As Beldia's back, still radiating resentment and confusion, disappeared into the mist out in the wilderness, an eerie silence settled over Axel's gate.
Darkness was kneeling on the ground, her hands folded over her chest, wearing an almost spent, deeply flushed expression of satisfaction. She murmured softly, "Ah... this heavy sensation of death winding itself through the depths of my body, this shame of being personally marked by a Demon King's General... for the next week, I probably won't even be willing to sleep..."
"Sacred Break Spell."
With a blank expression, Aqua casually raised one finger and traced a circle in the air.
A pure white light, utterly free of any impurity, instantly enveloped Darkness. The black curse clinging to her sizzled like grease hit with dish soap, then vanished without a trace in an instant.
"...Huh?" The dazed look in Darkness's eyes froze at once. She looked down at her chest, now completely restored, then looked up at Aqua's disgusted face and let out a despairing scream. "No!! My curse! That once-in-a-lifetime, top-tier curse that would have let me legitimately stay home and enjoy the bliss of being tormented by death! Aqua! Why did you have to meddle, aaahhh!!"
"Huh? What kind of crazy nonsense are you talking about? As the Goddess of Water, isn't it just common sense to wipe away something dirty like that when you see it?" Aqua said, picking her nose with a matter-of-fact look on her face. "More importantly, Kōichi, my foot really hurts. Hurry up and carry me back. I need the most expensive sparkling wine to calm my nerves!"
Kōichi and Kazuma Satou exchanged a glance.
Then they turned back to look. The adventurers who had fled five hundred meters away were now peeking over timidly from the distance.
They had been too far away to see what had actually happened. All they saw was Beldia swinging his sword, unleashing flashes of light, and then somehow retreating in disgrace.
At that instant, the gears in Kōichi and Kazuma's heads started turning wildly in perfect sync, roaring with the sound of pure unhinged inspiration.
"Kazuma, did you see that? That's the gleam of opportunity." Kōichi lowered his voice, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth that would have frightened even a villain.
"Yeah, Kōichi, I saw it too. That's the treasure called fame, money, and free drinks." Kazuma swiftly dropped the groveling act, puffed out his chest, and casually wiped away the mud he had gotten on himself from the earlier dogeza. "Since they didn't see it, then we get to write the truth."
Kōichi took a deep breath, suddenly putting on the stern, untouchable face of a righteous hero. Then he waved forcefully at the distant adventurers, his voice booming as though he had just slain a dragon.
"Everyone! The crisis is over!! That Beldia may call himself a Demon King's General, but in front of the kingly aura of Kazuma and me, he was nothing more than an all-show bag of bones!!"
Kazuma picked up the cue flawlessly. With a cool expression, he slid his short sword back into its sheath, though it took him three tries to line it up properly, then said in an aloof voice, "Hmph. It took a little effort. If Kōichi hadn't sealed off his retreat with a single look, and if my heaven-shaking, ghost-weeping ultimate technique hadn't made him feel the fear of death, that guy probably could've lasted another three seconds. Tch. Boring opponent."
The adventurers in the distance froze for a second, then erupted into a thunderous wave of cheers.
"Ooooh! As expected of Kōichi and Kazuma!"
"They actually scared off a Demon King's General?! Is this the aura of a true powerhouse?!"
"I knew it! Those two are clearly not ordinary! That dogeza... no, wait, that move just now must have been some ancient forbidden stance that reflects damage, right?!"
Watching those spectacularly dimwitted adventurers rush toward them, ready to toss the two of them into the air, Kōichi quietly pulled Megumin and Darkness, who was still throwing a tantrum on the ground, closer and whispered a threat.
"Listen carefully. If a single word about that humiliating bit of history gets out, Megumin, you can forget about casting Explosion Magic for the rest of your life. And Darkness, I'll throw you into a cave full of Slimes and lock you up there."
Megumin shrank back a little under Kōichi's glare. "E-even though deceiving the masses goes against the honor of the Crimson Demon Clan... since you're putting it that way, Kōichi, I'll treat it as some kind of advanced illusion strategy."
Kōichi nodded in satisfaction, then put on a sorrowful, compassionate expression and turned to Luna-san, who had already rushed over from the guild.
"Luna-san, although we did protect the town, the psychological strain has been immense... don't you think our party should receive a special city defense bonus, plus compensation for emotional distress? Also, as for tonight's expenses at the guild, shouldn't everyone else be covering them... heh."
