Yunyun's Turn Read online

  Copyright

  Konosuba: An Explosion on this Wonderful World!, Vol. 2

  NATSUME AKATSUKI

  Translation by Kevin Steinbach

  Cover art by Kurone Mishima

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  KONO SUBARASHI SEKAI NI SHUKUFUKU WO! SPIN OFF · KONO SUBARASHI SEKAI NI BAKUEN WO! Vol. 2

  YUNYUN NO TURN

  © Natsume Akatsuki, Kurone Mishima 2014

  First published in Japan in 2014 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY, INC., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2020 by Yen Press, LLC

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Yen On

  150 West 30th Street, 19th Floor

  New York, NY 10001

  Visit us at yenpress.com

  facebook.com/yenpress

  twitter.com/yenpress

  yenpress.tumblr.com

  instagram.com/yenpress

  First Yen On Edition: February 2020

  Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC.

  The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Akatsuki, Natsume, author. | Mishima, Kurone, 1991– illustrator. | Steinbach, Kevin, translator.

  Title: Konosuba, an explosion on this wonderful world! / Natsume Akatsuki ; illustration by Kurone Mishima ; translation by Kevin Steinbach ; cover art by Kurone Mishima.

  Other titles: Kono subarashii sekai ni bakuen wo! (Light novel). English

  Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2019.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019038569 | ISBN 9781975359607 (v. 1 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975387020 (v. 2 ; trade paperback)

  Subjects: CYAC: Fantasy. | Magic—Fiction. | Future life—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.A38 Km 2019 | DDC 741.5/952—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038569

  ISBNs: 978-1-9753-8702-0 (paperback)

  978-1-9753-8703-7 (ebook)

  E3-20200131-JV-NF-ORI

  Komekko seemed to want to become independent of her older sister these days and no longer slept in my bed. But tonight, for once, she crawled under the covers with me.

  “But the boy said, ‘With my hax, I don’t need friends. I can just solo everything. Then I get to keep all the loot for myself. Soloing is the best!’ And the boy was indeed strong enough to be a one-man party…”

  Apparently, she wanted me to read her a picture book. Komekko lay next to me on her back, hugging our resident emergency food supply, Chomusuke.

  “Sis, what did the person in the story mean by ‘hax’?” Komekko asked, sounding a little tired.

  “It means something that’s against the rules. Something unfair. It’s a word people with strange names often use. The point is, it gives some incredible powers.”

  “Ooooh.” Komekko was ready to listen again, so I went on.

  “He was so immensely powerful that he defeated the servants of the Demon King one after another.”

  The story was famous.

  “The Demon King, cornered, knew he didn’t stand a chance in a fair fight. He thought to himself: What must I do to defeat this boy? Then it occurred to the Demon King that the boy was always alone.”

  It was so famous, and so old, that everyone had heard it.

  “When the boy reached the Demon King’s castle, he was confronted by one of the king’s generals. ‘The hero’s a loner? That’s hilarious!’ the general said. ‘I thought the idea was that your stalwart companions and you would work together to overcome any obstacle! But you don’t even have any friends, so who or what are you fighting for? Just give up and come on over to the Demon King’s army. We get all kinds of great perks.’ The general told him to think it over and come back, and the boy dutifully went home.”

  Komekko could hardly keep her eyes open; she turned and rested against my right shoulder.

  “At last, the boy came back to the Demon King’s castle. When he saw the general, he said, ‘I’m not a loner; I’m just a solo player. And it’s not that I don’t have friends—I just haven’t decided to make any. A party would only slow me down… And what’s this about great perks anyway? You won’t fool me that easily! There’s no way bargaining with the Demon King works out in my favor, right? I’m fighting for the peace of all mankind!! I’ve got no business with you! I’m here for the head of the Demon King! I’ll let you live if you just get lost!’

  “He pointed at the general of the Demon King, who said, ‘That would have sounded a lot cooler if you hadn’t had to spend a week thinking about it first.’

  “Needless to say, the general didn’t get away with his life.”

  Komekko had begun to snore softly, using my shoulder as a pillow. As for me, I kept going, careful not to wake her, casting my eyes over a book I had read to her many times before.

  “Crazed and bellowing, the boy began to cut a path to the inner sanctum of the Demon King’s castle. No one could stop him. And finally, he arrived before the king himself…”

  1

  It had been a few months since the commotion with the servant of the Dark God. Yunyun and I had both learned magic, so we graduated, and we had each begun walking our own paths in life.

  Yunyun, who had learned only intermediate magic, joined the community watch with the other idle adults and spent her days hunting monsters in hopes of learning advanced magic.

  As for me…

  “Mornin’, NEET Sis! Food, please!”

  “D-don’t call me NEET Sis, Komekko! Where did you even learn a word like that?”

  I passed many an indolent day, being called a NEET by my little sister.

