"As the Prime Minister of Elroad kingdom, I sincerely thank Whitebeard's guild for their efforts and assistance at the time of need."

At a large hall filled with luxurious decorations, a lot of people were present today. Their looks varied from adventures to knights, but all of them were looking and listening to a man at the front. ??

"Most of you may already know, but today, His Highness Crown Prince Revi's life has been threatened because of an attack from a foul monster. If it wasn't for the noble action of Whitebeard's guild that stopped this assassination, I'm afraid that I wouldn't be standing here."

The man easily stood out from the crowd as his voice echoed throughout the hall.

"Despite his inability to come today, His Highness offers his gratitude and promises rich and handsome rewards for their noble acts for Elroad's kingdom!"

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

'Whitebeard's what?'

'Guild?'

'Hey, have you ever heard of them?'

'No, this is my first time, but I've heard they're from Belzerg...'

'Eh? Those barbarians?!'

'One of them is next to the Prime Minister...what is going on?'

Clapping sounds echoed throughout the hall as it drowned the faint whispers, but they didn't escape the ears of a young man sitting on a chair at the back.

"How.. How did this happen"

Kazuma was looking at the ceiling in a daze. His expression was a mix of tiredness and confusion.

"Don't ask me"

Misaka was by his side, covering her face. She didn't dare to show it in such a place. Listening to the puzzled whispers, she was very embarrassed.

"Ahem..."

After clearing his throat, the Prime Ministers raised his hand and the clapping noises slowed to a stop.

"I would like to present the spokesperson of Whitebeard's guild to say a word on this occasion. Would you please step forward, Miss Houraisan Kaguya?"

Few gasps were heard in the middle of the crowd as Kazuma stared at them blankly. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.

Even if you know how she acts and her devilish personality, there's no doubt that Kaguya is very beautiful. It's not an exaggeration to say that her beauty caused several conflicts across the land...because that really happened.

"Good evening, everyone. I'm the representative of Whitebeard's guild, Houraisan Kaguya. We, Whitebeard's guild, are flattered to be of assistance to the brilliant kingdom of Elroad."

Kaguya moved her head, looking at the rest of the audience.

"Fighting against the tyranny of the Demon King's army is the greatest honor and goal of our guild, so I thank everyone for understanding and I apologize for our rushed and inappropriate actions"

Kaguya bowed politely as her well-mannered actions made her in the spotlight instantly.

{Don't you have any shame?! Even lying with such a straight face...you must be kidding me.}

Is this the princess that seemed to have come from a fairy-tale story, really the Kaguya that she knows? Misaka's mind couldn't process the sudden change.

"No such thing, Miss, Houraisan. Without the effort of your guild, His Highness' life might have been in grave danger. I am in your debt."

"No such thing, Prime Minister. This is our job and duty as a guild to protect the world's safety from the Demon King's army"

{Devils...these two are devils...}

Kazuma's expression collapsed into a sigh. In his imagination, Kaguya and the Prime Minister became dark figures smiling devilishly.

{How did the previous terroristic acts escalate to this? Are they even heroes for blowing up half the royal castle and part of the Capital? If becoming heroes is so easy, then everyone should be a terrorist-}

Kazuma abruptly stopped his dangerous train of thought, shaking his head quickly.

He only remembers facing the whole army and accepting his fate because there's no way he'll clear his name easily. Not to mention, Kaguya and Whitebeard would never accept to be subjected to prison.

However, nothing happened. The stern-faced Prime Minister suddenly stopped everyone and explained to the whole public what happened. In a single moment, Kazuma saw his status jump from a terrorist to a national hero.

This was literally a royal order from the Crown Prince himself.

This was the most bizarre and nonsense social situation he had ever been in. It was like a dream, a weird one. But then, he saw that Kaguya changed position without any warning.

It was at that moment Kazuma remembered how much he hates and loves time powers now.

{How did she convince the Prime Minister of the entire kingdom?! Don't tell me she threatened him? Maybe she brainwashed him...I think I should reevaluate her degree of danger in my mind...}

The more he thought about it, the more dangerous his thoughts became. So, he stopped because he preferred to sleep peacefully tonight.

