When we entered the guild, Aqua, Kazuma, Chris and Megumin were there too.
"Hey~Megumin." I take a seat next to her and prepare myself for the show.
"Ho Noah, you got what you wanted to buy ?"
"—Well you can say so?" I take out a quite old bow with a quiver with
Just then, Aqua asked.
" Kazuma, where were you? And why is that person crying?"
Darkness was there, and she told what happened.
"Ah, actually, when she was teaching Kazuma thief skills, her panties got stripped off and on top of that she got all her money taken, so she's down."
Hearing that, Kazuma hurriedly said.
"Hey, you! What are you saying!"
Chris, tears streaming, said loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Just returning the wallet wasn't enough, so I said I'd give anything if you'd return my panties, and you said I should decide my panties' price myself, sob sob..."
"Hey, wait! It's not a lie, but wait!"
"Otherwise you said you'd pass these panties down as a family heirloom for generations! Sob sob..."
The female adventurers around were looking at Kazuma like he was trash.
I knew the original, so I knew Chris was intentionally getting revenge by speaking loudly and making Kazuma look like a pervert.
I take a few steps next to him, when he remarks me he quickly jump at my feet saying.
"—I swear, that not how it happened—" And before he could speak further, I stop him from speaking.
"—Ok ok ok, I heard you, so how did that really happen?"
And I a few seconds, he begins to respond with all the things that happened in the meantime.
(—Well, it mostly the same situation as the canon, even though it seems that he censored some things.)
"—I see, so you was about to get scam and the situation inverted...in your favour?"
He doesn't even look at me in the eyes before slowly nods in my affirmation.
"—Don't worry about it, there enough context that I could do something with that."
He looks back at me a bit dumbfounded.
"— What are you gonna do with that?" I looked back at him and said.
"Trying to save your reputation for now."
Then I take a look back to Chris's face closely, and even though she was covering her face with both hands pretending to cry, I could clearly see the corners of her mouth turned up.
She's covering her face and laughing while pretending to cry. Losing a bet and framing someone as a pervert... really bad personality.
Kazuma did nothing wrong. He just won an unfair match fair and square. So unlike in the original, I decided to save the social life of Kazuma.
(—Not sure if he will preserve it later one, but we can have some hope.)
"Wait! Isn't that too much? What did Kazuma do wrong to be treated like a pervert? Chris, stop pretending to cry! If you're trying to get revenge on Kazuma with public opinion, you should have shame on you."
I stood up and clapped my hands twice loudly.
Clap clap!
"Excuse me, everyone, please pay attention!"
Everyone in the guild looked at me.
"Oh~ the thick elf!"
"~Really beautiful."
"Step on me~"
(—Huh? Step on who? Damm I need to be cautious for my ass with them. At least, I got their attention.)
"Right now, an adventurer named Kazuma is being unfairly framed as a pervert."
I pointed at Kazuma and he suddenly shivered and the sudden attention.
"Chris the thief is cutting out everything that happened before and talking, so the beginner adventurer Kazuma is suffering unfairly right now!!!!"
People started murmuring.
"Kazuma with his 'slow' friend just came from far away to Axel Town with the dream of being an adventurer, and because he barely had no money, he worked construction at a job site, barely bought a sword, and with no skills, at level 1, really struggled—getting eaten by Giant Toads—to level up."
"Right! That friend's party member was always covered in weird liquid. So that was the toad's drool."
"Kuh~ reminds me of the old days!"
"Uwa, pitiful..."
"Next time I'll buy you a drink, hang in there!"
Aqua was crying tears while patting Kazuma's back to comfort him. Kazuma looked at Aqua with a dumbfounded expression.
"With the points he painfully earned, Kazuma didn't know where to put them because he's a beginner adventurer. That's when Chris the adventurer appeared."
I pointed at Chris and she was clearly flustered.
