KonoSuba: A Tale of this Beautiful World Vol2

by Dknightodin

The second volume of the series.

9. Chapter 8: The Gift of Friendship

Chapter 8: The Gift of Friendship

Part 1

Nearly a month went by as we continued to work. Kazuma took the time to brush up on his skills, taking several trips to the capital as a result. On one of these days, while he was out, Aqua, Darkness, and I all sat in the living room huddled over the coffee table.

"Ok, Aqua's got 273,800, I made 2 million, and you made 3,400,000."

"Wait, how come all of you made so much more than me?!"

"Hmm, what's the going rate for construction?" Darkness asked.

"Just about 30 thousand a day."

"I see; administration work pays 150,000."

"WHY?!" Aqua shook Darkness angrily, tears in her eyes. "Construction is so much harder! Darkness, help me get administration work; you don't really do anything, right?!"

"Of-Of course I do!"

She let go and crossed her arms with a pout. "How about you, Megumin, how'd you make so much?"

"I'm working in Wiz's shop."

"Wiz?! That girl! She's that stacked and she didn't even tell me?! Wait till I—"

"Technically Vanir is paying me so…"

Aqua stared at me with a look of disbelief. "Kazuma I could understand, but you too, Megumin? How many times have I said—"

"I know, I know, don't trust a devil. I get it, and for the most part, I agree, but you can't deny his ability to produce funds."

Aqua grimaced; even she couldn't deny this statement. "Even so, don't you guys buy stuff, don't you go out to eat; you shouldn't be making that much more than me!"

Me and Darkness glanced at each other. "I haven't really bought anything, and as far as food is concerned, I make my own lunches or just get Yunyun to pay for it."

Aqua then looked at Darkness.

"I've had to spend a little on armor repairs due to the quests we've taken, but Irene's been handling my lunches."

I interjected. "Speaking of the quests, they've been a large bulk of our rewards, some 10 million eris, so I think we should continue doing them."

Darkness nodded. Aqua was still pouting and on the verge of tears.

Clearing my throat, I continued. "After counting, our total is…15,673,800 eris."

Aqua loudly slammed her hands on the table. "That jerk Kazuma, making us pay for all of this! At this rate it's gonna take forever to pay off this stupid debt!"

"Weren't you the one who said he'd get over it?"

"How was I supposed to know he'd be this stubborn about it?!"

Looking at the sum involved, Aqua was right; we were nearly a month and 16 million eris in and even with that much time and money what we had was barely a drop in the bucket.

"Aqua, you're right; I think we need to find a way to make more money."

"Or we could just stop doing all this; why do we have to pay for everything when Kazuma has enough money to go around."

I frowned as I thought about our position. "As much as I hate to admit it, this is our fault; we need to take responsibility for such things."

"Megumin, when did you start becoming so responsible?! Go back to being a kid! It's bad enough I have to listen to that hikkiNEET chastise me! Me, a goddess! The nerve of him."

Darkness pitched in. "The fact of the matter is the only things that payout incredible amounts are bounties."

"We could just ask the princess to waive this stupid debt."

I shook my head in disagreement. "Aqua, that's ridiculous…how would I look like if I asked my underling to do such a thing; I'd lose face."

"That's right, Aqua, there's no way we could ask Iris-sama to do such a thing. And could you stop calling her your underling, Megumin, she's the Princess of this country."

"Iris is Iris and I'm me; such things are as true as the rising sun and the magnificence of Explosion magic."

"Speaking of the Princess, isn't her birthday coming up?"

Darkness nodded. "Umu, it's about a week from now."

I shrugged. "What could we even get her in our current situation?"

"That's true. I wonder if Kazuma is buying something for her?"

"There's no doubt I my mind that loli lover is getting something for the Princess," Aqua replied.

"Maybe we should pay her a visit?" I said.

"Wouldn't it be better to do it on her birthday though?" Aqua queried.

Darkness responded. "It'll probably be pretty difficult to do so, the royal family's birthdays are considered national holidays; besides the typical increase in the amount of people in the capital, there'll also be increased security during the celebration."

"Make sense," I remarked.

"Couldn't we just use our authority to get in though?" Aqua pondered.

Darkness sighed. "As usual, you guys are paying little respect to the authority of noble houses."

I waved off Darkness' complaint. "What good are these medallions if we can't even use it to see a friend?"

She smiled weakly. "Fair enough. So, do you both want to go now?"

"I say we do," Aqua answered. "I finally have day off from work, so I'd like to go do something nice."

"How about you, Megumin?"

"I'm under no obligation to take more work from Vanir; I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Right, I actually have something of an assignment in the capital, so this all works out."

With our minds made up, we went our way to the frequently visited Teleport Station and arrived at the capital. Iris' birthday was still a week out, but even so, the streets were beginning to become filled with the usual allure of market and food stalls and venues befitting a national celebration. The roads were also becoming clogged with the masses of people pouring in from every corner of the kingdom.

"Ugh, this is one thing I wish I could do without." I pushed past a group of idle strangers.

"Seems like we're not the only ones thinking coming early would be a good idea," Darkness remarked.

As we approached the square, the density of the crowds began to thin out; it didn't take long to figure out why.

"Halt!" A female knight yelled as we drew close. "This area is closed off; you may not pass."

The entire square, leading up to palace was completely cordoned off by Imperial knights.

I gave a quick glance to Darkness, but she seemed preoccupied by the woman's command. "Ahem." I cleared my throat loudly; the knight and her peers to her immediate sides looked at me. "We're personal friends of the Princess; we're here to offer her a bountiful birthday."

"Friends? Do you have proof of this?"

I turned to introduce Darkness, but the knight put her hand up and shook her head. "That is Lady Dustiness; however, I'm unsure of who you or that lady behind you is."

"Ah, right." I smirked and with a flick of my cape, said, "My name is Satou Megumin, the Crimson Annihilator, Genius of the Crimson Mages, and Master of Explosion! And this is Aqua."

Aqua stepped forward proudly. "That's right, I'm Aqua, the Goddess of Water and Patron Deity of the Axis Order."

Even before the female knight replied, I knew Aqua's comments would make things difficult.

"Axis?" She said. "As in, the Axis Cult?"

Aqua nodded happily while I shook my head nervously.

The knight looked to her comrades beside her, and they, her, after which, they grabbed me and Aqua.

"H-Hold on!" I said as I tried to break free.

"Hey, didn't I just tell you guys I'm a goddess; what's with you?!"

"W-Wait!" Darkness said.

"Lady Dustiness?"

"Please, let them go. What Megumin said is true and more importantly, they're my friends."

After some hesitance, we were let go. The lady knight spoke. "Lady Dustiness…even if they're friends…" She sighed. "Is there any way you could vouch for these two; solid proof, I don't doubt your word, however—"

"Is this enough?" I said, pulling out the house pendant.

The woman took a glance at it, and then slowly took it in her hand for a closer inspection. "…the Mark of Proof…forgive me…you're the Demon King Slayer's party members."

I had to admit, the fact that the issue was resolved so quickly upon revealing the medallion sent a satisfying tingle up my spine; were house crests really this powerful?

The lady knight spoke once again. "So, this insignia belongs to you, correct?"

I nodded.

"I see…and how about her?" She pointed to Aqua.

"She's also a part of the house." I turned to Aqua. "Aqua, did you bring your pendant?"

"Huh, why would I? I mean we're only coming to see the Princess, aren't we?"

The knights stared at us dubiously.

"I-I assure you, she's also part of the house! Darkness?!" I said, looking to her for support.

"Ah, that's right!"

After some more skeptical looks, the knight sighed. "Very well. Megumin-dono and Aqua-dono, right; I'll make sure to remember these names."

I smiled. "Ah, good; I was—"

"I'll make sure to remember these names; after all, impersonation of a noble is a very serious crime. If I'm honest, if it weren't for Lady Dustiness' presence, I would feel remiss to let you two through."

"…"

After passing through the gate inspection, palace door inspection, wing and hall inspections, we were finally on our way to Iris' room.

"Suddenly I feel exhausted; it's almost as if I used Explosion already," I said with a huff.

Darkness chuckled. "I did tell you there'd be an increase in security."

"I totally expected something closer to the day, but not this early."

"Umu, security hasn't always been this tight, but it's to be expected after the assassination attempt."

"Ah, that's right." With so many things happening, the event had slipped my mind.

"Here we are."

Standing at the door were two more knights.

I quickly sighed. "Excuse me, we're here to see Princess Iris; we're her friends."

"Umu, yes, I remember you all." The knights gave a quick bow. "Lady Dustiness and her companions, correct?"

"Uh, well, yes. My name is Megu—"

"Lady Megumin and Lady Aqua."

Given the earlier treatment, I was sort of taken aback by her reply. "Y-Yes, that's us."

"Very well, one moment."

The knightess knocked on the door, after which a small voice responded, "Yes?"

"Hime-sama, we have Lady Dustiness and her companions here to see you; should we allow them entry?"

Almost instantly, Iris replied, "Yes, yes, of course!"

The moment we stepped into the room Iris ran over and hugged us all.

"What are you all doing here?" She asked as we took our seats.

"We came to see you, of course," I replied.

She smiled. "Everyone's been so busy with preparations that I really haven't had many visitors as of late."

"Oh? Kazuma hasn't visited then?"

"No, onii-sama hasn't come to visit." Iris looked down glumly.

Aqua, who was looking around at the decoration in the room, spoke. "Umu, I'm sure Kazuma will come visit you…given his preferences and all."

I frowned at Aqua's comment but couldn't really say anything to deny it; Iris, however, giggled.

"I would hope to see you all at the celebration; it really wouldn't be one without you all present."

"Of course," I answered.

"Anyhow, enough about me, what's been going on with you guys?"

We looked to each other, suddenly recalling the massive debt which burdened us.

"Ugh, well—"

Aqua interrupted. "Kazuma's making us pay off this stupidly large debt; is there any way you could hel—"

Darkness threw her hands over Aqua's mouth, pinning her down in the sudden embarrassment she was displaying.

"T-There's no such thing, I-Iris-sama!"

Iris giggled once more, but the look she wore after was the more regal and seemingly dangerous expression; the one I was cautious of. "Debt? And you say onii-sama is the cause of it?"

"Kazuma isn't the cause of it," I replied, taking an equally serious stance. "We were all sort of…responsible…for some of it."

She smiled, her expression softening with it. "I see. How much is the debt?"

Darkness interjected, Aqua's muffled retorts seeping through her hands. "I-Iris-sama, you needn't concern yourself; we—I have this under control, don't you wor—"

"Some 575 million eris," I answered.

Even being royalty, Iris couldn't keep a straight face upon hearing the amount. "Five…" She cleared her throat and regained her composure. "May I ask what the cause of such a large debt was?"

I sighed. "A number of things."

"I, I see. Well, with such a large sum…I could write you a letter waiving the—"

Darkness shot out of her seat. "Absolutely not, Iris-sama!"

"Lalatina?"

"This is a personal debt; one you shouldn't trouble yourself with or have the citizens of this country shoulder. Please don't go along with such frivolous suggestions."

"…" Iris stared at Darkness who held the aura of an upstanding subject, and then laughed.

"I, Iris…sama?"

"Umu, you are still the same Lalatina I've always known. As always, I take your council seriously, thank you. That being said, you all are not only personal friends of the crown and myself, but extremely important individuals to the kingdom as well; you've put your lives and well-being on the line several times for the sake of this nation, would it not be prudent for us to give something in exchange? If not the entirety of the debt, perhaps some of it?"

Darkness closed her eyes in thought; after a few seconds, she opened them and replied, "Absolutely not."

Iris smiled once more. "I'd have thought that your rigidness may have softened a bit, but it seems I was wrong." She then giggled. "Very well, how about if the money was given as a reward?"

"Reward?"

Darkness and I looked at each other.

"Would you guys just stop being dumb?!" Aqua yelled angrily. "If the Princess wants to help us with this, why not let her?!"

I continued the discussion. "Reward for what, a bounty? Kazuma wouldn't help—"

"How about if I did?" She interposed.

"Not happening," Darkness retorted. "Not only would getting you out of the castle be close to impossible, but it would involve you in something that's not your own."

Iris frowned. "These types of concerns are my own; it has to do with the livelihood of my friends."

"With all due respect, Iris-sama, I refuse to allow you to partake in such a dangerous scheme. Not only that, but framing it as a reward when you're involved is just spinning the truth, isn't it?"

Iris sighed. "Lalatina, you're almost as bad as Claire when it comes to such matters."

"I have a suggestion." Everyone turned their eyes on me. "How about if the reward came from a competition? If other people besides us took part of it, then you could say the reward was handed out fairly to the winner of this competition, right?"

"I can agree to this," Darkness remarked. "But only if it's a fair competition; it can't be done in favor of us."

"Darkness, would you stop being such a prude?" Aqua said with knit brows. "If you keep being like this, I'm gonna give you my share of the debt to pay off."

Suddenly, Darkness trembled. "Ahhh, doubling the amount I owe? Such an amount would be difficult to pay off using modest means."

"…" I turned to Iris. "So, how about it?"

"Since Lalatina agrees to it, I will too. I'll see about preparing the competition and let you know as soon as I can."

"Alright, seems good. Now that that's out of the way, let's move on to the real reason we came here."

"Real reason?" Everyone else said unison.

"That's right." I knelt, courteously placing my broad-rimmed hat over my chest. With an open palm, I extended my hand out to Iris. "Hime-sama, I've come to show you a good time."

At first Iris looked surprised, but after a moment she laughed, and then gave me her hand. "Is Megumin-nee playing the heroic knight that's come to save the princess from captivity?"

