A Hundred Girlfriends Who Really Love You... In Another World! 38 (Patreon)

"I've finally found you!" A sudden Megumin blue edition points at me. That is to say, we stumbled onto Lara in the way back. "Subaru Natsuki, we need to talk!" This is a horrible time for that though.

And therefore a variety of reasons for that. First is that I'm carrying the original Megumin with the power of a piggyback. We need to take her to Aqua so the priestess can check on her... She passed out after all, and her hair became white.

According to Darkness, her losing the ability to move after utilizing Explosion Magic is pretty normal, but this is certainly something new. And it goes without saying that my heart is now filled with worry.

The second reason is that I don't want to spend much time in the streets. All the guards aroud me are looking... strange. I don't know why, but I imagine they're concerned because they saw Megumin's magic in the distance.

The third reason is the one I care the least about, but it is still a reason. It's that the annoying guy who keeps pulling me into dream land told me to be wary of her. It was just like he said, I didn't really think about it until it became important.

That's why I have to reject her for now. "Sorry Miss Lara but this isn't the best time, I'm kind of in a rush right now." Man, I really am rejecting all the Megumins. Is there a Megumindex or something where I can record my activities?

Lara's eye twitches, I have a feeling that pissed her off... That said, whatever anger she has is quickly replaced with what I can only describe as pure smug. "What? Busy building statues...?" I'll kill Aqua eventually.

Darkness glares at her, she's currently carrying Megumin's staff, so her hands are busy, but if needed for a fight she could just drop it in the ground. "I do not believe what we are doing is of your business." Because the guards of the city are on high alert, so is my bodyguard.

Lara sighs. "Geez, sorry. It's just that of course I had to make fun of a guy when I learned he had statues of himself built." That's fair enough... Except I didn't pay anyone to build those! They were made by my stalker!

She raises a hand. "Anyways, I'm guessing this business of yours has something to do with that person you're carrying...? Look, whatever it is... Can't the blondie over there handle it? I need to talk with handsome over here." She called me handsome! Just like she did in the shop!

Darkness squints her eyes in the direction of Bluegumin. "So... you wish for me, his bodyguard, to leave so you can be alone with him? My apologies Miss Lara, but that will not be happening." Now that you said it... It's really suspicious.

Lara flinches, I guess she wasn't expecting. "I... didn't mean anything bad 'bout it, sorry. I didn't even know you were his bodyguard... To be honest, I barely remember your name... Darkness right?" The crusader nods, but there's something incredible strange about the Migurd's actions.

Oh, I know what it is. "Look Miss Lara, we can talk tomorrow okay? I just need to take Megumin over here to a doctor, let's just say she didn't have white hair until now, she's a crimson demon after all." She barely reacts to MMT's name.

This may be reaching, but isn't it strange that people like Darkness and Megumin, legendary heroes, are seemingly nobodies to her, but she's so focused on me? Yet again, I'm reminded by what that guy said... Yeah, I'm definitely wary now.

Lara sighs, but relents. "Fine. Just don't go... don't go building statues or whatever." We begin walking again. "And try to not get engaged to more people as well... It hasn't been even two months yet..." It's harder than you think.

Still, as Darkness and I pass her, I nod. "Yeah, yeah..." And then I stop talking, I just realized something. "What do you mean it hasn't been two months yet...?" Is she talking about me having arrived in this world? No way right...?

I turn around to look at her, she's smirking. "Heh, we'll talk about that tomorrow pretty boy..." And then her eyes widen. "Oh wait, just to confirm... You're staying at the Ranoa Magical Academy right...?" I hesitantly nod. "Man, I guess Subaru Natsuki is the type of person who would be accepted that fast." What is that even supposed to mean?

This girl is making me more and more confused as time goes on. If Megumin is a bright star that guides me out of NEETdom, this reverse-Megumin is a dark star that guides me into not understanding a damn thing.

