Side story 1: Gifting this Former Dark Goddess with a Business!

Proofreader: LordVTP

There wasn't a lot of room in Wiz's store, so Serena and I had to make do with the improvised room Vanir gave us to share, which was more like a broom closet than an actual bedroom. Serena said some outrageous things like 'Regina-sama should have a room to herself. I'm fine with sleeping outside', but I ignored her suggestions.

It wasn't much, but the small room did provide us with some privacy.

As for what we needed the privacy for, I had something I wanted to show Serena, a surprise concealed within a large wooden chest. At first, she didn't know what was inside, but instant recognition filled her eyes as soon as I opened the chest.

"T-That's a lot of Eris coins, Regina-sama..."

"Indeed."

We spoke in hushed tones because we felt overwhelmed by the treasure before us.

Even while working for the Devil King, we never had this much money to our names. The Devil King was kind of a cheapskate.

"And how did Regina-sama get this money again?"

"I got it from a very wealthy and powerful sponsor. He chose to remain anonymous, so I will not reveal his identity."

"If Regina-sama isn't willing to impart this person's identity even to me, her most trusted follower, this person must be incredibly important. Wait, is he the…?!"

"Shh. If you know, don't say it aloud. I'm under obligation not to reveal his identity. And, yes, you're my most trusted follower, but you're also my only follower."

I couldn't help but get that last quip out.

"I understand if Regina-sama can't talk about her secret sponsor. Why did such an important person choose to invest in us? Is he interested in our religion?"

I thought about how to answer Serena's question.

"As the Devil King general in charge of espionage and infiltration, I assume Serena understands that attractive women like us have certain… 'advantages' that can gain us the favor of powerful men… Fufun."

"...I don't care even if it's the king, please tell me this lolicon's name. I'll have him arrested."

"I-If you know who it is, don't say it! Do you want us to be charged with treason?!"

"Wait, so it was actually…?!"

I covered Serena's mouth before she could say any more.

"Putting aside how I procured these funds, let's talk about how we can use them to spread my religion…"

After the goddess idol beauty contest, my name began to spread among the people, as intended. There were a lot of influential people watching the contest and it helped that I had a good performance. Eris won in the end, but I wasn't planning to win, anyway. I just wanted to get my brand out.

"Our end goal is to spread Regina-sama's religion and to eventually restore the forgotten country of Noise. We need money to do this. We have a great amount of funds now, but this isn't sustainable. We need a steady flow of income."

Reliable as ever, Serena gave sound advice.

I looked around the room and saw a Regina doll resting on a shelf. This was the prototype we used when we were selling Regina dolls during the Eris thanksgiving festival.

The Regina dolls also played a part in protecting the people during Wolbach's explosion ambush. The barrier wards I placed in them deployed shields that protected everyone. They had a good reputation among the people.

"I say we use the money to aggressively mass-produce these Regina dolls."

"Erm… We're supposed to build a religious order, not become a toy company."

"You said it yourself, my dear follower. Right now, we need money more than anything. And these dolls already have quite the market demand. They sold out during the festival, didn't they?"

"That's true…"

Serena seemed more inclined to the idea as I explained myself.

"Now, all we need is a manufacturer…"

"Perhaps moi can help with that?"

"!" x 2.

A pillar of dirt sifted through the closed door and took the form of Vanir. He was creepily smiling and didn't at all seem to have any problems barging through and disturbing our privacy.

"Vanir-sama, you were listening?!"

"Of course moi was listening! Did thou think that the thin walls of this decrepit store could block thou chattering?!"

He freely admitted to eavesdropping, all with a smile on his face.

"Nevermind. I knew you would get involved in this somehow. You said that you could help us, Vanir?"

I raised an eyebrow as I drew the chest towards me and closed it, not trusting this devil around our funds.

"The chibi's distrust is offensive, yet not completely unwarranted! Haha! Moi intends to help thou with the manufacturing, of course! Did the chibi forget that this great devil already has a line of Vanir dolls? This devil can introduce the chibi to the company that maketh these dolls!"

"That's actually pretty useful."

I was stumped after finding out that Vanir actually had something helpful to say.

"Of course, moi will take a cut of the money for introducing the chibi to these contacts..."

"And there's the catch… Although that does sound fair. Fine, I'm willing to pay a finder's fee."

"Then, that settles it!"

Vanir held out a hand. I took it and we shook on it.

…

...

After Vanir introduced me to his contact, we were able to start mass-producing the Regina dolls.

Vanir was surprisingly helpful with the procedure. He even introduced us to some stores and outlets who were willing to purchase from the first stock of Regina dolls. Most of the businesses interested in us were toy stores, or general goods stores.

