19. Wiz's Shop

"He etched a delay timer and homing function on my barrier stick! So now you could throw the thing to someone else and it will fly to them! The way his eyes shone with focus when he etched those functions proved that Seth is a true master with a passion!" Hyoizaburoo spoke with tears.

"Dad, I know you deep enough to know that that is not enough to convince you…"

"Ahh… cat's out of the bag? Well… the true reason is, that I, Hyoizaburoo, the finest magic item craftsman in the revered Crimson Demon Village! Must admit that Seth's enchantment didn't disappoint!" 

"'My original plan was for the stick to create an indomitable dome of defense when slammed to the ground. You can imagine it! As you kneel in a cool pose, a wall of fortitude protects you from the enemy onslaught. Seth's iteration, while less flashy, has its charms."

He struck a pose, "Imagine! A crook has just stolen your pouch. Instead of chasing him, you casually tossed the stick and turned away cooly. The stick will fly towards that crook like a winged phoenix! The moment it arrived, BAM!!! Struck the man down and trapping him inside the barrier! A bit boring for my taste, but it has such a cool-guy rouge feel that I had to approve it!" Hyoizaburoo Gave a thumbs up.

"The tool's removal of air became an advantage because it suffocates them." Yuiyui added, "A fat noble passing by found it useful and bought it instantly. He might seem suspicious but money is still money. With this proof we allowed Seth to modify the other items we originally had for sale. Thanks to his tinkering, our items were being sold like hot cakes! Finally, we could finally repair the house, give Komekko proper clothing, and most importantly, have meat for lunch AND dinner!" Yuiyui spoke as a drop of tear trickling down her cheek.

"MASTER SETH!!!" Megumin Shouted with a turbulent mix of emotions on her face.

"For… bringing my family out of poverty… The great arch-wizard of explosion… thank thee from the deepest chasm of her heart!" Megumin face was complex, filled with shock, determination, and most importantly gratitude.

"It wasn't much, I also like to mingle with your dad's 'fascinating tools' They may be odd and questionable, but they have a heart in them."

"Even with such indulgent and haphazard reasons, I must still repay you!" Megumin answered resolutely.

"Then just do what I asked, learn other spells, and help Kazuma on his journey"

A flash of reluctance crossed her face but she still answered with vigor, "I Definitely will!"

"Now then, let's go to the shop."

—

Location: Wiz's Shop

"Here we are." Seth proclaimed as he pointed towards a decently crowded shop.

Seth smiled, "Looks like it's going well."

"So this is the place…" Aqua remarked.

"Meoww!" A cute black cat with wings suddenly jumped into Seth's arm and snuggled in. Seth. Seth responded by giving it the best head pats and rubs it ever had.

"Aw! Can I pet it? OWW!??" Aqua tried to pat its head but the cat instantly bit her hand. Chris (Eris) from the side somehow felt disgusted but she ignored it. 

"Chomosuke! You were here all this time?" Megumin questioned.

"Meow!?" Chomosuke the black cat jumped towards Megumin, giving her a few loving head butts at her. 

"So she's yours Megumin?"

"Yes, I remembered I left Chomosuke to a person named Yunyun, but to be here..."

"I see."

"What do you mean?'

"You'll see." Seth arrived at the door. when he almost opened the door, he asked.

"I almost forgot! Aqua, Chris, when you meet Wiz, promise me not to react violently, she may not look like it, but she is a good person deep down."

"Why would we?" Chris asked.

"You'll know." Seth opened the shop's door.

"Master Seth! Mr. Hyoizaburo! Mrs. Yuiyui! It's been a while," a sweet girl with black hair and red eyes arranged the trinkets on the shop's shelves.

"Yunyun!?" Megumin exclaimed.

"MEGUMIN!!!" She almost tossed the trinkets out of shock, luckily she composed herself quickly before that could happen.

Yunyun with an awkward smile greeted Her friend whom she hadn't met for a while. "Eh… surprise?" 

