I feel so bad for taking as long as I did, this might be the longest I've gone without updating this story. But, considering I can't guarantee this won't happen again, thought I hope it doesn't, I will promise all of you that no matter what happens, this story will be completed one day.
Other than that, enjoy this latest addition!
Chapter: 14
Chomusuke was hungry.
Megumin sighed as she poured the odd feline a bowl of milk, watching as the creature began slurping it up with her head resting on crossed arms. For the past few days the Arch-Wizard had been rather unenthusiastic as the threat of the entire Capital coming after them grew closer to becoming a reality. It terrified her to no end, but not nearly as much as the reason why.
Kazuma was still missing, and no one in the group had any idea where he was, what he was doing, or even what his status was. All any of them knew was that Chris had kidnapped the Adventurer to do some kind of job. Darkness only knew that the Thief would eventually bring the teen back to them, probably before time was up for the group.
…They hoped so at least.
Various plans for escape were made, and still being made, by each individual.
Kyouya and Verdia would flee together into the mountains with the Undead stating it would be easy for them to join one of the tribes scattered around the peaks.
Darkness would return to her manner after staying behind to be interrogated by the various officials, being the only member of the group who would not know where anyone was going so no information could be given away.
Clemea and Fio claimed they would move out into the woods, disguising themselves and becoming hunters to make a living for a time until they could return to their village.
Aqua and Megumin were the only ones without a concrete idea of what they would do – the Arch-Priest mentioned joining the Axis group to serve as their priest, surprising no one.
The would-be hunters offered to let the girl join them, but Megumin was hesitant to accept since she didn't know how well she would do living out in the woods.
She sighed as the feline finished the bowl and began rubbing against the side of her head, purring the entire time. Picking the cat up, Megumin walked out of the kitchen and into the main area where most of their odd group hung. What normally would be an atmosphere of fun and nonsense was now a place filled with tension so thick even Gram would struggle to cut through it.
Darkness and Kyouya were playing chess, their eyes focused like lasers on the board. Clemea was arguing with Aqua about the pros and cons about joining the Axis cult. Fio was sharpening a dagger while keeping watch for any signs of Capital Guards approaching the mansion. Verdia wasn't with them, he was outside instructing his undead on proper garden maintenance with the snow sprite floating around him.
"Two more days until Sera needs to do another check-in." the Sword Master muttered as he watched the Crusader take another one of his pieces. "We'll each have to leave during the night if we want to have a chance of getting away in time."
"Yeah…" Darkness' eyes had lost a lot of their fire in the past few days, she would keep her friends safe no matter what, but the idea that they were about to be separated for who knows how long all because of Chris was… it was a terrible feeling. Especially since she wouldn't know where any of them were.
"This is so stupid!" Clemea suddenly yelled, breaking away from Aqua to grab a nearby vase and toss it at the wall, shattering the object and startling everyone in the process. "After everything we've done to keep this town safe, they'll just throw us under the carriage and leave us for dead all because that stupid, noble prick can't handle the thought of losing a damn house! What choice did Kazuma have?! The only two options available were to either: let the bomb detonate and destroy the entire town with all of its occupants, or to use a spell that would send the core someplace at random!"
"Clemea…" Fio moved to place a hand on her friend's shoulder, Aqua not too far behind, but the girl surprised them both when she whirled on the spot to glare at them, allowing them to see the bags forming under her eyes.
"NO! Don't you dare try to comfort me as if this wasn't a big deal! Our very livelihood is about to be turned on its head, and there's… there's nothing we can… we can…"
During her passionate outburst, Clemea had slowly lowered herself to her knees, the weight of the situation hitting her like a ton of bricks. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, and unashamed that everyone she cared about, save Kazuma – a fact that almost startled her to death – would see her in such a state, the woman began to cry. Each sob carried the pain of a broken heart that was forced to let everything it held dear go.
Aqua was quick to join her friend's side, pulling the Warrior in for a much-needed hug while her own tears joined the steady stream.
Fio, surprisingly, did not join them, instead opting to sit down against the wall and pull her knees to her chest, completely silent in the face of such heartache.
"I'm… going to see how Verdia's doing." Kyouya awkwardly mumbled, excusing himself from the group.
Darkness didn't say anything to that, she merely left without a word.
The only one left standing was Megumin, Chomusuke whining at all the drama happening around them, to which the Arch-Wizard was tempted to agree with. She didn't really have the energy to do so, she was just so very tired.
