So... how's it going?

Truth be told, this wasn't supposed to take nearly as long as it did, but I kept changing so many parts or rewriting things entirely that it led too days turning to weeks and weeks turning into a few months. Now it's done, and I will stop talking to let you get started!

Edit: This takes place during episode 9, the day before the Destroyer shows up.

Chapter: 10

Kazuma was speechless.

Never before had he witnessed as much devastation as he had just now.

When he had given Megumin the mananite earring, he had done so with the understanding that said earring would provide a small amount of extra mana for the Arch-Wizard. The idea was that it would allow her to be able to stand up once the Explosion spell was performed. There were two things he didn't consider: a small amount of mana to a Wizard with decades of experience would be drastically different to a beginner like Megumin and himself, and that the Explosion-obsessed girl never had enough mana to perform her signature spell in the first place.

The results? Megumin still falls over after performing her spell, but said spell was now much more powerful than before, so much so that Kazuma had nearly been blown away by the resulting gusts of wind. The light and smoke finally cleared away enough for the Adventurer to view the destruction brought about from his friend.

Kazuma felt the air leave his lungs in a strangled gasp.

It was as if a damn meteor crashed into the area!

Standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking an abandoned rock quarry, Kazuma prayed this place was truly abandoned, the Adventurer could see the newly formed crater filling with molten slag that had been produced by the Explosion. The sheer size of the crater was nothing to laugh at either.

"That was… wonderful."

"Wonderful?!" Kazuma yelled, walking back to grab Megumin and bring the girl to his previous position. "Look at this! This is nothing to be happy about!"

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Megumin asked in a dreamy whisper, seemingly ignoring her friend's fear driven anger. She leaned her head against Kazuma's shoulder, causing the hat to brush against his face.

Sighing in defeat, Kazuma moved the girl onto the ground a fair distance away from the cliff, and then made his way towards the lone tree on the hill where his staff rested.

"Going to practice your magic?"

Kazuma did a quick set of stretches. "Yeah. Might as well while we're here."

"Cool." Megumin adjusted the oversized hat so it covered her face. "I'm going to take a nap."

Clemea gave a grunt as she set down the final crate of food into the kitchen, having just spent the last twenty minutes moving various supplies to the area after their mysterious gift was made known – a large supply of red crabs. Beside her, Darkness placed a much larger crate down with ease.

"I still can't believe they sent us so much." The Crusader said as she looked around the area and sighed. "Honestly, we could feed the entire guild with this much stock."

"Yeah…" the Warrior muttered with narrowed eyes aimed at the woman beside her. "Must have cost them a fortune to send us so much."

"O-or they got it on sale." Darkness laughed nervously as her hand began to move towards her cheek, only to be caught unexpectedly by Clemea. "W-w-what are you-?"

"What aren't you telling me?" the girl demanded, suspicion radiating with every breath she took. "Don't try to deny it either, you have a nervous tick where you scratch your cheek, and you were just about to do that."

"Okay, so my family may in fact have more money than what's normal, that's not something that requires you to interrogate me though!" Darkness tried to sound tough. Clemea wasn't that impressed.

She'd seen looks far more fearsome in children half her age.

"More money and blond hair?" She added to Darkness' last confession.

"I-"

"We both know only a rare few individuals outside of noble houses have blond hair – mostly because those few were the bastard child of some horny nobleman screwing around with his maids."

Darkness blushed furiously at Clemea's words as her mind began to play out the scenario, replacing the maid with herself being cornered by a man practically drooling at the sight of his victim. Rough hands would grab hold and keep her pinned while he-

"Ow!" the Crusader yelped after Clemea pinched her arm.

"Stop. Making. That. Face!" the Thief's glare was becoming far more hostile the longer this lasted, Darkness was worried the girl in-front of her would attack if things weren't resolved soon enough. "Now, look me in the eye, and tell me the truth right now," and Darkness suddenly found herself staring at the tip of Clemea's dagger.

"Freeze!"

Before the girl could react, a thick layer of ice covered her dagger and arm. Clemea stepped away from Darkness to figure out who just did that and was completely unsurprised when she saw Kazuma – his staff pointing in her direction – with a look as frigid as the ice encasing her arm.

