It was a very awkward moment for Kazuma.

He was sitting at a café, with his mask off, something which Kazuma hadn't done since he became a merchant. Kazuma made sure that no one could tell that he was the green merchant, but it was still risky and something he wasn't okay with. He was sitting at said café not as the green merchant, but as Kazuma Satou, Pervert extraordinaire and Lover of all women! Sitting across from him was Chris, or rather, the goddess Eris in disguise. But regardless, A girl!

So Kazuma, as the king of perverts should be elated right?

But no.

Said girl was staring at him as if she wanted to kill him. Rather, she really did want to kill him, but was restraining herself. Kazuma truly didn't know why what he had done bothered her so much. Kazuma tried to awkwardly smile, but Chris just glared at him harder. She had come all the way from the capitol to the holy city of her rival simply to discuss with him.

Well not really discuss, since the first thing that she did was try to cut off Kazuma's head. But that was a huge misunderstanding!

So how did Kazuma get into this situation, you might ask?

Well it turns out that Patty wasn't as stupid as He seemed. He had a back-up plan, should someone defeat him. Kazuma learnt about said backup plan when he went to visit Patty in his weird lab. This was the next day after he beat Patty in a fight, so tension was still high. But it was clear that Patty wasn't really all that sad about being defeated. Kazuma didn't really have much problem with Patty; He didn't actually hurt the children in any way. Ironically, all his 'super evil plan' did was give children food and shelter for a few days.

Or so Kazuma thought.

It turns out that Patty was experimenting with what he called 'human-demon' Hybrids. Kazuma's eyes narrowed when he realized that Patty was actually doing something rather than just fucking around, but Patty told him to stand down since He was over it. Patty told Kazuma that he would never do anything like that again. When Kazuma asked why, Patty told him the reason.

"My whole life, I thought that the only way to gain power was to take advantage of others." Patty began. "The man who killed my parents, he absorbed their souls to strengthen his stupid stats. He killed them just so he could watch some numbers go up on his adventurer card."

"What changed?" Kazuma asked.

"You beat me." Patty said. "You, who have done no wrong, who has hurt nobody, defeated me, completely and soundly."

"Wow, was I that amazing?" Kazuma thought. "I remember doing like a thousand sneak attacks, and then almost crying when he hit me… was that a dream? Probably."

Patty sighed.

"It changed my whole mindset. What have I been doing? Why have I hurt so many people? In a way, I'm worse than my parent's killers now, I've hurt so many people now." Patty said. He looked at the ground, reminiscing about his life. "What do I do with my life now?"

They remained in a comfortable silence for a moment, before Kazuma gave him a piece of paper. On it was a circle with a vertical line in it, it was the symbol fi.

"Look for this symbol in the clouds." Kazuma said, getting up. "When you see it, come to Axel, and I will give you a reason to live."

Patty nodded.

"As thanks for sparing me, I'll teach you that teleportation trick. You need a small injection to stabilize it though; it works on demon mana, so your human body will reject it without proper protection." Patty said, handing him a syringe. Kazuma nodded as he injected himself with it.

Kazuma knew that Patty used to be his enemy, and that he shouldn't trust him so easily. A syringe could easily kill Kazuma if he wasn't careful, but for some reason he trusted Patty a lot more now. He felt some weird kinship with him.

Kazuma tested out the skill a few times, before nodding and making way to leave. But before he left, Patty told him one more thing.

"OH YEAH! I forgot to tell you something, sorry, it's something small though." Patty said, while grinning and putting his hand behind his neck. Clearly, from his body language, it was clear that it was not something small.

Kazuma sighed, before gesturing him to go on. It painfully reminded Kazuma of Aqua when she got more debt or made some other type of problem for the team.

He weirdly missed that about her.

But regardless, that wasn't important right now.

"Oh, that's fine. What is it?"

Patty looked away guiltily, and waited a few seconds before replying.

