***
Having set the girl down on soft ground, removing her from his shield turned sled, YN went about making camp for the evening, considering Megumin still hadn't recovered almost any of her strength yet.
On the way to this resting point, she had lazily spoken about how she only knew one spell, and could only cast that spell once per day, and that when she did, she'd pass out like this.
Well... That is one way to get yourself a bad reputation with parties... A lot of people might really hate to have to deal with someone like her...
YN had chosen a spot to rest for the night just off the main road they had been traveling, among a small thicket of trees he'd hoped would help conceal them from any potential night-time visitors of questionable intent. Like monsters.
Trying to get a fire started, he had built a makeshift pit and was in the process of bashing two rocks together to get a spark to start the dry grass he had collected. Using strength he never possessed in his old world, he managed to get a small flame going, and introduced the smoldering pile of grass to the rest of the wood and kindling that had been set up.
As the fire began to catch, Megumin went to sit up and had moved closer to the fire now as a chill ran through the air with the coming of darkness.
"You're awake again. That's good. Maybe after that long nap of yours you'd be willing to take the first watch on guard duty?"
Halfway expecting the girl, with her chuunibyou tendencies, to gloat and say it should be him who takes the first watch while she sleeps, all on the fact that it had been her who had defeated the Rookie Slayer, YN had been prepared to not argue against that on the merit alone. Yet, what he got in reply was not something he had expected at all.
Giving him a very un-conceited look, Megumin stared into the fire as she answered him.
"Why are you still being so friendly and going along with this Quest?"
Taken back by the humility in which she spoke with now, YN had to reply with a simple "Hmm?" as his own puzzled expression couldn't be seen by her under his helmet.
"Any other party I've joined in the past would have just left me behind or called off the Quest entirely after I passed out... or at least would have by now..."
Surprised to hear such a confession, YN threw some more wood on the fire as he replied.
"And what? Just leave you on the ground like that?"
Getting a somber nod in silent reply by how cruelly accurate that was, YN sighed at the girl's melancholy.
"Your magic is incredibly powerful. There's plenty of use to that, so leaving you behind or quitting the Quest makes no sense to me. If it comes to using that magic again, I'll carry you on my back if I have to. Besides, I doubt you're that heavy."
At first softening her expression upon hearing YN say that, it then turned into a frown as she held her own hands up in a more defensive way.
"I'll warn you, you better not try and get too hands-y! I can still protect myself even if I've already cast my explosion magic for the day!"
Pitying the thought, YN waved away her concern with his heavily armored gauntlet.
"Caaaalm down, I just have a personal goal of protecting others. I tend to step in to help those who get in over their heads."
Losing her nerve again it seemed, Megumin went back to looking into the growing fire. She was silent for a few moments as the crackling of the flames snapped a few times, but then she spoke back up again.
"It's funny you should say that's your goal. I know someone really well who told me something very similar right before we both graduated from our village's academy."
Unable to let that comment pass him by so easily given he knew Megumin was acquainted with the one he sought to face again, YN chose his words carefully as he tried to get more information.
"A friend of yours said that?"
Lightly probing, he was rewarded for his caution.
"Rival. —Or really, 'self-proclaimed rival.'"
There was no mistaking it.
She definitely means Yunyun here.
"Sounds like someone you'd rather want as a friend than a 'rival.'"
Looking away from the fire and slightly shrugging, Megumin elaborated more to YN's hope.
"She has her useful moments. When our village was under attack by Demon King forces, she used up the points she'd be saving on her Adventurer Card for Advanced magic on Intermediate magic at her own expense..."
Having half an idea how long it took to save up such points, YN was surprised that Yunyun had done something like that.
But by the way Megumin was recounting the event, YN could easily tell she was withholding certain details. Just with her expression as it was, clearly she felt some sort of shortcoming from it, but neglected to say anything more on it.
Not about to pry on her emotions regarding it, YN still steered the conversation in a way he wanted regardless.
"So then, is there a reason the two of you can't take on Quests together? You both sound familiar enough with each other that there shouldn't be any major problems."
"Things simply haven't become desperate enough for the two of us yet."
