I
〚 A Quest for Two〛
Kazuma stared at the ceiling, bored out of his mind. With Aqua and Megumin out of the
house for an errand–Megumin's "secret meetings" with Iris–in the capital it was awfully quiet.
He never knew that the day would come that he wished Aqua was home to liven things up, but
he couldn't just let Megumin go alone. What if she spots a nice looking rock and decides to add
another landscape to her long list of explosion targets? She'll be rendered immobile and
vulnerable. Who knows how long she'll be le there? He never really showed it much, but he
actually cared for party members. They were a pain in the back but they at least had each other's
backs.
"Kazuma, what would you like for dinner?"
At least Darkness was here to keep him company. She was a great companion, really
great to talk with too, if you can look past the extreme masochism, but as long as he didn't
trigger that landmine he'd be just fine.
"Anything is fine," he answered. He was usually the one doing the cooking but he wasn't
really in the mood to cook.
"Well, we still have hours before dinner," Darkness looked at Kazuma, who was lying on
the couch, "Maybe we should take a quest?"
Kazuma broke his staring contest with the ceiling and looked at Darkness, "It's just the
two of us though."
"I'm sure we'll find one that we can manage."
Kazuma looked back up at the ceiling, "You just want to get hit don't you?"
He glances back at Darkness who was now looking at the ground, a tinge of red painted
on her cheek, "That's it isn't it?" Darkness only shuffles uncomfortably at his words.
"No."
"Wait Kazuma please! Wouldn't it be bad if we got rusty and weak by the time Megumin
and Aqua come back? We should go on adventures to keep ourselves in top shape!" Upon
hearing her words Kazuma sighed. Darkness kept a righteous look on her face, but Kazuma
knew her well enough to know what she actually wanted. He would much rather just stay at
home than entertain this masochist.
"When have we ever gotten rusty? We've taken breaks longer than this, you know?"
"But what if-"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"H-how can I convince you?" Kazuma flinched at how Darkness spoke, he glanced at her
and noticed that she was now looking directly at him, the red tinge on her face was becoming
more vibrant. She put a hand near her mouth, sandwiching her forearm between her chest, she
also rubbed her thighs together. Kazuma knew what this meant, he had seen her do this before,
and it was always when her masochism would get triggered.
"Kazuma you scum, you wouldn't be interested in my body would you?" The words she
spoke did not match her expression. Words that would usually be spoken with a look of disgust,
were instead spoken with a look of yearning and excitement.
"W-who would want to be with you?" Kazuma stuttered as he attempted to mask his
embarrassment. "You're just a noble with a 5 star body but a 1 star personality."
"What's wrong with my personality?!"
"The fact that you don't know is one of the problems!"
"Kazuma, I know that the way I am might be a little strange," He grimaced at 'might be',
"But I don't see anything wrong with how I act or what I prefer!" Darkness struck a 'noble' pose
as she ended her sentence.
"That's a lot worse than not knowing what the problem is, you know?!"
"Even then, we can't just laze around all day!"
"Why should I have to go on a quest?" Darkness sighed and slowly proposed an offer.
"I'll handle toilet cleaning duty until Megumin and Aqua come back." Upon hearing the
offer, Kazuma's face lights up and the hesitation that was previously plastered on his face
disappears.
"Deal."
~x~
"There's a Rookie Killer in the area," Darkness pointed to a flier that depicted a
panther-like beast surrounded by goblins.
"No, we could barely handle them with the whole party. We wouldn't have a chance
without Megumin and Aqua."
"Be honest, do they even contribute much when we hunt?" Kazuma paused. Darkness
had a point, but he was still uncomfortable with attacking a Rookie Killer without Megumin's
[Explosion] or Aqua's [Heal].
"Even then, what if something goes wrong? We're not taking the risk."
Darkness nods, slightly disappointed.
"Luna, are there any easier quests?"
She looks at Kazuma, then away from him in thought. A couple seconds later she faces
him again.
"Now that I think about it, we do have this," she says as she pulls out a relatively new
looking poster, not even a single hole on it to signify that it was put up in the bulletin board, "a
group of miners forgot their gear in the mines, but skeletons have appeared in the area where
they lost it, so they need someone capable of fighting to get it back for them."
