At the dinner table, Auntie Yuiyui showed off her breathtaking culinary skills: caramelized sweet potatoes, steamed sweet potatoes, sweet potato stew with dried meat, and even sweet potato skin sashimi.
Kōichi picked his teeth with elegant composure while discreetly handing Hyoizaburoo a premium cigar from Axel. It was actually cheap junk from a roadside stall, but the packaging looked convincing. His voice was full of temptation.
"Uncle, you may not know this, but Kazuma is known in Axel as the man with the Golden Touch. Any business that passes through his hands, even a rock picked up off the roadside, can be sold for twice the price. This time, he specifically told me to bring only the finest supplies, all so Megumin wouldn't have to go home in disgrace."
"Ohhh! As expected of Kazuma-sama!" Hyoizaburoo was so moved that tears streamed down his face. He slapped Kazuma on the shoulder with enough force to nearly drive him into the floor. "A man who treats money like dirt, yet cares so deeply for my daughter, he is simply the perfect son-in-law for the Crimson Demon Clan!"
By now, between Kōichi's flattery and the alcohol, Kazuma had completely floated off into space.
He puffed out his chest and waved a hand proudly.
"Oh, Uncle, you're being far too distant. Money is just a string of numbers to me. As long as Megumin is happy, forget one cart of sweet potatoes. Even if I had to haul every sweet potato in Axel here, I, Kazuma Satou, wouldn't so much as frown!"
"Kazuma! You huge idiot! What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Megumin was so furious she nearly crushed her staff in her grip, but under Yuiyui's kindly yet threatening gaze, she could only shrink into the corner and tremble.
After lunch, Auntie Yuiyui gave a meaningful smile and briskly pushed Kazuma toward the second floor.
"Oh my, Kazuma-sama must be tired. Our home may be humble, but we do have rooms. However... since we've been renovating the magic lab lately, the other rooms are all packed with dangerous explosives. So I'm afraid Kazuma-sama will have to make do and rest in Megumin's room for now. Megumin, hurry and make the bed for Kazuma-sama!"
"Wh-what?! Mom! Absolutely not!"
Megumin let out an earth-shaking scream, but Yuiyui instantly slipped forward, covered her mouth, and carried her straight into the room.
Kōichi watched the second-floor door slam shut. He could even faintly hear the sound of it being locked. The corner of his mouth rose slightly.
He turned to Aqua, who was still standing there in a daze while trying to stuff the last piece of sweet potato into her mouth, then to Darkness, who was staring at that door, completely lost in some humiliating fantasy about being locked out.
"Hey, everyone, I don't think there's any place for us here anymore."
Kōichi clapped his hands and made a perfectly serious suggestion.
"Think about it. Megumin's house really is cramped, and with that mountain of sweet potatoes here, we'd probably have to sleep stacked on top of each other tonight. As it happens, Yunyun's house is nearby. She's the village chief's daughter, so her house is huge and empty, and she must be lonely living there all by herself. As her companions, shouldn't we go warm up her home a little?"
The moment Aqua heard there was a big house to stay in, she immediately raised both hands in agreement.
"Exactly, exactly! This goddess has had enough of this poverty-stricken, sweet potato-smelling house! We're going to stay in a huge mansion! Kōichi, lead the way!"
Darkness blushed and fidgeted with her fingers.
"Being abandoned by my companions... taking shelter in the home of the reclusive village chief's daughter... this feeling of living under someone else's roof... Hah... I have no objections either!"
And so, while Auntie Yuiyui was busy on the second floor trying to set up Kazuma and Megumin, Kōichi quietly slipped out of the house with one goddess and one knight in tow.
As they walked down the road to Yunyun's house, Kōichi looked at the tower that stood out prominently in the center of the village and silently made his calculations.
"Kazuma, oh Kazuma. This is as far as your brother can help you. Whether you can get yourself a girlfriend tonight depends entirely on how strong Auntie Yuiyui's assist is. As for me... obviously, I'm off to enjoy VIP treatment at Yunyun's place."
When Kōichi knocked on the heavy front door of Yunyun's house, Yunyun's slightly flustered voice came from inside.
"C-coming! Who is it? If you're here to sell magic potions, I already have plenty..."
The door opened, and Yunyun froze when she saw Kōichi, Aqua, and Darkness standing outside.
"Kōichi-san?! And Aqua-san and Darkness-san too? Why are you..."
"Sorry to bother you, Yunyun."
Kōichi gave her an incredibly bright and friendly smile. "Megumin's place is just too explosive. We were worried we might get blown away in our sleep tonight, so we were hoping to stay here for one night. Would that be all right?"
Yunyun's eyes instantly lit up. The joy of being needed and relied on by her companions flooded over her so completely that she nearly burst into tears.
"O-of course! It's more than all right! Please, come in! I'll prepare the best guest rooms and black tea right away! Sob... I finally have friends staying over at my house!"
Just as Yunyun was fumbling with the excessively refined tea set, trying to show Kōichi the social etiquette of the Crimson Demon Clan's only normal person, the living room door was suddenly kicked open by an invisible force. In reality, it was a fierce kick.
Along with a meaningless but impressively dramatic cloud of smoke, probably the aftereffect of some small-scale Explosion magic, a man wearing a dark purple robe and an absurdly large cape strode in with an extremely twisted gait.
He clapped a hand over his left eye. His red pupil flickered with an eerie light in the dim entryway, and then he bent backward so far it looked like his spine might snap.
"My name is Hiropon! I am the man who controls the laws of cause and effect, weaves forbidden chains, and stands at the summit of the Crimson Demon Clan! I am also the guardian of this cursed land, and the biological father of Yunyun, in whose veins flows the blood of destruction!"
"D-Dad! Stop it already! There aren't any strangers here, so get rid of the smoke! The floor is hard to clean!"
Yunyun shrieked and rushed over, trying to pin down her father's wildly flapping cape. Her face was so red it could almost light up the entire living room.
Hiropon gave a cold snort. Though his pose did not change, his gaze instantly locked onto Kōichi, who was sitting on the sofa.
He strode over in great, forceful steps, each one carrying a rhythm that practically declared how dignified he was.
"Hmph. I have already heard of your deeds through Yunyun's letters, so filled with loneliness and longing. But seeing you in person today, you are indeed extraordinary."
Hiropon abruptly dropped his pose and plopped down in the seat of honor across from Kōichi. His tone was still full of chuunibyou flair, but now it carried a hint of an elder's scrutiny.
"Kōichi, on behalf of Crimson Demon Village, I thank you for looking after my useless daughter in Axel, that town full of deadbeats and drunkards. Though she does not even have a single friend to play shadow tag with, at least she has not been carried off by those lowly Goblins."
"Dad! What nonsense are you saying in front of our guests?!"
Yunyun crouched on the floor with her face in her hands, already considering whether she should use teleportation magic to flee the planet.