I smirked. "Of course not," I said, getting to my feet. "I'm playing the powerful Archmage with no equal. One such as I wouldn't allow her apprentice to be sieged during her most precious time. Come, Iris, I'm getting you out of here."

"Megumin!" Darkness interjected.

"Darkness, don't interfere; Iris won't have this opportunity for some time."

"Ugh, this is reckless; why do you and Kazuma always have to do such foolish things with Iris-sama?!"

"Please, Lalatina; won't you help me?"

"I, Iris-sama." She sighed. "…I…guess it'll be ok—"

"Thank you, Lalatina!" Iris said, quickly hugging Darkness in the process.

"O-Only for a little while though!"

Iris nodded happily, although I felt she was merely doing it to curry favor. "How are we supposed to get past the guards though; even if it's you, Lalatina, I don't believe I'll be allowed to leave."

"All the better!" I said proudly. "It would be boring if everything was too simple. Darkness, I'll leave the fine details to you, Aqua, you entertain the guards in the meantime. Me and Iris will head out through the balcony."

"Balcony?" Iris and Darkness said simultaneously.

After exchanging looks, Iris stared at me with a vibrant red face.

I smirked. "That's right, the balcony; I'm sure leaving in such a manner would be a first for you, wouldn't it?"

Iris remained silent, her ears joining the growing flushness of her face.

"Megumin, that's dangerous, I can't allow—"

"Lalatina, it-it's fine; I-I've"—She took a deep breath and spoke calmly—"…I've gotten down from high places before."

Darkness placed a hand over her face and shook her head. "…alright."

Tying a line of blankets and sheets together, we managed to create a rope.

"You ready?" I said, looking to Iris.

She nodded, and then approached the rope. Pulling it taut, Iris climbed over the railing and slid down. I turned around and gave Darkness and Aqua a nod, then vaulted over banister and down the line.

"Megumin-nee slid down the rope like a natural; perhaps this isn't your first time?"

I quickly pulled her over to the small wall nearby. "No, it isn't my first time."

"Hmm, I see."

"And you seem to be quite good at it yourself."

Iris looked away, suppressing a would-be smile from cropping up.

As I looked out for patrols, I questioned her. "Kazuma wouldn't be the one who taught you such things, would he?"

"O, Onii-sama…"

I sighed heavily, and then sat against the wall. "Iris, I know about that night; where you and Kazuma went, what he did."

Iris covered her face in embarrassment, the velvet hue from her face was only second to Yunyun's. "We-We…"

"I know he didn't really do anything to you, but you have to be a bit more careful around Kazuma."

"O-Onii-sama wouldn't do such a thing!"

I quickly covered her mouth and peeked over the wall; no one seemed to take notice. "Shhh," I said, slowly letting go. "Look, Iris, I'm just saying—"

"Onii-sama isn't like that…you of all people should know that, Megumin-nee."

"…" I looked away slightly. "…Kazuma's a pretty big coward, but he's still a guy, Iris, that's all; it's not like he hides his affection for you anyways."

Iris rubbed her finger, and then stared at me worriedly. "If you really saw everything, then you'd know…even when…there…when…when we were alone, he—"

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it; I know…I get it, but I didn't really come here to make you feel bad, ok? So, come on, let's go back to Axel and hang out with our friends."

She smiled meekly, and then nodded in the same measure.

I handed her my cloak and hat. "Here, use these to conceal your identity, otherwise we'll have a hard time getting through the Teleport Station."

After evading the patrols and the cordon, we made it into the bustle of the city where we stopped at a nearby clothing store.

"Why are we here; does Megumin-nee want to buy some clothes?"

"No, well, not for me. My cloak and hat won't be enough to completely cover for you; your features stand out too much. Here, take my eye patch; I'll need it back, however; if I go too long without it my immeasurable power will burst forth causing a nationwide calamity."

Iris nodded seriously and gingerly took it in her hands.

After we entered the shop, I scouted through the racks and shelves. "Alice," I said, waving her over. "Wear this." I gave her a cowl which also concealed the bottom half of her face.

A few minutes later, Iris returned from the changing rooms. Together with my cloak, hat, and eye patch, it became very difficult to identify her; in fact, at this point she looked more like an eccentric rogue rather than the frontline fighter her alias Alice was regarded as.

"Hmm." I smiled proudly. "You look cool, Alice, totally fit to be my underling; perhaps I should get you something similar to this later on."

"Really?" Iris took a glance at her attire and smiled. "Oh, Megumin-nee, don't worry about the payment; I got it."

"Ahh, right. It-it's ok, I have a coupon I can—"

But Iris was already paying.

"Th-Thank you…"

I couldn't see her expression, but I could tell, underneath she was smiling.

After trudging through the crowded streets, me and Iris arrived at the Teleport Station. Groups of people stepped out of the shop with swathes of others waiting outside.

"Excuse me," I said, walking up to one of the idle groups. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"Hmm? Ah, we're waiting for our turn; apparently, so many are coming for the Princess' birthday celebration that there's a queue of people just waiting to get in and out of the capital."

Suddenly one of the shop attendants stepped out. "Excuse me! Attention! Everyone, due to the increase in traffic, teleporting services will be delayed. Additionally, prices for long range teleportation are being incremented."

Unsurprisingly, the crowd of people began protesting, almost to the point of violence. Just as Iris was about to step in, a contingent of guards came.

"Sh-great," I said, stepping away from the immediate area.

"Doesn't look like we can use the Teleport Station, Megumin-nee; what now?"

I racked my brain for an answer. If we had someone who could use Teleport with us it wouldn't be much of an issue and traveling by wagon was out of the question, it would take several days.

"Dammit," I mumbled; was there really no one around who could use Teleport?

"Megumin?"

I quickly turned around. "Yunyun? Yunyun, your timing was impeccable; have you been observing for the right moment to intervene? I see your Crimson De—"

"No, Vanir-san told me that you were waiting for me here."

"Uh, Vanir did?"

"Umu."

"Hmm, I see. Perhaps I should buy something from the shop as a means of repayment." I smiled, proudly placing my hands on my hips. "That's right, Yunyun, I require your assistance. You see, me and my newfound friend here have been trying to—"

"Alice-chan?"

"Alice? No, no, this isn't Alice, this is uh, um, Rori-chan; she's a…rogue? A rogue, that's right. A rogue. You see, because of her appear—"

"Megumin, you can stop; I'm pretty sure I know who that is, I can tell."

"*Sigh* alright, you got me."

"What's going on here; are you trying to smuggle her out of the capital again?!"

"Shhh, you're being loud and obnoxious as always. I want Iris to have a good time with us before the celebration keeps her stuck inside."

"This is reckless, Megumin."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it already. She's your friend, you know. We all are, and friends help each other, so help us out here."

"Friends?" Yunyun smiled coyly, pressing her fingers together in the same manner. "I-I mean, just because you say we're friends—"

Iris stepped in. "Please, Yunyun-chan, won't you help?"

"…ahhh…fine," She said in a tone reminiscent to when she loses to me.

With Yunyun's help, we made it back to Axel.

"Now that we're in Axel, what do you want to do, Megumin-nee?"

"Hehe, that's my underling, always respectful of her senior; I say we go out and do a hard quest."

Yunyun swiftly interjected. "I object! And why do you have say in this; wasn't the whole point in trying to bring Alice back to Axel for her to have some fun?!"

"Fufufu, of course, Yunyun. Hey, Alice, I'm sure you haven't been out on quest in quite some time, don't you want to go take on a powerful monster?"

She smiled. "Well, it has been a while."

"Alice-chan, please don't let her trick you!"

Part 2

Counter to my suggestion, Yunyun led us back to Wiz's magic shop.

The instant we stepped in the devil of the shop greeted us. "Ah, thou has returned, and with the embarrassing Crimson Demon girl thee calls a friend."

"Hachibei!" Iris said happily; she quickly ran over and gave the Duke of Hell a hug.

"Ah, if it isn't the chirimen's daughter; how has thee fared?"

"Wait," I said in interruption, "you two know each other?"

Iris nodded with a beaming smile. "Hachibei and I met a while back; he's helped me through some troubling situations."

I raised a brow, my sight shifting between the both of them, then the devil before us sneered.

"Is the silly girl whose lack of redeeming factors thinking that moi is a danger to thy friend?"

"L-Lack of?!" I could feel my eyebrows twitch in anger. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself.

"And why has thou decided to not come to work today? Such bad decisions are why the cowardly brat consistently sees thee as the child thee is."

I felt myself grow flush, both in anger and embarrassment.

"Mwahahahaha!" Vanir laughed haughtily. "Hmm, not as refined as moi likes, but not bad either."

"Yunyun-san." A black-haired, green-eyed girl came from the back of the shop; it was Gren. "You're back."

"Gren-san," Yunyun replied with a nod.

Vanir turned to face her, his face sporting a more serious look. "Girl, is the foolish shop owner working as planned?"

Gren bowed her head; it was something between submissiveness and courtesy. To be honest, I didn't know how to feel upon seeing such display; was she happy working under Vanir or was she simply doing it because she felt she had no choice? Even with the time I spent working here I was unsure.

"Hmm, perhaps we'll be able to afford some luxuries this month then." The Duke rubbed his smooth chin.

"Hime-sama, is that you?" Gren queried, looking to Iris as she did.

Iris gave a brief nod, a short smile accompanying her reply. "Are you well, Gren-san?"

Gren bowed deeply; this one was a clear display of submission—no, subservience. I could tell what Gren felt towards Iris was nothing short of complete gratitude…and perhaps regret.

"I am well, Hime-sama; congratulations on your upcoming birthday."

"Alice, you can call me Alice."

"Right, forgive me; I'm a fool for not noticing sooner."

Iris shook her head. "Please don't be so hard on yourself, Gren-san. Anyhow, since I'm Alice, it's fine to drop formalities; we're all friends here."

Gren looked down despondently. "Friends…with all due respect, Hime…Alice…sama…I don't believe I have the right—"

"You do; you may have made mistakes, but it's clear you're doing your best to rectify them. You saved the Princess; she won't forget that." Upon saying this, Iris smiled. "What would you be to her if not a friend?"

Gren stared at her in surprise, and then looked down once more, her lips quivering and eyes glossing over. "Thank…thank you."

"Alice," I said, "we came here to do something fun; I'm sure you don't wanna hang around here all day."

"Hmm, I wouldn't mind, really; it makes me happy to see Hachibei once more, but I feel it'd be a bit selfish of me if I simply indulged in my own wishes versus everyone else's."

I pursed my lips in indifference. "If it's what you wanna do then I'm not entirely against it."

"Hmm." Vanir, who was rubbing chin spoke. "Moi may have a task worthwhile to everyone present; care to listen?"

All of us looked at each other, then I looked back at Vanir and shrugged. "Go ahead, no harm in listening."

He smirked, and then went on. "There's been something that has been a thorn in moi's side for quite some time; you see, moi has been planning to take care of it, however, the bumbling store owner has cursed me to remain within the shop; her astonishing habits for bad spending exceed even my expectations." As he said this, the smile he was wearing just mere moments ago faded into a frown. Giving a light cough, he continued. "About an hour's walk or two from town there's some ruins. Moi needs thee all to find the magical item within and bring it back."

"Ruin?" Yunyun queried. "I thought all the sites around Axel were already cleared."

This girl, always focusing on the smaller picture. "Yunyun, this is an opportunity!" I said with a smirk. "Not only do we get first dibs on some unknown ruins, but this ruin also contains a magic item within."

"Uhh…Vanir-san?"

The devil, who was staring at us quietly, grinned. "Worry not, moi won't send thee all to your deaths; the threats in this location should prove to be of little worry to a group like yourselves."

"There you have it," I said reassuringly. "Let's go."

Yunyun sighed. "I wish Megumin would be more cautious about uncertainties."

"Uncertainty comes with the job, Yunyun; we're adventurers, things like this are par for the course. Plus, doesn't it make your blood boil a bit? This is a real adventure we get to go on and one with a tangible reward at the end too."

The odd girl, Yunyun paused as she gave it some thought, then smiled. "Umu, you're right, Megumin. I am kind of excited."

After saying goodbye to Vanir and Gren, me, Yunyun, and Iris headed to the location marked on our maps.

We were nearly an hour away from town when Yunyun spoke once more. "Umm, Megumin, I'm starting to have some second thoughts."

"Geez, Yunyun, I didn't think you would be this much of a coward; are you not embarrassed? You're supposed to be the future leader of our clan you know."

"T-That's not important at the moment!"

Iris, who was taking in the sights, suddenly spoke up. "Don't worry, Yunyun-san, I'll protect you and Megumin-nee."

"See?" I said. "There you have it, Iris will take care of us."

"No, no, why are you ok with that?!" Yunyun retorted angrily; really, I didn't understand what was going through this girl's brain sometimes. "If anything, we're supposed to be protecting her!"

"Pfft, stop saying nonsensical things; Iris is our vanguard, it's the job of her role to provide us with protection while we support. Or are you saying that Iris is incapable of fulfilling such a role; maybe you'd like to instead?"

Yunyun bit her lip as she accepted her defeat at the hands of my masterful reply. Seeing that she no longer had any intent to argue, I turned my attention to the underling walking by my side.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" I asked her; after her reply to Yunyun, she seemed to go back to looking at the setting around us.

Iris nodded. "It's been quite some time since we've gone out together; I can't really remember all the stuff I've seen since then."

"Oh, but didn't you go out during the attack on the Demon King's Castle?"

She nodded; her attention still mostly fixed on the surrounding area. "That was a little different; while I did get to see some new stuff, because of the situation I didn't really get to enjoy any of it."

"I see." It made sense.

