It had been a few days since our encounter with Vanir.
Darkness had made it through with little difficulty, to everyone but my own's amazement.
However, I suppose they didn't know that Vanir took enough of the damage to keep Darkness alive like I did. What damage Vanir didn't block, which was enough to cause serious injury, was quickly healed by our resident Arch Priest.
With Darkness healed, and after some time to recuperate, we decided to enjoy some time at the Guild.
"Satou Kazuma!" Sena exclaimed for the I-don't-even-fuckin-know-how-many-eth time, "In honor of your major contribution in ensuring the safety of the city, we offer you our thanks. Furthermore, we wish to formally apologize for the false accusation that was levelled against you,"
She took a moment to bow deeply, nearly to a 90-degree angle, in fact, and offered a letter.
I opened it to find it was an official letter of thanks for the Capital, along with a cheque of one and a half fucking billion Eris for defeating the Destroyer and vanquishing Vanir.
And the best part was; I didn't have to give any of it to that Alderp prick! Lord Dustiness Ford, who I will love forever, paid the fee himself, as the reward for keeping his honour intact!
I am a fucking billionaire motherfuckers!
So now I am Kazuma! Butcherer of Beldia; Slayer of the Shogun; Defeater of the Destroyer; and Vanquisher of Vanir!
And did I mention that I'm also a fucking billionaire? Because I am!
They should make T-shirts about me already. They'd make a killing from 'em.
"And to Dustiness Ford 'Darkness', the Capital awards a set of Crystilian Steel plate armour, forged by one of the greatest blacksmiths in the Capital, for your efforts that resulted in the defeat of Vanir, the Duke of Hell," Sena continued.
Darkness smiled graciously, and offered a thanks in return.
Then we celebrated.
After out celebrations we're complete, I met up with Vanir at Wiz's shop to 'begin' our partnership. I then, of course, told the girls about his survival and explained that he would do no harm, and was, in fact, going to be helping us.
His first successful creation is what I sat working at now, actually. A Kotatsu, perfect for the still cold weather.
(A Kotatsu is a low table with a rug/blanket over the top, and a heater of some form below it)
Fortunately, there existed magical stones in this world that generated heat when supplied with mana, making a perfect heat source for personal use.
I sat working, drawing up the design plan for a loom, something I hadn't realised this world still needed, while Megumin and Darkness sat on the opposite sides of the table to my right and left, playing their magical chess.
Aqua, however, had claimed am entire couch as her own, laying down on her front as she read through a book.
It was peaceful. While it was cold outside still, the indoors had become a comfortable warm and we all took the opportunity to get in some long-awaited rest.
Until someone knocked on the door, that is.
I never get any breaks, do I?
"It's open!" I call.
The door opened to reveal Sena once more.
"Come in, come in," I said, "It's cold out, so keep the door closed,"
She obliged, stepping inside and closing the door behind herself.
"Kazuma-san-" she began, but stopped as I put a hand up.
"Sit," I told her, gesturing to the table, "Whatever it is, you can be comfortable while you tell me,"
She hesitantly sat, and slowly maneuvered her legs beneath the rug. Her face showed surprise, and not a small amount of pleasure.
"Good, isn't it?" I asked rhetorically, "I plan to start selling them from Wiz's shop soon. Anyway, what was it you needed, Sena-chan?" I asked cheekily.
She cleared her throat, then began, "A large amount of Lizard Runners have been discovered outside town. They normally wouldn't be a problem, but their mating season recently began, so they're causing problems in their attempts to impress the queen. I was hoping you, as one of the best-known adventurers in town, could help us all with this. Many adventurers are fighting them already,"
"That would be a problem," I mused.
Lizard Runners were strange, as monsters went. Herbivorous, bipedal lizards, that weren't hostile to humans. They could run damn fast though, hence the name. A kick from one of these things would easily destroy any bones in vicinity.
"Say, Kazuma-san," Sena began, "If I may ask; what is your level? I imagine it's quite high, considering all the powerful monsters your party has defeated,"
"Hmm? Take a look," I said, taking my Adventurer's card and sliding it across the table.
"Th-thirty-three?" she stuttered.
