Chapter 10: Up for a Vote

The stench of singed hair and monster viscera hung in the air.

Megumin sat perched atop a moss-covered log, her crimson eyes darting between her companions as they squabbled. Behind them, the dungeon's entrance yawned, tendrils of mist curling out like grasping fingers.

"I said no, and I mean no!" Kazuma's voice cracked, his usually ruffled hair now a bird's nest of twigs and unspeakable goop. "We barely escaped with our lives, and you want to go right back in? Are you insane?!"

He paced back and forth, gesticulating wildly with hands still coated in a suspicious blue slime. Every few steps, he'd pause to pluck another piece of debris from his hair, flicking it to the ground with disgust.

"But Kazumaaa~!" Aqua whined, hugging an empty bottle and rocking back and forth. "If we don't finish the quest, how will I buy more tasty wine? Do you want me to suffer?" Her bottom lip quivered dramatically, tears welling up in her eyes.

The self-proclaimed goddess writhed on the ground, her once-pristine robes now slathered in dungeon filth. She sniffled loudly, blowing her nose on a relatively clean patch of sleeve.

"You? Suffering?" Kazuma scoffed, rolling his eyes. "What about me?! I'm the one suffering here, stuck with a party of useless lunatics who seem hellbent on getting us all killed and bankrupt!"

Darkness shifted in her dented armour, the metal creaking ominously. A flush crept up her neck as she cleared her throat. "I… I think we should reconsider. Although those monsters were quite the formidable opponents, surely a second attempt would—"

"Don't even start with the depravity again!" Kazuma jabbed a finger at her, his eye twitching. "I saw that freaky look you had when that slime grabbed you by the chest. You tooootally enjoyed it, didn't you, you shameless masochist?!"

The crusader's blush deepened, spreading across her cheeks like wildfire. "I-I did no such thing!" she protested, her voice rising an octave. "I merely appreciated the, um, tactical advantages of close-quarters combat."

"Oh, is that what we're calling it now?" Kazuma's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Because from where I was standing, it looked an awful lot like you were trying to show off to that slime!"

Darkness squirmed, her armour clanking. "W-well, I, that is to say, a crusader's job is to face every hardship head on."

Megumin snorted, unable to contain her amusement. She opened her mouth to interject, but Aqua beat her to it.

"Waaah! Kazuma's being mean again!" The blue-haired goddess wailed, tears now streaming down her cheeks in earnest. "Megumin, make him stop! Tell him we need to go baaack!"

All eyes turned to the Crimson Demon, who blinked in surprise. She twirled her staff, the familiar weight of it in her hands was comforting as always.

"Well, as the mightiest mage in all the land," Megumin began, puffing out her chest, "I, Megumin, declare that we should—"

"—Absolutely not. We're not doing that," Kazuma cut her off, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Your 'solution' to everything is to blow it up. We need the dungeon intact to complete the quest, remember?"

Megumin puffed out her cheeks indignantly. "Explosion magic is the answer to all of life's problems! You just lack vision, Kazuma."

"Vision? I'd like to keep mine, thank you very much. Along with all my other body parts."

As her friends continued to bicker, Megumin found herself oddly content. The familiar rhythm of their arguments washed over her. She watched as Aqua attempted to sneak back towards the dungeon, slowly creeping away step by step, only to be yanked back by Kazuma.

"Oh no, you don't!" he growled, grabbing the collar of Aqua's robe. "I'm not letting you drag us back into that deathtrap!"

Aqua wriggled in his grasp, her arms outstretched towards the dungeon entrance. "But the quest reward, Kazuma-saaaan! Think of all the high-quality booze we could buy! It'd be enough to last me one—no, two weeks minimum!"

"Is that really all you ever think about?" Kazuma grumbled, maintaining his hold on the squirming goddess.

"Of course not!" Aqua protested, finally wriggling free from his grip. "I also think about… purification! And exorcising evil undead! And also lots of other super important Goddess stuff!"

Kazuma let out a long-suffering sigh. "Fantastic. Truly, we are blessed to have such a well-rounded priest in our party." All signs of life had vanished from his eyes.

