I woke up in a strange place. Surrounding me was nothing but blackness and a fog-like mist. I was sitting in a small wooden chair and across from me was a white chair that had a much higher back to it. The floor beneath my feet was a checkered tile floor, that faded out quickly into the black nothingness. Or at least what I assumed was nothing.

"Colby Scott"

The sudden voice got my attention as a rather young looking girl walked by me. She had light blue hair and wore a blue shirt and boots, there was also some kind of weird gravity defying pink transparent veil around her. As a side note, she was also quite the looker. Also of note, she looked like she was straight out of an anime!

"Welcome to the afterlife," she continued "unfortunately you passed away moments ago. Your life was a short one, but you are, in fact, dead."

My first thoughts went to my friends. We were all riding in the same car. "If I'm dead, what about my friends?"

"unfortunately, all your friends were killed in the crash as well," she said somewhat reluctantly "Isabel and Hayley have already been through me. They are now in heaven." So that still left Danny. Guess he was after me for some reason.

"I understand," I stated "so who are you supposed to be?" She stood up from her chair and the pink veil thing disappeared.

"I am Aqua," she stated, almost as if I was supposed to be impressed "I am the goddess who guides humans who die young to the afterlife." all of this sounded like it had been rehearsed.

"I get the Gist, you don't have to give me the whole song and dance," at this she looked rather annoyed at me interrupting her "can you just get on with it and send me to heaven already?"

"heaven, huh?" she said "ya know, heaven really isn't all it's cracked up to be." she said.

"how so?"

"there's nothing to do there except bask in the sun all day for eternity. There's no TV or books, you don't have a physical body, so any 'physical' activity is off the table." to be honest...that did sound boring.

"Well it's not like I have any other options is it?" I inquire.

"There is of course Reincarnation. Starting over from square one." That didn't sound spectacular either. "Or..."

"Or what?"

She walked up closer to me with a slight grin on her face "You like games right?"

"Well, yea?" I respond, not quite getting where she was going with this. She instantly jumped back and struck a pose that looked like she was about to give some grand speech.

"That world, which has long enjoyed peace, is being threatened by the Devil King's army!" she started. This seemed like some announcement I would see at E3 "The livelihood its citizens have worked for are being trampled by monsters. Everyone lives in fear of the Devil King's army's merciless pillage and slaughter!" I began to clap when she finished, a little a out of sarcasm, but mostly because of the way she said it. "Thank you! Thank you!" she said, bowing like she just won an award. "Since that's the kind of world it is, everyone refuses to be reborn, so the population is declining."

"Seriously!?" I blurt out.

"Yes, so we thought why not send people from other worlds there with their body and memories intact?"

"Heck yea, I'm in!"

"That's the spirit!" she exclaimed. Suddenly the floor was covered with pieces of paper, all of which had various weapons, abilities, items and the like "I'm allowing you to take one thing of your choosing, be it a legendary weapon, ability or the like. Of course, you can take practically anything of your choosing to this world. To help you decide, before you are various cards that have tremendous abilities, weapons or what-have-you."

As someone who was very familiar with spending more than a days worth of time creating an avatar for various RPGs, I decided to take my time in looking. As I observed the various cards, I realized how absolutely over-powered many of them were. There was one that gave you an infinite pool of magic, one that could reveal hidden enemies no matter where they might be. Personally, while I did dabble some, I never really got into much magic use in games, unless the game was about magic. I was much more of a swordplay kind of guy, so I knew what I wanted.

The swords they had were all very cool. There was one called the "Dragon Slayer" (how original) that could smash through armor of any kind. Useful, but not quite my style just due to how big it was. There was one called "Mongrel" which could eviscerate foes in one swing, but only if they were a low level. Great early on, especially for grinding (assuming that was a thing here), but would quickly become obsolete.

"Would you hurry up? There's plenty more people that I have to get to, including your friend." Gosh, Impatient much? She also procured a bag of chips from somewhere and was now lounging in her chair, looking very bored.

I was trying to take my time. If I was going to this world, I wanted to future proof myself. I needed something that was good enough so that it wouldn't become obsolete later, but also something that would be decently easy to use early on. Suddenly something caught my eye. The blades on the paper somewhat resembled sting from Lord of the Rings. They were called "The Blades of Woe" and they were meant to be dual wielded if I was reading it right. Apparently they stored all the damage dealt to all enemies previous enemies that could multiply the damage of a single strike onto an enemy. Basically the more enemies you cut up, the better this "devastating strike" apparently called "deliverance" would be. A good trump card. There was also a note at the bottom that "Warning, Extremely Sharp!"