"There's five children where the experiment succeeded, they'll probably turn into human killing machines by the end of the day." He said sheepishly.

"YOU WHA-"

"But on the bright side, there's only five!"

"HOW DO I CURE THEM?"

"It's impossible."

"AND YOU THOUGHT THIS WASN'T IMPORTANT?"

"No…?"

"…"

"…"

"You have five seconds to run, before I come for you."

"AHHHH"

Later, after Kazuma chased Patty with his sword around the lab for five minutes, Patty admitted that it was possible, but they'd need a lich. When Kazuma questioned why, Patty replied that the drain touch skill was the only way to remove the demon mana from their bodies. Unless he got one within a week, the children would die, along with everyone else in the city.

"Like the one I used on you?" Kazuma asked. Patty took a second to process what was just said, then sheepishly put his hand behind his head, and tried grinning stupidly to get out of trouble.

"Oooooh yeahhh." He said.

Kazuma once again had to restrain his desire to kill him. And he just succeeded. Emphasis on just.

But how does that require the great goddess Eris's attention you may ask?

Well turns out that absorbing demon mana, especially a large amount of it, has major side effects. Some of which are death. Death is extremely permanent, Very, very permanent. In fact if Kazuma dies, then he dies.

But Kazuma didn't get this. Because of his massive luck, his mana and the demon mana somehow happened to fuse together perfectly. Patty called this great luck, and said that Kazuma must have the great goddess Eris Blessing him. Kazuma agreed, but he didn't call it luck, he just called it plot armor. Great! You may say. What a happy ending! Right?

Wrong.

This had a very specific side effect, of turning him partly devil.

More specifically, a half devil.

And of course, being the great goddess she is, Eris sensed that a powerful new devil had arrived smack in the middle of Alcanretia, where Demons or devils had no business being. But, as we all know, Eris was a kind and merciful goddess. She will show anyone mercy, regardless of their stature, state, or presence. Eris loved everyone equally.

Well except for demons.

Because when Kazuma first saw her, while he was happily selling more of his Aqua statues, Shit truly hit the fan. She looked like she hadn't had a bath in days she was so mad. Chris's eyes were so red with anger that she looked like she had evolved the Mangekyou Sharingan. Her hands were shaking with pure and unadulterated rage. She had drool coming out of her mouth, making her look like an animal with rabies. Kazuma was literally scared shitless, as was everyone in the surrounding area, at this mentally dysfunctional woman.

Please pay attention to the fact that it takes 2 days to travel from the capitol to Alcanretia, teleportation being possible but expensive. This means that for the whole of two days, she was in this state of rage.

Kazuma felt sorry for the carriage driver.

But more importantly, he felt sorry for himself.

He was wearing his trusty mask when Eris came to see him, so she didn't recognize him at first. Instead, she just saw a random merchant who was selling statues of her rival, who also happened to have a bunch of devil mana.

Let's just say that if Kazuma hadn't learnt the spell he had from Patty, He wouldn't have a head right now. She suddenly lunged at him with her dagger. He teleported behind her on reflex, saving him from the blow.

She pushed him back with her dagger, slashing at him with impressive technique, but as a thief she mostly relied on sneak attacks, so she was getting outclasses by Kazuma in a 1v1 battle. Kazuma had no idea why the goddess of fortune was attacking him, but seeing her face, it definitely wasn't good.

"Chris, what's wro- ugh!"

Kazuma tried to ask Chris what was wrong, but she used that opportunity to push him back. Now she had the upper hand, as she sent up thrusts and slashes that Kazuma was having problems deflecting. He could use the extra stats provided by the sword, but Kazuma had realized the problem with relying too much on a sword and wanted to stop relying on the weapon, and more on his own power, so he used it only as a regular sword.

"How do you know my name?" Chris snarled, still pushing onto him.

No, not like that.

Kazuma looked around. They had made quite a scene, people were staring at them and whispering. Kazuma didn't think that his reputation would be at risk, but he couldn't afford to show his identity to the general public. He couldn't tell her anything for now.

