Who knows how long she spent sobbing there. Perhaps minutes, hours, maybe even an entire day. She lost track of time a long time ago. Even when her sobbing began to cease, a simple look at where Kazuma disappeared in front of her was enough to bring back the moisture in her eyes.

"I-I'm so so so sorry Kazuma. I-I-I didn't think it would end up like this."

For what seemed to be the hundredth time Megumin apologized to Kazuma, hoping for even the slightest chance that he would reappear in front of her, pull her in for a deep embrace and tell her everything will be alright, that it was just another one of his stupid pranks.

But the Kazuma she wished for never came. It hurt, as if every fiber in her body didn't want to accept that Kazuma was truly gone. The Kazuma who she had assumed she could never truly lose due to Aqua's miraculous Resurrection spell, yet, just like that, he was gone. Somewhere deep inside the endless Void, never to feel the warmth of the sun or the refreshing breeze of the summer winds ever again.

She knew she had to move on soon. Resume her life as she always used to, forget about Kazuma and live a peaceful life now that the Demon King was defeated. It's what Kazuma would have wanted anyways, for her to forget about him and live a happy life. Why else would he go as far as to sacrifice himself just so she could live.

Even so, Megumin just couldn't let him go. She couldn't simply forget about him and move on. She was far too reliant, dependent, and maybe even addicted to his presence to some extent. Her crimson eyes gleaming with determination Megumin silently made an oath to herself. It didn't matter what it would take, she would get back Kazuma one way or the other.

Covered in tears and full of sorrow, her eyes wandered around, searching for anything that could possibly become a stepping stone for her new objective. While the sorrow still hasn't completely disappeared from her eyes, they also contained a certain fanatic gleam.

Long gone was the chunnibyo brat with lofty dreams of conquering the world. That part of her had disappeared along with Kazuma. All the mattered to her now was that Kazuma would return to her, that she would be able to feel his presence again.

Strolling down the streets of Axel, Megumin finally stumbled upon her first clue to getting back Kazuma. A flyer advertising a Mage Tournament, offering the winner an item that caught her interest. A magical tome filled with nearly unlimited knowledge, it's only draw back being the excessive amount mana required to squeeze out even the smallest bits of information. If one would like an entire page worth of knowledge they would be hit with the immediate effects of casting Explosion.

An item perfect for someone like Megumin, who upgraded her mana pool abundantly more than the average mage to be able to continue casting her explosion spell, which scaled mana based on the power of the spell.

Intrigued, Megumin decided to take a closer look, checking the registration info and noting down when the tournament will occur.

"December 25th, the date when the gods won the war for control of this realm. A fitting date for releasing such a powerful artifact."

Doing some swift calculations in her head, Megumin determined she had a little over 2 weeks until the tournament took place.

"2 weeks, within 2 weeks I will learn every magic spell I can and should have learnt a long time ago."

Muttering to herself, Megumin made her way back towards the mansion to pack up her belongings. She was heading the Royal Capital, where the tournament would take place and where she would farm enough skill points to learn all the spells she would need to win the tournament.

Ever since the Demon King was defeated the only monsters worth killing were creatures such as dragons and ancient monsters who didn't take orders from the Demon King. And unfortunately for Megumin, those kinds of monsters could only be spotted near the capital leaving her only option to travel there and abandon the mansion.

She said her farewells to Darkness who informed her that she too was heading back to the capital in a few days. With a brief promise that she would visit the royal castle to meet her sometime, Megumin left the mansion in search of Aqua.

The first location she decided to search was obviously the Guild tavern, if Aqua was not lazying around in the mansion Aqua was most likely here. Yet, even after Megumin asked around the guild for her whereabouts not a single person knew where she went, which was almost unbelievable considering how recognizable she was. It was as if she too, disappeared the same day Kazuma had. The only other place Megumin could think of Aqua being was Alcanteria and that was one place Megumin would never go back to, even if it was just to say her goodbyes to a good friend.

