Nothing particularly interesting happened while in the hotel… Well, that is what happened, back to the mansion wasn't the best experience either.

Instead… Well, it's better to get the full story, right?

Drinking while the sun is fully out to celebrate myself finally getting what I wanted is alright, right?

"Hey Kazuma, you have been acting awfully happy-going. Has something happened recently?"

I wanted to keep my relationship with Megumin to myself for a little bit, but being drunk, it's quite hard to keep it to myself. It is our one month anniversary, after all. Maybe I should buy her something.

"I'm gonna go outside for a bit, get some fresh air."

I needed to sober up quickly, to not go out of control.

So, I planned on going back to the mansion, to cool down and sleep.

(Author's notes : If you haven't noticed yet, I'm trying to copy a bit of the LN with 1st person perspective instead of my normal 3rd person perspective in writing.)

Both Darkness and Aqua were trying to be normal, but both found it hard to.

And thus, the mansion was devoid of any people. At least it's nice and calm, won't get a headache that way.

I can't blame them, it all came out of nowhere for them both and the writer doesn't know how to write them in this situation. You'll see them again at some point, don't worry.

Although I did say that I love her, I don't know why. I don't know why I decided to say it then and not wait until I know for certain the reason why.

I guess I need my own 'find yourself' trip.

"Kazuma…"

Damn, a headache.

"Kazuma."

Not talking about the person calling out to me, though… It probably is.

"Kazuma-desu"

Megumin had built a habit of coming into my room to sleep with me or just lay around me for no reason, it's becoming quite troublesome.

"You finally decided to wake up."

In contrast to Megumin's monotone voice, her eyes were flaring and her face full of excitement.

"What is it, Megu?"

Her brows twitched.

"Stop calling me 'Megu', it doesn't sound right coming from you."

"Is that so, Megu?"

Megumin pouted and sighed.

"Anyway, I just met someone that is able to put more power in my staff!"

"You did…?"

"Yes. He told me that he'd put more power into my spells at the cost of more mana!"

"And, he had to put that in your staff?"

"Humu, he said that my staff would be more powerful if I had enough mana."

This looks quite fishy.

"Where is your staff right now?"

"I gave it to him so he could work on it of course!"

"Anything else?"

"There isn't anything else."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"No place or time when he'll give it back?"

Megumin sat up in record time and tensed up.

"N-no…?"

I took a deep breath before calmly sitting up.

Megumin seemed to relax a bit, that was my opening.

"YOU IDIOT!"

I grabbed her cheeks and stretched out a lot.

"Oii, Kazua! that hurts!"

I did not stop until I felt satisfied.

"Do you remember how much that staff costed?"

I let go to let her talk, but that didn't mean I'd let her escape from my wrathful glare.

Megumin looked to the side.

"Uh, if I remember correctly, I bought the staff after we fought the cabbages for the first time. It took almost all of the savings that I earned myself."

Megumin took out her adventurers card and scrolled down for like 20 seconds.

"The cabbages were ten thousand eris each, right?"

I nodded

"So, I harvested about 60 with my weaker explosion, and such earned 600,000 eris, a lot of that went into my staff..."

This girl…

"Stop beating around the bush, how much was it."

Megumin got in a position where it was easy for her to run away, so I held on to her arm.

"Uhh, it was… 500.000 eris…"

"And you gave such a fortune to someone that only claimed to make it better?"

"Yes."

"If you don't get it back, I'm confiscating mana from you for a week."

I dragged her outside, I feel like Megumin would have resisted, but she didn't.

I wonder what is going through her head right now.

"Where did you talk to this guy."

I didn't even bother to change out of my tracksuit.

Although a part of the reason I was mad at Megumin for losing it was because it was worth a lot, I also felt bad that the staff she has used for most of her explosions with. I can imagine that she built a 'bond' with it.

If we can't find it, I'll buy a new one from her choices, if it's possible to buy of course.

Rebuilding the mansion cost us quite a lot, even though most of the expenses were not paid by us, since the mansion is technically not ours.

Megumin took me to the place where she talked to that guy.

"What did he look like?"

"Well, he is a bit taller than Kazuma and had plain black hair, uncombed."

