Blessing on This Wonderful World! - If Days with Megumin -
Kazuma Satou, a high school student living in Axel, meets Megumin, a girl who loves explosion magic, at Dustiness's mansion. She declares herself a 'genius mage of the Crimson Demon Clan' and proudly announces, 'My explosion magic can only be used once a day, but that one strike is the strongest!'
Kazuma ends up living with Aqua, Darkness, and Megumin, getting dragged into their chaotic daily lives. Megumin clings to Kazuma, persistently trying to show off her daily explosion magic. 'Look, look
Blessing on This Wonderful World! - If Days with Megumin - - Won't you let the Demon King's army executive add you to their collection?
The sky over Axel had been covered in thin clouds since morning. There was no wind, and the smells of the marketplace—spices, dried fish, freshly baked bread—hung stagnant in the streets. Satou Kazuma was alone on the second floor of the guild, slumped face-down over a wooden table.
" Why does it always come to this…"
The words that had appeared on his status screen last night wouldn't leave the back of his eyelids.
'Additional Effect: Mana Interference (Faint+)'
In the morning it had been "Faint." By night it was "Faint+." It was growing in a single day. If this kept up, what would happen to his companions' mana? To Megumin's—to that Explosion magic of hers—
(Don't think about it. Not now.)
Kazuma shook his head and drained the water left in his wooden cup in one gulp.
Even though it was before noon, the tavern was fairly crowded. The sound of boots on wooden floors, the clatter of dishes, the shouting of adventurers. All of it was the sound of everyday life.
—And then, one by one, those sounds faded.
From the entrance, silence spread like a wave.
Kazuma raised his head.
"…What the hell?"
At the top of the stairs stood a single man.
Long silver hair. Its bluish luster was clearly visible even in the dim tavern. His golden eyes slowly swept the room before fixing directly on Kazuma.
He was tall. At least five foot eight. His aristocratic coat, tailored in black and silver, was obviously high quality at a glance. A silver chain on his shoulder, a blue jeweled ring on his finger.
(A noble…? What's one doing in a place like this?)
The man sat down beside Kazuma without a sound.
" You're Satou Kazuma, aren't you?"
His voice was low and clear. Too smooth for a man's, yet too firm for a woman's. A strange voice that was pleasant to the ear.
" …Who the hell are you?"
Kazuma tensed. He put a hand on the back of his chair, ready to stand at any moment.
" Forgive me. I'm Sylvia. I'm a traveling collector. I go around gathering rare things."
"…Don't have a guy saying 'gathering' like that. It's creepy."
" My, such a foul mouth. But that honesty of yours—I don't dislike it."
Sylvia smiled. That smile, appearing on a man's face, was somehow seductive.
The adventurers around them kept glancing over.
" Hey, that noble—where's he from?"
" No idea. But that ring… I've never seen that crest before."
" Don't get involved. I don't want any trouble."
They said Sylvia's ring bore a crest they'd never seen. But none of them realized what it truly meant.
The Eight Demon Generals.
A crest of black feathers entwined with a serpent, granted only to the highest officers of the Demon King's army.
No one in that place knew it.
" Satou Kazuma-kun. Your skill is called 'Status Viewing,' I hear."
" …How do you know that?"
" I'm a collector. Information is part of a valuable collection too. And so—I have a proposal for you."
Sylvia laced his long, pale fingers together. His fingertips were slender for a man's, and even the shape of his nails was beautiful.
" There are too many eyes here. Let's change locations. I've reserved a private room at the inn across the street."
" A private room out of nowhere—what are you planning to do to me?"
" Don't worry, I won't eat you. I just want you to hear me out. You won't lose anything by it."
Kazuma hesitated.
(Suspicious. Way too suspicious. But…)
Since coming to this world, not once had his skill been evaluated head-on.
"Status Viewing is a dud"—at the guild, in the streets, everyone had said so.
And this man had called that dud skill "rare."
(Just a little… just hearing him out wouldn't hurt.)
