When Megumi stepped into the guild, she saw the annoying receptionist still throwing his darts just like he always seemed to be doing and she decided that she still didn't want to talk to anyone. The whole thing with Undine really rubbed her the wrong way and she seriously needed to blow off some steam. The receptionist didn't even bother to turn to look at her before she slipped back out the door.

She kicked a small pebble down the cobblestone street as she wandered aimlessly around. King Estion of Castellum needed to die, it was something she had been planning to do for years and years now, but she had never been powerful enough to make the journey here. Even now, she was sure that she had no chance of actually killing him. She needed to be stronger. She needed to prepare. Furthermore, she didn't at all like that his death would directly benefit Undine. She wasn't sure what the current line of succession would be, and as far as she knew the crowned prince had died years ago, but it was entirely possible that the woman would become the new ruler here once the old man had been done in.

The fat old king wouldn't even see it coming when she finally made her move. The thought of the look on Estion's face when she would kill him brought a huge smile to her face. There wasn't too much use in thinking on that problem right now anyway, she was probably a long ways off from that still. It was true that ever since she had decided to be more aggressive with her plans that she had gotten stronger at a rapid rate, but she felt like she needed more. Assassinating the ruler of a country was a huge step up from killing a group of bandits, after all. A girl had to set high goals for herself though, right?

Maybe eating something would brighten her mood. She found herself wandering towards the market district and in no time, she stood before The Golden Neko. She peered in through the window and saw that the place was bustling as always. She could see Tara carrying plates to the kitchen and her aunt was busy taking orders. There would be a small wait for the food, but since the woman had promised her free food whenever she wanted to come in, she could wait. 

Sweets always make Megu feel a little better. It will be nice to spend some time with Tara, too.

She stopped staring through the window like some kind of stalker, and stepped inside. A bell rung when she opened the door and Tara's aunt flashed her a smile. "Take a seat anywhere, I'll be right with you in a moment, Megu."

The busy woman rushed to the next table and Megumi found herself a seat at the bar. Tara came exploding out of the kitchen at the sound of her aunt mentioning her name and she ran over to give Megumi her customary hug.

"You came again! I'm so happy to see you! I just got off of school for the day, I made some new friends."

Megumi patted the girl on the head and returned the warm embrace. It was nice to be around someone who actually seemed to like her; not that she could blame Poro-tan for disliking her as he was basically her slave.

She felt a little guilty about that as Poro-tan seemed to have a good heart, but she needed someone she could trust to help her enact her plans, so he was it for good or for bad.

"Megu just cna't get enough of your aunt's delicious cakes. It's great to hear that you're liking school so much. Are you getting used to helping out around the cafe?"

"Yep! I even get to run the register now! It's a lot of fun and I'm getting good at math."

"That's great! Megu always liked math, but due to... circumstances, she never got to finish her education."

"Why not?"

"It's a painful story. Megu will tell you someday, perhaps. Do you guys have anything special today? Megu is starving!"

The little girl dropped the line of questioning about Megumi's past. The sad tone in her voice must've conveyed enough that she didn't want to go into it. Tara told her about how her aunt had been experimenting and had come up with a cake recipe that involved carrots. Megumi had never been a huge fan of that vegetable, but felt like she could trust Ophelia's cooking. "I'll try a large slice of that then, okay?"

"Coming right up!"

Tara ran back into the kitchen and a few moments later, she came out with the slice of cake. The frosting was white and there was a decorative carrot drawn into it using orange frosting. She examined the cake, which smelled of cinnamon and had small shreds of carrots sticking out from parts of the cake. It smelled good, and she poked the frosting with her index finger, bringing it up to her mouth. It tasted delicious as everything else had. It was time to take the plunge.

Megumi stabbed the cake with her fork and took a tiny bite of the cake just to see if it was good; she really didn't like carrots. To her surprise, the cake was sweet and absolutely delicious. She smiled and spun the bar stool around so she could see Ophelia, who was headed back their way. "This is so good!"

"Thank you. I've been wanting to experiment using some veggies in my cooking. I'm going to try doing a similar cake with zucchini tomorrow. Tara, can you take three slices of chocolate cake to table 4, please?"

Tara nodded and ran back into the kitchen for a moment before returning, balancing three plates as though she had been a waitress her whole life. The girl energetically went over to the corrosponding table and gave the people their cake before running back over.

"Sorry, Megu. We're so busy today. I'd better help out. Enjoy the cake!"

Megumi smiled and went back to eating. Ophelia brought over a tall glass of milk and chatted with her for a few moments before heading off to take more orders. The place was absolutely packed.

Once the place slowed down a little, Tara came back over and sat down next to her. Ophelia brought her another slice of the delicious carrot cake and Megumi pulled out her new guild card to show off to Tara. "See! Megu joined the Adventurers Guild, just like Poro-tan. We'll be sticking around for a while doing things for the guild, so you'll get to see lots of me."

