Eh, they'll live.

"You know, I'm starting to see how you got to be your team's leader," Taylor told Kazuma as they headed back dragging the Beginner's Bane with them. Despite not having a quest out in it, the guild paid bounties for monsters like it that posed a threat to adventurers. "Dust said that you were lucky to have them, but it's clearly the other way around."

Kazuma chuckled a bit sheepishly. He had to confess though, he had put his temporary party at risk by choosing to fight the thing, instead of running after blinding it. Still, they were quite understanding when he explained why, and the idea that it likely hurt Dust had them agreeing that they would have wanted it dead more than to escape had they realized the likely implications of the blood on it like Kazuma had.

"Your intelligence stat, must be insanely, high, let me see your Adventurer's Card!" Rin said. After Kazuma handed it over, she paused. "Wait... All of your stats are average? Other than your insane Luck Stat, and a slightly above average Intelligence..."

"It's more creativity than intelligence really," Kazuma said sheepishly.

"Hey, wanna join our party for real?" Kieth suggested.

"Probably not, though I'm definitely going to make Dust sweat a bit," Kazuma smirked. Assuming they were alive of course, but he did have faith that his girls at least got away from the beast... "Still, I wouldn't mind working with you guys again in the future, maybe some joint party missions... Assuming you can get Dust to keep his mouth shut... Then again, he might just do it himself after that cruel joke I played on him..."

...

"...So... What happened?" Kazuma asked, smirking as he saw the beaten up and disheveled forms of Dust and his party. Dust looked even more traumatized than Kyouya had. Apparently, Megumin had set off an Explosion in an empty field, rendering herself useless, and the sound attracted the Beginner's Bane, which led to Darkness taking the brunt of harm, not that she minded, but the Bane had certainly gotten a few hits in on Aqua and Dust as well. Aqua of course could do squat. In fact, at one point, she made things worse by trying to cast Powered on Dust, but missing and buffing the Bane instead. Which explained why the Bane was actually able to do significant damage to Darkness, who Aqua currently needed to carry. Thank goodness THAT had worn off before Kazuma had encountered it... They managed to escape with their lives, but just barely.

"Well, don't let it get you down," Kazuma grinned as Ria was doing a damn convincing impression of a hyena as Dust had blubbered out his story. "Have fun with your new party!"

"No wait, please, I was wrong! Switch back with me!" It took an hour of begging for Kazuma to agree.