We continued to walk towards the marked location. All the while, I was schooling my eager student about the various things necessary to surviving in such harsh wilderness; wildlife, those edible and not; bedding and the flora for appropriate levels of comfort, and of course, cooking. In my previous attempts to teach Iris, there were many distractions, now, however, there were none…or mostly none.

"Why are you teaching Alice-chan such odd things?" Yunyun said, pestering me the entire time. "When is she going to even need to apply any of this knowledge?"

I shook my head. "Iris is part of our club—I mean group; this means she'll inevitably encounter some situations where this knowledge is not only useful but life-saving."

"The fact that you're planning to put Alice-chan through situations like that has me concerned to say the least; are you forgetting she's the Princess of this country?!"

I ignored the wailing coward trailing behind us and continued to spread my worldly knowledge to my willing apprentice. After what seemed like another hour, we arrived at the site of the ruins.

"Look," Iris said, pointing at the structure in the distance, "that must be it."

"Umu." I nodded. As we approached, my enthusiasm began to wane. "This is…"

"A dungeon!" Iris said excitedly. "I've never been to one!"

Indeed, it was a dungeon; or rather, it was more accurate to say the surrounding area was ruins but the centerpiece of the location was this dungeon.

"Guh." I scoffed dejectedly; I would be useless in such an environment.

"Megumin-nee, what are you waiting for, let's head inside."

"Ahh, wait, maybe the magic item is somewhere outside; there might not be any reason to—"

However, Iris happily descended into the depths.

Yunyun walked over to me. "Megumin's pretty upset about not being able to use her magic, isn't she?"

I pulled the rim of my hat low and grumbled.

Setting aside my worth in this situation, me and Yunyun caught up to the ever-eager princess. Since the dungeon was underground, it was dark. Fortunately for us, Yunyun learned Tinder some time ago and was able to provide us with a light source.

"What is this place?" Yunyun said as we walked through the vacant and dusty halls.

The dungeon appeared to be part of the structure above and many of the rooms seemed to be sleeping quarters of some sort.

"Maybe it's part of some lost city or something," I remarked. "Would you know, Iris?"

"Hmm?" She looked away from the wall murals and designs, and looked to me curiously, a finger on her chin. "This doesn't really appear to be anything I know of; these symbols are really odd."

As she said this, I walked over to the wall. "Light, Yunyun," I said, gesturing at the same time. "This symbol…"

Even as a Crimson Demon the symbols on the wall would've been gibberish to me, however…

"I know this."

"Huh?" Both Iris and Yunyun said.

"You can read this?!" Yunyun exclaimed in astonishment.

"Why are you surprised, Yunyun? Both of you. I am the foremost genius of our clan; this should come as no shock."

The symbols in question was part of Kazuma's home language, Japanese.

"Oh, that's amazing, Boss! What does it say?"

I smirked at my underling's honest praise, and then strained my eyes under the dim lighting. Several minutes went by as I continued to stare at the wall and symbols, all the while, the other two were silently waiting on my reply.

"Umm, Megumin?"

"Shhh, I'm concentrating, Yunyun."

The truth was…while I knew this was Japanese, they were a string of kanji I didn't learn.

Sensing that the two would catch onto this fact, I quickly and confidently said, "It says the magic item is in this direction." Before we left, I took out a small piece of parchment and pencil I had in the pouch on my belt and wrote down the symbols (機械製造).

We continued our trek through the halls. Although, Vanir said we would face resistance we haven't met any the entire time; silent and dusty corridors were all that we found. Even the once overly fascinated Iris was beginning to show boredom at the lack of events.

"Megumin-nee, is this what all dungeons are like?"

"Yes, Iris," I said without hesitation. "Dungeons are boring places. Should we find ourselves having to do another in the future please disregard them; we should only take quests that are in wide open places."

Yunyun frowned, and then happily added her own comment on dungeons. "Alice-chan, dungeons are dangerous, but they're pretty exciting; you can find lots of treasure and mysteries within them."

"Really?" Iris replied in curiosity. "This one seems to be lacking in treasure then." She sighed. "How I would've liked to fight a powerful creature."

I shrugged. "Let's just find this magic item and get out of here."

I didn't now how much time passed but eventually we grew both hungry and tired. As much as I disliked going through dungeons, I didn't want to return empty handed so, I made a suggestion.

"Let's pick one of these rooms and sleep here."

"Sleep in a dungeon?" Yunyun questioned my proposal.

Iris' enthusiasm returned upon hearing my proposition. "Oh, not only is it my first time going into a dungeon, but it's my first time sleeping in one too; what a great day."

"Umu," I replied, agreeing with a nod. "Normally we would take turns sleeping while someone takes watch, but seeing as we haven't encountered anything troublesome, I believe it'd be ok if we all slept at the same time."

Yunyun didn't say anything, but I knew she wanted to.

"What is it, Yunyun, spit it out."

"I-I didn't say anything."

"But I know you want to, so go on, say it."

Scrunching her face in mild frustration, Yunyun replied, "I think it's dangerous if we all sleep at the same time; if we're all sleeping what would happen if we're suddenly attacked?"

"Indeed, Yunyun, under normal circumstances I would agree with you; however, nothing has until this point. If we all sleep now, we'll be battle ready once we wake. Given that our group is small, having one or two members be weary would be more dangerous in the long term."

Yunyun stared at me with a face that seemed to doubt my line of reasoning.

Iris spoke. "Don't worry, Yunyun-san, should anything happen I'll get up immediately and defend you."

"See, that's how it is, Yunyun. Now let's use this room over here."

The room I picked was one we previously cleared. It had bunk beds and small end tables to sides of them, chests at the foot of them.

"Look, it's a lantern." I held it up for Yunyun to see; she promptly flicked the small source of light in her palm into it.

As I walked over to one of the beds, Yunyun called out to me.

"Megumin, make sure you check how sturdy these beds are; we have no idea how long they've been here."

Going by the state of the ruins outside, this place had to be quite old; as such, it made sense to go with Yunyun's warning. I grabbed the supports on the side of the bed and gave it a quick tug. The bed made a loud creaking noise, but surprisingly, it held firm.

"Seems ok," I said.

I took the sheets off the bed and gave it good wave in the air; a cloud of dust quickly developed causing us to cough. After settling down, I took the pillow and whacked it upon the surface of the mattress. Again, dust was kicked up, but this time we held our breaths until it passed.

"Me and Yunyun will take the bottom bunk; Iris, you should take the top."

Yunyun looked at me with a raised brow. "Megumin's not taking the top; I was sure you would."

"What does it matter?" I replied. "Arguing about such trivial things is childish."

She smiled. "I agree, plus, Alice-chan is the lightest out of us three, so it'll probably safer if she slept on top."

I knit my brow. "What are you saying, Yunyun; are you saying I'm in the same category as you?"

"I-I'm not saying anything; it's just Alice-chan is the smallest, so it should stand to reason that she's also the lightest." This girl said in a hurried manner.

"Humph, for starters, those things on your chest make up at least 50% of your weight so…"

Yunyun quickly threw her arms over them. Sighing deeply, I walked over to bed and settled my staff against the wall. Iris was already on the top bunk clearing out the excess dust.

"Alright, let's go to sleep."

Some time later I awoke to Yunyun rocking me incessantly.

"What is it?" I said halfway between weariness and anger.

"I can't sleep," She whispered.

Did this girl really wake me up for such a reason?

"What's the issue?"

"…I feel…unsafe."

I felt my brow twitch. "We're in a dungeon; of course you'd feel that way."

Yunyun fidgeted lightly. "…I feel a little…"

"A little?"

"…can you close the door; looking out into the hall is making me uneasy."

I huffed loudly as I got up. Turning up the flame on the lantern, I walked over to the entrance of the room and shut the door.

"Is that better?" I said, laying back down.

Yunyun nodded quietly.

"Good, now go to sleep." I turned down the intensity of the light, and then shut my eyes once more.

It wasn't even a few minutes before Yunyun rocked me awake once again.

"What?" I said in a loud whisper.

"I've been thinking…"

"Yeah?"

"There are all these rooms, right?"

"Yeah?"

"But we haven't seen any signs of this place ever being lived in besides these beds. I mean…if people…or anything lived here…wouldn't there be signs?"

Listening to what Yunyun said quickly alleviated my sleepiness and replaced it with mild amounts of fear. I coughed lightly, pressing my back closer to Yunyun's. "It-It's probably been a really long time so—"

"But if that's the case wouldn't the beds and furniture all be unusable? I mean…remains take a really long—"

I nudged her sharply. "Enough, just go to sleep, ok; stop thinking about things like that."

Despite telling Yunyun to fall asleep, I found myself in the shape. Closing my eyes and pulling my mantle tightly over myself, I forced myself asleep.

Naturally, this didn't last long as I woken up by Yunyun yet again.

Furrowing my brow, I turned sharply. "What is—"

Yunyun threw her hands over my mouth and pointed quietly to the corner of the room. Near the door were a pair of icy blue dots floating; they looked like a set of eyes.

"What is that?" I whispered, quickly grabbing onto Yunyun.

"I-I don't know," She whispered back.

As we stared at the anomaly, it stared back, without moving, without making a sound.

"D-Darkness b-blacker than black and d-darker than dark—"

"What are you doing? Stop, you can't use Explosion in here." Yunyun quickly covered my mouth once more.

As I struggled to break free, the floating blue orbs turned away, opened the door and disappeared into the hall.

For a couple of minutes, we lay in silence, watching the door and the pitch-black hallway it exited out to.

"What was that?" I queried.

Yunyun shook her head. "I…I don't know…you think…maybe…it could've been, an undead?"

I felt her tighten her grasp on me; I instinctually did the same. If it was an undead, we'd be in some trouble, we didn't have an anti-undead specialist with us like Aqua. Sure, we'd be able to hurt it with magic but undead were naturally resistant to most forms of it…still, it was only one.

"Should we leave?" Yunyun posed the question; admittedly, I wanted to but…

I looked up towards the second bunk, then cleared my throat and calmed myself. I told Yunyun, "No. We need to find what we came for; I won't return to town a coward and with nothing to show for it. We're Crimson Demons, Yunyun; we don't yield to the forces of darkness."

She stared dubiously, and then smiled, showing an excited expression. "Y-You're right, Megumin!"

"T-That being said, ahem, I think you should take the lead, Yunyun."

"Wha?!"

"That's right, this will be a good opportunity to learn a bit of leadership and breed some self confidence in yourself."

"M-Megumin's just saying that because she's too scared to take point!"

"Hey, I-I'm not scared, I just, just, I ju—I can't use magic so if we encounter something, I won't really be able to do anything to it!"

Again, Yunyun looked at me skeptical eyes, then she sighed. "I suppose that's true."

I nodded. "Right, so, you'll take point while Iris will watch our rear."

Iris had her sword she used for adventuring; even though it wasn't the divine artifact that was passed down in her family, it was still an exceptional weapon. Even to someone like me, one who lacked knowledge on weapons forging, I could tell it was enchanted due to the traces of magic it exuded. Thanks to this, should we have encountered undead or ghost-like monsters, both of them would be able to do something about it.

Shortly after coming up with the plan, me and Yunyun woke Iris. Interestingly enough, this princess, who was used to clean and overly comfortable places to sleep in, slept without a care in the world. When I went to wake her, she was smiling with a bit of drool.

"Megumin-nee?" She rubbed her eyes and yawned. "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing." I smiled confidently. "It's time to continue is all."

"Ah, ok." Iris yawned once more, stretched, and then climbed down.

We were about to go on our way when I heard a loud and strange sound.

"What was that?!" I yelped, turning my staff every which way. I looked at Yunyun and noticed she was covering her belly, an extremely embarrassed look on her face.

"S-Sorry," She mumbled.

"Oh, I see. Yunyun's hungry it seems, not that I'm surprised. A girl with—"

Another loud noise, similar to first one, grumbled out; it came from my own gut.

"…"

"…"

"…"

We postponed our continued exploration of the dungeon and lit the fireplace within the room. If undead, or any monster for that matter, were indeed roaming this dungeon, they'd be attracted to the light and heat of the fireplace; because of this, we closed the door and barred it with several of the end tables. Iris was confused by what we were doing so I explained to her the dangers of light and heat within a dungeon.

Soon after this, we sat by the fire and took out what small portions of food we brought; it wasn't much of course, we didn't expect this task to take very long and so we hadn't equipped ourselves for a long, drawn out quest.

I opened the palm of my hand; in it were a few berries I had foraged during my teaching session with Iris. Next, Iris dug into a small pouch on her belt and withdrew a few pieces of candy. Yunyun was last, she smiled as she held out her portion of food.

My eyes narrowed on the item in question, and then on the poor soul who found these things edible. "Seriously, Yunyun, do you bring these with you everywhere you go?"

She frowned. "There's nothing wrong with Demon Wafers; they're the perfect food for mages on quests."

As I looked at her with a half incredulous and frustrated expression, Iris had grabbed one of the bars curiously.

"What are these?" She asked curiously. "You said Demon Wafers, right; are they good?"

"No."

"Yes."

Me and Yunyun said in confliction. We stared angrily at each other.

"They're terrible," I went on.

Yunyun interrupted, giving her own take on the item. "People seem to have a problem with them, but they're a staple food choice of the Crimson Demons."

This was actually true; Demon Wafers were a staple food choice of Crimson Demons, but not because of their nutritional or even practical value. In fact, the reason they tasted so bad when they didn't have to was because it was meant to be eaten as a last resort. You see, Crimson Demons firmly believed it to be the sort of food to be taken when they were on their last legs, facing a powerful enemy, with a firm belief in the words "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".