But... there is one question I should probably ask. One that will more likely than not clear up tons of things, and it's also a question I'll probably forget to ask if I don't do it right now? So... why am I hesitating?

I swallow my doubt. "Hey Lara, have you ever heard of a human god?" I regret those words as soon as they leave my mouth. I instinctively understand I messed up as soon as I did it, almost like a child doing a crime and then getting caught immediately.

She clenches her staff tightly, I never noticed until now, but it looks very similar to the one Rudeus carries around. "Where did you hear about that?" She begins walking towards me.

Her expression isn't as smug as usual, it actually looks a bit scary, and since I do have survival instincts believe it or not, I begin walking back. I'm such an idiot, of course bringing that guy up was a bad idea! He told me to be wary of her, so they must be mortal enemies or something!

Darkness walks in front of me and puts a hand on her sword, she also drops Megumin's staff without hesitation. "Stop walking, and drop you weapon." She read the room and entered into serious mode instantly. Right now she looks like a gallant knight.

Lara scowls, she, predictably does not drop her staff. She does stop walking however. "Move out of the way bodyguard. I was willing to let this talk for later, but clearly I have been slacking off too much even for me." I have a feeling a fight is about to happen.

In that case I will have to turn tail and run, and hope that Darkness is strong enough to hold the mysterious mage until I can bring help... But then again, Lara knows Summoning Magic, so getting farther away from my bodyguard while the enemy can teleport is probably a bad idea.

For the first time ever Lalatina draws her sword. "I shall not move a single inch, wench." Did you just call her wench!? Are we in the middle ages or something...!? Oh wait, we totally are, aren't we?

Lara's eyebrows scrunch together. "Look you two, I don't know what he's been telling you two, but he isn't a guy a person should trust..." How do I know I can trust you? I do admit that Hitogami is extremely suspicious, but...

But what? It's not like he has helped me before. His pieces of advice were for me to not trust this loli who is my soulmate, but to obey what she said and go to Lugunica, and... and to call out the Witch of Envy when needed it.

Actually now that I think about it, isn't that even more suspicion put on his side? The Witch of Envy is like this world's final boss, any guy that acts like she's an ally is probably my enemy. And that isn't all... she's also an incredibly important figure to Lugunica. Which makes both of their insistences that I go there even more suspicious...

Just what do I do...? I guess... I guess I try to bow out as gracefully as I can. "Look, I don't know what you or that guy want with the Witch of Envy or whatever, but it's none of my business. Please leave me alone, because I don't trust either of you." I don't want to get caught in some grand conspiracy, I just want to... live a normal life.

Man, I can't believe I'm thinking that. I mean, isn't this what I should want? To get involved with a bunch of super powerful people so I can fight a big bad or something... Maybe... maybe if I had a cheat I would be excited. I don't though, so I will prioritize the people I care about, and the people I care about... care about me, so...! I don't want anything to do with this.

Lara gasps. "The Witch of Envy...!?" And now that she has shouted that name, everyone is looking at us with even more suspicion. "That bastard...! You can't let him release that monster, or whatever he is planning!" Well, I for one am planning on leaving.

I nod. "Yeah, I know. That's why I won't follow a single god damn thing that he tells me. I don't plan on following anything you say too of course... So please just leave me and my friend alone." I need to take Megumin to Aqua already...

Lara grits her teeth, she's becoming more and more frustrated as this conversation goes on. "You don't get it do you...? I can't believe you think someone like the Man-God would just let someone... leave. Sorry Subaru Natsuki, but it has been engraved at the stars from our birth that we would be in this mess together." Please don't bring up stars right now.

Darkness' eyebrow twitches. "Are stars the new symbol of being a weirdo nowadays? Are there stars otakus roaming around...?" Me? Please don't offend stars... "Anyhow, I do not know or understand this talk about gods or the Witch of Envy, but I'll say it one more time. Drop your staff, mage." A tense silence settles in.

