"Hey Kazuma, how come you were able to come up with such a believable excuse so quickly?"
We were walking to the Adventurers' Guild when Aqua asked me this question.
"Well," I began, aiming for a bashful look, "it wasn't too hard 'cos I didn't really have to lie, just phrase the truth in a way that made sense to the old lady,"
Pshh, totally not lying. Giving false information by omitting the truth is still lying. It's like saying 'this virus just killed 200 people!' without bothering to say that over 99% of those infected survived. That is totally lying, and I would know. Even the legal system agrees, just look up 'lying by omission' and you'll see yourself.
Why am I telling imaginary people to look something up?
Probably the whole isekai like setting I guess. It's pretty overused in light novels at this point. My whole scenario is reminiscent of one really. I'm not going insane just yet, alright?
"Oh," she says, "And how come you know that we should be signing up at the Adventurers' Guild? You were a shut-in NEET, so how do you know what to do in another world?"
Again with the 'shut-in NEET' shit? Really?
I level a light glare at her as I answer. "One: I did get out you know, I just prefer my own company, Two: I was in training, it just wasn't training for a job, and Three: I play heaps of games, and lots of RPGs start out just like this. Plus it makes sense, y'know? We wanna become adventurers, so we gotta sign up for it,"
I raised a hand to Aqua, stopping the question I could see was about to come, as with my little tirade complete, we had arrived at the Adventurers' Guild. It was a large place, built of stone, with a brick tile roof. Twin (magical looking) lamps sat upon small walls that lined the steps leading to the large, reinforce wood double doors, and above them sat a large blue and yellow crest, with red lining its typical heater shield shape.
As I stepped up to open the doors, the smell of freshly cooked food became apparent. I opened the door and stepped inside, holding the door open for Aqua to follow me through.
"Ah, welcome! Please approach the counter if you looking for jobs. If you're here to dine, please take any empty seat!" A voice called, originating from a waitress with short red (literally red, not orange) hair.
The slightly dim single roomed building seemed to double as a bar.
Armoured men sat in groups around the interior, but they weren't showing any sign of ill will.
But new faces seemed like a rarity, as it wasn't long until we became the centre of attention.
"Hey, hey, they're looking at us way too obviously. It must be the Holy Aura coming from me; they must have discovered that I'm a goddess,"
Holy Aura? Is that what it's called? It fits, I suppose. And speaking of, it's diminished since we got here, pretty significantly too. While before it was impossible not to notice, now it quite easily faded into the background, unnoticed.
"It's more likely that they're just looking at us 'cos we're new. Also," I said, leaning in, "keep your divinity on the down-low yeah? I'll explain why in a little bit okay?"
She looked confused, but nodded regardless.
"Alright," I began again, "We're gonna go up and get registered as adventurers, and when we do that, they'll give us a basic tutorial so we can earn a living. That's what Adventurers' Guilds are for, at least partly. We can get a loan if need be, buy some equipment, take some simple quests and start earning some money. That's how most games that are like this start out. For today, we'll just register and find a place to sleep,"
"I think I get it," she starts, "My job was sending the dead to this world, so I'm 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?"
"Right, let's go then,"
We walked to the counter. There were four counter staff, two male and two female. Three of said staff were busy, so I stepped up to the fourth.
"Good morning, how may I help you?"
The woman at the counter was beautiful. Curtains of blond hair fell in waves around her face, the colour accentuated by her amber eyes. Said eyes were set into a soft and pretty face, giving a youthful look in opposition to her more mature figure. She wore a shirt collar, oddly separate from her top, with a simple red bowtie wrapped around it. Her shirt was shoulderless and long sleeved, with simple navy cuffs at both her wrists and her shoulders. From what I could see, she had a nicely proportioned figure, shoulders broad enough to support two (very) large breasts, ones that were shown off by her open shirt, before thinning nicely at the waist, then widening at her hips.
"My companion and I would like to become adventurers," I started, "but to be honest; we don't really know much about the whole thing,"
Hopefully with that line she'd give a more thorough explanation
"I see. There is a registration fee, will that be alright?"
