Chapter 3
Part 1
After an uneasy night worrying about what was to come I eventually got some rest, reassuring myself that Darkness wouldn't be back for a couple of days. Since as far as she was aware we didn't have anything planned.
Yeah, she'll probably spend a few days there before saying goodbye to Sylphina.
Ugh, I probably shouldn't have gone so 'gung ho' in promising a revenge quest ASAP
Sure I wanted whatever it was that eliminated many explosion spots (mainly close ones) gone, but now that I'm thinking about it I really don't feel like fighting anything crazy right now.
I've had too much to worry about recently and was about to get a break, but now I've been thrown into yet another predicament.
Hopefully Darkness stays home as long as possible.
Leaving my room I start wandering down the hallways.
Peeking into the living room it seems everyone else is already up, with Megumin feeding Chomusuke and Aqua attempting to pet Zell with little to no luck.
I decided to take the opportunity to make myself something for breakfast, ending up with just some scrambled eggs and toast.
Heading back to the living room I could still see Aqua continuing in her struggle to comfort Zell, but there was also-
Megumin talking to Darkness?!
Why is Darkness back so soon? And…
Walking into the living room I could see that alongside Darkness was Sylphina.
"What are you two doing back so soon!?"
"Oh Kazuma, what's wrong? The way you ask makes it sound like you didn't want us back here…"
Calming myself down to keep Darkness from suspecting anything.
"No no, I was just… surprised to see you back so soon. Figured you would stay home for a while"
"Oh that. Well I originally planned on staying back for a few days and spending time with Sylphina and father before saying goodbye, but he was busy with business so we just stayed the night"
"So why's she back here now?"
"Well I figured she might as well spend a bit more time with us while we wait for him to finish up his work. She was awfully bored at home."
"And how long is that 'business' going to take?"
"Should only take a couple of days, why?"
"Well uhh..."
Even if I wanted to rush into this revenge quest. Darkness having brought Sylphina back with her is going to be a bit of a problem.
I guess we could always just drop her off somewhere.
Megumin who had been quiet so far jumps in for me.
"We were going on a revenge quest and would like your help"
Darkness seemed confused by her statement.
"A revenge quest? What is it you have to avenge?"
"Well while you were gone me and Megumin went on her daily explosion routine per usual, and along the way, we encountered a one-shot-kill bear-"
"You mean one-hit-kill bear?"
Oh guess I got the name wrong. Must've been the 'LEET Speech' messing with my terminology.
"Yeah, and can I continue without you interrupting?"
"Well of-course."
"Anyway we encountered a one-hit-kill bear and it… got to Megumin"
Darkness then directed her attention to Megumin.
"Wait while I was gone you died!?"
"Of course, it's only natural as a-"
Megumin looked up to see Darkness had a concerned look across her face. Seeing that I guess she cut the chunibyo from her speech.
"It wasn't all bad. If anything it was probably worse for Kazuma since he had to get me revived"
"It most certainly was worse for me! Don't you remember the state I was in yesterday?"
"Hmmn, Anyway I ended up just having a conversation with Eris until I was eventually revived"
Darkness seemed taken aback.
"I'm sorry what?"
"While I waited to revive I got to talk to Eris-"
"You Met Eris!?"
"Yeah, she was pretty nice, kinda seemed a tad useless. She couldn't even answer most of my questions"
I couldn't help but laugh at the irony, continuing from where Megumin left off
"Yeah I guess I've never told you guys what happens while I'm waiting to get revived, and at this point Darkness is the only one who's never been to heaven."
"Well what happens to you normally!?"
"Well not much. I'm not normally offered a Q&A session by Eris, so it's usually her just comforting me or giving some info. It always ends with Aqua yelling into the void, and then me reviving."
Darkness seemed completely taken aback by what she was hearing.
"So you're telling me… that you've met the Goddess I've faithfully worshipped all my life 5 times… and you've never bothered telling me!?"
Oh right maybe I should've mentioned it to her.
Just as Darkness started looking legitimately mad at me Sylphina ran over thanks to the yelling.
"Mommy Mommy, what's wrong? You're getting the super angry look again"
Thanks to Sylphina Darkness was able to (somewhat) calm down.
"Oh, no it's nothing dear"
Darkness shot a death glare at me before comforting Sylphina
Yup, just I suspected she's gonna be mad at me for a while. My bad
Continuing past the outburst earlier, Megumin spoke up
"So Darkness. When would you be willing to accompany us on this revenge quest?"
"I refuse"
"..."
"Ehhhhhhhh?"