Meanwhile, Darkness had begun to polish her sword, her movements slow and deliberate. "You know," she mused, her voice taking on a dreamy quality, "those monsters did seem more vigorous than usual. Perhaps another encounter would allow us to truly test the limits of our bodies, heart and soul."

Kazuma's eye twitched again. "Well, guess what? I already found my limit. It was back there, right around the time that giant slime almost digested me!"

"Oh, come now," Darkness chided, a hint of excitement creeping into her tone. "Surely seasoned adventurers such as ourselves aren't afraid of a little slime?"

Kazuma sputtered, gesturing to his goop-covered clothes. "Does this look like a little slime to you? I'm going to be washing this stuff out of unspeakable places for weeks!"

Megumin couldn't help but laugh at Kazuma's distress. "The world may be cruel from time to time, but you must look on the bright side," she offered, grinning mischievously.

"You're right." Suddenly as if a revelation hit him, Kazuma relaxed, closing his eyes. Then when he opened them to the sight before him he gazed warmly at his companions. His friends. "The bright side is that we all made it back safely, together."

"Ew, no! It's that at least you're smelling better than usual with all that slime!"

"Oh, ha ha," Kazuma grumbled, shooting her a withering glare. "I'm so glad my suffering amuses you."

A warm breeze rustled through the trees, carrying with it the scent of adventure and possibility. Megumin closed her eyes, savouring the moment. The weight of her hat, the smooth grain of her staff, the exasperated sighs of Kazuma—it all felt so perfectly, wonderfully normal.

"Fine!" Kazuma threw his hands up in defeat, inadvertently flinging globs of slime in all directions. "We'll take a vote. All in favour of immediately returning to the death trap we just narrowly escaped from, raise your hand."

Three hands shot up in an instant. Kazuma's jaw clenched as he stared at Megumin. "No, you don't get a vote! You didn't do anything while we were in there fighting for our lives!"

Megumin grinned, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "What can I say? I was merely waiting for the perfect moment to unleash my ultimate power! If only we had stayed in there a liiiittle longer and maybe I would have been forced to use my trump card."

"That's not—you can't—argh!" Kazuma buried his face in his hands, then immediately regretted it as he smeared more slime across his features. "Why am I stuck with you lunatics?"

"Because you love us deearly~" Aqua chirped, batting her eyelashes innocently.

"I'm being punished for something, there's no way fate could do me this dirty by chance," Kazuma muttered, wiping his face on his sleeve. "If we're really doing this, we need a proper plan. And no, Megumin, 'explosion' is not a plan."

Megumin pouted, lowering her staff. "You never let me have any fun."

Kazuma shook his head. "Okay, listen up. If we're going back in there, we do it smart, and we do it right. Aqua, you focus on healing and support. No trying to purify every single skull we pass on the way, ya got it? We're going to be needing prayers more than them."

Aqua nodded solemnly, then immediately ruined the effect by hiccupping.

"Darkness, you're our shield. Try to actually block the attacks instead of... whatever it is you were getting off to last time."

The crusader's cheeks flushed. "I-I always give my all in battle! It's not my fault if the monsters' attacks are so powerful that they overwhelm my defenses and—"

"Yeah, yeah, save it for your diary," Kazuma cut her off, rolling his eyes. "Megumin, stay back, conserve your mana, and please don't blow us all up in the dungeon unless I explicitly tell you to."

Megumin's eyes gleamed. "So you're saying there's a chance I get to use my explosion magic?"

"That's not—" Kazuma started, then sighed. "You know what? Sure. If things go completely sideways and we're all about to die anyway, you have my permission to bring the whole place down on top of our heads."

Megumin decided to ignore the sarcasm.

"Yes!" Megumin pumped her fist in victory. "You won't regret this, Kazuma! The announcement of our party's glorious demise shall be visible from every corner of the continent!"

"I already regret it," Kazuma grumbled. He turned to address the group. "Alright, let's do one last equipment check. Food, weapons, armour—make sure everything's in order."

As they began their preparations, the bickering continued unabated.

"Aqua, stop trying to sneak wine bottles into your pack!" Kazuma snapped.

"But what if we get trapped in the dungeon?" Aqua whined. "We'll need provisions!"

