The Protagonist System

116 Revelations

Selene left us in her office as she went to try and find someone to babysit us as we did quests. It was both insulting and demeaning to have to rely on someone else's good will for something like that, especially for me. I was used to handling things myself and I used to be powerful enough to back that up. Now? I was the shmoe of shmoes, even with my armor as a crutch.

“It's going to be okay.” Wiz consoled me and patted my shoulder.

I sighed and leaned against her slightly. “I'm sorry I can't take the armor off to hug you properly.”

Wiz smiled and gave me a quick kiss. “It's okay. We can make up for that tonight.”

“Assuming the manager doesn't find someone and we stay here for another night.” Megumin said.

“We could go to an inn or something instead.” Cremea offered after a few minutes of silence.

I shook my head. “Only a fool would give up Selene's protection without good reason.”

“I'm glad you understand that.” Selene said as she entered the office again. She didn't walk by us to go to her desk, so the news was either really good or really bad. “I'm sorry I couldn't find anyone that was willing to share with someone that has such a low level.”

Bad it was. I thought and didn't voice it as I tried to not let my emotions show on my face.

“What do we do now?” Fio asked as Cremea hugged her to comfort her. “All of our plans are ruined.”

“I don't know.” I told her. “I honestly don't know. Nothing is working out like it usually does.”

Wiz caught her breath and we all turned to look at her.

“What is it?” I asked her.

Wiz blushed a little at all the attention. “Well, I... I just... I think I know what's wrong.”

“What is it?” Megumin asked.

Wiz looked up into my eyes. “Kazuma... after what you went through... you... you are no longer favoured by the gods and goddesses.”

Everyone in the room gasped, even Selene.

“N-n-no, that... that can't be true.” Darkness whispered. “My goddess Eris likes him. I can feel it.”

Wiz shook her head. “Liking someone doesn't mean you have their favour.” She said and reached up to slip her hand inside my helm to cup my cheek. “She has returned you to us; but, she may have damned you as well.”

I opened my mouth to tell her she was wrong, then thought about it. Even Fate herself said she couldn't directly interfere after the system had been threatened by the Head Succubus, and now that system was unavailable because it was being worked on to fix the damage done to it by Eris when she stopped me from moving on to the next world.

Something must have shown on my face because I was suddenly surrounded by my party members and Wiz gave me a tender kiss that was full of love and understanding. Of everyone there, she alone fully understood being damned by the gods and goddesses. She had been cursed as an undead Lich for years until I saved her.

Selene stood there and watched us with eyes that seemed to see more than was there, or at least I hoped so. I doubted that I could do anything to her to stop her if she tried something I didn't like. Well, not without dying again, anyway. I did have a pile of old military weapons from the Familiar of Zero world sitting in a backpack in my inventory and I was sure most of the grenades still worked.

“I think I've changed my mind.” Selene said and I fought off the dread that tried to fill my heart. “I know the importance of your mission, Kazuma. If you have lost the favour of the very beings that gave you the mission, then you're going to need as much help as possible to achieve it.”

Before I could ask if she was going to order someone to accompany us, she smiled knowingly.

“I'm due to book off a few vacation days. If you can wait for a day or two for me to get things in order, I will guide you through the first few levels of the dungeon until your level is high enough that you can continue on your own.” Selene said and then raised a hand to stop anyone from asking questions. “That's the most I can offer without severely hampering the entire guild's operations.”

I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, because I knew her time was very valuable. I took one of the trunks out of my inventory and opened it, making Selene catch her breath at what was inside. Piles and piles of money. It took me a good fifteen minutes to dig out what I wanted and made sure to count a good portion of it to let her know it was all there.

“I hope that one million Eris is an appropriate fee for three days of your time.” I said and saw the approval on the faces of my party. Offering compensation was the right call, apparently. I closed the trunk and stored it again, leaving the piles of gold coins on the floor.

Selene just stared at it for several seconds before she nodded. A snap of her fingers had several workers enter the office with large bags and they gathered it all up in record time. She whispered instructions to Erika and she nodded eagerly and motioned for us to follow her. We left the office and went back to the guest rooms to wait, since Selene clearly needed us out of the way to get back to work.

Our meals were delivered to the room, probably so we wouldn't potentially cause another incident in the guild hall's main area. That was fine. It gave me more time to spend with my party and they all enjoyed the endless snacks I could provide.

*

Two days later, we were all geared up and ready to go. We also had a huge problem. Someone had stolen our carriage. By someone, I meant Dust and his party, because they were nowhere to be found. At least they didn't try and hurt the horses that had been stored at the nearby stable.

“If you will excuse me for a few minutes, I need to return to the guild hall.” Selene said, her voice deadly. “No one is allowed to steal from those under my protection. That it was an expanded magical carriage filled with valuable goods just adds insult to injury.” Her hand touched my armored arm. “Don't worry, they will pay dearly for what they've done.”

I nodded and she walked away with only a slight sway to her hips. Was it her armor restricting her or was she that determined to find Dust and his party?

“Should we find another carriage?” Wiz asked, a little unsure.

“It's going to be a tight fit, because I don't have the magic available to enchant even a basic expansion charm right now.” I said without sighing and turned to face each of the women around me. “I sincerely apologize that they got away with all your things. I just hope they didn't sell everything before they left.”

