When they arrived at the tavern, Hayashi Maki ordered a huge meal with heroic generosity.
Huge slabs of bone-in meat—classic isekai fare—came out in several heaping plates.
Aqua didn't hold back in the slightest. She ordered a bottle of alcohol and started wolfing everything down.
This tavern belonged to the Hoshin Company, and at the same time served as a base for the Mercenary Guild.
Aside from Hayashi Maki and Aqua gorging themselves, most of the surrounding seats were occupied by beastmen with animal ears.
Among the sea of beastmen, the two pale-skinned human newcomers—a man and a woman—stood out like a sore thumb.
The mood in the place shifted subtly.
Hayashi Maki could feel a few beastman mercenaries sizing him and Aqua up, but he didn't care.
He was just here to eat.
…Well, and to see if he might get lucky and bump into that purple-haired loli-like beauty, Anastasia, one of the royal candidates.
Anastasia Hoshin, from the slums of Kararagi. With her outstanding business sense, she commanded the Iron Fang mercenary group, which was mostly composed of beastmen.
Even the kingdom's "finest knight," Julius, had sworn loyalty to her. She was a very capable—and very beautiful—woman.
Hayashi Maki was thinking very highly of his chances, hoping for a random encounter.
But he finished the entire meal without even a shadow of a certain purple-haired merchant.
Left with no serendipitous encounter, Hayashi Maki could only take the full-bellied Aqua and leave.
"Let's walk around a bit, Aqua."
"Okay~!"
After being cooped up in the divine realm for so long, suddenly getting to roam around an isekai was pretty exciting for her.
After strolling all morning, Hayashi Maki had a decent feel for the city's layout.
Passing by an alleyway, three people in ragged clothes stepped out, each holding a dagger and glaring at him and Aqua.
"You two, if you don't wanna get hurt, hand over anything valuable. Now!"
The three were quite a sight: a scrawny guy with dead fish eyes, a tall one in a headband, and a short one with a bowl-cut.
The classic street-thug trio.
Aqua took one look at them and burst into laughter.
"Pfft… Hahahaha!"
"You've got to be kidding me—what kind of weirdos are you? Robbing us? Do you have any idea who I am? Did you just jump out here to be comic relief?"
She laughed so hard her stomach hurt, her cute face contorting into something absurd and making the thugs even madder.
Even Hayashi Maki almost failed to keep a straight face at Aqua's performance.
He honestly hadn't expected that the moment he arrived in this world, he'd run into the same "getting mugged in an alley" event the original protagonist did.
"Why you… what the hell are you laughing at, woman! Keep it up and I'll shove the white side of this knife in and pull the red side out, got it!?"
"Hanbal, Gaston—let's go! We gotta teach this annoying bitch a lesson!"
Riled up by Aqua's mocking, the three punks brandished their weapons and struck threatening poses.
Though, from the way their hands trembled, they were clearly nervous themselves.
In the slums, if you wanted to survive, you had to rob and prey on those weaker than you. That was just how it was.
When Aqua saw them charging over, she immediately ducked behind Hayashi Maki.
She might not die even if stabbed, but it would still hurt—and who in their right mind would test that for fun?
Peeking her head out from behind him, Aqua shouted in a lofty tone:
"You small fry better scram while you still can, or things won't end well for you!"
"Heh, you've got a big mouth, lady! There's three of us!"
The trio exchanged looks and flashed nasty grins.
Three-on-two, the advantage was clearly theirs!
Hayashi Maki, however, had no patience left for this.
He opened his hand and lightly clenched it.
Boom.
The three were instantly swallowed by black flames. Their screams echoed for a moment, and then only three piles of ash remained on the ground.
"Wooow! Amazing! Hayashi Maki, you just reincarnated, right? How do you already have flame skills? And that fire—that's gotta be high-tier magic!"
Aqua gasped in awe.
"It's nothing. Since I'm the one who brought you down here, it's only right I protect you properly."
"Alright, the roadblock's gone. Let's go."
Hayashi Maki took her hand and led her out of the alley.
He didn't hesitate in the slightest against three bandits.
He wasn't Subaru Natsuki.
If he hadn't been strong, those three would've beaten him bloody, stripped him of everything, and possibly killed him.
In an isekai, unless you're a cute girl, he had no intention of showing mercy.
Not long after Hayashi Maki and Aqua left, a young red-haired man in a white knight's uniform appeared.
He looked at the three blackened corpses and frowned.
"With the royal selection about to begin, the capital really is getting lively…"
That man was Reinhard.
…
Later, Hayashi Maki sat on some stone steps, lecturing Aqua.
"Aqua, there aren't any real gods in this world, so stop going around telling people you're a goddess. No one's gonna believe you."
"You do that and they'll just think you're some crazy lady."
Aqua was not pleased.
"But I am a goddess! And if no one knows I'm the true form of the Axis Church's deity, how are we supposed to spread the faith here?"
"I'm telling you, Hayashi Maki—the Axis Church accepts anyone as long as they're not a demon, lich, undead, or something along those lines. If they're willing to believe in me, Aqua-sama the goddess, they can join!"
"As my High Priest, you need to memorize our creed!"
"And, most importantly, there's a spell you must know!"
"Oh? What spell?" Hayashi Maki's interest was piqued.
Aqua put her hands on her hips and proudly declared:
"The spell is… Eris pads her chest!"
"…You realize Eris is gonna cry if she hears this, right?"
Hayashi Maki was speechless.
Aqua, however, repeatedly insisted he remember it. It was the secret password among Axis cultists.
"Fine, fine. I got it. 'Eris' boobs are padded.' Happy now?"
He felt completely defeated and just played along.
Of course, in this world, he had no intention of recruiting followers at random.
While he approved of Aqua's inclusive nature, his church members would all be elite, beautiful girls.
No weirdos allowed.
"Mhm, that's fine then! Hayashi Maki, do your best. This goddess absolutely won't treat you badly!"
Aqua patted his shoulder cheerfully, clearly satisfied with his attitude.
Hayashi Maki, on the other hand, smirked, snaked an arm around her slender waist, and pulled her into his arms.
"Words are cheap, Aqua-sama. I think you should show your appreciation with some actions."
Aqua blinked, her cheeks tinged pink.
"W-what do you want?"
She'd met a lot of people—especially all sorts of eccentric believers.
But someone bold enough to drag her down to the mortal world and eat her clean the first night? Hayashi Maki was the first.