  “Listen to your sister, Komekko. I’m not a NEET. A NEET is a worthless lump of a person who has no desire to work. Someone who is searching and searching but just can’t find anything that suits their particular personality, someone like me—who desperately wishes to work but simply can’t—is not a NEET.”

  “Then what should we call them?”

  ……………

  “A j-job seeker…?”

  “NEET Sis, food, please!”

  “K-Komekko!”

  I pressed my hands to my temples, trying to fight back the headache as my apathetic little sister slugged me with that nasty nickname again.

  Here in Crimson Magic Village, aside from the people running the handful of shops considered essential to the villagers’ everyday lives, everyone was involved with making the specialty products of our clan. Mostly, that meant high-quality magical items and potions, the sorts of things that benefited from our immense magical abilities.

  Take those skill-up potions Yunyun and I had chugged so eagerly, for example. Outside the village, they were impossibly rare items that could fetch up to a few hundred thousand eris apiece. When our teacher told us as much upon graduation, I could only gnash my teeth and wonder why I hadn’t saved one.

  A
s I said, the magical items our village produced were typically of the highest quality. Arch-wizard is an advanced form of the wizard class, not something just anyone can stumble into. But everyone in this village was born with the necessary qualities to become one. And the items produced by this army of magical experts were what kept this village solvent.

  …I heaved a deep sigh. “Maybe today I can find a workshop that will be kind enough to hire me…,” I muttered as I made Komekko’s breakfast.

  2

  To leave the village, become an adventurer, and find the person who had taught me Explosion. That was my goal.

  To become an adventurer, though, first I would have to go to a town. But the land around Crimson Magic Village was rife with powerful monsters, and since using my explosion magic rendered me immobile, I had no hope of making it to any of the neighboring towns by myself.

  Instead, my plan was to go to the Teleportation Station, a shop that made its money by teleporting people places, and ask them to send me somewhere. But there I was, sighing into my nearly empty wallet…

  “A one-way ticket to Arcanletia, the city of water and hot springs, costs three hundred thousand eris. And I currently have…four thousand eris… Sigh. I need a job. Preferably a lucrative one…”

  I wanted to go to a town by the name of Axel, a place where, I was told, novice adventurers often got their start. But a starter town surrounded by weak monsters wasn’t a very high teleportation priority for the likes of the Crimson Magic Clan, whose members were used to hunting big bads for sport.

  To be able to teleport someone somewhere, you had to physically go to the destination and register it first. And considering that nobody ever asked to go to Axel, it wasn’t on the Station’s list of landing points. To get there, I would need to have myself teleported to Arcanletia, the town closest to Axel, and then walk or catch a carriage the rest of the way from there.

  But getting teleported meant coughing up the teleportation fee, and paying the fee meant getting a job…

  As I moped along, I noticed a neighbor of mine coming the other way.

  “’Sup, Megumin? Still doing the job-search thing? How about you give up on that already and come join the anti–Demon King wandering patrol? Help us and Yunyun keep this village safe.”

  “N-no way… I’m pretty surprised you got such an introverted young woman to join you, actually.”

  “Aw, man, she’s totally into it. I guess she’s keen to learn advanced magic so she can protect her friends for real next time.”

  As embarrassed as she was to be part of a group named the Red-Eye Dead Slayers, Yunyun had joined this community watch (which is to say, the local NEET brigade) as part of her training, her ongoing effort to learn advanced magic. She went around with Bukkororii and the others, racking up experience points nonstop. They may have been NEETs, but they were all still first-class wizards.

  “What about you, Bukkororii? Don’t you need to work? I heard your parents complaining.”

  “I know my parents—and all other members of society—regard me coldly at this moment, but I rest assured that one day, an epic battle worthy of our strength will arrive. For now, I sharpen my claws in anticipation of that day.” He clenched his hand, which was encased in a fingerless glove, until the leather let out a little squeak. “Offer still stands, Megs. We’re fellow NEETs. If there’s anything you need (except money), just give me a shout.”

  “I—I am not a NEET! Unlike you, I’m actually looking for work!” I shot back, but Bukkororii was already walking away. He gave me a friendly wave over his shoulder.

  …Ew.

  This was the worst. Was… Was that what I looked like to Komekko?

  I had to find a job, and I had to find it today.

  Producing magical items was the best way to make money in the Crimson Magic Clan. That being the case, I went for interviews at a number of workshops after I graduated, but…

  “Today I’ve got an interview at Chekkitout’s place. He handles magical textiles. This is going to be the one…!” I gave myself a smack on the cheek to hype myself up and headed for my next interview.

  3

  “C’mon in! My name is Chekkitout! Arch-wizard and wielder of advanced magic, and first among the used-clothing-store proprietors of the Crimson Magic Clan! I’m glad you’re here, Megumin. You wanted an interview, right?”

