The legend of the Crimson Demon clan started from Suqing

“Y-yes, I'm sorry, Miss Chris, I didn't know you were a girl, I'm really sorry!”

“It's okay… Anyway, I'm pretty much like a boy. Heh heh heh, just like a boy, might as well be one… ”

On the way to collect herbs, Yoyo kept apologizing to Chris.

Although Chris dresses rather revealingly because her job is a thief, her chest really is as flat as a steel plate without the slightest undulation, so it's normal to be mistaken for a boy.

Megumin, on the other hand, has a good impression of her, and seems to think she is a comrade in the same trench.

“It's okay, Chris.”

Darkness patted her on the shoulder, grinning and saying, “What's wrong with being flat? At least you can save some fabric. Besides, Chris, you're just like the goddess Eris.”

“Eh, eh!?”

Chris's body suddenly stiffened when she heard the name. She couldn't help but wonder if her identity was about to be exposed, and said, “Hmph… Hmph… R-really? H-how happy… I'm just like the goddess Eris, in what way exactly?”

“Oh, haven't you heard this saying, Chris?”

“…What saying?”

“Eris's chest is padded.”

Darkness said each word clearly, with a clear smile in her eyes.

“Wuu… Wuu… Wuu!”

Chris's eyes immediately filled with tears, and she kept pounding his back with both hands, while shouting aggrievedly, “Darkness, how dare you say that about a goddess! You will be punished, you will definitely be punished! I will definitely bring down punishment, you just wait!”

As she spoke, she revealed her true colors again.

Mm, great!

A subtle jab, a great success!

This is a return gift, Goddess, who told you to always push trouble onto me?

Darkness felt extremely refreshed.

The five of them arrived at the large forest near the town.

Adventurers don't engage in production work, they generally live off the mountains and water. The biggest reason why Axel, the newbie village, is so popular is because of the abundance of resources in this large forest.

From Slime mobs to Kill Bear, from ordinary herbs to rare herbs, it has everything.

“That being said, we still shouldn't be reckless.”

Darkness said, “The main purpose today is to collect herbs, we must not mess around, understand?”

“W-wait! What kind of look is that? Do you think I'm the kind of person who uses Explosion magic no matter what!”

“Hmm… Actually, I quite want to do an outdoor exposure play, but if it's not allowed… Although it's a pity, I'll still endure it.”

Do these two guys know what it means to restrain themselves?

Chris had already recovered from her disappointment, she grinned and said, “Don't worry, although I'm not a pure archer, I've learned both night vision and scouting skills. If anything happens, I'll definitely tell you guys right away.”

“We're counting on you to keep watch, Chris.”

Darkness trusted her very much.

Besides the fact that she is a reliable and the only normal goddess, Chris is also well-received among adventurers. Honestly, if it weren't for Darkness dragging her feet, Darkness would be very willing to accept Chris.

“Okay, let's split up for now.”

Since Chris and Darkness need to be lookouts, the two of them won't be collecting herbs.

Of course, Darkness also doesn't want them to collect herbs.

After all, the required herbs are very similar to something called Demon Fragrance Grass, which is a kind of grass that emits a scent that humans can't smell but is particularly attractive to monsters, so it's very easy to confuse them. (It appeared in Volume 8, the potion that attracts insect monsters is made with it)

Time passed by little by little.

Perhaps because they were on the outskirts, no monsters came to attack or harass them, and the work went smoothly.

No, thinking about it carefully, it's very likely due to Chris's influence, after all, she is the goddess of luck.

“There shouldn't be any more in this area.”

“Do we need to go a little deeper?”

“No, this is about enough.”

Fortunately, the Crimson Demons had taught how to collect herbs in their magic tool courses, so Darkness and the other two collected a lot and the speed was quite fast.

Then they prepared to leave.

Honestly, the fact that there were no accidents was a bit surprising.

The agreed time had arrived, and Chris quickly ran over to join them, but Darkness didn't come for a long time.

“Where's Darkness? Isn't she with you?”

“No, she went in another direction.”

“You actually dared to let her go alone?”

“Uh…”

Chris wanted to say, "How little do you trust her?", but when she thought about Darkness's nature, she suddenly couldn't say anything.

But before they could go look for her, Darkness came back with a flushed face.

“Hey, where did you go? Didn't I tell you not to wander around?”

“Sorry, I just saw a brown-haired man and a blue-haired woman on the plain at the edge of the forest. The blue-haired woman shouted 'God Blow' or something and was swallowed by a giant toad, her sticky appearance was completely exposed to the perverted gaze of that man… How wonderful!”

