“O-one hit?! Incredible! That’s a Crimson Magic wizard for you…!”
“Giant Earthworms have lots of HP, and she took care of it just like that…!”
Despite the cries of admiration around us, I knew that her disgust and fear had led Yunyun to put too much MP into that Fireball. It was inefficient; in fact, it was way past overkill, but it had certainly gotten everyone’s attention.
An adventurer wearing leather armor and holding a dagger said, “Looks like it’ll be an easy win for us! Guys, my Sense Foe skill tells me there’s a bunch of them hiding in the ground just over there! Do your thing!”
““Whaaa—?!””
Then he ran off to help the rest of the caravan.
A—a bunch of them…in the ground…!
As if on cue, the earth started rumbling around us.
“W-w-well, I see there’s no use troubling a great wizard like myself over puny monsters! I’m a bit worried about that woman who gave us the treats and that girl with her, so I’m going back to the carriage…!”
“If you’re such a great wizard, then do something about these things! Ugggh, look at them all! Hey, Megumin, don’t turn away! At least look at them!”
3
Back in the carriage. We had driven off the worms with the help of the adventurers, but…
“Wooow, that’s a Crimson Magic Clan member for you! She beat those Giant Earthworms all by herself!”
“No kidding! I heard all those people were great wizards, but I never imagined anything like this!”
“And she claims she’s not even, like, fully trained yet, right? Unbelievable…!”
Yunyun, forcibly given the seat of honor in the middle of the carriage, was staring intently at the ground, her face bright red as the passengers and guards showered her with praise. Once she had found her rhythm, a whole bunch of earthworms had been fried by her hand—in fact, it turned out that she had destroyed fully half the enemies we were facing, all by herself.
Worried that the pile of dead worms would attract scavenger monsters, we decided to break camp early and get going again. And that brought us to the present. Yunyun, having obviously done more than anyone to save us, was pelted with questions about where she was going, what for, and on and on.
“Boy, are we lucky you happened to be in our caravan. We’ll make sure you’re compensated when we get to Axel. You didn’t even have a bodyguard contract with us; at least accept guard’s pay!”
“I… I didn’t really do anything…that important…”
Overwhelmed with embarrassment, Yunyun’s voice was vanishingly quiet.
And as for me…
“Miss, you must be even stronger than Miss Ribbon, right? You can protect us from even bigger monsters!”
“…Yes, precisely, when more powerful foes come along, that’s when I shall be needed. Then you will see my deadly and destructive magic.”
“That sounds awesome!”
Two seats away from Yunyun, by the window, was the girl from earlier. She was attempting to cheer me up.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to go…
The obvious excuse was that if I had used Explosion then and there, it would have engulfed the carriage and all the passengers. So, while I don’t deny I was a bit frightened of the earthworms, it had been the right choice to leave them to Yunyun…
“I always heard that members of the Crimson Magic Clan love to stand out, love to fight, and love attention, but you’re practically a normal person!”
“Seriously. You’re so humble and careful. I have a totally new perspective on the Crimson Magic Clan!”
“Gotta admit, when I first heard that two of you were riding with us, I almost freaked, but it turned out to be a great thing!”
“P-p-please… Everyone in the village treats me like some weirdo…”
“Aw, c’mon! Heck, you say you aren’t fully trained, but be honest—you’ve got to be the most powerful person in your village, right?”
“Yeah, ‘not fully trained,’ my foot. Hey, they say Crimson Magic Clan members always have a nickname along with their real name. Maybe you could be called, like, ‘Greatest Genius of the Crimson Magic Clan’ or something, y’know?”
……
“Are you in pain, Miss? Did you get hurt in the battle?” the little girl across from me asked, concerned, as I ground my teeth.
“Did you hear that? ‘Greatest Genius of the Crimson Magic Clan.’ It was kind of embarrassing…”
Finally free of her admirers, Yunyun returned to her seat beside me, but she looked pretty pleased.
Grrrr…!
“Yes, but all those monsters were so weak. If there hadn’t been so many people around, my spell would have destroyed even more of those earthworms! Don’t act like you’ve won, because you haven’t!”
“I-I’m not acting like I’ve won anything! I just… I’m just saying that our fellow passengers seem to think pretty highly of me…” As much as she tried to deny it, there was an unmistakable look of satisfaction on Yunyun’s face.
…And that ticked me off.
“I demand we settle this! At the next break, there shall be a contest between you and me!”
“Wh-what, you wanna go?! Fine, I accept! We haven’t had a good face-off since we left school, have we? Now that we can both use magic, we’ll find out for real who’s the best wizard in the Crimson Magic Clan!”
“Oh, in that case, never mind. I don’t want to wager my place as first among the wizards in this contest.”
“N-now, hold on just a second! You can’t drop out when you’re in the lead!”
Yunyun was fussing about something or other, but I ignored her and gazed out the window.
“……?”
“Hey, are you listening to me?! If you don’t accept the challenge, then I win by default…! Megumin, what’s wrong? Did you see some more Lizard Runners?”
“…No, I think it was just my imagination,” I said.