"Just as I said. I'm not going on your revenge trip until I get Sylphina back home, and she's not going back until father's done"
"But can't you just leave Sylphina at the mansion? We won't be gone for too long"
"I'm not leaving her home alone! She may be able to handle it but, again, I'd like to spend time with her"
Darkness' somewhat harsh rejections seemed to be leaving Megumin in a glum state
What would get Darkness on our side…
"We could always leave Sylphina with Vanir and Wiz, they're great with kids"
Darkness seemed to ponder it for a second
"Well we could but why would I want to?"
Megumin interjected
"Think about it. Wouldn't we be doing a great service to Axel? After all there is a powerful creature disturbing the forest nearby"
"P-powerful?"
Oh of course, why didn't I lead with this?
"Well of course. We encountered a one-hit-kill bear that was running from something, surely whatever's out there would be miles stronger"
Darkness started to blush at the revelation
"S-str-stronger than a o-one-hit-kill…"
"Of course, just think about all the monsters we would encounter on the way"
"Alright you've convinced me, I'll go on your silly revenge quest. as long Sylphina is in Wiz's care"
"That's more like it!"
Megumin turned over towards the couch
"Aqua we're going on that quest I mentioned earlier"
"Eh? Why should I go on another one of your stupid quests? There isn't even a reward!"
"Aqua don't be like that, we could really use your help."
"And I don't see any point in going! That masked loser said Kazuma could handle whatever it was on his own anyway!"
"Yeah, and what about the other monster encounters?"
"Eh, Darkness will just taunt em like she always does, so you'll be fine"
Really? The one time Aqua decides to use her brain it's to get out of work. I should've expected as much from her
Guess I should try convincing her to come
"Hey Aqua. How about if you come on this quest with us I'll give you some Eris"
"Hmm? How much?"
"Around 1000"
"Only 1000 Eris? Do you really think my assistance is worth so little?"
Yes
"Well you already have an allowance, and the money I lend you sometimes. Where'd that go?"
"Well I'm not going if it's so little"
"Alright, 2000 Eris"
"Nope, not going. You'll have to find someone else willing to go"
Hmm?
"Alright then"
"Wait you're leaving without me"
"Well of-course oh great goddess. We wouldn't want to disturb your afternoon. It's just a shame we'll have to get another arch-priest to help us"
"Hey, wait-"
"And who knows? Maybe they'll be available more often. If they were we could just bring them along for now on"
Megumin then tugged on my sleeve and spoke to me in a whisper
"Kazuma don't you think you're going a bit far"
"I don't know what else will work, besides I'm not actually going to replace her"
Aqua pondered what I said for a moment
"Ha. You're bluffing, there's no way you'd actually find an arch-priest willing to help. Don't you remember when we were getting our adventuring cards? She said that available arch-priests are super rare!"
I pondered her counterpoint for a second, with it not taking long to think up a rebuttal
"Well it's just as you said it. I'd have to be pretty lucky for an arch-priest to be waiting around for someone to go adventuring with"
Aqua laughed out in victory. I guess she didn't get the point
"Thankfully for me, my luck stat is phenomenally high. With my luck stat working for me, and your abysmal luck stat working against you I have a decent feeling we'll find someone-"
Just then Aqua rushed off the couch into the hallway and presumably towards her room
"I'm getting changed, don't leave without me!"
"Heh, too easy"
Part 2
After getting ready I waited by the front of the mansion and the others slowly poured out with Aqua showing up last
"Alright looks like we're ready to head back into the forest, well mostly"
We still had one more stop to make
"Oh, if it isn't the brat and his dysfunctional crew of mess-ups. I see you're dropping off the mini-brat to go kill some inconspicuous monster in the forest"
Yup we had to drop off the others. This time however Wiz was present in the store, however she was too preoccupied to say anything to us
Rather she rushed to the back room, something seemed off about her...
Whatever,I can worry about that later, for now I should get this task over with
"Sigh. Yes yes, now before we leave Sylphina and Zell in your care-"
"Oh? Who told you that this charming devil ran a daycare service on the side?"
"I'll buy out some of your useless product if you do"
"Well if that's the case then Vanir's babysitting for problem children will gladly take them off your hands"
"Alright, but before you go, let me ask you. Are we going to be-"
"Oh ho, there was no fortune telling mentioned in this daycare deal. However I would be more than happy to throw in a word of advice and a souvenir for the road as long as you buy out a couple crates of useless merchandise."
