Prologue

"Satou Kazuma-san, welcome to the after-life. Unfortunately, you have died. It might be short, but your life is over."
Someone suddenly spoke to me in a pure white room.
The sudden turn of events confused me.

In the room was a set of office desk and chair, and the one who announced that my life was over sat in that chair.
If there was a goddess, she must be it.
Her beauty was beyond the idols shown on television, she had glamour that surpassed humans.
Her long blue hair looked silky smooth.

She seemed to be about my age.
She wasn't too busty or too lacking. She had a light purple hagoromoW draped over her clothes.;
The beauty blinked her eyes which were the same aqua blue color of her hair, staring at me who didn't know what was going on.
... I thought about what happened moments ago.

※

... It was rare for me who kept staying at home to go outside.
In order to purchase a limited first release version of a popular online game, I got up early to queue up.
Society addressed people like me as Hikikomori.

After buying the game, it was time to return home to play my heart out. I was in a great mood when I thought of that and prepared to return home, but at this moment...
A girl was looking down on her cell phone and walking before me.
From her uniform, she should be studying in the same school as me.
After seeing the lights turn green, the girl didn't check the traffic and crossed the road directly.
A large shadow loomed towards her.

That must be a large truck heading towards her at high speed.
When I came to my senses, I had knocked that girl away.
After that...
... I asked the beauty before me with a mysteriously calm emotion:
"... Can I ask one thing?"
The beauty nodded in response to my question.
"Please go ahead."
"... That girl... that was knocked away by me, is she still alive?"

That was the most important thing.
That was the first and last time
I did something worthy.
If I didn't managed to save her in time despite betting my life, that would be so frustrating.
"She lives! But her injury was bad, she fractured her leg."
Thank goodness...

I didn't die in vain. I did something good at the very end...
Seeing me acting relieved, the beauty tilted her head and said:
"But, she would not had been hurt if you didn't knocked her away."
"... Huh?"
What did she say?

"That tractor would had stopped before hitting that girl. That was expected, it was just a slow tractor after all. That means your unnecessary meddling by acting like a hero made things worse... Pu he he!"
What is this, this was the first time I met this girl.
It might be rude, but I felt like beating her up.
... Wrong, hold it. I think I heard something that was more important than that.
"... What did you say?
Tractor? Not a truck?"
"That's right, a tractor. If a truck was speeding towards that girl, she would had noticed and got away."
... Huh?
"Eh? But what about me? Did I die after getting hit by the tractor?"
"No, you died from shock. You thought you were ran over by a truck and went into shock. I had been doing this for a long time, but you are the first to die so unnaturally!"
...
"Because of your close call with the tractor, you lost consciousness and control of your bowels and were sent to a nearby hospital. As the doctors and nurses were saying 'What's with this guy, how useless-- (lol)' amidst laughter, you did not regain consciousness and your heart failed..."

"Shut up--! I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear something so cringy!"
The girl walked to my side as I cupped my ears and smiled deviously, leaning close to my ears:
"Your family had reached the hospital, but before they felt the sadness from their loss, they couldn't help bursting into laughter after hearing your cause of death..."
"Shut up shut up! This can't be real! How could there be such a useless way to die, this is unbelievable!"

Looking down at me squatting with my head in my arms, the girl covered her mouth and laughed.
"... Well, that ends my de-stressing session. First time we met, Satou Kazuma-san. My name is Aqua. I am a goddess that guides young people who die in Japan... Now, putting aside how funny your demise was, you have two options."
... This fellow!

Forget it, getting worked up would just delay the progress of the conversation, I will just bear with it.
"First would be reincarnating and beginning a new life. The other option would be staying in a place sort of like heaven and live the life similar to an old folks home."
What a lazy way to describe the options.
"Eh, well... How is the place that is sort of like heaven? More importantly, what do you mean by old folks home?"
"Heaven isn't as great as you humans imagined. You don't need to eat after dying and won't be able to make anything naturally. There aren't any ingredients or necessities for you to use anyway. I am sorry if I disappointed you, but there is nothing in heaven. No television, no manga and no games, there are only other people who died before you. And since you are dead, you can't do anything kinky, you can't since you don't even have a body. The only thing you can do is bask in the sun with your predecessors and chat. Forever.

No computer games and no entertainment. Instead of heaven it was closer to hell.
But to become a baby and restart my life...
No, that was the only option.
Looking at my disappointed face, the goddess smiled and said:
"Hey, you don't want to go to a boring place like heaven right? But asking you to let go of all your memories and start again as a baby is the same as erasing your existence since your memories will be gone. And so! I have great news for you."

For some reason, I was absolutely skeptical.
Aqua said to the wary me with a smile:
"Do you... like games?"
Aqua confidently explained her so called good news.

This was the gist of it; In a world different from where I was, there was another world with a demon king.
And with the attack of the demon king army, that world fell into crisis.
There were magic and monsters in that world.

To put it simply, it was a fantasy world similar to the famous games Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.
"The people who died in that world were killed by the demon king army, and were very afraid, saying they don't want to die like that again. And so almost all the people who died rejected reincarnating in that world again. More specifically, that world would end if this continued, since babies would cease to be born there. Hence, it could be solved by sending the dead from other worlds over right? That's how it is."

What a sloppy immigration policy.
"And since we are sending people over, we should find people who died young and still yearn to live, sending them over with their original body and memories. It would be meaningless if they died immediately after going over, so we will grant a privilege to all those who are going to that world, allowing them to take one thing they like to that world. It could be a powerful ability, an exceptional talent or god level weapons... What do you think? It might be another world, but you can live once more. For the people of that world, someone would appear who could fight immediately. How about it? Isn't this great news?"

I see, it does sound great.
To be honest, this made me excited.
I knew I liked games, but I never imagined I could enter a world that was just like my favorite computer games.

But before that.
"Erm, I have a question, what about the language of that world? Can I speak the language of the other world?"
"This isn't a problem. With the gentle aid of the gods, you will instantly learn the language directly in your brain the moment you head over to the other world. You will even be able to read! But there is a side effect, your brain might be wiped blank if you are unlucky... And so, all you need to do is to choose a powerful ability or weapon."

"Hold on, I heard something important just now. Did you say my brain would be wiped blank if I am unlucky?"
"I didn't say that."
"You did."
The tension from earlier was gone. I am speaking to a goddess, but my attitude was akin to speaking to an equal.

... But, that was an attractive proposition.
It was scary that there was a chance to wipe my brain blank. But I am not bragging when I say I am confident in my luck since I was young.
At this moment, Aqua showed me something like a catalogue.
"Please choose. I can grant you one and only one power that would match any person. It could be a powerful unique ability. For example, a legendary weapon. Come, it can be anything. You have the privilege to bring this one thing to the other world."

After hearing Aqua's explanation, I took the catalogue and started browsing it.
... On it were 'unnatural strength', 'super magic', 'holy sword Arondight', 'demon sword Murasame'... And all sorts of names.
I got it, choosing an ability or weapon to be brought along.
How troubling, having too many choices made me indecisive.

Or rather, my gamer instincts told me these were cheat-like abilities and equipment.
How troubling how troubling... Since I would be going to a world with magic, I really want to try using magic.
Hence, I should choose an ability based on magic...
"Nah~ hurry up~ it doesn't matter which one you choose. I have no expectations of a hikikomori gaming nerd, can you just pick one and be on your way? Anything will do, hurry up~ Hurry up~

"I, I am not a nerd...! And I died outside, so I am not a hikikomori...!"
I answered in a trembling voice, but Aqua simply toyed with the ends of her hair and told me disinterestedly:
"It doesn't matter, just hurry up and choose~ there are still many dead souls waiting in line!"
Aqua sat in her chair as she spoke, munching her snacks without even looking at me...

... This fellow, mocking my causes of death even though it was the first time we met, acting so stuck up because she was pretty.
Aqua's can't be bothered attitude made me mad.
You wanted me to choose quickly right?
Then I will do just that.
'Something' I can bring to that world?

"... Okay, I choose you."
I pointed at Aqua and said.
Aqua looked at me surprised for a moment and continued munching on her snacks.
"Yeah.  Please don't move away from the center of the magic circle..."
Aqua suddenly stopped talking.

"... What did you just say?"
And in the next moment.
"I understand. Well then, I will take over Aqua-sama's job from now on."
With a flash of white light, a winged woman appeared out of nowhere.
... Simply put, it was a woman that looked like an angel.

"... Eh?"
Under the feet of Aqua who squealed in surprise, as well as under my feet, a blue magic circle appeared.
Oh, what is this?
Am I really going to another world?
"Wait, huh, what is happening? Eh, you can't be serious? No no, hold on, this is too weird! Isn’t it cheating to bring a goddess along! No count? This shouldn't count! Wait! Wait okay?"

Aqua panicked with tears in her eyes; she was a mess.
The angel spoke while facing Aqua: "Bon voyage, Aqua sama. Pleases leave the rest to me. We will send envoys to welcome you back right after the demon king is defeated. Before you return, I will handle all your tasks."

"Wait! Wait! As a goddess, I possess healing powers, not combat abilities! It is impossible for me to defeat the demon king!"
The angel who appeared suddenly ignored Aqua, who collapsed on the floor crying, and smiled gently at me.

"Satou Kazuma-san. You will be heading to another world now and become one of the candidate heroes to defeat the demon king. You will receive a gift from the gods the moment you defeat the demon king."
"... Gift?"
I asked by repeating what she said.

The angel smiled warmly at me.
"That's right, a gift befitting a world savior... You will be granted a wish, it can be anything you want."
"Oh!"
That means I could wish to return to Japan if I grow tired of that world.
For example, returning to Japan after growing tired of that world, becoming rich and spending all day playing games while surrounded by ladies! Even such a decadent dream was possible!

"Wait! Giving that cool speech is my job!"
Aqua wailed on the floor after the angel took her job.
I was satisfied after seeing Aqua act this way.
And so, I pointed at Aqua and said:
"How does it feel to be companions with a man you look down on? Hey, you are the 'thing' chosen by me to be brought along. Since you are a goddess, use your godly powers to make my adventure a breeze!"

"No~! Going to another world with a man like this, no way~!"
"Hero! May you be victorious among the many hero candidates, and become the one to defeat the demon king... Well then, I bid you farewell!"
"Wahhh~! That's my line~!"
And with the announcement from the angel.

A bright light surrounds the wailing Aqua and me...!

Chapter 1
Arriving in this alternate world with someone claiming to be a goddess!

Part 1

The carriage drove over the pavement and made loud creaking sound.

"... Another world... Hey, it really is another world. Eh, it's for real? I am going to used magic and adventure in this world?"

I was trembling with excitement because of the scene before me and started talking to myself.

Before my eyes were houses built from red bricks, the streets right out of Europe in the Middle Ages.

There were no cars, bikes, power lines or telecommunication cables.

"Ah... Ah... Ahh..."

I looked around the street, watching the people passing by.

"Animal ears! There is someone with animal ears! And elf ears! Is that an elf? With such striking facial features, she definitely is one! Good bye hikikomori life! Hello different world! If it was this world, I am willing to go out and work obediently!"

"Ahh... Ahhh.... Ahhhh!"

I turned around and looked at Aqua who was hugging her head screaming.

"Hey, you are noisy. What if they think I am related to a crazy woman like you? Stop screaming, you should be giving something to me at a time like this right? Look at what I am wearing. Gym clothes? I finally arrived in a fantasy world but I am wearing a full set of gym clothes. According to the norm in games, you should be giving me the minimum equipment..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh--!"

The goddess screamed as she pounced over to grab me.

"Woah! What, what are you doing, don't act this way! I get it, I will do something about the basic equipment. I should say that I was wrong! If you are unwilling, please go back . I will think about what to do in the future."

Aqua tried to strangle me with teary eyes, so I shook off her hand and tried to shoo her away with an annoyed expression.

In the end, Aqua said with trembling hands:

"What are you talking about? I am troubled because I can't go back! What now? Nah, what should I do! What am I going to do in the future?"

Aqua fell into a panic in tears, pacing about while hugging her head.

Her waist length hair was a mess, she looked crazy right now, although she's was a beauty when she kept quiet.

"Hey, calm down goddess. The first place to visit should be the tavern. Everything starts from collecting information at a tavern. This is the standard in role playing games."

"Huh...! You are just a hikikomori gaming NEET, why are you so reliable? Ah, Kazuma, my name is Aqua. I don't mind you addressing me as goddess, but do call me by my name whenever possible. Or else we would be surrounded by citizens and couldn't go on adventures and take down the demon king. This might be a different world, but I am still one of the revered gods of this world."

Aqua said as she followed behind me confidently.

Alright, there should a group formed to take on the demon king or an adventurer guild made to defeat monsters.

Speaking of which, Aqua is a goddess, he can ask her if he had any questions.

"Aqua, please tell me where is the position of the adventurers guild. Which way should we go?"

I asked Aqua, but she just looked at me blankly.

"...? I won't know even if you ask me. I know the common knowledge of this world, but not the situation in town. This is just one of the many existing planets, and just a small town at that! How would I know?"

This girl was useless.

There's no other way, so I asked a middle aged lady passing by.

I didn't asked guys for fear of meeting delinquents, while the difficulty of talking to young girls was too high for me.

"Excuse me-- may I ask something? I am looking for a place similar to an Adventurers guild..."

"Guild! Ara, to not know where the guild is, could you be from out of town?"

From what the madam was saying, there really was a guild here, which made me relieved.

"That's right, I am a traveler who came from a far away land, I just reached this town."

"Ara ara... Since you came to this town, you must be aiming to become an adventurer. Welcome to the town of novice adventurers, Axel. Follow the main road and turn right, you will see the signboard for the guild."

"Take a right down the road, got it, thank you very much! ... Hey, let's go."

A town for novice adventurers.

I see. This was a good starting point for the dead who gets transported here.

After thanking the lady, I followed her directions while Aqua followed me with respect in her eyes and sighed:

"Nah, you came up with an excuse right on the spot, why are you able to handle this so perfectly? You seemed to be a capable guy, why were you a hikiNEET without any girls or friends? Why did you want to stay at home all day and be a hikiNEET?"

"Not having a girl or friends isn't a bad thing. The value of a person cannot be measured by the number of friends or having a significant other. And don't call me a hikiNEET. Damn bitch. Don't combine hikikomori and NEET together, and I am just 16, too young to be a NEET by society's standard... There it is."

Aqua pounced over to strangle me for calling her a bitch, but I ignored her and entered the Adventurers guild.

-- Adventurers guild--

A place for adventurers to take up jobs, which was a staple in games, an organization that supported the adventurers.

The job agency of this world.

There was a rather large establishment before them and the fragrance of food drifted from within.

Some rough characters would definitely be inside.

They might find trouble with me if they saw unfamiliar faces.

After preparing myself mentally and entering...

"Ah, welcome~ Please approach the counter if you looking for jobs. If you are here to dine, please take any empty seat~!"

A waitress with short red hair received us warmly.

The slightly dim interior seemed to double as a bar.

Groups of men in armor could be seen congregating inside, but they didn't seem to bear ill will.

But unfamiliar faces seemed to be rare, everyone was focusing on us.

... I realized why they were looking this way.

"Nah nah, they are looking this way too blatantly. It must be the holy aura coming from me, they must have discovered that I am a goddess."

The reason was the appearance of the goddess speaking dumb words.

She looked like a beauty if she stayed quiet, and was attracting everyone's eyes.

For now, I ignored their gaze and went about my original objective.

"... Listen carefully Aqua, they will gave us a tutorial if we register, enabling us to earn a living. That's the kind of place adventurers guilds are. We should be able to take a loan to prepare ourselves, complete simple jobs to get by and introduce us to a good tavern. Most games start out this way. Normally, preparing the bare essentials to live in this world should be your job... But never mind. For today, let's register with the guild, get some equipment and money, and find a place to sleep."

"I don't care about that. My job was sending the dead to this world. But I get it. I am not familiar with games, but what you said was common sense for this world. So I just need to register to be an adventurer too, right?"

"That's right. Alright then, let's go."

Taking Aqua with me, I made a beeline for the counter.

There are four counter staff.

Two of them were female.

I queue up at the counter with the prettier lady.

"... Nah, the other 3 counters are empty, why are you queuing here? We won't have to wait if we go to another counter... Ah, because this counter staff is the prettiest? Really, I was just a bit impressed and thought that you were reliable, but you are doing this?"

Aqua who was following me didn't know anything, so I whispered to her quietly:

"Building a good rapport with the guild's counter staff is the basics. And the pretty counter lady definitely had plenty of flags to raise. This means there will be more shocking hidden side quest waiting for us. For example, the counter lady might be a powerful adventurer or something."

"... Now that you mentioned it, I saw something similar in a manga. Sorry, I will wait in line obediently."

Because we did not approach the other empty counter and intentionally queue here, the other staff was looking at us curiously. But I decided to pretend not to notice.

It was finally our turn.

"Good morning, how may I help you?"

The counter staff was a gentle beauty.

Her wavy hair and large breasts made her look matured.

"Eh, I want to be an adventurer. I came from the countryside and didn't know anything..."

If I tell the counter staff I came from the countryside or a far away nation, they will give a more thorough explanation.

"I see. There will be a registration fee, will that be okay?"

That's right, this is the basic tutorial.

I will just need to follow the instruction of the counter staff...

... Registration fee?

"... Hey Aqua, you have any cash on you?"

"I was transported here all of a sudden, how is it possible for me to have money?"

... How could this be, shouldn't they loan some money to us or put it on the tab for now?

I moved away from the counter and discuss the strategy with Aqua.

"... Hey, what now? We are in a pinch right from the beginning. In games, you would normally get the minimal equipment and some money for living expenses too."

"All of a sudden, you became unreliable. But it can't be helped, you are a hikikomori after all. Alright, it's time for me to shine. Just watch, I will show you the capability of a goddess."

A man wearing the loose and cumbersome clothing of a priest was seated at a table.

Aqua approached that man confidently...

"Man of the cloth, please state thy religion! I am Aqua. That's right, Goddess Aqua, worshipped by the Axis theocracy! If thou art a believer...! ...Could you give me some aid by lending me some money?"

With an attitude that seemed aloft yet humble, she asked him for money.

"... I am from the Eris sect."

"Ah, I see, sorry..."

I don't get it, but they seemed to be from different religious orders.

When the dejected Aqua was preparing to come back, the priest stopped her.

"Ah... Madam, you must be a follower of Axis. There were stories about Goddess Aqua and Goddess Eris being close, so this might be fate. I had been observing you, you have trouble paying the registration fee correct? It's just a small fee, so please take it as a blessing from Goddess Eris. But no matter how devout you are, you shouldn't use the title of the Goddess in vain."

"Ah... Okay, sorry... Thank you very much..."

The eyes of Aqua looked dead as she returned with the money.

"Hahaha... He didn't believed that I am a goddess... By the way, goddess Eris is my junior... I was pitied by the believer of my junior goddess, and received his money..."

"What matters is that you completed the task. Think about it, if he really believed that you are a goddess, there would be a different kind of trouble!"

Aqua had an expression that seemed to say she lost something important, so I encouraged her half heartedly.

"Eh... We are back with the registration fees."

"I... I see... The registration fees are 1000 Eris..."

Aqua received 3000 Eris from the priest.

According to Aqua, 1 Eris is about 1 yen, so she received about 3000 yen.

The counter lady didn't interfere the commotion we stirred up, and was unwilling to look at me and Aqua in the eye.

It seems I had broken the flag between this lady and me.

"Alright. Since you said you want to be an adventurer, you should have some level of understanding, but I will explain it from the start... First, adventurers are responsible for the extermination of the monsters wandering outside the town... People who get rid of dangerous creatures that might harm the citizens. They are also jack of all trades, taking on odd jobs that require their talents... People who earn a living this way are known collectively as adventurers. And among adventurers, there are different jobs."

Finally, it’s coming.

This is a norm for adventurers. Be it jobs, class or whatever they are called, you have to choose the way you fight in this world.

Compared to the blunt warrior profession, flashy jobs like mage would be better.

The counter lady handed me and Aqua one card each.

It was about the size of a driving license, and seemed to be a kind of identification card.

"Please look over here, do you see the word level? As both of you know, all things in the world have souls. No matter what form it takes, if you eat or kill a being, you can absorb a part of the memory of the soul. This is known as 'Experience Points'.

'Experience Points' are normally intangible things, but..."

The counter lady pointed to one part of the card and continued:

"With this card, the 'Experience Points' the adventurer had absorbed would be shown here. At the same time, the level corresponding to your 'Experience Points' would also be displayed. This show how strong an adventurer is, and how many enemy you defeat would be recorded here. With the accumulation of 'Experience Points', all creatures would grow stronger rapidly at some point. This is known as leveling up... Simply put, leveling up will grant you all sorts of perks, such as skill points to learn new skills. So please work hard to increase your level."

After listening to the explanation, I recalled something Aqua said.

She asked me 'Do you... like games?'

I got it. After listening to all that, this world was just like a game.

"First of all, please fill in your height, weight, age and other details in the blanks."

I filled in my particulars in the form given to me by the counter lady.

Height is 165cm, weight 55kg. 16 years old, brown hair and eyes...

"That will be fine. Please touch this card. This will display the strength of each of your abilities as reference to choose your job. After accumulating skill points, you can learn skills that are available to your jobs. This is one of the key points in choosing jobs."

Oh, it was time for this.

The time to show my amazing potential and create a big commotion in the guild.

With tense emotion and a heart of expectation, I touched the card.

"... Alright, thank you. Satou Kazuma san right. Let's see... Strength, vitality, magic, agility and speed... All of them are average, intelligence is a slightly better than average... Huh? Luck is very high. But it is not very relevant for adventurers... This is troubling, from the numbers, you can only choose the most basic 'adventurer' job! Since your luck is so high, I suggest you give up being an adventurer and be a merchant... What would you like to do?"

Hey, my life of adventuring was being denied right from the very start, what is this.

The corners of Aqua's lips were high in a smile, tempting me to punch her.

Me being weak doesn't help your cause.

"Erm, I would like to be an adventurer..."

The counter lady said with a face of worry:

"It, it's fine, after leveling up and your stats improve, you can change your job! And the adventurer job is similar to its definition, it is a combination of all jobs... That's right, it might be a basic level job, but it doesn't mean it is worse than others! Adventurers could learn and use the skills of all jobs after all!"

"On the other hand, you need more skill points to learn skills. Without the bonus attribute of the actual job, your skills would be weaker when compared to them. It's a jack of all trade, master of none."

After the counter lady point out the good points, Aqua immediately shot me down.

I should find a place to throw her away.

It seems that I would be taking a basic job, or a beginner job.

Anyway, it was the weakest job.

But I am still an adventurer that appeared in this world.

As I received my card with my name and the job 'adventurer' written on it with a heavy heart...

"Eh? Huh~! What is with these numbers? Besides the lower than average intelligence, and luck which is pit bottom, the rest of your stats drastically exceeds the average! Especially your magic, it is abnormally high, who in the world are you...?"

The counter lady screamed after looking at the card Aqua touched.

The place was in an uproar.

... Weird, shouldn't that be happening to me instead?

"Ah, is that right? So it means I am amazing? Ara~ it is normal by my standard."

No matter how useless, she was still a goddess.

But Aqua being so happy that she's became embarrassed pissed me off.

"This, this was way past amazing! Mage type jobs which requires high intelligence is not available... But you can choose any other jobs! The holy knight with its strongest defense 'Crusader', the swordsman with the strongest attack 'Swordmaster', the top tier cleric 'Archpriest'... You can choose most of the top tier jobs right now...!"

Aqua was slightly troubled by the counter lady's question and said:

"Well, it's a pity that 'goddess' isn't available as a job... It should be grand cleric for me."

"Archpriest! Archpriest can use all kinds of recovery and support spells, they could even take the role of vanguards, a strong all rounder job! I will register you now... It's done. Welcome to the adventurers guild, Aqua-sama, all our staff look forward to your grand exploits!"

The counter lady said with a pleasant smile.

... Strange, what is this?

Like I said, this should be happening to me...

Forget it, anyway--

And so, my life as an adventurer began in this world.

Part 2

"Alright-- good work everyone--! That's it for today! Here, this is the salary for today."

