Cecil's Blacksmith Shop
Shaka took the lead as they entered, with the black cat following closely behind, clutching the cloth bag tightly to her chest.
"I'm back…"
Shaka weakly pushed open the shop door. Maintaining magic for such a long time had drained him completely, his eyelids drooping.
Suddenly, a sharp whistling sound tore through the air.
"Mjolnir Tornado!!!"
The nerve-shaking shout exploded next to Shaka's ear, followed instantly by a cold metallic impact slamming into his face.
"Hm—"
Boom!
Kacha!
Before Shaka could even react, his face collided head-on with a yellow warhammer. His body spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees before crashing into the weapon rack beside him. Stars danced wildly in his vision.
The black cat's eyes widened. In an instant, she pulled out a metal bomb from behind her back, her body tense and alert.
"Enemy attack!"
"YOU!!!" Cecil roared. "Do you want to tear down my shop?! Put that dangerous thing away right now!"
She had seen the oversized firecrackers Shaka had researched before. They weren't lethal, but they were more than enough to blow up a gate.
"Ugh… what just happened…?"
Shaka clutched his head and staggered to his feet. He took two steps before swaying dangerously one more wobble and he might have collapsed again.
Only then did he clearly take in the scene.
The black cat stood on full alert.
Dekomori lay sprawled flat on the floor.
Cecil covered her face in frustration.
And Astraea had a hand over her mouth, clearly suppressing laughter.
At that moment, Dekomori scrambled upright. She brushed off her spotless clothes, then dramatically pointed at Shaka.
"This is divine punishment, death! Abandoning one's own Servant and taking in some scoundrel from who-knows-where! Such betrayal deserves the wrath of the Thunder Hammer!"
As she spoke, a thin line of blood ran down from her bright red nose clear proof that she had just face-planted hard.
"Ugh… it hurts so much!"
Not even two minutes after her dramatic declaration, Dekomori was already squatting in a corner, clutching her nose and wailing.
"So…" Shaka pressed a hand to his aching head. "Can someone explain what exactly just happened?"
"Oh, really." Astraea laughed softly. "She just got a new weapon and got a little carried away."
Cecil looked utterly helpless and avoided Shaka's gaze.
Once she recovered, Dekomori sprang up again and marched straight to the massive golden warhammer. She bent down, teeth clenched, straining with all her might.
"So this is death! Dekomori is being acknowledged by a brand-new Noble Phantasm! Death! O Gate Master who betrayed the contract, become the sacrifice of my Noble Phantasm! Death!! Thunder—waaah"
Despite her passionate chant, Dekomori could only lift the hammer's handle slightly. Her entire body trembled, wobbling unsteadily, yet she stubbornly tried to swing it.
The warhammer was entirely yellow and nearly one and a half meters long. Its shaft was thicker than a tree trunk that would take two people to wrap their arms around. Even powerful warriors would struggle to wield it with ease.
"Ah. Now I get it." Shaka covered his face and roughly ruffled Dekomori's hair. "You little menace, cut it out already!!!"
"Ow! It hurts! Let go! It hurts!" Dekomori cried out, loosening her grip.
Thud!
The hammer handle slammed heavily into the ground.
"Cecil!" Shaka shouted.
"Yes?!"
"How could you give something this dangerous to a girl like her?!" Shaka scolded helplessly.
It was obvious Cecil had unconditionally fulfilled Dekomori's request to please the new member. Shaka could already picture the whole process.
While Dekomori indulged in her chuunibyou fantasies, Cecil enthusiastically modified the weapon without considering whether she could actually use it.
As a result, Shaka became the first casualty of Dekomori's barely wieldable Thunder Hammer.
"Seriously… my head is still buzzing…"
More importantly how could an NPC just hand out rewards so casually? At the very least, Dekomori should have completed a quest first.
I don't even have a weapon myself!
Shaka felt an unmistakable pang of jealousy.
"I'm sorry," Cecil apologized frankly.
Yet strangely, there was no remorse in her eyes. If anything, she looked a little pleased.
Shaka found a chair and sat down, rubbing his temples. Meanwhile, on the other side of the shop, the black cat and Dekomori had already started arguing.
"No matter what, you should apologize for hurting someone. The Descendant clearly isn't feeling well," the black cat said.
"It's none of your business, you philandering cat!" Dekomori snapped. "My bond with the GM will not be shattered by a mere hammer!"
"You felt it too, didn't you?" the black cat shot back. "Even in a game, this isn't something to joke about. Getting hit on the head with a hammer could ruin any friendship."
Dekomori glared, stepped back, and struck a dramatic fighting pose.
"Words are meaningless, Death! Since that's the case, we shall decide the victor through strength!"
The black cat instinctively retreated. "W-What?! What are you planning?!"
An astonishing aura erupted from Dekomori as she raised her arms, her back to the black cat, assuming a hammer-wielding stance.
"Explode, reality!"
"Hiss, such terrifying demonic energy…" the black cat backed away.
"Shatter, spirit!"
"Ee—!" Caught up in the momentum, the black cat also hurriedly took a stance.
"Banish this world!"
As Dekomori finished her incantation, an invisible aura enveloped the blacksmith shop.
And then
The little girls' battle began.
"Ding ding ding! Qiang qiang qiang!"
Dekomori added the sound effects herself.
They dashed past each other, striking exaggerated poses.
Moments later, the two were rolling on the ground like maggots, flailing wildly as if engaged in intense aerial combat.
Cecil stared, eyes wide. "What… are they doing?"
Shaka covered his face.
Astraea nearly burst out laughing. "Don't mind them. This kind of entertainment is quite popular among the gods. You can think of it as… fashion."
"Th-That's impressive i guess?!" Cecil exclaimed, confused yet oddly impressed.
What kind of nonsense are you teaching her, lady liah…?
Shaka shot the goddess a sharp look, then hurriedly intervened before Cecil could be completely assimilated.
"Never mind them. Tell me what did Dekomori do today?"
When asked, Cecil's expression darkened.
"Nothing too serious. She dragged me around to eat a lot of delicious food, touched every weapon in every weapon shop, and had a tailor barely manage to make her a strange outfit."
"She even slide-tackled other mercenaries."
"One of them tried to accuse us of breaking his hand and demanded compensation, but I exposed his scheme and he ran away."
"As for grabbing passing orcs or elves to touch their ears… I'll pretend I didn't see it."
"She spent the rest of the time pestering me to play some game with her. Oh, 'Greedy Blue Moon,' was it?"
"It's the Mad Moon Thunder Hammer Death!"
Dekomori suddenly popped her head into view and gently patted Shaka's head.
Shaka felt slightly relieved. Despite everything, Dekomori was still a good kid but,
"Where's the black cat?!"
"Hmph! A mere half-demon is no match for the Thunder Hammer Warrior!"
At that moment, the black cat was already rolling on the floor, covering her face, screaming and crying.
"Heh…"
Shaka's lips twitched. After being immersed in chuunibyou nonsense for so long, the embarrassment only hit after regaining clarity.
As expected, even someone as socially anxious as the black cat stood no chance against a true chuunibyou social terrorist.
However, one of Cecil's earlier remarks suddenly made Shaka uneasy.
"The mercenary you mentioned…" Shaka asked slowly.
"Was he bald, one-eyed, and covered in scars?"