After completing the {Subjugate Five Forest Dire Wolves} quest, everyone returned to the Adventurers' Guild.
The quest reward was ξ160,000, split evenly among Kazuma and the other three. Though Megumin wanted to give her share to Adam, his insistence that "You can't even afford food, so don't refuse" left her no choice but to accept the payment.
To celebrate their tiring day of adventuring, everyone ordered food and drinks.
"Gulp, gulp, gulp, ahh~~~" Aqua downed the bubbly wine in big gulps, then let out a satisfied sigh, "Hmph, as expected, the party can't function without me."
She boasted while stuffing food into her mouth.
"With me, the great priestess, in the party, you can all adventure with peace of mind! Don't worry, I've got everything under control!"
"Stupid Aqua, it was clearly Megumin who played the crucial role. What right do you have to say you're the most important?" Kazuma shot her down mercilessly, "You were just cheering from the back, weren't you!"
"What did you say?!" Aqua bristled, "I was the one who comforted Megumin, and I was the one who healed her and Darkness! Is there anything wrong with saying I'm the most important?"
"...Well, that's true." Kazuma couldn't argue.
As she said, Megumin's ability to continue the mission was largely due to her. Thanks to Aqua, the party members returned unscathed.
On the contrary, Kazuma hadn't contributed to this subjugation mission, not even as much as Darkness. At least Darkness had attracted the monsters' aggro and taken quite a few claw attacks from the wolves — though she seemed to enjoy it. Still, that was far better than him, who was completely useless!
"Indeed, Aqua's contribution was significant." Darkness, who had removed her helmet and set down her shield, sat beside Adam and nodded, acknowledging Aqua's enormous contribution to the party's mission.
"See? I'm a great priestess, much more useful than Kazuma, who's just a mere adventurer!" Aqua taunted gleefully.
Seeing him at a loss for words and feeling it wasn't enough, she began performing〘Party Tricks〙right in front of him.
Kazuma promptly disciplined Aqua.
"Idiot Aqua, don't spray your dirty water on the food! It's disgusting!"
"I'm the goddess of water! How could I possibly be dirty?"
After receiving a knock on the head, Aqua settled down, grumbling about his meanness.
Amidst the commotion, only Megumin remained silent, eating her food without joining the others' banter. She seemed out of place.
Adam noticed her sitting across from him, unusually quiet. Concerned about her mood, he asked, "Megumin, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing..." She put down her food and said in a low voice, "Should I... learn some other magic?"
After experiencing this life-and-death crisis, even she had to admit that〘Explosion Magic〙had significant flaws, no matter how stubborn she was.
The main issue was its extremely wide area of effect!
Although she could cast her magic instantly due to high-speed chanting, its wide-ranging damage meant that if the target was too close, even she couldn't escape unscathed.
Given this, she wondered if it might be better to learn some intermediate skills to avoid getting into unmanageable situations.
She considered practical skills like〘Light Sword〙,〘Ice Cleanse〙,〘Wind Blade〙 and so on.
"What are you saying, Megumin?" Aqua stood up, exclaiming, "Isn't Explosion Magic your passion?"
"That's right! How could you give up so easily?" Darkness chimed in, trying to persuade her.
"That's true... that's true, but...!" Megumin replied, her voice rising, "But I can't be of any help! If that's the case, I might as well quit..."
Adam interrupted her, making eye contact, "Megumin, didn't you say Explosion Magic is your only magic? Is your resolve so shallow that you want to give up after just a little difficulty and setback?"
"How could that be!" Megumin declared with renewed determination. "Explosion Magic is my highest pursuit, more important than my life!"
"That's the spirit!" Adam grinned, "This is how you should be. No need to change anything! You're the great archmage I recruited!"
Although it would be more reasonable for her to learn other magic, Adam couldn't bear to change that stubborn part of her. Would Megumin still be Megumin if she weren't obsessed with〘Explosion Magic〙?
He smiled and said, "When you joined the party, I said we'd love to have a genius like you with us. So, you just need to continue down the path of Explosion Magic."
"Adam..." Megumin's teary eyes were endearing.
"That's right, Megumin." Kazuma chimed in to comfort her, "You're fine as you are. The title 'Crimson Demon Girl Who Only Knows Explosion Magic and Has a Screw Loose' suits you perfectly, doesn't it?"
Kazuma, true to his reputation as a gender equality advocate and sadist, was quite skilled at comforting people in a sarcastic way. Thanks to his timely intervention, which expressed the attitude of the whole party, Megumin's thoughts of quitting were dispelled.
"But we really need to figure out something about your Explosion magic." Adam furrowed his brow, deep in thought.
Megumin asked pitifully, "Do you want me to learn other magic?"
To be honest, she really didn't want to. But if he wanted her to, she would definitely do it! Unknowingly, her thoughts were gradually aligning with his.
"No, that's not it." Seeing her misunderstanding, Adam quickly waved his hands, "I'm not asking you to learn magic other than Explosion Magic, but thinking about how to let you cast it multiple times."
His words surprised everyone.
As everyone knows,〘Explosion Magic〙is related to the mage's Mana. The amount of Mana represents the power of the magic, though the conversion method is simple.
However, because〘Explosion Magic〙extremely depletes the mage's own Mana, no mage can control how much is consumed. Basically, it uses up all the remaining Mana in one go.
And yet he said he wanted to let Megumin cast〘Explosion Magic〙multiple times?
This isn't scientific! Of course, it's not magical either!
But in Adam's eyes, this wasn't a problem at all. He had several methods to let Megumin cast her magic multiple times, but the simplest and easiest to implement should be this one.
"As far as I know, there's a type of magic crystal that can be used to cast spells in place of Mana. Although it's expensive, it will soon no longer be a problem for us."
He recalled that in the original story, Megumin and others relied on high-quality Manatites to forcibly use〘Explosion Magic〙as a consumable substitute when they had no Mana left.
This method was used by Megumin, Wiz, and even Kazuma in his final confrontation with the Demon King.
However, Manatites were prohibitively expensive, far beyond the means of novice adventurers like their group — especially the high-quality ones.
But Adam wasn't worried. He had everything under control.
The Cabbage Harvest Season Campaign was just around the corner, promising a substantial influx of income. Soon, he'd be able to procure a few Manatites as backup for Megumin.
All according to plan! ٩(◕‿◕)۶
Seeing Adam's confident smile, the others were curious but refrained from asking questions.
"Um... shouldn't we be discussing how to keep me safe during battle?" Megumin asked timidly, raising her hand.
"Ah, about that..." Adam replied with a smile, "Isn't protecting teammates a knight's duty? We'll leave that to Darkness."
While there were various ways to keep Megumin out of harm's way — such as equipping her with better defensive gear or teaching her Teleportation Skills — having Darkness protect her seemed the most practical option for now.
"So, Darkness, you'll need some special training!" Adam declared.
Upon hearing his words, Darkness's face flushed with excitement as she exclaimed enthusiastically, her perverted nature remained as steadfast as ever.
"Are you going to discipline me? Oh, please do! It's my fault for failing to protect Megumin properly. I'll accept any punishment — drill me thoroughly! Come on, ravage me!"
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