But that's exactly what instantaneous teleportation spells are for right?

But he had to make contact with her first, which was extremely hard to do with what Kazuma could only assume to be a cross between the peaceful Eris and some rabies infected dog. In fact, he was scared of getting infected because she was drooling into his face.

He continued fighting with her, while thinking of a plan. When he had one, he fell back, allowing Chris to push him back until he hit a wall.

"Who are you?" Chris asked him again. More snarled.

"You keep on asking me that, but when I try to answer you attack me you fucking rabies goddess!" Kazuma thought.

Kazuma simply put his hands up, to show that he was surrendering.

"Take off your mask, demon!"

Unfortunately, that was something that Kazuma could not do, so he teleported behind her and attempted a slash. But Chris was still a goddess, and thus she had enough skills to turn around and block it.

But, it was weird, like the blow had no weight to it. She didn't feel any push against her weapon.

Like it… wasn't… even… there?

Her eyes widened as she realized her mistake. But when she turned around to look at the green merchant, he had already grabbed the bare skin of her arm, and had teleported the both of them to an empty field, he then jumped back around 10m to put some distance between him and the goddess.

"WHY YOU!" Chris yelled as she got ready to charge, but before she could, The man took off his mask, and she saw a very familiar face. He had some explaining to do, to say the least.

"Hi…?" Kazuma said.

"Oh." Chris replied

. . .

The trio had were getting ready left the barracks. While they were leaving, most of the army came to see them off. They all requested for the trio to stay, but to no avail. The trio was determined to leave for some reason, and the rest of the army was confused why. Megumin in particular, was extremely happy to be leaving. Darkness looked somewhat more neutral, while Aqua was the same as ever.

Mitsurigi was especially confused, Aqua had healed him many times, and he thought that she was way more useful on the battlefield than anywhere else. He appreciated having the goddess that had reincarnated him be so close by, and she had healed him many times. So he walked up to her and started a conversation. She was leaning on the table of the common house, and seemed extremely drunk.

"Aqua- sama?" Mitsurigi asked.

She turned to him with two bottles of booze in each hand. She gave a drunken smile as she replied to him.

"HeEEEeeeEeeEeeYyy Kyaka-san! HooOOooWw aaaAArrRREeee YaaAAaAAAa." She said. Before promptly falling down.

Mitsurigi caught her and layed her on a seat, making her sit down. He didn't think that the dignified goddess that had sent him down here was anything like this. Not only that, but she had been taken to the world like some sort of item. His opinions of her were clashing between that goddess that had originally sent him here to save the world, and the not-so-goddess that was completely drunk at the moment.

He sighed. Mitsurugi really needed a break too. Maybe he could ask the girls to let him accompany them on their journey? He knew that they were in their own clique, and that if he came he would be intruding, not to mention that he didn't even know what they were going for. They weren't going on any vacation that was for sure, but Mitsurugi was curious, which was why he had approached them in the first place.

And it was also how he had gotten himself into this situation, taking care of an extremely drunk goddess.

"Oh, Aqua!" Mitsurugi heard. He looked behind him to see Megumin running toward him.

"I'm so sorry that she did this. Aqua is such a child sometimes." Megumin said while bowing profusely.

"Ah… It's no problem." Mitsurigi replied. "By the way… I wanted to ask you something."

"Hmm? Are you going to ask to be my disciple? I am sorry, but I am not accepting at the moment but perhaps…"

"No! No…" Mitsurugi said.

"Is everyone in this party batshit crazy?I really don't like Kazuma that much, but how he handles this party so effectively, only god knows." Misturugi thought. Then he looked at Aqua.

"Actually, scratch that. Even god doesn't know I think"

"I was just asking why you guys were leaving. It seems weird. Humanities trump cards are probably me, your team and lastly the royal family. The other reincarnates are pretty powerful too, but these are the main 3. Why are you leaving at such a critical time?" Mitsurigi asked.