But none of them was willing to buy more than twenty Regina dolls at a time. We were a startup company, after all. We didn't have a lot of experience aside from operating a booth during the festival, but anyone could do that kind of business. Selling products during a festival, where consumers were freely available, was one thing. Consistently selling a product and keeping it in people's minds throughout the year, regardless of season and occasion, was another matter.

Since the smaller businesses weren't willing to invest in us right away, we still had a good portion of Regina dolls sitting in the factory.

"We still have a lot of dolls remaining… What a miscalculation."

Serena said, as we looked on at the boxes full of Regina dolls, sitting in the storage room assigned to us. We were leaning against the wall while looking at the remaining boxes, regretting our unfounded enthusiasm during production. We thought that more businesses would be interested in my brand, but I was still a relatively unknown goddess compared to Eris or even Aqua.

"We'll have to target large businesses who can afford to take a risk. I guess we'll have to ask the boya after all…"

"Well, that was always an option, but I do agree that it's awkward to ask a rich friend for help."

Serena said, expressing what I was thinking as well. I was a redeemed goddess, things like manipulating others to get what I wanted was a thing of the past.

Then again, if I asked the boya for help, he would probably agree anyway. But, somehow, outright asking him for help without contributing anything felt wrong.

I wanted to rebuild Noise from the ground up, and I was intent on doing it with my own hard work and effort.

It was only fitting. My country went down in flames because of my negligence. This time, I will build it up, piece by piece, with my own hands.

…

...

"Yeah, this looks good. I approve of it."

The boya said, after reading through my proposal.

"E-Eh? Ne, if you're giving us the OK just because we have history together, I don't need the charity!"

"Huh? This isn't about that. I see that you have a solid plan, and I can see growth in your business if I invest in it."

"Oh, really…?"

I couldn't help but blush a bit as the boya took me off guard with that statement.

I asked the boya to meet me at a cafe. I told him that I was planning to present him with a business proposal beforehand. I was surprised to get an approval from him without any resistance, so my initial reaction was to accuse him of favoritism.

Of course, I did make sure to wear my best dress and doll myself up a bit. It didn't hurt to make myself look as presentable as possible.

But I wasn't trying to seduce the boya, or anything.

Even if I did try to do that, his short-tempered girlfriend would come and blow me up with her explosion magic.

"So.. Does that mean you'll purchase the rest of our stock and sell it at Kazu-mall?"

"Yeah, a new toy store is opening there, so this is a good oppurtunity. Here, I have a contract prepared. Can I get your signature?"

I didn't think that the boya would try to underhand me, but I still gave the contract a quick read-through.

After finding that the terms were not only agreeable, but generous, I signed my signature on the document. Then, we shook on it to finalize the deal.

"Alright, this looks good. I also made a deal with two other people… Well, I guess you'll see once the toy store opens."

I was too giddy from the signing that I didn't fully register that last part.

"Great! Thank you, boya! I hope we can have a good business relationship from now on!"

After the successful meeting, I ran back home to tell Serena the good news.

…

...

It was the day of the new toy store's opening.

Of course, Serena and I were in attendance.

The boya was already there and he was talking to someone who looked like the toy store's owner.

He was a pleasant looking man who had a big smile on his face. He looked like the perfect fit for a toy store owner.

"Ah, looks like you're already here. The others should already be making their way here now."

The boya said as he saw us coming in.

"Hm? The others…?"

"Didn't I tell you before? There's two other people who agreed to sell their toys here. Well, then, I have to go for my daily explosion walk. Good luck!"

The boya was quick to leave and didn't even look back. I got a bit worried after seeing that.

"Ne, shop owner-san, do you know about the two others…?"

I asked the shop owner after the boya left in a hurry.

"Well… Kazuma-san is the one who handled those affairs for me. I trust his business sense, so I'm not worried about them."

He said this, but he was sweating a bit nervously, perhaps noticing the way the boya was in a hurry to leave the store, as if he wanted to avoid meeting these mysterious business partners of his.

We waited for a few more minutes until we finally learned why the boya was in such a hurry to leave.

"Fufun. Is this the place where I, the great Aqua-sama, can display my wonderful goods… these beautiful goddess Aqua figurines I produced?!"

Aqua walked in along with that follower of hers, Cecily.

"A-Aqua?! Don't tell me that you're…?!"

"Eh? What is this irrelevant, former dark goddess doing here? Shoo, shoo! You'll bring bad luck to this establishment!"

Aqua and Cecily were carrying boxes with them. With a dramatic flair, she placed the box on the ground and opened it. There were numerous figurines inside bearing Aqua's resemblance.

"Hey! You stole my idea!"

