" ": You talking

' ': you thinking

* *: Narrator/Voice-off

Your POV:

Zereschrute: P- Please have some tea.

Aqua: ... You sure have some guts to serve me hot water as tea.

Zereschrute: W- Wha ?! I'm pretty sure I served tea... I- I'll go rebrew it.

"Don't. She's just picking on you. Seriously, between you and Megumin, I have trouble deciding who's the biggest, pettiest bully."

Zereschrute: ... Young man, I may be a devil, but even devils can get depressed. Might you listen to a few grumbles of mine...

"I'm saying this for your own good, but you probably should stay out of this town... She'll keep on hunting you down, and unlike Eris, you can't reason with her thick skull."

Darkness: By the way, I don't see Wiz around. Did she go somewhere ?

Vanir: If you are talking about that delusional shopkeeper, she started talking about strange things like feeling the presence of a challenger and the like after Moi had her work ceaselessly for a week. That doesn't look good, and we're in the clear after that Treasure Island Incident, so Moi had her resting in the back.

"I think you're going too hard on her... She might be an undead, but you're still working her to the bone."

Vanir: Speaking of. Why do I owe you the pleasure today, dear associate ?

"Well, consider what Aqua did about 5 minutes ago, and you get the precise reason why she dragged us all here."

Vanir: ... That obnoxious woman...

"But, now that I think about it, some news reached my ears not too long ago, so I got an idea or two brewing up."

Kazuma: ... hey, do you really intend to raise your level by repeatedly defeating that penguin ? The friends I made back in the Crimson Demon village recommended a technique to quickly level by finishing off immobile monsters, and this feels just as unpleasant.

Aqua: It's really annoying that it looks so cute. Even if it is a devil, hearing him repeatedly scream does tug at my heartstrings. And here I thought it was a great idea. What should we do now ?

Darkness: Why don't we just raise our levels like normal ? Megumin isn't here, but we should have raised our skills quite a bit by now. It's a great chance for us. Normally, we would just let Megumin wipe out the monsters and call it a day right then.

Kazuma: Speak for yourself, we still have the one-man-army with us... But you're right. let's get us some practice so we can perform a little better after Megumin's exhausted her mana.

"The question is, what to hunt ? I say we make today the day we take revenge on all these frogs.

Aqua: No, I don't wanna ! I can't see frogs as anything by my natural enemies !

Darkness: But, Aqua, considering our combat strength, hunting frogs would be the best course of action for us... i'm wearing metal armor, so the frogs won't eat me. This way, we'll be able to avoid getting wiped...

"Why do I hear some regret in your voice ?"

Darkness: N- Nonsense !

Aqua: that means that the frogs will definitely go after me ! I have the ability to learn, you know ? This will definitely end with me taking another dip inside a frog's stomach !

"The ability to learn ? If the only thing you learned since you got here was that frogs can and will eat you, I don't know whether I should be proud of disappointed with you."

Kazuma: Fine, let's choose another monster. How about going to the forest a little further away from town ? Right now, there should be a lot of monsters that are stocking up in preparation for hibernation. If we go into the forest, i'm sure we'll be able to catch them while they are eating-

Aqua: No, I don't wanna ! There are a lot of bug type monsters in the forest. they'll definitely be attracted by my beautiful aroma and make a beeline for me.

"You're not some honey slathered on a tree, dammit ! Pick up an option already !"

Darkness: Then how about this ? There was that lake that Aqua purified before, right ? The crocodiles that were deprived of their habitat should have moved to the nearby wetlands. They should still be near the lake, so why don't we go hunt them down and finish off the request from back then...

Aqua: No, I don't wanna ! You say that, but it'll just end up with me purifying the wetlands in order to draw out the monsters, right ? In that case, the one who ends up attracting all the attention would be me ! So I definitely don't want to go back there !

"... You're a toddler. You're being a toddler throwing a tantrum, because you want all the results without putting in work."

Kazuma: Hey, I feel like it's starting to get cold, and there doesn't seem to be any leveling method more efficient than taking down that Penguin. This is getting more and more troublesome.

Aqua: Oh, you get it too, right ? Sounds like Kazuma is getting tired of this too. Then, why don't we call it a day for today and buy some ingredients for a hot pot on the way back ?

"... ... Let's just go with frogs, it's the closest and arguably the easiest. Just drag her and bring her over to the General area."

