With one final sacred purification from Aqua, the battle came to a complete end.
The glow of the setting sun painted Axel's walls a magnificent gold. The city gates stood wide open, and crowds of eager townspeople packed both sides, craning their necks in anticipation.
Kōichi walked at the front. His rented hero's cape was splattered with mud and Holy Water, yet under the evening light it carried a kind of tragic beauty, like the aftermath of a desperate, bloody struggle.
He kept his chin slightly raised, his gaze fixed straight ahead with deep, unreadable intensity. One hand rested on the staff at his waist, and every step carried the rhythm of a man who had saved the world and chosen not to boast about it.
"Look! It's Kōichi-sama! He's back!"
"That golden right foot that sent the Demon King's General flying! Long live!"
The cheers crashing over them nearly blew the gates off their hinges.
Kazuma was still rubbing at his red, swollen eyes, but the instant he stepped through the gate, he straightened right up and put on the kind of frail smile that said, I may be gravely wounded, but it was all worth it for your sake. He even deliberately stumbled once, drawing pained little cries from several girls nearby.
"Everyone... there's no need to worry. It's just a little irritation from the General's desperate last attack... cough, cough... as long as Axel is safe..."
At that moment, Kazuma's acting reached its absolute peak.
Aqua, on the other hand, had no sense of heroic dignity whatsoever. Covered in mud from head to toe, she bounced around waving the staff she had nearly used like firewood.
"Hey! You over there! Hurry up and bring out that top-shelf sparkling wine you promised! This Goddess is dying of thirst! And where's that old guy who said he'd donate ten thousand Eris? Don't run! I saw you!"
Darkness followed close behind Kōichi, cheeks flushed red. She seemed deeply uncomfortable with all the praise about noble sacrifice and being a shield of justice. Or rather... it looked more like she was getting an intense, shameful thrill out of it.
She muttered under her breath, "Being stared at by so many people... with eyes full of worship... it's practically like a public execution... ah, Kōichi-sama, please walk a little faster. This feeling of being ravaged by their gaze..."
The moment Kōichi stepped into the Adventurers Guild, confetti and streamers burst into the air.
"Welcome back! Heroes of Axel!" Luna-san, the guild receptionist, rushed over flushed with excitement and handed Kōichi a thick stack of bounty checks. "This is the reward for subjugating Beldia. Thirty million Eris in total! And every tavern in town has announced that tonight, everything is free for all of you!"
Kōichi accepted the checks calmly, then raised one hand to quiet the roaring guildhall.
"Everyone," he said in a low, magnetic voice, "justice may arrive late, but Team Kōichi never fails to show up. Tonight... every last drink is on that brainless General's tab, meaning the bounty. So everyone... celebrate to your heart's content!!"
"Oooooohhh!! Long live Kōichi!!"
The tavern instantly plunged into a wild victory feast.
Aqua had already leaped straight onto a table and begun performing her signature Nature's Beauty routine, while the alcohol in her cup sprayed outward in fountain-like arcs under her control.
Kazuma, meanwhile, had tucked himself into a corner, stuffing premium steak into his mouth at top speed while staring at the checks in Kōichi's hands with the eyes of a man who had seen through the vanity of worldly life.
"Kōichi, drop the act. That's thirty million!" Kazuma hissed in a hurried whisper. "Add that to the one million-plus we raised in donations... can't we just retire right now and buy some huge mansion in the capital? Or... should we just buy that succubus shop?"
Kōichi looked out the window at the jubilant crowd outside, then at Megumin beside him, who was trying to stuff an entire roast chicken into her mouth, and the corner of his lips lifted slightly.
That night, at the victory banquet, Aqua completely redefined Axel's lower limit for what the word Goddess could mean.
After chugging three full bottles of the high-end sparkling wine known as Ragnarok, she began performing an enhanced version of Nature's Beauty right on top of the guild's long table.
