From the Gamers First-print Limited Edition:
Side Story: The Militant Princess’ Peacekeeping Activities
On a certain afternoon.
“I want to go on an adventure!”
Iris said as soon as she arrived to the hideout. Yunyun had lead her here after Iris had snuck out of the castle as if it was the natural thing to do.
“…What’s this all about? To be honest, sneaking out of the castle to such a faraway town is an adventure in itself isn’t it?”
Only Yunyun, Iris, and I had come to the hideout today.
That said, I feel that three people were a bit too few for an adventure.
“Let’s go let’s go! Hey Megumin, It’s an adventure!”
“An annoying reaction from an annoying brat, as usual.”
As the girl weak to the words ‘companions’ and ‘adventures’ began to make a fuss, Iris clenched her fists and appealed to me.
“Boss! The townspeople live their lives under the constant threat of monsters! How is it acceptable for us to be playing around every day when we have the power to make a difference!?”
“That’s right! The power of Crimson Magic Clansmen should be used to serve a greater purpose!”
The two were uncannily in-sync today.
“But weren’t you totally addicted to playing ‘kick the can’ yesterday? Even though you had guests to meet in the evening, you kept saying ‘I don’t want to go home’ and other selfish things with Yunyun.”
Iris’ face immediately flushed red, while Yunyun turned to look the other way.
However, Iris, undeterred, took something out of her bag.
“I’m done with ‘kick the can’. After returning home, Claire played with me all the way until midnight. More importantly, please look at this!”
Saying that, Iris gestured to the bulky stack of paper that she had retrieved.
Unsure what to do, I took the sheet on top and skimmed through it.
“‘At around noon each day, the noise of ‘that’ can be heard coming from the direction of the forest, but it’s stopped recently. I’m bothered by this, so I’d like someone to investigate.’…So, what about this?” I inquired.
Iris leaned forward with an earnest expression.
“I don’t know what ‘that’ is, but doesn’t this seem strange to you? Whatever it is, this feels like a harbinger of bad things to come… There’s also the possibility that something scary is living in the forest…! Let’s go and uncover the culprit behind all this!”
Hearing what Iris said, Yunyun spoke up in a muttering manner.
“…Hey, isn’t ‘that’ coming from the direction of the forest just Megumin’s daily explosion? Isn’t it also the reason I’m able to go meet up with Alice-chan?”
“Seems like it. To call you out, Alice, I’ve been using my explosion magic near the capital every day, so it’s been a while since I’ve used it near Axel. So all said and done, the culprit behind all this is actually you.”
As Yunyun and I conversed, Iris lowered her head as if to hide her expression.
I won’t pry into what expression she had on her face at the moment, but judging from the redness of her ears, I’d say that she was embarrassed after having so confidently called this a ‘harbinger of bad things’.
However, Iris recovered quickly.
“N-, Next up is this! ‘Something has settled down in the reservoir sometime during the summer. On nights where I have trouble sleeping, I like to go to the reservoir for a swim, but this time around, I spotted some blue thing going up and down in the water. It might be a monster, so please eliminate it.’ …There might be a monster living in the middle of town, and more importantly, in the reservoir used for the town’s freshwater supply. We should hurry and…!”
“Ah, that’s probably Aqua. She always goes out when she has trouble sleeping due to the heat.”
“If I remember correctly, wasn’t she floating in the pond taking a nap recently?”
Despite the enthusiasm with which Iris had moved onto the next page, we shut her down with the truth almost immediately. She lowered her head once again.
Finally, in a manner lacking in even the slightest pit of confidence, Iris timidly moved on to the next page.
“Then what about this… ‘A ghost of a lonely crimson-eyed girl peeks into Axel’s tavern through the window each night’.”
Hearing that, Yunyun immediately began to wail, covering her face in her hands.
“I’m so sorry! I just feel especially lonely at night, okay!!? The tavern is always bustling with people, so I always wander around there aimlessly hoping to draw someone’s attention…!
“I understand that your situation is much like an insect drawn to a light-trap, but as someone from the same clan, please stop! It’s embarrassing! More importantly, this is the town of beginners, there aren’t many cases of people being threatened by monsters. The dangerous monsters around this town are always systematically eliminated.”
“Then let’s do something that only we can do. If we can’t subjugate monsters, then let’s purge evil instead! This is a complaint from a merchant about a despotic noble causing him hardship… ‘A certain noble has forcefully purchased my stock of medical slimes. The medical slimes were paid for, and the sick who were waiting for it and the Eris church was also given a grant in exchange, but it’s annoying so please do something about it”
“Oh, that must be about a subordinate of yours named Lalatina.”
Iris crushed the paper in her hands into a ball and threw it across the room.
“Ah come on already! Are the only people causing problems the ones I know!? I feel like I’ve really come to understand Onii-sama’s hardships, to the point where I wonder if I should go and give him some much-needed encouragement, really!”
As Iris pressed her hands against her head in frustration, a sheet of paper lightly fell to the floor next to her feet.
“You’re making a mess so please stop, okay? …This is the last one, right?”
I picked the sheet off the ground and Yunyun began to recite its contents from the side.
“‘At around noon, there was a suspicious person, who, instead of working, brought toys to the kids at the park in an attempt to win them over.’“
“…Targeting children is a crime, right? Until now all the crimes we’ve looked at are ones that people I know might do, but amongst the people I know, I don’t think there are any shameless enough to do this. This time for sure we’ll bring down judgement…!”
“‘The suspicious person was an adventurer with black hair and black eyes…’”
“That must be Kazuma. He told me that the female adventurers are all fawning over him in a calculated manner, so he was going to show his homemade toys to some pure kids so that they would praise him.”
–Iris didn’t leave the castle for a while after that.
Notes:
– ‘Medicinal Slime’ is a reference to an event in ‘Consulting with this Masked Devil!’ Chapter 3, Part 4’
– Aqua swimming in the reservoir may be a reference to an event in ‘Consulting with this Masked Devil! Chapter 2, Part 1’
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