"Shichen, this is the only clothing shop in Crimson Demon Village."
"The only one? That impressive?"
Stopping in front of a clothing store, Shichen listened to Yunyun's intro and looked the place over with surprise. An old-style signboard with a clothes icon hung outside; through the glass door you could see the proprietor inside—a stern-looking man in a black robe. There weren't any customers, just the owner behind the counter, and the shop itself was pretty small.
This is the village's sole shop… and it's like this?
Right, the café was the only one too, Shichen suddenly remembered.
"Want to go in?" Yunyun asked.
"Yeah, let's take a look. Maybe there's something nice," Shichen nodded.
"Then let's go."
As they pushed the door open, the owner glanced over at them.
"Well if it isn't Megumin and Yunyun. You're back—welcome… Hm? You folks wouldn't happen to be from outside, would you?" His eyes fixed on the newcomers, expression turning serious.
"Kinda scary…" Aqua shrank behind Shichen, spooked by his sharp gaze.
"That's right," Shichen answered with a nod.
"Perfect!"
Suddenly the owner stood, swung himself over the counter with a flourish, struck a pose in front of Shichen, and flicked his cloak.
"I am Chekera! An archwizard who wields advanced magic—and the number-one clothier of the Crimson Demons!"
"…Uh-huh. Nice to meet you, I'm Shichen." The corner of Shichen's mouth twitched.
"Let's try that again." The owner smiled, satisfied. "Welcome! It's been ages since I've seen out-of-towners! When was the last time I got to do my grand intro? Whatever—thanks to you, that felt great."
"Heh, as long as you're happy… So why is there only one clothing shop in the whole village?"
"Because there weren't many shops to begin with. For clothing, it's just me. There's only one shoe store too; same with the others—absolutely no competition."
"The shoe store…"
Shichen recalled that the 'Bukkororii' guy had said he was the cobbler's son. Hearing Chekera, he finally understood why there was exactly one of everything—nobody here bothered to compete. Maybe they just spent all their energy trying to look cool?
"Yunyun, let's go."
Shichen gave the racks a quick once-over and found the clothes way too loud for his taste. Time to leave.
"Okay…"
"Wait, Shichen!" Aqua tugged his sleeve.
"What is it?" he turned back.
"Look over there."
"Hm? …Whoa."
Following Aqua's finger, Shichen spotted something outrageous.
"What's up? Nice drying pole, right?" Chekera asked with a grin.
"…You sure that's a drying pole?"
"Do you know what this is, customer? This is our family's heirloom laundry rod, passed down for generations—never rusts, works great." The owner beamed.
Aqua muttered under her breath, "That's a rifle, no matter how you look at it."
Yep—what Shichen saw was a rifle. Sure, it was the size of a laundry pole, but it radiated menace: long and hefty. And they were using it to dry clothes.
Well, in a world with magic, rifles aren't exactly a big deal. Shichen wasn't interested anyway, and he left with Yunyun and the others.
"Any other good spots in the village?" he asked after they stepped out.
"Mm… let me think. Want to enjoy a view? There's an observation deck on the mountaintop, with a super-powered viewing magic tool. You can peep at the Demon King's castle anytime—even the Demon King's daughter's room."
"…I'll pass. Anywhere else?"
"There's another really atmospheric place on the mountain! A hill called 'Demon God Hill.' Legend says couples who confess and unite there will, under the Demon God's curse, never be parted for all eternity. It's a super popular romantic date spot," Yunyun said, eyes full of hope.
It looked like she wanted to go with Shichen. He had zero interest; he didn't need any 'curse.'
"I'll pass. Sounds heavy."
"Okay…" Yunyun's face fell.
"Megumin, got any recommendations?"
"Me? You don't like the places I like," Megumin pouted.
"Hmm… any interesting basements?"
"Basements? There is one underground facility."
"Let's go there."
"But we can't get in."
"I can."
"Really? Then let's hurry—I want to see what's inside!" Megumin perked up and led the way.
Soon they reached an unremarkable entrance leading underground.
"Shichen, this is an underground facility said to seal away a 'weapon capable of destroying the world.' No one knows when it first appeared here. One theory says it was built at the same time as that mysterious facility over there," Megumin said, pointing to a huge structure that looked like reinforced concrete.
"What's that one for?"
"No idea. It's called the 'mysterious facility' because no one knows its purpose—who built it, why, or when. Even after exploring it, we couldn't figure it out, so everyone just calls it that and we have no plans to demolish it," Megumin shook her head.
"Got it."
"A weapon that could destroy the world, huh… That sounds terrifying. As expected of the Crimson Demons—this seal shouldn't be easy to undo. Maybe it's the best place to store something like that," Darkness said in awe.
"There were actually two more major seals—but they've already been undone," Yunyun added.
"Eh?"
"One was the 'Tomb of the Dark Gpd,' and the other was the 'Place Where the Nameless Goddess Was Sealed.'"
"That… sounds scary."
"I don't know the details, but nothing catastrophic happened after the seals were broken."
"Good to hear."
Shichen kept quiet. He knew exactly what had been inside those two seals—and had met them both.
"All right, let's check out this underground hangar."
"Shichen, we can't get in. You have to decipher a riddle written in ancient script no one can read anymore and enter the correct answer," Megumin said.
"I told you—I've got this." Shichen smiled and took the lead.
At the door he saw the 'seal.' Sure enough, it was modern: a touch panel listing English letters and numbers, plus a cross-shaped D-pad like on a game console. Above the panel was a line in Japanese: "Konami Command (KONAMI)."
"Shichen, can you read that ancient script?" Megumin asked, unable to resist.
"Sure can," he said with a grin.
So-called 'ancient script' was just Japanese, and "Konami Command" was that famous cheat code from the well-known 'Konami' game company.
"You can read ancient script? That's amazing!" Yunyun praised.
"Then hurry and enter the code," Megumin urged.
"On it." Shichen keyed it in.
As expected, the code worked and the hangar door slid open.
"It really opened! Awesome! Let's go!" Megumin dashed inside.
"Careful. There could be dangerous things," Shichen warned, following her in. Aqua and the others came too.
"It's so dark."
"I can't see anything."
"Shichen."
"Got it." He tossed a Holy Flame up into the air; the firelight lit the entire underground bay.
"Aren't those game consoles?" Aqua spotted the contents right away.
Piles and piles of consoles—modern ones. Shichen even spotted GBAs, and cartridges too; the labels showed the original Pokémon starter trio.
Well I'll be—antiques.
"T-that is—!" Megumin's surprised voice rang out.
"Megumin, what— Eh? A Mage-Killer?" Yunyun was shocked too.
"Mage-Killer?" Shichen followed their gaze to a plain piece of metal in the corner.
"Shichen, a Mage-Killer has magic-nullifying properties. It's the Crimson Demons' natural enemy—a weapon made specifically to counter mages!"
~~~
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