In this strange and useless world, people are divided into classes. No, not classes of wealth. Well, yes actually that too but the intended focus is a different kind of class. That is to say, the sort you would find in an RPG. Much like in real life, some classes made life easier than others.
The lowly Adventurer class offered no stat discounts, no free armour or skill specialities and had but one unique trait: If taught, the Adventurer may learn any skill from any class. Even monsters. In Kazuma's case, a lich had taught him Drain Energy, an amazingly useful skill.
Higher up the food chain were classes like Arch-Priest, masters of healing and purification magic. There are Crusaders, whose defense and strength made them akin to walking mountains. And of course, one could ever discount the mighty Arch Wizard. A single spell from them could reshape the landscape, alter weather patterns or obliterate whole armies. Yet power was far from the only thing that made them dangerous. It was the versatility in how that power may manifest. It could be a lightning bolt from the sky, a burst of freezing cold air, a fireball, the very earth splitting open between your feet. Primordial forces were at the Arch Wizard's command. Confronting one when they were prepared was to your own folly, as the potential methods they may employ to eliminate you were bound only by their imagination!
Or they could cast a really, really big explosion. That was also pretty neat.
"And another thing that is amazing about explosions is their versatility," said the crazy Explosion fanatic. Megumin the Arch Wizard. She was a chuunibyou if Kazuma had ever met one. The only difference being that she did actually have access to magic. That seemed rather unfair from where Kazuma was standing but what could you do? "Not only can you use them to kill a lot of enemies, but you can also clear away obstacles, or use them as a means of propulsion!"
"Yes, of course," Kazuma dryly said. Really, he was much more interested in getting to Wiz's magic shop without breaking the potentially magical item they'd recovered. In this useless world having some income was absolutely vital. He'd badly underestimated that when he'd first arrived, but no longer! "Truly, you have opened my eyes to the glory of explosions."
"Oh, I'm only just getting started!" Megumin enthused. Kazuma sighed. Why did he have to have the weirdo party members? The locals really did call this girl the crazy Explosion fanatic. Why? Spend five minutes with her and you'll find out quickly. "You've heard of fireworks, right? They're a special kind of explosion that people like to watch! And on a cold night you can use an explosion to start a fire to keep yourself warm! Hey, Kazuma Kazuma! Isn't that cool?"
"Yes I'm Kazuma..." he sighed again. Thank goodness, here was Wiz's shop. Maybe Megumin could lecture Wiz about explosions for a while? Better yet, before she became a lich - long story - Wiz was a powerful Arch Wizard herself. Maybe she could shut Megumin up? No. Nothing in this world could do that. This was a girl who spent all of her skill points on two things: Creating larger explosions, and cutting down on her explosion casting time. If she had half a brain about it she'd have increased her MP so that she would not fall over and become utterly immobile every single time she cast that blasted spell.
Ugh... If he wasn't carrying something breakable Kazuma might have slapped himself for that accidental pun. As it was, he entered Wiz's magical shop with a heart "hello!" and fell into yet another weary sigh when he caught sight of the patron being served ahead of them.
"Um! Fancy meeting you here!" yelled a cute girl with red eyes, just like Megumin's. Her name was Yunyun. No really, that was her name. She was apparently a 'rival' of Megumin with a bad habit of challenging her out of the blue. "It must be fate that we met here! Now I can challenge you to a rematch! If you're not too busy?"
Both Kazuma and Megumin stared at the girl with blank eyes, a slouched back and the same thought running through their heads, a thought that Megumin put into words; "You've been waiting here all day, haven't you?"
"Eh?!" Yunyun jumped. "N-No! I mean, I did hear that you did tend to frequent a certain magic shop, but I never ever imagined it was this one!"
"Oh?" Wiz tilted her head. "Thank goodness. I was worried for a moment that you'd spent all day asking me questions about things in the store without intending to buy any of them. It's always refreshing to see a young Arch Wizard showing interest in magical items!"
She totally did. She spent all day inventing questions to have an excuse to wait around the store for Megumin to show up.
"Well, it's obvious you're busy with a customer," Kazuma said, turning towards the door with a wave and a flourish of his cape.
"Right, right!" Megumin nodded and repeated his exact gesture. "It would be irresponsible to have a duel between arch wizards inside a shop like this, so we shall leave for home."
"Nooooo, please don't goooo!" Yunyun begged. She'd dove across the shop to snuggle Megumin's cape. It was quite the display of athleticism. If he wasn't starting to get a little irritated, Kazuma might even have been impressed. Undaunted, Megumin continued on her way, pulling her cape out of the other girl's grip "Look! Look! I made you those cupcakes you like so much!"
Megumin stopped. She peered over her shoulder. "Sprinkles?" she asked.
"The shop was out..." Yunyun admitted, looking like she might burst into tears.
"Kazuma, let's go back home right away!"
"Waaaah! Please don't gooooo! There must be some way we can duel that won't be hugely destructive!"
It was sheer dumb chance. At the instant she asked that question Kazuma's glance happened upon a small blue orb, resting on a pedestal and under a glass case. If you asked him later on why he looked at that rather than anything else in the shop, he couldn't actually tell you. Pure dumb luck is all he could say, which made sense given how high his luck stat was.
"Oh? Does that interest you?" Wiz suddenly asked, for once being a sensible merchant and trying to make a sale. "That is the Friendship Orb. It's really quite simple. Two people charge up the orb with as much magic as they can manage, and it strengthens their bonds of friendship."
"Really?" Yunun asked. "H-hey, Megumin! This might be a worthwhile test! Whichever of us can charge this orb up the most wins!"
"Whichever of us charges the orb up the most?" Megumin asked with her back turned. Then, suddenly, she whirled around with her crummy looking eyepatch across her left eye, and a hand across her smirking mouth. "Surely you mean me! For there can be no doubt about - Kya! Kazuma, Kazuma! Let go of my ear!"
"Yes yes, I'm Kazuma. And not if you're planning to cast explosions inside of a shop full of magical artefacts."
"Oh no, she wouldn't need to cast explosion or anything like that!" Wiz corrected him, frantically waving around her arms. "She just needs to channel magic energy into the orb. Really, it should be completely safe. Why don't we let them try it?"
And so here he was. Witness to a duel between two arch wizards as they charged up their magical resources, causing the air to sparkle with power. The air around them seemed to be shifting in power, you could feel it radiating off of them and why, oh dear heavens above why was he standing within five feet of this when he could be fleeing for the hills?!
"I call upon the ethereal energies that bind all matter within this world: The boundless light, the bottomless shadows! The raging flames, the billowing storms! I call upon you to charge this orb with all of your might!"
It was too late. His feet were rooted to the spot. He could no more flee than he could fly. Besides which, where do you run? Ah, maybe he was overreacting. Yes, yes! That was it! He was not a practised mage or wizard like the other three in the room, and he'd never really seen anything like this before. So it only made sense that he'd be a little bit nervous.
"Ah, oh dear! I've never seen anyone charge up the orb so much before."
Wiz, why would you say something like that at a time like this? Kazuma closed his eyes so he didn't have to watch. It turned out the light was now so bright he could see through his own eyelids. Ah, and was that a cracking noise he heard just now?
"That's enough!" Wiz suddenly yelled. "Oh no! You're going to break it! I have no idea what will happen if you -"
Every day is a learning experience. Today, Wiz would learn what happened when two enthusiastic Arch Wizards supercharge and shatter an Orb of Friendship.
Mon Apr 24 00:25:08 2017