Author's Note: Before we start this chapter, I want to give a shout out to DALucifer13, who managed to point out two of the easter eggs in the last chapter. The AN in that chapter might've been a bit misleading, but there were actually a total of 4 references in the chapter if we are to include Lisbeth as one of them.

The first and most obvious one is the currency, which is based on the wizarding currency of Magical Britain in Harry Potter, where a silver sickle is worth 29 bronze knuts and a gold galleon is worth 17 sickles. The second one was the description of the former owner of Lisbeth's house as being an adventurer who retired after injuring his knee, which is a reference to the Hold Guards in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, who constantly babble on about "I used to be an adventurer like you once, then I took an arrow in the knee". The third and final one (not including Lisbeth) is also a Skyrim reference, namely the Arcane Blacksmith skill that Lisbeth mentions, which is also a skill in the Smithing Skill Tree in Skyrim which does basically the same thing.

Other than that, I want to mention that I have been going over the first chapter and correcting some grammar and spelling errors that I've found in the published chapter, and will probably do so for the other chapters as well in the near future. With all that being said, let's get on with the story.

Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Konosuba. If I did, poor Yunyun wouldn't have been such a lonely little girl.

Chapter IV: A Temporary Party

After her close run-in with Sasuke the previous day, and with her duties as the Goddess of Fortune becoming a lot more hectic in the absence of Aqua, Eris had decided that 'Chris' should take on a long-term quest that would require her to be out of the city for a while, at least until things had settled down a bit. When the raven-haired boy hadn't turned up in Axel even an hour after she had sent him on his way, she had gotten worried that something had gone wrong with his translation and went to look for him. The relief she had felt when he had finally turned up at the gates had however quickly turned to worry upon the realization that he had picked up on her presence in the area.

Unlike another goddess who shall remain anonymous for the time being, Eris had actually done her research on the subjects she had been entrusted with. She was well aware that in Sasuke's world, well-trained shinobi were able to sense the presence of the living things around them through their chakra-enhanced senses, but she hadn't expected that ability to carry over into her world since they didn't have chakra here. It wasn't until Sasuke had located her in the crowd the other day that she realized that it was possible that the translation would've 'translated' this ability to lock onto a person's mana signature instead of their chakra.

This in and of itself wouldn't have been a problem if it hadn't been for the fact that he had instantly recognized her presence. The gods had a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of personal interaction between the divines and the people of the world they presided over because of the potential problems that could arise from it. Eris had gotten around this by creating a separate persona for herself so she could get to know the people of the town that called her their patron deity a bit better. She had however grown quite attached to the friends she had made using that persona, and the realization that it could be taken away from her if Sasuke found out about it and drew the connection between her false persona and her real identity had caused her to panic and flee the scene.

Having spent the night thinking about what to do to salvage the situation, she had decided to take some time off from adventuring and simply focus on her duties as a goddess for the time being. Sasuke didn't know about her identity as Chris, so if her presence didn't show up again for a while he would probably just assume that she had descended from the heavens to perform some divine task and then left again.

That plan had been ruined the moment she had arrived at Lisbeth's shop to pick up her enchanted dagger before she left and found the Uchiha himself in a heated discussion with the shop's owner.

"This presence..." she heard the raven-haired boy mumble under his breath. "You... what are you doing here?"

The disguised goddess felt her heart beat wildly in her chest, unsure of what to do. If there had been any lingering hope that he hadn't recognized her presence and simply pursued her because she had been stalking him yesterday, that certainly confirmed that he knew exactly who she was. One poorly worded sentence from the boy in front of her and her most important secret would be revealed. Her identity as 'Chris' would be taken away from her and she would lose all the friends she had made using that name forever. The mere thought of it made her lower lip tremble with emotion.

"W-well this is a surprise," Eris said, doing her best to try and sound more confident than she currently felt. "I didn't expect to meet you again here of all places... Sasuke."

Barely had the words left her lips before she mentally slapped herself for confirming her identity to him. Perhaps if she had acted as if she didn't know him, she could've just picked up her dagger and left without any incident. Eris had never been good at handling pressure, and the knowledge of what was at stake for her if she didn't solve this situation was causing her to lose her composure.

"Eh, you know this jerk, Chris?" Lisbeth spoke up, pointing towards Sasuke with a disgruntled look.