It was tempting. If it was just a few skeletons then he could just use [Fireball] and defeat
them.
"What's in it for us?" he asked.
"5000 eris."
It wasn't much but Kazuma and Darkness weren't going for the money anyway. This
adventure was spurred on by boredom. He shot a look at Darkness, as if to say 'Should we take
it?'. The perverted crusader gave him a nod and with that, Kazuma took the quest.
~x~
The trip to the mines was quiet..he wished.
"Kazuma, do you think the skeletons are tough?"
He knew where this was going. He didn't like it, not one bit.
"Why does it matter?" he asked.
"Do you think it'll hurt when they hit me?"
Not this again.
"Maybe it will," Darkness' face became redder at Kazuma's answer, and her breathing
became more labored.
He had to put up with questions like those until they arrived at the mine.
~x~
They finally arrived at the mines. It didn't have an ominous energy that Keele's Dungeon
did so he was sure that they would be fine. Though, the entrance to the mines did look a little
eerie. There was moss on the stones and the wooden frame looked aged. 'Just a few skeletons,
how bad can it be?' Kazuma thought, trying to reassure himself.
"Is this the one Kazuma?"
"It's the only one around here, it better be," he glanced at Darkness, finding her
expression had little hints of worry despite looking mostly calm. She definitely felt the eeriness
too. Something wasn't right about this quest.
"Well, then," Kazuma broke the silence, in an attempt to reassure her, he gave Darkness a
cocky grin, "let's go!"
Darkness straightened her back and took a deep breath. She smiled at him while
exhaling and nodded.
They walked up to the entrance of the mine. It was dark so he told Darkness to hold on
to him. She opted to hold onto his arm.
"[Farsight]" Kazuma muttered under his breath, and the depths of the mines were now
visible, to some extent at least.
It was a strange sight. Darkness couldn't see in the dark so he couldn't get a second
opinion, but to him, it looked cleaner than he expected a mine would be. There weren't many
rocks on the ground, and the walls looked smoother than one would expect. He tried to reassure
himself, 'Maybe they were mining deeper into the minesha .' he thought. Just to be sure though,
he pulled Darkness closer to him and quietly said, "[Lurk]".
Darkness blushed when Kazuma suddenly pulled her closer, but a er hearing him cast
his stealth skill, she told herself that it was only for their safety and calmed down. In her
quietest voice she asked, "Do you see the skeletons?"
"Not yet," he replied, "I've just got a bad feeling about this."
"You too?"
Kazuma didn't reply, he only nodded. He figured since they were really close together,
she would be able to tell. He led Darkness deeper into the minesha . The deeper they went, the
more doubt Kazuma felt. Something wasn't right. The walls looked relatively untouched, and the
ground lacked any loose rocks or miner's gear. Just as Kazuma finished that thought, he heard a
voice that was neither his nor Darkness', and saw a light slowly approaching. In the nick of time
he created an earth wall with [Create Earth] just tall enough for them to crouch behind and
hide. Kazuma covered Darkness' mouth with his le hand.
"Where are they?" the voice was deep, a man's voice for sure.
"I don't know, the boss said they took the quest but my skeletons can't find the
priestess's aura at all," a feminine voice came next.
This was exactly what Kazuma was worried about. This quest was a trap, these people
planned to ambush them.
Kazuma looked at Darkness. Their faces were so close together that he almost panicked,
it didn't help that the light from the two unknown people let them see each other clearly. He
could feel her breathe into his palm, and he blushed. Upon seeing Kazuma blush, Darkness'
cheeks also became a light shade of red. He could feel the warmth of her face on his palm.
"Hey, was that dirt wall always there?" the man asked.
"Now that I think about it, no. It wasn't there the last time we checked." the woman
answered, Kazuma couldn't see it, but a sly smile appeared on her face. He knew one thing for
sure though: they were caught, and there was no way out of it except for fighting.
He took his palm off of Darkness' mouth, and moved it towards the hilt of his sword,
Chunchunmaru. He took a deep breath..and jumped out of his hiding spot, running towards the
voices. He spotted a woman with brown hair and a body that could compare to Wiz's, though
this woman was taller and her demeanor reminded him of how Sylvia was when they first met,
in her hand was a staff with a black orb on the tip, in her o and, a torch.
