Megumin's POV
Why didn't anyone tell me about hangovers? This is the worst, I feel like I'm still drunk but without any of the good stuff… Still, this is strangely comfy. Wait, am I… Yep. That's Kazuma. And those are my arms. It looks like he hasn't woken up yet. I'll go find Aqua.
"Aqua? Aqua, wake up!"
"What is it? No, I'm not curing your hangover, you brought it on yourself."
"Oh. Ok."
Aqua opened her eyes and looked at me with a confused expression.
"Wait, I thought you were Kazuma! I can definitely deal with your hangover!"
"Nah, you're kinda right…"
"No, I insist! Plus, Wiz told me that she has a job that she wants us to do!"
"Yeah, I bet that's the real reason why."
"Do you want me to refuse?"
"Ah! No! Sorry!"
With that, Aqua got rid of Megumin's hangover using some healing magic.
Ah, that's better.
"Thanks, Aqua!"
"No problem! By the way, are you ok? Kazuma didn't do anything bad to you last night, right?"
Seriously? This lady thinks that Kazuma would have the guts to actually follow through with that? He'd probably think about it, but he'd never do that!
"No, he didn't. How weak do you think I am?"
"W-well, I just thought that since you were drunk and asleep, he wouldn't have a problem-"
"Kazuma wouldn't do that! He's a scumbag and a perv, but he wouldn't take advantage of me being asleep or drunk! Honestly, he'd probably be more likely to perv on me if I'm neither of those things."
"Hmph! Well tell him to come with us on a quest!"
"See you later, Aqua."
If this is what Aqua thought of him, I wonder what the adventurer guild thinks of us.
"Hey Kazuma!"
"Wh-huh? Oh, yeah, I'm Kazuma. Why are you waking me up this early?" *yawn*
"The rest of us are stopping you from being a shut-in NEET all the time!"
"If you think insulting me's gonna get me to leave, you're sorely mistaken."
"It's not just that. Wiz and Vanir had a job in mind for us."
Kazuma scoffed and replied with a smirk.
"Then why don't you guys do it on your own? I doubt that a lowly adventurer would be of much help-"
"Come on! You're our leader! You're the one who makes all the unfair underhanded plans and the one who killed the devil king!"
"I only did that with 4 pieces of manatite- hang on."
A grin began spreading on Kazuma's face.
"Do you want to know how I killed the devil king?"
"Sure. But once you tell me, you're coming with us!"
*sigh* "Why should I come?"
"Vanir's paying us pretty well for it."
"How much?"
"He wouldn't say. Come on, you wouldn't want to miss out on a massive payout, would you? Aqua might even end up richer-"
"Fine, fine!"
I smirked. Looks like money really does talk.
"Anyways, on how I defeated the devil king, why don't you guess?"
"Another underhanded plan? Like stealing his weapons?"
"Nah, he had magic, and it's not like I could steal that."
"Drain touch?"
"Nope. I wouldn't be able to get close enough."
"Did you take him on from a distance with your bow?"
"I tried for a bit. I ran out of arrows, though."
This is starting to get frustrating.
"Hmm… Did you use magic?"
"Yep."
"You whittled him down with your manatite and shot him from afar?"
"Getting warmer… Do you give up?"
"Fine."
Kazuma's smirk covered his whole face.
"Fair enough. Again, I did use the manatite. Actually. I made this huge earth golem with it!"
"Oh? An earth golem? Still not quite Kazuma."
"Heh. You'll love this."
The smirk on Kazuma's face grew 10 times wider than it was.
"I was going to teleport out since I was getting really worn out."
*sigh* "That's the Kazuma I know."
"But get this. Do you know how I got him?"
Hmm… wait a second. What spell would be strong enough to kill the devil king? More importantly, what spell would Kazuma use… Only something he's studied for years, something he knows as reliable… Hang on… Did he?
"No…"
"Darkness blacker than black, darker than dark…"
"Kazuma!"
AHHHHHHH! HE DID! He took out the devil king with explosion! Yes, yes, yes! Finally, the power of explosion will be known all across the world! Everyone will flock to me, the greatest user of explosion, to learn it's true powers!
"Really? You used explosion magic? That's excellent! I guess those daily trips really did help!"
"No kidding. He was so shocked when I blew us up! After days on end of explosions, I really learned the ins and outs of the spell. I was actually planning on doing some more power levelling with Wiz and Vanir to get some skill points to reduce its cost so I can cast it without manatite."
"Excellent! Well, as much as I'd love to continue our discussion on explosions, we've got a quest to take!"
"Oh yeah, hang on, how are you doing? You'd probably have a killer hangover."
"Aqua healed it."
"Wait, she can do that?! That useless poophead goddess! I'll teach her to play favourites."
I couldn't help but giggle to myself.
"Well? Let's go. The others will catch up."
Wait. I need to change.
"Kazuma, you go change in your room. I'll do the same here."
"Huh? Ok."
I watched as Kazuma headed out of the room. I quickly changed and after about a minute, I could hear the door rattling.
"Kazuma? I said no peeping!"
"Huh? I'm not- He's downstairs."
"Oh. Hi Darkness. I'll be right there."
Guess my trap didn't work on him. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. As we headed out the door, I got an idea.
"Hey Kazuma?"
"I'm Kazuma."
"Can you carry me on your back? I'm still feeling a bit tired from yesterday."
He doesn't believe me at all. His skeptical expression tells me all I need to know. Still, he won't refuse.
"Alright. Up you go~"
I am now content and my life's goal has been fulfilled.
"You comfortable up there, Megumin?"
"Never better."
Looks like Darkness is trying not to look and Aqua couldn't care less. Perfect.
"Hey, we're here."
I hopped off of Kazuma's back and headed into the shop.
"Howdy Wiz!"
"Why hello there Kazuma! Are you taking the job I requested?"
"Well that depends. How much am I getting paid? And what is it?"
"Oh! I was just asking you guys to collect some toad slime for batteries. I'll pay you about 100000 eris per jar."
"How do you have that much money?"
"Well, I've been on vacation for a bit, and Vanir's been handling the store quite nicely! My products are simply flying off the shelves!"
"Well ok. If you're really paying that much, then let's do it!"
"Yeah! I'll wipe the floor with those stupid creatures!"
"No, you idiot! Your explosion's gonna get rid of all the slime!"
This guy… He's seriously trying to restrain my explosion?"
"Hmph! Fine! But you need to take me for my daily explosion later and carry me to and from our quests!"
"Yeah, whatever. Up you go. See ya later, Wiz!"
Wiz shot him a quick smile and wave. I'm just happy that I can get carried around by my boyfriend, not that I can say that in front of Aqua.