Before I could stop her, Iris took a bite. The first couple of chews were accompanied by an inquisitive look, but after chewing for a couple seconds more, her face began to scrunch together in disgust. With a lot of effort, she swallowed the chewy mush in her mouth.

Yunyun stared happily at Iris; I'm sure she was waiting for her opinion on the item, and indeed she asked, "What do you think?"

Iris gave her a weak smile, and then stared at the half-eaten bar, then at me, then back at Yunyun. "It, It's—"

I snatched the wafer from her hand, and along with my own, ate it.

"Megumin!" Yunyun shouted angrily.

I doubled over, gasping for air, thinking, "Stupid food, why did it have to be so bad…"

"M-Megumin-nee, are you alright?" Iris asked with a mix of worry and apprehension; this girl understood my pain.

I showed her a thumbs-up but could feel the beads of salty tears dotting the corner of my eyes. "I, I was hungry," I replied hoarsely; the moisture from within my mouth was gone with the clumpy mess that descended into my stomach.

"M-Megumin-nee, here you go, you could have my candies," Iris said panickily.

I wanted to show a strong front, but I took the candies she offered without a second thought.

"Alice-chan!" Yunyun showed an angry expression. "You don't need to give Megumin your share of food, she took yours! Here, you can have my share."

"No, no, it's alright," Iris said hurriedly. "After all, you and Megumin-nee are the ones who were most hungry. I'm fine, I could go on a bit longer."

"Are you sure?" Yunyun said with a sad and regretful look.

Iris nodded vehemently.

"H, Here, Yunyun"—I showed her my sum of berries—"you can have my share."

She stared at me for a couple seconds, and then tentatively took them. "Ah…thank you, Megumin."

Foolishly, we didn't even bring water; however, Iris brought juice and Yunyun used ice magic to create some. After taking my fill of the icy water and sitting by the warmth of the fire, I began to feel better.

"Megumin-nee, would you like some?" Iris offered me some of her juice.

I was about to accept her offering when I remembered this poor girl had suffered too. "No," I replied, my palm pressing against the cup. "Thanks, but you also need to be well hydrated, Iris."

She withdrew the cup, staring at it, and then me with mild remorse. "Ok," She said, taking a sip from it.

Part 3

Finishing our pitiful meals, we removed the furniture blocking the doorway and (with Yunyun leading) tentatively stepped into the dark halls of the dungeon once more. We continued moving through the extensive and long corridors; our pace, however, was half of what it was mere hours ago, no doubt due to my and Yunyun's earlier experience.

"Yunyun," I said, "you feel that?"

She nodded. "There's a feeling of strong magic in this direction."

Down the hall from us, a faint blue light shown around the corners; it was similar to the light given off by magical lanterns and indeed, as we stepped cautiously around the corner, the dungeon's halls were illuminated; an eccentric design of concentric squares hugged the top of the walls, and these were the things giving off illumination.

I examined the wall. "Interesting…this all seems to be laced with manatite."

But manatite by itself didn't give off a glow; it had to be influenced by some other source for it to do so.

"No wonder we felt such a strong magic presence," Yunyun remarked.

Iris spoke. "Do you believe it was due to this?"

As Yunyun replied to Iris, I scrunched my brow in doubt. "No," I remarked, seemingly contradicting Yunyun's own thought.

"You think it's something else, Megumin?" She questioned.

"Vanir said 'magic item'; it wouldn't be something like this." And though I said this, in the back of my mind I held a grain of cynicism; after all, we were told by a devil whose idea of a good time was wasting other's and luring them with a false sense of promise.

For some reason, I felt that there was actually something deeper within this dungeon. Not only was the application of manatite odd but the symbols in this place indicated it was occupied (at least for some time) by someone from Kazuma's world. That being the case, the magic item in question could be—

"Megumin-nee," Iris said.

When I looked over, I saw her taking a combat stance, her sword already drawn. As I looked down the hall, I could see why.

Despite the lighting, all we could see was the piercing blue dots me and Yunyun saw earlier.

Yunyun quickly took a stance beside Iris. "What should we do, Megumin?" She asked, awaiting my decision.

With the two shielding me, I felt somewhat calm; because of this, I took some time to stare at the entity down the corridor.

"Who or what are you?!" I yelled; my voice echoed clearly down the way.

Then, the orbs turned away once more, disappearing into the darkness once again.

We waited, rooted to the spot. After a few minutes of silence and nothing happening, we relaxed.

Iris sheathed her sword and turned to me. "What was that, a monster?"

This girl, for facing the unknown she was oddly calm; as expected from someone who belonged to a line of warriors.

"I don't know," I answered, "but whatever it is, I'm not letting it scare us off; let's continue."

Iris and Yunyun nodded in agreement.

As we continued our exploration through the dungeon's halls much of the same awaited us; dim blue lights from the walls and empty rooms.

"This place is vast," Yunyun commented.

It was, but thankfully, not complex. Finally, after having spent several hours within this place, we came to the end; a final room marked with a plaque, on it, more Japanese.

Staring at the symbols, I made out the words, "Master" and "Room".

"Master's room?" I said with a tinge of uncertainty.

Yunyun and Iris stared at each other in mild surprise. "Master's room?" Iris repeated in confusion.

"Hey, Megumin, are you sure you're not making what it is says up?"

I frowned. "Of course I'm not; I'm telling you, I can read this. In any case, these symbols should look somewhat familiar to you, Yunyun."

After I stated this, Yunyun took a closer look at the symbols; a moment later, her mouth opened in realization. "These…these symbols are the same; they're the same as the ones in—"

"That's right, the Crimson Village."

"So, this place," she said, looking around, "it's part of that mysterious civilization that built the oddities in the village?"

"Oddities?" I questioned this girl's lack of sense. "Yunyun, you dare to call the treasures of our village, odd; aren't you gonna be the chief of it one day?"

I didn't see her face but heard her sigh softly.

"Should we go in?" Iris queried.

"Of course." I grabbed the doorknob. "Get ready you two, we don't know what's behind this door."

With a serious look on their faces, they nodded, taking a defensive posture at the same time.

I slowly twisted the knob; the door gave a click sound as the latch holding it released. Letting go, I stepped back and watched as the wooden door creaked open.

In preparation, Yunyun cast Fireball; this doubled as a source of light, a good one at that.

Despite my innate vulnerability, I walked into the room first; the other two quickly followed me in.

"A study?" I said as I looked around; countless rows of shelves and books surrounded the room.

"M-Megumin, look," Yunyun said, tugging on my cloak.

I turned in the direction she was pointing. On the opposite side of the room was a desk; behind it, a figure hunched over it.

"A person?" I said in surprise.

Iris was about to walk over, when I grabbed her shoulder; she looked at me in perplexity.

I shook my head in reply, and then stared at the hunched figure. "Oi!" I yelled, trying to get the figure's attention. It, however, remained in the same position, seemingly unaffected by my attempt at getting its notice.

"Hey," I continued, "if this is your place, pardon our intrusion." And in spite of me addressing the mysterious figure, it didn't reply.

I was beginning to grow agitated. "Hey!" I said once again, this time more forcefully.

But yet again, the figure said nothing; its posture remaining as we discovered it.

"Hey!" I shouted, marching up to the figure and pulling back on its shoulder.

A hollow echo sounded briefly as an object hit the ground.

"AHHHHH!" We all yelled.

The object in question was a skull; that's right, the figure was a person, or rather, a skeleton. A poor soul who was now long since dead.

Noticing this to be the case, I took a deep breath and collected myself. "What's this?" I said, grabbing an open book the skeleton was lying on.

As I scanned the contents, I could see it was written completely in Japanese. I took a glance at the skeleton on the chair; without a doubt, this must've been someone from Kazuma's world. After attempting to understand what was written, I knit my brows in frustration; there was still so much I didn't understand about Japanese. I closed the book and thought, "I'll take it back and have Kazuma help me in translating it"; that thought, however, was short lived as another, more enticing one replaced it.

"No, I can try and translate it myself; not only will this be a good opportunity to challenge myself, but if I manage to do it, I can show Kazuma; he'll definitely be impressed."

I smirked at the idea as I tucked the book under my arm.

"Is this it?" Iris said, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Just as I was about to answer, the bookshelf in front of Yunyun shifted to the side.

"A hidden room behind the bookshelf?" Iris queried.

"Impressive. Good work finding this, Yunyun." I smirked, walking over to her side. "Must've been a book you pulled from the shelf."

"Ah, ah, um, yeah." She quickly hid the book behind her.

Seeing this reaction, I couldn't just let it be. "Out of curiosity, Yunyun, what was—"

"N-Nothing!" She replied, her face turning bright red.

"Ah, ok—wait, what's that?!" I said, abruptly pointing towards the room.

Both Iris and Yunyun looked, and in this moment of deception, I grabbed the book.

"Wha—Megumin, no!"

However, it was too late; I already glanced at the cover. "Friends and How to Make Them: An Introvert's Guide to Relationships…"

"…"

"…"

"I'm…I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried such a treasure from you; here, you can have it back."

Yunyun quickly snatched book away and shoved it back into the empty slot.

Desperate to forget the moment of embarrassment, Yunyun marched ahead of us and into the hidden room, the glow of her Fireball lighting up the otherwise pitch-black surroundings.

"What, what is this place?" I said as we stepped into the massive room.

A moment later, the darkness was pierced by an assortment of overhead lamps. A loud echo rung throughout room as each one flashed to life one after another. A slight hum followed as the dormant fixtures settled into their new state.

As we recovered from the sudden burst of light, I could hear Yunyun say, "G, Golems?"

I stopped shielding my eyes and looked around. My mouth slowly opened in awe; the room, one as large as the entire mansion, was filled with what could only be described as golems. They were not, however, the type of golems one immediately thought of, but similar in form to the Bomber Majin Moguninnin and Aqua's Dendromaiden.

As such…I couldn't control myself.

"Ahhhhh, so cool, so cool!" I said, running towards them.

"Wait, Megumin!"

"Megumin-nee, wait!"

Yes, part of me realized what I was doing was dumb and reckless, but my Crimson Demon blood was boiling in excitement; there was nothing I could do to contain myself. After spending a few minutes by the golems without anything going wrong, Yunyun and Iris joined me.

"Ahhh, aren't they cool?" I was coming down from my high, so I felt a sense of calm as I inspected the objects of my curiosity.

Yunyun and Iris eyed them with slight misgivings.

"A lot of them seem to be unfinished," Yunyun remarked.

Iris nodded.

"Umu," I replied, raising my hand to my chin. "Do you think we can haul these out of here; maybe Kazuma will be able to get them working."

"Is Megumin dumb; of course not! Also, I'm fairly sure Kazuma-kun wouldn't approve of you bringing such things to the mansion."

What a killjoy. I'm sure Yunyun existed to be that type of person. "Yunyun, maybe this is why you're still struggling to find friends."

"AH—I-I have no issues finding friends! I have plenty of friends!"

I nodded, a look of pity in my eyes. "Don't worry, Yunyun, if anything, I'll always be your friend."

Iris nodded seriously. "That's right, Yunyun-san, me too."

Despite Iris' benign intentions, Yunyun covered her face, her shoulders shaking in humiliation.

"Hey," I said, somewhat seriously, "the magic source…it's down this way."

As I walked towards the back of the room, the two of them followed close behind. Finally breaking past the rows of golems, we saw a pedestal some distance away; it was on a raised platform separated by a small bridge and upon this pedestal was the source, a hand-sized ball emitting a faint white light.

"That must be it," I stated.

Iris and Yunyun nodded.

Suddenly, Iris whipped around, drawing her sword in the same motion. We followed.

Standing before us was a hooded figure. Even with all the light in the room its most apparent feature was its set of glowing blue eyes.

"You," I said in an almost hostile tone.

"What are you all doing here?" It replied; the sound that came out was nearly mechanical in nature. "Are you here to steal the stone?"

"Stone?" I mumbled under my breath. I looked back at the item on the pedestal.

While I was wrapped in my own thoughts, Yunyun answered. "We, we didn't come here to steal. We weren't aware that this place was inhabited."

I followed up. "That's right, we didn't come here to steal. We came here to take that magic item there as part of a quest."

"M-Megumin?!"

The figure stared silently at us after I made my declaration. "…Quest?" It finally said.

"That's right," I replied, "we're adventurers."

"Ahh, I see…adventurers."

"Seems you understand; we'll be taking our reward and leaving then."

"I'm afraid not." The robed figure took its hood off revealing a mechanical, yet humanoid creature beneath.

"A golem?!" Yunyun said in surprise.

"I need that stone," It said, paying no attention to Yunyun's observation.

I smirked. "Seem we're at an impasse."

Yunyun looked back angrily. "Megumin, would you stop instigating things?!"

I also paid no mind to Yunyun's mindless quip and continued. "It's a real shame since I think golems like you are pretty cool, but if you're gonna get in the way of us completing our quest, then we'll have to destroy you."

"No, my sleeping brethren depend on me and my success, if you wish to stop that then I have no choice but to silence fools like yourself."

"No, No," Yunyun retorted, "it's fine, we can just leave; we didn't really mean to stir up any confusion."

"Wait," I interjected. "You said, 'sleeping brethren'?"

The golem, who was took a defensive stance, answered. "That's right. All of these figures here are my brethren; I seek to awaken the power of the stone and give life to them who lie dormant."

Iris spoke. "Wait, so you want to awaken these things?"

"That's correct; together, we will storm the world to bring about the dream our father and master wished for us."

"I see," I said, interrupting. "If that's what you're aiming to do then"—I lowered the rim of my hat and smiled—"I suppose we could just leave—"

"Megumin!" Yunyun yelled, her eyes glowing. She took an offensive stance against the talking golem. "Now that you revealed your plan, I'm afraid it's our responsibility to stop you."

