Power Corrupts: The Dark Heart of Darkness (ch. 77) (Patreon)

"Please! Please! Please! Pleaepleaseplease!" Megumin begged, dragging behind me as she clutched the back of my shirt. I really regretted giving her that mana potion for more reasons than one. Her begging was pretty annoying, but that wasn't the main reason. It was mostly because I realized how this was going to play out.

The plan was to keep away from the canon party. For the most part, they were dead weight. The best worst girls in anime. However, not all worst best girls were created equal. Aqua was dumb, but I didn’t have Kazuma bring her here just to make her suffer. With the right skills and spells, along with an auto-cast, Aqua could be decent. Great even, if she wasn’t herself. Megumin was a one-shot glass cannon, but if I could give her more shots? Then she was also pretty decent.

Knowing her, she'd guzzle the potions I have her all at once. Rather than saving them for the Demon King. Meaning someone had to control her mana potion intake. Option one was Aqua -- who was dumb enough to be tricked, drink then herself, or purify them on accident and rendering them useless. Option two was Kazuma. He was better, but not by much. He was absolutely the type that would try to leverage sexual favors and Megumin was worryingly addicted to explosion Magic, so she just might go through with it.

That being said, Kazuma did respect the age of consent, so I might be worrying about nothing.

"PLEASE! I'll do anything! Please!" Megumin shouted, dragging her heels in an attempt to slow me down. The only thing she managed was to stretch out my shirt. People looked on at us, "Anything you can imagine! I'll do it!"

Then came the whispers.

"What is that man doing with that child?"

"By anything, does she mean…?"

"That brute!"

"I know him! He's the demonic fellow! He just tosses people around and I heard he kicked out the Super Legendary Rookie Kazuma for being in love with him!" That last guy was just shouting.

It spurred others on, though.

"Despicable."

"He really is a demon!"

"He rejects Kazuma then goes after a child? I should complain to the Guild!"

I sighed, walking on without a care. I knew it was coming. I saw it coming from a mile away, which is why I just sighed louder when I heard Megumin take in a deep breath.

"Just let me join your party and I'll enact whatever depraved fantasies you have! Please just don't throw me away after using me like that!" Megumin shouted at the top of her lungs and I could only imagine what the rumor mill was going to do with that. I hadn't been in the city for more than a week and people already treated me like the Demon King.

But… I didn't care.

Death put things into perspective. So did being King.

I couldn't care less what this city thought of me. I honestly couldn't even if I tried. Their opinions were worthless. Simply because they didn't matter. They played no role in defeating the Demon King. They wouldn't be rushing to the front lines to fight the good fight. They wouldn't contribute anything more than their good wishes for their chosen hero, and calls of good luck were worthless on the battlefield.

The only reason I would care about their opinion was if it was about Kazuma, who was driven by the desire for approval from others. So long as they were cheering his name, I couldn't care less about what they said about me. Hate me, love me -- I was so far past the point of caring.

That being said, Megumin needed to learn a lesson. "Oh?" I came to a stop, raising my voice so absolutely everyone could hear me. "Whatever depraved fantasy I have?" As I spoke, I slowly turned around, looking down at Megumin, who looked at me with an expression similar to that of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Fitting, I suppose. "What if I want to strip you naked and force you to crawl on all fours through the city for everyone to see?"

The crowd sputtered, but I didn't care. Megumin looked stricken, she couldn't be more shocked if I had cocked slapped her for good measure. Her face turned beet red, her grip on my shirt lessening as she staggered back.

"No? Then be more careful with your words," I said, resuming my walk. I heard Megumin scream silently in frustration, stamping her feet. With my expanded vision, I saw her grab the brim of her hat with white knuckles. There. That should do it. She really needed to be more careful with stuff like that. Leaving herself helpless with total strangers, and now saying stuff like that in public in a vain attempt to shame me-

"FINE!" Megumin roared with the same passion as a warcry before she flung her hat to the ground. I froze midstep, my jaw going slack when her hands went to the hemline of her dress. "IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES!"

I pivoted, lunging for her and grabbing her dress before she could rip it off. "Stop it, you idiot! What in the hell do you think you're doing?!" I shouted, keeping her dress in place, then the same with her when she tried to escape through the bottom while fighting my hands.

