My Favorite Isekai Adventure (Konosuba)

Chapter 7: I Can't Breathe!

Satou Kazuma discovered that, under normal circumstances, Kobayashi-senpai was actually very easy to talk to.

Take tonight's lavish dinner, for example.

Logically speaking, they had only defeated one Giant Toad and one frenzied wild boar today. The quest rewards they received couldn't possibly cover the cost of such an expensive meal. But Kobayashi-senpai had still treated them generously.

Furthermore, even when the idiot goddess was clearly drunk and had started performing her party tricks in the main hall of the Adventurer's Guild, Kobayashi-senpai didn't yell at her to stop. Instead, he watched with a smile as she laughed and clowned around with everyone.

Satou Kazuma gave a token shout, "Hey—, Aqua, watch your image! Aren't you, you know, that!"

"What do you mean, 'that'!"

Aqua was completely wasted and didn't even know who she was anymore.

Kobayashi waved his hand. "Forget it. It's the party's first gathering today, just let her be."

Since Kobayashi-senpai had said so, Satou Kazuma didn't say anything more.

"Kobayashi, I want to drink some sparkling liquor too."

Seeing Aqua drinking so heartily, Megumin wanted to try some as well.

"No, you can't."

Kobayashi flatly refused.

Megumin was not happy. "What do you mean? Aqua, Darkness, and Kazuma can all drink, so why can't I? Are you deliberately discriminating against me?!"

Her words hit like a ferocious punch. If he didn't give a reasonable explanation, she would probably use Explosion magic in the next second to seek a 'reasonable' explanation with 'nuclear' reasoning.

To prevent her from going crazy, Satou Kazuma quickly said, "Don't be silly, little loli. You're still a minor, aren't you? Do you want to get us all arrested by the guards?"

In Axel... or rather, in this other world, the laws regarding this were extremely strict. Selling or enticing minors to drink alcohol was absolutely forbidden. The light punishment was arrest; the heavy one was a prison sentence.

Incidentally, the age of majority in this world was 14, and Megumin was still a few months short.

"L-little loli... you called me a little loli."

Megumin couldn't hold it together.

It was true that she single-handedly lowered the party's average height, but due to her lifelong nutritional deficiencies, she couldn't make up for her own shortcomings. To catch up, she would need to rely on external forces, such as rubbing, rubbing, and more rubbing... but of course, that was a story for another time.

After being scolded, Megumin quieted down.

After the party had eaten and drunk their fill, they each went their separate ways. Darkness walked Megumin home, while Kobayashi, Kazuma, and Aqua returned to the inn.

Along the way, Satou Kazuma used the excuse that he was too weak to carry the goddess, making Kobayashi do the heavy lifting. It was obvious the guy was just making an excuse because he found it troublesome. I'll have to make him carry a Giant Toad as punishment when I get the chance.

Walking ahead, Satou Kazuma didn't see the malicious smile on Kobayashi's face behind him, but he still felt an inexplicable chill blow from behind, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

The three of them then returned to the inn smoothly. They tossed the dead-drunk goddess onto the bed, while the two of them made beds on the floor. The whole process was so slick that Satou Kazuma didn't even realize anything was wrong until it was time to turn off the lights and sleep.

Suddenly, he sat up from the floor and shouted, "Wait! This isn't right!"

"What's with all the fuss?"

Kobayashi turned the light back on, and a faint glow filled the room.

"Why isn't Kobayashi-senpai sleeping on the bed?"

"Because I'm afraid of being suffocated again."

Being killed by the idiot goddess's chest was embarrassing enough. What was even more embarrassing was being killed by her chest twice. So, to prevent it from happening again, he had proactively given the bed to Aqua.

But Satou Kazuma continued, "Then why don't we just rent another room? The inn can't possibly be fully booked again tonight, can it?"

"Well... there's a reason for that."

Kobayashi told him his plan.

"For one, my savings are almost gone. For another, I want to save up money to buy a house."

"Save up to buy a house? Why?"

"Look, we're a party, after all. It's a hassle to always be staying separately in inns, right? If our party lives together, we can save a lot of money on lodging, and at the same time, we can get closer and build deeper relationships. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"

"Now that you mention it, that's true."

Eating together, living together, sharing fortunes and misfortunes... it had a real adventurer atmosphere, and Satou Kazuma yearned for such a life.

"So I've decided, starting tomorrow, thirty percent of the party's quest rewards will be put aside, and the rest will be divided equally. Of course, individual quests that you take on your own won't be taxed. What do you think of this arrangement, Kazuma-kun?"

"Well, I don't mind."

