Chapter 128 - Konosuba Side Part 13.
After bombing the castle, Kazuma and his party walked towards Axel. It didn't take them long to reach the city, especially while using a gun.
They didn't stop at the gates as they walked towards the guild because Kazuma wants to see how much he can get for the monsters.
However, when Kazuma opened the guild's door, he was comforted with a scene that urged him to close the door.
"Please, let me join your party!" Darkness stood up as soon as Kazuma arrived, like she was waiting the whole morning here.
Darkness was standing heroically with the attitude of a knight while looking at Kazuma. The perseverance and firmness were clearly shown in her voice, but her sparkling eyes made Kazuma almost raise his pistol and shot a paralyzing bullet.
Sadly, Kazuma has more than one feeling that Darkness will like that instead. He let out a sigh of helplessness, but then, he noticed her eyes were on Megumin on his back.
Megumin collapsed on Kazuma's back because she wasted all her mana. Kazuma didn't feel anything except a pain in his back because of this loli, but seeing Megumin completely vulnerable, thousands of unspeakable fantasies were unfolding in Darkness's eyes.
{OI!! Why are you looking at me like some sort of a criminal? AND WHY DO YOU SEEM JEALOUS!!??} Noticing the watery eyes of Darkness, Kazuma had a chill all over his body {This woman seriously has a problem!}
Ignorant of Kazuma's dilemma, Megumin raised her head slowly before she said " You still won't accept her Kazuma?"
"Right, Kazuma. She's a Crusader, with her, we'll have three advanced classes. There's no reason to refuse" Aqua tilted her head while looking at the Kazuma sighing.
Kazuma knows that it'll go this way if his two good for nothing teammates knew about this, so he was just sighing. However, at this moment, he felt something weird as his eyes looked behind Darkness.
Kaguya was sitting on a seat at an empty table at the corner of the guild. Her eyes and smile were clearly saying that she was watching a good show.
Just that look was enough to make Kazuma clench his fist, and with a furious expression, he said " You bastard!"
However, at the line of sight, his target was misunderstood by Darkness as she twisted her body back before trying to resist, but still, she released a slight moan.
Kazuma took a step back at this reaction. Honestly, he started to feel scared from this level of masochism.
However, Darkness didn't care about his reaction as she recovered a little and said " Barely knowing me and even when I talked to you politely, you called me a bastard... My eyes... Didn't mislead me!"
Kazuma solidified in his place before he looked at Kaguya, only to see her smile getting wider. He instantly knew that he fell into a trap, no, it was more like Kaguya giving him a shovel to dig his own trap before falling into it.
"*Sigh* Let's just... Sit down and talk slowly. You are also here, huh?" Sighing helplessly, Kazuma walked forward before he noticed Chris at the side. He would have noticed her faster if it wasn't for this female knight outbreak.
Regardless, Kazuma took the group to the table of Kaguya before he glared at her, but then, he chose to solve the problem at hand first. There's no point in focusing on a losing battle against a time manipulator.
Putting(Dropping) Megumin on a seat, Kazuma and Aqua sat down next to Kaguya while facing Chris and Darkness.
Even if he knows it's hopeless, Kazuma tried to be logical. He explained his goal of defeating the Demon King while saying it's one of the strongest beings in the world. Then, he said the possible consequences of the failure in such a quest.
However, and to his helplessness, Megumin stood up with a grand declaration before she fell down on the table because she still didn't completely recover.
"A female knight is always looking forward to being caught by the Demon King, then being subjected to all the ill-treatment" Darkness's response rendered the whole group speechless.
"Hey, Kazuma. After listening to what you said, I think we also should back out. The Demon King is really dangerous for us" Aqua whispered to the annoyed Kazuma as he covered his face and said " You... You of all people should be the most motivated"
"Pff..." Hearing the strange sound, Kazuma looked to the side to see Kaguya holding her laughter back.
"You know? Everything you're doing is basically useless, Kazuma" Kaguya said with a bright smile.
