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In that very moment, both Megumin and Yunyun stared at Fang Li with looks of utter disbelief.
Especially Yunyun, her expression looked as though one of her wildest dreams had suddenly come true. She looked completely unable to believe what she was hearing.
After a while, Yunyun spoke, trembling nervously:
"T-That… could you please, no, may I ask you to say that again?"
She suddenly switched to formal speech.
That alone was enough to show just how unbelievable Fang Li's words were to this friendless Crimson Demon girl.
But no matter how many times he was asked, Fang Li was happy to repeat it.
"Do you want to come with me?" Fang Li said bluntly. "Our party already has five people, but adding you wouldn't be a problem at all."
And that was true.
Even though Fang Li's party already had frontliners, rearguards, support, healing, and skirmish roles all filled, and even though three of them were top-tier classes, adding Yunyun would still be no issue.
After all, the usual Arch Mage in the rearguard was… well, you know how she is.
"I… I…" Yunyun seemed to panic, almost crying from joy as she turned to Megumin.
"Me, Megumin! I got invited! I got invited to join a party! This isn't a dream, is it? Or is this some prank you set up just to mess with me? Because if it is, I'll never forgive you!"
"W-Who has time to pull something like that?!" Megumin seemed flustered as well, tightening her grip around Fang Li's neck and shouting:
"Hey, Fang Li, what are you trying to pull here?!"
"I'm not pulling anything," Fang Li replied calmly, ignoring the tightening chokehold. "I'm being completely serious."
"No, no, no, being serious is exactly the joke here, right?!" Megumin was sweating now, even her forehead starting to drip. "Look, you already have me as an Arch Mage in your party, don't you? Isn't having two Arch Mages weird? Really weird?!"
"But the Arch Mage I currently have can only be useful once a day, right?" Fang Li replied with complete composure. "So before that once-a-day usefulness comes up, I need a backup plan. If I have a genuine Arch Mage join, she can cover that gap."
"Genuine? If there's a genuine one, then that means there's a fake, huh?!" Megumin snapped. "Why don't you tell me exactly who this fake Arch Mage is?!"
Just as Megumin was about to go berserk and Fang Li prepared to suppress her without mercy, Yunyun seemed to regain her composure.
Once calm, Yunyun slowly opened her mouth, a conflicted look on her face. She finally took a deep breath and declared:
"My name is Yunyun! An Arch Mage who wields Advanced Magic! The one destined to become the next Chief of the Crimson Demon Clan!"
With this declaration, she pointed straight at Megumin.
"As someone destined to become our clan leader, I must be the strongest Crimson Demon! One day, I must defeat Megumin. That's why I don't want to join the same party as her. Because we are rivals!"
Yunyun's declaration made both Fang Li and Megumin freeze in place.
Especially Fang Li, who hadn't expected that Yunyun, who always recruited companions in such awkward ways and longed so deeply for friends, would actually refuse him like this.
Megumin, on the other hand, let out a long sigh…
"I knew this would happen," Megumin said, narrowing her eyes halfway. "This girl always falls apart at the most critical moment.
She's clearly the most talented Arch Mage besides me. If she just posted a normal recruitment notice, tons of people would come apply. But no, she has to stare at potential applicants with eyes so red and intense from emotion that she ends up scaring them off.
Even when she saves someone out in the wilderness, she'll blurt out, 'Sorry for meddling in your business!' and run away. At the Adventurer's Guild, she never talks to anyone. Instead, she wanders the streets, hoping for the kind of encounter she read about in a book, but when there are too many people around, she hides in alleyways and walks around aimlessly, not meeting anyone.
How the heck is she supposed to make friends like that?"
Fang Li was speechless hearing this.
Come to think of it, when he first saw Yunyun's recruitment notice, she did shoot him a blazing, borderline-obsessive look, which was exactly why he didn't want to get involved.
And the result? Despite being a girl with looks, figure, background, and power, all in the top tier, she managed to mess everything up with her meaningless behavior, ending up friendless.
No wonder Megumin was sighing.
"That's why I'm saying this now," Megumin said with clear irritation.
"Someday, Yunyun will be easily swept away by some smooth-talking guy saying 'We're friends,' and just get taken off like that."
"I, I don't want to hear that from you, Megumin!" Yunyun finally blew up. "Aren't you the one who'll cling to someone and say, 'Please let me stay with you, I'm starving!' when you've got no food?!"
"Oh yeah?! So this is a challenge, huh? Fine! Let's fight!"
"I, I'm not gonna lose to you, Megumin! Time to take back that last defeat!"
With that, Megumin and Yunyun started wrestling and shouting at each other.
"Meow!"
Chomusuke, who had been in Yunyun's arms, was startled by the chaos and quickly struggled free, jumping over to Fang Li's body.
Fang Li casually caught the cat and stared blankly at the now-brawling duo.
"Are these really supposed to be the highly intelligent Crimson Demons?"
To him, they just looked like two noisy brats.
Megumin aside, Yunyun was supposed to be a shy, quiet girl, but whenever Megumin was around, she turned into this.
Could it be that this was her true personality?
And as for Megumin, wasn't she supposed to be completely drained of magic?
Where the hell was she getting the strength to fight?
By the way, that scenario Yunyun accused her of? It already happened.
That same Explosion-obsessed Arch Mage once literally cried and begged Fang Li to take her in.
Now Megumin and Yunyun were seriously about to start fighting for real. They were even grabbing at each other's clothes, exposing glimpses of their delicate skin. Passersby on the street were starting to stare and stop to watch.
Fang Li quickly stepped in to break it up.
"Alright, that's enough. Don't cause a scene, or the town guards might show up."
He grabbed Megumin with one hand and Yunyun with the other, lifting them apart.
Then, turning toward Yunyun, he gave a small smile.
"It's a bit of a shame, but since you don't want to join, I won't force it.
Still, if you ever need help, just say the word, we're friends, okay?"
Hearing that, Yunyun froze, then her charming face turned bright red, and she nodded repeatedly.
It seemed just hearing the word "friend" from Fang Li had completely overwhelmed her with joy.
Watching her, Megumin curled her lips and muttered:
"See? What did I say…"
And just like that, even the thing Megumin had predicted came true.
(End Of This Chapter)