Konosuba Yorimichi Vol.3 - Chapter 4: Journal of an absurd life in another world!


Credits

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Konosuba Yorimichi Anthology Volume 3 by Natsume Akatsuki
Illustrations by Kurone Mishima
Published by Kadokawa Shoten on September 29th, 2023.

Original crappy translation by H. Berry (contact: aitch99berry@gmail.com)

Upcoming chapters will be posted on Patreon and Ko-Fi first!


[Month XX, Day X. Rain]

“I hate this place.” I muttered to no one in particular while looking at the pouring rain through the window. It’s past noon, I was planning to go into town after lunch…

“Huh? What did you say? Didn’t you read the weather forecast?” Aqua said, looking at my shocked expression.

Yes, there are weather forecasts in this fantasy world, they come in the newspaper delivered every morning. Some sort of professional fortune teller writes them.

“I read it, I just thought it had some sort of typo, or a printing error. I mean…”

I pointed at the splashing fish in the garden.

“’Be mindful of the fish downpour’ that’s what it said. If you have to go out, use something to protect your head, but it’s better if you stay home.”

“’Be mindful of the fish downpour’…do you any idea how ridiculous that sounds!?”

“The Great Spirit of Summer and Great Spirit of the Storm are very active and often fight at this time of the year, things heat up so much that fish move to rainy areas to cool off. It’s very easy to catch high-quality fish, but it’s better to just wait indoors until the rain stops.”

“The spirits fighting cause fish to rain from the skies, it sounds like complete nonsense.”

I can’t understand the thing happening in front of me. There are many strange things in this world, but I just can’t get used to this irrational natural phenomenon.

“There’ll be an abundance of fish once the rain stops. Let’s have sashimi and grilled fish for dinner.”

“Are you really going to eat fish that fell from the sky…?”

While I was still pondering, the front door opened, “Aqua, Kazuma, we’re back! I want to take a bath, please use your magic to heat up the water.”

“A fish landed on my hat! Darkness, check your armor, there may be high-grade fish inside!”

Darkness was carrying Megumin on her back, the two soaking wet. They come from Megumin’s stupid one explosion a day routine. She happily caught the fish that jumped from her hat.

“I was hoping for some slimy fish to be moving through my clothes but seems nothing got through the gaps of my armor. Maybe I should wear light clothes next time…”

“You shouldn’t lower your defenses, Darkness. Let’s have a feast tonight, help me catch some of the fish in the garden later!”

They were talking about ridiculous nonsense as soon as they returned. Seeing how they’re from this world, they’re used to this…

Normally, I want nothing to do with them, but now I’ll like to see other reincarnated people from Japan. I should be able to vent my complains to them.

“Look! Kazuma, Kazuma, there’s an eel over there!”

Despite warning me against going out, Aqua jumped into the rain. She’s supposed to be the goddess of water, rain usually gets her excited.

She caught an eel jumping in the garden. “Kazuma, look! There’s also a red seabream and a flounder! We’ll eat fish for days!”

“That’s good, but be careful—Ah!”, While I was trying to warn Aqua, a yellowtail landed directly on her head.

Then a big eye tuna right as she was trying to get up.

I grabbed an umbrella and ran into the garden to help Aqua before more fish land on her.

 

[Month ○, Day . Cloudy]

“Where is that fiend, where is Lalatina!? I hereby accuse you of your evil deeds!”

While on a party for nobles, Darkness was suddenly accused of some sort of villainy. It was from a noble young man with a fair face and blonde hair, the popular type.

The party fell silent.

“Stop bullying Tia, the daughter of Baroness Dortrin, right now! Also—I hereby declare that I am relinquishing my engagement with you! You better give up on me! The engagement was decided by my parents without my consent. But now that I’ve seen you for the first time, I realized I hate devilish women like you! I like pretty girls like Tia!”

As the atmosphere at the party got really tense, Darkness suddenly jumped at the noble that dumped her.

“…”

“Gah—! Stop—! Stop strangling me, I-I’ll die—”

“L-Lady Dustiness, please let go off him!”, “I understand your anger Lady Dustiness, but we don’t know what’s happening, let’s hear him out first!”

The noble was being strangled by Darkness; his face turning purple. It took several other nobles to get her to release her grip.

“Darkness… how could you? I was here all along and yet you had someone else all this time… you better explain!”

“That’s right! How dare you keep something like this a secret from us!”

“Darkness, I’m here to console you, my shoulder is always available for you to cry on...”