"What do you know?!" Kazuma snapped as he stood up, but Kaguya just covered her mouth and said " A lot of things, especially about here"
Despite the confusion of the others, Kazuma knew what Kaguya was talking about. She was talking about the plot of his world.
{Darn it, I swear that I'll never try to act cool again} Kazuma started to regret not asking for his plot and he knows that Leo and Kaguya won't say it.
{No, there's still a chance. As long as new members who know my show entered the Chat Room, I'll be able to scam-... I mean, ask them nicely} Kazuma started from now to prepare to trick the new members in the Chat Room.
Suddenly, when Kazuma was thinking and Kaguya asked Megumin about the castle bombing, a loud sound echoed all across the city, like an emergency warning.
Hearing the voice, Kazuma figured that it was Luna, the receptionist of the guild, calling all the adventurers because of an emergency.
Without any delay, the whole city was in an uproar. Citizens were running away, fleeing to their homes before closing the doors and windows. The adventurers in the guild also moved quickly, grabbing their weapons, and storming outside the guild.
"Crap, what's happening?! A monster invasion of some kind?" Kazuma exclaimed before he jumped from his seat to check the situation outside.
Darkness, Aqua, and Chris also ran immediately while following behind him. Megumin, who couldn't muster any strength, was left as she said " Hey, wait for me!"
However, she could only move a little and she needs more time to recover, but even so, she won't be able to launch the explosion magic a second time today.
Kaguya watched Megumin with amusement before she grabbed a talisman from her sleeve and said " Don't worry, I got you"
With a swift movement, the talisman was put on Megumin's hand before a link was established between her and Kaguya. Using the link, Kaguya moved a little of her energy into Megumin.
Without any warning, Megumin jumped from the table as her eyes were glowing with an intense red light before she trembled and said " This, this, how?"
Megumin felt her body was filled with mana and recovered rapidly, then she looked at Kaguya with stars in her eyes and said " You did it, right?! Can you do it again?!"
Megumin was excited. If Kaguya can use this power again, even for one time a day, she'll be able to use explosion magic more than once a day!!
Kaguya just smiled at Megumin's question before she said " They already left, you know"
Megumin felt like she had been splashed with cold water as the glow in her eyes dimmed before she ran out of guild while screaming " WAIT FOR ME!!!"
When everyone left, the guild became quiet. Kaguya tapped the table with her finger before she grinned and said " All according to the plan"
As a woman of culture, how could Kaguya not know about the Flying Cabbage's horde? And more importantly, Darkness' performance during it. However, what is important now is Diozuma, who has a gun.
Unlike taking missions and hunting monsters alone, Diozuma will really show his might in front of everyone and it'll be much better if he used his Arsenal Cube. There's no way this event won't spread and attract some attention, especially the attention of people that know about guns.
Also, Kaguya was to film this glorious scene of Darkness and Kazuma's reaction as a trophy from this world.
With the sight of a new collection at hand, Kaguya's mood became better after she felt the world is playing tricks on her before she said " I honestly don't understand why people want to keep the plot intact, unless they get benefits from it, but most of the time, they don't"
"Well, Megumin already started bombing the castle of Dullahan and the Flying Cabbage arrived" Kaguya stood up from the seat before she sighed and said " *Sigh* I also wanted to see that scene, I really wonder how much different it'd be from the original with the addition of Dio-...zuma"
Suddenly, Kaguya, who wanted to cover her mouth with her sleeve, stopped her hand in mid-air, even her expression froze.
"Diozuma... The sword... The gun..." The more she spoke, the weirder Kaguya's expression and quieter her voice became before it turned into whispers " The cabbage and the castle... But shouldn't the cabbage be first..."
"No, it shouldn't be because the timeline is wrong s-... Wait!!" Kaguya snapped before she said " No, no, this can't be!!"
At that moment, Kaguya froze in her place as her expression was gloomy before she said " Wrong... Everything is wrong"
Without any warning, a wave of power rushed from Kaguya before everything was frozen. The time has stopped.
