Chapter 33: The Desire to Grow Stronger

Morning at the Twilight Manor, after Kazuma and Darkness shared their first intimate night together.

Right now, Darkness is cleaning herself in the bath. After all, having exerted herself physically all night, her body is understandably dirty and sweaty.

Darkness scrubs herself thoroughly until there's no trace of odor left. Once she feels clean, she eases into the hot water to relax her weary body after the night's activities.

In the soothing warmth of the bath, Darkness closes her eyes, reflecting on everything that happened last night.

'This isn't a dream, is it? I really did it with Kazuma?'

'Unghhh… just thinking back on what Kazuma and I did last night is turning me on.'

'Even though our roles were reversed that night, I'll never forget my first experience with him.'

'But Kazuma is still too weak right now. I hope he becomes stronger soon.'

'I don't want to treat Kazuma roughly, but I want him to be rough with me. I want him to handle me however he wants.'

'I need to push him to grow stronger quickly.'

'But… speaking of Megumin…'

'How am I supposed to talk to Megumin about this?'

'It's impossible to keep my relationship with Kazuma a secret forever. Sooner or later, it will come out, and honestly, I don't even want to hide it. I want to be honest with Megumin, but I don't know what to say to her.'

'Will Megumin end up hating me?'

...

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Kazuma had just regained consciousness after passing out from exhaustion.

"AAAAAAGHHHHH!!"

Kazuma, who had been lying in bed, suddenly sat up and yelled loudly, as if he'd just woken up from a nightmare.

"Ughhh… that was a bad dream, but at the same time, it was really… enjoyable. I wouldn't mind going through that again."

Kazuma still thought that what happened last night was just a dream. But a moment later, that idea vanished from his mind as he realized he wasn't wearing any clothes at all.

His bed was utterly chaotic. The bedspread was completely soaked. In the center of the bed, Kazuma could still see a red stain on the blanket.

"Don't tell me… this is Darkness' blood?"

"So last night… that wasn't a dream?"Darkness really violated me until morning?"

Kazuma looked around his entire room, noticing it wasn't just the bed that was soaked. The chair, walls, even the window—all bore traces and evidence of the wild night he and Darkness had shared.

But worst of all, everything they did last night was entirely under Darkness's control. Kazuma hadn't had the strength or the will to resist. He could only surrender as the Darkness violated his body from night until morning.

"HIEEEEEEEEKK!!!!!"

Kazuma opened his eyes wide, unable to contain his shock at the state of his room.

"This is bad… I can't leave it like this. I have to clean up right away. If Megumin comes in here… I can't even imagine her reaction seeing my room in this condition!"

Kazuma got out of bed, quickly pulling off the bedspread and blanket and piling them on the floor.

"Ugh… This… This reeks!!"

He suddenly realized just how awful his room smelled. He wasn't sure exactly what caused it, but he knew he had to erase every trace and piece of evidence in his room before breakfast.

"Create Water!"

With that magic, Kazuma can produce water from his hands in proportion to the amount of magical energy he uses. With a very small amount of magical energy, he can only summon enough to fill a glass, but if he used the same amount of magical energy as Megumin does with her Explosion magic, he could potentially create a flood.

 "Create Water!"

"Create Water!"

"Create Water!"

But that wasn't what Kazuma wanted right now. He only needed enough water to clean every corner of his room. He spammed the Create Water spell until he lost track of how many times he had used it.

"Wind Breath!"

"Wind Breath!"

"Wind Breath!"

After soaking every corner of his room with Create Water, Kazuma spammed Wind Breath. A gentle breeze blew from his hands, enough to dry the room and get rid of the smell lingering inside.

"Pheww... finally, it's done."

Kazuma let out a relieved sigh as his room was now clean and looked like a normal man's room.

Thud...

Kazuma leaned his body against the floor.

"Aaah… I'm so tired. Even though I used magic to clean both my room and myself, casting spells non-stop for 30 minutes is still exhausting."

....

....

....

Kazuma, Megumin, and Darkness were sitting together at the dining table, waiting for breakfast to be prepared by Aqua.

"Aqua, what's going on? It's unusual for you to call us all for breakfast this early, and you're the one making it?" Kazuma asked Aqua.

He was a little surprised, as he rarely saw Aqua being this diligent, especially when it came to preparing food for everyone. Normally, Aqua would throw a tantrum like a baby and demand someone else get her food.

"Yeah, I just harvested the plants I grew in the back. Just wait, you'll taste the fruits of the plants I've planted and harvested all by myself."

Aqua had already cooked all the plants she harvested and was just about to bring them to the dining table.

"Aqua, let me help you too," Darkness offered.

"Thanks, Darkness. In that case, please help me carry all of this."

Aqua and Darkness brought the dishes to the dining room. Although Darkness knew that Aqua had planted something behind the manor, she had never seen it with her own eyes.

'All of this… no way… it can't be...'

Darkness shook her head, trying to ignore what was running through her mind.

"Please enjoy this special dish made by me," Aqua said, placing the food on the table.

