The carriage rattled through the gates of Axel, the stone archway of the gatehouse rearing above her vehicle reflecting the clatter of iron tired wheels on the stone cobbles for a few moments, making the girl inside wince at the redoubled noise.
Like all her people, her senses were sharper than the human average. The sole exception was the slight loss in color sensitivity they received in trade for outstanding night vision, one of the causes of the Crimson Demon Clan's well known love of bright colors and bold patterns.
Megumin sighed in relief once they reached open air again inside the walls, the clattering wheels merely annoying rather than deafening. At last, the noise stopped as the wheels stopped with a final squeal of the hand brake, and she grabbed her bags and hopped out the door.
It had been a quick, uneventful trip, besides Chomuske's ill fated attempts to stalk grasshoppers nearly as big as she was. Wolbach had provided her with enough funds for a couple of weeks at an inn, and the lack of rumors about Beldia on the road suggested she'd beaten him here.
As expected of her efficient planning! She could take a day or two to save her best rival from being further enmeshed in General Wiz's coils of manipulation and deceit, then borrow her newfound ally to investigate her real assignment!
With a bounce in her step, she strode off, following the directions to the Adventurer's guild to register and begin her very first mission.
A figure in a hooded brown cloak drifted along the streets of Axel, keeping to the crowds and letting Chomuske spot for her, blending with the background as her quarry tried to do the same up ahead.
Grudgingly, the tiny terror could admit that Yunyun wasn't doing a bad job, but Megumin's skills in woodcraft and concealment had been honed by years of daily practice from sheer necessity atop the regular classroom instruction. Knowing that any failure was not merely an embarrassing story to tell over a meal at the tavern or leftovers instead of a freshly cooked dinner, but that she and her family didn't eat that day.
The last two days were honestly boring, for all that she found herself with increasingly unkind thoughts about her best rival's taste in mates. Two of the three men in her new party were no prizes, and she seemed to be pursuing the worst of them today. The blond was handsome enough, but had the air of someone who would string a girl along and drag her into his whirlpool of debt and failure while blaming everyone except himself.
Clearly, she needed a voice of reason before it was too late.
Still, there was an order to these things. Only a child would ruin a dramatic introduction by revealing herself before the opportune moment was upon her. So Megumin bided her time, watching as her rival entered an alley behind her probably cheating boyfriend. Good, maybe she already had an inkling of the problem if she was already investigating. Soon enough, she emerged visibly shaken, only to bowl over a random shopgirl in an act of clumsiness totally unlike her.
And then the trouble began.
Yunyun suddenly seized the other girl, who seemed to be connected to her would-be boyfriend. Not that Megumin had ever been any good at lip reading, but the situation seemed to tell the sad, sordid tale well enough as the man returned and pleaded for the other girl's release. Apparently she was his regular girlfriend, given how she instinctively ran to his so-called protection. The idiot. Any man who tried two timing on her wouldn't live long enough to regret his faithlessness.
He then led them off the street and Megumin couldn't get closer, but after a brief conversation the three dispersed. To her horror, Yunyun even paid her enemy, of all things!
Now determined to have a word immediately, she caught up with the shuffling, heartbroken girl at a food cart.
Yunyun's reflexes hadn't deserted her, even if her mind had been far elsewhere. Leaping away from the cloaked stranger, her hand was on her dagger and the beginnings of a spell began to form around her other hand as the first word finished clearing Megumin's lips.
Megumin approved. Excellent dramatic technique, the glow of the forming spell matched the fiery light of her eyes and straight armed pose of righteous anger. There was hope for her yet. "Well met, Kindred of Crimson!" Megumin declaimed, throwing back her hood and sweeping back her cloak with the proper flourish. Really, who wore jackets when such a superior garment existed? "I come to you now at the turn of the tide, the ebbing point of your fortunes!" For I, Megumin, mistress of Explosion, have come to warn you of a fate most terrible!"