“All of you, shut up! I don’t understand it either!”

This is a gourmet party for nobles; many of the higher-grade fish that from the fish rain are served here. We weren’t invited though, aside from Darkness that is. Megumin, Aqua and I crashed this party.

Aqua kept saying that all sea creatures should belong to the goddess of water, and Megumin threatened to cast explosion magic on the party venue, Darkness let us stay on the condition we kept quiet.

“Coff, coff— what a violent woman, Tia was right after all!” The noble stood up with tears in his eyes. Somehow, he seems convinced of his accusations.

I should intervene, but this looks interesting, it’ll be more fun to stand back and watch.

The noble pointed at Darkness, “Let me say it again! I found true love, that’s why I’m ending my engagement with yo—agh—!”

“Lady Dustiness!”, “Wait Lady Dustiness! Please calm down!”

It took an even bigger group of nobles to hold Darkness down after she started beating up her former betrothed.

With a swollen face, a black eye and missing a few teeth, he resumed, “Did your parents never warned you against speaking to higher-ranking nobles without permission, what kind of treatment is that!? Doing this to your betrothed on the first meeting… that is why I’m breaking our engagement! Even though there are still many things I have to say, I want nothing to do with you!”

Darkness raised her hand, there were a few specks of blood on it, and asked with a confused expression, “First of all, who the hell are you?”

“What!? Are you claiming not to know about me? Those lies won’t fool me! Not knowing about a higher-ranking noble like me…”

For some reason, he began acting strange, his eyes were spinning.

A noblewoman whispered in Darkness’ ear, “…he’s the eldest son of Count Pins. I think his name is Vice, or something like that...”

“The evidence is out there! There’s no point of fooling around now LalatinaAAAAAAAAAAAH—!”

Mid-sentence, Vice was silenced and sent flying with a blow to the face. Darkness doesn’t like her name spoken out loud.

A noble approached the fallen Vice, “Lord Vice, are you sure this is not a misunderstanding? That is Lady Lalatina Ford Dustiness, daughter of Duke Dustiness.”

“What—?” Vice froze for a moment and looked around suspiciously. Then turned his gaze towards Darkness, “Are you not Lalatina Rod Lilac, daughter of Viscount Lilac?”

As all surrounding nobles shook their heads, Vice turned pale.

Darkness then pointed her finger at him, “Execute him.”

“W-wait, I made a mistake. I’m sorry, p-please forgive me!”

After Vice apologized profusely and all other nobles convinced Darkness that it was all an amusing show, he was spared of execution.

Later that evening, during drinks, he told me his side of the story.

 

[Month ○, Day □. Rain

“Kazuma, Kazuma. This is the eel I picked on the fish rain the other day, but there’s something strange about it. I was planning of grilling it for lunch, but I’m not sure if it’s really an eel?” Aqua said while looking into a large pail of water in the kitchen.

She was supposed to do the cooking today, but because we have so many high-grade fish, I will take over. I’m the only one with cooking skills after all.

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know much about this world. But I do know that eels are delicious when grilled—” I took a closer look at the pail, “—Isn’t that a snake? It sure doesn’t look like an eel to me.”

“I know, right? I was excited because I thought it was an eel. Anyway, no point on wasting it, do you think we can eat it grilled, or would it be better to cook it with rice?”

Is she seriously thinking about eating some strange snake?

“I don’t know anything about sea snakes, but aren’t they venomous? I think it’s better if you just throw it away.”

“There’s nothing that can’t be eaten, Kazuma. Don’t you know that eels have poison in their blood? You just need to cook them carefully. I’m already in the mood for kabayaki[1] anyway.”

Well, if she’s willing to try it first, then I see no problem.

I put my hand on the pail to grab the snake.

*Squeak!*

“What—? Ah—! It hurts, it hurts!”

The snake squirted water out of its mouth, I tried to brush it away, but it hit me with tremendous pressure.

“Was that water breath? This is certainly not an eel.”

“Now you figure it out!? Look, I’m bleeding! Aqua, heal me!” I had to ask for help a after that unexpected attack.

The snake then slithered out of the pail and slowly approached Aqua.

“What? Doesn’t matter if you’re a sea snake or not, if you dare pull that stunt with the goddess of water, you’ll get divine punishment—! Hmm? Does it like me?”

Perhaps the water attribute makes them compatible, the snake put its head close to Aqua’s fingertips, clearly asking her to pet it.