Saying that with a bit of her old bravado again, Megumin definitely tried to make it sound like they were indeed rivals despite what could easily be assumed otherwise.
"I see... Well, she sounds like she'd be popular enough to get plenty of opportunities in other Parties."
"She does most of her Quest-taking and Adventuring on her own actually. She's an odd one so making friends isn't a good skill of hers. She's far too awkward to just simply ask and join a Party, so she instead follows other formed Parties that set out and then tails them. If they find themselves in trouble? She swoops in and saves them, only to then run away and leave. It's gotten her a bad reputation as someone who views others as weak and they need saving."
Caught off guard by that, YN had his eyes wide open under his armored helmet.
That... sounds a lot like what happened to me at the Arcanletia Guild Hall...
Surprised him and Yunyun could end up experiencing something so similar, YN could only try and mask his emotion by clearing his throat to regain his composure.
"She's only managed to make her situation worse. She'd like to be approachable but she's only done the opposite. Her only hope is to embrace being dark and mysterious."
From what YN knew about the crimson-eyed girl, that seemed like a far-shot from how she was, and thus hard to imagine.
"I guess it's the motive the matters at the end of the day, doesn't it? She sounds like a good person, wanting to protect the weak."
YN himself could remember her saying that was her goal too back when he had run into her at that forsaken town covered in soot.
She seemed to strongly imply it was my first interaction with her that prompted her to think that way... When I had died...
"She's always been that way though. But it got much worse when someone did something to give her a complex of sorts."
With there being a brief break in the conversation as Megumin said that with a carefree shrug, as if she viewed this as a detriment to Yunyun, YN felt a burning desire to hear more about that.
"Her... desire to help others got worse? Because of someone else?"
"Two people actually. One person really started it, and one accelerated it to further heights."
Hearing this was now due to two different people, the need to know more only grew in YN, but he was beginning to fear he was becoming too invasive.
"What does that mean?"
"One person, —the first one, idiotically threw himself in front of her to save her life. He was a complete stranger though. He had no reason to do that, and all he did was make her extremely sad afterwards..."
"That sounds better than her dying though, right?"
"W-Well of course! It's just I didn't understand it... And neither did she... Why do that for a total stranger? It doesn't make sense... If that person had died, how did they expect her to live on knowing that? It's foolish..."
Hearing these words, it had been a fear of YN's that this would have been a possibility.
"— — —"
He really couldn't respond to Megumin's words as a casual listener now, he was far too choked up by guilt.
"As for the second one, it was again some random stranger who helped her for no good reason, but I think she was being manipulated that time. This person had his entire place of work destroyed in the process of him helping her with a Quest. But what I think happened is he orchestrated the entire thing. He used her to destroy everything and then took the blame on himself. He practically used her to do what he couldn't, but wasn't so much as bad a person to blame it on her. Now she just wants to repay the favor of 'being helped by him' to others."
While Megumin pouted at the idea of her rival's foolhardiness, YN was at a total lack for words. Thankfully, his helmet continued to conceal his expression, and kept his jaw from falling off his slacked face at this news.
Both times... both times I've met Yunyun, it's had that amount of an effect on her?
YN was aware of this second time only; how he himself had made an effect on the Crimson Demon girl, told to him directly by her but only on account of his identity being obscured by the thick soot that had covered his hair and face.
She still probably has no idea that I'm both of these people to her...
Between the guilt he felt over making Yunyun feel bad over his sacrifice for her, and now continuing to have this effect on her, YN was now fearful of an entirely different phenomena.
I was worried about being strong enough to face Yunyun and not have her worry anymore... but now...
—Now it was entirely the opposite. If he became too much a figure in her mind, he might become unapproachable to her.
She's already got problems making friends and just conversing with others it seems... So if I become too much of an elevated figure in her mind, being both these people to her... I might not ever get the chance to face her just because of that!
There began a paradigm shift in YN's mind. The way he planned on moving ahead with almost everything he had going for him was now set to change.
I can't afford to wait any longer it seems... If I let myself hang around as a memory that profound in Yunyun, it's going to destroy any chance I have to speak to her in a truly heartfelt way... 'Don't meet your heroes' the saying goes after all...
