The Deity Entertainment Network

Chapter 234 – Work Hard, Play Hard, Puke Rainbows

"C'mon, get down off of me, Aqua," John said, the pair of them arriving at the construction site. He could see stone being dug up, a foundation being laid, and a bunch of other projects that the crews were working on. 

"Nope! You're carrying me around as punishment! Who do you think you are, giving a goddess a... a... thing! And against her will at that!!! I should have you banished from this world for doing that to me."

"Please do." He said offhandedly. He was scanning the area for the foreman or some sort of supervisor, only half-listening to Aqua. It wasn't anything she hadn't said at least three times since they left the guild in a rush.

"What?"

"Banish me. I already apologized, and I'm tired of you beating a dead horse. Now, quirk of my healing magic aside, my question is, why didn't you heal your injuries up before you dragged yourself into the guild?"

"Are you blaming me for your perverted actions?"

"Hardly. It just seems odd that the literal goddess of healing would appear banged up from being dragged around town. Wouldn't you have healed yourself already? Or were you hoping to gain more sympathy points from others?"

"I... ah... well, you see."

"You were? That was just a guess, but apparently I hit the nail on the head. Why are you... You know what? I don't really care. Now, where is the foreman?"

"What do you need him for? What are we even doing here?"

"Well, I need money to get registered at the guild, so I am here to make money to buy my supper and save up for the fees. What you choose to do is up to you, but I'm not paying for your dinner."

"You would make a young lady work for her meals?"

"Show me the lady, and I will think about it. All I see is a spoiled brat who thinks she can manipulate me with a few tears."

"Why are you so mean to me?"

"Why did you call me a mule and a servant, and fake cry to try and get your way? At that point, I had shown you nothing but kindness and understanding, and you repaid me with extortion and insults. So, as your reward, you get the grumpy old man who has no tolerance for that kind of bullshit. Now, be a good girl like you promised, and earn your supper. Or was that a lie too?"

"I can work." 

"Good."

The day went by quickly once they found the foreman. They were a little late to start, but once John showed him his ability to ‘Dig’ easily moved blocks of stone, alongside using the pickaxe, they were hired on immediately. He wasn't sure what Aqua was doing all day, but when they got paid at the end of the day, she was covered in mortar.

We should probably find some better clothes to work in. I don’t think my leathers will get ruined, but they are not the coolest clothing.   

"Five silver?" John asked the foreman, still not sure whether that was a reasonable amount or not. He thought that was about five thousand Eris.

"For the work you put in, man, I should be paying you more. Come back tomorrow morning, and you will get ten for the full day's work."

"I'll think about it. It was a good workout." John said while shaking the man's hand. He had been cycling his mana all day long, using the job both to make money and exercise. To say he was the fastest of the general labourers was an understatement. 

"Why do I only get two silver?" Aqua asked the foreman as John gathered up his jacket and sword. 

"That is what a half-day's labour is worth."

"That isn't fair! Why didn't I get as much as he did?" She said, pointing at John. 

He pointed at him, "Great work, great pay." Then he pointed at her, "Average work, average pay."

"What? But I..." Aqua continued to argue with the man, but John tuned her out. He had enough to pay for the guild fee, but he wanted to see how much food and lodging were before he spent any of his earnings. He could drop the mansion down outside of the city if he had to, but he didn't know what the locals would do if he did.

I really should buy a smaller housing gatcha. I could easily hide some trailer in the woods, but a whole mansion would be nearly impossible. Now, what to do. I need a meal, lodgings, and maybe a bath if possible. Not sure what the local customs of this world are, if it's public baths or scrub downs with a rag and lukewarm water, but I did work up quite a sweat.

A meaty hand rested on his shoulder, bringing him out of his contemplation. A heavily mustachioed middle-aged man around John's height was smiling at him. "John, right? The guys and I are all headed over to the bar for some food and drink. You want to come?"

"I was planning on getting cleaned up first and finding a place to stay for the night," John replied. He had met the man earlier and thought his name was Hammond. He was actually an adventurer, just picking up some extra work. Actually, many of the workers turned out to be adventurers, which confused him even more. If they already had adventurer cards, why were they doing day labourer jobs? He needed more information. 