Megumin looked away, almost in an uncomfortable fashion.

"Ah…" She replied. "We have… reasons".

"Guess I hit a nerve…" Mitsurigi thought. "But wait… What if she's actually being blackmailed? Or threatened? Or she's being forced to sell her body against her will? OH NO I MUSTA SAVE HERRR."

This conventional hero of course, seeing the innocent face of Megumin, opened up his 'I must save her to move on with my story arc, and add her to my harem' mode. He therefore was now not going to let this issue go. He was going to follow her around and destroy this imaginary enemy. Such was the way of the Op mc.

"ILLL SAVEE YOUUUUU MEGU-CHAN!"

"M…Megu- C…chan? What are you on about?"

"I won't let them hurt you! You'll be safe by my side! Just stay here and we can- Agh!"

Megumin walked away looking extremely displeased, after throwing a rock she found nearby at Mitsurigi's head. It was a wonderful throw, would have been praised as such at various base ball tournaments. It found its target nearly perfectly, and Mitsurigi was out for the next day, and when he woke up, the girls were nowhere to be seen. He panicked, thinking that they were in danger.

"Where's Megu-chan?" He yelled, getting out of the bed he was placed. He was still in the same gear that he was knocked out in, that being his adventuring gear.

"What? You're awake? She's already left!" Another solider said.

"I must save her! She's in danger!"

"Oh my! I'll get the carriage ready! We can chase after her, it's only been a day since she left, and we can make up the difference!" The lieutenant yelled from his quarters. "You must go alone Kyookyoo-san! We cannot spare any other forces!"

"I will! But my name is-"

"Just go! It's already stocked and ready with all the food you could need!"

"I'll save her, lieutenant-san!"

"Yes! Go forth, Kyoorakaka-san!" The lieutenant said, as Mitsurigi got in the carriage, still in the waking up phase. He wasn't thinking straight, as he just got out of bed. But he knew that something was wrong, and he wanted to help!

The second Mitsurigi was out of sight, the lieutenant turned away, and yelled to the heavens in pure happiness.

"FINALLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYY." The lieutenant jumped around, with a skip in his step as he walked back to the barracks, with 4 less problems to deal with, and a blank check from one of the most rich adventurer's on the planet.

Of course, the check was fake.

But no one tell him that please

And thus began, the three way race, with the finish line being Kazuma.

. . .

"So basically." Kazuma started.

"Hmm?" Chris said, now she was smiling quite heartedly for some reason.

"Because I saved 300 children, at the cost of my own body."

"Hmm!"

"In return, you want me to help you defeat a dragon?"

"Hmm…"

"Can you reply with something other than hmm?"

Chris lost her smirk, and looked down at the table for a second. She felt really conflicted, even if she didn't show it. Kazuma was one of the few people that she could actually call a friend, but she really, really hated demons. She didn't want to let Kazuma go like this, he was a half- devil now after all, but He was her friend. She didn't want to lose that.

"See look Kazuma, You're a half-devil, a race that has been known to kill, plunder and destroy." Chris began.

"This is war, Chris. Both sides do that. It's not fair to anybody, especially not to the side without any overpowered reincarnated Japanese Otakus."

"The war will be over when all the devils are dead."

"Is that fair to them?"

"Was it fair for them to rape and destroy all those human villages when they first started the war?"

"The war was started by the humans actually."

"That's… It was started for a good reason!"

"What was the reason?"

At this, Chris went quiet. She thought about what he said. Clearly, what Kazuma said held logic, but she hated demons. All of them should just die in a hole somewhere. What he was saying was wrong. Her face darkened as she glared at Kazuma. He was wrong, She was right, Such was her thought process. Goddesses, even good ones like Eris, had the arrogancy of being nigh omnipotent.

"What are you implying, mortal?"

Kazuma looked her in the eyes, not backing down. But he thought about his decisions.

