Yunyun's Turn

by Natsume Akatsuki

  Arnes narrowed her golden eyes; now she had the look of a predator about to attack its prey. “…Which of you hit me with that spell?” Her voice was quiet and tremendously angry. But the team of wizards didn’t seem to care.

  …Ahhh, I get it. It was the anti–Demon King squad or whatever they called themselves. A self-appointed community watch of the village’s most listless and unemployed.

  Bukkororii said bluntly, “That was me. What are you going to do about it? …Hey, you think she’s the Explosion addict who’s been terrorizing the village? She looks just as Megumin described. Meaty body, horns, a female demon—right?”

  “Huh?” Arnes said, the wind suddenly stolen from her sails.

  …Just like I described?

  Ahhh, come to think of it, I had said something like that. Even if, at the time, it was just to save my own neck after I set off that explosion.

  “Yeah, I think Megumin said she escaped after a desperate battle… It all makes sense now. She’s here to get revenge on Megumin.”

  “…Aha! So you’re trying to use Megumin’s cat as a hostage. Even for a demon, that’s pretty low…”

  “Huh?” Arnes repeated, befuddled by these charges. She was frozen halfway to her feet, Chomusuke still in her grasp.

  There was no question that she was a high-level demon. And I’d heard that the more advanced a demon was, the greater her intelligence. As I said, it would require a whole team of wizards with advanced magic to defeat the likes of her.

  “Listen, you. You’ve got some nerve, setting off those explosions in the middle of the night. And we end up running all over the wilderness looking for you.”

  “Huh…? Huh?” Still flummoxed by these accusations, Arnes looked around: Attracted by the commotion, a good percentage of the village had filtered over to us. Yes. Normally, a team of powerful mages would be required to deal with the likes of Arnes.

  But…

  “Hey, you! Where do you think you are?”

  “I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but you’ve got a lot of nerve… Even a general of the Demon King’s army wouldn’t just wander into this village by themselves… First things first, put down Megumin’s cat.”

  Arnes must still have been overwhelmed by the situation, because she obediently set Chomusuke on the ground. She might not have understood exactly what was going on, but she seemed to grasp that holding on to her precious master at this moment would do more harm than good. Chomusuke ambled back to me and flopped over on her side at my feet.

  When Arnes saw that, she reached out toward Chomusuke again. “Er…ahem—”

  “This is Crimson Magic Village, and even the Demon King’s army steers clear of us,” someone said, interrupting her. Yes, this was the home of the Crimson Magic Clan, where users of advanced magic were as common as weeds.

  “A demon who just shows up around here is either awfully confident or awfully stupid…,” someone else added. Now Arnes was starting to sweat, and her eyes suddenly welled up with tears. She was still in that strange posture, not quite standing up.

  She tried her best to keep it together, but when she heard everyone around her chanting advanced magic all at once, she couldn’t wipe the frown off her face.

  5

  After Arnes, weeping, had been run out of town by the wizards, I took care of patching the hole in my wall (again) along with various other tasks.

  “Sheesh, I wonder what that demon wanted. I’m glad she’s gone, though. And that Chomusuke is safe.” Yunyun was petting Chomusuke, who stood at her feet.

  Arnes had left without the fur ball, but if Chomusuke stayed at our house, I was sure she would be back.

  That gave me an idea.

  “…Yunyun, I have a favor to ask. Could you keep Chomusuke at your house?”

  “What?! Where’d that come from all of a sudden?!”

  “Well, I never imagined Arnes was a demon, but I was certainly grateful to her for taking Chomusuke. As I told you, I don’t think it would be wise to bring her along on my adventures.”

  “B-but…we chased off that demon, and your little trade… Huh—?!”

  I interrupted Yunyun by showing her the bag full of cash. “I have the money now, as you can see. I guess Arnes forgot to take it with her. This should cover my teleportation fee.”

