Chapter 34 : Yunyun and Pikapikamaru
Three weeks have passed since the four of us began living in the city of Orario.
In our first week after arriving in this world, we were pretty confused since we had no money or place to stay. But I never expected that we'd soon end up with a large amount of money and a huge place to live. Thanks to that, the four of us have been living a peaceful and relaxed life in our new home.
"Kazuma, I think I'm gonna go travel today."
Aqua said this out of nowhere just as I was enjoying a peaceful morning, lounging on the sofa. For the past two weeks, Aqua had just been staying in the manor. So why did she suddenly want to go out?
"It's okay, Kazuma. I'll be back by dinner."
Aqua suddenly tried to reassure me, even though I hadn't said a word.
"Aqua, I think it's not really traveling but more like a picnic" Megumin, who was sipping her tea, chimed in from the side.
"Megumin is right, also probably you don't want to travel alone so you would ask us to accompany you today right?"
"NO, I'm planning to travel with Darkness today, Kazuma and Megumin doesn't need to accompany me"
"Well I'm glad that I didn't need to go on a picnic with you today, but what is your purpose?"
"It's not picnic and alsoI want to collect some cool and weird-shaped stones. You know this is another world, so it's natural for me to collect stones from this world right?"
"I see, then Darkness, please take care of Aqua. I don't know what trouble she would get into if she went alone"
"Wait Kazuma, I didn't even say yes, but you are acting like I'm going to accompany Aqua?"
"Protecting a goddess is crusader's job right? Let's go Darkness, we will be back before dinner"
Aqua ignored Darkness's complaints and dragged her outside.
"Wait... wait... Aqua. At least let me wear my armor first"
...
...
...
Right now, it's just me and Megumin in the manor.
Hmm, it's been a while since I was alone with Megumin like this. But that doesn't mean I'd do anything weird just because we're the only two here. I decided to take a nap until noon before going about my usual activities. Just as I closed my eyes and tried to drift off on the sofa, Megumin spoke to me.
"Kazuma, what should we do? It's just the two of us now that Aqua and Darkness are gone."
"What do you mean, what should we do? We can just go about our day like usual, right?"
"Kazuma… let's go outside the city. I'd really like to find a nice spot to practice my Explosion magic once in a while."
Megumin said this with a slightly cute, pleading pose. Looks like I have no choice but to postpone my nap and go on this "date" with Megumin this morning.
"All right, but we'll have to slip out of the city without the guards noticing."
"Huh? Why do we need to sneak out?"
Megumin tilted her head, looking at me in confusion. Don't tell me she's still unaware of the consequences of what she's been doing in Orario all this time.
"You idiot, are you really still clueless just because no one's complained to you?"
"Huuuh? I thought the townspeople didn't complain because they'd gotten used to my Explosion magic."
"It's the opposite. The townspeople don't even know who's the crazy mage behind the daily explosions right outside the city walls of Orario."
"Hey! That's so rude! Who are you calling a crazy mage?"
As usual, Megumin still gets mad whenever I call her a crazy mage. But now isn't the time to worry about her mood. I need to make her realize the trouble that's waiting for her.
"Stop focusing on the wrong things! A few weeks ago, I ran into some of the Orario guards, and they're currently looking for you. I can't even imagine what they'll do to you if they find out you're the one causing all this."
"HEEEEEK, forgive me! I don't want to deal with the city guards again. I have a lot of bad experiences when dealing with city guard. They always get so scary when they're angry at me!"
"As long as you understand, that's good. Now, let's get out of the city without the guards noticing."
After that, the two of us managed to leave Orario without being spotted by the guards, thanks to my Lurk skill. This skill allows me and anything I touch to become invisible and lose all scent.
We walked for quite a while toward the southeast of Orario. After a long journey, we finally came across a large castle ruin.
"Kazuma, Kazuma!"
"Yes, I'm Kazuma."
"Look, over there, an abandoned castle. I think it'd be perfect for my Explosion magic target today."
Megumin tugged at my sleeve, pointing to the castle ruins that still looked massive from a distance. The castle had a rectangular shape, with an octagonal tower at each corner, all of them roughly have the same height as the castle walls. In the center of the castle, I could see one tower that stood out, drawing my attention because it was the tallest one among them all.
