Journey to Godhood Begins in Frieren

"Megumin, why are you in my room?"

"It's… it's so scary!" Megumin clung to Shichen, trembling all over.

"What's wrong?" Shichen sat up and pulled her into his arms.

She was so small that holding her felt like cradling a harmless little animal.

"I-I just... saw a doll in my room! It wasn't there before! It kept staring at me, so creepy and scary!" Megumin shrank into Shichen's embrace, her voice trembling.

"A doll? Where did it come from?" Shichen gently patted her back to comfort her.

"I don't know!"

"Then I'll go with you to check—"

Before Shichen could finish speaking, he suddenly noticed in the corner of his own room, within the shadows, a Western-style doll that had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. It sat there quietly, staring calmly at him.

Thank goodness Megumin was here with him, or that sight alone would have given him quite a scare.

The Western-style doll was extremely elaborate. But in the middle of the night, in near-total darkness, those bright, wide eyes were downright terrifying.

It wasn't like he had a special fascination with dolls anyway.

Figures (collectible figurines) don't really count as dolls, right?

Perhaps for those who love dolls, dolls are like figures to an otaku—something precious, like a wife or a lifeline!

But the two groups probably can't understand each other.

"What's so great about dolls?"

"What's so amazing about figurines?"

It's a cultural gap.

"Shichen, what's wrong?" Megumin noticed the change in his tone.

"Don't be scared when I tell you this, but… there's also a doll in my room."

"Eek—!" Megumin clung to him even tighter.

Maybe it was because she was only wearing pajamas, but Shichen felt a bit of softness pressing against his chest.

Seems like this little girl does have something going on—just the faintest budding curves.

"Don't be scared. Don't be scared. It doesn't look like it wants to harm us," Shichen comforted.

"But… but it's still creepy!"

"Then let's go find Aqua. She can get rid of these dolls."

"Y-you'll carry me there!"

"Sure~ Aren't you a bit old to be afraid of dolls?" Shichen teased, shaking his head with a smile.

"Who's afraid of normal dolls? The problem is how it just appeared out of nowhere! There must be an evil spirit messing around!"

"Heh heh~"

"Don't laugh at me!" Megumin pouted and hit his chest in protest.

"Alright, alright, I won't laugh. Let's go find Aqua… Hmm?"

Just as Shichen was about to get out of bed with Megumin in his arms, the door suddenly opened. A soft figure slipped quietly into the room.

"Shi-Shichen…" Yunyun's voice sounded on the verge of tears.

"Yunyun? Why are you here too?" Shichen had thought maybe an evil spirit was bold enough to come looking for him.

"In… in my room… a doll appeared out of nowhere…"

"There's a doll in your room, too?"

"Yeah… Huh? 'Too'?" Yunyun froze, then noticed that someone was in Shichen's arms.

"H-Megumin? Why are you here?"

"Ugh…" Megumin didn't answer.

"Heh, same as you. A doll showed up in her room," Shichen explained for her.

"I see. So Megumin got here before I did…"

"It's not because I was scared."

At that, Megumin pulled away from Shichen's arms, stood confidently on the bed, hands on her hips. "I just anticipated you'd come, so I got here first to prepare. As expected, I was right!"

"Megumin, just admit you're scared," Yunyun said, her face expressionless.

"N-no way, I'm not scared!"

"…Shichen, what should we do?" Yunyun ignored Megumin and turned to him.

"Hey!"

"Let's go find Aqua. Her exorcism is pretty powerful."

Shichen had learned Aqua's exorcism techniques as well, but without her divine power, his effectiveness was limited.

Even though Aqua's divine power was weakened, she still had some. Her exorcism was possibly the most effective in this entire world.

"Okay."

"You're ignoring me too, Shichen?!"

Seeing the two of them walk off without her, Megumin shouted angrily, "Hmph, Yunyun, you learned advanced magic and now you think you're so great?!"

She quickly climbed off the bed and chased after them.

"Shichen, I'm not wearing shoes."

Shichen sighed and stopped, waiting for her to catch up before picking her up again.

"Hmph~" Megumin, now in his arms, raised her chin smugly at Yunyun, though Yunyun didn't even look her way.

Once they reached the girls' area, Shichen asked, "What about Darkness?"