"Thank you. Good job today boss-!"

"Good job-!"

After the boss announced the end of the work day, Aqua and I received our salary, bowed and greeted him.

"Everyone, we will make a move first-!"

"Good bye-!"

"Oh- thanks for your hard work! I'm counting on you tomorrow too."

I bid farewell to my seniors while Aqua followed my lead.

After hearing the reply from the seniors, Aqua and I left the workplace.

Ah, I worked the whole of today too.

Even I am beginning to doubt that I was ever a hikikomori.

Aqua and I took our salary for the day and head for the public bath.

The public bath was no different from the ones in Japan.

Judging from the average salary, the entrance fee were higher than Japan. But I couldn't change the habit of taking a bath after finishing work.

"Ah~... I'm alive again~..."

I soaked my shoulders into the warm water, leisurely relieving my fatigue from work.

This place seemed to be from the middle ages, so I thought it would be luxurious to take a bath here, but that was just me.

I am grateful, so grateful...!

After leaving the bath, I saw Aqua waiting at the entrance for me.

Bathing longer than a girl was a bit off, but that was the nature of Japanese.

"What would you like to eat today? I want some smoke lizard hamburger steak. And the heart freezing crimson neroid!"

"I want to eat meat too. Let's go to the tavern and get two smoke lizard steak set meal."

"Agreed!"

After finishing our meal, Aqua and I didn't have anything to do and went to the stables.

Picking hay that wasn't stained by horse manure to make a bed, we lay down immediately.

Aqua was sleeping besides me as usual.

"Well then, good night~"

"Good night. Phew... I worked hard today too..."

And so I drifted off into dream land...

"No, wait a minute."

I suddenly sat up.

"What is it? You forgot to go to the washroom? It's dark out there, need me to accompany you?"

"No way. Hold on, it's not that. I just realized we had been living the life of a manual laborer so far."

That's right.

For the past 2 weeks, Aqua and I had been working on the walls outside the city.

We were construction workers.

That was too far off from the life of an adventurer I was aspiring to live in this world.

Or rather, why did Aqua got used to this lifestyle without any complains.

Weren't you a goddess?

"You don't work, you don't eat, isn't that obvious? HikiNEETs are really picky. If you prefer to, you can work as a store clerk too!"

"No! It's not that. How should I put this? What I am after is an exciting battle against monsters! A life like that! And isn't this world in a crisis with the invasion of the demon king? Isn't it amazingly peaceful here, there are no signs of demons at all, hey!"

I got excited as I spoke and my voice got louder, and was lectured by our neighbors.

"Hey, can it! Be quiet!"

"Ah, sorry!"

Adventurers who were just starting out were poor.

It was normally impossible for us to rent a room in the tavern every night.

Normally, they will share the rent with other adventurers and sleep in the communal room.

Or they could do what we were doing and sleep on the hay in the stables.

Yes, this was different from the adventurer lifestyle in the alternate way I was looking forward to.

Staying in the tavern daily was the same as sleeping in a hotel every day in Japan.

It was impossible for adventurers with unstable income.

... That's right, our income wasn't stable.

There wasn't any simple herb picking or monster hunting 'missions' that appeared in games

Monsters don't burst into treats and money when you kill them.

The monsters staying in the forest near town had long been exterminated.

The forest had turned safe after the monsters were gone, so no one would hire people to harvest material for them.

This was obvious.

The outdoors was so safe that the children were allowed to roam free.

There were guards manning the gate, but instead of maintaining round the clock security, it was easier to exterminate all the dangerous monsters since the forest wasn't too large.

It was the most logical method, but I would rather not know this.

An adventurer who was just slightly stronger than normal people could spend half a day harvesting herbs that were easy to spot, and earn enough for food and lodging.

There was no way such an easy job existed.

Japan was a prosperous nation on earth, but there wasn't any laborer who could live in a hotel with their daily income.

Minimum wage? Labor laws? What are those, can we eat it?

That's the world this was.

"It's useless even if you tell me these. This is the town furthest away from the demon king's castle after all! Who would come all the way to attack a novice town at the borders... Anyway, Kazuma wants to live more like an adventurer right? You don't even have the proper equipment!"

Aqua went straight to the point, and I couldn't protest.

That's right, Aqua and I don't even have the minimum equipment. We were hoping to buy them, that's why we were working so hard at the construction site.

"I'm getting bored of construction too... I didn't come to this world to be a laborer. I came to this world with no computers and games in order to adventure. And didn't you send me here to challenge the demon king?"

After hearing what I said, Aqua made a 'what are you talking about face', pondered for a moment and responded:

"Oh! There was such a thing! I was so immersed in the happiness of labor that I forgot. I couldn't go back if Kazuma don't defeat the demon king."

Listening to her dumb reply, I recalled the counter lady's words. Seems that this girl's intelligence was really below average.

"Alright, let's go challenge the demon king! Don't worry, it will be a breeze with me here! Look forward to my performance!"

"That made me uneasy... But you are a goddess after all. I'm counting on you! Okay, we will buy some basic weapons and armor with the money we saved and go grinding tomorrow!"

"Leave it to me!"

"Didn't I tell you to can it! You want me to beat you up?!"

"I am very sorry!" x2

As I apologized to the other adventurers, I got ready to sleep with an excited heart.

Part 3

Under the clear blue sky.

"Ahhhhh! Help! Aqua, save me~~!"

"Puhehe! This is so funny! Kazuma your face is all red, you are tearing up and working really hard!"

Okay, I will bury this girl before going back.

As I make up my mind, I continue to run and scream for help as a giant toad like monster chased me.

This was the open plain outside of town.

We took a mission from the guild in the morning and headed here...

As for the bare minimum weapon needed, I chose a short sword.

Aqua was acting dumb, saying a goddess wielding weapons were unglamorous and wasn't equipped with anything. She was watching the toads chasing me leisurely.

Don't look down on them just because they were toads.

They were bigger than bulls. It was their mating season, so they were accumulating nutrition in order to lay eggs. They roam around the human settlement where food were more plentiful, swallowing goats raised by farmers in a single gulp.

If they could swallow a goat whole, swallowing me and Aqua would be easy too.

In fact, children and farmers often went missing during the mating season of these toads.

Even though their appearance were just that of a giant toad.

But they were still dangerous monsters, stronger than the small monsters near town that were exterminated.

By the way, their meat was a bit tough, but it was pleasant and refreshing, a rather popular ingredient.

Its thick fat was effective against blunt attack.

They hate metals, so you won't be hunted if your equipment were full. It was an easy foe for normal adventurers.

That's why skillful adventurers like to hunt them. But...

"Aqua-! Aqua-! Stop laughing and save me--!"

"For a start, add a 'san' when you address me."

"Aqua-sama--!"

I will bury this girl all the way, only leaving her head above ground. I will let her know the horror of being targeted by toads.

I was on the verge of tears, looking back at the toad hopping behind me.

At this moment, I realized that the toad were heading in a different direction from me.

Before the toad was...

"Can't be helped-! Alright, I will save you, hikiNEET! But you will need to worship this goddess from tomorrow onwards! You have to join the Aqua sect in town, and pray to me 3 times a day! You can't object if I take any side dishes from you during meals! And also, ugh?"

Aqua who was puffing her chest out and rumbling on about something disappeared.

I turned my head and saw the toad had stopped moving.

Something white were dangling from the corner of the toad's mouth.

That white thing was...

"Aqua-! You, how could you get eaten-!"

Aqua who was eaten by the toad had one leg dangling out of its mouth which was spasming.

And so I drew my short sword and charged the toad!

"Sob... Ugh, ugh-- Wah...!"

Before me, Aqua was covered in sticky toad fluid hugging her knees while sitting on the ground sobbing.

Besides her was the toad with its head smashed.

"Ugh... Sob... Thank, thank you... Kazuma, thank you...! Wahhhhhhhhh....!"

Aqua had been crying non stop since I dragged her out of the toad's mouth.

Even a goddess couldn't stand the horror of being preyed on.

"Are, are you okay Aqua, be strong... Let's go back for today. The mission we took on was exterminating 5 toads in 3 days, but they are not opponents we could handle. Let's try again when we have better equipment. Look, I only have a short sword and no armor, I'm still wearing my gym clothes. Let's come back when we are dressed more like adventurers."

To be honest, a novice like me only defeated the toad because it stopped moving as it tried to swallow Aqua.

If the toad attacked me without hesitation, I don't have the courage to face it.

Aqua stood up with the glossy fluid all over her body.

"Ugh... For a goddess like me to be humiliated by a toad, how could we retreat! I am already defiled. If a believer saw how dirty I am, their faith would definitely plummet! If people knew I ran from toads, it would be a disgrace to the name of the beautiful goddess Aqua!"

Don't worry about that. You carried several times more construction materials than the men at the work site, and looked so happy while working. Your greatest joy was eating dinner after taking a bath, you were sleeping so soundly that you even drooled while sleeping in the stables beside me. After seeing the way you acted, being covered in goo wasn't much.

But before I could stopped her, Aqua charged towards another toad in the distance.

"Ah! Hey, hold up, Aqua!"

Aqua ignored my restraint, drawing closer to the toad using her moment to throw a punch at the belly of the toad.

"Feel the wrath of a goddess! You dare to oppose a goddess? Repent in hell! God Blow!"

I remembered the staff in the guild telling me that physical attacks weren't effective against giant toads.

Her fist sunk into the soft abdomen, while the toad seemed unaffected...

Aqua looked at the toad meekly in the eye and said softly:

"... Look, looking closely, toads are actually quite cute right?"

... And so, I defeated a 2nd giant toad that stopped moving as it attempted to swallow its prey. The adventure for today ended with me bringing a wailing goddess covered in slime back to town.

Part 4

"I get it. Just us two isn't enough. Let's recruit more members!"

After returning to town, the first thing we did was head to the bath house to wash up. We then ate fried toad meat in the Adventurers guild and discuss our plans.

Apart from being a meeting place for adventurers, the adventurers guild also doubled as a bar. It allowed adventurer to sell the monster they hunted as well and cooking tasty monsters was also a selling point.

We sold the meat of the two toad we hunted to the guild, earning some allowance.

The toad was too big for the two of us to carry.

But if you turn in a request to the guild, they will provide delivery service, transporting the monster we defeated.

Selling one toad and deducting the transport fee, we earned 5000 Eris.

The earnings were about the same as doing construction work.

But the slightly tough fried toad meat was unexpectedly tasty, which made me surprised.

When I first came to this world, I was a bit hesitant about eating lizard and toads. But when it was prepared and served to me, I found it to be delicious.

Although the goddess before me ate anything without hesitation.

"But... Even if we want to recruit comrades, do you think anyone would want to team up with novices like us who don't even have proper equipment?"

With a mouthful of toad meat, Aqua waved the fork in her hand.

"Wiff mi hare, yuu juice node..."

"Swallow. Swallow before you speak."

After Aqua swallowed, she said:

"With me here, I just need to holler and people will line up to join us. I am a high cleric after all, the top tier job! I can use all sorts of healing spells, support magic, relieve poison and paralysis status. I can even perform resurrection, definitely a talent any team would want. I might have fallen into the mortal world and my power were far from my peak, but I am still a goddess... Ahem! I am Aqua-sama after all! I just need to put up a notice and a bunch of people begging me to 'bring me along to missions' will show up! If you understand, then give me another piece of fried toad meat!"

After finishing, the self proclaimed goddess grabbed a piece of fried toad meat from my plate as I watched her with worried eyes.

Part 5

The next time, at the Adventurers guild.

"... No one is coming..."

Aqua mumbled to herself dejectedly.

After displaying a recruitment notice, we sat at a table inside the Adventurers guild and wait for companions of the hero to show up. It had been half a day.

The other adventurers definitely saw our notice.

Besides us, a number of adventurers were recruiting members. They had conducted interviews, talked with them and went off.

I knew very well why no one was coming.

"... Nah, let's lower the standard. Our goal is to defeat the demon king, so such conditions were necessary... but 'only recruiting top tier jobs' is a bit too grueling."

"Ugh... But..."

In this world, the adventurers jobs were divided into tiers, with some being top tier.

Aqua's high cleric was one of the top tier jobs.

It was difficult for normal people to pick this job, she could very well be a hero candidate.

And it was normal for such hero candidates to enjoy a privileged life in other teams...

Aqua probably wanted to recruit powerful companions in order to take down the demon king.

But...

"If this goes on, no one would apply! You might have a top tier job, but mine is the weakest. I will lose my place if I am suddenly surrounded by elites. How about lowering the entry requirements..."

As I was preparing to stand up,

"I saw the notice to recruit adventurers with top tier, is that you guys?"

Her eyes with red pupils looked sleepy.

Her smooth black hair reached her shoulders.

For us, she was a girl in a classical witch attire, with black cloak, dark boots, pointy hat and a staff.

Her features were delicate like a porcelain doll - it's a loli.

It wasn't surprising for children to work in this world...

The small frail girl who looked about 12-13 had an eye patch covering one eye. She flung her cloak hard and said:

"I am Megumin! An arch wizard with the strongest attack spell, explosion...!"

"... Are you here to tease us?"

"I, I'm not!"

I couldn't help retorting the self introduction of this girl, and she denied in a panic.

And what was with the name Megumin.

"That red eye... Are you Crimson Demon race?"

The girl nodded in response to Aqua's query and presented her adventurer card to Aqua.

"That's correct! I am an elite mage from the Crimson Demon race, Megumin! My magic is powerful enough to split the mountains...! ... That's how it is, do you need an excellent mage? ... By the way, I have a favor to ask. I haven't ate in 3 days, could you give me something to eat before the interview..."

Megumin looked at us with sorrowful eyes.

The heartbreaking 'Ugu' sound came from Megumin's stomach region.

"... I'm fine with treating you to a meal, but why are you wearing an eye patch? If you are injured, do you need this girl to heal you?"

"Hmmp... this is a tool to restrain my overwhelming power... If you pull it off... A gigantic disaster will befall the world...

"Oh... So it is something like a seal."

"I made that up. This is just a normal eye patch, it just look nice... Ah, sorry, please don't pull on that, stop!"

"Eh... listen Kazuma, the Crimson Demon race are born with high intellect and strong magic affinity, most of them have the potential to become a professional mage. The Crimson Demon race are known for their red eyes... and their strange names."

Aqua explained as I pulled on Megumin's eye patch.

... I understand. Just listening to her name and seeing that eye patch, I thought she was teasing me.

I released the eye patch, and she said sternly:

"It's rude to say our names are weird. I think the names of the people in town are the weird ones."

"... Right, may I ask for your parent's name?"

"My mother is Yuiyui, my father is Hyoizaburo."

"..." x2

Aqua and I were silent.

"... Anyway, the race this girl is from produced many powerful mages right? Could we recruit her as a companion?"

"Hey, if you have any problem with the names of my parents, say it to my face."

Megumin leans forward, and Aqua returned the adventurer's card to her at this moment.

"It should be fine right? The adventurer's card is real, her job is really top tier with the ability to use powerful spells-- Arch wizard. The magic stat on the card is very high, so she has a lot of potential. If she really can use explosion magic, that would be amazing! Explosion spell is the top grade spell in the detonation series magic and is hard to learn."

"Hey, stop addressing me as she, use my name!"

As Megumin protest, I handed the food menu to her.

"Don't mind the details, order something to eat. I am Kazuma. This is Aqua. Please to meet you, Arch wizard."

Megumin seemed like she had something to say, but just took the menu quietly in the end.

Part 6

"Explosion is the strongest spell. On the other hand, it requires a long casting time. Before I am ready, please keep that toad at bay."

We brought Megumin who had eaten her full along to seek revenge against those giant toads.

I could see a toad in the distance on the plain.

That toad had already noticed us and was charging our way.

And I could see another toad heading towards us from the opposite direction.

"Please target the toad further away. As for the one nearer... Hey, let's go Aqua. We will avenge ourselves this time. You are a former goddess right? How about showing what you are made of sometimes?"

"What do you mean by former? I am a current goddess! My position of a high cleric is just a disguise!"

Megumin looked at the self proclaimed goddess choking me and said:

"...Goddess?"

"... Just a pitiful woman claiming to be a goddess. She will say stuff like that from time to time, please don't mind her."

After hearing my explanation, Megumin looked at Aqua with sympathetic eyes.

Aqua was on the verge of tears, and charged towards the nearer toad in frustration with her fist clenched.

"You are just toads that are strong against physical attacks, let me show you the power of a goddess! Kazuma, watch this carefully! I haven't done anything great yet, but I will definitely succeed today!"

Aqua who lacked the capacity to learn shouted and succeeded in infiltrating into the body of the toad, stopping the movement of one toad.

As expected of a goddess, sacrificing herself to buy time for us.

... At this point, the air around Megumin started to tremble.

Even a novice to magic like me could tell Megumin was preparing to use amazing magic.

Megumin's chanting got louder as sweat falls from her temples.

"Watch closely. This is the strongest possible attack of humans... The ultimate attack magic."

The tip of Megumin's staff started to glow.

The scale might be small, but it seemed to accumulate vast amount of light as it shone brightly.

Megumin's red eye was wide open with a brilliant light.

"'Explosion'!"

A light flashed through the plains.

The light emitted from the tip of Megumin's staff pointed towards the distance, hitting the toad approaching us dead on...!

The violent effect of the spell could be seen immediately.

That dazzling light and the loud bang reverberating in the air made the toad explode into pieces.

I was almost blown away by that strong wind as I covered my face and braced myself.

After the dust settled, a crater 20 meter in diameter could be seen where the toad was, showing how powerful that explosion was.

"... Amazing-- so this is magic..."

The power of Megumin's spell moved me, and at this moment.

A toad climbed out slowly from underground, probably woken up by the shockwave and sound of the explosion.

I was thinking that without rain and water source in the plains, the toads dry up under the hot sun. It turned out they burrow underground to avoid being baked alive.

The toad that was climbing out was near Megumin, but its movement were very slow.

If we use this chance to move away from the toad, and let Megumin use her 'explosion' spell again, we could blow the toad into cinders.

"Megumin! Let's retreat for now, and attack from a distance..."

I looked over at Megumin at this point.

And my body turned stiff.

Because Megumin was lying face down on the ground.

"Hmmp... Explosion is my ultimate spell, it is powerful and used a lot of mana... Simply put, the mana I used exceeded my limit, so I couldn't move. Ah, to think a toad would appear out of nowhere... No good, I will get eaten. Sorry, please save me... Hya...!"

And so, I finished off the two toads whose movement were sealed by the body of Aqua and Megumin.

We completed the mission to defeat 5 giant toads in 3 days.

Part 7

"Ugh... Ugug... sniff... it smells... it smells like fish..."

Aqua who was covered in slime sniveled as she followed behind me.

"It is smelly inside the toad, but the warm feeling isn't too bad... I gained some knowledge that I would rather not know..."

Megumin who I was carrying on my back was covered in goo like Aqua, and she told me something I don't want to know.

If someone uses magic that exceeded their mana capacity, it would drain their life force to make up the difference.

Using powerful spells when your mana is depleted might even lead to death.

"From now on, explosion magic is banned unless there is an emergency. Please work hard by using other spells, Megumin."

Megumin who heard what I said grabbed my shoulders harder.

"... I can't."

"... Huh? You can't what?"

I parroted Megumin's words.

Megumin grabbed even harder and pressed her lacking chest onto my back.

"... I can only use explosion spell. I don't know any other magic."

"... Are you serious?"

"... Yes."

As Megumin and I turned silent, Aqua who was sniveling joined in our discussion.

"What do you mean by knowing only explosion magic? If you had enough skill points to learn explosion, you must had learned other spells right?"

... Skill points?

Speaking of which, the counter lady at the guild did mention something about skill points.

Seeing that I am confused, Aqua explained to me:

"Skill points are something you earn when you take choose a job, it is used to learn skills. The better a person is, the more skill points they start out with. You can learn all sorts of skills by investing your skill points in it. For example, the excellent me had learned all the banquet party tricks as well as all the spells of a high cleric."

"... Where are you going to use the banquet party tricks?"

Aqua pretended not to hear my question and continued:

"Depending on the person and the job, there are restrictions to the skills they may learn. For example, someone with a fear of water would need more points to learn water or ice elemental spells... But detonation series magic are composite spells, you would need deep knowledge of fire and wind magic to master it. This means that people who can learn detonation magic should be able to easily learn other spells."

"This means that it doesn't make sense to be unable to learn low grade spells when you know high tier magic from the detonation series... Anyway, where can you make use of banquet party tricks?"

Megumin mumbled when I finished my sentence:

"... I am an arch wizard that loves explosion spell. What I like is not detonation series magic, but explosion spell."

Really, what's the difference between detonation spell and explosion magic?

I don't understand things on this level as Aqua listened to Megumin's monologue with a series face.

No, compared to that, I am totally distracted by the banquet party tricks.

"Adventures would definitely be easier if I learn other spells. Fire, water, earth, wind and light, learning spells related to this should be good enough... But I couldn't do it. My only love is explosion magic. Even though I could only cast it once per day, even if I will collapse after using the spell, my one true love is still explosion magic! The only reason I chose the path of the arch mage was to cast explosion spells"

"Incredible! Great! Your resolve to follow your romantic dreams despite knowing it is efficient is deeply moving!"

... Oh no, seemed like this mage was going to be useless.

The best evidence was her hitting it off with Aqua.

After two battles with the toads, I highly suspect the usefulness of this goddess.

Honestly, just Aqua alone was troublesome enough, if another one joined in...

Alright, I made up my mind.

"I see. I think this would definitely be a difficult path, so do work hard. Ah, I can see the town. Let's divide the rewards equally at the guild. Yes, let's meet again if our path crossed again."

Megumin grabbed me harder after I finished.

"Hmmp... My only wish is to use explosion magic. The bounty is just a complementary bonus. How about this, I don't need to split the rewards evenly, if you are willing to foot the bill for food, bath and miscellaneous items, I can consider not taking any rewards. That's right, my power as an arch wizard is available at the price of meals and other miscellaneous fees! How could you miss this opportunity to form a long term contract!"

"No no no, our weak team is not worthy of such amazing power. That's right, it's too much to ask Megumin to stay in our team with your amazing powers. A team just starting out should make do with a normal mage. Look at me, my job is the weakest adventurer too."

In order to chase away Megumin who was grabbing on to me tightly when we reach the guild, I attempted to loosen her grip.

But Megumin refused to let go.

"No no no no, it doesn't matter if you are novices or weak. I might have a top tier job, but I am still a beginner too. My level is just 6. When my level grows, I wouldn't collapse after using my spells. So let's talk this over, then pull my hand away okay?"

"No no no no no, it's too hard to utilize a mage that can only cast one spell a day. Ugh, she is a mage, but her grip is strong...! Let go, the other teams probably don't want you too. Or rather, explosion spell couldn't be used in dungeons or in doors, which would render you useless. Hey, release your grip. I will split the rewards equally with you! Please let go!"

"Please don't ditch me! No team is willing to take me in! I am willing to carry the luggage or anything when exploring dungeons! Please, don't throw me away!"

It's probably because Megumin on my back was yelling 'don't throw me away', the passer bys started whispering while looking at us.

Because we are in town and Aqua's appearance drew in a lot of attention, it made us the center of focus.

"-- No way... That man wants to abandon that child..."

"-- He has a girl covered in slime with him."

"-- To toy with such a small child, and to abandon her after that, what a trash. Look! Why are the girls covered in goo? What weird sexual games did that pervert made them do?"

... I was definitely being maligned.

Aqua smiled deviously upon hearing them, how hateful.

Megumin seemed to have heard their whispers too.

I looked at Megumin who was peeking over my shoulder, a malicious smile on her face...

"I am fine with any sort of play! Even using the toad's slime like just now is okay..."

"Alright-- I get! Megumin, I will be in your care!"

Part 8

"Alright, everything is in order. I have confirmed that your team had finished the mission to defeat 5 giant toads in 3 days. Good work."

After reporting in at the guild's counter, I received the promised reward.

As for Aqua and Megumin who were covered in slime, they will be too smelly if they don't wash up. It might cause misunderstanding for me, so I shooed them off to the bath house.