"I'll take this." I said as I stood up, the paper in hand. Aqua walked over and took the piece of paper and looked it over.

"The Blades of Woe, huh?" She said quizzically "Who the heck names these things?" At that the piece of paper disappeared in a similar manner as her veil did earlier. The blades appeared before me in their sheaths which apparently were supposed to strap onto my back.

Suddenly, a magic circle appeared and surrounded me. "So that's it huh? No farewell for the brave hero about to go and slay the Devil King?" I asked.

"Hey! I was about to get there!" she stated, slightly annoyed. I started to slowly levitate off the ground and she cleared her throat "Good Luck, Brave Adventurer. I pray that you succeed in your quest to defeat the Devil King and his army. Should you succeed, the gods will grant any wish you desire!" Awesome! Ironically, this day just seems to get better and better!

"OH! One last thing!" I call out to aqua "When you come in contact with my friend, you don't have to worry about reciting everything to him. I think he'll get the idea pretty quick!"

"Duly noted. Now Go forth on your adventure brave hero!" As she said this a bright portal opened up above me and I was pulled into it, almost like gravity had reversed itself.

When I arrived, my head instantly felt like I had a thousand things shoved inside of it all at once, and I felt dizzy extremely dizzy. Was this because of the portal that I had been sent through or something else. I thought for a minute, and realized "Of course! The language here, that must be it! They filled my head with all that as well!" I said to myself. I had strangely been put in the middle of a large town. It seemed odd to me that almost no one seemed to notice or stare at me, given the setting and time period. I quickly decided that I should look around.

Being that this world shared many similarities with RPG games from back home, I knew that I needed to get to a point that I could accept various quests and such, although in order to do that, I would actually need to become an adventurer. I assumed this world had some sort of class-based system, I just needed to figure out how to obtain a class to work under.

There was an apple vendor standing off to the side of the street. Gamer instinct would have told me to walk up to him and press "A" but I didn't have a controller with me. Not to mention that the dialogue options would probably be pretty dull. I decide to walk up to him to ask where I might be able to sign up to become an adventurer.

"Ah, another one eh?" he responded "You'd be looking for the guild hall if you're wanting to do that."

"And where might that be?" I inquired.

"Just head down that path over there. Eventually you'll come into view of a larger building. You can't miss it. You'll know it when you see it."

"Thanks!" I respond to the somewhat surprisingly kind man. Surely enough, the directions he gave me held true. The building was pretty obvious from the outside, and I could tell that this is where many adventurers and the like would hang out. As I walked inside, I was immediately floored by the scent of Alcohol and grilled beef and pork. There weren't as many people here as I expected, but I imagined that it got pretty packed at night.

"Hey, I don't recognize you. You must be new here." A rather buff looking man with a Mohawk grabbed my attention "what's with those weird clothes you're wearing."

"Actually, I am new here. Looking to become an adventurer in fact." I respond. Honestly, I couldn't do better than that? I was practically screaming for help.

"Is that so? You think you can take on the Devil King's army huh?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

The man let out a resounding laugh "You've got guts kid! I gotta say!" He continued laughing for a little while longer "In that case, welcome to the gates of hell kid!" I didn't know how to respond to be honest. Thankfully he just continued laughing and I walked off.

Over along the wall was what appeared to be the receptionist desks. They looked more like the bank teller desks from the movies. There was only one person working at them though. A young woman with blond hair and a great rack. When I walked up to her desk she seemed preoccupied with something else behind the desk and she didn't notice me walk up. Not that there was much to notice. I walked rather quietly and didn't have a very impressive figure to speak of if I'm honest. I cleared my throat to get her attention "ahem,"

"Oh excuse me," she started as she now noticed me "what can I do for you sir?"

"I'm actually looking to sign up with the guild." I state. I wasn't much for antics and preferred to get right to the point. Not to mention it was fairly difficult to concentrate. Her shirt must've been too small or something because it was very revealing. I mean, she had a lot to reveal too.

"Wonderful!" she exclaimed "The first thing I'm going to need is a registration fee."

"f-fee?" No one told me about a fee!

"why yes sir. Is there a problem?"