"I don't know. She's probably fine, right?"

"Never mind, she can handle herself. Let's find Aqua first."

Shichen focused for a moment, sensing Darkness's location. He realized she was in her room, playing with the doll, apparently hoping it would do something to her.

She was beyond saving.

At least Kazuma was still sound asleep—like a normal person would be.

"Aqua's room is over here."

Following Yunyun's lead, Shichen—still carrying Megumin—walked into the innermost room, which Aqua had chosen. He opened the door without hesitation, but Aqua wasn't inside.

"Huh? Where's Aqua?" Yunyun looked around but saw no one.

"Downstairs," Shichen said, having picked up on her presence.

"Downstairs? Why would she go down there?"

"There must be more dolls on the ground floor. She's probably exorcising them first."

Surprisingly diligent of her.

"Should we go down, then?"

"W-would rather not…" Megumin whispered.

"Heh heh~ Megumin, you're scared, aren't you?" Yunyun teased.

"I-I am not!"

"Let's just wait here for a while. We wouldn't be much help down there anyway," Shichen said.

"In that case, let's do what Shichen says."

"I-I agree!"

After a long wait, Aqua finally returned.

"Whew… I'm exhausted… Eh? Why are all of you in my room?" Aqua asked as she walked in, noticing the three of them sitting on her bed.

Well, two of them were on the bed—Megumin was sitting on Shichen's lap, practically like a plush doll in his arms.

"You're back. All done?" Shichen asked with a smile.

"All done… yeah, I've exorcised them all. It was tough work," Aqua replied, wiping imaginary sweat from her forehead as if she wanted some praise.

"Really? I thought exorcisms were easy for you."

"But they were scattered everywhere, each one possessing a different doll. Getting rid of them one by one was pretty annoying," she complained.

"I see. Well, there's no helping it. It's kind of your fault to begin with."

"Right. My fault…!"

Aqua paused. She blinked at Shichen, looking anxious. "Y-you know about it?"

"Of course. I deliberately didn't put up a barrier because I wanted to see where all these evil spirits were coming from. Turns out they came from the public cemetery."

"Ahaha… so you figured it out." Aqua scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

"Huh? Evil spirits came from the public cemetery?" Yunyun asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Because some of Aqua's exorcism energy remained there, most of the spirits didn't dare stay. They ended up homeless and came to the town instead."

"What?! So this is all your fault, Aqua!" Megumin growled in anger.

"W-well, it's not entirely my fault, right? Thanks to me, we got this mansion cheaper, didn't we? We saved so much money!"

"…Don't you feel at least a bit guilty? That's basically tricking people. Some goddess you are," Megumin said, looking at her with scorn.

"Ugh…" Aqua fell silent.

"Alright, alright, Aqua may not have done it perfectly, but she still put in the effort. Don't be too hard on her," Shichen intervened.

"Shichen…" Aqua looked at him with tears of gratitude in her eyes.

"Tch, you always spoil her."

"As if I don't spoil you, too."

"Ugh…"

"Anyway, since Aqua's finished exorcising, let's head back to bed. It's late, and we have to buy more things for the house tomorrow."

"Fine."

"Aqua, get to bed soon. You'd better not oversleep tomorrow."

"I know, I have a ton of stuff I want to buy. No way I'd let you leave me behind."

"Alright, let's go." Shichen got up to leave.

"Wait!"

When Megumin reached the door, she suddenly turned and asked Aqua, "Aqua, you really got rid of every single spirit, right? Not a single one left?"

"Are you doubting me? Of course I exorcised them all… Well, except for one special spirit."

"E-except… one?" Megumin looked nervously at her.

"Don't worry." Aqua smiled reassuringly. "That's the spirit I mentioned before, the noble's illegitimate child. She's not harmful. The ones causing trouble were those wandering spirits, and I've already taken care of them."

"R-really?"

"Relax. Or are you… afraid?"

"Me? Afraid? Of what? Hmph! I'm going back!"

Without hesitation, Megumin left Aqua's room and marched ahead of Shichen and Yunyun, heading back to her own room in an exaggeratedly confident manner.

Shichen and Yunyun exchanged glances and shook their heads in amusement.

~~~

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