Part 5
After we continued our explosive stroll for a week, in the morning.
"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare your combat equipment and report to the main gate of the city ready for combat!"
The familiar emergency broadcast could be heard through the entire town.
After hearing the broadcast, we put on our gears and rushed on scene.
A lot of adventurers were gathered at the main gate. When we reached the scene, we saw an intimidating monster standing before us, and we could only stare at it blankly.
Dullahan.
A monster that brought despair and premonition of death to men.
After turning into an undead, it's physical strength was stronger than it was in life, and possessed unique powers.
The knight in black armor standing at the front gate held its head on the left side of its body. Before the eyes of the gathered adventurers, it presented its head that was covered fully in its helmet before everyone.
The head said in a distorted voice.
"… I am a boss of the demon king army, and had moved into a castle nearby recently…"
As it spoke, the head started trembling…!
"Every day every day every day! The crazy idiot who comes to my castle to cast explosion magic, where are you—!"
This boss of the demon king army was seriously angry.
The yell of the Dullahan seemed to be suppressing its anger until it couldn't hold back anymore, making the adventurers around me chatter.
Or rather, everyone present doesn't seem to get what was happening.
Anyway, the reason for the emergency summon was probably the dullahan before us who was going mad from fury.
"… Explosion spell?"
"The one who knows explosion magic is…"
"If you talk about explosion spell, it would be…"
The gaze of the people around us naturally fell on Megumin besides me.
… Megumin who was the center of attention turned her head sharply at a girl wizard standing beside her.
Affected by her action, I looked at that girl. Everyone else was also influenced and stared at that girl…
"Huh? M, me? Why are you all looking at me? I couldn't use explosion magic!"
The girl wizard who was being framed denied in a hurry.
… Wait, could it be… the abandoned castle where we cast explosion magic every day!
Could it be…
I peeked at Megumin besides me who was sweating.
This fellow noticed too.
Finally, Megumin sighed and walked forward with an annoyed face.
The adventurers reacted to her movement and opened a path to the Dullahan.
The Dullahan standing at the main gate of town.
Megumin stood about 10 meters from the Dullahan and faced him.
With me in the lead, Darkness and Aqua also followed behind Megumin.
Aqua who would attack aggressively whenever she saw an undead probably thought the sight of an angry Dullahan to be mad and was watching what would happen expectantly.
"So it's you…! You are the moron who cast explosion on my castle every day? If you knew I was the boss of the demon army and want to challenge me to a fight, then enter the castle! If not, then just hide in town and tremble! Why are you bothering me with such evil means? I knew there were only low level adventurers in town! I wanted to leave such minor characters alone, but you can't catch a clue and come boom boom boom with your spells every day…! Is there something wrong with your head?"
He was probably irked by the daily explosion magic, the helmet of the Dullahan trembled with rage.
Megumin was intimidated and was a bit scared, but she still flicked the cape she wore…
"I am Megumin. As an arch wizard, I have mastered explosion spells…!"
"… What kind of name is Megumin, are you mocking me?"
"No, that's not it!"
Even though she was retorted by the Dullahan when she introduced herself, Megumin composed herself and continued:
"I hail from the crimson magic clan, the elite wizard of this town. I cast explosion magic continuously in order to lure you, the boss of the demon army out…! As I planned, you came to town alone after being tricked, your end is near!"
Seeing Megumin pointing her staff at the Dullahan excitedly, I was standing behind her and whispered to Darkness and Aqua.
"… Hey, this girl actually said that. She was playing around, saying she will die if she doesn't cast explosion magic every day, so I brought her to the area around that castle. When did it turn into her plan?"
"…Yeah, and she used the chaos to declare herself as an elite wizard of this town."
"Shhh–! Don't say that out loud! She hasn't used her explosion spell yet and a bunch of adventurers are backing her from behind, so she is adopting a strong position. She is still talking, so let's see how it goes!"
Megumin probably heard what we said as she maintained her posture of pointing her staff at her opponent as her face turned red.
For some reason, the Dullahan accepted what she said.
"… Oh, a member of Crimson magic. I see. So that weird name wasn't a lie."
"Hey, if you have any comments about the name my parents gave me, spit it out!"
Megumin became angry after hearing what the Dullahan said, but he paid her no heed.
Or rather, he wasn't bothered after seeing the adventurers of the entire town gathered here.
As expected of a boss of the demon king army, he probably didn't think anything about us rookies.
"…Hmmp, forget it. I didn't come here to mess with peasants like you all. I am here to investigate something. I will be staying in that castle for the time being, so don't cast explosion spell anymore. Understand?"
"That is like asking me to die. Those of the Crimson magic clan need to cast explosion spell once every day, or we would die."
"Hey hey, I never heard of this before! Stop bullshitting me!"
What should I do, I want to see Megumin and that monster chat some more.
I looked at Aqua, she was happily watching Megumin messing around with the Dullahan.
The Dullahan placed his head on his right hand and shrugged.
"You don't plan to give up explosion magic no matter what? Even though I had taken the side of darkness, I was a knight before and have no interest in slaughtering the weak. But if you continue to bother me with such things around the castle, I have my way of handling things too."
The Dullahan emitted an dangerous aura, making Megumin took a few steps back.
But Megumin had a cocky smile…!
"We are the ones being bothered alright!? Because of you staying in that castle, we couldn't even do our work properly! Hmmp… You can only act high and mighty now. We have an expert that deals with the undead here! Master, I leave it to you!"
After throwing out big words, Megumin left everything in Aqua's hands.
… Hey.
"I guess it couldn't be helped–! I don't know if you are a demon army's boss or what, but you are unlucky to come here when I am around. You are an undead, but you chose to come out in broad day light when your power are weaken, you are just asking to be purified! It's all you fault that I couldn't take on quests as usual! Okay, are you ready to face the music?"