"Whaaat?!" Megumin whined, "You're already past level 30? I'm still only at level 29,"
"Quit the whining you," Aqua teased, "Me and Darkness are at 26, you don't have to worry about anything,"
"But that's normal!" Megumin countered, "Damage dealing Jobs always have higher levels!"
"You h-have a level 26 healer?!" Sena stammered, looking between us all with awe.
"Yeah," I answered simply, "Aqua is good at what she does,"
Aqua preened.
"Everyone is the party is damn good at what they do, but they're all very specialised, so I pick up the slack with a versatile Job," I explained to Sena.
"I-I see. It seems to work well," she complimented.
I smiled at her, "That it does,"
"And, um, one more question; have any of you happened to have seen Mitsurugi Kyouya recently? He was declared missing a week ago, and because he has an obvious grudge against you, I fear he may be hiding to 'get back' at you,"
Ah, so this is finally coming up.
I shook my head, "No, I haven't seen him since the trial,"
"Neither," agreed Aqua as Megumin and Darkness shook their heads.
"Alright!" I said, climbing to my feet, "Let's go fight so lizards!"
"Woo," Aqua said sarcastically, lazily rolling off the couch.
I walked to the door and picked up my new bow. It was something of my own creation.
It turned out, as I assumed, that Vanir was the general with access to Alchemy, so I had him teach me the skills. There were only two; 'Transform' and 'Transmute' and they were often used in tandem. As I didn't have the points for both, I chose 'Transform'; the ability to change the shape and structure of an object without changing the elemental composition. I could change the molecular composition though, to some degree. For example, I could mix a little graphite with some iron, without the need to smelt them, to make steel.
With my new talent, I constructed a tall compound bow, because they are just so much better than recurves.
As I was not yet at the ability to make fibreglass with my new magic, I used aluminium for the frame and limbs, which ended up pushing the draw weight up to about 20kg (~50lbs), which, while higher than I would like, was still relatively easy to use, due to my high level.
I also moulded some aluminium arrows with steel tips, as standard wooden arrows would not survive repeated use from such a powerful weapon.
It's what I had spent the last week doing, in fact. Once I made my bow, I manufactured arrow after arrow after arrow. The process burnt through all the mana I had available after I'd done about 15 of them, so currently, I had 90 of these stronger arrows. Despite their strength, they only weighed 20 grams each, making them differ very little from slightly longer wooden arrows.
With the quiver, and 50 arrows within, it only weighed two kilos, and with the bow itself at two and a half kilos, it was a breeze to carry it all on my back.
"Come on, we've got a quest now, so let's get to it!" I told the girls, keen to try my new armament.
They followed obediently, quickly preparing themselves for combat in just a few minutes, and then we left, with Sena following.
We were waiting in the Guild hall as Darkness went to register us for the quest, when I spotted a familiar face.
"Hey Yunyun," I greeted as I walked over to her seat, "Have you decided on joining the party yet?"
She looked at me, obviously surprised by my sudden appearance, before opening her mouth hesitantly.
"You know what? Don't answer that. Before you decide, we should do a test quest, to see if we're compatible," I told her, "We, uh- We're just picking up a quest now, actually, to exterminate some of the Lizard Runners. If you're free, maybe you'd like to join us?" I asked with falsified uncertainty.
She smiled shyly, "Yeah, I'm free! I'd um, like to join you, yeah,"
I brightened, "Cool. Do you need to get ready or anything?"
She shook her head, "No, I carry my equipment everywhere," she explained.
"Smart,"
Her face flushed at the compliment, "Th-thank you,"
"Let's go meet up with the rest of the party and we can get going,"
She stood and followed me back to my waiting party.
"Hey guys," I greeted, "Yunyun's gonna be joining us for the quest, alright? Where's Sena?" I asked, noting her disappearance.
"Had other stuff to do," Megumin supplied.
I nodded in understanding, before looking at Darkness, "Got the quest?"
She proceeded to wave it at me.
"Cool, let's get going then,"
And so, our party plus one began walking for the town gates.
We were only a couple minutes out of town when I directed conversation to tactics.
"Alright, I've got a plan, let me know what you think," I began, "There's a big tree in the field right by where the Lizards currently are. That's where we'll set up. First, I'll take out the Queen Runner, that'll put them into a panic," I paused in thought.