Darkness seemed to have substituted herself into it, twisting her body with a flushed face, imagining herself being viewed like that.

Brown-haired man, blue-haired woman, giant toad?

Could it be…

“G-giant toad?”

Chris twitched the corner of her mouth and said, “Although the giant toad is the weakest monster, it has physical resistance, so it's quite difficult to defeat without being fully armed. It must have been a momentary carelessness…”

“No, that's not it!”

Darkness interrupted her and shouted excitedly, “That man must have done it on purpose! That's right, wanting to see a girl covered in slime, wanting to see her cry out for it… What kind of special play is that? That man must be a complete scumbag!”

How should I put it, although Darkness also has various problems, she's quite accurate in judging people, Satou Kazuma is undoubtedly a scumbag.

Eh?

Darkness's head lit up and said, “Then Darkness, why don't you team up with that person? You like that kind of man anyway…”

“What are you saying!”

Darkness said with unusual seriousness, “I'm currently teaming up with Darkness, how can I give up halfway? That would violate my Paladin's principles!”

Does this guy have this side to her?

“O-of course, if Darkness wants me to be with th-that person, it's n-not impossible… Th-that… Does Darkness have that kind of fetish, right!?”

"What?"

“That is, the minotaur fetish!”

“?”

When I'm questioning something, it's not that I have a problem, but that you have a problem.

Looking at the perverted female knight who was excitedly trembling and imagining that kind of future, Darkness only felt that she was completely hopeless.

On the way back.

Darkness took the bag full of herbs, Darkness wanted to help carry it, she was very confident in her physical strength.

However, this request was rejected, after all, if monsters really appeared, her role would be more to intercept the monsters in the front row and create space for others to output.

He wouldn't feel at ease until he returned to the town.

And at this time, the forest began to stir, and many chaotic footsteps and rustling sounds of trees followed.

That's right, just like Murphy's Law.

The more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen. Not surprisingly, something went wrong.

“This is bad, a lot of monsters are coming this way.”

Chris's skills saw a group of monsters, her expression was very serious, obviously there were a lot of monsters.

“It's okay! No matter how many monsters come, with my Explosion magic, we can easily solve them!”

“Megumin can't use Explosion magic.”

"Why! ?"

"After all, we don't know the situation. Recklessly using Explosion magic will only disrupt our formation here. Megumin, you become powerless after using your magic, right? That would just make you a burden."

Chris was the one who answered her.

As expected of a seasoned adventurer, she assessed the situation in an instant. Even though Megumin was unwilling, she had to endure in this situation.

"Let's retreat. Although I don't know why, it's best not to entangle ourselves with the monsters."

Kazuma picked up Megumin, who was moving slowly, and Chris pulled Darkness, who was also unwilling. The five of them quickly ran towards the edge of the forest.

However—

The monsters kept chasing after Chris and Darkness.

"W-wait! Why are you chasing me?!"

Because you have cough syrup.

Actually, he didn't know why either. It was as if they had something that particularly attracted rare monsters… Wait, particularly attracted monsters?

Kazuma suddenly shouted, "Herbs! Did you two gather any herbs?!"

"Now that you mention it… I saw some herbs on the way back just now and gathered them."

Darkness took out a herb from her chest. It looked similar to the herbs they had gathered but was slightly different. That's right, it was Demon Aroma Grass!

"Quickly throw it away, you idiot! Didn't I tell you not to randomly gather herbs! Just watch from the side and pant, you perverted knight!"

"W-what…? What do you mean, Kazuma? What exactly do you mean?! Are you trying to neglect me?!"

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Darkness threw away the Demon Aroma Grass in her hand.

After attracting most of the monsters away, Megumin immediately cast an Explosion spell into the monster horde, and Yunyun followed up with a Water spell, instantly drenching Darkness.

"Ugh—! Are you punishing me in this way because I made a mistake? … Wonderful! It's okay, it's my fault after all! Come on, don't hold back, you can be even more excessive with me!"

"That's not it at all, I'm just trying to eliminate the scent on you."

"Wh…! Does Kazuma mean that the female scent on me is so strong that it makes you nauseous? This is the first time I've been told that… Wonderful!"

"It's just the scent of the Demon Aroma Grass."

Kazuma stepped forward and killed the monsters that were still trying to attack, and at the same time, he leveled up.

An unexpected surprise?

Not only Darkness, but Chris was also not spared. Being drenched in water, she lost her previous composure and looked quite disheveled.