"Aqua... don't tell me you planted monster plants around the manor without telling me?"

Kazuma immediately realized what was happening as he looked at the spread in front of him. There were cabbages and lettuces that would grant EXP if eaten, he had often ate these plants in previous world. There were also wild potatoes with poisonous skins. Kazuma had almost died from poisoning just by touching them with bare hands—if Aqua hadn't healed him, he would have definitely been dead by now.

"AAAAAAH... It hurts... It hurts... Don't pinch my cheek, Kazuma-san!"

.....

.....

.....

Behind Twilight Manor,

Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness gathered together to see the various plants Aqua had planted behind the manor. The four of them had quickly come here after breakfast, urged by Kazuma.

"Aaa... What is this? Aqua!! This is even worse than the garden you made last time!"

"Wait, Kazuma... what do you mean by 'worse'? These are my very cute children!"

Aqua immediately protested, not happy with Kazuma's comment. As she voiced her complaint, she began introducing her 'cute' plants to him.

"Look at them, they're so cute, aren't they? Their names are Deadscream Bloody Mary."

"Mama!"

"Mama!"

Aqua pointed to a group of Tranquility Girls, who still looked like babies. But despite their innocent, baby-like appearance, the Tranquility Girls could become cruel and merciless monsters. However, because Aqua often fed them water infused with the magical energy of a goddess, all the Tranquility Girls had become very docile babies when around Aqua.

"Look, Mary, let me introduce you to my followers. This man is Kazuma, the woman with the blonde hair is Darkness, and the one with the red eyes is Megumin."

"Darkness!"

"Megumin!"

"Uncle Kazuma!

"What the hell is Deadscream Bloody Mary? Aren't they all just Tranquility Girls? And why are they calling me 'uncle'?"

"Uncle Kazuma, let's play!"

One of the Tranquility Girls, who was closest to Kazuma, tugged at his pants and tried to invite him to play.

"HEEEEEEK!"

Kazuma immediately backed away in fear, remembering the terrible experiences he'd had with these monsters.

"Mary, don't bully Kazuma! Even though he's a man, he's really cowardly and scared of plants. You all need to treat Kazuma well and protect him from now on. Umm, not just Kazuma, you should protect everyone living in this manor, okay?"

Aqua innocently gave a reminder to all the Tranquility Girls in front of her.

"Alright, we'll protect Uncle Kazuma and everyone from now on."

But strangely, all the Tranquility Girls cheerfully responded to Aqua's words.

"Uwaaah... Aqua, even though I'm happy you told them to protect me, it still hurts a little hearing what you said."

"Well, well Kazuma, don't worry about that, let me show you the other plants I have here."

Aqua took Kazuma, Megumin, and Darkness on a tour around the garden she had been tending. The more they walked around, the more Kazuma became terrified of Aqua's garden. From now on, he swore to never come here again.

"By the way, Aqua, I plan to raise my status today. I want you to help me update it."

"Ummm... alright, I don't have anything planned for today anyway. But why do you suddenly want to get stronger? This isn't like you."

Aqua tilted her head while holding her lower lip with her finger, a bit puzzled by Kazuma's sudden desire to get stronger.

'Ughh... there's no way I can tell Aqua I want to get stronger just so I can last longer in bed.'

"W-well, what's the problem? I'm a man, and sometimes I also have the desire to get stronger!"

"Well, I really don't care.... whatever your reason is."

Then, the four of them gathered in the hall on the first floor. Kazuma had filled the hall with magic stones he bought from the guild. Without needing anyone's command, Kazuma immediately began absorbing the magic stones in the hall. Meanwhile, Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness waited for Kazuma while playing cards game.

Kazuma continued absorbing magic stones without rest. Every hour, he asked Aqua to update his status to check if he had reached the limit for the type of magic stones he was absorbing. Once he hit the limit, Kazuma would switch to absorbing stronger magic stones. He kept repeating these tasks without stopping until he finally reached his maximum status at level 2.

.....

Satou Kazuma

Level 2 :

Strength : I 0 -> SSS 1500

Defense : I 0 -> SSS 1500

Dexterity : I 0 -> SSS 1500

Agility : I 0 -> SSS 1500

Magic : I 0 -> SSS 1500

Skill :

God Class :

• Hieroglyphs: The user can understand and use the language of the gods.

• Goddess Blood: Due to the large amount of Aqua's divine blood entering the user's body, the blood flowing within the user is now mixed with Aqua's divine blood, granting the ability to open and access the statuses of those within the Aqua Familia.

.....

During the process of raising his status, Kazuma acquired two new skills. The first skill is Hieroglyphs, which allows him to understand and use the language of the gods. With this skill, he no longer needs to ask Aqua to translate the status written on his back.

The second skill is Goddess Blood. Since each status update requires Aqua's blood, and Kazuma repeatedly requested updates within a short period, his body became heavily exposed to a large amount of divine blood. As a result, Kazuma's blood became contaminated and mixed with Aqua's divine blood. Although it is not as powerful as the original bloodline, it grants his blood effects similar to Aqua's.

(To Be Continued)