"Oooh... that's a pretty big castle. It reminds me of Veldia's castle, the one you used to attack every day."
"Fuhahahaha... that's right, it was so funny, especially when he came to Axel to complain to the adventurers there."
"Well, then what are you waiting for? Go ahead and attack the abandoned castle!"
I told Megumin to finish her Explosion magic practice today and head back to the manor right afterward. Megumin agreed and immediately began chanting the long incantation to activate her Explosion magic. Even though she could cast it without the chant, she still insisted on saying it with flair, thinking it looked cooler that way.
"EXPLOSION"
"BOOOOOOM"
The Explosion magic hit the center of the castle ruins perfectly. I thought this time, her Explosion magic was pretty good.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
But suddenly, I heard the sound of people screaming and running out from the ruins of the castle.
"Megumin, I don't think this is an abandoned castle—there are people still living there!"
"Aaaah, what should we do, Kazuma?"
Both Megumin and I panicked when we realized that the castle ruins we had used as a target still had people living in it.
"Wait a second, Megumin."
"FORESIGHT!"
To prevent us from doing anything more reckless, I tried to gather more information to get a better understanding of our current situation. I activated my Foresight skill. With this skill, I could see things clearly even from a distance.
"Ummmm... from the way they look, they seem like bandits."
"Hohoho... bandits, you say? Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's take them out, Kazuma. We can't let bad people like that roam free!"
Megumin and I both let out a sigh of relief at the same time. At first, we were worried about hurting innocent people, but that was a different story if our enemies were bandits who posed a threat to innocent lives.
"Are you drunk or something? Don't you realize your own condition?"
"Of course I do. I can't move right now, but you can give me magical energy with your Drain Touch, right?"
"Listen, Megumin, I don't mind wiping out bandits with you, but our identities as the ones behind the Explosion magic cannot be revealed. And also, you can't take out all those bandits with just one Explosion magic spell."
"It's not my concern. Thinking of a strategy is your job, right? Please, Kazuma, let's go take out those bandits!"
"Huuuuh... looks like I have no other choice."
...
I spent an hour resting and planning a strategy to take out the bandits. Honestly, I was confident that I could defeat all of them with Megumin by my side.
But the thing I was most worried about was that our identities couldn't be revealed during the fight. Especially since there would inevitably be a huge commotion during the battle, and the city guards would definitely notice and rush over here.
"Alright, Megumin, before we attack them, we need to change our outfits so we won't be recognized."
I pulled out two sets of costumes for our operation against the bandits. The costumes I prepared were simply black cloaks and owl masks. There was nothing special about the black cloaks, I just thought wearing them would make us look cooler. Besides, I was pretty confident about the owl masks I made. These owl masks had a few magical abilities that I thought were pretty neat.
Uh-oh, it seems like I spent too much time with Megumin and my Chuunibyou tendencies have resurfaced. But let's put that aside. We both walked slowly and boldly toward the castle. It didn't take long for us to reach the front gates of the ruins, where the bandits had evacuated to after the castle was hit by Explosion magic. The bandits immediately became alert when they saw two strangers dressed in strange outfits like ours.
"Who are you?!!!"
One of the bald bandits, who seemed to be the leader, raised his large sword at us while questioning our identities.
"Fuhahahaha... Fuhahahahaha..."
Megumin responded to the bandit's question with an evil laugh. It seemed like she was really enjoying this situation.
"I am the Demon Duke who will plunge the entire world into chaos. My name is Owl of the Demon Eye, Yunyun! You lowly bandits, fear me! When my red eyes shine, none of you will be able to move! Shortly after, you will all drown in the sea of chaos! Fuhahahaha... Fuhahahahahahaha!"
Megumin introduced herself as Yunyun while simultaneously imitating her voice. The first ability of the owl mask was its support magic, Versatile Entertainer. This magic allowed the user of the mask to imitate anyone's voice. Megumin cleverly used this ability to disguise herself as Yunyun.
"Did you attack our castle earlier?"
The bald bandit took a step back, seemingly a bit surprised when he heard Megumin introduce herself so boldly. But after hearing her introduction, the bandit was quick to guess who attacked their castle. Seems like this bandit's not as dumb as I thought.
"So what if I did?"
