CHAPTER 1 - PART 5 & 6

Part 5

– The next day, at the adventurer's guild.

"… No one's coming…"

Aqua dejectedly mumbled to herself.

After displaying a recruitment notice, we sat at a table inside the adventurer's guild and waited for companions to show up. It had been half a day.

The other adventurers saw our notice.

Besides us, several adventurers were recruiting members; they conducted interviews, talked with them and went off.

I knew very well why no one was coming.

"… Hey, let's lower our standard. Our goal's to defeat the Demon King, so such conditions were necessary… However, 'only recruiting top-tier jobs' is a bit too gruelling."

"Ugh… But…"

In this world, adventurer jobs were divided into tiers, with some of them being top tier jobs.

Aqua's Archpriest was one of those top-tier jobs.

It was difficult for normal people to qualify for this job. She could very well be a hero candidate.

Moreover, it was normal for such hero candidates to enjoy a privileged life in other teams…

Aqua probably wanted to recruit powerful companions to take down the Demon King.

However…

"If this goes on, no one will apply! You might have a top-tier job, but mine's the weakest. I'll lose my place if elites suddenly surround me. How about lowering the entry requirements…?"

As I was preparing to stand up…

"I saw the notice recruiting  adventurers with top-tiers jobs. Are you the ones who posted it?"

She regarded us with red, sleepy eyes.

Her smooth black hair reached her shoulders.

For us, she was a girl in classic witch attire with a black cloak, dark boots, pointy hat and a staff.

Her features were delicate like a porcelain doll–it was a loli.

It wasn't surprising for children to work in this world…

The small, frail girl who looked to be about 12-13 had an eyepatch covering one eye. She flung aside her cloak hard and said:

"My name is Megumin! My calling is that of an Archwizard, and one who controls the strongest offensive magic, Explosion…!"

"…Are you here to tease us?"

"I-I'm not!"

I couldn't help retorting at the self-introduction of this girl as she denied in a panic.

Moreover, what was with the name Megumin?

"That red eye, are you a Crimson Demon?"

The girl nodded in response to Aqua's query and presented her adventurer's card to Aqua.

"That's correct! I'm an elite mage from the Crimson Demon Clan, Megumin! My magic's powerful enough to split the mountains…! … That's how it is. Do you need an excellent mage? … By the way, I've a favour to ask. I haven't eaten in three days; may you give me something to eat before the interview…?"

Megumin looked at us with sorrowful eyes.

The heartbreaking 'ugu' sound came from Megumin's stomach region.

"… I'm fine with treating you to a meal, but why are you wearing an eyepatch? If you're injured, do you need this girl to heal you?"

"Humph… This is a magic item to restrain my overwhelming power… If you pull it off, a gigantic disaster will befall the world…

"Oh… So it's something like a seal?"

"I made that up. This is just a normal eyepatch. It just looks nice… Ah, sorry… Please don't pull on that, stop!"

"Eh… Listen Kazuma, Crimson Demons are born with high intellect and strong magic power, with most of them having the potential to become powerful mages. They're well known for their red eyes and their strange names."

Aqua explained as I pulled on Megumin's eyepatch.

… I understood. Just listening to her name and seeing that eyepatch, I thought she was teasing me.

I released the eyepatch and she said sternly:

"It's rude to say that our names are weird. From where I stand, the names of the people in this town are the weird ones."

"… Right, may I ask for your parents' names?"

"My mother's Yuiyui, and my father's Hyoizaburo."

"…"

Aqua and I were silent.

"… Anyway, this girl's race produces many powerful mages, right? Could we recruit her as a companion?"

"Hey, if you've got a problem with the names of my parents, say it to my face!"

As Megumin leaned forward, Aqua returned the adventurer's card to her.

"It should be fine, right? The adventurer's card is real; she has a  top-tier job with the ability to use powerful spells–Archwizard. The magic stat on the card's very high, so she has a lot of potential. If she really can use explosion magic, that would be amazing! The explosion spell's the highest-tier spell of the detonation-series magic and is hard to learn."

"Hey! Stop addressing me as she, use my name!"

As Megumin protested, I handed the food menu to her.

"Don't mind the details, order something to eat. My name's Kazuma, and this is Aqua. Pleased to meet you, Archwizard."

Megumin seemed like she had something to say, but in the end she just took the menu quietly.

Part 6

"Explosion's the strongest offensive spell. On the other hand, it has a long casting time. Please keep that frog at bay until I'm ready."

We brought Megumin who'd eaten her fill along to seek revenge against the giant frogs.

I could see a frog at a distance on the plains.

The frog had already noticed us and was charging our way.

In addition, I could see another frog heading toward us from the opposite direction.

"Please target the frog further away. As for the nearer one… Hey, let's go, Aqua. We'll avenge ourselves this time. You're a former goddess, right? How about showing what you're made of?"

"What do you mean by 'former'? I'm a current goddess! My position of an Archpriest's just a disguise!"

Megumin looked at the self-proclaimed goddess choking me and said:

"… Goddess?"

"… Just a pitiful woman claiming to be a goddess. She'll say stuff like this from time to time, so please don't mind her."

After hearing my explanation, Megumin looked at Aqua with sympathetic eyes.

Aqua was on the verge of tears and charged toward the nearer frog in frustration with her fist clenched.

"You're just frogs that are strong against physical attacks! Let me show you the power of a goddess! Kazuma, watch this carefully! I haven't done anything great yet, but I'll definitely succeed today!"

Aqua, who lacked the capacity to learn, shouted and succeeded in infiltrating the body of the frog, stopping its movements.

As expected of a goddess, sacrificing herself to buy us time.

… Then, the air around Megumin started to tremble.

Even a novice to magic like me could tell that Megumin was preparing to use some remarkable magic.

Megumin's chanting grew louder as sweat fell from her temples.

"Watch closely; this is the strongest attack spell known to humans… The ultimate attack spell."

The tip of Megumin's staff started to glow.

The scale might've been small, but it seemed to accumulate a vast amount of light as it shone brightly.

Megumin's red eye shone with a brilliant light.

"Explosion!"

A light flashed through the plains.

The light emitted from the tip of Megumin's staff shot forward, hitting the frog approaching us dead on…!

The violent effect of the spell was seen immediately.

A dazzling light filled my vision as the frog was blown to pieces with a reverberating bang.

Almost blown away by the strong wind, I covered my face and braced myself.

After the dust settled, a crater twenty meters in diameter revealed where the frog had been, showing how powerful the explosion was.

"… Amazing–so this is magic."

As I was feeling moved by the power of Megumin's spell,another frog slowly climbed out from underground, probably awakened by the shockwave and sound of the explosion.

I was thinking that without rain and a water source in the plains, the frogs would dry up under the hot sun. It turned out that they burrowed underground to avoid baking alive.

The frog climbing out was near Megumin, but its movements were very slow.

If we used this chance to move away from the frog and let Megumin use her explosion spell again, we could blow the frog into cinders.

"Megumin! Let's retreat for now and attack from a distance…!"

I looked over at Megumin.

My body turned stiff…

Because Megumin was lying face down on the ground.

"Humph… Explosion's my ultimate spell. It's powerful and uses a lot of mana. Simply put, the mana I used exceeded my limit, so I can't move. Ah, to think that a frog would appear out of nowhere… No good, I'll be eaten. Sorry, please save me. Hya…!"

With their movements sealed by the body of Aqua and Megumin, I finished off the two frogs.

We completed the mission to defeat five giant frogs in three days.