Standard stuff then. Thanks for the money then Angel lady, 'cos I have a feeling that Aqua would have just forgotten.
"Sure, how much is it?" I answer her question with one of my own.
"The fee is 1,000 Eris per person," She says.
I nod and reach for the coin purse (because that's surely what it is) at my hip. I take two silver 1,000 Eris coins and hand them to the reception lady.
"Here you are Ms..?"
She smiles, "Luna," she says simply.
"Kazuma," I reply in kind, with a smile of my own, "and this is Aqua," Aqua waves from behind me.
"Alright then, Aqua-san and Kazuma-san, since you want to become adventurers, you should have some basic understanding, but I'll explain from the start…"
Perfect.
"First, adventurers are responsible for the extermination of the monsters wandering outside the town… They're people who'll 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."
Here we are. Jobs (or Classes), this is what I wanna know about.
Luna handed a card to both Aqua and myself, roughly the size of a driver's license that seemed to be some form of ID.
"Please look over here; do you see the word level? As both of you know, all living 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…" she 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, adventurers and enemies alike, will grow stronger rapidly at some point. This is known as levelling up… Simply put, levelling up will grant you all sorts of perks, such as skill points to learn new skills. So please work hard to increase your level."
Right, Aqua did ask me if I liked games, didn't she? Guess this is what she meant.
"First of all, please fill in your height, weight, age and other details in the blanks."
I wrote in my information on the card I had just received.
165cm tall (~5'5"), weight is 55kg. 16 years old, brown hair and eyes…
"Good, now please simply touch the card, and it will display the strength of each of your abilities. You can use these, as we call them, 'Stats' as a reference for which Jobs you can take. Once you have gotten some skill points, you can spend them on skills that are available for your chosen Job. This is one of the key points in choosing Jobs,"
Alrighty, let's see how I do.
I touch the card.
"… Alright, thank you…" she looks at my card, "Satou Kazuma-san. Strength, vitality, magic, agility and speed… All of them are quite nicely above average," Nice. "Intelligence is impressively high and … huh? Luck is extraordinarily high!" Oh fuck yeah, "but it's not a very important stat for adventurers,"
Huh? What kinda bullshit is that? Luck is the best! The ability to shift the odds constantly into your favour, to have the world work to help you, to make the entire universe your bitch! Luck is so damn good! How could she think otherwise?
"From your stats, you've got a nice amount of jobs to choose from. The Null Job; Adventurer, but I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, unless it was there only option. Then there are the four basic Jobs; Archer, Swordsman, Thief, and Mage,"
Simple enough so far. Range, Melee, Stealth and Magic.
"… Umm, there is also technically one intermediate Job to choose from," she paused, "the Ranger,"
I guess that's the next step from Archer, so why did she say 'technically'?
"What does it entail?" I ask.
"Umm, well…" She was still hesitant. "The Ranger Job is actually the second tier of the Adventurer Job. You can learn a skill from any other class, so long as someone with the skill teaches you it, like the Adventurer Job, but unlike it, the skill comes with no extra point cost. But um, even though you can learn any skill, if you want to improve the skill, you'll have to spend significantly more points than the person with the right Job would. Oh, and you also don't get any of the natural bonuses that come with the Job,"
Ah, I see, "A jack of all trades, but master of none then," I say.
"Yes, that's quite a good way of describing it,"
"Will I be able to change my Job later on?" I ask.
"Yes, you can change it once per level," She answers
I'm definitely favouring Ranger. I want to learn magic, but Aqua doesn't have the offense capabilities to support a Mage, especially if we get caught in close-quarters. If we get some other party members to balance us out, I might change. But for now, "Please set my Job as 'Ranger'," I request of Luna.
She looks somewhat uneasy as she says, "Alright Kazuma-san, you're now a Ranger," and hands me back my card.
Guess she thinks the other Jobs would have been better, but really, I think the versatility will be very valuable. I can just pick up skills that favour my high Intelligence and Luck.