"You have less than ten seconds to explain why you were pointing a knife at my friend before I turn you into an ice sculpture."

Clemea felt an unexpected shiver run down her spine from the deadly tone he used. Despite that, she wasn't intimidated. "Come on, it's not like you're actually going to-"

Her eyes widened when he suddenly froze the bottom half of her body.

"Seven seconds left."

Okay, now she was a little intimidated. "I wasn't going to actually hurt her!"

With another swing of his staff, Kazuma froze Clemea's body and her other arm, leaving just her head unfrozen. Now just a few feet away from her, he gave one last warning.

"That's not what I asked you. Three seconds left."

"Stop."

Kazuma felt Darkness' hand on his arm as it forcefully lowered his staff until it was pointing to the ground. He turned his gaze back to the woman and was startled by what he saw.

The Crusader's face, normally relaxed while being accompanied by a gentle smile, was now a mask of regal elegance and beauty. Her posture was straight, but not rigid, akin to that of a queen standing before her subjects. Kazuma almost didn't recognize the woman standing before him.

"Dustiness Ford Lalatina is my real name." the noble woman admitted to Clemea, her voice as smooth as silk.

She stepped forward between her two companions, and with one quick strike, shattered the ice around the Warrior who could only blink in surprise at being freed so easily.

"My family governs this area. Something that we have considered an honor as we served to take care of both the land and her people for generations."

The silence lasted some time as the two teenagers processed the information. Kazuma was the first to speak up.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Lalatina took note of his use of me instead of us. Shameful realization hit her hard as she saw the look of betrayal her leader was trying to hide. In her efforts to maintain anonymity, Lalatina had subconsciously kept her friends at a metaphorical distance, the results of which were only now apparent to the woman.

"When we first met, I did so with the hopes you wouldn't give me any special treatment. As time went on, and our friendship grew, I began to worry that if you did learn about my heritage, you would either use me for my status or change your attitude in an effort to avoid incurring my wrath – something people have done before. In the end my fears of that were alleviated, and it simply didn't matter in my mind whether you knew my real name or not."

"So why didn't you tell me until now?"

The noble shrugged, but Lalatina's uncaring gesture was betrayed by the mischievous twinkle in her eyes that reminded Kazuma of a certain Thief he'd been meaning to talk to for the past couple days.

"You didn't ask."

He had thought her shift in personality was a spur of the moment thing, but Kazuma now wondered if Darkness and Lalatina were two different people all together, simply sharing one body. It was a strange thought. One that wouldn't have surprised him.

"Well that explains that." The Adventurer muttered as he turned his gaze – which once again turned surprisingly sharp – onto Clemea. "But what that doesn't explain is why you threatened her.

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a frustrated sigh. He still didn't understand what she was trying to do at the time.

"I wasn't going to hurt her you damn idiot!" Clemea growled as she leveled a glare towards Kazuma, only to feel the tension leave her body when it was clear to her that getting angry wasn't going to solve anything. "I was just trying to intimidate her at the time and maybe got a little carried away."

"You were pointing a dagger at her." Kazuma pointed out, his features beginning to relax as it became apparent he was the one who overreacted in this situation. Something that he had a habit of doing.

Clemea – much like Lalatina – shrugged in response. "You'd be surprised how many people start talking if you merely imply a threat."

"It probably didn't help I was being so stubborn." The Crusader contributed, smiling as she saw everyone calm down.

"It never does," Kazuma smirked as he looked at his friend, "Lalatina."

And just like that, Darkness surged back to the surface as her entire face flushed from embarrassment. "Don't call me that!" the woman cried out, her noble beauty being replaced with child-like humiliation.

Laughing at her reaction, Kazuma turned around and began to leave. "Have fun cooking you two, I'm expecting nothing but the best tonight!"

"Wait, you want us to cook the crabs?" Clemea asked, her amusement shifting quickly to surprise.

He paused at the doorway and leveled a serious look at the two women. "Yeah. I've been making nearly every meal with Megumin for weeks. It's about time someone else did it for a night."

Kazuma didn't wait for a reply as he left them alone with a kitchen full of red crabs.

Clemea was the first to say something after another brief stretch of silence.

"Please tell me you know how to cook these things. Crabs aren't my specialty."

