Edit (4/18): I am finally on spring break. Sorry for the wait, up till now. I had tests to get taken care of, so I had little time to work on this remake. I started the remake on the 11th but haven't had the energy to go deep into it. But with today, I can go full throttle with the remake. Then again, this remake took longer to make then I expected, so I apologize for this. Expect chapter 4 in about a week from now. Hopefully.

I am getting used to writing fanfiction (also being my first), so I am open to criticism, suggestions, and compliments, etc.

Italics will be used for character's thinking.

Kazuma's Perspective

… I can't sleep. This pain that still lingers prevent me from doing so. Every time I try, the pain in my body screams at me to wake back up. I wonder when this injury may finally heal, if it could heal. This is far worse than when I fell from the tree when we were dealing with the Lizard Runners. I had broken an arm and once Aqua healed it, the only lingering effect would be a sore arm for a couple of hours. But, that was nothing compared to what I am feeling right now.

I sighed as I waited in the darkness, staring at the ceiling. I wasn't moving a muscle hoping it could suppress some pain at the least.

I'll have to thank Megumin for helping me today. Even though she was probably only doing it to pay me back for basically saving her life. She might be going overboard though. I appreciate her help either way. Better than nothing I guess.

But still, I wonder how our lives would be if Megumin wasn't in our party. She may be a handful to deal with, especially with her being paralyzed after casting her explosions. We rely on her most to deal the final blow on some difficult bosses, or a large group of monsters. Other than that, she would stay idly as it would be overkill to use her explosion magic on anything weaker that I could deal with alone and not knowing any advanced magic is a big minus. She is already useful as is, but she could be much more if she had learned advanced magic. I keep trying to convince her. But none of my words seem to get through to her. That loli is devoted to explosion magic, and I can't seem to change it. She is a headache to deal with. But I am glad to have her in our party despite her shortcomings, at the least she is more capable than Aqua. Darkness? Yeah, a good shield, when she is there when you need her most. Even though she can't hit anything at all. I never understand why though. Her accuracy must be in the negatives for her to hit absolutely nothing, so she can't do any damage to anything. I doubt she could even hit a stationary statue.

But even then, I care for my party members, minus Aqua. I care more than I show. So I can see how surprised Megumin was when I decided to put my life on the line for her safety. I admit that it was out of character for me. She must find me awkward. Probably thinking about it right now in her own bed, as if it was some sort of heroic act to impress her and make her fall for me. But, I don't like Megumin in that way. I can only find her to be a good friend at most. But, she keeps entering my mind when I try to shove them out. I can't be falling for her.

I sighed once more, I felt drowsy. Next thing I knew, I woke up to the bright sunlight coming from the windows. I was finally able to go to sleep.

Today went the same as yesterday, Aqua and Darkness went to work, and had left Megumin and I alone again. Today, I wanted to just rest, I wanted to lay in bed and just rest to my heart's content. But Megumin wasn't happy about my desire to rest, but she allowed it and handed me breakfast,

"Well, if you need anything, just say something." Megumin said,

"Thank you for understanding." I murmured to myself quietly when she left the room.

I fought through the pain that enters my body whenever I make sudden movements, so I had to eat slowly, but after that was dealt with, I put the plate aside and laid back down on the bed and tried to go back to sleep, and eventually, I did. I rarely dreamed when I slept, and when I woke up later, I forgot nearly every detail.

I woke up fully rested, at least I think I did. The sun was still up and shining through the windows, only faintly though, as the sun was already starting to set. I forced myself to get up, enduring the pain as well. But unlike yesterday, it felt slightly less painful. Which is a good sign. I entered the hall and to the living room, having to lean against the wall to prevent myself from falling over from being dizzy.

"Oh, so you're finally awake Kazuma, come sit, I need to tell you something." Megumin said when she turned her head towards my direction from the sofa.

I slowly limped and sat on the sofa letting out a sigh, "Alright, what is it?"