Iris nodded in agreement, and I…reluctantly followed suit.

"Ehhh," I said anxiously, "don't worry, once we destroy you, I'll be sure to take you to someone who could repair—"

"Shut up, Megumin!"

I stared at Yunyun with knit brows; this noisy girl.

Without warning, she and Iris attacked.

"Cursed Lightning!"

"Sacred Lightning Blare!"

In an instant, the target was obliterated along with a large swathe of the already dilapidated golems scattered throughout the room. In all honesty, I felt a twinge of pain as I saw this…so many cool mechanical golems…destroyed without mercy.

"Megumin-nee," Iris said, sheathing her blade, "you should go get the magic item."

"Ah, right." I quickly ran across the short bridge and stood before the glowing stone.

"Careful, Megumin."

Yunyun seemed to be thinking the same as me; this item…we had little idea of what it could do, if it was harmful…if a mere touch was enough to cause trouble. I took a deep breath and steeled myself; with an outstretched hand, I grabbed the item from the pedestal and held it without issue. Being careful not to trigger any flags, I wordlessly put the stone into the small pouch on my belt, and then turned towards the other two.

"Quest complete, let's head back," I said. "B-Behind you!"

"WIND BLAST!" Yunyun yelled.

The attacking golem was sent spiraling back into the pile of others but immediately got up and went to attack once more—

"LIGHT OF SABER!"

—and was cut down.

Yunyun let out a breath of relief. "Did it survive the first attack?"

"Guys!" I yelled once more.

Another golem from the pile attacked; it was eliminated, this time by Iris. "What's going on here, are they coming to life?"

Iris' query was answered by another assault. The moment the attacking golem was slain, another rose to continue the bout. After several minutes of fighting back the attacks, Yunyun and Iris were becoming tired, their panting breaths serving as a contrast to the golem's tireless assault.

"You cannot win!" It yelled a moment before it was hewn in two.

Not a second later, another shot from the pile towards us. As Yunyun and Iris continued to deal with the attacking golems, Yunyun asked, "Alice-chan, can you use that attack again?"

Iris shook her head as she sliced through the next figure who assailed them. "It uses too much mana; if I use it again, I'll get really tired."

Hearing this, I smirked. "Hehe."

Yunyun stole a glance at me. "Why is Megumin laughing?"

"Humph, seems like you two can't do anything without me. GOLEM!" I yelled. "It's a real shame that I have to do this. Remember my name, the name of the main heroine; my name is Megumin, Master of Explosion magic!" After saying this, I grabbed Yunyun's shoulder. "Yunyun, do you have enough mana to teleport us to the surface?"

Yunyun closed her eyes for a moment, and then nodded.

"Take us."

As she focused for the teleport, Iris beat back the seemingly endless number of single combatants that challenged us.

"Ready!" Yunyun announced.

Iris jumped back into the magic circle, and before the charging golem could reach us, we teleported.

The next instance, we appeared above ground, some distance away from the ruins.

I slowly stepped forward and smiled. "Pay close attention, you two; this is how you finish a seemingly invincible enemy."

I flicked my mantle and thrust my staff into the air.

"In accordance with the principles of magic, I call upon the destructive aspects of fire and wind. Descend upon this mortal plane and manifest thyself as an augur of ruin. Crimson dark, crimson blood, with my crimson soul fuel thy nature and let me wield thee! Descend as a pillar of fire and let the land hear thy thunderous cry! EXPLOOOOSION!"

True to my word, a thunderous blast echoed throughout the land. The ground shook as the ruins collapsed into the dungeon below. A massive cloud of dust and fire climbed into the sky followed by a shockwave. A moment later, I felt the energy drain from my body as I collapsed with a satisfied sigh.

After my spectacular display, Yunyun carried me. Since she used a lot of mana during the fight with the golem and the Teleport after, she didn't have much to spare; as such, our original pan of using Teleport to head back to Axel wasn't possible. To make matters worse, it was already evening and descending well into the night. Luckily for us, it was a full moon, so sight wasn't much of an issue.

"Ugh." Yunyun groaned. "If Megumin already learned new magic why doesn't she use it?!"

"What a foolish question," I said from her back. "First of all, Yunyun, you should know no matter what happens I refuse to use anything other Explosion magic. Second, even if I did decide to use my other magic, it's only beginners. In such a situation what do you expect would happen if I did."

Yunyun replied with a disappointed sigh.

"Other magic…" Iris mumbled. "Megumin-nee has learned other magic?"

I looked back and answered, "Just a couple spells; however, I've no intention of using them outside improving my new Explosion-type magic."

"Wait, new? As in, new spells?"

I smirked proudly. "Of course. As a master of Explosion and number one Crimson Mage isn't it obvious that I'd be able to do such things? I've already made an ice-type Explosion as well as a fire-type—"

"Which caused you to destroy the forest near town," Yunyun interrupted.

I frowned and lightly bopped Yunyun with the end of my staff.

"Ow!"

"Stop saying unnecessary things, Yunyun."

As an hour passed and night came upon us, Yunyun stopped walking and put me down.

"What's wrong, Yunyun-san?" Iris asked.

Yunyun was knelt over breathing heavily. "Sorry, I'm…just…a little bit…tired."

I sighed audibly. "Guess it can't be helped; I wanted to return to town today, but it seems we'll have to camp out."

"No, no, it's fine, I just need a little—"

"Quit it, Yunyun; you're obviously tired from all the fighting and exploring we've done."

"And carrying you," She added.

I frowned but otherwise kept my peace. "This'll be a good opportunity for Iris though." I turned to look at her. "You haven't camped out under the stars before, have you, Iris?"

She shook her head. "The only time I've had something close to it was during the trip to Elroad."

I smiled as I sprawled out on the grass. My body still felt heavy after exhausting my mana earlier and I was beginning to feel an onset of drowsiness come over me.

"Megumin, are you falling asleep first?" Yunyun asked somewhat worriedly.

I nodded silently, my eyes, closed.

"Who's going to stand watch then?"

I knit my brow in response. "What do you expect me to do if we're attacked; did you forget I'm out of mana?"

"Ahh…" Realizing this, Yunyun let out a defeated murmur.

At this moment, Iris spoke. "I'll watch for monsters; don't worry, you two can fall asleep."

Ah, my underling; ever the considerate one. Then again, she was the only one to get any real rest during our time in the dungeon so perhaps she was more awake than either me or Yunyun.

"Thank you, Iris; should anything happen, please let me know."

"Hey!" Yunyun interjected. "Didn't you just tell me you wouldn't be able to do anything in case something happened? Why is Alice-chan the only one receiving such lenient treatment from you?"

"Hush, Yunyun. Go to sleep already, the sooner you do, the sooner we can be back home."

"Wait, how about Alice-chan; didn't you smuggle her out of the castle again? What are they going to say if she doesn't show up today?"

A valid question…but I was too tired to focus on such trivialities. In any case, if she didn't show up today, it would make little difference; Iris' absence would be treated mostly the same whether she was gone a couple of hours or a day.

I pulled the rim of my hat low and fell asleep.

When I awoke, it was already morning. The chirping of birds and the vibrant light of dawn cascaded over the open field. I sat up and looked around somewhat confused; didn't Iris take watch last night? My thought was immediately answered; not even a meter away was the princess in question, sleeping without a care in the world, her body wrapped tightly within my mantle. Looking over to my right, I could see Yunyun was also still fast asleep.

To think our guard fell asleep on duty, luckily, nothing bad happened. Although, on further review, we probably wouldn't have been attacked anyways; we were all really high leveled, so the local wildlife would've avoided us and only things like high-level bounties would've been a threat.

I removed my cape and draped it over Iris. Then I stood up and yawned. As I did, I stretched and looked around. I wanted to see if there was anything I could cook for breakfast, but these were open plains with sparse meadows and even sparser wildlife.

With this understanding, I sat back down and dug into my pocket; I withdrew the magic item we came for. I stared at the item in perplexity; it gave off its faint white glow and I could feel the mana coming from it, still, beyond this assessment I could decipher nothing else.

"Perhaps the book could tell me more?" I thought, and dug into my robe; I kept it tucked between me and my belt. Normally this would result in the item in question falling out, but because I knew this to be a problem, I purposely tightened the belt.

I opened the book and glanced at its contents. Japanese…and lots of it…lots of it I didn't understand. I flipped the pages, browsing for symbols I could recognize. After a few minutes of this, I was no closer to figuring out what it entailed. I felt I could read the symbols, but as far as what they meant…by myself I couldn't really do it.

I let out a disappointed huff and closed the book, tucking it back into its makeshift home. I laid back down and as I was about to close my eyes, Yunyun woke up.

"Megumin?" She rubbed her eyes drowsily and yawned. After looking around in a nonchalant manner, her eyes widened, and she shot up in distress. "It's morning?! Iris—I mean, Alice-chan, did she—"

"Shhh; she's still sleeping." I pointed to the young royal, who quivered slightly from the abrupt noise.

Yunyun covered her mouth and whispered, "Oh." Calming down after taking note of the situation, Yunyun sat beside me. "Well, now that it's morning, I can teleport us back to Axel."

I nodded. "Not a bad idea; maybe we can take Iris out for some breakfast."

Yunyun gave me a stern look. "Alice-chan has been away from the capital for almost an entire day; don't you think it's time to take her back?"

"Really? Do you think so little of our comrade, our friend, Yunyun?"

Of course, appealing to this loner with the mention of friendship made her serious expression quickly shatter.

"No, no, of course not! I-I'm just worried that we'll get in a lot of trouble for doing this!"

"Humph, trouble…are you unwilling to experience a bit of discomfort for those important to you? If Yunyun was in the same situation, would she turn me away if I came to show her a good time?"

"Yes, yes I would!" She retorted. "Because Megumin is an important person to me, I would turn her away so she wouldn't get herself in trouble! Also, what do you mean 'show me a good time'? Why does Megumin have to say it in such a manner?"

While me and her bickered, Iris woke up. After she rubbed away the grogginess, Iris leapt up in a panic and began to apologize.

"No, no, it's fine, Alice-chan, don't worry," Yunyun said as she tried to calm the panicky princess.

"That's right," I said with a nod. "It wasn't a problem…this time. Next time you camp out, you should be careful not to fall asleep. As your senior, I'll forgive you though." I took my cloak from her and tossed it over my back. "Yunyun."

"?"

"Take us back."

Part 4

Yunyun's teleportation was set in front of the guild and that's where we appeared.

"Since we're here," I said, "let's get some food at the guild."

Yunyun frowned once more. "Didn't we already speak about—"

A loud rumbling could be heard; Iris and I stared at Yunyun, and then her stomach.

"Again?" I remarked as she quickly covered her it, Yunyun's face as crimson as her eyes.

She mumbled something but it was too low for me to hear.

I continued. "Anyhow, I'm also pretty hungry; we didn't get to eat much yesterday, so let's eat our fill before heading back to the shop."

The girl who was protesting earlier gave no reply and continued holding her stomach in embarrassment. And so, we stepped into the guild proper. Taking our seats, one of the many barmaids came over and greeted us.

"Morning," She said. "Will you be having anything?"

I nodded. "Can I have the 'Meat Lover's Special' with a baked potato."

"And to drink?"

"Wildberry juice."

She nodded as she wrote down the order, and then faced Yunyun who was sitting beside me. "And what can I get you?"

Yunyun gave me a cursory glance, and then ordered, with a low, almost silent voice. "A, A salad…will be fine."

The server, who strained herself to hear Yunyun's order, nodded. "That was a salad, right? Any type?"

Seemingly embarrassed by the difficulty she was causing, Yunyun grew an even darker shade of red. She spoke with a louder, yet, apprehensive tone of voice. "Y-Yes, a-any type is fine."

"And your drink?"

"Water!" Yunyun replied loudly, shocking the lady. "S-Sorry, water…is…fine." The amount of embarrassment she felt was too great and Yunyun spoke in a despondent manner, her eyes fixed to the table.

Our server looked away in a pitying fashion, and then gave a forced smile as she turned her attention to the last remaining member. "What, what will you be having?"

All this time Iris was staring at the menu quietly.

"I'm not…really…sure…do you serve yakisoba?"

"Yaki…soba? I'm not…"

I interrupted. "Alice-chan, yakisoba is mostly a festival thing. Why don't you try the 'house' special?"

"Ah, o, ok; I'll have that then," She replied.

"Ok," the lady said as jotted it down. "And your drink."

"Water is fine."

"Ok…I'll have it all brought down in a couple of minutes. Please enjoy your stay."

She gave a short bow, and then walked off.

After the lady walked away, I looked at Yunyun and said to her, "Really, Yunyun, why didn't you just order what you want?"

She turned to me with knit brows. "So Megumin could just make fun of me again?"

"Don't be silly, I'm not a bully; I would never make fun of you in spite. I only tell you such things because I care about your health."

She stared at me with complete doubt.

Then, Iris giggled. "I never really noticed, but Megumin-nee and Yunyun-san are really close friends, right?"

I shrugged. "Someone has to be; if I wasn't, this girl would be all alone thanks to her inability to make others."

Yunyun stared at me shock. "W-What is Megumin saying?! What's with that incredulous remark of yours!" Yunyun quickly stopped herself as she realized the rising tone of her voice; lowering it, she said, "I have other friends besides Megumin; I've already told you this."

"That so? I never heard you say it, but perhaps you did; go on, why don't you refresh my memory, list all the people who are your friends. Alice-chan can listen too; I'm sure—WHA!"

Yunyun pounced on me and began wailing in embarrassment.

"Oh? If it isn't my good friend, Yunyun."