"Clothes?"

"Red shirt with rolled up sleeves up to his elbow and back pants."

Ah, so the clothes also helped in convincing Megumin.

"Red and black is cool, isn't it…"

"Of course it is, the bright red shirt he had on was plain on its own but the black pants complimented its coolness!"

Thought so. This person definitely knows crimson demons quite well.

"Kazuma's tracksuit is kind of plain, his adventure outfit is cool though."

Why did that come out of her mouth?

"Ahem, off topic. So, which way did he go when you parted ways."

Megumin looked around for a bit and looked back at me, seemingly asking me to follow.

So, her plan is to just walk the way he went as well and see if we possibly run into him?

We walked around for like thirty minutes without luck but I did find some interesting stores along the way.

Megumin wouldn't be able to cast explosion without a staff, so losing it is a big problem.

I don't want a Megumin clinging unto me saying she'll die if she doesn't 'blow it up'.

We were getting close to the town walls at this point.

"Hey Megumin."

"Hm?"

"Do you want to go look for a new staff? You can't cast explosion if you don't have one."

There's no reason to fuss about it, she knows what she did wrong and regrets it.

Hopefully she won't be fooled again so easily.

Megumin had a sad face, a face I didn't like seeing. It doesn't fit Megumin.

"Alright."

Megumin's previous slight interest in looking around has faded.

As I started walking, Megumin held on to my arm, still looking to the ground.

I will report this to the police, or whatever there is in this world.

Can't have the same thing happen to other people.

Luckily the streets in these outskirts of the town were not as filled as a bit in the center.

It's kind of weird to have a magic shop on the outskirts, so far away from the adventurers guild, I'm sure they would get 5 times the number of customers there.

Oh well, I can't really blame them, since Wiz's shop also exists, maybe it's some sort of business strategy I don't understand.

Anyway.

"We're here Megumin."

The girl that has been latched on to my arm and looking down uncharacteristically silent finally looked up.

The shop actually looked quite nice, black and red tiles that somehow fitted the aesthetics.

It made Megumin energetic again, as expected with this color pallet.

"Kazuma, Kazuma! Are we going to buy something from there?"

"Yeah, we are."

"What are we waiting for then?"

Megumin dragged me into the store.

When we entered, there was darkness. The door closed behind us and Megumin stepped forward.

"Show yourself!"

"Hold on, I wasn't done with the preparation yet!"

"Oh."

Megumin quickly hid behind me.

Preparation?

Oh, I see.

After like a minute of waiting, a light appeared.

There was a man standing inside of the circular light.

My eyes were still adapting to the light so I couldn't see any details yet.

I did see a hue of red on his face, though.

"I am Koroaka! A crimson demon that left the village to pursue his dreams, foremost magical smith in Axel and twin brother of Kuroni!"

Megumin stepped forward and threw her cloak so it looked like it was riding in the wind.

"I am Megumin! One that wields crimson demon blood and pursues the arch mage class for one goal, mastering the strongest magic of all, explosion magic!"

Heh, why not.

I walked up to Koroaka and did my own, toned down version of a crimson demon stance.

"I am Satou Kazuma, one of the adventurers class, the person that has slain multiple demon generals with a party that shouldn't work and foremost at getting in trouble."

I stood normally and offered him my hand.

"Nice to meet you."

He was surprised.

"It is indeed nice to meet you! Let me go and turn on the lights again, you can go look around."

After he shook my hand he walked off.

Megumin looked at his back for a few seconds.

"Such a cool name…"

(So, I want to thank my friend Kaiser for the name, it stands for 'kill' and 'red'.)

I'm starting to understand crimson demons a bit more, come on, the name literally has 'red'. Which crimson demon wouldn't find that cool?

Oh well, Koroaka had quite the arsenal in terms of staffs, rings and potions here.

The most defining feature about every staff here is that it has the color red on at least one of its most important parts.

Either the manatite orb or the handle.

Megumin was looking at them all with stars in her eyes.

Everything that was bothering her just a moment ago was gone, reduced to atoms. There's only that staff.

Wait, her eyes aren't on the staffs, it's on one specific staff.

"What's that?"

"I don't know, something about it excites me."