  “Y-you’re the worst, you know that?! How can you live with yourself?!” Yunyun wailed, but it was a long-standing tradition that one received money for defeating monsters. Not that I had defeated Arnes, exactly, but let us call this a reward for my long life of virtuous behavior. I was certainly happy to make use of it.

  Yunyun was still muttering about the ethics of it when I said, “Therefore, Yunyun, I believe I will leave on my journey tomorrow.”

  “What?! But that’s too soon! Why the hurry? Don’t you want to say good-bye to your classmates?”

  I didn’t think it was too soon at all. In fact, the way I saw it, I had already been waiting for six months. I could have left the village practically this very moment. But I had some preparations to make, and there was Komekko to think of.

  “I will set off tomorrow morning. Good-byes are all well and good, but I have been a solitary figure in the Crimson Magic Clan. Still, if the universe wills it, we may meet again one day.”

  “What are you saying? Just wait! I’ll go call everyone right now. If you disappear while I’m gone, I’ll never forgive you!”

  Then Yunyun went rushing off. She was going to call everyone? She, who could hardly start a conversation? If that’s the case, she might be okay even in my absence, I thought, picking up Chomusuke, who had wrapped herself around my legs.

  6

  Yunyun disappeared for a while. Then she came back and dragged me to…

  “Gosh, Megumin, a journey? Can someone with a temper as short as yours really make it as an adventurer?”

  “Yeah, I think you’ll have some trouble finding adventurers who want to party up with you!”

  These rude comments came from Funifura and Dodonko, respectively. Why should I have to endure such barbs from them?

  “Eh, I think Megumin’ll be all right. After all, there was only one person in class I couldn’t best—her!” This came from our eye-patched classmate, Arue.

  “Huh? B-but, Arue, you never beat me, eith— Oh!” Yunyun seemed to have realized.

  “The very last test before both of you graduated. You were behind me, Yunyun.”

  Yunyun’s head drooped. As I recalled, Yunyun had deliberately flubbed that test so she and I could graduate together. But let’s just say you reap what you sow. I continued shoving cake into my mouth while the surprisingly competitive Yunyun balled her fists in frustration.

  Funifura and Dodonko turned to me in exasperation.

  “…Sheesh. These are our last moments together. Could you stop stuffing yourself and talk to us? Don’t you have any emotions?”

  “Remember, Megumin, you are a girl…in some sense. Maybe you should put looking good ahead of eating just once in your life?”

  They could say whatever they wanted. Once I was on the road, I had no idea when, or if, I would get my next meal. Eat when you can and rest when you’re able—that’s the most basic tenet of travelers everywhere…

  “…We’re not asking you not to eat,” Yunyun, holding Chomusuke, said with a touch of annoyance. “We just wish you would at least say good-bye…”

  We were at the biggest house in the village, Yunyun’s mansion. My good-bye party had been going on for some time now. Yunyun had picked only my closest classmates to attend. We were sitting around a table that was lined with a feast in her room, where I was helping myself to cake.

  “Abenturers know to eaf when you can anf reth when you’re afle…”

  “Don’t talk with your mouth full!” Yunyun said, and somehow, she seemed very nervous. “Oh, Arue, do you need another glass of juice? Funifura, you were having grape juice, right? Megumin, drink something before you choke.”

  Yunyun wa
s certainly proving quite solicitous. The joy of having people visit her house threatened to push her over the edge. For that matter, even Yunyun’s family had seemed surprised when we showed up. Could this be the first time she’d had friends over at her house…ever?

  “Gosh, Yunyun, calm down,” Funifura said.

  “Yeah, you’re going a little overboard,” Dodonko added. “Everything all right?”

  “S-s-sorry! I’ve just… I’ve never had a party before…”

  “O-oh, okay! That makes sense, then, huh?!”

  “Yeah, perfect sense! I guess w-we ought to have a birthday party or something for Yunyun one of these days!”

  …I sort of pitied Yunyun. If even Funifura and Dodonko were attempting to be nice to you, you were in a bad place.