"I'm getting naked just like you told me to, you shameless bastard!" There was a wild look in her eyes as they gleamed bright red. "I said I'd do whatever it took! I want to join your party! If it's for Explosion Magic, I'll do anything!"

I wasn't someone that got embarrassed easily anymore, but I felt a blush creep up my neck. "Just stop!" I felt like a total asshole now. I mean, I knew I was one, but that didn't mean I enjoyed feeling like one.

"Then let me join your party or I'm going to strip naked in the city and there's nothing you can do about it! I'll wear a collar! I'll bark like a dog!" She raged, pulling back so hard that her dress threatened to tear in my grip. I heard the terrible sound of threads popping, making my heart drop like a stone down to my feet.

"Fine! You can join! Fuck," I cursed and I only realized my mistake when Megumin immediately stopped struggling. Her eyes met mine.

Then she smirked.

The sheer aura of smugness that radiated from her was impressive. It rivaled Aqua. To that… fair enough, I could admit to myself. She caught me in a bluff. I could respect that. Megumin 1, Jericho 0.

"I can't believe you would say something so shameless to drive me away! People are going to talk about you, you know?" Megumin pointed out as she skipped alongside me, taking two steps for every one of mine. To prove her point, I could feel the death glares being thrown my way, but that was it. Which is why I couldn't bring myself to care about their opinions.

They had it all wrong, but from their perspective, I was taking advantage of Megumin. I wasn't sure how old she was exactly, but she was clearly on the young side. Yet, none of them were doing anything other than giving me dirty looks and muttering under their breaths. That was it. No one took any action.

"Talk is all they'll do," I dismissed, uncaring. I was probably being too harsh on them. If they had already heard of me, then they knew I was a high-level Adventurer with insane stats. As far as they knew, stepping up was a death sentence. Still, that felt like a pretty shallow reason to just let me do whatever I wanted. Ever since I left Skyrim, I've thought about my time there. Just thinking about everything I did now that I didn't have a deadline for the apocalypse hanging over my head.

In the end, from a purely objective point of view, I shouldn't have bothered to save the Holds. I should have just let them all burn down to their problems. I should have let Falkreath starve and be razed by orcs. I should have let Markarth be sacked by the Forsworn during the party Sanguine threw, and let a city's worth of people be butchered. I shouldn't have gotten involved in Riften or Winterhold politics, and just let Azura fail at being Jarl and let the civil war start.

Purely objectively, I should have just let it all burn while I focused purely on growing stronger. Grinding stats, making enchantments and potions. That's it. However, I had thought the battle was beyond me, so I had looked for help from Skyrim. I had received some. Just not as much as had been promised.

I really didn't believe in the objective viewpoint. It's easy to think that you could just write off tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of lives. I don't think I did the wrong thing in Skyrim. But, I could admit, I didn't do the smart thing.

And, looking at the people that just let us walk by when they thought I was sexually exploiting Megumin… honestly, I'm not sure if I would be so eager to make that mistake again. I don’t think I had it in me to just walk away from a bad situation when people’s lives were on the line, but I was done expecting anything from people.

"I can't wait to go on quests~! I can't wait to explode the Demon King! I should start practicing my speech!" Megumin gasped with absolute delight, her wide-brimmed hat blocking my view of her face, but I could hear the smile in her voice. At least one of us was enjoying ourselves.

"You need to work on your explanation for how Explosion Magic works before you start trying to take on the Demon King," I rebuked, my words sounding like that did some critical damage based on the ‘oof’ that escaped Megumin. I gave Megumin three tries to teach me Explosion Magic. Each time, she expanded on the importance of flair and chunni speeches, while details on the actual magic was rather light. According to her, I just had to feel the Explosion Magic deep inside of me and bring it forth.

"I can't reach those that don't want to be taught!" Megumin returned, looking up at me. "I have you a perfectly good explanation! It's not my fault that you can't understand it! The fault lies with the student!"

I just sighed as we kept walking. "Whatever. I'm pretty sure Wiz knows Explosion Magic, so I'll just ask her." To that, Megumin sputtered, looking like she was about to erupt.

