"Geez, Lefi. You went way too far!" The hero crossed her arms and frowned as she scolded the dragon girl. "I can't believe you burnt down a whole house!"
"Mmrph," the silver haired girl groaned. "I see not the issue of which you speak. It has only suffered a minor burn. And it is not as if I left my flames to burn. In fact, I daresay that I quelled them rather quickly."
"Oh I think you did a little more than just 'quelling' them," said Nell. "You basically caused a whole freaking flood! There was so much water that you not only wrecked the house that was on fire, but also destroyed the one next to it! And that one was doing perfectly fine even without your 'help!' It wasn't even anywhere close to getting caught in the flames!"
I returned to the church with the perpetrator in hand, only to catch Lefi and Nell having a conversation that bore a rather strong resemblance to a typical two man Japanese comedy skit.
"…The hell are you two doing?" I almost felt the urge to sigh and roll my eyes as I landed next to them.
"Oh, hi Yuki." The hero greeted me before getting back to grumbling and complaining. "I think it's a lot more Lefi than the both of us. I mean, just look at what she's done!"
I turned my eyes in the direction she was pointing only to end up resting my eyes on a pair of houses—if you could still call them that. Both were more or less completely demolished, with a few minor differences. The first was totally scorched whereas the second looked like the victim of some sort of devastating flood.
"Like, what the heck!?" The human girl crossed her arms and turned back towards the dragon as she continued to rant. "Using fire makes sense, but you really didn't have to light everything on fire! The house was nowhere near them! You totally could have avoided it!"
I'd expected the hero to be mad, but not at Lefi. She'd been quite mad that I teased her the way I did, but her mood had been overwritten. Every last bit of anger had been redirected towards Lefi and her antics.
"I see not a problem. I used only as much power as necessary to consign the dead to the abyss. My actions were just and therefore the results inevitable."
"That's a big fat lie and you know it! I totally heard you say 'oops' right when you cast the spell!"
Cornered, Lefi could only avert her gaze; she outright refused to look Nell in the eye. Yeah… I think I pretty much understand what's happened here now.
A bit of a wry smile crept up on my lips as I continued to watch the two engage in banter, or at least that was the plan.
"Is the man you hold under your arm perhaps one of the imbeciles of which you spoke?" Lefi, however, was out of wiggle room. She didn't have any other way to dispute Nell's point and she didn't exactly find much joy in getting scolded, so she blatantly changed the topic.
"Pretty much, yeah. This asshole's one of the retards that ruined our happy little getaway."
I released my grip on the shady looking man and allowed gravity to take over. The result? His face promptly ended up smashing itself into the ground. Despite the rough treatment, the man failed to respond. He was out cold. That said, he likely wouldn't have been able to right himself even if he wasn't. The chains he was bound with were quite literally embedded inside his flesh.
Fighting the zombies that the necromancer had summoned had gotten me a bit too excited; I had only accidentally rammed my blade through his gut because I'd let the blood get to my head. Though I didn't particularly care about the man's fate, I realized that letting him die wasn't exactly the best course of action given that he had yet to reveal his motives. He had literally been just a few seconds short of falling into the abyss, so I quickly grabbed a pair of high grade health potions out of my inventory and used both.
Again, I wouldn't have cared if he died, but the miraculous power within the high grade potions had allowed him to narrowly escape the reaper's scythe. So effective were the potions that they made his wound seem outright irrelevant. His flesh, bones, and organs all rapidly regenerated right before my eyes. It was like I was watching someone play the whole injury process in reverse. Ew. Actually ew. This is so gross I don't even know what I'm supposed to say. It's actually giving me goosebumps.
The reason his chains had been integrated with his flesh was because I'd wrapped them around him mid-recovery. He was likely going to need to have his guts cut open if he wanted them removed. Yeahhhh, no way he's getting away. In fact, he's probably going to be stuck with those for life, but oh well, whatever. Not my problem. Besides, it's at least better than being dead.
"He… appears to be quite the eccentric," said Lefi as she stared at the chains. Soooo… uhhhh… That's kinda my doing and not his, Lefi.
"…Is he the perpetrator?" The hero narrowed her eyes.
"One of them. I can say for sure that he's probably guilty since he used something that seemed more or less like necromancy. Not sure about the guys he had with him. I kinda already killed them."
"…I see. Then I guess that means you're why all the undead stopped moving."
"Did they now?"
The hero quickly explained that the zombies had all stopped moving around the time I defeated the perpetrator. Oh. I guess it must've been because I smashed that one suspicious looking magically enhanced item I spotted on my way back over.
Our conversation was soon interrupted by the approach of a noisy crowd. The group, which seemed to be composed of guards and adventurers, was moving down the city's main street. They held their weapons ready and carefully scrutinized their surroundings as they moved. Their expressions, however, revealed that they were feeling more bewildered than they were tense.
"What the hell is going on here…?"
A man in the group's vanguard voiced the question that they had all wanted to ask. They had come out ready to fight to the death, only to find that the zombies they were supposed to subjugate had already fallen. They were no longer sure what they were supposed to do or how they were supposed to feel.
"Oh, hey old man," I address the "soldier" that had let his wonder leak through to the surface. "Wait a second, aren't you supposed to be this city's governor? Why are you all the way out here? Seems kinda reckless if you ask me."
"I couldn't possibly sit at home while the city is under attack." The lord replied as he greeted me with a nod. "I'd like to ask you the same question. Why are you here?"
"I'm only here 'cause Nell's here," I said. "Oh yeah. Here. This asshole's the perp."
I kicked the shady-looking douchebag and sent him rolling towards the governor.
"I saw him sneaking around just outside town, so I nabbed him. There were a few others, but they're all dead. Might be a good idea for you to send a few guys over to confirm it for you."
"…I will have it arranged," said the governor. "Would you mind if we took the man you have just presented us into custody immediately?"
"Go for it. Not like there's any reason for me to keep him around," I said. "The only condition I have is that you guys tell me what he says when he spills the beans."
I wanted to interrogate the man myself, but I had no experience in making people talk. I wasn't exactly what one could call a fan of gore, and hitting him until he gave in seemed like more of a pain than it was worth. All I had wanted to do was sit back and enjoy my vacation. The only reason I had gotten involved at all was because I had happened to get caught in the crossfire. It only made sense to have the old man interrogate him in my place. He likely either knew how to do it himself or had just the right person for the job on staff. I doubt he'll withhold his discoveries, especially since I was the one who caught the bastard in the first place.
"Fine. We do owe you, both for capturing him and for saving the city. I swear that I will tell you anything he says." The governor looked over the zombies turned corpses as he spoke. He did, however, flash a wry smile and look in my direction as he spotted a certain pair of houses. Bruh, that wasn't even me!
"Listen up!" The governor turned around and began to address his men. "The threat is no more! However, that doesn't mean that you've the time to lazily sit around and space out. We must immediately shift gears and devote ourselves to reconstructing everything that was destroyed!"
The bewildered soldiers and adventurers, who had been at a loss due to the sudden change in situation, began to cheer in response to the lord's words. The cheers gradually grew louder as the would be combatants overcame their shock and finished processing everything that had happened. And, before long, the cheers transformed into a deafening roar that echoed throughout the city.