If he knew he was fighting people then he would've brought his bow with him. 'Screw it'
he thought as he pulled his sword out of the sheath and sprinted towards the woman. His time
with Chris, during their adventures as the Chivalrous Thieves Duo has given him a bit of
experience with fighting, so if things went well, he would be able to apprehend the woman fairly
easily. Life however, wasn't that easy. Kazuma was reminded of this as a fist appeared from
behind the woman just as he lunged at her. The fist hit him in the chest, and he flew backwards
from the impact.
"Kazuma!" Darkness screamed, part of her was worried for Kazuma, but another part of
her wondered what it would be like to be hit like that.
A man emerged from the shadows. It was a bald man wearing leather armor, his body
type reminded Kazuma of his coworkers during the days where he did manual labor to scrape by.
In his le hand was a large shield, he was fidgeting with his right hand and looked at it in
delight a er seeing how he sent Kazuma flying with it.
"Don't you know how to hold back?" the woman giggled while saying this.
"Trust me, I did."
Darkness went to Kazuma's side, helping him up.
"Are you alright?" she asked, while looking at the pair in front of them.
"That hurt like hell," Kazuma replied before casting [Heal] on himself, he still has mana
to spare so a fight against these two shouldn't be too bad. Kazuma reached into his pouch and
pulled out a rope, it wasn't the Mithril one he usually used but he wasn't expecting anything
more than skeletons, so this was all he brought. He planned to restrain the woman so she
couldn't use her staff, and team up on the man. He was about to tell Darkness this, but then she
ran towards the woman, sword in hand. She lunged at her, only to be hit by the man just like
Kazuma did. A loud shameless moan came out of Darkness' mouth as she got hit. 'This
perverted crusader, I swear.' Kazuma thought to himself while helping Darkness up.
"That was amazing," she said.
This barely fazed Kazuma anymore. He just sighed and said, "I'll bind the woman, when
I do we gang up on baldy over there." Darkness nodded and prepared to do as planned, but
before Kazuma could even start to run towards the woman she shouted.
"Rise, my minions!"
"A necromancer?" Kazuma panicked, he's never seen one before, and Aqua was currently
accompanying Megumin in the capital. He was almost amazed at the sight of a necromancer,
until a large group of skeletons marched forward from behind her.
"Seriously?" Kazuma was utterly disappointed. Darkness was too, the confusion on her
face was noticeable even in the low light of the torch.
"Aren't you a necromancer?" Kazuma asked, causing the woman to fluster.
"Y-yes I am! It's just that there aren't any dead bodies around so I brought some undead
ahead of time!" she quickly answered, trying to save whatever awe for her they had le .
"That's underwhelming," Darkness remarks, much to 'necromancer's' dismay.
"We'll see who's underwhelming when the four of you get defeated by my skeletons!" she
looks at us in confusion, "Wait, where are the other two?"
"Not here obviously," Kazuma answers.
"So there's only two of you here right now?" the woman asked, the pair of enemies
looked confused while the group of skeletons just stood there, waiting for a command.
"Did that torch make you blind or are you just stupid?" Kazuma quipped, "As you can see
there's only two of us right now."
"Kazuma, is it really okay to tell them?" Darkness looked at him, a little worried.
"It'll be fine," he flashed her a cocky grin, which didn't do much to reassure her.
"I'm not stupid!" the woman shouted, obviously irritated. Kazuma chuckled at how easy
it was to provoke her.
"Hey, relax," the man tried to calm her down, "the priestess and the archmage are gone,
so it'll be easier for us."
The woman took a breath and recollected herself, the sly smile returned to her face,
"You're right, all we have to deal with now is the adventurer, and the meatshield."
"H-how dare you call me a meatshield!" Her words had a small hint of anger in them, but
her face said something else. She was blushing and breathing heavily. 'I swear I'm gonna punish
this perverted crusader,' Kazuma thought to himself, 'no wait, she might like that.'
"Skeletons, attack!" the necromancer yelled. Kazuma figured out a way to win though,
but first he had to shut the woman up.