The absoluteness of his strength, the ability in himself, and the debt, would all need to wait.
When I get back... I think I'll try and approach her. I have to.
On these revelations though, it felt improper to YN to pry more.
"—I think I'm going to turn in."
Standing up, YN moved himself to the base of a massive nearby tree trunk. Sitting up against it, he removed both his shield and his sword. The sword, he impacted into the tree's bark to make it handy and quick to reach, and the shield he halfway laid upon himself as a very poor blanket.
"Wake me when the fire's about to die. We'll switch watches then."
Facing away from Megumin and the fire, his choice of location made her raise her brow slightly.
"Does it not make better sense for the person on watch to be furthest from the fire while the person who sleeps is?"
Confused, YN had to think on the fly to come up with an answer that made sense. After all, he wanted to take his helmet off to sleep, but Megumin recognizing him with his signature blue hair, especially after saying what she just did, was far too great of a risk to be seen now. As such, YN needed to come up with something that sounded legitimate.
If I keep my helmet on to sleep, that might really draw suspicion from her... I just gotta be careful with my words and actions...
From behind the tree where he sat now, he answered the girl in the wizard hat.
"I don't like sleeping with my helmet on, but I'm rather disfigured, so it's better if a young lady like you didn't see my face; I'm quite ugly. Just throw a rock at me when we're set to switch."
Hopefully dispelling the intrigue Megumin might have with him, YN prayed she'd keep her distance throughout the night.
"I doubt I'll have the strength to stand until morning, so I was planning to do just that once it was time."
Leaving it at that, YN nodded, moved out of view, removed his helmet, and began to rest his eyes.
Hopefully the fire burns for a while... Today has me beat...
From the toughest fight he'd had yet, YN finally let his body be at rest, his massive armor actually managing to be quite comfortable in this position, perhaps thanks to his class abilities on their own.
***
Laying under the tree canopy and looking up to the starry sky above, the Archwizard who wielded explosion magic felt the fatigue and lethargy she knew well from the result of her overwhelming magic.
Yet, what coupled it now was an even worse feeling that, due to the impoverished circumstance she was born into, she also knew well.
Hungry...
Sitting upright now in her resting spot, still on guard duty, Megumin looked about the camp. From the way the fire was still stoked, she figured she had about another hour or so till it was her turn to sleep.
In her state where she had virtually no energy left, Megumin hadn't even bothered with the thought of supper before YN had gone to sleep behind the tree he was now at.
Scanning her surroundings in hopes of even a nearby berry bush or something, she saw a potentially promising source of food, easily discarded next to the fire.
"His bag..."
The leather satchel YN had carried over his shoulder during the entirety of this Quest, which held all of his worldly belongings, was away from him, and easily in reach of Megumin, should she want to get into it.
"He must have some kind of food in there..."
Driven on by her hunger, the girl in the short red dress crawled over towards the bag, and using her staff, reached out and got the bag by its strap and brought it over to her.
"Success."
Sitting upright again, it was only now with the bag in her lap did she consider the morality of the situation. With a glance over to where the armored juggernaut was to make sure he was still asleep, Megumin looked back to the bag before her to justify herself morally.
"I-It's only right he shares... After all, it was I who defeated the Rookie Slayer! That's worth fifteen—, no, twenty kobolds like the ones he defeated."
Her hunger not letting her stall any further, Megumin loosened the strap and buckle keeping the satchel shut, and peered inside.
Fortunately for her, she had found just what she had hoped for, although—
"—It isn't much..."
Spare a red fruit, a smaller pouch of some dry beans, and a wrapped end piece of a bread loaf, YN it seemed hadn't traveled with much food. Inside was also a half empty canteen of water, however it wasn't like the Archwizard was interested in any backwash.
Popping the bread piece halfway into her mouth and beginning to chew, Megumin dug through the bag more to uncover the only other item inside.
Exclaiming "What's this?" with a mouth full of bread, the crimson-eyed girl flipped it around to see that it was a leather bound book, simply titled 'Journal.'
