"I hope so, do it as fast as possible!"

Ishtar spoke briefly, then stood up from her throne and slowly walked toward the exit.

(To Be Continued)