Outside Axel's city gates, the once-flat road was now shrouded in an ominous black mist.
Beldia, the Dullahan famed within the Demon King's Army for his strict and meticulous nature, sat astride his Ghost warhorse. The head he held in one hand glowed with a dim red light, its expression so ferocious it looked as though it wanted to swallow the town whole.
Enduring the oppressive pressure, enough to make an ordinary adventurer's legs give out, Kōichi slowly strolled to the very front of the group.
He neither drew his sword nor began chanting a spell. Instead, he kept both hands in his pockets and put on an easygoing smile with the air of a seasoned businessman.
"Well, well, so you're the famous Beldia-sama? I've heard a lot about you. I'm Kōichi Hayashi, the leader of this party." Ignoring the killing intent rolling off the other man, Kōichi spoke as casually as if he were running into an old neighbor on the street.
"As for the issue of your castle roof becoming a bit drafty, I offer my deepest apologies. The little Crimson Demon Clan kid in our group really wasn't trying to target you. She just happens to suffer from a severe case of if-I-don't-hear-a-big-boom-once-a-day-I'll-die syndrome. She mistook your castle for an abandoned ruin. She only meant to help with some explosive demolition work and improve the ventilation a little. There was genuinely no malice behind it."
Beldia's severed head froze. His red-glowing eyes widened, and his mouth opened and closed several times before he finally roared in fury,
"Improve the ventilation?! You call blasting my throne into rubble 'improving the ventilation'?! Do you have any idea how much effort I went through clearing out those Slimes and spider webs so I could settle down in that castle?! And five days in a row! Five whole days! Every single day at two in the afternoon! That red lunatic showed up over my head like clockwork and started blasting away! Even my warhorse has started shedding from the shock!!"
"Two in the afternoon really is prime naptime. Getting disturbed then is definitely irritating. I understand, I truly do." Kōichi nodded solemnly and casually dragged Megumin, who was hiding in the back trying to play dead, over to his side. "Come on, Megumin. Apologize to the landlord. Just tell him you'll avoid his bedroom next time you blow something up."
"I-I am Megumin! The greatest genius of the Crimson Demon Clan! My Explosion Magic will never submit to any force!" Megumin's legs were shaking, but her mouth was still as stubborn as granite. "A-and besides... who told your castle to look so perfectly suited to being a target? That's a building's failure in duty!"
"You little brat, and you still dare talk back?!" Beldia was so enraged that his armor clattered. He suddenly raised the greatsword in his hand and pointed it at them. "Negotiations have broken down! Humans! Since you are so arrogant, you will repay my renovation costs with your souls! I shall place the most agonizing curse upon you, and amid your wailing..."
"Wait, Beldia-sama!" Kōichi suddenly shouted, cutting off the villainous speech. "Since talking money hurts the relationship and talking lives hurts the mood, why don't we compromise? Look, this Crusader in our party has the kingdom's top-class defense and... uh, an extremely special kind of tolerance. So how about this. You can cast whatever curse you want on her. If she can't endure it, we'll submit to your judgment. But if she does endure it, then our grudge is settled, and on top of that, you'll owe us a little compensation for emotional distress. How does that sound?"
The moment Darkness heard that, she jolted upright as if someone had run electricity through her. A highly suspicious blush instantly spread across her gallant face, and her breathing turned ragged.
"K-Kōichi-sama... you actually... you actually mean to use me as a test subject for curses? And a full-powered curse from a Demon King's General, no less... ah! To have my body invaded by that cold, sinister magic, my consciousness slowly fading until I can do nothing but let an evil knight toy with me... please! Please, start right now!!"
Beldia stared at the female knight, whose face was full of anticipation and who had even started loosening the armor around her collar. The severed head in his hand took on a deeply conflicted and thoroughly disgusted expression.
"...Hey, human. Is there something seriously wrong with your entire party? Why do I see... some kind of appetite in this woman's eyes that makes my skin crawl?"
While Beldia was still reeling from Darkness's perverse behavior, Kōichi shot Aqua an extremely subtle, extremely suggestive look. The meaning was obvious. While this skeleton is still rattled by Darkness's bizarre aura, hurry up and hit him with your holy magic.
Aqua got the message.
Her big aqua-blue eyes suddenly lit up. The timid look on her face vanished in an instant, replaced by that mysterious kind of confidence born from her brain going offline while her blood ran hot.
She leaped high into the air, her beautiful long blue hair streaming in the wind. In that moment, she truly did radiate a touch of the sacred presence of a descending Goddess.
"Take this! This is the price for defying the Goddess's will! Eat this, you headless tin can!!"
Kōichi and Kazuma Satou both held their breath. In their minds, they were already watching Beldia scream and disintegrate in a burst of holy light.
Then, in the very next instant, reality slapped them hard across the face.
Aqua didn't chant a spell. She didn't even use a shred of divine power.
She just twisted awkwardly in midair, then threw out a completely unskilled, badly off-balance ordinary flying kick.
Clang—!!!
A crisp metallic impact rang out.
Aqua's delicate sandal-clad foot slammed squarely into Beldia's heavy breastplate, armor thick enough to withstand a siege crossbow.
Beldia's severed head, the one he was holding in his hand, stared with its eyes wide as saucers. He didn't even move. Under that pitiful bit of force, he merely swayed ever so slightly.
Aqua, meanwhile, looked like a blue duck that had flown straight into a brick wall. The recoil sent her flying backward, and she landed in the mud with a splat in an extremely undignified pose.
"...Ow ow ow ow ow! My bones... my toes are broken, aaahhh! Kōichi! Kazuma! Help me! There have to be rocks stuffed inside this monster's armor! Waaaahhh!" Aqua clutched her foot and rolled wildly on the ground, tears and snot flying everywhere at once. Every last trace of that goddess-like aura from a moment ago had shattered beyond recovery.
The whole place fell deathly silent.
Beldia looked down at the tiny footprint on his breastplate, so faint it was almost invisible, then raised his gaze toward Kōichi. The severed head in his hand showed an expression of confusion and humiliation unlike anything before.
"...Hey, human. That look you gave just now... were you ordering this 'idiot' to come over here and polish my armor?"
His imposing voice now carried a slight tremor. Not out of fear, but from the sheer rage of a top-tier villain being treated this perfunctorily.
"You actually tried to provoke a Dullahan, a being with physical immunity, with a physical attack?! And one this soft, an attack that couldn't even kill a Slime?! You... you lot... just how little do you think of a Demon King's General?!"
"I don't know her! I swear! Kazuma, quick, is it still not too late for us to pretend we're just passersby?!" Kōichi covered his face in agony, feeling like his own IQ had gone flying into the heavens along with Aqua's kick.
"It's too late, Kōichi! He's already drawn his sword! He's seriously about to start chopping people!" Kazuma fired back frantically from the side, while expertly ducking behind Darkness.
Darkness, meanwhile, had an expression of profound regret on her face. "Aqua... how underhanded. She actually got Beldia-sama to counterattack her first. Kōichi-sama! Please give the order and let me bear the wrath that comes next! That greatsword... that greatsword radiating the scent of death. Please, by all means, let it fall upon me!"