Chapter 133: Darkness

"Ah, great Lady Eris, how did things end up like this again?"

In the Eris Cult church of Axel Town, a female knight clad in armor knelt before the divine statue, pouring out her troubles to the deity she served.

"I merely charged into a goblin horde, wanting to experience being trampled by those filthy male goblins— no, wait, to act as a sturdy shield protecting my companions, yet my companions cannot understand my actions, and even said afterward that I subjected the party to unnecessary risk.

Ah, I gave so much, yet have to be disparaged by my companions afterward— this feeling is simply wonde— er, no, it's simply terrible.

Lady Eris, you are the Goddess who governs luck, and I am a Crusader who serves you. Why is it that I alone incur this fate of being constantly abandoned by my companions? Have you ceased to favor the Darkness Family?"

In the Afterlife Space, within the Goddess's boudoir, Eris, who was drinking tea, was directly choked up by this, and this white-haired Goddess began to retort.

"That's because you're always recklessly charging into monster piles! Your companions just want a Crusader who can hold aggro steadily, but you charge into the monster pile alone because of your own fetish, so of course your adventurer companions don't want a Crusader who can't stably hold monster aggro!"

Watching through the divine statue's eyes the young girl from a family of devout believers who had prayed to her since childhood, the Goddess of Luck Eris rubbed her temples with a bit of a headache.

Lalatina Ford Darkness, the fact that she could survive intact through many instances of suicidal behavior was, to some extent, related to her favoring this child a bit more.

But if that masochistic attribute of hers continues to flare up during adventures, sooner or later she will encounter an enemy who makes her own luck run terribly bad, because the Luck attribute has never been invincible.

Just as Eris was pondering how to save this child with a seriously problematic personality, she heard Darkness continue praying: "Lady Eris, now I have become alone again. If possible, please bestow upon me a friend who will never abandon me.

Of course, if they really do abandon me, *sob sob sob*, then I'll still accept it."

This prayer made Eris's eyes light up, and she suddenly had an absolutely brilliant idea.

"Extra, extra! The Swimsuit Beauty Pageant is about to begin its third preliminary round! Admission fee only five thousand Eris!"

Having finished her prayers and exited the church doors, Darkness heard children walking the streets shouting just that, and simultaneously a flyer for the Swimsuit Beauty Pageant fluttered down at her feet.

Originally Darkness had no intention of paying it any mind, but she suddenly thought of her own prayer before the divine statue, and stopped in her tracks.

Picking up that text flyer from the ground, she murmured to herself: "Could this be Lady Eris's divine revelation?"

Having just returned from subjugating a goblin settlement and immediately been kicked out of her adventurer party, with nothing to do for the time being, Darkness decided to go to the Swimsuit Beauty Pageant venue written on the flyer, and after paying the fee at the entrance, entered the main venue.

Inside the venue, a sea of people; the vast majority were male audience members, a small minority female audience members; itinerant vendors roamed the two-person-wide aisles, selling various snacks and drinks.

"Now, let us introduce once more the four scoring judges for this Swimsuit Beauty Pageant..."

Darkness's entry was timed perfectly; today's Swimsuit Beauty Pageant had just begun. She found her seat and sat down, just in time to hear the host continue speaking via Amplification Magic.

"They are respectively: the prize money sponsor, High Priestess Aqua's proud disciple Broly;

The Town Management representative who strongly supports the holding of the Swimsuit Beauty Pageant, Prosecutor Sena;

The Adventurer's Guild representative who actively assisted the smooth holding of the Beauty Pageant, the Adventurer's Guild's eternal poster girl Miss Luna; and the judge Dust, chosen by vote of all male adventurers, representing the aesthetic taste of Axel's general male populace!"

After the judge introductions were done, the Swimsuit Beauty Pageant began.

"Then, let us welcome today's first participant..."

A presumably female adventurer walked out; I say presumably because her body, clad in a red women's swimsuit, was covered in knotted muscles— one could truly say she had arms on which a horse could run.

