Hiatus Gifting This Unfortunate Guy With Blessings

I had slowly started to realize that I was developing some sort of… addiction? Perversion? I was unsure about how to call it.

For as long as I remember I was constantly surprising people. Not in a good way. Because of the scars on my face, of course. I could see a shocked expression on everyone's faces that would then transition to fright, disgust, uneasiness or in very rare cases pity. With few people like Megumin or Darkness being exceptions, it was still true even in this world.

But thanks to my [Imitate] power I started seeing different expressions following the initial shocked one. And I couldn't help but smile inwardly when I saw people's faces that were just beaming with positive emotions while looking at me.

The two girls stood completely frozen with their eyes resembling car headlights.

I felt like doing a backflip, so I did. There was a reason we dubbed that Shinehorn a Kung-Fu Goat. Since I could do stuff like that without any practice it meant that the entire species of Shinehorns were extremely agile. Another perk of my wonderful [Imitate] ability that allowed me to readily use all abilities of an acquired form.

And so I used it to give a little bit of presentation. With two pairs of eyes constantly watching me I did all kinds of acrobatics. I helped myself by remembering what I saw Shinehorn doing yesterday in the market and recreated the same feats with little to none problems. At some point, I started worrying if Luna-san forgot to breathe but she seemed okay.

I ended my show with a massive leap above the girls' heads and landed neatly one meter behind them. That seemed to finally release the petrification effect and the two girls finally moved.

I already knew Megumin well enough to know her reaction. She spun around and was about to exclaim her astonishment so it was Luna-san's reaction that baffled me.

Or lack thereof.

"How-!" *WHAM*

Megumin stopped mid-sentence because Luna-san…'s body hit the floor really hard. She fell over like a tree after being cut by a lumberjack.

It happened too fast for me to properly react.

I exchanged a confused look with Megumin and then quickly jumped to check on Luna-san while transforming back into my human form.

"Hey, Luna-san!" "What's wrong?!"

It seemed that I wasn't mistaken earlier and Luna-san has indeed stopped breathing until she has fainted. After a few seconds of panicked inspection, it was clear that nothing was wrong with Luna-san. Thankfully she restarted breathing. Nevertheless, I quickly started:

"Let's look for some help-"

It was logical to go and ask someone more knowledgable to take a look at someone who has suddenly passed out, but before I could even move a muscle, the door to the private room opened up and another guild receptionist - Shari-san - walked in while saying:

"Luna-san, are you here-"

And noticed a scene of a girl still flushed red after the excitement from the Shinehorn's show standing with a worried face above Luna-san's unconscious body. That probably wouldn't be nearly as bad but I was also there. A masked guy with hands hovering over an unconscious woman's body.

I couldn't exactly blame Shari-san for her instantaneous reaction, however, rushed it might've been.

"HELP!!!"

***

Fortunately, we didn't need to face the two burly adventurers that came immediately after hearing Shari-san's yell. Luna-san quickly regained consciousness because of all the shouting explanations I was trying to give. It was probably a good thing for THEM and the guild building since Megumin had already her staff in her hands, unsurprisingly ready to fire off her Explosion…

I sometimes forgot how rash Megumin could be.

"I am very sorry about the misunderstanding."

Shari-san said those words to us after Luna-san confirmed she has just fainted and we didn't try to do anything weird to her. She didn't explain why exactly did she faint to her colleague though.

"You'd better-!"

"No problem. It was just a mistake indeed. We are sorry as well."

I stopped Megumin from shouting by placing my hand over her mouth. Everyone seemed to graciously forget the fact that she was about to use Explosion as a 'normal self-defense spell' and Megumin seemed to be oblivious to the fact that it was going above and beyond something illegal.

"Luna-san, are you really okay?"

Shari-san asked worriedly Luna-san that was sitting with a flushed expression on her face ever since she cleared out the misunderstanding.

"Ah…. uh...Ummm..."

Visibly unsure about what to say Luna-san just released a few sounds out of her mouth.

"Maybe you should take a day off? You don't look so well. You are always working so hard. The Lull has just started so I am sure the guild won't fall apart. Even without its best worker."

She gave the idea a few seconds of thoughts and answered:

"... Yes, I think I will do that. Can you explain everything to guild mistress if she appears?"

"Of course."

Afterward, we were apologized to again, thanked by still flushed Luna-san and then she got escorted out by one of the guards out of the guild in case she fainted again.

That was one weird conclusion of events that I didn't expect at all. Luna-san fainting from excitement was weird but not impossible but the most confusing was her attitude after waking up. I expected her to demand to see Shinehorn form again but instead, she was extremely silent and decided to take a day off.

Without answers to my doubts, Megumin and I then went for the bar area and sat at the table.

"Never a dull moment with you around…"

The Explosion-Girl threw a verbal jab at me.

"Look who is talking!"

Ignoring my counter-jab Megumin asked:

"Tell me how did you get that Shinehorn form though."

Then I described to Megumin the contents of my heist in the last night while we ate breakfast. When I finished my story Megumin became a little bit pouty since I didn't ask for her help but I was wise enough not to argue that point since the extremely unsubtle Archwizard thought breaking ins were her areas of expertise.

"If I ever need help breaking into a treasury I will ask for your help with destroying the vault door, okay?"

I answered with a snicker but the joke flew right above Megumin's head and she nodded sagely and ensured me she would help at that time.