  Then there was Arue, eating cake at a leisurely pace. “Where do you plan to base yourself anyway, Megumin? I bet you could survive somewhere with pretty tough monsters right from the start.”

  “Oh, I’ve decided to follow convention and begin in Axel, the town for novice adventurers. I am a novice, after all, and it would be nice to find some companions at the same level of experience.”

  “Huh! Never knew you could be so modest.”

  “If you’d shown a little of that humility in school, you might have had more friends.”

  I started imagining what I would do to the two jabbering buffoons.

  “All right, Megumin. Then this is from me.” Suddenly, I discovered Funifura was handing me a staff.

  “…Ohhh. What have we here? A farewell gift? Goodness, just touching this, I can tell how readily it conducts magic. Wasn’t it expensive?”

  For a wizard, a staff was among the most important tools for boosting magical power. And one of this quality likely wasn’t cheap.

  “You’re right. A staff like that is priceless,” Arue said. “Funifura’s dad, a magical craftsman, made it. Incidentally, the two of them gathered the materials.”

  Funifura and Dodonko smiled, a hint of pride on their faces. “We went into the woods near the village and found the most magical-seeming tree.”

  “It was no big deal, y’know? If you want to show us your gratitude, go meet some cool guy on your journey and bring him back here.”

  Side-eying the two as they bragged, Arue added, “Considering that these two don’t know advanced magic yet, I did join them in the forest. You should have heard how they screamed every time we saw a monster…”

  ““Aruuuuue!””

  Sometime after Yunyun and I graduated, Arue had learned Advanced Magic and followed in our footsteps. Given that she had almost as much magical power as Yunyun or I, I always assumed she would want to work in the magical items industry. But lo and behold, she declared that she wanted to be an author and had spent every day since shut up in her house.

  I held the new staff to my chest. “Thank you very much. I shall cherish it. I must say, I never once imagined I would receive such a thing from the two of you. What happened? Are you what they refer to when they say hot and cold?”

  “We are not! I just didn’t want to owe you anything when you left!”

  “That medicine you made for Funifura’s brother really worked. She’s secretly been thankful to you all this time.”

  “H-hey!”

  …What?

  “You mean that story about your brother was true? I was absolutely certain it was just a tale you made up to wring some pocket change out of Yunyun.”

  “I know I’m not the greatest person around, but even I wouldn’t sink that low!”

  “Funifura’s just got a major brother complex! She’s not a monster!”

  “Hey!!”

  As Funifura and Dodonko argued, I suddenly realized how quiet Yunyun was. She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

  “C’mon, Yunyun, I think it’s your turn,” Funifura said.

  “Yeah, you worked so hard to get them ready, didn’t you?” Dodonko added.

  At their urging, Yunyun produced a paper bag and held it out to me.

  “Here. Megumin, you…you still don’t have anything to wear but your school uniform, do you? I know you aren’t much for fashion, but a wizard has to have robes, right…?”

  A robe, cape, and hat were waiting for me in the bag. Honestly, I was really grateful for these. My student uniform was starting to get pretty ratty.

  “Thank you very much. I’ll take good care of them.”

  Yunyun let out a breath of relief when I said that.

  “Arue,” Funifura said mischievously. “Don’t you have anything to give Megumin?”

  Dodonko was, as ever, right in step with her friend. “Yeah, we got her a staff. What did you get her?”

  Arue, who had been eating calmly, gave a little nod. “I offer you my most treasured possession.” Then she reached for her eye patch, which she had never once taken off during all the time we’d been in school together.

  “Huh?!”

  “I’ve never seen you without your eye patch, Arue!”

  Arue ignored the other girls and handed the eye patch to me. “This is a very rare object that contains immense power. It will grant you focus and the ability to withstand control magic like brainwashing and charming. It also helps to modulate your own magical power. I was born with too much magic, you see. I was given that eye patch when I was very young, to keep my abilities from running rampant.”

  Arue’s past was finally becoming clear. I had never understood what she was thinking, and to realize this was what she had been dealing with all along…

  “Sh-should you really give away something so important?” Funifura asked.

