Chapter 28

* * * “It’s true, I tell you! He was just staring at the abandoned castle on the hill near town! He was on this war cart pulled by a headless horse, going who knows where…!” It must have been the hour: The Guild was abuzz with adventurers drinking and chatting. Ignoring all the shouting, we worked our way over to the reception desk. “Excuse me. We’ve come to collect our reward…” “Oh, Miss Megumin and Miss Yunyun. We’ve already brought in the frogs. Three frogs, fifteen thousand eris. Hold on, please.” A receptionist lady prepared our payment. “Ummm… Would there happen to be any hunt quests for Lovely Rabbits? We took out quite a few of them in the woods.” I held up my Adventurer’s Card, which showed the number and type of monsters I had defeated. “Hmm, Lovely Rabbits normally don’t come out of the deep woods. That means they don’t usually do anyone any harm, and there aren’t normally any quests for them… But they’ve been spotted near town often enough recently that there might be a hunt for them soon.” Hmph, too bad. …There was one other thing, though. “Actually, we also ran into that demon in the woods everyone’s been talking about. He’s very high-level. He was intelligent enough to identify himself, and he was a giant—truly intimidating. He’s one serious enemy, no doubt about it.” The receptionist’s face tightened at that. “He also said something about searching for a huge, black magical beast. We were able to talk to him, and he didn’t attack us, so I was thinking maybe he’s a friendly demon…,” Yunyun continued, but the woman shook her head. “A pitch-black magical beast, you say? …I can think of one such creature. It’s a very dangerous monster called the Beginner’s Bane—it has a large build and black fur. But I wonder why he would be looking for one of those. Maybe he wants to keep it as a pet…?” The woman thought about it for a moment. “Oh,” she added, “thank you both for the information. I just can’t imagine what a high-level demon would want with a Beginner’s Bane. This is beyond dangerous. Until we figure out what’s going on, we may need to restrict access to the forest entirely. Don’t go back in there if you don’t have to,” she said, and then she gave us our reward for the frogs. 11 “Gosh, it seems like this really blew up.” We were on our way back to our inn when the words came suddenly out of Yunyun’s mouth. “It was bad timing. I had just used up my magic. If I’d still had my spell, I would have iced him in one shot…” “Stop! You can’t beat an enemy like that! I think that demon could have withstood even your Explosion!” “…Oh-ho, is that a challenge I hear? Very well, let us forget what we were planning to do tomorrow and go back to the woods…” “No way! I am not going in there! If you want to go to the woods, you’re going by yourself—do you hear me?!” As we walked along, quarreling, we passed by the Department of Civil Engineering. “Th-thanks, boss… All in a day’s work…” “Yeah, nice hustle!” I spotted that increasingly familiar pair emerging. I guess they had just gotten off work themselves. The man looked absolutely beat, but the girl, who had been so dead set against manual labor this morning, had a huge grin on her face and looked downright fulfilled. Hardly able to stay on his feet, the young man said, “Hey, let’s find something else to do tomorrow… You were right after all. We aren’t made for civil engineering…” “Speak for yourself,” the young woman shot back. “This is the problem with a socially withdrawn NEET like you. How do you expect to get by in the world if you throw in the towel on every job after your first day? C’mon—let’s take our pay and catch a nice, refreshing bath and then have something good to eat! Then we can throw ourselves into tomorrow!” She clenched her fist, her eyes practically sparkling. She seemed to have discovered the joy of hard work. “Why did you stop? Do you know those people?” “…No, they’re complete strangers. It’s nothing; let’s go.” I resumed following Yunyun back to our lodging. It was true: For as often as I saw them, I still didn’t know those people. They always seemed to be having a good time, though. It sort of nagged at me. “I could go for a nice, cold Crimson Beer,” the blue-haired girl said. “H-hold on, is that some kind of alcohol? Are we allowed to drink around here? What does the law say in this country?” “Pfft, scaredy-cat. Fine, I’ll get by with an ice-cold Neroid for today.” “Neroid? The heck is that?” The woman didn’t bother to answer. “I’m so hungry—let’s get a move on! The public baths start opening about this time; did you know that? We might be the first ones in the tub at this hour! I’m gonna get going!” No sooner had she finished speaking than she rushed off. “Whoa! Hey, wait up! What the heck is a Neroid?! If you keep running, you’re gonna fall down ag—” Before the young man even finished speaking, the girl went tumbling. “…Megumin, I think you’d better not watch them too closely…” “Y-yes, I think you are right. Let us be going.” I could hear the young woman behind me, crying about where her purse with her day’s pay had gone when she fell. As for Yunyun and me, we went back to our inn. I couldn’t believe how much had happened today. Finding a quest with Yunyun, hunting frogs and then finally bunnies. And then meeting a very powerful demon. …Who was that creature anyway? The moment he saw me, he said I looked like someone he knew… If I recalled correctly, he was looking for a massive, pitch-black magical beast. Honestly, I was starting to wish we had taken a few more minutes to talk to him. These thoughts ran through my head as I opened my door and walked into my room… …and immediately ran out again, rushing over to knock on Yunyun’s door. “Yunyun! I’m sorry, but you must come here immediately! It’s Chomusuke! My tiny, pitch-black magical beast is practically dead!” “Did you feed her?! We’ve been out all day, and she’s just been shut up in here! You left food and water out for her, right?!”