"Provisions, not poison!" Kazuma snatched the bottles away. "And you, Darkness, why are you loosening your armour straps?"

Darkness jumped, startled. "I-I was just adjusting them for comfort!"

Megumin couldn't help but giggle at the chaos unfolding around her. She twirled her staff, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "Hey, Kazuma," she poked him.

"Hai, Kazuma-desu."

"…wanna bet on how long it takes before Aqua starts crying?"

"Megumin!" Aqua wailed. "You're so meeeeean!"

"Oh come on, we haven't even entered the dungeon yet, wait until we make our bets!" Megumin complained.

Kazuma pinched the bridge of his nose again, a headache already forming. "Why did I agree to this quest? We're going to die in there, and it's going to be all your faults."

As the party once again found themselves at the entrance of the dungeon, Kazuma's mood turned uncharacteristically somber. He paused, his eyes fixed on the looming darkness ahead, filled with the sounds of squelching slimes, before addressing the resident archmage.

"I can understand why the other two want to go back," he said. "Darkness is a massive pervert and Aqua blew though her entire budget." He turned to face her. "But why do you want to return? Is it really just for the thrill?"

"…"

Megumin opened her mouth to respond, but the words never came. How could she ever explain it to him properly?

Kazuma sighed. "Argh, forget it. I know the reason. It's always explosions with you, isn't it?"

But he was wrong. So terribly, beautifully wrong.

It was never about the thrill or the explosions. The only reason she had raised her hand, the only reason she ever wanted to dive headfirst into danger, was to spend more time with them.

With him.

Megumin's cheeks were wet with tears she didn't remember shedding. The laughter and bickering that had filled her dreams moments ago left behind an ache so profound it stole her breath.

She couldn't recall the specifics, but the emotions lingered—a bittersweet cocktail of joy, frustration, and belonging that left her feeling adrift in its wake.

She lay still, staring at the pristine white ceiling of her bedroom. Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, bathing the room in a warm glow. Gone were the cramped, dingy quarters of her early days in Neo Tokyo. This apartment was spacious, meticulously clean, and utterly devoid of the chaotic attitude that had once defined her life.

Her gaze fell on her tablet set on her nightstand, its sleek surface reflecting the morning light. The Yggdrasil developers' email had been the last thing on her mind before she'd fallen into a fitful sleep. The email was still there on the screen, threatening to upend the careful balance of her life.

Megumin padded across the polished hardwood floors and stared at her reflection on the kitchen countertop. She had worked hard for this life—a prestigious job, a luxurious apartment, and the respect of her peers. She was successful by all conventional measures.

It was everything she'd told herself she wanted from this world.

The coffee maker hummed to life at her approach, a modern convenience that still felt alien after all these years. As the rich aroma filled the air, Megumin soon longed for the scent of monster slime, the earthiness of dungeon stones.

She shook her head, trying to dispel the nostalgia. "Get it together," she muttered to herself.

But even as she tried to focus on the day ahead—meetings, reports, Yggdrasil… Her thoughts kept circling back to that email. She had replied too quickly. It was unlike her.

The rational part of her mind screamed caution. She had built something real here, something stable. To risk it all for a game, for memories of a world that no longer existed.

Megumin clutched her coffee mug, its warmth a poor substitute for the comforting heat of a magic staff.

"…Why do I want to return…?"

The Crimson Demon yearned for chaos. The corporate climber counselled caution, practicality.

And there, in the chasm between these warring aspects, Megumin stood frozen. She was no longer the reckless young mage who could solve any problem with a well-timed explosion, nor was she fully the polished executive who navigated boardrooms with ease. She was both, and neither.

"If only," her voice was caught on a memory she couldn't quite grasp, "we could put it to a vote one more time…"

Tanaka's fingers danced across the holographic keyboard, lines of code streaming by in a blur of neon blue. The office hummed with an energy he hadn't felt in years, not since the early days of Yggdrasil's development. But today was different. Today, she was coming.

He glanced at the clock hovering in the corner of his vision: 13:47. Just over two hours until the Crimson Demon arrived.