"Yunyun, I deserve an explanation," Megumin demanded as she appeared next to her. "I heard you went back to our village with Chomosuke, yet here you are..."

Beads of sweat trickled on Yunyun's face as she had nowhere to hide, "Um, Megumin, I... Forgive me for not telling you this sooner. I didn't mean to keep it from you. It's just... I didn't want you to think differently of me. I know we've always been rivals but I didn't want this to come between us. Working at Wiz's shop, it... It just happened, and I didn't know how to bring it up without making things awkward between us."

Megumin pulled both of them into a corner, away from Seth and the others. She whispered into her ears, "Can you tell me now?"

In a borderline nervous breakdown, Yunyun whispered it out, "You see! I was snooping around Wiz's shop because of the sudden surge in popularity and the items it sold. It's DEFINITELY not because there's a rumor that one of your party members came there sometimes! In the end, Wiz caught my snooping, but Instead of getting into trouble, Wiz requested if I wanted to work at her shop! Which then I accept. Days went by and I finally met the rumored man, Seth! Well actually, it was Wiz who introduced me to him. A few chit-chats later he decided to help me out on my path of magic. WAH! SORRY IF THIS COULD HURT OUR RIVALRY! He is your master after all! I tried to refuse at first but he insisted, he said it's a clairvoyance thing… Believe me Megumin! I have no bad intentions! That's how it happened!" After whispering all that, she turned her face away, not daring to look Megumin in the eye.

Megumin finally stepped away from Yunyun before saying, "Yunyun, listen."

"First of all, it kinda hurts to know that you hid something like this from me. You could have visited and told me this great news. Yet for at least a week, you hid yourself from me."

"It's not like that! It's just that my previous statement about going back to our village would become a big fat lie! I don't want you to think…"

"WHY SHOULD YOU APOLOGIZE FOR SUCH THINGS" Megumin harrumphed with glowing red eyes, Yunyun on the receiving end was confuddled.

"We are rivals remember!? you are training under a great wizarding master, Why be ashamed of such manners, for this arch-wizard has also accepted words of wisdom from the said master too."

"Don't you find it odd that…"

"You mean that we both received teachings from the same master. I don't condone or hate it." Megumin declared, ignoring the fact that the said master was still in front of them, Watching AND listening to all of this.

"Huh?"

"I think he hasn't told you, but Master Seth planned to leave this town."

"WHAT!? Master Seth!" Yunyun turned towards Seth, to which Seth nodded.

"He told me a few hours ago, I think he wants to tell you about this after he finished his business with Wiz." Megumin pointed out. "Anyway don't worry, he has ways to contact us, so his continued tutelage is guaranteed. Now if we work together and play our cards well, we could get more from him."

Megumin handed Yunyun a book that Seth had personally written for Megumin, filled with information about spells that can work with the advanced spell explosion.

Yunyun skimmed the book but slowed down with the flip of each page. The more pages she turned, the more focused and studious she acted. After closing the book she stammered, "Don't tell me…"

"Yes, Master Seth is truly that great. Moreover, he has also mastered the advanced spell explosion. Thanks to him, I decided to explore other spells, not just explosion."

"IMPOSSIBLE!!!" Yunyun immediately slammed her back to the racks behind her, shaking and in disbelief, just a bit more and her face became comic-like.

"Hey! Do you find it too unbelievable!? Well, you can thank Master Seth for that, he has successfully convinced me anyway." 

Megumin opened a page in the book and read it out, "Seth's amazing… this page said that enclosing an explosion, like covering all its sides with a barrier or earth magic walls, could increase its destructive forces. The simplified explanation is that you can treat an explosion like a temper tantrum toddler. Stop or slight it a bit and it will cry louder. Plus the flying debris can act as dangerous projectiles and such. I don't know if it truly works but I can't exactly refute it at all. Because of this book, I wanted to cast barrier or earth magic just to find out if it was true. So now I propose we work together to maximize Seth's tutoring. I may be a devout explosion arch-wizard but the thing this book spoken of is too intriguing to not delve into." 

