"Well, well, look at Megumin wrapped in Y/n's raincoat!" Hadrian said loudly. "Something must've went on last night!"

"NO!" Megumin exclaimed

"I don't know what you're talking about..." I shrugged

Last night, I took of my raincoat and gave it to Megumin because she was cold. The raincoat was a little too large for her, which combined with her blush made her too cute for me to bear.

"To their defense, Megumin must've been cold." Lucilius intervened in our defense. "And our supreme gentleman intervened and gave her his raincoat."

"You're making things worse!" I snapped at him.

Megumin gave me my raincoat back and we continued on our way to the kingdom. No more words were said about the attempted cuddling we did last night.

What was I supposed to do? It was getting too warm!

"We are going to reach Neo-Constantinople today." Hadrian told me

"Can you tell me more about that settlement? I don't know too much about it."

 "It is our biggest settelment. It's got about 400 people. It is mainly defended by legionnaires, of which there are a total of a 100 all over the kingdom."

"And how many men can your kingdom take to battle?"

"From all over the hamlets and also considering the militia along with the legionnaires, I think around 300."

"Is there any good stuff to explode?" Megumin asked eagerly.

"Inside the village? God forbid!" Hadrian made the sign of the cross in shock.

"I think she meant if there are any good fields she can cast Explosion magic on." I said

"Why would she want to know that?"

"If I don't cast Explosion once a day I will die!" Megumin said in an overly dramatic way

"Is that true?" Hadrian asked me

"Nah... But she will get upset if she doesn't cast Explosion once a day" I answered

Megumin pouted.

Oh, she's already upset!

After a few more hours, a large forest that spanned several hills was in front of us and I could see the roof of a decently-sized building among the trees.

"See? That one is the roof of king Dimitry's keep!" Lucilius told me

"Did he build a keep?" I asked

"No, it is more like an abandoned keep from the Middle Ages. We built our settlement right in the middle of the woods." Hadrian explained

After some more walking, we reached Neo-Constantinople. It was more of a village, since it had 400 people, but people spoke of it like it was a town. Maybe by post-apocalyptic standards it was.

The homes of the villagers were all scattered in a clearing surrounded by woods and the homes themselves were built all round a hill that a small keep was standing on. The homes had gardens and they were looking to be in good shape.

After they left their horses at a stable, me and Megumin were guided by Hadrian and Lucilius up the hill for an audience with the king. The keep where the king had his residence was mostly made out of stone and it was so small, one could almost call it a tower.

Hadrian and Lucilius went forward before us and went through the door of the keep. We followed them and entered a chamber with a lot of lit braziers and some windows from where light came in. In front of us was the throne and king Dimitry sat on it. He seemed to be a man in his late 30s or early 40s, with a strong build. On his head was a crown and on his torso was a chainmail byrnie. Beside him stood another, tall man about 20-something years of age wearing a lorica hamata like the one worn by Hadrian.

The king seemed to be upset and worried. The man beside him seemed upset as well, but less so.

But when Hadrian and Lucilius saw the man beside the king, they froze and their eyes widened.

"Bad news!" the king said. "Our Metropolitan's been captured by the trojans. Cornelius barely escaped with his life and managed to kill 14 of them."

The king pointed to the man beside him.

"Moreover," the king continued, "Cornelius came here with the message from our messenger. Virgil betrayed us and got the Metropolitan arrested. The trojans are very many. There are thousands of people living in Troy. The messenger writes that he thinks they can gather a lot more than a thousand men. Not only that, but they now know our most valuable military secret."

"Military secret?" I was taken aback

"It is not too much of a secret anyway." the king confessed. "But the heathens did not have any way of learning about it, until Virgil betrayed us. We actually have an organized cavalry force: the cataphracts, although they aren't nearly as armored or good as the cataphracts of old. Since our enemies know this now, they will adapt their army accordingly to face those cataphracts of ours."

"But who are these people you bring before our lord?" Cornelius asked Hadrian and Lucilius

I went forward and made a roman salute before the king.

"I am Y/n, son of F/n! I am Megumin's guardian and I am trained in the art of war by my father!"

I tried flexing an introduction similar to Megumin except for the chuuni poses. Megumin looked at me with a face that expressed some positive surprise and smiled at me.

Megumin pushed back her cape and made her usual introduction, doing cool poses, introducing herself in the order of name, class and ability.

That is the proper way in which she taught me that the crimson demons introduced themselves.

And of course, the king was surprised when he heard the words 'Explosion magic'. Then he looked at us in suspicion.

"You can do 'Explosion magic'? Is that so?"

"Yes!" Megumin said

"You can prove that to me right now. But beware, I do not tolerate mockery."

The king led us all to the top of the keep, where the fields that were beyond the woods surrounding the capital could be seen.

"Use your Explosion magic on one of the fields in the distance!" the king ordered Megumin

Megumin nodded, took a chuuni pose again and started chanting.