One of the toad we defeated disintegrated because of the explosion magic, so I was afraid it might affect the completion of the mission. But the type and number of monsters defeated were recorded on the adventurer card, so there were no problems.

I handed in me and Megumin's card to the counter lady, which she put in a strange box like machine. The confirmation was done just like that.

The things that were developed were magic instead of science, so the technology level of this world was quite advance.

I looked at my card again and saw that I am at level 4.

I heard that those toads were great for novice adventurers to grind levels.

I defeated 4 toads by myself, enough to raised my level to 4.

It was easier for low level people to level up.

All the stats on the card increased slightly, but I don't feel myself turning any stronger.

"... But, I can really get stronger just by killing monsters..."

I mumbled to myself.

The counter lady did mention that when she explained in the beginning.

All things in the world have souls. No matter what form it takes, if you eat or kill a being, you can absorb a part of the memory of the soul. That's what she said.

This part felt like a computer game.

Looking closely, there is something called Skill Points on it, which showed the number 3.

Just by spending these points, I could learn skills.

"Well then, turning in 2 giant toads and the bounty for completing the mission is a total of 110,000 Eris. Please take this."

110,000.

These giant toads yield 5000 Eris after deducting transport fees.

So the bounty for the 5 toads is 100,000 Eris.

Aqua said that missions are done by a team of 4 to 6 adventurers.

So for normal adventurers, risking your life to fight 5 toads for a couple of days will yield about 125,000 Eris. For a 5 men team, that would be 25,000 Eris each.

... It's not worth it--

Finishing the mission in one day means a daily salary of 25,000.

It might seem like a good deal for a daily salary, but considering the risk involved, it doesn't seemed to be worth the effort.

If another toad showed up and ate me, the three of us would have been wiped out.

That sent a chill down my spine.

I took a look at the other missions, the ones on the bulletin board were.

-- Cut down the Egil trees corrupting the forest, bounty are dependent on the amount turned in

-- Help me look for my pet white wolf

-- My son's swordsmanship lesson *Requirement: Rune Knight or Sword master.

-- Recruiting subject for magic practice * Requirement: High HP or strong magic resistance...

Yeah.

It's not easy to survive in this world.

I felt like returning to Japan on my second day of adventuring.

"... Excuse me, may I ask...?"

Just when I was getting a little home sick as I sat down on a chair nearby, someone behind talked to me.

Feeling tired of dealing with the realities of this different world, I turned my head with hollow eyes.

"Is something the... matter..."

I was speechless when I saw the person talking to me.

She was a female knight.

And a super beauty.

She gave off the vibe of a cool beauty at first sight as she looked at me expressionlessly.

She was a bit taller than I am.

My height is 165 cm.

A bit taller than me should be about 170 cm.

She was wearing solid metal armor all over her body, a beauty with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Probably a year or two older than me.

I can't tell her body shape from her armor, but I felt that she was very feminine.

Her face seemed rather cold... How should I put this, it picked on your masochistic side...

... Ah, that's not good, I was entranced.

"Ah, eh-- What is the matter?"

Facing Aqua who was about my age and Megumin who was younger than me was fine. But this beauty slightly older than me made me stutter.

That was the bad point about living the life of a hikikomori for extended period of time.

"Erm... The team that put up this recruitment notice was you right? Are you still looking for people?"

That female knight showed me a piece of paper.

That's right, we didn't tear away that notice after Megumin joined our party.

"Oh-- We are still hiring. Although I wouldn't recommend you to join..."

"Please pick me! Please let me join your party!"

When I was about to reject her tactfully, the female knight suddenly grabbed my hand.

... Eh?

"No, no no, hold up, our party has plenty of problems. The other two members are burdens and my job is the weakest. Because of that, my two companions were covered in slime… Hurts hurts hurts!"

When I mentioned the slime, the female knight increased her grip on my hand.

"I was right, those two covered in goo were your comrades! What happened, how did they end up like that...! I, I also...! Want to experience that...!"

"Huh?"

What did this Big sister said?

"No, I phrased it wrongly. For the two young girls to experience that at such a tender age, I can't watch idly as a knight. My job is the top tier cross knight. It should fit your recruitment criteria."

What was with this female knight, her eyes looked dangerous. I thought she was a calm and collected big sister!

But my danger sense was tingling.

She seemed to have something similar with Aqua and Megumin.

... She might be a beauty, but it couldn't be helped.

"Ara-- I didn't finish. I really don't recommend you to join. One of the party mates is useless, the other could only cast one spell a day and I have the weakest job. That's the lame party this is, so I suggest you find another...?"

The female knight strengthened her grip further.

"That is perfect! To be honest, I am confident in my strength and durability, I am not too agile with my hands... So... I can't hit the enemy..."

My spider sense was right.

"So you don't need to mind me having a top tier job. I will just charge ahead without a care, so just abuse me like a shield."

The female knight shoved her pretty face in front of me who was seated on a chair.

Her face was too close!

Because I was sitting, she was looking at me from up high. The female knight's golden locks brushed against my face, making my heart race.

My time as a hikikomori was affecting me again...!

No, this was simply too stimulating for an adolescence virgin boy, making me uneasy.

Calm down, don't get seduced by her charm!

"No, how could I let a girl act like a shield. My party is super weak, so the attack will really hit you. The monsters might gang up on you in every fight!"

"That's the way I like it."

"No, how should I put this, my 2 companions were eaten by toads and covered in slime! This might happen every day!"

"That's exactly what I want!"

... Hai,I get it.

That blushing female knight who was holding my hand.

Looking at her, I understood something.

... This girl wasn't just useless, even her character was rotten.

Chapter 2
Stealing treasures (panties) with my right hand!

Part 1

"Nah, I have something to ask the both of you. How do you learn skills?"

The day after fighting the toads.

We were having a late lunch at the guild's bar.

Before me was the penniless Megumin who didn't have any proper meal before meeting us and was focusing on eating her set meal. And Aqua calling for the waitress to order more food.

Their appetites were too good for ladies of this tender age.

... Two women and a single man is still a harem party, but it was totally not feminine...

Megumin lift her head while holding her fork and said:

"Learning skills? That's easy, look at your card and choose from the 'skills that could be learned' column... Oh right, Kazuma's job is adventurer. For basic tier jobs, you need someone to teach you the skills. You need to see the skill in action and ask the user to teach you how to use it. 'Skills that could be learned' will show up, and you could learn the skills by putting in the required skill points."

I see.

I remember the counter lady saying that the basic tier job adventurer could learn any skills.

If that was the case...

"... That means if Megumin teaches me, I could use explosion magic?"

"That's how it is!"

"Woah!"

Megumin reacted strongly to my casual words.

"That's how it is, Kazuma! The skill points needed would be absurdly high, but adventurer is the only job other than arch wizard that could use explosion. I can teach you if you want to learn. Or rather, there are no other skills that are worth learning except explosion right? Of course not! Come, let's take the path of explosion together!"

Your face is too close!

"Wait, calm down loli! I only have 3 skill points, there's no way I could learn it right?"

"Lo, loli...?"

Megumin was too excited to hold a proper conversation, so I asked Aqua instead.

"If an adventurer wants to learn explosion spell, 20 or so skill points won't be enough. You will probably need to train for a decade or two and invest all your points to learn it."

"Who has that kind of patience?"

"Fu... To call me a loli..."

Megumin seemed stunned by me addressing her as a loli, eating her set meal in small bites dejectedly. But the only good point about my job-- adventurer was the ability to learn all skills. Of course I want to learn more skills.

"Nah, Aqua, you should have many convenient skills right? Do you have any easy to learn skills to teach me? I prefer those that don't need a lot of points and are very useful."

Aqua thought for a moment while holding her cupful of water.

"... It couldn't be helped-- but I have to warn you, my skills are amazing! It's not meant to be passed on lightly!"

I wasn't happy about Aqua mouthing off like that, but I had to bear with it since I am requesting her to teach me.

I obediently nodded my head and watched Aqua's every movement.

"Well, look at this cup. Put this cupful of water on top of your head, and don't let the cup fall off. Here, try it."

It's a bit embarrassing to do that in public, but I mimic Aqua's action and put the cup on top of my head.

Aqua then took out an unknown seed from somewhere and place it on the table.

"Alright, now use your finger to flick the seed into the cup, you must do it in one try. Something amazing is happening! The seed is absorbing the water and sprouting..."

"Who asked you to teach me party tricks you worthless goddess!"

"Eh--?"

Aqua became as dejected as Megumin for some reason and rolled the seed around the table with her finger.

I don't know why you got so down, but could you remove the cup on your head, it's drawing a lot of attention.

"Hahaha! That's so funny! Hey, you are the party Darkness wanted to join right? You want to learn something useful? How about thieving skills?"

Someone interjected suddenly.

I turned my head and saw two women occupying the neighboring table.

The one talking to me was a woman wearing light leather armor.

She had a small scar on her face and seemed to be street smart. She was a pretty girl with silver locks and a bright personality.

Beside her was a blond beauty in full plate mail.

That unapproachable cool beauty...

That's right, it was the female knight that wanted to join our party yesterday.

The thief girl should be a year or two younger than me.

"Erm, what do you mean by thieving skills? How are they like?"

The girl that looked like a thief responded cheerfully:

"Good question. Thieving skills are very practical-- such as 'Disarm Traps', 'Sense Enemy', 'Hide', 'Steal', they are all skills that are worth learning. Your job is the basic tier adventurers right? Thieving skills don't require much points, so it's a great deal! How about it? I can teach them to you if you treat me to a glass of crimson beer!"

So cheap!

That's how I felt, but when I thought about it, she had nothing to lose from teaching me the skills.

And I could just ask any other thief if I really want to learn thieving skills.

"Okay, I leave it in your hands! Excuse me-- Please get a glass of ice cold crimson beer for this lady!"

Part 2

"I will do a short introduction. I am Chris. As you can see, I am a thief. And this person with a moody face is Darkness. You met yesterday right? She is a crusader and shouldn't have any skills that are useful to you."

"Hello! I am Kazuma, nice to meet you, Chris!"

The open plaza behind the adventurers guild.

Chris, Darkness and I stood at this desolate open space.

By the way, those 2 companions of mine were sulking at the table all this while, so I left them there. "Well then, we will start from 'Sense Enemy' and ‘Hide’. We will work on 'Disarm Trap' next time, traps are rare in such a crowded place. Hey... Darkness, could you turn and face that side?"

"...Hmmm? .... Okay."

Darkness turned and face away as instructed.

And so, Chris got into a wooden barrel some distance away and showed only the top half of her body.

I don't know what she was playing at, but she then threw a rock at Darkness's head and hid into the barrel.

"..."

Could this be the hide skill?

Darkness who was hit by the rock moved silently towards the only barrel in the area.

"Sensing enemy... sensing enemy... I can strongly feel that Darkness is angry! Nah, Darkness? You should know I only did that to teach him the skills, I couldn't help it! Please have mercy ahhhhhh, stop ahhhhhhhh!"

The barrel she was hidden in was toppled over and Chris screamed as it rolled on the ground.

... Could I really learn skill this way...

"Alright, let's try the skill I recommend the most, 'Steal'. This was a skill that can snatch away one item possessed by the target, it could be anything. Be it the weapon gripped tightly in their hands, or the wallet secured deep in their pockets, it can steal one item possessed by the target. The probability of success is dependent on the luck stat. You could rob the weapon or treasure of a strong enemy and run, a great skill to have under any circumstances."

After Chris recovered from the dizziness of being rolled around in a barrel, she explained 'Steal' to me.

Stealing sounded very useful indeed.

And it was dependent on the luck stat, so my only stat that is high would be of use.

"I will demonstrate with you as the target! Ready, 'Steal'!"

Chris shouted as she reached her hand forward, and a small item appeared in her hand.

That is...

"Ah! That's my wallet!"

It contained all of my cash, a thin and pitiful wallet.

"Oh! Jackpot! It's used this way. Well of course, I will give the wallet..."

Chris smiled deviously when she was about to return the wallet to me.

"... Nah, let's have a match alright? Try learning 'Steal' now. I will then let you steal one item from me. I won't complain even if you steal my wallet or weapon. Your wallet is so thin, so my weapon or wallet would definitely be more valuable. That means we will be trading whatever items that were stolen... How about it? Want to try?"

This person suddenly said something amazing.

I thought about it.

My luck seemed ridiculously high...

I could steal one item from the opponent...

So I would get something even if the skill failed.

... Let's give it a go.

Such gambles seemed like the way rash adventurers would interact, just what I was looking forward to!

That's right, I am finally experiencing something adventurer like after coming to this world!

I looked at my adventurer card and saw a new box that displayed skills that could be learned.

I touch it with my finger and 4 skills were displayed.

'Sense Enemy' 1 point, 'Hide' 1 point, 'Steal' 1 point', 'Beauties of Nature' 5 points.

... 'Beauties of nature'? The skill used by Aqua, the party trick of flicking a seed into a cup?

The party trick had such a flashy name! Eh? And it took a lot of points!

Party tricks were cool in some way, but I decided to learn 'steal', 'sense enemy' and 'hide'.

I used up all my skill points and it turned to 0.

I see, so that's how you learn skills.

"I have learned the skill. And I accept your challenge! Don't come crying to me no matter what I steal!"

I stuck out my right hand as I spoke, but Chris just smiled fearlessly.

"That's great! I like people who aren't spoilsport! Alright then, what could you steal? The special prize would be my wallet. The grand prize would be this magically enchanted dagger! This is a great item worth 400,000 Eris! The consolation prize would be this piece of rock I threw at Darkness!"

"Ahhh! That's cheating! Using such a method!"

I protest loudly when I saw the rock Chris took out.

I was wondering why she was so confident, so that's the reason!

If she had more trash items, the probability of important items getting stolen would be lower, a sort of safeguard against thieves.

"This is my teaching fee. As you can see, no skills are all powerful. You learned something great right? Alright, give it a go!"

Damn, I was really schooled!

Looking at Chris laughing out loud, I felt I was foolish to fall for this trick.

This is not Japan, but a dog eat dog world.

It is the fault of those who are naive enough to be tricked.

But it was just the chance of winning or failing, it's not a total loss.

"Alright, watch this! My luck had always been good! 'Steal'!"

As I shouted, my outreached right hand grabbed something.

She said the chance of success was dependent on the luck stat. To succeed in one try, my luck wasn't too bad.

I opened my hand and looked at what I stole...

"... What is this?"

It was a piece of white cloth.

I took the cloth with both hands and raised to the sun for a better look...

"Yahoo--! It's the grand prize, and it's a big one---!"

"No--! Return my panties to me--!"

Chris pulled down her skirt as she screamed with tears in her eyes.

Part 3

After learning the skills, I returned to the bar and found it to be lively.

"Aqua-sama, one more time! I am willing to pay for it, could you perform 'Beauties of Nature' once more?"

"Fool, Aqua-san prefers food instead of money! Right, Aqua san! I will treat you to a meal, so please do 'Beauties of Nature' again!"

For some reason, there was a crowd around Aqua who looked troubled.

"Talent shows are not things that could be performed several times on request! A great man once said a funny joke could only be told once. Doing the same tricks several times because it is popular means you are a 3rd rate performer! I am not a performer, so I won't accept money for my performance! This should be the basic attitude of talent show artisan. And I didn't perform 'Beauties of Nature' for you to see-- ah! Kazuma you are finally back, it turn out like this because of you... By the way, who is this person?"

Aqua pushed through the crowd with an annoyed face and was curious about the sulky Chris standing beside me.

Before I could explain, Darkness said:

"Chris panties was removed by Kazuma and lost all her money to him. That's why she is feeling down."

"Hey, what is this nonsense! Hold up. What you said was true, but hold on a minute."

Because Chris was willing to pay any amount of money as she begged me to return her panties, I told her to decide how much her panties was worth.

I added that if Chris didn’t offer an amount that would satisfy me, her panties would become my family heirloom.

In the end, she offered both her wallet and my wallet, so I agreed to the trade, that's all. But Darkness' way of phrasing it sounded a bit wrong.

Aqua and Megumin was a bit surprised after hearing what Darkness said. Their gaze made me feel uncomfortable, and Chris shook off her sulky expression at this moment and said:

"Even if I was stripped of my panties in public, I couldn't keep on crying! Alright, Darkness. I'm sorry, but I have decided to join a profitable dungeon exploration party! I am penniless after my panties was taken hostage."

"Hey, wait a second. The female adventurers aside from Aqua and Megumin are starting to turn cold, please don't speak anymore."

The female adventurers nearby seemed to have heard the conversation.

Seeing how awkward I looked in their cold gaze, Chris laughed happily.

"This level of counter attack isn't too overboard right? Well then, I will be back after earning some cash, so have fun in the mean time, Darkness! I will find what quests are available!"

Chris ran to the bulletin board recruiting for members after saying that.

"Erm, aren't you going with her, Darkness?"

Darkness sat down at my table so naturally that I had to ask.

"... Yeah. People with the same vanguard class as me could be found anywhere. Although thieves are essential for dungeon exploration, it wasn't too popular with others. There are many teams that want to recruit Chris."

I see, Aqua said that Arch Priests were rare and wanted by every party, so the treatment each job received are different.

A short while later, Chris probably found a pick up group and left the guild with a few adventurers.

Chris waved at us before heading off.

"It's already evening, Chris and her party are going to explore the dungeons now?"

"The best time to go dungeon diving is early in the morning. So most people would set off one day earlier like them, and make camp before the dungeon until morning. There are even merchants operating with these adventurers as their target market. How was it? Did you learn any skills?"

Hearing Megumin said that, I smiled confidently.

"Hmmp, why not take a look? Take this, 'Steal'!"

I shouted and reached towards Megumin with my right hand, grabbing a black cloth tightly.

That's right, it was panties.

"... What happened? After your level and stats increased, you had changed jobs from an adventurer to a pervert? Erm... It feels cold below, please return my panties to me..."

"Str, strange? Why is this, it shouldn't be like this... It should be a skill that steals something at random!"

I hurriedly returned the panties to Megumin under the glare of the females around me that was getting colder. Someone suddenly slam the table.

That was Darkness who suddenly knocked the chair away and stood up.

Her eyes were sparkling for some reason...

"I was right! To  stripped the panties of a young girl with so many people watching, you really are the worst...! Please...! Please let me join this party!"

"Don't wanna."

"Hmm...? Eh...!"

Darkness' face turned red and her body trembled when she heard my unhesitatant reply.

What should I do. I wasn't very sure, but this female knight is definitely a bad type.

Aqua and Megumin seemed curious about Darkness...

"Nah, who is this person Kazuma? Was she the one who came for the interview while Megumin and I went to shower?"

"Hold on, this lady is a crusader. There is no reason to reject her right?"

The two of them started talking nonsense as they stare at Darkness.

This is bad... And I remember rejecting her yesterday too.

I didn't want these two to meet Darkness...

... Alright, I have to use this method.

"Darkness, we might look this way now, but we are serious about taking down the demon king."

Aqua who wanted to return to heaven aside, I had already given that up after finding out how harsh this world was, even killing a toad was a chore.

Megumin who never heard of this before looked surprised, but I ignored her.

No, wait. This might be a good opportunity.

"That's right, listen to me too, Megumin. Aqua and I wants to take down the demon king no matter what. That's our goal as adventurers. And so, our adventures will become more dangerous. Especially Darkness, as a female knight, you would experience 'that' if you get captured by the demon king."

"That's right! Since ancient times, getting sexually harassed by the demon king was the job of the female knights! That alone would be worth the trip!"

"Eh?... What?"

"Huh?... What is it? Did I say anything weird?"

Darkness who expressed her strong agreement made me shout in surprise.

... An, anyway, I will settle that later.

"Listen carefully too, Megumin. The opponent is the demon king. Aqua and I are planning to fight the strongest being in this world, so don't force yourself by staying in this party..."

I didn't even finish.

Megumin knocked her chair away and stood up.

She flicked her cloak hard and said:

"I am Megumin! The top wizard in the red magic race, the master of explosion magic! For the demon king to call himself the strongest and ignore me! I will decimate him with my strongest spell!"

With the entire guild's eyes on her, Megumin made a chunni declaration.

This fellow was hopeless too. Don't make such an arrogant face so confidently!

Oh no, these two hopeless girls raised the tension even higher...

"... Nah, Kazuma, Kazuma..."

As I droop my head dejectedly, Aqua pulled at my sleeve.

"I was a bit scared when Kazuma put it that way. Is there a simpler way to take on the demon king?"

... You should be the one most fired up, since this is actually your quest...

... At this point.

"Emergency quest! Emergency quest! All adventurers in town, please gather at the adventurers guild! I repeat, emergency quest! Emergency quest! All adventurers in town, please gather at the adventurers guild!"

The loud broadcast could be heard in the entire town.

It was probably amplified through magic.

"Hey, what are emergency quests? Are monsters raiding the town?"

I felt a bit uneasy, but Darkness and Megumin seemed elated. Darkness said joyfully:

"... Erm, it's probably harvesting cabbages. It's the season for them."

...

"Huh? Cabbage? Is that the name of some monster?"

After expressing my thoughts, Megumin and Darkness looked at me pitifully for unknown reasons.

"Cabbage is something round, green and edible."

"It is crunchy and refreshing, a delicious vegetable."

"I know that! Then what is happening? The guild said there is an emergency quest, so the farmers need help from the adventurers?"

It seemed weird for me who was working as a construction worker recently to say this, but I didn't come here to farm.

"Ahh... Kazuma probably doesn't know? Let me tell you, the cabbages of this world..."

Aqua adopted an apologetic pose and was about to tell me something when the guild staff interrupted her and explained to all the adventurers in the building.

"I apologize for gathering everyone on such short notice! I think everyone should know the emergency is because of the cabbages! It is time to harvest cabbages this year! The quality of the cabbages are great this year, each one is worth 10,000 Eric! We have already evacuated the residents. So please harvest more cabbages and turn them in here! Please take care of your own safety and don't get hurt from the cabbages counter attack! Also, because of the large amount of people and bounty, the reward would be given out at a later date!"

... What did this staff said?

The sound of cheers erupted outside the Adventurers guild.

I didn't know what happened, so I squeezed into the crowd outside to take a look. Green objects were flying all over town.

As I stood on the spot, amazed by this ridiculous sight, Aqua came over to my side and continued her explanation:

"The cabbages of this world can fly. When their taste ripens during harvest time, they fly through cities, plains, the continent and to the ocean, unwilling to be eaten. If that is the case, we should get more cabbages and eat them while they are still delicious."

"Can I go back to the stables and sleep?"

As I mumbled softly, the brave adventurers charges out in high spirits.

They must be hot blooded guys who were inspired by the cabbages who did their best to live for the moment.

As I watch the adventurers chased after the cabbages whole heartedly, I prayed.

... What grave sin did I commit that I have to fight to the death with cabbages here.

... I want to go back to Japan.

Part 4  

I took a bite of the fried cabbages sold here.

"Why does a mere cabbage taste so good. I don't get it, I don't get it."

The cabbage hunt quest ended and the entire town started serving dishes made from cabbages.

It was great profit, so I joined the cabbage hunt quest in the end, but I still regretted it a little.

I didn't come to this different world to battle cabbages.

"You are skilled, Darkness! As expected of a crusader! The cabbages couldn't break through your iron wall defense no matter what they did."

"No, I didn't do much, I am just really tough. I am clumsy and slow, so I can't really hit my target, my only strong point was shielding others... Megumin has impressive offense. You took out the horde of monsters that was chasing the cabbages right into town with just one explosion attack. All the other adventurers were shocked."

"Kuku, no one could stand up to the power of my explosive magic... But Kazuma was the most active one. He picked me up after I exhausted my mana and carried me back."

"... Yeah, when I was surrounded by cabbages and monsters, Kazuma showed up and captured all the cabbages attacking me, thank you for rescuing me."

"Indeed, erasing your presence with 'Hide', grasping the movement of the cabbage with 'Sense Enemy' and surprising them with 'Steal' from behind. That was just like an outstanding assassin."

Aqua finally finished her cabbages and casually placed her plate on the table.

The useless goddess who chased the cabbages without a plan and didn't perform too well wiped her mouth gracefully and said:

"Kazuma... With my authority, I grant you the title 'Elegant Cabbage Thief'."

