The legend of the Crimson Demon clan started from Suqing

This trip was far more exhausting than imagined. Not only did I have to fight against Gods who wouldn't submit, but also God Slayers. On top of that, I received guidance from the Martial Arts King and became sworn siblings with him.

I was truly exhausted, both physically and mentally.

But it was all worth it, because this was the foundation for Zun-zun's great undertaking, a necessary step in honing himself, so he had no complaints.

However, if there could be a little leisure time, that wouldn't be a bad thing either.

Having said so much.

The truth is, Zun-zun missed his companions.

"This should be the place I left from, right?"

Zun-zun looked around. The desolate wilderness didn't hold anything special. In his memory, he always seemed to return to the same spot? But he didn't see Kazuma Satou, Iris, or anyone else.

That's right, Iris is, after all, a princess of a kingdom, and she has the task of reporting the support money to the kingdom, so how could she possibly stay here?

Kazuma Satou and the others probably escorted Iris and chose to leave.

Thinking of this, Zun-zun felt a pang of melancholy.

He understood that Iris had a much higher priority than him, but to just abandon him like this, wasn't that a little unkind?

I've decided!

When I get back, I'm going to complain properly!

No matter what, I should leave some information behind, right?

"—Teleport!"

With a snap of his fingers, Zun-zun disappeared from the spot.

Axel was as noisy as ever. It really felt great to be home, except that he was accidentally spotted by Cecily on his return, which started a chase.

That woman's obsession with him was terrifying. If he got caught, he would definitely be ravaged, so Zun-zun ran without even thinking, and it took him a lot of effort to shake her off.

By the time he got back to the mansion, it was already approaching evening.

"—I'm back!"

Hmm?

Opening the door, there was no 'Welcome back' as he expected. The room was quiet, as if no one was home.

"Could they have gone out? Or haven't they returned yet?"

He quickly walked towards the living room.

Opening the door, he saw a figure with a deep blue back.

"Aqua?" Zun-zun was slightly stunned when he saw her, then complained: "If you're here, you should at least respond. If I don't hear 'Welcome back' after being away for so long, I'll feel lonely! ...What are you doing?"

Aqua didn't respond to him.

The idiot goddess, with her back to him, seemed to be using magic to heal someone lying on the sofa.

Zun-zun didn't disturb her.

After a long while.

The light of the healing magic dissipated, and Aqua sighed, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Phew... that should do it for now. I'll give her a recovery magic again in half an hour. Oh, Zun-zun? Welcome back."

"I'm back... What are you doing?"

"Healing."

No, Zun-zun understood that, of course. After all, besides healing, purification, and party tricks, the idiot goddess wasn't good at anything else. The latter two weren't used at home, so no matter how you thought about it, it was the former, right?

Perhaps sensing what Zun-zun really wanted to ask, Aqua suddenly realized: "Actually, I'm healing someone else... Darkness's daughter."

WTF!?

Seeing the little girl on the sofa—that same long golden hair, and an appearance almost identical to Darkness, a miniature Darkness—Zun-zun was completely stunned.

How many years have I been gone!?

The Demon King couldn't have been defeated already, right?

That's right, while I was gone, time was passing in other worlds. There's no reason why time wouldn't pass in this world too.

It's just that I didn't expect that after only 3 months in another world, Darkness would already have a child, and one so big.

"Congratulations."

"...Eh?"

Zun-zun and Aqua looked at each other, dumbfounded.

— — — —

"Is that guy really a high-ranking demon? Why is he wearing a penguin suit?"

"That's what I'm saying."

"...So embarrassing."

"That's what I'm saying."

Darkness and Kazuma Satou looked back at Count Sereshult's castle with different expressions. Megumin and Yunyun also looked helpless.

"It's all Darkness's fault! Do you even have any motivation!?"

"I-I'm sorry!"

Darkness, who was being scolded by Kazuma Satou, apologized quickly. The reason they came here was because of Darkness's daughter... No, it should be Darkness's cousin.

(Because Darkness had always taken care of her like a mother when she was little, Darkness's cousin had subconsciously called her 'Mom' for a long time.)

Getting back to the topic.

Darkness's cousin was poisoned for some reason, and to make the antidote, they needed five ingredients: leek from a Kamo Duck, mandrake root, a ghost's tears, and a nail from a high-ranking demon.

The first few could be found as long as you had money, but the last one—a nail from a high-ranking demon—was very difficult to find. However, with Vanir's intelligence support, they came to the castle of Count Sereshult, who was known as Cruel Duke.

But—

"Being pinned down by a goblin army and unable to move, scaring off many orc males with your female knight profession, modified slime and rope monsters can't do anything to you, and even when they personally try..."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Looking at the perverted female knight who had shrunk herself into a ball, Kazuma Satou sighed helplessly.