Please come home soon. Megumin silently prayed that her request would come true, even as she turned away to go to bed, the crying of her friends echoing behind her.
"Freeze!"
The desperate cry of a familiar spell was overwhelmed by the thundering charge of over a dozen guards chasing after them, only to be quickly replaced by startled yelps as the men slipped on the now ice-covered floor, sliding past both Chris and Kazuma in a tangled mess of limbs and armor.
"This way!" the Master Thief shouted, grabbing onto the Adventurer's wrist before dragging him down another hallway just as another group of guards rounded the corner. Even as they ran, Chris was still swiping objects off of pedestals, appraising them for only a moment before tucking them away, much to her friend's ire.
"Are you seriously looting while we're running for our lives?!" Kazuma demanded, slowing down just long enough to knock a bookcase over to buy them more time.
The woman shrugged. "Why not? It's more money for us in the end."
"That is beside the point!" He yelled, only for that yell to turn into a startled shout as Chris forced him to duck to avoid the blade that was aiming to take off their heads.
Kazuma shuddered at the thought of that happening again.
With a slight flourish, Chris removed her dagger from its holster, sliced the back of the man's knee, forcing him to fall onto the other one, before finishing the assault with a swift kick to the side of his head. The force knocked him into a wall, and the guard was unconscious before hitting the ground.
"Saved your life," she teased, pulling her friend back to his feet as the two continued to run through the Nobleman's mansion.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the help." Kazuma grumbled even as he watched her shoulder her way into a seemingly random room, pulling him in immediately afterwards. He didn't even have time to observe the fact that they were in some kind of study area before Chris started shouting instructions at him again.
"Barricade that door, I'm going to need some time."
"Time for what?" the Adventurer asked even as he struggled to mov a particularly heavy bookcase in the doors path.
"Time… to find…" Chris gave a grunt as she knocked one particular shelf down, cheering when it revealed a large safe behind it, "…where he keeps his stash!"
Kazuma looked over at the safe and nearly whistled in appreciation. Reinforced hinges and door, four separate dials with each one probably needed three separate inputs to unlock, and gold engravings for style. If nothing else, the Adventurer could appreciate how serious he took securing his valuables. Granted, it would probably be smarter to have multiple safes scattered across the house, but who was he to judge.
I guess I better get ready to defend the entry points to this room, Chris is going to need all the time she can get to carefully unlock that-
"Fire in the hole!" the Master Thief suddenly yelled, tacking her young apprentice behind a desk just in time for a loud, and strong, explosion to go off.
Kazuma didn't have time to process what exactly had happened before Chris shoved him in another direction again just as the door to the safe came crashing through the desk they had been hiding behind, tumbling across the floor before imbedding itself into the wall.
"Are you insane?!" the teen screamed, desperately trying to ignore the ringing in his ears. "You almost got us killed… again!"
"Well, in case you didn't notice, we're a little short on time, now aren't we?" Her rhetorical question was punctuated perfectly when they heard a group of guards beginning to breach the room, the small barricade Kazuma set up being slowly pushed aside. "So, unless you plan on pulling some time-stopping spell out of your pocket, I suggest you toss this out the door when there's a big enough gap."
A light-blue orb was handed over to the surprised Adventurer, it felt cool to the touch, and the only detail about it that seemed important was the small button on the top.
"What am I supposed to-?"
"Press the button, count to three, and toss it."
"Ah," Kazuma looked at the object, back to the door, down to the orb again, and pressed the button. Mentally counting down from three, he quickly threw the orb through the small gap, watching as it began glow brighter just as it exited his field of view.
"Hey, what's that thing do – AHHH!"
Startled screams were quickly cut off as ice emerged from the opening, and the teen's eyes were wide as he turned back to Chris, pointing a shaky finger at what just happened. "What did I just…?"
"Ice bomb," she replied, writing something on a scroll while occasionally looking up inside the safe. "Don't worry, it didn't kill anyone, just locked them, and probably everything in that hallway, in a block of magical ice. Should also buy me a little more time to finish up these adjustments."
"Wha-?"
"And before you ask," Chris immediately cut off, sending a light glare in his direction, "it's a Teleportation Scroll. Since we could only carry so much, I figured it would be best to have a way to move the score quickly without risking getting caught with it during our escape. Just need to finish changing the area being affected and… done!"