Darkness is at an disadvantage, because while she is truly amazing as an Water Emperor, that also means she must wait for Lara to make the first attack. That said, since the Migurd is indeed a mage, she will basically warn us of her eventual attack with incantations...

Thankfully, this horrific pressure is cut by my usual savior. "What the hell is going on here!?" The terror of any mage, a master of the Sword God... Eris Greyrat enters the scene with a furious expression and a murderous aura.

And behind her there is a calmly smiling Wolbach. She isn't using her ears however, because right now she's Hornbach... "I'm also very, very curious..." She doesn't sound nearly as mad as Eris, but... her smile reminds me of something.

Ah, right, it reminded me of earlier today when Aqua was talking about killing childred. Also, it may be just my imagination, but are the guards that were slowly surrounding us, now slowly leaving...? Why would they do that?

I let out a sigh of relief and Darkness smiles. "This just got much easier..." Now that we have a combatant like Eris here, my bodyguard can completely focus on her amazing defensive skills, so she's feeling more confident for sure.

Lara however, simply clenches her staff tighter while looking at Eris. "Mom...? You really are here... why?" Is she calling my War Goddess her mother!? There's no way right, I mean Eris would have told me if she had a kid.

Eris spats, her rage not diminished at all. "Don't go calling for your mommy coward!" Was that really what she was doing? "Explain why you were about to fight my fiance and his bodyguard right now...! Before I break your jaw!" Lara's face pales at her threats.

I interject, I still hope I can de-escalate this. "Eris... we just had a misunderstanding okay? It turns out I know a guy who has beef with her or something. But we won't have any more problems, right Lara...?" Please take my olive branch, I don't want to see Eris changing your palette from Bluegumin to Redgumin.

However Lara is a dumbass who desires death, so she glares at Eris. "You...! How did this happen!? I don't get it at all!" And then her glare shifts back to me. "Seriously, what did you do!?" Nothing...? Actually... now that I think about it, you were freaked out by my engagement...

And Eris won't simply accept such hostility. "What are you talking about brat? Make it clear before I beat you up!" Man, she's even more agressive than usual, did she do something with adrenaline...? And now that I take a good look at her, she is sweaty...

Lara looks away. "You...!" And then she looks back to the red head. "What are you thinking!? Don't you love Rudeus Greyrat!? You were willing to throw your life away for him right!? So why am I now hearing that your engaged to Subaru Natsuki!?" Are you... Rudeus's half-sister or something?

I didn't really think about before, but you are both very similar looking to him, and apparently very lrotective of him. That said, surely if she was a sibling Rudeus would have already told her what happened? And why call the Quagmire by his full name?

Eris shrugs. "Who says I'm not willing to die for Rudeus?" For a moment there's hope in Bluegumin's eyes. It dies very fast. "He's like a brother to me after all, anyone who is his enemy is my enemy." I'm hoping that I'm not on that list...

Lara's lips are trembling. "B-but what about... what about... I... Everyone always told me how you deeply loved him, so how could that change so fast? I just don't get it..." Eris seems indifferent to her question.

So Wolbach acts as the perfect angel as usual. "Oh Missy... I don't know why you're so invested in this, but sometimes people just fall out of love and then in love with another person. That doesn't mean Miss Eris suddenly hates this Rudeus Greyrat... and I'm sure he doesn't hate her as well!" She finishes that with a comforting smile.

Eris nods. "Yeah, I don't know if this... whatever is happening here is because I ended my relationship with Rudeus, but don't worry. He's doing just fine, he even got a an elf girlfriend now or whatever." That won't last forever if I have anything to say about it... Not the time man.

Lara silently mutters. "At least that's still going..." And then she goes back to her normal tone. "Whatever. I know you Eris Greyrat, I know there's no one you love more than Rudeus, so I'll just be waiting for you to go back to him." Are you his number one shipper!?

