Was that enough to settle this?
Yep!
(Sorry to slow down a bit guys. Was starting to burn out, so wanted to rest my mind a bit rather than force it until it broke again. That sort of thing is what made me take a hiatus for more than a year. I'd rather step back for a couple of days at a time than allow a repeat of that.)
Kazuma ran up to check on Darkness as the smoke cleared. Sure enough, she was grinning like a loon, and the mask was gone. He looked around, and spotted the pieces of it, surrounded by a dark aura. He was on guard as Vanir's voice came from the mask. "Heh... Well played Kazuma Sato... Guess this is it for this life... See you... In the next..." The aura faded, leaving the fragments of the mask inert. Kazuma relaxed, now secure in the knowledge that it was over.
Sena walked over, looking at the broken mask fragments. "...you guys did it..." she breathed in disbelief.
...
"To the party of Kazuma Sato, I would like to formally thank you for your services," Sena told Kazuma and his group as they were assembled. Darkness was scuffed up pretty badly, and had her arm in a sling from Megumin's Explosion without Aqua's Protect, but she was smiling nonetheless. "Your actions were vital to the defeat of the Destroyer, and that of the Devil King's General, Vanir," she continued. "As such, you are to be rewarded with 300 million Eris, minus the remainder of the debt owed for the destruction of Lord Alderp's manor. The remainder comes out to 120 million Eris," Sena replied, as a guard approached with the sack of money, and Kazuma cheered, and held it up the moment he received it.
(It had come out to 40 million in the manga, however, in this story, Kazuma never fought Beldia and during the fight did enough damage to end up owing more money than the reward paid and thus ending up in debt, plus, he had gained more from dangerous quests here, most of which ended up partly going to paying off the manor, hence the increased amount.)
"And the charges?" he then paused.
"Dropped," Sena replied. "You have proven beyond any doubt that you are not a servant of the Devil King, and Lord Alderp has... Graciously dismissed his suit."
'Graciously my ass,' Kazuma mentally groused. 'He clearly had to realize he had no other choice at this point. Persecuting someone who defeated a Devil King General would have been political suicide for him.'
"And of course, to Lalatina Ford Dustiness," Sena continued.
"Eh?" Darkness asked.
"For your own service and self sacrifice, the Royal Family has sent you a letter of thanks, and a set of replacement armor."
"Er... Thanks," Darkness blushed heavily, hearing many people praise her, and some noting that she didn't know she had such an adorable name. "... this isn't the kind of public embarrassment I like..." she whined.
"Kazuma Sato. Now that your name has been cleared, I trust you will continue to do good for the people of Axel Town," Sena said.
"Sure thing," Kazuma replied. "Though I plan on taking it easy until winter ends if you don't mind... I hate going out in this cold..."
"I suppose that's understandable, though I might come with some requests that need someone of your party's caliber should Kyouya be unavailable," Sena nodded.
"...fair enough," Kazuma groaned.
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