"Eh? Huh!?" Luna exclaims, "What is with these numbers? Besides the lower than average intelligence, and luck at pit bottom, the rest of your stats drastically exceed the average! Especially your magic, it is abnormally high, who in the world are you…?"
Oh? Seems Aqua's divinity came in handy.
"Ah, is that right? So it means I am amazing?" Aqua preened at the attention she had gathered, "I guess it is normal by my standard."
"This, this was way past amazing! Mage type jobs which requires high intelligence is not available…"
Yep, she's an idiot.
"But you can choose any other jobs! The holy knight with its strongest defence 'Crusader', the swordsman with the strongest attack 'Swordmaster', the top tier cleric 'Archpriest'… You can choose most of the top tier jobs right now…!"
"Well, it's a pity that 'goddess' isn't available as a job… It should be grand cleric for me."
And she still can't do subtle.
"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!" Luna said with a smile.
Ha, she seems to have the wrong person in mind.
And so, my life as an adventurer began in this world.
"Huh? You already have a skill you can learn? How? Nobody has taught you anything since you got here!" Aqua exclaimed.
We were in our room at the town inn. After registering, we went looking for a place to sleep, and found here. Aqua also explained to me that, like I had hoped, Eris were roughly equivalent to Yen. We managed to get a good deal at the inn too, only 2,000 Eris (~20 USD) a night for the both of us.
"I told you I was in training before I died, remember? So now I have the 'Martial Artist' skill I can learn," I answered.
That's right, I knew martial arts. Specifically, Judo and Taekwondo. When I was young, I figured out that I wanted to learn how to fight, either to protect myself, or to beat someone to death if the desire arose. My parents were all too happy to fund it, as it meant me getting out from just playing games all day. I chose Judo and Taekwondo because I believe that those two fit my stature the best. I'm pretty thin, so I'm also quite light, so instead of brute-forcing, I'll abuse their force and momentum. Plus it's funny as fuck when you put a guy 3 times your weight on his ass with little to no effort. I took up Taekwondo because Judo is mostly defensive, and legs are stronger than arms, so kicks hurt more. Pretty easy decision there, really.
"You know martial arts?" Aqua asked, surprised.
Didn't she already see my life when I had died?
"Yeah, learnt Judo and Taekwondo for 8 years. I like to think I'm pretty good," Oh I was. And you'd be surprised how easy it was to break people's bones. And how good the feeling of someone's ribcage giving way to your foot was.
And here I am commentating for an imaginary audience again. Maybe I am going insane?
Eh, whatever.
"So how do I learn the skill?" I ask Aqua. I had three points from the start, and the skill said it cost one.
"Hmm? Just press on the skill, and if you have the points for it, you'll learn it," Aqua explained.
That seemed like an easy way to accidentally spend points. Whatever. Skill: Learnt.
I… didn't really feel all that different. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
"Aqua! Some help please?!" I yelled at the stupid girl, who simply stood there, dumbfounded, as I was chased around by a giant toad.
"R-right!" She called, and began casting.
How useless is this Goddess?
She finished her chant, and I suddenly felt dramatically stronger.
Something I had noticed about these toads is that once they began preparing for a leap, they committed to it. Even if I suddenly turned, they would still hop to the same place. Then after they landed, they would take a second to collect themselves.
I turned to face it and continued running, but backwards. I started preparing its jump and I immediately stopped, and started sprinting towards and to the left of it.
The creature leapt. As the giant sailed through the air, with surprising grace I might add, I brought up the low quality sword I had purchased earlier that morning, aimed, and swung.
The swing landed, cutting through the soft flesh of the toad's front leg. I put all of my (now heightened) strength into the swing, and along with the toad's own momentum, the cheap sword carved through the bone without difficulty, exiting the other side, and completely severing the limb.
The monster landed, immediately falling onto its front, with the now missing support of its front right leg. It croaked in pain, and panicked, extending its back legs to leap, but only ended up pushing itself forward.