Darkness: I got it, I'll be leaving the attacking to you. Well, against such huge frogs, even I might occasionally land a hit or two, so look forward to it.

"Same as before, if you need something like that to eventually land a hit, I don't know whether to be proud or disappointed..."

Aqua: Nooooo ! Why is this happening ? This isn't like you at all !! Kazuma-san ! Normally you would've happily agreed with me after I made such a lazy-sounding suggestion !

Kazuma: S- Shut up ! Don't think I'm a man who just lazes around all day !

"That you are."

Kazuma: I'm a man who will get things done when he wants to ! Stop grumbling and come along !

Aqua: Kazuma is acting really strange recently ! It's abnormal ! It's like a long time NEET finally got the courage to got o work, and after receiving a little bit of praise on the first day, gets overconfident and starts thinking of himself as a man who gets things done ! Where did you get that baseless confidence from ?!

'... If anything, I guess he got his hands on that article...'

Kazuma: Right, first, I'll use my dynamite knock-off to wake up the frogs in the area. Then, you'll use Decoy to draw the frogs over to you. They'll gather around you at first, but once they realize that you're wearing metal armor, they'll start seeking another target. Their next target should be me, but I'll take them out with my bow before they reach me.

Darkness: S-Sure... What's up with you today? You're surprisingly bursting with confidence! It's like a long time virgin entering an adult shop for the first time and, after receiving a little bit of praise, gets overconfident and starts thinking of himself as a man who can get things done...

Kazuma: Shut up ! What's with you two ?! Is it really unusual for me to show some confidence ?! Dammit, even if Megumin isn't here to fawn over me, I'll show you that I'm a man who gets things done ! Tinder !

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*

"Alright, here comes the... Frogs... Hold on, something ain't right..."

Aqua: Kazuma ! Why are there so many frogs ?! And why are they all looking at me ?! What's up with all this ?!

"Don't ask me... But they do look way hungrier than usual, for some reason..."

Aqua: I told you ! I definitely told you ! This is why I did't want to deal with frogs ! These frogs are definitely the creations of devils Evil creatures they created to take on a goddess like me ! WAAAAH !! This is why I wanted to go home !

Kazuma: Shut up ! If you don't want to die, stop crying and start casting some support magic on us ! Anyway, it's really strange for so many of them to appear ! They didn't appear because your bad luck drew them to us, right ?

"... The Treasure island... These frogs must have been hiding themselves underground in fear of the mana of that Divine beast... They were so afraid they'd rather starve than surface, but... well, you just woke them all up at once."

Aqua: Apologize ! Apologize for blaming it on my bad luck ! This whole thing is your idea this time, so take responsibility and do something !

"To be fair, that whole extermination quest idea was yours, Aqua. You started calling yourself the figurehead of our party."

Kazuma: I didn't expect a single stick of dynamite to attract such large numbers ! But I'll apologize for suspecting you ! i'm sorry, so accept your fate and get eaten together ! Darkness and Y/n will survive, so they can save us later !

Aqua: Noooo !! I don't want to be covered in slime anymore ! I don't want to smell of fish or be defiled anymore !

Darkness: Fuhahaha ! Bring it !

Aqua: Sob... Sob... I don't want to go outside anymore... I'll stay inside for the entire winter...

'... Why don't you just purify the slime and turn it into water... ?'

Kazuma: Come on, I'll heat up the water for you, so go ahead. I'll wash up later.

Aqua: Sob... This whole thing happened because you woke them up with your dynamite, but I really hate myself for forgiving you just because you showed me a bit of kindness...

Darkness: i'm back.

"Good. You'll have to wait a bit if you wan to use the bath, pretty sure Kazuma's gonna go right after Aqua... Okay, why do you look so down ? What's going on ?"

Darkness: N- No, it's nothing. I was just wondering how it feels to be eaten by a frog after seeing them get eaten...

"... ... ... ..."

Aqua: the bath is free, Kazuma. Try not to drink the bathwater I left behind. It might be clean after I purified it, but you might still get a stomach ache if you swallow any leftover frog bits.

Kazuma: Just what kind of man do you think I am, you slimy bitch ? I'm still covered in slime, so if you don't want to be forced to take another bath, you better apologize right now.

Aqua: i'm sorry, Kazuma ! I really don't want to get slimed again, so please forgive me !

"... Forget what I said about 3, I've got 4 problem child I need to constantly look after..."

Darkness: E- Eh ? Who exactly are you calling a problem child ?!