She Who Will Be Chief of the Crimson Magic Clan

The last of the trials to become chief of the Crimson Magic Clan involved spending an entire night in our local forest, which was crawling with dangerous monsters.

"Kazuma suggested the same thing when he heard what the trial was. But I'm not going to cheat; I want to become chief through my own strength…" Become the chief of the Crimson Magic Clan.

Ever since I was a little girl with no particular dreams to speak of, that had been my one goal. When they would measure our MP or check our intelligence at school, they would always say, "That's the chief's daughter for you" or say nice things about how I was destined to be chief myself one day. Having no real friends as I did, it made me very happy. I thought it was the most natural thing in the world to aspire to the chiefship.

"Mr. Aigis, not to say you can't do as you please, but why would you suddenly bring that up?" Aigis and I were walking through Crimson Magic Forest, heading for its deepest reaches.

"I don't really think so…" Okay, so I wasn't being entirely truthful.

"I'm sure that's very interesting, but I don't know what kind of people you have in mind."

I was inside Aigis at that moment, since monsters might launch a surprise attack on us at any time.

"Mr. Aigis. I'm told you're a divine item. Do you really have time to be playing around with the likes of me? Weren't the divine items created by the gods to aid in the destruction of the Demon King?"

Aigis had been created by the gods with a specific purpose in mind. And yet, he simply wanted to indulge himself… "They say the Demon King's army plans to destroy humanity—did you know that? Do you realize that means all the beautiful girls might die?"

Do you think Lady Eris would get mad about that? No good? I mean, my new master is just so uptight; we totally don't work well together.> He seemed awfully freewheeling for a divine item created for an extremely important mission.

"I'm not going to do that. They would run me out of the village on my first day!"

What would I do if and when I became chief? First, I would capture some sentient monsters and domesticate them, make friends with them… ... "There's nothing I want to do that I can't do without being chief. In fact, there's hardly anything I want to do at all…" "That's a great idea! Not the part about girls, though. I don't care about that, but I mean going on a journey together to collect some friends…" No, no! I was she who would be chief of the Crimson Magic Clan. It had been my goal ever since I was little… Aigis was the absolute last person I wanted to hear that from, but his remark about us just doing whatever we wanted really struck a chord with me. I thought of a dear friend of mine, someone who long ago had been called the greatest genius of the Crimson Magic Clan and from whom great things had been expected. But she had ignored those expectations completely, chased her own dream, and as a result, now people called her a loser. My stupid, stupid friend.

And yet, she seemed to enjoy every day; she had comrades and even a boyfriend. My extremely stupid, oh-so-dear— "I've got this. I am she who will be chief of the Crimson Magic Clan. Combat is my specialty."

If Megumin was really aiming to become chief herself, then what was she doing at that moment? If someone else was trying to be chief, if someone else insisted I let them have the position… "I won't let them put a scratch on you, Mr. Aigis! Let me handle the battle!"

Aigis was trying to say something to me, but I had work to do first…!

"Infernoooo!" I thrust out one hand and unleashed my spell on the bear that appeared in front of us!

"...It turns out I can't use my magical skills when I'm wearing you, Mr.

Aigis."

I tried to change the subject. "S-so what were you going to say to me a few minutes ago?! You said we're a great team, right? What were you going to say after that? I think I heard something about your amazing friend!"

"No, I'm sure you were saying something! You definitely said, 'amazing friend.' I'm sure I didn't mishear that!"

I couldn't let myself be distracted; I had to focus on defeating the enemy in front of me…!

"Right, this is the moment for my beloved dagger…! Argh, but I got this on my very first shopping trip with a friend; it's such an important memento…" When this trial was over, I would tell my rival that this time, finally, I'd won.

And I would add something else, something I'd never been able to say before… "My name is Yunyun! Arch-wizard and wielder of advanced magic…" I was able to push this hard because I had you for a friend. It was thanks to you that a goal my heart wasn't really in became something so important to me… I made it this far because your dream was so much bigger than mine, because you pursued it relentlessly, no matter how much people laughed...!

Thank you for being my rival!

"…greatest magic-user of the Crimson Magic Clan and she who will be chief of our village!!"