"Well, there are baths attached to the inn where the bar is. The food is good and cheap, and they usually have someone playing some music. You can even rent out the stable hay lofts for only a hundred Eris or so. Actual rooms are a bit pricier, but you get more privacy. Most of us just use the hay lofts, since we are trying to save some cash while waiting for actual adventuring work to start up again."

"You know, that sounds like a decent plan. Lead on, partner." John replied, adjusting his sword belt and following Hammond. He suspected a lot of his questions could be answered over a simple dinner conversation and a couple of beers.

He left Aqua behind; she was still arguing over the amount she was being paid compared to the others. John was sure she had a bag of tricks she could use to make the job easier and faster, but he didn't really care about what she did. He wasn't going to stay in this world very long; he just wanted to get a sense of what was available here for the future and leave himself in a decent position to return later.

Dealing with that goddess just gave him a headache. 

The bar turned out to be the adventurers' guild, and the bath, loft and food cost John only five hundred Eris, leaving him with forty-five hundred remaining. He spent another two hundred on a few mugs of reasonably good-tasting yet cheap beer and talked with Hammond and the rest of the crew over the next several hours. 

Apparently, there were no strong monsters remaining in the area, already having been cleared out ages ago. This left the city of Axel a very peaceful place in the Kingdom of Belzerg, and about as far away from the Devil King and his forces as you could get. The gates had only one guard, and even children were allowed to roam freely outside the town. With this relative safety, there was no work for lower-level adventurers; the townsfolk were more than capable of handling most of the remaining dangers out there on their own. There were stronger beasts, but they were several days' travel away. 

"There is the giant toad spawning season coming up in a couple of weeks, where we will need to purge their numbers, but other than a few goblins and lovely rabbits, there ain't much here for us adventurers," Hammond said over the brim of his mug.

"Then why remain here?"

"You can make some decent money killing toads, and a few other seasonal monster spawns, but the real reason many of us mid-level adventurers choose to stick around is this," Hammond said, pulling a well-worn flyer out of his pocket. It was an ad for a succubus cafe.

"What is this?"

"Well, you see, most of us are living alongside other adventurers in the stables, and it is kind of hard to have any privacy or intimacy there. So, for a small fee, the succubi will give you lucid dreams of having sex with whoever you want."

"What? Why?" John said, his voice raising slightly as the noise around them was hard to hear over.

"Shh. It's a secret between all the male adventurers in Axel. We don't want to get tied up in messy relationships, since most of us will be moving on at some point. Instead of wasting money dating the local girls, we just use this service. It's private, safe, and you can't catch any random diseases by accident either. Not to mention that there are zero attachments."

John looked over the pamphlet for a moment, then handed it back to the man. It was five thousand Eris for a three-hour session, along with the attending succubi syphoning a bit of your life energy in the process. He wasn't sure exactly what a succubi was, but understood that it was pretty much like getting a hooker. He didn't like the idea himself, but he could understand how this situation came about. There really wasn't a lot of extra housing in this city, so even renting a place was nearly impossible for your average person. He could see how difficult it would be to date someone and then have nowhere to bring her back to, though that raises the question of where the women are currently staying.

Probably still at home, this is a medieval world after all. Not my problem, though, as I think I'm just going to bank a little money and move on. Maybe after the giant toad spawning season, depending on how much money can be made. 

"Not really my thing, but it's interesting to know it exists."

"Hey, no worries. Just with your companion there, you know some of the lads will be requesting her for their dreams." 

John looked where the man was pointing and noticed that Aqua was in a line of men and women, holding each other's shoulders while singing and drinking. He didn't care for the thought they might be doing that to her, but the fact that it was just dreams... was there actually a victim here?* He shook his head. It wasn't his business, and frankly, he had other things to deal with than a morally grey area such as this. 

"Well, I think I will go train a bit before I hit the hay. Got a long day tomorrow, and I still need to make some time to get my new Adventurers' Card."

"You're leaving? Aren't you worried about her?"

"Should I be? I'm not her keeper; if she wants to party all night with the boys, that is her choice."

"She seemed quite interested in you."

"Yeah, well, I guess I am kind of saddled with her, but I refuse to play her little games. Besides, if she were interested in me, she wouldn't be drunk and hanging off the shoulders of other men."