"Where are you going?"

"I need some fresh air."

Answering Misaka, Kazuma wanted to stand up and leave this party, but his steps halted soon after.

"Even if everything turned out to be alright, I can't forgive myself for such a mistake...the enemy has been in our home, not once, but twice!"

The Prime Minister took the lead again as the atmosphere of the whole party became heavy.

"Such a mistake almost cost the life of His Highness, and this is unacceptable. I know it might have been beyond our control, but this isn't a reason to ignore our mistakes...especially mine."

His face became one of sorrow and regret.

"This time it was Whitebeard's guild that saved the day. At another time, what would've happened without their assistance?"

*Gasp*

"Prime Minister..."

"Prime Minister, don't blame yourself for something you have no control of!"

The noise broke the silence in the hall as everyone was surprised by his sudden words. Their reactions varied, but most-if not all of them were out of concern and shock.

This showed how much influence the Prime Minister has in the Kingdom, but it only made Kazuma's expression collapse again.

{You can't be serious right now. Please no.}

His pleas went unanswered as the Prime Minister continued his speech in this stern atmosphere.

"Mistakes are mistakes, and I'm willing to take full punishment for my laziness. However, this isn't a reason to not learn from them! Everyone, mistakes are inevitable, but and they always teach new lessons!"

{Oh, c'mon!!}

At this rate, Kazuma is one step away from flipping the table.

If he was ignorant, then he might not react as much, but looking at all these clueless people around him listening to the Prime Minister's speech and getting emotional, he just couldn't handle it.

"Everyone, I don't doubt or question the dedication of anyone to this kingdom. But the responsibility falls on all of us. We are all an inseparable part of the Kingdom, and only if we worked together can we––"

"..."

Unable to take more nonsense for today, Kazuma took a cup of liquor and left the hall directly without looking back. He even left the shocked PikaRailGun behind.

"Some sacrifices need to be made."

Not regretting it a single bit, Kazuma found an empty balcony where he was finally able to relax.

He has to admit that the night breeze is very comforting, although he doesn't like wind that much after getting blasted several times by it in the previous fight.

"Ah, finally, I can breathe again...I almost suffocated inside..."

Resting his hands on the railing, Kazuma observed the scenery from the top of the castle. The capital was lit at this late hour at night, and people were moving in the streets with a radiating, joyful atmosphere.

It was actually a festival held for the well-being of the Crown Prince. Kazuma clicked his tongue at such a scene.

The spoiled prince opened a festival casually like it was nothing at all. Such a waste of money, even if this kingdom is known for wealth. To be honest, this kingdom is so wealthy, it evaded war with the power of money.

But then the people underneath were also talking about 'Whitebeard guild,' and Kazuma let out another sigh.

{Damn you, Kaguya. Just how did you come up with that idea? What makes it even worse is that everyone believes in it.}

Taking another look at the festival below, Kazuma wondered how his life would turn out from this point on.

Not to mention, the 'Whitebeard Guild' news has spread throughout the capital and will pretty much reach the rest of the kingdom by tomorrow.

To be honest, he doesn't need to look away. He even doubts if he could fool Aqua after this... Well, that's still debatable.

{But isn't all of this just a waste of time? We should be doing that damn mission. Hmmm, speaking of that...}

Kazuma looked at his right hand for a second. To this moment, he has no idea what happened to his Steal skill. Such a basic skill was able to affect, and even terrorize a being that wasn't affected by Whitebeard and Kaguya's attacks.

There's no doubt about the defensive ability of PE-SS-26-13287, but this defensive ability boiled down to nothing against his Steal skill. Steal literally skinned that being from its shell alive, leaving it vulnerable for Whitebeard's last attack.

After the battle, no one brought up this subject to Kazuma, probably because they didn't have time with all the guild and kingdom stuff. Despite that, he didn't see much hope of getting any answers from them.

The color of shock on their faces when Kazuma learned what Steal skill did was even more so than his. It was so sudden and absurd.