After Megumin addressed her as master, Aqua cheerfully stood before the Dullahan.
The adventurers gulped nervously as they wonder how things would develop. Under the eyes of the masses, Aqua extended her hand out at the Dullahan.
Seeing that, the Dullahan offered its head to Aqua excitedly.
This is probably the way for the Dullahan to expressed that it was 'watching seriously'.
"Oh, impressive, you are not a normal priest, but an arch priest right? But no matter what, I am still a boss of the demon king army. I have not fallen so low that I would be purified by a low level arch priest in a place like this. I have my ways of dealing with arch priests too… But I will start by torturing this girl of the crimson magic clan!"
As Aqua was preparing to chant her spells, the Dullahan moved and pointed its index finger at Megumin.
The Dullahan then shouted!
"I shall predict your death! You will die one week from now!"
As the Dullahan cast its spell, Darkness grabbed Megumin's collar and hid Megumin behind her.
"Huh? Da, Darkness!"
As Megumin screamed, Darkness's body glowed with a faint dark light.
Damn, she was hit, was that a proclamation of death?
"Darkness are you alright? Does it hurt anywhere?"
I asked in a hurry, but Darkness stretched her hands a few times to confirm it.
"… Yeah, I didn't feel anything."
She said casually.
But the Dullahan did shouted.
She will die one week from now.
As Aqua was touching the cursed Darkness everywhere, the Dullahan announced delightedly.
"That curse won't harm you now. My plans were a bit foiled, but since the camaraderie among adventurers is so deep that it must hurt more… Listen carefully, girl of the Crimson magic. If this goes on, that crusader would die in a week. Hmmp, your important companion would be tortured by the horror of heath in the mean time… That's right, this is all your fault! In the following week, you will see the pain of your companion and regret your actions! Hmm hahaha, you should have listened to me obediently!"
As Megumin's face was turning pale because of the Dullahan's words, Darkness shouted as she trembled:
"There, there is such a thing! That means you had cast a death curse on me, and I have to do as you say in order for you to release the curse! That's what you meant right!"
"Huh?"
The Dullahan didn't get what Darkness was saying and reacted plainly.
I didn't understand what she was saying too… And I don't want to understand.
"Ugh…! Just a mere curse, don't think you can make me submit…! I won't yield…! But, what should I do Kazuma! Look at that Dullahan, look at his evil lusty eyes under his helmet! No matter how I see it, he wants to bring me back to his castle and do as he please if I want him to release the curse. A pervert that wants me to do hardcore pervert play!"
The pitiful Dullahan who was accused of being a sexual deviant pervert in public said:
"… Huh?"
How pitiful.
"Even if you can do what you want with my body, you would never have my heart! I am going to become a female knight imprisoned in a castle and let the henchman of the demon king do unreasonable things with me! Ah, what should I do, what should I do Kazuma! This situation is more thrilling than I expected! I don't want to go, but I have no choice! I will resist to the very last moment, so don't stop me! Well then, I will be back in a jiffy!"
"Huh huh?"
"Stop right there, you can't go! Look how troubled the Dullahan is!"
Darkness was in a hurry to leave with the enemy. When I grabbed her collar from behind, I could see the Dullahan breathe in relief.
"An, anyway! If you have learnt your lesson, stop casting explosion on my castle! And the crimson magic girl! If you want me to release the curse on that crusader, then come to my castle! If you can make it to my room at the top of the castle, I will release her curse! But… my minions are everywhere in the castles and it's full of undead knights. Can you rookie adventurers make your way to me? Hmm hmm hmm, hahaha!"
After saying his piece, the Dullahan laughed loudly as he rode the headless horse parked outside the gate and went in the direction of the castle…
Part 6
This development was too cruel and made the gathered adventurers stand stiff with a blank face.
I was the same.
Besides me, Megumin's face was green and she was trembling while gripping her staff hard.
She planned to head out of town alone.
"Hey, where are you going. What do you plan to do?"
I tugged on Megumin's cape and Megumin struggled to go as she replied without turning her head:
"I am responsible for this incident. I will head to the castle and cast explosion on that Dullahan directly to dispel Darkness' curse."
There was no way Megumin could do it alone.
… That's why.
"I will go with you. If you met some minions and use your spell, it would be the end. I accompanied you all this while and didn't realize that was the castle of the boss too."
Megumin made a heavy expression when she heard me. In the end she drooped her shoulders and gave up her original plan.
"… Well, let's go together. But he said there will be a bunch of undead knights. If that is the case, weapons would be useless. My magic would be more practical… So you have to rely on me when the time comes."
Megumin said with a smile.
From the name undead knight, it should be an enemy wearing full armor.
In the face of such foes, my cheap weapon would be useless.
But I still had other ideas.
"I can use my 'Detect Enemy' skill to search the monster in the castle and conceal myself with 'Hide' and sneak in. Or we can visit the castle everyday and defeat the enemy on each level one day at a time before coming back. We will reduce the enemies' numbers slowly… Since the time limit is one week, this plan should work."
Megumin probably felt there was hope after listening to my suggestion and cheered up. Megumin and I turned and looked at Darkness.
"Hey Darkness! We will definitely break your curse! So don't worry…"
"Sacred Break Spell!"
Just when I was encouraging Darkness.
Aqua's spell interrupted me and Darkness' body glowed faintly.
Darkness then looked as if she missed a chance for something and was down; in contrast, Aqua was happy as she said:
"With me around, breaking the curse of the Dullahan is easy! What do you think? I look like a priest sometimes right?"
"…Huh?" x2
… And to think Megumin and I were debating so passionately, give my effort back to me.