With a large grin, the Master Thief rolled up the parchment and threw it into the safe. Kazuma was soon forced to cover his eyes as a blinding flash emitted from the scroll, and when he was able to see again, he was surprised to find the entire contents of the object gone.
With suspicion in his gaze, Kazuma turned to his mentor to ask a question. "Where exactly did all the loot go?"
"Someplace easy for us to get too and difficult for them to figure out." Chris replied cryptically.
Meanwhile…
"I know I hid some supplies down here somewhere…" Verdia mumbled, floating around the basement with the equivalent of a frown on his nonexistent face. "Or was it in the attic?"
The Undead paused his ramblings as he felt something 'ding' against his helmet. Looking back down, Verdia made a questioning noise at the sight of a single, gold coin resting on the ground, shimmering despite there being no sunlight, or any light for that matter since he could see in the dark. Turning his helmet so it faced the ceiling, the former General's lone red eye widened at the sight of the enormous, magical glyph that formed above his head.
"Oh no…
Verdia's screams never left the basement as he was buried under a literal ton of gold, jewels, and other valuables.
Back with our… 'Heroes'…
"…Are we not going to talk about what just happened back there?"
The silence lasted almost a full minute before a response was made, the sound of rushing air being the only noise during that time.
"Nope."
"Chris… you set off three fire bombs in there…" Kazuma stated looking back to see an incredibly large plume of smoke rising into the air as the two of them ran across the roof tops, following one of the escape plans the Adventurer had made the previous day. "I think there was someone buried under some rubble while we were escaping."
"Look," the Master Thief sounded just as unnerved about what happened in the last fifteen minutes as he did, "it's fine. We got the loot, all of our stuff back-"
"-Still can't believe he left it all on his desk-"
"-and we managed to escape with only a few minor complications."
It was at that moment that they heard the sounds of a large structure collapsing under its own weight, the resulting crash echoing several times for them, as if to point out just how wrong Chris was.
"…Just shut up and run." She muttered. Even in the dark it was easy to see the heat creeping up to her cheeks.
Kazuma rolled his eyes, allowing his gaze to wander down to the streets below as another group of guards, along with a few mages, ran towards the mansion they had robbed and most likely destroyed.
Well, I guess she did say this would be exciting.
Running across a few more roof tops, the duo then climbed down into an alleyway and quickly began changing as their current garb was covered in soot and sewer filth. Now dressed similar to the upper class that were still roaming the streets, Chris in a beautiful dress with a fan to both cover her face and cool herself while Kazuma simply wore a nice suit, they walked together, arm-in-arm, to maintain a form of cover.
The full moon was shining bright above their heads, and under normal circumstances, Kazuma would have looked up to admire its beauty, but that would have to wait until they were in the clear, and considering how things were going so far…
Chris suddenly started talking to him, and Kazuma realized why and joined in immediately while they secretly kept an eye on a patrol wagon that was making its rounds. A simultaneous sigh escaped their lips when the guards went around the corner.
Yep, it was going to be a while before they were in the clear.
KO-NO-SU-BA!
Well… this could have gone better…
Verdia, beaten and bloody with a broken sword lying at his feet, could only wince as two burly men forced him onto his knees as their leader approached. Kyūdō and Miko weren't too far as they too had been captured in similar states of injury, with the Arch-Priest receiving far fewer out of the bunch of which Verdia was grateful for.
The young Sword Master, along with the rest of his small party, had attempted to infiltrate a stronghold belonging to the infamous Jaken Bandits, a group renown for their barbaric methods of ransacking villages and wandering carriages. However, the plan had gone south far too fast for them to recover from, and being stuck in the middle of a literal fortress with a small army between them and the nearest exit…
…well, they had tried their best in the end.
"I must say I am impressed with what you three were able to accomplish all by yourselves!"
The young man looked up, his vision a little blurry from the beating he had taken, and saw the Jaken leader, a large brute with scars running across his arms and a black eyepatch covering his left eye, approaching him with a familiar, teal great sword slung over his broad shoulder.
"Poisoning most of our food supply, rigging multiple explosive crystals on structural weak points, and dumping itching powered into several of my mens laundry!"
A few of the bandits started scratching themselves at that last bit.
"In any other circumstances, I would have been absolutely furious that such a thing occurred but considering the group that had done so…" he paused to look at the three of them with a large grin, earning a glare from them all. The man laughed, the merriment being shared by the rest of the bandits as well. "I suppose I should feel honored instead." He looked over Verdia's blade after quieting down his laugh, giving an appreciative hum at the blade's quality.