“You were attracted by the overflowing aura of the goddess of water. You have quite the sight.”

“Didn’t it escape from the heat of the battle of the spirits? It probably thinks of you like a faucet in the park or something.”

“Don’t lump me, a goddess, with something like that. I’m not hungry anymore, not after meeting my new follower.”

Wasn’t she going to eat that new follower just a minute ago?

 

[Month ○, Day ◇. Cloudy]

“—and then the great wizard Saito caused a large eruption that created a huge crater in Mount Peperon, which became the foundation of the city of Peperon.”

Megumin finished telling a story to a young girl who is a distant relative of Darkness.

The girl was transfixed, then raised her hand in question, “But Miss Megumin, why did they build a city in such a place? What if Mount Peperon erupts again?”

Her name’s Liliantine, she’s so smart that is hard to believe she and Darkness are related. Not only that, but she’s also rapidly improving through Megumi’s tutoring.

The other day Megumin accepted a request to tutor her through Darkness’ father. Apparently, he heard the that members of the Crimson Magic Clan are highly intelligent.

Darkness and I tried to persuade her, but for some reason, she took a liking to Megumin, and now things are like this.

“That’s a good question. Why build a town in such a place? Well, for starters they didn’t have money to build a wall to surround the city, so they used the crater as a natural barrier. Also, Mount Peperon has an underground river and is rich on many resources. Regarding another eruption, the Great Spirit of Flame that lived on Mount Peperon was lured to another mountain using high-quality manatite. It’s very unlikely for it to erupt in the future.”

“I see... I understand it now. Thank you, Miss Megumin!”

Do great spirits really just move like that?

Darkness insisted on supervising Megumin, and forced me to come with. I thought it’d be a pain, but her lessons of this world are rather interesting.

Suddenly, Megumin turned to face us, “I have a question for you two! Although the second Destroyer destruction operation failed in destroying the Destroyer, the operation was considered a success. Do you know why?”

“Huh?”

While Darkness and I were observing, Megumin asked us a question out of the blue. We’re monitoring her to make sure she doesn’t teach Liliantine weird things, why is she treating us like students?

I have no idea what the second Destroyer destruction operation even is.

“I don’t know much about history, I’ll let a well-educated noble like Darkness answer.”

“What!? I-I’m not very familiar with history either…”

After we couldn’t answer, Megumin pointed at us with a teaching tool, “How can you not know about basic history? This is common knowledge to everyone that loves the Destroyer. Well, first of all, the Mobile Fortress Destroyer had many legs, when it walked around it worked the land. Therefore, the ground it passed through was heavily cultivated—”

While Megumin kept blabbering about the Destroyer, I whispered to Darkness, (Hey, we shouldn’t have let her be a teacher, how about we put a stop to this?)

(Hold on Kazuma, I didn’t know that about the Destroyer. Let’s wait and see.)

“—the Destroyer would also crush monsters in its wake; their corpses were used as nutrients, creating fertile land. In this way, the site where the second Destroyer destruction operation interception occurred was made into a huge farm—” Megumin continued, making exaggerated hand gestures.

 

[Month ○, Day ▽. Rain]

It was a calm afternoon, Aqua and I were picking sweets off the living room table as Darkness was having a cup of tea while reading the newspaper.

Megumin disturbed our peace after looking at the pail in the kitchen, “Aqua, what does Myororin eat? Should be fish, right? It’s a sea snake after all.”

“Myororin? Don’t give my follower a weird name. His name is Melvillei, the Sea Dragon King Melvillei. He may look like a weak sea snake but using my authority as the goddess of water I give him the title of Sea Dragon King.”

Melvillei, formerly Myororin, seemed happy about his exaggerated title. The snake seemed annoyed about Megumin’s attempt to name it; it squirted water on her face.

“Are you challenging me!? Even if you’re a small snake, I won’t hold back!”

“Megumin if you keep bullying my follower, I will reinstate the curse that masked devil inflicted on you.”—Megumin flinched— “Besides, it’ll help us in the future. Once it grows, I’ll have it attack the Demon King’s castle from the sea, I’m sure it’ll be able to destroy it with its water breath. There’s no doubt my discerning eye is right.”

Discerning eye… yeah right, she thought it was an eel when she first saw it.

I’m sure the Demon King is going to be terrified once we raid his castle and this useless goddess brings a snake on a pail and a chicken.

“I’m afraid that won’t happen, Sea Dragon King. Before you fully grow, you’ll become dinner for my familiar, Chomusuke—ow!”