Darkness surprised her once again by nodding. "Yeah, I loved helping out in the kitchen when it came to these kinds of meals. Although, that was mostly because I was promised dessert if I did."

KO-NO-SU-BA!

Kyouya whistled a jolly tune as he sat outside in the backyard, enjoying the warmth from the newly purchased heat lamps as he slowly worked on his wood carving skills. He had just finished setting the lamps around the area, now it was only a matter of time before the soil was warm enough to allow Megumin to start her new and improved garden – something everyone was excited about.

But the only thing that mattered to the Sword Master now was shaping this piece of wood into a smooth ball, figuring that working on simple shapes was a good start to his new hobby.

Ten minutes later left Kyouya bewildered as he stared at the horrible mess of wood in his hand because how the hell did I screw it up so badly!

"Are you really so surprised?"

The teen looked back and saw Verdia, with the snow sprite resting comfortably on his helmet, floating towards him.

"I really shouldn't be, should I?" Kyouya realized as he allowed the wooden abomination to fall from his grasp. "It's not like I expected to have it down instantly, but for it to end up that bad…"

"It's how people learn new skills." The former General explained as he reached the younger Sword Master's side. "Practicing, failing, and practicing some more, that is how most people acquire knowledge. They learn several ways not to perform whatever task they were working on, and eventual discover the right way to do it."

He knew that much but knowing something and experiencing it were vastly different things.

Sensing his student's growing frustration, Verdia decided to switch tactics. "Try it again."

Kyouya frowned but reached down to grab another block of wood regardless, figuring it wouldn't hurt to listen. He picked up the carving knife to begin, and only managed one stroke before Verdia stopped him.

"Adjust your grip on the blade, you are holding it as if it were a weapon."

His frown deepened. There were other ways to grip a knife?

As if he were reading his mind, Verdia elaborated. "The way someone grips a knife determines how it will act. A chief requires precision and finesse while a butcher will cut with powerful chops. You are a Sword Master trying to become a wood sculptor, you're holding that knife as if you were about to carve an enemy not the wood you are holding."

Nodding in understanding, Kyouya furrowed his eyebrows as he looked over the tool in his hand. Repositioning his hand, the Sword Master continued were he left off. The second stroke felt much more natural than the first.

"Better," the undead watched the teen work on the block for another minute before floating away towards his post. Once there, he levitated the snow sprite onto the cushion Fio had made for the spirit. Verdia relaxed as he focused on nothing in particular, he would have smiled if he were physically able to.

"Megumin, would you stop squirming please? I can't clean your hair if you keep moving."

"I can't help it! Your fingers are digging into my scalp!" Megumin almost shouted as she turned to glare at Fio as the pink-haired girl – with a towel wrapped around her body – continued to wash the mud out of the Arch-Wizard's hair. It wasn't her fault Kazuma had set her down on a patch of mud.

"Can you two stop shouting, I'm trying to relax…" Aqua happily sighed as she submersed herself deeper into the bath. "Oh… this is wonderful…"

Fio forced Megumin to lean forward as she poured another bucket of water on the girl's head, watching as another chunk of mud came loose. "Almost there," she muttered, running nimble hands through her friend's hair.

"Finally."

The Hunter did one more pass with her hands, frowning when they were caught on something. "Uh oh."

"What do you mean 'Uh oh'?" Megumin demanded as she felt something gently tugging her head.

"You've got a knot." Fio explained as she felt out how much hair was tied together. "Aqua, can you help me with this?"

"Do I have too?" the Arch-Priest complained, already moving out to stand beside the Hunter. She blinked upon seeing the lump in Fio's hand. "Oh wow, that's a big knot."

"Here."

Aqua accepted the comb that was handed to her, she then got to work, expertly working out the knot as Fio continued to run a small amount of water through Megumin's hair while the little girl grit her teeth. The process still hurt despite Aqua's expertise.

"Are you almost done?" Megumin was at the point where she would have preferred if they simply cut it out.

"I will be after one more… there we go!" Aqua smiled as the comb ran through the girl's head without any resistance. Damn she was good at this! The Arch-Priest mentally congratulated herself.

"Thank you, Aqua." Fio took back the comb and looked over Megumin's hair one more time. "And it looks like everything's out now."