"I can only imagine what it must have taken to acquire a blade such as this, but… it doesn't really matter anymore."
The Sword Master felt cold steel press against the back of his neck as the two men holding him down forced him to bow his head. Kyūdō and Miko started screaming at the leader to stop, only to be quickly gagged with a simple cloth. The Archer's face was turning red with murderous rage while the Arch-Priest, who's glasses lay broken at her feet, desperately tried to hold back her tears.
"Guy's…" Verdia started, his voice was weak but still held enough strength to be heard by his friends. "I'm sor-"
Sharpened metal met flesh, and Verdia's world went black.
He was greeted with an endless void upon awakening, a dark so encompassing that the only visible thing was his own body.
"Hello?" Verdia called out as he walked forward into nothingness, or at least, he thought he was moving forward. It was impossible to tell without any point of reference. Over and over the Sword Master called out, hoping to get some form of response because wasn't the Goddess Eris suppose to appear to guide him into the afterlife?
Surely, he had done enough good in his life to at least earn an audience with the divine being? Sure, the young man had done his fair share of misdeeds, especially in his days before joining Kyūdō, but that couldn't have meant his life would be stuck in this purgatory?
"Verdia…" a dark, booming voice echoed within the void, its volume so great the young man was forced to cover his ears so they wouldn't burst.
"Wha…?" Verdia looked up towards the source and felt all the color in his face drain away at the sight before him.
A being, easily the size of a large building, sat before him on a throne made of skulls, heavy plate armor adorning every part of its body that was dyed a royal purple. On its head was a faceless helmet, allowing him to see the front of a glowing skull that seemed to be staring right into his soul. The massive undead reclined on its chair with a strange blend of a casual and regal demeanor as it leaned its head against its closed fist.
"W-w-who are you?" He hated how nervous his voice sounded, but there were more pressing matters to attend to.
"I go by many names in your world, most of which have been lost to time." The being answered, its jaw opening and closing as it spoke, but not in synch with its words. "However, to keep things simple, you may refer to me as the False God."
"'False God?'" Verdia questioned, his shock momentarily replacing his fear. "Y-you're not supposed to exist anymore! You were destroyed over a millennium ago!"
"Banished would be a more accurate word to describe my defeat." The False God replied simple, easily, unfazed by the words of the mortal before him. "I was defeated, but it seems they have exaggerated the extent of it." The being almost scoffed. "Typical, heroes' tales are often exaggerated to elevate them to legendary proportions."
Ok, yeah, that did make some sense, hell, even stories revolving his party had been embellished over the course of a few years. But still… "Why are you here, talking with me?"
"I suppose it would be best to get straight to the point." The massive undead muttered, before allowing the dark power it contained to bubble to the surface, giving Verdia a taste of its dark magic. "In short, you are here because I wish to offer you a deal, one that would allow you to return to the mortal realm and save your friends. However, in exchange, you will be-"
"I accept." The Sword Master suddenly declared, so suddenly that the False God appeared to be surprised.
"Wait… really? You don't want to here the consequences? I had a story detailing how you were chosen, a warning so frightening it literally killed the last three people this offer was made too, damn it, I literally spent a full century planning this out!" The undead had lost all pretense of regality as it leaned forward, almost appearing desperate to Verdia. "Are you sure you don't want to hear the rest of what I have to say?"
"You'll telling me that theirs a way to go back and save Miko and Kyūdō, I'm taking it, consequences be damned!" He called out, his determination shining through like a beacon in this endless abyss.
"Hmph," the False God leaned back on its throne, a hint of annoyance in its voice as it held out a skeletal hand towards Verdia. "Very well, then go forth and accept the mantle of my Champion. Rise up and instill terror to those who have forgotten my power! Stand tall and accept your new name!"
Purple energy surged forward, engulfing the young man while filling him with power he had never experienced before.
Back in the living world, despite what had felt like an hour in his time, not even a second had passed since his head had been separated from his body.
Unholy life filtered into Verdia's eyes, a red glow slowly encroaching his irises while the flow of blood appeared to halt to those who were paying attention – luckily, no one was. Once the process of reanimation was complete to the point where his senses had returned, the now undead man began to look around, doing his best not to draw attention until the power had finished settling.
