["If you don't know how, I can teach you."]
["It's fine. I know how." Aventurine smiled faintly. "…Of course I do."]
[...]
[Rain poured down in torrents. A golden-haired woman half-knelt in the mud, both arms tightly wrapping around the small boy in her embrace, gently wiping the mud and sand from his face with her hand.]
["We have to part here, Kakavasha. The Katika are coming."]
[Kakavasha could no longer tell whether what was on his face was rain or tears. His voice trembled continuously: "Why? The Katika already took all our money and food, and killed Mom and Dad… what more do they want?"]
["The Katika are cruel, bloodthirsty, and insatiably greedy. They want everything, so they will get nothing." His older sister supported his thin shoulders and comforted him: "This is a scheme, a revenge. Remember? Today is [Kakava] Day, and also your birthday."]
["They know the Avgin will definitely hold a festival on this day. Taking advantage of this rain, they will come to destroy our caravans and take everything they want."]
["But the Katika don't know that this time we will resist. The black-clothed people from the sky are also standing on our side. The Katika have no chance of winning in front of them and will definitely pay the price for their arrogance."]
["If there was no this rain, the Katika would not make a move, and we would have no chance to maneuver. This is all the Mother Goddess's grace, and you are [Kakavasha]. Your good luck will protect big sister's success."]
——
Attack on Titan.
"I want… I want to kill them all..."
When he saw Kakavasha's older sister kneeling on one knee in the mud, Eren once again recalled the scene three years ago when his mother said goodbye to him in the ruins.
Tears slid down his cheeks, yet there was not the slightest expression of sorrow on his face. He tightly gritted his teeth, as if a familiar burning sensation was rushing up from his stomach to his throat. Between every tightly clenched tooth seeped the iron taste of blood. He wished he could personally tear out the throats of the Katika.
"Eren, Eren..."
Mikasa's voice came from beside his ear. Only then did Eren pull himself out of the memories. Accompanied by successive stinging pains from his palms—he belatedly realized that when he clenched his fists he had accidentally pierced his palms.
"Sorry, Armin, Mikasa..." Eren shook his head in shame. "I was just too angry. I really don't understand why the Strategic Investment Department still hasn't made a move. Do they have to wait until all the Avgin are dead before they're willing to act?"
"It's not like that, Eren. First of all, this place is not under the jurisdiction of the Strategic Investment Department, but the Marketing Development Department." Armin showed a regretful expression. "I'm afraid they have no interest at all in this massacre between the two tribes."
"Then why not let [Diamond] come? Isn't he an Emanator of [Preservation]? How can he allow something like this to happen right under the Company's nose?!" Eren almost roared hysterically.
"What the hell have these bastards preserved?!"
"..."
Armin was temporarily speechless as well. He also hoped that [Diamond] would be the one in charge of this matter. Perhaps an Emanator of Preservation could bring something different?
But unfortunately for Kakavasha, there were already no "ifs."
"Armin, do you think that one day... the Marketing Development Department will come to our world?" Eren suddenly asked.
"Probably... they will." Armin was taken aback for a moment. "If one day we can drive out all the Titans, it's possible that the Marketing Development Department will notice us and connect our world to the universe."
"If that day really comes... as long as I'm still alive, I will definitely give their department head a hard punch." Eren gritted his teeth and said word by word. "...Consider it a punch thrown on Kakavasha's behalf."
——
["But… but people will die. You'll be in danger too... how is this good luck at all! Why do you have to do this..." Kakavasha wiped his tears, sobbing without stopping.]
["The Avgin always avenge their grudges. The Mother Goddess is calling me. Mom and Dad are waiting for me. I must respond. But she bestowed good luck upon you so that you would live."]
[The woman pried open Kakavasha's tightly clenched fist and gently closed it together with her own broader, warmer hand... She closed her eyes and kissed Kakavasha's forehead, instructing him word by word: "As long as you are still alive, the blood of the Avgin will not run dry. So run, Kakavasha. Don't be afraid. Don't look back. Go to the other side of the mountain. The rain will always accompany you. The rain will protect you."]
["And we will reunite under the aurora of the next [Kakava]..." The woman tightly gripped his hand. "May the Mother Goddess close her eyes for you three times..."]
["May your bloodline forever pulse..."]
["May your journey always be smooth..."]
["…May your schemes never be exposed."]
["Goodbye, Kakavasha."]
[...]
["A spokesperson for the Company's Marketing Development Department confirmed that a small-scale rebellion broke out in the unclaimed star sector of Sigonia. The situation has currently been effectively controlled—"]
["The rebels came from a local clan called the 'Katika.' This clan has long harbored dissatisfaction toward the Company and has had a severe negative impact on the Marketing Development Department's work in the area—"]
["This clan launched a large-scale attack on the 'Avgin' clan under the Company's protection, resulting in 6,728 deaths, 3,452 missing, and the injured currently received by the medical rescue organization [Trauma Frontline]—"]
["The spokesperson finally stated: The great hammer of Preservation will inevitably fall for all life—regardless of life or death, regardless of race, regardless of ideology—to defend the basic rights we are born with..."]
——
KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!
"Get lost, Company! Aaaaaah—!"
Aqua had somehow gotten a pillow with the large words "Interastral Peace Corporation" drawn on it, and then spent the entire morning frantically beating it, shouting herself hoarse while hitting it, making everyone who heard it excited.
"Qlipoth smashed [Propagation] with three hammers and saved the universe! Yet you can't even protect a small clan of a few thousand people. Saying it out loud would make Qlipoth lose face! Go eat shit!"
"Aaaaaah—!"
Although Aqua's fists did not possess any lethal force, her agitated emotions stirred up surging Hydro elemental power around her body. On the spot she punched the pillow until it was soaking wet, as if she had beaten the words "Interastral Peace Corporation" until they cried.
"Uh..."
Kazuma pointed at the pillow Aqua was fiercely beating and turned to ask Megumin: "Where did she get that thing?"
"Oh, recently the scenes on the Celestial Screen have greatly highlighted the Company's inaction, making a lot of adventurers very angry. So someone drew the words Interastral Peace Corporation on pillows for people to beat and vent."
"There's even something like that?"
"That's nothing. There are also adventurers who raise their defense skills to the maximum, insist they are [Preservation], and openly get beaten on the streets while impersonating the Company's black-clothed people and the Katika. One hit costs ten yen. Recently they've earned quite a lot... I was just about to go out and give him a blast of Explosion Magic."
"Then if we let Darkness go up there, wouldn't she be able to get rich overnight?" Kazuma had a sudden idea.
Megumin lightly sighed: "Kazuma, better save it. You don't know how hated impersonating the Company and the Katika is... If you've impersonated a Company employee, the beating feels great for a moment, but what about afterward? Not only will the Adventurer's Guild reception not issue you any quests, even when hunting monsters no one will party with you. If you go drink… the tavern owner, knowing you once impersonated a Katika, will more or less mix a spoonful of water into your alcohol."
"I even suspect… right now the Demon King's hate value isn't as high as the Katika's."