"Yunyun, Aqua, do either of you have a spell that can attract enemies?"
"I do!" Aqua answered.
"Good. So Aqua, you cast that and attract them to the tree. They'll all funnel in close and Megumin can hit them with 'Explosion',"
Megumin nodded.
"Aqua, you can then get Megumin and yourself behind the tree for safety, while Darkness stands ten metres ahead to push them away from the tree. Yunyun, you cast AOE spells ahead-"
"Ay-oh-ee?"
"Right, sorry, 'Area-of-Effect' spells. Spells that'll hurt any enemies in an area, rather than targeting one monster in particular,"
She hummed in understanding.
"So you use the AOE's in front of Darkness to whittle them down as they approach and Aqua can keep Darkness healed for whenever she gets hit. You'll mainly be a deterrent, Darkness, while me and Yunyun take out as many as we can,"
Darkness nodded.
"From what I know, the Runners are fast, but they're not incredibly agile, so once they run past, we'll have enough time to set up for them while they turn around,"
They all nodded their understanding.
"So how's that sound?"
"Hey Kazuma?" Megumin asked, "How are you so good at making plans like this?"
I snickered, "I dunno, just am, I guess. It's not that spectacular of a plan, but it should work pretty well,"
I looked ahead.
"And there's the tree. So everyone knows what they're doing?"
More nods.
"Then let's kill us some Runners,"
Once we reached the lone tree of the field, the runners were visible.
I took a running start and rapidly scaled the tree.
Using 'Far-Sight', a skill I had manufactured with illusion magic, I located the Queen Runner. Her large stature and frills made her quite easy to spot.
"I've got eyes on the Queen," I told the women below me, "Get yourselves ready," I said, drawing my bow.
"Wha? But they're like, a hundred metres away!" Yunyun exclaimed.
"Eh, more like eighty. I can hit the shot easy," I argued.
"But arrows can't get that far! Let alone stay lethal! There's no way you'll be able to kill the Queen!" she countered.
I smirked at her, drawing my arrow back, letting it settle into the bow's natural draw-weight valley.
"Watch me," and the arrow flew.
Yunyun watched the arrow soar away at speeds she could barely comprehend, let alone follow, so she simply looked to the target ahead, mouth open.
There was a loud screech and the Queen runner collapsed, an arrow having lodged itself in her brain.
Then chaos erupted.
"Aqua!"
"'Force Fire'!" she chanted and a white-blue flame erupted from her open palms.
The panicking runners spotted the flame, and immediately began a charge towards us.
"Megumin!"
I already had another arrow nocked, which I quickly drew and sent into the pack of accelerating lizards. One at the front of the pack fell to the ground face-first, dead, its body rolling with no way other way of distributing its momentum.
"'Explosion'!"
A wall of fire spontaneously appeared within the pack with the end of her spell, killing many, but also leaving plenty to continue their charge.
"Yunyun! Darkness!" I yelled, another arrow flying away, killing another runner.
They were already halfway by the time Yunyun finished her chant.
"'Spiritual Combustion'!"
A column of flame erupted ahead of the waiting Darkness.
More died, but they seemed never-ending.
And then, they were upon us.
I had been flinging out arrows as fast as I could, but now I put my bow away and dropped to the floor, instead drawing my sword.
They poured around, Darkness the origin of the spilt stood tall, like a reincarnation of Moses parting the Red Sea.
I dashed at the left wall and swung, my sword singing its deadly melody, carving through the torrent of flesh without resistance, the highly sharpened blade not impeded by the Lizards' combined armour.
I began casting from within my mind, and shock and fire and ice and earth joined the fray, mixing and matching with Yunyun's spells and my own weapon for the express purpose of killing as many reptiles as possible.
After what felt like an eternity, the ranks began to thin. We were reaching the end of the pack.
And then they passed.
I took a moment to survey the surroundings.
It was a fucking warzone.
Scorch marks, craters, bodies, and blood covered the entire earth in a large area around the tree.
There were well over a hundred dead Runners. Some with arrows sprouting from them, others in scorched pieces, burnt to a crisp, showing deep gash wounds, crushed by their brethren. There were so many bodies with so many differing causes of death that I can't be bothered to try and list them all.
