As a Goddess in the guise of a human, Chris was quite sensitive to certain things. The flow of energy around her, the general mood of the people, magic in a general sense... Well, right now her senses were going all red alert. Something bad was in the air. Call it an omen, if you would. An omen that was getting worse with each and every step she took closer to this barn.
Perhaps it was just her being overworked due to having to take over Aqua’s duties as the one responsible for Earth’s reincarnations. Then she took another step and felt her knees shake a little. It might also be because this was a really serious issue, and she should be ready for anything!
It was probably to do with Aqua being sick. Which should not happen. A Goddess is meant to be above things like piddly microbes. Especially one like Aqua who literally had the power to automatically purify any and all water she touched.
Sure, most of her power had been sealed off due to her current situation, but she should still not get sick. Not unless something very bad had happened, like some kind of magic plague made by the demon king to destroy all living things. Which meant that Chris had the responsibility here. To fix the problem, figure out what was going on and then -
"Ah... ah! Ahhhhxplosion!"
Deal with the fact that the barn exploded following what sounded sort of like a sneeze. Right as she was reaching for the door. The next minute or two were mostly spent blinking to get the sudden stars out of her eyes before she began to do her best to get the pieces of wood and straw off her.
Also everything hurt. It was good that her body had the stats of an adventurer with a few levels or that would be quite a bit worse.
"My barn!" a man yelled, running in from down the street. "What did you do to my barn?!"
It took a moment for Chris to realise who the man was yelling at. She pointed a finger at herself and blinked, vision still a bit swirly from that sudden explosion.
"Yes, you! I don't see anyone else around here!"
Thinking about it... While she'd been dazed and confused, Chris had seen two figures sneaking out of the wreckage.
"I'm terribly sorry sir, I didn't see what happened," Chris said. "I was going to pay a visit to some of my friends who have been sleeping here, but -"
"But I don't see Kazuma or his ditzy blue haired girlfriend anywhere!" the man interrupted.
“Well I didn’t kno-wait, they are in a relationship?” Chris said, doing a double take at the idea of Aqua of all people being involved with Kazuma.. It was just not something she could imagine. Aqua was far too <s>arrogant</s>. ehh.. extraordinary.. for him..
"I mean, a girl that cute wandering around in an outfit like that..." the man continued. Oooh! Was he saying that Aqua's divine attire was... trampy?
Mortals could be so odd sometimes. Take those two figures he'd seen sneaking off. She was pretty sure the two of them had light blue highlights in their hair.
<hr>
Yunyun took deep breaths as she leaned with one arm against the wall of the alleway they had snuck into after their rushed escape. They had ran for quite a bit, and as a archwizard, she didn’t have the most stamina in the first place.
“Ahh.. ahh.. we.. got away..” That could have ended badly, especially since using explosion in urban areas was forbidden. Somehow Yunyun knew she would be pulled in if they had gotten caught even if she professed to not being involved in the entire thing.
"Hrmph! It's not that we got away!" Megumin chuckled, hands on hips and holding her head up high. "It's that they could not catch us! Where the likes of us run, hellfire is left in its wake! Mwahaha!"
Oh right, there we go again. Megumin always did behave that way. But... watching her pose like this... it made Yunyun's fingers twitch. It looked fun! But... But so embarrassing, to be seen in public like that! It was one thing back home, where it was basically the height of culture, but here...
Except... wait a moment. Posing like that? Standing upright? Except, that wasn't possible. Hadn't she just... didn't she...
"You used explosion!" Yunyun said.
"Of course I did," Megumin said, twirling around her staff. "I am, after all, the explosion maniac! Feared by every adventuring party in the city!"
"But you're still standing!"
The staff dropped from Megumin's hands. There was a good reason for this to be significant. Megumin always made sure to increase the raw power of her explosions over literally anything else. Including her MP reserves. Meaning she could cast the spell once and only once, and that was it. She was tapped for the day. She'd be out of stamina, unable to move for hours, and certainly unable to cast the spell again until she'd slept.
So what had changed? Neither of them knew it yet, but since Megumin was slowly becoming more and more like Aqua, that meant she was getting certain benefits that the Goddess usually got to enjoy. Like, for example, acquiring mana from worshippers. In Megumin's case? She was getting worship from Yunyun.
That might not seem like much, but consider exactly how much Yunyun wants to be Megumin's friend. It's a lot. One might almost call her a fervent adherent to the cult of 'Megumin's Besty'. Even though she wasn't meaning to, she was generating a <b>lot</b> of mana for Megumin to suckle on like a newborn at their mother's breast. It was actually making her a little bit giddy.