Yunyun stopped as both she and I looked up at the person speaking; it was Axel's notorious troublemaker.

"Dust-san?"

"Yo. Was I interrupting something?"

"Uhh, no." Yunyun sat back down and stared at thing beside me with a suspicious eye.

"Mind if I sit here?"

"Yes," I answered, but he sat down anyways, right next to Iris.

"And who's this beautiful lady?" He said, looking at her. "Yunyun, she an acquaintance of yours?"

Of course, since Iris was wearing her disguise this thing wouldn't recognize her as the Princess of Belzerg.

Then he cocked his slightly and said, "Wait, do I know you?"

Me and Yunyun stared with held breaths; did he see through the disguise? Even Iris began to timidly avert her eyes.

"Ah, yeah, I do know you." He quickly stood up and stared at her with a serious expression; an expression I've only ever seen this waste of man show but once. "You're that woman I've seen in the public baths; I'm sure of it."

"…"

"…"

"Dust-san, please get out of my sight before I decide to use advanced magic on you."

"Oh, come on now, Yunyun, aren't we—"

She began chanting the words to a spell I barely knew. "Oh, Yunyun, if you're gonna use Inferno please be mindful our surroundings; they're made of wood and will catch easily."

"In-Inferno?!" The thing yelled. "O-Ok, I'll go, I'll go!"

He hurried off and after a couple seconds, Yunyun stopped and let out a breath mixed of relief and frustration. "That man; I can't believe he would say such things."

Despite being the topic of such brash remarks, Iris sat quietly, a look of deep thought on her face.

"Alice-chan, are you ok?"

She snapped out of her brief trance and answered hastily. "Y-Yes, I'm fine."

"Sorry about him; Dust-san is rather…unreserved when it comes to…well…anything."

"Oh no, it's fine. He's an adventurer, right? Such comments are common amongst adventurers, I'm sure."

"They're not." Both me and Yunyun said matter-of-factly.

"In any case," I continued, "even if they are, most male adventurers wouldn't say that to a woman."

Iris suddenly smiled. "Woman…he, he called me a woman; I'm actually a little happy about that."

"He did, didn't he?" For a split second, I felt a bit of envy, however, I quickly shrugged it off; such things meant nothing if it came from a degenerate like him.

"Your meals, ladies." The barmaid returned with a platter full of our food and drinks; she gracefully placed it on the table before us and gave another courteous bow. "Enjoy and please let me know if there's anything else I can get you."

Happily, we tore into the food before us. Perhaps we didn't realize it, but when the food came, we ate without reservation; only Iris ate with some decorum, but even so, the usual restraint she showed whenever we went over to the palace was almost nowhere to be found. After a couple of minutes, the giant platter was empty save for bones and other inedible bits.

As we rubbed our stomachs slothfully, I spoke to Iris, telling her, "You shouldn't leave the bones."

"Hmm? I was always told bones are inedible pieces of scrap."

I shook my head in disdain, such was the education afforded to royals; they knew nothing of the so called "inedible scraps" and their secrets. I took one of the bones and bit down on it; breaking it in two, I showed it to Iris. "See this?" I said, the other piece wedged between my mouth.

Iris leaned in.

"It's bone marrow; that's the good stuff. It contains lots of nutrients. Not only that but it also contains a lot of flavor. I passed it to her.

Yunyun to my side, said nothing, merely watched; as a Crimson Demon and adventurer like myself perhaps she was aware of the things I was teaching Iris.

Iris stared at the bone in perplexity. "What do I—"

I showed her and sucked the marrow out from the one I held in my mouth. "You suck on it."

Following my instruction, she placed the broken bone in her mouth and sucked on it. After a few moments of tasting, she swallowed and smiled. "It's pretty good, Megumin-nee."

I smirked. "Of course, I wouldn't lie to you."

The moment I said this, Iris stared at me quietly, but the next instant, she smiled nervously. "Of, Of course…of course, Megumin-nee…"

My smirk slowly dissipated, and I looked away slightly. A few seconds later, I coughed loudly, and then stood up. "Well, let, let's go."

Yunyun stared at us with a mildly befuddled look on her face; I'm sure she was trying to understand what was going on between me and Iris. To avoid the unnecessary conversation that would sprout, I walked ahead briskly, the two of them trailing after me. After walking for a while, I slowed down; we were nearly at the shop.

Iris walked up beside me, timidly glancing up. "Me, Megumin-nee…"

"Hmm, what is it, Alice-chan?" I replied without really looking at her.

"…thank you."

At this response, I looked at her. "For?"

"Today, er, well, yesterday…I had a lot of fun, so…thank you." Iris looked down with gentle eyes.

I sighed deeply, and then smiled. "It's no problem; I know if I didn't get you out of there no one would."

She twiddled her fingers and coyly replied, "O, Onii-sama would."

I looked up, my smile growing even more. "Yeah, knowing him, he'd probably be the only other person to do so, huh?"

After a moment of silence both us giggled and before we knew it, we were standing in front of Wiz's shop.

"Well, here we are," I said.

"Umu." Iris nodded.

As I approached the door…

"—sure the prince—um, Alice-sama is somewhere around this town."

I immediately backed away.

"Maybe we should come back later?" I suggested with a hint of nervousness.

Yunyun looked at me in confusion, and then at the door. "Why, is there something—"

The door to the shop flew open and a woman in a white suit charged out.

"Iri—I-I mean, Alice-sama!"

Despite, Iris' disguise, Claire saw through it instantly.

"What is all this? Where have you been all this time?!"

Iris looked around timorously. "…S-Sorry."

After examining Iris for a moment, Claire stood up and looked at me; her brows furrowed a bit. "I should've known you were the one behind Prince—ahem, Alice-sama's absence."

Suddenly, Darkness and Aqua emerged from within the shop, Rain did as well.

"Please, Claire," Iris pleaded, "don't be hard on Megumin-nee; she only wanted to make me happy."

Hearing this, Claire recoiled slightly and took a deep breath. "Ugh, e-even so, Hime…ahem, Alice-sama, you had everyone worried; even your father was about dispatch the royal…ahem…the guards to help find you."

Iris lowered her head, a remorseful look on her face.

I clenched my jaw and squeezed my staff tightly. "Claire!" I yelled; she and everyone looked at me in sudden surprise. "I'll take full responsibility for this; I know I wasn't supposed to, but…I really wanted to…make…her…" My voice trailed off.

Claire stared at me with no change in her angry expression. Just as she was about to say something, Darkness interrupted.

She stepped in between us and said, "I'm at fault here! I was the one who should've done something about this but didn't; if anyone should bare the punishment, it should be me."

"D-Darkness," I said, happily surprised.

Claire shook her head in disbelief, all the while she rubbed her temples in frustration. "Lalatina…how could you—"

"Umm, excuse me!" Aqua interrupted, throwing a hand up. "I-I wasn't involved in any of this, so could I just go home?"

Claire turned her way. "Ah that's right, Aqua-dono was most helpful in narrowing down the search. As promised, I'll send a box of the capital's finest wine."

"Wait, Aqua?!" I yelled.

Did she really just sell us out for a box of wine…

As she walked past me, she leaned in and whispered, "Don't worry, I didn't tell them it was you; I only said the princess could've been somewhere outside the capital. Pretty smart, huh?" She smirked proudly.

"…"

Just as Aqua was about to walk away, the masked clerk of the magic shop said, "Ah, it's not surprising to moi the noisy blue thing would choose to abandon her comrades." He nodded with a smirk on his face. "Yes, even the dubious brat who frequents a certain shop is kindlier than a—what is it thou calls thyself?" Vanir rubbed his chin. "Ah, that's right, moi believes it was a self-proclaimed deity. Mwahaha, moi can't help but laugh at such pathetic delusions that a troublesome human priest would have."

Needless to say, Aqua froze in place at such blatant insults. She slowly turned around with an overly sweet smile adorning her face. "Ara, ara, to think that I'd be hearing such words from a mongrel like you; aren't you the supposed to be someone of note? Ah, that's right, I think I remember what you're called now, Vanir, Slayer of Crows, right?"

Both of them laughed bitterly; knowing how this was going to end up, I quickly intervened.

"Hey, Aqua, why don't you go ahead to the mansion and see if Kazuma returned?"

Aqua, who was still staring daggers at Vanir, replied with a loud humph. "Fine! No point in staying here anyways! Hey, Wiz, next time make sure you tidy up the place; it reeks something serious!" Aqua stuck out her tongue, and then left towards the mansion.

I thought Vanir was going to say something, but he stared silently as she walked off; I'm sure underneath his mask there was a vein ready to pop.

Claire coughed loudly, and all of us refocused our attention on her. "Well, I suppose the situation has been resolved…however"—She looked at me the same way a parent who was scolding a child would—"don't think you'll get off without issue, Megumin-dono."

"Actually," to my surprise, Vanir interjected, "moi is partly to blame for the turn of events."

Claire turned to him with more shock on her face than I would've expected. "Va, Vanir-dono, you're responsible for this?"

He raised a hand tepidly, and then explained. "Moi didn't recognize the young master since she was dressed in such an attire; Moi merely thought her to be another adventurer friend of moi's two shop volunteers. So, Moi sent them to do an errand for the shop and it's only now that the trio have returned."

"I, I see." Hearing this, Claire's expression relaxed, and she gave a heavy sigh. She then turned back to me with the slightly angered look returning. "That still, however, doesn't absolve Megumin-dono of her crime of kidnapping the Prince—ahem…chirimen's daughter."

"It-It's not a kidnapping!" Iris said, as she tugged on Claire's sleeve. "Megumin-nee just wanted to do something nice for my birthday so—"

"Even so, Alice-sama, you know how important the coming days are, not to mention how dangerous it is for you be wandering around outside the capital during that time."

Iris fell silent at Claire's retort and once again, this devil who would often times do dubious things, spoke in our favor; he said, "If it's a question of protection, then thou may leave the young master's health to moi."

"Va…Vanir-dono." Claire replied in a hushed tone, her voice full of reticence as she did. I could just barely catch the reddening of her face before she coughed loudly and regained her usual, rigid composure. "V-Very well. I-I suppose nothing bad happened so…" Claire shifted her attention to me once more. "Right, Megumin-dono, in the future, please refrain from doing such things; as someone who glimpsed the life of nobility, you should know such behavior is regrettable, if not outright intolerable."

Then she looked at Darkness who was still standing between me and her and said, "Lalatina, I expect more from someone of your standing; as one of Megumin-dono's teachers you should be more responsible."

Darkness showed a rather ashamed expression.

"Right then, Alice-sama, let's return to the cas—ahem, shop."

Iris looked down dejectedly, showing no resistance.

"By the way," Claire said, looking at me, "as someone of note in the kingdom, you're of course invited to Alice-sama's birthday…please don't disappoint us by not being there."

Iris looked up at Claire with a relieving smile.

And I answered, "Of course." I gave Iris a reassuring smile.

Vanir spoke. "Hmm, girl with no restraint, moi is correct in saying that thee has returned with the magic moi has requested?"

I frowned and retrieved the magic item from my belt pouch.

As I was about to give it to him, he stuck out a hand as to refuse it. "Moi has no need for such an item; did thee forget; this is the source of moi's recent annoyance."

"Well then…what do you want me to do with this?"

He looked at the glowing stone and then smiled. "It's the young master's birthday soon, is it not?"

Claire and Iris exchanged looks, and then Iris spoke, saying, "Um, yes, Hachibei, it'll soon be my birthday."

"Hmm, moi sees." Vanir stroked his chin, a devious smirk upon his face. "Very well then, moi shall gift this magic item to thee."

"To me?"

"Umu. It is the best moi can do for thee at the moment."

I handed the item in question to Iris.

She took it and affectionately cradled it in her hands. "T-Thank you, Hachibei."

Vanir bowed, the smirk still sitting upon his face. "It is moi's pleasure, young master. Please do visit the shop again when thee has the chance to."

She nodded fervently, the saddened expression she had earlier was nowhere to be found.

"Well now," Claire said, "thank you for your present, Vanir-dono. We'll be off now. Come, Alice-sama, Rain is waiting for us at the Teleport Station."

As the both of them walked away, Iris looked back and waved goodbye to us; we all returned the gesture, watching them silently disappear into the depths of the town.

I sighed loudly, and then looked over at Darkness. "Time to head home now, right?"

Darkness sighed too, and then smiled. "Sure."

I looked at Yunyun and asked her, "What are you gonna do now, Yunyun?"

"Huh, well…I should probably head back home; things have been a little busy in the village as of late."

"Oh?"

She nodded, and then frowned. "I bet you haven't even returned yet."

I shrugged. "I'll go eventually; it's annoying having to deal with everyone there."

Yunyun sighed deeply as if to sympathize with me. "Well, I'll be seeing you then, Megumin. Darkness-san, Vanir-san, Wiz-san, Gren-san." She bowed courteously, and then, like Iris and Claire, disappeared into town.

"Ah, by the way, Crimson Demon girl, here's compensation for the completion of moi's request." The masked devil handed me a large bag.

When I grabbed it, I could hear the glass-like clanking of the materials within. "What is this?" I asked.

"Why doesn't thou take a look?"

I opened the bag and saw what appeared to be dozens of high-grade manatite crystals.

"Oh, manatite, nice. With this much I'll be able to do multiple explosions a day; this is indeed a fair compensation."

"Ah, manatite? Silly girl with a silly name and silly routine, what thou has in thy hands is merely broken merchandise; specifically, glowtart crystals. Would thou please take that to the trash bin outside?"

"…"

Upon returning to the mansion, I found Aqua leisurely lounging on the couch, Emperor Zell cooped up in her arms. Irene was also there; it appeared she just came from brewing a pot of tea since she placed the earthenware on the table.