"They must be even more confused than me...well, I don't mind this new change. Time to do what every sane person will do, abusing it for benefits, I guess"

Kazuma looked at his hand as he closed and opened his fist several times, but he didn't sense anything weird.

"The hidden power in my arm..man, if this continues, I think I'll be a chunni...but I refuse!"

Shaking his head, Kazuma laughed at this nonsense slightly before an idea flashed in his head.

Out of curiosity, Kazuma opened the current source of the painful mission, the Chat Room, as a glowing white window appeared in front of him. The functions and sections revealed themselves instantly as Kazuma scrolled around.

The Chat has been pretty much dead these days because most of the members are either next to each other, or are offline. So, except for screenshotting the dark history of the chunni Angel (Leo), there isn't much to do.

Scrolling for a bit, Kazuma entered the mission section quickly as several descriptions and categories were displayed on the screen.

"Hmmm, everything is almost the same, no, wait.."

Looking at the most recent and only one mission, Kazuma lifted his eyebrow as his voice rose suddenly.

[Urgent Task:

Number of Participants: ––––

Description: ––––

Objective: ––––

Rewards: Let's talk about that later ;).

Additional Note 1: ––––

PS: Yes, Advocate of Gender Equality, you're also on the dinner menu for PE-SS-26-13287. :)

Additional Note 2: ––––

Additional Note 3 (Important): Taking into consideration of PE-SS-26-13287 condition, it's confirmed that it has already awakened two of its 'mutations'.

The previous contact with PE-SS-26-13287(Avatar), and extinguishing it has provided enough data to determine the nature of the two 'mutations'.

Mutation 1:

Augmentation (Unstable/Incomplete): Raise all the current possessed power into the possible limit allowed by the world's laws and user's body.

Because of its unstable and incomplete form, it has too many drawbacks and backlash on the body. It is impossible to raise power into the highest limit or control the output, and so has high energy consumption.

Mutation 2:

Immunity (Unstable/Incomplete): Immune to almost all outside interferences including attacks, abilities, tracking, etc... only affected by source-type powers.

Because of its unstable and incomplete form, it became partially effective and might fail occasionally if it got overwhelmed.

Additional note 5: PE-SS-26-13287's body split to conserve energy and is sent out to seek more supplements. Starve the rest of the avatars or extinguish them.

Approximated remaining avatars: 2/3

Ps: Do this and leave my world. Hey, you might also want to check what you stole from PE-SS-26-13287 before leaving, heh.]

"This...this...is this legal?! This is straight-up cheating!"

Kazuma blurred out uncontrollably from the astonishment. His thoughts were directly thrown into chaos as he couldn't calm down. How can he possibly calm down?

Despite the mission's description and notes still being the same, the absolute absurdity written in the last two notes almost gave Kazuma a heart attack. How could such a thing exist?

These 'mutations', are you sure this is the correct term? All that Kazuma could see is overpowered abilities akin to hacks and cheat codes.

{This is literally a combination of instant max-level and god mode!}

Kazuma wants to slap his past self that thought these mutations are some sort of unique traits, or some change in the enemy.

What makes this worse is that he literally was in front of this living hax. He went there and fought against this broken monster.

{Calm down, Kazuma...deep breaths, you're still one piece and nothing happened...}

Kazuma closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down.

{It's a good thing that these abilities are incomplete and unstable, or else I probably wouldn't be standing here right now..*sigh,* that World's Will, what did 'he' get us into?}

However, it all ended with a sigh.

{Damn, this was risky to the bones. No, I don't think bones will even last after this.}

Kazuma started to feel that he maybe shouldn't agree to things before he gets all the information and context about it, especially these shady missions.

{Anyway, there's no use of crying over it. It's not like I can quit now, especially after I found that I'm not completely helpless about it...}

Glancing at his empty palm once again, Kazuma considered if he should pump more skill points into Steal. After all, he got a considerable reward for dealing with that avatar.

This makes him wonder what the others got. Did they receive the same reward as him?

"For the glory of Elroad!!"

