Chapter 107: Curse! Purification!
Under Luna's emergency summons, the adventurers of Axel gathered at the town gate.
As soon as they arrived at the main gate, they saw a headless horseman.
He rode a headless horse, holding a knight's head in his hands. He wore heavy, dark black knight's armor, and his entire body condensed a terrifying, horrifying aura.
"By the way, why is his horse headless?"
At this moment, Satou Kazuma suddenly made a retort, slightly breaking the tense atmosphere.
Unexpectedly.
The headless horseman suddenly pointed at him and responded loudly, "Hey, you over there! Isn't it perfectly normal for a headless horseman's horse to be headless?!"
"No, no, no, it's not normal no matter how you look at it," xN.
His words were met with retorts from numerous adventurers.
"Ahem, that's not important!"
The headless horseman chose to skip this difficult topic and instead introduced himself. "I am the general of the Demon King's army who has recently taken up residence near this town—the Dullahan, Beldia."
Then, he said angrily, "Every day, every day, every day, every day! Every day some idiot casts Explosion magic on my castle! Which brain-damaged idiot is it!!!"
This Dullahan named Beldia looked extremely furious. Even his headless mount neighed and whinnied, venting its master's dissatisfaction.
"By the way, how does a headless horse neigh?"
"Hey! I told you that's not important!"
Beldia seemed to hate it when people clung to such trivial details.
But speaking of Explosion magic.
"Explosion magic..."
"Speaking of which, the one who can use Explosion magic is..."
"It can only be her."
The adventurers whispered among themselves, their gazes focusing on Megumin.
Those curious, strange, and inquisitive looks, filled with various meanings, made Megumin, who was clutching her staff, shrink her small shoulders, as if she were being suppressed by their accusing gazes.
The way she was sweating and looked afraid completely revealed who the culprit was.
"Puff out your chest, Megumin."
Kobayashi lightly patted her back, his calm words giving her immense confidence.
"You did nothing wrong."
"Kobayashi..."
"He is with the Demon King's army. He is the enemy. And I was the one who let you cast the magic, wasn't I?"
Having received his affirmation, Megumin let out a long breath.
When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to being that spirited problem child.
She walked forward alone.
"Y-y-you... so it was you!!!"
The Dullahan immediately understood when he saw the staff in her hand. He couldn't help but vent his anger on her.
"Are you the great idiot who runs to my castle every day to cast Explosion magic? If you knew I was a general of the Demon King's army and wanted to fight me, then you should have openly attacked the castle! If you didn't have that intention, then you should have just stayed in town and trembled in fear! Why are you using such insidious means to cause me trouble?
I know this town only has low-level adventurers, so I was originally thinking of just leaving a town with only such small-fry alone! But you, a person who can't grasp the situation, actually came over every day, boom, boom, booming with your explosion magic! I think there's something wrong with your head! Why are you playing such a disgusting prank—!!!"
The Dullahan's words were heavy, and the head in his hand was constantly trembling. It was clear he was extremely angry.
The scolded Megumin also bent her body lower and lower.
But Kobayashi, from behind her, supported her small shoulders and said with a laugh, "I'm sorry. My great Archwizard just can't be satisfied unless it's something big and hard. I'm really sorry for the trouble."
"...What are you talking about?"
The Dullahan was stunned for a moment. Perhaps he also hadn't expected him to suddenly say something so ambiguous.
He then added, "Well, I'll accept your apology. If that Crimson Demon girl stops casting Explosion magic..."
"You might as well just ask me to die!"
Megumin shouted excitedly, "A member of the Crimson Demon Clan must cast Explosion magic once a day! Otherwise, they will die from having too much mana!"
"Hey! I've never heard of such a thing!"
The Dullahan didn't believe her nonsense at all.
But at the same time, he also realized that he couldn't persuade her. An extremely dangerous aura began to emanate from his body. Without a doubt, he intended to resolve this with force.
However, someone was faster than him!
"—Explosion!"
Megumin suddenly cast her spell. Accompanied by a huge roar, the powerful blast instantly exploded at the Dullahan's position.
"Alright! The surprise attack was a success!"
"...my ass!"
The smoke cleared, and the Dullahan's figure gradually became clear. He shouted, on the verge of a breakdown, "Can Explosion magic be cast that fast?! I've never heard of such a thing! By the way, are you guys really novice adventurers? This is just too strange!"
The magic had descended too quickly for him to react. Fortunately, his resistance to magic was very high, so he had only suffered some light injuries. If it had been another general, they might have been instantly killed.
"Since that's the case..."
The Dullahan also began to get serious.
He condensed a ball of ominous-looking black mist and pointed his index finger at Megumin.
"I cast a [Death Sentence] on you. You will die in one week."
Poof—
The black mass rushed towards Megumin. The delicate and frail great mage couldn't possibly dodge it.
But—
A yellow figure suddenly rushed out, standing in front of her.
It was Darkness!
"Aaaaaah—!"
She let out a pained howl.
"H-huh?"
The Dullahan hadn't expected someone to voluntarily take on this certain-death curse.
Whose subordinate is this? So brave!
Although there was a slight deviation, it was perfect.
"For adventurers who are so united, this is actually more effective."
The Dullahan's malice was undisguised. He provoked Megumin, "You there, Crimson Demon girl! Your companion will die in one week! Your important partner will be in constant agony under the fear of death! That's right, this is all your fault!"
"Darkness..."
Megumin looked worriedly at the companion who had taken the curse for her.
But Darkness was holding on, saying in a low voice, "What? You mean... you've cast a death curse on me, and to remove it, I have to obey your commands? That's what you mean, right!"
"...What did you say?"
The Dullahan stared blankly at the self-satisfied Darkness.
But it wasn't over.
In this moment, Darkness displayed the character a knight should have, saying with difficulty, "A mere curse... I will not yield... Although I will not yield, but... look at the lewd gaze under that Dullahan's helmet! He must be thinking of taking me back to his castle, saying 'if you want the curse removed, then obediently let me do as I please,' and then proceed to do extremely perverted and lewd things to me!"
She was actually getting more and more excited as she spoke!
"Y-y-y-y-you... what is wrong with you!"
The Dullahan couldn't help but take a few steps back.
"Alright, alright, stop getting worked up here. You're making the Dullahan uncomfortable," Kobayashi said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He then turned to Aqua, "I'm counting on you, Aqua. Purify the curse."
"Got it!"
Aqua flicked her staff, and a holy light burst forth from her body.
—[Sacred Purify]!
"Ahhh~"
Darkness let out a light cry, and the curse on her body was instantly removed.
Seeing this, the Dullahan's eyes widened.
"Wh-what?!"
He probably never expected that someone could so easily purify the curse he had cast.
The Dullahan said in a panic, "I-impossible—! You must have used some kind of magic with a great cost! Otherwise, you couldn't have purified my curse so easily...!"
As if unwilling to believe that someone in a beginner town could do this, he pointed at Darkness again, and another ball of black mist condensed on his body.
"[Death Sentence]!"
"[Sacred Purify]!"
This time, the purification was even faster than the last. The Dullahan was completely dumbfounded. He couldn't understand why this blue-haired, idiot-looking woman could so easily purify his curse.
But—
"[Death Sentence]!"
"[Sacred Purify]!"
"[Death Sentence]!"
"[Sacred Purify]!"
...
...
As the two of them continued to curse and be purified, although it was unknown how they felt, Kobayashi knew that Darkness was about to be sent to heaven from the pleasure.
Mmm, in every sense of the word.
(End of Chapter)