"Darkness can you take on the skeletons?" In order to stop the necromancer, he had to
get through the skeletons protecting her, not to mention the man holding a shield. The rope he
held in his hand wasn't that strong, if he aimed for the man's torso, he wouldn't have any
difficulty breaking it.
"Yes, Kazuma, thank you for this opportunity." Darkness answered, her breathing
becoming more and more labored and her face becoming flushed. He sighed and cut the rope in
half.
The skeletons ran towards them, but just before they reached the pair Darkness let out a
shout and activated her skill, "[Decoy]". All the skeletons flocked towards her, luckily they only
used blunt weapons. Darkness' defense stat was so high that they didn't give her any injuries. It
was clear to Kazuma that she was being hit a lot too, it was evident in the frequency of her
moans.
He ran past the skeletons—currently occupied with one perverted crusader—and readied
himself to take on the shield-bearing man, who positioned himself a few feet in front of the
necromancer. Except he didn't take him on, instead he threw a rope at his legs and yelled,
"[Bind]". The man tripped and tried to so en his fall by letting his hands land first, little did the
man know that it was not a good idea to put his hands close to each other. Kazuma threw the
second half of the rope he cut and yelled [Bind] again.
"Untie me right now!" The man commanded, his arms and legs bound by rope. Kazuma
only gave him a smug grin as he ran towards the necromancer.
"Wait! Get away from me!" the necromancer yelled. Obviously, Kazuma didn't stop, as if
he would stop. He yearned for true gender equality, if defeating a necromancer woman would
prove that he did, then he would do it. It also didn't help the necromancer's case that she was an
enemy that tried to defeat them.
"Skelet-" He lunged at her with a hand out, and covered her mouth before she could
finish.
"[Create Water], [Freeze]!" He yelled in quick succession. He didn't want to kill her so
instead of using the killer move he used on Mitsurugi, he only let the water flow into her mouth
before he froze it, instead of her throat. A necromancer was very rare in this world, he thought
that by doing this, he could turn her in and get a large sum of money.
The necromancer panicked, she dropped her staff and torch, which fortunately stayed lit,
and grabbed Kazuma's forearm. She tried to speak, but all the words she tried to speak came out
muffled and incomprehensible. Kazuma succeeded, she could no longer command her skeletons
to attack him.
"Get away from her!" the man yelled, which Kazuma ignored.
He kicked her legs, and using the hand that's covering her mouth, he threw her to the
ground on her back. He straddled her and grabbed her wrists, holding them above her head.
"H-hey what are you planning to do with her?!" the man who was still bound yelled at
him.
Realizing what he looked like, he panicked and shouted, "Wait, you're
misunderstanding!" He quickly tried to clear it up by doing what he was planning to do. "[Drain
Touch]!" He watched the struggling necromancer slowly fall asleep as she ran out of mana, then
stood up.
"She barely had any mana le on her!" Kazuma shouted in disappointment. Due to the
necromancer losing consciousness, the skeletons she controlled became like puppets with their
strings cut. As they fell, he saw Darkness with her arms out, her face full of ecstasy, a little drool
flowing from her mouth. 'This perverted crusader is a pain in the neck.' Kazuma thought.
"How dare you!" the man shouted angrily.
"What're you gonna do? Are you gonna cry?" Kazuma taunted him as much as he could.
The man growled at him, angry at being teased. Kazuma kept laughing, until he saw the
man's eyes turning a little yellow, and hair growing from all parts of his body rapidly. He noticed
the man's teeth become sharper and more beast-like, but only when beast ears grew out from his
head did he realize what he was: a werewolf. 'Don't werewolves only turn at a full moon?' he
thought to himself while panicking. The newly turned werewolf didn't give him the time to
think as he broke Kazuma's bind and got up. He let out a roar and showed off his claws, as if
daring Kazuma to try taunting him again.
"Darkness?" Kazuma called out to her, making her snap out of whatever trance she was
in.
"What is that thing!?" Darkness belatedly screamed.
"It's a werewolf, we gotta get out of here!"
"A what?"
"JUST RUN!"