This turned out to be a blessing in the disguise because it gave Eris something to anchor her to the present instead of drowning in her own thoughts. Watching as Lisbeth's face turned sour when Sasuke didn't as much as move a facial muscle in reaction to her not so subtle attempt to annoy him, the goddess found her lips drawn out into a stiff but genuine smile.

"I guess you could say that," she laughed nervously, drawing the pink-haired girl's attention back to her again. "Hey, Liz? Would you mind giving us some space for a few minutes? I really need to talk to Sasuke about something. Alone."

She emphasized the last word and gave her friend a pleading look. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke raise an eyebrow towards her when she said it, but he thankfully didn't say anything. Lisbeth was also giving her a strange look and Eris mentally prayed to her fellow gods that neither of them would pick up on how nervous she was. Apparently, that had been too much to ask for.

"Oh," Lisbeth said as a mischievous grin spread across her face. "Oh, I get it. Sure, I'll just go finish up your dagger while you have your little talk. Just knock on the door when you're done."

The look on the girl's face when she said it let Eris know that she definitely did not get it, but she could deal with that later. The most important thing was that she had managed to avoid a personal crisis, at least for the time being. Whether it was meant to last or not would be determined by how this conversation with Sasuke went; whether she would be forced to give up her persona as Chris and everything that came with it, or if she would be able to keep it and live happily ever after. No pressure, Eris. None at all.

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she waited until the door had slammed shut behind Lisbeth before she reached out a hand towards the door and focused her mana in the palm of her hand. A second later, her hand briefly gave off a faint white glow before the door she had been aiming at did the same, confirming that the spell had taken effect. She repeated the process with the front door, before she turned back towards the Uchiha, only to find him giving her a questioning look at her strange behavior.

"A Muffle spell," she explained to him. "It will ensure that no sound will pass through the affected object. Liz is a great friend, but I don't trust her not to eavesdrop on something she might deem as potential gossip."

Sasuke just offered a shrug in response to that, before going straight to the point. "I don't like having to repeat myself, but I'll ask again. Why are you here, Eris?"

There was a certain intensity to his gaze as he stared her down that did nothing to put her at ease. Being a goddess, Eris didn't have any parents and didn't know what it was like to have a family, but she imagined that this was what it would've felt like to be caught by her mother with her hand in the cookie jar. It was a decidedly unpleasant feeling that she prayed she wouldn't have to experience again.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves and considering her words carefully, she decided that the best thing she could do was to just be honest with him, at least partially. If he was intent on exposing her, then it wouldn't matter whether she lied to him or not and hopefully he would be considerate enough to not ruin her life once he learned of her reasons for living a double life. Hopefully.

"You know that I am this town's patron deity, right?" When she received a nod of confirmation from him, she continued. "In order to better look after the people of the town that bestowed that honor upon me, I decided that I wanted to get to know the people who lived here a bit better. However, the gods usually aren't allowed to interact with the mortals of this world on a personal level..."

She left that statement hanging, hoping he would connect the dots. Sasuke did not disappoint her.

"So you created an alternate identity for yourself so you could get to know your worshippers a bit better?" he asked, the intensity never leaving his black eyes. "Okay, let's pretend that I buy that. But if the gods can just descend to this world whenever they want, why are they dragging people here from other worlds to stop the Demon King? Or is that just some kind of game to you?"

The way his voice became increasingly colder when he asked his questions sent shivers down Eris' spine and she had to fight the urge to shrink back into herself. Now that she thought about it, she could see why he would interpret her presence here like that. She had never given much thought to why the gods had such strict rules about their interactions with the inhabitants of their world, but now she felt that she finally began to understand the reasons behind their zero-tolerance policy.

"O-of course it isn't!" she said hastily, feeling incensed that he could even suggest such a thing. "Just because we're gods doesn't mean that we're omnipotent! Whenever we descend to the surface, we are bound by the same laws of nature as anyone else, and most of us don't know the first thing about fighting! We wouldn't stand a chance against the Demon King!"

By the time she had finished her little rant, her breathing had picked up and she found that she had actually taken a step towards the Uchiha. For a few seconds, the two stared each other down defiantly until Eris couldn't stand the intensity of the boy's onyx black eyes anymore and averted her gaze to glance towards the door that led to the smithy. There was just something about Sasuke's eyes that really made her uncomfortable, even without his Sharingan active. They held a certain depth and emptiness that one really shouldn't find in the eyes of someone as young as him.

After a few seconds, the sound of Sasuke letting out a sigh brought Eris' attention back to the raven-haired boy. "Alright, I'll accept that answer for now. So if I were to walk through that door right now and tell the blacksmith girl about who you really are, what would happen?"

