Thus we spent a week in pleasant explosions. Then, one morning...

“Urgent! Urgent! All adventurers, please equip your weapons and items and

prepare for battle at the town gate!” The familiar sound of an emergency announcement echoed through the streets. We dutifully grabbed our gear and

headed for the town square.

When we arrived in the press of adventurers gathered in front of the main gate, we saw a monster standing there casually, oozing terror.

A Dullahan.

Dullahans are headless riders, harbingers of death; they inspire only despair. They’re a form of undead whose physical strength and special abilities surpass anything they possessed while alive.

The creature that stood at the town gate looked like a Knight in pitch-black armor. His own head rested under his left arm, and before an entire town’s worth of adventurers, he held out the helmeted visage. A muffled voice issued from it:

“lam the general of the Demon King, who lately took up residence in a castle near this town...”

The head gradually began to shudder.

“A-a-and every single day—!! Every damn day, one of you recalcitrant idiots comes and sets off a magical explosion in my castle! Who is it?! Tell meeee!”

| guess he was angry.

The Dullahan’s exasperated yell set the adventurers around me murmuring. No one there had the slightest idea what was going on.

If nothing else, it was clear the Dullahan was the reason we’d all been called out in such a hurry.

“A magical explosion...”

“Do we know anyone who can use Explosion?”

“Explosion, huh...?”

One by one, the faces in the crowd turned to Megumin, next to me. Megumin promptly turned to a young Wizard girl standing beside her. | followed her lead, and soon everyone was looking at the girl instead.

“Wh-what’s going on? Why’s everyone staring at me? I—I can’t use

Explosion!” the object of our suspicion said with a touch of panic.

..Wait a second. We’ve been setting off an explosion at an old castle every day...

Could it possibly be...? | cast a sidelong glance at Megumin. She’d broken out in a cold sweat. Apparently she’d had the same thought | had.

Finally Megumin sighed, made a face, and stepped out from the crowd. As she did so, the collected adventurers moved aside for her.

The Dullahan stood in front of the town gate. Megumin stopped about ten meters away from him. First |, then Darkness and Aqua, stepped up behind her. At the sight of the undead creature, Aqua had gotten a look much like a parent upset with a misbehaving child. She’d been avidly watching the whole scene— perhaps an enraged Dullahan was just that rare a sight.

“You!” he said. “Are you the fool who keeps setting off those blasted explosions?! If you’re looking for a fight with one of the Demon King’s generals, then at least have the guts to storm my castle yourself! And if that isn’t what you want, stay in your little town and cower! Why resort to petty harassment? | knew this was a town full of fledglings, so | left you in peace—but | see this only invited your arrogance! Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, every day! Are you insane?!”

The Dullahan’s helmet vibrated with the anger he’d stored up over a week of explosions.

Megumin shivered a little, obviously intimidated—but then she threw back her mantle and declared:

“lam Megumin! Arch-wizard and master of Explosion!” “Megumin? What kind of a name is that? Are you making fun of me?” “lam not!”

She apparently hadn’t been expecting the Dullahan to shoot her down. But she quickly collected herself.

“lam of the Crimson Magic Clan and the greatest magic-user in Axel Town! Those explosions were a stratagem to draw you out, O general of the Demon King! Your luck ran out the moment you came to this town alone!” She waved

her staff at him menacingly.

Behind her, | whispered to Darkness and Aqua. “Can somebody tell me what she’s talking about? She swore she had to let off an explosion every day or she’d die, so | took her to that stupid castle. When did it become a ‘stratagem’ ?”

“Good question. And when did she become this town’s greatest magic-user?”

“Shush back there! | have not set off an explosion yet today, and an entire crowd of adventurers backs me up. | am in a position of strength here—and | will see to this town’s safety!”

| guess Megumin could hear us whispering, because she blushed a little even as she stood posted with her staff thrust forward.

The Dullahan, for some reason, actually seemed to be taking her at face value.

“Oh-ho, a member of the Crimson Magic Clan? | see, | see. So that ridiculous name you gave wasn’t just to mock me.”

“Hey! If you have something to say about the name my parents gave me, then

let’s hear it!” Megumin said hotly, but her foe hardly paid her any mind. In fact, he seemed to find the entire crowd barely worth his notice. The general of the

Demon King was no more interested in us than a hawk in a gaggle of chicks.

“Hmph, never mind. | did not come to this town to trade barbs with children. | am in this area for research purposes, and | will be living in that castle for the foreseeable future. So desist your magical explosions, you understand?”

“You, sir, might as well order me to die. For we of the Crimson Magic Clan perish if we do not let off an explosion every day!”

