"Yunyun, you worked hard for four days and learned advanced magic, so let’s take tomorrow off."
"Yes! Okay."
Just then, Megumin, who was eating, looked at Yunyun and spoke.
"Oh-ho~ So you can finally use advanced magic? You are at last starting to resemble a proper Crimson Demon mage."
"Heh! Heh! Heh! I am a proud Arch Wizard now too, Megumin!"
In An Explosion on This Wonderful World!, had Yunyun been forced to learn intermediate magic first in order to protect Megumin’s little sister, Komekko, from Wolbach’s minions? I can’t remember very well.
Honestly, An Explosion on This Wonderful World! was not very entertaining, so I had only watched it once and my memory was hazy.
Other than Nerimaki, Megumin’s classmate, being cute, and Zesta and Cecily, the Axis Cult priests, being out of their minds, not much had stuck with me.
Then again, the Axis Cult itself was not sane. Considering what their goddess was like...
"All right! Let’s have a drink today to celebrate Yunyun mastering advanced magic! It’s on me!"
"Ooh! Sounds good!"
"Then let’s get some premium Shuwa Shuwa right away..."
Smack!
I immediately flicked Aqua on the forehead.
"Ow! That hurts, Tae-jin!"
"I said I was paying, but order with some conscience."
"Tch! You make plenty of money, so don’t be such a cheapskate! Now~ hurry up and get me premium Shuwa Shuwa~"
Smack!
This time, Kazuma hit her.
"Do you have no conscience at all? Tae-jin has helped us so much. He even paid off the debt you racked up last time!"
"Waaah~! You hit me again! Why does everyone around me turn violent?!"
Aqua began to cry. Kazuma and I sighed at the same time as we watched her.
"All right, all right. Yunyun and Megumin are still young, so they can have soft drinks. Kazuma and Aqua, I’ll buy you plenty of regular Shuwa Shuwa—not the premium kind—so drink as much as you want."
As if she had never been crying, Aqua’s expression brightened, and she began ordering dishes and Shuwa Shuwa with abandon. Laughing, we celebrated Yunyun’s mastery of advanced magic.
"Anyway, congratulations, Yunyun!"
"I suppose we have to call you the great mage Yunyun now?"
Perhaps overcome with emotion, Yunyun covered her face with both hands and began to cry.
"Waaah~~ This is the first time anyone has ever celebrated me like this~~"
Seeing how touched Yunyun was made me think I should look out for her more whenever things like this happened.
We happily ate, drank, and talked as the food came out.
Megumin kept looking at Yunyun as though she had something to say, then finally spoke with difficulty.
"...Yunyun, thank you for back then."
"Huh? Back then?"
"Um... when Komekko was attacked in the Crimson Demon Village."
"Ah! No, it’s fine. I have learned advanced magic now, and if I had not graduated from school back then, I might never have met such wonderful people."
"Yunyun..."
It seemed Megumin had always carried it in her heart, even though she did not show it, that Yunyun had been forced to spend the points she had painstakingly saved up on intermediate magic because of Wolbach’s Crimson Demon minions.
As Megumin looked at Yunyun with a moved expression, Kazuma, who had been watching, poked Megumin in the side and teased her.
"What? Is it Megumin’s turn to cry now?"
"Nngh... The Crimson Demons’ greatest mage does not cry!"
Everyone burst out laughing when Megumin turned her head away as though to hide her face.
That evening, we drank merrily until late into the night.
When I woke the next morning, we had all drunk a lot and were exhausted, so we had simply gone to sleep without even changing clothes. Looking at the bed, I saw that Aqua’s skirt had flipped up to her stomach, and she was sleeping obliviously.
She seriously does not wear panties... How did I not notice until now?
I was extremely flustered, but her crotch was completely exposed, so I quietly covered her with a blanket. Fortunately, Kazuma was asleep too.
Partly because I had not paid much attention, but even in such a short skirt, Aqua somehow never showed anything. And whenever she slept, she always wore pajama pants, so there had never been a chance for me to see.
Does she have some kind of magic that keeps it from being seen?
Leaving that question behind, I had plenty to do today, so I washed up quickly at the well behind the lodging and headed to the guild.
"Hello, Luna. Good morning."
"Good morning, Tae-jin. You are out early, aren’t you?"
"Yes, there’s somewhere I need to go for a bit. Of course, I’ll be back by lunchtime."
"Where are you going?"
"That’s what I wanted to ask you about, Luna. Where is the temple with the strictest discipline around here?"
"What? Why are you suddenly asking about a temple...?"
Luna seemed surprised that I was suddenly looking for a temple.
"Ah, I’m not going to the temple itself. There’s someone I need to find nearby."
"A temple with strict discipline... Just a moment."
Luna showed me several pamphlets.
This is it!
I picked up the pamphlet bearing the exact same illustration of a monk that had appeared in the anime.
