A True Mage's Vow

I stared at the letter in my hand, its coded signs unreadable in their current form. With a wave of my hand, the indecipherable hieroglyphics became words that were familiar to anyone.

Dear Lord Mythril,

Your humble servant, Magnus, writes to you as per your request, a report of my current accomplishments…or in this case, failures. It is with a heavy heart that I must write that I have very little of note to report to you. I have traveled to the land of the elves in search of what you requested of me—and indeed, I had found it; however, due to the incompetence of the bearer, I was unable to present to you in this missive the fruits of success. I had arranged a buy of the target with the seller but, unfortunately, the fool was found out and the authorities quickly interfered. Needless to say, while providence seems to have intervened in our fates, I do not intend to lay the faults of this failure completely at its feet. My Lord, I do not write to you to beg you for forgiveness, I write to you to tell you that I will return with results—as you have taught us and surely expect. I also wished to have surprised you with a gift, however, it seems that will no longer be possible. A Crimson Demon was amongst the quarry of those captured—

Upon reading those words, I instinctively clenched my hand into a fist, damaging the parchment and rendering it—for the most part—destroyed; I finished the job, igniting the paper and reducing the report to mere cinders.

"Crimson…Demon." As I uttered that accursed name, a series of knocks came from the door of my study. "Who is it?" I said, my voice carrying the anger that I felt.

The door opened, and the head of the man known as Kelby, 'The Platinum', poked in.

"Hey, you busy?"

"Of course. What do you want, Kelby?"

"Me? Not a thing," he replied, entering the room as he did. "Little Theresa wanted to tell her dear brother, Max, about the Crimson Demon she encountered."

My hand clenched into a fist once more.

"Another one?"

"Huh? Another? There's another one?"

I exhaled deeply, trying to calm myself. "Magnus seems to have found one during his assignment."

"Magnus? Ah, right, one of your servants, huh?"

"Yes. Including the one you encountered back during your assignment with Ms. Winrow, that makes it three of them now."

"Not exactly. The one Theresa encountered was the same one I did. And if I was to bet on it, I'd say the one your boy Magnus is talking about is probably the very same."

I knit my brow, partially in thought, partly in the amount of disdain I had for the subject. "Three sightings of the same one, then?" I sighed. "Even one of them is too much…but it is better than three. You say Theresa has something to tell me about this Crimson Demon?"

"A bit more than I had, I think. I already told you her name, but knowing you, you probably don't even remember it."

"I'd rather not give those fools an ounce of my mind."

"You say that, but they seem to live rent free in it."

I glared at him. "You wouldn't understand. A person who's as aloof as you has no way of understanding my hatred for those who have been granted the gifts of supreme magic and then do nothing but squander it. They flaunt their ill-gifted power in a sick perversion of what it means to be a wielder of magic, knowing nothing of the struggles that the common man goes through to obtain even a fraction of said power."

"Alright, alright, seems like I hit a soft spot; my bad. Anyway, should I tell Theresa-chan to come over?"

"What good is it for me knowing about this Crimson Demon, Kelby, if they are not here for me to take advantage of such knowledge?"

"Well, that's the thing, this Crimson Demon is part of the Hero's group. Which means—"

"Which means that eventually I'll likely have an encounter with them." I rubbed my chin curiously. "Hmm. Alright. It does seem prudent for me to learn about this disgusting creature, then. Tell me once again what you know of it, and when you're done, please have Theresa come see me as well."

"Sure, but before that, why don't we go out for a bit? I'm sure you need some time away from this place."

"No."

"Aww, come on; you barely go out."

"I have no need to. Besides, unlike you, I take my job seriously."

"Hey, I take my job seriously too; I just know how to balance my personal life and my work life. Honestly, I think a lot of you guys could do with a little more relaxation. Hell, even the boss isn't as uptight as you."

"Once again, I have no need to go out, nor do I want to go out…Kelby. Now, are you going to tell me about the deplorable creature or not? If you aren't, then can you please leave? I'd like to focus on my work."

Kelby half frowned. "*sigh* Alright, I'll tell you. Man, being around you really drains a person, you know?"

"You aren't trapped, nor did I ask you to come here. The door is there, unlocked; you're free to leave."

Kelby sighed once again. "See? This is what I mean. Whatever. Let me just tell you what I know and then we can both get out of each other's hair."

"Good. Agreed."

-A few minutes later…

The door closed behind Kelby, and I was, once again, alone in my study.

Megumin. I had thought about the Crimson Demon which Kelby spent the last few minutes informing about…and the thought filled me with absolute rage—even more so than usual; she was even more ridiculous than the average Crimson Demon buffoon. She was a Crimson Demon who specialized in Explosion magic. The squanderer in a race of squanders; the absolute queen of wastrels who took the idiocy of that ludicrous clan and magnified it by a thousand. It was as if her existence was the antithesis to magecraft; simply put, she was my nemesis.

"Megumin," I said, feeling my blood boiling.

I vow, I'll see her destroyed…one way or another.