Her magic ran out of control and turned the tavern ceiling into a miniature artificial fountain array, drenching every adventurer inside like a pack of soaked strays. Meanwhile, she clung to Kōichi's leg, crying with snot and tears everywhere as she wailed,
"Kōichi! From now on, you're my high priest! Hurry up and cash that thirty million check into gold coins. I want to spread them all over my bed and sleep on them! Waaaahhh... this Goddess finally doesn't have to sleep in a stable anymore..."
The next morning, Kōichi and Kazuma pushed open the door to the stable, still the stable, both nursing vicious hangovers. The sight that greeted them instantly sobered them up.
A massive line had formed outside in the open space before the stable, dense enough to rival the knight selection trials in the royal capital.
"Kōichi, I've got a bad feeling about this." Kazuma lowered his voice, gripping the uncashed check tightly in his hand. "These people look... like not a single one of them is normal."
Kōichi took a deep breath, dragged over a battered wooden chair, and sat down at the stable entrance. Then he picked up a wooden board from the ground and scribbled:
[Team Kōichi Hero Party. Recruitment Interview Desk]
And so he began receiving these so-called elites who had come seeking them out by reputation.
The first applicant was a paladin dressed in armor so absurdly gaudy it practically reflected sunlight.
He suddenly dropped to one knee, his voice so loud it shook hay loose from the stable roof. "Oh! Great Kōichi-sama! I am the Sword of Justice from the neighboring city! I heard you shattered the darkness with your golden right foot! Please, you have to let me join! My special skill is Absolute Defense. As long as I close my eyes, I absolutely can't feel the enemy's attacks!"
Kōichi and Kazuma exchanged a look and, without a word, drew a big X in the notebook.
The second applicant was a gloomy-looking little thief. He sidled over and lowered his voice. "Heh heh, Kōichi-sama. I heard you're short on people. My stealth is first-rate. I can steal someone's... underwear out of their pocket in broad daylight without being noticed. Well? A skill like that would definitely be useful in the campaign against the Demon King, right?"
Kazuma's eyes lit up for a second, but the moment he saw Kōichi's icy stare, he quickly coughed twice. "Ahem, a skill that divine is already covered. No need for competition. Next!"
The interviews after that were a complete disaster:
There was a druid who claimed he could talk to Slimes but was really just talking to himself. A Wizard who could only cast Flash once a day, then went blind for half an hour. There was even a self-proclaimed elite missionary of the Axis Cult who tried to force Kōichi to sign an application to join the faith in the middle of the interview.
Kōichi was massaging his throbbing temples while applicant number 148 tried to demonstrate how he could play the "Axis Cult Hymn" through his nostrils, and Satou Kazuma had already started rolling his eyes. His notebook was packed with X's from top to bottom.
Just as Kōichi rubbed his temples and was about to punt the burly man, who was not only playing the "Axis Cult Hymn" through his nostrils but even trying to force out a key change into the high notes, a sudden commotion broke out in the crowd.
The long line, which had originally been standing in neat order, even if it was full of weirdos, was roughly shoved apart. A guy with messy blond hair, a set of light armor that looked shady at a glance, and a longsword hanging at his waist came swaggering over.
He wore an infuriatingly smug grin, like he had already seen through everything, and he was carrying a half-empty bottle of cheap ale in one hand.
This was Axel's famous problem child, the delinquent-type Adventurer, Dust.
Unlike the others, he wasn't looking at them with admiration or fanatic excitement. Instead, he circled Kōichi and Kazuma twice like he was watching a circus performance, then stopped in front of them and let out a loud, scornful laugh.
"Well, well. So these are the two great heroes who saved Axel?" Dust deliberately stressed the word "heroes." He shot a sideways glance at the check in Kazuma's hand, still practically fresh, then looked over Kōichi's cape, flashy but obviously rented. "Alright, alright, drop the act. That whole righteous-hero expression might work on the brain-dead normies, but don't bother putting it on for me."