I could feel blood and dirt caking my face, and a glance down concluded that it wasn't just my face that was covered.
I moved my left arm from the hilt of my sword and ran my arm across my face in a feeble attempt to clean it.
"Everyone good?! Darkness?" I yelled.
"I'm good!" Darkness replied, face flushed and looking fatigued.
"We're good too!" Aqua responded, peeking out from behind the tree.
I rushed over to her and found her attempting to hold a satisfied Megumin upright.
"Good. Aqua, can I distribute your mana while you heal Darkness?"
She nodded and quickly began casting.
I sheathed my sword and put my hands on Megumin and Aqua.
"Yunyun, get over here!" I called, having replenished Megumin's mana and life-force, "I'll replenish your mana for you!" I told her as I began to refill my own reserves.
"Wha- Will she be alright?" Yunyun questioned, motioning at Darkness.
I laughed, "Don't worry, she could do this a hundred times over. Now get here quick, we don't have much time,"
She hurried over, and I began siphoning mana to her from Aqua, rapidly filling her near depleted reserves.
With everyone stocked up, I drew my bow again and started firing precise shots into the mass of reptiles.
I reached my arm back for another arrow as they turned to face us head on, but found none.
I tossed the bow down behind me at the tree and drew my sword once more.
"Megumin!"
"'Explosion'!"
It took us an hour and a half to finish all the Runners.
An hour and a half of gruelling combat, with minute respites of near panicked reorganisation.
It was brutal, but now hundreds of Lizard Runners lay dead in a field, while the five of us walked free.
We had taken on an army, and come out unscathed.
I carried Megumin on my back, as she had fallen unconscious with her third 'Explosion', her body simply not able to keep up with the incredible magical and physical requirements.
I looked the worst off of the party, but I was unharmed. I was just covered in a combination of blood and dust, turning it into something of a black paste that my attempts to wipe it off had failed to reveal more than a square inch of pale skin beneath.
As we made it back to town, our passage attracted to the stares of townsfolk and adventurers combined.
I handed Megumin off to Darkness in a trade for the Quest sheet we had taken, before I split with the four women, them heading for our house while I went to the guild.
I pushed the doors apart with a foot, not having the strength required to push them open with my exhausted arms.
All eyes were immediately on me.
"K-K-Kazuam-san?" Luna said, being the one to break the silence, "A-are you alright?"
I laughed as I approached the counter, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fucking exhausted though. Here," I said, handing the quest back to her, "You might want to take this quest down, 'cos we completed it,"
"Huh? Completed? But it's an extermination quest," she countered.
"Yeah, and we killed all of them,"
"Eh?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Look, just send a scout out to check the fields where they were grazing or whatever the fuck they were doing there, and you'll see, like, a whole bunch of 'em. We'll cash in exactly what we've done tomorrow, 'cos right I'm gonna go sleep for fifteen hours. Later, Luna,"
"Uh, goodbye Kazuma-san,"
I woke relatively early the next morning.
It was only around four in the afternoon when we got home yesterday, and so once I got back from the guild, I bathed, and went straight to sleep, hence why I woke up early.
Knowing I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, I got out of bed. It took longer than I'd like to admit to finish this stage. Aching muscles made sure of that.
With a bowl of cereal for breakfast, I sat down at the kotatsu and began drawing up the schematics of my compound bow.
The first awake was someone I wasn't expecting.
Yunyun.
She walked into the main room, rubbing at her eyes sleepily.
"Morning Yunyun," I said to the tired girl, "Hungry?"
She nodded mutely.
I pointed towards the kitchen, "There's a bunch of food in the cupboard, and there's cutlery and bowls and stuff in the left draws,"
She nodded again and walked to the kitchen silently.
After a few minutes, she returned with a bowl of cereal herself and slowly sat at the kotatsu.
Her eyes widened at the unexpected warmth, "Oh," she mumbled.
"Good, isn't it?"
She nodded, and started on her breakfast.
I let her be, and returned to my blueprint.
"Kazuma-san," she mumbled.
"Hmm?"
"Do you… Would you still take me in your party?" she asked shyly.
I grinned at her and offered her a hand.
"Welcome to the party Yunyun. I hope you'll take good care of us,"
She took my hand and shook it, smile glowing.
"I will!"