"Finally!" Megumin immediately moved from the stool she was sitting on into the main bath tub, easing into the water with a joyous exhale.

Sometime later – long after the sun had set for the town of Axel – the group of friends came together at the oversized dinner table, waiting patiently as Clemea and Darkness finished bringing out all the food they prepared.

Kazuma eyed the spread before him in confusion. He was excited to be sure, but there was a lot more than the eight of them could eat on their own. There was a knock on the door before the question could be vocalized.

"I'll get it." The Adventure stood up from his spot on the table and went to answer the door. "Wiz?" Kazuma asked upon seeing the busty lich smiling at him.

"I was invited to have dinner with all of you tonight." She answered the implied question, thanking him when he stepped aside to allow her entry.

"Who invited…" Kazuma's brain connected several dots in rapid succession. His eyes widened, and even as he cried out a warning as she began making her way further into the house, Kazuma knew it was already too late.

"HO HO!" Verdia appeared in the hallway, a blush somehow present on his helmet as his lone eye focused intently on Wiz's sizable bust. "Whoops!" the undead yelled as he moved forward and ended the levitation spell, causing his head to begin rolling towards the bottom of the lich's dress.

"Oh no you don't!" Kazuma stepped in-front of the startled woman and used his foot to block Verdia's path. "You are not doing this while I'm around!"

"Damn it, child! There are very few things I have left. The least you can do is let me have this!"

"Why the hell would I let you look up Wiz's dress?!"

"Umm…" Wiz hesitated as she watched the exchange, but her quiet voice was enough to get their attention. "Should I leave?"

Both men replied in the negative – one much more enthusiastic than the other.

Kazuma groaned. "You can go ahead and grab a seat, we'll be there soon enough."

"A-alright." She replied with the tiniest amount of uncertainty, before quickly bowing in thanks and heading into the dining room.

Kazuma waited until she was out of sight before picking up the General's helmet to fix him with a stern look. "Behave tonight. The last thing we need is to scare off Wiz due to your stupid urges."

Verdia glared, saying nothing for a few moments. "Very well." He finally relented with a sigh. "I suppose it would be better to try to reconnect with her. Although, I don't know how willing she will be to talk, with me being the reason she turned herself into a lich and all."

The Adventurer blinked. "Excuse me?"

"A story for another time," Verdia replied, levitating himself back to the main group, leaving a confused Kazuma behind.

Sounds like one interesting story to me. Kazuma shrugged, knowing he could just ask the undead about it at a later date. Now to get back and enjoy-

There was another knock on the door – far gentler then Wiz's.

Now who could that be?

He opened the door, allowing him to the familiar face of the old woman who ran that mage shop with a basket filled with various pastries in her arms.

"Well hello dear." The woman greeted the Adventurer.

"Megumin invited you?" Kazuma guessed which earned him a nod from the shop owner. "Figured as much. Everyone's inside if you want to join them."

"That sounds lovely." She said, walking in the direction he pointed.

There was a simultaneous cry of "Dessert!" once she entered the dining room.

Kazuma shook his head with a smile. At times it felt like everyone in this house acted like children. It certainly made things interesting. He moved to close the door one more time only for it to slam back open with great force.

"A little rude to close the door in your guests faces, don't you think?" A booming voice asked. From the open doorway both Arakuremono and Kuruseidā walked in, the former carrying an entire roasted pig over his shoulder while the latter had an oversized pot strapped to his back.

Darkness, Kazuma didn't even bother asking the duo who invited them. He looked at the food they were carrying with a raised eyebrow. "Why did you bring that with you?"

"Wasn't this supposed to be a potluck?" Kuruseidā asked, looking to the brute who only shrugged in return.

"Hell if I know, you're the one who told me I should bring something for everyone."

"So you brought a pig?" Kazuma questioned.

Arakuremono smirked in reply.

"Doesn't matter at this point, there's no way we have enough space for everything and everyone here. Kazuma also had a sneaking suspicion that there was going to be a lot more people coming within the hour. He walked back into the dining room and demanded to know one thing.

"Who here invited people over today?"

Everyone in the room raised their hands, including the people who had been invited.

When could they have possibly done that?!