  “Yeah, what if your powers start to go crazy?” Dodonko added.

  Arue just smiled softly. “It’s all right. I no longer need it. I learned magic to make my parents happy, but my real dream is to be an author. I want to write something that will bring people joy. So, Megumin, share some stories of your adventures with me after you’ve had a few. And then I can write the legend of your party!”

  That sounded incredibly cool. Everyone except me started to look uncertain.

  “W-wow… And all we got her was a lousy staff…”

  “At least… At least we put our hearts into gathering those materials…!”

  “B-but what about me?” Yunyun wailed. “I bought my gift!”

  I interrupted the whispered conference. “It doesn’t matter to me how you acquired your gifts. I shall treasure each of them. Thank you all very much,” I said and smiled.

  “S-sure, of course! It’s the thought that counts!”

  “Right, right! …Hey, question! Arue, if that eye patch seals magical power, then won’t it make Megumin’s magic less powerful?”

  “Oh… Then maybe she could just take it off when she gets really serious…”

  As the girls began another discussion, I went to put on my new eye patch…

  Arue didn’t spare me a glance as she pulled out a neatly wrapped package. Inside was a brand-new eye patch.

  “Oh, don’t worry—it doesn’t actually do any of that. I just had my grandpa buy it for me when I was a kid because I thought it looked cool. It was getting old, so I bought a new one. I said I wanted to be an author, right? Writers make up stories all the time…”

  Instead of putting on the eye patch, I flung it at Arue and stole the new one.

  7

  The farewell party eventually ended, and everyone went home. Yunyun said she would walk me back to my house. It was like she thought I was a child who would get hopelessly lost if she wasn’t there to keep an eye on me.

  It had gotten very dark by the time we started home. Yunyun said, as casually as she could, “Megumin… Once…once you find that woman in the robes, you’ll come home, won’t you?” Maybe the effort at sounding cheerful was what caused her voice to crack.

  From alongside her, I said, “No, I shall not come back to the village. I shall find the most reliable companions, become unbelievably strong, maybe take out th
e Demon King or something, and perhaps even anoint myself the new Demon King. When I do, Yunyun, I promise there will be a commission waiting for you as a general in the reformed army of the Demon King.”

  “Thanks but no thanks! Why do we have to be evil?! I don’t think you can even do any of that with nothing but explosion magic, can you?”

  I had no interest in such questions of practicality. “…Tomorrow morning, I will leave this village. So if you wish to do anything in the way of seeing me off, I advise you to wake up very early.”

  “Why should I go out of my way to see you off?! H-hey, are you really leaving tomorrow? Komekko is still so young…! I wonder if she’ll be all right…”

  “Her? She is far more mature than I am. Anyway, I will ask the neighbors to check in on her, and it’s not as if our parents are never home.” There was a bigger issue on my mind. “Could I ask you to take care of this fur ball for me? I have my doubts about taking her on a journey that is sure to be fraught with peril.” I took Chomusuke, who was avoiding having to walk anywhere by staying glued to my shoulder, and pressed her toward Yunyun.

  “…You give her a name like that and then try to foist her on someone else?” Nonetheless, Yunyun gave Chomusuke a sympathetic pat. “And she’s so attached to you, Megumin. I don’t think there are a lot of places more dangerous than Crimson Magic Village. You should take her with you.”

  “…Hrm. I can’t deny that it would be useful to have some bait or some emergency rations in a pinch…”

  “Stop that! Why do you always think in the most barbaric way possible?”

  This banter brought us to my very doorstep. If Yunyun didn’t come to see me off tomorrow, this would be where we parted ways.

  “Yunyun, when you learn advanced magic, I believe you can become the chief, right?”

  “That’s right. But not immediately. I think I’ve still got a long way to go… So, er…,” she muttered, looking fretful about something. Several times, it seemed she was about to say something, but then she lost her nerve and clammed up instead. What could be on her mind?