In the absolute silence of the time stop, Kaguya stood there quietly. Her expression kept changing. Sometimes like she was in deep thoughts before frowning.
However, Kaguya suddenly looked at her hand before her expression sank immediately and even became slightly pale.
"No, I need to see it myself!" Kaguya's eyes flashed before she rushed outside the guild before flying.
Crossing the distance quickly, Kaguya arrived at the gate as she saw the adventurers and Kazuma's party here. They were holding weapons and staring at the front, like waiting for something.
Flying above the gate, Kaguya landed on top of the wall before she applied a simple illusion on herself. She immediately removed the time stop and watched the group underneath.
"Is this really a monster invasion?!" Kazuma questioned, but he still took his gun and sword while looking at the front.
"Here they come!" One adventurer said before a green cloud appeared from afar.
"What is that?!" Kazuma was shocked as he saw a huge horde of flying Cabbage.
"Prepare yourself" Suddenly, Megumin rushed to the front and did a pose in front of all the adventurers. As everyone was cheering 'Explosion!'
When everyone was in a commotion because of the Flying Cabbage, Kaguya was observing the scene as her expression became gloomier with every second passing.
She saw Aqua explaining the situation and the guild staff announcing the cabbage's price, then Darkness rushed forward to protect some adventurers, but she ended up taking all the hits while everyone praised her 'heroic' deeds, which left Kazuma speechless.
If this was any other time, Kaguya would be laughing at Kazuma, but now, she only felt a terrible chill. When she saw Megumin's using explosion magic, her expression sank completely as her face became paler, even her body shivered a little.
However, Kaguya quickly recovered before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. After a moment, she opened them and continued to observe the situation.
The fight continued normally until the adventurers defeated most of the cabbage and started collecting their loot. Aqua helped to keep the goods fresh while Kazuma was using baskets to collect the cabbage.
Suddenly, Misaka and Leone arrived at the scene. It seems they were late because of a certain accident, however, Kaguya only clicked her tongue when she saw this.
Anyway, the battle against the cabbage finished successfully as the adventurers carried their goods to sell them to the guild. Kazuma and others weren't an exception, even Misaka and Leone helped them.
Time passed quickly when someone is focused on something as the dinner time arrived when everything was completed. The adventurers gathered at the guild to have dinner, which was mainly dishes cooked with the cabbage. It was a very popular ingredient.
Kazuma's party with Leone and Misaka gathered at the table and had dinner. They can't believe that some cabbage can taste this good, which made them wonder if they gave it to the Octopus chef.
"Good sir, I look forward to working with you" Darkness smiled brightly while extending her hand for a handshake. Kazuma was completely helpless as he just accepted it.
During this dinner, Darkness finally joined Kazuma's party, even if Kazuma was completely annoyed.
Actually, he isn't against Darkness joining if she was slightly normal, after all, she's very beautiful, but she's also a complete masochist, a masochist of the higher levels. This made Kazuma wonder if he'll ever have a normal teammate at this rate.
"Hm? Did anyone see Kaguya?" Misaka noticed someone missing as she asked, but Kazuma just waved her hand and said " Probably spreading pain to the world, don't worry"
Although the explanation is far-fetched, everyone knows that Kaguya will be okay, after all, her eternity manipulation isn't to be scoffed at.
Meanwhile, Kaguya was on top of the guild's building, staring at the moon in the sky. Her long hair and dress were moving with the wind, which made her look more beautiful under the moonlight, but her expression was completely gloomy.
"To think it'll be like this... This is really ridiculous" Kaguya glanced at the guild under her before she sighed and looked at the moon. Her mood was very heavy now.
Everything, every single thing that happened during this period was wrong in Kaguya's eyes.
If any other person witnessed these events, he might not notice something, but Kaguya, who watched Konosuba and joined the Chat from the start, knows how wrong this situation is.
She closed her eyes and remembered all the plot of Konosuba and all that happened during this period.