The girl beamed in excitement. "See! I knew you were a hero!"

Wouldn't it be great to just live a regular life? Coming here and eating cake, and doing things like regular people do. Maybe you could even fall in love with someone? 

She shook her head ruefully as soon as the incredulous thought had popped into her head. Her destiny had been laid out for her already, maybe it always had been. She wasn't sure if she believed in fate or the gods, but the only thing she could live for was her revenge. There wasn't room for anything else. Her hands were far too blood stained now to turn back in any case. She finished her carrot cake and left a large tip on the counter before thanking Ophelia and Tara for the food and leaving.

It was starting to get late, and she still wanted to go relax in the hot springs. She would take a short cut back to the guild and maybe, if she was lucky, get to have some fun along the way. The day had really passed by quickly and it was getting more than a little cold out. Megumi retrieved one of her cloaks from her bag and put it on. Once she had the thing wrapped around her like a makeshift blanket, she felt a little less cold. Clouds had begun to form in the sky and there was little doubt in her mind that it would be either raining or snowing very soon. Hopefully it would stay nice long enough for her to get to enjoy the hot springs tonight. 

She cut off of the main streets that would lead her towards the guild in a roundabout fashion and opted to take the alleyways. The alleyways were a stark contrast with the rest of the bright, bustling city. The dark alleyways would probably be scary for any regular girl with some common sense, but to Megumi, they were an opportunity to have some fun. She ignored the eyes that stared at her as she continued on her way.

A pretty young thing like herself wandering through dark alleyways was just like holding a nice big steak in front of a starving wolf. She knew what was coming and she smiled just a tiny bit when a group of thugs popped out of a side alleyway and approached her with a dangerous glint in their eyes.

"Look what we have here, gents! A little lady has run off the beaten path."

"Maybe she needs some help? We could generously help her get back to the main street." One man said sneering.

"Of course. First we'll need to collect a fee for our troubles, though. You don't mind do you? A pretty girl like you wandering down here, I bet you'd be more than happy to pay us with your body." The dirt covered man licked his lips and stared at her hungrily.

Megumi couldn't help but smile now. The men looked at her confusedly for a moment.

"Look. She is happy about it. What a little slut, she wants it!"

This is the BEST way to blow off some steam!

She backed away from the men, still smiling, and one of them must have realized that she was likely to bolt, so he rushed towards her. She calmly held out her palm and blasted a hole through the man's chest. He didn't even make it within a dozen paces of her location. She grinned. This was what she lived for.

The men who had wanted to prey upton her shifted from being confident lusting creatures into fearful little rabbits that tried to run as their companion's corpse smoldered on the ground in green flames. Megumi blasted another one in the back of his head when he turned to run and then promptly exploded his corpse. Bone shrapnel and blood splattered the entire span of the alleyway and she got some blood on her. It was warm and she reveled at the sight of the broken bodies before her.

The one who had told her to pay with her body had been gravely injured by the blast and he was the only one still alive. The man was crawling on his belly trying in vain to get away from her.

Megumi grinned wickedly and marched over to him, stomping on his hand with the heel of her shoe.

"Just where are you going? Didn't you want to have Megu pay for your kind help with her body? Didn't you want to penetrate me?" She quickly retreived her staff and slammed the pointy end down into the man's lower back. "Maybe Megu will penetrate you instead?" She laughed maniacally at her own sick humor.

Ahhh.... this feels so good. Bringing death and destruction... this is the BEST.

She reached down and yanked on the back of the screaming man's head and yanked. He flopped over to his side and she stared him straight in the eyes.

"Pleas...e.... Please... just...le..t me.."

Megumi cut him off by slamming his face down hard into the hard packed dirt over and over until she heard the crunching of his face on the ground. Blood and gore was all over her now.

"Look at what you all made me do? Her Megu's dress is all bloody!"

She took the time to cast Sanguine Infusion on what was left of the four corpses. To her delight, one of them even yielded her an additional TP. She placed her new TP into Eldritch Blast, and seeing that the entire alleyway was suddenly empty, she quickly changed out of her bloody clothes; pointedly ignoring her chattering teeth as she did so. There was nothing to be done about her shoes at the moment, but that was okay. She had needed the release. There really was no better way to blow off steam than to explode some people. She wandered out of the last of the alleyways several minutes later and found that she had been right about her short cut idea. The guild hall was just down the street. She hummed to herself and then headed to the building. 

The receptionist was still just throwing darts. Is that all this guy does all day? He needs better hobbies. Pick up a book or something at least. Jeez. Talk about a boring existence. 

"Have you seen Poro-tan?"

