"It sounds like you're having fun in school!" Wiz said cheerfully as she and Yunyun sipped tea at Café Superior on the village square. The only café on the square, of course.
Yunyun pouted, keeping her gaze on the table somewhere between them. "S-she keeps m-making fun of me e-every time she gets a question I didn't. A-and even though she only beat m-me by one point today she still claimed m-my whole lunch 'by right of conquest.'"
"You did agree to wager it…" Wiz admitted reluctantly. It did worry her that this Megumin seemed to be the only person she mentioned or spared any attention for at all. Besides her impressive stranger anxiety she seemed like an adorable child, surely she had other friends her age to play with.
"I-it's the only thing she's willing to b-bet with," her student muttered. "And w-when I win, she always makes m-me feel so bad I only take a little of hers. She only ever h-has a f-few bread crusts and some c-crawfish tails anyway," she added, making a face as she looked up at her.
'I just placed an order with Hyouziboro, maybe I'm not paying him enough…' Wiz mused, before shaking her head to clear the thought.
"What about the other girls and boys in class? They might want to play too," she suggested. Yunyun immediately looked back at the table, her posture closing up again. "I…I-I d-don't want to b-bother them. And they always want to go waving sticks around or pick names for their 'ultimate attack' or make up their tragic backstories! N-not find out things in the archive that might make them better wizards," she snapped, her posture stiffening. After a moment, she drooped again. "O-or might keep them from dying," she finished softly
Wiz smiled sadly, and patted the fist clenched on the table. "That's a normal thing, it's hard to find people who are interested in the things you are sometimes. I didn't find many myself until I went to the Royal Academy. Sometimes you must approach someone on their own terms, even if they're not interested in what you are they might still be nice."
Yunyun looked up at her, puzzled. "B-but then what do you do together, or talk about?"
"What you like to eat, or a story you read, or a funny thing you saw someone do," her mentor suggested. "Or even what spell you want to cast first when you learn magic."
"Yours," her student answered instantly. "I-I want to do what you do, help people who lost someone."
Despite herself, Wiz blushed a little at the honest, if misplaced, praise. "Well, if you keep making top grades and get your Advanced Magic, then we'll see." Seeing an opportunity, she added. "And maybe talk to more people too. If you can't have a conversation with your classmates, how are you going to talk to people who are sad or angry they or someone they loved died?"
Yunyun's eyes glowed in the shade under the umbrella as though she'd received a revelation. "Ok! I'll do it!"
Wiz smiled and took a cookie from the tray between them. It was nice to have someone who looked up to her the way she had some of her own instructors these last few days. She still had no intention of teaching Yunyun to become a lich, but there were other things she could pass on.
"Good! Now for this Megumin, if you do want to be friends with her you might…"
Megumin of the Crimson Demon Clan was a little girl with problems.
First, she was hungry.
Second, she now had a younger sister. Who was also hungry and making the first problem worse.
Third, her parents couldn't fix either of these things.
Fourth, her clan wouldn't fix any of those things.
In fairness, Hyouziboro and Yuiyui had been the biggest screw ups in the village for as long as anyone could remember, and the Clan's patience had long ago run out. But expecting an eight-year-old to realize that about her beloved parents was asking too much, even for a brilliant one.
But now, Megumin had found someone who was willing and able to do something about them.
"And that's when I swept into action and seized my day's sustenance, as it was mine by right!" Megumin proclaimed, holding high half a roast beef sandwich like a torch lighting the way to victory.
"Ah, I see…" Wolbach nodded along, wondering not for the first time these last few months if she'd have been better off staying solo. But no, one look at the girl's magical potential made her the best apprentice a part time goddess could ask for. She just needed someone to give her direction. And a clear target. "That's very good. If you keep showing you're the best of the clan, your dream of mastering Explosion will be yours."
Megumin hmphed, before taking another frenzied series of bites as she remembered she was still hungry. Her new protege had the talent for the spell, Wolbach didn't doubt that for an instant. By the time she started hitting her stride in another six years the girl would be a terrifying force to be reckoned with. Better to secure such a promising young talent's loyalty now, rather than risk losing her to some random twit in Axel.
Seeing her student had finished, Wolbach set aside her own napkin wrapped sandwich on the blanket where they were picnicking. "Now, did you finish your work from last time?"
"Of course! My excellence must grow along with my height!" Megumin agreed, scrambling in the much-patched bag at her side. "I present the fruits of my labor!"
Wolbach took the handful of papers and glanced at them as her student fidgeted uncertainly, at odds with her confident declaration.
After about ten minutes, half of which were just to let her twist on the hook a bit as payback for having No Indoor Voice, the archwizard relented. "Very good. Your circle is an improvement over the last one, fewer sigils should give you a shorter casting time. Remember that speed matters. The only thing worse than missing your target is being slow about it. A fast miss might at least rattle your enemy."
