It had been a while since we’d left Arcanletia.
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“Wonderful support magic, Lady Aqua. I knew I could expect the best from you. Thank you.”
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With my buffs, Magic Sword Guy had easily chopped up that manticore. And while I was sure my help had played its part, it was mostly thanks to this guy’s magic sword. It was really something, being able to take on an advanced monster like a manticore. If Kazuma had been here, he probably would have run away screaming from the ogres, then come up with some dirty little trick before he came crying to me for help.
“But of course. Anyone injured?” I asked, just to be sure, but it didn’t even take a quick look around to know that everyone was fine. The battles always ended in the blink of an eye, too quick for anyone to get hurt.
“We’re quite all right, Lady Aqua. It must be thanks to your blessings that we’re all safe again. Although I deeply appreciate your concern.” Magic Sword Guy smiled broadly, sounding overjoyed. He really was hunky. Unlike a certain someone who was in the habit of sleeping till noon (so he always woke up with bed head) and whose soul was so twisted, it even showed in his eyes.
“Great work, Kyouya! With an Arch-priest and an Arch-wizard, life is easy, huh?”
“Yeah, for sure. We didn’t even have to do anything.”
The spear-wielding girl and the Thief girl were busy lavishing praise on Magic Sword Guy. He gave them each a pat on the head as if to say thanks, and they blushed.
I remembered Kazuma giving Darkness a pat on the head and a smile completely out of the blue once. She’d gotten angry that he’d messed up her hair, and he’d gotten depressed that she didn’t understand what he was doing. I wished I could let him know that we had a real master of the Pat-and-Smile here. Being able to get a blush out of a young lady just by giving her a pat on the head was a special skill reserved for hunks.
“With this party, we need not fear even the Demon King. Let’s go, Lady Aqua! And bring peace back to this world!”
“Oh yeah, sure,” I said, just for the sake of saying something to the grinning Magic Sword Guy.
That was when Yunyun came up to me. “Listen to this, Aqua! Wiz in Axel sent word that Kazuma is on his way to come get us right now!”
“Hoh.” So apparently all that murmuring Yunyun had been doing hadn’t been just her talking to an invisible friend.
Still, though, that Kazuma, he never changed. I left him a note specifically so he wouldn’t have to worry about me, and he still came after me. That guy! I understood his desire to lean on an older-sister type such as myself, but I needed him to learn to stand on his own two feet eventually.
“You look happy somehow, Aqua.”
“Oh, not especially. So? Is it just Kazuma coming after us?”
“No, it sounds like Darkness and Megumin are with him. Um, when I left town, the other adventurers were all worried about you, too, did you know that? They said that when they saw you again, they were going to lecture you until you broke down in tears. Megumin was especially upset.”
“Is that right…?”
An upset Megumin put me on my guard. I hoped she was angry because she had more of a heart for her companions than any of them, but I couldn’t be sure. Once, when I’d teased her that using the bath after me would bestow a blessing that would make her just as voluptuous as the goddess of water, she’d stayed in the tub so long, she got dizzy. Maybe she was still holding that against me.
I wondered if she would forgive me if I gave her the weird-shaped rock I’d found on this trip and offered a tearful apology.
The monsters kept getting more and more powerful; we could bathe only when we happened to arrive at a town or village; and at night we were mobbed by undead. Honestly, I was starting to feel just the tiniest bit homesick.
Oh, who was I kidding? I regretted ever coming on this journey. I’d gone this far because I’d wanted to look good for Cecily, but maybe it would be okay to turn around now.
“You know, I’m worried that poor, weak Kazuma might get himself eaten by a frog on the way here. He’s so fragile, you’d think he was playing Spelunker sometimes. And now at just Level 1, and with those two in tow, I can’t imagine how he would make it here safely.” That’s why I thought it would be best if we fell back for the time being and…