Yunyun's jaw hung open in clear awe at her masterful introduction, releasing her spell as her outstretched hand fell to her side. Megumin took that as an invitation to continue her intervention in the approved style of the clan.
"Yea, woe shall befall you on your present course, lit by the fires of despair and accompanied by the sound of your coin tinkling into the coffers of loan sharks and conmen! Bank the embers of your heart, such that the smoke of desire no longer blinds your mind to the truth! For now is the time, the mome…"
Growing mortification at her friend's antics sent Yunyun storming forward, seizing her friend by the collar in both hands. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! Why are you here!" she cried out, tears in her eyes. Not giving Megumin a chance to answer, she dragged the other girl away by main force. The walking embarrassment dispenser in her grip had almost twisted herself free by the time they reached an alcove off the square.
"W-why are you here?" Yunyun repeated more quietly, releasing her friend. Who then sniffed disdainfully and straightened her red and black dress, turning up her nose.
"To save you from yourself, of course. For all the thanks I get for doing it." Turning to match gazes, she continued "And I'll have you know that I spoke the merest fraction of your peril. For all that your lover…"
"D-dust is NOT my lover! I'd sooner date a goblin! If you knew where he was just now..!" Yunyun hissed back, fists clenched in outrage.
"Your funding the harlot he was cheating on with you says otherwise, but perhaps you might be coming to your senses. Nay, I mean your so-called mentor, who has pulled the darkest of veils over your eyes and led you to paths best left untrodden!"
That brought Yunyun up short, the background noise of the crowd had been drowning out their conversation so far, but Megumin stepped close and dropped her voice further even so.
"I know who, what, Wiz is," she hissed. "She seeks to take advantage of the trust she spent years building with you, with all of us! She tempts you with power undreamed of, respect and fear from all, and authority beyond any save the master she serves! Shapes you into a weapon to rival the Destroyer! Leave, now, while your soul is your own and you still can!" Megumin insisted, and came as close to pleading as she ever could.
Wolbach had told her of Wiz's true nature, and the deeds she performed upon raising herself as an enemy of all life fully matched her publicly known ones as the Ice Witch. She had seen for herself the section of the castle that had to be rebuilt when the freshly raised lich had stormed it alone and demanded tribute from its owner, the Demon King himself, to avoid a repeat performance.
She looked down, placing a hand on her rival's chest over her heart. "Or else I fear one day I shall find a scar here with no life beneath, and have no choice but to end your reign of terror."
The heartbeat beneath her hand, already pattering, sped up further to a gallop, and Yunyun seized her hand, snatching it off of her. Gaze jerking back up, Megumin was greeted with blazing eyes and a wrathful visage she'd never seen before. "Ever since mom's funeral, Wiz has given me more than I can possibly repay. Not only magic, certainly not wealth, but just being someone who took the time to understand what I wanted. That there was a world beyond what a grieving little girl could ever imagine. That I wasn't wrong not to care about… the…the children's games of the Village! That I could help people, and build myself into someone I liked seeing in the mirror most of the time! So don't you dare say that she's been anything but the best mother I could ask for! After you abandoned Komekko for some pointless trinket of a spell when she needed you most! Who couldn't even bother to write to me for weeks after I was practically exiled for saving her for you to say 'I'm sorry' or even 'thank you'! You don't have the right!"
Yunyun seemed to shrink a little, still breathing fast, as if releasing all of that had deflated her like a balloon. Her hand that had been clenched around Megumin's released it to fall to her side as though drained of energy. If Megumin didn't see Yunyun's dagger still in its sheath, she would have been certain her rival had stabbed her through the heart.
It might've hurt less.
Guilt she had been steadfastly ignoring for weeks boiled out of the box she locked it in. Accompanying it was her shame that she couldn't deny any of it. And finally anger at the one who jabbed the still aching wound, and even more so at herself and her failures. All mixed together in a confusing witch's brew that matched anything Makaromi had her make.
Megumin didn't realize her hand had moved until the resounding smack of it meeting Yunyun's forearm raised to block reached her ears. Automatically she twisted to take the kick, the follow up she knew was coming like she knew her name, raising her knee to let it glance across her thigh instead of bury itself in her gut.
