5 The first in "the know"

Finally, after Megumin finished her meal, Alex decided to get the ball rolling. "So... You wanted to say something."

Megumin looked at her in confusion, trying to remember why she came here before being forced to eat. "Oh! Right!" She straightened up and adjusted her clothes to look more presentable. She raised her hand to the side and her cloak began to flutter in the wind that came out of nowhere.

"The abyss opened up and showed me the way to the strongest Fighter in the world, for no Wizard can survive without support." Megumin said with displeasure. In her eyes, Wizards were the strongest class in the entire world, so admitting her own weakness was hard. "I'm looking for a companion for my quest in search of power, and you turned out to be one of the most suitable candidates."

She looked at Alex as if expecting her to continue. Alex stayed silent for a few seconds, trying to decide if she should play along or not. In the end, her childish side won and she propped her chin on her fist.

"Well then, the Witch of the Cursed Eye. I never thought that any of your kin could find me here." She noticed how Megumin's eye widened in surprise, but it was immediately replaced by excitement. "But your luck is high today, Witch. I know full well that without the help of Magic, my journey to the grave will be a quick one, so I'm ready to discuss our cooperation."

Megumin almost vibrated in her seat. No one but her clan has ever played alo– cough! believed in the movement of fates that bring strong people together, so this was a surprise to her. But she'd been preparing for this all her life, so she knew how to respond – thanks Eliza for the info.

"Fighter of the Changing Body, know that the future of the whole world will one day rest on your shoulders. Wouldn't it be easier to get help now than later to look for it in the world of enemies left after past battles?"

And then Megumin realized that she had said something wrong. Alex's look changed: if earlier there was humor and interest in her eyes, now her gray eyes were full of panic. "Can you elaborate on my title?" She was able to squeeze out.

The question was so unexpected that Megumin forgot to maintain her persona. "Well, when you were killing Toads, I saw that your hands can take the form of weapons – and I can say that this is quite an unexpected turn – hence: Fighter of the Changing Body. Cool, right?" She replied with a smug smile.

Alex's head fell on the table and she groaned loudly. She didn't even have time to find a lodging for the night before someone found out her secret. She already hated this world.

When people think of Adventurers, they think of a man clad in armor and holding a sword, maybe about an elf with a staff, sometimes it's a dwarf with a warhammer. They don't usually think of a teenage girl who can control every cell of her body because of a virus she got in cheap version of purgatory.

Alex looked at Megumin very slowly, but didn't raise her head from the table. "You know, I'd rather keep this a secret between us." She muttered.

"Um... Okay? But why? The Changeling can live in Belzerg without the fear of discrimination." She tilted her head to the side like a curious kitten. "You are a Changeling, are you not?"

It is worth saying that in this world, the Changelings were a race of humanoids capable of completely changing their appearance – Alex read about this race. Of course, this was limited to other humanoid races, but the Changelings found a way to turn their body parts into weapons, just like Alex did.

Bones, muscle, joints, and fat, they found the perfect balance between them to create weapons. But not many Changelings could use this technique, because without medical knowledge, it was useless. Just in order to change the shape of the hands, they had to know exactly where to move the nerves, blood vessels and the like, even changing skin pigment was much more difficult than it might seem at first glance.

The difference between them was that Alex could accumulate Biomass in order to go beyond the limits of the human body. Well, that and the fact that Alex could easily create weapons that belonged to Lovecraft's novels without fear of harming herself, the virus already knew the optimal state of the human body, so returning to the "basic" form was not a problem. But the Changelings remained as they were. This has created a unique fighting style for the entire race where they use their entire body as a weapon. Needless to say, that almost all Changelings became either Spies, Assassins, Prostitutes, or Doctors. An odd choice, but what can you do?

But Alex brought her mind back to the conversation, she was faced with a choice: to lie or tell the truth. 'But is there any point in being truthful if no one will believe the truth?' She shook her head and decided to stick to her lies.

"My ancestor made a deal with a devil, for which our entire family paid." She finally straightened up and slowly looked around. "So, our kin gained power above that of Changelings, but lost our Magic as a price."

When her gaze returned to Megumin, she saw that her face was full of childlike admiration. Alex could have sworn she saw a hint of envy on her face before the girl could crush the feeling. "This is the coolest backstory I've ever heard! But Changelings need magic for their transformations. If you're better, then how does it even work?" Alex shrugged in response and placed her Adventurer card on the table.