Although she didn't get to bid Aqua a good rest of her life, Megumin still got to talk to everyone she was familiar with in the guild. However, even after she paid for and got inside the teleporting circle which would bring her to the capital, she was still reluctant about something. Unable to find her, she hadn't been able to bid Yunyun her farewells. Unbeknownst to Megumin, the very friend she was looking for was following her every step, paying for her own teleportation service as Megumin sighed in regret . Yunyun refused to get left behind by Megumin. Not again.

Arriving in the capital, Megumin immediately noted two things. One, the roads are much busier than the roads of Axel, and two, she had just used all of her remaining money on a ride. Too eager to get started on her mission, it had completely slipped her mind to claim the reward for slaying the Demon King.

Surprisingly enough this didn't bother Megumin much. She felt it would be disrespectful to Kazuma's good memory if she took the reward money when he was the one to do all the work. She would much rather earn her own Eris over having something meant for Kazuma handed down to her instead.

Yet, to earn her own Eris she would need to find the Guild to begin working.

"Excuse me Sir, do you know where the Guild in this city is?"

Approaching the most adventurer looking person she could spot, Megumin asked for directions to the Guild. Luckily for her, the adventurer she chose to speak to was a courteous young man and answered her question with grace.

"The Guild? If you just go straight down that road, turn right at the succubus themed restaurant, and turn left one last time at the skewer shop you should be there."

"Thank very much!"

With a slight bow Megumin quickly thanked the man and made a beeline straight to where she was told the Guild would be.

"Umm you're Megumin, the legendary mage from the party who defeated the Demon King right? If possible could I get an aut-"

If she wanted to eat dinner today she would need to find a completable quest, and quick. She thought she heard the young man try to ask her for something but as she was too far at this point to bother.

Following the directions she received, she reached the Guild in less than 5 minutes. Had it been her a week ago she would have attempted to make a dramatic and cool entrance. However she has far matured past that point by now. Megumin quietly opened the door, slipped in and allowed the door to creak shut behind her.

Although she hadn't made any sort of entrance Megumin still felt a bunch of eyes on her back as she walked towards the quest bored. On the board contained a variety of quests including kill quests, fetch quests and request type quests. What Megumin is looking for now is a request quest she can complete. She has no confidence on being able to take on a kill quest with just explosion and will refuse to join a party even if begged to. She has no desire to go through the same pain ever again.

She quickly scoured through all of the request type quest. "Teach my daughter create wat-", nope "Protect me on my way to-", can't do that either, "Help me create a magic item. Requirement: Have at least enough mana to cast "Explosion". Reward : 300,000 eris." This request caught Megumin's attention. She had plenty of experience building magic items, due to her father teaching her and certainly had enough mana to cast Explosion.

Tearing the request off the board, Megumin made her way over to the woman at the counter. If quests worked anything like they did in Axel here she would need to confirm with this woman before accepting any quest.

"Ummm excuse me, I'd like to accept this quest." She said, making sure to hold up the quest she chose in a way the lady could see it.

Turning around to face Megumin, the receptionist let out a small surprised squeak.

"Megumin-dono, it is a pleasure to meet you. Ahh, the magic item quest? If that's what you would like to do, the person requesting the quest is sitting right there."

Pointing to a hooded figure, the receptionist flashed a look of admiration and respect towards Megumin before turning to assist another adventurer in need of help.

Unlike the receptionist who seemed so confident, Megumin was in a dilemma. The person requesting for help on the magical item was obviously suspicious. In addition she'd never heard of a magic item that required mana, especially as much as explosion, to craft. But who was she to question her morals now. She'd never let such stuff bother her before so why start now.

If this could put a roof above her head who cares about who she was working for. In any case, on the occasion that this ends up a problem, it would be a problem for future Megumin who would be 300,00 eris richer.

Having made up her mind, Megumin walked over to the suspicious individual.

"Hi, I'm Megumin, I accepted to quest to help you with your magical item."

