I love time travel the most!

"hateful."

"Um... I'll do my best!"

Apart from the lazy Aqua, the remaining three problem children didn't seem to mind, which saved Kazuma Sato the trouble of wasting his breath.

"Luckily, I had planned ahead. Look, this is the task I accepted in advance."

Then, as if by magic, he pulled out a task sheet, and the girls crowded around him.

"what? What?"

"So Kazuma had planned to do this all along."

"Should we say it was foresight, or that it was just too much scheming?"

They did not have a high opinion of Kazuma Sato.

The mission is to escort a Shiny Running Lizard, an extremely rare creature that only appears once every few centuries, making it highly valuable and offering outrageously high rewards.

"100 million Eris?!"

"The reward is so much..."

"Kazuma, how did you get this mission?"

"What tricks did they use?"

The girls looked at him in disbelief.

"Don't put it so harshly!" Kazuma Sato said, somewhat displeased but also a little smug. "Well, after all, I'm a hero who has defeated the Demon King's army officers and intercepted the mobile fortress destroyer. Only a high-level mission like this is worthy of me."

"So it was just using Kobayashi's name."

"Hey!"

Kazuma Sato was filled with shame and indignation after being exposed.

Darkness thought for a moment and couldn't help but say, "The reward for this mission is really high."

Keep in mind that a giant toad only costs 5000 Eris, and an ordinary running lizard only costs 100 Eris, but escorting a shimmering running lizard can earn you 1 million Eris as a reward.

"Don't worry about that!" Aqua snatched the mission sheet and shouted excitedly, "Leave this mission to us, we'll definitely complete it perfectly!"

"...This is bad, I suddenly don't want to do it anymore."

Seeing the silly goddess in high spirits, Kazuma Sato felt uneasy, sensing that something unexpected was about to happen. And this premonition did indeed come true later on.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

On the plain.

Kazuma Sato and his companions escorted the shimmering running lizard, which was placed in a cage.

The running lizard, its body gleaming golden in the sunlight, looks majestic and extraordinary. Coupled with its rarity, unseen for hundreds of years, it's no wonder it can fetch such an outrageous price.

Aqua asked, "After that, all we need to do is deliver it to the designated location, right?"

"Yes."

Sato Kazuma nodded.

This task was quite simple; if it weren't for Kobayashi-senpai's influence, they might not have even gotten a chance. No, you could also see it as a benefit of fame.

"not good."

"What's wrong, Kazuma?"

"I forgot to register with Luna, I need to hurry back to the guild. Aqua and the others, please wait here for a bit, I'll be right back."

After saying that, he ran quickly towards the town.

Seeing this, Aqua couldn't help but say, "That guy is always so forgetful and unreliable."

“You’re the same way, Aqua.”

"Eh?!"

Huihui's words were a bit hurtful, and the useless goddess was stunned on the spot.

The group waited on the plain for a long time.

Aqua was the first to lose her temper, complaining, "Kazuma, why aren't you back yet? I'm getting tired of waiting."

"Yes, it takes so long."

"Was something held you back?"

"They must be in trouble."

The other three echoed this sentiment, as the wait had been too long and everyone was getting impatient.

At that moment, Aqua suddenly said, "Hey everyone, don't you want to see what the Flash Running Lizard looks like when it runs?"

"...Huh?" X3

The three of them were stunned for a moment.

Darkness was the first to react, stopping him: "Let's not do that, what if... wait, Aqua?!"

Despite her well-intentioned advice, the foolish goddess wouldn't listen and opened the cage first.

In just a moment, the flashing running lizard burst out of its cage and ran away quickly.

"Wow, is that really how it is?"

Aqua was still unaware of what she had done wrong. She watched the shimmering lizards running across the grassland, seemingly mesmerized.

"A...Aqua?!"

"Waaaa... what should I do?!"

Darkness and Youyou were so surprised they didn't know what to do.

Only Megumin reacted quickly, raising her wand and saying, "There's no other way, I'll have to use my [Explosion Magic] to stop it! It might turn it to ashes, but there's no other way now. That's right, there's no other way, so please don't stop me!"

She looked eager to try.

It doesn't seem like there's no other way; rather, it's something they've been planning for a while.

After all, it's a rare species that only appears once every few centuries, and the little girl really wanted to know if it could withstand her magic.

But before she could chant her long, melodramatic incantation, the Flashing Running Lizard had already run far away. And whether it was just her imagination or not, its figure seemed to be gradually disappearing.

Finally, as if reaching a certain critical point, the flashing running lizard suddenly flashed with golden light, and the space around it distorted for a moment before it disappeared from the plain.

"--oops!"

At the same time, a cry of pain came from the plain, but unfortunately, everyone was a bit far away and couldn't hear it clearly.

“Eh…eh?!”

"It...it disappeared..."

"how come?"

Aqua and the others were dumbfounded, completely unprepared for this situation.

Just then, Kazuma Sato returned.

"Hey, you guys must have been waiting impatiently... Wait a minute, I was only gone for a second, and the running lizard in the cage is gone! What happened? Didn't I warn you beforehand that it's a rare, shimmering running lizard that only appears once every few centuries? You had to keep a close eye on it while escorting it! If it escaped, I don't know how much compensation we'd have to pay..."

Seeing the empty cage, Kazuma Sato was at his wits' end. He knew that as long as he wasn't around, these problem children would always cause trouble!

"Who opened the cage? Raise your hand and admit it honestly, I won't be angry."

"Uh……"

Although he said that, his barely suppressed anger was written all over his face, and naturally no one admitted it.

Kazuma Sato sighed and said, "It seems the mission failed, and we have to pay compensation. But I'm a fair person, so let's split the compensation among ourselves. We'll be hungry for a while, but there's nothing we can do about it..."

"Wait, I didn't do anything! It's not my fault at all, I was just watching!"

Huihui was the first to object when she heard that she would have to go hungry.

Darkness chimed in, "I tried to stop her too, but she opened the cage before I could..."

"Hey Darkness, Megumin?!"

Aqua was shocked.

She didn't expect the two of them to betray her so quickly.

Knowing the truth, Sato Kazuma glared at the idiot goddess who was the culprit and shouted angrily:

"—It really was you!"

"No, I can't help it! I want to see what a rare running lizard looks like when it runs! Such a rare monster, who knows when I'll see it again? I can't let myself miss it now!"

This foolish goddess perfectly embodies the doctrine of "live for the moment," and what's with that self-righteous attitude? Why is she so smug?!

Kazuma Sato was so angry he wanted to punch her.

Huihui praised, "But it's really fast! But because of that, Princess Run didn't notice it and her marriage proposal failed. It's a bit pitiful."

What are you saying, little girl?

Pitiful?

Why would you pity a monster?

Why not take pity on his wallet first!

Kazuma Sato pursed his lips.

Darkness chimed in, "I heard that the Flashrunning Lizard got so angry that it ran wildly and ended up traveling through time to another world... It seems that the rumor might not be false."

what is that?

Something like an urban legend?

Kazuma Sato didn't care about any of that. He said irritably, "Hey, since you guys have time to chat, why don't you think about how to catch that agile lizard?"

"Oh, speaking of which, the running lizard seems to have bumped into someone!"

"Did you hear that too?"

"Huh, that's not a hallucination?"