As if Melvillei didn’t like what she said, he squirted water harder than before on Megumin’s forehead.

“That’s it! Chomusuke won’t get her chance; I’ll make kabayaki out of you right now!”

I noticed Darkness staring at Melvillei, as it kept Megumin at bay with its water breath. She then began to sweat profusely as she went from looking at the snake and back at the newspaper several times.

I stealthily took the newspaper from her hands.

“Ah—! What are you doing!?”

“The way you were looking at the snake and newspaper gave me a bad feeling. I don’t know what it says, and I don’t want to know, I’ll burn it right now.”

“W-wait if it’s wrong its fine. But if the paper is right, then it’s not something we can just ignore—”

To keep her quiet, I shoved several sweets into her mouth, “Don’t say another word, there are things in this world we’re better off not knowing. For example, did you know that the rare metal adamantite is just Adamantine poop?”

Her face turned red, then she forcefully swallowed all the sweets, “…is that true? Adamantite is… excrement? My armor is made of adamantite…”

“It’s true.” At least that’s what the old man who taught me blacksmithing skills said.

Darkness looked depressed, as if something important to her was defiled.

“So, Darkness. Melvillei is just a sea snake, right?”

“…r-right. There are certain things we’re happier not knowing… Kazuma …could you do that again, shove sweets into my mouth?”

I would’ve been happier not knowing she’s a noble.

 

[Month ○, Day □. Rain]

Last night Aqua fought ferociously to protect Melvillei from being grilled. To the point she angrily stormed out of the mansion with her snake.

“Let’s start a Duxion farming business!” she said after returning the following morning, as if nothing happened.

“Huh? What’s with you all of the sudden?”

“It’s easy money Kazuma! Duxions are worth a lot of experience, be it by killing or eating them. Let’s raise some and sell them at high price to nobles, we’ll make a lot of money!”[2]

It’s not a bad idea, but it’ll be impossible for me to take care of animals I know nothing about.

“Raising animals is dangerous, you know? I don’t think it’s something amateurs like us can do. I mean even agriculture is dangerous; we often hear stories about farmers getting killed by their own crops. What if the duxions get attacked by monsters, or plants?”

In this world, agriculture is considered something akin to gambling rather than a proper job. You can get a lot of money, but your life is on the line.

“You’re such an idiot Kazuma. If they get hurt, I’ll use Heal. And if they die, then Resurrection. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Do you really think that’s a good way to take care of livestock?”

Aqua is one of the few Archpriests that can use Resurrection, I feel like it’d be safer and more profitable to start some kind of resurrection shop.

“Duxion faming can be very profitable if successful, but I’ve heard the initial investment is quite high. They need nutritious food and very clean water. How do you intend to do it?” Darkness entered the conversation.

“That’s no problem. Duxions prefer waterholes, I was thinking about raising then in Axel’s reservoir. There’s plenty of good food and water, and it’s free!”

She intends to raise monsters in the city’s reservoir?

Aqua’s so stubborn that if I try to stop her, she’ll go ahead just to spite me. It’s better to let her plan fail on its own.

“Well, good luck. If you succeed, treat me to a good drink.”

“What are you talking about? You’re coming with me!”

Why.

“Aqua, we’ll get in trouble if we use the reservoir without permission. How do you plan to get them anyway? They’re rare and expensive, I’m not buying any.”

“As long as we have Darkness, using the reservoir won’t be a problem. As for how to catch them, I’ll cast Blessing on you. With your luck, the duxions will flock to you!”

I’m the bait then.

“No, no, Aqua, you can’t rely on my family’s influence… how about using the lake further away? It doesn’t belong to anyone; you can use it as you please.”

“I want it to be closer to the city, but ok. Kazuma, I’ll leave the task of catching duxions to you.”

“If I find any, I’ll turn them into experience on the spot.”

We negotiated a bit further until reaching an agreement. For each duxion I catch, I’ll get one of Aqua’s treasures, which I believe is a bottle of high-quality alcohol.

It should sell for a lot.

 

[Month XX, Day x. Cloudy]

“—and that is how the law of magical power equivalent exchange is proven. This law is said to have been discovered by the genius mage Hiyohiyo.”

“Equivalent magic exchange… Hiyohiyo discovered it… I’m learning so much!” Liliantine was writing everything Megumin said in a notebook.