He needed to focus, because now the Adventurer knew there were more people coming, and there wasn't a single room in this mansion that could hold everyone coming and all the food they had – especially if more was brought by the coming guests. Kazuma pointed this out and was pleasantly surprised when Fio immediately came up with a solution.

"Let's have a picnic!"

KONOSUBA!

This was just ridiculous.

Kazuma stood a fair distance away from everyone as he simply took in the scene before him. Several tables had been brought outside to hold the various items brought by their guests: frog legs from Luna and the guild staff, three different kinds of salads made by the herbalist shop owner and her husband – they were great friends with Aqua and Clemea apparently, and various other foods and beverages. Fires were set up to keep pots piping hot while Arakuremono sat by another one with his roasted pig, continually rotating it while simultaneously carving it for anyone who wanted some.

The amount of food brought was only surpassed by the number of people who came. Kazuma figured more than half of the guild had come over, he was glad those heat lamps had been set up, there would have been a lot of people complaining if they weren't. He was also glad about the amount of space their backyard had, just enough for everyone to spread out into their own social group – with some people switching between multiple circles.

An entire stand had been set up for Aqua – who was already getting drunk if the blush on her face was any indicator – to perform her party tricks for everyone's entertainment. She occasionally brought someone up to help with the performance, whether or not that person wanted to do so was totally irrelevant to the tipsy Goddess.

"Crazy, isn't it?"

Kazuma glanced to his side and say Kyouya standing next to him with a plate of food in one hand and a drink in the other. His fellow party leader was all smiles as he took in the madness with his own two eyes.

The Adventurer couldn't hold back the snort that had been slowly building up for the past ten minutes. "Which part? The fact that our little group managed to accidentally turn a simply diner into a massive gettogether, that seven people somehow invited almost an entire guild's worth of people in a short amount of time, or that we have a floating head – accompanied by a snow sprite – talking with a talented Crusader about another Crusader's masochistic tendency?"

They looked over towards where Kuruseidā and Verdia were and saw the duo laughing while Darkness, who was right next to them, turned her head in the other direction with a huff.

Kyouya's smile widened marginally. "She is definitely an entertaining conversation topic." His eyes lost some of their mirth as the Sword Master looked down at the food in his hand. "Do you ever miss it?" he asked after taking a bite.

Kazuma closed his eyes. He didn't need Kyouya to clarify what he meant. Random memories popped up; long nights staring at a computer screen, grinding for a single piece of valuable loot, occasionally eating with his parents. "I miss my mom and dad." Kazuma answered wistfully. It… hurt, knowing he would never see them again. At the same time…

"But I'm glad I came here," to this good for nothing world.

Kyouya hummed in agreement, the bonds made here were far stronger than any he had in the other world.

"Any reason you asked me?"

"Just feeling a little homesick, no big deal." Suddenly feeling a pair of eyes focused in their direction, the Sword Master began scanning the area until his gaze fell on Megumin, standing with that mage show owner and another wizard he didn't know, looking at Kazuma with fondness that was clear as day for anyone to see.

Realizing she had been caught in the act, Megumin blushed and refocused on the magic-related conversation she was having, only to blush harder when she saw the knowing looks the two other mages were giving her.

The Sword Master mentally chuckled at the Arch-Wizard's embarrassment.

"Kazumaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Kyouya saw the Adventurer's shoulders sag as he turned his attention to Aqua, who was stumbling over to the two of them with a mug in each hand – it was probably something alcoholic, though that was usually a given when it came to Aqua.

"What?" The deadpan expression on his face almost made Kyouya laugh. It was weird how well that expression suited him.

"You should… you should-" the Goddess hiccupped and started giggling uncontrollably. Once she was close enough, Aqua slung an arm around her party leader's shoulder, accidentally dumping the liquid from that mug onto Kazuma's side in the process. The teen didn't even twitch in reaction.

The Sword Master was impressed.

"You should come join me on the stage." Aqua whispered as if it were supposed to be some kind of secret, only to raise her voice drastically on the next part. "It would be so much fun!"

Kazuma used his now soaked arm to pry the Goddess off of him. "Aqua, remember what I said about learning party tricks?"

Her eyes scrunched up as she tried to recall what he said – either that or Aqua was taking this long to understand the question. She perked up a moment later. "That you wanted to learn them!"