A flurry of blows followed, a jab/cross/uppercut combo by Yunyun defeated by Megumin parrying the first two and leaning well back to let the final one skim past her nose, letting the motion leading her into a kick of her own that was in turn defeated by Yunyun following the uppercut in and denying it the distance to build power. Attempting a grapple that played to her superior strength, she nearly had Megumin until the lighter wizard dropped her hips and rolled her shoulder to get underneath and attempt to toss Yunyun in turn.
Just like being back in gym class at the Red Prison. Each move predicted and countered, just like they'd practiced against each other times beyond counting.
A clatter of hobnails on stone and the sound of a whistle broke in on their most un-wizardlike duel. Someone, realizing that two Crimson Demons having a brawl could easily turn into a story told to frighten children, had called the town Watch to intervene.
The two hastily disentangled from each other, scratches, scrapes, and budding bruises marring both their hands and elsewhere. The pounding boots grew louder, and Megumin grabbed her rival's wrist, causing a wince at aggravating a strained ligament, and pulled her away at a run only slightly slowed by her own bruised knee.
After a block or two and a few turns, they halted, Megumin finally releasing her. Feeling the weight of Yunyun's gaze on her from behind, she swallowed once, but did not turn.
Megumin had weighed Explosion against everything else all her life, and it had always won. No matter if she were hungry, or cold, or lonely, the promise that she would master the greatest spell known if only she kept going, took one more step, kept her moving forward. All for the sake of bringing her dream to reality.
A dream that nearly cost her everything else.
"I…I thought I loved my family more than anything. I had enough points for Advanced Magic. I had for months by then. I just didn't want to leave…graduate yet. But when I had both Explosion and Komekko in front of me, I froze. The idea that I'd have to give it up after all, when I was so close, I couldn't imagine it. And then when Komekko asked me later to invite you to dinner, so she could give her share to you as thanks for saving her…I realized what I'd almost done," she finally turned to meet her eyes. "You were a better sister to her than I was at that moment. I can never repay that, and if you were anyone else I'd hate you for it."
"M-megumin…" Yunyun whispered, touched despite herself.
She nodded firmly to herself, shaking off her melancholy and straightening to her full, modest, height. "But! But! I can pay a debt forward! So I, now, at this moment, I shall pledge my life, fortune, and sacred honor to remove you from the clutches of evil and return you to your rightful place at the head of the Clan!"
Yunyun's soft gaze turned to incredulity at her friend's impassioned promise. "Of for…I know what I'm doing! I don't need saving!" Yunyun exclaimed, as she threw up her hands in disgust, wincing at moving her right shoulder too quickly.
Megumin nodded sagely as her best rival turned and stalked away. That, of course, was what someone who needed rescuing would say.
To no one's surprise, least of all Yunyun's, when the Watch was summoned to break up a fight between two Crimson Demons who then ran away from them, they didn't have much trouble tracking down the only two Crimson Demons in town to ask questions.
Thankfully, scuffles among adventurers were nothing new or rare, so the main problem had been with running from them rather than the fight itself. An admonition to take it outside the walls if they needed to settle things and a fine for evading arrest Yunyun happily paid instead of spending a night in lockup had been the end of it.
Better still, Wiz had been out of town on an errand and so hadn't had to hear about her apprentice making a spectacle of herself and manhandling someone. Twice in an hour, to Yunyun's growing despair at her downward spiral into delinquency.
"And here I thought you were going to be all stuck up and prissy like Rin! Disorderly conduct isn't much of a record, but it's a start! Put it there!" Dust cheered as she entered the guild the next day, standing and offering his hand in sincere congratulations that filled her with shame all over again.
"P-please don't…" she whispered, looking around hastily at the scattering of other adventurers in the hall. Megumin wasn't present, but she had already overheard stories about her confronting Dust over his 'cheating' and died a little inside at each one.
