The Arch-Wizard’s Little Sister

by Natsume Akatsuki

  Copyright

  Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!, Vol. 11

  NATSUME AKATSUKI

  Translation by Kevin Steinbach

  Cover art by Kurone Mishima

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  KONO SUBARASHII SEKAI NI SHUKUFUKU WO!, Volume 11: DAI MAHOUTSUKAI NO IMOUTO

  ©Natsume Akatsuki, Kurone Mishima 2017

  First published in Japan in 2017 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY, INC., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2020 by Yen Press, LLC

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Akatsuki, Natsume, author. | Mishima, Kurone, 1991– illustrator. | Steinbach, Kevin, translator.

  Title: Konosuba, God’s blessing on this wonderful world! / Natsume Akatsuki ; illustration by Kurone Mishima ; translation by Kevin Steinbach.

  Other titles: Kono subarashi sekai ni shukufuku wo. English

  Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2017–

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016052009 | ISBN 9780316553377 (v. 1 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316468701 (v. 2 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316468732 (v. 3 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316468763 (v. 4 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316468787 (v. 5 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316468800 (v. 6 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316468824 (v. 7 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316468855 (v. 8 : paperback) | ISBN 9781975385033 (v. 9 : paperback) | ISBN 9781975332341 (v. 10 : paperback) | ISBN 9781975332365 (v. 11 : paperback)

  Subjects: CYAC: Fantasy. | Future life—Fiction. | Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. |

  BISAC: FICTION / Fantasy / General.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.A38 Ko 2017 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016052009

  ISBNs: 978-1-9753-3236-5 (paperback)

  978-1-9753-3237-2 (ebook)

  E3-20200404-JV-NF-ORI

  Prologue

  So there we were. All of us in a room at Belzerg’s royal castle.

  “Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-haaaa-ha-ha-ha! Here, Kazuma, look at this! Look! I used the brochure from the shopping district to make a demon mask!”

  “Pfffft-ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! This is unreal! Are you sure this thing used to be a brochure? It looks great! I think we’ve found your calling!”

  We had brought Iris safely back to the castle, after which we’d accepted Claire’s invitation to get crazy drunk.

  “Ha-ha-ha-ha! Ooooh! I, the all-seeing demon, shall make a prediction. O young woman sitting there sober all by herself, looking exasperated. Alcohol requires carbohydrates to break down. If you start drinking right now, you might be able to soften up those angular muscles a bit.”

  “Bah-ha-ha-ha! God, you sound just like him!”

  “Sh-shut your mouths, you drunks. And, Aqua, don’t call my muscles ‘angular’!”

  Aqua was busy imitating Vanir with her handmade brochure-mask, but Darkness, blushing furiously, wasn’t amused.

  “I wish you would let me have some! I am old enough to get married, so why must I suffer being treated like a child?!” Megumin, the only one not allowed to drink, turned on Darkness.

  “L-look, Megumin, it’s not really a question of age. It’s, you know, proportions, right? Maybe once you develop a little more. . .” Her voice trailed off.

  “Pfffft-ah-ha-ha-ha!” I chortled. “She’s got your number!”

  “She does not have any number at all! What do you find so funny anyway, you drunkard? Give me that wine you’re holding! . . .Hey, what are you doing? Get your hand away from— Yaaaaghhh!”

  When Megumin tried to steal the wine I was holding, I happily Drain Touched her, sending Aqua into a fresh fit of hysterics.

  “Ahhhh-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha! You’ve got her number!”

  “Enough numbers! What is wrong with you, Kazuma? Thanks to you stealing my MP, I can’t fire off my explosion for the day! I will have you return that magic to me later!”

  She was really upset, but I just kept laughing. “Numberrrr!”

  “This man!”

  She lunged for me. I ignored her, looking amiably around the crowded room.

  “Kazuma, hey, Kazuma! Let’s drink this castle dry tonight!”

  “Sounds like a plan! And then I’ll be doing Create Water without using any magic at all, if you know what I mean!”

  “This man is the worst! Do you hear the filth he is spewing?”

  “Hey, we need some backup in here! Somebody come get these two back to their rooms!”

  Aqua and I, though, were pretty much ignoring Megumin and Darkness.

  “Hey, Kazuma, today was really great! I’ve never gotten so much recognition in my whole time here!”

  “You said it! Whenever we do a good deed around this place, we get stuck with a huge debt or put through the wringer, or they send us away with a plaque or a few pennies!”

  I savored the memory of the day we’d just had.

  Chapter 1

  An Awakening for This LoliNEET!

  1

  That day, a shock ran through the nation.

  Belzerg, which shared a border with the Demon King’s territory, had always been a martial country. And now their princess had come back from a neighboring land with the sobriquet Dragonslayer.

  My party had gone to Elroad as Iris’s bodyguards, and boy, had it earned us a lot of trouble. Trying to get money to help us fight the Demon King had been like pulling teeth, and then I had ended up in a gambling contest with the prince before the whole thing culminated in a dragon hunt. And then it turned out the prime minister of the place had been a doppelgänger all along—a fact we discovered, thus saving the country from peril.