Although he didn't object, he was still a little worried. "The idea is good, but for five people to live together, we'd need a big house, right? We probably can't manage that in a short time."

What happened today had made Satou Kazuma deeply realize that, apart from Kobayashi-senpai, there wasn't a single reliable teammate in the party. The rewards from their subjugation quests couldn't even cover tonight's dinner, let alone buying a house. It was a distant dream. All he could say was that the future looked bleak.

"Don't worry, I already have a plan."

Kobayashi looked absolutely certain.

Satou Kazuma was surprised and quickly asked, "What is it, Kobayashi-senpai?!"

"Let me keep that a secret for now."

Kobayashi's mysterious act made Kazuma's heart itch with curiosity. But he was considerate enough not to probe further. Knowing when to advance and when to retreat to let others have their moment to shine was one of his virtues.

They turned off the lights again and entered the world of dreams.

In the middle of the night.

While sound asleep, Kobayashi felt a tightness in his chest and had difficulty breathing. He opened his eyes to see a water-blue figure occupying his entire field of vision. It turned out that his head was once again being held in the idiot goddess's embrace.

"Again?!"

His eyes widened, his anger rising. He had already died an untimely death due to a moment of carelessness last time. If he fell victim to a "murder-by-chest" again, what face would he have to call himself the party leader? Wouldn't he be laughed at by the others?

You think it's enjoyable to be held in the arms of a beautiful girl with a superb figure and aura?

How could it be!

The person in question is Aqua, whose intelligence is on par with a monkey's. No matter how depraved he became, he couldn't possibly develop feelings for an idiot, let alone make a move on her!

No, I have to teach her a lesson!

Thinking this, while he could still breathe, Kobayashi wrapped his index finger around the back of her neck and used a basic magic spell.

—[Freeze]!

The effect was a puff of icy cold wind. It was very practical for pranks but lacked any real damage, a suitable beginner's magic for teasing people.

As the cold air blew over her, Aqua shivered. Just as Kobayashi thought she would let go, the idiot goddess, as if feeling cold in her sleep, mumbled, "So cold~"

Then, her arms around Kobayashi gradually tightened, and she even threw her legs over him, exactly like someone hugging a pillow between their legs at night.

Damn it! The power was too weak, it had no effect!

Kobayashi cursed inwardly. His breathing was now cut off. If this continued, he could predict the outcome. He immediately increased the magic's power, but similarly, the chilled Aqua also increased the strength of her hug.

Kobayashi's face instantly turned bright red. The problem was, he wasn't as strong as Aqua and couldn't break free from her embrace. They were locked in a stalemate.

Who would last until the end? Would Aqua wake up from the magic's power first, or would Kobayashi's oxygen run out and he'd die?

Just as Kobayashi felt he was about to go see Eris, Aqua finally reacted.

"—So cooold!!!"

Her sleepy, teary, clear voice echoed in the quiet room. At the same time, her limbs flailed in the air, hitting the table leg and chair by the bed. The scraping and bumping sounds woke Satou Kazuma from his sleep.

"What, what, what's going on?" Satou Kazuma shouted, annoyed, as he turned on the ceiling light.

"Hey, idiot goddess, what are you doing up in the middle of the... night... huh???"

The bright light illuminated the entire room, dispelling much of his sleepiness, but Satou Kazuma thought he was still dreaming.

Because he saw Aqua, in her pajamas, straddling Kobayashi-senpai. And Kobayashi-senpai, his face flushed (from suffocation) and his clothes in disarray, was panting heavily. His eyes instantly widened in disbelief.

He muttered, "Aqua, were you not satisfied with just clowning around with those adventurers at the Guild? You actually made a move on Kobayashi-senpai in the middle of the night! Are you really the pure Goddess of Water?!"

"It's not what you think!" Aqua naturally denied it.

But with Kobayashi beneath her looking like he had been forced by the goddess, no one would believe a word she said.

"Then how do you explain what happened yesterday?"

"I was drunk yesterday! And of course, I'm drunk today too! So that's how it is!"

"You sound pretty proud of that, don't you?!"

The two started arguing again.

Meanwhile, Kobayashi opened his blurry eyes, reached out a hand towards the two of them, wanting to say something that never came out. Then, his right hand suddenly dropped.

"Kobayashi-senpai!!!"

Satou Kazuma pressed down hard on Kobayashi's chest, shouting anxiously, "Kobayashi-senpai!! Kobayashi-senpai!!! Aqua, look what you've done!"

At this moment, Kobayashi's consciousness was fading, and the sounds around him grew distant.

Ahhh, I'm going to see Eris again.

Wait, why did I say 'again'?

(End of Chapter)