King Dimitry and Cornelius were startled when they saw flaming, spinning circles appear under the cute arch-mage. Magical power flooded the orb of her staff while clouds were filling the sky, darkening it.

This is their first explosion, they will surely like it.

A large explosion shattered the green field beyond the woods, sending a shockwave that visibly shook the trees in the forest.

"The best..." Megumin whispered

She was about to fall and I caught her and took her in my arms (since my back was occupied by the backpack I was wearing).

The king and Cornelius were impressed. Hadrian and Lucilius had a smug smile on their faces, knowing that they were the ones who brought us to their liege.

The king was still looking in disbelief at the huge crater left in the field. But after a while he turned towards us.

"Megumin, you've won you're place here in my keep!" he told her

"But you're going to take Y/n too, aren't you, your grace?" Megumin said

Oh, she's putting in a good word for me.

"But I only have one spare room left inside the keep, and you're going to have to sleep in the same room..."

Megumin waved the concern away with her hand.

"There is no problem with that." she told the king

No... problem...

I turned red and my heartbeat accelerated.

"Good, we're settled then."

After we were done with our audience with the king, me and Megumin got out of the keep. As soon as we left the keep and were alone outside of it, Megumin turned her head towards me.

"Did you just try to properly introduce yourself earlier?"

"Maybe." I answered

"You did it wrong." Megumin said. "You didn't do any cool poses."

"Wouldn't that be embarrassing?"

"Only the envious would think it is embarrassing because they're jealous. And there is no reason to be embarrassed because of some naysayers."

Maybe she's right...

"What about now, should we go into the village church and ask for Theophilus?" I suggested

"Yes."

We went down the hill and descended into the village. I asked around for directions to the church and I soon found it. I laid Megumin on the bench outside so I could use my hands and open the door to the church and enter. The priest waved at me from the altar as I entered. I started walking towards him.

"God be with you, father!" I greeted him.

I halted my steps as I was right in front of him.

"What can you tell me about my father?"

"Only what you just heard. When you were a few days old, he brought you here to be baptized by me." The priest answered. "Other than that, I only saw few a few times, together with Theophilus."

"And where's Theophilus?" I asked

"I do not know. Last time I've seen him visit this place, he had a long private conversation with the Metropolitan before he disappeared for a long time and never came back."

I thanked him and left the church. Megumin was outside waiting for me.

"What did you find out?" Megumin asked

"Theophilus visited this village and used to have long, private conversations with the Metropolitan."

"And the Metropolitan..."

"... is captured by the trojans."

"We must rescue him!" Megumin said

"It won't be that easy. First off, we must make sure these people don't get obliterated. The heathens must be assembling an army right now and sending it this way. Since they outnumber us so heavily, you will be clearly needed in the battle to come."

Megumin sighed. I moved and sat beside her on the bench.

"I wonder if there is any restaurant around here..." she said

She did tell me about what restaurants were in her world. To me the concept of going to a place where people gave you food in exchange for coins was weird. Who knows, maybe those existed in my world as well before the apocalypse.

"I doubt there is any such place in my world." I told her. "But we can go and have a picnic tomorrow if you want. We can go to one of these hills in the woods and get a good view of everything... But first we must scout the area and find the spot."

Megumin stood up, as a sign she had regained her lost energy.

"Let's go for a stride in the woods then!"

I stood up as well and went together with Megumin into the surrounding forest.  Inside the forest, the chirping of the birds was more diverse and intense than in the village and it made for a really beautiful atmosphere.

As we walked between the trees, I felt the need to ask Megumin something.

"Did you feel any cold last night? Did my raincoat help?"

Megumin was surprised by my question and blushed a little.

"I didn't feel cold, t-thank you for that."

Both me and Megumin stopped and turned to look at each other.

"I can't help but remember that time in the Ghoulparadise church when I convinced you to not let me there." Megumin said.

"Oh, that part." I looked away and looked back at her. "I feel a little bit embarrassed by that now. I bet you are too."

"Yes." Megumin replied, her lips forming a smile. "But I remember how you said me being all yours was 'a tempting offer'."

Wow, she's gotten really direct. Good. I'm going to be like that too.

"Yes, I said that because you are the cutest, most beautiful and crazy girl I've met. And I've already been in two villages with lots of girls inside of them." I confessed.

Megumin's eyes widened and made one step back as if she was surprised by my confession. But after that she boldly made two steps forward.

She must've taken this as a challenge.

"Crazy, is it?" she asked loudly and then lowered her tone again. "Are you any better!? you are acting like a NEET that-"

"I love you." I interrupted her.

Megumin's eyes started glowing. She moved closer to me, and I couldn't guess if in her fierce red eyes there was loving or malicious intent.

Then she stood on her toes, grabbed me by the back of my neck and pecked me on the cheek.

"I love you too." Megumin replied.