The Goddess of Fortune let out an involuntary hiccup when she saw him wave his hand towards the door, behind which Lisbeth was no doubt sulking because she couldn't listen in on their conversation, and the defiance she had felt upon hearing Sasuke suggest that she and her fellow gods were toying with the lives of innocents instantly left her.

"Y-you can't!" she exclaimed and rushed to place herself between Sasuke and the door in question. "Please Sasuke, you can't tell anyone in this world about my real identity. If you do, I won't be allowed to stay on the surface!"

It wasn't until she noticed the way that Sasuke's lips twitched and the almost predatory glint in his eyes that she realized that trusting this former war criminal to do the "right thing" may not have been such a good idea after all. As the potential weight of her mistake dawned on her, Eris felt an unwelcome chill spread through her chest and she couldn't help but shudder.

"That's an impressive level of dedication towards your people," Sasuke commented with a casual voice that somehow still managed to send chills down the goddess' spine. "Whatever, if you're really that desperate to keep this a secret, we can strike a bargain. I think you might be able to help me get my hands on something that I want, and if you'll help me without any hassle I'll be nice and consider keeping your real identity to myself."

-X-X-X-X-X-

In hindsight, Sasuke almost felt bad for blackmailing Eris into helping him acquire a good weapon but justified it in his mind by thinking that the ends would justify the means in this case. Eris had been the one to ask him to defeat the Demon King in the first place, and the sooner he could get his hand on a good sword, the sooner he would be able to accomplish that. When he had pointed this out to the goddess in question, however, she had just huffed and pointedly turned away from him.

As it would turn out, getting his hands on a decent sword would be harder than he had first thought. After talking it over with the blacksmith girl, they had found out that the lack of quality weapons in Axel wasn't just because of their resident blacksmiths lacking the skills to create them. With the town being located so far away from the capital and any place where one could potentially find any ore of decent quality, the blacksmiths were stuck working with low-grade materials, something which apparently even Eris had been unaware of until now.

"So this is the best you can do?" Sasuke asked as he gave the sword in his hand a few swings. The weapon in question was actually pretty well suited to him length-wise, but he could tell even from just a glance that it severely lacked in its' durability and weight.

The pink-haired girl to his right nodded in confirmation. "Well, it's the best sword I've forged so far. I've gotten bids for it as high as 120 000 Eris. Of course, it's not the best sword in the world, but without access to better materials, I don't think I could create anything better."

Sasuke had to actively hold himself back from correcting her on that, seeing as both girls were already annoyed with him and he didn't want to aggravate them further. The design of the weapon was elegant and functional, and he could tell that the weapon was fairly well balanced. His main gripe with it was that this kind of design didn't work with low-quality materials. Unless weapon durability worked differently in this world, which admittedly it actually might now that he thought about it, the blade was too thin and too inflexible to be able to take a hit from a heavier weapon without breaking.

Despite his earlier dismissal of her skill, Sasuke could tell that Lisbeth was talented in her chosen craft. Given the right materials, she could probably forge something decent enough for him to hold him over for a long time. However, there was a difference in his mind between being a good craftsman and being a good blacksmith and by his own estimation, the pink-haired girl only qualified as the former. A more experienced blacksmith would've been able to tell that a certain material and a certain design didn't mesh well together, and would've altered the design to compensate for its' lack of whatever attribute was required for it to work.

"So if we can get ahold of some better material, you could craft me a decent sword?" he asked for clarification, glancing briefly at Eris who just glared back at him, knowing that she would be the one responsible for that.

"It'd be beyond decent, thank you very much!" Lisbeth said heatedly toward him, obviously still annoyed that he refused to call her work 'good'. "But yeah, if I had better materials to work with, I could make a better sword for you."

Glancing briefly at the weapon in his hand one more time, he sheathed it and handed it back to the blacksmith. "So what would be the most efficient way of getting ahold of some better materials, then?" he asked. "And what materials are we looking for here?"

For a moment, the pink-haired girl seemed to contemplate the question while she carefully wrapped her precious sword up in a storage cloth and put it back behind the counter. Once she was done, she turned back towards Sasuke and Eris. "Well, that would depend a bit on what kind of sword you want. Generally, you can find most materials on the marketplace in the Capital, but any Grade C material or higher would most likely cost you a small fortune."

