I love time travel the most!

"Hey, Kobayashi! Why are you slacking off?!"

The peaceful afternoon was broken once again, this was the third time, and even Kobayashi was getting a little angry.

Opening my eyes, a light blue figure came into view. It was the most troublesome problem child in the squad, number three—the mentally challenged goddess.

Seeing Kobayashi's expression, Aqua immediately became angry and said, "Wait, what's with that 'this guy is so annoying' look? I'm a goddess, a goddess!"

"Yes, yes, so what business does the goddess who only causes trouble have?"

"I'd like to ask you instead, don't you have anything to do? You're just lazing around here every day, doing nothing but eating, drinking, and sleeping. That's outrageous!"

"Whose fault do you think it is?"

Hearing her complaints, Kobayashi retorted angrily. Forced to see Eris every night, he had to make up for the lack of sleep during the day—it was all the goddess's fault.

"Well……"

Aqua pouted, her eyes brimming with tears.

Kobayashi scratched his head and said helplessly, "Tell me, what happened?"

Although she's an idiot, she wouldn't come to condemn me for no reason, after all, this useless goddess is even lazier than Kobayashi.

but--

"Let's go do the mission."

"What did you say?"

"Let's go on a mission!"

Aqua leaned closer to Kobayashi's face, her eager and enthusiastic demeanor completely different from her usual self. So much so that Kobayashi unconsciously reached out and began to rub her smooth, supple cheeks, wanting to see if she was really a fake goddess.

"What happened to you?"

"Woooooooo~~~~"

The goddess, unable to speak, was manipulated by others until they repeatedly confirmed her identity before releasing her.

It's the real thing!

This is bad, Aqua has lost her mind.

Think about it carefully, it doesn't make sense that lazy, rich, and useless goddess who never works would one day tell you that she has to do a mission.

Why do we need to do missions?

"Because we need to use snow essence."

"Snow Spirit?"

Familiar name.

Snow spirits typically roam plains with deep snow. They are very weak monsters, easily defeated even by a weak adventurer like Kazuma Sato. However, their masters are powerful S-rank monsters.

General Winter

"By the way, why would we need snow essence?"

"Because the magic circuits you brought back, and that huge mecha, both need to be cooled down, and snow essence is the best cooling medium."

"I see."

"Besides, this is your stuff, so hurry up and do something to help!"

"...You wouldn't be so insistent on having me come with you because you think I'm too comfortable, would you? Otherwise, a low-level monster like a snow spirit shouldn't be able to harm you at all."

"What are you saying? I don't understand."

Aqua was startled and immediately looked away. Sure enough, this idiot was resentful because he felt it was unfair, which was why he insisted on dragging her to do the mission.

However, Aqua is right; one should indeed contribute to the things that belong to them.

"Let's go, it's been a long time since we've had this mission."

"Oh!"

Aqua cheered.

A plain far from towns.

On the snow-covered plains, countless small, round, snow-white objects, about the size of a palm, float everywhere. They pose no danger but are exceptionally warlike, actively attacking passersby; these are the Snow Spirits.

then……

Kobayashi looked at the group of problem children with a troubled expression: "Why did you all come along?"

"Don't say that, we're here to help."

"That's right, with my explosive magic, I can take down any number of snow spirits!"

"Since we're in a team, we need to be organized and consistent. After all, there's strength in numbers!"

"That's right!" X3

Everyone spoke with great enthusiasm and passion, but Kobayashi secretly curled his lip in disapproval.

The strength of numbers is not reflected in this team at all; rather, it is precisely because there are too many idiots that they often cause unnecessary trouble.

It's understandable that they followed, but Kobayashi is more concerned about something else.

Do you really have to dress like this?

Aqua, holding an insect net and several small bottles, looked like a silly child trying to catch dragonflies in winter.

Kobayashi looked at her like she was an idiot.

What's infuriating is that Aqua, in turn, looks at Kobayashi with an even more dumbfounded expression, just like she had looked at an idiot earlier.

"How can we cool it down if we don't bring it back?"

"...I mean, is it really necessary to dress like this?"

"You don't understand, Kobayashi, this is an essential winter outfit, it's all about maintaining a sense of ritual!"

"Haha, just be happy."

What could Xiaolin say when she was already like this?

Besides Aqua, even the squad's main tank Darkness was not wearing armor, only a black pencil skirt and a black shirt, carrying a greatsword. She looked very cold, but she was breathing heavily.

Where is your armor?

"It's been sent for repair."

"You didn't deliberately not wear armor just to feel this biting cold, did you?"

"..."

"It wasn't intentional, was it?"

"...Don't worry, it's fine. Although it's a bit cold, this feeling of endurance competition is also a kind of fun."

She was clearly enjoying it.

This variant knight isn't here to help capture the snow spirits, but rather to experience the feeling of being frozen.

Forget it, since Darkness can't attack the target anyway, and capturing the Snow Spirit is even more difficult, let her just stand by and do nothing.

He turned to look at another troubled child.

"Huihui, don't intervene this time."

"Huh? Why? My Explosion Magic is the strongest magic, it can definitely help!"

“That’s precisely because it’s Explosion Magic. There’s a pack of white wolves and One-Punch Bears around here. If Explosion Magic attracts them, it’ll be troublesome. Of course, if they do come, I’ll also ask you to use Explosion Magic to take them out. Megumin, everyone’s lives are in your hands.”

"Okay, I got it! If the white wolf pack and the One-Strike Bear attack, I'll use Explosion Magic to blast them into the sky!"

Huihui straightened her flat chest, as if she were shouldering an important task.

Actually, it's simply that we don't need explosion magic, since the goal this time is to capture a snow spirit, so we can't use super-powerful magic. But if we don't fool Megumin, she'll definitely cause a huge uproar.

After everyone finished assigning their tasks, Kobayashi called out, "Let's begin, everyone."

"Oh! Time to catch snow spirits!"

After the task was assigned, Kobayashi and Aqua ran back and forth on the plains to catch the elusive snow spirits.

Actually, if you ask Ryuuji for help, you can easily catch a hundred or a thousand of them. However, the required number is too small for Ryuuji to use her ability, so she chooses to rely on her own strength to catch them.

Half an hour passed.

Kobayashi carried fifteen snow spirits in his bag, while Aqua had one in each of her five bottles; they had captured a total of twenty snow spirits.

Well, that should be enough. And this number won't anger General Winter; it's the same number he's thinking of.

Okay, that's all.

Before he could finish speaking, an unnatural cold wind suddenly blew up, and a tall, majestic being exuding a terrifying aura appeared in his eyes.

It suddenly appeared, and because it appeared so suddenly, Kobayashi's sensory abilities didn't react at all.

Why does it appear?

Then, someone gave him the answer.

The idiot, oblivious to the danger, killed the snow spirit with a single dagger, and exclaimed excitedly, "Senior Kobayashi! It costs a whopping 10 Eris to defeat a single snow spirit. Why doesn't anyone bother to hunt such a weak monster?"

So it was you, Sato-kun!

Chapter 172 Ruthless Bombing Tactics

This is bad, very bad!

The moment Xiaolin saw General Winter, he knew it was no pushover. The oppressive aura and killing intent emanating from it, combined with the biting cold wind, left several meters of tracks under their feet.

Everyone covered their heads and stared at it as if facing a formidable enemy.

This guy is a formidable foe, far stronger than any enemy we've encountered before!

"...Yes, it's here!"

Darkness looked at General Winter, raised his greatsword, and chuckled smugly.

Oh, I forgot, there's also a perverted knight in the squad who rushes in to get beaten up whenever he sees a strong enemy.