"Sena came by when you were sleeping, she came to ask for help, and offered a quest that may pay well."

I was relieved, now we won't have to deal with the future debts if we get rewarded enough to pay for the debt, "Well, what do we need to do?" I asked,

"Undead have taken over a small village close by, or job is to drive every undead out of the village to make it safe to live in again. But, I wanted to ask for your approval, but you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you, so I had her come by tomorrow to get your consent."

"It is unfortunate to get a good quest after the tragedy that was last quest though, it doesn't seem that risky, so this is our chance to finally get off that debt."

"So, what's the plan?"

"We'll use Aqua as bait, drive the undead to some plains and you use your explosion to take out the group. And from a distance safe from harm, I'll use my sniping skills to take out any survivors or wanderers. If any get close, that is what Darkness will be for. She'll grab them and hold them still so I can snipe them."

"That was… quick. But, it could work well." Megumin seemed excited, "Let's hope you don't end up falling off a tree like last time. In your condition, I'm sure there'd be more damage than a broken arm this time." she said jokingly.

"Alright, so it is agreed, we need to tell Aqua and Darkness about it,"

"Well, they're not here yet, we can tell them tomorrow. For now, prepare for the quest and get more rest. I'll help you back to your room if you need it."

I nodded in agreement and she took my arm and helped me to my bed in my room.

"You can't be serious! I am not going to be used as bait!" Aqua growled once she heard the plan I was discussing with the group while walking towards the location of the town. With my injuries, I had Darkness and Megumin hold me up by each arm.

"Well, do you have a better plan?" I replied sharply.

"W-well we could… Um…"

"Alright, so it's agreed. Thank you for volunteering."

"Wait! You didn't let me finish! I did not agree to this at all!"

I intentionally ignored any other outcries from Aqua as we near the town in the distance. But still, what bad timing to get such a decent quest at a time like this. But if all goes well we should be successful without any undead injuring me any further.

"I'm so jealous." I heard Darkness whisper,

"Jealous of what?" Even though I acted oblivious, I was fully aware of why she was jealous.

"The amount of pain you're going through! Something like that would be a luxury for me!"

I sighed, "Of course it is."

By the time we reached the next slope, we could see the town in the distance,

"There's the town." Megumin pointed,

I stared into the distance, and sure enough there was undead roaming the town, about 30 roam the town, possibly even more, and the town itself was small so it was a large group for the small town it was, but I was unsure of how all the undead managed to claim the town as its own in the first place.

I searched the terrain for some empty plains and the only one nearby was closer than I wanted it to be, everywhere else was forest, and if we casted explosion near the forest, it could cause a forest fire, and that'd cause trouble for us.

Once we headed to the plains we had Aqua go attract the undead, so the rest of us set up near a tree. With Darkness' help, I got onto a sturdy branch and sat. We waited for Aqua's return and in the distance, there she was coming towards us with a group of Undead, I prepared an arrow and told Megumin to wait till they get closer to cast her explosion, so she readied her staff pointed at the herd of undead. I shot a couple of arrows at the group of undead, hitting a few and killing a couple, so I told Megumin to cast her explosion now and I waited until they got closer to snipe, but I noticed that my enemy detection skill was picking up, again.

Oh great, not again, and why now?

I prepared an arrow and looked around but I saw nothing, "Darkness stay on high alert, I detect an undead nearby." I told her,

Aqua was still running towards us but right now, we have even worst problems right now, an undead is nearby and I can't trace where it is.

But the thing is, its empty plains. There's no bushes, so wolves can't be hiding, and there is only the tree we were at, and they couldn't be hiding behind it. As I scouted, I had notice something purple materialize. It was some sort of a ghost.

"Darkness! Behind you!" I quickly shouted as I fired a shot towards the ghost, but the arrow phased through the ghost, I quickly followed up with another arrow, but to no avail, I quickly realized that my arrows were useless against it.