"For the glory of Elroad!!"

"For the glory of Elroad!!"

"What the.."

Kazuma was deep in his thoughts before he got startled by the huge commotion that came from the end of the hallway, to be exact the party hall.

Hearing the cries and coming to the realization that the Prime Minister's speech has done wonders, Kazuma wore his blank expression, and drank his liquor silently.

"I don't know how to feel about this..."

"What a coincidence, me too" historical

".."

".."

Kazuma lowered the liquor cup slowly and glanced at his side. Who knew when the crude wild assassin, Leone, had appeared at his side.

".."

".."

Silence dropped between these two as Kazuma maintained his expressionless face, looking at the night sky while Leone had a cheerful smile on her face.

"You...you were just thinking of throwing that cup at my face, didn't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. You should trust people more"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, I'm a very trustworthy person myself despite someone almost giving me a heart attack just now."

".."

Leone was silenced from the absurdity as Kazuma slowly rotated the cup in his hand. The option of throwing it was still in consideration, which made Leone more speechless.

"So, what are you doing here? Ruining my peaceful and tranquil moments?"

"Well, it's not like I'm rui-"

"You're ruining it."

"Bu-"

"You're still ruining it."

"..."

After getting interrupted twice, Leone stopped and raised her hands in defeat. This guy seems to be so fed up and no fun at all now.

"*Sigh* Those formal parties were never my thing, so I was exploring this castle.."

"It was alright until the speech started. Speaking of which, didn't your world have the same kind of scenario here?"

Kazuma decided to ignore the second part in Leone's words because he's pretty sure you can't just explore a royal castle casually.

"Oh, the Prime Minister. Well, yeah, that happened. But I don't know what to make of this situation here."

"Hm?"

"You see, despite that guy having this odd feeling about him, he cares about the well-being of this kingdom more than its rulers...I think he's the only one that cares about it."

"..."

Kazuma started to feel this is some ridiculous plot twist of some sort, but nothing good comes from too many questions, so he shrugged it off.

"Anyways, can you leave? I'm trying to enjoy a calm and peaceful moment...don't ruin it for me with your shenanigans. Go and get arrested away from me. I'm a model citizen now, and I'd like it to stay that way."

Kazuma waved his hand like he's trying to shoo away a stray cat.

"*Sigh* It can't be helped..."

Leone leaned her back on the railing before she sighed, and started talking with a troubled expression.

"Too bad I'm here, and why are you distancing yourself? Don't forget, we're 'Whitebeard Guild' now. Our actions are reflected on all of us right now, it can't be helped at all. If I were to do something crazy to the kingdom vault, what do you think would happen?"

"..."

In complete silence, Kazuma took a sip of the liquor without looking at Leone, as if he couldn't hear her at all. This is just a figment of his imagination; this liquor is so strong that it made him hallucinate from just a sip.

"Avoiding it is also an option, but what would Whitebeard think of this? Abandoning your friends and guild this easily...he'll probably have to teach you about the importance of family and friends again...and to be frank, I prefer to avoid it if I were you. Whitebeard mainly use the 'Iron Fist of Love' as his favorite method."

".."

Lowering the cup again, Kazuma continued to look at the night sky, but the strength he's using to hold the cup increased. Leone even heard a squeezing sound like the cup is on the verge of breaking.

Kazuma sighed a little before he raised his right hand. Opening and closing his fist for a moment, he instantly turned towards Leone.

"STEEEEEAAAL!"

The light of the skill flashed, but Leone already jumped to the next balcony behind Kazuma, avoiding the skill completely.

"Good try, but you shouldn't reveal your intent if you want to perform a good sneak attack. Well, gotta go explore the castle, see ya later!"

Leone vanished inside the castle as quickly as she could when Kazuma's hand shone with the skill's light again.

"Do you think this is over? You started this, and the war will never end until you understand the horror of my Steal!"

Despite giving some cliché villain promises, Kazuma returned to the balcony railing instantly to drink his worries away. Who has the energy to chase after that crude woman anyway?