"Maybe she is trying to make you a little jealous."

"Of what? No, she just appears to be a party girl, and I don't have time to deal with someone like that right now. That said, I would hate for her to experience a hard lesson, so make sure your boys there know not to take it too far if she is drunk. They won't like the repercussions." John said with a bit of iron in his voice. He knew the dangers of alcohol and a bunch of horny young men. He was pretty sure the Goddess was probably stronger than the lot of them, but he wasn't sure if she still had all her powers, since she couldn't just go back to heaven or wherever she'd been before. Mix in becoming black out drunk, and it was a recipe for disaster. 

"I'll keep the lads in line, but you don't need to worry about that. Most of them prefer the succubi to the real thing these days. Much less messy."

"Good enough. I'll see you tomorrow, partner." John said. He gave Aqua one last glance before getting up from the table and leaving out the back door of the guild to the small training yard they had behind the place. She was deep into her drinks and appeared to be having a blast, compared to how undone she had seemed earlier in the day. 

Putting her out of his mind, he activated his armour and drew his sword, its ringing heard clearly over the din of the bar. Cycling his healing magic cleared out any alcohol remaining in his system, and popping a substance X ball would give him six hours of uninterrupted training. He wouldn't get any of the gains from the party system right now, but every little bit counted. He would have to find somewhere quiet where he could meditate and train with his Ki as well, but just pushing it through his body seemed to be doing some good. 

He trained for a few hours, the moonlight more than enough for him to see in the mostly darkened yard. He made some training weights with his dig spell and was doing some interval training when the door to the hall opened up, and Aqua stumbled outside.

"Ji--- Je--- Jo--- John? That's it. JOHN! Where are youuuu?!? I don't *Hic* feel so good... I wanna go home..." She said, then proceeded to vomit out a literal rainbow of colours on the side of the building. 

"Jesus, what in the hell did you drink?" John said, putting the brick weights down and rushed over to her.

"I dunno, it was a pretty drink and made me feel all tingly. YOU SHOULD TRY IT!... Yeah, come inside and have a drink with me!" She said, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her dress, then grabbing his arm to pull him along.

"No, darlin, I don't think I will. In fact, I think it's time we go to bed." 

"Bed? I don't... or maybe I do..." She said, sounding confused. She wiped her mouth again, then leaned on him. "Can you take this armour off? It's so hard. I can't sleep on a hard pillow... Oh no, I'm going to be sick again." She babbled for a moment, then began to puke again.

"You really put yourself into a sorry state, didn't you?" He said, rubbing her back and returning his armour to the belt buckle. He didn't mind having a few drinks, even getting drunk once in a while, but he only ever drank to the point he started puking once.

"I'm sorry... *urph*" She said between heaves.

Heal!" He said, casting a spell on her. He wouldn't detoxify her; she already seemed half asleep, and on the slim chance she couldn't cure a hangover in the morning, this might serve as a lesson for her to not imbibe too much.

"Ohhh!!! That is the second time you have done that to me! No one else has ever done that to me, and you have the audacity to... to... You can make a virgin goddess cum?... mmm... You feel nice... can you make me cum again... I want to cum... please, John... I'll be a good girl- Zzzzz..." She had jumped up for a moment, then leaned back on him, running her fingers through his chest hair for a moment before finally passing out. 

"Yep. A sleeping Aqua is much easier to handle than a drunk or sober Aqua." He mumbled, shaking his head at the sad excuse of a goddess passed out on him. He picked her up and carried her to the stables and the hayloft where they would be sleeping. Tomorrow, they would talk; he had a whole slew of questions he wanted to ask her before they started work, but for now, he would let her sleep. 

Devil Kings, monsters, and a world in peril... this place seemed to be lacking all three. It feels about as far away from danger as you could get. Why in the world would she send reincarnated people here?

* - So when I remembered this part of Konosuba, all I could think of was deepfake AI videos of celebrities put into porn videos. As much as I like the idea of John hiring out the succubi and reenacting the Darkness bath scene to its proper conclusion, I don't think that would be in his character to do that at all. However, we shall see how the future unfolds in this world.