"Uh...I just didn't expect that is all. Uh, you mind giving me a few minutes?" She nods at me and I walk over to an unoccupied table to sit down. How exactly was I supposed to get money for the registration fee? I decide that I would wait for a little while and think through it. Why wasn't I given anything to start me off with? You would usually get started off with some basic supplies or something! I looked down at my new swords that I had now taken off my back and set to the side. I wonder how much those would go for at the market...

Wait, what was I saying? I couldn't sell them! I would never get anything else like these ever! I was honestly ashamed at myself for considering something so quickly. I would have to think of something else. Something else turning out to be the fact that most new adventurers slept in the stables. A fact I began to realize as I talked with other adventurers about what it was like starting out.

I sat at the table for about ten to fifteen minutes until a familiar voice came out from behind me and took me a little by surprise. "Colby!" I pop my head up. Sure enough it was my best friend "I thought I'd find you here."

"Danny!" I exclaimed. I got up from the table and gave him a welcoming hug. Finally someone else that I could hang around with. I instinctively barrage him with various questions "Are you ok? What kind of thing did you get from Aqua? Do you have any money for signing up with the guild?" honestly even I was overwhelmed a little bit by all my questions.

He responded genuinely "I'm fine. I got the ability to forge anything, and anything I make is of legendary quality. I'm broke, and I think we can solve that pretty quickly." I nod back at him as we sit down at the table. He was always pretty good when it came to planning ahead "I'm just glad we're here so we should be able to work together now. In order to get some money to actually do something, we need to get some jobs." Again I nodded and agreed. Danny's sensible attitude never failed him "Do you recognize this world? And what did you get from Aqua?"

I excitedly pull out my swords to show him "I asked for these." Danny looks them over, almost like he was examining them, sizing them up "What did you mean when you asked 'do I recognize this world?'"

"Well this is literally the world of Konosuba, that anime I told you about." Instantly, a lot of stuff makes sense now, like the fact that Aqua and literally everything else around me looked like it came straight out of an anime. Because it literally was! This was literally a dream come true.

He explained to me that he already knew the series of events that would transpire, at least up to the second season of the show and that because of this, we had a huge advantage over everyone else around us. We were both so excited by what was ahead of us that neither of us noticed a maid attempting to take our drink order. Eventually Danny noticed her.

"I think we're fine right." now he told her and she moved on to another table.

We talked for another thirty or so minutes as we decided on what jobs we should take.

"Well I think it's pretty obvious that I should be able to easily get a job at a local blacksmith." he stated finally. The skills he chose almost made it seem like he was cheating really.

"I remember seeing a library on my way here. I am pretty good around books as well as organizing. It probably wouldn't pay much but it's definitely worth a shot!" I exclaim. I had done file sorting at an office job once, but that was as close as I got to anything like library work. Still I though It was worth a shot.

I entered the library quietly, as you're supposed to in Libraries, although I'm not sure if it would have really mattered as there was no one in sight except for who I assumed was the librarian. He was rather tall and appeared to be in his mid-forties. He wore a long green robe and square glasses. His hair was brown in color and looked quite messy. Obviously he was someone who wasn't much for appearances.

"Excuse me," I say as I walk up to him.

"Yes?" he responds, in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"I was wondering if maybe there's some work around here I could do? Nothing huge, just something I can do to earn bit of spending money for the day."

He looked at me over his glasses "At a library? That's certainly an odd place for someone like you to seek work," I thought it was an odd place for anyone to seek work, yet here you are "but now that you mention it, there are some things you could do for me around here. The pay wouldn't exactly be substantial but it wouldn't be stingy either." I accept his offer and get to work. It mostly consisted of sweeping, dusting, organizing various books. It wasn't exactly enjoyable work, but it was better than other jobs I had in the past.

Surprisingly, people did come through frequently enough, although there were never really more than two people in the building at a time, excluding myself and the librarian. Eventually he ran out of work for me to do and thus gave me my days wages. It wasn't a lot, only 120, but I figured it was a fine pay considering. I made my leave and returned to the guild.

I got to the guild a little while before Danny did, so I actually ended up taking a short nap. Flattering, I know, but after all that had happened today, not to mention the monotony and silence of the library, I was beat. The worst part was what I had to look forward to as a bed.

I woke up approximately thirty or so minutes afterwards and Danny still hadn't gotten back yet. Although it wasn't but about five minutes after my nap that he got back, so it was probably for the better that he didn't know I was sleeping. Being later than it was when we first got here, the guild hall was much busier than before, so the maids were kept busy and didn't really bother us.