"-the only one I plan on killing today, the others can be ransomed for a hefty sum." He heard the leader call out to the rest of his men, the brute's back was too him and his teal blade was still resting on the bastard's shoulder.
"Uh, boss, what should we do with this body then?
"Rise…" a dark voice whispered into his ear.
The mountain of a man appeared to think it over for a minute as he glanced at the seemingly lifeless corpse. "Bury him somewhere deep in the forest, he has earned that much if nothing else."
"And these two, where do you want us to keep them?"
"Rise up and fight…" a menacing, purplish glow began to surround his body.
"Send the man into one of our cells. The girl…" He leaned towards Miko with the girl trying to recoil in disgust only to be held still by their captors. The leader smirked. "Send her to my chambers…"
"RISE UP, VERDIA DULLAHAN!"
The compound shook as a column of dark mana shot up into the sky, piercing through several floors to create a large opening in the fortress, allowing the full moon's glow to light the area as the headless body of Verdia stood back up on its own, a full set of armor and a decorative cape manifesting around him while a helmet appeared in a similar fashion around his severed head.
With what appeared to be practiced ease, the newly christened undead stepped forward and leaned down to pick up its missing head. "Ah… that's better." Verdia sighed as his body held its missing part safely under its arm. "Now then, I believe you have something of mine…"
He held out his hand towards the Leader of the Jaken bandits, and the man yelled out in surprise as the teal great sword was telepathically ripped out of his hands, returning to the palm of its true master, and the two men behind him screamed not a moment later as deep wounds appeared across their chests with Verdia appearing between.
Their lives ended just like his, but they wouldn't be coming back.
"What the hell are you?!" the leader demanded, taking a few steps back in fright as the undead turned his red-eyed gaze towards him.
"Oh that's simple…" Verdia surged forward at inhuman speeds, burying his blade up to the hilt in the man's chest, "… I'm the last thing you'll ever going to see." And then he ripped the blade to the side, coating the weapon with a fresh layer of blood.
"Y-you're a m-m-monster…" The Brute trailed off as he fell backwards, dead before he even hit the ground.
"H-he killed the boss!" one of the grunts cried out in fright while the others around him appeared to take that as a source for their rage.
Several of the men yelled out as they abandoned all form of reason to charge at the undead with various weapons ready to strike from all sides.
Verdia merely scoffed as his body tossed his head up into the air, muttering the words to an ancient spell long since lost to mankind. A gigantic, fiery eye, with the Dullahan's head acting as the pupil, appeared above them all. With the all-seeing eye acting as his guide, Verdia slide out of the way of the first bandit's wild swing, used his sword to block another, and used the openings he saw to swing his broad sword in a powerful, full-circle maneuver, inflicting wounds so deep the attackers would be dead in less than a minute.
The undead held out his palm, catching the severed head when it fell with ease.
It was at that moment that the rest of the bandits gathered in the area decided to flee, having seen enough to know none of them would stand any chance against a creature such as him, but Verdia wasn't going to let them get away.
"Souls doomed to suffer for all eternity, I hear your cries for battle, come forth and serve me with undying loyalty, rise my undead army!" With a grand, sweeping gesture, a group of skeletal warriors were summoned within the room, but unbeknownst to the all but the one who performed the spell, a literal army now surrounded the fortress from every angle.
Verdia pointed his sword forward, giving one single command. "Attack!"
Hearing the words, all the undead in the room charged forward while the ones outside prepared to storm the building, ready to slaughter all that had dared to harm their master, and the building was soon filled with the sounds of battle and dying.
Deeming the room to be safe now, Verdia turned towards his friends and took in the looks on their faces. Kyūdō was in complete shock, simply staring at him with eyes as wide as they could possibly be.
Yeah, I expected that much, the undead thought to himself as he turned to Miko, and felt his dead heart sink at the amount of fear aimed at him.
For her part, the Arch-Priest was desperately trying not to have a panic attack after witnessing such a traumatic series of events in such a short amount of time, but that fear-driven panic heightened when her now undead friend began approaching them, thankfully holstering the giant blade on his back during the short walk. Miko would never tell him this, but Verdia was absolutely menacing as she watched him, almost in slow motion, with the full-moon behind him, casting an eerie glow across his new armor.
When he reached out a hand towards her, presumably to undo her bindings, she instinctively recoiled away from him, and wished she hadn't upon seeing the pain that single act caused him. Miko took a moment to remind herself that this was her friend, and then leaned forward, allowing Verdia to undo her gag first before he untied her.