"Shut up! I will slap you if you call me that! Ah... enough, why did things turn out this way!"

I hugged my head and rest it on the table.

This is bad.

"Well then... I am Darkness, a crusader. Theoretically, my weapon is a 2-handed sword, but don't count on it too much. I am clumsy with my hands and tend to miss. But I am good at being a tank, so please take care of me."

That's right, we got another companion officially.

Aqua smiled leisurely, she looked pleased.

"... Hmmp, our party is becoming great. I am an arch priest, Megumin is a arch wizard. And we have the defensive specialist vanguard, crusader Darkness. 3 out of 4 members having top tier jobs are rare, Kazuma! Do you know how lucky you are? You have to be grateful okay?"

A wizard that could only use one spell a day, a vanguard that couldn't hit anyone and a priest that was dumb, had bad luck and was totally useless!

During the cabbage hunt quest, Darkness, Aqua and Megumin hit it off, so they wanted Darkness to join the team too.

If she was normal, I would have no reason to reject.

And she was also a beauty.

But Darkness couldn't hit her target at all.

Although she was a looker.

She put all her skill points into defensive skills, so normal skills learned by vanguards such as '2-hand sword' or skills that raised her proficiency with weapons were ignored.

She had an appearance of a cool beauty, so it was a pity.

And this crusader loved to charge into the midst of a group of monsters for some reasons.

As a crusader who defends the weak, having a stronger calling than others to protect others was a good thing...

"Ugh... Ah, the feeling of being ravaged by cabbage and monsters is unbearable... I am the only orthodox vanguard in this party, so don't hold back, use me as a bait or shield. If it is necessary, you can even cut me off as a sacrifice... Hmmm! Just, just imagining that made me tremble in excitement...!"

Darkness' face was blushing as she shivered slightly.

... That's how this fellow was.

A super masochist.

She looked like a cool beauty, but she was just a pervert in my eyes.

"Well then, Kazuma. I will probably... No, I will definitely be a bother to you, so don't hold back and lecture me viciously. Please take care of me from now on."

A arch priest that could use all sorts of healing spells, and a arch wizard that could use the strongest spell.

And a crusader with iron wall like defense.

It seemed to be a perfect formation, but I feel things would be tough on me in the future.

Part 5

My level is now 6.

This meant I rose two levels during the cabbage hunt.

I only captured them and didn't defeat them, so why did my level rise?

And why do the cabbages yield so much experience points?

There are too many things to retort, so I skipped it since it would be a pain.

You lose if you took issue with too many things with this world.

One head of cabbage was worth 10,000 Eris. The bounty was so high because eating fresh cabbage grants you experience points.

This meant the rich adventurers could get stronger just by eating vegetables.

With the raise in level, my skill points also increased.

As for why such a RPG like phenomenon happened with the increase in level, I would probably lose sleep if I am too concerned with it, so I decided to ignore it.

I had to say it again, you lose if you took issue with such things.

My skill points were 2.

I looked for the wizard and swordsman from another party I met during the cabbage hunt, and asked them to teach me 'One-handed sword' and 'Basic Spells' skill.

Each skill cost a point.

One handed skill raised proficiency with one handed sword.

My swordsmanship is now on par with normal people.

Although I used up my points, I had always wanted to learn sword and of course magic.

Anyone would have wanted to learn magic in after coming to this magical world.

With basic spells, I could use elemental magic like fire, water, earth and wind, although they were simple spells.

By the way, basic spells don't have offensive magic, so most wizards will skip basic spells and conserve their skill points for intermediate spells.

But it would take 10 points to learn intermediate spells.

Since it would take that much points, I should give up learning offensive spells since my magic stat was low anyway.

There were people who were born with skill points, which were totally dependent on talent.

For great talents that could choose top tier jobs right from the beginning, it wasn't strange for them to start out with dozens of skill points.

Aqua aside, Megumin and Darkness was probably privileged from the very beginning.

But in contrast, I had 0 skill points at level 1.

... I will get more depressed if I thought about it too much, so I should probably stop.

After learning skills, I looked more like an adventurer.

What was left is getting some proper gears.

I would wear clothes purchased in this world some times, but my current equipment was just the gym clothes I started out with and a short sword.

I want some armor, even if it was just leather.

And so,

"... Why do I have to tag along and shop with you?"

I brought the complaining Aqua along to the armor shop.

"No, you should prepare some equipment too. I might only have my gym clothes, but you are about the same right? Your only equipment is that flimsy hagoromo right?"

Aqua was dressed the same way as she did when she first came to this world with me.

The light purple translucent hagoromo complements Aqua's blue hair and eyes. That was the only equipment she wore over her clothes.

After changing into her pajamas, she would use a bucket of water to wash her hagoromo, I had seen her sunning the hagoromo along with the hay that was drying in the sun.

Aqua said in surprise:

"Don't be stupid-- I think you had forgotten that I am a goddess! This hagoromo is a holy relic. It could defend against abnormal status and had great durability. It is enchanted with all sorts of magic, a precious artifact! There is no other equipment better than this!"

I felt like telling her not to dry this along with the hay.

"That's great news. If we really couldn't make ends meet, we could pawn off your holy relic... Oh, this chest armor looks neat, although it is made of leather."

"... Ka, Kazuma, you are joking right? This hagoromo is proof of my divinity! You, you won't really sell it right? Nah? I, I won't allow it!"

Part 6

"... Ooo, I almost couldn't recognize you."

"Woah-- Kazuma finally look the part of an adventurer."

Coming to our meeting point which is the Adventurers guild, Darkness and Megumin commented on my attire.

If I didn't look like an adventurer before, did I look like a suspicious character... I felt like finding out.

Right now, I am wearing the costume of this world, with leather chest armor and metallic gauntlets and shin guard.

Aqua complained that my gym clothes clashes with the fantasy setting of this world, so I brought some new clothes a couple of days ago.

I was told that it was more convenient to leave one hand free to use magic skills.

Even though it was just basic spells, I still learnt magic, so I decided to forgo the shield and use a single edge sword in the style of a magic swordsman.

I used half of the money I won in the bet against Chris, but the other half was enough for me to get by for another week or two.

Since I prepared the equipment and learnt skills, I felt like taking on a quest.

I told everyone my thoughts, and Darkness nodded in agreement.

"Now is the mating season of the giant toad and they have been showing up near town, how about..."

"No toads!" x2

Darkness was rejected by Aqua and Megumin.

"...Why not? Toads fear blades and are easy to take down, their sole mode of attack is grabbing prey with its tongue. The defeated toad meat could be sold for easy money. I heard that you might get eaten if your equipment is too weak, but since toad hates metal, Kazuma should be safe with his current equipment. I will protect Aqua and Megumin."

"Eh... The two of them were eaten by toads before, so they have some psychological barrier. They were eaten head first in one gulp, covering them with slime, so it couldn't be helped. Let's find another quest."

Darkness' face turned slightly red after hearing my explanation for some reason.

"... Eaten head first in one gulp... covered in slime..."

"... Did that make you excited?"

"No way."

Darkness averted her eyes and answered with a red face, making me uneasy.

Would she hunt toads alone if I took my eyes off her?

"The emergency cabbage hunt aside, this is our party's first quest. Let's pick something easy to complete."

Megumin and Darkness went to the bulletin board after hearing my suggestion.

Aqua seemed to be looking down on me after hearing what I said:

"What an introverted hikineet... Only Kazuma has the weakest job, so I understand why you are being cautious. But including me, the other members have top tier jobs! We should take on a bunch of high difficulty jobs and make lots of money, level up like crazy and take down the demon king easily! That's why, we should take on difficult quests!"

...

"... I really don't want to say this... But you had not been of use so far."

"!"

Aqua was stunned by what I said.

I ignored her and carried on:

"Normally, you should be giving me powerful abilities or equipment, allowing me to live here without worries. I know that this is a free service provided by the gods, so I didn't want to complain. I was blinded by rage back then, but choosing you instead of an ability was my fault! But you are here in place of those abilities or equipment, but are you performing on par with these special abilities or equipment? Have you? You were acting so great and confident in the beginning, but have totally not been of use, a former something."

"Ugh... No, not former, erm... in principle, I am still a goddess..."

Aqua looked down but she still argued with me, and my voice turned louder.

"Goddess! What should a goddess be doing? Guide the hero to fight the demon king, and seal the demon king before the hero is strong enough to take the demon king on! And what did you do during the cabbage hunt? You did grab a lot towards the end, but you were spinning around because of the cabbages and threw a tantrum  on the floor right? Even vegetables could make you cry, are you really a goddess? Are you really qualified to call yourself a goddess? Your only contribution is getting eaten by a toad and party tricks!"

"Wah, wahhhhh--!"

Seeing Aqua hide her face on the table crying out loud made me feel satisfied over the fact that she was looking down on me.

But Aqua didn't want to give up.

She raised her head and retorted with pride.

"I, I am useful alright, like healing spells and healing spells or healing spells! What, you are just a hikkiNEET! If you continue to play around, how long do you think it would take to defeat the demon king? If you have something to say spill it out!"

Aqua raised her head and glared at me with tearing eyes.

I sneered at Aqua.

"I am a professional gamer who didn't go to high school at all, you think I have nothing to say about this situation?"

"You are a pro gamer?"

"... It sounds better this way. Listen up Aqua. I don't have the special power of the protagonist in stories. But I have the knowledge of Japan. So I want to sell Japanese product that could be created easily and is not available in this world. Think about it, my luck stat is so high even the counter lady suggested for me to become a merchant right? So I think I shouldn't force myself to take on the work of adventurers, but find another way. It would be easier to gain experience points if I have more money right? There are ingredients that made you stronger just by eating like those cabbages."

The other Japanese have the same knowledge as me, but unlike me, they have the special powers granted by the gods.

Those people won't need to do something so bothersome like starting a business, they would stick the basics and earn a living through quests.

What I want to say is that it was hard for me to earn money as an adventurer.

The only quest I took on was hunting toads and cabbages, but judging from the contents of other quest, the rewards were too cheap and not worth the effort.

I felt the value of life was too low in this world.

I did mention the demon king before Aqua, but to be honest, I had given up on that. That's why I have been wondering what is the easiest way to earn money easily.

"That's how it is, so you think about it too! Think of a business that can earn cash easily! And teach me your only good point which is healing magic! I want to learn healing spells after getting more skill points!"

"No--! I won't teach you healing magic! No way--! Don't snatch away the reason for my existence! You will be fine without learning it with me around! No, I don't want to--!"

After this, Aqua put her face down onto the table, crying that I shouldn't take away the only reason for her existence.

At this moment, Megumin and Darkness returned to us.

"... What are you two doing? ...  The attack power of Kazuma's words are strong, if you don't hold back and say everything out, most girls will cry okay!"

"Yes. If you accumulate too much stress... I could take Aqua's place and endure your scolding, so lecture me all you want, don't hold back... As a crusader, suffering for others is a merit."

The two of them looked at Aqua who was crying on the table.

She probably knew she was the center of attention. Aqua would peek at me through her fingers from time to time, which irked me.

"Ignore this fellow for now. But..."

I took a glance at Darkness.

"... Darkness san, you look thinner when you wear your armor..."

Darkness wore a black tight skirt and tank top with leather boots.

With a giant sword on her back, she looked more like a swordswoman than a knight.

She was surrounded by monsters during the cabbage hunt which damaged her armor, so it was sent in for repair.

I became polite towards Darkness who was wearing so little.

Darkness had a great figure and wasn't too skinny.

Simply said, she was rather sexy.

And with Megumin besides her, it accentuates her body type and size.

I couldn't help but think that with such a pretty face and great figure, maybe I could close one eye on her fetish...

"... Hmmm? Did you mean to say 'Are you trying to tempt men with your body you sow!' right?"

"No."

I glance at Aqua and Megumin...

... I confirmed once again that no matter how pretty the face was, it was the personality that was the most important.

Megumin said:

"Hey, what do you mean with that glance, I want to hear it."

"It doesn't mean anything. I am just glad I am not a lolicon."

"Crimson magic race would gladly take on anyone wanting a fight. Good, let's take this outside."

Megumin tugged hard at the sleeves of my gym clothes, attempting to pull me outside.

"Back on topic, how about choosing a quest that could help Aqua level?"

Darkness asked:

"What do you mean? Is there such a quest?"

For Aqua, the skills she needed had been learned from the very beginning, so there wasn't any need to grind her level.

"It is normally hard for priest to level up. They lack offensive spell after all. They won't fight on the front lines like warriors or defeat enemies with powerful magic. So the best monsters for priest to grind are the undead. Undead are a race that goes against the nature of god. The power of god will cause opposite reaction on them. Using healing magic will make their body break."

Ah, I did hear something like that before.

This is common knowledge in many games.

Healing magic has the same effect as offensive magic against the undead.

But this useless goddess won't amount to anything even if we train her levels...

... I had a stroke of inspiration.

When I level up, all my stats got higher.

What about Aqua?

The idiot pretending to cry and sneaking glances at me from time to time might get smarter after leveling up, which was the best way to improve our combat potential.

"Yes, that seemed great. The problem is that Darkness' armor isn't ready..."

Darkness crossed her arms and announced frankly:

"I am fine with it. My full set of defensive skills are not just for show. Even without armor, I dare say that I am harder than an Adamantoise. And it feels better without armor when I get hit."

"... You just said it feels great to get hit."

"... No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"I didn't... The only question is whether Aqua is willing..."

Darkness looked at Aqua who was lying face down on the table.

"Hey, how long are you going to cry, participate in the conversation, we are talking about your level...:

I reached out and pat Aqua's shoulders...

... But I realized before patting her.

"... Snore..."

Aqua got tired of crying and was sleeping.

Is this goddess a 3 year old kid?

Part 7

On a hill far away from town.

There was a public cemetery for poor and homeless people.

The dead are buried in this world.

A hole would be dug and they would be covered with earth.

Our quest this time was defeating the undead monsters that were emerging from the cemetery.

It was almost evening.

We set up a tent near the cemetery and wait for night to fall.

"Slow down Kazuma, I saw that meat first! Here, the vegetable on this side is done, so eat this instead!"

"After the cabbage hunt, I don't like eating vegetables anymore. I am afraid of the vegetable flying off somewhere if I grill it."

We set up a hot plate some distance away from the cemetery, barbecuing as we wait for dusk.

We spent the time leisurely even though it was a hunting quest because the target was a small fry known as a zombie maker.

That was an evil spirit that controls zombies, possessing high quality corpse while manipulating several zombies as minions.

This monster could be defeated by a novice party, so we took on this quest.

So even though Darkness did not have her armor, it wasn't too dangerous for her.

After finishing their meal, I poured coffee powder into a mug, adding water with my 'Create Water', and use 'Tinder' spell to heat the mug.

These were basic magic thought to me by a wizard I met during the cabbage hunt.

As its name suggest, 'Tinder' is a spell to light a fire and posed no offensive threat.

But it was an important spell that could replace a lighter to me.

Megumin looked at me with a complicated expression and held out her cup.

"... Excuse me, please give me some water. I feel that Kazuma is more proficient than me in using magic. Basically no one uses basic spells, but you make it looked convenient."

I cast 'Create Water' into Megumin's cup.

"Is that so, isn't this the way to use basic spells? Oh right, 'Create Earth'! ... Hey, what is this spell used for?"

I showed Megumin the dusty earth on my palm.

There are all sorts of elemental basic spells, but I wasn't sure how to utilize this earth elemental magic.

"Well... The crops grown from magically created earth are high in quality... That's it."

After listening to Megumin's explanation, Aqua besides me burst into laughter.

"What, Kazuma wants to plow the lands? Are you changing jobs to farmer? You could use 'Create Water' for the plants too! This job is a great fit for you, puhehe!"

I faced Aqua with my right palm and raised my left hand.

"Wind Breath!"

"Pu he ahh! Ah--! My eyes!"

A gust of wind blew the dust onto Aqua's face, the goddess rolled on the ground after the sand got into her eyes.

"... I got it, so that's how you use this spell."

"Wrong! Normal people won't use it that way! And why are you using basic spells better than a wizard!"

Part 8

"... It's getting cold. Nah, Kazuma, our quest is to take down the zombie maker right? I have a feeling it won't be a small fry like that, but a big shot undead."

It was late at night and the moon had risen.

Aqua commented suddenly.

"... Hey, don't say such ominous things, what if you really jinx the quest. Our quest for the day is to defeat one zombie maker and return the zombies to dust too. We can then go back to the stables and sleep. We will also go back immediately if anything out of the ordinary happens. Understand?"

Everyone nodded and agreed with me.

It was about time.

We walked towards the cemetery with me in the lead as I have learned detect enemy from Chris.

Aqua words made me worry, but this goddess always say unpleasant things, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

... Probably.

... Hmmm?

"What is this, I felt something strong. It should be the effect of detect enemy. Enemies ahead, 1, 2... 3, 4...?"

... Strange, there is too many?

I heard there was just 2 or 3 zombies minions around a zombie maker.

But this was still within the margin of error...

As I was thinking that, blue and white lights suddenly shone from the middle of the cemetery.

... What is happening?

That blue light seemed evil and fantasy like.

The blue light that was visible from afar was a giant magic circle.

At the edge of the magic circle was a figure in black robes.

"... Hmmm? I think... that isn't... a zombie maker..."

Megumin said unconfidently.

Besides the black robed figure were several fluttering shadows.

"Are we going in? Even if that isn't a zombie maker, anyone staying in the cemetery at this hour is probably an undead. If that is the case, it wouldn't be a problem with Arch priest Aqua around."

Aqua took out her sword and appeared anxious to move on.

Calm down, you.

Aqua made an exaggerated action at this time.

"Ah---!"

I don't know what the suddenly shouting Aqua was thinking as she charged at the robed figure.

"Wait! Hey, wait up!"

The charging Aqua ignored me and  rushed to the figure, pointing at it with her finger.

"How dare of you to show up here, Lich! I will take care of you!"

Lich.

On par with vampires, they are the top tiers of the undead.

High level wizards could desert their mortal bodies through magical arts and become the immortal known as the overlord of death.

Unlike the undead monster that rose because of strong grudges, they twisted the order of nature and were existence which defied god.

A powerful monster akin to a final boss...

"Stop, stop--! Who are you? Where did you come from and why are you destroying my magic circle? Stop! Could you please stop?"

"You are noisy, shut up undead! You must be thinking of using this suspicious magic circle for devious means, I will stomp it! Stomp!"

The powerful monster grab on to Aqua's waist in tears, attempting to stop her from stepping on the magic circle.

The minions besides the lich(?) did not move in to stop the two of them wrestling with each other, and just stood there watching them blankly.

... Eh-- What should I do.

Anyway, she doesn't seem to be a zombie maker.

Aqua claimed the person she was entangled with was a lich. But the way I see it, she was just a pitiful passerby that was being picked on by a hooligan.

"Stop--! Please stop--! This magic circle is used to send the wandering spirits to heaven! Look, the spirits are floating from the magic circle towards the sky right?"

Just as the lich said, lots of wisp like bluish white objects that came from nowhere drift into the magic circle and was goes up into the sky along with the light of the magic circle.

"You are acting too arrogant for a Lich! An Arch priest like me will perform such benevolent acts, so just scram! You are taking too much time, watch me purify the whole cemetery along with you!"

"Eh? Wait, stop!"

The Lich started to panic when she heard Aqua's words.

But Aqua ignored her, opened her arms and shouted.

"Turn undead--!"

A white light encompassed the entire cemetery with Aqua in the middle.

That light seemed to be gushing out from Aqua's body and the zombies around the Lich disappeared when they were touched by the light.

It was the same with the spirits gathering at the magic circle of the Lich, they disappeared when Aqua's light reached them. The Lich was also basked in that light...

"Hyaaa--! My, my body is fading? Stop, my body is disappearing! I will be purified!"

"Hahahaha, foolish Lich! Your existence goes against the law of nature, an undead which defies the will of the gods! Disappear, be vanquished by my power!"

"Hey, stop it."

I stood behind Aqua and knocked the back of her head with the hilt of my sword.

"...! That hurts! Why did you hit me!?"

Her focus was probably broken when the back of her head was hit and she stopped emitting light. She held her head and scolded me with tearing eyes.

Darkness and Megumin reached here at this time too. I ignored Aqua and spoke to the Lich that was trembling while curled in a ball:

"Hey, are you fine? Erm... Can I address you as Lich?"

Looking closely, the feet of the Lich had turned translucent and was on the verge of disappearing.

The feet slowly became opaque again, and the Lich stood up unsteadily with teary eyes.

"I, I, I'm fine... Thank, thank you for saving me from that crisis...! Erm, you are right, I am a Lich, my name is Wiz."

After that, she took off the hood she was wearing closely. What appeared under the moonlight was a beautiful woman with brown hair about 20 years old.

I thought a Lich would have a skull like face.

Wiz wore a black robe in the style of a evil witch.

No, since she is a Lich, she was an evil witch right?

"Eh... Wiz? What are you doing in this cemetery? You said you wanted to send the spirits to heaven, I don't want to agree with Aqua, but that shouldn't be what a Lich like you should be doing right?"

"What are you doing Kazuma! Be careful you get contaminated and become an undead if you talk to this bad apple! Let me cast 'Turn Undead' on her!"

Aqua became agitated after hearing what I said, and wanted to cast a spell on Wiz.

Wiz hid behind me with a troubled and terrified expression:

"Be, because... As you can see, I am a Lich, the overlord of the undying. As the overlord, I could hear the voice of the spirits wandering in the world. Most of the spirits in this public cemetery don't have money and didn't have a proper burial, so they couldn't move on to the afterlife and loiter the cemetery every night. Since I am an overlord, I will visit periodically and send the children on their way."

... My eyes were tearing up.

What a good person.

Apart from the counter lady, she was probably the first normal person I met since coming to this world.

Ah, although she was technically not a human.

"I think that is a wonderful thing, but... Although I am not Aqua, wouldn't it be better to leave this to the priest in this town?"

In response to my query, Wiz was hesitant to speak as she peeked at the unhappy Aqua, and finally said:

"Be, because... the priest in this town are materialistic... Eh, no, I mean... the rites for those without money would be pushed down their waiting list... something like that..."

It was probably hard to say it in the presence of the Arch priest Aqua.

"You mean the priests in this town are people who worship money. The public cemetery which is full of poor people are basically ignored by them right?"

"We... Well, that's how it is..."

Everyone gazed at Aqua silently, while she averted her eyes from everyone.

"Since that is the case, it couldn't be helped. But could you stop animating the zombies? We are here because of a quest to defeat the zombie maker."

Wiz was troubled by what I said.

"Ah... I see... But I didn't animate them, the corpses that are intact would rise automatically due to my magic every time I come... Erm, I won't have any reason to visit if the spirits in the cemetery won't wander anymore and return to heaven... So... How should we resolve this?"

Part 9

We left the cemetery and were journeying back to town.

"I can't accept this!"

Aqua was still fuming.

Dawn was just about to break.

"It couldn't be helped. She was such a nice person, you couldn't bear killing her right?"

We decided to let that Lich off.

At the same time, we came to a consensus for the idle Aqua to purify the cemetery periodically.

Fortunately, no matter how bad Aqua was, she still was a goddess. She knew that purifying the undead and wandering spirits was her job.

But she threw a tantrum because her sleeping time would be reduced.

For Megumin and Darkness who were hesitant about letting a monster off agreed after learning Wiz had never attacked a human before.

I looked at the paper Wiz gave me and said:

"But for a Lich to live normally in town, the security is really lacking."

The piece of paper had Wiz's address on it.

That Lich seemed to be living life as a normal human in our town.

She even said she was running a small magic item shop.

I told her my impression of Liches dwelling in dungeons, she replied that it wasn't convenient and there was no reason to live there.

No, Liches were once humans too, so I knew what she meant.

I do understand, but since coming to this world, my fantasy about alternate worlds were shattered.

This was not the alternate world I was hoping for.

"We were lucky things turned out well in the end. Even with Aqua here, the opponent was still a Lich. If we really fought, Kazuma and I would definitely be dead."

Megumin said nonchalantly which made me stunned.