Then Aqua arrived, yawning loudly.
"Morning Aqua," I turned to wave at her, but hissed as a wave of pain came from protesting muscles and joints.
"You okay?" she asked, concern apparent as she started towards me.
I smiled, rubbing where the pain was coming from, "Just a little stiff," I reassured.
She looked at me, unconvinced.
She walked around me and plopped herself down on the directly behind me. She raised her hands and put them on my shoulders and began to massage them.
Holy shit that feels good.
"Oh, okay. That, uh, that's really good," I complimented.
"'A little stiff'. Yeah right," she mocked, "If you'd just told me I would have helped you out,"
I sighed as her fingers worked away the tenseness of my shoulders and upper-back.
"Yeah, yeah. For real though; thanks Aqua, this seriously helps. How are you so good at massaging anyway?"
I felt her shrug, "Just something I picked up from back home,"
Huh. Weird skill to learn in heaven of all places.
"Meet our newest party member, by the way," I said, nodding to Yunyun.
"Finally convinced her to join then?" Aqua asked with an audible smile.
"Wha-"
"Yeah. Needed to use the bath again before deciding, I guess," I teased.
"Eh? I-I didn't-"
"It is a good bath," Aqua confirmed, nodding, before breaking into a fit of giggles at seeing Yunyun's flushed face.
Yunyun pouted in response.
It's not very effective…
"You're gonna have to get used to banter Yunyun, or you'll end up as the butt of everyone's jokes, like this one," I said, jabbing a thumb at the woman behind me.
"Bold words for someone who's being taken care of by 'this one'," Aqua countered.
"Uh, please don't hit me?"
Yunyun laughed.
We had decided to take the day off. Considering how busy our day was yesterday, I think that that's valid.
We had all stopped by the guild to prove that we had killed all the Lizard Runners, but that only took us a couple of minutes.
After that, we all returned to relaxing at home. Or we tried to, at least, because then Vanir showed up.
He had some childish spat with Aqua before he turned to me, impatiently asking if I had any creation ready to make.
"I have several, actually," I told him, "Here. We'll do this one first," I said, handing him the finished blueprint of the compound bow.
In a world where archery is a tool for survival, this would reap the quickest rewards.
He examined the plans.
"Thou put pulleys… on a bow? Moi must admit, should it work, it would be very impressive…" he mused.
"Oh, it does work. It's what I used all of yesterday," I told him with a smirk, grabbing the bow to show it off.
He took the bow from my offering hands and examined it, "Thou hast made it of metal, but it is much lighter than it look," he concluded.
"Yeah. Aluminium. It's too light and flexible for swords and other melee weapons, but for a bow-"
"It would be perfect,"
"Exactly. It's much more durable, you can also set the draw weight very precisely, and with how the pulleys are set, it sits at full draw much more comfortably. Don't dry-fire it though. The limbs store a significantly larger amount of energy, and dry-firing is quite a bit worse,"
He drew the bow back with easy, and his eyes widened as the bow reached the weight valley.
"See? A normal bow is much harder to hold at full draw because of its linear draw-weight curve, but the pulleys change the curve completely, making it harder to begin, but much easier to finish,"
"Moi is beginning to understand. Thou art quite brilliant, no?"
I grinned, "I suppose I am. So how about we get to making them? I already bought a bunch of aluminium; it's super cheap 'cos no-one wants it,"
"Yes, let us begin,"
We spent the morning creating bows and arrows.
Once I showed Vanir how to create one, and how it should be changed to adjust the draw-weight, he took off, and in the time it took me to create one more of the bows, he had made the other 38 of the decided 40 bows. Then we began working on arrows, which was slower (relatively) and more tedious, but after an hour we had 2000 arrows to sell.
Then we spent the next half hour carting all of it over to Wiz's shop, where it had been arranged that she would get 10% of profit for the use of her store, while Vanir and I got an equal split on what was left.
With the wares ready, I had Megumin, Darkness and Aqua go around town telling people I would begin selling 'the new bow' at midday, while I did the same at the guild.
I didn't have Yunyun try to do it; she's too shy, so I had her go to Wiz's shop and help set up the weapons ready for purchase.
I also sent a letter with the most expensive courier to the Capital with an appeal for a patent.