Megumin’ classes continued. Darkness and I were monitoring her again; so far, it’s been a decent class, I’m not sure if there’s need to keep watching over her…

“Miss Megumin, it’s about time—!”

“Ah yes, let’s begin with Liliantine’s favorite class, history!” Megumin clasped her hands, and then slowly wrote something on the blackboard, “The Crimson Magic Clan has a history spanning 2622 years. From the era of the great mage Pekepon, who led numerous members of the clan to subjugate the evil god Piyokko—”

(Hey, does the Crimson Magic Clan really have such a long history?)

(I don’t think so, not even the history of the royal family of Belzerg is that long. Also, that god’s name sounds ridiculous. I’ve never heard of such a story, not something one would forget…)

We need to keep monitoring her after all.

 

[Month ○, Day ◇. Cloudy]

“Well, I’ll be damned...” I muttered, standing by the river near the city.

After Aqua cast Blessing a flock of duxions appeared and surrounded me, I’m debating whether to capture them or turning them into experience.

“I know your luck stat is high, but I can’t believe this… if you can get rare monsters so easily, don’t you think we could earn a lot of money this way?” Darkness said in shock, she’s supposed to be guarding me.

“Using luck like this often is not a good idea, people will get suspicious. I could go to a casino and win big every day, but I’ll probably anger some dangerous people.”

“I see… I’ve heard Lady Eris can be strict regarding using luck in gambling or competitions.”

I’m not sure about that, I know for a fact she likes competitions. When I first met her, she challenged me to a duel.

“Anyway, what do we do with these guys? There’s too many of them, we can’t catch them all. Do we release them near the lake?”

“If they behave like flocks of sea lions, then they’ll follow the leader. If you capture it and head to the lake, we should be able to relocate them safely.”

Alright, so they’re just like ducks then. No problem.

I captured the largest, “…hey Darkness. Do you want to get an experience boost?”

“Ugh… but they look so cute…” Darkness stiffened with a troubled expression at my proposal.

The flock of duxions were steady following us around.

I could see why she wouldn’t want to hurt them, only a horrible monster would do it with no remorse.

 

[Month ○, Day □. Rain]

“Excuse me, could you open the door, I come with Megumin…” Yunyun arrived carrying Megumin in her back, both drenched in water and carrying a large amount of dead duxions.

“Kazuma, Kazuma! Yunyun and I were having a duel at the lake when we spotted a flock of duxions! I gathered them all and turned them into experience points! If only I could do this every day—Ah! Stop Aqua, what are you doing—!?”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Seems like Aqua’s duxion farm was destroyed by a passing former joke demon. Darkness and I left them by the lake thinking nobody would harm them, I forgot there are people who would hunt them down without hesitation o regret.

“D-duxions are monsters, what Megumin did wasn’t wrong. But…” With princess like behavior, Darkness shed a few tears for the fallen duxions.

While Aqua attacked the unmoving Megumin, I grabbed the duxions and headed to the kitchen.

That night we ate duxion hot pot.

 

[Month ○, Day ▽. Rain]

Lalatina was invited to a party hosted by Count Pins, I also came as her escort, when suddenly a duel broke out.

After Count Pins’ eldest son, Vice, declared his engagement broken, the rejected villainess, Lalatina, challenged him to a duel.

Not our Lalatina, the Lalatina from the Lilac family.

The duel was held with our Lalatina as the witness, and ultimately Lalatina won.

Lalatina thought Lalatina was going to execute Vice because Lalatina was so angry for being dumped, but things took a surprising turn.

Vice said that the engagement was handled by his parents, and they hadn’t met before. But according to Lalatina, they did meet when they were children, they even used to play a lot.

Lalatina was excited about the engagement with her beloved Vice, but Tia, a member of the Dortrin family, seduced him. Lalatina was enraged, so she bullied her.

Upon hearing Lalatina’s confession, Tia forgave her, with Vice looking at Lalatina rather lovingly.

Then, Lalatina said, “However, since I won the duel, Vice is mine.”

Tia challenged Lalatina to a duel, leading to a further chaotic situation. The second duel ended in draw; the fate of Vice was to be decided in court.

Our Lalatina was a little angry because everyone was saying Lalatina so often.

 

[Month ○, Day▼. Rain]

Something has been bothering me lately.

Melvillei is growing fast and no longer fits in the pail. Aqua said she’ll build a pond in the garden and keep him there.

Darkness dug a big hole and Aqua filled it with holy water, creating Melvillei’s new home. Megumin wanted to help, but for her, helping would be using explosion, she’d make a crater, not a pond.