Megumin nodded eagerly, "Explosion magic cannot miss, for it fills the area with beautiful destruction! But casting it faster can only be a good thing!"
"Right…that's true. But Explosion won't be the only thing you cast, not so?"
The tiny terror pouted and looked away. "Maybe."
Wolbach sighed and let it pass for now. There was plenty of time yet to teach her the virtues of having a whole box of tools rather than just a sledgehammer. "I have your next assignment here, and the clues for where I hid this set of trail rations. How about you go find one of the caches?"
That got her student moving and gave Wolbach a breather. They'd spent all morning together refining what village school had already taught. It wasn't bad in the least, and honestly she wished her own early education had been as good. Outside the most Crimson Demon bits that they just couldn't keep themselves from adding at least. But a one-on-one tutor was always going to do a better job than learning with a group, even with someone as motivated by pride and recognition as Megumin.
'At least she quit asking how I got my figure, small mercies.' Setting the morning's annoyances aside, she pulled out her own 'homework' for the day. Being a General of the Demon King didn't necessarily come with command of an army, but her post as one of his troubleshooters kept her just as busy. Getting away a few times a year for a day or so was about all the time she could spare for her sometimes irritating protégé, even without the risks of operating so near the Village. Truthfully more than that would have taxed her patience anyway. She'd always suspected motherhood wouldn't suit her; it was no surprise to be proven right.
'Let's see. Arnes' reports first, I think.'
She spent the rest of the brief time Megumin needed to follow the clues to the food cache reviewing her agents' updates on what her fellow generals were up to, and more importantly comparing that to what they said they were doing.
Power shifted quickly in their liege's service; it was best to keep a close watch and make careful preparations with that in mind.
"Congratulations to our top scorers, Yunyun, Megumin, and Arue!" their teacher Haruharu proclaimed, clapping enthusiastically with hands made bony by age above the polite congratulations of the rest of the class.
He could have been repeating any number of exam results over the past year, the trio had more or less locked up the top three spots from the start. Occasionally someone knocked Arue off her perch, but the top two had been traded between Megumin and Yunyun since the start of the school year.
Grumbling, Yunyun handed over her neatly wrapped lunchbox to the victor. "T-tomorrow you're mine."
Megumin scoffed and dug into the oversized and densely packed lunch in a frenzy just short of rabid. "An acceptable offering, I shall await your efforts on our next trial with amusement," she squeezed out through stuffed cheeks.
Translated from Megunese, this meant 'thanks for lunch, good luck next time.' Aware of this by now, Yunyun smiled a little and pulled out one of the pair of cookies she'd learned to keep for herself for the days she lost.
"Your new ribbons are pretty, purple and black is a much better color scheme for a Crimson Demon than pink," another of their classmates, Dodonko, said as she sat next to Yunyun in an empty desk while Megumin was occupied.
"T-thanks…" Yunyun answered, looking down at her desk while fiddling with her cookie. "I-I'm glad y-you like them…" She glanced back up, trying to think of something to comment on to keep things going. "D-do you want to k-know where to find them?"
"Simisi's, right? They're cute, and you started growing your hair out too?" Funifura agreed, walking over as well. With a teasing smile, she went on, "You changed them both after Miss Wiz came to visit last time, right?"
That brought on a whimper and blush, while her cookie became a casualty of war in her fingers. Megumin frowned, only partially at the waste of food, and swallowed with a strain of effort.
"The Ice Witch is talented such that even one of the Clan should be proud to aspire to her skills," Haruharu weighed in from the front of the class, where he'd finished speaking to another student. "Woe betide any who claim otherwise, her being an Outsider or no."
Yunyun nodded firmly in agreement, "She is! I've learned a lot from her!" she defended her hero, meeting their gazes with fists clenched to her chest.
"Fine, fine," I didn't say she wasn't," Dodonko waved her off. "I just thought it was funny."
Megumin smirked to herself and went back to her lunch. Learning from a legendary wizard was impressive, she supposed. But it was much cooler to have a Demon General as a teacher.
Classes soon resumed, this time for practical exercises. Even the Crimson Demon Clan didn't send eight-year-olds out to hunt monsters in the deeper parts of the forest, so these were held in the fields near the village this time of year. Before spring planting, when a little extra soil aeration from running feet was no great problem, and the soft dirt was a handy safeguard against injury.