Not wanting an unpleasant fatal surprise, I complied
"Yeah sure, just tell me we'll be alright"
"Mwahahah poor choice of words, but you will be alright. However if I were you I'd keep an eye out for that crazed mage"
"Megumin? But you said that-"
"Mwahaha, well that's enough for now don't you say? I'd say you better get a move on. Oh and before I forget, here's your souvenir"
Vanir handed me a plain looking brown bag
"What's this supposed to be?"
"Ah ah ah. No questioning the all seeing devil"
Shrugging, I left the store with the others. Before leaving I could see Zell running over to stay with Vanir and Sylphina running into the back to meet Wiz
Good to know they'll be happy at least
Now we were on our way towards the forest, with Darkness eventually breaking the silence
"So what exactly happened while I was gone anyway?"
Guess I'll summ it up since I was alive the whole time
"Well we just went out for Megumin's daily Explosion. After she cast, a one-hit-kill bear sprinted out of the forest taking her out and continuing deeper into the forest"
"What happened after that?"
"I carried Megumin back to the mansion and went to get Aqua to revive her"
"And you should be more grateful I came when I did! I was busy you know"
"Oi. You needed an intervention from a real goddess to get you back to the mansion"
"Real Goddess!?
"Anyway, after that I eventually got some information out of Vanir and now here we are."
After a bit more walking we were standing at the entrance to the forest where the presumed monster was
"Alright guys be careful from here on, don't want to take any chances"
"Oh but I thought your luck was incredible Kazuma-san"
"Yes. My luck is incredible, or rather it's supposed to be, but yours isn't. That's why I want you to keep an eye out"
"Yeah yeah whatever. That masked freak said we'd be fine, so I shouldn't have to worry right?"
Yeah I guess he did say that. Yet he warned me about Megumin…
What's his deal this time?
Strangely enough as we walked through the forest we had yet to encounter anything, yet we were almost halfway to the center
"Kazuma can you see anything around here?"
Activating farsight showed there was nothing around us with enemy detect not activating either.
"This is strange. Maybe whatever drove that one-hit-kill bear away wiped out all the monsters in the forest"
Megumin had a point, however the likelihood of her prediction seemed to depress Darkness for only a second with her quickly coming to a realization
"That means whatever wiped the forest is even stronger than we thought?"
Uh oh.
"Hehehe. I've been saving explosions for this quest, whatever monster took me down will feel my wrath!"
"But you just used Explosion yesterday? I hardly call less than a day of waiting 'saving' a one per day spell"
"You may have a point. However I'm ready to go all out on whatever's waiting for us"
Oh no. This is probably what Vanir meant by 'keeping an eye on her'… But we all turn out fine in the end right?
Ugh I hate not knowing my exact fate
Damn that all seeing devil!
Using farsight to check the surrounds I could see a small opening a bit ahead of us
"Oi guys we're getting close. Get ready to face whatever's-"
Upon looking into what was in that opening…
No it couldn't be. How could it be?
I was just seeing things I'm sure
…
As we walked into the opening, the monster greeted us with-
"Oh...welcome adventures… what brings you here?"
You've got to be kidding me
The monster Vanir was hyping up was a Tranquility Princess?
I guess that's what he meant when he said I'd be fine
Seeing what sat in front of us Aqua walked ahead of us and looked between us and the princess finally looking back at us
"Really? This is the disturbance in the forest? Some measly tranquility princess?"
Looking back at the princess she continues
"So you can just show you're nothing to worry about so we can just get a move on-"
"Excuse me!?"
Wait, what?
"Measly? I'd think I'm a bit more significant a threat than you. I'm a tranquility princess, and you're just some arrogant mortal"
Everyone else seemed shocked at the princess' sudden outburst. I was of course surprised but only because it took to little to break her facade
Megumin then decided to step in
"Oi you can't just insult my teammate like that! You really are different to those other tranquility monsters-"
"Oh so you've dealt with my breed of 'monster' before huh? Lemme guess. Scummy looking guy in the back finished them off?"
Ah figures. The tranquility monsters have never been too fond of my presence
This one just isn't as good at hiding it
It seems Megumin was quickly getting fed up of her insults to our party
However she was holding back her anger instead of blowing the area to hell
I guess she didn't want her image of the tranquility monsters to break
"I would appreciate if you wouldn't insult my party members any further-"
"And what are you going to do about it? Upon you're closer you're a crimson demon aren't you? So that'd mean you're some crazed lonely loser right? If I say a few nice words you'll bend to my every will right?"
"Alright this is clearly a rotten tranquility princess. Kazuma, can I blow it up?"