"Hey, Tanaka!" A voice called from across the room, breaking his concentration. "Did you finish coding the custom skills for the Crimson Demon?"

"Just wrapped it up," Tanaka replied, a grin spreading across his face. He gestured to his screen, inviting Yuki over. "Wait till you see her new passive defence-shred stats. It's going to be epic."

She leaned in, eyes widening as she scanned the code. "Holy crap, Tanaka. You've basically made her a god. This is a universal debuff?"

Tanaka chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "Well, she's supposed to be a World Enemy. Might as well go all out, right?"

"Yeah, but still…" Yuki muttered, scrolling through the ability list. "This goes way beyond what players are usually supposed to have."

"That's kind of the point," Tanaka said, pulling up another window. "Check this out. Remember the World Item she used before she left?"

Yuki nodded.

"Well, the design team took that concept and cranked it up to eleven," Tanaka explained, his voice brimming with excitement. "Since we didn't know what avatar she'd like to use for the event, she has a passive race change option built-in."

"What? With no restrictions? But that's… that's not possible in Yggdrasil. The race system is hardcoded into the game's core mechanics!"

Tanaka's grin widened. "And I know what you're thinking. It's not just lazy class extension of the doppelganger logic—she can transform into any race at will and customise its appearance. Sliders that aren't even exposed to players during character customisation will be free to modify. Dragon, eldritch abomination, angel, demon, you name it. It all works in real-time."

Yuki whistled, impressed. "So if she wants to destroy the world as a cosmic horror straight out of someone's nightmare..."

"She can do it," Tanaka finished. "She could rain destruction down as a majestic dragon. Or smite the world tree as an avenging angel. The senior devs wanted her to accept the job no matter what. This will give her one less excuse."

"That's incredible," Yuki mused, her initial awe giving way to curiosity. "But Tanaka… Why putting so much effort into this if the servers are just being shut down? Didn't you spend a week on just this function alone?"

Tanaka's expression turned thoughtful. He glanced around, making sure no one else was within earshot, then leaned in close. "Okay, this is just speculation, but, I think all these features are going to be reused in the future."

Yuki's eyes widened. "But that's just a rumor, isn't it?"

"Is it?" Tanaka raised an eyebrow.

Yuki nodded slowly, realisation dawning on her face. "They're planning to migrate these mechanics to the new game."

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Tanaka said, warming to his theory. "Yggdrasil was revolutionary when it launched, but the market's evolved. Players want more customisation, more power fantasy. What better way to test these new systems than in a controlled environment with a legendary player?"

"But why all the secrecy?" Yuki asked. "Why not just announce Yggdrasil II and run an open beta with the Crimson Demon as the boss?"

Tanaka shrugged. "Narrative, probably. Imagine the buzz when players witness the Crimson Demon destroying the World Tree, only to have it spark the birth of a new world. It's the perfect segue into a sequel announcement."

Yuki opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a chime from their neural interfaces. "All staff report to the main atrium," came the boss's voice. "Our guest will be arriving shortly."

Tanaka and Yuki exchanged excited glances. "This is it," Tanaka said, standing up and straightening his lab coat. "Ready to meet the legend herself?"

As they made their way to the atrium, Tanaka couldn't help but feel a mix of excitement and nervousness. He'd spent months working on this project, pouring his heart and soul into creating the ultimate character for the Crimson Demon. But would she appreciate it? Would she even agree to participate?

The atrium was already filling up with other developers when they arrived. Tanaka recognized faces from every department—QA testers, narrative designers, network engineers, and fellow developers. All of them wore the same expression of barely contained excitement.

"Can you believe it?" A voice piped up from nearby. Tanaka turned to see Hiroshi, one of the junior developers, practically vibrating with energy. "The Crimson Demon, here, in our office! She was the one who inspired me to join the dev team years ago!"

"I know," Yuki replied, grinning. "I've been reviewing her old gameplay footage. The things she pulled off… to think they were possible within the constraints of our engine. If one thing's for sure, she's a creative genius."

"Remember when she finally unlocked metamagic?" Another developer chimed in. "I was on call that day. Thought for sure we were being hacked with all those memory leaks happening at once. Had to rewrite the codebase for Triplet and Twin Magic."