Tearing off the bite of bread she still had, and with another quick glance to see the owner of the Journal was still asleep, Megumin timidly opened the bindings to the pages inside.
Thumbing towards the beginning, she sparsely read a few entries, which seemed to indicate he started his Adventuring in the city of Arcanletia, much like she herself had attempted to do before going to Axel. In the end though, it seemed they both shared the same difficulties in doing so.
Skipping a few more entries, she briefly read that he had a hard time in Axel upon getting there, and as such, had to go become a laborer at a foundry in a town to the west.
It was there that Megumin's attention really was caught.
There was one long entry about what had occurred to him in this new town, and how a monster of 'soot and pollution' attacked. In the writings, he described how he had run into 'her' again during this fiasco, and recounted how 'she' had helped him, and that he only wished to get stronger so he could face 'her' again.
Reading these passages a few times, over again, to Megumin, there was no mistaking it.
This guy definitely met Yunyun... The way he describes this girl, there's no mistaking it.
It wasn't also lost on Megumin either that these events sounded incredibly similar to something Yunyun had also told her of, about how she had been helped by a stranger in a town against a monster she had taken a kill-quest for.
"There's no way this is the same guy, is it?"
Looking to YN, still asleep by the tree, Megumin seriously began to entertain that outlandish idea.
Deciding she needed more proof to convince herself, she read more of the later entries.
It seemed after that event, and his desire to get stronger being jump-started by someone who had to be Yunyun by the description, this person had gone back to Axel after first returning to Arcanletia, and had some better successes at Adventuring after that.
Not getting much information regarding proof this was the same person Yunyun had told her of in these later entries, Megumin only skimmed some of the more important looking entries.
Briefly, she read one that seemed to be more enthusiastically written.
Took my first Quest with a Party today. One was a tall, blonde crusader, and her friend, a pale haired thief. We never exchanged names, but for some reason, the thief seemed oddly familiar. Oh well.
The Quest was to steal one egg from this massive lizard that lives in the mountains just north of Axel. We tried sneaking into the lizard's nesting grounds, but I guess it's rather hard to sneak in such massive armor. Whoops.
We were attacked by an onslaught of the great lizard's underlings and offspring. The crusader we were with valiantly took the brunt of the oncoming lizards. She withstood all their attacks, however, she failed to land even one hit with her sword. I get that I'm no better with a weapon, but at least I can hit something with a sword swing.
I ended up needing to protect this crusader using my shield once the big-lizard showed up. This girl was about to just let this thing kill her, I swear! While I fought with the thing, the thief was able to avoid the fighting, and was able to secure the egg using her stealth. In the end though, with the objective complete, I used my Deflection to repulse the lizard-mama away and we were able to make a break for it thanks to the thief.
From all this too, I got enough points to unlock that new skill 'Castle of Stone!'
Thinking that she too, recognized seeing people by this description at the Axel Guild Hall, the Archwizard figured she could learn more about this armored juggernaut by reading entries around this point.
Megumin flipped a few more pages and came across one rather large entry that seemed promising. Checking again to make sure he was still asleep, she confirmed that before reading more.
I fell into my old habit of following a Party of Adventures I thought took a Quest that was way too over their skill level. It was nothing but a pain, but I'm glad I did it because I learned a lot, but jeez, these guys were really a handful! Especially that crazy strong blonde guy!
This blonde guy, this smug archer guy, this meathead crusader guy, and this younger wizard girl (who had a tail I think?) took this Kill-Quest for a goblin encampment. A Party of much stronger looking guys had just come back after failing it, and those idiots thought nothing of it and just took the Quest themselves! I get needing money, I'm in debt myself... but c'mon!
I followed them as far as the encampment, but those little green bastards had beefed up their defenses since that last Party tried attacking. The wizard, crusader, and the archer were taken out pretty quickly (thankfully nothing was life threatening) and it was only that blonde guy left standing.
The entire fight he had been using a sword, which frankly, he sucked with. He was barely good enough to defeat a few of the lower level goblins. But when the Goblin leader showed up... that's when things got ugly.