Kazuma grabbed Darkness and ran, the werewolf was faster though, so he quickly caught
up to them. They had to get out of this minesha . Closed space won't help them win against the
werewolf, but with him right on their tail, Kazuma was le with two choices, one was to fight.
The other, however, could help them get out of the minesha , the only problem was that
Kazuma didn't know if it would work as intended. He had to try it though, fighting the werewolf
would be risky, Darkness' defense stat might be insanely high, but she wasn't going to be
unscathed when hit with those claws.
He sighed, carried Darkness on his back, and shouted, "[Escape]"
The skill let him outrun the werewolf, it was harder to run with Darkness on his back,
but he didn't have the luxury to complain. Aqua wasn't here so if he died he wouldn't be revived.
Even if they wanted to revive him, they would have to find his body first, and nothing is
stopping the werewolf from leaving nothing behind. Eventually, he manages to put a few meters
between him and the pursuer. He ran as fast as his legs could handle, and made it out of the
mines. The werewolf would catch up soon, so he looked for a place to hide.
Kazuma spotted a large boulder near the edge of the forest and ran for it. He crouched behind it
and quietly said, "[Lurk]". He didn't cover Darkness' mouth this time, she knew to be quiet.
'What am I supposed to do?' Kazuma thought, 'Should I use silver? Is silver even in this world?
What the hell is its weakness?'
His thoughts were cut short when he felt an arm wrap around him. Darkness didn't say a word
and just gave Kazuma a determined look, which sort of reassured him. She was nervous, even if
she tried not to show it, yet she still tried to comfort him. He exhaled and wrapped an arm
around her, giving her a hug. Well, he tried his best at least. Intimacy is by no means one of
Kazuma's skills. What he thought was a hug was closer to awkward squeezing.
Their moment of intimacy is cut short by a howl coming from the mines that they just
escaped from. The howl sent shivers down Kazuma's spine. The hair on his neck stood up, and
goosebumps began to form on his arms. He had to find the werewolf's weakness. He doesn't
have silver—he doesn't even know if silver exists in this world. It's risky, but the only thing he
can do is use trial-and-error to find his weakness.
He breathed deeply and quietly said, "Jump out of here with me, okay?" Darkness
nodded, her eyes shined as if she was looking forward to tanking whatever attacks the werewolf
might do. 'Wasn't this girl a little nervous just a while ago?' Kazuma sighed.
"Quit hiding ya runts!" The werewolf commanded. What did he expect them to do? Obey
him? No, despite how he appears, the man-turned-werewolf wasn't stupid. He didn't expect
them to obey him. It was evident in the way that Kazuma defeated the necromancer, that he
wasn't an idiot. However, Kazuma betrayed his expectations when he and Darkness jumped out
of their hiding place.
"You actually did what I asked." The werewolf was surprised. Was the adventurer who
defeated the necromancer actually an idiot?
"Shut up," Kazuma shouted, "I didn't do this because you told me to!" Darkness nodded.
The werewolf ignored his statement and lunged at them.
"Darkness!" In response to his call, Darkness stood in front of Kazuma and prepared to
block the werewolf's attack. Her sword clashed with his claws as the werewolf unleashed a
barrage of attacks. One attack slipped past Darkness' defense and hit her shoulderguard. It
shattered into numerous pieces. This was bad, Kazuma now knew that it was possible to be
harmed while fighting against this man-beast. He had to find his weakness, and soon.
"[Create Earth]" Kazuma yelled. A fistful of dirt hit the werewolf, just slightly dirtying
his fur.
"What?" the werewolf was more confused than he was when they jumped out of their
hiding spot. Was he actually stupid? Even Darkness looked at him in confusion.
Kazuma ignored him and prepared to cast another spell. "[Create Water]". A stream of
water landed on the werewolf, soaking his fur.
"No seriously, what are you doing?" the werewolf said.
"Kazuma, did you hit your head on the way out of the mines?" Darkness was just as
confused as the werewolf.
"I'm trying to find the werewolf's weakness." He calmly explained. If you could call the
irritated tone in his voice, calm.
"Excuse me? Werewolf?" The werewolf seemed offended, "Don't compare me to those
unruly beasts. This is just my top-tier transformation magic!" He proudly claimed. It sort of
reminded him of how Megumin described explosion magic.