A ripple of laughter went through the group. It had become something of an inside joke among the dev team—the day the Crimson Demon had somehow chained together so many explosion spells at once that she almost crashed an entire server.

"And now we're giving her even more power," Yuki mused, a hint of worry creeping into her voice. "Are we sure our infrastructure can handle it?"

Before Tanaka could respond, a hush fell over the atrium. Their boss, Nakamura-san, had arrived.

Nakamura-san was a imposing figure. He strode to the front of the room, his eyes scanning the assembled developers.

"Today is a momentous day," he began, his voice carrying easily through the atrium. "Not just for us, but for the future of Yggdrasil."

A murmur of excitement rippled through the crowd.

"As you all know, we have invited a very special guest—the player known as the Crimson Demon. Her contribution to Yggdrasil is unprecedented, we've had some of our best quarterly reports thanks to her endeavours."

Nakamura-san's gaze swept across the room, making eye contact with each developer. "What you may not know is the true purpose of her visit. Today, we offer the Crimson Demon a chance to shape the end of our beloved Yggdrasil."

He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in. "The server shutdown event we have prepared is a bridge to the future—a future some of you may have already guessed at."

Tanaka felt Yuki nudge him, a silent 'I told you so.'

"If the Crimson Demon accepts our proposal, her actions will serve as the catalyst for Yggdrasil II," Nakamura-san continued, his voice filled with unwavering certainty. "The destruction of the World Tree will be a rebirth of our world, witnessed by every player, with the Crimson Demon at its center."

The atrium erupted into excited whispers. Tanaka was satisfied—his work, his code, would be at the heart of this transformation.

"Now," Nakamura-san said, raising a hand for silence, "I know many of you have questions. All will be revealed in due time. For now, I need each and every one of you to be at your best. The Crimson Demon's experience here must be flawless."

As if on cue, a chime sounded throughout the atrium. Nakamura-san's eyes widened slightly—the only sign of surprise he allowed himself to show.

"She's early," he muttered, before raising his voice.

"Places, everyone! Remember, utmost respect."

The developers scrambled to form a neat line, an air of anticipation settling over the room. Tanaka found himself standing between Yuki and Hiroshi, all three of them barely able to contain their excitement.

The main doors slid open with a soft hiss.

And there she was.

Megumin stepped into the atrium, her gaze sweeping across the assembled developers. She looked nothing like the red-robed mage that had terrorised Yggdrasil's dungeons. Dressed in a crisp business suit, her hair neatly styled, she could have passed for any corporate executive.

As one, the entire development team bowed deeply.

"Welcome," Nakamura-san intoned, stepping forward, "to Yggdrasil's heart, Crimson Demon. We have a proposition that only you can fulfil."

Megumin's eyebrow arched slightly, a ghost of a smile playing at her lips. Her eyes, however, betrayed her wonder as they swept across the atrium. The space was a breathtaking homage to Yggdrasil itself.

Towering bookshelves lined the walls, filled with tomes that seemed to glow with an inner light – recreations of the game's countless spell books and lore volumes. Pedestals dotted the room, each bearing perfect 3D-printed replicas of World Items. Megumin's gaze lingered on a familiar crystal, pulsing with obsidian black—the World-Class Item she had once used.

Intricate dioramas depicted famous battles and legendary quests, while sprawling murals brought Yggdrasil's nine realms to life in vivid detail. The ceiling above was a digital canvas, currently showcasing the shimmering branches of the World Tree itself, its leaves rustling in a nonexistent breeze.

Even the developers themselves seemed part of the decor, their lab coats emblazoned with sigils and runes from the game. It was as if she had stepped not into an office, but into Yggdrasil made manifest.

Tanaka, watching Megumin's reaction, felt a surge of pride. He had been part of the team that designed this space, insisting on every detail that now drew the Crimson Demon's awe. It was gratifying to see their hard work appreciated by the very player who had inspired so much of it.

"It'd be my pleasure," Megumin finally managed, her voice betraying a hint of the excitement she was clearly trying to contain.

Nakamura-san gestured towards a set of doors at the far end of the atrium. "If you'll follow me, we have much to discuss. The fate of worlds hangs in the balance!"