"How did it go?" I asked Danny as he sat down.

"Really Well," he responded "I made this sword and he paid me for making a few other weapons, and pieces of armor. What about you?" I stared at his sword for a bit. Back home, my brother had done blacksmithing as a hobby and he got pretty good, but nowhere near this good, and I didn't even know that much about it.

"Well, what I did mostly felt like housework, and a got the pay to match to be honest." We counted out our wares. Compared to my measly 120, Danny made a fortune. 1,230 Eris. In total my money barely made a difference! We decided that for now, my money would go towards food while Danny's was saved for things that we would need in the future, except of course for the registration fee.

We walked up to the receptionist desk where she is cleaning it. "Um Excuse me miss? I didn't get your name earlier." Danny states.

The receptionist turns around to us, similarly to me, she looks rather tired "My name is Luna," she stated "wait..." she recognized us when she turned around "Oh! Do you have enough money to cover the expenses?" she asks

"Yes we do!" smiles Danny.

"Alright, all you have to do is put your hand over the orb and it will provide you with an adventurer's card," explained Luna "This card will keep track of your stats, skills, level, and skill points. As you level up you obtain skill points that can be used to purchase skills that can help you in combat." So it was basically like a character window or something? Cool. She also gave us a list of different classes we could potentially choose based on our stats.

"Colby, you can go first," said Danny. I walked up to the desk and placed my hand over the blue orb on the table. Upon doing so, the orb begins to shine with a soft blue light. Three rings that hovered below the orb in a funnel shape gathered what looked like some sort of magic, then a laser shot out from the rings and made markings on the adventurer's card. Once it was done Luna took the card.

Luna looked over the card "hmmm, looks like most of your stats are mostly a little above average, with the exception of intelligence, which is almost max," Really!? Holy crap, that seemed awesome "Perhaps a mage class would suit you?" she finished. I was a little upset by this. I didn't really mind magic, but it definitely was not my preference.

"Is there a class that dual wields?" I ask.

"Yes, you do qualify for the scout class, but are you sure you want to-"

"I want it!" I interrupted.

"Very well." she responded, and wrote down my class. I was now an official adventurer and could actually do official quests! I almost couldn't contain myself.

Next up was Danny. He put his hand over the blue orb which made his card out for him. Again Luna read the card out "It looks like your agility is below average, however all your other stats are a little above average, especially strength, and your intelligence is almost max. I would suggest a mage class but..."

Danny stopped her "I don't want that, after looking over the classes I want the arms master class." Luna suddenly gasped, and several adventurers turned their heads towards us. "What the heck is so special about the arms master class!" I thought to myself, as it now felt like we had just done something very taboo.

"The arms master is very difficult to master," Luna states "that's why it's almost on par with crusaders, arch mages and..."

Again Danny cut her off "I know, I know, but I know I'll be able to use this class effectively."

several adventurers had come up to greet us and slapped us on the back. "You two are going to make an interesting team!" one of the men said. Me and Danny both looked up at him. I recognized him as the man I had first talked to when I entered the guild the first time. "Two damage dealers, but no healers or mages? It's going to be interesting!" I looked at Danny who now was looking down at the ground somewhat bewildered. I knew then what he was thinking about. Then the man piped up again "But don't worry about that! You're adventurers now, why not celebrate!" Danny and I were both into that idea, and so we did.

We had enough money just from what I earned to have a decent meal. We also tried our hand at some alcohol as well. Considering the time and place, we figured there was a first time for everything. Eventually we left the guild hall and made our way to where we would be staying the nights for quite a while...the stables.

At the stables I could tell that something was bothering my friend. "you ok Danny?" I asked him. He looked at the hay bed we would be using in a depressed manner. "understandable" I thought to myself.

"I just realized," he began "we'll never see our families again." at this I made the same realization.

"Yea, but they think we're dead anyway, we might as well make the most out of our situation right?" I look at him, trying to cheer him up, and he visibly forces a smile.

"Yea, you're right, let's do out best out there, ok?" he states enthusiastically. I couldn't help but laugh. I can tell he feels a little hurt though so I explain.

"You sounded just like someone from an anime just then!" I laugh, to which he smiles.

"Well, when in Rome right?" He responds. We can't help but laugh a while longer.

At last the atmosphere died down so I could now appreciate my "comfortable" bed of hay...that probably had a number of insects crawling around inside of it...I then decide that it's probably better not to think about such things. I instead think about tomorrow, and what it might bring.