Bakuen Chapter 9

**A Loving Hand For This Lonely Master!** (この行き先のない我に愛の手を！, *Kono Ronrī Masutā ni Ai no Te wo!*) is the ninth chapter of the *KonoSuba Bakuen* manga series, and covers Chapters 2 to 3 in Volume 2 of the light novels.

## Summary

In the morning, Megumin dons her new red robe and brown cloak as well as the eyepatch to pose before the mirror. Komekko later packs Megumin a rice ball for lunch before wishing her good luck, and tells her to become the strongest, so she can defeat the Demon King and come back home soon, to whom Megumin also vows to become the strongest wizard.

At the teleport station, Megumin who brings Chomusuke along finds her former classmates except for Yunyun all gathered to send her off. The woman staffing the station then announces that the teleportation to Arcanletia will be ready, so Megumin steps on the teleport altar, where she is sent onto her journey.

Upon being teleported to Arcanletia, Megumin is ready to begin her adventure. However, as the monsters in the area are too strong, the local Adventurer Guild won't let rookie adventurers like her take quests. Pondering her future at the fountain plaza, Megumin sees a Priest trying to recruit people to the Axis Church, and finds herself envisaging Yunyun when hearing an alike girl speak. She then tries to find a job that doesn't require using magic, but gets quickly fired from the waitress jobs because she splashes food on customers who tease her.

A week passes, but she still struggles to find a job, leaving her with no money to continue her adventure or even buy food. Yet while fretting, she hears a woman scream and goes to check it out, at which the woman claims that two men tried to sexually attack her despite the men denying it. After Megumin introduces herself as wizard from the Crimson Magic Clan, the men as they try to explain the situation let the woman slip away. The two followers of the Eris Church then tell Megumin that the woman was a follower of the Axis Church, who had defaced a portrait of Eris at their church in addition to stealing all the bread which was supposed to be given to the needy. Just as Megumin apologises upon realising her mistake, the Axis follower returns with a policewoman, who is surprised that the Eris followers are indeed harassing a young girl. The men try to clarify they didn't do anything wrong, but the Axis follower keeps on accusing them, before using the chance to grab Megumin and escape.

As thanks for "saving" her, the Axis follower who introduces herself as Cecily, a Priest from the Axis Church, wants Megumin to join her faith. Despite trying to state that she wasn't in need of saving or trouble, Megumin's growling stomach betrays her. Cecily then offers to feed Megumin, who while not believing it as a good idea accepts nevertheless.

At the main Axis cathedral, the followers are excited to have gained a loli member, though being called a loli girl only annoys Megumin. One follower then brings out food, before disappointedly promising the suspicious Megumin that she won't have to accept being a member of the Axis Church if she eats it. When Megumin starts eating, the Archpriest Zesta comes along, and having heard about Megumin having trouble in finding a job and a place to stay, he offers to let her stay with them. The delighted Megumin thanks him by saying she is ready to do anything he wants, but is unprepared for the excited Zesta asking her to call him "Big Brother" or "Daddy" as well as other perverted requests. Just as Zesta in his indecision asks the goddess Aqua for guidance, Tristan brings him the Church's conversion numbers which are quite low. The men accordingly ponder that it's due to the Eris Church, and wonder if they should pretend to be Eris followers but make people sign for Axis Church, though Zesta doesn't think that will work as people can still decline in the end. Megumin then decides to offer her wisdom on how to recruit people.

It so happened that a few days ago, a starving Cecily who the townsfolk flee from on sight stumbled towards the Eris Church, where those two followers managing it told her that all the young children of Eris followers, at whom she was lecturing Axis teachings to, had already been taken out of town. When the Eris followers started criticising her beliefs, Cecily began lamenting how they are unable to get along, before marching past them and grabbing away all the bread for distribution to the needy.

## Characters

* Megumin
* Komekko
* Chomusuke
* Arue
* Funifura
* Dodonko
* Cecily
* Zesta
* Tristan