Chris leaped down from the railing and rushed up to Kōichi Hayashi like an angry cat with its fur standing on end, lowering her voice as she snapped:
"Hey! You shameless scumbag, taking advantage of the situation! Give me back the necklace! That's a div... that's an extremely dangerous object, not some toy for you to mess around with!"
Kōichi Hayashi leisurely twirled the sapphire necklace around his thumb. Then, right in front of Chris, he casually slipped it into the inner pocket of his shirt and even gave the spot a provocative pat.
"Sincerity, Chris. I already told you. This is a heavy responsibility involving the fate of the entire nation. I can't possibly shoulder it without adequate compensation. For example... how about teaching me that Steal skill that can steal underwear? Or agreeing to three slightly outrageous requests?"
Chris trembled with rage, pointing a finger at Kōichi Hayashi's nose but unable to get a single word out.
Just when Kōichi Hayashi thought she was about to explode, however, the silver-haired Thief suddenly calmed down.
She glanced sideways at the bulging pocket on his chest, and a strangely meaningful smile appeared on her lips.
"Hmph. Since you're so eager to look after it, I'll leave it with you."
Chris crossed her arms, wearing an expression that clearly said, Let's see how long you can keep that up.
"I've got other work to take care of tonight anyway. But let me warn you, Kōichi. The incantation for that thing is actually very simple, and it's incredibly easy to trigger by accident. If you wake up tomorrow morning and find yourself turned into Aqua or Darkness, don't come crying to me and begging me to change you back!"
With that, Chris snapped her fingers with impressive flair. Her figure blurred as she vaulted off the terrace dozens of meters above the ground and vanished into the night.
"Tsk. She sure runs fast."
Kōichi Hayashi muttered as he felt waves of coolness radiating from his chest.
It was the unmistakable fluctuation of the Divine Treasure.
...
Late that night, Kōichi Hayashi returned to Alderp's extravagantly luxurious mansion.
The moment he stepped through the door, he was hit by an overwhelming aura of uselessness.
In the main hall, Aqua was sprawled gracelessly across the expensive carpet, clutching a bottle of fine wine that she had somehow gotten her hands on and mumbling to herself.
"Why... why didn't that little girl invite me to the secret seminar... I'm a Goddess..."
Megumin was asleep on the sofa with her staff clutched in her arms, snoring away while drool pooled beneath her.
Darkness, meanwhile, knelt in front of the fireplace with both hands tightly clasped together, her face flushed with an expression disturbing enough to send chills down anyone's spine.
"Ah... the way the Adventurers in the Royal Capital looked at me... Why wasn't there any disgust? Any contempt? As though they were staring at a pile of non-recyclable garbage... Wonderful... that kind of mental torment..."
Kōichi Hayashi expressionlessly walked past the collection of problem children and headed straight for the stairs.
Right now, all he wanted was somewhere quiet where he could examine the necklace.
But as he passed Kazuma's room, he noticed that the door had been left slightly ajar.
The Sliding-Kneel Hero, now despised by the entire city, was slumped against the windowsill and staring blankly at the moon. His back looked so desolate that it made one want to stick a note on him reading, "Desperately Needs Comfort."
Looking at Kazuma's lonely figure, Kōichi Hayashi felt a rare flicker of sympathy.
After all, they were both Reincarnators.
He sighed, pushed open the half-closed door, and stepped inside.
"Hey, Kazuma. Quit pretending to be some brooding poet. The moon over the Royal Capital isn't going to get any rounder just because you humiliated yourself with that sliding kneel."
Kōichi Hayashi leaned against the doorframe. His words were as biting as ever, but there was at least a hint of consolation behind them.
Kazuma slowly turned his head, his eyes as lifeless as stagnant water.
"Kōichi...? Just leave me alone. Right now, I just want to reincarnate as a cabbage by the roadside. At least then, I could contribute something when somebody eats me. That little princess is probably secretly laughing at me too, isn't she? Heh... Sliding-Kneel Hero. What a perfect title for me..."
As Kazuma wallowed in self-pity, the extraordinarily sharp instinct for valuable objects that he had developed through years of scraping by at the bottom of society suddenly kicked in.
His gaze landed on Kōichi Hayashi's collar, which had shifted slightly open as he walked.
From inside came a faint, rich blue glow.
"W-Wait a second."
The lifelessness vanished from Kazuma's eyes in an instant. He sprang upright like a groundhog that had just spotted prey.
"What's that inside your shirt? That shine... that ominous aura somehow overflowing with the scent of money... Don't tell me Her Highness Iris secretly gave you a reward behind my back?!"
"Hey, calm down. This thing is dangerous. It's not what you think..."
Kōichi Hayashi's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively reached to cover the pocket.
But it was already too late.
Consumed by the jealous thought of Why does only he get something good?, Kazuma suddenly displayed agility far beyond what his level should have allowed.
He lunged forward and wrapped both arms around Kōichi Hayashi's waist, then shoved his hands toward Kōichi Hayashi's chest like a pair of iron clamps.
"Quit lying! It's definitely something valuable, isn't it?! Let me see! I'll even settle for half the money after we sell it! I still haven't gotten any compensation for my emotional trauma!"
"Let go, you money-grubbing good-for-nothing! This thing can..."
The two wrestled into a tangled mess inside the cramped room.
Kōichi Hayashi tried to shove away Kazuma's greed-filled face, while Kazuma desperately clung to the necklace's silver chain.
Amid the struggle, the sapphire necklace suddenly popped free with a snap.
It traced an eerie arc through the moonlight before ending up suspended directly between their lines of sight.
At that exact moment, the sapphire seemed to react to their intersecting gazes and erupted with a blinding light.
Kazuma stared at the complicated ancient writing. Thanks to his inexplicable ability to understand the languages of this Fantasy World, he instinctively read aloud the awkward string of characters engraved into the necklace's setting.
"Soul... transfer? What kind of incantation is this...?"
"Crap! Shut up, Kazuma!"
Before Kōichi Hayashi could finish his warning, an enormous pulling force erupted from the necklace.
BZZZ—!
The world spun around Kōichi Hayashi.
His consciousness felt as though it had been sucked into an enormous pump, then violently hurled into a container that was somehow both familiar and completely foreign.
A few seconds later, the light faded.
Kōichi Hayashi slowly stood up.
He stared at his slightly rough, calloused hands, then touched the face that had only moments ago been twisted with jealousy.
A terrified scream burst from his mouth in Kazuma's unmistakable voice.
"Waaaaah! My body! My stats! Why did I turn into this useless shut-in whose only worthwhile stat is Luck?!"
Across from him, Kazuma lowered his head and examined the high-quality Adventurer's outfit now covering his body.
Feeling the tremendous strength and other stats surging through him, he slowly revealed an incredibly twisted and sinister smile.
"Oh my? Is this what they call a blessing in disguise? Kōichi, thanks for the treat. I think I'll be keeping this body and these stats for a while."