Kazuma slowly stood up.
———
The private room at the inn was quiet, as if the tavern's clamor had been a lie.
A single candle on the wooden wall. Its flickering flame cast their two shadows large across the room.
Sylvia sat in the chair across from him, elegantly crossing his legs.
" I'll be blunt. Won't you become part of my collection?"
" …Huh?"
" Your 'Status Viewing.' That isn't just a dud skill. It visualizes a target's ability values—in other words, it's an extremely rare support skill that lets you grasp growth as numbers. Among my collection, it would undoubtedly be a first-class piece."
Sylvia's golden eyes, catching the candlelight, narrowed like a cat's.
" That's not all. Your skill holds a hidden power."
Kazuma's heart gave one great leap.
" The power to interfere with the mana around you. You've already realized it, haven't you?"
" …How do you know that?"
His voice came out hoarse.
A secret only he should have known. A terrifying truth he had only just noticed yesterday.
And the man before him had named it as if it were obvious.
" Fufu. My eyes see through that sort of 'invisible value.' The mark on your left hand—that's a sign of your skill's over-expression. As your Mana Interference grows, that mark will spread."
Kazuma clenched his left hand.
A faint mark, like a magic circle, was rising to the surface.
" Come to me. The Demon King's army—the Valgrim Unified Front—has the technology to bring your power to full bloom. Control methods, applications, everything. Your power won't have to be a 'curse' that only endangers your companions."
"…The Demon King's army."
Kazuma finally understood the weight of those words.
" Yes. I am one of the Demon King's Eight Demon Generals—Sylvia the Collector."
Sylvia held the blue ring gleaming on his finger up to the candle flame.
The crest of the serpent and black feathers rose into view, illuminated by the fire.
" You… you're an officer of the Demon King's army?"
" No need to be afraid. I came to negotiate. Not to fight."
Sylvia leaned forward.
There was a sweet scent. Like flower nectar—deep and heavy.
" I want all of you. That skill, that mark, your very existence. You'll be the finest piece in my collection."
Sylvia's hands wrapped around Kazuma's right hand.
Cold. Cold as ice.
And yet, from where they touched, heat spread slowly outward.
" Your power will surely become something far greater. I'll make it bloom."
Kazuma couldn't breathe.
Fear, and then—just a little—anticipation.
(This one said my skill has value.)
(No one's ever said that before—)
—BANG!!
The door was kicked open.
" Let go of him!!"
A girl with crimson hair in disarray and red eyes ablaze stood squarely in the doorway.
Behind her, a blue-haired goddess and a blonde female knight.
" Kidnapping Kazuma-san—this Aqua won't allow it!"
" Kazuma-sama! Are you unharmed?! Do you regret not using me as a shield?!"
" Why the hell are you all here… And I don't regret anything!"
Sylvia didn't let go of Kazuma's hand.
Rather, he re-gripped it, lacing their fingers together.
" My, my. You have quite a lot of female enemies, don't you?"
Sylvia's lips drew close to Kazuma's ear.
" But I won't give up. One week from now, give me your answer."
That voice was not a man's.
It was a woman's.
Kazuma finally realized the true sex of the person before him.
" You… you're a woman?"
" Who knows?"
Megumin's face went bright red.
" Don't touch Kazuma! You—you—thieving cat!!"
Megumin drew her staff from her back.
Her black robe billowed.
" My name is Megumin. The foremost mage of the Crimson Demon Clan. Those impudent hands of yours—I'll burn them to ash with Explosion!"
" Hey, Megumin, stop! We're inside an inn!"
" Silence! The crime of laying hands on my servant deserves ten thousand deaths! Take this!—Explosion!"
Crimson mana overflowed from Megumin's body.
The air trembled. The candle flames all wavered at once.
—In that instant.
The mark on Kazuma's left hand flared with pain.
"Guh…!"
The mark burned like fire.
And the crimson mana swirling around Megumin suddenly lost its shape.
" Wh—what is this…?!"