"The complete opposite actually."

Aqua blinked. "Eh? What do mean you don't want to learn them?!" Her face twisted with drunken anger and she suddenly leapt back to take an improvised boxer stance.

Kyouya looked between the stumbling Goddess and his friend, raising an eyebrow when he noticed Kazuma wasn't doing anything in response. "Are you just going to stand there?"

"Yep."

"Not even going to try to fight?"

"Don't need too."

Before Kyouya could ask what he meant, Aqua took a single step forward, her fist reared back to deliver a strong punch, only for her eyes to glaze over as she fell onto the ground face first. Soft snoring could be heard a moment later.

"How did you-?"

"That Goddess is super weird." Kazuma replied before the question could be finished. "Aqua can't get angry while she's drunk otherwise she'll pass out for no apparent reason." The Adventurer shrugged. "It doesn't make any sense, I know, but that's what happens."

"Wow, that is…" Kyouya wasn't sure how to respond to that bit of information. It surprised him as much as it didn't, because that sounded exactly like something that would happen to Aqua.

I love this group! He laughed despite himself, earning a strange look from his fellow party leader.

"-and throughout the entire battle she was demanding if I would violate her!"

Both Kuruseidā and Verdia broke down with laughter as the subject of their humor stood close by, her face flushed with embarrassment while she clutched her mug in a grip so strong one could hear the wood creaking in protest if they were close enough. For almost an entire half-hour the two men had been sharing stories about Darkness' tendencies – much to the younger Crusader's horror. It didn't seem to be ending anytime soon.

Never in her wildest dreams did Darkness ever imagine a well-respected and powerful Crusader would ever get along with an undead that used to roam around as one of the Demon Lord's Generals. And here it was, happening right before her eyes. The woman growled to herself, feeling a fresh wave of embarrassed anger wash over her, causing the grip around the wooden mug to tighten even further. It began to crack underneath her impressive strength.

"You're going to get splinters if you keep that up." A happy voice chided her, causing the female Crusader to whip around to… to… well she didn't know what, but it wouldn't be pleasant.

"I-!" Darkness felt her retort fizzle out as her brain quickly identified the familiar face smiling with a wine glass being held in deceptively delicate hands. "Hi Chris." The Crusader greeted, her posture relaxing instantly.

Smile widening, Chris looped an arm around Darkness' own, and began dragging the woman away. "Don't know why you were hanging around those old timers, they're horrible conversationalists – unless their telling stories that is."

That wasn't true, both of them knew that, but Darkness decided to play along if it meant getting away to hang out with her first, real friend.

"Now come on!" the Thief said, moving a little faster while her innocent smile revealed itself to be a smirk. "Let's cause some trouble!"

This drink was amazing!

Clemea had to suppress the urge to sigh blissfully as she took another sip of warm alcohol from the crab skull. Aqua's suggestion quickly spread throughout the crowd, and now there was a fire set up specifically to heat up the skulls filled with various drinks. Luna was the one in charge of that fire, she was struggling to keep up with the high demand.

The green-haired woman chatted pleasantly with Fio and a few other girls from the guild, she wasn't normally into the kind of gossip her pink-haired companion participated in, but the combination of good food and alcohol was making Clemea loosen up far more than normal.

"Come on, Clemea!" One of the girl's demanded, bouncing up and down erratically having consumed a large amount of sugar in a short amount of time.

The warrior struggled to remember her name – Was it Mira?

Possibly Mira continued. "When are either of you going to nab Kyouya? I know the two of you have been after him for awhile now, but you better hurry! Word on the street is that the local baker's daughter is going to ask him out within the month!"

"Don't care. Not interested in him anymore." Clemea said, earning shocked looks from everyone in their circle save Fio who was looking down with a small blush.

"What?! Why?" Mira's eyes, which had been comically wide upon her declaration, narrowed suspiciously as she leaned in close to the Warrior's face.

"Because…" Clemea started, using a finger to push the girl out of her personal space, "he never showed any interest to either me or Fio, I honestly can't remember why I was into him in the first place, and finally…" she paused a moment for dramatic effect, "Kyouya also burned the house down."

"He does seem more interested in Darkness than either of us…" Fio mumbled to herself but loud enough for all of them to hear.