"So you're a werewolf?" Kazuma asked.
"I just told you I wasn't!"
"Transforming into a man-wolf hybrid is what werewolves do though?"
"Just shut up!" The werewolf lunged at Kazuma.
"Don't forget about me!" Darkness stepped in front of Kazuma in order to block the
attack. A loud clang sound was made when the claws and sword clashed, this time however, the
sword wasn't able to handle the impact, and shattered. He can't let this battle drag on. The
werewolf could attack Darkness, but she survived an explosion from Megumin, she could
definitely handle some pseudo-werewolf's attacks. Her armor and gear however, wouldn't be as
lucky. He already had enough to worry about when it came to finances because of a certain
useless goddess, the need to purchase new gear wouldn't make too much of a dent, but it'll still
leave a mark.
"Darkness, get behind me!"
"Ah.. Kazuma, do I have to..?"
I sighed upon seeing the look on her face and ran in front of her. The pseudo-werewolf
took this as a challenge and charged at him.
"[Create Earth], [Wind Breath]." I blew the newly created dirt into the pseudo-wolf's
eyes, making him squeal as he was blinded.
Now just running haphazardly, the pseudo-wolf was easy to dodge. I ducked under one of
his blind swings and ran behind him. As my hand aimed at his back I loudly chanted,
"[Fireball]."
As the fireball made contact with his back, his fur caught fire. He screamed as he rolled
on the ground, doing all he could to extinguish the flame.
"Darkness! Head back to town and call for help!"
"But what about you?"
"There's so much more I want to do in this world, as if I would die!"
"Be safe okay?" I nodded as she started running towards the town. At this point, the
pseudo-wolf has already extinguished the flame and is now even angrier than before.
"You bastard! I'll make sure to leave nothing behind for your friends to find for that
one!" I flinched in fear, but I knew that I couldn't let myself waver.
"Bring it on werewolf!" At the word 'werewolf' that pseudo-wolf got even more agitated
and lunged at me. I triggered [Escape] again and let the boost in speed help me dodge, I circled
behind him and hopped on his back. A er firmly planting my hands on his back I yelled,
"[Drain Touch]".
The pseudo-wolf screamed, I could tell that his form was getting slightly smaller. I
gathered as much of his mana as I could. It was very possible to just drain his mana and render
him unconscious but the pseudo-wolf was smart and jumped up in a way that would make his
back land first. As I was focused on making sure he couldn't shake me off, I couldn't escape. A
groan le my mouth as I landed on the ground with the weight of the pseudo-wolf on top of me.
He jumped up first, and as I looked at him, I noticed that his stature was now less muscular. It
was obvious that [Drain Touch] helped a lot. As I was getting up he lunged at me, but I was too
dazed to dodge. His claws made contact with my chest, leaving three gashes on it. Another
scream resounded through the forest, but this time it was mine. When I looked up at the wolf, he
was laughing.
"Not so strong now, huh?"
I glared at him, but there wasn't much I could do. My mana was still not full even a er
using [Drain Touch] on him. I could only use two spells more, and my body wouldn't be able to
handle me using more than one skill. I sighed and thought of a plan. It wasn't easy to think
though, as the pseudo-wolf's heavy steps would make the ground I was crunched up on shake. I
needed an attack that would render the pseudo-wolf defeated, but I can't do that with the spells
I have now. That's when it hit me. I could definitely make a huge attack without magic. I sucked
air in through my teeth, and waited for the pseudo-wolf to be in front of me, and as he came to a
stop, I murmured, "[Heal]." and ran past the pseudo-wolf, towards the mine.
"Oi, where ya' going punk!" His speech was obviously more delinquent-like now, perhaps
it's a side-effect of staying in that form for too long, but that didn't matter to me. I just kept
running, while dodging the pseudo-wolf's attacks every now and then. Soon we reached around
50 meters into the mine, at that point I turned around, which prompted the pseudo-wolf to slow
down.
"The hell did you think was gonna happen? Now you'll never escape!" He lunged at me
while laughing. As he lunged I murmured, "[Escape]." and used the speed boost to duck under
the attack and run towards the entrance.