"Kukuku..." Megumin chuckled, staring at her fingers. She took off her hat, and Yunyun wondered when she'd dyed her hair blue. There was no trace of black anymore. "You realise what this means? This is a sign from the Gods that I, Megumin, am to be rewarded for her duty! Come, Yunyun! Come Chomusuke! We must test the limits of my newfound power!"
Why, oh why, did Yunyun have a bad feeling about this? When Megumin got like that it usually wound up being a bad day for someone...
<hr>
Today was an absolutely fantastic and flawless day in his home away from home. Ah! Beldia reclined on his seat, his body comfortable while his head rested on a cushion nearby. Perfectly positioned so he could appreciate this magazine to the fullest, in comfort and privacy. Now, don't judge him too harshly for his reading material: He only read it for the articles.
"Oh, what an interesting set of articles she has," Beldia chuckled to himself. "Very... well written, articulate and bouncy."
Sure, he was supposed to search for the mysterious “fallen light” that had come down from the heavens of which the Demon King was worried about. But he had no leads so far and had his minions to keep an eye open for anything obvious. One of the Demon King’s generals walking around was also a bit too obvious, he would just scare away whatever they were looking for.
None of that was an excuse for him to indulge in his hobbies, not at all. He was just doing his job in a way that was efficient, which coincided with some.. Free time. And why not spend it in an enjoyable way?
Then the walls shook. An earthquake? No matter. The castle was extremely well built. Something like an earthquake wouldn't trouble it. Now, about this article he was studying - Another shake. An aftershock? Still, no problem for him, he could - Another?
"What the hell is going on around here?" he yelled to nobody in particular. "No, this feeling... this is an attack! An Explosion spell!"
Now that in itself shouldn’t be too much of a problem. After all, the castle was enchanted to resist an attack from a small army. It would take more than one high level spell to even scratch it. Even if it was annoying but..
The ground shook again, with enough force to make a few of his magazines fall off the table.
“How many mages have they brought along? Explosion isn’t a spell you can just spam!”
Apparently they could. The maniacs! What kind of lunatic would cast explosion on a castle out in the middle of nowhere repeatedly! How had they found his headquarters?! Someone would pay for this. Someone would pay dearly for this!
“Minions! Where are you and why didn’t you see the army coming to atta-” The castle shook as another series of explosion hit in close succession. Argh, this was getting worse. These madmen must have brought along enough high level mages to fill a combat battalion.
By the time he was at the front door the walls were falling down around him. Stuff this, he was handling this matter personally! Whoever was in charge was getting a curse spell cast on them! He settled his head into place, reached for his sword.
"Mrowr!"
And then a cat leaped in from out of nowhere and knocked his head back further into the building, whereupon a great deal of finely cut masonry landed upon it.
<hr>
"Twenty!" Yunyun applauded in disbelief. She could hardly believe it. Twenty explosions in a row! Huh.. actually, she was feeling a little light headed, almost like she hadn’t eaten in a while.
“Haha! Of course, with this new power, nobody will ever be able to challenge the magnificent Megumin. Now the only thing that can compare to my mystic prowess is my beauty.” The chuuni wizard had raised her staff up in the air and was posing like a magician in a picture book about to fight the final boss.
"I wonder what happened," Yunyun said, in a much calmer tone of voice than she should have been using. The revelation that the explosion maniac could now cast her favourite spell as often as she liked should have been a great concern to everyone. "I mean... that, your blue hair... Your, uh, chest is quite a bit bigger too..."
"All reasons to celebrate!" Megumin cheered, raising her hands and making water spout out of them while doing a silly dance. "Hahaha! Hohoho! Heeheehee! I am blessed by the Gods!"
“Ehh.. Megumin you may want to move a bit less-”
But it was too late, as she was jumping and dancing cheerfully, Megumin’s top finally gave in and her breasts spilled free of their constraints. Goodness they were quite, uh, best not to stare! Yunyun looked away very quickly just then! The last thing she wanted to do was sit there and watch Megumin use her party trick while -
Although, hold on. Party trick? That was a learned skill. Wasn't it? S-since when would M-Megumin learn something like Party Trick when she could ins-instead put those points into Explosion?
"Woah! I just gained a buttload of EXP!" Megumin cheered. "Yay! Even bigger explosions! Cast infinitely! Wheee!"
Yes, that's right. The idea of infinite explosion spells didn't rattle Yunyun at all. But the possibility of Megumin learning any other skill or magic than Explosion? Yes, that scared her right to the core of her being. Oh. And the blue highlights in her hair were much closer to her roots than the tip of her hair at this point...
- Chris notices the barn owner's hair is also turning blue.
- Meanwhile, Aqua accidentally discovers the succubus shop. And infects them as well.
- Kazuma interviews Darkness.
- Megumin is becoming more and more Aqua like. Does Yunyun notice?
- Something else
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