Inside Axel's Adventurers Guild, the atmosphere had already reached the point of near-total revelry.
The smell of cheap ale and smoky grilled meat filled the hall, and at the center of it all were Kōichi and Kazuma Satou, hoisted up onto a long wooden table and basking in the crowd's worship.
Kōichi held a brimming mug of still-fizzing dark ale in one hand, one foot planted on a bench, looking so solemn he seemed like a man who had just returned from the battlefield of Ragnarök.
He swept his gaze over the adventurers around him, all of them wide-eyed and full of admiration, then let out a long, world-weary sigh.
"You all only saw Beldia retreat. What you didn't see was how many life-and-death clashes Kazuma and I went through with him in that brief span, within that 'spiritual realm'!" Kōichi took a fierce gulp of ale, wiped his mouth, and his voice suddenly rose with passion. "The moment that Dullahan took his first step, the pressure of death pouring off him was enough to freeze the very air. But who am I? I fixed my eyes on that head he was holding in his hand and locked onto his soul with the aura of a conqueror I had spent decades building up! In that moment, what he saw was not a mere human, but a black hole capable of devouring the Abyss itself!!"
"That's right! Exactly like that!" Kazuma cut in flawlessly from the side, striking an outrageously flashy pose while brandishing a leftover chicken bone like a conductor's baton. "Kōichi handled the frontal suppression, while I, Kazuma Satou, activated my ultimate stealth technique, known as Fate Stripping."
"I circled around behind him, and in that one-in-ten-thousandth of a second, I unleashed a move powerful enough to twist causality itself, Dogeza. Kai. Divine Reflection! You thought that was an apology? Wrong! It was a supreme psychological tactic, using extreme humility to lure the enemy into arrogance and drop his defenses to zero in a single instant!!"
A perfectly synchronized gasp swept through the surrounding adventurers.
"Ooooh! Dogeza. Kai! As expected of Kazuma-san, to think he turned something like that into an actual combat tactic!"
"Kōichi's Aura of the Conqueror is way too cool! No wonder I got chills down my back while I was running away. So that was because you two were fighting that General with your minds!"
"Someone! Bring our two heroes three more barrels of the finest booze! Tonight, everything goes on the guild's tab... no, forget that, put it all on mine!"
Kōichi looked at the group of adventurers, who had been conned so thoroughly they no longer knew which way was up, and felt quietly delighted inside.
Without missing a beat, he shoved Aqua, who was trying to squeeze in and steal the spotlight while muttering that she was obviously the one who purified him, back into her seat and stuffed an entire chunk of honey-glazed roast meat into her mouth.
"Mmph mmph mmph! (Kōichi, what are you doing?!)" Aqua struggled furiously, but for the sake of the honeyed meat, she decided to deal with the food in front of her first.
Megumin, meanwhile, was curled up in a corner, most of her face hidden by her cloak, her shoulders trembling nonstop. "...This is too humiliating. The thickness of those two's skin has definitely surpassed even the Demon King's defensive wall. Why do I, the greatest genius of the Crimson Demon Clan, have to sit here and help maintain such a shameless lie with no honor whatsoever... but those fried shrimp over there really do look delicious..."
Darkness sat off to the side, staring blankly at Kōichi, her face still wearing that highly suspicious flush.
"Kōichi-sama... the wicked look in your eyes just now, the way you toyed with the world as if it were in the palm of your hand... ah, if you're going to lock me away in a dark room as a sacrificial offering to keep the truth buried... p-please, do it soon..."
Kōichi completely ignored the two deadweights and turned back to Luna-san with a heroic smile.
"Luna-san, although Beldia has retreated for now, the shadow he left over Axel still remains. To prepare for any future attack, Kazuma and I intend to establish a special Axel countermeasure committee, one dedicated specifically to developing psychological strike techniques against Demon King's General-class enemies. So, about funding for that initiative..."
Luna-san was so moved by Kōichi's righteous sense of duty that her eyes turned slightly red. She nodded vigorously.
"I understand! Kōichi-san, your sense of responsibility is truly admirable! I'll submit a request to headquarters immediately. The amount may not be large, but it will absolutely reflect the guild's respect for heroes!"
From the side, Kazuma quietly gave Kōichi a thumbs-up. His eyes clearly said, Kōichi, when it comes to being unhinged and shameless, you are my true idol.