"Nope." He tossed another dart.

Megumi shrugged and went inside the main hall without another word. She saw him sitting at a table near the fire with Kieren. The two of them were chatting loudly and her pet was shoveling spiced meat into his face while Kieren was drinking from a mug of what was probably ale and had a bowl of soup in front of him.

She could smell the spices from a dozen paces away and wrinkled her nose. That was twice in one day he was eating something spicy enough to melt a normal man's stomach. "How can you stand to eat that stuff all the time, Poro-tan?"

He simply shrugged. "What are you talking about? This stuff is delicious and it's full of good protein for building muscle! How can you stand to eat all the sweets you do? Aren't you worried about getting fat?"

Megumi sat down at the table and put her head in her hands. "That's a very rude thing to say, Poro-tan. Megu has a figure that will never change no matter what she eats!" Suddenly she felt very fatigued again.

The fun she had on her way back to the guild hall hadn't been a permanent fix to her mood and that comment was irritating. She realized now that she probably looked like something out of a nightmare as she peeled off a fleck of dried blood that had been stuck to her cheek. It was probably in her hair too. 

Megu needs a freakin' bath.

She stood up and just as she was turning to leave, a shrill voice belonging to Taris sounded from behind her. "Why in the hell are you tracking blood through my guild hall?! You look like death itself, girl! What did you do? I knew you were up to no good." Taris stomped her way over to her and poked a finger at her accusingly.

Megumi fixed the woman with a flat stare and a withering frown before shoving the hand away. "Megu didn't do anything but help ensure that the streets of this city are clear of filthy rapists. Megu is fine, by the way! You're welcome! See you guys in the morning, we leave first thing!"

She turned and headed off toward the dormitories, leaving the angry guild master sputtering behind her. She made her way to the dormitory and found that the place had one of those magical clothes washing machines. She pulled out her dirty clothes from her bag and took off her shoes as well, tossing them all inside the machine's receptacle before heading out into the shower room that lie before the actual hot springs.

She entered a stall and cleaned herself up a bit before heading out to the hot springs. Steam filled the air of the outdoor hot spring and she dashed across the stone and hopped into the warm water. She let out a sigh of relief as warmth spread through her entire body.

"Finally... Megu can relax a bit."

The warm water felt fantastic and she dove under the water. The hot springs weren't very deep, only a few feet, but it was enough for her to swim around a little. There were several other women relaxing in the hot spring as well, leaning against the seats that were carved into the rocks at the sides of the pool of warm water. She didn't pay too much attention to them and instead continued swimming around a bit before finding her own seat to sit in. She leaned back, closing her eyes and let the hot water soak into her.

When she opened her eyes again, none other than Beera stood right in front of her. "Enjoying the hot springs? Aren't they amazing? We're the only guild hall in the entire country to have something like this!" She grinned and took a seat next to Megumi.

"It's wonderful and very relaxing."

"So I hear that you're heading out to help the orphans with Kieren tomorrow? You're pretty brave for a newbie, the mountains leading up to the orphanage are full of danger. It sounds like a pretty tough task, but I saw your level. You're a lot stronger than you look. I'm glad that someone is finally going to go help those kids! Thanks for taking on the request." Beera gave her a smile.

"Those orphans don't deserve to be treated like animals. Megu is more than happy to put a stop to it."

Megumi hadn't really wanted to have to talk to anyone as the whole public bathing thing was a bit new to her, but she played nice and chatted with Beera for a long while. The energetic bookkeeper told her about all the gossip around the guild hall. The woman was a wealth of useless information but Megumi nodded and smiled as Beera went on and on and on. Once she had had enugh, she politely excused herself and got dressed into her sleepwear in the shower area before heading back to the washing machine to grab her now clean clothes.

The machine had done miracles and there wasn't any remaning blood splatter on anything. It made her miss her small apartment in Northpost where she had one of these machines of her own. It didn't matter, though, she could use this one whenever she wanted at least. Now that she had finished with that, it was time to go get some rest. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically after the long day. She flopped down onto the bed immediately upon entering the room and lay her head down into the soft pillow.

Hopefully we can leave raelly early tomorrow. Megu wants to take care of those orphan abusing bastards and get stronger at the same time. It will be great.

She rolled over and reached into the bag that was on her night stand, taking out her treasure. Her father had read this story to her and her sister every night before bed, despite the fact that he was always rather busy. He had always made time for them. She flipped the book open to the portrait and stared at it. The portrait of her and her family helped keep her focused on what was important.  She shouldn't get too complacent. There were things she had to do. Things that kept her going even though she knew that she had become a monster long ago. She was little more than a shell of a human being and she knew it. Megumi fell asleep staring at the portrait as she often did and dreamed of the sweet revenge and terror she would bring down upon her enemies.