Megumin picked it up with interest and looked at her stats. She stared at the zero across Magic Power value for a very long time until her eyes hurt and she needed to blink.

She returned her card to save herself from a future migraine.

"Well, forgetting the nonsense from our previous conversation, my name is Alex." She said and Megumin returned her gaze to her. "So, what exactly did you want to talk about?"

"It wasn't nonsense–!" She blushed. "Anyway! I know lone warriors like you are not used to working in a team. But I offer you the help of my deadly Explosion Magic that can turn mountains to dust!" She waved her arms to the sides, showing an imaginary explosion.

Alex leaned on the table and sighed heavily. "To be honest, I've never seen Explosion Magic in action. How about a little test? Let's complete some quest together and I could see your abilities, since you already know what I can do," she suggested.

"You never– have you lived all this time without the beauty of Explosions in your life?!" She stood up from the bench and grabbed Alex's hand in hers. "I will fix this lapse of justice. You still have that quest to kill Giant Toads, right?"

Eliza looked at Megumin who was dragging her new gold mine– I mean Alex, to complete more quests. The Guild worker sighed and started filling out the fifteen Toad kill reports with a smile. Today was a good day.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Again, Alex found herself outside the walls of the city. Glades and hills stretched around her for kilometers, and she would even call such an environment calming if it were not for the Giant Toads that sat on every hill. Luckily, this time, Arch Wizard Megumin was at her side, ready to show her might.

Many do not know, but in order to achieve the title of Arch Wizard, you need not only to achieve sufficient stats, but also to have an impressive amount of knowledge about your profession. Just like a Blacksmith can never become a master of his craft without knowledge; a Wizard can never become better just by practicing. 'That means Megumin has more knowledge of Magic than an average Joe.'

"By the way, what's wrong with your eye? A childhood accident or a battle wound?" Alex asked as she climbed the highest hill in the area.

Megumin covered her smile with her palm and laughed softly. "Fufufu~ this is no ordinary eye patch. It is a Magic Item that suppresses my mighty Magic powers. Once I take it off, a terrible catastrophe would surely befall on this world."

Alex paused for a second, trying to figure out if she was serious or if it was her inner chunni showing. "Something like a Magic Seal? Ever thought of putting an enchantment on the eye patch to see more than ordinary people can?"

Megumin tripped on the ground and nearly fell, but managed to catch herself in time. "Actually, that was a lie, but now that you said it, maybe I'll go see an Enchanter. You have no idea how annoying it is to see with just one eye." She muttered, looking around. To their right sat two purple Toads – perfect targets for her Explosion – and in front was another one.

"No, I know. After I learned how to open beer bottles with my eye, I had enough scratches to walk around with an eye patch. Mom was sooo mad at me." Alex chuckled began to warm up, but then she suddenly remembered that her body is literally always in perfect condition for battle. She muttered curses under her breath and began to think what she could turn her hands into.

Megumin, meanwhile, looked at Alex in confusion. "Why do you need to open bottles with your eye?" 'Don't they shoot corks?' she thought, not knowing that Alex was talking about different bottles with caps.

"Why not? I have a lot of weird skills, it's easier to just accept it as a fact." Alex finally decided what she would use in this battle and got ready. "So, do you need anything to cast a Spell?"

Megumin removed her eye patch and tucked it into the pocket of her cloak. Now that Alex could see both of her eyes, she was even more convinced that Megumin looked like a doll. She didn't know that someone could have such a symmetrical face.

"Explosion Magic is the strongest Magic. But it also means that it takes a long time to cast." She pointed with her staff to a spot between the two Toads. "If you can, gather the monsters there. So, I can kill them all at once."

Alex cracked her neck – it didn't crack, sadly – and began turning her right hand into a weapon. Her fingers bounded together, stretching forward in a long black whip with bone blades at its sides. "Got it. Should be easy."

Megumin flapped her cape behind her and set her face into what she thought was burning determination. "Just get out of there before I finish the spell, I wouldn't want your soul to fall into the abyss opened by my power." Alex turned around and noticed the real worry on her face.

"No problem-o! Watch your surroundings or you'll be eaten before you finish the spell." She said in a joking voice, but Megumin nodded seriously. She didn't want to become some Toad's dinner.

[Darkness blacker than black and darker than dark,

I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson.]