That demon didn't really want to hurt them. After all, what demons liked most was negative emotions. Everything he did was to make Darkness feel humiliated, regretful, unwilling, etc. However, this perverted female knight was excited and enjoyed it the whole time.

Although Darkness was pretending, emotions couldn't be faked, so naturally, she couldn't fool that high-ranking demon.

The demon, unable to get any negative emotions, left looking unhappy, and his fingernail naturally went with him.

"Alright, alright, don't blame Darkness."

Megumin couldn't help but plead for her.

Darkness's nature was just this perverted, so what could they do?

"But what should we do now?" Yunyun said with a worried look: "If we don't get the high-ranking demon's fingernail soon, Miss Sheffina, Darkness's cousin, will...!".

"That's right, it's all someone's fault!"

Kazuma Satou knew that blaming Darkness was useless, but he couldn't help it. Then, he looked at the impregnable castle, and a sinister and strange smile rose at the corner of his mouth.

"Ah, it seems like Kazuma already has a trick up his sleeve."

"Whenever Kazuma-san shows that expression, you know he's definitely up to no good."

"After all, he's a devilish scum."

"—Enough!"

Being continuously belittled by his companions, even the thick-skinned Kazuma Satou almost couldn't hold it in anymore. Besides, whose fault was it that things turned out this way? If Darkness had produced feelings of shame and indignation, why would he have to take action?

"So, what are you planning to do, Kazuma?"

"Of course, we're going to infiltrate!"

Just like what he did at the royal palace!

Then, time came to the evening. Even though it was already night, the castle was brighter than when they came during the day, and the aura of monsters could be felt everywhere.

He was a little confused in his heart.

As far as he knew, Sereshult liked to raise monsters, but he shouldn't have allowed the monsters to move around in the castle... Well, never mind that for now, they had to avoid fighting as much as possible.

Kazuma Satou used his stealth skill and enemy detection to lead the way, and with his own super-high luck, they finally arrived at Sereshult's room.

After passing through a passage decorated quite evilly, at the end was a door that felt very heavy and was painted black.

Then, he forcefully opened the door and stormed into the room!

"Welcome, intruders! You certainly know what this place is, right? Hehe, mysterious intruders whom I've never met..."

As if he had expected Kazuma Satou to return, welcoming them was Count Sereshult, dressed neatly and waiting in the room.

"Blacker than black, darker than darkness, let the jet-black entrust my crimson golden light..."

"Wait a minute! What are you trying to do, Megumin? Are you going to destroy this whole place? We only need a small piece of fingernail, don't use Explosion magic!"

"D-don't stop me!"

Just as Megumin was about to decide the outcome with one move, Yunyun quickly stopped her.

"Darkness!"

"I know, leave it to me!"

Kazuma Satou commanded the strongest crusader in the party, who quickly rushed towards the opponent. Seemingly not expecting her to use this suicidal attack, Sereshult in the penguin suit was instantly pinned to the ground.

"Darkness, hold him down tightly. Bind!"

"—What!?"

Kazuma Satou suddenly used the Bind skill, binding Darkness and the penguin demon together.

"Kazuma, what are you planning to do!? To even bind me together, how wonderful!"

"Why are you so excited, you're really weird! Also, quick, let me go!"

Just as the two were struggling, Kazuma Satou took out a dagger and stabbed it fiercely into the penguin suit.

No scream came.

Sereshult, as if mocking him, scolded: "Idiot! I'm a demon, an ordinary dagger won't work on me!"

"Of course I know that, so, what comes next is the main event!"

With an evil smile on his face, Kazuma Satou took out a small bottle from his arms and said: "This is the broth that Aqua brewed. Here, this is a return gift for the daytime!"

Having said that, he poured Aqua's water into the hole pierced by the dagger.

"Wait, no! What is this? My body is being scorched! It hurts! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

The penguin-suited demon let out a pig-like scream.

(Count Sereshult)

— — — —

"Count Sereshult, are you alright?"

"Don't worry, don't worry, he didn't do anything bad, how could we possibly destroy him?"

Like Wiz, Vanir, Wolbach, and Eris, they were all very kind undead living in the town. As long as they didn't have a bad influence on ordinary people, they wouldn't really take action.

"What's important is to quickly take the fingernail back."

"That's right!"

Now Sheffina could finally—

When they excitedly opened the mansion door, what came into view was Sheffina, full of smiles, in Zun-zun's arms. Her rosy cheeks showed that she was healthy, and when she saw Darkness, she said something shocking:

"Mommy, I want Zun-zun to be my daddy!"

"...Eh!?" x N

Including Zun-zun himself, everyone was stunned on the spot.