Green hair swayed back and forth as Clemea shook her head. "That's not saying much, he might enjoy being around her more than the others, but you can't forget they did fight together against the Winter Shogun. Probably feels some kind of warrior comradery with the Crusader." She blinked as a distant memory came to mind of her and the Sword Master fighting together against a small group of bandits.

That's right! That's when I started to get a crush on him. If their following that pattern though…

Clemea's eyes sharpened as her head whipped around to scan the crowd for a head of blond hair and another of light brown. It took a second, but she was able to spot her party leader and her noble friend – still getting used to that last bit of information if I'm being honest – standing a fair distance away from each other. However, neither of them would need to turn their heads to look at the other, so…

There!

Time seemed to freeze for Clemea as she watched both Darkness and Kyouya glance in each other's direction. It lasted less than a second, but the observant warrior was able to clearly see something in that look. The moment passed, and both Noblewoman and Sword Master returned their full attention to their respective group. Clemea, however, saw everything she needed to.

There was something there. What, she didn't know, but the woman had seen that kind of look enough times to know those two shared a strong bond. She took another sip of her drink and turned back to the group, ignoring the weird looks some of them were giving her.

It took quite some time for the party to calm down, all the food and alcohol present made sure of that, but the energy did begin to diminish once the food ran out – which it miraculously did despite the amount they had. Luna was then able to get everyone organized to help clean up the area which the two parties were grateful for that as they worked with the people to move furniture back in place and helped a few others clean the many dishes.

After a full hour of clean up followed by another ten minutes of saying goodbyes to everyone it was finally over, and everyone collectively sighed in relief once the door was finally closed.

They wished each other a simple good night and left to their respective rooms.

Well… most of them did.

Kazuma stared up into the night sky, curiously looking at all the stars. He wasn't all that tired, having spent most of the party sampling all the various items instead of stuffing his face with just one like he had planned in the beginning. With everyone else going to bed however, the Adventurer didn't have many options to entertain himself.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Tilting his head back as far as possible, Kazuma was able to see Megumin as she climbed out onto the roof still clad in her dress sans the hat and eyepatch. She was wrapped up in a thick blanket to ward of the cold left over as winter slowly switched over to spring. A short joke came to mind, but Kazuma decided to save it for another occasion.

"Just not tired enough to go to bed yet." He replied as the Arch-Wizard came forward and sat next to him. Kazuma maintained his laid-back posture, feeling no real need to sit up so the two of them were eye level, he was out here to look at the stars after all.

"You don't mind if I join you, right?"

Weird question considering she was already with him, but Kazuma shrugged, saying he didn't really care.

"We haven't done something like this in a long time." Megumin whispered, her voice only being able to reach the Adventurer thanks to a sudden breeze.

"You mean relax?" His question made her giggle as she easily caught the sarcasm buried underneath the serious question. Kazuma smiled, her laughter was music to his ears. The teen was barely able to maintain his calm demeanor upon that sudden revelation.

Megumin calmed herself down to look at her friend – he noticed the humor made her eyes shine even brighter than normal. "I meant look at the stars." She turned her gaze back up to the glittering sky, her smile and posture taking a more serene quality.

"I guess so," Kazuma agreed, making himself a little more comfortable before continuing, "but it's not something that interests me that often."

"Really?" Megumin was genuinely surprised by that, he always seemed to be looking up at the stars every time they were outside at night. Maybe she had been misinterpreting the action.

He nodded. "I really only do it when I get homesick – which isn't often mind you." He added the last part upon seeing the brief flicker of worry in the Arch-Wizard's eyes. "What about you?"

Mildly startled that she became the focus of the conversation, Megumin stuttered the first part of the sentence. "I-I do miss my family and friends." The girl pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them while turning to look at Kazuma with a guilty expression. "I write letters to them, but… am I a bad person for not visiting them?"

Woah!

Kazuma shot up to an upright position, fixing his friend with a serious look. "Where is this coming from?"

She was silent from a long moment, but Kazuma had become very patient in the relatively short amount of time he'd been here in this new world, so he was more than capable of sitting there quietly while waiting for Megumin to formulate her answer.

Finally, she spoke.