{Might as well do something useful and read the mission for more information...}

Looking at the note that basically says that he's food in the eyes of PE-SS-26-13287, Kazuma's lips twitched before he read the last note.

"Hahaha, funny, didn't laugh..."

The last note didn't change much, except that it was clearly hinting at the previous Steal Kazuma did. His Steal took that metallic substance before he tossed it directly inside the Chat Room's empty space loophole.

Although Kazuma has several reasons to not trust anything from these notes, he also has several reasons to trust them. This situation of lacking information is very troubling...but who knows, maybe that thing is a legendary loot that dropped from that monster. After all, a broken monster like that has to drop something good.

"But first, I need something to put that metallic...substance."

Putting his hand on his chin, Kazuma looked around only to see the cup in his hand and a vase near him. It looked expensive and very antic, probably won't be good to use it.

"..."

A quick thought about consequences passed quickly as Kazuma poured the rest of the liquor inside the vase before he opened the Chat Room space. The small amount of the metallic substance poured from Kazuma's empty palm and into the cup smoothly.

At night, the substance was like light itself moving inside the cup. Kazuma thought it wasn't completely wrong to mistake PE-SS-26-13287's attacks to light flashes during the battle.

*Ding!*

Suddenly, a small ping sounded in Kazuma's head when he was observing the weird substance. A weird shade extended from the metallic substance as a window popped in front of his face without any warning.

[

Self Steel:

Description: A specially made steel; combining both organic and inanimate material, the result of research done by a World's Will.

This Self Steel is cast by several exotic materials that act on preserving thoughts and selves inside. But it, in fact, could also count as a cursed material that seals and traps any being's self in order to preserve certain qualities about them.

Because of its nature, this steel is specifically made and used to preserve the 'talents' of some special individuals that reside inside themselves, even against their own will.

Usage: Seal and chain selves (Ineffective)

Current Preserved 'Talent': Immunity (Unstable/Incomplete)

Immunity (Unstable/Incomplete):

Immune to almost all outside interferences including attacks, abilities, tracking, etc...

Only affected by source types powers and abilities with similar nature like other 'talents'.

Because of the unstable and incomplete form, it became partially effective and might fail occasionally if overwhelmed.

Ps: A continuation of a certain series of projects labeled as Project Essence and categorized as PE-SS (Project Essence-Self Steel). It's one of many.

]

"PE-SS.."

Without blinking, Kazuma stood in place without moving. The window began to vanish slowly until it disappeared, but he couldn't care less. He was just out of words right now.

What, who, when, where, why, and how? Even the six types of questions weren't able to fit all the questions in Kazuma's head right now.

Well, his prediction wasn't wrong. He got some loot from PE-SS-26-13287, some serious type of loot...more serious than he ever thought. He kinda hoped his prediction was wrong now.

He tried to get this straight. This thing is made by a World's Will, not an Outer God, but a World's Will, and it's a super cursed thing from the description. Also, it's probably the strongest material that can exist ever because of the 'Talent'.

{Hold on...why is the mission is calling it 'mutation,' and the item description call it 'talent?'}

"Eh? It doesn't work anymore?"

Kazuma tried to call the description window again, but it didn't work at all. The Chat Room isn't recognizing the Self Steel as an item anymore.

"Is this a one-time thing?"

Giving up after several tries, Kazuma sighed, scratching his head before he turned his attention to the Chat Room.

"..."

Putting the Self Steel back in the Chat Room and far away from him, Kazuma took a deep breath before typing in the chat.

[Advocate of Gender Equality: @Everyone, I might have a big problem here. But first, I didn't do anything and it isn't my fault!]

[NEET Princess: Didn't we turn the ping off?! Oh, it's an emergency...hmmm]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: What do you mean by 'hmmm?' This is really an emergency!

[NEET Princess: I'm not questioning the emergency. I'm doubting that it wasn't your fault]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: ..]

[Bri-Bri: So, what is this emergency? I don't see explosions or Kazuma running around and screaming]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: ..]

Kazuma has never been offended by something he completely agrees with. He'll totally run and scream if that happens.