"You'll abandon your teacher so easily?!" She protested.

"Yup. I'd drop you like a rock," I agreed, offering a confirming nod. My gaze drifted as we walked down the street. It seemed that the rumor mill was already making the rounds because we were about a block down, but I was still getting dirty looks. Oh-

Or… not, I thought to myself as my gaze landed on a woman. Her blonde hair was done up in a ponytail, with her bangs secured with a hairpin. Pearl white armor protected her chest and shoulders, with one shoulder pad being a set of angelic wings. Her stomach, arms, and most of her legs were mostly left unprotected but covered by a yellow and white tabard with grieves stitched into the tabard, while her arms were covered by black sleeves from an undersuit. Her baby blue eyes met mine and I could see…

Lust.

There was no mistaking her. Darkness the Crusader.

I looked away sharply and continued onward. Unlike Aqua and Megumin, that girl was absolutely hopeless. Aqua, once she gained the appropriate skills, would turn out halfway decent. Her low stats could be buffed up thanks to her high level and if I speced her hard into being a White Mage. And if things went bad, she still had her ability to res the dead. Megumin's biggest weakness is that she's a one-shot glass cannon. Remove that, and she's great for crowd control and dealing a lot of damage.

Darkness, on the other hand, was just hopeless. Her motivation was to be kidnapped by the Demon King to serve as a brood mother for monsters, or something.

Was she hot? Yeah. Was she an absolute freak? Hell yeah. Did I want her in the party and dragging Kazuma down? Absolutely not.

"Do you have a place to stay?" I asked Megumin, walking past Darkness. I swear, with my enhanced hearing, I could hear her panting in the alleyway. Megumin seemed a bit caught off guard, but she nodded.

"I do, why?" She questioned with a tilt of her head.

I didn't want to let her out of my sight because she would find a way to suffer a bad end, or stir up trouble. "I bought the mansion outside of the city to house the party members. You don't have to live there, but there's a room available if you want one," I answered with a shrug.

"Hm…"

"There's free food-" I started, only to be interrupted by Megumin. She latched onto my arm, looking up at me with the desperation of a woman dying of hunger in front of an all-you-can-eat buffet.

"I'll go! I'll live with you! Please let me live in your mansion!" Megumin begged like I hadn't just made the offer.

I'm seriously starting to worry about this girl.

"Fine. Let's head home then. Kazuma should be back by now and Aqua should be blackout drunk, so she'll be easier to deal with." I said, striding forward.

…

Predictably, Aqua was blacked out drunk when we arrived at the Guildhall to pick her up. She sat at her own table, three additional bottles lying next to her, bringing her total up to six bottles in total. I didn't care much for alcohol, but I could admit that Aqua had a strong liver. And with her abilities as an Arch Priest, she didn't have to worry about alcohol poisoning or a hangover.

Luna, as we strode through the door, looked incredibly relieved. "Jericho, she nearly caught on to us diluting the alcohol. She ended up drinking another two bottles out of spite," Luna informed, casting a worried look at Aqua's drooling form, slumped over the table with one cheek pressed to the surface. She was clearly worried about retribution.

"Eh, she's probably so drunk she won't remember. And if she does, I'll just tell her that she was imagining it," I dismissed, walking over and easily hefting Aqua up. There was no good way to hold her -- over the shoulder risked vomit down my back, bridal was reserved for Hestia, so I just grabbed her by the waist. Her arms dropped down, as did her legs, but I was tall enough that neither brushed the ground. "If she tries to make a big deal about it, then just tell her I told you to."

Megumin stood off to the side, looking at Aqua with an unreadable expression. If I had to guess, she was not impressed. Speaking of which, "Megumin is a part of the party now, so put her on my tab."

Luna offered a thin smile that almost looked like a wince, "I… if you're sure," Luna said, and I'm guessing that she thought that Megumin was capable of eating me out of money. Fat chance that was.

I turned to Megumin and chose not to acknowledge that she was choking back tears. "Alright, let's go," I said before we left. "Save any good quests for us," I requested, throwing a wave over my shoulder. Power leveling Megumin wouldn't be as effective, but it was still worth doing if it meant she wouldn't be a glass cannon. I just needed a way to phrase the argument that it was in her best interest to invest in more mana so she could cast it more than once per day.

