Amidst The Fiercest Storm

As one of the most powerful and famous party in Axel, our arrival always catches everyone's attention. A waitress would always led us to an empty seat somewhere and asked for our orders regardless of how crowded the guild is.

"Fantastic Dreamers! Welcome… back,"

As always, Luna welcomed us the moment we entered the building. But then, her words faltered and her expression turned into that of concern. "Did something happen? Kazuma sama? You don't have to feel bad about not defeating the Winter Shogun, even the strongest…"

I put the Winter Shogun's Katana on her table and grinned. "Guess again Luna," then I turned towards Megumin. "Alright Megumin, can I see your adventurer card?"

Her hands trembled slightly, but she obediently took the card and handed it to me.

"Ara, as expected of the guild's strongest party," Luna said as she processed mine and Megumin's adventurer card. "Alright, Kazuma san, you've killed twenty five snow fairies, that makes two point five million bounty, Megumin has killed seven snow fairies, The Winter Shogun! That makes two hundred and five million bounties!" she clapped her hands a little. "And…"

Luna's smile disappeared, replaced by a look of horror. She gasped in shock and put a hand over her mouth. "Sa-Satou Kazuma…? Wh-what happened? Are you alright?"

"It's okay really," I smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of my head. "I just miscalculated on Megumin's explosion radius," then I pointed at Aqua standing behind me. "Besides, we have archpriest in our team, it'll take more than death to stop us."

"I understand, but please, please be careful alright?" Luna gave me a patient smile. "We really don't want to lose our hero before he usurps the throne of the Demon King…"

I gave her a thumb up. "Don't worry Luna, now, I don't know about you, but dying makes a guy very hungry you know?" I walked towards and empty table and waved my hand. "Waitress, four large meals and four, yes, four beers!"

With that, the four of us sat on one of the tables in the guild. I sat next to Aqua, facing Megumin who still couldn't meet my gaze. Beside her is Darkness who hasn't spoken a word since we arrived here. Seriously, I need to be extremely careful with words at this point, lest they'll get traumatized for life.

Okay, deep breath, calm… How am I going to do this?

Punishment right? I need to give her a punishment for her action. One that does not make her question her own worth as an archwizard. One that... Maybe, just maybe, will help her atone for what she did and give her a chance to grow?

"Alright, let's just cut to the chase," I turned towards Megumin. "Megumin, why did you use the crystal attachment on your staff after I told you not to use it, thus killing me and slightly compromising our mission?"

"Kazuma…"

"Silence Darkness, Megumin, look me in the eyes and answer me."

The little girl slowly raised her head and looked at me. Tears freely trickled down her face and her mouth whimpered in sorrow. "I-I thought… I thought I could control it… I th - could prove you wrong… I'm sorry… so sorry…"

I nodded understandingly, making sure to make my expression as neutral as possible. "Glad to hear that you're sorry. However, I can't turn a blind eye to this accident. Stuff like this could cost someone's life, heck, it did cost a life."

"Ne, Kazuma…"

"Silence Aqua,"

At this point the entire guild is silent, none dared to speak a word as they listened to our conversation. Everyone's so enraptured in our personal matter that they didn't even try to pretend not to listen.

Fortunately this is exactly what I wanted.

I stood up from my position. "Stand up Megumin," she stood up without another words and followed me to the center of the guild. "I want everyone in this place to be a witness to this event,"

"Kazuma,"

I glared at the two of them. "Do not make this worse,"

The air was denser than steel. About half people in this place are unconsciously holding their breath. Both Darkness and Aqua were desperately holding themselves back from interrupting and I honestly want nothing more than going back to the stables and sleep with the horses.

"Megumin, know that this is nothing more but a consequence of your actions," I looked at her and saw her hiding behind her hat. "Megumin, look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you,"

The girl slowly, but surely raised her head. The miserable look on her face was painful to look at, but I kept a steely front.

"I am warning you just this once, what happens to you from this point on is permanent. No amount of begging or self reflection will ever reverse this," her form shuddered and she started to use her staff to support herself. "Do you understand what will happen?"

Megumin slowly nodded. "I-I understand…"

"Are you willing to accept any punishment for your actions?"

"I will, I, I deserve it…"

I took a deep breath and looked at everyone else. Nobody said anything, but the look on their faces are basically screaming 'DON'T DO IT!!!'

"Alright, then... Megumin of the Crimson Demon Clan, Archwizard of the Fantastic Dreamer. You have committed a grievous crime of murder, due to your own carelessness..." gasps rang around the guild, but none dared to speak a word.

"For the punishment of your action and disregard to safety, I, Satou Kazuma, the Leader of Fantastic Dreamer hereby declare that effective immediately..." the girl is visibly shaking and hyperventilating now, I should probably hurry up before she fainted.

"Megumin is my girlfriend, she will accompany me in my journey to fight the demon king and be by my side through the days that follows. This decision is final and immutable."

You could hear feather drop as the WTF fuse started counting down.

"I underst…" Megumin's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at me in disbelief. "Wh-what? I'm sorry, can you repeat that?"

Instead of repeating it, I grabbed her by the back of her head, lifted her hat and pulled her face to mine. Our lips met in a deep kiss and I have no idea what I'm doing, but I kept at it, embracing her into a hug and simply felt her body turning into a putty in my grip.

The guild's resounding "WHAT THE FUCK!?" could be heard all across the city that day. Cat calls and cheers followed shortly after. The sudden turn of events caused a backlash powerful enough to turn the crowd into a mob.

After a few minutes, I let go of her. She looked at me in disbelief and surprise before her face slowly broke into tears. "Ka-Kazuma stupid! Pervert!" she exclaimed while punching on my body halfheartedly. "You're taking… advantage…"

The girl embraced me once again and started crying on my body. Only this time, it was out of relief and happiness instead of sadness.

"What did I tell you? This is a punishment for defying my direct order! You are permanently my girlfriend, do you understand?"

She nodded in embrace whispering thank you and insults one after another.

Then I turned to the rest of my party member who's staring at me with red face. "It's your turn soon! One girlfriend is not enough for a hero like me! You hear me!? I'm aiming for a harem!"

"As expected of Kazuma the Devious!"

"All hail the second coming of Demon King!"

"Kazumin for the win!!!"

"KAZUMIN! KAZUMIN! KAZUMIN!"

Even Megumin couldn't help but giggle at the sound of that ridiculous nickname. She gripped my clothes and looked up at me with a watery smile. "Y-you better take responsibility Kazuma… The Crimson Demons doesn't take relationships like this lightly.." she said.

I simply nodded and pulled her close. One more crisis averted…