"Now then, everyone pair off!" barked the other instructor of their year, the impressively bearded, rumored to be part bear from his build, Borofara. "Though mystic might remains the foundation of a Crimson Demon's power, there is always a place for the strength of your body!" he clenched one fist and held it upwards in emphasis as he declaimed. "Many a monster has been surprised when one of the Clan proves capable of defending themselves with a dagger or fist! Surprised very briefly, hah! We shall begin by practicing a simple fall!"
After a quick demonstration, the top pair faced off by unspoken mutual agreement. Despite Yunyun's contributions, Megumin was still plainly the shorter and less well fed of the two. Obviously at a disadvantage in any kind of straightforward physical confrontation.
Which was why she made certain to never do such a foolish thing in the first place.
"Take heed, my nemesis! I shall have you taste dirt on this day!" she shouted before screaming a battlecry and lunging forward. Yunyun squeaked in surprise and tried to backpedal, shoes sinking into the soft dirt and tripping her up. With her eyes clenched tightly shut, she flopped backwards, arms snapping outwards to either side to slap the ground and brace as she landed, cushioning her fall as she tucked her chin to protect her head.
Megumin, meanwhile, stumbled as she tap-danced to avoid stepping on her and sped faster than their poor footing made wise, plowing an early furrow in the soon to be cropland.
"Very good, Yunyun!" their teacher shouted over the sound of nearly a dozen children shouting and flailing in the dirt. "Full points!"
Looking over at her assailant, Megumin's nemesis smiled cheerfully. "I w-win this round."
Megumin registered her opinion with a thrown clod of dirt, but even she knew that was a small price for victory.
After spending the afternoon making plenty of work for whomever did their laundry, the kids were dismissed home.
Parting from her friend in all but name, Megumin made her way to her house at the edge of the village. After pulling off her shoes at the front door, her little sister tackled into her as she entered, stubby two-year-old legs pushing her at a waddle. "Food! I smell food! Sister win again?"
"I did! I come bearing the spoils of my victory!" the eldest agreed, holding up the loosely wrapped lunchbox. Inside was around two thirds of Yunyun's lunch, the rest filled out with the nuts, dried fruit, and crackers Wolbach had stashed for her student, and Megumin had secretly moved to a more convenient location.
From further inside the house came a rattle of pans from the kitchen tucked in one corner of the main room.
"As expected of my daughter! Best in the Clan, right dear?" her mom Yuiyui agreed, stirring a pot of something that might be called soup if you were generous.
"Of course! You two finish that up, your mom and I will make sure her cooking doesn't go to waste," her dad called from his workshop in the back.
The girls moved to the rickety table in the center of the room to do just that. Megumin took the dried foods for herself and left Komekko to nibble on the fried potato slices while she sliced the grilled vegetables and chicken smaller, before pushing that over too.
"Let's eat!" the pair chorused, and dug in. Who had the worst table manners was open to debate, but by the time the watery stew made its way to the table along with pulling her dad away from his project the lunchbox was long since empty.
"Man, I feel good about this new item," her father said as he sat. "I haven't done much with perception magic before, but this bracer is looking like it'll come together really well!"
"Oh? That bracer you bought from the smith? That used the money I set aside for potatoes? That bracer?" her mother asked with false sweetness, skewering one from her bowl as she did so with a bit more force than was needed as he foolishly reminded her of his sins.
"Ah…well…we'll make it back and then some once I get the enchantment on it working! It's an investment!" her dad hastily explained, having forgotten that detail of where it came from. "It uses a really neat trick to attract exactly the kind of person the wearer wants most to whoever wears it! It'll sell, people are always into that stuff!"
Yuiyui seemed unconvinced, just saying "What's done is done." Turning to her daughter, she said with forced brightness "So, dear, what happened at school today?
That was all the incentive she needed to recount her exploits, though she might possibly have left out her close encounter with Mother Earth. It wasn't important anyway really, right?
After dinner and chores, it was an early night as always. Candles were expensive on their budget, and the magic versions even more so. And though Crimson Demons saw like cats in the dark, that didn't make a dim house any more comfortable. So that night Megumin stared up at the much-patched ceiling of the room she would soon share with Komekko, once she was old enough to sleep away from their parents.
The creaks and cracks of the house shifting were familiar now, along with the drip of the leaky spot in the ceiling when it rained that would never stay fixed. But while she'd never admit it to another living soul, when she'd moved in here two years ago they'd been the scariest things she'd ever faced.
Until that fateful day she and her teacher met.
Only the beautiful light she'd seen that day had driven away the fear and had the power to not just push away but destroy the darkness. Every day she took a step closer to learning it herself was a day well spent.
Even days when her rival managed to score points from her and wrest a symbolic bite of her food away to mark her defeat.
Rolling over, she scrunched up her sheets. Maybe it would be nice to have someone in here to share when it got cold. But until then, she had her memories of the greatest magic the world had ever known to keep her warm.