"Free speech isn't really a thing in this world." Kazuma thought. "Especially with controversial things like this, I should just accept her proposal for now. I don't want Eris as my enemy when my only redeemable quality is luck."

But it left a bad taste in his mouth, to lose an argument like this. He wasn't a petty person, but it reminded him a bit too much of his mother when he was younger. She would simply get mad when he applied logic to arguments, and would reply with arguments that completely shut down any sort of debate or argument. Such as 'because I'm your mother' or 'children should keep quiet when adults are talking' But he had no choice this time.

With this, he backed off, and sighed.

"I wasn't implying anything, Chris. I'll help you, but just a few questions."

At this, Chris's mood instantly got better. She went back to smirking, and she looked at him with a happy look in her eye.

"Hmm?"

"Not again…" Kazuma thought.

"If you sensed the miniscule amount of demon mana within me, how did you not sense Wiz, or Vanir?"

"Ah… No reason." She said, while looking around suspiciously. Kazuma of course wasn't fooled, and pressed the attack.

"Really! It's nothing! So stop asking already!"

"Ok, I get it, so you like Wiz and Vanir better than me, and that's why you aren't assaulting any of them." Kazuma said, while turning away with his nose in the air. "I understand. Obviously my personality is shit, and I'm a huge pervert, and I can't do anything right."

Now Chris was beginning to look a bit guilty.

"It's working…" Kazuma thought, while smiling deviously on the inside. He had become somewhat good with sweet talking goddesses. Who would've thought that Aqua and Eris are so similar yet so different?

"I'm a huge burden to you, and you always have to come and save me." Chris had never saved him, but whatever. "I'm just so annoying to all the other people in Axel, you probably don't like me that much because of that." Kazuma said, while pouting.

Now, Chris looked like she wanted to commit seppuku. But Kazuma had to give that one final push for Chris to reveal her secrets.

"I'm definitely probably the reason that my party left to the frontlines because I'm so annoying. I don't blame them…" Kazuma said, he already got started with the fake tears half way through, but by the ending he was completely bawling.

"NoNoNo Kazuma! It's not that!" Chris said, having a consoling look on her face, she held both her hands up to hold Kazuma's shoulders as he continued his crying. However now everyone else at the café were looking at the pair, and all the guys in particular were looking with extreme disgust towards Chris.

Bros before hoes, as they say. Even if the bro is someone you don't even know.

"Look Kazuma, the reason for it is actually because Wiz and Vanir are way stronger than me! I'd get rekt if I actually tried to fight either of them! It's not because I find you annoying or whatever! So please stop crying!"

Somehow magically, Kazuma completely stopped crying. Literally every single tear duct that he had instantly stopped producing water and became similar to a Desert. Somehow, even the tears that had already been shed and were making their way to his chin had also magically evaporated.

"Wow really?" Kazuma said, now smiling cheerily.

"…What…?"

"Oh my god! The great goddess Eris is scared of a demon? Not to mention that it was that soft hearted shopkeeper too! How did you even manage to summon fear from someone as soft as her?" Kazuma said, while laughing. Because of his extreme laughter, he did not see Chris approaching him with her dagger. Her eyes were replaced with demon eyes, she looked so mad, she was going to explode. Of course, Kazuma was completely unaware of any of this. He just continued laughing, until he heard the sound of a woman behind him. Chris was smiling creepily, as she slowly took out her dagger.

"Ka…ZU… MAAAAA" She yelled, as she ran at him with her dagger. It was not the best moment for Kazuma, as he shrieked and ran away as fast as he could.

Chris chased him until they had made more than 3 laps around the city. Until finally it was dark enough that she couldn't bother anymore, and she forgave him after he bought her a drink.

. . .

"DAMN IT AQUA, WAKE UP!" Darkness yelled. It was their first night on the road. It would be around 4 more of these before they could finally reach Axel. They planned to go there to gather information about where Kazuma had gone, and what he could be doing.

Actually, scratch that first statement.