As I was running I suddenly thought to myself, 'Why did I make Darkness leave? She was
strong and durable, she could easily tank the pseudo-wolf's attacks. So why did I put myself in a
situation where I was at a disadvantage? Was it because I was worried about the amount of
money needed to repair her gear? No, that doesn't make sense. If I was worried, I could have just
repaired it myself since I had the [Smithing] skill. Was it because I didn't want her to get hurt?
But I knew she had a high defense stat, even if she got hit it shouldn't hurt her at all. Perhaps, I
just didn't like seeing her get hit? Maybe Vanir was right, and I did have feelings for Darkness.
Was the decision to make Darkness go back to town, one made by my mind, or my heart?
My train of thought was cut short by the loud footsteps that reverberated throughout the
floor of the mine. I already used up one spell, and the one skill I had. I only had one spell to
defeat the pseudo-wolf.
"Bastard, quit runnin'!" I did not stop. I kept going, but he was getting closer. For this
plan to work, I had to make sure that he was still around ten meters in the mine. As I got closer
to the entrance of the mine, the distance between us lessened to five meters. I estimated that I
was six meters away from the entrance. This was bad. I bit my lip as I turned around, 'Screw it', I
thought.
I turned around and chanted, "[Fireball]." Before the fireball even landed on the
pseudo-wolf, a huge dust explosion started between us, blowing the pseudo-wolf deeper into the
mine, and I, just outside of it. My skin was burning, this explosion hit me too a er all. My eyes
watched as the mine collapsed before my vision darkened, I had overused my mana. Before I
passed out, I could hear my name being shouted, but I couldn't see the source of the sound
before my eyes closed.
~x~
"Kazuma!" I yelled out, I ran far ahead of the adventurers that I brought with me.
Kazuma told me that he would stay safe, but the explosion made me worry. Did the monster that
he called a werewolf know explosion magic? I shook my head and kept running. The priority
was to find Kazuma.
"Kazuma!" I yelled again. My heart tightened when I received no reply. I kept running,
and when I found the entrance of the mine, I couldn't hide my shock. It had collapsed, leaving
the mine blocked and with no way to enter. In front of the rubble I found Kazuma, unconscious
on the ground.
"No…" I hurried over to him, and found his body in a rough state. The cloth around his
chest had tears that revealed remnants of blood and wounds that weren't fully healed. The rest
of his clothing was le black and rough at the edges, an obvious sign that he was caught in the
explosion. The rest of his body wasn't doing so well either, he had burn marks all over the place.
As I was inspecting him, my vision got a little cloudy, and eventually a little droplet landed on
whatever was le of his clothes. Was I crying? The realization that I was crying, was what broke
the dam. My tears started flowing more and more, and whimpers started leaving my mouth. He
knew. He knew I loved him. He knew that I hated seeing him like this.
"Darkness, where's Kazu-" Dust and his party arrived and upon seeing Kazuma his
mouth stopped moving. "Kazuma!" He ran next to me and started rapidly inspecting Kazuma.
"We have to get him to a priest!"
"I-," my words got caught in my throat, "I'll take him." I carried Kazuma, and Dust's
party nodded. They escorted me back to town where we got someone to heal Kazuma.
~x~
Sunlight landed on my eyes, and I eventually woke up. I was greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling. My
chest feels constricted. I looked down and found myself bandaged, with Darkness leaning on the
bed I was on next to me. She was asleep. As I was watching her, the door suddenly opened, and a
priestess entered the room, carrying a tray with water and fruits.
"Ah, Kazuma you're awake."
"Uh, hello? How did I get here?"
"Darkness brought you here, she even stayed up all night checking up on you." She placed the
water and fruits on the bedside table and went to leave. "Since you're awake, you should head
out soon, but maybe wait for her to wake up." She pointed at Darkness and gave me a smile.
"Okay, I will."
I watched Darkness for a minute, she was really beautiful when she slept. I smiled and started
thinking, 'This Crusader was a pain in my neck. She couldn't hit a single target, and was only
good for being a meat shield. Not to mention, she enjoyed it way too much.'
While thinking, I reached out to her hand and held it.
'But maybe she isn't so bad.."
~Fin~