"All of the tranquility monsters were rotten but you all never believe me! And after we back up go ahead"
As me Megumin and Aqua started to leave the clearing Darkness stopped us
"Before you leave to exterminate this princess allow me to have a word with her first"
"Oh... uhh sure Darkness"
She turned back around and faced the Tranquility princess
"Do you have any insults for me?"
The princess shrugged off her question
"Don't really have anything. You just look like some noble weirdo. Now can you take your sad excuse for companions and leave me alone!?"
Darkness ran back over to us panting
"Ahha. She didn't even bother thinking of an insult for me."
We left the clearing and made sure there was a bit of area between us and the princess before Megumin started casting Explosion
This was clearly disturbing the princess as the mana gathered around her
I couldn't quite hear what she was saying, luckily I could read lips
"Wait you people aren't going to kill me off are you? I haven't even done anything yet!"
Like hell you haven't.
As more and more mana flowed into the area I also quickly became concerned
"Hey, Megumin. How big are you planning on making this explosion?"
"Ohho, what a silly question Kazuma. I'm gonna go all out with this one"
"What!? Are you crazy? You take us out too!"
"For a master of explosion magic like myself that won't be an issue"
"Yeah but this is starting to get concerning. If you don't cast explosion now I'll be sealing it away for all of next week"
"Hey that's not fair! That princess is the reason I died! At least let me have this."
"It won't mean anything if you take us all out too!"
"Don't worry I've got it under control. You're a fellow explosion connoisseur Kazuma, you should know better."
"Oi it's because I'm a 'connoisseur' of the spell I'm worried"
"Uh not to interrupt your bickering but doesn't it look like the Tranquility Princess is begging for forgiveness?"
"Well it's a bit late now don't you think? Megumin's about to let off a massive-"
"EXPLOSION!"
The explosion completely decimated the area around us
Shaking off the dizziness the massive blast ensued and looking around there was a massive crater in front of me with husks of trees scattered around me
What was a clearing that housed the Tranquility Princess was now a massive hole in the earth
To my right was a collapsed Megumin with Aqua and Darkness on the left behind me.
"So how many points was that explosion worth Kazuma?"
"35 points"
"Ehhhh!? Why would a blast that magnificent be worth only 35 points!?"
"It was magnificent, yes, but it not only put us in danger. It completely decimated the area in an ugly way. Therefore it's worth for me 35 points"
Megumin only responded to my criticisms with a pout
I guess she couldn't refute my points
Well now that our encounter with the Tranquility Princess had ended we should head back to pick up Zell and Sylphina
Part 3
Returning to Wiz's store we could see Vanir stocking shelves with Zell on his shoulder and I could faintly hear Sylphina laughing in the background
"Yo, we're back"
"Ah the brat's finished with his pointless skirmish has he?"
"Hey it wasn't completely pointless. We cleared out another one of those awful tranquility girls."
"Oi, Those other tranquility girls were fine, you were just too heartless to let them live."
"Aqua, they would have definitely lured someone else into their trap. Besides after all that it's you can't still believe they're all pure"
"Nope. It was just the one bad egg. It'd be hard to believe you're not the one at fault here."
Having enough of Aqua's stupidity I left her for Wiz to serve and headed over to Vanir.
Megumin drifted off to browse some of the new products layed out while Darkness went towards the back, presumably looking for Sylphina
"So where's she?"
"Hmm? Oh you must be referring to the plot device. Well she's in the back preoccupied by our resident debt collector. You really should drop her off more, keeping that Lich busy does wonders for business"
"Ah, but I'm pretty sure she's leaving to stay at Darkness' place in a few days"
"Ah a shame she can't stay around any longer. Just as much of a shame you should be on your way. You seem to have another encounter on your way."
"Wait really? Why's all of this happening today?"
"Ohho bold of you to assume that this is unrelated to what's taken place today"
"Wait wha-"
"Anyway you can take the chicken and the distraction and allow moi to continue stocking shelves"
"I...uhh... Sure"
Lightly grabbing Zell off Vanir's shoulder I leave for the backroom to get Darkness and Sylphina before Darkness reappears in the main part of the store with Sylphina
"Alright Aqua we're leaving"
"Ehh? Already? I haven't even gotten my tea yet!"
"Wiz is probably tired out after babysitting. Just leave without the tea"
"Oi, she's lucky I let her stay around. Besides if you're so stubborn on leaving now why not just leave without me?"
"Because apparently we've got some other something lined up for today"
"Oh? So you need the help of a Goddess do you? Well if it's not worth my time I'm leaving you and coming back"
"Sure whatever. Just c'mon"
Walking out of the store I begin to ponder
What other 'encounter' could we have after that?