I think we should just eat the snake already, it’s big enough for the four of us.

 

[Month XX, Day x. Cloudy]

Megumin’s tutoring is becoming increasingly suspicious.

According to her, following the subjugation of the evil god, the Crimson Magic Clan then went on to slay a god of destruction, an ancient dragon, and a great devil. Darkness had never heard of any of her stories.

I overlooked it because if the whole clan worked together, they could totally do all that. However, on another class she said that the Crimson Magic Clan are the only survivors of an ancient civilization, and that they’re the base of the humanity’s current knowledge and culture.

There are a lot of inconsistencies in her stories, I read they’re just modified humans with a relatively short history.

Darkness is worried that Liliantine will be influenced by the Crimson Magic Clan’s weirdness.

The monitoring must continue.

 

[Month ○, Day ◆. Rain]

Aqua said she’s going to start a shrimp farming business.

She asked me to catch shrimp for her; I gave her a crawfish I caught in the river, telling her it was a baby shrimp. She then released it in the reservoir and started raising it.

Aqua told me it’s easy to raise them because they eat just about anything.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t received the payment from the duxions.

I’ll take some of Aqua’s treasures.

 

[Month ○, Day ▲. Rain]

When I asked Aqua to pay me, she handed me an oddly shape stone. After I threw it away, she got angry.

According to her, it’s an extremely rare stone with a wonderful shape that could only be made by rolling on the river for a long time.

I didn’t want it; so she took it back and happily went back to her room with the stone.

You know, now I want it.

It’s been raining a lot lately; I noticed that always rains when Melvillei looks up at the sky, I’ve heard there’s magic that can manipulate the weather, is that his doing?

It worries me, the other day I approached it with a knife planning to chop it but was deterred by a powerful water breath.

I got depressed, I’ve defeated demon king army generals, how could I lose to a sea snake…

 

[Month ○, Day ○. Rain]

A trial regarding Vice’s engagement was held, our Lalatina served as the judge.

Lalatina argued that Vice’s unilateral annulment was invalid, to which Lalatina agreed.

In response, Tia countered that a villainess who bullied her was not suitable for Vice, to which Lalatina also agreed.

While the two argued fiercely, Lalatina brought the magic lie detector. Turns out that the harassment Tia claimed was all made up.

Would’ve been nice if it had ended there but we learned that Lalatina’s story about being a childhood friend of Vice was a lie too.

Both approached him for his family’s wealth.

After he started to lose faith, Lalatina threatened that all three would lose their nobility status if they don’t reach an agreement. They panicked and resumed deliberations.

 

[Month ○, Day ◇. Rain]

Megumin’s tutoring concluded.

To be honest, the story how the Crimson Magic Clan fought against the God of Creation and the Supreme Devil during the Sixth Tenma War was really interesting, but Darkness claimed to have never heard of even the First Tenma War.

Liliantine is smart, I think she understands that it’s just a cool story, not real history.

Other than her supposed history classes, Megumin’s lessons were good, Liliantine’s grades improved, and her parents were happy. Had Liliantine not started making strange poses, Darkness would’ve let Megumin continue her tutoring.

 

[Month XX, Day x. Rain]

A huge commotion broke out in Aqua’s crawfish farm.

Seems that giant frogs settled there, lured by the crawfish.

A quest to exterminate them was carried out in a hurry; the reservoir became unusable for a while due to the fierce battle.

Although we were worried that we’d have to pay compensation again, Aqua’d be forgiven if she builds a new reservoir.

The plan is for Megumin to create a huge crater and have Aqua cast Create Water there.

After two failures, I figured Aqua would finally give up on her farming start up, but I heard her muttering “Maybe, I should try turtles…”, which made me rather curious.

Melvillei’s started growing legs, just what is that thing?

 

[Month ○, Day □. Rain]

Vice’s wedding was finally held.

All three decided to marry; polygamy is legal in this world as a measure against population decline caused by the war with the Demon King’s army.

Vice looks exhausted, but it’s hard not to be jealous considering both of his brides are gorgeous.

Also, Lalatina was renamed to Lalatine. Apparently, she miswrote her own name on Vice’s family registry.

Lalatina was smiling for some reason; I’ll ask her about it later.

 

[Month ○, Day △. …]

It’s been raining nonstop for days.

“…hey, Melvillei is doing his new trick.” I said while looking out the window. Darkness and Megumin hurriedly came to see.

