A little delegation to get started on pranking with Fio.

"Whoo, that was some intense training!" Fio grinned as she walked into the inn with the rest of the party. "Though not as much for us as it was for them..."

Darkness looked at them, her face bruised and swollen all over. And she was grinning from ear to ear. "Tell me about it..." she crooned.

"...okay, that's just disturbing, hurry up and heal her Aqua," Kazuma blanched.

"Wait, no!" Darkness protested, but it was too late as Aqua cast the spell, returning her face to normal. "Ahh... The residual soreness is gone..." Darkness whined.

Kazuma made a mental note to figure out a way to hurt Darkness without giving her any physical marks, because signs of damage beyond reddened skin turned him off. Maybe some whip marks, but that was for much, much later if he had anything to say about it. And given that he was Darkness's Master, he did.

"Well, I'm going to go blow something up, coming Kazuma?" Megumin asked.

"Actually, Cremea, could you accompany Megumin this time for me?" Kazuma asked.

"Why me?" Cremea asked, blanching.

"Because I know you have the sense to not let Megumin blow up that Dullahan's castle again," Kazuma deadpanned. "Darkness is enough of a masochist that she might be tempted by the prospect of retaliation from him, Aqua has a grudge against him for robbing us of easy ways to make money, and I don't know Fio that well yet, but I'm not taking any chances with that prankster personality you brought up. And honestly, I need a break from carrying her, and it sounds like a good bonding experience between a new and old party member. I'll even pay you enough to repair your mace if that helps."

"You should be doing that anyway, the sparring was your idea!" Cremea growled, waving her battered weapon around. She had done a number on Darkness, but Darkness, just by getting hit repeatedly, had done even more damage to the mace to the point it was a miracle it was even still intac- Snap. Oh, there it is.

Kazuma and Cremea blinked as the wood shaft just under the head of the mace broke, and the dented head fell to the floor. "...tell you what, I'll buy you a new one, one that's at least a bit better than that one," Kazuma sweat dropped.

"Oh, oh! Get her one with spikes to use on me in training!" Darkness suggested.

"Hell no," Kazuma replied bluntly. Again, there was a limit to how much he'd indulge the masochism.

"Awww..."

"What. Is. Your. Damage!?" Cremea asked Darkness.

"I haven't TAKEN any damage since Aqua healed me. That's the problem!" Darkness pouted.

(Another little shout-out there!)

"Screw it, I'll take Megumin just to get away from the crazy for a bit, she's clearly the sanest one of you lot!" Cremea threw her hands up in the air.

"...the explosion nut... Really?" Kazuma deadpanned.

"I know what I said!" Cremea huffed as she and Megumin headed out. "At least an obsession with explosions is something I can understand! They ARE awesome! And by "sanest," I meant relatively!"

"...can't argue that," Kazuma admitted. Darkness and Aqua headed out to go to the hot springs for a bit. "Oh, Fio?" he asked.

"...what?" she asked nervously.

"How about pulling a little prank on those two?" he queried with an evil grin, pointing after Darkness and Megumin.

Fio blinked, before grinning back. "Tell me more..."