The mana ran wild.
Red light spilled uncontrollably from Megumin's body, racing through the room.
" Megumin! Stop! Stop the spell!"
" I—I can't! The mana won't listen to me…! My body's so hot…!"
—BOOOOOM!!
An explosion.
The wall was blown away.
No—not just the wall. The window glass shattered, the floor was gouged, part of the ceiling caved in.
Fortunately, the impact point had deviated greatly from where Megumin had intended.
The inn's courtyard.
Half of it had been obliterated.
" A… ahh…"
Megumin collapsed on the spot.
Her staff rolled across the floor with a dry clatter.
" Megumin!"
Kazuma rushed to the fallen Megumin.
Her body was terribly hot. Her breathing was ragged. Tears spilled from her red eyes.
" My magic… my Explosion magic…"
Megumin's fingers clutched at Kazuma's clothes.
" My magic… I can't use it…"
Kazuma was at a loss for words.
———
" Did you see? This is your power."
Sylvia stood beyond the collapsed wall.
Not a speck of dust clung to her silver hair.
" Your Mana Interference destabilizes the mana of those near you. Especially those who hold strong feelings for you—the effect is greater. Because she cares for you, your power breaks her."
" …Shut up."
" This is fact. As long as you stay by her side, she won't be able to use magic. No—not just magic. Her very life may be in danger."
Sylvia slowly approached Kazuma.
" That's exactly why you should come to me. If controlled, your power becomes the strongest weapon. If uncontrolled, it becomes a calamity that destroys everything around you. The choice is yours."
Sylvia pressed something into Kazuma's hand.
A black feather.
The same jet-black feather as the Demon King's army's crest.
" One week from now, I'll be waiting at Axel's east gate. Give me your answer then. Until then, take your time to think."
Sylvia turned her back.
" Wait just a moment! You haven't asked whether you're collecting my masochism records!"
" Collecting a goddess is blasphemy! I'll purify you with holy water!"
Aqua brandished a bottle of holy water.
" You all really are an amusing party. …Interesting. It makes me want him even more."
Sylvia left a smile behind and vanished beyond the collapsed wall.
" Wait! You thieving cat! I'm not a collection! Kazuma is my servant!"
Megumin, in Kazuma's arms, shouted with all the voice she could muster.
" My, you call him your servant? What an interesting relationship."
Sylvia's voice receded into the distance.
" Who's whose servant?! And I never became your servant!"
Kazuma shouted, but his voice only echoed emptily off the courtyard's wreckage.
———
It was near sundown when they returned to the Harthia mansion.
Kazuma was carrying Megumin on his back.
Her body had gone limp from the mana backlash. She was light. And yet, the warmth he felt against his back was strangely heavy.
" Kazuma…"
" …What?"
" When I'm near you, I get weaker…"
Kazuma's feet nearly stopped.
" When you're close, my mana gets all tangled up. My Explosion magic won't listen to me. …I know it's not your fault. But…"
Megumin's arms went around Kazuma's neck.
" I want to be by your side. What am I supposed to do…?"
Megumin pressed her cheek against Kazuma's back.
Warm tears soaked into his clothes.
(No. That's not it, Megumin.)
(It's not your fault. It's all mine.)
Kazuma swallowed the words he'd started to say, deep in his throat.
He couldn't say it.
That he was the one breaking her magic.
———
The mansion's dining hall.
" That was far too reckless! Going alone to meet an officer of the Demon King's army!"
Aqua slammed the table.
" I didn't go alone. I got dragged into a private room."
" The result's the same! You're being recruited by the Demon King's army!"
" Kazuma-sama! Next time, please use me as your shield! I'll take an officer of the Demon King's army's attack with this very body!"
" What are you even saying? And before you become a shield, do something about that perverted head of yours."
" Calling me a pervert is unfair! I'm only concerned for Kazuma-sama's—"
" Silence! Darkness!"
Megumin, still seated, glared at the two of them.
" Kazuma. You're hiding something, aren't yo
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