At breakfast, Pecorine looked curiously at Jhin and Kokkoro, who were still in their pyjamas. "Jhin, Kokkoro — did you two stay up really late last night?"
"The two people who barged into my room at the crack of dawn and ripped off my blanket can answer that themselves," Jhin said, busy eating his breakfast, leaving Megumin and Kyaru to explain on their own.
"Huh? Why did you go and pull off Jhin's blanket?"
Faced with Pecorine's wide-eyed curiosity, the two of them hemmed and hawed for a good while, until Kyaru finally redirected the conversation by asking everyone to rate the breakfast she'd made — and just barely managed to change the subject.
"Deep-forest boar meat really doesn't work well for stir-fry. That woodsy, herbal smell is just too distinctive."
"You ate every last bit of it despite it not being good," Megumin shot back without looking up, collecting the dishes. She'd caught Jhin's comment and wasn't letting it slide. "Next time, you can cook it yourself."
"Next time let's use a different meat. Pecorine, any ideas?"
"What about Mewmew Cattle? You don't even have to hunt them in the wild — you can buy their meat right at the market."
"Mewmew Cattle? Like beef?"
"Exactly! And there are two other varieties as well — Mewmew Dairy Cattle and Mewmew Yak. One's raised for milk and the other for premium wool. Mewmew Dairy milk is absolutely delicious — it has this light, refreshing fruity fragrance to it."
"So it's fruit-flavoured milk," Jhin said, more or less able to picture the taste already.
"Mm-mm!" Pecorine nodded enthusiastically. Just thinking about that milk made her mouth water all over again.
He hadn't expected the continent of Astraea to have so many culinary-adjacent animals — to the point where one could apparently produce naturally fruit-flavoured milk straight from the source. He'd have to find out whether it came out ready to drink or needed processing first. If the chance came up, it might be worth visiting one of the relevant farms.
"There are still a few things we haven't finished setting up in the house," Kyaru said, drying her hands on a towel before sitting down with a properly businesslike air. "Should we keep arranging things today, or head out and take on some commissions?"
"Let's finish getting the house sorted first. I've already put everything away in the storage room by category. Are you two happy with the beds Kokkoro and I picked out for you?"
"So-so. Comfortable enough to sleep on."
"Good enough. What about Pecorine and Megumin?"
Pecorine happily launched into a glowing review of her night's sleep. "The mattress was so soft — it was like diving headfirst into a cloud. The pillow height was just right too. I put on my pyjamas, lay down, and was out in less than ten seconds. Oh, and I absolutely love the pink star-print bedding!"
"My deep crimson set was great too — Kokkoro has excellent taste!" Megumin couldn't have been more thrilled with her bedding, mostly because the colour was a near-perfect match for Explosion magic.
"Glad you like them. Kokkoro spent a long time picking them out for everyone."
"So it was Kokkoro who chose them! That's amazing."
Kokkoro smiled shyly. "As long as everyone is happy. The Master also offered quite a few suggestions when I was choosing."
"Jhin, if we're not taking on commissions today, could you come with me to that cliff from before?" Megumin asked.
"Sure, but what are you going there for?"
"Hmhm." Megumin crossed her arms, pressed her right palm over her left eye, tilted her body dramatically to one side, and struck a pose oozing with chuunibyou energy. "Slumbering in that place is the nemesis of my destiny. Only by channelling every last drop of my magical power can I seal it within the ancient dark abyss for all eternity—!"
"In plain terms, please." Jhin lightly chopped the edge of his hand against her smooth forehead.
"If we're not doing commissions, I'm going there to use Explosion magic."
Jhin pieced it together instantly. "So you need me to be your pack mule, is that it?"
"Fellow kindred spirit — how can you demean yourself with a word like pack mule? You are—"
Seeing Jhin's hand raise again for another chop, Megumin swallowed the rest of her speech and answered in a small, meek voice: "Yes."
"Megumin, why do you absolutely have to use Explosion magic once every single day?" Kokkoro asked.
Megumin's eyes blazed with the fervour of a true zealot. She threw both arms skyward like a devotee before a sacred flame. "It is the only way to prove the depth of my love and absolute devotion to Explosion magic!"
"So the rumour going around the royal capital about some monster causing massive explosions — that was you all along," Kyaru said drily. Then, realising she was supposed to be playing the role of a wide-eyed newcomer mage, she quickly added before anyone could get suspicious: "I heard people talking about it when I went to register at the guild."
"If people figure out that the noise is coming from you, are we really not going to have complaints filed against us at the Adventurers' Guild?" Jhin had absolutely no desire to wake up one morning to find the guild surrounded by an angry mob waving banners and chanting slogans like Hand over the Explosion Maniac.
"It... probably... won't happen...?" Megumin had always acted alone before and had never once thought about the consequences of her actions on others.
Jhin rubbed his temples, a headache forming. "So is there any chance you could stop the daily detonation routine?"
Megumin answered instantly. "Not even if I were dying! Nobody can stop my love for Explosion magic!"
With that, she pulled a small card from her pocket and held it up with no small amount of pride. "Pouring every single stat point and skill point into magic power and Explosion magic is the greatest achievement of my life!"
"Hm? What's this?" Jhin took the card — which looked something like an ID — and examined it curiously.
"Master, this is the Crimson Demon Clan's unique stat card," Kokkoro explained. "Members of the clan accumulate experience points through adventuring and combat, which they can then convert into stat points and skill points. Those points are used on this card to upgrade their base attributes and skills."
"The Crimson Demon Clan really is broken," Kyaru remarked, her tone dripping with envy — one mage to another.
"And she really did dump everything into magic power and Explosion magic." Jhin handed the stat card back to Megumin. No wonder the entire Crimson Demon Clan was packed full of archmages — with a cheat mechanic like this, it would be stranger not to become one. Though Megumin, who had hyper-specialised to this absolute extreme, was still a category of her own.
"Pretty impressive, right?"
Jhin wasn't entirely sure what Megumin was so proud of. Getting her to give up her daily Explosion — something as essential to her as breathing — wasn't realistic. The only option was to make sure she cast it somewhere far enough away to avoid getting anyone's door knocked on later.
"Do we have enough hands to finish setting up the furniture? If so, I'll take Megumin somewhere well outside Landosol to let her cast, so she doesn't bother anyone."
Pecorine rolled up her sleeves with boundless energy. "No problem! Leave it to me, Kokkoro, and Kyaru!"
"Then we're off. If things go smoothly, we'll be back before dinner."
"Got it — safe travels!"
Since it was just the two of them, and Megumin was a mage who was dead weight after firing off a single shot, Jhin chose to travel along the main road out to the countryside — fewer chances of running into monsters that way.
"Jhin! Jhin! What about that abandoned castle over there?" Megumin grabbed at Jhin's sleeve, pointing excitedly at a crumbling fortress in the distance that radiated a distinctly ominous aura. Every fiber of her expression screamed: I am going to blast that thing right now.
"Absolutely not. That place looks exactly like something a hidden boss would be living in. Pick somewhere else."
____
👻🔥Here: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New Oshi No Ko: Co-starring with Kana Arima
We have set new community milestones:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for all readers