As Megumin followed Nakamura-san out of the atrium, Tanaka couldn't help but feel a sense of awe. This was the player who had pushed Yggdrasil to its limits, who had inspired countless others with her audacious playstyle. And now, unknowingly, she held the key to Yggdrasil's rebirth.

The moment the doors closed behind them, the atrium erupted into excited chatter.

"Did you see her?" Hiroshi exclaimed, his eyes wide. "She looks so… normal!"

Yuki chuckled. "What were you expecting? Crimson robes and a floating staff?"

"Kind of, yeah," Hiroshi admitted sheepishly.

Tanaka shook his head, amused. "Appearances can be deceiving. Remember, this is the player who once took down a guild of PKers by convincing them she was a newbie, only to lure them into the biggest explosion trap Yggdrasil has ever seen."

"I wonder if she'll agree to it," Yuki mused. "Being a World Enemy, destroying the World Tree, it's a lot to ask."

"Are you kidding?" Hiroshi grinned. "It's the Crimson Demon! Causing massive explosions is like, her whole thing!"

As the developers continued to speculate, Tanaka found his mind wandering to the character he had helped create. The World Enemy version of the Crimson Demon was a masterpiece of game design, pushing the very limits of what was possible in their now decades-old game engine. But would it be enough to entice a player who had walked away from the game years ago?

"Hey, Tanaka," Yuki's voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Want to go over the character specs one more time? Just in case Nakamura-san needs any last-minute tweaks?"

Tanaka nodded, grateful for the distraction. "Good idea. Let's head back to my station."

As they made their way through the office, Tanaka couldn't help but notice the buzz of excitement that filled the air. Developers huddled in small groups, whispering excitedly about Yggdrasil II and the possibilities it might bring. QA testers ran last-minute checks on the World Tree destruction event, ensuring every explosive detail was perfect. Even the usually stoic network engineers seemed energized, triple-checking the servers to make sure they could handle the strain of what was to come.

Back at his workstation, Tanaka pulled up the Crimson Demon's character data. The avatar that greeted him was a far cry from the mage that had once roamed Yggdrasil. This version of the Crimson Demon was a being of pure chaos, her form shifting and swirling with barely contained power.

"It's really something, isn't it?" Yuki breathed, leaning in for a closer look. "Wait. Am I reading that right?"

Tanaka nodded, a hint of pride in his voice. "You are."

"But the executives…"

"The executives asked for it, actually."

Yuki shook her head. "A 100% discount on all cash shop items? Even our employee accounts only get a 10% discount!"

Tanaka was clearly pleased with the reaction. "Exactly. They want her to have every tool at her disposal. Whatever she thinks is necessary to carry out the plan, it's hers for the taking. No limits."

"But won't this completely upset the game's economy? Remember how mad the player base got when we shuffled those loot tables around?" Yuki asked, still struggling to wrap her head around the concept.

Tanaka shrugged. "At this point, balance isn't the priority. The servers are shutting down, remember? The marketing department wants spectacle, they want chaos. And who better to deliver that than the Crimson Demon with unlimited resources? Let's just call it paying back her gift, with interest."

Yuki's brow furrowed slightly. "But won't this be, I don't know, overwhelming for her? It's been years since she played. To suddenly have all this power dumped on her…"

Tanaka shook his head, a knowing smile on his face. "That's the beauty of it. We've designed the system to scale with her. Her powers will grow in tandem with how much she uses an ability. By the time the main event happens, she'll be ready."

"Clever," Yuki nodded approvingly. "And what about the other players? Won't they feel cheated if this one player suddenly has god-like powers?"

"Remember," Tanaka said, pulling up another window. "She's a World Enemy, not a player. We've prepared a special event quest. As the Crimson Demon grows in power, they'll be racing to stop her. The more they accomplish, the more tools they'll have to thwart the World Tree's destruction."

"So it's not a foregone conclusion? The players could actually stop her?"

"Theoretically, yes. But between you and me, we've stacked the odds heavily in the Crimson Demon's favour. But the possibility is there. It'll make for one hell of a finale, either way."