Night fell, and peace finally returned to the mansion.
After a long, exhausting day, everyone scattered to their rooms, ready to sink into a real bed at last.
Kōichi, however, tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
In the end, he simply threw on a jacket and went to the living room alone, sitting in front of the fireplace and thinking by the faint glow of the flames.
"Sigh, every day gets more exciting than the last. It's so exciting I'm actually starting to miss my dull old life from my previous life." Kōichi rubbed his temples as recent events flashed through his mind one after another.
The Dullahan, the Mobile Fortress Destroyer, the chaos in the City of Water, and the distress letter from Crimson Demon Village.
He knew the crisis in Crimson Demon Village was urgent. It was Megumin and Yunyun's hometown, so there was no way he could just stand by and do nothing.
"Looks like I'm not getting any peace until the Demon King's Army is wiped out for good."
Kōichi gave a self-mocking smile. His gaze drifted unconsciously toward Chomusuke, who was dozing in the corner. The black cat was curled up in a ball, sleeping soundly.
But just as Kōichi looked away, he seemed to catch something strange.
A tiny spark flickered from Chomusuke's nostrils, accompanied by a faint burnt smell.
"Hm? Did I imagine that?"
Kōichi blinked and looked back at Chomusuke. The cat was still sleeping like the dead, without the slightest sign of anything unusual.
Just as Kōichi began wondering whether exhaustion had made him hallucinate, soft footsteps came from the stairs.
Megumin came downstairs carrying a sleepy-eyed Komekko, apparently heading to the bathroom.
"Kōichi, why aren't you asleep yet?"
Megumin asked in confusion when she saw him sitting in the living room.
"Oh, nothing. I just can't sleep." Kōichi answered casually, then seemed to remember something and pointed toward Chomusuke in the corner. "By the way, Megumin, I think I just saw Chomusuke… breathe fire? Have you ever seen it do that?"
Megumin froze for a moment, then gave him a look that said, What kind of nonsense are you talking about?
"Breathe fire? Kōichi, have you been too tired lately? Chomusuke is just a very weak, very cute, perfectly ordinary cat that only eats, drinks, and uses the bathroom! How could it possibly breathe fire? Only the highest-level magical creatures can do that. Besides, even if it could breathe fire, it's my Familiar. How could someone as normal as you just casually witness it?"
After hearing Megumin say that, Kōichi also felt he might have jumped to conclusions.
Right. Chomusuke looked like an ordinary black cat. Sure, it had a strange cross mark on its forehead, but breathing fire really was too ridiculous.
"You're right. I'm probably just tired and saw it wrong." Kōichi shook his head with a wry smile. "You two should hurry back to sleep. We still have to travel tomorrow."
Megumin held Komekko with an I knew it expression and hummed a little tune as she walked into the bathroom.
Kōichi looked back toward Chomusuke in the corner. The black cat seemed to feel his gaze, twitched its ears slightly, then continued sleeping away.
Kōichi sighed. It seemed he really did need a proper rest.
...
Early the next morning in Axel, before the thin mist had even cleared, Kōichi had already dragged a bleary-eyed Kazuma, who was still dreaming about dating a Succubus, to crouch at the market entrance.
"Hey, Kōichi… haah… why are we buying so many sweet potatoes and dried meat with public funds? Aren't the Crimson Demon Clan supposed to be the strongest Wizards? Do they seriously run out of food?" Kazuma yawned as he clutched his wallet in pain. "And why aren't we using party funds? Why do I have to pay for this myself? This is my hard-earned money that I barely managed to scrape back from those money-grubbing adventurers!"
Kōichi stopped picking through the sweet potatoes, turned around, and gave him an extremely sincere, caring smile. Then he lowered his voice.
"Kazuma, you really don't understand, do you? How could we use public funds for this? This is clearly your investment!"
"Huh? An investment? In that bunch of chuunibyou?"
"Think about it. We're going to Megumin's hometown to meet Megumin's parents. In a place like Crimson Demon Village, which claims to be short on supplies, what do you think it means if you show up at their door with a mountain of food? To your future father-in-law, that's sincerity! That's financial power! That's a dowry worthy of entrusting her whole life to you!"
Kōichi patted Kazuma on the shoulder, his tone growing more wicked by the second. "Just imagine it. The moment Hyoizaburoo sees how generous you are, he might get carried away, shove Megumin onto the table right then and there, and beg you through tears to take her away as your concubine. Then you'll not only get a legal playmate, you'll also get a genius descendant of the Crimson Demon Clan for free. Isn't that a bargain?"
Kazuma's eyes instantly widened like brass bells. His mind had already conjured an image of Megumin in a wedding dress, or something even more revealing, obediently doing whatever he asked, and he nearly started drooling.
"R-Right! How did I not think of that?! Kōichi, you really are my brother! What's a little money? Boss! This basket, that basket, and that pile over there. I'll take them all! Put it on my account, Kazuma Satou's account!"
Kazuma waved his wallet around with heroic flair and even clasped Kōichi's hand with tears of gratitude in his eyes.
Kōichi looked at Kazuma's foolish expression, like someone who had been sold and was still happily counting the money for the seller, and laughed inwardly.
Plan successful. The team funds are safe.
After finishing their shopping, the two pushed a cart packed full of supplies to Wiz's Magical Item Shoppe, a place that always gave off an eerie and poverty-stricken air.
When they opened the door, the wind chime hanging above it rang with a clear jingle.
Behind the counter, Wiz, the beautiful, busty Lich with long brown hair and a troubled expression, was sighing at a pile of unsold shoes that made people bark like dogs when they walked.
"Welcome… Ah, Kōichi-san and Kazuma-san!" Seeing familiar faces, Wiz immediately gave them a gentle smile. "Are you here today to buy the Magic Circle that washes dishes automatically but breaks them in the process? It's twenty percent off right now!"
"We'll talk about that junk later, Wiz." Kōichi placed a bag of sweet potatoes on the counter and got straight to the point. "We need to go to Crimson Demon Village, and it's urgent. Could you cast teleportation magic and send all of us, along with this whole cart of dowry, straight there?"
Wiz paused, then twisted her fingers in embarrassment.
"Huh? To Crimson Demon Village? Teleportation magic can do that, yes… but sending that much weight along with so many people would consume an enormous amount of magic power… I might need several days of rest before I recover…"
"Please, Wiz! This concerns the survival of Megumin's hometown and my lifelong happiness!"
Kazuma immediately dropped into a dogeza in front of Wiz, his tone so sincere it could move someone to tears.