Either that or I made her a lifetime supply of potions. Which would be something like one per hour, every day for the next century or so.

"Wazzz'at?" I heard Aqua drunkenly moan as we walked. "Jericho…? Yer feet… are big! Big feet means… hehehehehe…" I did not like that giggle or the burp that sounded like the prelude to vomit that came after. She seemed to swallow it down like a champ, though I still held her to the side to make sure my boots were out of the splash zone. "We should drink, Jericho! I loooooove fancy bubbly! I'm gonna make it my, erm… Uhhh… the… uhh…"

"Offering," I supplied, the scene struck me as familiar. How many times did I do this back in college? I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"Yeah! Offering! I'm going to make it my offering when I get back to heaven! All my followers are going to have to drink loads of fancy bubbly and give me lots!" Aqua decided, condemning her cult to alcoholism. I don't think that's what the bible meant when it said God created us in his image. But, what do I know? Technically speaking, I'm a greek-roman pagan.

"Heaven?" Megumin spoke up, glancing at Aqua from a safe distance away, also keenly aware of the splash zone.

Oh, right. I forgot about this bit. "Just ignore her. She was raised by the Axis cult into believing she was the goddess Aqua because her hair was blue." To that, Aqua sputtered, and that sealed her fate. Vomit erupted from her mouth, hitting the cobblestone road with a surprising amount of force, but both Megumin and I were out of the splash zone, so I just kept walking.

"Ah… that explains it," Megumin said, nodding to herself and accepting the answer with absolute ease. There wasn't so much as a hint of doubt and Aqua was too busy dry heaving to argue the lie.

After a moment, I sighed. "Aqua, just cast heal on yourself," I said and it took her a moment to get the words out thanks to the dry heaving. Then, as soon as she did, she was enveloped in pink light. The dry heaving stopped instantly, and she wiggled out of my grip.

"All better!" Aqua announced, like she hadn't just been puking her guts out. Her class came with buff and healing spells automatically, they just had to be invested in to improve beyond the base standard they had. I didn't get any on account that Craftsman was a generalist and a beginner's class. "Hey, we should go back-"

"No," I interjected. "You've drunk enough for one day," I decided.

Aqua pouted, stamping her foot like a child giving a prelude to a temper tantrum. "You're so mean! What do you have against fun?! Did it kill your family or something?" She demanded to know, and I fought off a frown that tried to tug at my lips.

It was annoying, but she wasn't wholly wrong. I didn't want to have fun. I wanted to be miserable. I watched a lot of my friends die. I died. I was stuck here, in this world, when I didn't want to be. When Hestia updated my falna and realized that I had been gone for a month and what happened in the original timeline, I wanted her to see I had been absolutely miserable without her.

The goal wasn't to have fun. It was to prepare for going back to Skyrim. First, I would make sure Kazuma and Aqua were ready before sending them off. Call it a week to buff up Kazuma's stats, give him some enchanted starter gear, then they would be off. After that, I would enchant my own gear with the soul of Alduin. I would expand my arsenal of Thu'um.

I knew how Alduin fought. I knew what he could do. I was already stronger than the first time I faced him. Next time, Alduin would die alone.

"Fun did kill my family," I answered dismissively, trying to kill the conversation. But I should have known better than to think that Aqua would catch the hint.

"They wouldn't want you to avoid fun for the rest of your life just because they died! They'd want you to have loads of fun if they cared about you!" I don't think I've ever heard such loaded advice before because it couldn't be clearer that she just wanted to go back to day drinking.

She was annoyingly right though. Hestia would want me to have fun rather than just be miserable. But… it felt wrong. Like a betrayal, almost. Like I wasn't trying to get back to her and Lili fast enough.

I was just playing it safe. Kazuma could kill the Demon King. I needed the time to prepare.

I just needed-

As if summoned by my thoughts, I saw a familiar green and black tracksuit that stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the general population. Though, the fact that people stopped giving me dirty looks to cast wide smiles and waves in someone else's direction was clue enough.