[Advocate of Gender Equality: You know what? I don't care, moving on]

[Bri-Bri: Just say what happened]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: Nah, it was a dumb thing. If you want, you can figure it yourself, I'm just busy running and screaming]

[Bri-Bri: -_-]

[NEET Princess: Save it. I want to ask if you want to continue the mission now or go tomorrow morning.]

[The Strongest Man In The World: Better to attack when we still have the advantage. Those things are already difficult to deal with, no telling what would happen if they got more time. Apparently, they also targeting what you call 'plot characters?]

[Big Sister Lion: Eh? I was just exploring this castle. Fine, let's go now]

[A Hero For Fun:.. Can I join?]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: Why are you even asking to go tomorrow? I guess it's always better to finish this mission as quickly as possible and get done with it]

[NEET Princess: I'm taking you, who has a normal mortal body, into consideration. Do you think you have infinite energy or monstrous endurance?]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: Fair enough]

[Bri-Bri: I mostly controlled magnetism for today. It didn't affect my calculation power a lot, except the efforts to control it very precisely to not hurt someone]

[Big Sister Lion: Well, everything worked out in the end]

[Bri-Bri: -_-]

[NEET Princess: Then it's settled]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: @A Hero For Fun, what did you just say?]

Kazuma rubbed his eyes several times when he saw the new message. Is he hallucinating again because of the shocking information he got?

[A Hero For Fun: Can I join?]

{IT WASN'T AN ILLUSION!!}

Kazuma's eyes shone brightly as he typed quickly.

[Advocate of Gender Equality: What?! Why?! No, I mean, why now?]

[A Hero For Fun: Bored, and you guys seems to be fighting something strong]

"..."

Looking at the simple reason, Kazuma looked at the sky as a small smile surfaced on his face before he typed his best message so far.

[Advocate of Gender Equality: PLEASE! This humble one is humbly asking for your assistance; I'll even buy you a ticket for travel. Just come punch those things away! PLEASE!]

[The Strongest Man In The World:..]

[Big Sister Lion: Seriously?]

[Bri-Bri: I have nothing to say]

[NEET Princess: Don't you have shame?]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: Shut up! I'm tired of these goddamn broken monsters in this goddamn world! The most efficient way to defeat cheats is to use higher forms of cheating! Fighting hax with hax!]

[A Hero For Fun: ...]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: Wait for a sec, I'll buy it now]

[A Hero For Fun: Um, no need. I already bought one]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: Eh? You did, then what are you waiting for?]

[A Hero For Fun: The thing is I'm...banned?]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: Pardon?]

[A Hero For Fun: *Ban notification.jpeg*]

Saving time for explanation, Saitama directly sends a picture of the result he got when he tried to use the Chat Room to travel to Konosuba's world.

It was a simple picture of the Chat Room's screen, but there was a red window with a stop sign and a small dialogue that said: You shall not pass :).

[Advocate of Gender Equality:..]

Witnessing the worst possible scenario, Kazuma froze in his place as his anticipation vanished a bit by bit.

[NEET Princess: WHEEEZEE!!]

[The Strongest Man In The World: GUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!]

[Bri-Bri: This is the second time this happened, huh?]

[Advocate of Gender Equality:..]

[Big Sister Lion: I see someone's hopes and dreams crumbling in a moment, and I'm all for it]

{Why are we still here, just to suffer...?}

Kazuma lowered his head as he felt his past hopes were only a lie. Why can't they have the cheating one-punch man? The enemy is clearly using cheats. This World's Will is biased!

[NEET Princess: Hmm, this just happened. Anyway, let me finish something quickly and go meet at the palace's gate. The goal is the wilderness of Belzerg Kingdom, between the Capital and overlapping borders of the Demon's king territory!]

[NEET Princess: Oh, by the way, if you meet the Prime Minister, remember that I'm currently an Arch Devil that can control time and you are my allies]

[Bri-Bri: Huh?!]

[Advocate of Gender Equality: Excuse me, what?!]

Without any objections, the new goal has been set for tonight, taki-->>

next page