*

I woke up, slowly opening my eyes. In front of me was Megumin and she was sleeping as innocently as ever on the other bed.

I smiled, stared at the ceiling for a few seconds and then I wanted to get out of bed.

I stood up, left the room and silently closed the door behind me. I went up some stairs and arrived at the top of the keep. I wanted to take a look at the landscape in the early morning.

Cornelius showed up behind me.

"Good morning Y/n!" he startled me

"Ah, good morning!" I responded. "What's up?"

"The guy who tried to kill you and Megumin yesterday was paid by the trojans."

"How do you know?" I asked

"The trojans don't trade stuff like we do. They actually created a currency for themselves." Cornelius answered and got a coin out of his pocket. "See?"

I took the coin and looked at it. It was simple copper and it depicted a horse's head and nothing else on the other side. I thought it looked cool and I put it in my pocket.

"So, they're minting coins. Hmm."

"Yes." the commander said. "The assassin had 4 other coins like that in his pockets. Why are the trojans after you?"

"They seen us when Megumin destroyed the Iron Horse."

"What?..." Cornelius was taken by surprise. "That thing could be destroyed?"

"Oh, yeah..." I scratched the back of my head. "We forgot to mention that when we came here."

"You forgot to mention it!? Do you know how big of a deal it is? That thing could've come to this village any day and destroy it with laser eyes! It could trample it and destroy it all in half an hour. I don't know if I believe you."

"Fine." I said. "Don't believe me. Let time pass by and you won't hear a single new thing about that Iron Horse causing any more havoc. And when you won't, you will know that I told you the truth."

Cornelius grinned, nodded and descended down the stairs back into the keep. I turned back to admire the landscape. After two minutes, I heard some steps behind me. I turned around and I saw Megumin. She seemed surprised I went to the top of the keep.

"Ah, good morning Megumin!"

"G-Good morning, Y/n."

"If memory serves me right, I think I promised you a picnic for today, haven't I?" I said

Megumin smiled.

"Yes, and we're also going to blow stuff up!"

Have I not been with her yesterday in the forest, that cute smile wouldn't have came to be today.

I moved towards her, took her hand and descended into the keep and then went out of it. Then we went down the hill, went through the village and into the forest.

"Y/n, I want to cast Explosion on the fields beyond the forest again." Megumin told me

"And what's preventing you from doing so?" I asked her

Megumin fidgeted a little as if she somehow hesitated.

"I want us to hop around and sing a song as we go into the fields."

I thought I misheard her initially.

"Wh-what?"

"I want us to hop around and sing a song as we go into the fields." she said again

"No way!" I answered. "Can't you see I'm a grown man? You will never see me doing any of that!"

"Bakuretsu bakuretsu la, la, la!" we both sang, running weirdly through the woods.

How did I get here?

When we reached the fields beyond the forest, we stopped and I started questioning my decisions. But that was interrupted by Megumin's chanting.

"[...] EXPLOOOSION!"

Her explosion shook the ground and left a remarkable crater in the field, but it wasn't as good as the one she made yesterday.

As Megumin landed on the grass, I rubbed my chin and analyzed the results of her explosion.

"What about this, Y/n?" Megumin asked. "How would you rate this on a scale from 1 to 100?"

"Today's explosion shook the ground as it always does and it altered the weather as it always does. However, my complaint is that this time I didn't struggle to maintain balance, which means the shockwave was weaker. Not only that, but the explosion itself was not big enough. You get a 67 for that."

"67? You only gave me that to sound cool and smart!" Megumin complained. "You're acting all pretentious now! Besides, I can't level up in this world."

I lifted her up and held her in my arms.

"Truth to be told, I can't wait to go with you to that world of yours. I really want to see that level-up thing you keep mentioning."

I carried her through the forest and climbed up the hill where we found that bench and table for our picnic. I made her sit on the bench and I put myself beside her at the table. I got some food out of my backpack and we started eating.

"Besides Explosion, what other reason did you have for choosing to become an arch-mage?" I asked Megumin

"In my world, mages can afford to fight more effectively from a distance than archers do." Megumin explained. "Melee fighting can be so chaotic, but I see you already know that. You also know that at anytime, you or the enemy can make a slip which could mean immediate or slow death. With magic, I can keep a distance from all of that."

"Mhm." I nodded

"What about you, Y/n? If magic would become accessible to you, would you use it?"

"Well..." I hesitated, knowing she would insist I use Explosion magic

"By fighting up close, what kind of death do you think you will have? What would you want?" Megumin continued asking me

You know how I want to die? I want to be dying of my wounds after a fight, with my head resting on your lap, knowing that at least I died at my peak.

That's what I thought. But instead I answered differently with something that would appeal to her chuuni feelings.

"I don't want to die, ever. I want to be immortal and strong forever."

Megumin's eyes glowed a little when she heard that. She covered one of her eyes with her hand, grinning.

"Hm. Seems like we both want the same thing." Megumin said

"What do you mean?"

"One day I will return to my world and after I do that I will crush the Demon King and I will take his place!"

Wow, that's a little bit scary... And weird...

After we finished eating, we went back to the village. As we were holding hands and taking a walk between the houses, Cornelius showed up in front of us and he held a sword in his hand. He held it by it's blade. He made a roman salute towards us.

"Hello!" he greeted us. "Y/n, have you just been into the forest without a weapon?"

"Not really" I answered. "I have my dagger on me."

"That's not enough." commander Cornelius said. "But anyway, as a legionnaire-in-training, you are given a sword, even though your training will start 2 days from now."