I thought I had seen some kind of shadow. Maybe just a large bird passing over the carriage on its way to the earthworms we had left behind.
I went back to arguing with Yunyun, and it wasn’t long before I had forgotten all about it…
4
“Right this way, mighty protector! Eat well and recover some of that magic you used up!”
“G-gosh, thank you very much.”
“………”
The rest of the day passed without incident, and now the sun had set and the world was dark. The caravan had stopped near a watering hole, and we had made camp. We had all circled up around a small campfire when the leader of the caravan got ahold of Yunyun.
“You don’t see many thirteen-year-olds who can use magic of that caliber,” he said. “Are all teenagers in Crimson Magic Village like you?”
“N-no, I have classmates who can already use advanced magic… I’m actually straggling behind…”
“Advanced magic! At thirteen?! No wonder the Demon King’s army is afraid of you guys!”
It looked like the caravan leader had taken a shine to Yunyun. He pulled a delicious-looking lump of roasting meat off the fire and insisted that she have it.
“………”
“……H-here, Megumin, you have some, too. It’s tasty, see?”
She noticed me sitting with Chomusuke on my knees and watching her.
Hrk! I couldn’t help feeling that taking the food would be tantamount to admitting defeat. The only reason I hadn’t been able to help in the battle earlier was because there were so many people around. If those worms had shown up somewhere a little less populated, I would have been right in the middle of the fight. It was I who was known as the greatest genius of the Crimson Magic Clan. I wouldn’t be dethroned by one solitary failure!
“Go ahead, sweetheart, have some. C’mon—don’t be shy. You have to grow up big and strong like this young woman here.”
“…We were in the same class, I will have you know.”
“What?! G-geez, s
orry, I… Yunyun here just seems so mature, I thought…”
“Hey, if you have something to say about the state of my development, I’ll hear it.”
Just as I was about to really get into it with the caravan leader, one of the bodyguard-type adventurers came over. From his leather armor and dagger, I guessed he was a Thief.
“Finished my patrol, sir. There don’t seem to be any monsters around.”
He must have been on guard duty until just now.
“All right, we’ll keep a skeleton crew on watch and turn in early. A lot of monsters are afraid of fire, but some of the smart ones are actually attracted to it. Let the other adventurers know, too.”
The Thief nodded and went to inform the rest of the adventurers.
“H-hang on, I’ll go with you,” the leader said suddenly. “I should give the orders directly.” And then off he went with the Thief.
…A neat way of escaping from further debate with me.
The other passengers, no doubt tired from the journey, had gone to sleep in the carriage, even though it was still early. Out by the fire, it was just Yunyun and me.
“…Hey, Megumin. I think I actually did pretty great today,” she said, a trace of happiness in her voice.
“Oh-ho. Seeking to insult me for being unable to do anything today?” I asked.
“N-no, I’m not! I’m seriously not, so stop creeping closer to me!” Yunyun composed herself and said shyly, “…Look, I just… I never really got much attention back home, right?”
“That is true. There were times when I wondered if you might be using the Ambush skill.”
“Now just you wait… Oh, forget it. The point is, today… You saw it. I actually did something useful. I actually helped people.” Yunyun never looked up, but she sounded happy.
…That was when I realized Chomusuke was staring at one particular spot.
“It gave me, I don’t know, a little confidence. So I thought… I mean, I was going to wait until I’d learned Advanced Magic, but… Megumin, listen. If you like…m-maybe you and I could…”
Chomusuke was peering intently at something just beyond the fire. Her eyes never left that patch of pitch darkness. Was there something there? I got up to investigate…
Something exploded out of the dark with a flapping of wings.
“…s-start a party togeth— Huh?”
Whatever the thing was, it grabbed Chomusuke from me and tried to disappear back into the darkness.
“…Perhaps this is some fresh new way of picking up a girl. It seems Chomusuke has been swept off her feet.”
“Ohhh, for—!”
The darkness didn’t hide just the one creature that had grabbed Chomusuke. We heard a whole flock of wings…
“Eeeeeeek! Giant Bats! A swarm of Giant Bats!”
Illuminated by the fire, a group of bats the size of eagles descended on our camp!
5
I retrieved Chomusuke from the pile of dead bats. “Goodness, that was close. Those bats nearly took you away and ate you, didn’t they?”
“…” Yunyun, listening to me chat with Chomusuke, seemed to want to say something. Her breath was ragged.
“Excellent work, Yunyun. You really did well here.”
“Help me already! The adventurers can’t hit anything because it’s too dark! And I’m almost…almost out of m-magic…” Yunyun slumped down as the caravan leader and various adventurers rushed over. Of course, I would have loved to help her, but with visibility so limited by the darkness, I had no way of knowing who or what I might hit with my Explosion.
“Fantastic job, Yunyun! You saved us again! If you hadn’t been on this trip, I don’t know what might have happened…!”
“No kidding—you’re something else! How can intermediate magic be that powerful?!”
“Listen, if you’re going to Axel, that means you’re looking for party members, right? How about it? Wanna party up with us?”
Everyone, it seemed, wanted a piece of Yunyun. But she was too tired from MP fatigue to respond.