From this, the girls ended up murmuring to each other while reading the book as if in secret. Or this would have been the reality if it wasn't for another person.

"Enjoying the book?" A male voice was heard.

"Seth!" both exclaimed at the same time.

"Sorry to disturb your moment but where's Wiz?"

"She's in the back, restocking and checking something."

"Ahh, she must be handling my order."

"What order?"

"It's for fixing your body." Seth pointed to Megumin

Megumin first looked confused before gasping, "DON'T TELL ME!"

"Yep, it's that thing. It will be used as your reward when you learn spells other than explosions."

"Before I forgot," he quickly called Megumin's father, "Hyoizaburoo, did you get the Potions I requested previously?"

"Sure do!" Hyoizaburoo exclaimed, he pulled out a chest.

Seth immediately opened the chest and laid out the myriad of potions inside it. He inspected them with magic but frowned at what he found.

"Hyoizaburoo, tell me honestly, were you the one who concocted these?" Seth asked.

"Oh, what do you think, do you like it?" Hyoizaburoo nodded.

"You know this is to help your daughter's body, so her body has a higher chance to become taller and more 'mature' right?"

"Yes, so I upgraded these potions and made them better."

"Sigh… look at this muscle potion. You made it so that instead of slowly enhancing and repairing muscles over time, you made it quicker by forcing the muscles to contract and relax on their own, basically simulating a workout to expedite the magic-based process."

"Yes, I reduced the time so you get results in a few nights instead of weeks, that's a huge upgrade. Plus I believe my daughter should earn those muscles."

"This will cause every muscle Megumin has to twist beyond its limit for those entire nights, causing agonizing pain." Seth took a drop of the potion onto his tongue. 

He lifted his calves, and shortly after they spasmed and contracted intensely, in rhythm with a person's heartbeat. His claves now resemble a tightly bound knot of rope 

Megumin seeing this stepped back in fear, "I don't think I could survive that."

Seth then presented a pink one, "And this beautifying potion, instead of just beautifying, also induces the drinker a lust-filled heat." Then he revealed a brown one, "This nutrition potion instead of providing enough sustenance for days with one gulp, also immediately adds two hundred pounds of fat to the drinker." With each description, Seth illustrated the horrible and weird side effects Hyoizaburoo's potion could cause on Megumin. With each potion, Megumin became more terrified, and the others became more worried. 

Hyoizaburoo receiving all this asked, "Seth it can't be that bad right? Their effects are just stronger than ever before!"

"Yes, honestly if we use these items now, the results will be even better than what I planned previously, but I think Megumin would be traumatized or physically broken afterward." 

Yet even with all these things against him, he has a solution, "I know a way out of it, a sleeping potion, also known as a knockout potion, the one that can make someone unconscious for days."

"Isn't that just a tranquilizer?"

"Yes it is," Seth confirmed and everyone frowned.

"Can't you just do your alchemy mixing thing to undo those side effects?"

"I would love to, but this selection of potions has been planned to be mixed into a single super potion with the ingredients I have requested from our lovely shop owner Wiz, they're gonna be the mixing aid and catalyst for all of these potions. Changing the potions now could cause unintended consequences, I'm just impressed that your dad's handmade potions don't cause disharmony with the previous mixing I planned, but just added these weird side effects." Seth spoke.

In the end, Seth ordered Megumin's parents to buy the tranquilizer from the market.

"Don't forget to buy the most potent ones, the more unconscious she is, the better!" Seth ordered.

Hyoizaburoo and Yuiyui obliged and they went outside with Komekko to start their search.

"Now that's settled, I will go to the back to check on Wiz." Seth declared.

A door from the back of the shop opened, Wiz called out. "Seth, you're finally here! The ingredients you wanted have arrived."

*STAB!*