It's really hard to take care of such a follower.

Although they were attacked by a monster horde, fortunately, no one was injured. It was a close call, and Kazuma gave them 50,000 Eris as a reward after returning.

Even though Darkness repeatedly declined, Kazuma still forced it upon her.

If he were to rate this kind of Crusader, Kazuma would not hesitate to give her 10 points, because you can't ignore her hard work, so no matter how trash she is, you can only deduct a maximum of 990 points.

That's right, out of a full score of 1000.

When they were in school, they could borrow equipment, but after graduation, they had to rely on themselves. Kazuma once again understood how much privilege and convenience students have.

First, he went to Wiz's magic item shop to buy all the necessary equipment, and then he went to the stables.

…There's no helping it. The inn where Kazuma and the others were staying didn't allow the creation of magic items. No, it should be that all the inns in Axel don't allow it.

The reason is that a magic item made by a magic item craftsman exploded before, causing the inn that suffered an unwarranted disaster to undergo reconstruction.

According to the innkeeper's veiled words, the person who caused the explosion seemed to be a Crimson Demon.

He suddenly realized who that person was.

There were no workshops or laboratories to rent in this other world, and he couldn't afford to buy a warehouse or anything like that for the time being, so in desperation, he had to make do in the stables.

It was better than being in the wild.

Yunyun and Megumin had some complaints about the harsh environment of the stables. It was indeed a bit much to bring such beautiful young girls to this kind of place. It would be even more excessive if they lived here.

"Kazuma, is this kind of place okay?"

"It's okay. You need to know that the first Iron Man suit was built in a cave, and the time-traveling machine was also successfully developed in an abandoned warehouse. This is actually the first step for me to become a magic item master! And don't look down on the stables, maybe the Goddess is living here too."

"Haha… I don't think the Goddess would live here."

"Kazuma always says incomprehensible things."

The two of them didn't get the reference at all.

Suddenly—

"What a joke!"

A somewhat miserable howl came from next door.

"After painstakingly defeating two giant toads, we only got 10,000 Eris?!"

"What are you talking about? If you're not satisfied, go work again tomorrow…"

"It's impossible to work, I can't work for the rest of my life! I want to be an adventurer! A famous adventurer, and then make a lot of money! Ahhhhh!!!"

It's a good thing to have lofty ideals.

But…

"Shut up—!"

"S-sorry!" X2

Yeah, it feels good to yell at people.

…Wait, doesn't the conversation just now sound a bit familiar?

But just as Kazuma wanted to listen more carefully, the two of them shut up and stopped talking.

Damn it.

Yunyun tugged at his sleeve, signaling whether they should start.

"Yeah, Yunyun, come and help."

"Okay."

Among their classmates, Kazuma had the strongest talent for making magic items, followed by Yunyun.

Although Megumin wasn't bad either, most of the time she was just an unstable and potentially explosive bomb when she was doing it, so no matter what, he couldn't let her get involved.

"Yunyun, the cauldron."

"Okay."

"Yunyun, the herbs."

"Okay."

"Soup."

"Mm."

"Put."

"Mm"

The two of them communicated less and less, but their movements became faster and faster, which showed that they cooperated quite well.

Sitting on the haystack with her legs hugged, Megumin suddenly said, "That's nice… You two are flirting with each other, why don't you just get married."

"Eh! ?"

The sudden words made Yunyun's movements freeze, and she subconsciously loosened the test tube in her hand. Fortunately, Kazuma reacted quickly and saved the potion.

"That was close! Hey, Megumin, what are you suddenly talking about?"

"…It's nothing."

She patted her butt and forcibly squeezed in between the two of them.

"I'll help too. I'm the second best of the Crimson Demons, so a mere high-level potion is definitely a piece of cake."

"Hey, Megumin! We're not playing around, don't come and interfere with me."

"I, also, want, to, help!"

Megumin said word by word with red eyes, her unreasonable tyranny was just like her willful personality.

"Well, it's not bad either. If Megumin comes to help, it will be easier."

Yunyun spoke up for her.

"I know, I know."

Knowing that Megumin wouldn't listen to persuasion, Kazuma raised both hands in a surrender gesture, agreeing to let her join.

"Ah, but you can do some simple work, after all, I don't want the stables to be blown up."

"What did you say!"

"M-Megumin, don't be impulsive!"

The bright moonlight shone through the fence of the stables on the three of them, and the three slender shadows became blurred and gradually merged together.

Next chapter, encountering scum and truth.