At the rate they were going, it would take years for them to reach Axel. The leading theory among them at the moment was that Kazuma was the Green Merchant. But that meant he was a travelling merchant, and Darkness had no idea how he managed to travel the roads without getting lost.

They had gotten lost around 30 times in the first day, and when they finally found themselves on the right path, the sun had already fallen, and they were forced to rest before moving onward. Megumin was thankful, as was Aqua, that they finally had time to rest after their hard journey that was full of hardships, and hard things and hard-to-beat monsters. When they finally hit the beds, they thought that the hard things were over.

What they didn't realize, was that sleeping without any shelter was the hardest thing in of itself.

The first thing that they recognized was the heat; they were forced to remove whatever quilts they were using, so they just laid on the bare sleeping bags. Then the mosquitoes that wouldn't let them sleep came to hound them for their blood, like Romeo to Juliet, except Romeo's a fucking Vampire. Not to mention that they sweat so much in the humid weather, that it felt like they were having a bath, a very, very, uncomfortable bath.

And the worst was yet to come, because as stationary objects, they were like candy to children for monsters.

And not even the type of monsters that could rape you, unfortunately for Darkness.

"AQUAAAA" Darkness said, trying to get her to wake up. They were completely surrounded by undead. Clearly, it had something to do with Aqua, since their eyes were completely fixed only on her, and no one else. They weren't even minding the other two, to the point that Megumin was still fast asleep, she hadn't even noticed that there were any types of monsters in the vicinity.

Finally Aqua stirred. She slowly opened her eyes and then locked eyes with Darkness who stared at her back with an intense look.

Then she looked around.

"AIIIEEEEEEEEE?" She shouted while jumping out of bed. She also woke up Megumin with her loud shouting, definitely not her best moment.

"We're going to die! Surrounded! Save Us! Kazuma!" Aqua mumbled. Megumin was now awake enough to see the situation which they had fallen into.

"Aqua, you're a powerful priest, right? Just use turn undead on them." Megumin mumbled, still half asleep.

"I am a dignified goddess! I can't use my powers for vermin like them!" Aqua exclaimed.

Megumin shared a glance at Darkness. Somehow with her eyes, she relayed an entire plan to her. After all, they were both well experienced with dealing with the unintelligent goddess.

"Fine, I'll take care of them." Megumin said. "Just run away eastward, then when you're far away enough from us, I'll take them out with explosion."

"Why do I have to be the bait?" Aqua complained.

"They're attracted to you for some reason." Darkness said. "You're our only hope, Aqua!"

Aqua, seeing that they clearly could not survive without her, and that they were begging for the help of their resident goddess, decided to shower her blessing among them. She put on a condescending smile as she looked at them, she slowly stood up. She put her hands on her hips.

"Since clearly you guys can't survive without me, I guess I'll have to help." Aqua shook her head. "Man, what would you guys do without me? Right?"

"Oh my! Thank you so much Aqua!" Megumin said, trying to hide the sarcasm in her voice, but failing spectacularly.

"That was truly amazing of you Aqua!" Darkness agreed with her, and equal amount of sarcasm in her voice.

But of course, Aqua didn't notice it.

Aqua smiled at them and began running away, aggroing the herd towards her. She waved at the two as she left, giving her signature goddess smile. She was eventually far enough that explosion could be performed safely.

But when she had gotten out of earshot, Megumin and Darkness had already fallen back asleep.

. . .

At the moment, Kazuma had put together what was basically a DIY soup kitchen. He had bought lots of food, but he soon realized that he needed someplace to serve it, so he went to the city square, and hired around fourty people to help him. Work came cheap in Alcanretia, with a meal bring enough pay. With the wide open space, there was more than enough space for all 10,000 people to sit. At the moment, Kazuma was humming to himself as he distributed food to everyone who was in the line. His mask was on this time, to hide his identity. He smiled under it as one of the orphans thanked him for the food, and he ushered the next person forward.