"Megumin!"
As if to answer my question Yunyun comes running from the distance
"Oh if it isn't my rival. Here to challenge me to another duel, eh? Well too bad! We're-"
As Yunyun finally appeared in front of us she started shaking Megumin cutting her off
"I saw that explosion earlier! You better not have killed her!"
Aqua looked between the nearly breaking down Yunyun and Megumin
"Alright, I'm going back in"
After Aqua rudely walked through them back into the store, I continued.
"So Yunyun, The 'her' you're talking about. Was she the Tranquility princess Megumin blew up?"
Yunyun then angrly looked over to Megumin
"Why'd you have to go and do that? It's not like she was bothering anyone! She was my f-fr-friend"
"Oh you poor fool. Truly any real Crimson Demon would be able to see through some Tranquility girl's ruse"
"Oi you were deceived by the other 2 I had to deal with!"
"Ehem! As I was saying I don't know how you got fooled by the foul creature, but she definitely wasn't your friend"
Yunyun started softly sobbing as Megumin spoke
"I can't believe she would just use me like that… I spent so much time clearing the area for her and now she's been taken out anyway"
"Wait can you repeat that?"
Yunyun curiously looked up at me
"I cleared out the area of monsters. A few got away from me but I wanted to make sure.."
"Ahhhhhh I should have known! That's why all this began! I knew a tranquil girl wouldn't have been capable of scaring that away!"
"Oh did I cause you trouble? I'm really sorry! I didn't mean for any monsters to get away. It's just that some of them can run so fast, it's hard to aim when they're bolting away through the trees. If you don't mind me asking what happened?"
Megumin put one of her hands to Yunyun's shoulder
"Well one of the rampaging monsters forced me to use one of my many lives"
"Wait you died!?"
Megumin then went on to tell her own spin of the events that took place, changing the occasional detail. Like how she 'killed the wicked beast in her dying breath' and 'Outsmarted Eris into reviving her'. All while Yunyun was trying to comfort her
I thought it best to leave her version of the story alone
After they finished their talk and Yunyun left, we were about set to go that's left would be to pick up Aqua, but after refusing to leave without her tea and snacks, I decided to leave her there.
On the way home, Sylphina and Darkness we're talking. The continued 'Mommy Mommy" from Sylphina was picked up on by a few regulars from the Guild.
I wonder how that'll work out for Darkness' reputation there?
Leaving Darkness to her conversation, I turned over to Megumin.
"So, after all this I'm guessing you'll want to take a break from the explosion routine for a few days right?"
"Are you kidding me? The mastery of Explosion isn't something that can wait! Not even death can stop the beauty that is Explosion"
"Wait really? You aren't at all traumatized by these recent events?"
"Well unlike you Kazuma, I'm not going to use this as an excuse to laze around. Besides I wouldn't even want that to begin with."
I guess it's a bit annoying that I'm not getting a break from that routine but it's good to see she's still acting herself
"Besides, you can always ask Vanir if anything will happen right?"
"Ah right. I guess I'll talk to him about it tomorrow and try to make a deal or something"
After all this I can only wonder what tomorrow has in store
Ideally nothing troublesome
Oh yeah and there's also something up with Wiz, but I guess I'll leave that for another day. Really don't feel like dealing with that right now.
Returning home I went back to my room and started putting my gear away.
As I was putting things away I remembered the 'souvenir' Vanir gave me
Opening the brown bag there was a decent sized glass bottle with some green liquid in it
Turning the bottle around revealed a label sporting the text 'weed killer'
…
Sometimes I wonder if I should just stop interacting with that all-seeing devil
Authors Note:
Thank you all so much for keeping up with my story 3
I'm sincerely sorry that this chapter has taken so long to get out
I'll try to keep this short but with everything that's been happening lately and a couple of plunges in my mental health, development of this chapter has been rough
In short I've been stuck in a cycle of feeling like crap for resting and not working, but being barely able to work on the chapter thanks to my mental
I don't want it to seem like I'm making excuses I just hope you all understand.
One last thing before I go. If anyone's interested I'll be participating in a short story contest taking place in Boring Bone's discord server.
It's alot of fun and I recommend you come check it out, just go over to their profile on here. The lastest Short Story compilation will tell u how to join the server
Anyway that's enough rambling from me, Thank you all so much for keeping up with the story and I hope to deliver more soon (btw there will be an epilogue eventually, hopefully much sooner than this chapter lol) 3