Darkness quickly noticed the ghost and attempted to grab it, but she too, phased through the ghost and ended up tacking the ground. You've got to be kidding me.

The ghost seems to be preoccupied to be interested in us and walked past Darkness and I like we didn't exist. That's when I realized that the ghost has been locked onto someone else. Megumin. This is bad, she is distracted chanting her magic, and with our defenses doing absolutely nothing I could only warn her, "Megumin look out!"

She briefly stops chanting and turns her head to see a dark purple figure inches away from her.

"Eh?!" She gets startled at the sight of the ghost and fell backwards, right then I heard an explosion. I looked at the group of undead, and they remained the same. So if It wasn't towards the group of undead, where else. I looked in the distance to my left, and realized that the explosion came from the direction at the town. The sound of the explosion ended up startling the ghost and retreated, and very few undead too retreated at the sound, but the herd remained large and continued chasing Aqua until she got closer and closer to us. Why does she have to go towards us?!

I quickly prepared a few arrows and sniped a few of the undead, but there was way too many and would soon overwhelm us. So with the few time we had, I cautiously slid down from the tree and tried desperately to ignore the pain that still enters my body, I told Darkness to grab Megumin, took my arm and wrapped it around her neck and we ran away from the undead, and Aqua. With my injuries however, I wasn't able to run for long, the herd was still catching up to us at this rate. I ended up tripping causing the three of us to fall onto the ground. I couldn't move, my body couldn't handle the amount of work it had to do, especially with the pain and injuries, I couldn't handle it.

"We're dead, aren't we?" I heard Megumin say,

I turned and see Darkness standing with her hands out facing towards the incoming danger, in an attempt to block the incoming tsunami of undead.

Damn it, we're doomed.

I quickly heard footsteps and turned to look back behind me. Yunyun. Oh, thank god.

She reached her hand out and shouted, "Light of Saber!"

Next thing I saw was a bright light that surrounded the undead then almost in an instant, they all disappeared.

I sighed, "What a relief, Yunyun, you saved our lives, again." I heard the thumping of Aqua collapsing from exhaustion,

"You followed us again, didn't you? Why else would you be here?" I heard Megumin say,

Yunyun said nervously, "Um…"

"Doesn't matter, she saved our lives." I said, as I reached to transfer mana from the collapsed Aqua to Megumin,

"Kazuma! The town!" I heard Darkness shout. That's when it hit me. Megumin's explosion hit the town instead of the group of undead. Both Aqua and Darkness ran out towards the town,

"Wait! I can't run with my injuries!" I yelled for assistance, but they didn't hear me,

Megumin sighed, "Here, gimme your arm." She said as she got up,

When we got to the town, we saw a large crater at the outskirt of the town. Only about three buildings were destroyed, and two partially in rubble. We were lucky to keep the damages minimal, can't think what would have happened if the explosion took place at the center of town. But with damages like this, I can feel the debt grow bigger. This is bad, very bad.

"See Kazuma? The plan didn't work." Aqua said to me,

"It didn't work because there was a ghost that I didn't expect to interfere, and I bet you couldn't have thought of an even better plan than mine."

"…" Aqua just rolled her eyes and turned her head away, "What's wrong with her?"

I turned to see Megumin on her knees on the ground, "Hey Megumin, what's wrong?" I asked,

"Don't you act like nothing's happened, I caused this damage! Now we are in even greater debt than before! What will Sena think? She's gonna think we're terrorists again!" I was surprised at the volume of Megumin's voice.

"Even though most of what you said is true, it isn't at all your fault, it's me and Darkness' fault for letting that ghost get to you." I replied as I pat her shoulder,

"So what are we going to do now," I heard Yunyun say,

"Yunyun don't get involved, this is our problem, please stay out of it, we don't need you to get tangled in it." I told her,

"But, I want to help you guys! You're my friends, right?" she quickly retaliated,

"Your only friends." I heard Megumin whisper,

I sighed, "Well, I guess so, but please don't get involved until we ask you then, okay?"

