Konosuba: God bless this adventurers during winter explosion!

God bless sledge of this fool

I noticed that Megumin began to fidget. Apparently she had regained some strength while I was checking the ruins of the castle. Before I left I wrapped her in the blanket I had taken with me, just in case. I found nothing interesting in the ruins. If there was anything of value here, it had certainly been blown up long ago by my dear chunni archmage. Not that I did not expect it, but I silently hoped to find some dunegon or at least a hidden chamber with treasures. With a bit of dissatisfaction after my failed exploration mission, I approached Megumin

"What happened Kazuma? Where are we? I thought we should have gone home by now."

"Yes, but on the way I decided to change the plan and we are currently inside an abandoned Castle. Or at least in what remain from it."

"Kazuma, are you stupid? Why the hell did you drag me here? First you don't want to leave the house, and then when we're about to go back you start going to some strange places instead! You're really weird sometimes, Kazuma!"

"Oi, watch your mouth! Besides, that's why we're here, you need to learn to respect other people's time, and that's why you're going to go for a ride now. All the way to the bottom. Alone."

"A-alone? Kazuma, baka, after all, in this state I'm unable to drive, I'll hurt myself on the way! Does it hurt you so much that you want to get rid of me now?"

...

"Huh, I actually didn't think it through"

"Well rather Kazuma! Sometimes you really do act like an idiot. Now quickly, get me out of here, charge me some mana, and let's get out of here because I think it's getting colder."

Damn it, because of my stupidity my revenge will have to be postponed. Although wait, I can still...

"I have a better idea."

"Kazuma, what are you planning?"

I walked over to the sled, sat behind Megumin and grabbed her by her waist.

"Oh-bold Kazuma! I wouldn't have suspected you of such courage! But seriously now, what are you planning to do?"

"Hey, no weird thoughts! I think it's pretty obvious. If I can't push you down there alone, then I'll just go along with you."

"What, Kazuma, Baka, can't you see how steep that slope is? Plus there are rocks everywhere, do you really want to push yourself up there? Look, I'm sorry I took you, let's get this over with"

"Jeez, you don't want to go down that much? It was quite a popular pastime in Japan. Well, but if, you think -"

"Kazuma!"

Meanwhile, I pushed the sled to the edge of the slope and pushed off the ground with all my strenght. The sled began to slide, and after a while it also began to pick up speed. Megumin started squealing loudly in fear, which meant that my plan had apparently worked. I, meanwhile, was having quite a bit of fun. I used to love sledding when I was a kid, and of course I grew out of it, but I always liked to return back to those memories.

After a while I noticed that Megumin stopped writing and started laughing. She seemed to be enjoying it. It was the first time she had ever seen a sled, and she was sliding down a rocky slope, and in the end she was enjoying it! What is wrong with this girl? My thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a small boulder that stood in our way. I had seen it in advance with the help of my farseer skill, so it was no problem. Now all that was needed was...

"Megumin, get ready, we're about to fly into the air. There is a boulder in front of us" I said after which I grabbed Megumin tighter

"Then just avoid it."

"I don't remember how"

"Kazuma, you..."

The sled hit the boulder, and as expected we flew a meter up. It could have ended badly for us, but luckily we managed to fall into a deep snowdrift that cushioned the fall. I turned my back on the ground, pulling Megumin out of the snowdrift. She was all wet. After panting for a while, she started laughing loudly, and I joined her after a while. And we lay in that snowdrift for a while. If anyone saw us then, they would definitely think that we looked like -

"Kazuma, everything is beautiful, but I'm slowly starting to get really cold. Can you refill my mana and can we go home now?

"Sure."

I put Megumin in a sitting position and grabbed her neck to recharge the energy. It had been a while since the explosion, so it only took a few minutes to get her on her feet. When I thought that was enough I stood up, and was about to head towards the sled when suddenly something cold hit the back of my head

"Ouch!"

I turned around to identify the aggressor when another snowball hit me right in the middle of my face, slightly stunning me in the process

"Fu fu, I may have had fun but you still took me to the top of this mountain without my will, and now I'm all wet because of you, so -"

"Are you saying you're all wet because of me?"

A furious blush was outlined on Megumin's face

"C-context, Kazuma! The point is that you must suffer punishment for your foul intentions, so I challenge you to - "

She didn't have time to finish because my snowball hit her right in the middle of her face

"Well, let's get started. Just don't come crying to me later! Before I went to the NEET route I was known not only for my above average skills at rock-paper-scissors, but also for being unbeatable when it came to snowballs!"

"Well, some people are known for being the best archmages in the world, and others are known for being able to win in - Ouch!"

"Oh you, come here, you damn loli!"

And a regular battle that lasted several minutes began. For a while I counted every hit, but when I came out clearly in the lead I stopped counting and focused on having fun. I was reminded of my childhood from all this. I wonder if I wouldn't have had a heart attack if - no, she's probably with that delinquent now. Well, to be fair, Megumin is there and I'm having a pretty good time. After a few minutes, fatigue got the best of us, so we declared a ceasefire.

"Kazuma, we should get back now, because it's about to get dark, and then dangerous monsters come to the surface. I wouldn't want to run into them in this state."

Megumin was right. It was the beginning of winter, still before the equinox, so night was falling very quickly. I walked over to the sled, grabbed it by the string, and was just about to answer her when suddenly

...

I felt something warm touch my free hand. I looked at Megumin. She was all red.

"Well, you know, my hands got really cold from all this, so I thought maybe you could help me warm them up."

I felt a blush appear on my face

"S- sure, no problem"

And we started walking home. In an awkward silence.