“Until the Knights and do-gooders from the Capital arrive next month, we’re not going to get any real work done...”

“So it appears. And since you have no quests to occupy your time, why not accompany me?”

Megumin and | were just outside town.

There were no dangerous enemies around at the moment. All the little monsters were off cowering in fear at the presence of the Demon King’s general.

Megumin and | had gone out for a walk. | couldn’t take on any quests, and she had nothing to blow up with her explosions, so we were both feeling pretty down. Megumin made it a daily ritual to fire off one magical explosion. | hoped | wasn’t stuck babysitting her every single day for the next month. | had told her to go by herself, but she’d replied that there’d be no one to carry her home.

In a spot nearby, | suggested Megumin perform her magic. “How about over there? Just let one off, and we can get out of here.”

She shook her head.

“This won’t do. If I’m not far enough from town, the guards will yell at me again.” ““Again’? What, did people complain about the noise or something?” She gave a short nod.

No choice, then. | wasn’t thrilled to be leaving the area without a weapon, but there weren’t supposed to be any monsters around, anyway.

It wouldn’t hurt to see the wider world just a bit.

Come to think of it, I’d hardly done any touring since getting to this world. When | left town, it was always to hunt monsters for a quest. Just calmly wandering around like this was...

“..? Hey, what’s that? An abandoned castle?” It stood on a far-off hill: an old redoubt slowly crumbling away. It looked like it was probably haunted...

“| don’t like the feel of that place,” | muttered. “I bet there’s ghosts in there or something...”

“It is perfect!” Megumin exclaimed. “I can blow it up as thoroughly as | wish, and no one will be bothered!” And she happily began preparing her spell.

A pleasant breeze blew across the hill.

It was quiet. It was calm. And then | heard Megumin’s chanting on the wind... That was how Megumin and | passed the time each day.

Aqua, without an eris to her name, had taken on a part-time job, and Darkness had gone back to her hometown to train. Megumin had nothing better to do, so every day we would go to that abandoned castle and set off a magical explosion.

It might be in the evening, with a cold rain falling.

Or in the afternoon, after a quiet meal.

Even during a lovely early-morning walk.

At some point each day, Megumin would unleash her magic on that castle...

| went with her each time and had even gotten to the point where | could tell how good the day’s explosion had been.

|”

“Explosion!

“Ooh, that was a good one! You could feel the vibrations in your bones, but then the way the shock wave came a moment later and kind of brushed your Skin... I’m always curious why that castle never seems the worse for wear after you blow it up. But, oh well. Nice one

“Nice one!’ Heh-heh. Kazuma, you have gained no small appreciation for the explosive path. Your appraisal of today’s blast was nothing short of poetic. How about it, Kazuma? Might you seriously consider learning explosive magic?”

“Hmm... | admit it’s tempting, but with our party’s current makeup, | don’t think a second Wizard would be a good idea. Maybe | can look forward to learning Explosion when I’ve finally retired from adventuring.”

We laughed together as we chatted. How many points would we give today’s explosion? Well, the volume was a little low, but the quality of the sound was so good—we went over it piece by piece, chatting away.