“Awesome work! Man, that was one hell of a show. I don’t think even Mobile Fortress Destroyer made things that hard, did it? Anyway, this certifies you as really and truly the world’s strongest— H-hey, Megumin, you’re bleeding.”
“Huh? Oh…”
I was using Drain Touch to give her the absolute minimum amount of MP. Prompted by my remark, Megumin, her face flushed with excitement, rubbed the spot under her nose with the sleeve of her robe, but it just spread the blood around.
“Awww…” I used Create Water to wet a handkerchief, then dabbed at the mess. Maybe she liked the feeling of the cool, damp handkerchief, because she closed her eyes and let me wipe away the blood.
Man, she’d gotten so worked up that she’d started bleeding?
Wait… Could this be…?
“Megumin, your cheeks are really warm, too. What’s going on here? This isn’t just excitement, is it?!”
“I-it’s quite all right; you needn’t worry. But behold, now I shall take aim at the top floor of the Demon King’s castle and—” Megumin, clearly feverish, raised her staff weakly in the direction of the castle.
Darkness grabbed hold of her. “Explosion is the most powerful spell a person can use. How could it not cause weird side effects to use it so many times in a row? Using manatite involves drawing MP from the rock and cycling it through your body. It doesn’t take too much of a toll on the average spell-caster, but…”
“But it might be too much for Megumin’s body,” I concluded.
“Please do not act as if this has happened because I am physically small! It’s all right. I can keep going. In fact, you must let me keep going!”
I held the jabbering Megumin steady with one hand while I started gathering up the scattered manatite. I put it back in the backpack I’d brought it in, only to find Megumin weaving her arm through mine.
“Stoppit, no more explosions today,” I said. “And I’ll carry the bag of manatite. Don’t fight me about this.”
“Say what you will, but if we find ourselves in trouble, I won’t hesitate to use explosion magic again. Also, as the manatite is a gift I received from you, I shall carry it.”
Pushy, pushy…
In the end, I caved to Megumin, as long as she agreed that she would use her magic only when it was absolutely necessary. She’d used up most of the manatite, making the backpack a lot lighter, so I was a bit concerned about the way she wobbled under its weight all the same.
But anyway, with that, the biggest obstacle to us getting into the Demon King’s castle was finally out of the way. We started toward it. I made sure my Sense Foe skill was active, but it was completely silent all around. We were totally exposed as we worked our way across the field, but no attacks came from the castle, maybe a sign of just how chaotic things were inside.
“Okay, showtime. Everybody ready?”
“Yeah, just leave this to me. I don’t care if we run into a dragon. I won’t retreat a single step. It’s killing me to let Megumin have all the glory.” Darkness, who scarcely looked different from the Dark Knights we’d defeated earlier, was raring to go.
“Heh-heh-heh! I believe the only deed that could outshine mine today would be the defeat of the Demon King, don’t you think?”
“Damn…! A female knight’s job is to be captured by the Demon King, but we’ve come here to kill him! Do I do my duty as a member of this party or as a female knight…?”
“I’m sorry, you two, but what do you think we came here to do? Have you forgotten about Aqua already?” I asked my two overexcited companions. I approached the gate, keeping my skills active. I didn’t sense any foes, so I went ahead and just walked through. And that was when it happened.
“Ahhh!”
“Whaaa—?!”
Someone shouted in total astonishment, and I cried out, too, every bit as surprised as they were.
Then several familiar figures appeared in front of us. Namely…
“Megumin! Waaaaah! Megumin, Megumin!! I was s-s-scared! I was so, so scared!”
“N-now, what is the matter, Yunyun? I know you cry quite frequently, but you look even worse than usual today!”
It was Yunyun, along with Mitsurugi and his party.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“Kazuma Satou, you were able to follow me? Frankly, I’m amazed you’re alive. Wasn’t that the Demon King outside?!” Mitsurugi, with a young woman hanging off each arm, sounded pretty shocked. His girlfriends must have run into something really frightening, because they were clinging to him tighter than usual, tears in their eyes, and mumbling something about the Demon King over and over.
