"Let me see what kind of cookies are in here." Jhin crouched down in front of the box.
The special loot dropped by the Doromu Colossus came in exquisite packaging — a pale blue cardboard shell covered in illustrations of every conceivable dessert, bound with a silky deep-purple ribbon tied into a neat bow. The moment he tugged the ribbon loose, it dissolved into motes of light and vanished.
He lifted the lid. Inside, nestled in rows, were palm-sized cookies with two-toned centers — red on one side, blue on the other.
"So these are the special ingredients?"
"What kind of effects do they have?"
"They smell amazing. I want to eat one right now."
Kokkoro, who had practically memorized the Monster Compendium, answered everyone's questions with a calm smile: "The special cookies dropped by the Doromu Colossus come in several varieties. The ones Master obtained this time are the most common type — they heal wounds and restore mana. Somewhere at the bottom of the box there should also be a purple-centered cookie with a combined effect."
The moment she heard 'restores mana,' Megumin perked up instantly, shooting her right hand into the air. "Kokkoro-sensei! Is the mana restoration on these cookies really strong?"
"That I'm not sure of. The Compendium doesn't give specific numbers. I'd imagine it can't match a high-grade mana potion for raw recovery — otherwise the Doromu Colossus would have become the most popular monster among mages long ago."
Megumin wasn't discouraged that the effect was weaker than she'd hoped. Any mana restoration at all meant there was a chance — however slim — that she could use Explosion magic twice in a single day.
What a magnificent thought.
One cast a day already felt incredible. Two casts? She didn't even dare imagine what that kind of bliss would feel like.
Jhin snapped the lid back on, tucked the loot box into his Storage Space, and dusted off his hands as he stood. "Let's head home before we dig in. One box is already a pretty generous amount — no need to hoard them as recovery items."
"You're the one who killed the monster, so you get to decide." Kyaru gave her tail a mildly irritated flick. This whole extermination request had been no different from a casual stroll in the park, and she couldn't shake the feeling that she'd just come along to watch.
Back at the house, Jhin, Megumin, Pecorine, and Kokkoro all gathered in a circle around the cookie box.
"Is everyone ready?" Jhin placed both hands on the lid and looked around at his companions.
"Ready!" came the chorus — three voices in unison.
"Alright then — let the Doromu Cookie tasting begin!"
Kyaru watched them carry on like a bunch of excited children and shook her head in resignation. "You're all hopeless. I'm stepping out for a bit — remember to save me some cookies. Don't eat every last one."
Megumin bit into a cookie — crisp, buttery, and rich with a deep milky fragrance — and stared in puzzlement at the direction Kyaru had gone. "Did something urgent come up? Is that why she left?"
"Probably not — she didn't look like she was in a rush."
"I remember her mentioning she feeds a group of stray cats somewhere in the city. She goes to check on them every day."
"Kokkoro, how do you know that?"
"During the period when Master and Pecorine were recovering, I noticed her slipping out at the same time every day. I got a little curious and asked her."
"Cats, huh... Want to follow her and take a look?"
Jhin delivered a light chop to the top of Megumin's head. "Don't even think about it. If she didn't invite us, we shouldn't barge in — what if the cats smell strangers and bolt?"
"Okay, okay, I get it — was the head-chop really necessary? Sheesh..." She pressed her left hand to the top of her head and redirected every last drop of her indignation straight into the cookie in her other hand.
Through rigorous personal testing, she determined that the blue cookies restored mana, while the red ones restored stamina and healed minor injuries. Both effects were gradual rather than instant, lasting roughly thirty minutes each. To fully restore her mana, Megumin calculated she would need to eat around twenty cookies and wait approximately ten hours.
That result made it abundantly clear that her dream of casting Explosion magic twice a day was not happening. At best, these cookies could serve as a handy little tool to get herself back on her feet faster after a single cast.
"Here, a cola for you."
"Thanks — but why didn't you grab it from inside the Capsule House?"
"I only had a few cans left, so I already moved them all straight from the fridge into my Storage Space. Why go to the trouble of opening up the Capsule House just for that?"
"Oh — right." Megumin had a moment of revelation, then pulled the tab with cheerful indifference and drained the entire can in one long, unbroken series of gulps. "Mmm~ that's the stuff!"
"No matter how many times I see it, I'm always amazed — you can chug a whole can of cola without burping even once." Jhin shook his head in genuine admiration.
Before he'd even finished the sentence, Megumin puffed out her little chest at him with a look of supreme pride. "That's my one-of-a-kind secret technique. Someone like you could never learn it — burp~"
The universe wasted no time. A warm blast of air carrying the buttery scent of cookies hit Jhin square in the face. Megumin stood frozen, mouth wide open, eyes trembling in their sockets — and the instant she realized what she'd just done, her face went scarlet with humiliated fury. She swept a dangerous glare across the rest of the group.
But every single one of them had their heads buried in their palm-sized cookies, chewing away with intense, deliberate focus. Her burning cheeks gradually cooled. She stood up, snatched the empty cola can, and marched upstairs. The sound of a door closing drifted down from the second floor — and only then did the three downstairs burst into laughter, the living room filling with warm, helpless cackling.
Jhin picked up his water glass and mimicked Megumin's smug tone from moments before: "Someone like you could never learn it — burp~"
"Hahahahaha — Jhin, stop, stop — my stomach — my stomach hurts from laughing so much—" Pecorine rolled around on the sofa clutching her sides, tears streaming down her face.
"This is my one-of-a-kind secret technique — I'm not stopping." Jhin pinched his voice up another register and did the impression again.
Kokkoro, who had been fighting heroically to hold it in, finally let out a rapid series of soft, deflating little laughs — like air escaping from a balloon — her shoulders trembling beyond her control. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of something: Megumin, glassy-eyed and radiating the aura of a vengeful spirit, had materialized silently behind Jhin at some point entirely unknown.
Kokkoro raised her hand to warn him — but every time she looked at Megumin's face she laughed harder, and when Jhin caught the gesture he only assumed she was applauding his performance. Encouraged, he struck a pose and launched into the impression one more time.
"~So that's what I looked like just now, huh."
A needle-sharp killing intent crawled up Jhin's spine from base to skull. He understood immediately: the sound of the door closing upstairs had been nothing but a trap. He didn't need to turn around to know she was standing right behind him — that bloodlust capable of skewering a person clean through could only be coming from one source.
Caught red-handed by the real thing, Jhin didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second. He bolted.
"You little jerk — freeze!"
"As if I'm that stupid! You think I'm just going to stop because you told me to?!"
"Stop running if you've got guts!"
"Stop chasing if you've got guts!"
"Fine! Fine!! Jhin, I am going to murder you today!!!!!" The shriek blew clean through the roof. A flock of birds scattered from the nearby trees in a panic. Megumin's eyes blazed with a crimson light, and the staff in her hand had been repurposed as a sacred sword of physical retribution — swinging through the air with terrifying force as she chased Jhin down.
____
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