Kazuma walked down the street with a noticeable flamboyant flair, a flower in his hair as he waved back at people. Next to him was Wiz, if I had to guess. Mousey brown hair that covered one of her eyes, a heart-shaped face, and a huge chest. "Thank you, thank you! I'll live up to your expectations, I promise! I won't let you down, city of Axel!" Kazuma announced, much to the crowds' adoration.

Something weird was going on here. That much was proven when Kazuma promptly froze in place mid-wave, his smile becoming brittle as glass the moment his green eyes met mine. He nearly fell flat on his face when Wiz continued to move forward. When she noticed that he wasn't moving, she looked in the direction that Kazuma was staring off into, bringing her gaze to me.

Her lone visible eye narrowed into a slit, her lips pressing together as she interlocked her arm with Kazuma's. For a moment, I thought she was going to walk over to slap the shit out of me for some reason. She seemed to consider it too before Kazuma began to woodenly walk forward.

"Come on, Wiz. There is no need to cause a scene," Kazuma said, pointedly not looking at me as he walked by. "Rumors made it out worse than it really was, I promise."

"Kazuma, but the things he did…" Wiz returned. Huh. I guess she was judging me by my reputation, which was firmly in the red. That seemed a bit odd, but Wiz was a kind-hearted person based on what the show portrayed. I guess I should have seen this coming. What I was more surprised by was Kazuma trying to cover for me.

I guess he was over whatever that was back at the Guildhall.

Shrugging my shoulders, I resumed walking, though Aqua lingered. "Shouldn't we bring Kazuma back with us?" She questioned, and I considered it before shaking my head.

"It's fine," I dismissed. Kazuma, when he wasn't thinking with his dick, was portrayed to be fairly competent. He had a bunch of skill points to spend, so Wiz was probably the best person he could have ended up with. She could teach him advanced magic, then after that, he just needed some luck-based skills and he would be set.

I cast a look at Aqua -- who met it by tilting her head to the side. She needed to be watched. Today was a bit of a wash, but tomorrow we would look around for skills for her to get. Her points needed to be invested before she spent them on something stupid.

A sigh escaped me as we left the city gates- "Did you just look at me and sigh?!"- and we continued onward to the mansion. I ignored Aqua, who quickly lost interest in me when she realized that Megumin was with us. While they got to know each other, I let my mind wander as we walked home. It wasn't too far away from the city. Not enough to be a hassle, at least.

With Kazuma under Wiz's tutelage, I just needed to bring Megumin up to snuff, then I could focus on my own development. The Black Star was burning a hole in my pocket. Alduin's soul was massive. It was going to take a solid month to use up his soul in an enchantment. More than that, I needed to pick one to use.

Did I want to increase my stats dramatically? Or did I want to go more exotic and give myself a unique ability? Like being able to read minds, or fly or teleport? It could be done. I had the foundation to learn how, I just needed to puzzle out how to make the pieces fit together. It was something I really needed to think about now.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I only noticed something was wrong when Megumin pointed it out. "Is that another party member?" She asked, pointing forward, bring my attention to the figure that stood in front of the gates to my mansion. A figure that I recognized because I saw her less than an hour ago.

Darkness stood in front of the gate, her sword in hand with a look of determination on her face. "Halt! Don't take another step! You two -- step back." She ordered, her tone authoritative. Megumin and Aqua traded a look, neither of them having any clue what this was about.

"Uhh…" Aqua muttered, taking a step back and prompting Megumin to do the same.

"I've heard about you, Jericho the Beast," Darkness informed as I continued to walk forward, closing the distance between us. "How you demand that your party members perform l-lewd acts for you, or you kick them out! Your casual abuse of your fellow adventurers, and how you just throw money around as if that absolves you of everything-" Darkness continued, pointing her sword at me before she shuffled around a bit when I walked past her.

That second thing she mentioned was kinda true, so she had a point there. That much, I could admit. It was just annoying as all hell when idiots tried to get in my face. As for Darkness… she was doing what I had wanted the citizens to do, but I also knew that her motivations weren't exactly pure.