The Dustiness Ford seal I had Darkness put on the letter should boost the processing speed.
The bows were set up just outside the store, with a target set just a small distance away.
By then, midday had arrived.
A crowd had already gathered outside, awaiting the demonstration.
"Hello everyone! Thank you for coming to the demonstration! I'll get right into it; this is what I want to sell," I said, displaying my compound bow above my head.
"Yeah, it looks kinda strange, but it'll out-perform any bow with a similar draw-weight. Now, I can tell you're sceptical, so how's about a demonstration?"
I pointed at a female archer at the front of the crowd.
"You. I remember you from the battle of the Destroyer. You're a good shot. Would you mind helping my demonstration?"
She blinked, "Eh? Um, okay," she said as she stepped forward.
I smiled, "Thank you. What's the draw weight on your bow?"
"It's from nine to twelve kilograms,"
"Cool," I said, taking a bow with a similar weight, and two arrows, "Here," I said, handing her an arrow, "It's a little heavier than normal, but it's for consistency. Could you put this arrow into that target over there?"
She nodded, and nocked the arrow, drew it back, took aim, and released.
The arrow struck the target, a couple centimetres off the middle, but there were no markings, so that wasn't unexpected.
"Nice shot, now try it with my bow. Draw it, but don't fire it right away,"
She nodded and drew, before letting out a startled "Wha?" as she drew it back into the weight valley.
I grinned, "What my new friend here just discovered is the draw-weight valley. Because of the way the gears are shaped, at the end of the draw, the hold weight drops off significantly. So while this is needs about 12 kilograms of force to pull it all the way back, it only takes about three kilograms to hold it there," I told the audience, before turning back to the young archer, "Go on, let it fly,"
She obliged, and the arrow streaked across to the target at a significantly higher speed, hitting above the first by a few centimetres.
Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open as she glanced from the bow, to the target, and back again.
I walked to the target and pulled the small wooded panel off of it, showing an extra three centimetres of penetration on the first's five centimetres.
"Well," I said, showing off the differing arrows as the crowd murmured, "I think those are some pretty conclusive results. Would anyone else like to try?"
A dozen hands shot into the air.
I pointed at a bulkier man at the front and he stepped forward.
"What's your draw-weight pal?" I asked as Yunyun put another wooden panel on the target.
"Twenty kilograms," he said.
I nodded and handed him an arrow.
"Here, put this in the target, high or low, and you'll put the second one on the other, sound good?"
"Sounds good," he grinned, taking the arrow and nocking it immediately.
He fired, and it landed high.
I took my bow off my back.
"Here, you can use my personal bow, it's weighted at 20, like yours," I said, "Now test her out, get a feel for it before you put one low,"
He took a hold of it, and shifted it around in his hands, getting used to the weight distribution and string tension.
"It's real light. Is this even made of metal?" he asked.
"It is. They're made of aluminium, a metal that's much lighter and more flexible with steel. Not suitable for melee weapons, but excellent for bows, if you know how to distribute the force. So the bow ends up incredibly durable, without having to sacrifice much of its light-weight nature,"
The man nocked the arrow and pulled it back to full draw and whistled, "This valley is something," he laughed, "I feel like I could hold this forever!"
"Maybe," I laughed, "but that wouldn't be very entertaining to watch, so let's see what it can do,"
He grinned, and let the arrow fly.
Like with the first woman, the second arrow flew much faster.
"By Eris that's fast!" he exclaimed.
I held out another arrow.
"Try it again, and tell me what you notice… apart from the speed, I mean,"
He obliged, quickly nocking it, drawing it, and firing.
It hit next to the second, below the first.
"So?" I questioned, "Notice anything?"
"It went back to the exact same spot, didn't it?"
"Exactly. Because the string is attached to the gears, there is a maximum draw distance, right behind the weight-valley, so every single time, your arrow is gonna shoot out with the same speed,"
I took my bow back from him and lifted it above my head.
"These bows are tougher, faster and more consistent. They're so much stronger, in fact, that wooden arrows couldn't keep up with repeated use, so I had to make some metal ones! Now, some of the more astute of you may have noticed these odd hooks on the string," I said, a few in the crowd nodding.