"Eh, are Lich such dangerous monsters? Would it have been a tough fight?"

"It's much worse than that! Lich have high magic defense, nothing could harm her except enchanted weapons. She could trigger all sorts of abnormal status just by touching her enemies and drain their life and mana, a legendary immortal monster. What surprised me was why Aqua's 'Turn Undead' had such great effect on such a powerful being."

I almost lost control of my bowels.

That's right, she was the boss of the undead after all.

When I heard she was willing to teach me skills of a Lich, I took her name card gleefully... When I visit her to learn skills, I must remember to bring Aqua along.

"Kazuma, give me the name card. I want to set up a holy barrier around the home of that woman and make her cry."

"Please let her go..."

It would be better to not take Aqua along...

As we were thinking about that, Darkness said quietly:

"By the way, what about the quest to defeat the zombie maker?"

"Ah." x3

Quest failed.

Chapter 3
Adding fresh goddess juice into the lake!

Part 1

"Have you heard? Rumor says that a boss of the demon king army had taken over an old castle which is situated in the hills a short walk from town."

In the corner of the bar operated by the guild.

I was listening to a man sitting at my table and drinking during the day.

I am not drinking beer though, but Neroid swish.

What is Neroid.

What is swish.

I only tried it out of curiosity since the people told me this was the non alcoholic beverage of choice among patrons...

If you ask me if it was good, I could only answer it this way:

... Erm, I don't know.

But I know what swish meant.

It's the texture you feel when you drink it.

This wasn't a carbonated drink. I don't really get what the swish texture was, but this feeling could only be described as swish.

I finished the Neroid and place the cup on the table...

"A boss from the demon king army. That sounds bad, but it had nothing to do with us."

"That's right."

The man before me agreed with my negative and irresponsible words.

The number of people chatting in the Adventurers guild was unexpectedly large and I could hear many interesting topics.

For example spotting dangerous monsters at some place so do not take quests from that area.

Or news of certain monster hating the smell of tangerine juice, so smearing it on you will keep them away.

I had a hard time just surviving since coming to this world, and had never gathered intelligence in this way before.

Collecting information was the most important stage in collecting the flags you had raised.

Gathering and talking about such things in a bar had a feeling of an adventurer, which made me happy.

The man sitting opposite me said:

"Anyway, it's better not to approach the abandoned castle to the north of town. This is not the capital of the kingdom, so who knows what the boss of the demon army is doing here. But since it is a boss, it is probably a Lord Ogre, vampire, arch demon or dragon. No matter which one it is, it must be a monster that could kill us instantly. The best way is to not take any quest near that abandoned castle."

After thanking that man, I left my seat and returned to the table my party was at...

"...What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Aqua, Darkness and Megumin took small mouthfuls of the vegetable sticks in the cup in the center of the table as they stared at me.

"Nothing--? I wasn't worried about Kazuma joining another party or anything."

Aqua said as she looked at me with uneasy eyes.

"...? Eh, I was only gathering information, that is the basics of adventurers."

I took a seat at their table and reached for a vegetable stick.

Dodge.

The vegetable stick dodged my out reached hand.

... Hey.

"What are you doing Kazuma."

Aqua slammed the table, making the vegetable stick jump in surprise.

When the vegetable sticks were in the air momentarily, Aqua grabbed one and stuffed it in her mouth.

"... Hmm. You looked so happy. You seemed to be having fun chatting, Kazuma. You seemed close to the members of the other parties huh?"

Megumin slammed the table with her fist, and picked up the vegetable stick that was too scared to move and shoved it in her mouth.

"... What is this refreshing feeling? Seeing Kazuma being on good terms with the other parties, the melancholic feeling is mixed with something good... Could this be the legendary NTR...?"

That crazy pervert who was spilling nonsense flicked the edge of the cup with her finger and took a vegetable stick nimbly.

"What is this, what is with you all? Isn't collecting intelligence in such a place the basics...?"

I hit the table as I spoke and reached for the vegetable sticks...

Dodge.

"............ What is with this dodging----!"

"St, stop--! What are you doing to my vegetable sticks! No, don't destroy the food!"

My hand that failed to grab the vegetable stick took the cup containing the sticks instead, holding it high as I prepare to throw it against the wall. But Aqua who was on the verge of tears restrained my hand.

"How dare a mere vegetable look down on me! It's a bit wrong to retort so late, but why could the vegetable run. Could you please serve food that is already dead!?"

"What are you talking about. Be it fish or vegetable, it taste better if it is fresher right? Haven't you heard of killing it fresh and serving it on the spot?"

Then kill it before serving it.

I gave up on eating the vegetable sticks and said:

"Hai... forget it, let's ignore the vegetable for now, I have something important to ask you. I was thinking about what skills to learn after leveling up. To be honest, the composition of this party is too unbalanced. So I'm thinking of making up for our weakness since I have the most flexible job... By the way, what skills have you all learned?"

That's right, to improve the efficiency of taking harder quests, it was important to consider the teamwork of the party before learning skills.

That's what I thought when I came to discuss things with them, but...

"My skills are centered around 'Physical Defense', 'Magical Resistance' and 'Abnormal Status Resistance'. I have a skill called 'Bait', used to taunt the enemy."

"... Don't you plan to learn something like '2-handed sword' to increase your attack accuracy?"

"I don't plan to. It might sound like I am boasting, but my stamina and strength are great. If my attacks land easily, I could easily defeat monsters without taking damage. And it's not good to hold back intentionally. It should be like this... Attacking with all my might but couldn't hit the enemy, and being captured as my strength wanes, that is the best."

"Enough, you shut up."

"... Hmmmhmm...! You are the one who asked, but to treat me like this..."

I decided to ignore Darkness who was panting with a red face.

I looked at Megumin who tilted her head and said:

"Of course I learned explosion related skills, 'Explosion', 'Explosion Damage Increase' and 'Fast Chanting' et cetera. All the skills to cast the perfect explosion spell. It was the same before, and will of course be so in the future."

"... No matter what, you have no intention of learning something like mid tier magic?"

"I don't plan to."

This fellow won't do either...

"As for me..."

"There is no need."

"Eheh?"

Aqua was planning to explain her skills, but I shut her up immediately.

It's just party tricks, party tricks and party tricks anyway.

And so...

"Why can't this party get its act together... Maybe I should think about switching parties..."

"!" x 3

My soft mumbling made the 3 of them surprised.

Part 2

A few days after the emergency cabbage hunt quest.

All the cabbage captured back then had been sold.

And the adventurers got their bounties.

"Kazuma, look. I earned a lot, so I tried enhancing the armor I sent in for repair... How is it?"

Inside the incredibly crowded adventurers guild filled with people collecting their bounties, Darkness showed me the armor she got back from the repair shop happily.

If I want to put it simply...

"This armor look like something an upstart son of nobility would wear."

"... Kazuma is merciless no matter the time and place. Even I would want to hear an honest compliment some time."

Darkness said with a dejected expression.

How would I know?

Anyway...

"There is someone even more problematic than you, so I don't have the time. Could you please take care of that pervert who is becoming worse than you?"

"Huff... huff... I can't, can't take it! The magic powers from this staff made from manatite, the color and glister... huff... huff..."

Megumin was hugging her pimped up staff and grinding her face against it.

Manatite is a rare metal said to have special properties. Adding it in when making a staff would increase the power of spells.

After strengthening her staff with her earnings, Megumin had been acting this way.

I heard the power of the explosion spell would increase by dozen or so percent.

Why are you increasing the power of the explosion magic that was already over powered? Instead of doing that, shouldn't you learn magic that would be more convenient? I had plenty things like that which I wanted to say, but I don't really want to care about the current Megumin, so I decided to ignore her.

I am already satisfied after collecting my rewards.

Darkness who attracted the monsters who came because of the cabbage.

Megumin who destroyed those monsters with a single spell.

And Aqua who chased the cabbage on her own without caring about these two.

We decided not to split the earnings from the cabbage hunt and collect our own bounties.

The one who suggested that was Aqua whose harvest was only second to mine.

And that person was waiting for her turn to collect the money, but...

"What did you say--? Wait, what is this?"

Aqua's voice reverberated through the guild.

Hai... I hate this...

As expected, Aqua was arguing with the person manning the counter.

She grabbed the collar of the counter lady and was protesting something.

"Why is there only 50,000 Eris! You know how many cabbage I caught? Its more than 20!"

"Erm, this is hard to say..."

"What!"

"... What Aqua-san turned in was mostly lettuce..."

"... Why was lettuce mixed in there!"

"Even if you ask me that, I won't know!"

From their conversation, there seemed to be a problem with the bounty.

Aqua probably realized there was no use in arguing with the counter lady, Aqua put her hands behind her and approached me with a smile.

"Ka~zuma-san! How much did you get from this quest?"

"A bit more than a million."

"Million!" x3

Aqua, Darkness and Megumin was stunned beyond words.

That's right, I earned my first bucket of gold from the sudden quest.

The cabbages I caught were mostly high grade cabbage that yield plenty of experience points.

This is the difference in the luck stat.

"Kazuma-sama--! How should I put this, I always thought you are a great person!"

"Don't push yourself if you can't think about how to compliment me. Let me say this first, I already decided how to utilize the money, so I won't give you any."

After hearing me interrupt her, Aqua's smile stiffened.

"Kazuma-san--! I thought I would earn a lot from the quest, so I spent all the money on me in the past few days! I estimated I would make a killing, so I owed nearly a hundred thousand Eris in this bar! I can't pay it off with the bounty!"

I pulled Aqua who was crying as she clinged on me off. I wondered why can't this girl think things through carefully as I pressed on my temples.

"I don't care, you are the one who wanted 'everyone to keep their own earnings'. Anyway, I should find a base for myself. It's uncomfortable to keep staying in the stables right?"

Normally, adventurers won't buy a house.

Because adventurers do not seek stability and traveled a lot.

There were few successful adventurers, most of them make only enough to get by, which was one of the reason.

To be honest, it is impossible to take down the demon king with these members, so I am on the verge of giving up.

The job of fighting the demon king army should be left to the people sent here before me who had gotten powerful abilities and equipment.

After all, I had the basic job anyone could take, the weakest job, an adventurer.

And unlike those who had trained to be adventurers from the beginning, all my stats are low, I am really a commoner you could find anywhere.

After adventuring in a safe place to satisfy my curiosity, I would be satisfied spending my days leisurely.

Hence, I am planning to find a small house to rent, and buy if it was cheap enough.

Aqua looked like she was going to cry as she grabbed on to me tightly.

"Why did it turn out like this ahhhh! Please Kazuma, lend me money! Just enough to pay off my debts! I know Kazuma is a boy and you would do sneaky things in the stables some times, so I understand why you want a private room! 50,000! Just 50,000 is enough! Please--!"

"I get it, 50,000 is just chump change! I really get it so shut up!"

Part 3

"Kazuma, let's hurry and find a quest! One with lots of weak monsters! I want to test the power of my new staff!"

Megumin said suddenly.

Yeah.

"You are right, when we were hunting the zombie maker, I didn't have time to test out my new skills. Let's find a safe and simple quest."

"No, let's find a quest that can earn lots of money! I cleared my tabs, so I don't even have money for food today!"

"No, let's find one with strong enemies! One with monsters that have strong attacks and are tough as nails...!"

Hey, there should be a limit on how disunited a party could be.

"Anyway, let's decide after looking at the bulletin board."

Everyone followed my suggestion and moved to the bulletin board.

And...

"... Weird? Why are there so few requests?"

That's right, the board was usually full of request.

But there were only a few today.

Also...

"Kazuma! Pick this one, this one! A giant bear showed up in the mountains, its name is black fang..."

"Rejected! Hey, what is this? Why are there only high difficulty quests left!?"

That's right, all the quests left on the board were beyond our capabilities.

As we were filled with doubt, a staff member came to us.

"I am sorry... A boss of the demon army seemed to have moved into a small castle near town... It might had been the influence of the demon army, but the weak monsters in the region had all laid low, resulting in a drastic drop in quests. A band of knights dispatched from the capital would be here next month to take out the boss. But before that, there are only high difficulty quests left..."

When she heard the staff member say that, the penniless Aqua screamed.

"Why---?"

...Even I was feeling sympathetic towards Aqua.

"Really... Why did he picked this moment to move here! I don't know what this boss is, but it better watch out if it is an undead!"

Aqua complained in tears as she browsed through the employment magazine.

The other adventurers were feeling the same and seemed really down. There were more people getting drunk in broad daylight.

I don't know why the boss chose to move here.

Frankly speaking, the adventurers in this town were about our level.

There were many parties stronger than us, but their powers were still limited.

This is the first town novice Adventurers visits, a place for the beginners to learn the basics.

In game terms, a demon king boss should be characters that appears towards the end.

We had a hard time fighting toads, there was no way we could take on the boss no matter how many of us there were.

Part 4

"That means before the powerful adventurers and knights from the capital come here next month, we can't work as usual."

"That's how it is... During this period of time when we can't do quests, I would need you to accompany me like this..."

I came with Megumin to the outskirt of town.

There are no dangerous monsters around town right now.

After the demon army boss came, the weak monsters hid themselves in fear.

I came along with Megumin who couldn't use explosion spell because we couldn't take on quests for a walk.

This girl had something she needed to do every day, which was casting her explosion magic.

Would I need to accompany this fellow out here every day for the whole month?

I thought about ignoring Megumin and asked her to go alone, but she countered that no one would be carrying her on the way back.

"Here should be far enough right, hurry up, cast your spell and let's go back."

A short distance from town, I rushed Megumin to cast her spell.

But Megumin shook her head and said:

"No, the guards will lecture me again if we do this too close to town."

"You said 'too' just now right? Because it was too loud?"

Megumin nodded to acknowledge me.

Can't be helped, I felt a bit uneasy without my weapon, but there's no monsters around anyway.

And so I decided to hike a bit further.

Now that I thought about it, I didn't have much chances to walk around outside leisurely like this.

My trips outside were usually because of hunting monsters or quests.

Not a casual stroll like this...

"...? What is that, an abandoned castle?"

On the hills in a distance ahead.

A deserted ancient castle was erected there.

It looked just like a haunted house...

"It feels creepy... As if there are ghost residing in there..."

I mumbled to myself...

"Let's pick that place! No one would complain even if I destroy a ruin like that."

Megumin prepared the spell happily after she finished.

A breeze blew through the hills that made me felt refreshed.

The chanting of the explosion spell that didn't fit in with this comfortable atmosphere was carried off by the wind...!

... And so, Megumin and I started our new daily routine.

The penniless Aqua was working hard every day.

Darkness said she would return home to train.

The idle Megumin went to the abandoned castle to cast her explosion spell daily without fail.

It might be a cold evening with icy rain.

Or a lazy afternoon after lunch.

Or a refreshing morning when she went for a stroll.

No matter the time, Megumin would cast her spell at that castle every single day...

And I watched Megumin's spell every day, and was even able to judge whether the condition of the explosion spell was good or bad.

"'Explosion'--!"

"Oh, that seemed pretty good. The impact of the explosion could be felt through my bones, followed by the air tremor that followed immediately after. It is strange that the abandoned city remained intact but... What an explosion!"

"Great explosion! Kuku, Kazuma understands the way of the explosion more now. Your comment today hit the mark and was poetry like... how about it? I am not talking about this casually, Kazuma do you want to seriously consider learning explosion magic?"

"Yeah-- the way of the explosion is interesting... But from the composition of our current party, there is no need for 2 wizards. But when I retire from adventuring and have left over skill points, it would be interesting to use them to learn explosion magic."

Megumin discussed such things with a smile.

Just like this, we talked about how much points we could give the sound of the explosion: Like even though it wasn't too loud, but the pitch was great, and chatted about the way of the explosion.

Part 5

After we continued our explosive stroll for a week, in the morning.

"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare your combat equipment and report to the main gate of the city ready for combat!"

The familiar emergency broadcast could be heard through the entire town.

After hearing the broadcast, we put on our gears and rushed on scene.

A lot of adventurers were gathered at the main gate. When we reached the scene, we saw an intimidating monster standing before us, and we could only stare at it blankly.

Dullahan.

A monster that brought despair and premonition of death to men.

After turning into an undead, it's physical strength was stronger than it was in life, and possessed unique powers.

The knight in black armor standing at the front gate held its head on the left side of its body. Before the eyes of the gathered adventurers, it presented its head that was covered fully in its helmet before everyone.

The head said in a distorted voice.

"... I am a boss of the demon king army, and had moved into a castle nearby recently..."

As it spoke, the head started trembling...!

"Every day every day every day! The crazy idiot who comes to my castle to cast explosion magic, where are you---!"

This boss of the demon king army was seriously angry.

The yell of the Dullahan seemed to be suppressing its anger until it couldn't hold back anymore, making the adventurers around me chatter.

Or rather, everyone present doesn't seem to get what was happening.

Anyway, the reason for the emergency summon was probably the dullahan before us who was going mad from fury.

"... Explosion spell?"

"The one who knows explosion magic is..."

"If you talk about explosion spell, it would be..."

The gaze of the people around us naturally fell on Megumin besides me.

... Megumin who was the center of attention turned her head sharply at a girl wizard standing beside her.

Affected by her action, I looked at that girl. Everyone else was also influenced and stared at that girl...

"Huh? M, me? Why are you all looking at me? I couldn't use explosion magic!"

The girl wizard who was being framed denied in a hurry.

... Wait, could it be... the abandoned castle where we cast explosion magic every day!

Could it be...

I peeked at Megumin besides me who was sweating.

This fellow noticed too.

Finally, Megumin sighed and walked forward with an annoyed face.

The adventurers reacted to her movement and opened a path to the Dullahan.

The Dullahan standing at the main gate of town.

Megumin stood about 10 meters from the Dullahan and faced him.

With me in the lead, Darkness and Aqua also followed behind Megumin.

Aqua who would attack aggressively whenever she saw an undead probably thought the sight of an angry Dullahan to be mad and was watching what would happen expectantly.

"So it's you...! You are the moron who cast explosion on my castle every day? If you knew I was the boss of the demon army and want to challenge me to a fight, then enter the castle! If not, then just hide in town and tremble! Why are you bothering me with such evil means? I knew there were only low level adventurers in town! I wanted to leave such minor characters alone, but you can't catch a clue and come boom boom boom with your spells every day...! Is there something wrong with your head?"

He was probably irked by the daily explosion magic, the helmet of the Dullahan trembled with rage.

Megumin was intimidated and was a bit scared, but she still flicked the cape she wore...

"I am Megumin. As an arch wizard, I have mastered explosion spells...!"

"... What kind of name is Megumin, are you mocking me?"

"No, that's not it!"

Even though she was retorted by the Dullahan when she introduced herself, Megumin composed herself and continued:

"I hail from the crimson magic clan, the elite wizard of this town. I cast explosion magic continuously in order to lure you, the boss of the demon army out...! As I planned, you came to town alone after being tricked, your end is near!"

Seeing Megumin pointing her staff at the Dullahan excitedly, I was standing behind her and whispered to Darkness and Aqua.

"... Hey, this girl actually said that. She was playing around, saying she will die if she doesn't cast explosion magic every day, so I brought her to the area around that castle. When did it turn into her plan?"

"...Yeah, and she used the chaos to declare herself as an elite wizard of this town."

"Shhh--! Don't say that out loud! She hasn’t used her explosion spell yet and a bunch of adventurers are backing her from behind, so she is adopting a strong position. She is still talking, so let's see how it goes!"

Megumin probably heard what we said as she maintained her posture of pointing her staff at her opponent as her face turned red.

For some reason, the Dullahan accepted what she said.

"... Oh, a member of Crimson magic. I see. So that weird name wasn't a lie."

"Hey, if you have any comments about the name my parents gave me, spit it out!"

Megumin became angry after hearing what the Dullahan said, but he paid her no heed.

Or rather, he wasn't bothered after seeing the adventurers of the entire town gathered here.

As expected of a boss of the demon king army, he probably didn't think anything about us rookies.

"...Hmmp, forget it. I didn't come here to mess with peasants like you all. I am here to investigate something. I will be staying in that castle for the time being, so don't cast explosion spell anymore. Understand?"

"That is like asking me to die. Those of the Crimson magic clan need to cast explosion spell once every day, or we would die."

"Hey hey, I never heard of this before! Stop bullshitting me!"

What should I do, I want to see Megumin and that monster chat some more.

I looked at Aqua, she was happily watching Megumin messing around with the Dullahan.

The Dullahan placed his head on his right hand and shrugged.

"You don't plan to give up explosion magic no matter what? Even though I had taken the side of darkness, I was a knight before and have no interest in slaughtering the weak. But if you continue to bother me with such things around the castle, I have my way of handling things too."

The Dullahan emitted an dangerous aura, making Megumin took a few steps back.

But Megumin had a cocky smile...!

"We are the ones being bothered alright!? Because of you staying in that castle, we couldn't even do our work properly! Hmmp... You can only act high and mighty now. We have an expert that deals with the undead here! Master, I leave it to you!"

After throwing out big words, Megumin left everything in Aqua's hands.

... Hey.

"I guess it couldn't be helped--! I don't know if you are a demon army's boss or what, but you are unlucky to come here when I am around. You are an undead, but you chose to come out in broad day light when your power are weaken, you are just asking to be purified! It's all you fault that I couldn't take on quests as usual! Okay, are you ready to face the music?"

After Megumin addressed her as master, Aqua cheerfully stood before the Dullahan.

The adventurers gulped nervously as they wonder how things would develop. Under the eyes of the masses, Aqua extended her hand out at the Dullahan.

Seeing that, the Dullahan offered its head to Aqua excitedly.

This is probably the way for the Dullahan to expressed that it was 'watching seriously'.

"Oh, impressive, you are not a normal priest, but an arch priest right? But no matter what, I am still a boss of the demon king army. I have not fallen so low that I would be purified by a low level arch priest in a place like this. I have my ways of dealing with arch priests too... But I will start by torturing this girl of the crimson magic clan!"

As Aqua was preparing to chant her spells, the Dullahan moved and pointed its index finger at Megumin.

The Dullahan then shouted!

"I shall predict your death! You will die one week from now!"

As the Dullahan cast its spell, Darkness grabbed Megumin's collar and hid Megumin behind her.

"Huh? Da, Darkness!"

As Megumin screamed, Darkness's body glowed with a faint dark light.

Damn, she was hit, was that a proclamation of death?

"Darkness are you alright? Does it hurt anywhere?"

I asked in a hurry, but Darkness stretched her hands a few times to confirm it.

"... Yeah, I didn't feel anything."

She said casually.

But the Dullahan did shouted.

She will die one week from now.

As Aqua was touching the cursed Darkness everywhere, the Dullahan announced delightedly.

"That curse won't harm you now. My plans were a bit foiled, but since the camaraderie among adventurers is so deep that it must hurt more... Listen carefully, girl of the Crimson magic. If this goes on, that crusader would die in a week. Hmmp, your important companion would be tortured by the horror of heath in the mean time... That's right, this is all your fault! In the following week, you will see the pain of your companion and regret your actions! Hmm hahaha, you should have listened to me obediently!"

As Megumin's face was turning pale because of the Dullahan's words, Darkness shouted as she trembled:

"There, there is such a thing! That means you had cast a death curse on me, and I have to do as you say in order for you to release the curse! That's what you meant right!"

"Huh?"

The Dullahan didn't get what Darkness was saying and reacted plainly.

I didn't understand what she was saying too... And I don't want to understand.

"Ugh...! Just a mere curse, don't think you can make me submit...! I won't yield...! But, what should I do Kazuma! Look at that Dullahan, look at his evil lusty eyes under his helmet! No matter how I see it, he wants to bring me back to his castle and do as he please if I want him to release the curse. A pervert that wants me to do hardcore pervert play!"

The pitiful Dullahan who was accused of being a sexual deviant pervert in public said:

"... Huh?"

How pitiful.

"Even if you can do what you want with my body, you would never have my heart! I am going to become a female knight imprisoned in a castle and let the henchman of the demon king do unreasonable things with me! Ah, what should I do, what should I do Kazuma! This situation is more thrilling than I expected! I don't want to go, but I have no choice! I will resist to the very last moment, so don't stop me! Well then, I will be back in a jiffy!"