Confused by her wording, Sasuke turned to the goddess who had brought him to this world with a raised eyebrow. Behind Lisbeth's back, Eris stuck her tongue out towards the Uchiha but answered his unspoken question anyway. "You're probably not aware of this yet Sasuke since you're still just a novice adventurer, but crafting materials and weapons are graded by quality, starting at Grade E and going all the way up to A."

Despite himself, Sasuke felt his left eye twitch when the white-haired girl put emphasis on the words 'novice adventurer'. Apparently, the threat of being exposed as the goddess she was wasn't severe enough for Eris to avoid poking fun at him needlessly. For a brief moment, he considered whether it was worth revealing her identity just out of spite but ultimately decided against it. They had struck a deal, and he would hold up on his end of it. For now, at least.

"Actually now that you mention that," Lisbeth's voice brought both of their attention back to the blacksmith. "How are you going to pay for any of this? If you're still a novice adventurer, then you should be like piss poor, right?"

While the question was an entirely relevant one given the discussion, the smug grin the pink-haired girl was sending Sasuke's way told him that she didn't really care much either way and only said it because she thought she had backed him into a corner. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't the case.

"I won't be paying at all," he responded while casually lifting his finger and pointing it at the goddess in disguise. "She will be the one paying."

Like a piece of butter in a hot frying pan, the smug look practically melted off of the young blacksmith's face. Behind her friend, the 'Thief' grimaced and did a very un-goddesslike gesture with her hand to let him know exactly what she thought of what he had just said. Her smug look now replaced by a look of shock and confusion, Lisbeth turned around to look at her friend.

"Wha-... he can't be serious, right?" she asked with disbelief clearly evident in her voice. "He's just being a lying prick, right Chris? Chris?"

The white-haired girl looked like she was caught in an internal struggle between trying to give her friend a reassuring expression and trying to glare absolute murder in Sasuke's direction. After settling for narrowing her eyes at him in obvious disdain, she swiftly schooled her face into a neutral expression and turned her attention back to her confused friend, who was still staring at her in disbelief.

"No, he's not lying, Liz," she said with a surprisingly even voice. "I owe him a few favors, we agreed that we would call it even if I got him a new sword."

'Technically not a lie.' Sasuke thought. Lisbeth however, didn't seem satisfied with the answer. "What kind of favors do you owe this jerk for you to offer to buy a custom-made quality sword for him?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest and glanced suspiciously over her shoulder towards Sasuke, who just rolled his eyes. "Anything better than what I already got in my shop is going to cost at least 200 000 Eris, at the very least. And that's not even taking into account the added cost if you're set on getting Grade C or above materials!"

Upon hearing Lisbeth's price evaluation of the quality of weapon he had requested, Sasuke couldn't help but wince. While he may not have too good a grasp on the economy in this world, he could tell from the faces the two girls were making that they were talking about a fair amount of money. Watching the white-haired girl bite her lip in contemplation, the thought suddenly struck him that maybe she wasn't as well off as he had originally believed and wouldn't be able to afford the weapon he had asked of her. While Sasuke would be the first to admit that he was a bit rough around the edges when it came to ethics, completely rinsing a girl's bank account just to get a decent sword didn't feel right, even to him.

He was just starting to contemplate whether he should speak up and tell Eris that perhaps he didn't need that good a sword just to hold him over for now when the girl herself surprised both of the room's other occupants when she snapped her fingers and her face lit up, as if she'd suddenly had an epiphany.

"That's why we won't be buying the materials from the Capital!" she said with a hint of excitement in her voice. "We'll simply mine the materials on our own! Liz, you have a pretty high leveled mining skill, don't you?"

When the pink-haired blacksmith nodded her head in confirmation, Eris' face split into a grin. "Great, then we won't need to waste any money on buying the materials and that should lower the price a bit, right? There is an Ebony Mine located about a two days march South-East of Axel, and we could even stay for a little extra while if you want to stack up on more quality materials while we're there."

Sasuke couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the excited girl, who was practically glowing with the excitement at the thought of leaving the town on a journey to this Ebony Mine. Just a few seconds ago, she had still been sulking about being blackmailed into helping him get a good sword, but the thought of going on an adventure had practically turned her into a completely different person.

To his right, Lisbeth was having a similar reaction, though her thoughts quickly seemed to drift to the possibility of getting her hands on some rare materials, if the way she began contemplatively stroking her chin was any indication.

