Chapter 16

The next morning. “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I’ll teach you a lesson with this, you Donnelly jerk! Good job, Kazuma! Well done! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Darkness’s triumphant laughter echoed through the foyer. Having obtained evidence of monster summoning, I bestowed it upon Darkness and gave a rough explanation of what had transpired the night before. Though she did scold us a bit for breaking in, ultimately her reaction was pretty positive. “G’morning… What’s going on, everyone? You’re up early today.” Aqua came down in her pajamas, holding some kind of bundle. “Not up early—we stayed up all night. I’m going to sleep now, so don’t wake me till evening,” I said. “Were you gaming again? Sheesh, these NEETs, for the love of…” I didn’t wanna hear it from a girl who had drunk booze and slept through all the commotion of last night. And then Aqua spread out her bundle on the table, at which Megumin showed interest. “What are those, Aqua? They look like stones.” “Just as I’d expect from a member of the Crimson Magic Clan, Megumin, you have an eye for appraisal.” That eye is as blind as a bat—she never noticed who I really was beneath my mask until yesterday. I sipped my morning coffee while Aqua continued. “This here is a collection of funny-shaped stones. You can find some good ones in rivers, ponds, and lakes. I polish them to a shine like this sometimes… Want one?” “I do not,” Megumin answered. …Although the monster-summoning commotion was over, the missing Sacred Treasure hadn’t been at the mansion, so Chris had decided to keep working on tracking down its whereabouts. I really wanted to make this goddess, who could never keep her big mouth shut, learn from the more diligent one. “Speaking of, Aqua, you’ve been heading in and out of town for a while now—what is it you’re doing? When we took our eyes off Megumin, everything got out of hand by the time we knew it. I’m just as curious what you were up to…” “Darkness, stop treating me like a problem child! Someone at the Adventurers Guild asked me to do a part-time job. Look, I have super-amazing Purification magic, right? They asked me to use that to purify the lake and the area surrounding where the Kowloon Hydra used to be. I really gave it my best!” I took another slow drink of coffee, absentmindedly watching an all-too-familiar scene. Megumin was standing next to me, clutching something to her chest. She seemed to want to speak, but it looked like the girl was unsure whether it was a good idea. “S-sorry, Aqua. My bad.” “Do you really think it’s your fault? Then buy something from my stone collection. With the Purification job over, I’ve got no money.” Ignoring their prattle, I teasingly said to Megumin, “Is there something you wanna say? Aha, do you want my autograph now that you know who I really am? Or maybe you want me to shake your hand?” “I do not.” After I looked about nervously for a bit at her scathingly immediate answer, she said, “…Er, thank you very much. For sort of getting revenge for us.”