"Verdia…" she whispered, pain and regret filling her voice as both her hands moved forward to cup the cold cheeks of the man who professed his love for her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Tears blurred her vision as she leaned further forward to press her forehead against his severed head, watching as a single drop of liquid slide down his eye and onto her hand.
"Don't be," he whispered, placing a gauntlet-covered palm onto her head, "you're both alive, that's all I could ever ask for."
There, under the light of the moon, surrounded by the screams of the dying, Miko accepted what she had tried to deny way back during the festival for fear of ruining their friendship. It now, and forever would be, her greatest regret never admitting it until this moment.
"Verdia, I love you too." She no longer felt the need to hesitate and leaned forward to capture his chilled lips with hers.
Kyūdō watched the entire exchange in silence, his heart ached having to watch the tragic beauty of the situation, knowing the life those two could have had together was no longer a possibility. The Archer felt his own tears fall to the ground, and when the two eventually separated long enough to free him as well, he pulled them both in for a tearful embrace, promising himself to find someway to reverse this curse.
Even if it took the rest of his life to do so.
Back in the present, still buried beneath a small fortune's worth of gold and gems, dark energy leaked from miniscule openings before a small hole was formed with a purple explosion, and Verdia rose up, a look of pure fury on his face. Now, without a shadow of doubt, he knew what was causing all of this. He whispered the name of the being that had caused him, and his group, to go through these memory-induced nightmares.
"Vanir…!"
KONOSUBA!
An eerie quiet filled the halls of the Kazuma household – a that name was still being very much debated on. Most of the people were in their respective rooms, packing essential gear and supplies for their planned escape. Clemea and Megumin were some of the few who weren't doing as such, having already prepared their bags the day before.
"This… sucks." The green-haired Warrior mumbled into her cup of tea, the soothing taste doing little to settle her nerves. Her half-lidded eyes, and accompanying bags, displaying just how tired she was.
Megumin silently agreed, though she didn't display any outward signs of that while scrambling up some eggs for her temporary leader. Finishing the batch and placing it in-front of Clemea, receiving a quiet "Thank you" in the process, the young Arch-Wizard began preparing a much larger batch to feed the rest of the group once they came down.
"Hey…" Clemea quietly called out as she played with her food, hesitantly looking up to her friend who gazed back with curiosity, "did… did I make a lot of noise last night?"
The youngest of the two furrowed her brows. "No. Why do you ask?"
"I had a nightmare," she admitted, "only woke up after hearing a loud noise. Wasn't sure if it was me waking myself up, so I thought I'd check with someone in the morning. Guess it wasn't me though."
Megumin bit the corner of her lip as she turned back to the eggs, unsure how to handle the situation she was now in. The conversation could end as it is, Clemea didn't phrase it in a way that was asking for the subject to be further explored, but it wouldn't sit right with the girl if they left it as it was. "Do you… want to talk about it?"
She shook her head in response. "No, I just…" Clemea sighed, lowering her face into both of her hands, allowing the silence to persist until she got her thoughts together. "I've just been having this reoccurring nightmare all week ever since Kazuma disappeared. It sucks, but I'm more bothered by the lack of sleep it's causing than anything."
"You could ask Aqua to stay in your room," Megumin suggested, remembering how the Arch-Priest's passive aura was enough to soothe her in even the worst of times. Although, after thinking about it for a moment, her Holy aura seemed to be much weaker than normal.
"It's a little late for that." Clemea said with the slightest of smirks, a little of her old shelf showing through the veil of depressed, tired, exhaustion. "Unless she agrees to come with us that is."
There was a sudden knock on the door, startling the two as the green-haired Warrior rose from her sitting position. They shared a look, and Clemea slowly made her way towards the door.
"I don't think we were expecting a package," she mumbled, opening the door without checking to see who it was. A fact she immediately came to regret when the professional gaze of Sena greeted her. "I…I… what are you…?" Clemea sputtered as the Prosecutor let herself in, stepping past the girl with the slightest of huffs.
"Believe me, this visit wasn't planned by any means, but a certain incident that recently happened leaves me with little choice right now."
"Incident?" Megumin questioned, leaning out of the kitchen with a blink to punctuate her confusion.
Sena nodded. "Yes, recently, a dungeon that had been cleared out not to far from here has suddenly started spawning… well I don't know how to describe what they are, so I'll just show you." The woman reached into her pouch and pulled out a single piece of paper, holding it out for them to see.
