✦ ✦ ✦
“He’ll be okay! I hear Wiz and Vanir took him into a dungeon and helped him level up! He learned all sorts of skills and awakened or something! Um… By the way, what’s Spelunker?”
…………
“Gosh, what’s that about? I never heard any of that! Kazuma said he awakened?! And what’s this about him learning all sorts of skills? I somehow have a bad feeling that he’s taking my job! Kazuma is not the type to have something as cool as an awakening happen to him! He’s Kazuma! He’s supposed to struggle against shrimpy monsters and then use dirty, underhanded tricks to defeat big, powerful enemies! How could something so interesting happen to him while I wasn’t even there?!”
I took Yunyun by the shoulders and shook vigorously, sending her head flopping back and forth. “I-I-I’m afraid! I d-d-d-don’t know! Aqua, please stop shaking me! I left to come after you before Kazuma did his training, so I don’t have any details! Magical long-distance communication has many limits…! I only know that Axel’s adventurers got together to train Kazuma up and teach him their skills. So about this Spelunker…”
I let go of Yunyun’s shoulders and started thinking hard. Our shrimpy little Kazuma, awakened? I could just picture his eyes sparkling as he said the word: I knew he and Megumin were cut from the same cloth.
While I stood with my arms crossed, Yunyun kept muttering forlornly about Spelunker. I didn’t know why she was so hung up on that.
But hey—while I had been out here on a serious quest to take down the Demon King, everyone back in town had been enjoying a fun event like that? Wow, I felt so left out.
After a few minutes of fretting…
✦ ✦ ✦
…I decided to give up on defeating the Demon King.
✦ ✦ ✦
“How about we go home?”
“What are you saying, Lady Aqua?! It was you who said that this was our best chance! This very moment, with the Demon King’s forces split between the capital and Axel, leaving no one to guard the castle! It’s okay—trust me! We can and will take down the Demon King! I mean, are you really that worried about him?!”
Magic Sword Guy was incensed. And I admit, I was a little intimidated by the way he rushed toward me.
Yunyun, though, quickly put herself between Magic Sword Guy and me. “Calm down, please, Mr. Mitsurugi. Are you sure we couldn’t wait for Kazuma and the others to catch up with us before going on to the Demon King’s castle? It would give us more fighting power when we did make the assault, and it would keep Aqua safer.”
Ah, the Crimson Magic Clan, so smart. Always so smart.
I peeked out from behind Yunyun, nodding vigorously to show what a good idea I thought this was. Magic Sword Guy looked a little sad, then spun around, putting his back to us. “We should hurry onward. I know you’re worried about that man, Lady Aqua, but the fate of the world hangs on what we do next. Remember, I beg you, why we’re on this journey. Have we not come to finish the fight with the Demon King and save those who are weak and suffering in this world, at the very moment when his castle is least defended? It’s all right. I’ll be by your side, always…”
Gosh, he sounded like the main character in some manga.
What should I do? He was obviously a lot keener on this than I was. When had I decided to save all the world’s weak and suffering? Okay, so I might have said something like that to Cecily, but I didn’t recall actually starting on this quest because of anything like that…
Magic Sword Guy’s two girlfriends looked at me with conflicted expressions. Was he one of those dense pretty-boy types or something? He was definitely one of the oblivious types. I’d seen him pat those girls on the head. Come to think of it, he’d said something to Yunyun about just calling him “Kyouya.” Magic Sword Guy was obviously trying to get a harem going. Yunyun, though, always flinched back or froze up every time Magic Sword Guy talked to her and insisted on calling him “Mr. Mitsurugi.” It wouldn’t be easy to add her to his harem.
Still facing away from us, Magic Sword Guy continued. “Whatever happens, I shall protect you. I shall be the armor on which you can most rely, Lady Aqua. I shall be your sharpest blade, cutting down every enemy in our path. Therefore I implore you, don’t look to that man but lean on me…”
He still sounded like he thought he was the main character, and he was obviously enjoying himself, so I didn’t want to interrupt him. But there was one thing I definitely wished I could correct.
The one I rely on most is Darkness.