"It is rather far away. You probably will not be able to reach it on foot in a single day."
"I’m fairly fast. I’ll make sure to return by lunchtime."
"Then the location is..."
Following Luna’s directions, I reduced my weight and sped down the road toward the temple. On the way, I killed a wolf, stored its corpse in my inventory, and set off again.
After running for an hour, I saw a beautiful green-haired girl with short hair sitting on a large tree stump, red-stained bandages wrapped around her arms and legs.
Seemingly noticing me, the girl looked at me with pitiful eyes and weakly waved a hand.
Found her!
This girl was a plant-type monster called a Tranquility Girl.
When people came by, she would act as pitiful as possible and start a conversation so that they would not leave. If she said she was hungry, she would pluck fruit from her body and give it to them. It tasted good, but contained almost no nutrients, and it blocked the nerves that let a person feel pain or hunger, gradually weakening them until they died. She was a carnivorous plant that would then put down roots in the weakened corpse and absorb its nutrients. Despite her appearance, she gave considerable experience, and Kazuma had once considered raising her to level up.
What mattered here was not the Tranquility Girl, but the belongings of the adventurer she had eaten.
"She certainly looks pitiful and pathetic, but not enough for that to affect me. Is it because of [Strong Mind]?"
When I drew Enma and approached the Tranquility Girl, she shed tears and put on a pitiful act.
"Are you going to kill me...? I was happy to be able to speak with a human for the first time since I was born. But since I’m a monster, I would only be a nuisance if I stayed alive..."
"I know all about it, so cut the act."
"If I am reborn... I hope I won’t be a monster next time..."
"Fine! If that is what you want."
I raised Enma, its edge gleaming coldly, and placed it beside the Tranquility Girl’s neck. Only then did she flinch, her expression beginning to sour.
"Damn it! I picked the wrong target... Please spare me!"
"I won’t kill you if you do as I say. First, you have a corpse you’re eating right now, don’t you?"
"Yes..."
"Bring it out!"
The ground trembled slightly, and beside the Tranquility Girl, an adventurer’s corpse rose up along with its roots.
When Kazuma came here, there had been little more than bones left, but now it looked as though the adventurer had died not long ago.
Thank goodness. The timing worked out.
I opened the corpse’s pack and found a wooden one-handed hammer.
This is it!
"[Appraisal]!"
[ (S) Golden Denden ]
Shake it to produce gold coins. (If you are not its owner, it consumes luck.)
"Ah! Damn it... I can’t use it right now."
Even Kazuma, overflowing with luck, would have found it difficult to use this item if he knew about its penalty. In fact, Chris stealing it might have saved Kazuma.
I would have to seal it away until I drew a [Penalty Removal Ticket], so I simply put it in my inventory.
"Um... may I keep eating this corpse?"
At that moment, the Tranquility Girl cautiously spoke up.
"Sure. And eat this too."
I took out the wolf corpse I had killed earlier from my inventory and tossed it to the Tranquility Girl’s roots as well.
"Thank you. You are a kind person."
At least I would be able to use it if I got a [Penalty Removal Ticket], so I decided to think positively.
The reason I had not killed the Tranquility Girl was because of the original story. Kazuma would develop psychological trauma because of Sylvia, one of the Demon King’s generals, and he absolutely needed the Tranquility Girl to treat it. That was why I had brought along a wolf corpse too, so she would not die.
Leaving the Tranquility Girl behind, I returned to Axel.
As soon as I came back, I saw Chris standing at the entrance to town, glaring at me.
"Hey! Nice to see you, Chris, now that you have decided to live virtuously."
"You! Seriously! Ugh... Never mind."
It was amusing to see Chris press a hand to her head as though she had a headache, trying to suppress her anger.
"Anyway, you got a divine relic, right? It’s dangerous, so hand it over right now!"
"Why should I?"
"What do you mean, why?! It’s dangerous! If you use it wrong, you could be in danger too!"
"Nope. And I decide whether it is dangerous or not."
Perhaps Chris felt there was no longer any point trying to reason with me. With an angry expression, she did not even stop to breathe, pouring out her words in a rapid stream.
"You~! You are suspicious! The Bust Enhancement Pill, the fact that you know where divine relics are, the fact that you clearly seemed to have acquired one but it has now vanished as though it no longer exists in this world—it’s all strange!"
I responded in kind.
"You’re suspicious too! How do you know I acquired a divine relic? How do you know it is dangerous? And why are you collecting divine relics in the first place?"
"That is..."
"Everyone has one or two things they hide. Do you know what you call someone who tries to force those secrets out of them?"
"......"
"A! STALKER!"
"Nngh~! You! You!"
Chris pointed at me with an expression that looked ready to explode, unable to continue speaking. Ah~ that was so satisfying. Could this be some kind of actual illness?
"You! Just you wait!!"
Chris stormed off somewhere in anger.
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