CHAPTER 11 - PART 7 & 8

Part 7

"Hey, I'm just an innocent girl, treating me like this is too much."

I locked Megumin's arms and neck from behind, ready to cover her mouth if she started chanting.

On either side of her was well built adventurer grabbing her hand tightly.

"Hey old man, stop doing your business since this girl noticed you! She is an infamous explosion maniac in town. Your business is too stimulating for her!"

Hearing me said that, the stall owner turned pale and started packing in a panic.

Megumin started struggling when she saw that.

"Ahhh! I can break it! I can definitely break that stone with my explosion spell!"

"Run! Hurry old man!"

"Yick—!"

After finished packing, the stall owner started sprinting at full speed.

Megumin saw him off with a face of regret.

After confirming the old man had escaped, we released our hold and Megumin regained her freedom.

As the crowd disperse, I said to Megumin:

"… Really, for people who gets into trouble while I am not looking, Aqua is more than enough. Anyway, you are not together with Aqua?"

"Nope, she wanted to go somewhere else so we split up. The payout from defeating the destroyer gave the town an economic boost, gradually attracting all sorts of people here. There was someone performing in the streets for money from tips, but he was driven to tears when Aqua did free performance that was more amazing beside him."

How, how pitiful…

I thought about doing something about that girl, but it would be a bother if I got entangled in their squabbles.

He might be pitiful, but I decided to leave Aqua to that busker..

Megumin tugged on my sleeve.

"Let's walk together since we ran into each other. There is someone over there who is doing something similar to the guy that ran off. I want to loiter around him to scare him."

"I thought you are a girl with common sense aside from your explosion maniac personality."

As Megumin and I chatted as we prepared to leave, we heard someone calling out to us from behind:

"Ah…"

I turned back and saw Yunyun looking at us with a lonely expression.

"… Want to come along with us?"

Yunyun made a happy expression for an instance when I said that, but she reverted back when she saw Megumin and shook her head.

"I, I came to this town in order to defeat Megumin! I'm not here to build a friendship with her! I am grateful for the shooting game just now, thank you very much! But… I can't come along with you two!"

Yunyun hugged the doll that I hated before her chest and took a large step away from us.

"Since she doesn't want to, let's go Kazuma."

"Oh, right…."

When we left, Yunyun seemed to be rejecting us, keeping her back to us.

"... Sigh..."

In the end, Yunyun let out a depressed sigh, slumped her shoulders and walked away with heavy steps.

She then look back longingly.

… And locked eyes with the two of us who were walking a few steps behind her after we brought something like crepes from the stall nearby.

"... Erm, why are the two of you following me?"

"I was thinking that I will be able to see your lonely and sulking face if I follow behind the Yunyun who is alone as usual."

When she heard that, Yunyun pounced on Megumin.

Part 8

"Among the Crimson magic race, Yunyun was well known for being ashamed of being a weirdo that is ashamed of her own name. In school, she spent most of her time eating alone. If I loiter around Yunyun who was eating alone, she will happily challenge me, works every time…"

"Wait! It's, it's not that bad… it shouldn't be… right… fine, it's true, I challenged you every day, but I am not lonely at all, I have friends too."

The three of us chatted as we walked out of town.

After talking for half the day, the two of them decided to have another duel.

Megumin stopped when she heard Yunyun said that.

"I can't just ignore what you just said… Yunyun… have friends…?"

"Why, why are you reacting like this! I have friends too alright! Megumin should know too. Like blah and blah, they say we are friends, I even invited them to lunch before…"

Hey, stop it, I can't bear hearing anymore.

… This seemed to be the situation. The Home of the Crimson magic was full of weirdos, and this child was the only one with common sense, so she stood out from everyone else.

How pitiful…

"And so, what shall we compete in today? I can only use explosion magic, so I don't really want to fight with spells."

"… That's right. You should learn some other spells too. You should have saved quite a bit of skill points by now."

"I did. I used all of them for 'explosion power raise' and 'speed chanting'…"

"Idiot! Why are you so obsessed with explosion magic!"

Good, tell her more.

"But that's really troubling… what should we duel in…"

As Yunyun was troubling about that, Megumin said:

"Anything is fine, I am not a kid that is bothered by winning or losing anymore."

Hearing the loli say that casually, Yunyun smirked softly.

"Not a kid anymore? I remember we competed in our degree of growth before. Since you say you are not a kid anymore, want to try that again?"

Facing Yunyun's taunt, Megumin simply said:

"No, I mean I am not a kid anymore in another way. My relationship with Kazuma had progressed so far that we even bathed together before."

"!"

"Hey! Shut it, don't tell others about that!"

"!?!"

After hearing my conversation with Megumin, Yunyun's face turned red, her mouth open and shut and her entire body turn stiff.

"… It's, it's my loss today—!"

After saying that, Yunyun ran away in tears.

Megumin and me stood in place for quite a while.

Megumin then took something out and started writing.

Looking closely, it looked like a notebook.

She wrote the date for today and marked a small circle beside it.

"I won today too."

"You, you… Is this really fine…?"

— After seeing Yunyun running off wailing, Megumin and I decided to return to the mansion.

"Ara, you are back. Neh, look look. There was a guy busking in the streets, he said he don't need it anymore and gave it to me. He seemed to be planning to inherit the farm in his home town. I don't understand why, but that is lucky!"

When we got home, I saw Aqua sitting on the couch in the living room, toying with some trinkets happily.

After breaking the heart of the busker, she took his tools of the trade.

I wanted to tell her not to disrupt the lives of other people, but…

"Darkness is still not back… She should be coming back tonight right…"

Watching Aqua playing deftly with the trinkets, Megumin muttered.

— In the end, Darkness didn't came back today.