“Wh-what? I’ve never heard such nonsense! If you’re going to lie, at least make up something plausible!”

| didn’t know what to do. Honestly, | was kind of enjoying watching the two of them go at it. | could see Aqua, too, looking eagerly at Megumin as she nearly frothed at the monster’s insults.

The Dullahan placed his head on his right palm, and then—rather nimbly— gave an annoyed shrug.

“So you have no intention of giving up your magic, do you? Though | have relinquished my body to a demon, | was once a Knight. Slaughtering the weak holds no interest for me. But if you insist on bothering me in my home every day—well, | have an idea of how to deal with you...”

Megumin began to back away from the Dullahan, who seemed more and more dangerous.

But to my surprise, she was smiling.

“You, sir, are the one bothering us! Ever since you arrived, we have been unable to work!” She smirked. “Heh. | think you had best escape while you can. For we have an undead specialist among us! Milady, if you please!”

All that grand posturing—and now Megumin had neatly handed off the whole thing to Aqua.

.. sheesh.

Aqua, clearly pleased to be called “milady,” stepped up to face the Dullahan. “Looks like it’s up to me, then! | don’t care if you’re the Demon King’s general or whatever, it’s your bad luck you showed up while | was here! An undead who comes in the middle of the day—you’re practically begging me to send you to the netherworld. It’s your fault we can’t get any decent quests around here! Now—prepare yourself!” She thrust one hand out toward the Dullahan. The adventurers gathered behind us gave a collective gulp.

The Dullahan looked intrigued. He turned his head to face Aqua and held it out toward her. It seemed to be his way of showing he was getting serious.

“Oh-ho, what have we here? No mere Priest, but an Arch-priest? | am a general of the Demon King. Shall a low-level Arch-priest in a starter town banish me from this realm? Do you think | have not prepared countermeasures for Priests far more powerful than you? Ah, but perhaps this will be a good opportunity to torment my little Crimson friend...”

Quicker than Aqua could chant her spell, he pointed with his left hand at Megumin. Then he bellowed:

“| pronounce death upon you! In one week’s time, you shall die In the same instant as the Dullahan intoned his curse, Darkness grabbed Megumin by the collar and threw the Wizard behind her.

“Wha—?!” Megumin cried. “D-Darkness!” For an instant, Darkness’s body shone with a black light.

A death curse! Damn!

“Darkness!” | said. “Are you all right?! Are you hurt?!” She was opening and closing her hand as if to make sure it still worked.

“Hmm... It looks like I’m...fine,” she said calmly. But I’d heard the Dullahan: /n one week’s time, you shall die.

Aqua was busily looking Darkness over when the Dullahan exclaimed triumphantly, “The curse appears as nothing now! This is not quite what | planned, but with the bonds of fellowship you adventurers share, it may be even better! Listen, you Crimson whelp. Your Crusader will die a week from this day. Heh-heh! You can watch her stew in the terror of her impending demise— and know that it is your fault! Watch her suffer for seven days, and rue what you have done! Bwa-ha-haa! If you had only listened to me... At his words, Megumin paled, and Darkness moaned with excitement.

“H-how devious! You have placed this curse of death upon me—and in order to break it, we must do whatever you want! Isn’t that right? “Huh?”

The Dullahan seemed completely flummoxed by Darkness’s reaction. | had no idea what she was talking about, either.

.. All right, | didn’t want to have any idea.

“Hrgh... | am daunted by no curse...a-and yet... Kazuma! What shall we do?! Look at the terrible eyes burning within that Dullahan’s helm! Those are the eyes of one who would take me to his castle as his sex prisoner and force me to do all kinds of freaky hard-core porno stuff if | want to break this curse!”

“Huh?” said the Dullahan, having clearly not expected to be called out as a pervert in front of the whole town. | felt a little bad for him.

“Well, you may be the master of my body, but you will never be the master of my heart! A female Knight—prisoner in a castle, slave to the vile demands of the Demon King’s minion! What should | do, Kazuma?! Who could have foreseen things would turn so hot! | don’t want to go—| cannot bear it!—and yet, | have no choice! I'll resist him for as long as | can... Don’t try to stop me! Farewell now, my friends!”

“Whaaat?!”

“Stoppit already! That’s obviously not what he has in mind!”

| grabbed Darkness’s arm and held her back from her headlong dash toward our enemy. The Dullahan was palpably relieved.

“A-anyway. | hope you’ve learned your lesson and won’t blow up my home anymore! And you, Magic child—if you want to break that Crusader’s curse, come to my castle! If you survive to reach my chamber on the top floor, | shall lift the curse. But know this: A legion of Undead Knights guards my castle! | will be most curious to see if you and your fledgling friends ever reach me! Bwa-haha-ha...ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!”

Still cackling, the Dullahan walked out the gate, mounted his headless horse, and rode off to his castle.