Megumin unhesitatingly admitted to her actions in front of the bandits. As I expected, even though I had discussed with Megumin to wrap this up quickly, it didn't take long for her to completely ruin my plan.
"Damn it, so you're the one responsible!"
"Everyone, attack them both!"
"OOOOOOH!!!!!"
"Fuhahahahaha, you're all so stupid. Did you forget what I just told you?!"
"BIND OF RED EYES!!!"
Megumin activated the second spell in the owl mask she was wearing. Of course, the spell wasn't actually called Bind of Red Eyes; Megumin just gave it that name because she thought it sounded cool. The second spell in the mask was Cursed Magic : Paralyze, a spell that could immobilize anyone who is looked at by the mask's wearer.
Since the distance between Megumin and the bandits was still quite far, all of the bandits fell into her gaze.
"AAAGHHHH!"
"WHAT IS THIS??!"
"I CAN'T MOVE!"
"HELP ME!"
Megumin, without exception, hit all the bandits in her line of sight with the Paralyze magic, rendering them unable to move their bodies, except for their mouths. This is one of those mysteries in anime and fantasy worlds that I could never quite understand. When dealing with abilities that can paralyze enemies, for some inexplicable reason, they are still able to move their mouths and speak. Even I can't do anything about it. I just have to take it for granted.
"Fuhahahaha… Fuhahahahaha… You foolish bandits. I'm so disappointed. It turns out your level is this low, even though I warned you from the start, and yet you still fell for my attack so easily!"
"You bastard!"
"Let us go!"
"If you dare, fight us fairly!"
"Fair, you say? In the demon's dictionary, there's no such thing as fairness—only the weak are devoured by the strong. That's the law of nature in this world!"
"Oii... Yunyun, I know you're enjoying this situation, but I think we should finish this quickly. My enemy detection skill has picked up a lot of people approaching us from behind. I think they're the city guards from Orario."
"Tch... Pikapikamaru, you're ruining my fun. Fine, I'll finish this quickly."
"Light Of Saber!"
From the eyeholes of the owl mask Megumin wore, two glowing red eyes appeared. Not long after Megumin activated the last ability of the mask, a beam of light shot out from both eye sockets.
"AAAAAAAAH!!!"
"AAAAAAAAH!!!"
"AAAAAAAAH!!!"
The bandits, still immobilized by Megumin's paralysis, had no way to dodge the beam of light. As soon as they were hit by the Light of Saber, they were sent flying in different directions, crashing into the surrounding rubble.
Once the last bandit was dealt with, I heard the sounds of footsteps and shouting as a group of people hurried toward us. Megumin and I turned to face the newcomers, bracing ourselves.
As I expected, it was the city guards from Orario. But what surprised me was the presence of a familiar adventurer among them—Shakti Varma.
"Who are you two? Are you the ones using explosion magic earlier?"
Shakti Varma, leading the group of adventurers, stepped forward and questioned our identities. At first, I was about to speak, but Megumin beat me to it.
"Fuhahahaha... That's right! I am the Demon Duke who will drown the world in chaos! My name is Owl of the Demon Eye, Yunyun. And the man beside me is a demon apprentice named Pikapikamaru!"
"Yunyun and Pikapikamaru, are you from Evilus? And what is your purpose in casting explosion magic near Orario every day?"
"I don't know what Evilus is, but our goal is to plunge this world into chaos... Fuhahahaha!"
"I see, I don't care who you are, but I won't let you go after saying something like that! Everyone, capture them both!"
"Oops, not that easy!"
"BIND OF RED EYES!"
Once again, Megumin used paralyze magic on the city guards. The number of guards was fewer than the bandits we fought earlier, so naturally, all of them were immobilized by Megumin's attack.
"UGHHHHH!!"
"I can't move!"
"What should we do?"
Before Megumin could do something dangerous to the city guards, I tapped her shoulder.
"Yunyun, stop it. Remember our goal, we don't have time to deal with these weak adventurers."
"Very well. You city guards of Orario should be grateful. We'll let you go this time. Make sure you protect your worthless lives, because if we meet again, we won't show mercy!"
"Well then, see you all!"
I said my farewell to the Orario guards and used the Teleport skill to bring Megumin and me back to the manor.
(To Be Continued)