The next person however, was not someone that Kazuma expected.

Chris stood there, nervous and blushing, holding onto one of the plastic plates that he had distributed. Kazuma gawked at her, while she refused to look him in the eye. When she realized that he wasn't giving her any food she glared at him.

"What?"Chris asked.

"…Aren't you… Middle class…?" Kazuma replied, awkwardly. He didn't like it when people who could easily make their own came to take what was meant for children who couldn't. Even his own friends weren't really exceptions.

Chris's blush deepened, as she pouted. Kazuma almost found her cute like this, but he remembered the face which he had seen when she first saw him, and all thoughts of her bring cute vanished from his mind. She mumbled something under her breath, but Kazuma couldn't hear it. He asked her to speak up.

"I forgot my wallet okay! It's your fault since I was in a rush to get to you!" Chris yelled at him. "I also need to find you later anyway, to kill the dragon and stuff, so this makes it easier anyway."

Kazuma sighed. The food he had bought was definitely not for people with jobs, more for the homeless and unemployed who couldn't afford food no matter what. But he felt really bad leaving Chris to go hungry, so he made an exception and put some food on to her plate. Kazuma decided that he would talk with her later, once all the children were fed. Once it was over, he went over with his own food and sat next to her.

"…Im sorry… About the whole… Food thing." Chris said, looking down. This shy Chris was definitely something that Kazuma could get used to. He simply smiled and nodded. She soon finished her food, and they made their way outside the gates. According to the deal that they had made, Kazuma would help Chris deal with a dragon that was plaguing the area. In return, Chris wouldn't kill Kazuma for being a devil.

Was it fair? Of course not. That's gods for you. Almighty and forgiving my ass.

But Kazuma couldn't risk getting Eris on his bad side though, not to mention that Aqua would probably yell at him for mistreating her junior, though Aqua did the very same on a daily basis, but hypocriticalism does not apply to Aqua of course.

"Where is this dragon that you said was around here?"

"It's around here!"

"…"

Clearly, talking to Chris, was not the most productive use of Kazuma's time. So he decided to strategize for the battle with the dragon instead. He knew that it probably breathed fire, so he got his create water ready. His main strategy was going to be to overuse the spell that Patty had taught him and continuously use his speed to overwhelm the being while dealing continuous damage with the soul sword (that must be renamed). Even if his strength couldn't compare to a dragons, even if his pure firepower didn't do the job, he was confident there were very little things on the planet faster than him.

Chris was getting more and more tense, so Kazuma assumed that they were somewhat near to the hideout of the dragon. But there was something more important in the meantime. Kazuma stopped and bent down, which caused Chris to stop too and look down at him.

"Why are you picking flowers?" Chris asked, obviously annoyed. "We have other, more important things to do."

"A 13 year old boy asked me to do this when he heard I was going out of town." Kazuma explained. "Apparently, they only grow outside the town, their called white Florets."

"Why does he want flowers?"

"He wanted to give them to some girl."

"Is that more important to our mission?"

"Your Mission."

At that Chris went quiet for a second, before sighing, and bending down to pick up flowers along with him.

"If I help you, will you move along faster? How much does this boy need?"

"Around 200."

"Why?"

"He's very romantic."

"Ugh."

Kazuma smiled under his mask, knowing that he won that battle. But he wasn't smiling for long, because he felt that the ground was shaking under him. He heard Chris yell before equipping her sword, and he too took out his sword before taking a battle stance. He grabbed Chris and teleported a few meters away, before something came out of the ground.

Kazuma observed the creature.

White? Check.

Black horn? Check.

Orange stripes? Check.

This was definitely the Dragon that was described.

What Kazuma didn't know about the dragon from witness accounts, was the size. Kazuma had to raise his neck almost 90 degrees to see the whole damn thing. All his life, in his games, anime, manga, light novel, you name it; the dragons had always been the size of a house, maybe at maximum the size of a mansion.

But this?

A being 100 m tall stared him in the face.