"Before I met you, I traveled for a long time trying to join a party. Every place I went too followed the same pattern ours did: They see I'm an Arch-Wizard and invite me to a quest, I perform my magic – much to their amazement might I add…" she was beaming with pride at that, but it quickly died down as her body language became more solemn. "Then I would fall over, and they would ditch me the first chance they got."

The memory of their first meeting replayed itself in Kazuma's head, and he silently wondered if the same thing was happening in Megumin's, but then he processed her words completely and realized it wouldn't have just been their first day she was remembering.

"I did this for months." The girl tightened her grip around the blanket, turning her head to look away from him. "I never sent any letters during that time because I knew there wouldn't have been a return address, and that would have raised several red flags in their heads." Megumin almost smiled. "They would have torn apart every town they came across trying to look for me."

Kazuma raised an eyebrow.

Ignoring the look, Megumin continued. "It wasn't until we became an official party that I started writing to them again – even then I kept things vague just in case things didn't work out."

With a start, the Adventurer realized the direction this story was going, and he thought back the conversation he had just today with another party member. Kazuma was starting to see a pattern.

"Surprisingly though, things did workout, and my letters became so much more detailed while theirs began to focus less on worrying over me to describing the daily events going on back home. However, I haven't gone to visit them in such a long time."

Kazuma decided now was a good time to contribute to the conversation. "You miss them, I get that much, but that still doesn't explain why you think you're a bad person for not visiting them."

"Because I didn't want to see them." Megumin replied, looking back with unshed tears gathering in her eyes. "I set out to become the greatest Arch-Wizard using only my Explosion magic and going back – to me at least – would have felt like giving up, so I kept going, believing that the next group would be the one to accept and help me with my dream. That's why I want to know, because I left my family behind to chase after a barely-thought-through dream and didn't go back because of my pride."

Kazuma was wholly unprepared for an emotional confession such as that and was equally unprepared to answer a question that revolved around a girl – a few years his junior – going through a process of self-reflection that most people twice his age wouldn't bother dealing with.

When did things get so complicated, he came outside to look at stupid stars for crying out loud!

He needed to think of something and fast, because if he didn't come up with an answer soon, Megumin would probably take his silence as a hesitant confirmation of her worst fears. So, Kazuma did what he did best…

Improvised.

"You're not bad," the Adventurer started off, assuring both the emotionally vulnerable girl next to him and himself, "so you don't need to worry about that."

The hopeful look she was giving him held enough hesitation to make him continue.

"People do that sort of thing all the time where I'm from – some parents actually expect that kind of thing to happen. Whether or not that kid of theirs succeeds or not never really matters, they only want to make sure their okay in the end." Kazuma looked up towards the stars once more before starting up again. "Everything you've done so far is perfectly normal: wanting to fulfill your dream, explore the world, make new friends. Your parents just want to make sure you're ok and were happy when you finally started talking to them again."

"So, no, Megumin, I don't think you're a bad person. The fact that you care so much only confirms that for me."

That was it. There was nothing else he could say on the matter without repeating the same message, so Kazuma decided to keep his mouth shut while he looked at all the stars filling the night sky.

He didn't say anything when Megumin scooted closer to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

He didn't say anything upon hearing a quiet sniffle from the girl next to him followed by his shoulder getting damp from silent tears.

He didn't say anything when his friend muttered a 'thank you' to him, her words distorted from the sobs she was desperately trying to hold back.

No.

He didn't say anything, but he did raise an arm up to draw his friend closer, silently offering all the comfort he could give.

It was there, underneath the night sky, his friend by his side, and the entire town before him at peace as it waited to come to life in the morning that Kazuma felt certain of one thing.

Tomorrow was going to suck.

And there we go folks, the end of season 1!

Now, I know what some of you are thinking, but I've already decided to skip the Destroyer fight entirely since, much the Verdia fight I skipped, there wouldn't be enough of a difference from what happened in the show. However, this is a good thing since it allows me to immediately start Season 2 where the changes become even more apparent, I hope at least.

Anyway, wanted to give a big thank you to every who's favorite, followed, and reviewed this story. It never fails to bring a smile to my face knowing someone enjoys my story.

And, as always, I hope you have a wonderful day, and I'll see you in season 2!