After spending the night resting in the house he had rented, Izumi led the group out early the next morning to officially begin their adventure in this world.
Their first stop was the Adventurers' Guild.
Despite the early hour, the beginner town was already bustling with activity. Many of the people crowding the guild hall were students from Izumi's school, their faces filled with excitement and curiosity as they browsed the quest board.
Among them—
Kazuma Satou was already there.
He had somehow blended into the crowd with alarming speed, chatting happily with several newcomers as if they were old friends.
Just from that alone, it was obvious how absurdly high his social adaptability was.
He had only arrived in this world recently, yet he was already on friendly terms with half the room.
Izumi waved at him briefly before turning to Katō Megumi, Eriri Spencer Sawamura, and the others.
"You guys go check the quests first," Izumi said casually.
"Don't bother looking at anything in the plains."
"There aren't any monsters left there."
"Look for forest-related quests instead."
The girls stared at him in silence.
And whose fault is that, exactly?
They all knew perfectly well who had wiped the plains clean.
Still, despite wanting to complain, they moved toward the quest board anyway.
Le Fay Pendragon and Kanase Kanon stayed behind with Izumi.
Unlike the others, those two would be traveling with him to other worlds.
Megumi, Eriri, Asia Argento, Tohsaka Rin, and Tohsaka Sakura would remain here for a while—learning skills and earning skill points.
Leveling in this world was very different from theirs.
While killing monsters did raise levels, the actual increase in combat strength only became noticeable much later.
That sluggish growth was precisely why Izumi disliked staying here too long.
After splitting up, Izumi began his own search.
Today's objective was simple:
Find Megumin—and locate Eris.
Izumi scanned the guild hall, then suddenly walked straight up to the reception desk and posted a request.
[Missing Person Request]
Name: Megumin
Description: A short-haired Crimson Demon girl wearing an archwizard's robe.
Has an obsession with Explosion Magic and enjoys blowing things up.
If found, please inform her that her father is looking for her.
Reward: 1,000 Eris
Izumi nodded in satisfaction after rereading the request.
Perfect.
Le Fay, however, stared at it with a twitching eye.
"Izumi-sama… you're definitely doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"There's no way this will work."
Izumi chuckled.
"Relax. It'll work."
"People in this world are all… special."
"Someone's bound to have seen her."
With that, he handed the request to the receptionist and watched it get pinned up on the board.
Only then did he turn and leave the guild.
As they walked, Le Fay and Natsuki asked curiously,
"Izumi-sama, why are you looking for this Megumin?"
"Is she special?"
Izumi nodded.
"Very."
"She's a girl who specializes exclusively in Explosion Magic."
"So obsessed with it that she must cast it once a day."
"A true one-shot specialist."
"Her Explosion Magic scales directly with how much mana you pour into it."
"If I were the one casting it…"
"I could probably blow up the entire planet."
His eyes sparkled with interest.
Explosion Magic was absurdly powerful.
Megumin herself had immense innate mana—but she always exhausted it completely in one cast, which was why she collapsed every time.
Izumi, on the other hand?
Mana was the one thing he had in excess.
Le Fay's interest was immediately piqued.
"That kind of magic really is incredible," she admitted.
"I'd like to see it myself."
Any mage was weak to overwhelming destructive spells.
She was no exception.
But then she sighed and muttered,
"Izumi-sama… please stop talking about blowing up the planet."
"That's not something people should say so casually."
"You're really going further and further down the path of an explosion maniac."
Izumi simply shrugged.
Truth be told, he didn't actually need Megumin to learn Explosion Magic.
If that was his only goal, Wiz would be more than enough.
The former Demon King General's Explosion Magic was no weaker—and she had countless advanced spells worth learning.
Izumi mainly wanted to meet Megumin.
He was genuinely curious how she would react after witnessing his celestial-scale magic circles.
If done right, he might even trick her into studying under him.
With that thought, Izumi changed direction.
First, he'd pay Wiz a visit.
And while wandering the town, maybe he'd also run into Eris.
The town had grown lively by now.
Students from another world were scattered everywhere—shopping, accepting quests, preparing for combat.
Along the way, Izumi spotted familiar faces.
Yukino Yukinoshita, Yui Yuigahama, Asagi Aiba, and a small party of girls were walking together.
They noticed him too and waved.
Especially Yui, who cheerfully called out,
"Izumi-kun! Le Fay-chan! Natsuki-chan! Ohayō~!"
"Want to do a quest together?"
She looked genuinely thrilled to be in another world.
Izumi rejected the offer without hesitation.
"No thanks. I'm looking for someone to learn magic from."
"You guys go on ahead."
After a brief farewell, Izumi headed toward a quiet item shop tucked away in a side street.
Le Fay and Natsuki waved goodbye as well and followed him.
Yukino watched Izumi enter the nearly empty shop, her eyes narrowing slightly.
She memorized the shop's name.
That place must be special.
And if Izumi mentioned learning magic, then whoever was inside likely wasn't ordinary.
After one last glance, Yukino led her group out of town toward the plains—only to be greeted by an empty field devoid of monsters.
The grass swayed gently.
Nothing else remained.
The students stood there in stunned silence.
"…Did we come to the wrong place?"
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, inside the item shop—
Izumi came face-to-face with a timid-looking lich with purple hair.
Wiz.
Seeing customers enter, she hurriedly put down her book.
"W-Welcome…"
She nearly bit her tongue mid-greeting and flushed in embarrassment.
Izumi sighed inwardly.
How had such a powerful lich turned into this?
"Hello, Wiz-san," Izumi greeted politely.
"My name is Izumi."
"I was wondering if I could learn some skills from you."
"I'll pay properly, of course."
As he spoke, Izumi casually surveyed the shop.
Bare shelves.
No customers.
A business clearly operating at a loss.
She's probably still broke enough to skip meals…
Izumi's lips curled into a thoughtful smile.
Maybe I could convince her to come work for me.
A lich as a poster girl wouldn't be bad at all…