made it tick! I thrust out one hand, but the Ninnin expertly backflipped through the air.

It left only a red

trail of light from its monocular behind it. Seeing how awesome it looked, I felt even worse about its
name. As for my outstretched hand…

“Kazuma, this is no time to be playing around! If you’re that desperate for panties, I can give you some
later. Thoroughly washed, of course!”

…I was looking right at Megumin’s black underwear clutched in my fingers.

“Hey, there’s no point if you wash them… I mean, that thing was just too fast! Dammit, and I used my
Bind wire on the Fenrir…” No, wait, that was it! “The panties, that’s the answer! Megumin, give me your
bra, too! I can tie them together into an improvised rope…”

“Are you still drunk?! There is no way you can tie it up with those!

Kazuma, behind you!”

I threw myself to the side and saw a flash where my head had been an instant before. The Ninnin had
gotten behind me without me even realizing it and aimed a knife-hand strike right at my neck.

“Damn you! Don’t start thinking ninjas get to have all the fun in a dark forest! The NEETs come out at
night, you know. You’re not the only one who gets stronger this time of the day!”

As soon as I turned around, the Ninnin was already gone again. Did it have the Ambush skill, too? It
turned out that having a spy (of sorts) like myself for an enemy was no fun at all.

“I know you think you look really good, but you aren’t very cool! I knew you’d sobered up! You’ve lost all
your flair from earlier!”

“Sh-shut up and chant! I want a do-over! My name is Kazuma Satou. The man who sees in the dark,
hides in the shadows, and makes off with the treasure! And my work shakes the world!”

“That’s a little better, but the thing you’re holding makes it worse!” Ignoring Megumin’s chatter, I
worked Sense Foe as hard as I could.

“Found youuuu!” “…?!”

The Ninnin appeared behind me, but its hand stopped before it reached

me. I might not have had a sword, but I did have…

“You are the worst! For the life of me, I can’t tell if you’re incredibly awesome or absolutely despicable
tonight, Kazuma!”

“Pipe down—I’m at the end of my rope here! I’ll do whatever I have to!”
Okay, so it wasn’t exactly catching a bare blade between the palms of my hands, but the Crimson Magic
Panty Parry would have to do. Apparently, the Ninnin’s commitment to not harming the Crimson Magic
Clan extended to their possessions. When it saw the black underwear I’d held up, it stopped moving…

“Hrrrgh?!”

Metal hands and feet hit me in the stomach in a blinding flurry of kicks and punches.

“Kazuma?! The Ninnin really is a deadly opponent! It moves too fast to target, and it won’t get away
from you, so I can’t target it anyway!”

I spat something bitter in the Ninnin’s direction. Maybe it had every robot’s fear of acid attacks, because
it backed up just a little. “N-not bad, kid. I’m impressed that even in the middle of the night, you
managed to— Marrrghhh!”

“I think it’s time we gave up on the cool act!”

It’s okay; I hardly feel this attack… I’m only throwing up because I drank a bunch and then we ran all
over…!

“Nope… Sorry, it turns out I can feel it… Megumin, don’t use your spell. I won’t be able to move for a
while, so you need to get back to town… It should let you go, so go wake Aqua and get the rest of the
village…”

“I’m not going to leave you here! And I’m not good at doing the reasonable thing!” Maybe she was
hitting that rebellious age, even if it was a little late. Megumin readied her staff. The Ninnin paid no
attention to her but advanced on me where I had collapsed to my knees, clutching my chest. Then it
stuck out a hand toward me…

Megumin threw her staff as hard as she could and flung herself in front of me to cover me.

“First Aqua, now you. Why doesn’t anyone think around here?! A wizard shouldn’t throw away their
staff!”

“The Ninnin is preparing to use its special explosion magic! If it hits you, Kazuma, you won’t survive!
There won’t even be a body left!”

Ah, now I got it. She was counting on the Ninnin’s refusal to attack her to protect me.

…It happened at that moment. The Ninnin, its hand still outstretched, turned its red mechanical eye on
us and spoke. “Type confirmed: Japanese riajuu with cheat—harem. Upon departure of augmented
subject: Crimson Magic Clan member, Explosion will be executed.”
“Hey, I heard that! Cheat? Harem? Cheat harem?! So the bastard who cooked you up wanted to destroy
all the cheaters and harem havers! In that case, targeting me was a huuuge mistake!”

“I don’t know what has touched such a nerve with you, Kazuma, but please hold still!” Megumin was
trying desperately to cover my flailing form with her little body.

My body temperature felt a little bit high as I tried to figure out how to break this stalemate. Honestly,
my chest hurt. I suspected I had some fractured bones in there. Ah, the ol’ cracked rib.

Why was that thing so hell-bent on using Explosion to off me, though? I knew it couldn’t harm Crimson
Magic Clan members, but if it just shoved Megumin aside, it could have easily finished me some other
way.

“Megumin, you notice how that thing isn’t moving? Even though it could kill me easily if it just jumped at
us?”

“The Mad Bomber blows things up; that’s why they call it that. It’s a terrifying monster who targets
those with black hair and dark eyes whose parties are composed entirely of women, telling them to
explode!”

“It’s just a riajuu hunter? That’s bullshit! Megumin, cover me! I’ll use Steal to pick out every component
that thing has!”

“That’s all well and good, but don’t get careless and use it on me instead, all right?! I’m not wearing
panties anymore, so I don’t know what might be next! If you steal my robe, I’ll be naked from the waist
down!”

“If that happens, I’ll take responsibility! Here we gooooo! Steal! Steal!

Steal! Steal!!!”

The Ninnin reacted immediately to my shouting: It disappeared. But I had something nice and heavy in
my hand…!