"C-Calm down, Regina-sama!"

Serena held me back as I lost my temper.

"Pffft! I've had this idea way before you did! I didn't even know you were going to do the same thing! I guess I'll have to give you some praise for having the same idea I did, selling dolls that bear your liking to increase the popularity of your religion… I guess you're a genius like me, huh?"

There wasn't any malicious intent in her smile, but I felt insulted anyway after she compared her intelligence level to mine.

"Oho? What's all this noise over here? The goddesses art bickering? How amusing!"

As if this day couldn't get any worse, Vanir showed up.

"...What are you doing here, you stinky devil?!"

"Destroy that devil, Aqua-sama!"

Aqua was already pouncing on Vanir. Unlike Serena, Cecily didn't hold Aqua back and was even encouraging her to attack Vanir.

"Hahaha! Did thou thinketh that this great devil wouldn't try to sell the Vanir dolls here as well? How foolish!"

I felt like I had been tricked somehow!

I approached Vanir, glaring at him all the while.

"Hm? Does the chibi have any complaints?"

"I feel like you set me up somehow. What's your plan here?"

He only shrugged as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Hmm… This great devil came here because moi has seen that, in the future, moi will make great profits from a joint venture with the chibi…"

"...!"

I guess he was implying that, based on the future he saw, this partnership will make the both of us a lot of money!

"Alright~! I guess there's no problem then~! Let's get along, everyone~!"

"Eh? Why is the chibi hugging me? Gross! Weird! Stop it, you're creeping me out?!"

I snared Aqua into a group hug as I started to feel optimistic about the whole arrangement.

I mean, if Vanir is investing in this, he wouldn't go out of his way to sabotage himself, right?

...Right?

…

...

Just a few days after the grand opening…

"Why would you sell such an inappropriate toy?! You can look up the figurine's skirt and peek inside?! And why isn't this figurine wearing any panties?!"

"Who in their right mind would put that on a figurine?! There's way too much detail!"

"You've traumatized my child! Explain yourself!"

Angry parents stormed the toy store, their purchased Aqua figurines in hard.

"P-Please calm down! I swear, I didn't know anything about the… additional features that were added to those figurines! Please ask the person who made them!"

The store owner was shifting the blame completely on Aqua. I couldn't blame him at all.

"Hm? What's the problem here?"

Aqua finally came out after hearing all the noise.

"It's her! It's the voyeur who made naughty upskirt dolls of herself!"

"Explain yourself, you hussie!"

"Wait, isn't this that goddess…?! Are you sure you're not a succubus?!"

"Hah?! What did you say…?!"

I was actually feeling a bit bad for Aqua. I stepped in to intervene.

"Um… I'm sure it was an accident. Why don't you explain to them why you put in those… extra details, Aqua?"

Aqua blinked at my question as we all waited for her answer.

"I mean… I just thought it was good to make as accurate of a model as possible?"

"Are you an idiot or what?!"

Aqua kept digging a deeper hole for herself. There was nothing I could do.

"Moihahaha! Please calm down, everyone! Those who received a defunct useless goddess figurine will get a full refund! You'll even get 10% off on your next purchase of a Vanir doll!"

Not missing a beat at all, Vanir came out to take advantage of the chaos.

"Ohh! A full refund?! How generous!"

"And he's even giving us a discount!"

"Please let me buy a Vanir doll!"

The customers threw away their Aqua dolls in a garbage can Vanir provided, then they proceeded to buy his Vanir dolls.

"Wahhh! Nooo! If you're giving them full refunds then that means all my profits will…?!"

Aqua shrieked as she watched her obscene Aqua dolls being thrown into the garbage can.

I just remembered….

The 'profits' Vanir told me about, he didn't mention Aqua in his prediction.

I feel bad for Aqua, but…

"Regina dolls will be on sale as well!"

"Even the chibi is betraying me?!"

...F-For the sake of rebuilding my country, I have to work hard from now on!

A/N: Hey guys, I'm back after a short break! All my side stories from the 'We defeated the Devil King' fic will go here. I'm planning on making a lot more side stories, so please look forward to future updates. And if you guys are interested in interacting with me directly, or if you want to join a community of konosuba fanfic enthusiasts, please consider joining my discord server, 'Konosuba Fanworks'. Unfortunately, due to the nature of this site, I can't provide a full link. You can contact me on discord with my username, which is 'BoringBone'. My account number is '#3777'. If you know how discord invite links work, you can put the code 'MAkHykS' at the end of the typical discord invite link, and you should be able to join. We have a konosuba short story contest going on right now, and I'm planning to publish the works of the participants on this website in the near future, so please look forward to it!

-BB