Unsure if I should curl up and cry or thank the gods for such a teammate I opted to leave this topic at that.

Megumin's hurry to use her new staff diminished greatly at that point so we talked casually while waiting for someone from our team to show up. It was already getting near to our usual meeting time anyways.

And soon indeed I saw Kazuma coming into the guild. He started looking around so I raised my hand to greet him. He noticed that and started to walk over to us but kept scanning the area for something else.

"Hey, have you seen Aqua, by any chance?"

Megumin just nodded her head as a greeting.

"Hey. I don't think she's here. We came here pretty early and I haven't seen her yet. Wasn't she with you yesterday?"

"She disappeared somewhere in the evening. Usually, she would come back drunk as a skunk somewhere around the morning but…"

Contrary to how he usually interacted with Aqua, Kazuma seemed mildly worried at that moment. He added with a sigh:

"She will eventually turn up. Anyways, it's good that you are here. Sorry about that but I have an appointment later today with one landlady that agreed to rent us a flat so I can't go for the quest today."

I saw a glint of annoyance in Megumin's eyes but she stayed silent which surprised me immensely.

I nodded my head in acknowledgment. From what I've heard he was still living in the stables so it was natural that getting out of them was a big priority for him. I was fortunate to get Chris's help early while he just had Aqua to worry about.

"If you see Aqua, tell her to meet me here at dinner time. See you."

And then he walked away. Just as he was about to leave the building Darkness came inside. I saw them exchange a few sentences. At some point, Darkness shook her head and then Kazuma waved her goodbye while pointing at our table.

"Hey Darkness, will you go for a quest with us?"

Megumin this time asked cheerfully while I waved in a friendly manner. Darkness was momentarily stunned by Crimson Demon's energy, clearly not ready to say what she wanted to say earlier.

"Good morning. Unfortunately… I can't today. I have a few things to take care of."

Betrayal - Megumin's smile faded. She was caught off-guard by that admission.

"Why?! Come on!"

"Sorry about that… I really need to attend to those matters today."

Darkness seemed extremely apologetic towards Megumin who still had a face of utter disbelief.

When it rains, it pours. Or rather, even adventurers had other things to do besides going on quests. It should be an obvious matter but today Megumin really wanted to make that quest happen for the sake of checking her upgraded Explosion.

"It's okay."

I quickly chimed in before Megumin's gaze could bore a hole inside of Darkness consciousness.

"You will just have to make do with Explosion Trip for today."

It seemed as if Megumin forgot that such an option existed until I mentioned it. Darkness was confused for a second but quickly understood what I meant.

"If you could, do it away from the city since the guards on the walls started to complain about daily Explosions."

Going a little bit further was not a problem at all with my Griffin form so I just nodded affirmatively, stood up from my seat and went towards the northern gate with Megumin in a much better mood in tow.

Darkness accompanied us until she had to take a different turn on the street and then we waved her goodbye.

As per usual we walked some distance away from the city before I used my [Imitate] to turn into my Griffin form. Megumin seemed just as excited about the prospect of flying as she was the first time.

I flew north in search of something that Megumin could safely blow up. For a few good minutes, all we could see was a vast forest. I doubted Megumin would be okay with testing her newly improved Explosion on a bunch of trees. It had to be at least a decently sized stone or something.

Surprisingly I couldn't spot many monsters either. Not that we would target them since it was customary to refrain from hunting monsters that you did not take the quest for. Unless the population of monsters was getting out of hands - then everything was a fair game.

Supposedly it was a rule distinctive for Axel - city of beginners.

Finally, I have spotted something in the distance with my Griffin's sight. It took a minute or two until I could discern what exactly that was.

And to my surprise, it was a lone castle standing by itself on a cliffside. It was clearly abandoned, with walls looking as if they could start crumbling down any minute now. The road towards the castle was also already non-existent.

"Hey, let's use that!"

Megumin excitedly stated to my dismay. Even though no one used that castle anymore I didn't think it was okay to demolish it just like that. What if it was a property of some line of nobles or…

I looked back and saw that Megumin was extremely fired up. Even more so than in the morning. Her eyes alone could probably work as a torchlight in a dark forest.

I gave out a low screech - Griffin's equivalent of a sigh and decided to just let the Explosion Girl have her way.

Another way I could tell Megumin was more excited than usual is that she put a lot more effort into her incantation. Normally, she could make do with just a few lines of chants until she was ready to fire, especially during combat situations. It was probably because she was using a skill Chant Shortening. But at that moment she took her sweet time and took nearly a whole minute until she was done.

If I didn't know that she had to put every ounce of mana she had into the spell I would say that she put even more than usual. I was already bracing for the impact of the airwaves following the explosion when Megumin finished her chanting.

As usual, a glorious pillar of flames descended from the sky and hit one side of the outside wall, obliterating a good few dozen meters of it.

Even such an amateur like me could easily spot the difference in power. But…

"I missed…"

Just like I thought, Megumin wouldn't aim for the wall, but the main building.

"But it was definitely a lot more powerful. This staff is awesome! I just need to adjust my aim with it. Next time I will hit the mark!"

Even though she wasn't entirely satisfied because of her aim she sounded content enough so I released a cry that I hoped would show my approval. I couldn't change into a form that was able to talk at that moment.

But Megumin understood me perfectly and released a happy laugh while laying limply on my Griffin's back.

(A/N: I don't have anything to say! See you tomorrow!)