“What’s up with Melvillei? He uses his water breath to balance a ball float in the air.” Aqua pointed to Melvillei, whose head was peeking from the pond and was shooting water breath into the sky.

At the tip, a large ball floats with exquisite balance.

“It’s amazing alright, but Aqua… that thing is not a sea snake. We shouldn’t keep it.”

Melvillei was constantly growing; it barely fits on the pond now; it always needs to peak its head out. The pond is around three meters in diameter, yet the snake is all coiled up in there, it looks cramped.

“Of course it’s not a sea snake, it’s a sea dragon king! It’s time to make a bigger pond.”

“No, I mean releasing it into the river or something. If it keeps growing, we won’t be able to move it anymore.” In fact, I’m not sure we can do it now. We’ll need to use a carriage or something.

“…hey Darkness. I didn’t let you tell me the other day, but there was something about it in the newspaper, right? What was it?”

I didn’t want to hear it, I wanted to delay it. I mean, it couldn’t have been something dangerous…

“…there was an article that said that a gigantic sea creature known as Leviathan[2] settled off the coast of a nearby port town. It’s their breeding season and their eggs move to rainy areas. There’s a fear that—”

“We have to get rid of it.” I was waiting for the rain to stop, but that’s no longer an option.

If it’s anything like the creatures from games, then it’s very dangerous.

 

The next day.

Aqua finally gave up; she fought against releasing it, but ultimately realized it had to be done. Melvillei was on a large water container on a carriage.

“If he gets any bigger, he’ll become a target for extermination, and you know Megumin, she’ll like to be called Leviathan Slayer. We need to release him in the ocean, if we let it on the river, it’d be too dangerous.”

“A Leviathan is closer to a spirit than a monster, they’re highly intelligent. If it gets attached to people, it won’t harm them. At least you don’t want to eat it...” Aqua said sadly, admiring her mythical beast.

“You caught it planning to eat it.”

We’re going to use the carriage to move it to a river that leads on the sea. Darkness said that if we do that it’ll instinctively head towards the ocean.

“…we were together for a short time, but we grew so close. Kazuma, are you sure we can’t release it nearby?” Megumin said, patting Melvillei’s back.

“He’ll grow to be a gigantic monster, even the lake nearby will be too small. For its own sake, let’s return him to the sea.”

Darkness took the reins of the horses, and nodded apologetically, “I should’ve done something before we grew so attached, I knew of its true nature since the beginning. Aqua, Megumin, I’m sorry…”

Melvillei was looking at us with a strange expression.

A teary-eyed Aqua then said, “It can’t be helped. I have high hopes for you, my Sea Dragon King; I know that when we raid the Demon King’s Castle, you’ll come to our aid…”

“When you caught it, you thought it was an eel…”

 

We left town with Melvillei in tow. As the river isn’t too far away, I thought it’d be a smooth trip, but…

“Kazuma, Kazuma! It’s our biggest enemies, giant frogs! There’s four of them!”

“Kazuma, should I use my explosion magic? But what if there are more frogs sleeping…”

A group of the renowned giant frogs where blocking our path.

“I’ll take care of them, they won’t eat me because of my metallic armor. But Melvillei can’t move, I’ll try using Decoy—” Darkness let go off the reins and pulled out her sword getting ready.

Just one frog is an issue for us, four is just too big of a problem. I gave up on returning Melvillei to the sea today, let’s annihilate them with explosion magic and quickly retreat to the city—

*Squeak!*

While I was pondering, Melvillei shouted and released his water breath, hitting a frog directly.

“…huh!?” I couldn’t help but raise my voice, his attack passed through the frog, leaving a gaping hole in its belly.

After the frog collapsed, Melvillei attacked the rest. Taking them down, one after another.

 

“Let’s keep him.”

“Hold on Kazuma, what about the plan?”

Melville sure is strong. After quickly annihilating the frogs, he rested on the water as if nothing happened.

“He killed them in one hit! And he doesn’t seem tired at all, he’s going to get stronger from now on, right? As long as we keep him, we won’t have to worry about firepower anymore. Look, he’s even growing legs, maybe he’ll be able to live on land soon?”

“Wait, wait, Kazuma, I’m already in charge of firepower. Let’s return Melvillei to the sea, it’ll make him happy!” Megumin said in panic.

I was tapping his back, “His scales are really hard, it feels stronger than Darkness’ armor. A Leviathan is a type of dragon, right? I guess it’s to be expected.”