"I suppose that could work if we could get there," she said uncertainly. "Ebony is a Grade B material, so I certainly wouldn't mind getting ahold of some of that without having to go bankrupt. But how are we going to get there? The monsters down that way are said to be like super strong, and we got a blacksmith, a thief, and a novice adventurer. Not exactly a band of elites."

Sasuke openly snorted at her hesitation, knowing full well that his definition of "super strong" probably differed greatly from the girls' definition. He was about to comment about that but was once again surprised when Eris spoke up before him.

"Sasuke only counts as a novice because he just recently registered with the Adventurer's Guild," she said as she caught Sasuke's eye over Lisbeth's shoulder. "He is actually pretty strong, and I have another friend who I think I might be able to persuade to help us get there. She is a Crusader, so she will be able to keep whatever monsters we encounter off of us long enough to kill them."

Lisbeth still didn't seem to be entirely convinced, glancing over Sasuke's attire with a critical eye, but she eventually agreed that it might be worth the risk, as long as they all agreed that they would turn around and head back if it looked like they were in over their heads. For some reason, Eris looked a bit hesitant to accept that term, but she quickly brushed it aside and the group of three agreed to meet up at the Southern Gate at 8 am the following morning to get an early start.

-X-X-X-X-X-

Later that evening, Sasuke found himself sitting by a table in a secluded corner of the Adventurer's Guild with a plate of roast beef and mashed potatoes in front of him. The corner's only other occupant was a young girl a year or two younger than him, who was sitting by herself at the table next to his and appeared to be spending her time building a house of cards. Sasuke didn't really pay her any mind, he had more important things on his mind.

After he had split up from Eris and the blacksmith girl, he had headed straight to the market district to buy a backpack for the journey ahead, along with some emergency provisions and a first aid kit. Eris had said that it would take them about 2 days to reach the Ebony Mine, and since Lisbeth was the only one among them who had the Mining Skill, it would take some time for them to gather all the materials they needed. They probably wouldn't be gone for more than a week at most, but it never hurt to be well-prepared.

Satisfied that he was about as ready as he could be for the journey ahead, Sasuke's thoughts turned towards his temporary party members. Looking back at their interactions from that afternoon, it was obvious that neither of them was too fond of him. He didn't really care too much about the blacksmith girl, but he couldn't help but feel a little guilty at his treatment of Eris. Without her, he wouldn't even be sitting here right now and would never have been given the chance for redemption, and he hadn't exactly repaid her in kind. Her dislike of him was 100 percent justified, and knowing that it was bothered him a lot more than he had expected it to.

'Too focused on the horizon to see what was in front of me, huh?' he thought with a humorless chuckle. Or more accurately, too focused on achieving his goals to see the destruction that he always left in his wake.

Putting the last piece of roast beef in his mouth and pushing away his empty plate, the raven-haired boy let out a sigh. Perhaps he should apologize to the goddess before they left tomorrow morning? Even though she had seemed excited about the prospect of going on this adventure, it didn't sit right with him that she would be risking her life and that of her friends just because he wanted a better sword than what was currently available to him.

"Please, just for a little while! I'm not planning anything, I swear!"

Sasuke's attention was returned to the present by a commotion at the table next to his. Glancing over towards the scene, he noticed that the girl who occupied it had been joined by a plump older man who was leaning over the table and clasping the girl's hands in his, despite the girl's obvious attempts to shake herself free from his grip. Frowning at the desperate look in the man's eyes, Sasuke slowly reached toward his belt to put his hand on the handle of his sword, only to be reminded that he didn't have it anymore.

"N-no way!" the girl cried out, leaning as far back in her seat as she could without falling to get away from the man who was invading her personal space. "E-even if i-it is for your sick mother, it w-wouldn't be right to lie to her like that!"

By now, the scene the two were causing had drawn the attention of many of the tavern's other patrons, but so far no one had moved to intervene. The man however either didn't notice or didn't care that he was causing a scene. He had his attention focused solely on the girl who was squirming uncomfortably in the seat in front of him.

"Please, I beg you, just once!" he shouted as he practically climbed onto the table to keep hold of the girl's shaking hands. "She told me that her only regret was not being able to see me get married and give her grandchildren and you're the only one I can ask this of, Yunyun! If you were to come with me, just this once, I'm sure that would put her at ease!"