First, they came to this world via the Chat Room. Meeting with Kazuma was simple as he introduced Aqua to them before they got the adventurer cards. Everything was pretty normal.
In the following days, they went to hunt the frogs. However, Kaguya focused on a certain scene, it was on the last day they were hunting frogs. The day when Aqua said her encouraging words to Kazuma before... Falling in a puddle of water because of Mudkip.
After that, Kazuma and Aqua met Megumin for the first time... Only when everyone from the Chat was far away from them. Then, Megumin joined Kazuma's party after she and Aqua got eaten by the frogs.
More and more memories kept racing in her head. Kazuma refuses Darkness, then learns the Steal skill from Chris, and Misaka tells Kaguya about what Kazuma did to Chris.
Today, Megumin used an explosion on Beldia's castle while the Flying Cabbage arrived and Darkness joined at the dinner.
However, nothing of this should happen because Konosuba's plot was destroyed from the first days. How? Well, Kazuma in the original show had to work with Aqua for some weeks to buy equipment, but at this time, that didn't happen because Leo gave him DIO's sword.
From that point, coupled with the marvelous butterfly effect, everything should be changed, or at least be much different than the original, and it did, well, until this mission started at least.
Even if the Chat's Members interfered, the events would still maneuver around their actions and made the perfect adjustment to move according to the original plot. Like Kaguya's explosion made Megumin's attack the castle early and because of Kazuma's change, the cabbage's arrival was delayed until he talked with Darkness.
Kaguya looked at the moon as she remembered a certain line in the original and in this timeline. A phrase was said by Megumin at the first meeting.
"That we would meet is a fate chosen by the world itself..." Kaguya smiled helplessly before she said " What kind of bright, yet shady foreshadowing is this? Foreshadowception?"
Of course, if the correction was simple while slightly looking like the plot, Kaguya won't be like this. What made her really shocked and even slightly scared was a simple, trivial thing that happened earlier.
"If I didn't give Megumin the talisman of mana, she wouldn't be able to use an explosion against the cabbage" Kaguya looked at her hand as she was in deep thoughts.
If Kaguya didn't interfere, the plot would have been changed, but unintentionally, she helped in the correction of the plot. This was enough to send chills down her spine.
The whole world was moving toward the plot, like it being guided by something. However, the correction was so perfect that it even made Kaguya feel okay. Because even if she did notice this, she'd help Megumin to recover to join the battle on her own.
And his party behind the scene is without a doubt, the world's will of Konosuba. There's no other explanation.
But why? Why is the world's will doing this? Recovering the plot in a way that it even made them help without knowing. What is the goal of this? Why does it want to keep the plot in its original form or at least very close to it? Does it want to confuse the players or something else?
"I don't know..." Kaguya felt she was at the end of her wits. The information is too little and she doesn't know anything deep about this mission.
However, now Kaguya is in front of a difficult situation. Will she tell the others about this or not? This crossroad has both advantages and disadvantages, but Kaguya didn't take long to decide.
"There's nothing about it, I'll tell them. *Sigh* This is really getting out of hand" Kaguya sighed before staring at the moon in the sky to calm down.
In the Chat Room, there are some unwritten rules that anyone slightly smarter can guess easily. In the subject of telling the other members about their futures, she, Leo, and Kazuma look at the situation first.
They won't say anything if one of these conditions were fulfilled. Is it funny, like with Kazuma? Do they want to know, like with Saitama and Whitebeard? Is it appropriate to say, like with Misaka?
Misaka's world, Toaru, is the top level of danger, no, it's the extreme level of danger. If they told Misaka about her future and she went to destroy the Level 6 Shift Program now, she'll affect the upside-down man, Aleister, plans.
If something happened to his plan, Aleister won't hesitate to flip every stone in the Academy city to know what happened. No, he'll even check atoms if necessary.
And now, it's one of those situations where she needs to talk about this because things went out of control or she should say, they are strictly under control.
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