“No, no, I’m sure I’m tougher! This crusader is as strong as a tank, there’s no way a mere sea snake could beat me!”

“I have no problem with keeping it. Leviathans are kin to water; it should be able to use magic when it gets older. I may be able to teach it water-based magic—” Aqua said, ignoring Darkness.

*Squeak!*

My right hand light up a little. I had a small wound there from the time I tried to chop it earlier.

It disappeared; completely healed.

“Wait a minute, you can cast Heal? How can an eel use Heal! Where on earth did you learn to use Heal!?”

Megumin put her hand on her chin, as in in deep thought, “He must’ve learned it by watching you, Aqua. Since he has an aptitude for healing magic, does it mean it has a strong faith?”

“Of course it does, after all it was raised by me, a goddess! Melvillei, don’t use that magic without permission again!”

It’s a water creature, of course it’d be compatible with Aqua.

I could finally get rid of them all if I keep this Leviathan…

The three of them looked at each other and nodded.

“Let’s get him back to the sea before the sun sets. Hurry up, Kazuma!”

“I’ll help pushing the cart. We need to get him to the river as soon as possible.”

“I’ll cast recovery magic on you, you’ll be safe in the sea, Melvillei. You can’t stay around here, okay? If the adventurers find you, you’ll be roasted!”

Seeing the three holding their hands back, Melvillei retreated into the water, looking satisfied.

There’s no way it understands what we’re saying… right?

Aqua said Leviathans are highly intelligent…

It healed my hand when I decided to keep him…

 

Finally, we arrived at the river.

“…Melvillei, you better don’t forget about your godmother, ok? I won’t forgive you if you do. We’ll come to visit you at the beach. Also, if you find a monster, or anyone related to the Demon King, make sure to use your water breath on them.”

*Squeak!*

Melvillei chirped at Aqua as it leaped into the river. I can’t help but think that he’s more intelligent than her.

I can’t just let him go back, he’s more reliable than all of them put together…

“Hey, Melvillei. If I give you three full meals of fish every day and an occasional drink, would you stay? Leviathans are a type of dragon, right? I heard dragons like alco—” Aqua nearly knocked me out with a sudden God Blow.

“Melvillei, hurry! You cannot be corrupted by this NEET!”

It seemed interested in my offer for a moment, but quickly swam away. Aqua chased him for a while by the river’s edge with tears flowing on her cheeks.

 

[Month ○, Day▲. Sunny]

The rain stopped after Melvillei left.

Honestly, I miss him, but I guess he wanted to go back to the sea.

It’s been nice and sunny lately. Thanks to that, I can finally resume Megumin’s stupid daily routine.

Also, I got an odd summon notice from the police, not sure what that’s about.

 

[Month ○, Day▼. Sunny]

Three days had elapsed since Kazuma's surrender to the authorities. The anticipation of his release this evening was palpable, as Darkness prepared to collect him, and Megumin ventured out to acquire his favorite food. In the interim, I had taken it upon myself to give him a treasured alcoholic beverage, a peace offering of sorts, in the hopes that it might help to mend the rift between us. I wondered if this gesture would be enough to earn Kazuma's forgiveness.

In all honesty, I must admit that I am not solely responsible for the predicament we find ourselves in. While it is true that I utilized Kazuma's name to initiate a turtle farming business, my intentions were never to deceive the loan shark. Furthermore, the enterprise was not on the brink of failure; it was merely Megumin's impulsive actions that led to the unfortunate demise of my turtles. In my estimation, I have done no wrong in this matter.

However, I fear that Kazuma may not be receptive to the truth, so I have decided to pen my apology here, in the hopes that it might convey the sincerity of my regret.

Sorry!

 

[Month ○, Day ◇. Sunny]

I spent three days in jail after being arrested with charges of fraud.

If I don’t pay some sort of loan as soon as possible I may be charged with another crime.

I didn’t do anything, this is ridiculous, but I lost all hope of this crappy other world. I give up.

Seems Aqua is reading this journal, I’ll stop writing here.

 

She needs to be punished.



[1] Japanese food, loach or eel dipped and broiled in soy sauce.

[2] A joke here can’t be translated. In Japanese Duxions are called Kamonegi, which is not only also the Japanese name for the Pokémon Farfech’d, but also an idiom meaning “making money from suckers”. Kazuma interprets it as the latter, thinking Aqua wants to swindle a bunch of people, which prompts her to explain what she meant.


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