That little green thing had a crossbow bigger than it was! It had lined up a shot right on that wizard girl, and I had to jump in or else things could have been a lot worse. When that bolt hit my shield, I was almost convinced it was going to penetrate the thing and kill me! It didn't though, but it sure knocked me back!
With my bad luck though, it pushed me back into that poor wizard girl, and I think she bumped her head when she fell because she passed out... I feel bad for that, but a concussion is probably better than whatever that bolt might have done to her...
Well, that blonde guy didn't seem to think that way... All he saw was her lying on the ground now and blamed me! I guess maybe in retrospect, maybe with all my armor, he thought I was maybe some big armored hobgoblin... Still!
That's when things really got serious though... Seeing his comrades down for the count, and now this wizard girl out, something in him sorta changed... He got a look in his eyes that was pretty intense...
Oddly enough, he put away his sword, and picked up one of the spears that one of the slain goblins had been using...
And Ho. Lee. Shit. That guy became scary after that... If he was that good with a spear to begin with... why was he even using that sword?! None of his party members would have ever been hurt had he just started off using a proper spear!
This guy rushed me with that spear, and it took everything I had to defend against that. I had thought that crossbow bolt was intense, well if this guy had a proper spear and not one he poached off a goblin, I'm sure he could have gone right through my shield.
This guy was so hyper focused on me, that he was just letting that goblin shoot at us with its crossbow. It still took a long time for it to reload between shots, but nonetheless, it kept getting close.
After being on the ropes against this guy, and him not listening to a word I was trying to say, I knew I had to disarm him somehow, as I didn't want to greatly harm him using 'Deflection.'
I really am lucky that the spear was poorly made. I got him near one of the walls to the goblin encampment, and baited him by lifting my shield up higher to expose my shins. Well, that worked well enough. I slammed my shield down on his spearhead and trapped it in the dirt, and that snapped the wooden pole-arm section of it. From there, I pushed him up against the wall with my shield and tried to make him realize I wasn't his enemy.
Of course, my idiot self totally forgot all about the goblin with the crossbow.
I didn't have enough time to turn my shield to block it, but I could tell right away I wasn't in danger. That thing was going to kill the spear-guy first while I had him pinned.
That was my first time using 'Castle of Stone' and that barely was enough to stop that crossbow bolt...
Seeing me do that though, this spear-guy finally got the clue I wasn't his enemy. From there, we formed a loose alliance to defeat the goblin. He grabbed another spear, and he set out to use me as cover while we slowly advanced.
By the time I took the fourth or so bolt, we knew this wasn't going to work. The goblin could fire and move further than we could hope to get closer between the shots. Any time I tried using 'Deflection' on the arrows, by the time it had shot, and I returned the bolt, that little green bastard was already far from where he had been.
After a quick strategy meeting behind my shield though, we had a plan.
We moved up together, and after the latest shot, the spear guy ran out ahead. With just a spear, it wasn't like he could block or deflect any of the bolts himself, he needed me for that since he was practically defenseless projectiles.
But right before that goblin took it's next shot, I used 'Wall of Dirt' right under where spear-guy was running, and that propelled him up into the air. With that crossbow being as big as it was for the goblin, it couldn't lift its aim fast enough to keep track of him, and as he began to fall back down, he threw his spear and killed the goblin leader.
Once we all got back to the Guild Hall, we had a few drinks and the spear-guy was kind enough to split his share of the bounty with me so long as I kept quiet about him being so good with that spear. Well, not like I was going to say anything about that to anyone anyway...
But that's when he asked me why I didn't have a weapon. And to tell the truth, I couldn't give him a good answer.
Yeah, I'm bad with them. They're really unwieldy for me thanks to my class...
He did have a point though. If the spear-guy really had been an enemy though, once I had him pinned like I did, what was I supposed to do? How would I have ended a fight I needed to end?
I guess if I owe that spear-guy any thanks at all, it's him making me realize I needed something in these sort of situations.
To be able to defend others... I once had a conversation about this with someone else once, and they too said I need to be able to neutralize threats, and sometimes defense alone isn't the way to do that.