"Huh huh?"

"Stop right there, you can't go! Look how troubled the Dullahan is!"

Darkness was in a hurry to leave with the enemy. When I grabbed her collar from behind, I could see the Dullahan breathe in relief.

"An, anyway! If you have learnt your lesson, stop casting explosion on my castle! And the crimson magic girl! If you want me to release the curse on that crusader, then come to my castle! If you can make it to my room at the top of the castle, I will release her curse! But... my minions are everywhere in the castles and it’s full of undead knights. Can you rookie adventurers make your way to me? Hmm hmm hmm, hahaha!"

After saying his piece, the Dullahan laughed loudly as he rode the headless horse parked outside the gate and went in the direction of the castle...

Part 6

This development was too cruel and made the gathered adventurers stand stiff with a blank face.

I was the same.

Besides me, Megumin's face was green and she was trembling while gripping her staff hard.

She planned to head out of town alone.

"Hey, where are you going. What do you plan to do?"

I tugged on Megumin's cape and Megumin struggled to go as she replied without turning her head:

"I am responsible for this incident. I will head to the castle and cast explosion on that Dullahan directly to dispel Darkness' curse."

There was no way Megumin could do it alone.

... That's why.

"I will go with you. If you met some minions and use your spell, it would be the end. I accompanied you all this while and didn't realize that was the castle of the boss too."

Megumin made a heavy expression when she heard me. In the end she drooped her shoulders and gave up her original plan.

"... Well, let's go together. But he said there will be a bunch of undead knights. If that is the case, weapons would be useless. My magic would be more practical... So you have to rely on me when the time comes."

Megumin said with a smile.

From the name undead knight, it should be an enemy wearing full armor.

In the face of such foes, my cheap weapon would be useless.

But I still had other ideas.

"I can use my 'Detect Enemy' skill to search the monster in the castle and conceal myself with 'Hide' and sneak in. Or we can visit the castle everyday and defeat the enemy on each level one day at a time before coming back. We will reduce the enemies' numbers slowly... Since the time limit is one week, this plan should work."

Megumin probably felt there was hope after listening to my suggestion and cheered up. Megumin and I turned and looked at Darkness.

"Hey Darkness! We will definitely break your curse! So don't worry..."

"Sacred Break Spell!"

Just when I was encouraging Darkness.

Aqua's spell interrupted me and Darkness' body glowed faintly.

Darkness then looked as if she missed a chance for something and was down; in contrast, Aqua was happy as she said:

"With me around, breaking the curse of the Dullahan is easy! What do you think? I look like a priest sometimes right?"

"...Huh?" x2

... And to think Megumin and I were debating so passionately, give my effort back to me.

Part 7

A week after the demon king army attack incident was resolved peacefully.

"I want to take a quest! It's fine even if it is a bit hard, let's take a quest!"

"Huh..." x2

Megumin and I expressed our displeasure when we heard Aqua say that.

Except for Aqua, our wallets were very full.

And there were only high difficulty quests left, I don't want to go out of my way to take these jobs.

"I am fine with it... but it's not enough with the firepower of me and Megumin..."

Darkness glanced at Megumin and me while saying this.

Even if you look at us, Megumin and I had no reason to force ourselves to take a dangerous quest.

Looking at how disinterested we were, Aqua cried out loud.

"Please I beg you--! I don't want to work anymore! The store owner gets mad if I don't sell all the croquette! I will work hard! I will do my best this time--!"

Megumin and I looked at each other.

"Alright then... then take a look and see if there is any quest that looks fine. We will go with you if the quest isn't too bad."

Aqua rushed to the bulletin board after hearing us say that.

"... Kazuma, shouldn't you take a look too? If you leave it to Aqua, she will probably pick an incredible quest..."

"... You are correct. But I won't complain even if the quest is a bit hard..."

After listening to Megumin and Darkness' comment, I had an ominous feeling.

I came to the bulletin board, and stood behind Aqua who was thinking about which quest to pick.

Aqua didn't realize I was behind her and browsed the quest seriously.

Finally, she tore a paper from the board.

"... Good."

"Good your head! What quest are you taking!"

I snatched the client request from Aqua's hand.

'-- Hunting manticore and Griffon-- manticore are fighting for territory. It is dangerous to leave them alone, please hunt both of them. Bounty is 500,000 Eris.'

"You idiot!"

I shouted as I returned it to the bulletin board.

It was right to follow her. I was almost dragged down by her to take on an incredibly dangerous quest.

"What, we just need to let Megumin give them an explosion while they are together to settle it in one shot. Why are you so timid..."

This fellow was planning to let me take on the task of getting these two dangerous monster to gather at the same spot.

How about taking this quest and letting her do it alone. As I was thinking it over, Aqua tugged my sleeve excitedly.

"This one! Look at this one!"

Listening to what Aqua said, I took a look at the request form she was pointing at.

'-- Lake purification--The lake which was one of the water sources for the town had been polluted. Brutal alligators had moved into the lake. Request for someone to purify the lake. The monsters in the lake will leave after purifying the lake, there is no need to fight the monsters *Requirement: Priest with purification magic. Reward is 300,000 Eris.'

"... You can purify the lake?"

Aqua snorted and said.

"Idiot, who do you think I am? From my name and appearance, you should be able to tell what portfolio I had as a goddess right?"

"Aren't you the goddess of banquets?"

"As if you HikiNEET! I am the goddess of water alright! Didn't you see my beautiful blue eyes and hair?"

I see.

Earning 300,000 by just purifying the water, it's a great deal.

Not needing to fight meant it was worth it.

"Let's take this one. Or rather, wouldn't you alone suffice if it is just purifying the water? You can hog all the rewards this way right?"

But Aqua didn't agree with me.

"Well... I think the monsters will harass me while I am purifying the water right? Before I finish the purification, I hope you all can protect me from the monsters."

So that's the plan.

But from the name brutal alligator, isn't it an alligator type monster?

That sounds dangerous...

"By the way, how long would the purification take? 5 minutes or so?"

If it was just a short while, we could wing it with Megumin's explosion magic.

Aqua tilted her head and said:

"... About half a day?"

"That's too long!"

Fending off monsters with such a dangerous name, who would want to do that.

As I was planning to put the bulletin back...

"Ahh! Please, I beg of you--! There is no other quest that is as good! Please help me Kazuma-san--!"

I was planning to stick the paper back on the bulletin board, but Aqua entangled my right hand and begged me for help. Looking at her, I thought of an idea.

"... Nah, how does the purification process work?"

"... Hmm? To purify the water, I just need to touch the water with my hand and continuously cast purification magic..."

I see, she needs to touch the water.

I had an idea, but that way...

... No, wait.

"Hey Aqua. I think there is a way to purify the water safely, you want to give it a try?"

Part 8

There was a large lake some distance from town.

This lake was one of the water source of the town, there was a stream flowing out of it straight into town.

The lake was besides a mountain, and water flowed endlessly down from it into the lake.

I got it now.

As stated in the request, the lake waters appeared a bit murky and showed signs of stagnation.

I thought monsters prefer clean water, so that wasn't true.

As I looked over the lake, I heard a timid voice behind me.

"... Nah... Are we really going to do it this way?"

Aqua sounded really uneasy.

My plan was flawless, what is there to worry about?

Aqua spoke:

"... I felt like a captured rare monster that is going to be sold..."

... The rare monster was locked in a steel cage, hugging her knees in the center as she spoke.

I plan to throw Aqua along with the cage into the lake.

In the beginning, I was planning to let her stay inside the cage some distance away from the cage. But since purification required contact with the waters, the plan had evolved into this.

As the goddess of water, Aqua could stay in the bottom of the lake for an entire day without breathing and won't be uncomfortable.

From what she claimed, even without purification magic, there would be purification effects just by immersing Aqua into the lake.

That was her godly nature. No matter how lousy of a goddess she was, it was still impressive.

Darkness and I had already moved Aqua's cage to the side of the lake.

It was a steel cage, an equipment we loaned from the guild.

As some of the request include capturing monsters, these items were meant for such quests.

We didn't come here to throw the useless goddess into the lake, so we don't need to carry it too far.

We just need to put it by the lake so Aqua could come into contact with the water.

This way, she would be fine even if the brutal alligators attacked her while she was purifying the waters.

It was a cage meant to transport captured monsters anyway, it should be able to keep Aqua who was inside safe.

I heard from the guild staff that the monsters would leave the lake after purification was completed. But just in case they refuse to leave Aqua after that, we attached a strong chain to the cage.

Because the cage was heavy, we dragged it here using the horse we borrowed from town.

In the event of an emergency, I intend to use the horse to drag the cage to escape.

The cage had been lowered into the edge of the lake, soaking Aqua's feet and buttocks in water.

Next would be maintaining the current situation as the 3 of us wait in the distance. Aqua hugged her knees and said softly:

"... I feel like a tea bag being drained of its flavor..."

Part 9

The purification device... Correction, Aqua had been placed in the lake for 2 hours.

There was no sign of any monsters attacking her.

Darkness, Megumin and I stayed on land about 20 meters from Aqua to watch over her.

I yelled at Aqua who was soaked in the lake.

"Hey-- Aqua! How is the purification going? Is it cold staying in the lake? Give a holler if you want to go to the rest room! I will let you out of the cage--!"

I yelled from afar, and Aqua yelled back.

"Purification is proceeding smoothly! And I don't need to go to the rest room! Arch priest doesn't go to the rest room!"

Aqua said something idols in the old days would say.

I was worried about her since she had been in the water for quite a while, but she seemed to be doing fine.

"There seems to be no problems. By the way, Crimson magic clansmen don't need to use the washroom either."

Megumin said without me asking.

You and Aqua were always eating so much, where did all that stuff go... I felt like retorting."

"As a crusader, I also don't... need to go... Ugh..."

"Darkness, don't compete with these two. For Megumin and Aqua who insist they don't need to use the restroom, I will accept a quest that can't be completed in a day to confirm if they really don't need to use the washroom.

"Don't, don't do that okay? The crimson magic clan really don't use the washroom! But I apologize, so don't do that... By the way, the brutal alligators are not coming, it would be great if things ends peacefully like this."

Megumin said something that definitely raised a flag.

And as if on cue, ripples appeared somewhere on the lake.

In term of size, it was about the same as alligators on earth.

But it was a monster after all, so there was some difference with earth's alligators.

"Ka, Kazuma--! Something is coming over! Nah, lots of things are coming here!"

Seemed like the alligator of this world moved in a group.

-- 4 hours since purification began--

Aqua simply soaked herself in the water in the beginning and use the passive skill of the goddess to purify the lake. But she probably wanted to finish the purification sooner and head back, so she had been chanting purification magic nonstop.

"'Purification'! 'Purification', 'Purification'--!

A large group of alligators was surrounding Aqua's cage and gnawing at it.

"'Purification'! 'Purification'--! The cage is creaking! It's creaking! The cage, cage is making weird sounds!"

Aqua screamed in the cage, but we couldn't blow them away with explosion magic either, so we couldn't do anything about it.

"Aqua--! Tell us if you want to give up--! If you want to give up, we will drag you along with the cage with the chain--!"

I had been shouting that towards the cage for some time now, but Aqua refused to abort the quest despite being terrified.

"I, I don't wanna! Giving up now means wasting the time I spent so far, and not being able to collect the bounty! 'Purification'! 'Purification'--! ... Waahhahhh--! There was a cracking sound! The cage made a sound it shouldn't be making!"

Aqua screamed in tears while the brutal alligator that surrounded her didn't even look at us.

Darkness mumbled to herself as she looked at the situation over there.

"... Staying in that cage seemed rather good...:

"... You better not go there!"

-- 7 hours after purification began--

The battered cage was alone in the lake.

There were bite marks all over the cage after the brutal alligators attacked it.

The purification was probably done, so the brutal alligator left the cage and moved upstream.

The sound of Aqua chanting purification spell couldn't be heard anymore.

Or rather, about an hour ago, we did not hear Aqua who was surrounded by the brutal alligators make any sound.

"... Hey Aqua, are you alright? The brutal alligators had left for some other place."

We approached the cage to check on how Aqua was doing.

"... Sniff... Ugh... Hic..."

If you were so terrified and cried while hugging your knees, you should have given up the quest earlier...

But it was hard to blame her under the circumstances.

"Good girl, the purification is done, let's go back. I had discussed with Darkness and Megumin, we won't take the reward this time. The 300,000 is all yours."

The shoulders of Aqua who buried her face between her knees trembled.

But she didn't want to come out from the cage.

"... Hey, it's time to come out of the cage, all the brutal alligators are gone."

When she heard me, Aqua said something softly.

"... Directly like this..."

...?

"What did she say?"

"... She said, the world outside the cage is scary, so bring her back to town directly like this."

... Seemed that after hunting toads, this quest had left deep psychological trauma in Aqua's heart too.

"Do Na Do Na Do-- Na-- Do-- Na--..."

"Eh... Hey Aqua, we are already back in town, can you stop singing that song? We are gathering a lot of attention just by dragging a battered cage with a woman hugging her knees inside. And it’s safe back in town, it's about time you come out."

"Don't wanna. This is my holy realm. The world outside is scary, I don't want to come out for now."

The horse dragged the cage with Aqua who refused to come out inside.

We completed the quest safety and returned to town. Under the gaze of the townsfolk, we head for the guild.

Because Aqua who don't want to come out and walk, our speed was slow despite the horse helping to drag the cage.

But aside from the psychological trauma, there was no damage worth mentioning.

Although I wanted to try out my equipment and spells, it was still great to finish the quest leisurely.

Completing the quest without any issues was great...

Maybe it was because I raised a flag with my thoughts.

"God, goddess-sama! Isn't this goddess-sama? What are you doing in such a place!"

A man suddenly shouted and rushed to Aqua who shut herself inside the cage and grab the bars.

And amazingly, the bars that held up to the bites of the brutal alligator was bent easily by this guy and he offered a hand to Aqua.

Ignoring Megumin and me who were dumbstruck, the unknown man reached for the speechless Aqua...

"... Hey, don't act familiar with my companion and touch her. Who are you? If she knew you, why would Aqua not have any reaction?"

As the man was about to take Aqua's hand, Darkness stopped him.

Unlike her envious eyes when she saw Aqua surrounded by brutal alligator, Darkness was now a shield protecting her comrades, a proud crusader.

... It would be great if she always act this way...

The man glanced at Darkness, sighed and shook his head.

His demeanor seemed to be saying he didn't want to create trouble but he had no choice.

The man's attitude clearly pissed off Darkness who doesn't normally show her emotion openly.

As the tension rose, I went to Aqua who continued to hug her knees and refused to leave the cage despite the situation and whispered:

"... Hey, it's someone you know right? He called you goddess-sama just now. Go and handle that man."

After hearing what I said, Aqua made a 'what are you talking about?' face and...

"... Ah! Goddess! That's right, I am a goddess. And? What problems do you want this goddess to settle? You guys are really helpless!"

Aqua finally came out of the cage.

Did this girl really forgot about being a goddess?

After exiting the cage, Aqua tilted her head at that man.

"... Who are you?"

She didn't know him.

... No, she probably did.

Because the man opened his eyes wide in surprise.

Aqua probably just forgot about him.

"Why are you saying this goddess-sama! It's me Mitsurugi Kyouya! I received the sword Gram from you!"

"...?"

Aqua still tilted her head, but I finally got it.

His name might sound like the protagonist of an anime or manga, but since it was a Japanese name, he must had gotten a powerful weapon from Aqua and came here before me.

That man who seemed to have a strong sense of justice had a head of brown hair and was the cool type.

He was wearing armor that looked expensive and glowed in blue brightly. On his waist was a sword in a black scabbard.

Behind him was a beauty with a long spear that was the warrior type, and a pretty girl wearing leather armor with a dagger on her waist.

This fellow claiming to be Mitsurugi was about my age.

To describe this man in one sentence...

He looked like the main character of a manga.

"Ah! Yes yes, there was such a person! Sorry, I totally forgot about you. I sent a lot of people here, so it couldn't be helped if I forgot!"

After an explanation from Mitsurugi and I, Aqua finally remembered.

His face was a bit awkward, but Mitsurugi still smiled at Aqua and said:

"Eh, it's been a while, Aqua-sama. As your chosen hero, I had been working hard every day. My job is Sword master. I am already level 37... Oh right, why is Aqua-sama doing here? Or rather, why were you locked in the cage?"

Mitsurugi said as he stole glances at me.

When Aqua sent him to this world, she made up something about him being chosen by the gods and is a hero, those irresponsible words.

She didn't remember this person existed, which showed how irresponsible her words to Mitsurugi was.

So in Mitsurugi's eyes, I was the one locking Aqua in the cage?

... Well, normal people would think so.

Even if I told him she was the one who didn't want to come out, this guy wouldn't believe me.

Even me who saw it with my own eyes won't believe there was such a weird goddess.

I told Mitsurugi what happened to Aqua and me after transporting to this world...

"... Preposterous, this is too illogical! What are you thinking, bring goddess-sama to this world? And you locked her in a cage and threw her in the lake for this quest?"

Mitsurugi grabbed my collar in righteous fury.

Aqua restrained him in a hurry.

"You, what are you doing? This is nothing, I am living every day happily, and am not angry about being brought to this world! And I can go back after defeating the demon king! Today's quest was a bit scary, but it was resolved smoothly. No one was hurt and the rewards is 300,000. 300,000! And everyone said they will let me take all of it!"

Mitsurugi looked at Aqua with pitiful eyes after hearing what she said.

"... Aqua-sama, I don't how how this man talked you into this, but you are being treated too illogically. After such a sacrifice, you only earned 300,000...? You are a goddess! For a goddess to be treated this way... By the way, where do you stay at night?"

I felt like telling Mitsurugi not to keep saying goddess by the side of the road, but he seemed to be on the verge of losing it, so I decided to shut up.

For a first meeting, this guy is really rude.

He doesn't understand Aqua at all.

Hearing Mitsurugi say that, Aqua was a bit frightened and answered timidly:

"With everybody, in the stables..."

"Huh?"

Mitsurugi grabbed my collar with more force.

Hey, that hurts!

Darkness grabbed Mitsurugi's hand at this moment.

"Hey, watch yourself and remove your hand. You had been unreasonable all this while. This must be the first time you met Kazuma, there should be a limit to how rude you can be."

Darkness who was usually quiet when she wasn't spouting nonsense had gotten angry.

On a closer look, Megumin had picked up her upgraded staff and seemed to be chanting explosion magic... Wait, stop it you!

Mitsurugi let go of his hand and observed Darkness and Megumin excitedly.

"... Crusader and Arch wizard? And... They look rather good too. Seems that you had great luck in finding companions, but that doesn't make sense. Don't you feel ashamed in letting Aqua and these two excellent members sleep in the stables? You mentioned your job is the weakest adventurer right?"

From the way this guy described it, my situation seemed great.

From the people who didn't know us, I seemed so lucky.

I whispered to Aqua:

"Nah, nah, isn't staying in the stables the norm for adventurers in this world? Why is this guy so mad?"

"Well, I think he was granted a powerful sword when he was transported to this world, and completed a bunch of high difficulty quest from the beginning. He probably had no worries about money... But that is the usual case for people with special abilities or equipment."

A flame of anger burned in my heart after I listened to Aqua's answer.

The guy who didn't undergo any hardship because of a powerful sword gifted to him, why is he acting so high and mighty to me who had to work hard from the very start?

He didn't realize my seething anger and said to Aqua, Darkness and Megumin with a sympathetic smile:

"It must have been hard on you all so far. Please join me from now on. Of course, I won't let you all sleep in the stables, and will buy the full set of premium equipment for you. The balance of the team is great. I am a sword master, my warrior comrade and you as a crusader: along with my thief comrade, this arch wizard and Aqua-sama. What a perfect combination, it's a match made in heaven."

Ara, it didn't include me.

Well, I don't want to join this guy's party anyway.

After hearing Mitsurugi's proposal, my 3 companions started talking among themselves.

Mitsurugi might be a self centered hero, but the terms he offered wasn't bad.

And compared to acting alongside me, going with Mitsurugi offered an easier route for Aqua to take down the demon king.

The demon king needed to be defeated before Aqua could return to heaven.

Although I only thought of her as a complementary gift for moving to this world, but heavens would probably allow her to return if she finished the job of defeating the demon king with another hero.

I thought Aqua and the others would be moved with such excellent terms, so I strained my ears behind them to listen. In the end...

"It feels wrong. He is so bad that it made me cringe. And he was the one doing all the talking with his narcissistic tendencies which frighten me."

"What should we do, for some reason I am unable to physically accept this man. I prefer active people over passive ones, but somehow that guy makes me want to beat him up."

"Can I cast my magic? Can I throw an explosion spell into the face of that elite putting up a front who had never went through any hardship before?"

Ara, their perception of you were rather negative, Mitsurugi-san.

After that, Aqua tugged my sleeve and said:

"Nah Kazuma, let's hurry to the guild okay? I might be the one who gave him the powerful sword, but I think it would be better not to get too close with such people."

To be honest his action was infuriating, but it would be best to leave as Aqua suggested.

"Well-- My companions don't seem keen to join your party and the opinion is unanimous. We still need to report the completion of the quest, so we will take our leave..."

After finishing, I lead the horse dragging the cage and prepared to go.

...

"... Could you please move out of the way?"

I said in an annoyed tone to Mitsurugi who was blocking my way.

What should I do, he is the type who doesn't listen to others.

"Excuse me, but Aqua-sama is the one who bestowed this sword to me, and seeing my benefactor who granted me power fall to such a state, I couldn't simply ignore it. You couldn't save the world, the one to defeat the demon king would be me. It would be better for Aqua-sama to follow me... You said you chose Aqua as the item to be brought along to this world with you right?"

"... Yes."

Going by the cliché developments of manga, I could predict what would happen next.

This guy would definitely...!

"If that is the case, how about making a bet? You chose Aqua-sama as the 'thing' to be brought along with you right? If I win, you have to give Aqua-sama to me; If you win, I can promise you one thing, anything."

"Okay, I accept! Take this!"

Just as I predicted.

I was almost at my limits, and attacked without saying anything more.

I moved my left hand out of the way and used my right to swing my sheathed sword at him immediately.

The first to move wins, there is nothing unscrupulous about it!

And a high level sword master with a powerful sword challenging a novice adventurer with weak gears was the unscrupulous one!

Mitsurugi didn't expect me to attack the moment I answer him.

"Eh? Wait! Hold...!"

Mitsurugi seemed to be in a panic, but as expected of a high level adventurer.

He drew his sword and braced it horizontally to fend off my sword.

As the sword in my right hand was about to hit Mitsurugi's sword, I reached out my left hand...!

"'Steal'--!"

The moment I yelled, I felt the weight of a sword in my left hand.

Oh, I hit the jackpot.

The sword Mitsurugi was planning to block my blow with disappeared from his hands.

"Huh?" x3

I wonder who uttered such foolish sounds.

Probably everyone present except for me.

With my stealing skill working together with my attack, Mitsurugi who couldn't do anything was hit hard on the hard by me.

"Scumbag! Scumbag scumbag scumbag--!"

"How dirty! You are the worst, scumbag! Can't you fight honorably?"

Mitsurugi's two female companions lectured me.

It was music to my ears.

Although it was with the scabbard, Mitsurugi was still hit by a rather heavy sword on the head and laid on the ground with the white of his eyes showing, it was pretty comical.

I announced to the two followers who were protesting.

"No matter what, I won. This guy said he will promise me anything if he lost right? Then I would be taking this sword."

After hearing what I said, one of the follower became agitated.

"What? What absurd thing are you saying? And only Kyouya could use that magic sword, the magic sword will choose its owner. It had chosen Kyouya as its master! The blessing of the sword won't work on you!"

After listening to the girl's confident words, I turned towards Aqua.

"... Is that true? I can't use this spoils of war? I was thinking that I had finally gotten a strong piece of equipment."

"It's true. Regrettably, the sword Gram is the exclusive weapon of that unpleasant guy. It bestows one with arm strength beyond the human limits when equipped, and the sword is a sharp weapon that can cut through steel like a vegetable. But in Kazuma's hands, this would just be a normal sword."

