Chapter 36

INTERLUDE THEATRE: ACT IV She Who Will Be Chief of the Crimson Magic Clan! Two weeks had passed since I’d left Megumin in Axel. During that time, I had passed through two separate towns, but I still hadn’t found any party members… Honestly, I was starting to only half care about finding anyone. The reason being that if you were strong enough, you could level up faster hunting monsters alone. Plus, my goal was to become the greatest wizard of the Crimson Magic Clan. Not to catch up with Megumin but to surpass her. I couldn’t shrink from a little danger if that was what I wanted in life. I would probably even have to fight a powerful monster or two. And that meant I couldn’t just party up with the first people I saw…! Or so I kept repeating to myself as I rode along in the tossing, rocking carriage. What was I going to do? I wanted to cry. I’m sorry, Lady Eris; it was all a lie and I do want friends, friends I can count on, ideally human ones but who am I kidding? I’ll take anything I can have a conversation with at this point. Just give me someone I can adventure with…! At that moment, someone spoke to me. “Excuse me, young lady, is something the matter? You keep shaking your head. Are you feeling ill?” I guess my deep distress had leaked out into my body language. Another woman, older than me, had been kind enough to express concern. I shook a hand in her direction. “No, I-I’m fine—just a little preoccupied! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to act so strangely!” I could feel my face growing hot. The woman smiled gently at me. “Oh? I gather from the way you look that you’re a traveling wizard, but you mustn’t overexert yourself, all right?” She handed something to me as she spoke. Baked goods of some kind, neatly wrapped. “Uh, um…” “Trust me—these are delicious. Try them for me.” She smiled again, and I couldn’t object. “Th-thank you very much…” Baked goods… Come to think of it, when Megumin and I had been on our way to Axel, we had been in a carriage just like this one, and we had gotten similar treats from an older woman with a child. The memories started to flood over me. “My goodness, your eyes—are you Crimson Magic Clan?” The woman pulled back her hood and studied me closely. She had unusual golden eyes and short-cropped red hair, and I felt strangely comfortable with her. “Oh, yes! I’m Crimson Magic Clan and, uh…uhhh… My name is—” She quickly interrupted. “It’s all right. You don’t have to do the whole song and dance if you don’t want to! I know perfectly well how unique Crimson Magic Clan names are!” How very thoughtful of her. For once, I felt like I was meeting someone with a bit of common courtesy. Evidently, there weren’t many travelers today, because it was just the woman and me in the carriage. “If I may ask,” she said as I began to devour the treats, “what is it you’ve got on your mind? Perhaps I might be able to give you some advice.” “Wh-what have I…? Well, it’s a little embarrassing…” I couldn’t imagine why I was being so open with someone I had only just met. But nonetheless, I told her about leaving Crimson Magic Village with my friend and going to Axel. I confessed how desperately I had looked for party members and how I still hadn’t found any. I told her the whole story of how I had parted ways with one of my oldest friends in hopes of learning enough to become better than her. The woman listened quietly, then closed her eyes for a moment. “…Yes, I understand. A long-standing servant of mine happened to depart this world just recently. Good-byes are so painful.” She smiled sadly at me. I could tell she had a story of her own. “Oh, I… I’m sorry to hear that…” “Oh, no. It’s quite all right. This separation is only temporary—it’s not as if I’ll never see them again, you understand? But back to you… Where is it you’re going?” “Me? Hmm, I guess I hadn’t given it much thought, but I want to raise my level as quickly as possible, so I guess I’ll find somewhere there are powerful monsters.” The woman nodded knowingly. “Perhaps you’d like to come with me, then? I plan to head to a certain town for a while, for the medicinal waters, mostly—but I wouldn’t mind going on an adventure now and again. I may not look like much, but I’m a rather powerf—” “I’d love to.” I think I startled her, because the woman pulled back ever so slightly. “O-oh, you would? Well… The place I’m going is a city called Arcanletia…” “Huh?” I finally got an invitation to go adventuring with someone, and she was going to Arcanletia? The thought of going back to that town, with those people… “What’s the matter? Not too keen on Arcanletia?” “Urgh… Well, uh… The last time I was there, I might or might not have gotten wrapped up with someone from the Demon King’s army.” The words Demon King’s army made the woman go pale. “Someone from the Demon King’s army…? But plans in Arcanletia weren’t supposed to go forward for a long time yet…” She was whispering something to herself, but then she said, “And? What did the Demon King’s army do in Arcanletia?” “Oh, uh. They replaced all the hot-springs water with gelatinous slime.” “Wh-what…?! Are you sure it was the Demon King’s army? I’ve n-never known them to come up with such a dumb plan.” “Well, there was a demon lady in town around the same time… So all the Axis followers were saying, ‘This has to be the doing of the Demon King. In fact, let’s just say everything bad that happens in this town is his fault.’” “What the heck?!” The woman grabbed me by both arms, but unfortunately, I didn’t have an answer for her. “Anyway, a lot happened, and honestly, I don’t really want to go back… You should be careful yourself, okay? There are a lot of strange people there.” “Thank you. Yes, I gathered that from your story.” The carriage dropped its speed and eventually came to a stop. “It looks like we’ve arrived at our destination already. I suppose this is where we say good-bye. I have to transfer to a carriage to Arcanletia.” The woman let out a disconsolate sigh and got up. “U-um… I’m really sorry, having to turn you down when you were so kind as to invite me. I’ve hardly ever been invited by anyone to anything before, so I promise I’ll always remember you.” “Y-you don’t have to do that! I was just kind of curious about you—you look like you’ve got powerful magic, and I thought something might come of training you a bit, that’s all! You don’t have to be so serious about it!” The woman seemed to be panicking a little, but then she turned a gentle smile on me. “All right. Just remember: Getting stronger is important, but making more friends matters just as much, so work hard at both. Otherwise, you’ll end up as the Demon King, okay?” Then she got out of the carriage and waved to me. The carriage slowly started to move again. She watched me go, and I waved at her through the window glass. The last thing she’d said stuck with me: “Otherwise, you’ll end up as the Demon King, okay?” She was referring to the story of the Demon King. Everyone knew it. The story of the Demon King: strangely named, tremendously powerful, and always alone. The story of the Demon King with his unusual power and his strength, who nonetheless found none of it meant anything all alone—a story we told children to keep them from isolating themselves. But I was all right. I had that—what could I call her? Companion? Friend? Confidante? …Rival. Yes, I had my rival. Someday I would surpass her and become the chief of the Crimson Magic Clan…! That was the promise I made myself as I watched the woman grow smaller in the distance. And then I realized something: “I forgot to ask her name!”