"Then, would this lady please display her beauty."

The host said with some difficulty; the first contestant of the third day's beauty pageant was a Protein Queen type figure, which was really rather awkward.

"I'm not married yet, I'm still a maiden."

The Protein Queen gave the host a sidelong glance, but didn't care about such details, and simply stated her own understanding of beauty.

"I believe beauty is muscle!" So saying, she began performing various bodybuilding poses on the pool ring; in the final thirty seconds of displaying beauty, she even produced a prop, a genuine stone slab, and performed a 'breaking a stone slab on the chest' talent show right on the ring, causing the audience who had originally been complaining about the first contestant's quality to change their attitude and burst into applause.

"Then, Participant Number 1 has displayed her beautiful side and talent; please, the four judges, give your scores!"

"Women also possess masculine beauty; those muscles are clearly those of a combat pragmatist, and she plays an important role in town safety. I give 8 points."

Prosecutor Sena raised an 8-point sign, and also stated the reason for giving such a high score.

"Participant Number 1 is a powerful adventurer; as a Shield Guard class she is her teammates' sturdy shield, but as a beauty pageant contestant I feel she is still a bit too rigid, so I can only give 7 points."

The Guild's poster girl Luna also gave her own score and reasoning.

"Muscle aesthetics, huh? You've let me know a new kind of beauty. I'll give 8 points too."

Broly also raised his sign, and the scores he gave basically never went below 7 points.

"1 point, can't give any more. Although muscle aesthetics makes sense, this is a women-only Swimsuit Beauty Pageant; which man would want to see a muscle-bound female warrior near the pool?"

Dust held up a 1-point sign, giving absolutely no face, voicing the innermost thoughts of the vast majority of the male audience present.

"Dust, we support you! You're the real man!"

"Yeah, the other judges are either children or women; their aesthetics aren't normal at all, they fundamentally can't represent the normal aesthetics of Axel's males."

"Only you, who once used gentle eyes to guard the women's changing room and toilet, and were detained by the Town Security Officer multiple times, are the true light of justice for this Swimsuit Beauty Pageant!"

"Charge on, Dust! Represent us Axel males, reveal your true desires! Ahahaha..."

Without a doubt, Dust's scoring received vocal support from a large number of male audience members in the venue. Normally they wouldn't dare offend that kind of muscle-bound woman who could run a horse on her arms, but here at the Swimsuit Beauty Pageant they could gather to support their representative Judge Dust in making a fair aesthetic judgment on this pageant.

"Eh, muscles are no good?"

Amid the heated atmosphere, Darkness covered her belly. As a Crusader who was extremely durable, she also had quite a lot of muscle on her body.

【Oh Lady Eris, you guided me here— is it because you want me to go on stage and participate in this beauty pageant, to have my body with its defined abs criticized by these males with their utterly ugly desires? Ah, what a...】

For a moment, Darkness didn't know whether this was a reward or a punishment, but just thinking of herself as the young lady of the Darkness Family, yet wearing a flimsy swimsuit that could only cover the critical parts, going up onto that pool stage watched by ten thousand eyes, letting her body be scrutinized and judged by countless male gazes filled with desire— she felt a bit excited yet also distressed.

Looking at the flyer in her hand, which also served as the registration form, Darkness found it somewhat difficult to make a decision.

"But, this is a divine revelation, right?!"

But in the end, muttering those words, she walked toward the main venue's registration desk.

"Hello, I want to register for the Swimsuit Beauty Pageant. What should I do?"

"Just register your information and prepare a swimsuit, that's enough."

After registering her identity, Darkness asked: "Do I have to go on stage right away?"

"I'm afraid not yet; there are too many contestants who came to register, you might have to wait until the afternoon to go on stage."

The female staff member saw Darkness's nervousness and spoke up to comfort her: "Don't put too much pressure on yourself; even if you don't go on stage afterward, no one will punish you."

"Eh, no punishment?"

Personnel: "???"

Why does this person have a disappointed look?

(Chapter End)