I hadn't expected the sudden push, and it knocked me backwards and off my feet. I rolled with my momentum and sprung back to feet. I rushed at its exposed back legs, swinging my sword once more at the thing's knee. The blade cut deep, severing blood vessels, muscle and tendons, but I couldn't make it through the bone. The blade stopped suddenly, jarringly, but I didn't let it stop me. I tugged the sword free.
I leapt onto the now disabled toad's back while it croaked in pain, reversed my grip and plunged the sword hilt-deep into its back. It squealed again, spasming, but it still lived. I pulled the sword free and pushed it back in.
I did this twice more before it finally stopped moving, and died.
My strength fell away and I was left feeling fatigued.
I could feel the grin splitting my face. Blood covered my sword, hands and had splattered against my shirt and face.
Damn, that was fun.
The pleasure of killing, of complete and utter control and destruction, isn't one I get to enjoy often. But damn, is it good. Working for it definitely made it better too. The whole fight was great. Carving it to pieces until it could do nothing to resist, then continuing further, ripping away its life, it's blood coating me as it squealed in pain. It was incredible.
I have to see what it's like with a person.
I need to feel a person's life slip away, my weapon planted inside them. Watch them as they die. Watch their eyes dim, their breathing slow, and heart stop.
That would be awesome.
…
But another time. I've got more toads to hunt.
I turned to Aqua so we could find another toad to kill.
Well, looks like I've found both.
A new toad sat there, this one strangely pink in colouration, head back, boot covered leg sticking free from its mouth.
Did she seriously manage to get herself eaten already?
How useless is this Goddess?
I pulled my sword free from the dead toad, jumped down, and began sprinting at the new, pink toad, plan forming.
It was ignoring me, instead focussing on its meal. Good.
I ran straight up to it, jumped, and then pushed up from its foreleg. I drew back my arm, and trust my sword straight through its eye.
The toad immediately stilled, and as I fell, it fell with me, collapsing with a thud. I had killed it in one shot.
Nice. Though I shouldn't have been able to pull that shit off. Martial Arts skill maybe? Luck? Both? Whatever.
I retrieved my sword and freed Aqua from its mouth.
"Ugh…" She sobbed, "…Thank- thank you… Kazuma, thank you…! Wahhhhhhhhh….!"
She'd been crying for a few minutes now, covered in slime from the toad's interior. Not something I was interested in experiencing.
"Are, uh, you okay Aqua?" I started, trying to be consoling. I wasn't doing very well; I've never had to comfort someone who had been swallowed before.
"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,"
It was true; I'd only managed to take them out because of Aqua. Her buff for the first one, and because the second was distracted eating her.
I could probably handle one of them solo, but if anymore showed up, I'd be fucked.
"Let's try again when we have better equipment. Look, I only have a short sword and no armour; I'm still wearing my gym clothes. Let's come back when we are dressed more like adventurers,"
Aqua stood up with the glossy fluid all over her body.
Okay, damn. That was a good look.
"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!"
But before I could stopped her, Aqua charged towards another toad in the distance.
"Oi! 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!"
They told us at the Guild that blunt force attacks were basically useless. Has the dumb bitch already forgotten?
Her fist sunk into the soft abdomen, while the toad sat there, unaffected.
Aqua looked at the toad meekly in the eye and said softly, "… Look- looking closely, toads are actually quite cute, right?"
I sighed and stood as Aqua was swallowed for the second time in 5 minutes.
"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.
The toad meat was surprisingly good, similar to chicken but tougher.
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. The well-cooked monsters were also a selling point.
The toads were too large for us to carry, but fortunately, the Guild offered a transportation service for slain monsters.
After deducting the fee of the transport, each toad yields about 5,000 Eris, so we ended up earning 15,000 Eris, which isn't too bad for just one day. That's not even taking into account the reward for completing the quest. After killing 5 of them, it yields us an additional 100,000 Eris. If we can get a good strategy down, we can probably complete this quest daily, and we'd end up with a daily income of 62,500 Eris. That's damn good if you ask me.