"Well they're there for a very specific reason,"
I lowered my bow to the floor and stood on the string, before pulling the bow upwards, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a new, darker string.
Some eyes widened in understanding.
I lent down and put the loops on the ends of the new strings over the teardrop shaped hooks on either side. Then I lowered the bow, and lifted my foot off the string, this time lowering it over the new string so the old one was loose, and I took it off the hooks, leaving the bow with a new string.
"The bows can be restrung in seconds too! No more time wasted trying to keep the bow taut enough to restring it!"
"Now," I said, returning the bow to my back, "Today I have 40 bows for sale, varying between 10 and 20 kilogram draw-weights, and I'll have more available once the materials I need arrive. Each comes with 50 metal arrows, a backup string, and a wrench to adjust the draw-weight by a couple kilograms either way, and I'm selling them for only 30,000 Eris ($300)! So who's interested in a purchase?"
Then the chaos erupted.
I sold out in three minutes.
But walking out with half a million Eris for a few hours work was very worthwhile.
It was later that Yunyun said something innocuous that spurred a change of plan.
She had taken another bath and commented that it was like 'our very own hot-spring', when Megumin and Aqua, being the highly indulgent women they were, had an idea. With the idea firmly cemented, they then demanded that we go to Alcanretia, the city of water and hot-springs for a short holiday.
So it was decided we would head for Alcanretia in the morning.
Come said morning, and Aqua, Yunyun and I were packed and ready to go, while Darkness and Megumin were only just getting out of bed.
"You guys get those two ready to go, I'll get us some tickets," I told them.
They agreed and so I left to get tickets. But not without a quick detour.
I stopped by Wiz's store to meet up with Vanir again.
I opened the door, the small bell above me chiming.
"Welcome!" Vanir greeted before spotting me, "Kazuma? Your active hours are like that of an undead," he said, shaking his head, "If thou art looking for the owner, she had been burned to a crisp by moi punishment beam inside-"
"Hey man, I'm fine not knowing about the kinks you guys have,"
He glared at me, unamused.
"If moi keeps letting the fool purchase the things she does, we will be bankrupt even with the production of thou creations," he explained.
"What'd she buy this time? Something else that explodes in your face when you use it?" I laughed.
"No. She purchased a box of magically compressing portable toilets that are ready once thou opens the cover. It also produces the sound of running water for privacy," he informed.
"That… sounds useful, so what's the catch?"
"The water sounds are too loud and attract monsters, and the water it produces to clean is too great, leading to flooding," he deadpanned.
I tried to stifle my laughter, but only ended up coughing my lungs out.
"Well good luck with her. And here, this is why I came here," I said, handing him the other completed diagrams of the steam engine, loom, and typewriter, "Look through them as you want, I'll properly explain them in a couple of days. I'm going for a short holiday to Alcanretia,"
"The hot-spring city? Say… Could thou take the foolish shop keep with thou?" he asked hopefully.
Why not?
"Eh, sure,"
So I went to the back room and picked up the unconscious woman, putting her on my back for ease of carrying.
I walked back into the main room to find Vanir studying the diagrams intently.
"Later Vanir. See you in a few days,"
"Mm, see thou then,"
With the mediocre goodbye complete, I left, now ready to purchase the tickets.
I found a carriage that was traveling to Alcanretia with five seats available at the front, and one more inside the carriage itself.
I transferred some of my life-force into Wiz to wake her up.
"Whu- Kazuma? How did I get here?" she asked.
"Uh, Vanir thought it'd be good if you came with us to Alcanretia for a holiday," I responded.
It wasn't a lie per se.
She sighed, "That man is too kind," she said, shaking her head fondly.
I let her down to the ground and handed her the carriage ticket.
"Here, you'll be in the carriage while my party will be up the front," I told her.
She smiled, "Thank you, see you again when we arrive Kazuma-san," she said kindly.
"Later Wiz," I responded as she climbed into the carriage.
I turned towards the path that lead home to see my party mates had finally arrived.
When they reached me, I explained that Wiz would be joining us, and that she was in the carriage while we were up the front.
By that time, we had to board, as the carriage was about to leave.
"Watch the pen," I told Megumin and Aqua as I rapidly twirled said pen between the fingers of my right hand. A menial skill that I had perfected in the past out of boredom.