So, I walked by her and pushed open the gate. "H-hey!" Darkness protested, her air of authority vanishing like smoke in the wind when I ignored her. I looked her dead in the eyes and spoke.

"No solicitors," I dismissed her before turning around and walking away. I saw her flinch back, stunned. Then, because she thought I couldn't see her, Darkness sent an expression of pure desire at the back of my head. She was forced to lean on her sword, tip dug into the ground, while she panted with desire.

Aqua skipped along, heading to the gate before she stopped. "Did you want to come inside?" She asked Darkness, and I swallowed a sigh.

"Y- n-... To protect you two from his twisted desires!" Darkness proclaimed, her face bright red. Megumin shot her a look, then one at me as I continued to the door. Right. So, I guess I was dealing with this now. Aqua and Megumin could explain the situation while I-...

…

No, I just about did something really stupid just now. Trust Aqua and Megumin to explain? What in the hell was I thinking?

I stopped and turned around, "Look, I get what you're trying to do, but the rumors are way out of control." I told Darkness, who approached with Aqua and Megumin behind her. The latter looked like she had doubts based on how she looked at Darkness, but the former looked at me with wide eyes of absolute horror. Aqua, the idiot, looked like she completely believed I absolutely had been sexually exploiting her. "Nothing's-"

"So, you do not possess demonic armor and a vile malice-soaked sword with an eye embedded in the blade… whose gaze is so intense that I…!" That sounded a little familiar.

This felt like a leading question, "Yeah, but it's just armor and a sword. I didn't get a say in the aesthetics." I defended myself, crossing my arms over my chest as I blocked the door.

Darkness was unconvinced, "I heard you demand that Megumin strip down naked in public and bark like a dog!" She pointed out, her cheeks flushed.

Aqua looked scandalized, "Jericho! How could you?!"

"I didn't say… the last bit," I argued. "Megumin needed to learn that you can't just go around shouting that you'd do whatever people wanted! I was trying to teach her a lesson so she wouldn't get taken advantage of."

"A likely story!" Darkness decried, not believing it. "Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence! Three times is a pattern! I've been following you for some time now, so there's no point hiding it any longer! I've seen the causal abuse you inflict on others. How you… just throw fully grown men in full armor around like they're toys. How… you think… you can do whatever you want to people because you're powerful!" She was really starting to pant, a wild gleam in her eye that reminded me of a rabid dog.

Only instead of relentlessly attacking things, this version of rabid made you unbearable horny.

Seriously, she looked like she was a few seconds away from humping my leg.

"I bet you think you can get away with anything. Like stripping me of my armor, holding me down as you…! Hnng!" Darkness squirmed, making Megumin back up a step. At least one of the two saw through this. Aqua looked aghast.

"Jericho! Stop whatever you're doing to her!" She demanded, jabbing a finger in my direction. I gave her a flat look in response.

“I’m not doing anything to her,” I pointed out.

Unsurprisingly, Aqua didn’t believe me. “Like I believe that! You’re super strong! Who knows what kind of OP abilities you have hidden up your sleeve?!”

“I’m not doing anything to her. She’s just a masochist that’s getting off on her delusions,” I refuted, earning what sounded like the lewdest moan I had ever heard in my entire life. And that was saying something. I looked at Darkness and felt the need to take a precautionary step back. She looked at me like an animal eyeing a meal.

“My most well kept secret… so carelessly revealed…~!” She muttered, taking a dangerous step forward.

“Well kept?” I muttered, my voice filled with doubt. Girl, you showed up on my doorstep thirsty as fuck. She was one dirty word away from an orgasm. How was this in any way a well kept secret?

Darkness threw her hands out wide as if she were acting as a shield for the others. “I won’t let you lay another hand on them! Yet, I understand you are far too powerful for me to stop, so I’ll- hey! Wait-”

I stepped through the door and closed it in her face.

I liked Darkness. I really did. She was my type physically, and who didn’t love a freak in the bed?

But, I wasn’t in Konosuba to have fun.

That being said, it wasn’t much of a shock when the three of them kicked down the door determined to make me enjoy myself anyway.

...

More of a transition chapter, but this begins where Jericho is being extracted from his shell. The crew are going to make him have fun, whether he wants to or not.