Wolbach claps her hands. "Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I suppose! Even when they're dumb little girl putting their noses where they don't belong!" Wow, Lara is acting so bad that even my perfect evolved angel became passive agressive!

The Dark Goddess then looks at me. "Now that this is done with, why are you carrying a white haired Megumin, Dear?" I can't help, but notice that Lara raises an eyebrow at the dear part. I guess that's because she thinks I'm only engaged to Eris.

But that doesn't matter right now. "Ah, Megumin did something strange with her Explosion Magic, so I'm carrying her to Aqua so she can check it out..." I hope Wolbach doesn't get offended by that. These goddesses are natural enemies after all.

Wolbach nods. "I see... I think I might have an idea what it is, but you're right that Aqua can be useful for once." She's willing to put her differences with the Water Goddess aside for the greater good... How is she violent again!? "So I'm guessing you made up with my pupil?" I nod, and receive a smile in return. "Very good then!" Seriously, sloth and violence!?

Eris growls in frustration. "I can't believe my break up with Rudeus is slowing down someone's medical treatment. Even if it the brat who doesn't know a good man when she sees one." I have a feeling Eris will never see Lara eye to eye from now on.

Well, I'm hoping to never see Lara again in general. It's clear that she's involved in something beyond my comprehension... And maybe she's trying to involve Rudeus and Eris into it too. It goes without saying that I won't simply allow that.

That said, I'm surprised that the Human God didn't get mentioned after Eris' appearance. "Actually Eris this conflict escalated because Subaru cited some sort of human god." And Darkness has now ruined everything. Great. Just great.

Eris stays strangely silent, while Lara begins to elaborate. "Yes! You all must not trust him! Specially you Subaru, you see, I accidentally summ-" And then she gets silenced by a punch to the cheek. Her small body goes flying out through the air, landing against the wall.

She's definitely not dead, but she's passed out. And the person who landed that punch was Eris of course. "Don't even start with Human Gods or whatever. In fact, the Dragon God can go die in a ditch." Oh, boy.

Wolbach gasps. "Miss Eris... No violence in front of Subaru!" That's what you're worried about!?

Eris sighs. "Whatever..." And then she looks at me. "Let's take the little brat to the delusional woman already..." Are we just gonna let Lara passed out here...? I guess I did abandon her that one time she was vomiting...

We might be cursed to be enemies or something at this point.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

Aqua pats Megumin's head. "You're all okay now, Megumin!" And then she glares at Wolbach. "No thanks to you of course. As expected of Sloth, useless to the very end." And now that the danger has passed the Priestess is picking fights for no reason.

Wolbach rolls her eyes, thankfully she doesn't take the bait. And so Megumin asks the question that is on everyone's minds. "So... what's wrong with me? Am I gonna have white hair forever? Did I unlock some secret power!?" If you did, that's not fair. I am the one who has been begging for some type of secret power!

Aqua shrugs. "Whether you keep the white hair or not... is up to luck. Some people with your condition eventually do regain their natural color, but some don't." So Whitegumin could be permanent... "And speaking of your condition, no, you didn't awaken any secret power." Yes! I mean, oh no...

Aqua continues, she sounds surprisingly serious. "You simply strained your body by using way too much mana, even more than you usually do. This means you should take a rest from using any magic for a while... Honestly, what happened to you isn't that rare, though it could have been fatal if you kept pushing it." S-she could have died!?

The Water Goddess crosses her arms. "I'm surprised the Crimson Demons don't learn about this in school. You guys are supposed to be know it alls and stuff, but whatever I guess..." Well, if they knew, and this can be fatal...

In my mind, I conjure the mental image of thousands of little Megumins. All of these MMT's want white hair, so they all use their manas to their limits... And then they all kick the bucket. That's probably why the Crimson Demons don't teach about this in schools.

Megumin smiles and looks at her own hands. "So I pushed myself to my limits huh?" She giggles. "Well, I'll be resting for now then! It appears not even Explosion Magic can extinguish a star!" That should be fairly obvious!