"Okay," Yunyun nodded,

"We need to tell Sena the situation, if we just tell the entire truth of how it was all accidental, she may just add up to our debt and nothing more." I said,

"That may be best," I heard Aqua,

"Okay, lets get back, we're going to have a word with her." I said,

By the time we made it back we saw Sena waiting for us with an unhappy expression,

"Judging by the expressions on your faces, I get that the quest didn't end well," she said,

"Yes, the quest did not go very well," I said,

"Well, you all have to come with me, I already know what happened, I'll have to ask you questions, and I hoped we wouldn't need to do this anymore," she replied,

During the interview sessions, we all did as I said, and told the truth, and with the magic lie detector never ringing during the interview, Sena found that the explosion was completely accidental, and let us off, but with an extra debt of 500 thousand Eris. Totaling to 625 thousand along with our previous debt. It was better than being known as a wanted criminal, but it was neither good as we can't afford to pay for either of the debts we caused, and on our way back to the mansion Megumin didn't say a word and went into her room the instant we got inside. We were all exhausted, so we all went into our respective rooms and we let Yunyun in one of the spare rooms we had. And I got into my bed, and closed my eyes to sleep.

But. I can't. Hours have passed and I still could not sleep,

"Meow…" I looked to my right and saw Chomusuke laying on my bed as well. With the situation at hand, I completely forgot about the creature. But, when did Chomusuke get onto the bed? I grabbed the cat and laid it on my stomach and began to pet it.

I sighed, "You don't seem to understand my struggle now do you? You're just a cat."

"Meow?"

I chuckled, even with this stress from the debt, Chomusuke provided some relaxation for me.

I heard a knocking on the door, "Hey, Kazuma? You awake?" It was Megumin.

"So you're awake too? Anyway, the doors open if you want to come in." She came in and closed the door behind her, she came and sat down beside me on the bed, and Chomusuke jumped off from my chest and off the bed.

"So, Megumin you need anything? I mean there's got to be a reason you're in here, right?" I asked her,

"Yes, I came to talk to you about something important."

"Well, go ahead, you can trust me, probably. What's this about?" I wondered,

"Well, regarding the quest's result."

"Oh, so this is what this is all about."

"I already told you back there that that was all my doing, I caused all the damage, and with it, got us into an even deeper trouble! This is all my fault!"

Okay, that was... quick.

"I-I mean, it isn't entirely your fault, it was the ghost that caught you off-guard, right? It's Darkness and I's fault that we weren't able to do our job of protecting you." I replied,

"You know, you've been acting strange lately, you're not one to blame yourself for anything. And even, sacrificing yourself for my life."

"Well, it's true that I haven't been acting like myself lately, and as for sacrificing myself for you, I was under pressure, I don't know what to do in that kind of situation. That was the first thing that came to mind when we were in that scenario."

"Is that so? But, thanks either way," She sighed, saying that in a more depressed voice,

"Hm? Is something wrong?"

"Well, in a situation like that, I couldn't do anything at all, I didn't know what to do. I was sure that we both were going to die. Having already exhausted my mana and attracting much more wolves along the way, I was powerless. Like a normal civilian. When we were surrounded by wolves, I couldn't do anything to help us. It ended up with you getting hurt, and I couldn't prevent it. And, with what happened today, if I had learned advanced magic instead, that would be much more appropriate and quicker to cast, we would be out of this debt already. But now, we have a bigger debt thanks to me."

I didn't know what to say. I can't think of anything to say to that. I was completely unaware of how Megumin felt. Even if I said anything, I am afraid that I might mess something up. I was not prepared for Megumin to just release all of her thoughts and emotions so carefree like that. After she had released all those emotions she left out a long sigh, and seemed hesitant on saying something else,

Then she finally said, "Which is why, I… I have decided to- I have decided to learn advanced magic."

And my heart skipped a beat.

Criticism, suggestions, and compliments are welcome. Thanks for your support.