Chapter 9: Meguma
"Ugh… Ugug… sniff… it smells… it smells like fish…"
Terly who was covered in slime sniveled as she followed behind me.
"It is smelly inside the toad, but the warm feeling isn't too bad… I gained
some knowledge that I would rather not know…"
Meguma who I was carrying on my back was covered in goo like Terly, and she told me something I don't want to know.
If someone uses magic that exceeded their mana capacity, it would drain their life force to make up the difference. Using powerful spells when your mana is depleted might even lead to death.
"From now on, explosion magic is banned unless there is an emergency. Please work hard by using other spells, Meguma."
Meguma who heard what I said grabbed my shoulders harder.
"… I can't."
"… Huh? You can't what?"
I parroted Meguma's words.
Meguma grabbed even harder and pressed her lacking chest onto my back.
"… I can only use explosion spell. I don't know any other magic."
"… Are you serious?"
"… Yes."
As Meguma and I turned silent, Terly who was sniveling joined in our
discussion.
"What do you mean by knowing only explosion magic? If you had enough
skill points to learn explosion, you must had learned other spells right?"
… Skill points? Speaking of which, the counter lady at the guild did mention something about skill points.
Seeing that I am confused, Terly explained to me:
"Skill points are something you earn when you take choose a job, it is used to learn skills. The better a person is, the more skill points they start out with. You can learn all sorts of skills by investing your skill points in it. For example, the excellent me had learned all the banquet party tricks as well as all the spells of a high cleric."
"… Where are you going to use the banquet party tricks?"
Terly pretended not to hear my question and continued:
"Depending on the person and the job, there are restrictions to the skills they may learn. For example, someone with a fear of water would need more points to learn water or ice elemental spells… But detonation series magic are composite spells, you would need deep knowledge of fire and wind magic to master it. This means that people who can learn detonation magic should be able to easily learn other spells."
"This means that it doesn't make sense to be unable to learn low grade spells when you know high tier magic from the detonation series… Anyway, where can you make use of banquet party tricks?"
Megumin mumbled when I finished my sentence:
"… I am an arch wizard that loves explosion spell. What I like is not
detonation series magic, but explosion spell."
Really, what's the difference between detonation spell and explosion magic?I don't understand things on this level as Terly listened to Meguma's
monologue with a series face.
No, compared to that, I am totally distracted by the banquet party tricks.
"Adventures would definitely be easier if I learn other spells. Fire, water, earth, wind and light, learning spells related to this should be good enough… But I couldn't do it. My only love is explosion magic. Even though I could only cast it once per day, even if I will collapse after using the spell, my one true love is still explosion magic! The only reason I chose the path of the arch mage was to cast explosion spells"
"Incredible! Great! Your resolve to follow your romantic dreams despite knowing it is efficient is deeply moving!"
… Oh no, seemed like this mage was going to be useless. The best evidence was her hitting it off with Terly.
After two battles with the toads, I highly suspect the usefulness of this
goddess. Honestly, just Terly alone was troublesome enough, if another one joined in…Alright, I made up my mind.
"I see. I think this would definitely be a difficult path, so do work hard. Hey, I can see the town. Let's divide the rewards equally at the guild. Yes, let's meet again if our path crossed again."
Meguma grabbed me harder after I finished.
"Hmmp… My only wish is to use explosion magic. The bounty is just a complementary bonus. How about this, I don't need to split the rewards
evenly, if you are willing to foot the bill for food, bath and miscellaneous
items, I can consider not taking any rewards. That's right, my power as an arch wizard is available at the price of meals and other miscellaneous fees!
How could you miss this opportunity to form a long term contract!"
"No no no, our weak team is not worthy of such amazing power. That's right, it's too much to ask Meguma to stay in our team with your amazing powers. A team just starting out should make do with a normal mage. Look at me, my job is the weakest adventurer too."
In order to chase away Meguma who was grabbing on to me tightly when
we reach the guild, I attempted to loosen her grip. But Meguma refused to let go.
"No no no no, it doesn't matter if you are novices or weak. I might have a top tier job, but I am still a beginner too. My level is just 6. When my level grows, I wouldn't collapse after using my spells. So let's talk this over, then
pull my hand away okay?"
"No no no no no, it's too hard to utilize a mage that can only cast one spell a day. Ugh, she is a mage, but her grip is strong…! Let go, the other teams probably don't want you too. Or rather, explosion spell couldn't be used in dungeons or in doors, which would render you useless. Hey, release your grip. I will split the rewards equally with you! Please let go!"
"Please don't ditch me! No team is willing to take me in! I am willing to
carry the luggage or anything when exploring dungeons! Please, don't throw me away!"
It's probably because Meguma on my back was yelling 'don't throw me
away', the passer bys started whispering while looking at us.
Because we are in town and Terly's appearance drew in a lot of attention, it made us the center of focus.
"– No way… That man wants to abandon that child…"
"– He has a girl covered in slime with him."
"– To toy with such a small child, and to abandon her after that, what a trash. Look! Why are the girls covered in goo? What weird sexual games did that pervert made them do?"
… I was definitely being maligned.
Terly smiled deviously upon hearing them, how hateful. Meguma seemed to have heard their whispers too.
I looked at Meguma who was peeking over my shoulder, a malicious smile on her face…
"I am fine with any sort of play! Even using the toad's slime like just now is okay…"
"Alright– I get! Meguma, I will be in your care!"
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