Haruto really tried pushing down all the dissatisfaction and the anger bubbling up inside him and forced out a smile.
But it was clear as his face darkened with each second passing by.
'This anger…' Megumin thought with a shudder.
'He seems worse than Kazu-trash.'
'I need t- no! I must pacify him! Somehow!! Otherwise, who knows what he'll do!! What if that old fart was saying the truth about everything!!?'
Megumin looked straight down but quickly looked back up after cursing Yunyun involuntarily before gripping her staff tightly and slithering directly by Haruto's side.
'She teleported!?' Haruto nearly choked and blacked out once again when he saw how fast Megumin moved since it nearly gave him whiplash.
"Haruto-sama!" Megumin said softly, her eyelids fluttering constantly as if to signify her 'beauty' and 'appeal' to Haruto while pushing herself up against his arms with the staff between them.
Haruto's head turned slowly to look up at Megumin since she was a head taller than him, for now.
Yet, even as Megumin stood beside Haruto, she could feel anger rolling off of him in waves.
But as Megumin wrapped herself around Haruto's arm what she hadn't realised was that Haruto was no longer angry.
In fact-
'Why the hell is she acting like this!?'
'Is she coming closer to kill me!?'
'No! She shouldn't have any assassination skills! She only ever invested in her Explosion Magic!'
'How is she even still here!? Shouldn't Aqua have revived her if she died!?'
'...and I distinctly remember her never collapsing from exhaustion like she originally did when she cast her Explosion!'
'So does she have infinite mana!?'
'But then why is she cozzying up to me so much!?'
Megumin's eyes looked directly at Haruto, but as they focused a little closer to a point in between them, her eyes widened with fear.
[The host has been angered by his resident!]
[If the host is not calmed down, the resident will lose their privilege and be forced to evacuate into the cycle of reincarnation once again.]
As soon as Megumin read those words, she shuddered mentally.
'No way! That old fart was telling the truth!?'
'Aqua truly abused her ability by reviving us more than once!?'
'But why do we have to be punished for Aqua's actions!?'
'Kazu-trash was right for once!!'
'She's a Baka Megami!!!!!'
Haruto, meanwhile, noticed Megumi's fright and reasoned with himself.
'Perhaps she's afraid I can do something to her?'
'Can I do something to her?'
'Can I control this space and strike her down with a bolt of lightning? Zeus?'
Haruto tried but other than making a constipated face, which only further aggravated Megumin, he achieved nothing.
And so, Haruto finally took in the first deep breath after he'd paused breathing while trying to create a lightning strike and exhaled out his troubles.
'Whatever…I guess it's something related to the system maybe?'
'Either way, I can not let this opportunity go.'
He then turned to Megumin and spoke softly.
"Megumin, right?" Haruto asked and Megumin nodded like a chicken pecking at its food buried in the ground.
"You've angered me. Very much."
Megumin shuddered.
"But since I'm magnanimous…"
Megumin's eyes lit up with hope.
"...I shall forgive you if you teach me Explosion magic." Haruto said calmly, his eyes firming into a no nonsense stare.
Megumin's face froze all of a sudden before she opened her mouth, looked at Haruto's face and then closed it back with a hesitant expression.
Haruto noticed and finally after waiting for a whole minute and seeing things go nowhere with Megumin only looking more and more incomprehensibly diseased with Chunnibyo as she stood in a tragic pose, he looked at her with an annoyed expression and spoke boldly.
"You have something to say to me!?"
Megumin, having already let go of Haruto and looking like she was an angel of god about to reveal the dark truth about the creation of the world, nodded after matching his gaze.
"Then speak already!"
Megumin looked at Haruto and then *sighed* exhaustingly before speaking, "....While the Dark Lord might not be able to immediately comply with Lord Haruto's request because of the strange contract that binds him to you through me, I can issue you quests to grant you my abilities that are of equal value!"
By the end Megumin's voice turned into a firm declaration as she realised that Haruto was not as irredeemable as Kazuma and could be 'reasoned' with.
In reality however, Megumin was gambling.
'If that old man wasn't lying when he explained what he was signing me up for, then as long as I help this boy in front of me defeat the demon king of his world, I should be able to return!'
