Epilogue
On the way back to the Capital.
I was being lectured by Aqua while Kazuma carried me on his back.
“Seriously, Megumin, I’m at a loss for words. The only thing you have is your Explosion Magic, so how could you of all people miss? If you remove Explosion Magic from Megumin, the only part left would be the Min part!”
“There are a lot of things I want to say, but most of all, I can’t agree with equating Megu with Explosion Magic. If anything, there should be at least a couple more letters added on.”
“With that, the name Megumin would refer more towards Explosion Magic than you yourself, you know?”
After its nest was destroyed, the liger spent several long minutes observing us.
Then, just as a desperate seeming Barton started trying to reason with it, the liger suddenly tossed the Dustiness family treasures that it held in its mouth towards us and fled.
“Still, that Crystal Liger really has a unique demeanor. It’s almost as if it could understand us!”
Barton happily said, presumably because he was able to accomplish all his goals without killing the liger.
Still, it really did seem that the Liger understood us.
Given the proximity to the capital, it will eventually be hunted down.
And no harm would come to it if it returned the jewels it took from us.
Even as it listened to those words, its gaze never strayed away from me.
“I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before… Well, we did have quite a bit of fate with Rookie Killers in the past, so maybe it’s just the familiarity from seeing a similar Liger-type monster.”
Kazuma tilted his head and muttered to himself.
“Kazuma-san, there is a limit as to how open-minded you can be. You are already familiar with Devils and the undead, and now you’re interested in making friends with a wild monster too?”
“The only one who would be interested in wild monsters like this is Darkness.”
At Kazuma’s words, Darkness, while clutching her family treasures tightly, said,
“I-I’m plenty satisfied just by retrieving my family treasures today… Actually, I’ve had some pretty good experiences today. I might be the one who received the most in this adventure.”
“The only things you did today was get stepped on by the liger. Well, I suppose it’s better than Aqua who didn’t do anything.”
Being able to talk about the adventure with my friends made even the fatigue from exhausting all my mana worthwhile.
“Wait a moment, I probably deployed my party skills and got attention. Darkness was staring at my performance all that while.”
“Who asked you to attract Darkness’s attention in the first place?”
“Even if you say that, Kazuma, her performance was truly a wonder to behold. It’s best if she can show it to everyone when we get home.”
Perhaps it’s because of my mana exhaustion, but I’m steadily getting drowsy.
“Still, I should offer my thanks to you, gentlemen. Very much still remains a mystery about the Crystal Liger, but now there is reason to suspect that it can understand human tongue. That’s a huge discovery even on it’s own!”
Following Darkness, a jovial Barton happily chimed in.
“Say, Professor Barton, the treasure that we were looking forward to got lost, so please give me your signature when we get back to the capital. I’ll hear you out in exchange.”
“Very well, very well. If it’s just a signature, I’ll give you as many as you want when we get back! I see, so you want to hear my stories! Very well! The reason why the droppings of Crystal Ligers tend to be black is tied deeply to the color of the fur beneath their crystal growths!”
After receiving Aqua’s flattery, Barton happily launched into one of his lectures.
“Hey, Aqua, didn’t you already get a signature?”
“He seems pretty famous, so getting a whole ton of them wouldn’t hurt, right? They might be worth a lot of money, you know?”
“Who cares?”
Hearing their conversation, I thought back to why I couldn’t land the finishing blow with my explosion back then.
Ah, yes, it was the wolfberries.
When Barton said that Crystal Ligers prefer eating on wolfberries, I was reminded of the herbivorous Rookie Killer that I once gotten close to.
Back then, it was held in a cage in Axel on the orders of a noble, and, after a series of events, I helped it go free…
[See Short story: Crimson Eyed rookie killer]
I wonder how that crimson-eyed rookie killer is doing right now?
For some reason, the liger we ran into today reminded me a lot of that Rookie Killer.
They liked the same foods, so perhaps they might have the same demeanour too.
“By the way, when are we returning this necklace to Iris? I don’t feel secure trusting just you guys to handle it, so I’m coming with you too.”
“Save that for when you are finally authorized to enter the capital. I’ll handle returning the necklace to Iris-sama.”
“Ah, I’m not letting you take all the credit! I’m definitely coming along! I want to hear Iris praise me as her onii-san.”
“Y-You…”
Letting the arguments of my companions flow past me, I once again thought back to the events of today.
Aqua ended up crying, Darkness ended up breathless, and Kazuma got angry.
It’s just like one of our usual adventures.
Going out with Iris and Yunyun is fun too, but it seems like this dysfunctional party is more suited to my tastes.
Plus, there’s no way this party would be able to function without my support.
“Still, this party really can’t function without me, huh? You best give me a greater portion of the rewards when we hand the necklace over.”
“The only thing you did was party tricks. If you are talking about this, the one who’s really indispensable to this party is me. You should be more appreciative of me in the future.”
“I-I might not have done anything flashy today, but as the one supporting everyone from behind, I feel like I’m more than pulling my weight!”
… It’s just like Yunyun said.
The more problems one creates, the more likely they are to think of themselves as the most normal of the bunch.
But, well, going on adventures really is what an adventurer ought to do.
By doing so, one will encounter countless happy and surprising events, much like today.
And amongst them would also be moments that would be remembered fondly in the future…
“Kazuma, Kazuma…”
“What is it? Actually, I’m fine with you sleeping back there, but don’t drool on me, you hear?”
This man.
“I won’t drool on you. I was just thinking that all of us could go on an adventure tomorrow…”
“No way. In the first place, are you really in the position to say such carefree words? You remember, right? That you promised to do anything I say? I hope you know what you should do when we get home. Oh, and it doesn’t seem like you’ve noticed yet, but there’s about a 30% chance that you’ll end up drooling whenever I carry you like this.”
And here I was trying to express my gratitude. Why is this man just so gifted in destroying the mood?
“By the way, I wonder why that liger was staring at Megumin so much? It was staring at her like it was examining some curious specimen or something…”
Knowing nothing of my thoughts, Kazuma muttered something to himself.
Oh well, I did manage to get him to come with me on an adventure, so I guess I’ll let his complaints and grumbles slide for today.
I’ll have to return the borrowed necklace tomorrow, then–
“Say, Darkness, do you think Kazuma-san is in a good mood right now? Maybe this is the best time to tell him about what I did yesterday.”
“Hold on, Aqua, it’s best to wait for a while more. The best time would most likely be after we handed over the necklace to Iris-sama, when he’s basking in her praises.”
“I heard that. Now that you mention it, I do recall you saying something about Aqua getting into trouble again this morning!”
Then–
“Speaking of Crystal Ligers, I recall hearing something interesting about them a while back. It’s merely a fringe theory that has little support amongst the leading scholars, but… according to those tales, a Crystal Liger is what develops from certain rare specimens of Rookie Killers who eat wolfberries, after they have eaten enough for the seeds to start crystalizing within them…”
“Say, mister, all this liger talk is really starting to bore me.”
As I was clinging onto Kazuma’s gently swaying back.
While thinking of the amazing adventures I would go on tomorrow, I gently fell into slumber.
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