“C’mon, it’s late,” the caravan leader said. “Yunyun’s obviously exhausted from using up her magic. You can all talk to her tomorrow. Here, Yunyun, come get some rest!”
As the crowd of well-wishers dispersed, one of the adventurers happened to glance in my direction.
…………
“Come to think of it, what’s she been doing? I think I saw her just hanging around when the earthworms attacked, too…”
“Don’t be dumb—I’m sure she was keeping the other passengers safe in the carriage.”
“Yeah, but she hasn’t cast a single spell…”
As the whispers mounted, I edged closer to Yunyun. She was completely spent, but when she saw me, a glint of self-confidence entered her eyes. “So, Megumin, what did you think?”
Ahem. What was I supposed to say to that?
I swaddled myself in a blanket and lay down beside Yunyun, pulling up the covers so that nothing below my nose could be seen and closing my eyes. I was definitely not pouting over having missed the chance to be part of the action.
“I guess even intermediate magic is worth something, huh? Don’t you think I really held my own there?”
“Gee, sure!”
“H-hey, don’t get all pouty just because you weren’t able to set off an explosion. Look, uh…?”
I was not pouting! And I wasn’t sullen!
“…H-hey, look. About what I was saying earlier. Maybe you and I could start a…”
I was so busy grinding my teeth and being full of regret that I barely heard what Yunyun was saying. I gave some noncommittal answer and let it go…
6
The next morning.
“Thanks for your help yesterday! Man, is it good having a Crimson Magic Clan member along!”
“G-gosh, it’s really n-not that big a deal…”
The carriage clattered along, and Yunyun continued to be the center of attention. Still not used to being praised so much, she couldn’t stop looking at the ground, and her face was red. But maybe she was starting to get some confidence, because her voice had returned to its normal volume.
Me, I ground my teeth at all the fawning over Yunyun and stared studiously out the window.
“It was after my bedtime, so I didn’t see it, but is it true that you saved us from more monsters last night, Miss?” the girl sitting across from us asked me, all innocence.
“I am what you would call our ace in the hole,” I replied. “I am holding myself in reserve in case a truly powerful enemy should appear. So, ahem, it was my underling over there who dealt with our more minor aggressors.”
“Hey! I can hear you, you know!” my underling said from where she was sitting in the center seat.
“Still, that makes two monster attacks in one journey. I certainly don’t expect we will be attacked again before we reach Axel.”
“I told you not to jinx us! Don’t they say bad things come in threes?!”
Yunyun was very worried, but I only laughed.
The last goblin collapsed to the ground, and I let out a sigh.
“Phew… We managed it somehow. Well, that is what you get for threatening the Crimson Magic Clan.”
“What do you mean, ‘we’?! The adventurers and I did all the work! You just stood around watching us, Megumin! Even though it’s your fault that these monsters keep attacking us!”
I looked at our surroundings. Child-size, humanoid monsters, namely goblins, were lying all over.
…How could I put this…?
I really didn’t think it had anything to do with me, but our carriage had been attacked by monsters three separate times now. That was virtually unheard of for a caravan this size. Was it really because I’d said something unlucky…?
Even goblins could be a challenge in numbers like this; all the adventurers around us were breathing hard, each standing alone with their own thoughts. And this attack had come only a stone’s throw from Axel.
…Man
, this has been the worst trip ever.
Teleport from our village to Arcanletia, then catch a carriage to Axel. It couldn’t have been simpler, so how did I keep getting in all this trouble? From the weird dude in Arcanletia to these constant assaults by monsters…
“Miss,” someone said, interrupting my ruminations about my many travails. It was the little girl who had been hiding in the carriage, along with the older woman, both peering at me. And then… “And every last one of you brave adventurers… Thank you very much,” she said and smiled brightly.
That was all it took to spread grins onto the faces of the adventurers in the caravan. For a smile like that, they seemed to be saying, it was worth the effort.
“Oh, don’t mention it. Those monsters were nothing.”
“Wait, Megumin, you didn’t do anything, so why are you acting like you worked the hardest?! You didn’t contribute at all!” Yunyun might have been slumped over for want of MP, but this got her up and in my face. It produced only more chuckles among the adventurers and other passengers.
Then it happened.
“Cursed Lightning!”
A woman’s voice rang out, and there was a spidering flash of light. The bolt dived down from the clouds and pierced right through the skull of one of the horses pulling our carriage. It took the poor animal’s head clean off, and a second later, the body went tumbling to the ground; all the adventurers jumped to their feet. Badly startled, I looked up at where the magic had come from…
“Heh-heh, it looks like you’re in no condition to fight. This time, I will have Lady Wolbach. I know exactly how you operate now, and no one’s going to save you here. This isn’t going to be like Crimson Magic Village or Arcanletia, understand?”
This time, Arnes wasn’t even trying to hide her identity. She floated in the sky with the wings that came out of her back, a high-level demon in all her glory.
I sighed deeply. “Some people just do not know when to give up. This is my dear pet, Chomusuke. Perhaps you could finally admit that she’s mine and go home?” I pointedly picked up my cat, who had wrapped herself around my feet.
Yunyun's Turn Page 14