I was hugged multiple times and told it wasn't my fault, even though it was. We should have left a guard or something to keep an eye on them and now we didn't even know how big of a head start they had after they escaped. After two or three days, they could be anywhere.

“I think the wagon place is over that way.” Cremea said and pointed off to the left.

“Help me find a good sized one, hopefully with a top, and I'll spend some time adding featherlight runes to it while we wait for Selene.” I said and we moved off in the direction Cremea said to go.

“Selene said she would only be a few minutes.” Darkness pointed out.

I had to chuckle at that. “I've spent time with women before, my dear Darkness. When they say 'a few minutes', they really mean it will be at least half an hour.”

Not surprisingly, none of the women around me objected to my words. They all knew it was true.

*

Chris watched as Kazuma and his party hunted for a new carriage. She felt really guilty about that and thought about finally revealing herself and talking to Darkness, only she felt a shiver go up her spine and heard a whispered prayer.

Goddess Eris, please help my dearest Kazuma. He has been cursed by the gods and goddesses after you graced him with life and returned him to my embrace. He is suffering and I don't know what to do. Please, please, please! I beg you! Help and guide me down the right path! I promise to make a donation at the nearest church as soon as I can. I am your humble worshipper, Lalatina Dustiness.

Chris let the shiver go back down her spine and she thought about how best to do that. Everything else she tried had backfired spectacularly and then what Darkness said registered in her mind. She caught her breath at what that would mean and looked up into the sky with a silent inquiry.

Unfortunately, there was no response, which meant Darkness was only partially right. Kazuma wasn't cursed by them, because he was being completely ignored instead. It definitely explained how her own luck had twisted in on itself, because she wasn't allowed to affect anything that dealt with Kazuma. She did not wonder how they knew she was acting through her human avatar, because it didn't matter.

Her actions would be thwarted, no matter what she tried. That meant she couldn't help Kazuma, even indirectly through Darkness. It saddened Chris that all of her efforts were for naught and the urgent and sincere prayers of one of her most fervent worshippers would remain unanswered and unfulfilled.

Chris gave Kazuma's party one last longing look, her eyes lingering on her friend Darkness for a bit longer than a normal friendship would allow, then she dropped her head and slipped away as her heart broke a little. Not being anywhere near them was the only way for her to help them now.

*

I managed to lighten the canvas covered wagon significantly by the time Selene returned. She also had two armored guards with her. She asked what the carriage looked like and I easily produced a piece of paper and used magic to put an image of it on the surface. I also added smaller pictures of the interior and of my party's things.

“Check the stalls, businesses, and less reputable parts of the city for everything.” Selene said and handed the paper to the guards. “I want the city scoured and everyone involved drawn and quartered if they don't cooperate. Do you understand?”

“Yes, manager. No mercy for assassins, bandits, and thieves.” One of them said. They both saluted her and then trotted off with the sounds of clinking armor.

“Thank you, manager.” I said, my voice full of sincerity. “I mean that. Thank you.”

“It's the least I could do. If I went myself...” Selene shook her head.

“There's no better kill than overkill.” I joked and she softly laughed. “I'd like to apologize for my behavior as well. I was being an ass and you were just trying to help.”

Selene smiled. “You were right as well. I should have asked to perform triage on you. If I had, we wouldn't be here right now.”

“We would have handed Dust and his party over to the guild right after arriving if we hadn't been distracted.” Megumin said. “At least we removed that defunct headhunter quest from the quest boards.”

“With the method of payment dead, the quest should have been automatically cancelled.” Selene said. “It seems I have a few mandates to send out to the other guild halls across the country.”

I kept my mouth shut, mostly because I didn't want to anger the only person not in my party that was willing to help me in my quest to save the world. I just hoped staying quiet didn't bite me in the ass later.

We attached the two horses and Selene admired them for both their prowess and their speed. The horses preened under her praise and looked proud, making the guild manager chuckle and she patted their necks before she climbed up into the driver's seat. I gave her a look and she didn't say anything and held her hand out for the reins.

With a sigh, I handed them to her and sat beside her as Wiz, Darkness, Megumin, Cremea, and Fio climbed into the back onto the padded benches. I didn't have time to change anything besides adding the cushions and wouldn't until we stopped near the dungeon. It would be dark when we arrived and Selene warned us that nighttime was the worst time to enter the active dungeon. We would camp for the night and enter in the morning.

Without a bed or somewhere safe for me to remove my armor, there would be no cuddling or anything for me. The odd look on Selene's face told me that she understood our problem and she slipped into the heated sleeping bag I gave her and she let out a contented sigh. I stayed up for first shift watching the alert wards and the others tucked into their own sleeping bags and quickly fell asleep.

It was a long four hours as I tried to level up some easy skills that didn't require a lot of movement or magic. Honestly, it was pathetic. The armor's crutch pretty much stopped me from making any easy gains and I had to work that much harder to get even a few levels in fighting with a weapon and fighting without.

When it was time, I put my sword away and woke Selene. She would finish the next four hours on watch and then we would enter the dungeon. After my performance, I was sure it was going to be a lot of me standing there and watching everyone else fighting on my behalf, and that was going to suck.

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