So there was such a thing...

But since I got something great, I should take it with me.

"I would be on my way then. Tell that guy when he wakes up that he was the one who wanted the duel, so no complaints... Alright, let's go to the guild for the bounty, Aqua."

After finishing, I turned to leave. Mitsurugi's female companion raised their weapon against me.

"You you you, hold it right there!"

"Give Kyouya's sword back. We won't acknowledge your win!"

And so, I lift my hands and wriggled my fingers before the 2 ladies.

"It's fine if you want to bring it on, but I believe in gender equality, a man who dares to use drop kicks against girls. Don't think I will hold back against you two! I should say that since you are girls, I might humiliate you in public using my 'Steal' skill."

The two girls looked at my hand, worried about their safety in some ways, and backed off with an uneasy face.

"Ugwahhh..." x3

My companions looked at me with scornful eyes which pricks me.

Dragging the borrowed cage with us, we finally made it back to the guild.

Since we decided all the rewards would go to Aqua, I left the task of reporting the completion of the quest to Aqua and the others while I returned the borrowed horse. I took my spoils-- that magic sword to a certain place and reached the adventurers guild a bit later than the others.

...... But...

"Wh, Why--!"

Aqua's loud voice could be heard from inside the guild.

Does this girl want to create commotions everywhere she went?

I entered the guild and saw Aqua grabbing a staff of the guild with tearing eyes.

"Didn't I tell you, the cage I borrowed from you wasn't damaged by me! It was that Mitsurugi guy who bent the bars! Why do I have to pay for it!"

I see, that guy did bent the bars in an attempt to save Aqua without getting the full story.

And Aqua had to compensate for that broken cage.

Aqua insisted for a moment, but she probably gave up, taking the reward and came to our tables with heavy footsteps.

"... The bounty this time, after deducting the compensation for the broken cage, there is only 100,000 Eris left... They said the cage was made from a special process and material, so it cost 200,000..."

Seeing how dejected Aqua was, even I felt a little sorry for her.

Meeting Mitsurugi was an unexpected disaster for Aqua.

"Next time I meet that man, I will definitely give him a god blow! And get him to cough up the compensation for the cage!"

Aqua sat on her chair and pinched the menu hard and said through her grit teeth.

As for me, I don't want to ever see him again.

... As Aqua was grumbling grudgingly.

"So that's where you are! I had a hard time finding you, Kazuma Satou!"

We were just talking about Mitsurugi when he showed up with his two female underlings at the entrance of the guild.

Shouting my full name which I never told him, Mitsurugi rushed to our table and slammed both hands down.

"Kazuma Satou! I asked a female thief about you and she told me everything immediately. She said you like to strip woman of their panties. Other than that, your interest is to cover girls in slime. Lots of people are talking about you, devilish Kazuma."

"Hold on, who is the one spreading this, tell me properly."

I know who the thief was, but the problem was the other parts.

Spreading such rumors from somewhere and adding the title devilish before my name...!

As Mitsurugi closed in on me with a serious face, Aqua stepped before him.

"... Aqua-sama. I swear to you, after getting my sword back from that man, I will definitely defeat the demon king. So please join me and form a party pu ah...!"

"Ah! Kyouya!" x2

After being punched by the silent Aqua, Mitsurugi flew out.

Mitsurugi's two female companions rushed to the fallen Mitsurugi.

Mitsurugi showed a baffled face, not understanding why he was hit. Aqua took large steps towards him, grab his collar and said:

"Compensate me for the cage you destroyed! It's all your fault that I had to compensate for that cage! Because that cage was made through a special process and material, it cost 300,000 okay, 300,000! You hear me, pay up!"

Didn't you say the cage cost 200,000 just now?

Mitsurugi who haven't even stood up after being sent flying by Aqua's punch remained seated as he forked out the cash.

After getting the money from Mitsurugi, the satisfied Aqua picked up the menu once again.

Mitsurugi composed himself, watching Aqua who was calling for the waitress happily with a menu in hand as he said to me begrudgingly:

"... Even though I was defeated in that way, it was still my loss. Although it is shameless and selfish of me to say this after promising to do anything you wish... But I beg of you! could you return the sword to me? That sword wouldn't be of much use to you, it is just sharper than normal swords if you wield it. That's the most you could get out of the sword... How about this? If you want a sword, I can buy the best sword in any shop and give it to you... Could you please return it to me?"

He said himself that it was a selfish request.

No matter how useless, Aqua was still the gift I was bestowed with when I came to this world, something I should get when I make up my mind to come to this world.

In other words, the thing I gambled was of equal worth with Mitsurugi's sword.

But if you ask me whether Aqua's worth was equivalent to the magic sword, I could only refuse to answer.

"Using me as a prize without my permission, and asking for your sword back by offering to buy a good sword in exchange, there's no way this deal would work! Or do you think my worth is equal to the most expensive sword in a shop? Insolent fool, insolent! I am a goddess after all, to use me as a betting chip, what the hell were you thinking? I don't to ever see your face again, shoo. Hurry up, scram!"

Aqua held the menu in one hand while waving the other, gesturing for Mitsurugi to leave as she said it out loud, which made Mitsurugi turn pale.

It couldn't be helped, who asked him to create trouble and then do this, no wonder Aqua got angry.

"Please, please wait Aqua-sama! I am not looking down on your value..."

As Mitsurugi was explaining, Megumin tugged Mitsurugi's sleeve.

"...? What is it little girl... Hmm?"

After getting Mitsurugi's attention, Megumin pointed at me.

To be precise, she was pointing at my waist.

"... Just a heads up, the sword is no longer with this man."

"!"

Mitsurugi noticed after hearing Megumin say that...

"Sa, Satou Kazuma! Where is the sword? You you, where did you take my sword to?"

He was breaking out in cold sweat as he pressed me for an answer.

I replied in 3 words.

"I sold it."

"Damn you--!"

Mitsurugi rushed out of the guild in tears.

"... What is with that guy... Speaking of which, he had been addressing Aqua as a goddess all this while, what is up with that?"

After Mitsurugi left the guild.

That commotion drew the curious eyes of many adventurers. Under these circumstances, Darkness asked.

... Right, the word goddess was mentioned so many times, it was normal for her to ask.

No, should I use this chance to tell both Megumin and Darkness?

I looked at Aqua who had a face saying that she knew what I wanted to say as she nodded.

Aqua then showed her rare serious expression to face Darkness and Megumin.

Darkness and Megumin also noticed that Aqua felt different, and was listening carefully to her...

"I had never told you this before, but I decided to say it... I am Aqua. One of the patron goddess of the Axis cult, goddess of water... That's right, I am that goddess Aqua...!"

"... So you had that dream?" x2

"That's wrong! And why did both of you say the same thing together!"

... So it turned out this way...

At this moment.

"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare all your equipment and gather at the town's main gate ready for battle--!"

The familiar emergency public announcement sounded out loudly.

"Again...? There are so many of these emergency summons recently."

Can I not go?

I knew I probably can't, but after that incident with Mitsurugi, I felt so lazy...

As I rest my face lazily on the table.

"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare all your equipment and gather at the town's main gate ready for battle--! Especially Satou Kazuma-san and his companions, please head to the scene as soon as possible!"

"... Huh?"

What did the broadcast just say?

Chapter 4
Ending this poor excuse of a battle!

Part 1

I rushed to the main gate.

The lightly armored me led the way, Aqua and Megumin reached shortly after. Only the heavily armored Darkness was still on the way.

"Oh, just as I suspected. This guy is here again."

When we reached the main gate, there were many adventurers gathered there already.

And that guy was at the main gate which all the novice adventurers kept a distance away from.

That's right, it was that demon army boss, Dullahan.

I was a bit curious when I saw the troubled faces of the adventurers preceding me. But I understood why when I looked at what was behind the Dullahan.

Unlike the last time, he brought a whole gang of monsters with it.

It was a group of knight wearing tattered armor.

The cracks in their armors and helmets were semi-visible. If you looked closely, they probably didn't have a proper meal for quite a while. You might even catch a glimpse of their rotten body which would leave psychological trauma.

With just a glance, it was clear the armored knights were undead.

After it saw Megumin and me, it roared.

"Why didn't you come to the castle, you are inhuman--!"

I walked in front of Megumin to protect her and asked the Dullahan.

"Well... You asked why we didn't go to the castle, but why must we go? And what do you mean by 'inhuman'? We had stopped casting explosion magic, so why are you mad?"

The Dullahan was furious when he heard me and was on the verge of throwing the thing in its left hand onto the ground... But it remembered that was its head and moved it to its abdomen:

""Stopped casting explosion? You say it stopped? Stop lying to me! That crimson magic clan girl with a screw loose had never stopped coming!"

"Huh?"

After hearing him, I looked at Megumin besides me.

Megumin averted her eyes immediately.

"... You did go right. I told you not to, but you still went all this while."

"Hurts hurts hurts, it's painful alright! No, listen to me Kazuma! I was satisfied with casting explosion on an empty plain not so long ago... But after I knew the charm of attacking a castle with magic, my body changed and I could only accept big and hard things...!"

"Don't fidget around and say those kinds of things! And you couldn't move after casting your spell! That means you have an accomplice! Who in the world..."

I pinched Megumin cheeks and said, and it was Aqua's turn to avert her gaze this time.

...

"It's you right---!"

"Wahahah--! Because because, that Dullahan caused me to be unable to work normally, I want to vent my frustration! I was lectured by the store owner every day because of him!"

You were lectured because you didn't take your work seriously.

As I grabbed the collar of Aqua who attempted to escape, the Dullahan continued:

"I am not so furious because of the explosion magic! Don't you all have the will to save your comrade? I might be this way now, but before I was executed because of unjust reasons and morphed into a monster, I was a honourable knight. In my eyes, that crusader who was cursed while protecting her companions was the classic model of a knight, but you abandoned her...!"

When the Dullahan reached this part.

Darkness who arrived in her clanking armor late quietly made her way to my side.

The Dullahan locked eyes with Darkness who was blushing because of the compliments.

"... He, hello..."

Darkness looked a bit guilty, timidly lifting a hand to the Dullahan in greeting...

"...... What, what is up with this----?"

Seeing her action, the Dullahan yelled in surprise.

Its expression was blocked by its helmet, but he probably had a 'WTF?' face.

"Why? It had been a week since Darkness was cursed but she is still alive, that shocked it right? That Dullahan definitely thought we would head to the castle to break the curse and was waiting for us in vain huh? It didn't even know I broke the curse in no time after it left right? Pu he he! This is too funny! Super~ funny!"

Aqua pointed her finger at the Dullahan and laughed nonstop.

The Dullahan's expression still can't be seen, but from the way its shoulder was trembling, it was definitely very furious.

But since Aqua broke the curse and we knew it was definitely a trap, we had no reason to visit the dangerous castle.

"... Hey, you there. If I get serious, I could kill all the adventurers in town and massacre the townsfolk. Don't think I will keep letting you off! I am of the undead and will never know fatigue. You bunch of rookies won't be able to hurt me!"

Aqua's taunt pushed the Dullahan's patience to its limit and it had a dangerous air about it.

But before the Dullahan could do anything else, Aqua extended her right hand and shout:

"I am the one who has no reason to let you off! I won't let you escape this time. To act so flashy for a mere undead, how arrogant! Disappear, 'Turn Undead'!"

A bright white light illuminated from Aqua's outstretched hand.

Even though it saw Aqua casting a spell, the Dullahan wasn't scared and didn't plan to dodge.

As expected of a boss of the demon army, seemed like he was really confident.

The gentle light which came out of Aqua closed in on the Dullahan...!

"You think the boss of the demon king army wouldn't be prepared to fight priests? Too bad. Including me, all the undead knights in this band had received the protection of the demon king. We have very high resistance against holy spell ahhhhhhhh--!"

After getting blasted by the magic, the parts that was hit emitted black smoke.

The Dullahan that was so confident was smoking all over. He was shaking all over and couldn't even stand properly, but he still put on a strong facade.

Aqua shouted when she saw this:

"Nah, nah, Kazuma! This is strange, it's not working on him!"

No, it looked plenty useful to me, he was screaming 'ahh--' so loudly...

The Dullahan took unsteady steps and said:

"Hmmp, hmmhmm... Wait for me to finish. I am Beldia, one of the boss of the demon king army, Dullahan Beldia! With this armor that was enchanted by the demon king and my own powers, 'Turn Undead' from a normal priest won't work on me!... It shouldn't work at all...

As it spoke, the Dullahan shifted the head in its hand so it was slanting to one side.

It was probably trying to tilt its head.

"... Never mind. Because our diviner was raging on about a strong light descending near this town, so I came here to investigate... In the beginning, I thought it was too much of a hassle and considered destroying the entire town..."

Beldia who was starting to get as unreasonable as Go*a held its head with its left hand and lifted his empty right hand up here.

<TL: the bully from Doraemon™.>

"Hmmp, you are not worthy enough for me to do it personally... Go, my brothers! Let them know what hell taste like!"

“Ah! That guy was definitely scared because Aqua's spell was unexpectedly effective! He is planning to use his minions to attack us while he escapes by himself to somewhere safe!"

"That that that's not it! This was my plan from the very beginning! The boss of the demon king army are not weaklings who escape on their own! You wouldn't fight the boss at the very start, of course you would need to defeat the underlings first, that's the tradition since ancient time..."

"Sacred turn undead--!"

"Yaaahhhh--!"

Beldia only spoke halfway when it screamed due to Aqua's spell.

A white magic circle appeared at Beldia's feet and a light that led straight into the sky was there.

Beldia's armor was fuming black smog, and it rolled on the ground as if it was attempting to put out the fire on it.

Aqua said in a panic:

"What, what should we do Kazuma! This is strange! My spell is not effective on it!"

Looking at the way it was screaming its head off, I thought it was pretty effective.

No, 'Turn Undead' should be able to destroy the undead in one shot.

But...

"Damn, damn you...! Let someone who is talking finish! Enough! Hey, my brethren...!"

Even though smog was coming from all over its body, Beldia stood up slowly and lift its right hand...

"All the people in this town... Kill them all!"

He cut his right hand down as the cue!

Part 2

Undead knights.

A monster one tier higher than zombies.

Although their armor were tattered, but with their defensive gear, it was a threat to novice adventurers.

"Wahhh--! Priests! Get the priests here--!"

"Someone go to Eris church for holy water, get all that you can--!"

As the adventurers shouted tensely, the undead knight invaded the town.

The adventurers tried to intercept them.

But as if to mock their effort, Beldia laughed loudly...!

"Hmmp hahaha, come, let me hear your screams... of... despair...?"

... As it was laughing,

"Wah, wahhh--! Why just me? I, I am a goddess! A goddess so I always do good deeds!"

"Ahh! How, how scheming! I am the one who always does good deeds, why are all the undead knights running over to Aqua...!"

Aqua said something ungoddess-like, while Darkness said something that was hard to comment on with an envious face.

For some reason, the undead knights didn't lay their hands on the townsfolk and were chasing after Aqua enthusiastically.

"You, what are you all doing! Don't just chase that priest, cover this town with the blood the residents and adventurers...!"

Beldia shouted in panic when it saw the situation.

I wondered if these mindless low tier undead were seeking salvation, and gathered at the side of the Aqua goddess because of their instincts.

Although I didn't know why the undead were chasing after Aqua, but this is a great chance!

"Hey Megumin, could you cast an explosion spell on that bunch of undead knights?"

"Eh! This is inside the town and they are too dispersed, I might miss some of them...!"

At this moment,

"Wahhh, Kazuma-san--! Kazuma-san--!"

Aqua brought a large crowd of undead knights with her and came in my direction.

Hey...!

"You fool! Hey, don't come this way! Lure them somewhere else and I will treat you to dinner tonight!"

"I will pay for dinner, just help me get rid of these undead! They are weird! I couldn't purify them with 'Turn Undead'!"

Damn it, is this the protection of the demon king Beldia mentioned...!

No, wait, wait a minute...?

"Megumin, wait outside the town and standby your spell--!"

"Huh? Got... Got it!"

After shouting to Megumin, I brought Aqua who rushed to me and charged out of town.

I intentionally pass by the adventurers that were battling the undead knights, getting as many undead knights to follow Aqua as possible...

After that...!

"Kazuma-san! How does it look behind me! I think we got all the undead knight in town to follow us--!"

I turned back and the undead knight chasing Aqua had turned into a large crowd.

Aqua and I left the town and the undead knights followed. At this moment,

"Megumin, do it now--!"

Under my command, Megumin took off her eye patch, raised her staff and her eyes were shining.

"What a wonderful situation! I am grateful, thank you Kazuma!... I am Megumin! The elite wizard of the Crimson Magic clan, user of explosion magic! Demon king boss Beldia! Watch my power closely! 'Explosion'--!"

Megumin cast the explosion spell she was great in and ignited it in the center of the undead army!

Part 3

The explosion spell created a crater right before the main gate, blowing all the undead knights away.

As everyone was in silence because of the power of the spell.

"Hmm hmm hmm... Everyone is lost for words after witnessing the power of my explosion... Fu ahh... including narrating this speech, all this... feels so good..."

Megumin could be heard saying proudly.

"... Want me to piggy back you?"

"Ah, thank you. And I couldn't move because I was too pleased with the spell, could you help me put my eye patch back?"

A short distance away from me.

Megumin who exhausted her mana was lying face down there.

I lifted Megumin up, put on her eye patch and carried her on my back.

"My mouth... is full of sand..."

Aqua who was closest to the undead knight spat the sand out of her mouth as she walked towards me.

It seemed that the explosion spell made her trip and fall.

The dust from the explosion had not yet settled when all the adventurers in town cheered.

"Woahhh! That's awesome, girl with a screw loose!"

"The Crimson magic girl with a screw loose took all of them out!"

"So aside from your weird name and loose screw, you are great when it is time to perform, I am impressed!"

Megumin wriggled on my back when she heard the cheers coming from town.

"Sorry, I want to cast an explosion on those people, please bring me over there."

"You have used all your mana. You did great today, be confident and have a good rest... Thank you for your hard work."

Hearing me say that, Megumin hugged on to me with her heart at ease.

And of course, I felt something soft on my back...

Something... soft...?

... She was pressing her chest onto my back, but I didn't feel sensation like that...

... Well, it's expected of a loli.

"Crimson magic clans have high intelligence."

Megumin suddenly said.

"... Want me to guess what Kazuma is thinking about?"

"... I am thinking that Megumin's breasts are bigger than they looks."

It was obvious I didn't mean it, which caused Megumin to attempt to strangle me.

At the town entrance, Beldia stared at us.

More accurately, it was staring at Megumin who was on my back.

Finally, Beldia's shoulders started to tremble.

Was it angry that all it's undead minions were wiped out?

... No.

"Fu hahaha! Interesting! That's interesting! To think my minions would be wiped out in a novice town like this! Alright, I will keep my promise!"

... Hey, hold up.

Hey, wait!

"I will take care of you all personally!"

Beldia who was standing at the town entrance lifted its great sword and charged at us!

Part 4

Long before Beldia reached us.

Lots of armed adventurers surrounded Beldia at a distance in order to protect us, and approached him slowly.

When Beldia saw this situation, it held its head in one hand and a sword in the other, and shrugged happily...

"... Oh--? The target I prioritized should be those two over there... But... Hmmp, if you all could defeat me through a stroke of luck, you would get a hefty sum of bounty... come, novice adventurers dreaming of getting rich instantly. All of you come at me at together!"

When they heard it talking about getting rich instantly, the adventurers who were closing in started discussing among themselves.

And then a man who looked like a warrior...

"Hey, no matter how strong it is, it doesn’t have eyes on its back! Surround it and attack!"

An adventurer on the flank of Beldia shouted.

He had raised an obvious death flag.

"Hey, the opponent is a boss of the demon king army, how could such a simple tactic take him down!"

I warned the male warrior who said the script of victim.

And to support them, I drew my sword...

... No, think about it carefully. Even if a super low level like me slash at him, the results would be clear.

More importantly, I had to bring Megumin on my back to a safe place...

... Bring her to a safe place and then what?

Megumin was out of mana.

Aqua's spell couldn't deal a fatal blow.

... How about telling everyone to run away?

As I was thinking about these, the male warrior who had Beldia surrounded prepared to attack...!

"Just buy more time! After hearing the emergency broadcast, the ace of this town will definitely rush over! If that guy is here, the boss of the demon king army would be done for! Hey brothers, let's go together! Aim for its blind spot! All at the same time!"

Facing the man who shouted this as he attacked, Beldia tossed his head high into the air with one hand.

...The ace of this town?

I don't know who he was referring to, but was there such a famed and capable adventurer in town?

As I was thinking about those, Beldia's head was high in the sky and looked downwards. I felt a chill when I saw this scene.

Not just me, the adventurers around me realized it too.

"Stop! Don't go..."

I shouted, attempting to restrain the adventurers whose name I don't even know...

But Beldia seemed to have eyes on its back, dodging the attacks of all the adventurers.

"Huh?"

That was the sound the adventurers slashing at him uttered.

I wasn't sure which adventurer it was.

Beldia dodged all the attack easily, it gripped its great sword in both hands...

In a blink of an eye, Beldia slashed at all the adventurers who attacked it.

The people who were alive moments ago were now dead.

Such illogical things made me realized the realities of this world.

It was the sound of the men falling limply onto the ground.

Beldia listened to these sound with satisfaction and raised a hand into the air.

His head landed safely into his palm.

Beldia didn't think much about this series of actions and said leisurely:

"Who's next?"

All the adventurers on scene were intimidated by these words.

One girl said in a high pitch:

"Trash, trash like you...! Trash like you will be done in with just a slash from Mitsurugi!"

... Huh?

My mind kept working.

The Mitsurugi she mentioned was the one whose sword was taken by me and sold...

"That's right, just hold on a bit longer! When that magic sword guy comes, he could definitely take on the boss of the demon king army..."

"You are Beldia right? Let me tell you, there is a powerful and high level guy in this town!"

... Shit, oh shit.

I looked at Aqua with a pale face, but Aqua was already gone from that spot.

Other than Mitsurugi, Aqua was the only one with the ability to be an ace. She didn't even looked at the Beldia, running to the side of the killed adventurers, doing something as she stayed close to their corpse.

Maybe it was her obligation as a goddess to send the dead on their way.

After seeing the adventurers in solid armor dying in one blow, nobody wanted to stand before Beldia and oppose him...

"... Oh? So you are my next opponent?"

Beldia held its head with its left hand and a sword in its right.

It looked at Darkness who was standing before it, protecting Megumin and me. It thought it was interesting and moved the head in its hand closer to Darkness.

Darkness took a stance holding a sword with both hands, shielding the two of us behind her. She doesn't looked like a pervert anymore, but a dependable crusader.

After witnessing Aqua and Megumin's strength, Beldia probably thought Darkness was powerful in her own way too.

Beldia maintained its posture against Darkness, keeping on guard without moving.

Darkness's tough and white armor glittered under the sun in contrast to Beldia's black armor.

The adventurers who attacked Beldia were all wearing armor too.

But this boss of the demon king army still slaughtered them despite their armor.

Darkness was always boasting confidently that she was harder than anyone. I don't know if she could withstand Beldia's attacks.

As I was wondering if I should stop darkness, she probably noticed my worry and announced confidently:

"Don't worry Kazuma. In terms of toughness in taking hits, I won't lose to anyone. And I can use my skills on my weapon and armor too. Beldia's sword might be powerful, but you do really think it could cut through steel armor like paper? From how the adventurers were killed, Beldia probably possess powerful attack skills. I want to find out how my defence does against it!"

Darkness was aggressive today.

But even if you defended successfully, your attack still won't hit right?

"Don't do it. Beldia not only hits hard, it is great at dodging too right? All the adventurers attacking at the same time couldn't hit him, there's no way you could with how clumsy you are."

Even after hearing what I said, Darkness remained in place to oppose Beldia.

"... As a crusader... As someone with the job of a guardian, there is something that I will not back off from. Let me protect you two."

Although I don't know why, but Darkness seemed to have a reason why she doesn't want to retreat.

I was speechless for a moment. Darkness maintained her postures and charged at Beldia!