Koroaka--who had turned on the lights in the meantime--came back.

"That is a staff of my own creation that increases firepower at the cost of more mana."

It's design looked really good. Jewels of different colours hung around it with a balance that did not make it too overwhelming and the original black-red palette this Crimson Demon in particular liked a lot was used well in it's circular form around the manatite. All the effort was wasted on that, the handle was kind of plain, just black, nothing special.

Megumin and I were lost for words.

"You said you pursued the spell 'Explosion' right?"

Megumin nodded excitedly.

"You probably lose all of your mana after you cast it. So, if you can still cast Explosion with this staff, you'll have a free upgrade of power without using any skill points."

That's almost too convenient.

"So my Explosion would be more powerful?!"

"In theory, yes."

That's only if she can even cast it.

"But, how much does it cost?"

Koroaka looked up and placed a finger on his chin.

"Normally I'd ask 2 million Eris for it, but since this is for a fellow crimson demon, someone that understands Crimson Demons and something that personally interests me, I'll drop it down to 1,999 million Eris."

"Oii."

"I'm kidding, it's 1,5 million,"

Still asking for a lot, considering it's not even something that has a guaranteed chance to work.

"We don't even know if it'll wo-"

"Want to go for a test run?"

" I can use this staff before we buy it?"

A test run, we can use this staff once without drawbacks.

"Why not."

"I'll accompany you."

And thus, we ventured out to the outside of the walls.

It took quite a while for Megumin to find a suitable target for her potentially upgraded explosion, but eventually, she found a rock formation.

And a huge one at that, something that would be a testament of her raw power.

And so, Megumin stepped forward and started chanting.

"O grand rock-pike, I beseech thee, witness the greatest power known to mankind. Grief, sadness, all of the negative emotions will become my power! For I, Megumin has arrived to slay you! Burn burn burn, and rot in hell! EXPLOSION!!!"

If I didn't know this staff would bring extra power, I wouldn't understand.

Nothing came out of her staff.

Megumin, Koroaka and I stared in shock, Megumin was making a normal sphere around her as if she was normally chanting, but nothing came out.

"You, don't have enough mana, do you?"

Kind of an obvious question.

"I don't…"

Megumin is looking where the explosion was supposed to be with an expressionless face.

"You can try this."

Koroaka pulled out a bottle.

I asked him.

"What does that do?"

"Oh, it gives the person that drinks it extra mana for about half an hour, but it'll remove the mana from you afterwards. Considering Megumin will deplete her mana either way, the only drawback will not be a problem."

"No other drawbacks?"

"Not that I know, but I have tested this thoroughly."

Megumin walked back and took the potion carefully.

"I have also added a sweet flavour, so it's not that disgusting to drink."

This guy is too nice.

After drinking the potion, Megumin did the same chant.

"EXPLOSION!!"

Everything went the same, except the end.

There was a slight delay while the mana was rapidly building up where the explosion would be and then…

A huge explosion, bigger than I have seen before, the shockwave was more than I expected and the heat was exceptional as well.

But most of all, Megumin was able to make an after-smoke shaped in a heart. She has been actively trying this for a few weeks now.

"An almost perfect explosion… Kazuma, I judge it 110 points!"

I can't judge it properly, since I'm not familiar with this new power.

"I agree. Nice bakuretsu!"

We gave each other a thumbs up.

"Nice bakuretsu."

It is strange how she was able to make a shape with a completely new staff, I'd think she'd need time to adapt to it.

"Why don't more people use explosion magic?"

I ignored the nonsense-mumbling Koroaka, and went to pick up Megumin.

After placing her on my back, I turned to the still paralyzed Koroaka.

"Koroaka, let's go back to the shop."

"O-oh, right."

We went back without any words, Koroaka was too focused in his thoughts and Megumin fell asleep quite quickly.

I wonder if Koroaka can make the potion every day.

If not, that's the end of Megumin's daily explosions. She'll have to tough it out.

After walking for a long time, we arrived back at his shop. It was already evening.

"So, Kazuma. Do you still want to buy it?"

"Can you make a lot of those potions?"