From where he was sitting, he could see the beginning of tears start to form in the girl's big red eyes as she kept trying to shake off the man, who was obviously spouting a load of bullcrap. For a moment, Sasuke glanced toward the other adventurers in the tavern to see that they were still keeping their distance from the scene. 'Some adventurers you are,' he thought with a scowl as he grabbed the knife from his empty plate and rose to his feet.

"Please! You only need to pretend to be my lover for a little while!" the man cried when the girl, Yunyun apparently, finally managed to free herself from his grip and put some distance between them. "You're my only friend! No one else will help me with this!"

The black-haired girl froze upon hearing the words "only friend", and slowly turned around to look at the man who was stumbling to get back on his feet. For a brief moment, she seemed to be conflicted about leaving him and that gave the man just enough time to regain his balance and attempt to lunge toward her again, only to freeze when a food knife embedded itself in the wooden table where he was kneeling, just a mere inch away from his hand.

With practiced ease, Sasuke somersaulted over the desperate man to put himself between him and the frightened girl, his gaze never leaving the older man.

"I think that's quite enough of that," he said with a voice that caused the man to outwardly shiver. "The girl has made it quite clear that she doesn't want anything to do with you, now leave her alone. You're causing a scene."

Behind him, he could hear the girl let out a sigh of relief at his timely interference. For a moment, the two men stared each other down, the older man's eyes as wide as saucers as they traveled between Sasuke, the food knife, and then back again. Then, he seemed to regain his bearings, as his face contorted into an ugly grimace.

"Who do you think you are, you fucking brat?!" he screamed, as what little sanity he still had seemed to slip from his grasp. "You wanna steal my girl, is that it huh? HUH?! Well, I got news for you! She's already mine, I'm telling you! You hear me?! She's mine! MINE!"

Sasuke stared impassively as the man went off on a tangent, yelling and screaming while his bloodshot eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. Around them, people were starting to whisper amongst themselves while behind him, a quiet whimper let Sasuke know exactly what the girl herself thought about the situation.

When the man finally broke off his rant to catch his breath, Sasuke spoke up. "Are you done yet? I don't give a crap about the girl, but I was trying to enjoy a peaceful meal in the evening before a long journey, and you ruined it, so I suggest you either shut up or scram before I lose my temper."

That seemed to be the waterdrop that caused the glass to overflow because the man let out an incoherent scream and grabbed the knife that Sasuke had thrown earlier and lunged towards the two teenagers. At that moment, the entire room burst into motion with the other patrons screaming, adventurers moving to intervene in the confrontation and Yunyun letting out a terrified shriek and covered her head with her arms.

Time seemed to slow down around Sasuke as he briefly activated his Sharingan to better make out the angle at which his assailant was swinging his food knife before he crouched low to avoid the wild swing of the man's arm and the heel of his right foot made contact with the man's abdomen. Using the upward momentum of his counterattack, the Uchiha literally lifted the man off the ground before twisting his leg and bringing it down on the man in a guillotine kick that broke the table under his target and at the very least a few of the man's ribs along with it.

Upon impact, the man let out a cry of agony and coughed up a generous amount of blood. With his enhanced sight, Sasuke to see every drop of the red liquid as it sailed through the air before he deactivated his Doujutsu and took a step back. The whole ordeal was over in less than 3 seconds.

"Whatever, if you're really that desperate to keep this a secret, we can strike a bargain."

Author's Note: This took a whole lot longer to finish than I had expected, but life got in the way. I actually wanted to try and aim for at least 7k words with this one but figured I might as well upload it, as I really want to try and move the story forward and the aftermath of that last little stunt Sasuke pulled would probably take me a few k words go through. Also, part of the reason why I struggled with this chapter was that it started with Eris' point of view. With her being a goddess, I found myself second guessing everything I wrote about her and her thought process. I mean, I'm not a goddess. I don't know how they think or feel.

When this chapter is uploaded, I will have closed the poll. The Ghostblade class won with 7 votes, with Adventurer coming in second with 5, meaning that Sasuke most likely will change his class eventually, once he's got a good reason for it in the story. All in all, 21 people voted on Sasuke's class, and I want to extend a thank you to everyone who did.

Oh, and just in case someone has missed it, I always respond to reviews in PM, even if it is just to say "Thank you for your support", so if you're not in the habit of checking your Private Messages, please do.

And for those of you who want to see a bit more action, it should pick up in either the next chapter or the following one after that, depending on how long it takes for Sasuke to get his ass out of town. Until then, I wish you all a good day! I hope that you liked the chapter and even if you didn't, feel free to share your thoughts on it in a PM or a review!