"Ah, welcome home, Lalatina-sama, Megumin-sama." She bowed, as usual.

Looking around, I didn't see Kazuma anywhere. "Is Kazuma not home?" I queried.

Aqua, who was petting the chicken in front of her, answered trivially. "Ah, that bum, he's upstairs in his room; he was spouting something about being tired from yesterday, but really I'm sure all he did was play around while we did all the hard work."

When I looked over, Darkness had already taken her usual seat, sighing deeply. "It has been a pretty difficult week."

I raised a brow curiously. "Oh, you've been busy, Darkness?"

She nodded. "One of the reasons I agreed to go to the capital was because I had to turn in a report regarding the efficacy of public schooling here in Axel."

Right, she did say something of the sort.

I went on. "Well, I suppose if he said something like that, we should let him get some rest."

Aqua glanced at me in a disapproving manner. "Ever since you two have gotten together, you've been pretty lenient on him—no, even before that; are you really that infatuated with him?"

"Ah, uh, well, d-don't misunderstand, I'm not spoiling him; it's just that I'm pretty tired with the quest I took yesterday." I coughed lightly to regain my composure. "So, there's no point in bothering Kazuma if we have nothing to do, right?"

Aqua continued to stare at me, however, she bore almost no emotion and seemed to be staring at me as if I was a curiosity. Then, she simply began to stroke Emperor Zell. "I guess."

Feeling a bit awkward, I spoke in a slightly loud tone. "S-Say, why don't we have a girl's night? It's been some time since the last, right?"

At this proposal, Aqua sat up and smiled. "Ahh, that's a great idea, Megumin. Darkness," she said, looking over at the tired noble lady, "why don't you go get some nice wine from Mike's shop and see about getting some high-grade meat while you're at it?"

Darkness sat up in the armchair. "Any reason I have to go?"

"I'm taking care of Emperor Zell, so there's no way I'll be able to go and do such troublesome things."

Even though Emperor Zell was already fully grown…

At this moment, Irene spoke in a hurried and excited manner; almost as if she was waiting for such an opportunity. "Lalatina-sama, I-I can accompany you—if-if you'd wish!"

"Ah…well, I don't see why not. Alright, I'll go and get the things; what will you two do in the meantime?"

"I'll get the games," I replied.

Darkness looked at Aqua as if to ask her, 'and you?'.

"What are you staring at me for, Darkness; didn't I already tell you I can't move from here?"

"Ah—well, if that's the case, will you be doing everything from that chair then?"

"Don't worry about me, Darkness, I'll figure that out once we get there. Now shoo, go and get the stuff, ok?"

Darkness sighed, and then left the mansion with Irene in tow.

Since I spent the entirety of the day outside yesterday, I decided to take warm bath, and then look for some of the games I had stashed in my room. By the time I got back to the living room I could hear someone working in the kitchen. I took a quick peek and saw that Irene had returned; presumably, Darkness did too.

"Ah, Megumin-sama, I wanted to ask, is there anything you'd like to eat specifically; I had some sweets and deserts in mind."

"Anything's fine really."

"Very well; I'll go ahead and make some then."

"By the way, Irene, did Darkness come back with you?"

"Ah, yes, Lalatina-sama is currently in her room prepping for a bath."

"Oh, ok. I'll leave you to your work then."

Irene gave a short nod, and then went off to start cooking.

Returning to the living room, I could see that Aqua moved from her spot; she was now comfortably lounging on the length of the couch. Emperor Zell was perched upon her forehead, its pristine white feathers were puffed out and its eyes were shut.

"Aqua, what—"

"Shhh!" She said, almost louder than me. "Not so loud; I don't want to disturb this sweet child's sleep."

I raised a brow and looked at her with a bit of concern. "Hey, don't you think it sleeps too much; I feel like that's a bad sign."

"Nonsense, Megumin; Emperor Zell only sleeps to conserve his mana. Can't you feel his majesty and radiance whenever he's awake? Tell me, when have you ever heard of a dragon as magnificent as Emperor Zell that doesn't sleep?"

"Well…"

"Let me interrupt you there, Megumin, never, you never heard of a dragon as magnificent as Emperor Zell because there is none; there can't be because he's the only dragon to have my own divine mana, you understand? Ow!"

And Emperor Zell woke up pecking Aqua's forehead fiercely.

"Ah, ah, I'm sorry, mommy's sorry, dear; please don't peck her."

As Aqua tried to soothe the angry fowl, Darkness came downstairs in a nightgown.

"Going for a bath, Darkness?" I asked her.

"Yes, ugh…somehow administrative work tires me more than adventuring. I'll be out in a little while."

"Wait, Darkness," Aqua said; she placed Zell on the regal pillow she bought it, "I'll take one with you."

Her forehead was red with peck marks.

After the two went to the bathe, there came a knock on the door.

"Coming," I said, approaching the door; I opened it.

Part 5

"M-Megumin?!" It was Yunyun.

"Yunyun? What are you doing here; are you silently trying to stalk me under the guise of it being a coincidence?"

"W-What are you talking about?! Of course not; I'm here because I was invited by Darkness-san."

"Darkness?"

She nodded, saying, "That's right, she told me you all were having a girl's night and that I could come."

"I see; well then, come in." I walked away from the door and went back to prepping the games.

Yunyun, closing the door behind her, came in; she looked around as if she never stepped foot in the mansion before.

"What are you doing, Yunyun?"

"Huh, no, I was just…looking around; it isn't very often that I get to come here."

"Through fault of your own; you could just come here whenever you want, I already said you could…what an annoying girl you are."

"I-I just feel it'd be rude of me to show up uninvited!"

"Did you even bring stuff to stay over?" I said this without looking at her, already knowing the answer.

"Um, no…I forgot—it-it was so sudden that I didn't—"

"Whatever, it's alright," I said with a sigh, "I got a couple things I could lend you."

Yunyun looked at me as if she was contemplating something.

"What, what is it? You got something to say?"

"Uh, n-no, I," Yunyun spoke very softly, "I, I just don't know if the things Megumin has would fit me."

"Ah, you said it, you actually said it! Come 'ere!" I pounced on her and the both of us began to wrestle.

After a while, Aqua and Darkness returned from bathing. Even though it was still quite early in the afternoon we were already dressed in our usual night attires.

"Darkness," I said as she and Aqua came over, "give this girl one of your gowns; she's was all caught up in the moment of being invited somewhere and forgot to get her own."

"Ah, I see, no problem, Yunyun-san; I can lend you one of my nightgowns."

"T-Thank you, Darkness-san."

I spoke, smirking slightly. "I feel I have to warn you though, Darkness' gowns are a bit on the lewd side."

"L-Lewd?"

"M-Megumin!" Darkness shrieked. "What are you talking about?! M-My gowns are-aren't l-lewd in the slightest."

"Ah, you're right," I said as I looked at her current one, "this one isn't see-through; probably because Kazuma's sleeping right now, right?"

Darkness' face and ears turned red in embarrassment and for some reason, the girl beside me also shared the same expression.

"Nevermind that," Aqua interjected, "hurry up and set up the game, Megumin; this time I'll beat you for sure."

"Oho, is that a challenge, Aqua? Very well, I'll accept it."

-Later that evening…

As the afternoon drew to a close and evening arrived, all of us decided to recount stories and share in the more discretionary secrets we had. Irene continued to bring us desserts and trays of appetizers as we talked. Eventually, someone else intruded upon our small circle.

"Oh, Chomusuke?" I said as she ran and hopped onto my leg. "Where have you been?"

Yunyun reached over and pet the creature who was now snoozing on my lap.

"Haaaaaaaahhhooough." A loud yawn came from further behind and I saw that it was Kazuma. "Oh, hi, Yunyun. Hey, what's going on here?" He looked at us curiously.

"Ah, I see the bum decided to wake up now," Aqua remarked.

"We're having a get together," Darkness answered.

"Umu." I nodded. "We're having a girl's night, so Kazuma's not allowed here right now."

He raised a brow upon me stating that. "You do know I live here, right? Anyways, doesn't matter, I was planning on going out anyways."

"Going out? Where to?"

He knit his brow slightly. "What does it matter to you; you guys are having your own happy time, so I'll go out and have some fun with the guys as well."

"I, I see. Well, you go do that. Try not to be out too long though; I have something I want to talk to you about." I turned back around.

"Talk to me?" Kazuma cleared his throat. "W-Well, sure…I guess. I'll keep that in mind. Oh?" He shifted his view on the snacks on the table and stretched out a hand to grab one.

FWAP!

"What do you think you're doing?" Aqua said.

"That's what I wanna ask you, you idiot!" Kazuma yelled as he massaged his hand.

"This is ours; it was made for us by Irene. Didn't you say you were going out?! Shoo, go away. Go to that café you guys like to frequent."

"Tch…grrr." Kazuma grumbled to himself as he walked off to his room once more.

Suddenly, everyone went quiet; realizing this, I looked up. "Huh, what's—"

"Talk to him, hmm?" Aqua said with a sly look on her face; she bit loudly into one of the cookies she took. "Hmmm…"

"It-It's…ahem…it's about something I found during the quest me and Yunyun went on."

"Oh?" Both of them said in surprise.

"Did you find something valuable?!" Aqua said happily leaning forward.

"Eh, well, it's a book of sorts."

"Oh." She sat back down. "Well…if it's a book then"—she sighed deeply—"I guess that's something you can take to Kazuma."

"Book?" Yunyun queried. "Is it that book you found on the desk? The one with all the symbols inside?"

"Eh, er, yeah; that's the one."

"Symbols?" Darkness said in confusion.

"Eh, don't worry, it's just something I'd like to ask Kazuma about later."

"Is it Japanese?" Aqua said inattentively; she was paying more attention to the board game she was playing with Darkness.

"Umu, it is."

"Ah, if it is, I can read it for you; probably better than that bum NEET could."

I shook my head rather timidly and spoke in the same manner. "If it's ok, I'd like to ask him."

Aqua glanced at me but oddly enough didn't push the issue.

"Perhaps I should start learning Japanese as well," Darkness announced. "Check, Aqua."

"Hmm, when I get better at it, I wouldn't mind teaching you, Darkness."

"Well, I was thinking it might be better to learn it concurrently, you know, just in case something like this comes up."

"…is that so? Then if that's the case"—I turned to Aqua—"Aqua, why don't you start teaching Darkness some Japanese."

"Ah, I wouldn't mind," She replied with as much attention as before; she was biting her lip as she contemplated her next move.

Darkness, on the other hand, made a somewhat disappointed expression.

A moment later, Kazuma returned dressed in his usual adventuring attire. "Alright, I'm going out," He declared.

"Bye."

"L-Later, Kazuma-san."

"Ha, got you, Darkness!" Aqua yelled; she pressed a piece forward.

Darkness promptly countered it. "See you, Kazuma."

He took one last glance at us, and then left.

"Wait, wait, Darkness," Aqua said exasperatedly, "that isn't where I wanted to go; my hand slipped." She quickly took back the move and shifted the piece elsewhere. With a proud grin she faced Darkness, arms crossed.

"…check," Darkness said calmly.

"Wha?! How come you're so good at this game; isn't Darkness supposed to be dumb?!"

"Excuse me?!"

"Megumin—wait, no, Megumin's pretty good too—Yunyun, come, play me."

"Huh?!" The one who was called out responded panickily. "I-I don't think—"

"Hurry, hurry, come on; I can't let the last game for me end on such a bad note."

"O-Ok." Yunyun reluctantly switched places with Darkness.

This probably wasn't going to end how Aqua wanted it to, so me and Darkness decided to tend to our sleeping arrangements.

"Wouldn't it be better if we all slept in a single room?" Darkness questioned.

A little earlier I explained to her my plan to have all of us sleep in the living room together.

"Well, if we all sleep in a single room doesn't it just lose a bit of its appeal? I feel it'd be better for all us to share stories and stuff in a bigger area."

"I'm honestly worried a bit about Kazuma though," Darkness remarked as she grabbed a few pillows.

"Kazuma?"

"Umu; don't you feel like he'll try to harass us while we sleep?"

"Well, uh—"

"Like he'll sneak up on one of us while the rest are sleeping using Lurk, and then use Bind and gag them? Then, pressing his hands onto my mouth he'll go, 'Darkness, it's your fault for wearing such slutty clothing' now you'll—"

"Wait, woah, hold on; aren't you seeing Kazuma in a different way, and when did the target change to you?"

"Ah, uh, yeah…you're right, sorry…I got a little carried away there." Darkness, whose face was flushed, coughed and recomposed herself.

"You know, maybe sleeping in a room isn't so bad an idea after all."

"No, no. Megumin, let's go with your idea; I honestly haven't done anything like this before, so it'll be a good experience."

"Huh, you've never had a slumber party?"

"Uh, well…not really."

I smiled. "That won't do then; I'll make sure this a memorable experience for you, Darkness."

I said this, but honestly it wasn't much different than what we were doing now. Still, under the darkness of night, the atmosphere would change, and the event could become memorable.

Once we gathered enough blankets and pillows for everyone, me and Darkness returned to the living room to find Aqua all smiles and Yunyun sitting with a conflicted look on her face.

I leaned in and spoke in a hushed tone to Yunyun. "Wait, did you actually lose?"

"At first my competitive spirit was sparked, and I was playing somewhat seriously, but after seeing Aqua-san become somewhat aggressive I decided that winning wasn't all that important."

I frowned at her; this girl was a Crimson Demon, right? I sighed and spoke in a frank manner. "Knowing Aqua it's probably for the best."

"Hey, Megumin," Aqua said, sitting up in her seat, "what's with all the blankets and pillows?"