The swordsman stepped closer, and lowered his voice. "Lolisa says thanks for letting her go, and paying for the bottle, by the way. And to call if ever you need something."
Not sure just how to handle a demon owing her a favor, Yunyun just nodded jerkily and went to their table.
"I told you he was nothing but trouble," Rin shook her head as her fellow wizard sat by her. "Some things are just better not to know. Grab some toast, Taylor is looking for a quest."
Yunyun perked right up. A little magical violence with her party sounded like the perfect thing to forget her troubles.
Meanwhile…
"THIS IS TYRANNY! TYRANNY I SAY!" Megumin ranted through the bars of her cell. This had no more effect than the many other times she'd expressed her rightful outrage. Including at the two watch officers who came to issue her fine, and then arrested her rather than admit the truth of her well founded views on the rightness of accusing her of a crime based on the merest hearsay!
Turning with a huff, she stomped over to her straw pallet and plopped down, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the wall to glare out the barred door. Her only audience was the drunk across from her snoring like a lumber mill, as she had all night and morning.
Honestly, it was infuriating! This wasn't how her first secret mission was supposed to go at all! She was supposed to find her best rival languishing in the grip of the secretly evil betrayer! Who's true colors she had realized only too late and, now desperate to escape her clutches if only the hero(ine) would aid her in her darkest hour, called upon their bond of fellowship for succor!
Nearly beating the heroine black and blue and ripping the bandage off an emotional wound she had been desperately trying to avoid thinking about was not part of the script. All while everything Megumin had seen even in these few days implied that her future chief was happier here than she'd ever seen her. It didn't mean anything of course. Those eris she earned in quests with her new party, and the trips with General Wiz to the market or out to a cafe to chatter over tea were false happiness, paid for with deceit! And treachery! And…
She huffed. Well it didn't matter what with. The point was it needed to end before it was too late, because her real mission to watch General Beldia couldn't start until she had some reliable backup. Wolbach certainly wouldn't have told him that she was around, so the usual professional courtesy about stepping on each other's toes wouldn't apply. She needed people who were willing to get out of town and go near the castle he seemed to have holed up at for the time being, without asking too many questions about what they were doing out there in the first place…
Not long after she arrived at the guild the next morning, once the Watch finally turned her loose, she thought she found her answer while perusing the party recruiting notices.
"Hi! I'm Len, and this is Talitha! Thanks for answering our notice, are you new in town?"
The pair of adventurers before her seemed to be a priestess and some sort of light frontline fighter. Len was black haired and blue eyed, middling height, and slender, with light armor that would probably suit a Thief or other knife fighter class. Meanwhile the light brown haired and eyed Talitha was on the shorter side much like herself, and built to match, thankfully. She had noticed that the other girls in her class were starting to fill out lately, and Arue already had. Aggressively. It was nice to see someone else her age or a little older that wasn't gaudily blossoming.
"Indeed! As of three days ago I am a registered adventurer of Axel," she agreed heartily while nursing a crimson beer, which was clearly the most appropriate drink for her. "I am an archwizard of the Crimson Demon Clan, in need of a party!"
"Oh! You must know Yunyun then, we were in a party with her a few times before she joined up with Taylor's," Len noted. "Are you here to pick up your advanced magic too?"
"Hardly," Megumin scoffed, ignoring a twinge of guilt. "I command the greatest of magics already! I merely came to visit for a short time, but found myself in need of some eris and a quest!"
"What a coincidence, we're here for both of those too," Talitha chuckled. "You do know that with Beldia here the last couple days the quests have been drying up though? Choices are going to be pretty slim."
"So be it," Megumin intoned gravely. "If I must even brave the general's domain to accomplish this task, then that is what I shall do."
"I don't know about challenging a general, but we should at least try to make rent this month," Talitha agreed. "The frogs seem to have all left, but you can always count on kobolds to hang around longer than is smart. I saw a quest for eliminating a group of three nests about half a day's walk east from here."