At the moment though? That's too risky.
If just 1 extra toad shows up when we're in a poor spot, we'll be killed.
So we need to get stronger, or as Aqua suggested, get more members for our party.
"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?" I asked.
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,"
She could? Good to know.
"-definitely a talent any team would want. I might have fallen into the mortal world and my power is far from my peak, but I am still a goddess…"
Which would explain why her holy aura has diminished.
"Oi, what did I tell you about you divinity?"
She chuckled, embarrassed before she continued, "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 on, somewhat concerned.
"And why don't you want me telling people that I'm a goddess?"
Oh right, I forgot to explain.
"Well, if people realise that you're a goddess, then word will spread. It'll eventually make it to the Demon King. He'll find us and kill us before we ever have a chance to oppose him.
"Oh," she said, face paling, before continuing her meal, this time slower, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"… No one is coming…"
Aqua mumbled to herself dejectedly.
After displaying a recruitment notice, we sat at a table inside the Adventurers' Guild and waited for people 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.
"… I told you the requirement was too high. Our goal is to defeat the Demon King, so such conditions were necessary… but 'only recruiting top tier Jobs' is a bit too extreme."
"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 isn't as highly regarded. We should think about lowering the entry requirements…"
As I was preparing to stand up,
"I saw the notice to recruit adventurers with top tier Jobs, is that you guys?"
Bright crimson eyes looked at us with a sleepy expression
A girl, 12 or 13 years old, bit too young for my tastes. Unfortunate too, she was cute.
Smooth black hair reached past her slim shoulders, highlighting her white, porcelain skin. She wore a large witch's hat, a dark purple-brown in colour, the brim lined with a yellow trim. The hat had a band of red-outlined yellow triangles, alternating in orientation (as in, up, down, up, down, ect.), and was tipped with a yellow feathery flair. A cape the same colour as her hat, trimmed with the same yellow, sat on her shoulders, half covering the brighter-red dress that, like the cape and hat, was trimmed in yellow. It ran down past her hips with sleeves extending to her wrists, covering her petite frame. For accessories, she wore a black leather collar with a silver buckle around her neck, a belt just the same, but larger, around her waist and black fingerless gloves. Orange boots came halfway up her calves, with a black sock on her right leg lifting up to the top of thigh, while her left leg was wrapped in pure white bandages up to the middle of her thigh.
She flung her cape hard and said, "I am Megumin! An arch wizard with the strongest attack spell, Explosion…!"
And she was also wearing a fucking eyepatch.
"… Are you fucking with us?" I said, voice darkening
This little chuuni loli bitch was gonna regret talking to us if she didn't give a good explanation real damn soon.
"I-I'm n-not!" the girl cried, taking a step back.
What kind of shitty fake name was 'Megumin'?
"That red eye… Are you Crimson Demon race?"
The girl nodded frantically 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 clan, Megumin! My magic is powerful enough to split the mountains…! So, uh, do you need an excellent mage?"
Her stomach growled, and none too quietly, "… By the way, I have a favour to ask. I haven't eaten in 3 days; could you give me something to eat before the interview…?"
"Kazuma," Aqua said to me quietly, "She looks like a member of the Crimson Demon clan. They're known to have very high magical capabilities, and they're normally identified by their red eyes… and strange names,"
I sighed. Seems I was mistaken, and if she can, in fact, use the strongest attack spell, having her in the party would be infinitely valuable.
"Look… Megumin, I'm sorry for my reaction. We've been out here all day and haven't had any success, so when a young girl who claimed to have the most powerful magic, I thought you were mocking us. Even then, I over-reacted. Sit down, you can order what you like, we'll cover the cost.
Her eye widened, "Th-thank you very much!" she stuttered out as she sat opposite us.
"If you don't mind me asking," I began, "what's with the eyepatch? If you're injured, she" I pointed at Aqua, "can heal you, 'cos she's an Archpriest,"
"Hmmph…"
I could already feel the smugness rolling off her.