'But with no way to figure out how quickly that will happen and with no idea about how fast Aqua can save me from here…the only thing I can do is to delay becoming useless for as long as possible like that Baka Megami!!'
'I! Megumin will help this brat contend with the heavens!'
Megumin's eyes brightened slightly at the thought, but then a strange thought sparked up in her mind.
'...Darkness would enjoy this, wouldn't she…being useless…'
A bitter smile formed on Megumin's face at the remembrance of her closest comrades, but she hid it quickly before Haruto could realise anything was off.
And so, Haruto knew nothing about him becoming a 'hero' in any way while he reasoned about the system through Megumin's seemingly honest words.
'Hmm…I see… so that's what the grievance template system is about?'
'I do the quests these template characters give me, and I get a reward for that?'
'And the reward will be their abilities?'
Haruto's gaze fell on the crater that was a few kilometres wide or long, and felt a slight ember of hope burning in his heart.
'Maybe…I can rest easy in this life?'
'And then maybe…I can find a way to return home once I meet the right characters?'
Haruto turned back to look at Megumin, and after looking deep into her eyes for a few seconds, nodded slightly.
"Alright. You can issue me a quest."
Megumin nodded and then almost immediately as she did, Haruto heard it!
[Ding! A new quest has been issued to the host!]
Haruto focused his mind's eye to look at the ultra realistic table in his mind, where he saw a new notification pop up on the mission page card.
He focused on it and was greeted with a page with one new mission.
===
Mission Aim : Make an explosion large enough to impress Megumin.
Mission Assigned By : Megumin.
Mission Reward : Megumin explosion magic level fire release talent.
===
Haruto's expression cracked as he read the mission details.
'...an explosion large enough to impress Megumin?'
Haruto's gaze immediately fell on the giant crater behind him and then on Megumin.
His gaze was listless, as if asking-
'Are you being serious?'
But Megumin, unable to read the situation or just pretending not to quickly raised her right hand to the sky and the other to her revealed eye as if containing a grave power behind it.
"Ha!"
"My disciple!"
"The path of Explosion Magic is tough!"
"The path of Explosion Magic is grand!"
"And above all!"
"The path of Explosion Magic is packed with explosive surprises once after another!!!"
"So if you're unable to deal with even something as simple as this, you don't deserve to walk the path of a disciple of a Crimson Demon Arc Wizard who has gained mastery over the magic that rules them all!! Explosion Magic!!!"
Haruto's gaze remained listless even after the suspicious spiel but when he saw Megumin unrelenting, his anger returned with full force.
Partially because he truly was angry, partially because his emotions as a teenager from his past life still swung around like a chaotic pendulum, but mainly because he wanted to see if there truly was a force in place that would force Megumin to loosen her 'noble' restrictions.
Megumin shivered as a new notification appeared in front of her about Haruto's anger and then *coughed* loudly a few times before sending a suspicious glance around, as if afraid that someone was listening as she spoke softly, in secretive whispers.
"Erm…I understand that an apprentice cannot surpass their master as easily without help…so as long as the explosion truly moves my heart! No matter its size! I shall acquiesce!!! I shall not stop a disciple truly devoted to the art of explosions from pursuing the noble pursuit of Explosion Magic!!! As long as it has heart, even the tiniest of sparks has the ability to ignite the world!!!"
Haruto almost impulsively felt the need to shout 'Youth!!' for some reason but he suppressed it and glared at Megumin and after a few seconds stopped trying to extract anymore out of this situation since he'd already realised whatever his 'feeling' angry had done earlier was running out.
'If there's something binding her to keep things fair, it's even more likely that there's something binding things to me to keep things fair for the template characters that are picked to be here…'
'I don't want an unnecessary nerf from the 'author' of the system to make my life unnecessarily cruel with my next draws or even missions....' Haruto cursed, looking at a random spot in the world as if it were a viewing 'screen' behind which several people were looking into his life.
And so, Haruto finally relented.
"Alright…I shall try my best." Haruto said softly, causing Megumin to relax first before she quickly gathered herself and postured once again!
"You have accepted my grand offer, from today you shall be called the Demon Drenched In Crim-"
Haruto left immediately.