"That's it?" Clemea asked, tilting her head to look at, what appeared to be, an adorable doll.
The Prosecutor sighed, clearly annoyed by how ridiculous the situation appeared. "Unfortunately, yes. Despite their size and appearance, these animated dolls are capable of self-destructing with surprising force. If it were just a few roaming around then we wouldn't be having this discussion at all, however, a large number of these creatures have been seen exiting a dungeon your party recently went through."
Quietly cursing the fact another event was being linked to their group in some way, Clemea braced for the inevitable bad news that was sure to come. "So, what do you want us to do about it?"
"Investigate the situation, obviously." Sena stated as she stored the drawing away, only to immediately look away with reluctance as she said the next set of words. "With the presence of Satou Kazuma specifically requested for this assignment."
Both girls froze at that, panic filling one set of eyes while surprise filled the other.
Megumin was the first to speak up. "Why does Kazuma need to come?"
"Because he is still being investigated for any potential links to the current Demon Lord, and for the purpose of 'safety' we will be accompanied by two guards as well – guards who will report back to their superiors if the person in question does not show up for the quest." Sena's eyes sharpened as she turned to them, silently demanding some kind of response to her statement.
A look was then shared between the other two people in the room, a silent conversation being shared that the Prosecutor couldn't interpret, and then they both turned back with hesitant hope.
"Is there any way-?"
"-this could wait until after I've had my morning coffee?" A new voice unexpectedly chimed in, catching every one's attention in the process. The trio of woman were then stunned as the witnessed the very person they were discussing walk in with a bleary-eyed look, obviously having woken up only a little bit ago.
"K-k-kazuma?!" Megumin stuttered, so overcome with relief she actually dropped the utensil she had been cooking with.
Letting out a big yawn in greeting, Kazuma leaned down to pick up the object before wrapping an arm around the small girl to give her a side hug. "Morning Megumin, I'll help you with breakfast in a second."
The poor girl blushed from the gesture and turned back around to grab another spatula to continue cooking, unable to trust her voice enough to speak at the moment.
"I see you're doing well," Sena stated, letting them know her relief in the form of a gentle smile, "did you hear enough, or should I go over what I told these two?"
Kazuma merely gave her a thumbs up, and that was all she needed to see to know there was nothing to worry about.
"In that case, I will return this afternoon so we may complete the task." With everything back in order, Sena turned and left the building with a little more energy than she had entered with.
"Ok!" Clemea suddenly called out, catching the Adventurer's attention. "When and how did you get back without any of us noticing? We literally had someone watching the door every night, and no one said anything about you returning!"
"Snuck in last night through my window and immediately went to bed, I keep forgetting to lock it."
Whatever tirade she had planned on giving died as soon as his explanation was done. Whether it was because it was good enough, or because she was too tired to really care at this point, he wasn't sure. "Alright, I guess I better go tell everyone the good news." Clemea moved to leave but paused at the hallway before she was out of sight. "It's… good to have you back, Kazuma."
Kazuma watched her leave with a surprised look, not expecting the warm return from someone he thought still despised him. "Heh, good to be back," he muttered with a slight smirk, moving to stand next to the Arch-Wizard to help her out.
After a minute, the teen decided to get her attention by bumping her hip with his own.
"Hey!" Megumin turned to look at him with mock anger, only for that to be washed away as her heart started beating a little harder from the look he was giving her. "What is it?"
"Later tonight, once we're done with this mission, we should… talk… about us."
Is he really…? The girl felt the air leave her lungs, fully knowing what those words were implying. "Yeah," Megumin agreed, a new sense of joy spreading throughout her body as she recognized the look he was giving her as the same she probably was giving him, "I'd like that."
"Good," focusing back on the task in-front of them, Kazuma had turned away with a newfound shine in his eyes.
Megumin, however, couldn't contain the happiness she was feeling like her Leader was, and decided to express it the only way she could right now.
Rising to her toes, the girl planted a soft kiss upon his cheek and leaned back with a smile, no longer feeling embarrassed by doing such an act.
Kazuma, for his part, only locked up for a moment before calming down, his own smile matching his friend's.
Yep… things are looking up for us.
And there we go, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
Once again I would like to thank everyone who's followed, favorited, reviewed, and read my work, you are all awesome!
Until next time, have a wonderful day!