"This is a tool to restrain my overwhelming power… If you pull it off… A gigantic disaster will befall the world…" she claimed.
"Oh… So it is something like a seal," Aqua responded.
"I'm sorry! That was a lie! Please don't pull my eyepatch!"
Her tune changed real quick when I called her bluff.
"Kazuma, remember, strange names," Aqua reminded me.
With a deadpan expression, I released the eyepatch, and it flicked back onto her face.
At this, Megumin pouted, "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."
Aqua and I remained silent, with Aqua now sporting a deadpan look similar to my own.
"… Anyway, you said the Crimson Demons produce powerful mages right? Could we recruit her as a companion?" I posed this question to Aqua.
I had no problem with her, if she could deliver, but Aqua knew more about this world and it's people than I do, so until I can fact-check this, I'd have to follow her advice.
"Hey, if you have any problem with the names of my parents, say it to my face,"
We continued to ignore her.
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! The Explosion spell is the top grade spell in the detonation series magic and is very 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'm 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.
"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," Megumin said, as she brought her staff to bear.
A simple staff, just a stick, but at its end floated a spherical red crystal.
Fair enough, that was something we could do.
I noticed a toad some distance away on the plain.
The toad noticed us, and began charging our way.
There was another toad, further away, approaching us from the opposite direction.
"Alright Megumin, you target that toad over there," I said, gesturing to the far toad, "We'll handle the other one. C'mon Aqua, let's show the toads what we're made of, and get some revenge while we're at it,"
"Hmph," She began, tone smug, "These toads will regret angering me! They've earnt a Goddess' wrath!"
"Goddess?" Megumin questioned.
Dammit Aqua.
"No," I answered, "Just a delusional woman. She says stuff like that sometimes. Best to just ignore it,"
With my claim, Megumin looked to Aqua, eyes sympathetic.
Aqua, who was now on the verge of tears, whoops, gathered herself, and charged a toad.
"Watch this Kazuma!" She yelled, "I'll show you the true power of a goddess!"
Aqua, who lacked the capacity to learn, successfully infiltrated the stomach of the toad.
As expected of a goddess, sacrificing herself to buy time for us.
By now, Megumin's chanting seemed to have reached its apex. I could feel the air tremble around me.
"Watch closely Kazuma," She called, "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'!"
And explode it did.
A bright flash and deafening boom appeared where the toad once stood. The sky above the target area filled with fire and smoke, hot enough to feel from where I stood; a good 60 metres away. The detonation left a crater 20 metres in diameter.
Okay, I needed her in my party.
A new toad suddenly began pulling itself out from under the earth, likely woken by the powerful spell.
Huh, I was wondering how they survived out here. The sun was hot enough that they would dehydrate quickly, and there weren't any nearby water sources either.
The toad was nearer to Megumin than it was to me, but fortunately, its movements were sluggish, hopefully having been stunned by the shockwave.
We had a chance here to get some distance, and then Megumin could use her 'Explosion' again.
"Megumin! Let's retreat, then you can blow up this toad!" I called to her, looking over.
Why was she lying on her face?
"'Explosion' is my most powerful spell, but it uses up more mana than I have, so I'm left unable to move after I use it," She explained sheepishly, "Oh. It seems another toad has appeared. Please save me!"
Palm; meet face.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," I exclaimed as Megumin was introduced to the toad's interior.
"Ughhh… It smells like fish…" Aqua shined, following behind me sluggishly, again covered in goo from the toad.
"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, also covered in goo, said from my back.
It was information I also did not want to know, so thanks for that. At least the quest was completed.
And yeah, I also had to carry her. Because she exceeded her mana capacity, the spell began drawing from her life-force. Thankfully not to a fatal degree, but she was now incapable of even standing without aid.
"From now on," I began, "explosion magic is banned unless there is an emergency. Please work hard by using other spells, Megumin."
"… I can't."
"Huh? What do you mean, you can't?"