  And how had I contributed to all this? Mostly I had given the prince the runaround with my ridiculous gambling game, but the practical effect was to add a new chapter to my legend. Plus, I had been able to take care of the absolute most important thing while we were there, which was to scuttle Iris’s engagement.

  And so everyone lived happily ever after, right. . .?

  “Welcome back, Master Kazuma! I can see I misjudged you! What you’ve achieved is beyond anything I could have hoped for!”

  After we had brought Iris safely back to the castle and given our report in the audience chamber, we were greeted by “White Suit” herself, Claire. She was practically glowing. My friends, showing uncommon sensitivity, all stood back and watched quietly wh
ile Claire and I chatted.

  “Oh, really,” I said, “it was all thanks to Iris’s hard work. I hardly did anything at all.”

  “Such humility. . . In my mind, I was prepared to give up every penny of support from that country, so long as my dear Iris was free of that betrothal. But you got her out of the marriage, and got us our money, and saved their country in a moment of crisis. They’ll owe us a lot for a very long time!” Claire’s voice was virtually cracking with emotion; I guess for once she was being honest with me.

  “Claire! How can you believe the breaking of my engagement would be more important than the money to support our military?! Without that funding, we wouldn’t be able to resist the Demon King!”

  “I have my priorities, milady. As long as you’re safe, dear Iris, this nation and the Demon King can both go fu— Owww, ow, ow! Milady Iris, your journey seems to have made you uncharacteristically violent!”

  Iris had looked like she was going in for a hug, but she ended up strangling Claire. The bodyguard turned to us, the little girl still hanging from her neck. “In any event, you truly have acquitted yourselves with distinction. I will give you any reward in my power—just say the word.” She looked completely serious, but her face was growing redder and redder as Iris cut off her oxygen supply. Nonetheless, Claire seemed quietly but unmistakably happy.

  A reward, huh?

  In her own way, Claire was a lot like me, at least when it came to her intense affection for Iris.

  “I think the reward’s already been settled, don’t you?” I said. Claire looked surprised, but then she remembered the promise we’d made before I set off for Elroad. In exchange for me breaking Iris’s betrothal, she was going to tell me stories of the princess’s childhood. It was the smallest of promises, but still. . .

  “Yes, I daresay you’re right, Master Kazuma. Tonight, let me hold a banquet in your honor. And there, I will make good on your reward.” She gave me a knowing look and said, “I’m going to keep you up all night.”

  “““What?!”””

  Everyone but Aqua and me sounded positively shocked, provoking a little smile from the lady in the white suit. . .

  “What’s with this woman? Never seen anyone do a worse job of holding her liquor!”

  We were about ten minutes into our banquet, and Claire, who’d had about half a glass of wine, was already looking like she wasn’t long for this world. Maybe this particular banquet hall had been designed to cater to the Japanese people who showed up here, because it had been floored with straw tatami mats, even if they weren’t very convincing ones.

  “Urgh. . . Master Kazuma, I’m s-sorry. . .,” Claire mumbled, her face red. She might have had a weird thing for little girls, but she was also a good noble daughter. I didn’t exactly object to having her lean against me to keep herself upright. You ever have one of those moments when some beautiful girl falls asleep on the train and slumps against you? It was a bit like that.

  “When did you and Claire get so close, Elder Brother?” Iris came over, holding a glass of juice and sounding a little cross.

  “Ooh, whatsa matter, Iris? Jealous? Don’t worry—your big bro is only into gorgeous ladies with great bodies. So. . .”

  “. . . . . . . . .”

  There was a long pause. Er, gee. . . I guess when I thought about it that way, Claire kind of was my type. Iris was staring me down, and I found I didn’t know what to say anymore. Eventually, Iris squeezed in between Claire and me, resting her drunken bodyguard’s head on her knees. Boy, was Claire ever going to regret getting so drunk later.

  Iris ran a hand over Claire’s head, not looking at me as she said, “Elder Brother, what will you do when this banquet is over? Are you going to go back to Axel?” She was so quiet, she almost sounded like she was talking to herself.

  “Hmm, good question. I’ve been so busy banishing dark gods and keeping you safe and everything. A guy likes to take it easy once in a while.” Though, to be fair, “once in a while” was a better description of how often I went on adventures than how often I took it easy.

  “. . .If all you want is to relax, couldn’t you do that here? We have many empty rooms. There’s no need for you to hurry home, is there?” Iris still wouldn’t make eye contact with me; she looked down as if checking on Claire. But now it was obvious what she was really after. She used to literally hide behind Claire, never say anything for herself, always speak through her attendants, and just generally seem like a very quiet girl. Now she could be quite demanding, although I couldn’t imagine who she had gotten that from. As charming as it had been to see her looking around sort of nervously and trying not to upset anyone, personally, I liked this more natural Iris better.