I smiled. "I was thinking we could sleep out here instead of in a room."

Aqua raised a brow. "Well, if that's the case, I'll sleep on the couch; it's the most comfortable spot."

"I'm fine with that. I'll take the chair and I suppose, Darkness, you'll take the other one, right?"

"But where would Yunyun sleep?" Darkness asked.

"I-I can sleep on the floor; it's fine," Yunyun replied; she spoke hurriedly. "I'm quite used to sleeping on rough terrain, so sleeping on a carpeted—"

Darkness interrupted her. "No, I can't allow a guest to sleep on floor. You can sleep on the chair; I'll take the ground."

"A-Absolutely not, Darkness-san; this is your home, how could I—"

Seeing this back and forth, I interjected. "Shut up, Yunyun and just accept it; Darkness will be fine, trust me."

Although Darkness nodded in a cool manner, I could just catch the red hue of her face; she was surely thinking of this in some odd way.

After setting up our spots, Irene came out and announced dinner. We ate and afterwards decided to start settling in.

"Yunyun, go that a bath," I told her.

"Huh? W-Why is Megumin suddenly telling me that; d-do I smell?" She smelled herself.

"What are you talking about, you odd girl; you haven't bathed yet, have you, so go."

Yunyun stared at me with a faint scowl, and then walked off to the bathroom.

Aqua and Darkness turned in quickly; I was planning on spending more time with Darkness, but it seems like she was tired from today's events. To be honest, I was rather surprised; Darkness was the one with the most vitality in our party right after Aqua, so seeing her fall asleep this early was a bit of a shock.

As I was thinking about this, Chomusuke came over and curled up on my chest.

"Are you feeling left out, little one?" I pet her, and then lifted her up as she stared at me with sleepy eyes. "Don't worry, you can sleep with me for a bit."

Chomusuke purred quietly, her eyes slowly closed shut. Seeing this, I too shut my eyes and before I knew it, drifted asleep.

Some time later I awoke with a start. Chomusuke jumped off and scurried away as I began looking around; it was still dark. Darkness and Aqua were still asleep, but I noticed Yunyun was nowhere to be seen; was she still in the bathroom? If so, had it been a couple minutes?

I got up and walked over to the bathroom. "Yunyun?"

"Megumin?!" The voice on the other side of the door was filled with gratitude. "Thank goodness you're here."

"What, what are you talking about? Are you ok, want me to come in?"

"N-No, I'm fine, it's just, I realized…"

"Realized…"

Yunyun mumbled something inaudibly low.

"What? I, I can't hear you; speak up."

"I…I…" She began to whimper softly; I could tell she was tearing up.

"…Yunyun?"

"I have no…underwear."

"…"

"…"

I sighed deeply. "I suppose I could give you one of mine."

"W-Wha-What is Megumin saying; I-I'm not Kazuma-san; I don't want Megumin's used underwear!"

"New, you idiot! A new pair, not used!"

"I, I see. W-Well, t-that's fine then. Will it fit though?"

I scrunched my brow in slight anger. "Other areas aside, I think we're a similar size when it comes to underwear. I mean if it doesn't fit, you can always sleep naked in that skimpy gown."

"N-Not a chance!"

I smirked. "Alright, wait there; I'll be back."

I ventured to my room and grabbed a pair of underwear. As I made my way back through the dimly lit corridor:

"Oh, Megumin; you're still awake?"

"Kazuma?"

Yes, Kazuma returned.

"Hey, what's that you're holding?"

"Huh, this, THIS"—I quickly hid it behind me—"is something for Yunyun."

"For Yunyun? So, why the secrecy then?"

I couldn't see his face very clearly, but I knew Kazuma was staring at me suspiciously from the tone he took.

"Yeah," I said. "This is for, Yunyun; she had an emergency, so she asked me to get her…it."

"…it?"

I nodded silently.

"…oh, I see."

Hearing him say that, made my stomach turn; did he figure out what I was holding? Even though Kazuma had seen my underwear before and we seen each other naked on more occasions than that, for some reason, I was still feeling rather flustered at the thought.

"I see, I see, mhm. It's one of those things that girls go through, huh; well, you two are of that age already, so it shouldn't be a surprise to me."

He misunderstood and I felt a breath of relief within me. "Right, so, let me take this to Yunyun, and then…then we can talk."

"Ah, that's right, you said you wanted to talk about something."

Seems this man forgot.

He continued. "Sure, let me just take a bath first."

"Y-You can't—I mean, Yunyun's in there at the moment."

"Ah…Yunyun's in there?"

"…"

"Hey, relax, I'm not thinking anything lewd, alright?"

"I never said you were."

"B-But your look and silence say everything."

I huffed. "Well, give her a few minutes; she'll be out in a moment. In the meantime, go do something in your room."

Kazuma stayed silent for a moment, and then said, "Alright then; I'm a sensible man, I'll wait patiently."

He said such out-of-character things.

"Kazuma, I'm serious, if I catch you—"

"Hey, hey, I won't do anything, promise."

The way he replied seemed genuine, so I let the issue go.

I returned to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

"M-Megumin, is that you?"

I grinned; with such an opportune moment, how could I resist? I prepped my voice and tried my best Kazuma impression. "Huh, Yunyun, is that you?"

"K-Kazuma-kun?!"

I snickered silently, and then continued. "Ah, Yunyun so it is you."

"K-Kazuma-kun, is-is Megumin out there; did she come back, yet?"

"Oh, are you waiting for her?"

"Y-Yes; she went to get me…something important…by the way, are you feeling ok; you sound kind of sick."

"Ah, yeah, I feel kind of sick from all the drinking with the guys, you know?"

"Well…if you went out with Dust-san…a-anyways, t-this is kind of embarrassing, Kazuma-kun; can you please go away?"

"Huh, why is Yunyun getting so flustered; do you secretly like Kazuma or something?" I realized I said this rather oddly in a moment of genuine query, however, Yunyun didn't really catch it.

"N-No—of course not—I-I mean, I think Kazuma-kun is a decent…um…nice…not a bad…evil, person?"

And for some reason, I felt personally hurt by this reply despite not being the target. "H-Hey…it-it doesn't matter, I like—ahem, love Megumin anyways."

"A-Ah, is that so? Well, I think that's a good thing…is-is Megumin back yet?"

Satisfied with my little tease, I decided to give it a rest. "Ah, yeah, here she comes; I'll be going now, Yunyun."

"O-Ok, Kazuma-kun."

I silently cleared my throat, and then spoke normally. "Hey, Yunyun, I'm back, you can open the door."

"K-Kazuma-san left, right?"

"Yup."

A second later, Yunyun cracked open a slit to peer from; seeing it was me, she opened it a little wider.

"Here," I said, handing her the underwear.

She quickly took it, and then retreated into the bathroom. A few moments later I heard her yelp, saying: "EHHHHH?! M-Megumin, w-what's with this underwear?!"

Once again, I grinned. "Hmm, what's wrong with them?"

"T-They're so…l-lewd."

In reality, they were slightly provocative; in the sense that they were semi-see-through and made with a lacy material.

"Ah, you think so? You can give them back and I can go see if I have another—"

"No, no, it-it's alright; I'll make do with it."

I, again, snickered silently. Then I realized how much time I wasted. "Oh no, Kazuma's waiting for me. I got carried away teasing Yunyun."

I quickly left. Arriving at Kazuma's room, I knocked on the door.

"Come in."

When I opened the door, Kazuma was lying on his bed with only a pair of underwear on.

"H-Hey, when I said go to your room and do something…"

"Oi, just what do you think I did in that loli mind of yours; you're remarkably dirty-minded, you know? I just figured I might as well be like this while I wait for a bath."

"I-I didn't say anything," I quickly retorted. "A-Anyways, about what I wanted to ask."

He sat up slightly. "Yeah, what's up?"

I walked over and sat on the side of the bed. "Umm, I was wondering…if tonight…if tonight you can stay up…a little late with me."

"…late; d-doing what exactly?"

"Umm, I know I've been a bit needy recently, but can you…teach me tonight?"

"…T, oh." As he understood, Kazuma let out such a reply in a deflated tone. When he spoke again, I could hear the faint hints of exasperation in his voice. "Ugh, that's it; that's what you wanted to ask?"

"Of-Of course. Were you thinking—was Kazuma thinking…"

The weak light of the lantern burning reflected the frown he wore.

I spoke in hurried manner and could feel my body start to grow hot with awkwardness. "I-In the first place, weren't you the one who said you wanted to wait to do such things?!"

Suddenly recognizing the fact, Kazuma averted his gaze. "W-Well I wanted to…M-Megumin…so…" He trailed off incoherently, showing a rather embarrassed face.

Seeing him this way, acting in such an uncharacteristically shy fashion, I couldn't help but giggle. Thanks to this I regained my composure and felt my nervousness completely melt away. I said, "No, I want to go with Kazuma's plan of making our first time a memorable experience…after all, despite many issues that happen in between, Kazuma's plans always come through in the end, right?"

He stared silently at me, and then smiled. "Right, right. Alright, I'll go take a bath and come back. What will you do in the meantime?"

"I'll go get the notebook and wait here."

With that, Kazuma left the room with his spare clothing. I did as I said I would and went to get the notebook that I used for studying Japanese, then returned.

When I got back, I sat on the edge of the bed and looked around; I rarely got the chance to get a good look at Kazuma's room. Since it was still pretty dark under the lantern's light, I turned the knob and increased the intensity; it wasn't daylight, but now I could see clearly.

I remembered how Kazuma, under similar circumstances, entered my room and went through my diary; although I felt slightly annoyed at first, there wasn't anything in there I didn't want him to know. And so, I began to wonder, did he keep a diary too? If he did and I found it, would I be justified in reading through it?

I got up from the bed and placed the notebook on the nearby table. Now I was interested in finding out. I took a good look around. If Kazuma kept something of the sort, he wouldn't keep it in an easy-to-find place; it would be somewhere obscure.

Under the bed? I looked. No, too easy, too basic. The closet. I walked over and took a peek inside. Besides clothing, I couldn't find anything of note.

I closed my eyes and pondered deeply on it. Somewhere out place…out of sight? Walking over to the wall, I placed my hand on it and searched it for indentations; after several minutes of this, I found nothing. I backed away, feeling a budding sense of frustration.

"Where else?" I thought. "The drawers!"

I opened the first one. Underwear. I felt an irrational amount of shame and embarrassment as I looked at them. For some odd reason, I reached in and grabbed one. I pulled on the ends, watching the elastic band stretch; I couldn't tell you why, but doing something so simple made me happy and relaxed. After a couple of seconds, I realized how much time I was wasting and quickly put the underwear back. When I did, I slammed my hand into the back of the drawer and as I recoiled in pain, I heard a slight click.

"Huh?"

As I massaged my hand, I searched for the origin of the sound and a few minutes later, found it in the bottom drawer; there, a false bottom opened up revealing an elegantly crafted wooden box. The box was the same color as the drawer and, as such, it was also the same as the false bottom. Had I not turned up the intensity of the lantern, I wouldn't have seen it; even if I could, I probably wouldn't have been able to discern it to be any different from the tablet covering it.

As I went to reach in, I heard the thump of footsteps approaching. I quickly pressed down the false bottom and heard it *click* into place. I then closed the drawer and ran over to bed and jumped into it. A moment later, the door opened and Kazuma walked in with his usual green tracksuit.

He stared at me, who was tucked underneath the blankets, covers pulled up to my chin. With an eyebrow raised in suspicion, he asked, "Are you sleepy; did I make you wait too long?"

I took the way out he provided and nodded silently. "I was taking a nap." I felt a twinge of regret upon saying this lie.

"Hmm, really?" He walked over and turned down the intensity of the lantern. "Would probably be easier if to sleep if this thing wasn't so bright."

I sat up. "No, turn it back; I don't want to sleep right now…please."

Kazuma once again gazed at me with an eyebrow raised, this time with a slightly perplexed expression. "Do you really want me to teach you that bad?"

I nodded. "I really want to learn your home language."

"Really? Why the sudden burst of enthusiasm?"

I paused for a second, and then asked, "Don't you want someone to talk to in it, don't you miss it?"

Kazuma paused too, then he sighed, showing a faint smile. "Well, if you're that insistent…" He walked over and grabbing the notebook, settled into bed beside me.

"Kazuma."

"?"

I smiled meekly. "Can you teach me more words tonight?"

He showed a sort of surprised look. "Sure. Do you want to learn more kanji or—"

"The meaning; I want to learn the meaning behinds the sounds, the words; I want to understand more."

When I said this, Kazuma showed a genuine smile. "Alright. Where should we start?"

"Golem," I said. "How would you say 'golem'?"

As per plan, we stayed up most of the night studying. Eventually, I fell asleep. When I came to, it was morning. Kazuma was still asleep so I decided to get up and meet everyone downstairs for breakfast.

When I arrived at the table, Yunyun and Darkness were already eating. A plate was eggs and toast were brought out for me by Irene, but I noticed Aqua was nowhere to be found.

"Hey, where's Aqua?"

Darkness, who was reading the news, answered. "She's still asleep; she woke up to go to her room, and then went right back to sleep."

Yunyun suddenly spoke. "I noticed Megumin was nowhere to be seen last night; did you fall asleep in your room?"

"I fell asleep with Kazuma," I replied nonchalantly.

I heard the toast she was eating hit the plate with a dull thump. I didn't need to look because I already knew the expression she bore with my reply.

I continued. "Anyways, let's all go do my Explosion daily. I'll go wake Aqua."

"W-Wait!" Yunyun cried. "I-I just heard Megumin say something incredible!"

Paying no mind to the noisy girl, I went upstairs to fetch Aqua.