Wolbach pats her head. "You do that... Now Subaru, explain what happened back there, before Miss Eris snaps..." She is looking pretty pissed, calmly waiting in a corner. I still can't believe she just punched Lara like that...

Aqua raises an eyebrow. "Huh? Did I miss something besides Megumin's sudden love for Tokyo Ghoul?" Please stop referencing stuff that only a few people understand... Also, I don't even want to think about a Megumin who eats human flesh.

I sigh. "Well, I got into a fight with a mage. The reason why that happened is that I brought up a certain god..." Aqua's eyes widen. "You see... when I died for the first time, this Human God visited me. I then forgot because it was like a dreamscape or something." Now I won't though, since he's being brought up so much.

Honestly that guy is so troublesome. "I brought him up though, because he specifically warned me to be cautious of that Lara girl, so our conversation became clear on my mind... He has only visited me two times by the way, and the advice about the girl was fairly recent..." I'm just glad I finally get to talk about this...

Wolbach scowls. "I see what's happening here. This god is probably some annoying prankster trying to convert you, I'll keep watch over your dreams for now on..." Right! You are a goddess of sloth after all! "Sorry for the invasion of privacy!" But I seriously can't understand the violence part!

Eris spats. "I doubt he's some random prankster, I've heard of him before... from Rudeus." Really!? That bastard!? Just more proof that Hitogami isn't good company. "It was from back when we were traveling together... We stumbled onto the Dragon God Orsted." From Megumin's religion!?

She grits her teeth. "For some reason Rudeus questioned Orsted about him, and as soon as he did, the Dragon God attacked us. Even to this day I don't know why he didn't kill us... What I do know is that Rudeus was visited by this guy in his dreams too..." So I should definitely talk with Quagmire about him...

I take a deep breath. "And there's one more important piece of information about him... He told me that if I was ever in danger, I should call the Witch of Envy for help, by her real name..." I won't say it outloud, for obvious reasons...

A tense silence enters the room after that declaration, but thankfully nobody is sending me suspicious looks. If anything we are regretting that we didn't bring Lara for further questioning, but... I do know where her shop is at least.

And I think she's some sort of NEET too, because she seeming only learned about my statues after meeting me. So I think she also only left the shop to search for me... I wonder if all Megumins are NEET's.

The silence of the room is broken by someone knocking on the door. It immediately makes my heart race, it goes without saying, but usually in a situation like this in a movie, the moment we opened the door something bad would happen.

However, that tension is ripped apart the moment we hear the voice from who's knocking. "E-excuse me!? I heard Megumin is staying here...!" It's soft and calming, not as angelic as MMT, but it's not bad either.

And speaking of MMT, her jaw hits the floor. "N-no way... There's no way that loser followed me all the way here right...?" You're immediately calling this stranger a loser!? I see even angels can be mean.

Still, since Megumin clearly knows this person, I open the door. "Hey...?" What appears on the other side is... Megumin with big boobs!? Are they trying to clone and then modify my angel!?

The blushing red... MMT...? Refuses to make eye contact with me, strange as normally that's what I do. "Um... is Megum-?" She notices the Arch Mage in the corner of her eyes. "You are, I finally found you!" And then she gasps. "And you went and became a delinquent!?" It was a medical accident actually!

Megumin's eye twitches. "H-hey... is this really happening? Did I hit my head when I fell by using Explosion Magic and now I'm in a coma or something?" That's definitely not it! "What the hell are you doing here Yunyun!?" That name... could this be YMT? Well, without a doubt she's a Crimson Demon.

She tries looking everywhere to avoid Megumin's gaze. "It just that...!" And inevitably she ends up making eye contact with me, and I don't resist it either, since she's an angelic demon...! Too pure for this world.

A shock runs through my body. "It's just...!" Her face gets redder, and... "I...!" Redder... "Um...!" And redder, and then she passes out.

Wait, ain't that bad!?