"Oh! You are taking the initiative! As a Dullahan, going head to head with a crusader is unavoidable. Alright, come at me!"

Beldia prepared to face the attack.

Seeing Darkness holding her sword with both hands, Beldia didn't want to block it and lowered its stance, preparing to dodge.

With Beldia in front of her, Darkness used all her might and swung her sword...!

... And because she misjudged the distance, the attack landed a few centimeters before Beldia's feet.

"... Huh?"

Beldia lamented like a deflated balloon.

It stared at Darkness blankly, and all the other adventurers followed suit.

... Enough. To miss an opponent that wasn't even moving, how embarrassing!

And this is my companion!

I heard that a novice swinging a sword recklessly could cut their own feet. But no matter what, this is too...

Darkness seemed to think missing her attack was normal and took a step forward and used a horizontal cut.

She was probably embarrassed to have missed that badly after putting on such a cool front, so her face was a bit red.

Seemed like this attack would definitely be on target, but Beldia lowered its stance and dodged nimbly.

"Seemed like I expected too much. Enough... Well then..."

Beldia seemed to think its opponent was too boring and raised its sword and casually slashed diagonally down at Darkness.

"Alright, next... is...... Huh?"

Beldia had the confident to kill with one strike.

But its sword only left a large scratch on the surface of darkness' armor, making a screeching sound.

Darkness pulled away from Beldia temporary.

"Ahhh! I just got my armor from the shop!"

Darkness looked at the scratch on her armor sadly and glared at Beldia.

Although her foe left a deep scratch on Darkness' armor, her body wasn't hurt.

Which means...

"You, what is with you...? Why aren't you hurt after being hit by me...? Is that an armor made by a famous artisan? No... It’s not possible even with that... That arch priest and that arch wizard that loves explosions too, who the hell are you people..."

Using the chance when Beldia was mumbling about something, I joined the other adventurers.

After entrusting Megumin to another adventurer, I said:

"Darkness! You can withstand that guy's attack! Leave the attack to me, I will support you!"

Hearing what I said, Darkness focused her eyes on Beldia and nodded.

"I leave it to you! But please create a chance for me to hit him once, alright?!"

I answered "Got it!" loudly in reply, and shouted to the other adventurers:

"Wizards--!"

After hearing my yell, the wizards remembered their jobs and started chanting spells. The other adventurers also took action, looking for things they could do.

This is our fight against the demon king boss.

The enemy dared walked into our town so openly, we had no reason to let it return safely.

Beldia stuck its sword into the ground to free up its right hand, pointing at the wizards who were chanting.

"All of you will in one weeks time--! Will die in the streets--!"

Beldia cursed all the wizards chanting spells with premonition of death.

The wizards who were cursed lost their nerves and stopped chanting.

The other wizards who were planning to join in stiffened their faces after seeing their compatriots get hit with a premonition of death, not daring to cast their spells.

Damn Dullahan, using such detestable methods!

"Alright, I will attack seriously this time!"

As it shouted, Beldia threw its head high up into the sky.

... Can we get an archer to shoot that head down?

As I was thinking about that, Beldia held its great sword in both hands and attacked Darkness!

The head in the sky was facing the ground like before.

He was probably overlooking the entire battlefield with that head in the air.

If beldia used this, it would have no blind spot, and could easily see where its opponent wanted to dodge.

"Ka, Kazuma! Darkness she is...!"

I heard Megumin screaming behind me.

Almost all the adventurers in town were gathered here.

The people I saw a few times, that guy who told me the weak point of a monster.

The girl who pulled her bow fully but was afraid of hitting Darkness who was facing Beldia, told me about the beverage called Neroid.

The old man holding a long spear who was attempting to flank behind Beldia once chastised me for not drinking beer.

If Darkness fell and Beldia wills it, everyone present would be killed.

Darkness probably understood this, and switched the hold on her sword with the broad side facing forward, using it as a shield without taking a single step back.

She seemed to be saying 'except for the head without the helmet, you are free to attack anyway you like'.

"Oh, how straightforward! Okay, how about this?"

Beldia raised its great sword steadily with both hands. The demon king army boss then went beyond the human limits and slashed multiple times at Darkness.

One, two, three, four hits...!

The slashes hitting Darkness exceed double digits in no time, every blow making the armor screeched and scarring the armor.

In the face of such attacks, it won't be a surprise for normal adventurers to be cut into pieces. But Darkness remained unmoved, blocking every blow.

A few strands of Darkness' long blond hair were cut after coming into contact with the blade and flew in the air.

Beldia stopped its fierce consecutive attack for a moment and caught its falling head with one hand. It switched back to holding the sword with one hand and was impressed with Darkness' tenacity.

Seeing how Darkness endured all these hits, those wizards...

The people whose face turned pale and couldn't move...

Steeled their resolved and started chanting.

... At this moment, something warm sprayed onto my face.

I wiped with the back of my hand and found out it was...

"Hey, Darkness you are hurt! Enough, come back! All the adventurers will scatter and come up with a new plan!"

Looking closely, Darkness' was bleeding from her face and the cracks in her armor.

I shouted at the injured Darkness, but she refused to back down.

"Crusaders will never retreat when protecting someone behind them! I won't ever compromise on that! Also!"

Speaking such cool lines, Darkness' face blushed as she defended with all her might...!

"Also! This Dullahan is very skilled! It had been chipping my armor off slowly bit by bit...! It didn't stripped me naked directly, but left pieces of armor behind, making it more sexual than being naked. It wants to humiliate me in public...!"

"Huh?"

Beldia stopped momentarily when it heard what Darkness said and backed off a little: I concentrated the mana in my hand as I scolded the true pervert who was showing her true nature at such a critical juncture.

"Look at the time and place you unrepentant pervert!"

Darkness trembled for a moment when she heard me lecturing her:

"Ugh...! Ka, Kazuma you should be the one watching the time and place! I am my limits as I am being ravaged by the Dullahan in public, and Kazuma is humiliating me too...! What are you trying to do to me, ganging up on me with the Dullahan!"

"Huh huh?"

"No want wants to do anything to you pervert! 'Create Water'!"

I cast water magic that had the effect of being a retort at Darkness.

As I shouted, water appeared on top of Darkness and Beldia.

A large amount of water poured down on them like an overturned bucket.

Darkness was soaked entirely while Beldia leaped backwards in a panic, avoiding the downpour of water.

...?

Why was Beldia so panicky...?

... The soaked Darkness' face turned red and spoke softly:

"... To use this skill so suddenly... You, you are good, Kazuma. I don't really dislike this. Although I'm fine with it, you should watch the time and place..."

"Wrong, this is not some weird sexual play! This is what I wanted to do! 'Freeze'!"

I followed up by chanting basic magic that freezes water.

This was a spell that didn't have any effect if used alone, but...

"!? Oh, freezing the ground around my feet to stop me from moving...! I see, you thought my strength lies in dodging? But...!"

Beldia seemed to have something to say as it looked at the frozen ground, but I used the skill I really wanted to use before he finished.

... That's right, it was the skill used against Mitsurugi, my strongest weapon right now!

"Stopping you from dodging would be enough! I will take the weapon from you,take this, 'Steal'--!"

The skill that gave you a chance to take an item from your opponent, 'Steal' was activated.

Skills and magic existed in this world.

Using them won't use your stamina, but a power everyone possess known as mana.

That's what Aqua said.

In the past, many people could use magic, they had just forgotten how to use it.

The more mana you concentrate, the stronger the power of the skill or magic would be, and it would increase the chance of success.

Creating Beldia's weak point and preventing him from evading, I used this at the best possible moment, my ultimate skill 'steal'...!

"... This skill is a good idea. You might be confident, but I am a boss of the demon king army after all, so this is the difference in levels. If our power are a bit closer, it might get dangerous for me."

... It was ineffective against a boss of the demon king's army.

Beldia reached out its hand and pointed at me.

... I could only surrender, as expected of a high level boss of the demon king army. I couldn't beat him with 'steal'...

... As Beldia was about to curse me.

"Don't harm my comrade!"

Darkness who was normally cool and collected displayed her emotions at this rare moment. She shouted as she dropped the heavy sword that couldn't hit the enemy, charging at Beldia with her shoulder.

But even with the ground frozen, Beldia evaded easily and gripped its sword calmly.

In order to charg at Beldia, Darkness abandoned her heavy sword.

That means she didn't have anything to defend against Beldia's sword.

Before I realized it, I was shouting at the people around me.

"Thieves, hear me out--! The chances are low, but we will win if we snatch its sword! Everyone who can use 'Steal' come and help!"

There might be someone who had higher level and luck than me.

Stealthily, the thieves came near with their hide skills showed themselves when they heard my call.

"Steal--!" x 3

But the consecutive use of 'Steal' didn't have any effect.

Beldia didn't thought of us as a threat, pointing its sword at the defenseless Darkness... And threw its head high into the sky.

"Ahhh!"

The adventurers screamed in terror when they saw this movement.

Because Beldia will use his 2-handed sword swing after throwing its head up.

"... Ugh...!"

Darkness moaned when she saw this action.

Oh no oh no oh no!

What should I do?

I don't have any special power or hidden talent.

I have nothing to be proud of, or any skills that is useful in this situation.

I only possess great luck which I was born with.

Other than that, I have knowledge of games accumulated since childhood.

I neglected all other things and immersed myself in games, and now I have to pay the price.

Coming to this alternate world happily and dying without accomplishing anything?

"Darkness! Kazuma, Darkness is in danger!"

Megumin shouted in despair.

Think! The foe is a Dullahan, what is its weakness in role playing games?

If I have a strong point, that would be finding the attack style my opponent despised the most when fighting PK with other players in online games.

Observe that guy in detail.

Why did it dodge the water I created with such exaggerated movement?

......

... Flowing water?

Even the major undead series monster, vampires were afraid of flowing water.

So, what about that Dullahan?

"I had fun, crusader! For me who was originally a knight to cross swords with you, I am grateful to the demon king and god of evil! Alright, watch this...!"

"'Create water'--!"

"!"

Beldia who was slashing at Darkness...

Didn't move forward, but stayed where it was.

In the end, it didn't press the attack and caught its head that dropped down.

"... Kazuma, erm... I am fighting seriously here..."

Darkness who was even more soaked looked at me with grudging eyes. Normally I should apologize, but I didn't have the time right now.

I shouted loudly.

"It's water--!"

Part 5

"'Create Water'! 'Create Water'! 'Create Water'!--!"

"Hmmp! Woah? That was close!"

With me in the lead, the wizards all over the place started chanting spells.

Facing the water splashing down from the top, Beldia managed to dodge all of it.

Damn, I knew this might be its weakness, but the problem is the attack couldn't hit!

The other wizards were getting frustrated.

If this goes on, before we could take revenge on Beldia, everyone's mana would be exhausted.

At this time.

"Nah, why are you guys messing around? Why are you playing with water with the demon king boss? I was working seriously, so how could you start having fun, Kazuma? Are you an idiot?"

What is with this girl, I wanted to give her a slap.

As I was chanting water spell with all my might, Aqua who went somewhere all this while was walking over slowly while sprouting idiotic words.

"It's water, water! This fellow's weakness is water! And you are a goddess of water right! Or are just a phony goddess? Can't you even summon water?"

"!?Don't be rude, careful of my divine retribution! What is this phony matter, I am a true goddess! Water, you want to talk about water with me? Your weak stream is nothing, I can even summon a flood! Apologize! For accusing me of being a phony goddess, apologize!"

As if you could!

Wrong, if you could then do it now!

"I'm fine with apologizing how much you want, summon it if you can you useless goddess!"

"Wah ahhh--! You dare say I'm a useless goddess! Watch this, I will show you how great I am if I am serious!"

After bickering for a moment.

Aqua took a step forward because of what I said.

A mist emitted from her side...

... Huh?

"You small fries, your water is ineffective against...?"

Beldia caught the sight of Aqua and stopped moving.

Should I say as expected of a boss of the demon king?

Aqua's imminent action made him sense danger.

Or rather, even the people around who could use magic was looking at Aqua with uneasy eyes.

Aqua wasn't bothered about the situation around her and mumbled:

"My familiar of this world..."

The mist around Aqua turned into droplets of water, floating around her.

I could feel powerful magic in each droplet.

"The goddess of water-- Aqua commands you..."

... I had a bad feeling about this.

The air around her trembled.

This tense feeling was similar to Megumin when she was chanting explosion magic.

This meant the spell she was about to cast had the same level of danger...!

Beldia who was fighting against us probably felt this intense air too.

It turned its back to Aqua unhesitantly and prepared to run...

... But Darkness appeared before it!

Aqua opened her arms.

"Sacred create water!"

She chanted the magic to create water.

Part 6

I remembered this was how Aqua put it.

She could summon a flood if she wanted to.

"Hey...! Wait...!"

"Hya--! Water, wa tahhh--!"

Including the target Beldia, Darkness and the adventurers near Beldia, Megumin and me in a distance, even Aqua who chanted the spell were hit...

"Pu ah...! Wait, I'm choking on water...!"

"Megumin, Megumin--! Hold on tight, don't get swept away!"

The sudden flood washes over everyone on scene.

The water volume was enormous, splashing waves at the main gate of town and flow into town.

After the water subsided, the ground was full of exhausted adventurers and...

"Hey... Hey...! What were you thinking... Are you an idiot? You must be a moron...!"

Beldia who was also exhausted stood up unsteadily.

I wanted to agree strongly with Beldia, but now was not the time to say that.

Now, use this great chance...

"Do it now, my stellar performance had weakened that guy, use this chance to defeat him, Kazuma! Hurry up. Hey, Hurry up you!"

This bitch--!

I made up my mind to steal everything from this girl in public until she cried. After deciding that, I reached my hand out to Beldia...!

"I will definitely snatch your weapon this time! Take this--!"

"Just try it! Even weakened drastically, it is impossible for a mere novice to take my weapon!"

Beldia shouted at me as it threw its head high up again and held its sword with both hands to use its full power.

As expected of a boss of the demon king. Even severely weakened, just opposing him like this made my legs shivered.

And I head towards the demon king boss...!

"Steal--!"

I used 'Steal' that was pumped with all my mana!

I felt something hard, cold and heavy in my hand as I used my skill.

This raised the thought 'did it work?', Which might become a flag for failure.

I definitely mustn't think in that way.

"Aah...."

The adventurers all around made sounds of disappointment.

I looked at Beldia, it was still holding its sword tightly.

And his swift attacks...

Did not came at me, he just stood there in that position.

...?

Nobody knew what happened and it became quiet. At this moment, I heard a voice that sounded a bit troubled and panicked.

"Ex, excuse me..."

It was Beldia.

Beldia said in a whimsical voice:

"Ex, excuse me... Can you... return my head back to me...?"

Beldia's head said as it lies on my hands.

......

"Hey everyone, let's play soccer! Soccer is--! A game that forbids the use of hand and using only your feet to control the ball--!"

I kicked Beldia's head to the adventurers!

"Huh? Ahhhhh--! Wait, hey, don't do that!"

The head rolled on the ground after I kicked it over, and became the best toy for the adventurers who were waiting frantically.

"Yahahaha! This game is fun!"

"Hey here! Pass it to me too--!"

"Stop! Please, it hurts, stop!"

Beldia's head was kicked around, but its body that was holding the sword was at a loss since it couldn't see ahead.

"Hey Darkness, want to hit him with your sword?"

I picked up the sword on the ground and handed it to the soaked Darkness who was walking towards me. Darkness who was breathing heavily and dripping blood and water everywhere lifted her sword, heading unsteadily towards Beldia and stopped in front of it.

I used this chance to wave at Aqua.

Aqua who was squeezing her Hagoromo dry noticed my gesture and jogged to us.

Darkness raised her sword up high...!

"This blow! Is for the people who took care of me but were killed by you! I don't want to hit too many times, so take all of their share with this one hit!"

And she swung down mightily.

"Wahhh!"

The muffled scream of Beldia came from the head that was kicked around in the distance.

Darkness might be clumsy, but she was very strong, shattering Beldia's dark armor in one blow, opening an obvious gap on the chest area.

I remembered this was what Beldia said.

This was an armor enchanted by the demon king.

"Great. Aqua, the rest is in your hands."

"Leave it to me!"

Aqua lifted one hand, aiming at the crack in the armor of Beldia who had been weakened by water.

"Sacred turn undead--!"

"Wait, hold on...! Hyaaaa--!"

After getting hit by Aqua's spell, Beldia's scream could be heard near the legs of the adventurers.

Seemed like the 'Turn Undead' this time was effective.

Beldia's body was covered in a white light, turned translucent and gradually disappeared.

The adventurers who were playing soccer were in an uproar, Beldia's head probably disappeared.

... And so, without even knowing what it was doing in this place, the demon king's boss was purified here.

Part 7

When she heard the cheers of victory from the adventurers, Darkness who was wounded all over knelt on one knee, praying with her eyes closed at the spot the Dullahan disappeared.

Seeing Darkness act this way, Megumin asked her hesitantly:

"... Darkness, what are you doing?"

Darkness closed her eyes, replying as if she was reciting a monologue in her heart:

"... I am praying. The Dullahan was a knight who was executed unjustly, and turned into a monster because of its grudge. It might be weird to say this after smashing it with my sword, but no harm praying for it..."

"I see..."

Megumin said softly and Darkness continued:

"... Cedre's arm strength was weaker than me, so he spread an idiotic rumour that my body was full of muscles... Heinz said this to me that time 'Hey, it’s hot today, fan me with that large sword of yours alright? It's fine if you hit me, that is if you can!' as he laugh like a moron while teasing me... And Garilhe, I joined his party once, and made him yell, asking why I kept charging into the middle of the monster pile... They were all killed by that Dullahan. Thinking back, they might not be great guys, but I don't really dislike them..."

After Darkness said that...

"Erm... I see. I will listen to the rest later, let's go back to the guild for now."

Megumin said in an attempt to end the topic.

I don't know if she heard what Megumin said, but Darkness closed her eyes and said gently:

"... If I could meet them again... Just once is enough, I would want to have a drink with them..."

"O... Okay..." x3

Behind Darkness who had her eyes shut, some troubled voice sounded out.

Darkness shivered for a moment. Behind her were 3 men who looked embarrassed.

I remembered they were murdered by Beldia just now.

Finally, one of them spoke apologetically...

"How should I put this... it's my bad. I didn't know you thought of us that way..."

"That's... that's right, I am sorry for spreading that weird rumour because I lost to you in arm wrestling... I, I will treat you to a meal next time..."

"Actually, you were really conscious about not being able to hit your enemy? I, I'm sorry about that..."

As Darkness listened to the 3 of them talk, Darkness who remained in her praying posture with her eyes closed started to blush.

And Aqua who can't read the mood said excitedly:

"Darkness, just leave such things to me! At my level, the fresh corpse that hasn’t passed on too long, I can resurrect them easily! This is wonderful, now you all can drink together again!"

Aqua didn't mean any harm.

But when Darkness heard what Aqua said, she remembered her monologue with the subject in question standing behind her. She covered her red face that was on the verge of tears and sat on the ground in a heap.

"Isn't this great, meeting everyone once again. Let's go and drink with everyone."

I said to Darkness heartily, but she continued to cover her face and said softly:

"... I want to die..."

I said to Darkness who was like this:

"Don't you prefer others to humiliate you with words? Don't hold back, I will keep bringing this up for the next 3 days."

"This, this humiliation is different from the one I want...!"

Darkness said with her shoulders trembling.

Epilogue

The day after Beldia was defeated.

I was thinking about what to do in the future as I walked to the guild alone.

It was my obligation to take down the demon king.

But that meant I had to take on strong enemies like Beldia when the time comes.

Should I finish the quest of defeating the demon king so the heavens will grant me one wish?

Or to give up the challenge and find a place to live peacefully in this world.

... Of course, I had decided on the answer.

I had the weakest job class, so I won't be so lucky and win all my battles in the future.

I planned to live my life leisurely and avoid dangerous matters.

I would use my knowledge of Japan to start a business.

When I had time to spare while having a safe career and felt like seeking thrills, I could take on simple quests. I opened the adventurers guild doors as I was planning out my life.

A strong stench welcomed me when I opened the doors.

The passion of the crowd and the strong scent of alcohol flowed out from the opened doors.

The adventurers held a party in broad daylight to commemorate us defeating the demon king boss.

"Ah! You are too slow Kazuma! Everyone is starting to get smashed!"

Aqua who was in a great mood told me as I entered the guild:

"Nah, hurry and collect the bounty Kazuma! Almost all the adventurers had claimed their rewards for defeating the demon king boss! I did too! But as you can see, I drank a lot of it away!"

Aqua was really happy, opening her money pouch for me to see. She then scratched her head and laughed cheerfully.

This, this girl is drunk.

I don't know how the drinking age of this world was set.

On a closer look, many of the adventurers inside the guild were so drunk they couldn't even walk steadily.

Ignoring those drunkards, I headed for the counter.

Darkness and Megumi were already there.

"You are here, Kazuma. Quick, collect your reward."

"I waited really long for you Kazuma. Listen to me, Darkness is really petty, saying it was too early for me to drink..."

"Wait, it has nothing to do with being petty, that's not what I meant...!"

The two of them started bickering, so I approached the counter lady.

... For some reason, the familiar counter lady had an awkward expression.

"Eh, well... Satou Kazuma-san correct? We had been expecting you."

...?

The attitude of the counter lady made me feel something was up.

"Well... first would be the rewards for these two ladies."

The counter lady then gave two small bags to Darkness and Megumin.

Strange, what about me?

As I was getting suspicious, the counter lady spoke:

"... Actually... Its like this. Actually, the guild had decided to present a special reward for Kazuma's party."

...?

"Huh, why just us?"

When I asked, someone answered me.

"hey, MVP! If not for you guys, there's no way we could had beaten that Dullahan!"

In response to that, the drunkards agreed rowdily.

Everyone...

I had been experiencing hardship since coming to this world, so I was a bit touched by everyone's kindness.

So I represented all 4 people on my team to receive the special reward.

The counter lady cleared her throat and...

"Ahem-- To honor Satou Kazuma and his party's victory over the demon king's army boss Beldia... The guild awards them 300 million Eris."

"Three..." x4

We were speechless.

The adventurers turned silent when they heard the amount.

After that...

"Hey, 300 million, it's your treat Kazuma--!"

"Woah--! Kazuma-sama, treat us treat us--!"

Adventurers started asking me to buy the bill.

Ah right!

"Hey Darkness, Megumin! I have something to tell both of you! I plan to cut down on adventuring in the future! With such a large amount of money, we could live a peaceful life of luxury!"

"Hey, wait a minute! It's troubling if I can't fight strong enemies! And what about defeating the demon king?"

"This is troubling to me too, I want to defeat the demon king with Kazuma and gain the title of the strongest wizard!"

Their protests were drowned out by the noise that was getting rowdier.

Under these circumstances, the counter lady showed an apologetic face and handed me a paper.

It was full of zeros.

Is this the cheque of this world?

Aqua who was drunk came over to me and peeked at the paper in my hand.

"Eh, things are like this. Because of Kazuma's party... which is Aqua-san's flood, the buildings around the town were washed away and damaged like a catastrophic disaster... But taking into consideration the merit of defeating a boss of the demon king, the town won't ask for full compensation, just a part of it... That's how it is..."

After making this announcement, the counter lady slowly averted her gaze and left the counter in a hurry.

After seeing the paper in my hand, Megumin fled.

I immediately grabbed the collar of Aqua who was about to follow.

After seeing our reaction, the adventurers realized the bill wasn't a small amount and looked the other way.

Darkness looked at the compensation bill and put her hand on my shoulder...

"Reward is 300 million... the compensation is 340 million... Kazuma, let's take on quests with strong enemies to earn lots of money starting from tomorrow."

Darkness said that with a bright smile that stemmed from the bottom of her heart.

... I have to spend my life with these incompetent comrades in this ridiculous world?

... I slowly closed my eyes and steeled my resolve to defeat the demon king.

In order to escape from this imposturous world!

Credits

Author | (暁なつめ) Akatsuki Natsume
Illustrator | (三嶋くろね) Mishima Kurone
Publisher | (角川書店) Kadokawa Shoten
Translator | Skythewood
Book designer | Armaell