  I was greeted by Chekkitout, proprietor of the foremost (and only) used-clothing store in town, his cape flapping despite the fact that we were indoors. Considering how much time this fogy had on his hands, he had probably been standing there waiting for me, using wind magic continually to keep his cape billowing.

  When he was done proclaiming himself, Chekkitout contentedly removed his cape. “All right, come on back to the workshop. We produce enchanted robes here, so working with magic textiles is our main occupation. The power of the enchantment in the cloth is directly affected by the power of the person who worked on it, so I’d like to see what you can do magically, Megumin.”

  “Understood, sir. Behold my immense magical powers!” I said proudly as he led me to the back. If there was one thing I was confident in, it was the sheer strength of my magical abilities.

  “Good, good,” Chekkitout said, and he held out a piece of cloth to me. “See how much magic you can infuse into this, then. You’ve learned your magic, haven’t you? Just cast a spell on this. Use your magic exactly like you normally would.”

  By way of demonstration, he took a piece of cloth and began to fill it with magical power. The cloth had been white to start with, but it ended up dyed the Crimson Magic Clan’s favorite color: night-black. Amazed by the change, I curiously took a piece of cloth.

  I would put my magic into it, like normal.

  Just let the magic flow……

  “Megumin…? Wait—M-Megumin?!”

  Letting the magic flow, I naturally got excited, and the strength came into my eyes. They must have been flaring crimson at that moment. They weren’t blazing just with magic but with the conviction that today, this very day, I must get a job!

  The cloth into which I was pouring my magic turned dark instantly, then passed through a sort of reddish-black before it worked its way to a bright crimson…!

  Suddenly, Chekkitout grabbed the cloth from me. “Freeze Bind!” he shouted, encasing the fire-colored fabric in ice. He turned to me, pale. “What were you thinking?! Do you want to destroy my shop?! This thing was about to go boom!”

  “I-I’m very sorry! I… I only did what you told me…”

  This was bad. This was exactly what had happened at all the other places…!

  Chekkitout shook his head. “Gotta admit, it’s strange… There’s no way someone who’s only just graduated should be able to make this happen, no matter how much magic they infuse…” I didn’t quite get everything he was saying, but he pulled out another piece of cloth about the size of a handkerchief. “All right, just touch this cloth. You don’t have to put any magic into it. Even just one finger will do.”

  I reached out and touched the square of cloth. Before my eyes, it turned black and then, just like before, moved toward a fiery red…

  “Freeze Bind!” Chekkitout repeated his spell, freezing the increasingly crimson handkerchief. With a slow shake of his head, he said, “It looks like you were just born too strong, Megumin. And you don’t know how to control that power yet.” He looked at me apologetically. “Your old man, Hyoizaburou, always had more magical power than he knew what to do with—and he tended to put it into making bizarre magical items. It’s not your fault you’re so powerful, but you should take some time to practice and learn to control it. One day you’ll be able to decide how much magic you let flow out of you. When you’ve mastered that, come see me again.”

  In other words, I was being told for the umpteenth time that I didn’t get the job.

  I left the store at a loss. Similar things had happened at the other workshops, and they had all said the same thing: Apparently, my magic was j
ust too powerful. Normally, that would be something to celebrate, but…

  The real problem was that, because the only spell I knew was Explosion, I would never be able to learn to limit how much magical energy I was putting out, even if I practiced for the rest of my life. The intense MP requirements of Explosion meant I went all out every time I cast it. There could be no limiting how much magic you put into Explosion.

  With this, the number of workshops that might conceivably have anything to do with me had finally reached zero. Well, maybe I could help my father make magical items? No, no. I knew full well that all of Dad’s ideas were busts that would never sell. With our family as poor as we were, I couldn’t even expect him to pay me minimum wage.

  That left just one option. I dragged myself over to where the village potion maker worked…

  “…And that’s the story. I’ve been keeping my distance because I know making magical items would be more lucrative, but it looks like I am what I am, so here I am. When it comes to potion making, I’m confident in my abilities. Please hire me.”

  “Well, I certainly appreciate that you’re being up-front about your reasons. But don’t you have, er, a slightly more noble motive for mastering the potion path? To help people or something?”

  “Okay. To help people.”

  “Don’t patronize me.”

  I had gone to the village’s potion workshop and begged for an interview with the owner. When it came to potions, I had my school experience to back me up. I didn’t yet know how to make extremely difficult concoctions like skill-up potions, but I figured I could swing this job somehow.

  The owner looked pained for a moment, but finally, he sighed in resignation. “To be honest, I have enough help already, but… Well, if it’s really just for a little while until you save up the money for your teleportation, I guess I could find something for you to do.”

  “Thank you so much!”

  Yesss! I should have just swallowed my pride and come to the potion place first! I guess when it came to matters of money, I could sometimes lose track of what was necessary. I would have to correct that little fault, lest I exasperate the companions I was sure to meet in the future.