"Are you watching?" I asked again, receiving determined nods in response.
I then took a coin in my left hand and flicked it high into the air. Their eyes immediately shifted to the rapidly spinning metal disk while I subtle slid the pen into my sleeve.
Aqua and Megumin followed the arc of the spinning coin, watching intently as it came down and landed heads in my now empty right hand.
Megumin noticed it first.
"Huh?! Where'd the pen go?!" she exclaimed.
"It was just there!" Aqua affirmed.
I laughed.
"The power of misdirection," I laughed as I started rolling the coin over my knuckles.
I was bored a lot, alright?
I flicked the coin to my other hand, and again, they watched it move as I slid the pen back out and began twirling it again.
"Wa- It's back!"
I laughed again.
But then I spotted something.
A dust cloud, right at the horizon.
"Hey, driver, there's a dust cloud heading our way, but the wind is still,"
He turned and spotted it too.
He hummed in thought.
"It's probably Hawkite Runners,"
What kind of a stupid fucking name is that?
"It's their mating season too, but we don't need to worry. Their mating ritual is to charge at hard objects and to dodge at the last second as a display of bravery. They're almost certainly targeting the rocks and such around us," the older man explained.
"I'd agree, but they're still aimed straight at us…"
He looked again, the distance already having shrunk significantly.
"They, uh," he gulped, "seem to be targeting this carriage specifically. Is anyone carrying adamantite or something?!" he asked, panic growing.
"Um," Darkness spoke up, "My armour contains adamantite,"
"They must be targeting that, then," I concluded, "They dodge the hard objects, right? Is there a cliff or something nearby?"
"No cliffs! But there is some caverns just nearby!" he answered.
"Alright! Stop us and get everyone out of the carriage! Then take us there as fast as you can!"
The carriage braked rapidly, and as it came to a stop, I jumped out and opened the carriage door.
"Wiz! C'mon, we need your help!" I told her.
"Right!" she responded, immediately launching out of the carriage and jumping up to the front passenger section.
I followed her, but not before cutting the connecting rope that held the passenger cart to the front.
I jumped up onto the front carriage, and after getting secure, yelled at the driver, "Go! Go! Go! To the caverns!"
He obliged, and spurred the horses into a gallop.
As we tore away, the Hawkites followed us, and despite our great speed, they still gained on us.
I drew my bow.
"Yunyun! Help me! Just like the last Runners!" I told her as I began unleashing arrow after arrow at the closest runners.
"Got it!" she yelled back as she lifted herself to a kneeling position and began casting.
Bolts of lightning, arcs of fire and waves of ice streaked at the Hawkites, each spell killing or wounding multiple monsters.
But they ran on, and though the cavern was now in sight, they were still gaining.
"Wiz! Slow 'em down!"
"Okay! 'Bottomless Swamp'!"
The ground behind us, but in front of the Hawkites softened, turning into something like quicksand, and the monsters bolted right into it.
Many fells and got stuck, but they soon figured out how to get around.
Though it only bought us a few seconds, those seconds were enough.
The carriage slid to a stop very near the drop down into the cavern.
I was already moving, pulling Darkness with me off the carriage behind me.
"Aqua! Boost her luck!" I called to her, and she began casting immediately, "Megumin! Get 'Explosion' ready!" I yelled, and she too began chanting.
As I ran, dragging Darkness behind me, I heard Aqua shout, "'Blessing'!" and Darkness glowed briefly.
We ran to the edge, the Hawkites closing in on us.
"Go!" I shouted to Darkness, "Go to the edge and get down!"
"Okay!" she responded, her eyes full on anticipation.
Not trusting her to keep herself out of harm's way, I cast 'Bind' on her once she neared the edge. Ropes burst from my fingertips and homed in on Darkness, wrapping around her frame as she tripped and fell to the ground.
The Hawkites had arrived.
I watched as one by one, they sprinted at Darkness and willingly leapt over her to their demise.
Well, the fall wouldn't kill them, but it'd make it damn hard to get out when the explosion went off.
The last monster jumped over Darkness, so I bolted back to here, grabbed the ropes that surrounded her, and used them to hoist her onto my shoulder, then I started running back to the carriage.
"Megumin!" I screamed.
"'Explosion'!"