Finally turning her arms into long whips, Alex ran towards the Toads, hearing Megumin slowly begin to cast. Alex only had half a minute before the explosion, so she'd put it to good use. Running between two toads, she raised the whip over her head, twisting it like a lasso. The whip flew into the bright blue toad and wrapped around its body like a snake.

[The time of awakening cometh.

Justice, fallen upon the infallible boundary,

appear now as an intangible distortion!]

Normally, a giant toad could ignore such a pathetic attempt to restrain its movements, but Alex was twenty times stronger than an ordinary person – and that was even before she gained critical mass. 'It doesn't sound right… it feels like I'm a bomb, not a person… Megumin would probably love the concept of a Nuke.'

[I desire for my torrent of power a destructive force:

a destructive force without equal!]

Pulling the whip hard, Alex crouched down to the ground and watched in fascination as the blue toad flew over her head and crashed into the body of a dark green toad that ignored their fight. This was the second time Alex had pushed two giants head-on, but she felt she would never get tired of doing it. A red magic circle opened under Megumin's feet, immediately after that a second one appeared at the end of her staff.

[Return all creation to cinders,

and come from the abyss!]

Hearing the final words of the spell, Alex kicked her feet off the ground, jumping out of the explosion radius. Megumin smiled brightly, seeing two motionless targets and raised her staff higher. Magic flowed through her body like a raging river, gathering in the crystal on her staff. When there was so much magic that one could drink it like booze, Megumin ended the spell with a shout:

[Explosion!]

Dozens of bright red magic circles unfolded over the toads and a column of fire fell from the sky, in the blink of an eye, the fire exploded to the sides, taking the lives of two monsters with it. Alex barely stayed on her feet, resisting the blast wave – she had no idea how someone the size of Megumin could stay standing, the girl was thinner than "pre-death" Alex!

Looking at the crater left after the explosion, Alex could not restrain a quiet: "Holy undead dude on a golden throne, this is a bit too much…" The bodies of the toads were completely destroyed, not even a drop of blood remained from them. Knowing that so much explosive – no pun intended – power was in Megumin's small body, Alex shuddered and was suddenly grateful that she had Blacklight. If she is lucky, she'll be able to survive such an explosion. 'But before that, I'll have to work out a Blast resistance. And Fire resistance... Let's just go with general elemental resistance.'

Turning to the Witch, Alex couldn't help but smile. "Is this the power of Magic? After that, I'm even envious that I have–" But she was interrupted by the sight of Megumin, who was lying face down in the ground, her staff sliding slowly down the hill. "Hu? Megumin?"

If someone asks Alex in the future how exactly she felt when she saw her first friend in this world lying face down on the ground, she will answer: 'I was terrified for the first three seconds, but then she started talking. After that, I was just annoyed.'

Alex ran up to Megumin and sat down next to the girl. She rolled the Arch Wizard onto her back and breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that Megumin was still conscious. "Ah, I apologize for my unsightly condition." She spoke in a monotone voice. "Explosion Magic consumes a lot of Mana. I won't be moving for a while."

Alex just stared at the unblinking Megumin and tried to figure out what had happened. The confident Arch Wizard who strives to become the strongest in this world became useless after the first shot. That wasn't normal.

"Are you okay?" Alex decided to leave the 'why' questions for later.

"Yeah… I just need to recover enough Mana and I'll be able to move again." Megumin answered hesitantly.

Alex picked up Megumin's staff and placed it next to the girl. She thought for a couple of seconds and took off her hat from the Witch – how it didn't fall from her head will remain a secret forever. "What are you doing?" Megumin asked, slightly alarmed.

Putting the hat on her head, Alex lifted Megumin up a little and sat next to her head, then rested her head on her thighs. "I don't want to carry you anywhere right now, so we'll sit here until your strength returns." Alex replied and smiled at Megumin.

Two girls were sitting in front of a smoking crater where three giant toads once jumped. The scene was a bit strange, but neither of them wanted to think about it.

"You know, I think we should get a picnic blanket next time." Alex brushed the hair off Megumin's face just in time to notice her surprised expression.

Megumin was not one of the people that everyone wants in a party. Of course, she is famous, but not in a good way, many people knew her as a useless Wizard who couldn't do anything after one shot. She was ready to beg and ask for someone to take her to their party.

"We have three more toads left in the quest, but after that I don't think I'll ever return to this crap. They're just too weird." Alex muttered, not knowing what her words meant to the girl on her lap.