The only thing I saw were the corpses of Mammon and his knights lying on the ground. And Mitsurugi had defeated most of them…
“I don’t know. I think you got a much bigger cheat than I did,” Mitsurugi said as he put his sword away, with a significant glance at Aqua.
A big cheat? I let my gaze wander toward Aqua. Maybe she sensed we were talking about her, because she refused to meet my eyes; instead, she acted like she was focused on fixing up Darkness.
Megumin and Yunyun came over, looking relieved, but me, I was curious about the huge door at the far end of the room. I was sure Mammon had said that this hall led to the Demon King’s chamber. That might explain why there were knights hanging out in here—a last line of defense against any attackers.
Aqua and I had sort of cheated our way here, but I knew what had to be waiting on the other side of that door. We’d made enough of a ruckus that he had to know we were here. Once everyone was gathered around, I said, “Okay. We’ve achieved our stated objective—namely, to retrieve Aqua. Now Yunyun and I just teleport us all home…”
Mitsurugi shook his head like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “How can you say such a thing when we’re standing right here? This is the Demon King we’re talking about. The enemy of all humanity is practically before our eyes! The vast majority of his forces are at the capital. We won’t get another chance like this. It falls to us to finish things between humanity and the arch-fiend.”
Yeah, that sounded great and all, but what about the Demon King’s daughter who was supposed to be leading that army? If we took out her dad, wouldn’t she just take over in his place?
“Yipes! Ow-ow-ow-ow, dath hurths! Hey, why are you both pinching my cheeks? Aren’t hugs and are you okay we were so worrieds more traditional at an emotional reunion like this?! It hurts! It hurts! The pain!”
I looked in the direction of Aqua’s shouting to find her caught between Darkness and Megumin, each of whom was pulling on one cheek. It was kind of heartwarming, actually, to see her having so much fun.
“Hear me out,” I said. “Megumin took down the castle barrier, so we can just waltz back in here anytime we feel like it. Let’s get some real knights, let’s get all the cheaters together, maybe the Crimson Magic Clan, and let them handle it.”
I was acting nonchalant, but Yunyun sounded genuinely shocked. “She destroyed the barrier? Really? The entire Crimson Magic Clan together couldn’t bring down that force field, and Megumin did it all by herself?”
“That’s right. You said you all heard a bunch of explosions hitting the castle after you came in, right? That was some manatite-powered mayhem courtesy of—”
“K-Kazuma, that’s quite enough!” Megumin said, trying to interrupt me.
Oops…!
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