Tomorrow I'm taking that old busted sword I held onto to the market and seeing if I can trade that to the blacksmith for something small and light. I know I can't work with much of anything, especially something heavy... But I need something!
I get that a weapon wouldn't have made a difference in saving someone like what happened in Arcanletia when I perished saving her... But in times like what had just happened? What if it had been her I was defending against someone strong like that spear-guy? I refuse to fail at that, because failing to protect her of all people would mean... well... I don't even want to imagine there being no life behind her crimson eyes...
Re-reading that last passage over again, Megumin's eyes couldn't stop going from the text, to the armored juggernaut who had written these entries, and back again.
"No... There's no chance of that, is there?"
He still wrote of this 'her' like he did when referring to the one Megumin was certain was Yunyun, but her biggest flag she had noticed was saying he had 'perished' in Arcanletia of all places.
As far as Megumin was aware, people died when they were killed. Yet, here this person was writing as if he himself had died.
"And he 'perished' protecting this 'her...'"
Assuming this 'her' in his writings really was Yunyun, 'crimson eyes' and all, the identity of the journal's author could only be one person... as the only time someone had 'perished' defending Yunyun had also occurred in Arcanletia...
Shutting the book with sharp *CLAP* upon putting these two clues together, Megumin's own crimson eyes locked in on the sleeping YN.
That person who took that fireball for Yunyun... he had that blue hair...
Knowing he had said he wanted to sleep with his helmet off, he had also said he wanted to not be seen due to being disfigured...
Is that from the fireball he took?
With that aspect of it making sense, Megumin used her staff to stand up. Facing herself in the direction of YN, she slowly began to hobble herself over, needing to lean on her staff to keep herself upright in her still fatigued state.
As she got closer, she began to wonder if such a series of coincidences could be real or not.
Could this truly be the same person who had caused Yunyun to really double down on dedicating herself to the idea of protecting the weak like she had declared she wanted to do back in their academy days?
Anyone could have a disfigured face from anything... But if he has that same blue hair as I remember...
—That would be the deciding factor.
Tresping over, Megumin was careful to avoid any fallen twigs or branches that she might step on, snap, and stereotypically wake up the juggernaut before she could get a chance to see if her hypothesis was correct.
Now in view of where he was, as her vision rounded the tree-trunk that hid YN, Megumin's crimson eyes reflected the blue that was his hair.
—!
Utterly enthralled at this revelation, she peered more at his actual face now. Just as he was before, he looked as he did when Megumin had first briefly seen him.
He lied then about the disfigurement... He specifically did not wish for me to see his face, meaning he knew who I was...
Unsure of what to do with this information, or even what value it really had at the end of the day as it pertained to her, or him for that matter, Megumin slowly backed up, and returned to her resting spot by the continuously dying fire.
At this juncture, Megumin went into thought of what this juggernaut's motive must be. She knew he must have one, but what path it led to was not something she could theorize. He hadn't come across as nefarious at all. If he was after Megumin for anything, he was doing an excellent job of hiding it, fighting off all those kobolds and not letting a single one harm her.
He did ask an awful lot of questions about Yunyun...
Megumin was aware of the... social challenges her dear rival faced on a regular basis. Oftentimes she escaped from less than ideal arrangements or proposals by sheer chance, with the worst results being times she was swindled out of her money.
If he truly was familiar with them both, Megumin could at least surmise that this juggernaut was aware both her and Yunyun were lacking any real accumulation of coin. Neither too, had he hadn't acted in any suspicious fashion either when her guard was down like this, fatigued.
But maybe that explained why he was being so cooperative, or at the very least, nice.
He didn't inquire a single time about why those people in the Guild Hall had spoken ill of me... Nor did he voice any qualms with having to be stuck carrying me after I used all my magic...
"Ugh, it makes no sense."
Deciding it was simply too much of a mental quagmire to wrap her tired mind around, Megumin simply waited until the fire was nearly dead to wake her armored companion for his turn to stand watch.
Doing so when the time came, the young Archwizard went to sleep, her thoughts on this person, Yunyun, and of course, what tomorrow would be like.