"Oh, thank you." I replied, receiving the sword from him. "But my sheath is only fit for a machete, this new sword won't fit inside."

"Tough luck, kid." Cornelius shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe you should go to the smith and trade that sheath for a scabbard that fits."

Cornelius waved at us and went on his own way. I stood confused with the sword in my hands and Megumin by my side.

"Thanks...? Megumin, do you remember seeing a smithy when we passed by here?"

"No, but we can surely search for it."

Although the village was big by post-apocalyptic standards, it was still a small settlement and we found the smithy in a few minutes of walking and asking for directions.

I knocked on the smithy's door and a young man in an apron answered the door.

"Oh hi!" he greeted us. "What's up?"

"I want to trade my machete sheath with a scabbard to fit this sword I'm holding in my hand." I answered

The young man turned around and called for his father inside the house.

"Dad! Two people are looking to trade with you!"

The son went back inside the house and a large, muscular middle-aged man in an apron showed up to take his place at the doorstep.

"Yes?" the smith asked. He had a deep voice.

"I want to trade my machete sheath for a scabbard fitting for this sword." I said

"Hmm. It's a leather one. I don't have these kinds." the smith said. "But I can give you a wooden scabbard for that sword. Would you like that?"

"Yes." I answered

I gave him the machete sheath, he went inside the smithy and returned to me with the wooden scabbard. It seemed old and frail but I took it nonetheless since I had no experience with them.

"Thank you!" I said as I waved him goodbye and went towards the keep together with Megumin.

As we were going towards the keep, I put the sword inside of the scabbard. It fitted. Then I attached the scabbard to my belt.

"Shouldn't you test if it works?" Megumin asked me. "It looks like a used, battered scabbard."

"Okay." I said, putting my hand on the sword's handle.

But as I drew the sword out of the scabbard, the scabbard broke in two. I was shocked. Megumin started laughing loudly.

"Hahaha! You got scammed!" Megumin said leaning on me as if her laughter made her lose her balance

"Nobody gets away with ripping me off. Let's just wait until night comes!"

I instantly knew what I should do. I started planning to go and steal a good scabbard from the smith while he was asleep.

(Timeskip to that night)

Megumin agreed to come with me to help me steal a decent scabbard from the smith. She left her staff and cloak inside the keep and I left my backpack and sword there as well. Me and Megumin descended from the keep's hill down into the village and we quickly found the smithy.

Both inside of the smithy and outside of it in the streets was dark. The smithy had a backyard with a picket fence around it and we jumped it. We passed by the forge and we were right in front of the door. 

I opened the door slowly and fortunately it made no sound. Before I went inside, Megumin asked me something.

"Do you hear this?" she whispered.

The smith or his son was snoring 

"Yes. That's a good sign."

"Not really." Megumin whispered. "People who snore might keep all the other people inside the house awake. Not only that, but they might snore so hard once that they wake up."

"You seem to have a suspicious amount of knowledge about thieving." I told her

"Let's not talk about that for now."

And as we have previously agreed when we devised our plan, Megumin was the first to sneak inside. She carefully made wide steps, treading heel-first on the floor. I did the same and followed her inside.

On our left was a room with stuff inside. On our right was the bedroom and on the other side of it's door snoring could be heard. We went to the left and saw a wide array of different stuff: metal tools, weapons, even horseshoes. There were also some stairs leading up to the attic. I looked around a little more and found the scabbards. I grabbed a solid wooden one.

"Hey look!" I whispered. "I found the scabbards."

"Y/n, no!" Megumin attempted to warn me

But it was too late. I already pulled the scabbard towards me and made the other scabbards on top of it fall to the ground, making some noise.

We quickly ran up the stairs to the attic and we hid crouching behind some crates. Then I heard the door to the bedroom open and some steps. However, the snoring didn't stop.

"What happened here?" I heard the son ask

Megumin hugged me and I hugged her back. But I still held the scabbard in my hand. Although the situation was stressful, I didn't mind it much because of the hug.

Maybe it was worth it, just for that.

Then I heard steps walking up the stairs to the attic.

Or not.

Megumin's eyes started to glow as she was visibly worried by the situation. I was worried to that the smith's son might see a red glow in the darkness and I covered Megumin's eyes with my hand.

"Close your eyes, Megumin." I whispered, "They-re glowing again."

Megumin closed her eyes. The son's steps were now on the same level with us and they were getting closer. 

He is with us in the attic now!

But then...

"Meow!" I heard a cat down below. 

I peeked over the crates and saw the son turning around and walking back down the stairs.

"What's going on, son?" I heard a female voice whisper.

This must be the smith's wife.

"This cat managed to come inside and scatter the scabbards all over the floor." the son explained to his mother

"Get out, get out!" I heard the mother chasing the cat out of the smithy. "Let me close this door...", I heard the door where we entered into the building getting closed, "Now let's go to sleep."

Then they went back to their bedroom and closed the bedroom's door behind them, as the smith's snores could still be faintly heard from the attic.

Megumin opened her eyes and smiled smugly. I was so happy I would've chuckled if I didn't need to be silent. I hugged Megumin and kissed her on the forehead.

We sneaked back outside of the house, closed the door behind us and we found ourselves in the street again. But we still kept quiet until we were back in our room in the keep.

"Woah, that was really close!" I said when we were back in our room. "Thanks for the help, Megumin! This new scabbard is really good!"

"No problem!" Megumin said, still proud of herself