"A sound plan, let's be about it then," Megumin agreed. She'd never killed any kobolds, but had read of them in bestiaries covering creatures in less dangerous areas. How hard could it be?
So, the trio set out with the freshly taken quest page in hand, the two flanking her on either side.
Megumin wondered about some of the chuckles and sympathetic looks she got from the other adventurers, but it was only natural that ignorance of her awesome might would cause the more foolish to underestimate her prowess. They would learn the error of their ways soon enough!
The trio found their prey more or less where they were supposed to be. Which said a lot about the kobold's judgment given Beldia's fortress wasn't so very far away, and undead weren't picky, but that was neither here nor there.
"There's a clearing about 300 meters ahead," Len whispered after shimmying down the tree he'd climbed. "I make maybe twenty, given the number of burrows."
Megumin and Talitha nodded. That sounded about right for a kobold pack, according to Megumin's reading. Talitha certainly didn't seem to find it odd.
"We can circle around downwind if we're careful, there's decent cover and you're pretty good in the woods," he went on, speaking to Megumin. "I think we can surprise them."
"Indeed we can, but if you help me up that tree I shall dispatch them here and now," Megumin replied, slinging her staff across her shoulders and beginning to scramble upwards.
Sharing a confused look with the priestess, he did just that, showing her where he saw their prey from. Explosion's one limitation was that like all magic the wizard had to see what she was casting at.
"Perfect. Be ready to catch me," she warned the man, then began to chant.
A blazing ring of fire appeared over the nest, glowing brighter and brighter as she went.
A few kobolds poked their heads out, startled and yipping in alarm, but it was far too late. A ball of light bloomed over the target as though the sun had descended to earth.
Megumin felt Len frantically grab her around the waist and wrap his other arm around the tree trunk right before the shockwave first whipped the tree away from the blast, then reversed itself and tried to suck it and them into the fireball blooming overhead.
"Beautiful…" Megumin sighed lazily, gazing up at her handiwork and limp in his grip as he tried to get them back down. This took some doing until Talitha scrambled up and caught the wizard's feet, lowering her the rest of the way to the ground, where she lay with a happy smile.
"We didn't even have to lift a finger!" Len exclaimed as he landed next to her, coughing as the dust settled. "At this rate we'll be done before supper! Let's go get the next nest!"
Megumin coughed as well and looked away, hating the pink coloring her cheeks. "I can only unleash my might once per day. But no matter, we shall simply come back tomorrow and the next day and finish the other two nests!"
"Oh yeah? Well the problem with that is we've only got two days to do the job! So what exactly do you suggest? And why are you still on the ground?" Talitha demanded. "Did you hit your head?" The priestess readied a healing spell as she looked Megumin over.
Megumin blushed more deeply. "I can't move until I recover some of my mana. Would one of you be so kind as to carry me?"
The irritated looks on the pair's faces fell into outright disbelief. Len motioned to his partner and they stepped aside for a quick whispered conversation followed by matching nods.
"We were going to make an offer at the end of the quest, but this is such a perfect opportunity! Are you ready to make Aqua your personal goddess? We have a special limited time offer!" Talitha chirped as she crouched at Megumin's side.
"Act now and we'll throw in a trip to safety and forgiveness in the name of our Lady for wasting our time…" Len chimed in, dangling an Axis recruitment form in front of the immobile wizard's face.
'Dammit.' She'd hoped she heard the last of the Axis Cult already. "I don't suppose you'd just bring me back to town without signing?"
"Well…thanks to you we can't complete the quest without going back to recruit someone else, so we might lose the reward, and most of today besides," Len rejoined. "And the Word of Aqua doesn't spread itself, you know."
Unlike most fungus, Megumin grumbled darkly to herself. "Fine. Bring me back and I'll make a donation for what the quest would pay you." She could make it up on the next one. Hopefully.
The two shared a look, and Talitha shrugged. "Better than nothing. At least we won't have to raid the Erisites again, they're getting smarter. Deal," she said, and Len hoisted Megumin up into a fireman's carry.