"Yes I can, they don't cost a lot in materials, since it only uses about a fingertip worth of manatite, but only a few can make it. So it's quite pricey."

Well, he does have to keep a roof over his head.

"I can give you two a discount, only if you don't buy too many of them. Manatite doesn't grow on trees."

Is this guy too nice, or desperate?

"I don't have any reason to refuse. Though, Megumin does fire one off every day, saying she'd die if she doesn't."

"I'm sure she can put on some defences, you'll have to ask her what she wants after she wakes up, though."

"Yeah, I will."

I will definitely remember Koroaka, maybe I'll give him a visit out of curiosity, he has way more items than just staffs. Potions and rings?

Anyway, because I was still in my tracksuit and it was getting late, I would deliver the money to him at a later time.

For now, I had to bring Megumin home and into bed.

Which, would've been easy if I hadn't felt Megumin heat up really quickly on my back.

She was still asleep, but was breathing heavily, so I hurried home.

Is this the side-effect of the potion?

He said it would drain mana after the boost.

Oh, you can't drain mana from a drained deposit.

I had to be back home to try different things.

So, after I came back to the mansion, I dropped Megumin off on the couch and got a small bucket of cold water and a small towel.

First and foremost, I soaked the towel and placed it on Megumin's forehead.

I then decided to try to give her some mana using Drain Touch.

It's pretty unpleasant to give mana, which is why I refuse to do it very often.

But Megumin would clearly be in a way more unpleasant state than me, and I'm going to sleep anyway, so not like the amount of mana I give really matters.

So, I would take turns in giving Megumin mana slowly and resoaking the towel.

At first, only her breathing calmed down quite a lot, and then I'd notice her temperature dropping to a more normal state as well.

At last, after about 20-30 minutes of nursing, Megumin finally opened her eyes.

"Is it over?"

"Do you feel bad?"

"Not anymore."

Anymore?

"Megumin."

She was already dozing off again.

"Hm?"

"Were you awake the entire time?"

"I had enough energy to be awake, but not to move. Not like I would've either way. Having Kazuma be worried about me is a luxury I probably won't have again."

Well, I had to have expected that.

"Well, I'm going to put you in bed."

I picked Megumin up in my arms.

"By the way, Kazuma."

"Kazuma-desu"

"Where are Aqua and Darkness? I haven't seen them around today."

"I have no idea. It's kind of weird not seeing them around, isn't it."

"Yeah."

I continued to walk to Megumin's room.

When I was about to open the door, Megumin posed a question.

"Does Kazuma want to sleep in my room tonight?"

I stared forward in silence for a few seconds, contemplating my next move.

I decided that I'll let my knees buckle and go straight down.

"Wahh!!"

Megumin didn't expect this.

"No, not tonight."

I'm too tired for this. Haven't I done enough today?

Megumin embraced me from in my arms and placed her face on my shoulder.

"Thank you, Kazuma."

"What for?"

"I should probably apologize more than I should thank you."

Hmm, true.

"So, sorry that I got my staff stolen, thank you for being with me today and thank you for this new staff, I love it. Not only does it make my explosions more powerful, it is also one of the only gifts I got from you."

"You will need to increase your mana capacity to actually use explosion without the potion."

(Hey, that rhymes!)

"I need about 4 to 5 more levels and my mana capacity will be high enough."

"How do you know?"

"Huh? Know what?"

"You need 4 to 5 more levels and your mana capacity will be high enough to cast explosion normally?"

"Actually, that might be true, yes."

What?

"How do you actually estimate that?"

"I heard a voice saying how much mana I used up and how much I gained from the potion."

I am going to interrogate Koroaka for this.

"Did that happen with your previous staff?"

"It did not, I was just guessing it was an extra feature with this staff."

"Place the staff down until I know more about this."

Something told me that this wasn't natural.

"You know what, I'll sleep with you tonight. Tell me if you hear the voice again without the staff in hand."

My arms hurt, so I quickly entered Megumin's room and gently placed her on the bed.

I instinctively picked up the staff, I wasn't supposed to do that.

"Oops."

Oh well, might as well.

I placed the staff next to the door and layed next to Megumin to sleep.

She curled up while holding on to my arm.

I hope this doesn't end badly.