  “Well, Iris, if you insist, maybe I’ll stick around a little longer.”

  I’d gone toe-to-toe with a lot of the castle’s soldiers the time I broke in here pretending to be a thief. My face had been hidden, and I’d been trying to use a fake voice, but I could never be sure when someone might recognize my look or behavior and realize who I was. So as happy as I was that Iris adored me so much, sticking around too long would definitely be flirting with danger.

  “I wish. . .”

  Iris’s voice broke into my thoughts. She spoke quietly, her stare still focused below eye level.

  “I wish I could live with all of you. . .”

  Then and there, I decided to stay at the castle.

  2

  “G’morning, Dragonslayer.”

  “Elder Brother, please stop with this ‘Dragonslayer’ business. . . Everyone in the castle calls me that, and believe me, I would stop them, too, if I could. . .” Iris blushed and looked at the ground.

  At Claire’s invitation, we had been given rooms in the castle. That’s right: The long, lazy days spending time with Iris that I had never stopped wishing for were finally back.

  “Iris, Iris, listen. A dragonslayer isn’t something that just anyone can be. It’s the sort of thing countries throw parties to celebrate, right? Claire was practically bursting, she was so excited. Wouldn’t shut up about how she always knew you were going to be a big deal.”

  “Please don’t pay Claire any mind—she’s already been to my room several times to make me repeat the story of how I slew the dragon.”

  Not coincidentally, Claire had been to my room every day, too. Iris had killed the so-called Golden Dragon in a single blow, so there wasn’t too much to tell besides “Iris nailed that dragon with some kind of awesome power,” but Claire would show up every night before bed simply to hear me say that. She hadn’t been nearly so happy at first; she had spent a lot of her time muttering about me putting her precious Iris in danger. But by now, she was well and truly over the moon for the story of Iris’s exploits. She was so excited, in fact, that she didn’t seem to care that we spent day after day living the dissolute life at the castle. And she was so thrilled that we had broken Iris’s betrothal that sometimes we ended up drinking all night as she told me stories of Iris’s childhood.

  “All right, your bro is going to wash his face and get changed. You wait in the courtyard. Let’s have the maids make us some tuna-mayo rice balls and have a little picnic.”

  “Okay! I love tuna-mayo rice balls!”

  Iris had acquired a taste for junk food on our little trip and had taken to having her staff prepare it for her. At first, I’d seen them giving me the stink eye, like What did he feed our future queen? but when they saw how happy Iris was digging in to this stuff, they couldn’t stay upset. As for Iris, I’d bet that after eating nothing but fancy-schmancy palace food for so long, it was a breath of fresh air to get to just enjoy eating something with her friends.

  “Very well, Elder Brother. I’ll see you in a few minutes!” Iris said and then went off to arrange lunch.

  So passed our first three days in the castle. I had been going with Megumin on her daily explosions, but I wasn’t alone.

  “Surely you needn’t accompany us as well?” Megumin said. “In fact, I
can hardly countenance exposing the princess of our very nation to the dangers beyond the town walls.”

  “Don’t worry so much. Earning the title of Dragonslayer seems to have gained me a bit more leeway in going out and about. And with all the powerful monsters around the capital, I’m much more concerned about Elder Brother.”

  Yep, Iris had started coming along with us, too. She and Megumin had seemed weirdly close ever since we returned from Elroad. The way Iris occasionally slipped into calling Megumin “Chief” or something nagged at me, but in any event, I definitely thought these were the two girls who had the highest Affection for me right now. Maybe Iris insisted on joining us because she didn’t want to leave Megumin and me alone together.

  Not to sound too full of myself, but with these two girls, I felt like I could get somewhere if I really wanted to. All it would take was a little push.

  . . .Okay, maybe not with both of them. Megumin was one thing, but even I wasn’t enough of a lolicon to try to put the moves on Iris. But in the future, when Iris, y’know, grew up? Definite possibility that she and Big Bro might get married. Come to think of it, maybe the most important thing to do right now was to stick around the capital so I could chase off any other guys who might be interested in her. Then I would gradually go from her beloved big brother to someone she thought about as a man, and then finally. . .

  “Kazuma, we’re here, yes? This is my favorite explosion spot. Monsters like to hide in the shadows of those boulders, so I get to let off a satisfying blast and collect scads of experience points.” Megumin had come to a halt, and now she was looking me square in the eye.

  Oops, gotta get my head out of the clouds.

  “Okay, well, do your thing and let’s go home. . . By the way, I’ve been wanting to ask both of you: How do you feel about me?” I tried to make the question sound as natural as I could. Nice and cool, keeping eye contact.

  “Well, that was very sudden. What do you mean by that? Your eccentricity has come to the fore with all the time you have had to kill recently. I think, for example, that you and Aqua might be well advised to stop going to the courtyard and taking it upon yourselves to prune the shrubbery. Aqua creates artifacts of horticultural genius, but that dog you fashioned, Kazuma, has not been well received.”