Surprise! I've Transmigrated Again-Chapter 194 ⤞ The Ingredients

Teaching Megumin the〘Teleport〙skill was now her top priority.

Unlike〘Transportation〙,〘Teleport〙was much harder to master. Being an advanced movement magic, it demanded an enormous amount of Skill Points.

Despite being the second-highest level member in the party, Megumin still couldn't afford this steep cost.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

Why? She had invested all her level-up points in〘Explosion Magic〙!

But Adam had a solution.

They simply needed to level up Megumin!

Level up = Skill Points =〘Teleport〙

The perfect formula!

This was where Kazuma came in.

"Kazuma-kun." Adam asked, noticing him nearby, "About those rare ingredients I requested..."

"Oh, finally!" Kazuma's face lit up at his question. Proudly jangling the mansion basement keys, he said, "While you were gone these past two months, Adam-senpai, I've been working non-stop collecting them. I bought many with my own money, and others I earned through quests."

"Oh?" Adam raised his eyebrows in surprise, "You've really put in the effort, Kazuma-kun. Well done."

He'd expected the boy to forget the task and spend his time chasing after Eris/Chris, but Kazuma had taken it seriously.

His enthusiasm suggested he'd gathered quite a collection.

"Of course, Adam-senpai!" Kazuma threw back his head with a booming laugh, "As the most dependable man here after you, how could I be like those lazy problem children?"

"How wonderful." Adam applauded, showing genuine appreciation for Kazuma's dedication.

"Hey, Kazuma!" Darkness called out indignantly from nearby, "I've been confined at home these two months — this has nothing to do with me!"

True enough. The noble lady had first attended the princess's social debut in the capital, then found herself grounded by her father for two months.

She hadn't even known about Adam's training journey, let alone had a chance to gather ingredients.

Wait. This sparked an idea.

The House of Dustiness was a prestigious noble family — wouldn't they be better positioned to acquire these ingredients?

Money wasn't the issue; they needed quantity above all.

While gathering ingredients through personal effort was admirable, it was too slow and inefficient for their urgent needs.

In that case, they should discuss commissioning this task to Lord Dustiness...

Adam fell into deep thought.

While pondering this, he failed to notice the suspicious behavior of the party's other two troublemakers.

"..."

"..."

Aqua and Megumin watched Kazuma boast about his hard work, remaining oddly silent instead of arguing back.

Something was definitely wrong. This silence was far too unusual!

Suddenly, Kazuma's danger sense tingled — an inexplicable feeling of malice washed over him. His intuition told him it had everything to do with the useless water goddess and the chuunibyou Crimson Demon wizard.

Stare—!

When he scrutinized the two troublemakers, they both guiltily avoided his gaze.

Growing increasingly uneasy, Kazuma asked in a low, menacing voice, "Hey, you two idiots, you haven't done anything terrible, have you?"

"N-no, no, absolutely not! I'm a goddess — everything I do follows divine principles, so of course I wouldn't do anything bad!"

"Hey, since when are you anything like a real goddess?!"

Ignoring Kazuma's retort, Aqua thumped her chest as if to reassert her divinity, but this only made her look more suspicious.

His gaze shifted to Megumin standing beside her.

As another troublemaker living in the mansion, she usually behaved herself — as long as it didn't involve〘Explosion Magic〙...

As long as it didn't involve〘Explosion Magic〙...

Involving〘Explosion Magic〙...

〘Explosion Magic〙...

!!!

Kazuma's heart stopped!

His neck turned stiffly, and even the distracted Adam could hear the rusty machine-like grinding of his collarbone.

"What's wrong?" He asked curiously.

Kazuma spoke urgently, his voice trembling, "Hey, Megumin, you didn't... you didn't..."

"I didn't do anything, don't make things up!" Megumin clutched her staff, as if only this arm-thick cylindrical object could provide warmth in the cold winter.

But even this wasn't enough to calm her.

She quickly darted behind Aqua, peeking out with just her head as she stammered, "Um, uh, um, I don't know anything, I've been with Aqua the whole time, I didn't do anything!"

Her words came out shaky, lacking their usual confidence, her tone growing more suspicious with each word.

Despite her attempts to prove her innocence, her behavior only made her seem more guilty.

"Hey, what's with that weird tone?!" Kazuma retorted, his sense of doom intensifying, "You two are acting super suspicious! This is bad — I have a terrible feeling! Adam-senpai, I need to check something!"

"Eh?"

"No, wait..."

Before Megumin and Aqua could stop him, Kazuma hastily excused himself and sprinted toward the mansion.

Their strange behavior made Adam uneasy too. However, since he didn't know the full situation, he hesitated to scold them — that might only create tension within the group.

Having been away for two months and preoccupied with Darkness's situation since returning, he hadn't followed up much on the rare ingredients situation.

Darkness, equally in the dark about recent events, suggested, "Though I'm not sure what's happening, we should hurry back to the mansion too."

"Indeed. Standing here won't resolve anything — let's follow him." Adam nodded and gestured for the three women to come along.

The walk was slow.

Darkness's heavy armor weighed her down; even at full speed, it took them half an hour to reach the mansion.

They found the basement door standing open.

Inside, Kazuma stood alone in the empty space.

Empty — truly empty. Not a single rare ingredient remained!

"Ahhh... Ahhhhh... Ahhh... Ahhhhh!"

He knelt there, clutching his head, his face twisted in such anguish that his despair pierced the hearts of everyone watching.

The Scream? Skrik? The face of a three-year-old child watching their stuffed bunny being brutally torn apart by a dog and used as a mating hole?

Alright, that last one went too far, but you could still tell how miserable the poor young man was now.

"My ingredients... my ingredients... the ingredients I worked so hard to collect..."

Kazuma's spirit crumbled at the sight of the barren basement.

"The Ingredients!" His cry of despair echoed to the heavens, breaking hearts.

It was a scene that brought tears to everyone's eyes.

✧✧✧

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