Wait…Demon King?
“Um, what would the Demon King be doing outside his own castle?”
Yunyun, finally getting herself under control after copious head-patting by Megumin, looked at me, puzzled, and explained: “W-we were able to break in here thanks to Miss Aqua, but right after, while we were searching the building concealed with magic, there was a whole series of mysterious explosions aimed right at the castle… Miss Aqua claimed that it had to be the Demon King himself, having realized that his mortal enemy, a goddess, had infiltrated his stronghold. She said he was trying to destroy us right along with the building, and she made a mad dash for the exit…”
Darkness and I looked at our “Demon King.” The red-eyed, manatite-carrying archfiend refused to meet our eyes.
Hey! That reminded me!
“You mentioned Aqua! Where is she anyway?” We’d actually managed to join up with everybody, but the one person we were looking for wasn’t here.
“O-oh, uh—!” Yunyun, an apologetic look on her face, started to explain, but Mitsurugi interrupted her.
“Lady Aqua, ahem… We sort of lost track of her. What with all the confusion caused by the explosions and everything… We got this far using Yunyun’s concealment magic and my Ambush skill, and I’m pretty sure she must still be nearby someplace. She was with us until just a moment ago. I took my eyes off her for one second…”
And one second, it turned out, was all it took for her to cause trouble. How could she get lost when they were all supposed to be running away together?
“I’m really sorry… After I acted so condescending to you, I wasn’t able to protect Lady Aqua, either… Damn! Some Hero of the Enchanted Blade I am! I can’t even look after a single loved one—!”
“Listen, sorry to interrupt you in the middle of your tragic monologue but getting lost is kind of her thing. Happens all the time. Don’t let it get to you. We can figure out what Important Lessons to take from this later. Right now, we have to find that moron.”
I couldn’t have Mitsurugi moping around forever, and I also knew that if Aqua bumped into the soldiers of the Demon King’s army all by herself, she would be down and out on the spot. And with her luck, I was sure she would bump into them. Meaning time was of the essence…
✦ ✦ ✦
As soon as we stepped inside the castle, we conferred with Mitsurugi and his party about what we would do next. “I hate to split up in an emergency, but I think that’s what we should do to find Aqua,” I said. “If you bump into any enemies, shout, and Mitsurugi or Yunyun can run to you and take care of them. Not to brag, but I think you can assume that my group and I won’t be any help at all in battle.”
“W-well, okay. Considering you’re willing to be so blunt about it, I won’t plan on counting on you too much. If anything comes up, just call me.”
I instructed Megumin and Darkness not to get too far away to shout for either Yunyun or Mitsurugi; then I activated Sense Foe, and we started searching.
I still had misgivings about getting into any fights, but lone-wolf infiltration—that, I could do. I stealthily slipped away from where everyone else was searching and tried to think of places Aqua seemed likely to go.
I don’t see any enemies around here…
Most of the guys on the first floor seemed to have been done in by Megumin’s explosions. That meant that with my ability to detect traps and enemies, plus Ambush, I would probably be safe going a little farther.
“Let us head this way, Darkness. Knowing Aqua, she must have been terrified of running into enemies and gone somewhere dark where they wouldn’t be able to see her.”
“No, she was running away with Yunyun, wasn’t she? But she is a scaredy-cat, so I’m sure she went to the widest hallway in hopes that we would find her right away…”
That was Megumin and Darkness, somewhere behind me as I scanned the inside of the castle. It was built almost like a dungeon. There were lights along the walls here and there, and the hallways were a confusing mess, maybe to discourage intruders. I’d expected the Demon King’s castle to be a little more…you know…creepy, but despite its imposing exterior, the inside was relatively clean. Heck, maybe even demons and devils didn’t want to live in a grimy old castle.