"Megumin? Megumin as in the legendary-"

"Yes yes, that Megumin but I'm sort of in a time pinch so could you explain where I need to help quick?"

Already exasperated with the constant celebrity treatment Megumin tried to finish things as quick as possible. Although she doubted it would end quick considering how well the pay was.

On the other hand, scared and confused about Megumin's annoyed tone, the man explained in a meek voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss. Megumin, I've just about finished crafting the item and need to put mana in it for it to function. All I need for you is to channel just about as much magic you'd channel into casting Explosion and I'll pay you."

"Huh... really? That's all and you pay me 300k eris?"

As if Megumin's surprised tone gave him some confidence, he answered in a definite tone.

"Yes, I'm confident this product will sell well."

Still surprised and even more suspicious of the man, Megumin decided to interrogate the man. As politely as she could of course, feeling sorry for her original attitude towards him.

"Excuse me if I'm intruding your privacy but what is the item about?'

"Well, that's a secret. I will say that it will at least end up the biggest part of a very important event."

"You're awfully confident about this."

The man only smiled.

"Haha, a lot of people have told me that. I'm mostly this confident because I already have a investor preordering my product for quite the sum."

"I suppose that's nice to hear. Well, I'm ready to begin the process."

"Ok, please just place both of your hands on it and act as if you're casting Explosion."

Taking out a light blue crystal, which Megumin could not help but notice looked a lot like a modified manalite, the man informed Megumin of her task. Following the odd yet simple direction, Megumin laid her hands on top of the crystal and casted explosion, in her head and silently of course. Almost instantly, she felt drained.

"Whew, this is a weird feeling. I feel exhausted as if I casted Explosion but nothings really happened."

The man only let out another light hearted laugh.

"Haha, yes that's the effect of channeling mana into an item thank you so much."

He then pulled a pouch full of Eris and handed it to Megumin.

"Well, pleasure doing business with you(I suppose)."

Content with her earnings Megumin traced her hand over the pouch containing eris she received. She checked multiple times to make sure it was really contained that much Eris, and every single time she counted 300k Eris worth.

With money now obtained, she now had two options. One, ask an adventurer, preferably an archmage to learn some spells that aren't explosion, this option would allow her to take on quests solo and secure a source of income. Or option two, secure dinner and a place to sleep. Before she could give it much thought however, she heard her stomach rumbling. Figuring that a cheap meal couldn't possibly hurt, Megumin sat down at an empty table and called over a waiter.

With her hunger sated, Megumin was now sitting down at her table waiting for someone to read her request.

"Teach me advanced or useful magic spells. Requirement: be at least a mage or an arch mage. Reward: 100k Eris."

Paying 100k thousand Eris would leave Megumin with exactly enough Eris to pay for one night at a low quality inn. This would not be a single problem for her considering she basically lived in a cheap inn for most of her childhood. All there was left to do now was wait.

However, without even a single person coming to approach her, one hour passed. Then two passed, and by the third hour, Megumin doubted anyone would ever accept her request. It was that moment, as if responding to her pleads to above she spotted a familiar face checking out her request.

The young yet well developed girl looked at the request, then looked at where Megumin was seated. As if she couldn't believe her luck she double checked the request's contents to confirm she wasn't seeing things. She then (with great enthusiasm may I add) snatched the quest off the board, showed it to the receptionist, and made her way toward Megumin. All while trying to prevent a smile from creeping up on her face.

"Well Megumin, due to our well, complex relationship I won't charge you for this lesson. So... ummm what do you want to learn first?"

Wow... ummm 2500 words! That's a lot more than usual. Maybe next chapter will have 3000. Anyhow, how did you like this chapter? Was the pacing too fast? Were some words repeated too much? Did I make a grammatical mistake? I take all and any form of constructive criticism as long as it is constructive and not just criticism. Feel feel to leave a comment on what you thought about this chapter(actually please do!) and see you int eh next one!

(btw this story and my account is originally from WattPad so if your confused on some stuff said in the author's note that what it's about)