"Chris lured Kazuma, saying she'd teach him skills for a glass of Shuwa-Shuwa. Pitifully, Kazuma fell for it, bought the Shuwa-Shuwa, and learned the skill."
People started focusing more on my story.
"She said she'd teach skills, then took the beginner adventurer Kazuma to an empty lot where no one goes. Then she used the thief skill to rob Kazuma's wallet. And said, 'This is the skill. You're an adventurer, so you should experience this kind of thing! Learn and take your wallet back.'"
"Beginner killing, huh."
"There are still people like that."
"These are the end times."
"Kazuma thought 'I've been had!' but there was nothing he could do. He had no choice but to take to get his wallet back. And when he was about to use, Chris cheated by picking up small stones and saying 'This is a dud,' mocking Kazuma."
"That's so mean!"
"Wow~ evil!"
"Not even human!"
"But Kazuma didn't give in and prayed to the goddess of luck, Eris, and tried on Chris."
"—Really, really luckily, he couldn't steal the wallet but he was able to steal Chris's panties. And the beginner adventurer Kazuma gave Chris a proper lesson.
Like you all heard earlier, he said to decide your own panties' price. In the end, Chris had no choice but to give Kazuma her wallet and all her money."
"Wow~ Kazuma, cool"
"Got what she deserved."
"People like that need to be taught a lesson!"
"And now, frustrated by that, Chris is using the fact that she's a woman, making the stolen panties an issue, trying to turn Kazuma into a pervert again, and cornering him."
Just then, Chris flared up and spoke.
"That's a lie!!! You're distorting the facts!"
I asked Chris with a smile.
"Where is it distorted, and what's the lie?"
"That's..."
When Chris hesitated, I didn't give her time.
"You can't say, right? Because it's all true! And there's a witness. Darkness!"
When I pointed at Darkness, Darkness was startled for a moment and answered.
"Huh? Me?"
"Darkness, you're a knight, right? And an Eris Cult believer."
"Uh? Uh, yes."
"As a witness who watched, on your honor as a knight, is there any lie in what I said?"
"Ahem... there isn't. But..."
I quickly cut off Darkness's words.
"So who's bad now? Kazuma, who was lucky but got framed as a pervert? Or Chris, who tried beginner killing and got countered?"
People started cursing Chris.
"Because of women like that, good female adventurers like us get single!!!!!."
"Wow~ framing a guy as a pervert is nothing to her. Scary."
"Live righteously, Eris is watching!"
"—Enough to make a grown man cry."
"Sorry for misunderstanding, Kazuma~!"
"Even a demon would cry and leave."
Chris couldn't take it and really cried and ran out.
"Calling me a demon! Uwaaaaang~~~~"
"Wait, Chris~!"
Darkness hurriedly followed Chris.
(—Huh? Wait! Darkness shouldn't go now, dammit is that I really go to far???)
I look back at Kazuma staring blankly at the door Chris had just run through.
Then he slowly turned toward me.
"Hm?"
For a few seconds, he just looked at me, as if he still couldn't believe what had just happened.
"…THANKS!!!!!!!."
It was loud overly dramatic but at least honest.
"…You seriously saved my social life."
He let out a long sigh before laughing weakly.
"I thought I'd be known as 'that panty thief' for the rest of my adventuring career."
I shrugged.
"You won fair and square."
"So I figured someone should explain what actually happened."
Kazuma scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"…Still."
"I owe you one."
"…Don't worry about it."
"No, seriously."
He grinned.
"If you ever need help with something, just ask."
(—…Well, that's one unexpected flag.)
Before I could answer—
BANG!!
The guild doors slammed open.
"Emergency quest! Emergency quest!"
The receptionist rushed inside, completely out of breath.
"All adventurers currently in Axel, report to the Guild Hall immediately!"
The relaxed atmosphere vanished instantly.
——
And there end your chapter, I think I will continue this one to but the pace will be much more slow than previously.
In the meantime, bye 👋