"I can only use explosion spell. I don't know any other magic."
"Are you serious?"
"… Yes."
Oh my fucking god.
"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?" Aqua asked.
That's a good point.
"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."
Oh? So why are you stuck with only 'Explosion' little Megumin?
"… I am an arch wizard that loves explosion spell. What I like is not detonation series magic, but explosion spell."
She's wilfully ignoring other spells. This fucking girl.
"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"
Why do people like you exist?
"I see. Well the town is up ahead, so let's split the reward, then be on our way. We'll meet again should our paths cross. Good luck with your endeavours," I say.
She fucking needs it.
"Hmph…" Megumin started, "My only wish is to use explosion magic. The bounty is just a complementary bonus. How about this-"
"No."
Megumin spluttered, "Please! 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?"
"You can't even use your spell indoors, or in dungeons."
"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!" She pleaded.
A little girl, covered in slime, sat on my back crying 'Please don't throw me away'. Attention was gathering on us.
"– No way… That man wants to abandon that child…"
"– He has a girl covered in slime with him. What kind of weird sexual games were they playing?"
Megumin seemed to have heard the whispers.
I looked at Megumin who was peeking over my shoulder, a malicious smile on her face.
Nice try loli, but you won't beat me in a game of words.
"Try that, and I'll leave you with the toads."
Her jaw shut with an audible click.
"Look, Megumin, we'll discuss whether you stay in the party tomorrow, for now, we'll split the rewards and get cleaned up, alright?"
"Alright," she mumbled back dejectedly.
"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 were quite disgusting, so I shooed them off to the bath house.
One of the toads 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 my 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 'technology' of this world was created through magic rather than science, so I had no idea how advanced this stuff was.
I looked at my card again and saw that I am at level 5.
I heard that those toads were great for novice adventurers to grind levels.
I defeated 5 toads by myself, enough to raise my level to 5. 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, it confirms that I can get stronger just by killing monsters.
Luna did mention that when she explained in the beginning.
'All living 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,' she had said.
This totally feels like an RPG.
Looking closely, my skill points had increased. I had 2 before, but now it showed the number 10.
Just by spending these points, I could learn more skills. I'll have to spend some time figuring out which will be the most valuable.
"Well then, turning in 2 giant toads and the bounty for completing the mission is a total of 110,000 Eris. Please take this."
Nice, there's the extra 100,000. We could probably get some better equipment now.
But for the risk? Not sure if it's worth it.
If another toad showed up and ate me, the three of us would have been wiped out.
If Megumin doesn't learn another skill, she can't stay with us.
I took a look at the other missions; the ones currently 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…
Nothing we were suited for.
"…Excuse me," a voice interrupted my thinking.
"Yes?" I said turning to face the voice.
It was a beautiful female knight.
Long, golden hair fell behind her, framing her beautiful face, blue eyes looking down at me without expression.
She wore steel armour plates on her shoulders and hips, as well and steel boots and a white metal chest plate covering large breasts.
I couldn't make out if she had any other armour, as her body was covered with black clothing, sitting below white highlighted yellow cloth.
She was a little taller than I was, maybe 170cm, and maybe a year or two older.
"How can I help you?" I asked.
"Erm… The team that put up this recruitment notice was you right? Are you still looking for people?" She asked, somewhat shyly.
This was good. We really needed someone who could actually fight.
"Yes, that was us," I answered
"Please pick me! Please let me join your party!" She exclaimed suddenly as she grabbed my hand.
"Uhh, I'll have to wait until my companion gets back. She's just bathing, because she got covered in slime from a toad," I explain to the knight.
"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…!"
Whut?
"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," she tried to clarify.
I don't like her. She's a weird one. Let's see how she handles the prospect of rejection.
"Well, I'm not really sure… We just got a new party member, so I'm not sure we need another. And besides, we're not good. One of us is useless, and the other can only cast once a day,"
"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…"
There it is. Another problem person.
"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."
And she's one of those.
God, isn't my luck meant to be good?